An Australian man claims he was held for eight hours and then denied entry to the USA for the high crime of flying from Australia to the United States via Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific.
Claim: Australian Man Denied Entry To USA For Flying Via Hong Kong On Cathay Pacific
The travelers purchased a premium economy ticket on Cathay Pacific to travel from Sydney (SYD) to New York (JFK) via Hong Kong (HKG) because it was the cheapest ticket…and having just booked an Award Expert client on the same routing, I can personally attest that you can save a lot of money by traveling from Australia to the USA via East Asia rather than nonstop.
But upon reaching New York, he was pulled aside for “enhanced vetting” (President Trump directed harsher vetting of foreign visitors arriving via US airports in a January 20, 2025 executive order). Eight hours later, after three interviews and an extensive examination of his laptop and iPhone, he was sent back to Australia.
There was no problem with his visa. There was no criminal record. The agents simply did not like that he flew Cathay Pacific to the USA…they could not understand it.
His final destination in the USA was Florida to take a $15,000 cruise, which he forfeited (with no refund) when he was denied entry to the USA.
The Sydney Morning Herald is not a fringe publication in Australia, but one of the most respected and centrist newspapers and the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia (dating back to 1831).
This isn’t fake news. We’ve heard anecdote after anecdote like this and you can read the executive order yourself. This is becoming the new norm and this will certainly scare off visitors to the USA. The latest red flag is from the Accor hotel chain, which warns that bookings from Europe to the USA for the summer high season are down 25%.
As tariffs make us poor again (foolish people do not remember that the US has tried mass tariffs twice before and both led to economic depressions), international travelers are justifiably choosing to skip travel to the USA, which will hurt American workers and have a devastating ripple effect across the economy.
Wake up folks, this is getting worse, not better. The “land of the free” is quickly becoming a home for only the bravest tourists.
If you’re coming to the USA, consider leaving your laptops and other devices, including tablets, at home entirely and travel only with a “burner phone” (a cheap, prepaid model) to the USA. That’s the type of advice I used to reserve for traveling to the People’s Republic of China but we’re in a different era now.
#Make America Poor Again
I’m no fan of Trump at this moment and quite outraged by the Tariff insanity – and it is insanity driven vandalism. But we’ve only heard one side of the story and don’t really know why he was denied entry into the USA. We don’t know this person’s name, what his circumstances are beyond flying via HKG (which as you’ve said is not very uncommon and those people aren’t regularly excluded), and why the ultimate decision was made. Whatever reputation this paper has, repeating anonymous stories on the internet is not good journalism. I doubt the full veracity of this account very much.
There is always the possibility of being more to a story, but I’ll continue to share such anecdotes and I hope that The SMH has enough integrity to perform a little due diligence before reporting this. I also understand why the traveler would want to hold back his name.
Fair enough, but good to keep in mind that anecdote is not data, particularly when it is an anonymous self-serving anecdote from the internet. I really doubt that this happened the way the story has been related.
Mak is a fan of Trump and the MAGA cult.
But now MAGA cult-enablers are freaked that Trump-Vance’s economically disastrous moves with Trump-Vance Republican import taxes is going to undermine the strength of their culture war and cause a more lasting anti-Republican backlash that is better for the vast majority of Americans and also better for people around the world.
The government will come up with a made up “this is the story” later to justify it.
$15k cruise but no insurance to cover the loss.
There is ABSOLUTELY more to this.
Perhaps instead of writing a travel article each day, just post this:
Orange Man Bad
Trump is a felon
Trump is a rapist
USA is racist
Then just copy, paste and publish. Every. Day.
Look, we BOTH know that there is more to this man’s story.
Yes, that’s what the Reichministerum fur Volksaufklarung und Propaganda in the Großdeutsches Reich always said as well. Always an excuse. Always a deflection from the crackpot in charge.
The emotionally unintelligent will never admit they backed a loser that is doing more to damage the United States than the KGB could have ever dreamed of. They will continue to cheer on the destruction of everything that made the US a world leader
As an Australian , travelling anywhere , it would be disconcerting to be expelled by border authorities .
However , we don’t know all the facts in this particular traveller’s circumstance .
Matthew , please stick to travelling and leave the economics of tarries to the experts . Your ignorance is astonishing !
My ignorance of “tarries” is astonishing?
Oh, okay John.
Ye’s Matthew , you have made similar comments previously , and it is glaringly obvious that you need to do an economic course .
Don’t repeat ill-informed platitudes from Trump haters !
Why don’t you reserve your judgments about the Trump Administration’s policies on tariffs once they had been implemented and had time to work , or otherwise .
Also , you are in no position to say that the Sydney Morning Herald is a centralist newspaper . I can assure you it isn’t !
It is a far left newspaper , it always has been , with many of its journalists being card carrying members of the Australian Labor Party and other more extreme lefty organisations with radical ideologies .
So school me, John. Why do you support tariffs?
You’re so unbelievably naiive to think I just parrot talking points.
I’ve taken many economics courses and have a degree in US history. I know that tariffs do not work. See 1828. See 1930. Conservatives used to be in favor of free trade.
