miami and the keys picture post

[amw]

Okay. I am something like 15 hours removed from my flight to Panama. I really hope that they don't institute some new bullshit COVID restrictions in the next day because the US and Canada both did. I could very well end up stuck down there without an easy way to get out of the country due to omicron, but i think i'd rather be stuck in a weird

Comments

[newwaytowrite]

I love that your bike is going to some person who could really use it.
We did the same thing five years ago with our bikes and all our cycling gear and tools. There is a group that help street people and homeless and working poor. They have a member who takes in bikes and rehabs them and folks who need them get them. Many people who have received this type of transport say it really made a difference when needing to travel to get services and assistance.

I thank you for choosing this route. We just never know how transformative a gesture to help a stranger can be.

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[amw]

I can't fault countries for wanting immigrants to be vaccinated - that is a long-established precedent, many countries have required it for many years. I could even accept some degree of testing or quarantine, especially in small countries whose health system could easily be overwhelmed by sick foreigners coming in. But what annoys me is when countries change their requirements overnight, or when they target specific other countries instead of creating a consistent policy. It's also bullshit that COVID PCR tests still cost hundreds of dollars - it should not be so expensive to get something that is now required to travel many places, even when you are vaccinated.

In short, i think what upsets me is the inconsistency and the price barriers. A much more fair rule would be all vaccines are free and only vaccinated are allowed to travel. Then everyone can make a choice and nobody is discriminated against due to country of origin or income level.

[olamina]

I imagine Italian food is popular there because Havana pre-revolution was a Mafia haven. They basically ran the place.

[olamina]

America is not gonna fix America's problems.

[amw]

That's pessimistic! Do you think an external force will be necessary to readjust? I feel like for internal reform it seems to be most successful when it comes from inside, and not imposed by an outside force. Practically speaking, i don't see any group being powerful enough to change America aside from China, and Chinese hegemony under Xi would be much, much worse. (I wish the UN could play this role, but it doesn't really work the way it could/should.)

[olamina]

You know me...cranky anarchist-type. I don't think nation states are going to be forces for positive change moving forward. Their time is over and they are all just scrambling for the last few crumbs.

[amw]

I am an anarchist idealist, in the sense i appreciate the philosophy and the promise of what it could be. But also i don't think that kind of structure will ever realistically come to be, except as short-lived experiments or breakdowns of traditional forms of control in failed states.

Perhaps i'm the pessimistic one, because i don't see traditional states going anywhere in our lifetimes. I do hope that nation states die, though. That is: states based on ethnic homogeneity. I don't think it's sustainable to run a state like that. I like the idea that there are nations, and there are states, and they may overlap, but there shouldn't be a state that excludes people from other nations from immigrating, if that makes sense. That's anti-democratic.