Several quotes -
Troubleshooting stereo equipment seems quite off topic
It's not photography so I think the admin will move it.........
This is a photography section. Does your receiver take digital images? Then be gone with you, be banished to the proper section.

What is wrong with you guys ? Are you simply not reading or just basically thick ?
This comes up time and time again and you still simply can't seem to grasp the concept.
This query was posted in "Chit-Chat (non-photography talk)" so is a perfectly acceptable subject.
Leaving aside the fact that the OP would probably get better results elsewhere (although there are some good answers here anyway) I do wish some of you would get on the right page and stop wasting my time having to read extra BS.

In New Zealand you pay the doctor or dentist before you leave no matter who eventually ends up paying. Different for surgeons who would expect a bank transfer very quickly after you have left the hospital unless prior approval has been obtained from your insurance. And remember we have done away with checks. Things are tightening up everywhere.

I would suggest that the idea anything done to stop i*****l i*******ts would also stop cartel members, gangbangers and drug dealers is extremely naive ! Tattoo their foreheads, however, will have more effect.

Can't resist.
If you want to stop illegal border crossing then prosecute those employing them. That will solve 98% of this problem. Oh wait, that will force up the price of vegetables, cheap housekeeping for the rich people etc.
And the nastiness going on by tying Ukraine to illegal bordering crossings is sheer outright political blackmail (the sort of activity that starts off dictatorships). This sort of activity screws the whole idea of democracy. Both these issues should be dealt with separately. The USA is down the dunny now (a dunny is what you Americans call "the restroom").
I can't tell you anything other than point out things that you might not be capable of accepting. The reason why the US doesn't tell us how to run our country is because we are too small to bother with (until China starts spreading but then you will find a way to blackmail democracy again) and the the US is becoming too insular AGAIN.
If you want the US to be run by the biggest crook alive, with the largest ego and the most selfish nature (ie no empathy) then carry on. No names of course. At least the Roman Empire took longer to die than the US will if this goes ahead. My personal opinion only.

To answer the second bit first - I guess we are lucky in that we don't have a physical boundary like you guys do. Plus we don't have an economy that is as cheap as yours is because we have don't have cheap labour. What we do have is a society that lets in rich people who buy up land for themselves thus depriving NZers of said land. Most of these people happen to be Americans so what do they think of the situation in their own country that they want a bolt hole for themselves and families ? We NZers h**e this happening.
The first bit is also untrue because the USA has just spent the last 40 years doing nothing about the unwelcome visitors. Some of these were Republican leaders. Now all of a sudden a situation which has lasted 40 years is being used to blackmail democracy. Your speaker has effectively said that wh**ever is done about i*****l i*********n he won't support it because his potential new leader won't let him until the e******ns.
If Ukraine goes under it will be because of the combined effort of 2 men in the US. Personal gain against democracy. I and a whole lot of other people around the world will consider the US as ancient history. A shame really. Personal gain against democracy - sounds, and looks, a whole lot like a dictatorship to me. You know, the thing that can't happen in your country.
This has nothing to do with i*****l i*********n - it is outright blackmail against democracy.
This is my last entry on this subtract as it is like arguing with a priest - you cannot convince somebody who doesn't want to be convinced. Somebody who "believes".

The USA should by now be one nation, not a collection of squabbling smaller bits. Some of those bits happen to have more population than others but that is not important. The concept of those smaller bits has run its course. The ancient idea of the EC effectively means that the US can be ruled by a minority. And this is how dictatorships start. Going back 200 years when anybody, and everybody, emigrated to the US you ended up with possibly a larger collection of certain types of human traits who left other countries maybe a little poorer in those same traits. One of those traits was stubbornness and another was desire for independence. These traits combined can cause a certain degree of not being able to work together for the greater good and leave a lot of room for selfishness and intolerance to become the norm. I think that Joe Biden would like to retire but feels he can't because it is leaving the nation exposed to a fate worse than death. Which is now looming with more certainty daily.

You may. Note that I am away on holiday shortly so replies may be sporadic for a couple of weeks.

But it is debatable whether it is working for you. And it is a waste of time. When observed from the outside. Americans are very insular and just h**e criticism. I note in passing that Karens seemed to have started in the USA.
It should be compulsory that every US citizen is forced to take at least one trip overseas to see reality.

I still don't see what the border issue has to do with Ukraine ? If you don't help Ukraine then the border issue will be such a miniscule concern compared with what is happening in the rest of the world and that will affect you far more than 1 mans ego is in the short term. One of your political parties needs to look at the rest of the world and also look back at the USAs isolationist attitude before joining WW2.
At the moment the world is looking at potentially a very long period of political tension and America won't come out of that looking good.

I did read somewhere that that ONE man said wh**ever was proposed to help at the border he wouldn't v**e for it. But he also won't suggest what he considers is an acceptable solution for the border problem. The problem with having a religious position is that it should not give you the right to force 350m other people to take your view. How you stop religion from creeping into your politics I don't know.
That is what happens in Iran and you Americans h**e it. I think I know who you would v**e for. God help America because you need it.

I can't answer most of what you ask because it would be straight for the attic. You have got ONE man stopping further aid to Ukraine with ridiculous reasons (and reasons that are so stupid as to be verging on blackmail for another SINGLE man). An American politician who claims religious beliefs and pushes those is the biggest hypocrite of them all. You are already 1/4 the way to a dictatorship in effect at the moment.
New Zealand does not have the resources to help Ukraine. We may well be the same size as California but only have a fraction of the income. And California is struggling anyway as are we.

There is some t***h in that I guess. BUT your system stands to lose all credibility between now and November around the world for the next 20 years (my opinion only, time will tell) whereas mine won't. All caused by a truly weird v****g system that has all the bits in place to allow your country to descend into a dictatorship or to allow single individuals to dictate their own individual ideas and allow them to go against the majority. Your constitution needs a few tweaks to prevent this from happening again. A system designed 237 years ago can not be expected to still be current in modern times. Dammit I hear attic doors creaking again.

The whole 4 should be right at the front of your mind. I can't name them here because I see the attic door starting to make wheezing noises.

I think if a few things happen this year in your v****g system that the USA will lose so much standing in the International community that you will lose 20 years of effort and it will take that long to restore. However if common sense takes over and things go a different direction it should only take you about 5 years to get back to where you were. Personally I am currently wondering whether your water supplies have been tampered with and it has affected your ability to think. Sorry forgot to answer your question - not sure but about 100 I would guess, not so much laughing but with a high degree of sadness. There are 4 of them (and probably a few hangers on as well) who are very happy with the way things are going.

Best form of defence is attack. Usually an acknowledgement that you are right but I am not willing to concede anything so I will attack.