I got out of Iraq just in time - Not political related

Just remember that what is legal and what is ethical are two very different things.

And regarding the general topic, I think people should generally reserve their feelings about anywhere they've never personally visited, until after they either visit or have some sort of thorough investigative understanding of the area. Even above Motion mentioning "Mexico" while I'm sure he knows there are parts of Mexico that are wildly dangerous and parts of Mexico that are incredibly safer than many other parts of the world. To generalize a country of that size with that diversity of "safe-ness" is far from accurate.

 

LMAO, which part of Mexico is incredibly safer? I've been going to Mex my entire life. The Cartel controls most of the country.

 

Mainly Baja Sur. Not sure how long ago it was that you visited, but the violent crime there is very low. Yes, there's pick pockets by the CSL Marina and they're try to sell you weed or coke, but that's about it. There's a TON of ex-pat Americans and Europeans flooding in there + all the tourism that started in the 90s and hasn't stopped. It's removed from the mainland area and is also not en-route for any cartel traffic, so they've done a great job of keeping it chill there. I've stayed there cumulatively about 9 months over the past 3-4 years and traveled all over Baja Sur; Los Cabos, Todos Santos, La Paz, and all the areas between.

I never felt even a slight threat or concern. Everyone is super nice, helpful, lots of people speak at least some English and I speak some Spanish. A few years ago I was going so frequently for work I considered buying a place to Air BNB when I wasn't there and I wish I would have because prices around Todos Santos are almost like LA prices. A really nice 2 bedroom house with a bit of land and a garage that I toured sold for $110k and it's now worth around $250-300k

 

Ahhhh yeah, the place where Jim Race was "disappeared". Yeah have been there recently. The Cartel owns most of that area too.

 

https://www.visionofhumanity.org/maps/mexico-peace-index/#/

Just an example of the safeness diversity I speak of. Mexico is not that unique in this. For instance in California, Oakland regularly tops the "most dangerous city" list in the State. A short drive away is Sonoma Wine Country.

 

whats the story there, hadn't realized how long it's been since i saw him.

 

There is very little information. The person who gave me a few pieces back in those days is now in prison for stalking. The beeb ain't boring.

 

About Jim?

 

The story I got from a gal that was down there with his group, is that allegedly, Jim was put in charge of some funds before they realized that he had a serious drinking problem. Jim was said to have gotten involved with some seedy locals and both Jim and said funds disappeared. Apparently there was some quasi amateur/local police investigation that turned up nothing, and that was pretty much the end of it.

 

Good lord if that isn't true.

 

Hey, OrangeMan just added Cote D'Ivoire to the travel restrictions list, so we can talk all the shit we want to to you, you can't come do jack about it!!!

BTW... how the hell do you put the funny little hat on the 'o' in Cote?

 

Nôt sure.

 

I have people on the inside. The conservation of the smoke is safe as a random white guy in California State prison.

I only know how to do it on a French keyboard.

 

Nô

 

Let’s start with Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago.

 

It has been probably 10-15 years ago. I found most of Mexico south of Mexico City to be reasonable. The further south I rode, the better things were. But I was just a guy with a Russian passport traveling on a FZ1. That may confused local police during a few check points. Beautiful country overall, and great memories.

 

Something I don't understand. Iran has a gdp of 350 billion. My state of Washington has a gdp of 800 billion. They are taking in more taxes than ever and somehow we have a budget shortfall, just passed like a 9 billion budget.

Can't hire enough police, roads suck, homeless. We don't even have any cool rockets or missles or anything.

Iran must have their dei, LGBT and homeless apparatus pretty well dialed in because it apparently costs them nothing as far as budgetary numbers.

With the kind of money we got in WA we should be lunching attacks on OR and ID every weekend.

 

Aside from everything being cheaper in Iran, there’s less infrastructure to take care of and the expected quality of life for the average inhabitant is lower.

If you compared GDP relative to median income per person, you’d get a better picture.
I’m certainly not supporting adding billions more to the budget, but it is far from a fair comparison.

 

Perhaps a friend of motion?

https://x.com/i/status/1935052702230397319