And I can label a paper what I want. I was sad to see the paper come out in favor of the Australian Indigenous Voice referendum in 2023 and I don’t read it every day, but when I do it does not strike me as a left wing rag.
John, imagine if one day you were trying to visit a country and had this happen to you for no apparent reason other than having a layover. How would you like it?
No I would not like it !
You missed my point . I think there is more to the story than meets the eye , and hopefully we will find out the real truth .
Matthew, I enjoy your newsletter every day. I am certain that if you continue to vent YOUR political views, you will run off about half of your business. If that’s your goal, you are well on your way. Keep your views to yourself….. all you accomplish when you vent is attract the crazies from both sides and the blog becomes a complete waste of time. If I wanted your views I would watch MSNBC.
By the way, as long as you opened the door….”free trade” at American expense has decimated the country. Time will tell if the tariffs work to our advantage. The way I see it, the cries of “This is the end of the world” by the Left, proves Trump is over the correct target.
But I’m not left…
I am glad to hear you say that .
The Sydney Morning Herald is certainly left , so why use them to advance an incident by a disgruntled tourist. ? It hurts your argument !
But your comments on many issues you have espoused show that you are left leaning ?
You say that you are a registered Republican , great !
So why attack the leader of the Republicans and the leader of the free world on so many issues. ?
I don’t understand your logic ?
You write very well on travelling matters and it is always very informative , but you seem to go off course and make ludicrous assertions on topics that you haven’t thought through properly ?
I guess I don’t understand why you think President Trump or the Republican Party is consevative?
In regards to your opinions regarding the use of tariffs , I would agree with you if we were living in a perfect world . But we don’t , because every country in the world uses them to some degree to gain an advantage for their citizens .
And , it’s not just tariffs that they are using but a whole host of other crude economic tools to gain an unfair advantage over their competitors !
It’s not a level playing field , it never has been !
Why shouldn’t USA do the same ?
Remember this a tit-for-tat policy of the Trump Administration .
If USA trading partners abolish their tariffs on USA goods then USA will abolish their tariffs !
What is fairer than that ?
You sought to justify your anti-tariff position by making past historical references !
The world is a much different place now than it was when you claim they were used and failed !
You say that President Trump is not a ‘true’ conservative ?
Wow ! You have floored me with that one !
Almost 80 million of Americans just recently decided in a landslide win that he was ! They apparently agreed with me .
President Trump is implementing the policies he promised the American people he would if they elected him their President !
Following his landslide win , winning the popular vote , winning the college vote , winning the Senate vote and winning the House of Representatives , he went about implementing the wishes of American people !
He is trying to do this by appointing some of the most intelligent , capable , qualified and experienced people to his Cabinet !
Moreover , his efforts are being severely impeded by the many Democrat-appointed activist judges !
In regard to your opinion on where the Sydney Morning Herald sits on the political spectrum , I will let your readers decide that for themselves . But , let me assure you that Australians are not in any doubt that SMH including all their other publications , owned by Fairfax Media Group , are far-left .
But people already know those things. Also that’s unrelated to Travel, and this is.
I’ve taken dozens of trips and only purchased insurance once when I had an elder family member join. There is probably more to the story…he probably had some critical thoughts/posts about the state and future of our government in his phone.
Either way, the impact of this on inbound Australian traveler to the U.S. will be considerable as I know a few recurring visitors who have been on the fence about any future travels to the U.S. That said, largely would mostly impact NY, CA, HI, so sure any actual/real impact wouldn’t be a real concern at the federal level.
Hong Kong is not even China. It’s literally a country that just serves as a financial center and has no threat to anyone. Why is this even an issue to CBP?
Say that in HK and get arrested.
I think you may just have breached the Hong Kong National Security Law. HK is very much a city in China
It’s a smear campaign by that newspaper. The Australian may have had evidence of inadmissible behavior, like drug smuggling. CBP did not say that the route was the cause. It was the man who didn’t confess to the newspaper what he really did.
Proof? The newspaper deceptively reported detention of a British women held because she was refused by the Canadians at the US land border for attempting to work to Canada, which raised a red flag to the US. SMH, instead, wrote deceptively… “Indeed, in an outbreak of border insecurity, there’s a growing number of reports of ordinary visitors to the US being detained for hours on arrival at US airports, or worse, 19 days (in the instance of one young British woman sent to an immigration detention centre).”
Shame on the Australian mainstream press.
Australia is a very racist country that harasses Americans, accusing them of smuggling food illegally (pack of airline crackers). No joke, happened to me.
I know you love to support the pigs who process visitors into the USA, but I’ve personally seen the bad behavior over and over. You don’t travel because you are still afraid there is a pandemic raging. The arbitrary nature of their questions and searches are now emboldened under an executive order to compensate for their tiny endowments even more to pick on visitors (i.e. economic engines) to the USA. It’s a sad day.
Customs and immigration can be bullies but that man could have made up his story, not revealing what bad things he did and only attributed it to the Cathay Pacific routing.
The pandemic is still ongoing, but I do travel.
The Sydney Morning Herald already is suspect because their story reports the British woman detained deceptively. It was the Canadians, not the Americans who first flagged her for being illegal.
It’s quite possible the agent AND the man are both bad.
