hawker9000

"Mattis says North Korean ICBM not yet a 'capable threat' against U.S."

Yes, so by all means, we should all just sit back and wait until it is.   Are we regressing now to the Barack Obama school of foreign affairs?  Mattis, you're SECDEF, not Charlie Brown.

'Must be interesting and challenging work, trying to play a "constructive" role in such a famously self-destructive and wannabe globally-destructive country.

1 minute ago, isaanbanhou said:

 " by cloaking & covering up for abuses by its clergy almost as a matter of routine, has done this to, and has no one to thank for it but, itself.   .....or perhaps its uninvolved, dogma-obsessed, blinkered leadership."

 

simple minds must think alike.   

 

I'd have to defer to you on that.

8 hours ago, DPKANKAN said:

Get a dash cam. I have. They see it and back off. Actually I have front and back. 555

'Would make a whole lot of sense on much of the planet, but doesn't really take into account the slow-learners...

Just now, isaanbanhou said:

so we agree, the Catholic Church itself is the haven for pedophiles.

 

lurk off

A haven?  No.  An easy target for the simple-minded?   No doubt about it.

lurk on

7 hours ago, isaanbanhou said:

Why not just ban the Catholic religion.  problem solved

7 hours ago, White Christmas13 said:

And add any other ones including Buddhists

Truly brilliant, deeply insightful, highly intellectual, blindingly practical, ultimately even-handed, and obviously well thought-out suggestions...     We're fortunate to have such gifted luminaries lurking participating and sharing their ineffable wisdom with us here.   

But leaving the asylum for just a moment, what is true is that the Roman Catholic Church, by cloaking & covering up for abuses by its clergy almost as a matter of routine, has done this to, and has no one to thank for it but, itself.   .....or perhaps its uninvolved, dogma-obsessed, blinkered leadership.

15 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

China's economy shouldn't be hurt too much.  If war breaks out, the global economy will tank for a bit anyway.

 

He's a dictator and worried about democracy showing up on his front door. LOL

He's worried about radioactive clouds, and hordes of starved refugees, drifting in through his back door.

So Comrade Xi, if you don't want war on the peninsula, then reign in your psychotic client!   You're a much bigger bunch of thugs than he is; you should be able to handle it.   But it's embarrassing, isn't it?  How do you tell fatboy anything about "limits", when the whole world's watching you grab half the western Pacific?  

I'm kind of surprised that anyone who's "lived here" for any length of time would even bother to ask an "is it legal" question like this since that's such an esoteric concern.

Just now, baboon said:

The Funeral March? 

"Nutcracker" was already taken.

6 minutes ago, captspectre said:

the ballet that elected Taksin, the ballot that elected his sister, where have you been? or did you just get here? never mind answering,

It's been put to music?  Really?  

I presume you actually mean the ballots that were bought & paid for...  Yeah, even people with the fattest wallets do expect to get their money's worth.

22 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

Fantastic idea.  Best of luck!!!

It actually IS a fantastic idea.  Voters can rule them out right from the start!  Republicans will save a fortune on campaign spending.  Gun control Nazis persist in the delusion that total gun prohibition, which is of course their true agenda - not merely "background checks; not merely "registration"; not merely "assault weapons" - is some kind of grass-roots, silent majority thing.  They no longer fool anybody - except apparently themselves.  EVERY time they start their shrieking again, gun sales go through the roof!  One day not so far off people will be able to "print" them, not to mention the parts & pieces that can turn a less-lethal weapon into a more lethal one, and so if you think guns aren't controlled or traceable enough now...

On ‎12‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 4:21 PM, captspectre said:

as a disinterested foreigner living in Thailand for many years, I for one would like to see him stay on! since he ha been in power there have not been any demonstrations, fires, airport closures, and riots.I have seen dictators come and go and he one of the better ones. there is too much of a caste system here, the rich do not believe that they have to follow the law and the poor are to poor to do anything about it. in short, Thailand is not ready for western democracy!

So there!

There's certainly no such thing as a "disinterested foreigner living in Thailand for many years", and the idea of cherry-picking among dictators is just too ridiculous to even address, but I do agree with your concluding statement.

4 minutes ago, tryasimight said:

I'm missing the part where he forgot to say this sort of thing happens work wide.  Remember the two well adjusted boys in the UK who murdered the toddler? 

Fred and Rosemary West.  Read Evil Love.  They were well adjusted too.  So were their parents.  Really loved them if you get my drift.

Moors murderers.. Lovely people. 

 

Nah that was just yet another Thai bashing post. 

Well, genius, did I mention any particular country ANYWHERE in what I wrote?  ANYWHERE?   Did I not in fact use the word "societies" - plural, lower case, non-definitive - in reference to my point? 

Nah.  Why read & squander those scarce brain cells on comprehension when you can just go ahead and bloviate?  Yet another member bashing post.

11 hours ago, speckio said:

what the hell are you babbling about???

He's "babbling" about the fact that anyone and everyone is automatically considered qualified and entitled to "parent".   Societies spend far more time & money worrying about who can smoke a cigarette, drink a beer, or watch an R-rated movie!  A convicted felon?  Didn't finish the sixth grade?  Do drugs?  Consider kids merely a meal ticket and old-age insurance policy?  Love to pull wings off flies?  Noooo problem.

What the hell are you missing???

8 hours ago, malibukid said:

BMW's have lost their soul after the E46 models.  not the car they use to be. had a few 2002's, E30 and E36. also smaller engines over here.  however i hear the new M240i 2 Series, has some of the lineage of the classic 2002.

