bendejo

I think it is something like having sex with someone and paying them not to talk about it. Then when they blab you sue them for breach of contract for talking about it, and at the same time insisting that it never happened in the first place. So he paid her to not talk about something that didn't happen? Very good brain indeed, probably another one of those MIT things.

Check out their retirement visa situation. I haven't looked it up in a while, so this may have changed. It's not just the amount of $$$ you have in the (their) bank, but also you are required to spend so much per month. According to some quick math I could afford to live in one of the cheaper Mediterranean places at the spending they require, and even less in South America. But you get 3 months stamped in at the border (depends on nationality) and I never got the the third-degree for too many stamps in the passport. I liked Penang, but only in the funky old town -type areas. Lived there a bit 00s-2010s. Haven't been there lately. Also Malaysia and Indonesia have the worst plumbing in the world, or maybe all the plumbers in Malaysia are Indonesian. Unlike other SEA countries prohibiting foreigners from working Malaysia imports labor. I took a stopover for a few weeks in South Africa, really liked the place. And it's a beautiful place when you get out of the townships. Yeah, I'm white, was braced for the worst, but in general the people are nice. It's ones that aren't nice are the problem. I recall reading newspaper articles reporting crime incidents that blatantly admitted there are details that were too grisly to report. I recall a story of a Chinese "boss" who rolled up into a township to collect his protection money in a gold Merc. He and his goons were dismembered right there in public for all to see. If they think dismemberment is tame enough to mention you can only imagine what too grisly implied. I also think things will get worse before they get better over there, so I passed on the idea maintaining longevity. Too bad.

You can say that again! These cases will be going on in one form or another until the day he dies. As if it's the longest game of hacky-sack in known history. But by then they may be trivial. IMO if DT gets back into the WH (notice I did not use re-elected) forces beyond his control will be in charge within the first year. What I'm getting at will become apparent at the GOP convention in a few weeks. The US is in the throes of a judicial coup, it began with the 2000 election and entered a new phase when Roe was cancelled -- remember ol' Clarence's promise of "we're coming" for just about any freedoms that were granted after 1960. The irony would be if Clarence was forced to use a "Coloreds Only" bathroom in the SCOTUS courthouse.

All hail John Roberts, the best SCOTUS chief justice money can buy. But what if the current admin exercises this new interpretation to take action to save the WH from a notorious scofflaw before Election Day? Ooohh, I don't think the ones cheering today will be happy with that!

I had a German mother-in-law who went through WWII over there, came to the US when the war was over. If someone was being too pushy or obstinate she would call them a brown shirt. It made me proud of her.

All these young people so passionate about stopping oil! Let's see how they do ten years from now when they need to take tablets to stop them from getting gas.

Because in this country traffic laws are a joke, it would take several policemen and a tire-destroyer at every possible entry on the route to keep other vehicles out. It's monkey-see monkey-do. Kuala Lumpur has F1. Hong Kong built a tennis stadium and nearly every week there is a "big tennis tournament," maybe that's a better idea for LOS.

Generally speaking, and on my own witnessing, the Thai street stalls seem to be more conscious of hygiene than those of other countries in the region. This might not be saying much, especially if the seller doesn't like farang. I once saw, in a neighboring country known for its hawker stalls, the person running the stall lifted a street sewer cap to dispose of something. He put the cap back down and went back to handling the food, no hand cleansing. Is that scary enough? That same country is also known for rice meals of assorted items that are served off of a steam table. Most of the food is set out around 11am. If you go out for dinner at 7pm, in most cases the stuff on offer has been sitting there all day. There will be some places that do a brisk business in evenings and will have fresher offerings, it is up to you to figure out which.

Let's see, there's Tennessee, Transylvania, and Wyoming (W counts as T because it so close to it). Proof of averagness! A very good brain, everyone is saying . . .

The next debate may not involve either of these two.

Did anyone ever tell you that you had a sense of humor? I didn't think so. She's not even running.

Marianne Williamson!

Looks like DT was the one worthy of a drug test.

Which was the HOPPED UP one?

These days cashiers may not have to enter many numbers because there is a key for most of the items. Maybe they can't sell it when there is no key for it.

Pinocchio and Gepetto.

I think he'll pick Burgum. He has that somewhat nebbishy, empty-suit presence like Pence did. DT doesn't like to be upstaged. Now if he picked Rubio or Vance I think he would make them his b_tch, tell them what to say and do, etc. His knows first-hand how spineless and hollow they are. In 2008 I was saying Hillary won't be picked as VP because if she is one heartbeat away from the presidency she just might do something about that heartbeat. These 2 guys don't have the guts to even fantasize about it. But let's see how the conviction and the convention goes.

"Projection of intellect." C'mon, the guy can't tell a socialist from a social worker. Jerzy Kosinski wrote a book called "Being There" about a simpleton who people mistook for a brilliant philosopher.

Man, this is jihad/crusade stuff!

An Indian couple in Berkeley, California (sometimes referred to as The People's Republic Berkeley) were taken to court for abusing their Asian housemaid, did things like torture her with a laundry iron when they were displeased, and so on. The sentence was severe, can't recall exactly, but it was around 20 years for each of them. No sympathy from me. More countries need to step up. You hear that Malaysia? Very common to hear of Indonesian domestic workers being treated as described in the OP over there. This confiscating of passports is one of the pillars of human trafficking operations, even for the Asian massagee parlors in the US, one of which is in Jupiter, Florida and is supposedly popular with patrons of a notorious, nearby golf course. Jupiter spa owner arrested in prostitution, human-trafficking bust

I sure hope he doesn't have to go back to providing services in truck stop parking lots. Maybe he should expatriate. A place where the bread is cheap and the shopping carts are better. https://www.businessinsider.com/tucker-carlson-shopping-cart-russia-2024-2?op=1

So, did it work? Has oil stopped?

He always does this: he pulls something out of his butt in public and then someone over-intellectualizes and he is credited with making novel socio-economic suggestions. Sometimes satire writes itself. Does this with the press, too: he tosses out some numbers and nonsense, the fact checkers have to go work on it. He knows the less press is looking at his workings the better his chances of getting away with his shenanigans. Not a brilliant strategy, but it is clever. He tosses the stick and is saying "Go, fetch!" when he does stuff like this.

US election 2016: Trump says election 'rigged at polling places' Trump ratchets up ‘rigged election’ claims, which Pence downplays

Yes, that is the event depicted in the film.