Americans for 40 Years

Today marks the 40th anniversary of our becoming U.S. citizens, seven years after we arrived here from what was then the U.S.S.R. It's been an excellent 40 years for us, and many thanks to our fellow citizens for that!

Comments

[The Margrave of Azilia]

Gosh, you’re welcome.

But sometimes I wish I could get into a magical hot tub and go back to the Eighties. I mean, sure, there was some trouble with Russia, fears about the end of the world, fears of Asian nations, the divisions over abortion and affirmative action, but for all that the music was…I won’t say better, but a whole lot louder and overall less whiny.

Not denying that *some* 80s songs were somewhat whiny, but they have justly been forgotten.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

[Michael Ejercito]

Congratulations

[SRG]

Mazel tov!

[bernard11]

You beat me to it.

[Moderation4ever]

Congratulations. You came from the USSR. I remember when the USSR collapsed and many Russian immigrated to US. I had Russian coworkers, Russian neighbors, and my kids had Russian classmates.

[Dr. Ed 2]

One of the sad things about the history of Ukraine is that it was NOT Russia, and has good (historical) reasons to not particularly like the Russians.

[MaverickNH]

And we’re better off for having you and former USSR residents as our fellow citizens.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

America needs all of the educated, smart, hard-working, well-meaning citizens it can get. I am happy the Volokhs bettered themselves and America, and hope many others do the same.

[MonitorsMost]

Agree with Rev.

[Currentsitguy]

Totally agree. My mother in law came here from the UK with her American husband and my wife back (when she was a child) in 1973. She was so proud and grateful she joined the National Guard to give something back through her service.

[Commenter_XY]

Yeah, I feel exactly the same way Arthur. You nailed it.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Yes, Arthur nailed it.

[Jerry B.]

Unfortunately, we're not only getting the educated, smart, hard-working, well-meaning citizens. We're also getting unskilled, uneducated, assimilation-resistant, illegal immigrants. and in greater numbers.

[Ed Grinberg]

Aren't you the guy that regularly accuses Prof. Volokh (and other bloggers here) of being hateful bigots?
Something doesn't add up...

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

First, I think they are substantially more bigot-friendly than bigoted. Some of that may be hope, but at least most of it isn't. I perceive substantial differences between the Conspirators and the fans they attract.

Second, I meant what I wrote.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Makes me wonder ....

* If the USSR collapse had occurred as it did, but one year before you emigrated, do you think your folks would have remained?

* If the USSR collapse had occurred as it did, but one year after you emigrated, do you think your folks would have returned?

* And what is your general feeling of how most Soviet emigres would answer those questions?

I've often wondered what led my ancestors to emigrate, especially because they did it when changing your mind and going back was not a realistic option.

[Dr. Ed 2]

AND what was the opinion of those in the other "Republics" toward Russia? I know that Stalin was a Georgian and Khrushchev had a history in Ukraine and that there were issues with the Baltic States in the '80s.

How much did people outside Russia actually support Russia?

Of course, it was an open secret that "Screw Communism" was the write-in candidate on enough ballots to actually have won some elections had it been a real candidate.

[Jonathan Affleck]

The Russian Federation forgot the Czarist Empire ruled the Ukraine because Ukrainians rebelled against Polish rule and allowed the Czarist Empire to provide a national government.

One really does not want to be on the wrong side of Ukrainians as Poles learned long ago and as the Russians are learning today.

Some scholars of Soviet history have called the Soviet government the revenge of the Russianized population — people that assimilated to Russian culture but were not treated as fully Russian by the Czarist government.

So what sort of name is Volukh? I think it must be a variant of Bloch, Walach, Falic (my original family name), etc.

Wiktionary provides a short description.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Vlach

I changed Falic to Affleck because I hate my depraved and evil hyperwealthy genocidal Zionist relatives. Falic is a ridiculous way to render פֿאליק into Spanish.