Have you been hacked? Matthew is usually not so rude. Maybe by a nazi since the reply denies the pandemic?
Matt, have you been hacked? Avid traveler here who happens to have a CBP agent as a spouse, PIG’s? Take a step back, take a deep breath and don’t vent your political frustrations lest you destroy your awesome blog….. you are above that! I sincerely hope you take a few to reasses!
I am sure your wife is lovely and I did not mean to imply all agents are pigs…they are certainly not.
Just as a head’s up that not racism, that’s xenophobia, 😉 As a visitor to Oz a few times, I don’t think you can generalize they are “racist’ or xenophobic against Americans. Also I’ve brought several dry goods into the country a few times without issue, so surprised to hear of your incident, but would also assure it would isolated if not due fresh produce, plants, meat, etc. Also assume, they did not reject admission to the country and put you back on 15 hour flight back…
“PIGS”…..are you serious? You have gone off the deep end! I travel all over the world. I have been held at borders by those wanting bribes, taken to back rooms for questioning, delayed for hours, but never felt anything but relief when the officer at the US port of entry say “ welcome home”. Only a true leftist would refer to them as “pigs”. In a word, your behavior is pretty disgusting. By the way…..some of the harshest treatment was in Canada!
Canada is horrible too…
https://liveandletsfly.com/detained-at-canadian-immigration-in-montreal/
Doesn’t justify the pigs in the USA. Not of all of them are pigs, of course. But too many little Barnie Fifes…
Drug smugglers are arrested. They are not refused admission.
When I said “improve the international arrivals experience”, this is not what I meant.
There are only two things that will change this egregious over stepping (or should I say goose-stepping) by CBP.
1. Countries around the world need to start targeting Americans when entering. Two can play this game. Start detaining them everywhere and forcing them to turn over devices. Deport at will.
2. Airlines start lobbying these morons running Washington now after their loads this summer collapse to historic levels,
This is beyond appalling. Americans deserve the same treatment now abroad.
So far, in the news, the deported people are Hezbollah supporters, someone working on a tourist visa, etc. The news should get it right or risk losing credibility. This man’s intentions are not yet clear.
Pure BS. Tens of thousands of foreigners enter this country daily. There is something missing in this story and you know it. This guy wasn’t denied just because of the route he took and you know it.
Meanwhile you don’t like Trump for some reason and are happy letting Americans take it in the ass from other countries as long as it doesn’t hurt your business. That’s as selfish as it gets Matt.
Hopefully all your far left takes are getting you clicks. If not, maybe advertise on MSNBC to get new readers.
No, I don’t know it.
I’ve seen arbitrary and capricious action by border thugs personally (against my own wife) and against my friend:
https://liveandletsfly.com/us-border-misogynistic/
There was no other hidden or withheld details. It was just small and ignorant men and women being unleashed to act out their inner hatred.
“Meanwhile you don’t like Trump for some reason and are happy letting Americans take it in the ass from other countries as long as it doesn’t hurt your business. ”
You should take an economics 101 course. Having trade imbalances is part of how economies work. There’s nothing reciprocal about 10% tariffs across the board.
If you read even a single economic journal on the imposed tariffs, you’d also realize there’s no calculated methodology to what was imposed this week. Just a hack job based on a gust of wind and strange economic views of a deranged, ignorant man.
As respected journals like the Economist have noted. Assuming “equal trade” is like assuming you must have a trade balance with your grocery store. It doesn’t work like that nor does this antiquated idea that going back to a 19th industrial model is somehow how America becomes great again. It isn’t. it’s how we go back to being a second world nation.
@MaxPower: 100% correct.
I don’t like Trump because he is single handed destroying a country I love with ideas that have long been proven the world over to be terrible for everyone… leading to poverty and the destruction of wealth.
Free trade works, period, full stop. There is nothing you can say or source to prove otherwise. You cannot refute this proven fact.
Doesn’t make me a leftist, it makes me sane and rational.
Your implied statement that one either supports Trumps insane ideas or is an MSNBC leftist is absolutely asinine. Terrible ideas are terrible and should not be supported regardless of the political party.
I support a free and strong America and I support free trade around the world. Free trade is what brings wealth, allowing countries to focus on their competitive advantages. I will support the political parties that align with my beliefs.
Because of his belief in tariffs and his anti democracy stances, Trump supports the destruction of America and supports poverty for Americans. Full stop.
Why would any sane rational individual support American poverty? Why would any sane rational person support the destruction of American democracy? Why would any sane rational person support support Trump?
Regardless of who you voted for…..the trade situation since NAFTA has been a disaster. Our trade policies have hurt everyone in the working middle class. Calm down and let’s see if any of these tariffs actually go into effect and last even 6 months (with the exception of those imposed on China). Your TDS is blinding you.
TDS is nothing more than three tiresome letters reflecting the derangement of MAGA fascists and their undying loyalty for the geriatric disgrace destroying this once great country. This country is being held hostage by MAGA imbeciles … and I want it back.
Hey Ryan , there is no such thing as free trade , it doesn’t exist and it never has !
It is what President Trump is trying to achieve , as much as he can under all the opposition and duress he is facing by people who think like you !
