9 minutes ago, gargamon said:

Trump administration ordered to halt indiscriminate immigration stops in California over racial profiling concerns

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/12/trump-administration-ordered-to-halt-indiscriminate-immigration-stops-in-california-over-racial-profiling-concerns

Once again, I ask.  Why was profiling okay under Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2, Obama, Trump 45, and Biden, but illegal under Trump 47?

BTW, that's going to be overturned on appeal.

On 7/8/2025 at 1:59 PM, treetops said:

On 7/8/2025 at 8:09 AM, stubuzz said:

I had completed it. If it shows on the screen as many have claimed, why ask?

Engaging in conversation to check you out.  If you show nerves or anxiety he might probe further.  It's a common procedure almost anywhere you deal with such officialdom.

I just see that big lighted sign above their head directing us all to submit our TDAC, Passport and Boarding Pass and I comply.    Just like I don't pull out my camera or snap selfies or take calls, because the signs tell me not to.  I figure, why push my luck?

32 minutes ago, gargamon said:

Oh, and did you hear the racial profiling ice raids have been declare illegal.

If you've ever travelled near the border, they set up checkpoints up to 200 miles in and profile the people passing through.  They have since at least 1982 when I first started working in the Rio Grande valley. I've been profiled hundreds of times.  Pull over, answer a few questions, maybe have the drug dogs sniff around, then on my way.

Strangely, that was perfectly fine until Trump got elected.  Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, Obama, Trump 45, Biden, no issues at all with that.  Trump 47 and all of a sudden it's illegal?

Gotta love the hills that the Dems are choosing to die on:

Wasserman Schultz: They essentially drink, they get their drinking water, and they brush their teeth where they poop in the same unit. They bragged that they went above standards, supposedly, and gave them a three foot privacy wall that stretches the length inside the 32 detainee cage, a three foot privacy wall that stretches the length of the three toilets in a row.

I don't know about her, but I brush my teeth in the bathroom.  In airports, too.  And I occasionally drink water in the bathroom when I'm in the states where the tapwater is safe.

Gutfeld got it right.  It's like they're watching Jaws and rooting for the shark.

4 minutes ago, CallumWK said:

Keep pushing your MAGA drivel, or should i say Idiocy, but I'm not gonna zsee it anymore.

 

Bye

Finally!  Have a nice day anyway.

2 minutes ago, CallumWK said:

And there are official dealerships of those cars in Thailand.

That's a good thing, for the majority of time they're in the shop.  Probably waiting on parts.  From Italy.  Or Dubai.

2 minutes ago, CallumWK said:

You missed the part that Ferraris, lambos and Bentleys are subject to the same import taxes, and cost more than double what US junk cost.

So why they buy those cars and not a Vette at half the price?

Maybe they like Detroit muscle instead of an Italian car guaranteed to spend most of its time in the shop.

Besides, if you follow the news, it seems most of those Italian jalopies come in illegally.  I doubt they're paying duties or taxes.

4 minutes ago, CallumWK said:

Who said Thais are not allowed to drive US cars?

Ferraris, lambo's and Bentleys are a complete different class than US cars

You missed that part about "at fair prices".

According to Airalee's post above, a $100K Vette would land in Thailand at a cost of $428K.

2 minutes ago, PB172111 said:

18 minutes ago, Hardcastle P said:

Slight exaggeration I believe its 80% .

I think he might be referring to private imports of vehicles which is typically between 200/300%

The import duty is 80%, but the other taxes pile on to 200% to over 300%.  Airalee's great post above 'splains the confusion.

7 minutes ago, Shocked farang said:

These cars only make sense in the context of "Americana" which for most Thais mean nothing.

Yet we see Ferraris, Lambos and Bentleys all over Thailand. 

They could probably wipe out half the trade imbalance if they allowed Thai (and expat) drivers to buy Vettes and F250s in Thailand at fair prices.

Just because you don't like them, doesn't mean they wouldn't be wildly popular.  And as a bonus, they wouldn't be competing directly with any indigenous Thai vehicles.  Thai factories make nothing like a Vette.

3 minutes ago, Shocked farang said:

It may be but remember that Thailand has many car factories, why anyone would want to own an American made car?

Do Thai factories make Corvettes, Mustangs, Chargers and F250's?

1 hour ago, bstafford214 said:

This is misleading statement.  The current average tariff is only 9% that is imposed on imported US products.  You may have quoted only a specific item that is at this rate.  Also the US already impose a 9% VAT they pay and now the orange baboon wants to add 36%, idiot.

First, a question.  Then a comment.

The question:  Do you have a source for that 9% number?

The comment:  Maybe the average effective tariff rate is so low because nobody in Thailand can afford to buy the stuff with a higher rate.  Like cars with an 80% tariff (plus other taxes that add up to about 200% on top of the selling price)

26 minutes ago, bubblegum said:

Autopen scandal. LOL, ask Trump a question he does not, never ever know the answer. All you get is "the 2020 election was stolen" 

Your username seems age appropriate.  Kudos.

10 minutes ago, Garouda said:

Have you ever been in Chonburi (Chonburi, Bowin, Laemchabang) or Rayong for example?

There are lots of industrial estates hosting factories producing goods for export, amongst which we can see lots of US companies. I'm not sure that the investors will appreciate the erratic decisions of Orange Donald Duck Trump...

