impulse

The difference is that some of those social programs amount to pooling everyone's money for projects that benefit everyone, and some of them amount to flagrantly taking money from one group and giving it to someone else. Basically, voting yourself money from the treasury.

A few "big picture" question... Is it by rai, or is it a percentage of assessed value? Are they just taxing the land, or are they also taxing improvements? Are they taxing condos that don't really include any land? Is the tax rate (and policy) different by province, city, etc? Is there a mechanism to foreclose on the land if tax isn't paid, or will it only affect the next sale? If it's just a few bucks a month, I can't see it affecting the buy/rent decision. But who knows what the future brings?

Yeah, That's a closer call. But the answer is still the same. Debate performance isn't the same as actual performance. And there doesn't seem to be a throng of people moving to SC. Being behind DeSantis on actual performance, I suspect Haley knows her opportunity is in the debates. Where, I freely admit, DeSantis looks like a wood plank. I'm still a fan of what's happening in Florida.

Possibly because debate performance doesn't mean actual performance. Newsom is proof of that. He's a polished, articulate speaker. But California is a train wreck. DeSantis isn't anywhere near as slick, but people keep moving to Florida, people keep leaving California and CA's budget has gone from a surplus to a deficit under Newsom. If I were to choose between the 2 knowing nothing but debate optics, it would be for Newsom. But that would be dumb.

I'm not sure bragging that a record number of Americans now need gub'ment help to pay their medical bills is something I'd be running on...

My stand on weed, since the '70s has always been "Legalize it, control the quality, keep it away from the kids, and tax the beejeezus out of it."

2 months later, thousands and thousands more dead. Has the situation improved for the Ukrainians? How many more dead do they need before they accept reality, even if it isn't fair? Maybe a whole generation of young men. Many being chased down by recruitment squads. Who are dying for the right to live under one corrupt flag instead of another.

Excellent point. But I don't think the pizza flippers have the same political clout as the beer brewers.

I have no experience staying longer, so no advice. Other than, "don't do what I did, then". Best of luck.

It would be interesting to see their books, and whether their booze sales and profits suffered more (or less) than their weed sales grew.

But a poster on this very forum (not this thread) claimed that he used to spend thousands and thousands of baht a month on booze and now he only spends 500 baht a month on weed. So, not only is that a net negative, it's also not going to the powerful interest. Follow the money...

No, but he sure didn't convince them not to, like the Bad Orange Man did. But there were those mean tweets... Sooooo much worse than hundreds of thousands dead.

Catch and release explains the increase in illegal immigration under Biden.

But if you fall over dead from some tainted beer, you can trace the bottle back to the company that made it. Probably even the exact minute it was bottled, and the batch it came from. I've got a pack of chewing gum in front of me, and I can tell you what company made it, and the exact time it was made. And that's chewing gum, not a pharmaceutical.

Won't that be for a court to decide? In any case, here's a good start... https://www.gop.gov/bidenimpeachmentinquiry/ Keep in mind, that immunity isn't just criminal. It's also civil. Can you imagine how many people have been (and will be) harmed by illegals let in by Joe? If they all sued, he'd be fighting cases for decades. Or the service members' families suing him for his Afghanistan decision? Or... Or... The short sightedness of the Dems comes from them never considering that it may happen to their guy, if they open that door. But their TDS blinds them.

You may wanna mention that Israelis and Palestinians weren't killing the heck out of each other and neither were the Russkies and the Ukes. WW3 wasn't in the air in the 3 areas of the world where it currently is. Illegal immigration was under control (in fact, it was a net negative his last year). Gas was soooo much cheaper... All told, life was just better. That's why Biden's popularity is in the toilet and going lower just about every poll update.

Give him extra points for being polite. I wonder if he's trying to score a date, or just get his Line count up. In either case, sounds like a nothing burger.

I'm a US citizen and last month I entered Thailand for the 9th time in 2023 with no visa at all. Unless you're planning on staying beyond the 30 days afforded by visa exempt, I wouldn't bother with a visa at all. To be clear, I stay about a week at a time, once a month. Entering Suvarnabumi. I may suggest differently if you're planning to stay for an extended period as opposed to quick in and outs. Depends on exact details of your travel plans.

Good to know. I had this vision of lights flashing and alarms going off back at Immigration HQ if a hotel entered an overstay passport number into the TM30 system. Seems like it could be a nice little earner for them and the BMW.

As easy as it is to sell stuff online, I wouldn't be surprised if the growers are cutting out the shops. It's not like coffee shops where the product is imminently perishable. Of course, there will always be walk-in business in the tourist areas... Unless they start requiring a script.

Has anyone tuned in here ever experienced a problem checking into (or staying longer in) a hotel while on overstay?

I agree, but it does not hurt exploring it. Perhaps the IO would be reasonable or maybe even have a better solution. I am fortunate to live in an area (KKC) where we have a very professional and helpful immigration office , but I understand that this is not the case everywhere. My concern would be that once you've laid your cards on the table like that, it may cause problems to change your story later. Or is that thinking wrong? Do they record unsuccessful attempts to extend?

The difference being that a guy opening his fridge isn't offering a mind altering substance for sale to the public. Am I correct in deducing that you think it's okay to sell (for example) gummies that have no traceability to where they came from, and no labeling requirement for strength, other ingredients, etc? You can't even do that with chewing gum, but it's okay to do that with a pharmaceutical?

Could also be they're losing their butts, but their lease still has some time on it. Looking at the oversupply where I've been staying (BKK), I'd bet there's going to be a shake-out.

I often get a 2nd look at entries because my passport photo has hair and a moustache that I no longer sport. I'd add that, sometimes I have to scan both left and right fingerprints and sometimes it doesn't even ask for the 2nd hand. I always suspected it found a match on the first hand and didn't need the 2nd. But that would require that it actually does something with the fingerprints.