Also, is the President of the United States going to be acquitted on the same day as Brexit?
A few suggestions --
"It's Too Late", Carole King
"Blame It on the Sun" Stevie Wonder
"Idiot Wind" Bob Dylan
So, what actually happens on X day? Do Polish plumbers have to leave the UK? Does everyone have to apply for a new passport? Do they start new border controls on the chunnel, airport, and the ferries?
The actual cliff edge is now Dec 31, IIRC.
Goodbye Stranger.
"Goodbye Belgium, goodbye Spain
Will we ever
Meet again..."
7: Jokes about Brexit being interminable seem more and more like reality.
IANAExpert (is anyone?), but it seems like the most certain thing at this point is the "backstop" deal, right? No "hard border" between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland; instead, a border in the sea if necessary. Everything else in 5 seems like it's still up in the air.
There'll be no frustrations, just friendly crustaceans, under the sea.
I have been wondering if that in the medium term leads to NI leaving the UK and reuniting with the republic, to harmonize the national borders with the customs borders. My Irish informants tell me that the republic does not view this prospect with unmixed positive feelings.
It's rude to generalize, but the Protestant Irish seem kind of pushy and unpleasant.
I find myself thinking about songs with more hurt, and less regret-- not ready to move on yet.
"Walking on a wire" Richard and Linda Thompson.
"What makes think you're the one" Fleetwood Mac
Maybe something county.
"I feel like Hank Williams Tonight " --
https://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/jerry_jeff_walker/i_feel_like_hank_williams_tonight.html
It may be a cliche at this point -- "River" Joni Mitchell
13: I never understood why those Irish Protestants can't be convivial and jolly, like the Irish Catholics.
Similarly, what is it with those Palestinians that they won't endorse the eminently reasonable solution proposed by Jared Kushner?
I'm just pointing out that they seem grumpy even when they get what they want.
13: it's also that the health and social security system in Northern Ireland is extremely generous by Irish standards (and a lot of people in Northern Ireland are using it) so unification would represent a significant financial cost to Ireland. 25% of Northern Irish regional income is a direct grant from the UK government, which Ireland would have a very hard time matching (would come to about €11 billion, or roughly a third of total current Irish government spending). The alternative would be force Northern Ireland to live on what it is actually earning, i.e. not very much.
I never understood why those Irish Protestants can't be convivial and jolly, like the Irish Catholics.
Indeed. The wave of Irish memoirs which dribbled incessantly over bookshops in the last 20 years was not characterised by a general feeling of hilarity and good fellowship.
Didn't the EU already settle on "Auld Lang Syne" as the breakup song?
"Loch Lomond". Possibly rights have been reserved for Scexit though.
Anna Burns's "Milkman" is a superb recent novel about Belfast during the Troubles and has left me with a knot of dread about what happens next, no matter which side comes out on top politically.
19: Wait, are saying that Angela's Ashes isn't a zany romantic comedy? And here I was planning on reading it someday.
Based on a bit of googling inspired by this thread, it seems like the 70s really were the golden age for breakup songs. Post-60s depression, maybe?
I put somethig up in another place (not the other place) about my new Irish passport, which is relevant, since all my Irish ancestors were Protestants, and would writhe in their graves to know that I had a papist passport. Well, my father would have understood. But *his* father ran guns for the Ulster Volunteers in 1912.
Don't for get the mountain goats "no children"
Seventies breakup songs suck, "You're So Vain" excepted, which I think would be good for Belgium, Faster Pussycat's hair metal cover version.
PJ Harvey's Shame and Prince's U Never Call Anymore for the UK on good and bad days respectively?
Somebody I Used to Know maybe for France.
Under My Thumb for Russia.
What are the banking consequences, will Luxembourg be playing Look at Me Now?
All the banking will move to Dublin.
27: You got an ancestry-based Irish passport? I keep on toying with that -- I'm eligible through two grandparents, but it's never seemed useful enough to bother with. But in your shoes, I can completely see that having an EU passport would suddenly be a huge deal.
