It's been a long time since I posted anything here, I know, but I'm on another forced exile, this time spent exclusively in Tucson, and a few people have expressed enthusiasm for the blog, so I thought the time was write to pick it up again.
Quick update: Although the Czech Ministry declares on its own website that it is required to give an answer for an appeal of a decision to deny a business visa application within 30 days, in fact we were only able to get an answer after about 130 — and that only when my friend Jiri spent many, many hours on the phone chasing down an appropriate person, and, once hey got a power-of-attorney from me, eliciting a "no" from them. Their formal answer arrived here in Tucson about three weeks — another 21 days — later.
Anyway, once I got the "no" from the Ministry, I decided to explore the possibility of getting a residence permit instead of a business visa, tied to employment in my own Czech company. In other words, I would pay myself a salary — and the substantial taxes due on salary — and use that to apply for a residence permit. It was under such a system that I lived in Europe from 2007-2019 (first as an employee of the Hudson Legal (and then Legalis) legal recruiting agency, and then as an employee of my own company, CEE Legal Matters Kft.), so I was kind of familiar with it.
I started by reaching out to an immigration agency that advertised its ability to help people in my situation, and they agreed to assist me immediately. Among other things, they said this is the process I should have initiated from the very beginning — the Business Visa process, they conceded, should have been the right one, but in practice the Czech government apparently almost never gives them out, preferring instead to see applications in the residence permit process, which of course involves payment of taxes and other social contributions.
That actually makes sense to me — a government has every right to suggest that, if foreigners would like to live in their country, those foreigners should pay the freight. But I sure wish they had told me that at the beginning, instead of allowing me to go down the Business-Visa road for what turned out to be almost nine months before giving me a final answer.
C'est la vie.
In any event, my tourist visa expired around August 18th, and I was forced to leave Prague yet again. The new process, the agency says, should only take 45-60 days from the date of application (instead of the 90 of the Business Visa), and we finally got all the documents together and submitted them on September 10, so I'm hanging out in Tucson, again, until at least late October. If, again, they delay in giving me an answer, I'll qualify for a new tourist visa again on November 15, so ... it won't be too much longer after that.
In the meantime, my friend Rick has generously invited me to stay in his house while he house-sits at a friend's place, and my friend Matt has given me one of his cars to use while I'm here, so I'm saving a lot of money by staying in Tucson while I wait — not to mention playing a lot of tennis and seeing friends. It's not ideal — I'd sure like to be back in Prague, in my own apartment, enjoying the fall weather, hanging out with Catalina, but ... I'll survive.
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Ok, now you're up to speed. So a quick comment on a completely different subject.
A friend recently wrote a post on facebook noting that he had cancelled his Disney+ account in protest of Disney's suspension of late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, following Kimmel's comments about the controversial finger-pointing following the shooting of Conservative Charlie Kirk. That friend's Facebook friends clearly include some conservatives, including one who, in one comment, suggested that "Everyone knows jimmy is a trump hating lib-tard," and that "The left has become the party of hate and violence," and then in a subsequent comment wrote that liberals "gunned down" Kirk and then played the victim.
In response, I wrote that:
"That's a little unfair, no? Liberals as a 'group' didn't gun down anybody. Even though I'm a liberal, I *promise*, I neither gunned anybody down, nor wanted anybody "gunned down." I worry that you've been taught to think of 'Liberals' or 'Libtards' as your enemy, even though what *I* want, at least, is a country where we help the needy and support each other, regardless of ethnic, racial, sexual, or gender-identity difference. I get the sense you think 'Liberals' stand for something else — and who knows, maybe some of them do! But you might also be surprised. I, as a Libtard male, enjoy watching football, like girls, and have beers with friends. It turns out that 'Liberals' are just other Americans. I promise. If someone commits a crime, he should absolutely be arrested and prosecuted. But despite what some in this country may be trying to tell you, 'Liberals' are not your enemy. They're just other Americans."
Two quick follow-up thoughts on this. First, simply, I think we all need to focus on this kind of communication method. I notice that a lot of other responses to my friend's conservative friend's comments are hostile, aggressive, and sometimes vulgar. And those are written by people on my side of the aisle! I think we would do better to engage — perhaps worry less about scoring points, and more about friendly conversation.
Second, the amount of hatred and vitriol directed at liberals continues to confuse me. It has always seemed to me that the worst you can accuse liberals of — at least middle-and-upper-class liberals — is naivete. Sure, maybe they're naive about human nature and the power of government to help. Maybe they're naive about the seductive power of big government. But, after all, what they're advocating for is increasing their own tax burden to help other people. Warping that into an accusation of evil takes mental calisthenics I can't quite understand. Yes, they're spending other people's money. But they're also spending their own! How is that ... how is that evil?
Where in the world does the hatred and scorn come from? Accuse liberals of being naive, if you want. Accuse them of being too free with other peoples' money (as long as you acknowledge they're also spending their own). Accuse them of being too innocent about human nature. Of being children.
But do we really hate children for wanting to share toys? Do we call them evil?
It's bizarre to me. And maybe liberals should do a better job of explaining their positions, I guess.