So according to your logic it is ok for American trading partners to slap huge tariffs on American exports but America cannot do the same ?
Wow !
I love your logic !
President Trump wants to stop Americans being ripped off by its so called allies, so they abolish tariffs on America and America abolishes tariffs on them !
That’s how you get to zero tariffs !
Isn’t that what you are arguing in favour of ?
Perhaps not , or maybe you just hate President Trump !
Bravo Matthew. I’m very happy to see someone calling out this lunacy.
Hmm. US Customs & Border Protection officers charged with taking bribes and waving people in without checking documents at the San Ysidro port of entry. Maybe tipping will become the new norm.
Nothing surprises anymore.
Here’s the story.
Thanks for flagging it.
Any recession is great for me. I’m only about 5 percent in publicly traded equities. We just raised a new value fund. We should be able to come out of this with incredible returns. The upper middle class with get hurt the most because they don’t have access to these types of deals, just stocks. The lower class could give less of a crap about other peoples 401ks
There has to be more to this story.
You cite the Sydney Herald, which is a left-leaning or liberal newspaper in many regards. I doubt they are at the opposite end of the spectrum as Rita Panahi, but they do lean left and are hardly Trump fans, I’m sure. The real problem with all newspapers is that they have become click-bait outlets, a desiccated collection of partial fact, partial hype to drive clicks to their website because they need ad revenue so badly.
I think it is hard for any of us to judge this situation and assume that they just didn’t like the person because of Trump.
The Sydney Morning Herald is anything but centrist. They’ve partnered with the Washington Post for years and regularly publish one sided articles. I know as I read them every day. They usually have at least one but often three or four articles per day bashing Trump or Republicans. No other Australian paper focuses so much attention or ire on the US right wing like they do.
The fact that you state that they’re centrist says a lot about you.
I guarantee there’s a lot more to this story and that the truth will come out. But you won’t ever mention it.
One can be a centrist that despises populistic bulls**. One can bash Trump and the Republican party for terrible policies.. and still be centrist.
Says a lot about you that you cannot differentiate legitimate critique from political leanings.
@Cairns: I agree with Ryan that you can be centrist and oppose Trump. Any true conservative should hate Trump.
As for the SMH, hasn’t it said that “market libertarianism and social liberalism” were the two “broad themes” that guided its editorial stance? I’d call that rather centrist…
You obviously haven’t got a clue as to what you are talking about Matthew .
SMH is not centralist ! It’s hard Left !!!
You should really move-on Matthew from this ludicrous argument !
Everyone in Australia knows the SMH is hard Left !!!
Matthew, in my opinion your site seems to be devolving more into partisan blogging and away from balanced takes on travel issues. And with far fewer feel-good stories than there used to be. I’m not saying you shouldn’t report this story at all, and of course if the details of it are confirmed then it should infuriate anyone. However, we don’t know the details yet, and so simply reporting the allegations with a non-biased headline rather than in the way you have presented it would be preferable at present. Updates can then be provided as they become available.
Obviously this being your site, you are well within your rights to post whatever you want. But I do think it is going to turn some readers off, and I can say for my own self that it may push me away as a reader if the trend continues. I’m not a fan of Trump or the right, nor am I a fan of the left. I think that both sides have lost their way, don’t really care at all for the common person, and now just resort to hyperbole and smear campaigns against “the enemy” in order to scare the populace into giving them money via campaign donations etc. And I hate to see you getting sucked into it.
With respect, when the house is burning, it cannot be ignored.
I appreciate your comment and take it very seriously, but this blog has always been somewhat political because that’s what I studied in university and that’s what interests me. What has changed is the party in power and the policies of that party, which I view as destructive to the country I love…and the party.
I was very critical of the Biden administration’s handling of COVID-19 and the lockdown policies in California and in other locales but did not lose any readers who leaned left and disagreed. I did not lose readers when I decried vaccine mandates or supported the right of a Southwest flight attendant to protest abortion.
I’ve already lost many right wing readers who mocked the so-called “snowflakes” during the Biden administration but apparently cannot take any criticism of their dear leader. I’m a registered Republican who worked for George W. Bush and I’ve earned the right by establishing a reasonable baseline of common sense on this blog over the last 15 years, to call out existential threats when I see them. This is my platform and I cannot close my eyes, cover my ears, and hum while Rome burns. I’m certain you can appreciate that.
I would invite you to ask yourself why it bothers you now and did not bother you (at least enough to leave a similar comment) back then whenever one (wrongly) assumed I was some MAGA-loving, right-wing zealot. I’m not calling on anyone to support the Democrat party or the woke-run-amok principles that caused horrible candidates like Harris and Walz to lose in 2024.
Again, I’d love to focus on happy things, but I cannot in good conscience do so, at least not exclusively. I published two articles today already that meet your criteria and will publish one more later…certainly 3/5 isn’t bad, right?
I sincerely appreciate your thoughtful response, and you certainly make many points worth considering. In answer to your query, I will admit that perhaps there is some inconsistency in my not saying something before, and I need to take time to examine that honestly.
