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> Before traveling, back up your devices so you don’t lose anything permanently. Then delete anything you’re worried about being misinterpreted or saved by the
by kleiba 2y ago
> Before traveling, back up your devices so you don’t lose anything permanently. Then delete anything you’re worried about being misinterpreted or saved by the government. That can include conversations that compromise the privacy of the people on the other end. You might delete messages about politics, contact information for political dissidents, apps that save offline copies of sensitive documents like Google Docs, even your phone’s built-in Notes app.
Mind you, this is for entering the country that considers itself the freest in the world...
- dizhn 2y ago[flagged]
- redserk 2y ago[flagged]
- jncfhnb 2y agoReally feel like point number two weakens your overall point here
- xingped 2y agoThat businesses are allowed to surprise you with unexpected fees is a negative thing. How can you interpret it otherwise?
- gruntbuggly 2y agoDon't you just go out to eat knowing the price is going to be 20% higher after tip? I can understand the desire for predictability, but menu prices are artificially low as they don't account for labor. If tipping were 'abolished' food service prices would have to rise 10-20% across the board to compensate.
- jncfhnb 2y agoIt’s just kind of silly to say “we have a tipping culture” in the same argument as “we just illegally deported a guy to El Salvador”
- redserk 2y agoCome for the menial and absurd, stay for the flagrant anti-constitutional (in spirit) issues.
- flowerthoughts 2y agoService charge is a weird thing. Normally, I'd expect a volume discount if I create bigger business for someone. Restaurants decided that's not how it works. If someone with experience could explain why 1x6 people should be charged a higher price than 6x1 people, I am curious.
- gruntbuggly 2y agoBig tables are way more work for back of house as they bottleneck the kitchen with a bunch of simultaneous tickets. A large table demands more attention, but then you also end up with a larger bill on which customers are then less to add a tip. They can also decrease margin on shared plates.
- ta1243 2y agoThe OP was talking the "leader of the free world" You are talking about America That's two very different things
- redczar 2y agoLeader of the free world almost always refers to the U.S. President or the U.S. itself depending on context.
- redczar 2y agoI’ll add a few more freedoms. 1. Can’t walk about drinking a beer. 2. Can’t carry too much cash or it’s at risk of being confiscated. 3. Criminalization of walking. https://illinoislawreview.org/print/vol-2017-no-3/the-criminalization-of-walking/ https://illinoislawreview.org/print/vol-2017-no-3/the-crimin... 4. Pretty much have to own a car in most places. 5. Thousands of polling stations closed since the Voting Rights Act was gutted. 6. Federal politics held hostage by low population states. It’s insane that North Dakota has slightly less federal power than Texas. 7. Not even the House of Representatives has proportional representation.
- jancsika 2y agoRegarding #2 through #7: they are all true and important. I'm aware of different efforts over the years to address some of them, but they are all definitely active problems. Regarding #1-- is it possible you have a drinking problem?
- fragmede 2y agoyou buy a coca cola and walk 50 feet from one venue to the next and nobody bats an eye, but you do that with a twisted tea and suddenly people are asking you if you suffer from alcoholism
- hackable_sand 2y agoOr cigarettes/weed, for instance.
- tverbeure 2y ago> Regarding #1-- is it possible you have a drinking problem? You don't have to be an alcoholic (I don't even drink) to agree that with OP that #1 is an arbitrary reduction of freedom. Especially when walking around with a gun is totally fine. Which one has a larger potential of killing somebody? (And before you make some other ridiculous insinuation, we're talking here about walking, not driving.)
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- stackedinserter 2y agoAs someone from totalitarian regime, I can say you clearly don't appreciate freedoms that you have.
- redserk 2y agoThere is not a binary choice between America or a totalitarian regime. As an American, I recognize there are systems that can make us less free and I want to call them out in hopes that we will eventually address these issues so we have a more free society. Various countries have laws to prevent at least some subset of the issues I’ve raised.
- MPSFounder 2y agoPoor reply. I want America to be free for anyone who is on our soil. Not just for me and those lucky enough to have been born here, and not just for the political aristocracy and their Israeli darlings. Some Americans welcome a master it seems, when it speaks Hebrew
- benlivengood 2y agoFor now. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/trump-deporting-us-citizens-el-salvador https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/trump-deporting-us-cit...
- wat10000 2y agoWe get to choose between allowing government agents to go through our files or losing our expensive hardware. This is a lot better than the choice between allowing them to go through our files or not entering the country, but it's still pretty gross.
- vuggamie 2y agodizhn is free, for example, to lick as many boots as he desires. No one can take that away.
- dizhn 2y agoHow do you figure that?
- breakingrules3 2y ago[flagged]
- bigyabai 2y agoNope, based on fact: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/12/apple-admits-to-secretly-giving-governments-push-notification-data/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/12/apple-admits-to-...
- timewizard 2y agoHow does a country "consider itself?" I mean, I get that the propaganda mouthpieces push this message, but that's not quite the same thing. Meanwhile there are very few countries that don't have the same type of border security that we do for foreign nationals. This advice is just as pertinent if you travel to the UK or almost any EU country.
- Clamchop 2y agoUs Americans have been taught exceptionalism all our lives. The people consider themselves to have built and to live in the freest and generally most superlative country that ever was. We were pretty "soft" (dislike the term) on the land borders and on immigration. Fairly easy to enter, to claim asylum, to live and work on different sides, and so on. I don't have an answer for the question of if we should be making our border security as intense as it can be elsewhere, but I don't love the story of just doing as other countries do. We're exceptional, right? I don't think this is a great comment I'm writing, but it's how I feel about things right now.
- timewizard 2y ago> have been taught As I said, and not to be flip, but "propaganda mouthpieces." The odd part about "social media" is that it actually instills a sense of reward in people when they uncritically repeat what they've been told like a Manchurian candidate. While at the same time being an outlet for their frustrations with the outcome of these same policies and ideals. > live in the freest and generally most superlative country Since the 1950s the government has been opening and reading peoples mail. We had the Church Committee and the House Select Committee on Assassinations. In this era people did not make the same mistake. This notion of the "freest" country honestly started after 2001. "They hate us because of our freedom," was a useful excuse to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. > We were pretty "soft" (dislike the term) on the land borders and on immigration. That depends on your perspective. The cold war certainly had an impact on some citizens of the world more than others. The 2001 trade center attack just moved the goalposts. Here we are moving them again. > but it's how I feel about things right now. That's the most valuable thing you could possibly do. Thank you.
- anon291 2y agoHmmm. And yet this is normal for entering just about every other country. The people being deported are those calling for genocide. Good riddance. You do not have a right to come to this country to organize a foreign country's wars.
- lern_too_spel 2y agoWe know that there are also Israelis calling for the genocide of Palestinians. None are being deported. I'd be willing to believe that some of the students being deported have called for genocide, but the government must produce evidence. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/court-tells-government-to-provide-evidence-justifying-deportation-of-columbia-student-mahmoud-khalil-or-case-is-over https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/court-tells-government...
- snthpy 2y ago> Before traveling, back up your devices so you don’t lose anything permanently. _anything_ here presumably doesn't include freedom of movement of when you find yourself in an El Salvador concentration camp. Next up: How to replace your Real Madrid tattoo by obtaining a skin graft
- akimbostrawman 2y agoLike most rights and laws they only apply if you are already in the country or a citizen. They are still unreasonable searches enabled since and by the patriot act.
- more_corn 2y agoUsed to.