impulse

The only reason Assange is getting that due process is the debacle of hiding out in the Ecuadorian Embassy for so long. As it transpired, it's such an embarrassment to the British Gub'ment that they have to dot all the i's and cross all the t's. They're under the microscope, because of the publicity. Had he been arrested at the time, he'd have been bundled off to the USA before the public even knew he was in custody.

So you don't figure the Brits would have looked at 2 competing extradition requests, one from Sweden for a bogus sex assault and the other from the USA for national security issues, and decided to send him west instead of north? At the time, his only chance of avoiding extradition to the US was to not be in custody. He was never going to Sweden. So it matters not whether Sweden could extradite him.

One more tragic data point. The guy with 4 wheels and 2 tons of steel walked away. The riders on a scooter weren't so lucky. Except, it wasn't luck. Yeah. I know. Lots of people can't afford 4 wheels and 2 tons of steel. But those of us who can... Can take a lesson here. Edit: And I'd add that it doesn't matter how skilled the scooter rider was. He got smacked from behind.

I guess they don't have x-ray machines anywhere in Thailand...

He was never going to Sweden to face the sex assault charges. He would have been extradited to the USA.

Okay, I just had to look that up, and it's pretty much what I thought... Though this particular factory seems to be in Pattaya. https://jetcarthailand.com/

If only... The wealthiest 10% of Americans own a record 89% of all U.S. stocks. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/18/the-wealthiest-10percent-of-americans-own-a-record-89percent-of-all-us-stocks.html The high stock market is a boondoggle for the billionaires, while inflation is eating away at the rest of us. I think they refer to that as "trickle down economics". I call it getting pissed on as politicians look for votes and donations.

Still... I read that it took rescuers 15 hours to find the wreckage because of the fog. I'm not suggesting it happened that way, but someone with better tech and stealth could have gotten a lot done in 15 hours. I also read that there was communication (cellular?) with one of the passengers after the "hard landing". The next few days of spin and counter-spin is gonna be interesting. I hope it doesn't spin out of control.

You mean during Covid when the economy came to a halt, millions were out of work by gub'ment edict and millions of small businesses needed a lifeline to weather to storm? I wasn't too keen on giving money to billionaires, but Biden's administration has been even better for the top 1% donor class than Trump's was. Quick question: Who was the first president to run up a $Trillion deficit? I'll give you a hint. His VP was Biden. https://www.thebalancemoney.com/us-deficit-by-year-3306306

Don't drink tapwater. Bottled water is cheap in Thailand. And very little chance they'll find a dead Burmese guy in your bottled water tank. Remember, you asked for a recommendation...

From your own link: The federal budget deficit totaled $2.1 trillion over the past 12 months, up 50 percent from the $1.4 trillion deficit in Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 and more than twice as large as the deficit prior to the beginning of the pandemic. From your own graph, it's headed up, with no end in sight. Not to mention Biden's 2025 proposed budget of $7.3 Trillion. Contrast that with Trump's proposed 2021 budget of $4.8 Trillion. That's a 52% increase in the federal budget in just 4 years of Bidenomics. We can't afford to keep winning like that... https://www.npr.org/2024/03/10/1237398034/biden-2025-budget-proposal https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-ap-top-news-elections-politics-election-2020-32b2fd53ef9a547c8ca7a920c2ee7c43

Coincidence?

Thai chapter of South Park's Underpants Gnomes?

You mean the Constitution that makes it a President's duty to protect the borders?

Apologies in advance for not being much help here. The OP is asking a big question that would require a lot of back and forth for details. Unless his buddy is strapped for cash, I'd suggest flying in on visa exempt and meeting up with guys who've been here and done that, then go back and sort out his bigger move. While he's on his scouting visit, nail down where he wants to live for his first few months, understanding that may change as he figures out Thailand. I'd suggest going out for breakfast looking for expats to seek advice. Better breakfast, before the heavy drinking starts... More likely to run into family units, too.

Would you trust that lot? Especially in an election year... The same lot that insisted the laptop was a fake and Biden didn't shower with his daughter?

The lengths to which posters will go to avoid praising the locals who helped the woman out... Kudos to the locals. Well done.

Remind me.... How many terms did FDR have? The 2 term limitation is a recent invention.

Another advertisement for travel insurance. Because I doubt that the culprits will be funding the guy's hospital bill.

Another almost useful study... But they are getting better. At least now they're conceding there's a balance between the risk of vaccine side effects vs the risk of Covid damage. But they don't break it down by age, or underlying condition, or some other factor that makes it a good idea for people in that demographic to take the vaccine. I suspect (and that's all it is) that there's an age where the risks of getting full bore (unvaxxed) Covid is greater than the risks of getting vaccinated and hoping for a muted case of Covid. It's like that "study" you posted a few weeks ago where they looked at people from 15-30 years old and their conclusion was that everyone from age 6 months and up could benefit from the vax. Or the studies that say the average age of a Covid death is (for example) 80 years old and you parents still need to vax your toddlers, though we have no long term data on how it will affect them in the future. I appreciate the updates and the studies, but I'm still waiting for the ones that will allow my 35 year old nephew to decide whether his risk from Covid is greater than his risk from vaccine caused Myocarditis. (Or in my case, something that looks like Bell's Palsy) The studies never seem to break it down to ages and details, and I have come to believe that's deliberate. Because I'm sure that data's out there. But I wonder how many years before the public get it in a useful form.

Ask yourself this... If the vaccines actually reduced "all cause mortality" by 82%, would we only be reading about it in some obscure paper?

I'd never crawl under a car that's jacked up using the car's own jack. I've never needed to get under the car or pickup, in order to change a flat. I've seen too many fall off the old timey bumper jacks. Even on solid concrete, the jacks tend to slide out from under the car if you push in any direction. On a gravelly and/or uneven road, they're death traps for anyone climbing under the car. In my driveway, I jack the car onto a tripod jackstand. On the side of the road, I cross my fingers and stay out from under any part of a car on a jack. Back home, I have a nice set of Walmart Rhino plastic ramps that I used all the time. I can't open Shopee from here so I don't know if they're comparable to the OP's link. But they're plenty stout to change oil, shocks, etc on a normal size vehicle. In fact, I prefer them to my old steel ramps because they have better traction. Rated to 12,000 lb GVW, I wouldn't push them anywhere near that, but they are well engineered and work great on my soccer Mom Sienna van, front or back. Most of my recent cars (after 2000), the oil filter is accessible from the top so I may eventually go to a siphon oil change system. I'm almost old enough. But I still like to get the dregs out the drainhole and see what grew in my oilpan since the last change.

The COVID vax reduces COVID infections by 13%, but reduces mortality from all causes by 82%? Doesn't pass the sniff test for causality. There have to be some other factors.

So, no information on how that's going to affect airport tourism SIMs and the ability of foreigners to get a longer term SIM? If it changes at all...

I think it has as much to do with the number of words he's made up from the podium. He says "frumplehump", but the WH transcript quotes it as "transitory".