Old Croc

My "little" country is approx. the same size as your original 48 states. It was a long way from being a "pile of smoking rubble" during WW11, but instead was supporting Europe while your lot were sitting back hoping to stay out of the conflict. After Pearl Harbour we also had to stem the new enemy from overrunning our country as well as providing support to the US in the Pacific. Since then, we have always been the first to support your country in all the wars you start from Vietnam, through Afghanistan, Iraq, etc, etc. We helped prop up your "umbrella", which has now become tattered and leaky under attack from within by religious fanatics who no longer have the democratic majority and are waging civil war.

I've been having a bit of fun with Jingthings silly threads on here for about 18 years, this is about nostalgia. You, and your small intellect decided to start personal insults with a tired agism comment. You're now so stuck in a groove you don't even realize people have different versions of fun. For instance, bets are often placed on people like you who, use age as an insult, as to which club you will eventually join, the Old Farts or the Darwin. Either way you will be the "silly" one.

Still nothing to say with even a hint of imagination,

A stout Democrat! 55555 I'm not, nor am I American, I actually think for myself, know and reject religious fanaticism and greedy corporatism equally. I just wish the sane parts of the world weren't affected by the nutcase ideologies of countries like Iran and the US.

I've been called worse; you have an imagination much as I would expect. I'm not British and would never think of dressing like that.

I guess your version of fun has been honed on Tik Tok, along with your spelling and grammar.

Attitudes of Rebublicans when Pelosi's husband was nearly killed. What a difference! Prominent Republicans push conspiracy theories about attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband (yahoo.com)

The shooter was a registered Republican. A nutcase with a Republican endorsed AR15

Is this what this forum has become? A poster wants to know who the old expats of Thailand idolized (or lusted after) in their preadolescence (childhood).

An old friend once told how he carried his stash taped inside his guitar on the "hippy trail" (Oz to UK via places like Indo, Singapore, India, etc.) How far do you think he would get this century?

Her embassy issues travel documents to people who don't have a valid passport. Damage can render one invalid for travel. That's what emergency passports are for. Many of these people are also overstayers. It's not stated how she was able to relate to her Embassy. If she had extended the visa, there would be evidence of it. Continually stating an untruth to get a favorable outcome only works in America.

Hard to tell exactly from that bad pic, but to my trained eye there is more damage to the passport than she is stating. The laminate appears to have been lifted at the top and there may have been an attempt to remove the page itself. It appears slightly off centre. I'd like to check it under a microscope. I don't blame the airline for refusing to carry her, particularly with her ticketing transiting other airports. She would probably have been ok on a direct flight home. Her story about having an extension, without evidence in the document nor the department's computers, would only be believed by the very naive. A quasi spiritual, skint, overstayer working illegally, lies, tampers with His Majesty's Passport and begs money from others gets no sympathy from this poster.

Tampering with a passport is a good way to get yourself in difficulty. Modern security features are designed to highlight attempts to interfere with laminates, passport pages or stitching.

The usual negative opinions about Phuket from the never-beens, the went once last century, the believers that Patong is Phuket, and those who expect a taxi in one of the planet's most visited tourist destinations to be the same price as in their local village. Phuket caters for nearly all tastes, with unique culture and food, historic architecture, nightlife, beaches, exotic islands, diving, fishing, adventure and entertainment. It, and its environs, have incredible natural beauty and is the reason it attracts millions of visitors yearly from around the world. Seedy, rip-off, nightclub strips are a just a small part of Phuket and only the ignorant judge the whole place by experiences there. It's also a great place for expats to live, with all the advantages mentioned above and including access to Phang Nga Bay and its hundreds of Islands. There are many top hospitals, shopping, an international airport and an entry port for cruisers and yachties. Several marinas and jetties cater for thousands of small boats and ferries. As Thailand's largest Island, there are jungle clad national parks, wildlife, deserted beaches and quiet rural areas. Basic COL prices are not dissimilar to elsewhere in Thailand if you don't live as a visitor in one of the tourist towns. Your own transport is a must. The downside. Phuket's roads have become grossly overcrowded in parts. War refugees haven't helped. It's an Island and Its popularity, with an upsurge in tourism worldwide (1.4 billion yearly), means it is one of the planet's many tourist destinations that has been overwhelmed by visitor numbers. This is also a massive problem in places like Barcelona (riots by locals), Mallorca, Venice, Reykjavik, Paris (Louvre), etc., and even for those queuing up to kill themselves on Everest. Bad or missing infostructure, In Phuket there is a cadre of top families who pull all the strings based on personal interest. They make the big decisions in government (as several governors have found out) and with infostructure and transport. Only a Free government in Bangkok could possibly turn this around. Corruption, violence and criminality happens all over Thailand, but is naturally exacerbated in massive tourist centers like Phuket. Visitors are responsible for much of it. The naive need to arm themselves with knowledge and common sense before leaving home. A more traditional style of policing would help solve the problem. (I lived in Phuket for ten years and still own property there. Although I happily now live a quiet rural life in the north, I do miss much about Phuket).

Yes, I can see them being made available for search and rescue of the public.

I once stood right there for a considerable period. It's one of those special art pieces that gets you in. "David" was another that kept me transfixed for some time. "Mona" surprisingly small and viewed over the heads of a few thousand Japanese tourists, didn't do much for me.

Phuket's land mass is 9x larger than New York's Manhattan Island, and with temporary workers and visitors, it is estimated to have over a million people at any given time. NY has a massive illegal Immigrant problem; it should be easy to close off a few bridges and tunnels and do a sweep of visas in Manhattan borough!

Never in a million years!!

Minor scrapes with the law. A drunken thug downplaying his actions. I wonder who he blamed for that.

I don't have a sect leader; I have a brain capable of forming opinions of my own and able to sort humour from political rants. For your edification, I'm on record here as stating Biden is too old to be seeking reelection. I consider he was the correct choice in 2020 to get rid of the dangerous narcissist, but should be retired at the end of this term AN has a separate area for the acolytes to bleat their pathetic politics without polluting other areas of the forum using pretense.

People who are not so obsessed with their sect leader they can start a harmless topic without throwing in an obvious reference to their US political "enemy".

He could always buy a couch.

Only in a twisted republican's mind would the blame for a train derailment, caused by poor maintenance, be directed at the Transport Secretary for political point scoring. He's not responsible for every accident caused by big business cutting corners to maximize profit. The city of East Palestine, correctly, sued the train company and won a huge compensation settlement. One political party, when in power, is all about repealing environmental and safety legislation to assist these companies to put profit ahead of public safety. They reap personal reward from their benefactors.

Why don't you save yourself some effort by just saying everybody and everything relating to Democrats was/is rubbish. You've made it quite clear that you blindly consider only republicans, sect leaders and would be dictators to be your god's anointed people.

I can think of one with the youth, intelligence, debating skills, prior military service, acumen, social empathy and who would make one of the greatest ever presidents. Unfortunately, he's unelectable in modern, discriminatory, prejudicial America. He has a husband.