However, I will point out that opinions about things like Covid policies and how far employee workplace rights should go are just that – opinions. And you wrote them as such. Had you written this article purely as an opinion piece about US border policy, we might not be having this conversation. But the piece was written, at least in part, as reporting one side of a story as fact.
Interesting….George W. huh. By my calculation that might qualify as RINO. At any rate, it is indeed your blog and I respect that. It’s just too bad I have to wade through the politics (on both sides) to get to the comments left by other travelers ….which are usually educational and entertaining.
You see? I have not left the party…the party has left me.
Trump is a former pro-Clinton Democrat and RINO who hijacked the Republican Party by riding on proto-MAGA currents until it became this MAGA cult.
MAGA worshiped Dear Leader Trump can do little to nothing wrong in the eyes of his MAGA cult followers.
Speaking of news outlets that lean a certain way, Faux News barely mentioned the Stock Market crash over the last few days. You had to really look hard. When Biden was on, they basically had blood falling off of the decline in huge font. This is why half our country has been brainwashed.
And if you put CNN on it’s all day coverage of a few thousand freaks out in the streets crying about Trump. Nothing has affected their lives but the media is telling them he’s “destroying the country”.
This is why half our country has been brainwashed.
Did you somehow manage to avoid any losses to your 401(K) this week?
Of course like everyone else, I lost on paper the cost of a new house in many cities. But I’m certainly not panicking or moving anything, it will come back. Markets go up and down but over time this will only be a small blip.
I believe in the things Trump is saying and bringing quality jobs back to America is a noble goal. Both parties allowed too many to leave in the first place.
Time will tell who is right but I’m not betting against America winning in the end. And if it ends up hurting foreign countries, all the better.
How do we know that none of Lutnick’s close family, friends and other pet favorites didn’t go short the market or sell off substantial US holdings in the run-up to the massive Trump import taxes? Lutnick made his big money by his and his closest folks playing the financial markets, so why would this be different?
Ryan read the paper then tell me I’m wrong. I’m a registered Democrat that knows bias when he sees it. The SMH has never written one positive thing about the right and rarely publishes positive news about the US.
They’re the MSNBC of Australian papers. They’ll diss (or ignore) Aboriginal issues but wax ecstatic over Mariah Carey (it’s a trendy liberal thing to like Mariah- her skin is practically white). All while they’re freely criticizing the US over civil rights. They criticize the US for not doing enough to help Afghanistan but won’t call out their own country for doing next to nothing. They’ll also diss the US Navy for not standing up to China when they actively promote trade with China and field a Navy of only some 40 ships (v. the US 40o). They’ll whine about our immigration policies when Australia has probably the most restrictive immigration standards in the World.
They’re the liberal woman’s magazine of newspapers. “The View” in print if you will.
Matthew is of course free to print his opinion but calling the SMH centrist is flat ridiculous.
Perhaps because the true Right no longer exists. It’s now a far right fascist movement. As you and Dave Edwards clearly demonstrate day in and day out.
They’re perfect examples of what Eric Hoffer described in “The True Believers”. MAGA is the claim they staked in identity politics, and as we can read in these replies every day it’s the same type of cultish, performative identity politics that we see from the extremists of the social justice Left.
You’re no crazy ones, not us. We’re the rational and sane ones.
Well said!
Go tell the others the real reason you registered as a Democrat and didn’t register differently since? 😉
This review is proof positive of the Californication of this travel blog. Up pops the ultra left devil . Have enjoyed your reviews in the past, let’s keep them unopinionated, what say you?
Wait till you hear about the next chapter! 😉
My reply above also applies to you, Jim. You’re in a cult, just as much as the blue-haired kid with a nose ring who’s at a Just Stop Oil protest. Wake up, bro.
Antwerp you’re flat wrong.
It’s the true left that no longer exists. I consider myself a Bill Maher kind of Democrat (because I invariably agree with him).
The left moved too far left a long time ago- they promote men in women’s sports, drag queen shows for children, violent demonstrations, setting Teslas on fire and painting swastikas on everything. They’re supporting HAMAS and accusing Israel of genocide. Really? You want to cover your faces with masks and support an organization that will kill you for being homosexual and insist that your wife is a second class citizen who shouldn’t be allowed to drive a car? Then accuse the Israelis, of all people, of genocide? Have any of you ever been to Dachau or Auschwitz?
There are a lot of things I can’t stand about Trump but the left’s demonization of him (and the accusations, like Matthew’s) of his complicity in even minor wrongs is way over the top.
How about some common f’n sense? How about trying to meet in the middle and report on travel instead of supposed BS when you don’t know all the facts and have only one, highly dubious, viewpoint to report?
You are clearly not a Bill Maher Democrat. Because I am. I despise the far left in similar terms. However, anything seen from the far left, other than some absurdities here and there, a few riots (after George Floyd no less) and college students who are gonna college student and have for generations, they are not destroying our country. Of course, MAGA lies to make it seem that they are, that’s their schtick. Why I hate the far left. Not for their stupidity, but because they give MAGA ammunition to create fear.
The reality is that the Far right fascist MAGA movement is in power and systematically destroying The U.S., dismantling those with even centrist views like mine. More so, they are raping the nation economically to enrich themselves… not even for ideology… all for money and power.
