# The Unitd States of Cunts

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [February 25, 2017, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738 "2017-02-25T15:37:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 13\
**Page:** 9

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/161 "2017-02-28T20:35:43Z")

</div>

> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#):
>
> [Trump insider blames the bomb threats on Jewish centers on Democrats.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-democrats-jcc-threats_us_58b5a457e4b0780bac2d90a4?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013&section=politics)

And Trump is trying to claim that it’s Jews themselves who are making the threats.

> <https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/836653660864147456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/162 "2017-02-28T20:53:43Z")

</div>

> [@Melbourne](#):
>
> Although the example I refered to above happened in the 00’s, to my knowledge, authors on book tours being stopped at the US border goes back, in my personal knwoledge, to the 1970’s. And I’m sure it only starts there because I have no personal knowledge of anything earlier.
> 
> Although there are a lot of people who would like to be Americans, and more who would like to live in America, there are even more that would like to _work_ in America (and in the UK). And they stop a lot of people at the border who would like to _work_ in America (and in the UK).
> 
> Getting a work visa for the US (or the UK) is a lot more difficult than getting a tourist visa, and for the last 50 years or whatever, authors have been going on book tours on tourist visas, and been getting stopped at the US border.
> 
> (That doesn’t excuse rudeness.)

You don’t need a work visa for an unpaid business-related visit. For visa purposes a book tour would be “business”, not “work”, just like attending a conference or a business meeting. You would get in with a routine B-1 business visa.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/163 "2017-02-28T22:00:26Z")

</div>

I think I’m okay with the rudeness, insolence, assholery, power-drunk, incompassion and intolerance … what bothers me the most is the side-splitting laughter …  
“Whaddya mean I have to take off my clothes?”  
“TAKE OFF YOUR CLOTHES hippy-freak … HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW [2,156 'haw’s removed per spamming rules]”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/164 "2017-02-28T22:10:26Z")

</div>

> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#):
>
> And Trump is trying to claim that it’s Jews themselves who are making the threats.  
> [x.com](https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/836653660864147456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

I’m twitter-blocked at work. What did the Idiot-In Chief say?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/165 "2017-02-28T22:39:43Z")

</div>

> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> I’m twitter-blocked at work. What did the Idiot-In Chief say?

Chris Geidner of Buzzfeed reported that Attorney General Shapiro of Pennsylvania told him what Trump had told the state AGs in a meeting:  
[https://latest.com/2017/02/trump-tells-ags-anti-semitic-threats-attacks-might-be-reverse-false-flags-to-make-others-look-bad/](https://latest.com/2017/02/trump-tells-ags-anti-semitic-threats-attacks-might-be-reverse-false-flags-to-make-others-look-bad/)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/166 "2017-02-28T23:51:23Z")

</div>

> [@FlikTheBlue](#):
>
> Trump has been in office for just over a month now. Although obviously Obama did not personally handle the hiring of ICE officers, I do wonder about how so many assholes ended up in the ranks of ICE.

Well, we don’t hear about customs agents who do their jobs with quiet dignity - we only hear about the ones who:

1. Did something good (caught an actual terrorist);
2. Made a false positive (hassled someone who us armchair quarterbacks can see obviously isn’t a terrorist);
3. Screwed up (allowed a terrorist through).

Given how none of them want to be in the third category, I’m not surprised by how many end up in the second.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/167 "2017-03-01T02:01:58Z")

</div>

> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> You don’t need a work visa for an unpaid business-related visit. For visa purposes a book tour would be “business”, not “work”, just like attending a conference or a business meeting. You would get in with a routine B-1 business visa.

Thank you for the clarification. Both Ian McEwan, and my contact from the 70’s, were stopped because there was too much money, and too much book touring. Ian, I think, was not inclined to come back again. My Aus/Canadian contact from the 70’s was told not to come back again.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/168 "2017-03-01T04:29:21Z")

</div>

> [@Melbourne](#):
>
> Thank you for the clarification. Both Ian McEwan, and my contact from the 70’s, were stopped because there was too much money, and too much book touring. Ian, I think, was not inclined to come back again. My Aus/Canadian contact from the 70’s was told not to come back again.

