impulse

Not on CNN.com...

I'm watching interviews with residents. Not listening to the MSM. CNN has more coverage of elephants escaping a flood in Northern Thailand than of the catastrophe in North Carolina.

Our reading comprehension is fine. And so are our BS meters when the linked article says there's adequate money while Mayorkas himself says there isn't. They can't even get their lies talking points straight. Quibbling over which bucket the money is going to come from is asinine when there's people dying for lack of a response. Especially with hundreds of billions of unspent Inflation Assurance Act money out there. They should be dumping money, resources and military assets on the area. I'm watching a bunch of on-the ground interviews, and it is heartbreaking how the gub'ment is letting these American down. According to people on the ground, the military assets are waiting on orders and most of them haven't even seen a FEMA rep. Volunteers are coming in from across the country with trucks and bulldozers and finding hotels completely booked by the Feds, but also mostly vacant. While Kamala is entertaining donors.

https://www.fema.gov/grants/shelter-services-program SSP provides financial support to non-federal entities to provide humanitarian services to noncitizen migrants following their release from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

“We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have. We are expecting another hurricane hitting,” Mayorkas said. “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season.” (I'd note that "the season" is through Nov 30.) https://apnews.com/article/hurricane-helene-congress-fema-funding-5be4f18e00ce2b509d6830410cf2c1cb Would Congress and the Harris/Biden admin have had to set aside the SSP money if there wasn't a self inflicted border crisis? Maybe they'd have that $billion to spend on FEMAs support of citizens after a hurricane. Which isn't self inflicted.

FEMA is short because so much of their funding went to caring for illegals.

Maybe they should get their talking points straight: The Federal Emergency Management Agency can meet immediate needs but does not have enough funding to make it through the hurricane season, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters Wednesday. https://apnews.com/article/hurricane-helene-congress-fema-funding-5be4f18e00ce2b509d6830410cf2c1cb

It's funny that they demand photos and videos when locals report geese being eaten, but they eagerly take the word of some random women when they report sexual misconduct.

Seems like there's a business opportunity there. Especially if someone's Thai wife or Thai kids know how to sell on Lazada...

I don't think it's that simple. https://www.timbertradeportal.com/en/thailand/144/key-documents There have been AN threads over the years about arrests for possessing the wrong kind of wood without the right kind of permit.

Not to mention, the tribes killed the heck out of each other for hundreds of years before the evil Europeans showed up with their fancy technology.

I'm seeing a lot more effort by the Dems to make it go away, than from the Repubs who mostly know it was just a gaffe.

I've had several over the years in Thailand, China, and the USA. I've always been happy with them. Never had any irritating problems with connecting them. Or the inevitable updates, like I've had with some off-brands that are cheaper and look good on paper. Logitechs just work...

Protecting the cats and geese. Seriously, though. Any of them that are convicted of crimes should get a one way ticket out of the country. After they've served their time in US jail.

They're "legal" only by executive order. When there's a new executive in office, maybe their legal status will be rescinded. That's the way it works.... Or did you think that only Dem presidents can rescind executive orders?

Remind me... When did the voters or the legislature get to decide to convey to them their legal status? That's the thing about rescinding executive orders. It works both ways. If Biden can do it, so can Trump.

Funny. Boeing and Raytheon miss contract promises all the time, and they get funded. You sure it's not because they're mad at Elon? And did I mention, people are dying because of lack of communication? BTW, how many Americans have been hooked up so far to the Harris/Biden $42Billion broadband project? That's $42 Billion with a B. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/26/tech/broadband-infrastructure-biden/index.html

He could have charged you 100 baht for the part and 800 baht for labor. Or, more correctly, 100 baht for the part, 50 baht for labor and 750 baht for knowing which part to replace. Bottom line, you had a $25 service call, part included. That could have easily cost you $500 back home.

Given news stories over the years of Thai mobs beating the crap out of people who cause accidents, I'd cut the guy some slack. At some point, there was no way he could help with that inferno, and it was time to protect himself from vigilante justice.

I'd suggest doing a YouTube search for his name and starting off watching a few digestible 5-10 minute videos. Usually short interviews or excerpts from his audio books. If you like them (and I did), then go onto the actual audio books. They're wordy. I found him to be more of a anti-victimhood and anti-race baiting than a Marxist. I'm fascinated by the history of how cultures migrated around the world, and how they've changed in different places they landed. With tons of statistics to demonstrate. Kinda makes the idea of "White Culture" a chuckle, because there's so much difference between (for example) Germanic and Scottish culture. And (for another example) British culture as it's matured in the UK and how differently it matured when it came across the ponds.

Dollars to donuts, Trump's polling numbers went up again, like they do just about every time some new lawfare is lodged against him. The bad news is already baked into his support. This just infuriates people that may not have even planned to vote. They will now...

+1 I look at that flooring and suspect that salvaging it and starting over from the bones would yield some very spendy hardwood planks that can be cleaned up on a planer. Not to mention eliminating the possibility of creaking wood if you did just cover up the old flooring. One of the great things about Thailand is the low cost of labor. Of course, that assumes it's a nice hardwood. (And that there wouldn't be legal problems possessing hardwood without a license to possess hardwood. I've heard some horror stories over the years)

I did that in New Jersey 45+ years ago. I even timed the yellow light to show that it was too short and there was an instant when a car doing the speed limit could enter on a green and still be in the intersection when the light turned red. (I was a poor college student (engineering) and couldn't afford the ticket) I even had the DOT specs, showing that the short yellow didn't pass muster. The judge commiserated and cut me a smaller fine because I was a student, but explained that the law was, "you can't be in the intersection when the light turns red". Every time I passed that intersection there was a cop car there, trolling for revenue. That was my only moving violation in 50 years of driving. To the OP, pay the fine, take your leaning lumps, and move on. Life's too short.

I'm the same with Sowell. I can't dispute the fact after fact and statistic after statistic that he quotes. I assume his university research team vets them thoroughly for his books. That's what fascinates me. He explains the differences in American enclaves settle by Germanic migrants and the enclaves settled by, for example, the Scottish migrants. But I do disagree with some of his conclusions. Though I'd say he absolutely nails some of my experiences as a Yankee transplant when I moved to Houston, Texas around 1980 as a college student. Especially west Texans... He's got them pegged (as a whole, obviously they're not all the same since a lot of them are oilfield transfers)

I've recently been listening to some Thomas Sowell audio books. He presents a lot of fascinating history of the culture coming out of various parts of Europe, where the cultures were transplanted, and how that still affects the world, hundreds of years later. Spoiler alert... Some may not like what he says about the cultures from Northern England and Scotland of yesteryear. While he says that area has outgrown the historical redneck culture, the places around the world where it landed haven't outgrown it to this day. He's not kind to the southern USA, or the internal diaspora that moved all over the USA during the WW2 manufacturing boom. I dozed off for a few hours and woke up when he was talking about Germanic culture. I need to go back and replay that chapter. It seemed very interesting. I play the audio books in the background while I'm doing other things. Like napping.