impulse

The OP is assuming the tourists know what taxis cost here in Thailand. That same ride would probably cost upwards of $200 USD back home. As far back as 20 years ago, I'd take a taxi from the airport (IAH) to town in Houston and it was about $150. And that's nowhere near the distance from Patts to BKK. I don't frequent Pattaya, but I take the bus from Kanchanaburi to Bangkok because of several white knuckle experiences I've had with kamikaze vans, private cars and taxis. Takes longer, but I don't get the sense I may die at any minute. If the schedule works out, I even take the train, though that takes even longer. It just feels safer (and historic). Has nothing to do with any cost difference.

You're deluded if you think this ends with the release of the hostages. It won't end until Israel kills every Hamas member who participated in the planning or execution of Oct 7. The question is, in killing hundreds (thousands?), will they create 10's of thousands of newly minted terrorists by also killing innocent family members as collateral damage? My forecast? In 50 years, Israel will still be fighting someone posing an existential threat, and in 75 years, and in 100 years.

Another $325 mil, and he'll match Zuck's contribution to getting Biden selected. I think his support, and the intelligence he can provide in the background is worth a lot more than the cash. Though, cash is nice.

Pleased as I am that they took the guy out, let's see if the guy replacing him is even worse... I certainly hope not, but I can't imagine that a reasonable person would be able to crawl to the top of that heap.

You mean this Dave Bautista, referring to the femininity of the guy that Dana White calls the toughest human alive? I'm a fan of his acting. He and Clooney should stick to that. Like Taylor and Bruce should stick to singing.

Up to $41 billion of the funds distributed to climate causes by the World Bank between 2017 and 2023 are unaccounted for due to poor accounting standards, according to an audit from Oxfam International published Thursday. The enormous sum represents almost 40% of the climate funds the Bank disbursed during the seven year time period, with World Bank data failing to show the recipients and uses of the money, the Oxfam investigation found. I wonder how much of that was spent writing the AI puff piece in the OP, to keep the grift going... https://dailycaller.com/2024/10/17/gaps-inconsistencies-41-billion-world-bank-climate-handouts-unaccounted-report-finds/

I rented a house in Casper Wyoming and soon after, the cops knocked on my door looking for a previous tenant. I showed them my ID and my new rental contract and they thanked me and went away. For months, I was getting door knocks at all hours looking to score some drugs. I answered the door from my 2nd floor window with a handgun at the ready. Very glad I had it, though I never had to flash it. That's a statistic that nobody can track. How many lives were saved because the bad guys either saw a gun, or were afraid that their intended victim had one. I suspect it's a big number, but nobody tracks it if there's no shooting.

Given the mass exodus of people who can no longer afford to live in California, I'm not sure that's a good example to hold up.

Would you prefer a 30 minute security queue at each BTS and MRT station? I'll gladly take my chances...

2020... Wasn't that the summer of luv and mostly peaceful arson, looting and murder? When the lefties were out encouraging the rioters and raising bail so they didn't have to stop and wait for their trial before they were back out in the scrum? When Trump was demonized for trying to do something about the violence?

I'd cut her some slack unless there's a lot more info. I'm caring for a loved one right now that regularly refuses my suggestion that I take her to the hospital when she has a bad day. One day, bowing to her wishes like that may be the end of her... And in that case, she's past her suffering. There's worse things than dying.

It's reminiscent of the glowing jobs reports that have been revised downward in 17 of the last 18 months. No expense (or reputation cost) spared, to polish this turd of an administration. They're really skeered of the Bad Orange Man. Is it any wonder that young'uns who look around the interwebs don't trust the MSM like the old farts who remember Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather and still stick to their favorite sources, which are anything but tried and true nowadays? Age gaps also made a difference in the ratings, with 74% of Democrats aged 65 and older having a fair or great amount of confidence in the media compared to just 31% of Democrats aged 18 to 29. https://dailycaller.com/2024/10/15/trust-media-historic-low/

Me too. But that's all a lot of people can afford. It's still probably safer on a per km basis than riding a scooter. When I was a kid, we rode in the back of pickups all the time. No room for 5 or 6 of us in the cab. But that was before seat belt laws, and 4 door pickups.