I listen to Newsom (who is TRYING to reshape California liberalism), to Pete, to pragmatic Democrats, and if you really are a Bill Maher Centrist you would see the sense in what they are saying. Democrats have done a pretty good job reigning in the loony leftists. Even Pelosi was pretty adamant to AOC and the squad to “lighten up Francis” and knock it off. In contrast, moderate Republicans who once dominated could not control MAGA. Now here we are. And what this will do is just give more voice to the far left to the point that every 2 and 4 years there will be a ping pong game of extremism.
So, if you really believe in Bill Maher Centrism you will act like it and call out Trump for what he is. Just as I call AOC and the others a bunch of loonies. Instead, you defend Trump. Even whilst you watch everything burn around us.
BTW to say “far right fascists” when the left is acting like every day is a Kristallnacht party is the height of ignorance. Read some history for God’s sake.
You have no idea of what fascism is.
@cairns: How do you define fascism?
My bet is that “anyone who disagrees with me” would be a good place to start. We’re in the land of horseshoe theory with this one.
Bingo
Matthew,
Smoot-Hawley did not lead to the depression. It was the fed keeping rates far too high and not being the lender of the last resort. In other words, the Fed turned a recession into a depression, not the tariff. Wages and prices rose as intended after the tariff, but the clowns at the Fed refused to cooperate
Intended to bolster domestic employment and manufacturing, Smoot-Hawley instead deepened the Depression because the U.S.’s trading partners retaliated with tariffs of their own, leading to U.S. exports and global trade plummeting.
It may have had the intended effect
Had the fed not done every single thing wrong, the depression would not have been nearly as bad. Then the fed sent us back into depression in 1937 as they felt the recovery was nothing more than a stock market bubble.
Chris you have a bad case of TDS as do many of you blog readers!!! I Think you are all overreacting to the tariffs… If Joe had done this– there would be NO problem!! No Complaining….
Dee, believe me, I am against tariffs regardless of the administration. Free trade used to be a GOP platform…
Umm, but Joe would not have done it. Nor did he, other than leave a few strategic tariffs on aluminum and steel in place. And if he had I would be railing against it as well if at this level. You truly believe that if Biden did what Trump is doing we would defend it? You are delusional.
Pragmatic politicians don’t experiment by burning the house down. That is what Trump is doing. He is destroying our nation to make it Russia. Dictatorial control, giving a clear path to oligarchs, creating a fearful depressed population, and, as in Russia, eventually forcing the exodus of bright and smart young people who realize there is no opportunity left.
He is making one mistake though. This is not Russia. Soon the people will start to rise. And yes, while I don’t want it, there will be no choice left I fear…Civil War.
Matthew I would call fascism (at its simplest) dictatorial control.
If you think that’s what’s happening in the US today I feel bad for you. No one is telling you how to live, what you can buy, or how to vote or think. You are free to demonstrate your butt off (unlike Germany in the 30s). We aren’t killing minorities much less races. There are still judicial and legislative branches of our government. If this Republic survived the first Trump administration, much less Madison declaring war on the Brits (when we had neither an Army nor a Navy) or the Democrats rebelling against the Republicans (and our country) in order to keep their slaves I think we’re gonna do just just fine.
How would you define it? And how much have you had to drink tonight?
As long as I’m asking- why don’t you proof your posts enough to keep from misspelling the word “Germany”? Why are you so obsessed with Trump? How on Earth could you think the SMH is centrist? I’ve been reading it since 1997; how about you?
But cairns, why do you continue to ready a publication you find so egregious?
Oh and FWIW I hate tariffs too. And what Trump has done in Ukraine and with to respect Russia I find revolting.
Not that anyone cares.
But blaming him because some Aussie was stopped at the border? Cut me a break. Get some perspective and report on your travel adventures again.
It’s not because “some Aussie was stopped at the border” it’s because some Aussie was stopped at the border because the smooth-brained immigration staff at JFK, whose idea of a big vacation adventure is undoubtedly driving up to see Ma and Pa in Poughkeepsie once a year, couldn’t wrap their tiny, supercilious minds around why he flew the route he did. But hey, you’ll never miss a chance to defend the indefensible, will you? Your mind is so consumed by MAGA identity politics that you can’t see you’re acting like any other member of any other cult.
I read the article. Anonymous tourist tells his story to journalist. How did the journalist check the veracity of the story? Any witnesses, for example? Did the journalist ask the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to comment? Zero signs of anything like that. But hey, as long as you express disdain for the Orange Man, and you quote “experts” , the story can be published. And believed by readers like the authors of this blog.
“Noice, mate”.
Sure, because DHS would just tell a media outlet, “Yes, we did wrong.”
I see patterns. I see signs. I don’t like what I see.
The objective of my writing on these topics is to send a message to DHS thugs that they will be held accountable for their poor conduct. The hope is that this will impact (prevent) many future occurrences.
I’ve been remarkably consistent, through D and R administrations, in condemning DHS for treating foreign visitors like criminals. This isn’t a new position…but it is more acute under an administration that has encouraged this sort of policy.
