JCauto

All things considered, sure. He's not about to get up to that spot by himself at that point in one's existence, do spend the last days you have with a bit of extra oxygen surrounded by nature sounds pretty ideal to me. Gasping for breath in the same situation perhaps less bucolic.

That's true. On the other hand, the Democrats are not so badly fragmented as the Republicans and whatever constitutes their "radical Left" is hardly at all radical, so much easier to compromise with. The other main difference which is far more important in my opinion is that the Democrats actually see government as having a critical role in regulating the economy and providing a social safety net for the citizenry, whereas the Republicans take a fundamentally "hands off" approach to government and are prone to want to burn it down when it comes to their radical flank. This makes getting those people in line almost impossible because they have no interest in cooperation or in the outcomes of sensible government. Appreciate you engaging in reasonable debate, by the way.

I think they mean "slimed into power".

LOL! You're really that scared of mean ol' Nancy Pelosi? She's your boogeywoman? The GOP is in the process of destroying itself through internal division as a result of fealty to a conman who has no principles whatsoever except for "what's in it for me?" "Too many idealists" - when you actually have nothing that you are for (otherwise known as principles) but only things that you are against, then you are not an idealist. You are a vandal.

Clearly! I mean, what could a guy do with a few bullets and a screwdriver? Kill two people and injure 4 more in the middle of one of the most prestigious malls in Bangkok?

The wheels of justice turn slowly but grind exceedingly fine...

Are you sure they're not mortified to realize that they could have simply ticked a box on the form and had a jury trial instead of putting it in the hands of the Judge?

I think you should know by now that whatever "facts" the ex-President spouts are unlikely to be rooted in veracity. This is completely untrue. He is referring to 80% of the charges relating to things that occurred prior to the statute of limitations expiring. Unfortunately (for him), however, if those actions were tied to subsequent ones, then it's not relevant and the charges stand. Also the Judge notes that a reoccurrence of the crime that had expired restarts the statute of limitations. So he's got two different hurdles he needs to get over to have those charges dismissed, and there will still be 20% of the charges remaining afterwards regardless. One should also note that the presiding Judge has also ruled that those 80% of the charges are NOT dismissed. So you have to appeal to get that situation changed. Glad I was able to clear that up for you.

Fantastic way to go, peaceful and natural.

See? There are points of agreement that can exist between those on the Left and the Right.

This is a precursor to that. By getting him on the random inflating and deflating of the values and nature of his properties, he was able to commit bank fraud and insurance fraud. Once those are proven, it's a very simple task to demonstrate that as a result, he paid less in taxes than he was supposed to. Remember he used these same methods to claim billion dollar losses that meant he owed no tax on quite high income several times. So it will be there, just a matter of time.

Perhaps you should write in a more thought-provoking way then? All I read were a bunch of banalities wrapped in trite generalities. There were no thoughts provoked other than "why did we both waste our time?".

I see another patriot has chimed in showing his deep love for America and freedom by advocating for moving to a totalitarian state run by Putin. How red, white and blue of you!

When the biggest creep is the alternative, one votes for a lesser creep? One would think having a non-creep might be a better choice if offered, but few if any of those can run the political gauntlet and emerge on the other side unscathed regardless of their origin or political belief. It appears that having principles is no longer a beneficial position for politicians.

Don't worry, you won't be "demonized and or ostracized" - your statements are a bunch of blah blah blah with no actual positions taken or points made.

Guessing there's not going to be a release of the no-doubt world-class high-integrity statistical survey and study that came to these conclusions. After all, when it is described in such amorphous terms as "Medical professionals...have noticed a rise in health issues, particularly among children, resulting from recreational cannabis use, reported Bangkok Post." That's about as meaningless as could be.

Odd argument. The Finns fought the Russians in the Winter War in 1939 and then settled the dispute by ceding 9% of its territory in 1940 with limited assistance from any allies other than Estonian refugees and the Swedes. The Finns and Germans started cooperating before the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa to invade Russia, but this was primarily an offensive operation where the Finns were able to achieve their objectives to recover the territory they had lost and some additional land from Russia. The Finnish front was mostly quiet through June 1944, but then the Russian counter-offensive was able to recover the land and an armistice was eventually settled in September 1944 on the 1940 lines that became the final territorial boundaries. This was not what Finland wanted, but was a compromise that enabled them to continue their independent existence. So the Finns were able to maintain their territory (although with the significant loss of Karelia) by fighting for it with some material and economic support from allies, but the fighting was done mostly by the Finns. They had to concede territory to maintain their independence from a hostile and much larger neighbour but were able to build leverage through their resistance that allowed them to maintain their identity and the vast majority of their territory when the war ended. This is also probably the likeliest result for Ukraine - an eventual agreement to settle on the pre-war lines where Russia keeps the Crimean peninsula.

Your libertarian concepts extend to policing other people's conversations? Bit odd if you ask me. When someone raises a quotation of interest, describes the speaker as being "wise" and asks us to discuss, it is reasonable to ask "who said this and why should we pay attention to it?" as a first query when it isn't obvious whom we are talking about or that they're well known to be "wise" in society's view. If this had been said by Einstein or Bertie Russell, we'd already understand that it was a wise old head who had said it. I hadn't heard of this person (although of course it's quite a common name) before, and it seems he's not that widely known hence I wished to understand what makes his knowledge authoritative or worthy of interest. That is relevant to the conversation. Otherwise I could simply counterpoint by saying "a wise man said this" when it was in fact me who said it or my drinking buddies or anyone else under the sun. Did I denigrate the person? Please point out to me where that was.

Thanks. What exactly has qualified Mr. Smith as "wise"? Has he a body of writing or research that has achieved any level of significance or has been widely referenced? What is his expertise and qualifications? Not saying he isn't, but that usually these are the things that "wise" people have that demonstrate their knowledge and understanding.

You can't even provide us the name of this "wise" podcaster?

You've been around for quite a while - what on earth would give you the belief that the Thai police still have some integrity left in them in any circumstance whatsoever? You demand that we provide you with evidence of the police incompetence or malfeasance in this case? How on earth would one do that? Do you think that this happens in Thailand as a matter of course? I thought you lived here. I presume that when the two Burmese fallguys were presented as the murderers of the British woman, that you were totally on board with the police investigation and result? Did that satisfy your criteria for addressing the requirements of the grieving mother? Actually, could you just point us to a proper investigation of a single instance of a foreigner's death here so we could see one example of proper police investigation and conduct?

Billy didn't commit felonies did he? He was just trying to graft a legit business for being in proximity to his famous bro. Billy Beer!

Or January 6.

Just wanted to note that the best prevention for dengue fever is also the simplest - don't get bit. How can you do this though? First, removing areas where mozzies breed or fogging is utterly useless, especially in a wet season as moist as this one. They're going to find an infinite number of places to breed. My advice based on 30+ years of residence and 0 times contracting dengue is quite simple - wear socks, long pants and long-sleeved shirts in the late afternoon and early evening. If you really can't stand the heat (and loose-fitting clothes aren't hot), then at least wear the socks. The ankles are where these little bastards love to bite and they WILL get you if you've no socks on.

True other than that last bit - the only places where malarial mosquitoes live is deep forest, no worries for anyone in any city, town or district where there's no protected areas.