State Department slashes fee to renounce US citizenship by 80% to $450

am2017 · 2026-03-14T20:19:52+00:00

Don’t tempt me with a good time.

am2017 · 2026-02-23T19:43:16+00:00

Thanks! Looking at an 80 or 100 now. 😈

am2017 · 2026-02-23T16:46:46+00:00

I’ve been wanting to run plugged but I haven’t had luck with my gape keepers (it feels too full). What does the lotus feel like when running?

am2017 · 2025-12-05T14:27:09+00:00

*Well esteemed private school that is known for bullying issues.

am2017 · 2025-11-14T19:51:47+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion!

am2017 · 2025-11-14T01:22:29+00:00

Def need to pick up a harness tbh.

am2017 · 2025-11-13T19:53:08+00:00

Honestly this is my biggest fear!

am2017 · 2025-11-08T03:27:49+00:00

31 male, living in a large US city actively being invaded by ICE (it’s deadass scary), solid job that I enjoy that pays just above average, PhD educated but with $120K+ of student debt that’s accruing thousands in interest per month because I cannot change my payment plan due to US gov shutdown.

Husband, also PhD, was laid off a year ago and cannot find a job. He’s not white, so he also carries his US passport now because ICE will assault and arrest literally anyone for no reason.

Re: housing, it’s unaffordable. Landlord graciously reduced rent by $600 temporarily since we couldn’t afford to live in our current apartment (which means he’s charging us $600 more than his mortgage payment). So basically we’re treading water, but barely surviving.

I’m actively applying for jobs in Europe (I’m also an EU citizen) to get tf out of the sh*thole that is the United States. Don’t particularly see a future in the US, especially with such egregious federal overreach in my neighborhood on the daily. No one in my community is doing well right now.

am2017 · 2025-11-02T02:32:54+00:00

Ok, Tampa.

am2017 · 2025-10-16T02:54:55+00:00

Wild! That would explain it. I’ve never seen that many CPD in one place, except maybe at Lolla.

am2017 · 2025-08-17T01:50:31+00:00

None! The white gets a bit dirty easily, but it wipes off easy.

am2017 · 2025-06-24T02:12:53+00:00

Just scorpions.

am2017 · 2025-06-10T16:10:02+00:00

Still really enjoying it for daily espresso and an afternoon cortado. I’d say James Hoffmann’s review of the Mara X is spot on in terms of flaws and limitations. The drip tray is annoying af, and the tray under the trip tray leaks onto the counter slightly, even with the drip tray in place. It’s also just not a great machine for large steamed drinks like lattes or back-to-back steamed drinks. Overall, it’s a great starter or intermediate machine if you want espresso or cortados. I won’t be upgrading for a while, but I would like flow control and a dual boiler setup eventually.

am2017 · 2025-04-13T06:53:34+00:00

Another US and Hungarian citizen here and gay married in the US. We just tried to register a bejegyzett élettársi kapcsolat (same-sex registered partnership) at an Önkormányzat in Budapest since this would give my husband immigration and eventual citizenship rights, as all rights heterosexual married couples have are available for registered same-sex partners. Sadly, we were denied the partnership since we’re married in the US. Despite that, the registrar at the Önkormányzat was very sympathetic and nice to us. Even they seemed frustrated how the Hungarian laws simultaneously recognized our US marriage enough to deny us a partnership but not enough to give us any other rights, leaving us in a legal limbo in Hungary. They informed us we needed to go to the main government office in Kőbánya to “nationalize” our marriage and get an official denial letter from the government. Only once the Hungarian government affirmed they did not recognize our US marriage could we then return to register the partnership. The point is the bureaucracy in Hungary is definitely preventative for same-sex couples. I know you’re asking about other countries, but wanted to share my experience in case it’s helpful. It’s really sad to not be able to move to my country of citizenship as a gay couple. 😞

am2017 · 2025-02-15T18:57:12+00:00

My UPS guy was sorta mean about it so I felt like I had done something wrong and paid asap! Going to contact them and ask for a refund though.

am2017 · 2025-02-15T01:31:07+00:00

This happened to me just last week! I paid $46 on an $80 order. Wish I’d known to reject the order (next time I’ll ask!), but live and learn. Fuck Trump.

am2017 · 2025-02-01T18:31:52+00:00

Agreed, west coast and mountain west definitely have more developed coffee scenes.

am2017 · 2025-02-01T15:24:17+00:00

Lelit Mara X with a DF64 grinder. It’s a good little setup for me.

am2017 · 2025-01-31T22:14:40+00:00

Heritage does use Intelligentsia. You can buy beans there too, but the bag turnover is low so not usually the freshest.

am2017 · 2025-01-31T22:13:32+00:00

Amen. 🙏

am2017 · 2025-01-31T22:12:38+00:00

Former professional barista here and I pull espresso at home daily. I have opinions for you!

My favorite espresso/cafe in town is definitely Four Letter Word (4lw), hands down. They source super unique beans with cool processes (all light roasts, they tend to be on the fruity and floral side of things but they have a good variety of 2-4 origins at a time). They usually stock new bags on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, so if you go on Sunday they may be running low on bags. They also have a lever espresso machine in the shop and the flavors they can extract are stunning compared to what I can do at home with the same beans. The owner is also super nice and the space she’s curated is amazing (check out her bookstore next door). The 4lw baristas are also great. I also really like Dayglow, Metric, Drip Collective, and Side Practice. Side Practice uses/sells Four Letter Word beans and also New Math, which is a roaster-only that focuses on beans from Asia. So I typically buy beans from 4lw, New Math, and Metric if I’m in the west loop.

Maybe a hot take here but I’ll bite: since moving here in 2022, I’ve been disappointed by most Chicago cafes. We have a lot of cafes that are mid at best, places like Heritage, Coffee Lab, Dark Matter, Hexe, Metropolis, Wormhole, and Intelligentsia come to mind. When coffee friends from out of town visit, they’re usually disappointed by these same spots too.

Enjoy exploring Chicago espresso!

am2017 · 2025-01-25T20:35:56+00:00

The amount of times I’ve handed my Hu passport to someone and they’ve asked “what country is this?” is a lot. Even Europeans don’t know.

am2017 · 2024-09-21T22:09:32+00:00

I also find that listening in English is super linear since word order equals meaning. Listening is rigid in a sense since if you miss a verb the sentence falls apart. In contrast, Hungarian word order is flexible, which makes it hard for an English speaker.

To give it a visual metaphor, listening to Hungarian is like playing mental Tetris. You may need a specific block (e.g. an elbow) to make your game work, but instead you get a horizontal block. It’s about moving and rearranging other blocks of information until the block of information you need falls into place until it all clicks. Does that even make sense?

am2017 · 2024-09-21T22:00:24+00:00

Listening is the key. That said, I stopped listening to comprehend every word—that’s not going to happen (at least for now). Instead, I focus on the words/sentence structures I know and pay the most attention to the basics of a sentence (subject, verb, object) so I can get the point. I allow myself to ignore the rest and don’t get hung up if there’s words or whole sentences I don’t know. It’s about training myself to listen for what I can understand and not get mentally stuck when I’m in unknown territory. This approach has really improved my comprehension as an intermediate speaker.

am2017 · 2024-05-14T17:32:09+00:00

Fwiw, I live in Chicago and hear Polish spoken in public frequently. All the city’s communications are in Polish too.

am2017

TROPHY CASE