Hello from dark and cold Toronto,
Have I told you lately how much I love going through customs and border checkpoints? On my way to Toronto I had to stop in Houston… which of course meant writing down my name and an address, my passport #, birthdate and then checking “No” wherever indicated on the usual forms.
Then I get some moron peer into my eyes and ask me questions meant to trip me up, like, “What do you do for a living?” as he squints, trying to decipher the true meaning of my response. I've learned now not to tell them that I write “about the criminality and illegitimacy of government”… saves some hassle.
And then I get to reboard another plane and fly to Canada and go through the same rigmarole. This time through I walked up to the counter in Toronto and she looked at my form and said, “Salut, comment ca va?” I just looked at her, confused.
“Why are talking to me in French?” I asked.
“Oh. Well, you filled out the French side of the customs form,” she responded, “Why would you do that if you don’t speak French?”
“I don’t even read those things,” I said flippantly, risking another trip to the “back room”.
I’ve just filled it out so many times that I know exactly what response they want in each box. Normally they can’t even read my printing (I forgot how to handwrite decades ago) and even my printing now looks like a chicken with epilepsy had sex with it.
Here’s a fact. If it wasn’t for government, I’d never need to write or print anything ever again. Think about it. Using a utensil to scrawl words on a piece of parchment?? This is 19th century technology, at best. But, because government never progresses (that’s why still to this day public schools have 1800s style black boards… or if they are really modern, a white board!) it is basically the only place left where you actually have to write something.
In fact, everything about customs/immigrations and TSA checkpoints is ridiculously barbaric. How else would you explain to a visiting alien that it sometimes takes you more than an hour to walk the 100 feet from the immigration checkpoint to the TSA checkpoint. And then you board a free market innovation that can fly you, through the air, in a reclining seat, 700 miles in the same amount of time?
My hand is actually so not used to printing that it begins to cramp up within seconds of having to write my name, address and birthdate… for the 10,000th time… before I get to go and talk to some mindless state drone yet again, for the 10,000th time about where I’m going and what I plan to do.
Just FYI, “It’s none of your business,” as a response never works very well.
It was only after having to deal with two different governments on the same trip that I collected my luggage. I just bought a new suitcase as my old one had shed its mortal coil after seven years and about 70 countries worth of travel. When I checked in at the Acapulco airport they told me that because I had two pieces of luggage that they'd have to charge me $50 for the extra piece… not because of the Mexican airline, but because my United connections demanded that fee. But, they said, because my second piece was very small they suggested I do one of those plastic wrapping things that many airports have.
Side note: This has to be one of the best businesses ever! They wrap your luggage in about 20 cents worth of cellophane and it costs $10!
But, I saved $40 by doing it, so I did it. Both pieces of my luggage were new and they were nicely wrapped in cellophane in Mexico.
This is how it looked by the time it got to Toronto:
I guess it shouldn't have come as a surprise. My flight connection from Mexico to Toronto was through an airport named after one of the most dangerous and notorious crime families on Earth, Houston's Bush Intercontinental. And so, even though I wasn't even travelling to the US, just by having a connection through there I had the entire contents of my luggage ransacked, was man-raped by a TSA accoster (rather than be filmed naked and given a near lethal does of X-rays) and was questioned for a number of minutes like I was a criminal.
Welcome to America! Even just for a connecting flight!
PDAC
After all of that, I am here in Toronto now. The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference begins on Sunday and I'll be speaking at 1:45pm on Sunday in Room 801 of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre South building. Also, the Chief Editor of the TDV Golden Trader, Vin Maru, will be giving his insights into how to trade this gold market at 3:00pm in the same room. You can get into the presentation for free (ie. you don't have to buy a full convention pass), just ask for the “Investor's Exchange” pass on site.
We've had a lot of requests for a TDV Meet-Up like the one we did in Vancouver which attracted quite a large crowd… but because I am not sure of a good location that will be amenable to a large crowd in the vicinity of PDAC, just drop by and see us at our booth outside of Room 801 any time during the day on Sunday. Besides Vin and myself, Managing Editor, Redmond Weissenberger, will also be at the show. We are considering meeting around 4pm-6pm on Sunday somewhere, but we haven't decided where yet.
Or, stay tuned to our Facebook or Twitter pages (we just redesigned our Twitter page, check it out) as we'll announce any Meet-Up locations in realtime there.
LIBERTOPIA SPEECH
Last fall I gave a speech at Libertopia in San Diego called “A Return to Free Market Money and Banking“. They've just uploaded the video of the presentation now. You can see it here:
I'll likely be speaking at Libertopia again this fall, so keep your eyes open for that. I particularly like that the conference is in San Diego so I can fly to much safer and tranquil Tijuana and walk across the border rather than have to fly into a US airport. I am even considering bringing the family this year, chihuahuas and all, because I refuse to ever fly into the US with them as long as the TSA exists.
TDV MARCH ISSUE
The March issue of TDV is set to be released on March 5th. It is, as always, jampacked with info, analysis and ideas on how to survive and profit from the ongoing collapse of the western monetary system including some great insights into expatriation and investing in Brazil and my monthly overview of the state of affairs in the world. Other items we've recently covered in our weekly Interim Updates include detailed information on the new passport opportunity we've uncovered in Eastern Europe and much more. If you aren't already a subscriber, Subscribe today to get direct access to our most actionable intelligence that your government regulated financial advisor will never tell you.
UNTIL NEXT WEEKEND
Stay vigilant and have a great weekend!
