jimmybcool

Why not visit Pattaya while it's going on and report back? Or read back several posts that describe the antics that take place there during Song Kran. Not sure repeating them will make a difference.

Not sure what has changed since the last time the entire Muslim middle east attempted to push the Jews into the sea. Except the Egyptians and Saudis have both decided it isn't worth the effort. It's actually only Iran and it's proxies that are still at it and I'd bet on Israel against Iran any day and twice on Sunday.

Whatever it is in Pattaya it isn't the same as other parts of Thailand. it is ruined by the idiot falangs. And it runs for 7 or more days.

Kind of hard to stay open when idiots walk into the restaurant and spray people and the food with water. Or when people can't come into your place without being dripping wet. But hey per you loss of business on them. 🙄

Curious why you think Israel will cease to exist without US constant support? The countries around them have tried on multiple occasions to wipe them out and failed every time. And Israel now has the bomb. They do not need the US.

Lot of restaurants have to close for a week in Pattaya. They lose business.

They are out there ALL DAY. The grocery store opens at about 10 AM and they are already on the corner.

OK and do you feel the same way about the war crimes committed by Hamas? And have they ever used fake ambulances and emergency vehicles with men wearing vests as cover for Hamas fighters before? Do their lies concern you? I do not exonerate Israel. But for armchair quarterbacks to constantly berate them when they are fighting an evil force that uses it's own people as shields and targets to use as martyrs and public opinion is sad. They are fighting an evil far worse than anything Israel has ever done. I always put it in context. Which side throws gays off roof tops? Which side allows all people to have representation in a democratically elected system (Hamas has fake elections IMO). And which side would absolutely open up in friendship if it could be assured no more attacks or invasions? Pretty clear the crazed islamists will never stop until either they kill all the Jews or are destroyed. Israel doesn't have the luxury of fighting a perfect war.

I don't agree it is like Pattaya elsewhere. Visiting areas in the Isaan district or anywhere large numbers of young drunk foreigners don't frequent and Songkran is a fun event. With respect and no one is out to nail you and knock you off a motorbike with a bucket of ice water. They restrict where and what hours the water play occurs and it is fewer days everywhere else. In Pattaya large groups of western young men (ahem) are not out celebrating a holiday. They are <deleted> trying to piss someone off as they get some kick out of it. Pattaya needs to crack down and cut back the number of days it is allowed. They also need to define specific areas of play and others NOT play. I doubt this part can be defined or enforced but it would help. And it would help of they arrested <deleted> that intentionally try to knock motorbike riders off in traffic. Songkran is a blast - for 2-3 days. I have participated in it and had fun. I lived on Soi 13 in Pattaya and took part in several years of it at the junction of Second Road. A hot spot for sure. But it gets tiring when you can't bring home groceries without some drunken lout trying to soak you and the bag of food you have. If Pattaya does nothing else it should reduce the holiday to 4 days or less. But, whatever. When I lived there my pals and I just took a golf holiday away from Pattaya. Where there were no drunken louts from foreign lands.

If it tanks sales of Chinese products wonder how the unemployed Chinese workers will feel. The thing is it works both ways.

I hope you are right.

Lets do a reality check. None of the previous presidents in the last 20 years has addressed the overspending and growing debt bomb. Until now. Each one gets an explanation and pass for why THEIR guy didn't do anything. Doge with Musk as it'd figurehead, is at least doing a hard audit to reduce the bleeding on the spending side. If the left doesn't like the WAY it is happening make suggestions. Work with them. We have also allowed ourselves to be slighted in many trade arenas because for a long time as we had an incredible advantage and it was in our interest to see others back on their feet. Those days are also over and a reset is needed to allow the USA to compete on an equal basis with the EU nations, China, SE Asia, etc. I am hopeful this tariff business is simply that. Lets all drop all tariffs and let the best man win in competition. If that isn't it then this tariff thing is above my pay grade. But it is the height of hypocrisy to point at who added to the debt bomb and trade imbalance and then complain when now there is at least an attempt at preventing a USA financial crash. I am not educated enough in economics or a student of it to know if Trump/Musk are doing a good job of it. But this issue should have both parties working together. The USA must reduce debt going forward until it is brought way down from this number.

Not sure to me trade deficit is the right measure. Look at the tariffs. For example some nations produce goods of better quality and lower cost and if the playing field is level they will have a trade surplus. Assuming they are respecting human rights and international pollution standards then they earned their surplus. As an example one reason USA might have a trade surplus with other nation is our ability to produce FOOD at a lower cost and in quantity. And at one point Japan was producing much better cars to USA and earned their sales jump.