28 is good, soup:
I hope that our few remaining friends
Give up on trying to save us
I hope we come up with a fail-safe plot
To piss off the dumb few that forgave us
I hope the fences we mended
Fall down beneath their own weight
And I hope we hang on past the last exit
I hope it's already too late
But I can't get an ancestry-based UK passport. Racism against Anglos!
Don't forget the Mountain Goats "The Best Ever Death Metal Band out of Denton" because I love it so, so much.
Does Denton manage to keep the best death metal bands from leaving?
You'll have to listen to find out.
I'm going to figure the answer is yes by a process of pure reason.
What, is Anarchy in the Uk too obvious?
Well, "No Children" is "we're going to perdition but together," which doesn't seem quite right for Brexit. I'd maybe go for "Oceanographer's Choice" as the sick feeling of realizing what the separation will really mean.
32: I would get one because, hey. It's good to have a backup. Shit can hit the fan--we didn't think things would be anything like this ten years ago, and while things probably won't get much worse in the US, I wouldn't discount it. And there are worse places than Ireland to have to spend a few days doing bureaucratic stuff.
My ancestry is too far removed from Ireland to pull that off, but If I stick around here for another six years or so, I can get a second blue passport that also won't give me residency rights in the Costa del Sol.
32: two grandfathers and my father all born in Belfast, so it turned out I was grotesquely overqualified. Also, I wanted to make a gesture that said "not in my name", however self-indulgent. Most of all, I want to be able to travel unhindered to Sweden in future. If I'd qualified, I'd have gone for Swedish.
But there's currently a 2.5 year waiting list for Brits who want to become Swedish, as my son found out last year.
39: Don't know what I want but I know how to Brexit.
It takes that long to become sufficiently glum.
They blame this owl's predicament on global warming, but I think it was just stocking up for Brexit: the tragic story of a little owl who ate so many voles it couldn't fly.
41: Newt has a plan to become Canadian (apparently if you go to a Canadian university for undergrad, all you need to do is get a job once you graduate and they let you in), so I've been thinking of Canada as a fallback if I need to be a climate refugee.
Much of it will; more will just go to Frankfurt. Rees Mogg moved his hedge fund to Dublin over a year ago.
Ireland seems a bit picky. I have an Irish great-great grandfather and grandmother, but that's too far back for their taste. Maybe having read most of Flann O'Brien's and Patrick O'Brian's work would qualify? Not to mention actually reading most of Joyce, including all of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. Literary merit and all that, including incredible perseverance.
I also like Guinness.
If you have money to spare, consider Maltese investor citizenship. It costs something like €1.1 million in total, of which €650,000 is non-refundable, but that's cheaper than investor citizenship anywhere else in the EU (IIRC) and the weather's better.
35: Such a good song. Not a break up song. But yes, never forget it. He has some really good lyrics.
another candidate song: https://twitter.com/tomrosenthal/status/1222242112307187712
There's also the obvious answer -- "Flash's Theme" from the Flash Gordon soundtrack. It's the answer to all musical questions.
Off topic (except maybe in the sense of things that seem off): What pawnshop can sell $35,000 worth of stamps?
You can get St. Lucian citizenship for $100,000. CARICOM is not the EU, but it has its advantages.
I'm thinking the EU has the edge in the climate change stakes.
Yeah, but CARICOM has the edge on rum drinks with pink umbrellas.
If you buy $200,000 in real estate in Dominica, and hold on to it for three years, you can get citizenship.
Its a pretty good deal because Dominica's a little hard up these days, and also has to compete with St. Lucia.
64: That's 50K more than I paid last year for 5 acres of NW Montana with extras like "in a first world country" and "not in a hurricane area", but to each his own.
But Dominica has volcanoes. Does Montana have volcanoes?
I mean, I'm not saying it worked out for Montserrat, just that volcanoes, in principle, are pretty cool.
There's always the Yellowstone caldera super eruption option.
Only while molten. Ugly once cooled.
60: Until the Gulf Stream stops bringing warm water north, that is.
