I suppose my red line happened when I turned 60 last year and realized, primarily due to the cost of healthcare, that I really can't afford to live and retire in this country the way I hoped. I truly believe that everything that is happening is a direct failure of our public education system, the failure to support teachers and educational access for all, resulting in a large percentage of the population becoming ignorant and scared. I'm not a Pollyanna and do believe that we are a warring species at heart, which has taken me a lifetime to accept. But witnessing the flagrant cruelty play out with and those in government sitting silently in order to protect their own personal wealth is grotesque. It reminds me of the silent movie Greed by Erich von Stroheim:
Page - your thoughts on education are very interesting. I think you're probably right. Your thoughts remind me of a discussion I once had about what humanity's greatest invention is. My vote for humanity's greatest invention was "the scientific method" - all the other great inventions flow directly from that. Your ideas about education have the same quality - much of the national degradation flow out of a single failing.
And of course I agree with you about the state of healthcare in the US.
I am ready to go, too. Husband’s approaching retirement is keeping us here for now. Friends tell me optimistically to stay and fight, but I’m reminded of someone’s warning that a lot of optimists in WWII went up in smoke.
Too many red lines. And that is just this week. We must wait until our grandchildren are back in school on August 25th. Montpellier or maybe Toulon is our destination.
My red line was crossed when Bush stole the election from Al Gore. Our plans to move to France for positive, the pull of lifestyle changes, got the final push we needed. All planning for work, savings, and retirement were kickstarted and became real on paper. We became mercenaries of sorts, shunned permanent jobs, took only the highest paying contract project work we could find, boosted our 401ks and fed more into SS. Our plan included a move from NJ to Florida to avoid state taxes following us to France while enabling us to exchange our driver's licenses. We could have stayed another year but the election of Trump was the final blow. With that short stay in FL we were able to flip the house that gave us the cash to buy one in France and pay for the move. OK, more than you asked for but once I got started . . .
Foresight provided by a childhood filled with politics. My father was a Republican, my mother a Democrat, and they disagreed all the time. My father used to run election campaigns at the local level in Ohio and as a Democrat, I disagreed with him regularly. We had more discussions in our house than anyone I know. While my father was wrong, in my opinion, he did predict many things to come including water being sold in bottles, water shortages, and people buying up water rights. He taught me how to invest too. So, I cannot claim any brilliance on my own.
We all crossed the Rubicon when the majority of voting citizens chose to elect a dictator instead of a person who believes in a democracy. The decision of SCOTUS - Trump v. United States, 603 U.S. 593 in 2024 sealed the deal granting the President immunity for any acts deemed official acts including the assassination of a political rival.
I worry about them cutting Social Security (or otherwise freezing assets) for people living abroad under the premise that they are un-American or something like that.
Our red line was 8 years ago two weeks before the election. My husband said that if DJT was elected, we would accelerate our timeline for moving to somewhere in the EU. We initially looked at Spain but ultimately settled in France. Although 45 wasn’t as bad as we had anticipated, 47 is living up to many of that fears we had in November 2016. When we discussed it, we decided that it can never be too early but it can always be too late.
There are so many red lines, but as a parent of an adult child with autism, RFK's plans to create a registry of people with autism is chilling. The tie back to Nazi Germany and the sterilization and euthanization of disabled people, deemed unworthy of life, truly terrifies me.
I'm having a similar hard time defining where my red line is. Happy to be living in France at the moment. I will continue to monitor how things go but I am not hopeful.
Your list of offenses is spot on. Would you mind if I shared it online?
Hi all, Ann-Marie from Canada here. Thanks for this piece and your generous encouragement to comment Roberto. Today is the election in Canada. We have had a very upsetting time since DJT was elected with his comments about 51st State annexation and all the tariff malarky. I (loudly) voted for Mark Carney today, and am driving anyone who needs a ride to the polls to get out the vote. The Conservative option here takes a page out of DJT's book and we're doing our best to try to keep him out of office. There are so many red lines as we watch very closely all the things happening in the USA. We love you, and are mortified that so much division between the US and Canada has been created with your current administration, and wish you hope and change for the better very soon. Come to Canada. Seriously. We'd love to have you. There's lots of room here, word has it in our province (Nova Scotia, on the east coast) we'll gain 27 new American doctors this year. Our arms are open.