Mid-Term is going to be an interesting time.

How many of them are zero dollar factories?  Which is a misnomer.  It does cost something to set up a factory to put stuff in boxes.

I'm a trade show junkie so I attend a lot of the shows at BITEC and I'm familiar with a lot of Thai businesses.  I'm not denying their capabilities.  But I'm also aware of a lot of trans shipping entities.  And, like Forrest Gump...  That's all I have to say about that.

23 minutes ago, ThaiBob said:

As opposed to a federal deficit of 316 the previous month. Next year's deficit is projected to be about 1.3 trillion. 

$1.3T would be an improvement from the average $2.02 T annual from Q1 2021 to Q1 2025.

Q1 2021: $28,132 B

Q1 2025: $36,214 B

Delta = $8,082 B = $2,020 B per year.

Federal Debt: Total Public Debt (GFDEBTN) | FRED | St. Louis Fed

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/

This is getting good.  From the NY Times:

“Mr. Biden did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people, he and aides confirmed. Rather, after extensive discussion of different possible criteria, he signed off on the standards he wanted to be used to determine which convicts would qualify for a reduction in sentence,” The New York Times reported.

“Even after Mr. Biden made that decision, one former aide said, the Bureau of Prisons kept providing additional information about specific inmates, resulting in small changes to the list. Rather than ask Mr. Biden to keep signing revised versions, his staff waited and then ran the final version through the autopen, which they saw as a routine procedure, the aide said,” according to The Times. 

Comment from The Daily Caller News:  In another instance, small changes were made or names were added to the list but Biden wasn’t notified of each adjustment, the NYT reported. Instead, his staff would run the final version through the autopen, rather than asking Biden’s permission on each change, an aide told the NYT. Such a procedure was routine, the source added.

I'm still wondering how many pardons his minions sold and snuck in without Biden even knowing.

45 minutes ago, novanova said:

Well-educated people avoid ad hominem arguments.

Let me quote your own words:

Trump is an oaf who doesn't understand high school-level economics

DT has a bizarre obsession with trade deficits. This has no basis in reality

The stupidity of DT's position can be seen in the Botswana tariffs

This is flat-out irrational, and everybody should stop pretending there is any sense behind DT's actions.

5 minutes ago, Dan O said:

I think he already made it. Its costing American citizens more and will be increasing inflation, more than it already was. Try to keep up

And I think most Americans are willing to pay more for imported crap if it means more American jobs, a lower trade deficit and more revenue from tariffs.  Or buy less imported crap that we don't need.  That'll easily offset any price increases (for those who understand that inflation and price increases are not the same thing).

52 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

So where exactly is a smoker going to smoke now?

I'd suggest out of sight of the tents they will set up to fine foreigners, like they do on Sukhumvit between Nana and Asoke in Bangkok. 

In the hundreds of times I've been there, I have never seen them fining a Thai person.  Though I have often seen Thais throwing butts and other trash in that area.  But dozens of foreigners. 

Personally, I think this is a cash grab, perhaps to make up for falling arrivals.  But I am rather cynical that way.

This is why God invented life jackets. 

I bought several of my own in Thailand because many of the public offerings were either horrid and smelly or non-existent.  I'd toss them in the pickup if my plans included water sports or ferry rides.

28 minutes ago, Aussie999 said:

But it's the Americans that paid the tariffs...no-one else

And your point would be?

17 minutes ago, novanova said:

 

Nobel-prize-winning economists (and many others) are using that example. Maybe they have no understanding of global trade. 

 

Read this: https://time.com/7274651/why-economists-are-horrified-by-trump-tariff-math/

 

You might learn something.

It's Time magazine.  They're trying to explain it to people with a 4th grade reading level who catch up on their news sitting on the crapper.  But you go ahead and keep parroting it if you want.  That makes you one of the "many others"

Edit:  And I didn't even mention Time's tendency to indoctrinate readers as opposed to educating them.

17 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

 

He visited four months before the outbreak, meeting with local anti-vaccine influencers like Edwin Tamasese and Taylor Winterstein.

 

In blog posts and letters, RFK Jr. raised doubts about the MMR vaccine’s safety, and suggested it might even have caused deaths.

 

Samoa’s former Director‑General of Health, Dr. Alec Ekeroma, said RFK Jr.’s actions “emboldened anti-vaccine contacts” and fueled disinformation at a critical time.

 

Nurse Moelagi Leilani Jackson, who helped with vaccination efforts, said: “I feel like they felt they had the support of Kennedy,”

indicating his support for them refusing vaccinations.

That all sounds rather 3rd person.  I'd be more interested in what he actually said, especially given the Pharma funded MSM's recent tendency to misquote people that step away from the accepted narrative. 

Then I'd be interested in the study that nobody probably did comparing the vaccine uptake before and after his visit.  Along with a count of how many people actually missed their scheduled vaccines in the time between his visit and the surge in cases.  Four months you say?  Vaccine hesitance doesn't work that fast.

1 minute ago, Will B Good said:

He actively promoted vaccination fears and as a consequence many islanders were persuaded not to vaccinate their kids.......much as he is doing now in the US.

I'd be interested in seeing that video.  Or even a transcript.