ABCer

Sorry, hocuspocus, but there is too much hocuspocus in your OP.

First, IQ cannot be increased by training. If it could, - a dog trained to bring back the stick would have higher IQ than its master.

Second, - go and buy new scales.

OP is talking about CYNICISM.

Almost every poster here is talking about... what?

Seven pages of arguments about arguments about anything but cynicism...

Really funny.

I answered NO to the survey question.

Education cannot be 'improved' overnight.

Education cannot be improved overnight by more money.

canuckamuk is right.

Thai need to change the Educators of teachers, than teachers, than kids learning attitudes.

This is minimum about 50 years before the newly educated kids will result.

All this is possible only based on change of cultural traditions going back for centuries.

There will be entirely different Thailand then and I am not sure we will like it.

I have voted for a second choice.

Any foreigner should be able to buy a piece of land with a house or with a plan to build a house within, say, 2 years.

To safeguard Thailand belongs to Thais concept the land size should be limited to between 1 and 2 Rai.

The number of such blocks of land owned by foreigner should be limited to 3 (say, one in the city, one on the beach and one in the mountains).

Ir-respectively of which way your thinking is leaning - those of you who start with a wrong presumption cannot be right.

If USA wanted peace in Middle East they wouldn't support the so called Arab Spring in all ME countries.

Speaking of Iran, if they wanted peace - they wouldn't sell their staunchest friend - Pahlavi.

Only a blind man cannot see that in every country whichever side the USA supports the end result is fight against USA.

I start thinking that is exactly what they want - perpetual war, destabilization and destruction.

Sorry to rain...

Boko Haram people are good.

They only took the girls for re-educating them.

Almost all of 300 'freed' ladies are still virgins.

Those few that are not - have been 'married' out to Boko Haram men.

A Miracle has happened! The captured young women have turned virgins again.

Oh, yes, all the taken girls were volunteers!

Stop bad propaganda against Boko Haram!

I hope these men will be able to thank good old Thailand for their 'non severe' sentences from Lebanon.

I am also sure that Lebanon needs them badly for all the good things they can contribute to their country.

Let us hope that Bulgaria has completely rebuilt the damages to its airport and has recovered from loss of some 6 insignificant Bulgaris.

After all, what is more important than re-education and re-integration of active, able and dedicated Lebanese back into society?

Hesbollah, Lebanon, Thailand - aren't we all Asean? We must stand together, nest se pas?

The Palestinians need to stop the terrorist attacks and sign a peace treaty. If they had tried peaceful means to resolve their problems 67 years ago, they would have had their own country long ago and possibly be thriving like Israel is.

When, where ever did they have their own country?

When, where ever did they thrive?

A pleasing bullsh*t is still bullsh*t...

Be truthful, stop trying to please whoever it is you are trying to please.

Now, this is a sign of really desperate times for Russia...

A fake DPRK Leader next to fake WWII Veterans above the fake dead mummy...

as stupid and selfish as that tw-at palin..and i thought us brits were bottom of the food chain when it comes to politicions....oh well you live and learn...there are more than 2 parties to vote for you know....or do ya..

In America - any party other than Democrat or Republican finds in extremely difficult to even be allowed on the voting ballot. The rules are constructed to keep third parties off the ballot - it is a very big hurdle to jump ...

As a non-American I would like to ask do Americans believe it was the founding fathers intention that the chance for someone to become a future US President would depend on whether they were member of a particular family dynasty?

No it was certainly not... but it has become to be that more and more ... actually it is more about money -- but known names - family names are worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the political game... We call it bastardization of the Constitutional Intent.

Modified to add: I fully expect Hillary to be politically pushed overboard and Michelle Obama to run - speaking of family names.

Being equally non-American I think the choice for USA voters is clear - Hillary, Michelle or Monica!

I wish they would do what they say.

Fact: Australia used to have a "whites only" immigration policy.

I wonder whether a "NO MUSLIMS" immigration policy would be good for us?

Before some deeply offended politically correct nutcase attacks me for being a racist consider this:

- No Jew, no Israeli or even no Australian with an Israeli stamped visa passport is allowed into Saudi Arabia!

- No Muslim is allowed to buy a property and reside in Japan!

- BTW my question about "no Muslims" is born by the fact that THE NAMES of the above 'British' and 'Australian' boys are a closely guarded state secret everywhere round the World. Why?

- What are our politicians hiding from us?

Before the outbreak of World War II, more than 3.3 million Jews lived in Poland, the largest Jewish population of Europe and second largest Jewish community in the world. Poland served as the center for Jewish culture and a diverse population of Jews from all over Europe sought refuge there, contributing to a wide variety of religious and cultural groups. Barely 11% of Poland's Jews - 369,000 people -survived the war. Today, approximately 3,200 Jews remain in Poland.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Poland.html

Good effort. True facts.

To return to the topic it would be helpful to explain how 369,000 turned into 3,200 after the WWII end.

This puts Polish anti-semitism right where it is - before the Nazis!

NOTE. I am not trying to apportion the blame, to spread hate or call for vengeance. Just the facts, man, just the facts...

This James Comey said the truth and no need to penalize the man for it.

Is the difference between 700 and 950 numbers - the 250 Christians who decided to walk on water? Just a thought...

If Italians were told that the Christians thrown overboard were all devout Catholics would they be "looking for troubles" not so intently? Another thought...

EU must decide in principle whether they are collectively prepared to take in all disgruntled seekers of better life from African continent. Including high risk groups (Muslims).

