zydeco

So, the 7-11s in Pattaya will not need to employee as many bouncers as usual for this time of year.

the green dollar is not better than in 2008.don't believe the Internet propaganda.

If it was better, like some of you say here , I would be able to get 40 baths for a dollar or even more.

in fact the situation get worse and worse every second passing. the debt goes up and up.... how can you say it's better?

Just look at how many rubles you can get for a dollar now.

More about the killer. If true, he is not a "mental case" but someone who is part of an organized militant group whose intention it to kill policemen.

The cold-blooded cop-hater who gunned down two police officers in Brooklyn on Saturday is suspected of being a member of a notorious prison gang that has declared open season on the NYPD.

Detectives were headed to Baltimore on Saturday night to probe Ismaaiyl Brinsley’s ties to the Black Guerrilla Family, sources told the Daily News.

One source said Baltimore police were already investigating Brinsley’s connection to the gang, which started in California’s San Quentin Prison in the 1960s by Black Panther member George Jackson.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/killer-nypd-slays-ran-black-guerrilla-family-article-1.2052069

Considering he shot some woman and ended up blowing his brains out, I'd say he was a mental case.

Or do you think there are more suicidal members of this group waiting to strike?

Had you bothered to read the article you replied to, you would have found out the answer to your question is, "yes." Unfortunately de Blasio's creature in the police commissioner's office, William Bratton, chose to downplay, ignore, disregard this warning, leading directly to today's assassination.

The stunning events in New York came just days after Black Guerrilla Family members began spreading the word that they were “preparing to shoot on-duty police officers.”

The sad result of the victims being labelled as the criminals , and the criminals labelled as the victims.

De Blasio indeed should be removed from office, he also should be barred for life from ever running for or holding any public office(s) be it street sweeper to President .

Also in my view,( and I am sure I am not alone in that view) he should be, nay must be charged with inciting these killings by virtue of his public comments and his stance.

The creature is not fit to hold his John Thomas let alone a public office.

And don't forget the other major source of trouble in this regard, de Blasio's choice for police commissioner, William Bratton, who was brought in to reverse Ray Kelly's policies, which had worked in lowering crime, especially murders to historic lows. Whenver one of these radicals, such as de Blasio, get into power, they immediately set about creating chaos and anarchy. But you know what? New Yorkers voted for him. Now, they'll live with the results, unless you're one of the police that de Blasio and Bratton have helped mark for assassination.

More about the killer. If true, he is not a "mental case" but someone who is part of an organized militant group whose intention it to kill policemen.

The cold-blooded cop-hater who gunned down two police officers in Brooklyn on Saturday is suspected of being a member of a notorious prison gang that has declared open season on the NYPD.

Detectives were headed to Baltimore on Saturday night to probe Ismaaiyl Brinsley’s ties to the Black Guerrilla Family, sources told the Daily News.

One source said Baltimore police were already investigating Brinsley’s connection to the gang, which started in California’s San Quentin Prison in the 1960s by Black Panther member George Jackson.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/killer-nypd-slays-ran-black-guerrilla-family-article-1.2052069

De Blasio and his allies against the NYPD.

’Tis the season of magic, so let’s play pretend. Let’s make believe that only an itsy-bitsy handful of those anti-police protesters disrupting the city are hell-bent on mayhem. To get there, you have to ignore the hundreds if not thousands in Manhattan caught on tape chanting, “What do we want?” and answering: “Dead cops.” They must have been in some other city. You have to overlook those “shoot back” chants as well. As for that nut from CUNY caught trying to throw a garbage can onto the Brooklyn Bridge roadway and punching a cop — blame your lying eyes!

http://nypost.com/2014/12/16/thought-those-anti-cop-protesters-were-peaceful-think-again/

Were I the NYC police, I just might unofficially stop any robust policing at all in Brooklyn. Be slow to respond, avoid any situation where there was not an actual call put in from a dispatcher. Let those hipsters in Brooklyn who joined all the anti-police protests see what it's like to be turned into a bunch of gazelles for a herd of hungry predators. Serve 'em right.

The governor would call out the National Guard if the police struck officially or unofficially.

For those who aren't Americans, each state has its own National Guard under the direction of the state governor. It is fully military owning all military hardware including fighter jets. This is to assure the independence of each state.

The governor of the state can declare an emergency and call up the national guard. The national guard trains with the regular US military and can also be called by the POTUS for international conflicts if needed.

Hard for him and the other radicals to do this, after they have spent months complaining about the "militarization" of local police. Time for this hypocrite and the people who elected him to reap the rewards of their actions.

how did 55 years of sanctions benefit the Cuban people?

As usual, the poor people pay the price of the actions by their government(s). I've got mixed feelings about opening up Cuba. It's such an amazing place now (good and bad). If opened up, it will look like Miami. But the poor people there would benefit dramatically. They are treated very poorly by the government there.

Quick story. Went there and spend a week with a friend and his family who live just outside Havana. When we left, we gave him our portable stereo. Along with a note from us in English and Spanish saying it was a gift. Well...he was arrested on the train trip on the way back to his home town. The police figured there was no way he could afford something like that and probably stole it. They confiscated the stereo and put him jail for a few weeks. Sick.