45: Nordic Pink Floyd, "I have become, sufficiently glum..."
||
After last week's horrible experience with my sister-in-law's Solent treatment http://www.unfogged.com/archives/comments_17116.html#2061531 (on the advice of my shrink) I sent her an e-mail saying I'd like things to go more smoothly and could agree to ground rules to maintain civility.
Since she seems to text a lot more than she e-mails, Tim texted it his brother to let him know. His brother said SIL was probably behind on her e-mails. Then Tim said if she could read it and respond yesterday it would be appreciated. We're all going to be together today. Then Tim's brother texted back that he had chatted with SIL and was confused. He thought that the time 2 weeks ago had gone well and that it was important for us all to come together as a family to support their Mother. We could discuss things later. Tim's had brought it up to his mother who had observed the tension to and told Tim she didn't know what to do. I'm certainly not blameless, because my reactions probably fueled SIL's counter-reactions - but the idea that everything went well is just crazy. I get that he doesn't want to talk about it - though SIL has told my MIL that the two of us should just have a heart to heart to work through things - but this is some kind of psychotic distortion of reality.
*Sorry about the lack of html tags. Phone is not cooperating.
|>
Is it possible Tim's brother didn't actually talk to his wife about it? That sounds like something I'd do.
73: I don't know. It seems like it Would be better to say, "let's just leave it for now." I think Tim's brother knows it didn't go well, but I do genuinely think that she might believe everything was fine which just seems bizarre.
71: If the Gulf Stream stops transporting heat the heat stays home. In CARICOM.
66 We're hosting my niece's 19 year old stepdaughter for a couple of weeks, and last night I told her the story of how my wife and I got together. One essential part of the story is an eruption of Mt St Helens that made outdoor work unsafe in Montana.
Montana lacks volcanoes but imports sufficient volcanic ash.
||
China's appetite for tripe, liver and kidneys means offal imports from the U.S. are worth about six times as much as the beef trade at present.|>
When I was a student in England, I used to buy cheap steak and kidney pies. I finally stopped because I couldn't tell the steak from the kidney and that made me think it must have been very bad steak.
My friend Julian got us barred for life from the chippie in Biggar by observing that the sign outside saying "Beware of the Dog" (it was that kind of town, and probably still is) might just as well have read "Beware of the steak pie -- it comes to the same thing in the end"
The worst I ever ate at the chippie was the sausage.
||
NMM to Andy Gill. Truly one of the greatest guitarists ever. I am utterly bereft.
|>
In Yorkshire potted beef is unniversally referred to as potted dog. If a sandwich shop barred everybody who asked them for "Potted dog and salad, no cream", they'd go out of business in a week.
Saw him on the 2005 reunion tour (lurid too). What a show.
||
Because I'm just generally gloomy and thinking about euthanasia this morning, I have a question for the commentariat: what happens to poor people with Alzheimer's in the US? I've read, and urge others to read, Roz Chast's account of her parents' declines and deaths, "Can't we talk about something more pleasant", but they had savings. What happens to the millions who don't?
|>
Sadly, I don't qualify for any kind of EU passport.* But we need to make sure my son gets the one he is entitled to.
if _Scotland_ eventually leaves the UK, and joins the EU, I've no idea WTF I'd do, as I was born in London. Although we moved back to Scotland when I was about 4 weeks old.
* to the best of my knowledge, my Dad's family are all Irish if you go back far enough**
** by which I mean the early 19th century, not Dalriada.***
*** although, obviously, probably there, too.****
**** but sadly too far back to qualify for a passport.
94: Medicare, the program that pays for health care for Boomers, won't pay for a nursing home or similar. Medicaid, the program that pay for health care for the poor, will pay for nursing care. Unlike Medicare, Medicaid is stingy in what it pays to providers, so it can be difficult to find a home if you are paying with Medicaid. My guess is that it is close to impossible for certain geographic areas and levels of need, but I don't know for certain. I think quality of care is generally good, but it will vary by state.