Yeah. I’m also way past what would’ve made me leave a year ago. Now we are getting on a plane instantly if Aiden loses his meds or medical care completely. He’s already lost some services, even in California, due to less funding, meaning less staff, meaning less appointments and attention.
We are ready to go as well, Los Angeles isn’t even my city anymore. Hasn’t been since the pandemic. There’s no work here anymore, and no one really has the same life and enthusiasm we had pre-dt so the town just isn’t as fun. People aren’t “doing things” like they used to. We are a depressed party and a depressed town.
This is so lovely that this author randomly wrote a book about AND lives in this cute little town too! Are we all just going to rebuild our cities and communities inside other cities and communities now…? I’m here for it…and also very much there for it.
We are ready to go. Visa appointment booked and dog transport flight booked. We originally planned to be out of the US years ago (we jokingly called it the 2020 Vision, lol) and some life things in 2017-2018 turned that all upside down. We’ve been in active planning mode since middle of last year and the election was my red line. My husband finally got there in February. Montpellier is one of the places we are considering for a permanent home—initially landing near Bordeaux with some friends. Next up: Selling our house before the market here completely crashes. Know anyone who wants a cute cottage in New Orleans?
I suppose my red line happened when I turned 60 last year and realized, primarily due to the cost of healthcare, that I really can't afford to live and retire in this country the way I hoped. I truly believe that everything that is happening is a direct failure of our public education system, the failure to support teachers and educational access for all, resulting in a large percentage of the population becoming ignorant and scared. I'm not a Pollyanna and do believe that we are a warring species at heart, which has taken me a lifetime to accept. But witnessing the flagrant cruelty play out with and those in government sitting silently in order to protect their own personal wealth is grotesque. It reminds me of the silent movie Greed by Erich von Stroheim:
https://youtu.be/w58hB0ZfOQk
Page - your thoughts on education are very interesting. I think you're probably right. Your thoughts remind me of a discussion I once had about what humanity's greatest invention is. My vote for humanity's greatest invention was "the scientific method" - all the other great inventions flow directly from that. Your ideas about education have the same quality - much of the national degradation flow out of a single failing.
And of course I agree with you about the state of healthcare in the US.
I am ready to go, too. Husband’s approaching retirement is keeping us here for now. Friends tell me optimistically to stay and fight, but I’m reminded of someone’s warning that a lot of optimists in WWII went up in smoke.
If the slide isn't reversed, let's hope it's at least slowed!
I'm there too, sadly. Too many red lines have already been crossed.
it's terrifying, isn't it!
Too many red lines. And that is just this week. We must wait until our grandchildren are back in school on August 25th. Montpellier or maybe Toulon is our destination.
Give us a heads up when you arrive!
Thank you, Roberto and Carolyn, I will. There are so many interesting areas of Montpellier. I’m learning about rentals and trains in the city.
Merci
Dean et Cindy
My red line was crossed when Bush stole the election from Al Gore. Our plans to move to France for positive, the pull of lifestyle changes, got the final push we needed. All planning for work, savings, and retirement were kickstarted and became real on paper. We became mercenaries of sorts, shunned permanent jobs, took only the highest paying contract project work we could find, boosted our 401ks and fed more into SS. Our plan included a move from NJ to Florida to avoid state taxes following us to France while enabling us to exchange our driver's licenses. We could have stayed another year but the election of Trump was the final blow. With that short stay in FL we were able to flip the house that gave us the cash to buy one in France and pay for the move. OK, more than you asked for but once I got started . . .
This is fascinating - what excellent foresight and planning you did!