I just use Google flight to check SYD-JFK premium economy flight ticket price in May, and ANA, Delta and Qantas/AA tickets are less expensive than CX, and shorter trip time. I do found one significiantly cheaper CX PE ticket, but total trip time of 37 hours.
If I am border service officer, I am at least perplex by the itinerary.
May is next month. Tickets are bound to be more expensive for next month. At the time the subject purchased his ticket, it was cheaper. Ticket prices on the same route change from day to day, or even hour to hour. One random google flights search is not instructive.
Since U.S. and Australia signed open sky agreement in 2009(?), flight tickets price between the countries have dropped substantially. I wonder how many Australians would transit via Hong Kong or Singapore to travel to New York when one stop service via Auckland, Los Angeles or Dallas are cheaper and faster.
in fact, I am flying from Australia a few times a year to the U.S. I actually route through MNL now as it is significantly cheaper to do so. It’s a common workaround when fares are through the roof on the Australia-U.S. flights. Especially in premium cabins which is the only way I do it. I often save thousands of dollars. Enough to make a dismal lounge experience in MNL worthwhile. HKG is the other workaround that many use, including me in the past.
Thanks for the information. How did you find transit experience at Manila Airport? I have read online comments about going through multiple security checkpoints. Is it true?
Any experience at MNL is left to be desired. But for a few thousand dollars I’ll endure it. I often do an entry and enjoy a night there when needed. Especially when The Pen is 15 minutes away and $200 a night.
Poor Pete. A contemporary elitist who thinks anyone visiting their parents on holiday in a smaller US town is on a low class adventure reserved only for the poor and ignorant.
After all, you’re headed to…the Maldives? Dubai? Paris? Bangkok?
You would never, ever, soil yourself with the dirt and filth of a low class average American in Poughkeepsie, am I right?
I can’t imagine a narrower brain than yours.
Liberals are in an uproar about government workers being fired. Unless those workers control our borders and don’t make a lot of money. In that case we should fire ’em all. I can’t imagine their umbrage when they’re being searched by the TSA.
I support, in theory, a DOGE and a deep forensic accounting of every federal agency and program. Our budget deficit is unsustainable and our debt servicing costs are alarming.
I don’t support using dynamite instead of a scalpel. That ends up costing more in the future.
That’s pretty reasonable, isn’t it?
Just because someone works for a living doesn’t exclude them from understanding that the world is a bigger place than the space they inhabit, particularly when one of the basics of your job is meeting and conversing with international travelers at an airport like JFK, where people arrive from across the globe all day, every day. In that context it doesn’t take a genius to think outside the box. The decision to refuse entry based on a routing via Hong Kong was bloody-minded and boorish, and your attempt to deflect from that basic fact doesn’t change it one bit.
We need tight border control. Why is that “Fascist”? I remember being in Paris in 1995 and a foreigner was being grilled by the airline gate agents at check-in. I was standing behind him for 15 minutes as he tried to explain his itinerary. They eventually took him in the back. I doubt that made the news in France.
The same year I was on the Metro in Paris and police came around asking to see our passports. Are you going to call the French fascist for that? They removed a minority passenger from the car at the next stop for most likely not having proper ID. We should stop people anywhere in the US and demand ID.
“Systematically destroying the US…”
And then add that Newsome makes sense.
Maybe because he now says that men in women’s sports is unfair? Or swears he never said the term “Latinx”?
Because all he wants is national power after making California the home of half of the US homeless population?
Jezzuz f’n Kerist. How deluded can you get?
I guess you thought Biden was as sharp as a tack and on top of it every day, right?
The defenders of Cackles die hard. I feel bad for you.
So why not call out Trump, Mr. Supposed Bill Maher Centrist. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours. You are a F@cking liar. You were all in before and now embarrassed and running to centrist shelter when you see what’s really happening.
And good on Newsom for evolving amidst a shit storm. That’s what people do. It seems you are trying but having a hard time really saying it.
Biden, bless his heart. He is a decent and good man. Wrong leader at the wrong time. But our country was at least stable and respected again. As Bill Maher said, who you profess to love now, “Biden’s head in a jar would be better than Trump.”
I appreicate that carins called out Trump and lidl JD on Ukraine.
I’m hopeful that he will appreicate that the crazy wokeness on the left (which I also oppose) is not worse than destroying international order by upending instituations and polices that have taken decades to careflly calibrate. As a big Maher fan myself, I think he’d agree with that.
BTW Matthew, we put the majority of our investments in CDs right before Trump was elected. We’ve lost a little but not much. While we knew it was gonna get volatile I don’t think that took a whole lot of foresight. In the long run we’ve done very well. And the gold we hold has gone through the roof.
FWIW if you see ‘patterns” having watched the media I would advise you to choose other sources. DHS is (or are not) “thugs”. They’re the same sort of government employees as those employed by NHS, DOE, the FAA, the CIA, the FBI and countless others that I’m sure you support ??? Maybe not?
At any rate I can’t believe you have me supporting government employees while it sounds like you want to fire more of them than Trump. Or maybe it’s just the ones who might question you and don’t make a lot of money?
Like you or me they are largely people who want to do their jobs. The sooner you get off politicizing this blog and reporting ka-ka that fits your agenda the better off you’ll be.
