Some Americans disturb me. Yesterday, a commenter told me to eff-off on my timeline on Facebook. I had expressed opinions at Think Progress that he didn’t appreciate so he came over and told me to eff myself (but he used the real f-word). Later he took down his comment. Still, we cannot judge an entire country on the basis of isolated trolls on the internet, who may only be interested writing offensive comments in order to piss you off. However, some months ago, I received from a former US government employee a private email that mocked me because I am a Christian. Of course, this same man also scorned my views on his own blog (without mentioning me or the Isaac Brock Society by name), but to take it to the level of sending me a taunt to my personal email is somehow barbaric. This former government employee undoubtedly has a very high opinion of himself. But why do these Americans drop the level of conversation to a child’s game, whereby they get their five-year old jollies? The man that told me to eff-off on Facebook claimed that he represented the majority of Americans, judging by the last two presidential elections. So alleged US persons, please meet your persecutor: the Obama voter.

These Neanderthals elected the Obama regime, the same regime that enacted the HIRE Act (2010) with its FATCA provisions. These are the same Neanderthals that are telling Canadian citizens that they must cross the border with a US passport, then entrapping them with FATCA into paying taxes to the US Treasury, in violation of the Master Nationality Rule. But what makes us think that these cavemen would understand international law when they don’t even understand their own laws? Insisting that a Canadian citizen cross the border with a US passport is a clear violation of that person’s right to expatriate, a fundamental right. They should be saying, “Sir, if you have relinquished your US citizenship, you need to inform the US Consulate nearest you and obtain a Certificate of Loss of Nationality.” But instead they act like total prats and say, “You are an American until we tell you that you aren’t!” Well actually, sir, that is not what the law says. The law says that a person who commits a relinquishing act with intent is no longer an American–it is not a question of whether they have informed a US State Department, and you would know that if you weren’t an imbecile. But how can we expect the Neanderthals who guard the border to know the law when their counterparts at the State Department are such ignoramuses? Here are some comments yesterday at Isaac Brock from MyKitty (emphasis mine):

I had my appointment at the U.S. embassy … and it didn’t go well.

Just a recap – I am a dual citizen by birth (us/can). I worked for the federal government. I requested a CLN backdated to when I began working for the government. I had the contents of my employee file, including the oath that I signed.

I was told that the only way a dual citizen by birth could get rid of U.S. citizenship was to 1) renounce 2) commit an act of treason.

Has anyone else been told this?

The agent told me that she was going to recommend that my request be denied. I insisted that she send all of my documentation to the lawyers in Washington anyway. She said she had denied three of these cases recently. …

I don’t think the agent even knew of 4(a) and/or 4(b) of the Section 349 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1481).

MyKitty did the right thing. Stand your ground! When you go to the US Consulate you must know your rights and the law, because you can’t expect those who receive a full-time salary from the US government to know them. They have violated one of the oldest principles of common law in the English-speaking world: those who enforce the law must know the law. But these American enforcers are dumb and dumber. And this has caused them to become international rights violators of the first order: by denying the Universal Human Right to change one’s nationality.

In 2010, I first learned of the construction of the New Berlin Wall, a provision to tax citizens who relinquish their US citizenship whose wealth exceeds US $2,000,000. This law, called HEROES Act, made me so angry that I decided then and there that I would expatriate, and applied for Canadian citizenship immediately. On February 28, 2011, I became a Canadian and filed, in June, 2012, my final tax forms (2011 1040; Form 8854); I managed to stay well below the $2,000,000 dollar threshold. (One must relinquish citizenship and file the final forms only after receiving the CLN.) Adios, America!

This post originally appeared at the Isaac Brock Society.