Also, if you don't limit "poor" to real poverty but instead look at middle class people who were comfortably retired but can't pay for a nursing home for very long, you have to exhaust all nearly all your assets to use Medicaid. There's a formal "spend down" process where somebody with middle class level assets pays for less and less of their own care as these assets go away. After the assets are down to nothing, the government takes what income you do have to pay and then pays the rest. There are various steps taken to make is harder to game the system by giving away assets once you need nursing care. There are provisions to leave enough for the support of a spouse but they are stingy enough that instrumental divorce is supposedly common.
You can purchase long-term care insurance. I don't know how many people do that or what it costs, but I'm supposed to look into purchasing a policy in 2022.
95. I predict that the citizenship status of people like you will be the first big hammer and tongs political fight in independent Scotland. But I also predict that they'll end up with a system modelled on the Irish one, so that if you can document a grandparent born in the country you'll be good. They won't ultimatly want to exclude the intellectual and commercial diaspora; it would make them look bad.
re: 97
Possibly, yeah. I think you are right.
Also, Scotland is very different* in its attitude to immigration. Which I suspect will help. Two grandparents, one parent, born in Scotland. My brother and sister, both born in Scotland. Went to school, and university in Scotland, and lived there for 28 years. So, I'd like to hope there'd be some kind of route for someone not actually physically born in Scotland, to gain citizenship if independence happens.
Ironically, I have two very close friends and drinking buddies, both of whom live one street away from me in London. Both Irish. But both had to get Irish citizenship for their kids through their grandparents, because, as would be fairly typical, their parents AND their wives' parents (also Irish) all came to live and work in the UK in the late 60s and early 70s, and they were all born here before they moved back as kids.
* this doesn't, of course, mean magically immune to racism or xenophobia.
This is probably relevant to something.
The first pan-Europeans with beards?
Led Zeppelin was good, but the people who added the kittens had the genius.
98.3. Yes, my brother in law is in a similar situation regarding getting Irish passports for his kids. He has one himself, but he was born in the USA and lives in England.
NW, 94 is a reasonably good summary. People who have less than $5,000 of assets not including primary residence (or vehicle, I think) qualify for Medicaid. Medicaid reimburses nursing homes. They are generally less nice (like a school or hospital more than like a large home), but not bad if the person affected has involved family members (which may or may not be the case). Medicaid has a "lookback" of five years, so you can't game it by "giving" your children $10K per year that they will spend on your care. You have to manage carefully if you're able to afford a private facility, because there is a lag between hitting the asset requirement to convert from private pay to Medicaid and approval into the program. In some ways, it's straightforward if you don't really have any money - apply and get on a waiting list for a facility. Lists can be long in some cases, but average is months, not years. If you have to spend down assets, you can't make large gifts, and the most straightforward is to move into a private facility which also takes Medicaid (not all do), then sell the house at just the right point to bridge the gap. Private pay facilities typically cost $7,000-20,000 per month, depending on the level of care and location. Another difficulty is married couples who aren't rich. The rules are sort of complicated about community property. They're theoretically not supposed to bankrupt the surviving spouse while the sick one qualifies for Medicaid, but managing this generally requires a lawyer or other professional who really understands the rules and can divide up assets appropriately.
thanks, ydnew and Moby. The cost of high end private care is startling to me. But things aren't as bad as I supposed
Agree with 97. I'm sure, though, that the new country will welcome all the white immigrants it can get.
103: Thanks. I wasn't really sure how it worked with spouses because it never came up for us.
The private ones really do strive to look like a house, with some success. My mom has a private suite with a bedroom and a living room. It's been a couple of years and my mom still thinks she is at home. We, with the encouragement of the staff, moved in a bunch of her stuff to make it look like that. She thinks she is in the basement watching TV because that's where they watched TV at home. That she is looking out a second floor window and describing looking down on things doesn't register as a contradiction. I think it's just the overall ambiance that is registering and discordant details just don't gain any foothold.
Periodically, rooms with better views open up, but there's probably not a single view in all of Lincoln worth the hassle of getting somebody with no ability to form new memories to learn to go back to a different room.
