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George S's avatar

The rise of fascist tendencies in the US is appalling and deportation is an overreaction here but I find your arguments bizarre. I am an immigrant to the UK. My family dissented from communism for generations, for example, having a different view for how their country should be governed and how they want to live. Political dissent requires citizenship. The goal is to restore your share of influence over the system that’s been taken away by the authorities. So non-citizen dissent is an oxymoron. You don’t have any part-ownership of the system. You (and me) are guests, even on a permanent visa. Thus non-citizen “dissent” is leaving.

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Jim James's avatar

I have to wonder why you wanted to come here in the first place. Were you planning on taking part in anti-ICE demonstrations in New York, like you took part in pro-Hamas demonstrations at Columbia? Were you aware of the rioting in L.A., and the "mostly peaceful" demonstrations elsewhere? You might as well say so, because you will never again step foot in America. Ever. Once you get on that list, they do not exactly take you off. So candor can't hurt you any more grievously than you've already been hurt. Did you shoot a man in Reno, just to watch him die? Every time you hear that whistle blow, do you hang your head and cry? Come on, little fella, spit it out. You'll feel better. Incidentally, did you manage to get around the U.S. while you were "studying" here? They didn't call the song "America the Beautiful" by mistake, so I hope you at least have memories that go beyond airports and a single college campus in mid-town Manhattan.

I have a lifetime of advocacy of free expression, and indulge in it myself with gleefully sarcastic wise-assery at every turn. Last year, I compared and contrasted Archie Bunker Trump, the Rodeo Clown from Queens with Cleopatra "Drunken Word Salad" Harris. Which is to say that I fart in both directions. And proudly so, like Benjamin Franklin did 200 and something years ago. But I do this as an American citizen, not as a visitor. Oh, and last July I predicted that Trump would win. I cast a write-in vote myself, but the numbers are the numbers. There's a formula that has predicted the winner of all but two presidential elections since WW II, and last year it favored Trump. I won $100 on a bet with a Democrat who paid up and then "unfriended" me. Dang. Liberals have such thin skins and a high, almost desperate, need for affirmation. Maybe you can tell me what that's about.

I can see your case from both sides. I go far on the free expression front and don't like to see it eroded even for fools like you. In fact, one signal virtue of free exercise is that it unmasks fools for all to see. Yet, in your case I can understand why the U.S. customs and immigration authorities denied you entry to my county. Yes, my country. Not yours. Remember that. By the way, denial of entry is different from deportation, even if both involve an airplane ride outta here. I'd expect an Ivy League "student" to grasp the distinction, but Columbia really ain't quite what it used to be, is it? It seems that they'll let just about any furriner in these days. Anyway, now is probably not the time to have a track record of supporting sit-ins and camp-ins on behalf of terrorists in Gaza. Wow, who knew?

So, for now, I guess you'll have to confine your overwrought and actually somewhat amusing self-righteousness to your home turf. Who knows, maybe next time you can try Canada. Good luck. You never know. They appreciate sanctimony. If you do that, make sure to go in our summer, Canada's unofficial motto being "nine months of winter and three months of bad ice skating." In the meantime, will New Zealand let you in? I don't recommend flying to Mexico and trying to walk across the border. If the drug traffickers don't get you, the heat, the scorpions, and the rattlesnakes will. And the Border Patrol. Don't forget about them.

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