While I was preparing to relinquish, it was only when I learned about FBAR and then later FATCA that I became panicky. I experienced many of the symptoms about which many of our readers complain after learning: stress, panic attacks, sleepless nights, weight gain. I especially felt the indignation of becoming a targeted, oppressed person abused by a country which was out of control. This country abuses its expats but considers itself superior to everyone else, and so condemns the only other country with citizenship-based taxation, Eritrea. This is hypocritical to say the least, but I doubt that the average policy maker in the US even is aware of the contradiction. Even the average elite student, who thinks he or she is smarter than everyone else, isn’t nearly as damn smart as she thinks she is. Consider the following question: What is the capital of Canada? Do you think that the elite students at Harvard should know the capital of Canada? Harvard is America’s most prestigious institution, the alma mater of Obama, Bush, and Kennedy. Well, these Harvard students themselves think they should know it, judging by their embarrassed responses:

Americans are not nearly as smart as they think they are. And this is an extremely volatile situation: arrogant ignorance is the worst kind. Finally, I want to apologize for calling these Americans Neanderthals, because it is an insult to the true Neanderthals.

Cross posted from the Isaac Brock Society.

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (BSP) Nicolas (Claus) Santa, Bishop of Myra, has been in federal custody since his arrest at the North Pole on Christmas Eve, 2011. Fish and Wildlife agents apprehended him and seized several tons of exotic woods forbidden by the Lacey act. Santa has been charged with multiple counts of money laundering, illegal exportation of currency, illegally importing into the United States toys made of contraband–rare woods, ivory and other banned substances, as well as violating slave labor and child labor laws. A grand jury has also indicted Santa on 190 counts of criminal failure to file the Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR). For those charges alone, Santa risks a sentence of 950 years in prison and fines equal to 300% of his wealth. Santa was laundering money from his illegal trafficking in toys.

His court-appointed representative, Legolas L’Elfe, has decried his treatment at the hands of federal authorities since his capture. Denied bail as a flight risk, his keepers abandoned him in his windowless cell at the federal detention centre in Fairbanks, Alaska, from February 22 – April 7, 2012. They gave him neither food nor water during this time, and at one point Santa despaired for his life, says L’Elfe. He survived by drinking his own urine. In addition, L’Elfe says, that Santa is a Greek orthodox bishop from the fourth century, when it was normal for priests and bishops to practice severe forms of asceticism. “If it had not been his practice to live many days without food and water, he probably would have died after the first seven days of isolation.” Federal authorities have issued an apology. They said that they are suffering from budget cuts and do not have sufficient personnel at the detention centre. They just simply forgot that they had put him in the cell.

So far no trial date is set. L’Elfe has demanded that the United States release Santa on grounds that his right to a speedy trial has been violated. An anonymous spokesperson for Justice Department retorted, “Who does he think he’s kidding. Nobody ever gets a speedy trial in the United States.”

L’Elfe has indicated that most of the charges stem from Santa’s alleged United States citizenship. State Department officials claim that Santa obtained citizenship during his brief interlude in the 1940s and 1950s of making movies in Hollywood, such as the beloved Miracle on 34^th Street. L’Elfe says that this is a case of mistaken identity, and that Santa is actually a stateless individual who was born in the 4th century in the Roman Empire which has not existed as a nation since 1453.

L’Elfe has declined to comment on accusations of a recent report that Santa is a notorious felon whom the Emperor Diocletian (303-311) imprisoned for several years. The report claimed that the Emperor Constantine offered a general pardon to convicts like Santa and that he had been a fugitive until his recent capture by Fish and Wildlife agents.

Santa has asked to renounce his US citizenship in prison in a letter addressed to the State Department. But officials in the State Department refuse to enter the prison to hear his oath of renunciation. They claim that: (1) Santa must pay $450; but since his bank accounts were seized, he hasn’t a penny to his name; (2) he must be outside of the United States when he renounces, unless it is in a time of war; (3) even if Santa did renounce his citizenship, it would not relieve him of the taxes and penalties, including FBAR fines, that accrued while he was still a US citizen. L’Elfe says, “This is pure discrimination. If Eduardo Saverin can renounce his citizenship and save billions of dollars in capital-gains tax for money he made in the United States, why can’t Santa renounce and be relieved of FBAR violations for accounts containing charitable funds that international donors from around the world have gifted so that Santa could continue his benevolent work of providing good gifts to destitute children?” Commissioner of the IRS, Douglas Shulman retorted, “We really don’t care if those accounts were for charitable purposes. It is clear that Santa had signing authority on them. He refused to file the FBARs and come clean on his taxes before we caught him so now he must face the full brunt of the law; we will crucify him so that others will comply.”

Nicolas Claus in 1994 remake of Miracle on 34^th Street