Foresight provided by a childhood filled with politics. My father was a Republican, my mother a Democrat, and they disagreed all the time. My father used to run election campaigns at the local level in Ohio and as a Democrat, I disagreed with him regularly. We had more discussions in our house than anyone I know. While my father was wrong, in my opinion, he did predict many things to come including water being sold in bottles, water shortages, and people buying up water rights. He taught me how to invest too. So, I cannot claim any brilliance on my own.
We all crossed the Rubicon when the majority of voting citizens chose to elect a dictator instead of a person who believes in a democracy. The decision of SCOTUS - Trump v. United States, 603 U.S. 593 in 2024 sealed the deal granting the President immunity for any acts deemed official acts including the assassination of a political rival.
I worry about them cutting Social Security (or otherwise freezing assets) for people living abroad under the premise that they are un-American or something like that.
Our red line was 8 years ago two weeks before the election. My husband said that if DJT was elected, we would accelerate our timeline for moving to somewhere in the EU. We initially looked at Spain but ultimately settled in France. Although 45 wasn’t as bad as we had anticipated, 47 is living up to many of that fears we had in November 2016. When we discussed it, we decided that it can never be too early but it can always be too late.
There are so many red lines, but as a parent of an adult child with autism, RFK's plans to create a registry of people with autism is chilling. The tie back to Nazi Germany and the sterilization and euthanization of disabled people, deemed unworthy of life, truly terrifies me.
I keep asking myself that same question. And wondering how everyone around me isn’t thinking the same. Are they?
I'm having a similar hard time defining where my red line is. Happy to be living in France at the moment. I will continue to monitor how things go but I am not hopeful.
Your list of offenses is spot on. Would you mind if I shared it online?
Too many lines already crossed. We are starting our french long-stay visa application process, hopefully not too late. See you in MPL.
Hi all, Ann-Marie from Canada here. Thanks for this piece and your generous encouragement to comment Roberto. Today is the election in Canada. We have had a very upsetting time since DJT was elected with his comments about 51st State annexation and all the tariff malarky. I (loudly) voted for Mark Carney today, and am driving anyone who needs a ride to the polls to get out the vote. The Conservative option here takes a page out of DJT's book and we're doing our best to try to keep him out of office. There are so many red lines as we watch very closely all the things happening in the USA. We love you, and are mortified that so much division between the US and Canada has been created with your current administration, and wish you hope and change for the better very soon. Come to Canada. Seriously. We'd love to have you. There's lots of room here, word has it in our province (Nova Scotia, on the east coast) we'll gain 27 new American doctors this year. Our arms are open.
Congrats on the Carney victory!
Thank you phewwwwww. It's a minority so a slim win but we're hoping the NDP will be the Liberals dance partner.
Yeah. I’m also way past what would’ve made me leave a year ago. Now we are getting on a plane instantly if Aiden loses his meds or medical care completely. He’s already lost some services, even in California, due to less funding, meaning less staff, meaning less appointments and attention.
We are ready to go as well, Los Angeles isn’t even my city anymore. Hasn’t been since the pandemic. There’s no work here anymore, and no one really has the same life and enthusiasm we had pre-dt so the town just isn’t as fun. People aren’t “doing things” like they used to. We are a depressed party and a depressed town.
This is so lovely that this author randomly wrote a book about AND lives in this cute little town too! Are we all just going to rebuild our cities and communities inside other cities and communities now…? I’m here for it…and also very much there for it.
I'm ready to go. My kids are still home and don't want to go. Yikes.
We are ready to go. Visa appointment booked and dog transport flight booked. We originally planned to be out of the US years ago (we jokingly called it the 2020 Vision, lol) and some life things in 2017-2018 turned that all upside down. We’ve been in active planning mode since middle of last year and the election was my red line. My husband finally got there in February. Montpellier is one of the places we are considering for a permanent home—initially landing near Bordeaux with some friends. Next up: Selling our house before the market here completely crashes. Know anyone who wants a cute cottage in New Orleans?
Reach out if you visit or move to Montpellier!