Agreed.  I've got a 3-series going on 15yo in the states, and I wouldn't trade it even-swap for a brand new one, even direct from Munich.  But that's partly because I've maintained it in a pampered condition inside & out.  But buy a used one?  Anywhere?  No way.  Buy one in Thailand at 2-3x the price?  Same answer.   And if I ever did, I'd be afraid to drive it or park it anywhere.  No thanks.

11 hours ago, Basil B said:

A bit insulting classing all foreigners the same...

Suppose the important thing to the writer of the story was the offenders were not Thai. 

Well, not sure how else to report it.  But it does feed the xenophobe narrative.  And Iran, like other thugocracies, doesn't spend much time worrying about its global image.

16 hours ago, mikebell said:

The leading problem the law-abiding citizens of Pattaya face is the lack of an honest police force.

Not sure it's the "leading problem", but then again, maybe it's a chicken vs egg thing.  Is it the lack of an honest police force, or nobody having any expectation of, let alone demand for, an honest police force?   And why any lack of expectation or demand?  Cultural factors maybe?  That ever-present "face" thing?  Attitudes of acceptance?  (You know, all those things grizzled expats say foreigners are supposed to respect and appreciate,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, or go home?)

Anyway.  Drugs?  Hell's Angels?   Crime?  Certainly no surprises there.

LOL.  Yeah, like an air mattress is any answer to this madness.  "Excuse me, Miss?  Could you please be sure and fall on that tiny little square thing way down there on the floor?  We'll have people line up in a big arrowhead formation so you can see where it is.  We'd prefer you break half the bones in your body on that instead of risking any broken tiles.  Thanks ever so."   Hahahaha

It's kind of surprising that Erdogan's govt can take the time out from its never-ending opposition witch-hunt to start pasting up stupid pronouncements like this.  The Jew-haters here will have a circle-jerk over it of course, but it's not like they pay for his Disneyland tix...

18 hours ago, AGareth2 said:

defamation

the act of the bully

It is amazing that any country so concerned with "face" and its global image can totally fail to recognize how the rest of the world sees this whole "defamation" thing.  It's a loud & obvious, wholesale cancellation of freedom of speech, and the whole world knows & ridicules it!

3 hours ago, Bigfarang1948 said:

Incredible amount of idiotic responses to this incident too. All you jurors go away. Your vote to make her pay a fine, go to the Monkey House, or pay for rescue services is ridiculous speculation.  I am glad The Ghouls did  not get to see her brains splattered all over the floor.  Kudos to the Thai rescue team.

No - you're the one in need of a reality check, so get off the barstool and go find one.  If Suvarnabhumi wants to entertain those passing through, they'll find a far less brainless way of doing it.  Making her pay a fine and blacklisting her sounds about right.   Morons like this can endanger others as well as themselves and should be professionally evaluated before being allowed to board commercial airlines again.  You're apparently the ghoul, as having her splatter herself and some innocent passersby below doesn't seem to bother you.

Sheesh.

Oh.  They're united are they?  Of course they are.  <yawn>

 For years Palestinians stonewall the "peace process" by refusing to ever acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state, and get all weepy when Israel finally said enough and declared Jerusalem its capital, and a U.S. president finally simply recognized it instead of penning "executive orders" - something which Congress actually legislated back in 1995!   And Obama's habit of taking a knee for every world leader except Netanyahu also now reaps what was sowed.

Jew-haters everywhere are obviously going to scream bloody murder.   Well birds gotta' fly; fish gotta' swim.

16 minutes ago, tagalong said:

No basic medical needs....Sounds like the Khmer Rouge is running the area....

Then you have no clue about the Khmer Rouge.  However much you mourn the loss of one 61yo prison inmate and alleged child abuser, and however hyperbolic that makes you think you need to be to make a point, it hardly amounts to the class extermination of as many as 3 MILLION Cambodians.  Seriously.  Get a grip.

17 hours ago, Get Real said:

And, this man has the stomach trying to tell his people another fairytale. Venezuela is at the brink of total disaster. Today, even the former middle class is searching for their possibility to daily food.
It all took it´s start with Chavez, that managed to totally break the economic stability in one of the worlds oil-richest countries.

Incredible how stupid can be allowed by the masses to rule so many countries in the world.

Socialism inevitably "progresses" to this point, preserving itself by suppressing (or eliminating) its opposition.  Electorates fail to look this far ahead, and in the beginning only hear the grand promises and so stand in line to buy the snake oil.

2 hours ago, Ulic said:

The biggest difference that can be made long term as far as I am concerned is birth control. I have done my part as I have no children. Shift the economic model so that you don't need an ever expanding  population to pay for the aging population.  

Over population is the elephant in the room and yet it's the looming disaster that must not be named.  Populations starve.  Clean water gets more scarce every day.  Energy costs push ever higher even after oil prices have all but collapsed.  Masses risk everything to immigrate somewhere else...  If you should happen to witness some outburst on an airliner you're seeing the inevitable results of overcrowding in a microcosm.  Environmental concerns are targeted at symptoms, at best just kick the can down the road a little, and don't lay a finger on the real issue.  The current world population is about 7.6 billion, almost having doubled since 1975.  The current "doubling time" is estimated at only 55 years.  Do some math.

Either the planet will eventually impose its OWN population controls, or countries fighting over increasingly scarce resources will.  Neither outcome is likely to be pretty.