impulse

My God. Those heartless monsters... Requiring people to actually get out of bed and work as a condition of getting free money... My money. I'm sure it won't be popular with some demographics, but they already vote Blue and always will, as long as they get promised free stuff.

I enjoy listening to Thomas Sowell about how the welfare state as it's currently structured absolutely devastates families, mostly Black families. Though, I don't know if "enjoy" is an accurate word for being so disheartened by how bad it's been screwed up. Basically, my takeaway from his books and lectures is that the plight of Black families was improving rapidly in the USA from WW2, until the '60s and then the Great Society took pity on them and turned them into wards of the Gub'ment.

As cheap as it is to organize and staff a protest with thousands of paid shills, I don't think any of us know. What I do know is that if I start to think I understand Thai politics and the interactions between the major factions, I'm just fooling myself. The protests and lead up to the Yingluck coup were actually quite pleasant. There was a huge camp set up outside the office at Asoke, and it was fascinating to wander around at lunch and after hours, for days on end. It looked like more of them were having fun than were genuinely angry. Edit: But I would add, even before that, I was reminded of how bad it could have gotten by the bullet holes in some stainless steel handrails where the protests had happened a few years earlier.

A few months before I left for Asia, I bought a vacant lot in a lake community in Texas for $350. It was listed on EBay, and nobody was bidding. So it was an impulse buy. God, I wish I could build on it for $38.89. To be fair, it's one of those lakefront communities from the free wheelin' '80s that never really took off. But I have neighbors on all 3 sides and a lake and boat ramp about 200 yards away.

They probably should be, based on material cost. But that's not what my sister and I found when we looked into building a beach home for (mostly) AirBNB in the same Galveston neighborhood where my brother lives in a 50+ year old cement house. The concrete capable contractors came in with eye watering high quotes compare to the much more numerous wood frame contractors. That may just be an anomaly in the area. Or it may be supply and demand, where the concrete guys can name their price. Like a Rolex costs more than a new scooter.

I challenge you to come up with a causal link between 7/11's and the murder rate. Weak, liberal prosecutors, that's an easy causal link to the higher murder rate.

I'd guess it's all about the Benjamins. If you can build with wood and save 20-30% (or more) over a cement house, and a lot fewer than 1% of them burn down every year, you're still dollars ahead using wood. Of course, that assumes a cheap and plentiful supply of wood. I don't think that's the case in the UK.

Could have been worse. It was lot worse for poor Mr. Gutierrez... SAN FRANCISCO - United Airlines recently banned a man from flying on their aircraft after he allegedly urinated on another passenger. According to SFGATE, Jerome Gutierrez was traveling in business class on UA Flight 189 from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Manila, Philippines, on Dec. 27 when a man got up from his seat about four hours into the flight and began peeing on him, his stepdaughter said. United bans man from flight after he allegedly urinates on passenger: ‘Soaked from his stomach down’ | FOX 11 Los Angeles You'd think the guys flying Business Class would behave better... The guy(s) in the OP were idiots, but they didn't kill the Lindbergh baby. Or pee on fellow passengers. And they didn't do anything we don't see countless times a day on the BTS, MRT, in restaurants and other public venues. But we've been fear mongered since 9/11 to believe that the slightest infraction on an aircraft is a big deal. Like I said in a previous post... On a scale of 1-10, their bad behavior rates about a 2 or 3.

Makes it kinda hard to "trust the science", eh? When you have one peer reviewed study in Lancet that claims 186,000, then another peer reviewed study published in Lancet that claims the number is around 64,000, I wonder who can trust Lancet? I have to admit to some trolling there... I don't claim to know what the number is, nor that I believe the linked stud(ies). But in another sub-topic related to "safe and effective", every time I suggest that the scientists are paid by someone, the peer reviewers are paid by someone, and the publication (Lancet) is owned by someone, I'm told to crawl back under my rock if I don't trust the science. As if the science isn't funded by parties with vested interests.

You can believe that if you want. I think he's looking at the downward spiral of the MSM (viewership and market value) as viewers lose confidence in them because of all the gaslighting. And he doesn't want to lose $$ billions. I wish it were a fundamental change in The Zuck, away from the darkness. But it's going to take a lot more than firing the contracted gaslighters to convince a lot of us.

