impulse

...this is, by far, the weakest criminal case I have ever seen in my 60 years. There is nothing here. There is no misdemeanor, there is no felony, there is no federal crime. The feds refused to prosecute — even Bragg refused to prosecute until some of his young progressive woke prosecutors demanded that he prosecute,” Dershowitz stated. “I have a challenge: name any case in the history of America where anybody was ever prosecuted for failing to disclose a hush money payment on some kind of business form. It’s never happened in the history of this country. And to use an unprecedented jerry-rigged case against the man running against your president, your Democrats, is such an abuse of the legal system, we ought to change our motto from ‘E pluribus unum’ to ‘double standard hypocrisy,'” Dershowitz continued. https://dailycaller.com/2024/04/13/alan-dershowitz-slams-alvin-bragg-hush-money-case-donald-trump-stormy-daniels-sean-hannity-new-york/

Hell, it could have been me. I was living in Huntington Beach at the time. Anyone who's ever tried to put on a dried leather golf glove knows that it's not going to fit unless you either soak it again, or force it on. They're meant to be snug. So are leather driving gloves.

Given the racially charged atmosphere of the time (especially in So Cal), I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be on that jury and exposed myself to retribution had there been a guilty verdict, or even a hung jury. There would have been entire city blocks burned down had he been convicted. Just like the Rodney King riots and the Summer of Love (and mostly peaceful city burnings). As I recall, they had whittled it down to Bigfoot, space aliens, or OJ did it... Apparently, the jury figured that was enough reasonable doubt. It may have been Bigfoot or aliens...

So, it happened before the 2016 election, but they waited until the 2024 election to drag him into court. Like the 199? sexual assault trials... Decades later, and just in time for an election year. Election interference much?

OP may want to specify what city he's in. If it's Bangkok, my first stop would be Fortune Town at MRT Phra Ram 9 station. Then it would be a matter of looking for a shop that repairs HP's, and hope they have (or can order) that particular shell. Edit: I'd also check the benchmark speed of the CPU before I'd dump a bunch of money into it. My "top of the line" I7 laptop from just a few years ago benchmarks slower than a new I3 laptop that costs today 1/2 or less than mine did when I bought it.

While I don't favor vandalism, one of the guys in the audience should have gone out to the parking lot and let the air out of their tires, just to see how redundant men really are.

On 7600 bus trips with (mostly) non-drunk drivers, vs 50,000 private car trips (for the 148,000 passengers), with a lot of those drivers being drunk... Or worse, 100,000 scooters. With a lot of them being drunk or high for the holiday.

Crafty bustard... But a good reminder. Always keep a throwdown ID, just in case.

You place a lot of trust that Iran was living up to their part of the treaty and not feverishly working in secret. The other way to go would be to starve them of the funds to develop the bombs and finance Houthi missiles, by sanctioning their oil trade. Instead, they have $$ billions of Bidenbucks, and the Houthis have missiles and Iran has the money to attack Israel. Way to go, Joe!

OP may want to provide some more details, like how big, self propelled or pulled behind (or pushed by hand). Maybe a picture of what you have in mind... Plenty of images available in a Google or Bing search. I've seen some that would probably be cheap as chips, but not big enough to make decent money, and others that look like they'd cost quite a bit.

WW3 incoming, but thank God we don't have mean tweets. Those were so much worse than a European or Middle East war.

Good point, but I was thinking more along these lines: Raw fish with spiced salad koi pla is a favourite dish in Thailand. But each year, thousands of people are infected with Opisthorchis viverrini, a liver fluke parasite transmitted to humans through raw or undercooked fish. Thailand has the world's highest incidence of cholangiocarcinoma a fatal form of liver cancer associated with O. viverrini. In some areas, nearly 85% of the population hosts the parasite. https://idrc-crdi.ca/en/research-in-action/reducing-liver-fluke-transmission-northeastern-thailand 85% sounds pretty scary... And I doubt foreigners are immune. Edit: And IIRC, there's another nasty disease that's associated with the raw freshwater crabs that you see at a lot of street vendors.