Did you not see where I addressed this point both in post #54 and again in post #156?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/169 "2017-03-01T09:47:32Z")

</div>

> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#):
>
> Well, we don’t hear about customs agents who do their jobs with quiet dignity - we only hear about the ones who:
> 
> 1. Did something good (caught an actual terrorist);
> 2. Made a false positive (hassled someone who us armchair quarterbacks can see obviously isn’t a terrorist);
> 3. Screwed up (allowed a terrorist through).
> 
> Given how none of them want to be in the third category, I’m not surprised by how many end up in the second.

There is a big distinction between what I’d call (2a) questioning someone you find suspicious in a businesslike manner, or (2b) questioning that person in a belligerent and assholish manner from the get-go, in both cases while you’re trying to determine whether there’s nothing to your suspicions and let them through, or whether something bothers you enough to kick them up to the next level, whatever that may be.

There sure is a lot of anecdotal evidence that there’s a lot of 2b’s in ICE.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/170 "2017-03-01T15:56:22Z")

</div>

> [@RTFirefly](#):
>
> There is a big distinction between what I’d call (2a) questioning someone you find suspicious in a businesslike manner, or (2b) questioning that person in a belligerent and assholish manner from the get-go

But we don’t hear about the 2a cases, where someone obviously not a terrorist (to our eyes) was asked a few (or even a lot of) businesslike questions and then allowed through.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/171 "2017-03-01T18:41:46Z")

</div>

> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#):
>
> But we don’t hear about the 2a cases, where someone obviously not a terrorist (to our eyes) was asked a few (or even a lot of) businesslike questions and then allowed through.

Here’s one from the weekend: [Nigerian engineer handed written test at New York airport](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-39127617)

> [@](#):
>
> A software engineer from Lagos, Nigeria, is claiming that he was made to sit a written test by US airport immigration officers because they weren’t convinced he was telling the truth about his skills.

Not sure who was qualified to mark the answers.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/172 "2017-03-01T19:40:59Z")

</div>

Heh… like the Nigerian, I also have a Software Engineering degree, and I’m not sure if I could casually answer these questions:

> [@the article cited](#):
>
> “Write a function to check if a Binary Search Tree is balanced.”  
> “What is an abstract class, and why do you need it?”

…especially after a long flight. I suppose the first question could involve using a global variable to count the length of the leftmost branch and then check to see if every other branch is the same length (or at most one longer or shorter, depending on how fussy we are about “balanced”). For the second, I vaguely recall the definition and uses of abstract classes, but before implementing them I’d have to quickly refresh my memory by doing some quick googling. I know I could describe the _concepts_ of a binary tree and probably an abstract class in some detail, though I don’t do enough day-to-day programming to just spit out some code off the top of my head.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/173 "2017-03-02T00:19:26Z")

</div>

> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> I’m twitter-blocked at work. What did the Idiot-In Chief say?

The son of a bitch is saying it’s all a conspiracy to make him look bad.

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/28/trump-is-reportedly-hinting-that-anti-semitic-incidents-are-false-flags-it-wouldnt-be-the-first-time/?postshare=9891488312274172&tid=ss\_tw&utm\_term=.11f59f975822](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/28/trump-is-reportedly-hinting-that-anti-semitic-incidents-are-false-flags-it-wouldnt-be-the-first-time/?postshare=9891488312274172&tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.11f59f975822)  
_He may have gotten this idea from any one of his Breitbart-humping advisers, since Breitbart has been going down this InfoWars-esqe path of declaring that violence among Trump supporters is being “incited” by sneaky liberals for some time. He may have gotten this idea from infamous heap of rancid racist garbage David Duke, who has been promoting this precise theory himself. He may have gotten this idea from his conspiracy buddy Alex Jones, who believes that everything from Sandy Hook to 9/11 to take-your-pick is a “false flag” conspiracy to steal your guns, freedoms, or precious bodily fluids._

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738.md?page=8)