OTOH, a recent peer reviewed study in Lancet claims the numbers are probably 40% higher than those reported by the Palestinian Health Ministry. The report in the Lancet estimated a death toll between 55,298–78,525 people, compared to 37,877 reported by the health ministry. www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqjvl4klzweo

I'd trust them more than I'd trust mediabiasfactcheck. There's a reason The Zuck fired Meta's fact checkers.

40% of Murders in U.S. Happen in Districts with a Soros Prosecutor | 6 Jan 2025 | Forty percent of all murders in the U.S. happen in districts that have a Soros-funded prosecutor, according to new research from the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund (LELDF). The Fund reports that Soros-backed district attorneys now represent a full 1 in 5 Americans, in districts that see 40%—that’s 2 in 5—of all murders in the nation. https://legitgov.org/index.php/2025/01/06/40-of-murders-in-u-s-happen-in-districts-with-a-soros-prosecutor/ So yeah. Soros is more dangerous. Just based on transparency. I don't agree with Musk on a lot of things. But he's not secretive.

Some of the Bangkok 7/11's have foot longs. But without mustard, onions and relish, they're just not appealing. Gotta have something to cover up the flavor of ground up animal "parts".

Yup. News flash. Eating at the airport, any major airport, is expensive.

I wonder how many of those charges resulted from truck drivers that didn't want the "safe and effective"? And the occasional mean tweet. It's hard to tell if there's really an increased danger or just fear mongering in a desire for tighter control over their citizens.

Speaking of plagues of locusts, how about the ones that are doing their shopping in the homes that have been evacuating? Had there been enforcement of shoplifting laws, they'd be in prison already and none of it would be happening.

Up until a year ago, no lefties believed the P Diddy story.

Last time I bought a breakfast sandwich at Subway in Swampy, it cost more than the 2 pairs of Levi's Dockers I had bought in town. But it was about the same price as breakfast at Burger King or McD's on the same departure concourse. $72 for 3 meals that the airport? Sounds about right.

Gotta be honest. I don't see the big deal. On a scale of 1-10 of bad behavior, this rates about a 2 or 3.

Unwelcome by who? The lefties that keep voting for these tragic policies? Sometimes, you have to be junkyard dog mean to snap people out of their bad habits. We call it tough love. Pointing out that you'll keep getting what you get if you keep doing what you do. Voting in incompetent DEI candidates that appoint incompetent DEI department heads who keep hiring incompetent DEI employees. At gobsmacking salaries, on the taxpayer dime. The LA Power and Water Department has MECHANICs that got paid $750K in 2023. Let that sink in. Gub'ment MECHANICs that makes $750K a year... Edit: And I'm only speculating here, but I'll bet they're still working from home, too.

I went to Seoul about 6 or 8 times during the 2008 Olympic visa debacle. China generally wasn't issuing business visas that year, so I did back to back 30 day tourist visas. Got to hobnob with dozens of int'l business guys in the same visa boat, some of whom even owned factories in China. It was a PITA, but certainly not a deal killer. I loved visiting Seoul. Highly recommended, for the shopping, the street food and the history/museums. (Shameless plug). But it gets COLD. And the normal hotels were a little spendy. I even got up to the DMZ and was detained by the military for wandering around where I shouldn't have been. Which turned out to be a fascinating lesson in recent (at the time) North/South relationship. I got a personal tour of the border railway station that, 17 years later still isn't activated. One on one tour by the head of the SK gub'ment's reconciliation committee. The Big Cheese.

At one of the smaller clinics I visited in Bangkok, they charged me 1,300 baht for the panoramic digital x-rays alone. Then they had me sit there for about an hour while they tried to find a qualified dentist to come in that day. They couldn't scare one up until the next evening (after hours) so I didn't mind paying a lot more at Bumrungrad, who got me in on the spot. In between those clinics, I went to another clinic that I'd used over the years and asked if they had anyone in, before I even let them do the x-rays.

I can't help but wonder if the cops were just getting rid of their competition.

This is big news around the Chinese blogosphere (especially Wang's case). After 20+ consecutive monthly visa runs to Thailand, my Chinese GF is begging me to consider going to Seoul from now on.