Isn't that a lot like promising "unshakeable support" for Israel, but now calling for an immediate cease fire?

Kind of an aside to this weekend's urgent need, but if the school offers her a job, will she be able to convert the visa exempt entry to a long stay/WP visa without her leaving Thailand again?

I wouldn't make a special appointment for it, but next time you see the doc, you may wanna look into your liver. Low probability, maybe. But raw "sea"food (with a lot coming from polluted lakes and rivers) can cause liver flukes, leading to an elevated risk of liver cancer in Thailand.

But can they change a flat tire, or move heavy furniture? The whole article reads like a promotion for the lesbian lifestyle, starting with data from "online surveys" that pretty much guaranty self selection bias. One good outcome, I guess. If your wife wants to do a threesome, 2 chicks and a dude is better than 2 dudes and a chick.

Gotta admire the forward thinking. Laying down flagstone instead of a concrete slab, knowing that future improvements will require burying new cables and perhaps new water lines. Instead of tearing up the whole sidewalk, they lift a row of tiles. Zero materials lost, just labor. Jobs for the locals. And if there's subsidence (inevitable after heavy rains) , they can re-level a few tiles instead of tearing up the entire sidewalk. Looks like a nuthin' burger. Unless you like to Thai bash. Rich fodder for that. To be clear, the authorities make a lot of mistakes (cutting the trees). Save the bashing for those. This isn't one of them.

That's what they said about tulip bulbs...

Nope. I'm just curious. I guess it's like P4P, which we also can't discuss. But I know how P4P works... No mystery there. I've always figured that one way to avoid falling afoul of the rules is to know what that looks like. Over the years, we occasionally read about guys who hired an agent but later found out the agent did dodgy stuff for a WP or an extension. I'm not advocating the dodgy stuff. But I would like to know how to tell if an agent may be cutting corners or doing something that may come around and bite me.

I don't claim to know the mechanics. I was just differentiating between going to an agent because you don't like waiting in line and going to an agent because you don't meet the requirements. Though, if a fellow doesn't have 400K or 800K to his name, and still gets an extension that requires 400K or 800K in the bank, I am curious how that does work...

I'd bet you can count on the fingers of one hand the percentage of foreign retirees that made their money in Thailand. If I look at the lifestyle I can afford in the USA on SS alone (for example) vs the lifestyle I could afford on that same monthly in Thailand (or Mexico), that would be a no-brainer. Thailand or Mexico... And if I had any nest egg at all, it could last decades in Thailand, but dwindle to nothing in a few years at US rental rates, food costs, etc.

I don't judge. I can think of a thousand ways to go bankrupt in the USA at no fault of your own. If it happens early, you can recover. If it happens close to retirement, too bad. Enron employees...(Caught out several extended family members) Healthcare issues (my niece's hubby needed $250K in kidney treatment. His Dad paid that out of his retirement fund... His reasoning: How can I enjoy retirement if I let my son die?) Restaurants during Covid... There's 1000 ways... There but for the Grace of God.

Maybe. Maybe not. Back in 1998, you could also stay in Thailand long term on a dozen visa dodges and programs that just don't work today. Unless you have a WP, there's no telling when they'll start cracking down on whatever "occupation" you choose. I suspect the 700+ foreigners they caught out recently on Phuket thought they were safe... And let's see what happens when the Revenue Department has some incentive to scrutinize money coming into Thailand at tax time in 2025.

That's assuming you're on the income method and not on the "money in the bank" method. Lots of guys are whittling away at their 400K or 800K and then have to go to dodgy agents. (The ones that can fake a bank statement) Not hard to imagine they'll eventually struggle to pay the agents. Bad news, though. If you're struggling in Thailand, "back home" isn't going to be any cheaper. Being a Covid refugee for a couple of years proved that to me. The saving grace is that you can pick up a job back home. But unless you have some special skill, that just qualifies you for a miserable existence.

Late to the party, but just wanted to express my appreciation for the info. I went to a couple of Thai roundups pre-Covid and thoroughly enjoyed them. I wish they had more events each year to get together with other recovering folk. Great to have an alternative to the usual expat bar scene.