Some of the places we looked into tried for a homey-vibe in the rooms and a fake downtown-in-1950-vibe in the common areas. Posters of Bogart and Bacall, a retro store front in front of the cafeteria, model cars with tailfins, etc. So now my greatest fear is my son dropping me off at a place where there is a Heathers poster on the wall and telling me that I'm home and I'm just aware enough to notice the problem but not enough to articulate a sentence pointing this out.
OT: So, I have learned how to understand the Lycoming Co property website. The parcel I noted as being listed for sale doesn't intersect with a trail. It's a narrow strip with 300' of creek frontage and going back about 2000', which looks to be about as far back as you can walk before the hill gets steep enough you'd need to climb. There are a half dozen similar properties in the same situation, except they have cabins. Two of them sold fairly recently for much, much less than what that is listed for. I can't figure out what they are doing, unless it includes the property next door (owned by a family member).
Ydnew's summary is excellent. If any Americans find yourself in that situation, get an elder law lawyer, especially if the person involved is married.
It's probably going to be seen as rude to ask a potential lawyer if they are married.
The whole Medicaid thing above sounds to me (although reasonably generous if stickily implemented) like a de facto estate tax on everyone who isn't wealthy enough to be certain of private care until their deaths. Which is to say, very wealthy indeed. A nearly 100% tax, which isn't even paid to the state but to private parties.
I don't know the numbers, but a substantial percentage must die without needing long term care.
For starters, we shoot each other entirely more often than you'd think.
I mean, more than you'd think based on a process of pure reason.
Plus, we now have a salted Pop Tart. That's going to take out more than a few.
Ex recto, the middle classes are both less likely to get shot and more likely to need long-term care. America! You regress to excess.
Mike Bloomberg just reminded everybody watching the Super Bowl about shooting.
Also, the Planter's Peanut is some kind of phoenix, reborn from its own grave. That can't be good for us mortals.
A nearly 100% tax, which isn't even paid to the state but to private parties.
Also we are expected to spend our entire careers saving up for it.
Won't somebody think of the bankers.
In America, public restroom doors have gaps so that you can see people coming into the room in case you need to shoot them.
Thanks, 112. 114 pretty much nails it. I used to know stats on average stay in a care facility. It's not all that long, normally, maybe 3 months? Not a lot of families need to juggle the spenddown and transition to Medicaid. AJ's grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at 90 and lived to 93, had some assets and income but not enough for the end of her life so had to do the transition.
Dad was really worried about affording Mom's care (about 4 years total in a facility, roughly $400,000 out of pocket not including extra medical like the fancy prescription to limit crying jags). Luckily (?), my grandmother died about a year earlier, and Mom's inheritance, due to a property in CA held since 1947, was enough to cover her care plus a bit more, but I know it would have wiped out a significant fraction of Dad's savings, and he's "only" 71. If she'd lived longer or he'd needed to place her sooner, or if she hadn't had that inheritance, it might have been grim.
It's a problem that saps a lot of wealth, but the cases tend to be somewhat unusual in the US. For now.
It's a problem that successive UK governments refuse to face. The problem here is that if you die of cancer your care is free but if you die of Alzheimer's, you have to pay for it. Theresa May quite probably lost her majority in the 2017 election because of a policy to do something about this, which involved using people's houses to pay for social care that was immediately denounced as a "dementia tax". The proposed limit on capital was much more generous than medicaid -- £100,000 -- but much more widely applied. You couldn't dodge it by dying at home.
Given that in this country the house represents almost everyone's capital, anything that erodes its value to the family is poison among the electorate (disproportionately house owners).
I guess I'm not inclined to snark on Irish Protestants at the moment. I just think this is a very bad thing for Northern Ireland, for Catholics and Protestants alike.
So the Iowa caucus is a complete clusterfuck, how about that?
It's almost as if caucuses are a terrible process for making important decisions.
My favorite anecdote was precinct chairs calling in the night of the caucus to learn how the app works. Which I can totally believe. There's probably been 25 emails and calls about the new app, and hey attend the new app training, and make sure you're all set with the new app, and then it's last night and several people are like wait, what? app?