bendejo

The tariffs are so crippling even a billionaire can't afford a new laptop. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-email-money-beg_n_69689d9ce4b00edae2a3aff6

This way they don't have to pay tax on the shakedown haul.

She had no choice, he threatened to hold his breath until he died if she didn't hand it over. One way to fight old age is immaturity, I have an ex who would be capable of teaching a course in that one.

Aw, c'mon, give him credit for keeping one promise: he said he'd drain the swamp. Not only did he do it (to a degree), he gave all those newly-homeless slime creatures cabinet positions, but took in other sewer dwellers as well. Man, is he gonna go ballistic when gets rooked by Besset's Argentine scam. And man, is MTG (soon to be known as Miss America First) going to use that in 2028. MAGA, baby! I can feel the country getting greater by the minute! Or maybe that's the Oxy kicking in . . .

(in the voice of a TV game show announcer) "Troops out in the new year, Mr President (he loves being titled) and you will get a $400 million 747 flying palace!" But wait, there's more . . . .

Worked as a cafeteria cook for a while, we'd have ethnic days (corned beef for St Patty's, etc) and they had a Filipino day. The regular workers brought in friends to make certain dishes. One thing was basically pig liver and peanut butter ground into a paste, godawful stink to it. Threw it away, immediately sealed in plastic and down the shoot. Next day when I arrived at work they're running up to me when I arrived "where is the sauce?" It turns out they made a lot more of it than was needed so they could take it home, and I squelched the plan. I was afraid I'd end up like Magellan.

Doesn't sound like much of a party, does it?

Put into orbit, but then what?

When LBJ (a Dem) was pushing the Civil Rights Bill he said of the GOP that "so we'll lose them for 20 years." Nice try, Lyndon

ijit

I haven't heard much about this stuff in a while. Now they make a comeback with 11 fuel stations. Why now? Where is Thaksin these days? (do a search on Tak Bai)

I would say that generally Thais can be pretty quick on the uptake, and when they pick up enough English they can have a remarkable sense of irony and sarcasm.

Like the phone support people for my US insurance, and I usually can't understand them. They'll get snitty if you let that on. Like this gal.

Good to know. Probably impurities in the kerosene.

Anniversary. Never heard of it? https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/anniversary-anti-authoritarian-political-thriller-disappeared-1235496342/

Impeachment? Already tried it twice. Maybe with a new Dem leader in the Senate, otherwise it's still only as effective as a strongly-worded letter. But keeping with a more positive and hopeful attitude: https://katv.com/news/nation-world/bannon-warns-conservatives-of-jail-time-if-republicans-lose-key-elections-steve-bannon-democrats . . . into the hands of the best Supreme Court money can buy!

Not by the US, maybe Thailand is getting some ideas. I haven't been following what is going on in Cambodia, but wasn't there something about the US building a base there? It is no secret that China has an eye on the South China Sea area, even Obama mentioned it in a State of the Union speech.

This way posturing Congress members can shock the world by saying "The gov't is sending your tax money to dead people!" You have to survive the entire month to get the payout. Maybe request a posthumous transfer

Hegseth Backs Trump Plan to Govern Venezuela Who would have thought?

You might also appreciate Dennis Hopper: Uneasy Rider I suspect the very first scene in Easy Rider is a hint as to how that movie was financed: the guy influenced the movie business by telling the mavens "no." (fun fact: that guy in the limo testing the sample is Phil Spectre)

Yes. The payment you receive in January 2026 is for December 2025, according to SS. The payment you get in February is for January, and so on. I would recommend anyone getting payments from Uncle Sam regularly, especially where foreign accounts are concerned, set up a US account for receiving them, and then do your own foreign transfer from there. Yeah, it takes an extra day or two, but . . . Personally, I dread the the thought of having to deal directly with US gov't. This way if you have a problem with, for instance, Bkk Bank, on the US side you are dealing with a bank and you can let the two sides work it out. It avoids a potential Federal Case. I would recommend USAA, if you can qualify. Been with them a decade or so, never had an issue, even though I use that account for nothing other than transfer in - transfer out within a few days. I had to call them once for something or other, and from talking to them I got the impression a lot of people on SS use them the same way. These days US banks are getting a little cocky, sending notices like "you are not using your credit card enough, if you don't do something about that we'll lower your credit line."

I have had two incidents of such in the past 2 years, one was a small tablet computer the other a vaporizer. In the tablet the battery turned into a balloon: at first I thought it was just the thing falling apart, then I saw the battery was pushing out from the inside. The vaporizer was soaring past 500F without being plugged in, and luckily I got inside of it and cut the wires to the battery before something like this happened. These fires will burn much hotter than a match or cigarette lighter.

Jay Kelly. If you like George Clooney you'll love this movie. If not stay clear of it. It's real Oscar-bait, full of the sort of scenes the Academy loves. He is in nearly every scene, and I have trouble believing he didn't direct it himself. George loves George.

Stephen Colbert thinks this is the greatest movie ever, once when he had his wife on the show she nagged him about it. Yes. I caught that decades ago that he is incapable of speaking a sentence that does not have "man" in it at least twice (and of course it is an exaggeration, sort of). And yes, that's him being him, even the photography. I suspect that scene where he appears frightened of Brando's character is really about him realizing he was wearing on Coppola's nerves. For more on this stuff check out Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse There is a re-cut called Apocalypse Now Redux that includes French colonial hold-outs living in the jungle: IMO just itself is worth seeing the movie again.

It has become so popular in the US they made it a separate product from baby aspirin.