I Wish This Was an April Fool Joke

[kevin_standlee]

...but it's dated last Monday.

US asserts authority to Stop travel from non-US countries to any North American country

Get this? You can't fly from the UK to, say, Toronto for this year's World Fantasy Convention without the permission of the US government, even though you're never going to set foot on US soil, and even if your flight isn't crossing US airspace. And you won't know if you've been granted that permission until you try to board your flight, and if you're denied boarding, it's your own problem and there's no recourse.

Somehow the US government has managed to make the UK and our neighbors knuckle under to this and effectively said that the US controls all North American airspace. What's next, a declaration of annexation of Canada, Mexico, etc.?

I've complained to my (soon-to-be-ex-) congressman, but what can I do about this? And what are Canada, the Bahamas, the UK, etc. thinking in giving away their sovereignty to the the US this way? Can you imaging how angry the US government would be if (say) the UK declared that it had the right to veto travel of anyone traveling from the USA to anywhere in the EU? The USA would say, "No you don't" and would brush it aside.

If I were the Toronto World Fantasy Convention Committee, I would be getting nervous about how many of their members from outside of the USA and Canada will actually be able to attend or will simply cancel their trips rather than deal with the random possibility of being denied boarding because their name appears on a Secret US List.

Comments

[k6rfm.livejournal.com]

Just speculating, but there's a flight regulation that basically says for any point in the flight route, you have to be able to identify an airport you can land at within "n" minutes, where n is between an hour and three hours and depends on the aircraft type (how long it's certified to fly safely with an engine out, basically.) If these flights, even if they don't cross US airspace, use US airports as the designated airport at some point, then presumably if something happened (or somebody on the plane made something happen) at just the right spot, the plane would be forced to land in the US. I guess the DHS wouldn't want people on the No Fly list to get in the US even in an emergency. (Google "ETOPS" for info on the regulation.)

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

Vancouver has been trying to be a global meeting hub as equidistant from Europe and Asia. So much for that concept....

[fcmoulton.livejournal.com]

I recommend the blog post by Bruce Schneier concerning TSA
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2012/03/harms_of_post-9.html
And of course the TSA objected when he was to testify about TSA and he was disinvited
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2012/03/congressional_t.html

[msconduct.livejournal.com]

I'm appalled and horrified. That the US would demand countries (and allies) cede sovereignty is frightening and that they would agree is even worse.

[retro-rider55.livejournal.com]

"Patriot Act = The Terrorists Have Won"

[wayward-va.livejournal.com]

*facepalm*

talk to Canadian ambassador

[jorhett.livejournal.com]

I would have a talk to the Canadian ambassador about whether or not Canada wants to let the US restrict their visitors.

In particular, an ambassador has the rights and privileges to guarantee her travel. In fact, the canadian ambassador could guarantee her right to fly into the US, even :) But seriously, asking him to ensure that Cheryl can fly to Canada is very much worth the effort.