We had problems just walking down the street with him and his family. Many times, they'd tell us to meet them somewhere as they didn't want to risk being seen with us and arrested. This was about 10 years ago or so.

Sanctions definitely didn't help the locals, but neither has the government.

Same here. Mixed feelings. A lot of Euros and Canadians go to the resort sections of Cuba, and never see behind the facade--the crumbling buildings, people working for the equivalent of $20 per month. Not to mention the official spies assigned to each neighborhood to make sure things never challenge the government. That said, I would like to see the place opened up and much, much stronger ties restored to the US. Like the Philippines (the other external territory that the US gained in the war with Spain), Cuba has not done well on its own, without the Americans. Also like the Philippines, they may now want the US back. The Filipinos just realized it a lot more quickly than the Cubans. Personally, I grew up with a Cuban family as my next door neighbors. They lost everything because of Castro. I mean everything--two factories that made cigars and textiles. They arrived in the US with just a suitcase and built themselves up quickly again. One of their sons went on to become an outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies in the late 70s early 80s. I think he's a scout with them, now. But there are untold numbers of Cubans who had that happen to them--not to mention some posters on this board, apparently, such as Thailiketoo. It would be nice to see them compensated as well.

Cuba was once an extremely popular holiday destination for Americans.

Very close to the states,

Good weather,

Warm

Friendly

Fun

Interesting cultur,.

Beautiful sexy women.

Great cigars!

It will be popular again soon.

Look out Thailand! can-stock-photo_csp5091167.jpg

Until Castro, Cuba was the destination of choice for most Americans seeking a Caribbean holiday. It might well be again. It also has another advantage over existing Caribbean destinations. It's safe--or at least safer. Put that together with proximity to the US, same time zone, a language that most Americans have some exposure to (not to mention an easily understandable Roman alphabet) and whatever numbers have been coming to Thailand will indeed take a major hit. I know that I would love to visit Cuba.

Let's keep in mind that the entire Chinese economy is so opaque that nobody knows what is going on. They could be bankrupt right now, and it would take a decade for anybody to figure it out.

Indeed.

http://online.barrons.com/articles/anne-stevenson-yang-why-xi-jinpings-troubles-and-chinas-could-get-worse-1417846773?tesla=y

That is an eye opener. Everything I expected is going on and a lot more.

Why is this a bad idea?

I don't know that it is. I do know that most Thais I meet and then mention India say they hate the place and that Indians are "dirty."

Criminals all the way around.

It's also about this time of year that we usually start getting stories about Russian travel agencies going bankrupt and leaving their customers stranded in Thailand. Seem to get three or four of those a year. And that was when the Russian economy was strong. This year might see an entire refugee colony dumped on Thailand. Maybe a new source of cheap labor for fishing fleets???

And in other movie news, the new version of Annie is out. Apparently, it's horrible. It seems that the cyber terrorists stopped the screening of the wrong movie.

Let's keep in mind that the entire Chinese economy is so opaque that nobody knows what is going on. They could be bankrupt right now, and it would take a decade for anybody to figure it out.

@Neversure: I think you should look at the bigger picture in the US. The shale oil boom was one of the drivers of the US economy, especially when it comes to employment of low skilled workers. Have a look a the state of texas for example. If many of the shale oil companies go out of business and also the correlating supply chain companies, it will hurt this sector of the US economy quite badly. Agree on the opposite side there will be consumers that have more money because gas is cheaper, but there will be less jobs as well. So this isn't just about rich investors that get hurt, it will hurt many employees as well who may loose their job.

Now with regards to Saudi Arabia, believe me they don't need 100$ oil to survive. Their break even costs are very very low, they can make substantial profits at 40$ oil because of their low costs. Now obviously revenues will go down but they still can produce, they can even increase production to increase revenues. Whereas at current level of oil prices, shale oil producers loose money and if those low prices will stay, they will go out of business.

Similar situation in Russia, their costs to produce oil and gas are very low, they get hurt because revenues for the governments go down considerably, but they still get revenues. When it comes to Russia, you should worry more about corporate debt in US$. Many corporates in Russia are highly leveraged in foreign currency. So the risk might be that the government may have to bail out some corporates or even banks and so people should be worried about the contagion risk related to that rather than the reduction of revenue for the government from lower oil prices.

It may be time to take a look at some of these new energy producing techniques. In North Texas, earthquakes now rumble through the region on a regular basis. I grew up there. Until when this latest energy boom started, I had never heard of an earthquake in North Texas. In my imagination, sometimes I see the oil and gas industry excavating the world's largest sinkhole in the Dallas-Ft Worth area, with all of it due to collapse and create a new Great Lake.

From the beginning of this affair (and before) until this latest decision, the executives at Sony Entertainment have made one horrendous mistake after another. Why are they still employed?

One thing I do know is that "Mr. History" produces some of the most constipated prose I have ever read on TVF. With or without primary sources.