In Spanish orthography, those few Spanish names, which end in a /k/ are spelled with a ‘q’ — for example, Domecq, which is properly said ‘Domesk’ or ‘Domethk’.

[Jonathan Affleck]

Because I share Eugene’s loathing of Section 230 caselaw, I should advise that my petition for a writ of certiorari to the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit will be filed soon. Because a comment, which contains a direct link to my draft petition on GoogleDrive is filtered out, you can read the draft from my fundraiser.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/9th-amendment-challenge-to-social-medium-abuse

If properly interpreted, Section 230 is innocuous. Because a patent practitioner like me understands Internet technology and spends his life writing or interpreting a patent claim, which has wedged grammar and syntax as we find in Section 230, I have yet to find a patent practitioner that disagrees with my understanding of the statute.

[Jonathan Affleck]

This instant petition is the second I have filed in my case.

As I point out in the instant petition, I filed the first petition under SCOTUS Rule 11

1. because abridgment of the public’s freedom of speech by major social medium platforms might affect the coming elections[7] and
2. because § 230 caselaw effectively vitiates all civil rights, public accommodation, and common carriage anti-discrimination law.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/supct/rule_11

Note

[7] Joachim wonders whether social medium platform discrimination had a role in the midterm elections.

[Krayt]

Boy, how naive you and your 'r3nts were, not yet knowing this was the worst shithole on the planet!

[santamonica811]

Poe's Law???

[Ruqt]

Congratulations!!! Will you celebrate with Bourbon or potato Vodka?
Pierozhki or Big Mac? A big tent and bigger table fare.

[Dr. Ed 2]

And you did it legally.

[John F. Carr]

Congratulations. Glad you found productive work.

I had coworkers in Russia over a decade ago. Not my site. I was based in America. They weren't incompetent, but they had most likely been hired as part of the effort to keep weapons engineers from working for undesirables after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It may have required some looking the other way to allow the American team to collaborate with them on high performance computing, which was export restricted. Strictly interpreted, the law did not care if they already know as much about HPC as us.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Clinton f*cked up -- we ought to have done a lot more of this, and outright bought all of their nukes.

Of course, Ukraine also f*cked up -- for reasons of geography, many of the Soviet nukes were based in Ukraine and Ukraine gave them up with the promise that both the US and Russia would defend them from anyone invading them. That really worked out well....

Of course today's missile strike on Poland -- that's how WW-I started and at least Dementia Joe isn't saying anything...

[Sarcastr0]

40th is rubies, apparently.

[darkknight9]

Very glad to have y'all on board! 🙂

[The Margrave of Azilia]

In honor of the Professor, let us all rise for the national anthem of the USA:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKyA3x_yh9A

[Pereours]

May your family thrive here for another 40 generations!

[Mr. Bumble]

Very positive thinking on your part that much, if anything, will be left of the world we know today.

[Flight-ER-Doc]

Mazel Tov! And Congratulations. We are better for your presence.

[hobie]

Happy to have you here

[DWB]

Thank you for screwing up my country

[Sarcastr0]

What's wrong with you?

[David Nieporent]

Well, he's a Trumpkin, so by "my country" he probably meant Russia.

[Sarcastr0]

😀

[DWB]

If only you opposed Russia when it was actually a threat to the entire free world and trying to impose communism you hypocritical POS

[Sarcastr0]

I was a bit young to oppose the USSR when it was a thing, turns out.

Luckily communism sucks and failed even without my involvement.

[Kazinski]

Congratulations.

My wife just became a citizen last Wednesday.

[Charles Nichols - CRTC]

My English paternal line ancestors came to America 400 years ago. My maternal line Native American ancestors arrived thousands of years before that.

I win.

[Frank Drackman]

Nobody cares

[Doug Huffman]

Mazel Tov! Bless you.

[Vaclav Matthess]

Congratulations! And thank you to you and your family for making the United States of America a better place for all. Best wishes. VM