impulse

It's a public service from our brothers, to incent American women to lose a few dozen pounds and learn to be nicer. They'll live longer and be happier. BTW, YouTube is blocked here, but I think I've seen that video a dozen times, or a at least dozen more just like it.

That's why God Satan invented lobbyists.

I believe that Biden's going to issue enough questionable pre-emptive pardons that the Supreme Court will have to get involved and they'll reverse the ones where there's been no prosecution before the pardon. No clue what all they're being pardoned for. And Biden's administration won't be around to advocate that side of the arguments in front of the SCOTUS.

Asking the wrong question. With scooters being 20-40x as hazardous on a per km basis, and helmets only reducing that risk by 40%, the real safety Rubicon is crossed when you throw a leg over a seat instead of buckling into a ton of steel. I'll always take a car (or the BTS or MRT) if those choices are reasonably available. But I realize that's not always practical. Not that I don't hop on motosai scooters for short trips down sois where taking a taxi just isn't practical. In those cases, I look at the helmet they may (or may not) have on offer, and make a judgment call. Usually, they're as good as nothing.

That one is easy, but exasperating to explain. The lobbyists want all the money spent with their client companies. That's Big Pharma, insurance companies and all the hospitals and healthcare giants that have been bought up with private equity.

I saw the bill for my heart bypass at Bumrungrad (most expensive hospital in Thailand, I think) and it was $60K USD. Same week, I read a story about a guy in the USA that had paid over $900K for the same surgery in a US hospital. If he had 20% co-pay, his copay would have been 3x my total bill. And my care was world class. Confirmed when, 9 years later, I did a CAT scan (I think) in the USA that showed my 4 grafts were still working great. BTW, with Euro insurance, they paid it 100%. I only saw the bill to approve payment. Americans are getting hosed on healthcare and insurance. There's gotta be a good market for medical tourism, given that I would have paid 3x as much deductible as my total Bumrungrad bill. Seems like tacking on a few weeks of recovery in a tropical paradise would be icing on the cake. Also leads me to question why US insurance companies wouldn't get in the act and offer to send their policy holders to Thailand...

I'm more jaded. I think he promised not to pardon Hunter because it would have lost his party votes. Had he done it in January, 2021, the backlash would have subsided by November 2024. But maybe not by the 2022 midterms...

I should have included sarcasm ⚠️ alert ? And I should have qualified that I don't hate health insurance companies. Just American ones. The Euro company that covered my bypass in Bangkok 10 years ago was a treat compared to my experiences in the US health insurance market. Most expensive hospital in Thailand and they picked up 100%. (Of course, it was still 1/10 of what my brother was charged last year in a US hospital). I never asked him what his insurance picked up. Next time I see him...

I would have grudgingly accepted a pardon for Hunter on Day 1 of the Biden administration. But only for the national security of knowing that Joe's not compromised in negotiations with adversarial world leaders who have evidence in their back pocket to put his kid away for a long time. And not as a parting gift when it's no longer in the interest of national security. Especially after he lied so many times before the election, making it absolutely clear he wouldn't be pardoning him.

He's actually been a pleasant surprise. Once he recovered sufficiently from his stroke, he seems to be a reasonable liberal. I know... Sounds like an oxymoron, but lots of us used to be reasonable liberals, until they started cancelling us for being reasonable.

Dang man... I'm going to apologize in advance for pulling out the same picture twice in one day. Looks like the early minutes of a good sci-fi horror movie. Here's how it progresses: Please post back if you do figure it out.

If nobody pushed back last time, we'd all be whipping out our updated vaccine passports for every flight we get on and every restaurant we intend to eat at. And still wearing masks and social distancing. Best to get ahead of the draconian measures, letting them know they screwed up so bad last time and we won't be fooled again.

Just because his opinion agrees with yours doesn't mean he's telling it how it is. He's telling it how he sees it. More accurately, how it best optimizes his numbers, given a lefty audience and lefty advertisers. Like Rachel and Myka and Joy and... and...

I bought mine at the Nguan Soon spice shop in BKK Chinatown, but I've seen them at Chatuchuk and MBK touristy shops. I've never looked online, because I like perusing their shop. https://www.nguansoon.com/ Shameless plug... If you're ever in Bangkok Chinatown, their shop is a treasure. In the small alley on the north side just outside the Wat Mangkon MRT stop.

Again. None of my business. I left the nanny state behind. I'm thankful that I never have to choose between buying a helmet or eating this week. Not all Thai families have that luxury.

Who are we to judge, much less dictate how a guy making 300 baht a day should spend his money?

No, I am not American, but I enjoy his show, tells it as it is.....😝 Jimmy Kimmel hasn't been entertaining since Girls on Trampolines. That's when he peaked, and it's been downhill ever since. He's good for a few jokes a month. But not for every night.

Haven't there been lucky license plates auctioned for more than that?

Oh. That kind of black hole.

Salt & Pepper

You mean the cabinet members who are scared poopless that he'll actually stop the revolving door between gub'ment and MIC, Big Ag, Big Pharma and Big Tech lobbying groups. So they can't make their zillions by jumping back and forth between gub'ment and (for example) Pfizer? I can understand why they'd hate and fear the Bad Orange Man. Follow the money.

I may shake my head in sympathy and disbelief, but the reality is that it's none of my business. Unless they do something that puts my life at risk. I'm not one of those who would leave the nanny state, and impose the nanny culture on them.

Not true. I hated health insurance companies long before I ever heard of Bernie.

Good catch. There's an "unapproved source" that indicates their initial denial rate was 32%. Which isn't as many pissed off customers as 90%, but more than the 17% for Blue Cross. And if 90% of those are overturned eventually, that's a lot of suspects with an axe to grind. The guy left so many breadcrumbs (again, from an "unapproved source") that they'll probably catch him soon. Looks like the power of the poon may be his ultimate undoing, but I'll leave it to you to chase that tidbit down with Google. Assuming, of course, that they're after the right guy.

That's how it starts...