I worked for a time for the Department of State and when you are employed in an official capacity what you say is a reflection of the policies of the government. If this guy was there in any official capacity, and it would seem that he was, he needs to exercise extreme care in what he says. It would seem he didn't do that.

There were many policies I did not agree with, but verbally I had to support them. It causes a great deal of confusion when officials go off script.

Yes, I actually understand this.

Among hundreds of witty definitions of what was/is "Communism" there is also this:

"It is something that all dislike individually but vote for collectively".

Looks like the same principle works for all.

A Head or a Bum of FBI - he still has the right to speak his mind, especially if it is truth.

Not true when he represents the USA and his statements can be taken as opinion of the USA. He's created a real problem.

"After meeting with (Polish) Deputy Foreign Minister Leszek Soczewica on Sunday, (US Ambassador Stephen) Mull said he would urgently contact the FBI and Washington about the matter. Earlier in the day, (Ambassador) Mull said in Polish that Comey’s words were “wrong, harmful and offensive”, and didn’t reflect the US administration’s views."

LINK

"FBI Director’s Washington Post Column Leads to Diplomatic Spat With Poland."

LINK

Stephen Mull is a Diplomat. He has a right, even obligation to lie.

Comey's words could have been harmful and offensive but not wrong.

BTW, long after the Holocaust, when guilty Germans were punished and Germany divided into East and West -

NO Poles were found guilty under Soviets

AND only Poles have extradited practically all Jews left after the war. Most of them went to Israel. Nobody wants to remember, hah?

"Search underway..."

A typical case of "looking for troubles"...

If they were all black at least it wasnot racist

Was thinking the same. Headline could just as easily said Black people throw.....

Why should a headline say black people? When clearly Muslims attacked Christians.

Or is it another one of your excuses for Arabs /Muslims killing people ?

Let me guess , if Christians were not on the boat , Muslims would not have to kill them, right?

Stop trying to make it a racist issue.

Stop trying to be politically correct.

Call a spade - spade!

This is, was and always will be a religious issue.

Islam against the rest of the World issue.

And being in Thailand is not an exemption from the World problems.

No need to go to Europe to see this.

These people ARE our neighbors, are living next door and are killing indiscriminately. Right here. Right now.

There is no glee in this post

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I can't wait......love the series.

One of the best ever alt=thumbsup.gif>

I don't watch much TV but I watch this.
Can't wait

+1

Well, I didn't say red necks, but I have no problem calling a peckerwood redneck a peckerwood redneck, face to face, wouldn't be the first time and I walk away. I have a clue, been there, done that and where I worked everybody was armed, well armed. My wife carried and needed to. Been shot at and missed, shit on and hit. Comprende' ese'? There are no actualy statistics kept on police violence nation wide btw. PD are not required to report to FBI etc. But for your edification: As FiveThirtyEight notes: In 2014 and March of 2015, Mapping Police Violence counted 297 people killed by police around the country who were unarmed. Of those people, 117 were African-American, 167 were not, and the project couldn't identify race for 13. That means 41 percent of unarmed people killed by police during that time in the database (with an identified race) were African-American, far out of proportion in a country that was 14 percent African-American in 2013. And according to the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ), African Americans are the second "racial group most likely to be killed by law enforcement," following Native Americans. The CJCJ also noted: African Americans, 13 percent of the population, are victims in 26 percent of police shootings. Law enforcement kills African Americans at 2.8 times the rate of white non-Latinos, and 4.3 times the rate of Asians.

With all due respect, Sgt, Sir, - the stats above are without much meaning.

Could we imagine that Asians STOP when required by a Police officer?

Could we further assume that JUST MAYBE 14% African Americans are more prone to breaking the Law AND have little regard for Law enforcement officers?

Israel does not own that land and has no right to take any of it. The majority of the world has already stated so.

One. The possession is 90% of the right.

Two. UN gave them this right back in 1947.

Three. Since 1947 the UN has lost its relevance since every Tom, Dick and hairy Harry has become a fully fledged member.

As to the rest of your ideas - I am not sure which country you are talking about.

The way you put it - it could have been any one from Russia to USA - with Congo, Uganda and Somalia in-between.

Thanks to many posters for trying to define terrorism in answer to my question.

I'm truly grateful yet still confused. It appears the term is used today rather loosely, depending on individual points of view.

Violence/aggression to be considered terrorism (sorry for not directly quoting) must contain elements of

• political aims;
• higher cause;
• political agenda;

as opposed to murder/suicide case.

Without trying to discount the opinions quoted, it seems to me that the same action can be proclaimed either/or depending on our wish.

Say, I rob a bank and kill some people in the process. If I give the proceeds to my political party to buy arms - I am a terrorist. If I keep the money - I am a killer/robber? But the process and victims are the same.

A serial killer terrorizing his neighborhood is simply a killer as long as he does it because he likes to kill. But a killer using a bomb in a public place and blowing himself up is a terrorist because he simply likes to kill and hates people.

Now, back to our A320. 150 people killed. The perpetrator didn't say a word. He may be a terrorist. He may be a killer/suicide case. Same horrible result, just different name we assign to him.

Is there any difference? Does it really matter? I mean what's the difference if he didn't say a word, or had said "banzai", or "Allah Akbar" or "Hail Mary"?

I understand suicides. But usually they are alone. Dying is a lonely business. All the grieving stay back. All saying RIP also stay back. Why take 150 lives if he was not a terrorist?