You may be right. The future is unknown. On the flip side if products can be made with much less human labor then their cost will be equally less costly and more widely available. It might usher in a period of wealth and prosperity for all. I mean if the cost of a new Mercedes matches the cost of a skateboard we all have a Merc. Somehow I suspect we will see a middle of the road between the bleak everyone has the standard of living of a Lao rice farmer and everyone has a Merc.

IMO all any nation should be looking for is fair trade. If one accepts products in an industry with no tariffs then it should go both ways. I have no idea if this is the goal.

It isn't me to believe. It is the massive quantity of evidence available on this very resource. 😃

Yes those industries are DOA. But not innovation as the issue. Production costs are too high in comparison to the sweat shops in Asia. The cost to manufacture a Nike shoe in Massachusetts is massively higher than in Shanghai or Vietnam. Reality is some day this might not be true. When robotics truly remove the unskilled labor force from the equation or when standard of living costs are on par.

All media should always be questioning all presidents. The real issue today is media (all US media) then chooses how to spin their answers via editing or non presentation of answers they didn't want.

Note this is the same method employed by Biden. The problem is congress has abdicated some of it's constitutional role to presidents going back to Reagan and Clinton. Heck I don't think the senate very presented Biden with a budget which I believe is a role they are mandated to fulfill. So Trump is hardly doing this in a vacuum.

I would disagree that lack of innovation or invention is the problem. IMO the problem is labor costs and excessive red tape. The cost to build a factory is much higher with the amount of permits needed and inspections etc. Then building costs are high with labor to build being much higher than that in 3rd world countries. After that your run rate is very high with unionized labor costs being double or triple that in China or India etc. Really is tough to open a new business in some places the the amount of hurdles placed in front of business. Now SOME of them are for good reason and I don't want the USA to allow open sewers and spewing chemicals into the ecosystem. But there needs to be a better balance than what we have now.

I love history revision. I lived the evolution of data networking as a systems engineer in the 80s-90s. From TDM, circuit switching, X.25, Frame Relay to ATM and TCP/IP. Arpanet was the first experiment in true packet switching and was way ahead of the curve migrating away from circuit switching. But if someone wants to believe a single person outside of Silicon Valley was "the inventor of the internet" I'll just shrug my shoulders. Belief can be comforting.

How is my post in bad faith? You inferred the "evil Trump" would have protestors shot down. It never happened and won't happen. You clearly have a world view that is one of projecting hate and violence on the right and especially Trump. Same as the one that projects Trump won't step down. And yes message boards did the same thing to GW Bush back in his era projecting "fascist" and would not leave office. Denial that this happened is funny. Back then it was BDS (Bush derangement syndrome). And I have no doubt if another republican wins the presidency in 2028 he will be compared to Hitler and called a fascist. The playbook remains the same as the players change. This isn't a personal attack. This is attacking what you post on this forum. If you wish to clarify that you don't think Trump would have protestors shot down feel free.

And protestors shot down was....... yeah none. Your imagined machine gunning of protestors never happened and the takeovers never happened. Get help. The fascists are on the left not the right. People who are brainwashed as you are can protest no penalty. Stay off the roads and don't commit violence and all is well.

Did happen. Many far left people were crying about how GW Bush would not leave office. Just because you didn't know about it or don't remember doesn't mean it didn't happen. Just like now. You are proposing fear Trump won't leave office. People like you (far left) worried Bush would not hand power over to the next president. And 10 years from now you can disavow anyone ever said it about Trump when the discussion is of some other guy (Vance maybe) not leaving after 8 years. It gets tiresome. Denial is not just a river in Egypt.

Some of you are giving way too much credit to a single guy for inventing the internet. My bet is most of you haven't a clue how inter computer networking actually communicates. I mean it's OK. Most of us don't know how electricity flows to lights and other devices. We just use it. And if it makes you feel good that a guy born in England defined some of the specs feel good. Trust me that the real work to invent, test and build the protocols occurred in the USA in the 60s and 70s by Arpanet and universities like Stanford and others. Betting most of you wouldn't understand the difference between a defined guaranteed bandwidth network and packet switching ala X25 or current IP protocols. I installed X25 switching and worked with the engineers that defined ATM switching which currently carries the higher speed data for the internet. I designed the first private ATM network ever implemented (Intel) and many other private cell switching (private cell architecture) networks. One guy from Switzerland or England is just a small part of the big picture. But hey, feel free to think it was invented by one guy.