Still waiting on your answers to my questions…..
So you’re saying you knew he would tank the stock market? That’s some real 3D chess…
Yeah, I want to fire people like this:
https://liveandletsfly.com/us-official-amsterdam-schiphol/
Of course, the majority of my interactions are neutral to pleasant…I know many fine people are just trying to earn an honest living. Same with cops. But like cops (and flight attendants), this line of work does attract bad apples.
And no, I thought Biden was a senile old man and it was criminal that the WH shielded this for so long. But a handicapped man is less dangerous…
Any other questions?
Cairns, did you mean NIH rather than NHS? Certainly not a Brit. Are you Russian? I thought you were a DC resident from earlier comments? It follows with the dramatically absurd junk you continue to throw up.
Illegal violence-loving chickenhawk of the sort is not a creature unique to DC. Some can even be found staying at times in the “not from DC” outskirts beyond DC proper.
Follow the money. So you knew what would happen. You hedged your bets as such. Despite knowing full well the pain it would cause tens of millions of Americans who might be less savvy with investing. You are profiting from Trump’s attack on middle class America. Mocking the middle class that works hard to save for retirement only to see it all implode amidst an absurd tariff war. And you wonder why you are so hated? Why Luigi wants to kill?
When the civil war starts remember that you did it. Just like in France in 1789. As your house burns look into the eyes of those who did it. They won’t be your enemies, they will be your neighbors who demanded, “enough.”
Wait, you aren’t a MAGA turd??? I am so pleasantly surprised.
We’re conservative in our investments. Period. Anyone with half a brain would have foreseen that the election of Trump or Kamala would have consequences for the stock market (good or bad). We put the majority of our funds in CDs right before the election. I don’t think that’s particularly wise but just common sense. Just plain hedging.
FWIW we did the same thing before Biden came in. And as I recall pretty much every President in the last few elections.
I’m not a DC resident by any means. So f’off Maryland. I spend a lot of time down under and on the East Coast. BTW Spring in NC the last few weeks was breathtakingly gorgeous. In a small town. With supposedly stupid people.
And Antwerp you really epitomize a Loser. With a capitol L I had no idea what would happen or who would be elected. You apparently hate for no reason and seem to look for excuses to do so.
So hate me I don’t care. Go burn a Tesla and tell us how much you love the environment. Then tell us you’re a “liberal”.
I can’t stand Trump but the fact that he’s shaking up DC and what I think is a god-awful status quo is a good thing.
FWIW if you really cared about investments and prescience follow the Pelosi’s. They obviously have an in. And are incredibly corrupt IMO. Trump is small beer compared to those two.
cairns is a MAGA cheerleader despite whatever he says about Trump.
Trump trashed America, America’s global reputation, America’s traditional allies, the strong Biden economy which he inherited in January of this year, and the investments and retirement plans of most Americans. All in less than 100 days. He is a real winner at being a mega-loser for the country.
Oh and Matthew you didn’t really answer any of my questions. You think the SMH is centrist for what reason and how long have been reading that rag?? Why wouldn’t you verify a story with literally any other source before posting it??
This is terrifying. I live in HK and had a trip to Chicago and Boston booked for later this month, so I am flying Cathay, obviously. I have now cancelled. I can’t see myself visiting the US until this craziness is over, which is sad as I have regularly visited the USA many times a year for decades.
Says the guy with SS as his name. According to the left you should be coming here to join the administration.
Good. Don’t come then. Nobody here gives a shit either way.
I have seen Australia refuse some Americans entry into Australia on arrival to SYD en route to New Zealand because they thought the 6-8 hour transit time was insufficient to do anything. It meant escorts back to the international transit security checkpoint and no admission into Australia despite prior visits to Australia without issue.
In this case, however, to transit the US to get a cruise out of the US, there is no option but to be admitted into the US to be able to perform the trip.
Next time you post a political diatribe just state your political preference for politics.
Harris Supporter, Democrat, Liberal, Progressive
I find it sort of interesting how my fellow Americans and other from the anglophone countries who enter the Schengen area at Nordic country airports complain about the questioning that the Nordic country passport control police hit them with even as it pales in comparison to what the US, Canada, UK, and some other anglophone countries do to foreigners from all sorts of countries (even their own). Apparently, this became a hot topic of sort as of late on Flyertalk with a mix of people complaining about the passport control treatment at CPH, ARN, HEL or elsewhere in the Nordic Council countries. But complain about the treatment in the US or UK, and watch them use any excuse under the sun to try to marginalize or even disappear the criticisms of the US and British governments’ agents at the border checks. The fact of the matter is that where the border control agents feel more comfortable speaking extensively in English, the more likely and extensively the questions can get when they are dealing with people from anglophone countries since it’s not a challenge for them to do so.
I have had my own run-ins with Schengen entry passport control at Nordic country airports over the course of my huge number of entries into Schengen at Nordic airports of entry, but it is much better than what I’ve seen done to some of my travel party members or me at various major ports of entry in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia. [CPH passport control a couple of years back even complained to me when I flew from Stockholm to Copenhagen to get to a base in southern Sweden, but it was amusing and informative for the time more than anything else.