Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for February 07, 2023

Here’s an old joke with a new twist:

A man from Texas, a man from California, and a man from Oregon are all sitting around a campfire. The Texan takes a flask from his pocket, uncorks it, takes one swig, and then hurls the flask high into the air. He takes his six-shooter out, aims, and BLAM! glass shards and whiskey are coming down.

“Why’d you do that?” the other men want to know.

“We have a LOT of whiskey in Texas,” he explains.

Not to be outdone, the Californian removes a wine bottle from his pocket, uncorks it, takes a sip, and then hurls the rest of the bottle into the air. He takes his six-shooter out, and BLAM! glass shards and wine are coming down.

“We have a LOT of wine in California,” he says.

Without saying a word, the Oregonian takes out his gun and shoots the Californian.

Jhomas Tefferson and Ohn Jadams took a piece off of Shilliam Wakespere’s chair?!

The purpose of that quarterly report, which began in the 90s, is to discourage rich people from discretely renouncing citizenship to save money on taxes by making some forms of voluntary expatriation public information. The explicit reasoning was that it would shame and embarrass them. Whether or not it works is still a matter of debate.

Just the sort of thing a founding father wood do, chip off a piece of Shakes-Chair! Better yet, they could have bought a piece of the “True Cross” somewhere in Europe.

Rubber workers in South American jungles, starting in the 1800s, were treated very badly and died in high numbers.

I guess it’s almost ancient history now, but we have some involuntary expatriates right here on RBION. Hi-yo Silver!

Henry Ford’s rubber plantation. Nope, I’m gonna resist temptation! Soooo… Tuco thanks for the great explanation Of Mardi Gras a few days ago. Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Best to Mr and Mrs Fogwhistle!

Adams and Jefferson both died on the same date, July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

And apparently you have to ask permission from the U.S. government to renounce your citizenship. It has to be done in person at a U.S. embassy. I bet dollars to doughnuts that they want to make sure you don’t owe back taxes to Uncle Sam. And if you are a serious tax scofflaw, I bet you’re arrested on the spot.

He was a massive fraud and his works were plagiarized from my very tomes secreted in the catacombs of my lair. ~ Willard Wiggleknife

Take care, may Presidential Library mopper Carol “Someday That Bucket Will Be President And We’ll All Be Better Off For It” Charwomanord be with you, and gesundheit.

With 90% of the natural rubber being located in Asia, it seems far more likely it was the end of WWII that was the biggest factor in a Brazilian rubber factory closing.

How STUPID CAN ONE BE to give up their US citizenship!

It’s an expensive and time-consuming process, but the politicians in Washington DC are such blood-sucking parasites that for some people it’s worth it.

Tina Turner, for instance.

Only two countries in the world tax income earned by people who no longer reside in that country. The United States is one.

BTW, there used to be another one.

East Germany required people who left for the Free World to pay an “exit tax”. Completely different from buying their freedom, some would argue. Not at all like manumitting a slave, they would say.

It can work the other way.

George H. W. Bush had an official residence in Texas, in a hotel suite. Texas has no state income tax.

Did he live there when in Texas? Did the hotel rent out that suite when he wasn’t around?

I don’t know for sure, but I know which way to guess.

Fordlandia is a very interesting story – and it was NOT a failure. At it’s peak, it was very successful and ahead of it’s time. It simply outlived it’s usefulness when the import of rubber became less expensive from other venues (thanks to Goodyear).

Something I read on Wikipedia about Perry Como caught my eye and should be shared.

Como,a devout Catholic,would frequently take a break in the middle of rehearsals to go to confession.

He would usually send a particular staff member to hold a placein line for him to make sure he didn’t waste a trip.

But the staff member was Jewish.The man often wondered what would happen if his turn came before Como got there.

Give it up Templo. Your comment is not the least funny. Jason would be offended that you store his thunder. lol

Thousands of us have become expatriates from the sinking ship known as “Illinois”

I would have written “future Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson”.

Fordlandia was not a failure, rubber was a failure as a synthetic had been designed.

One time I was four months old.

May the Lord be with you as He is with me.

Both Adams and Jefferson were Vice-president before becoming President. So what? So, topical.

YouTube keeps showing me videos of Vice-presidents dancing.

Must be the Al Gore Rhythm.

Another? All right.

If you ever feel useless…

Just remember that it took the US 4 presidents, Trillions of dollars, thousands of lives, and 20 years to replace the Taliban with…

the Taliban.

John Ford’s attempt to introduce controlled daily living. His intended victims/experimental animals preferred to live their own lives. Good for them.

Last one.

What’s the most unfair thing about American politics?

We get 50 choices for Miss America, but only two for the president of the United States.

Did anyone else notice that our artist, Kathy Castaño, listed herself as an ex-pat?

Great to see CharlieFogwhistle back on the air! You go, Charlie!