If you are thinking of travelling to the land of the free you only have a few days to register for ESTA
free of charge before they start charging $14 for the privilege of "promoting tourism".
Even if you registered for ESTA previously and your current registration hasn't expired it doesn't seem to matter if you register again. If you are a maximiser you could wait until 7th to apply but if you are like me and likely to forget you'd better do it now.
We may not like it but it's better than donating $14 for some dubious cause at least until we are forced to pay the fee in two years' time.
Here's the link for registration:
https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/
And thanks to the FTer who tipped me off about this. You know who you are!
