Back in March I shared a story about an expedited clearance plan for US travel, but commented:
Not mentioned is why anyone in their right mind (or otherwise) would travel to the US under the current administration in the first place. I ain’t touching that shoreline with a ten foot pole for the next four years, to use their customary units. This sucks, because I’d saved to meet friends and to go to a Vintage Computer Festival event.
I take no joy in such a position. I’ve been to the US several times, many of my dearest childhood and current friends are American, I’ve worked there for a few months, and NYC is my favourite city in the Western world. I still want to hike Montana, take an Amtrak from Chicago to Washington state…
Back in March I shared a story about an expedited clearance plan for US travel, but commented:
Not mentioned is why anyone in their right mind (or otherwise) would travel to the US under the current administration in the first place. I ain’t touching that shoreline with a ten foot pole for the next four years, to use their customary units. This sucks, because I’d saved to meet friends and to go to a Vintage Computer Festival event.
I take no joy in such a position. I’ve been to the US several times, many of my dearest childhood and current friends are American, I’ve worked there for a few months, and NYC is my favourite city in the Western world. I still want to hike Montana, take an Amtrak from Chicago to Washington state, visit the MIT flea market in Boston, experience a Banana Ball game with Clara in Georgia, do a Whole Wheat Radio pilgrimage in Alaska, and spend the rest of my life exploring all those jaw-dropping museums. I even love apple pie, and developed an unhealthy addiction to diet Dr Pepper.
The most recent directive by the Desiccated Orange in Chief though means I’ve upgraded my aforementioned barge poll to a twenty footer, which in SI would be a long pole. Via SBS News:
The Trump administration plans to require visa-exempt foreign tourists to disclose their social media history from the past five years before entering the country, according to an official notice.
They would also have to submit other “high-value data fields” including phone numbers from the last five years, email addresses from the past decade, personal details of family members and biometric information.
It’s all pretty egregious. You start to wonder what the point of visa-free travel is between (former?) allies if the approval process starts to look like… well, a visa. Which if I’m going to go through that, I may as well head back to Vietnam instead. I know right, it’s a hard life, but someone has to travel it!
But this gets to the core issue: none of this is novel. Citizens of countries outside the ESTA-approved bubble have always had to go through such nonsense, including the same invasive (and pointless) questions about their views, families, and history. I feel especially frustrated for my personal circumstances, but my friends elsewhere don’t know a time when it was any different.