Here's another crazy MAGA conspiracy theory that came true. And another MSM fact check that was wrong, during the debate, no less. Violent crime IS up under Harris/Biden. The FBI was lying.

The timing isn't suspicious at all, is it?

I hope her staff members who organized that "opportunity" have their CV's polished up on LinkedIn. If she doesn't fire them after that disaster, the voters will.

You just have to be able to hit the guy on the next barstool...

I'm not sure if Kamala has made the fallacious claim that violent crime is down, but her minions in the MSM sure have. Turns out, the FBI just quietly revised violent crime stats for 2022 and it's actually up. But they didn't mention the revision... Just a few weeks before election day, and after early voting has already started. When the FBI originally released the “final” crime data for 2022 in September 2023, it reported that the nation’s violent crime rate fell by 2.1%. This quickly became, and remains, a Democratic Party talking point to counter Donald Trump’s claims of soaring crime. But the FBI has quietly revised those numbers, releasing new data that shows violent crime increased in 2022 by 4.5%. The new data includes thousands more murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults. https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2024/10/16/stealth_edit_fbi_quietly_revises_violent_crime_stats_1065396.html

The right is natural born. It's the gub'ment that's limiting the right.

While I agree that there are some good ones coming out, the percentage of stinkers seems to be skyrocketing. Especially the "blockbuster" stinkers, where it's all stuff exploding and people flying and dodging bullets from 14 guys all spraying them with machine gun fire. That's either some mad skill, or hokum. It's bad when I can watch them for free, and I still can't sit all the way through most of them. We used to go to 50+ movies a year when I was a kid, every Friday night. I only walked out on one Disney turd (back in the '70s). Today, I don't make it through over half the new movies.

Let he who has never fallen for the power of the poon, cast the first stone. I've done stoopider, for uglier.

I think they looked at that juicy Biden/Harris war chest and put Harris forward knowing that's the only choice they had to keep that money in play. Little did they know they'd be raising about a $billion, no matter who they put up against The Donald. Had they known, they'd have chosen wiser.

The revision comes after the release of the 2023 UCR data in September, which showed a 3% decrease in national violent crime, according to an FBI press release. The FBI Uniform Crime Report (UCR) initially showed a slight 2.1% decrease in violent crime from 2021 to 2022, however the revision, which was only briefly mentioned on its website, shows an increase in violent crime of 4.5%, according to RCI.

Speaking of misinformation: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) quietly revised its national crime data for 2022, showing that violent crime actually increased instead of the decrease initially reported, according to RealClearInvestigations (RCI). “I have checked the data on total violent crime from 2004 to 2022,” Carl Moody, professor at the College of William & Mary who specializes in crime, told RCI. “There were no revisions from 2004 to 2015, and from 2016 to 2020, there were small changes of less than one percentage point. The huge changes in 2021 and 2022, especially without an explanation, make it difficult to trust the FBI data.” The change is only discoverable when downloading the new set of data now and comparing it to the old, with the FBI issuing no statement reflecting the change, RCI reported. The post-release change is similar to the revisions the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) does for its jobs numbers, which overestimated the amount of jobs in America in 2023 by an average of 105,000 a month. https://dailycaller.com/2024/10/16/fbi-quietly-revised-violent-crime-data-surge-decrease/

If you feel that way, look on YouTube for a channel called "The Critical Drinker". You'll enjoy it. At least, I do. He has a bunch of videos explaining several causes and aspects of the exact phenomena. Plus, reviews (both good and bad) of most movies coming out, and some reviews of good oldies worth downloading and watching. Be warned. The guy is brutal, and not politically correct.