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I was back in LA in Feb and a dozen eggs at Wal Mart was $9.99.  Went out for breakfast and one of the local diners had an egg surcharge.  Good to hear prices are back to normal.  

1 hour ago, Caldera said:

 

I cannot only imagine that, I did just that yesterday, evacuating from the 22nd floor.

 

It really wasn't a problem, for me anyway, but let's say I wouldn't have enjoyed walking UP again. 

True but I have seen many old foreigners in wheelchairs and some using walkers.  I hope many do not live in high rise condos.  

It would be over quick. 

How many of us on this forum live on the 20th or even on the 30th floor of a high rise in Thailand? I do not and never have. I have lived on the 4th and now on the 3rd floor of an old apartment building in CNX.  From the begining I have had and continue to have doubts about evacuating from a high rise or being rescued from such heights from the local fire department.  Can anyone imagine walking down 20 or 30 flights of stairs in the event of disaster or electrical power outage?  This lastest EQ should give all of us time to ponder these questions. 

Everytime I go to BKK my choices of hotels means I have to stay on a high floor(usually 20 or higher) and I have just a little bit of doubt but I carry on.  On my next trip to BKK I might look for an alternative type of stay.  

Does the term "seismic retrofit" apply in Thaialnd?  

2 minutes ago, Packer said:

 

Not only that. There are likely people mangled and half crushed to death but still alive trapped and suffocating to death right now. 

EQ rescue operation even for LAFD USAR(Urban Search and Rescue) is slow, difficult and saves very few people. The building in BKK that collpased looks like it was under construction (I saw a crane on the roof) and hopefully number of deceaseda and injured is low.  

2 hours ago, keemapoot said:

Yeah, possibly, though likely the Trump administration will try to bully Congress this term to get this done as he has them mostly afraid already. The SS trust fund has almost $3 trillion that Trump is salivating to get. He and Musk think that by busting social security so that it won't work at all, that the populace will support the privatization effort for efficiency reasons, in the process robbing this trust fund. That trust fund is due to be depleted by 2035 anyway which will result in a permanent 20% or so haircut to everyone's benefits. The social security system can support itself and pay all beneficiaries forever mostly at this reduced 80% rate. I think Musk and Trump will try to sell the republicans in Congress on the plan that they can privatize, get better returns with higher risk investments, rob and divert the trust fund, and leave everyone holding the bag later.

A sincere attempt to save SS would require a combination of raising FICA contribution rates, raising the retirement ages from 62 to 64 and 67 to 69, reduced benefits for new applicants and placing SSDI in a different type of fund.  But none of his is happening under the Tesla Guy or DOGE. 

20 minutes ago, keemapoot said:

Yes, no problem with SS benefits being deposited into foreign banks for now. And, this may not change. However, the bigger issue is getting service when something goes wrong with that deposit. For now, expats in Thailand with Thai addresses have to contact Manila, and perhaps eventually will need to travel there in person for issues.  If Doge closes the office or makes it untenable to get servicing, many expats will be forced to travel to the US to a local service office (thought those are rapidly being reduced too), perhaps, and even that may be problematical without a US address in that SS service center's jurisdiction - you will not be able to schedule this unless it is in your assign area based on your address. So, this could be the start of a squeeze on US expats.

 

The larger looming issue here of course is that all of this crap by Doge and Trump is part of a plan to discredit the agency, thereby setting up a situation of claiming the agency does not work and needs to be privatized, with Doge raiding the trust fund for other purposes likely.

I think actually getting rid of the SSA would take more than one POTUS term.  More likely the actual purpose could be to have fewer people receiving benefits or reduced benefits across all lines of SSA (SS retirment, SSDI and SS survirvors).  Somethiing like this can be done in under 4 years.  I believe most pension plans in the US and possibly in the world fear people living longer and more people collecting benefits for more years than they had planned for.  Even my CA state pension agency did a lame attempt at "are you still living" letter initiative for those who are over 100 and living overseas. It was a lame attempt because they sent my letter which required a notairzed response to  an old address in Southern California even though they had my address in Chiang Mai.  It took three loud and angry phone calls to Sacramento CA to undo their lame attempt to cut me off.  Dealing wtih SSA over the phone of course will be more challgenging and getting more challenging as each day passes. I expect things get even more turbulent.

27 minutes ago, keemapoot said:

This only applies to new claimants for now. However, the bigger concern for expats in Thailand is that indeed the Philippines office may be targeted for closure or have severe staffing reductions by this Doge gang. Doge and the administration does not give a crap about expats, and in fact, shows disdain for them as these and other actions on immigration show.

 

For that reason, I'm not sure it's a sustainable long-term plan to maintain a foreign Thailand address only, because if they tighten the screws further, obtaining the ID.ME and other authentication methods might become increasingly difficult or impossible going forward without a full US address and phone number, etc..

 

However, even that issue has now become more difficult for nomads and expats. The USPS has a new requirement that all users of private post office box centers must provide evidence of an actual permanent address in the US, so things seem to be getting more difficult for US expats year-by-year.

SS benefits can be deoposited into foreign bank accounts.  Could this be the next move for the Tesla Guy and DOGE? This could force many overseas Americans to make a big change?  My CA state retirement pay can only be deposited into a US bank account.  I know some CA retirees who liive overseas and they actually have a check mailed to them from Sacramento, CA.  Sometimes the check can "be in the mail for a long time".  

42 minutes ago, candide said:

Not to mention the fact that Witkoff was in Russia with his own phone, connected to the chat.

When one is granted a security clearance all this is covered. 

5 minutes ago, gargamon said:

I believe Musk fired that unit.

I would think so.  The Fraud Investigation Unit Lead I spoke to said they were a low priority even back then (late 1990's).   He said at best his team could only take on 4 to 5 cases per year.  This could mean many other cases of fraud were untouched.  Strengthening and expanding fraud investigative units might have been a bette way to go? 

15 minutes ago, Dan O said:

SOP is to notify the local law enforcement your conducting operations in for most but not all cases, not the average Joe blow on the street.

 

First off i dont recall you ever saying you were law enforcement, you said you and your buddy pulled them out at gun point.

 

Second, unless you were in uniform yeah it was a majorly stupid move and you are lucky you weren't shot as the UC's wouldn't have known you were law enforcement. Whats your SOP for that. Go in guns blazing, I don't think so. 

Based on your responses I question if you were in law enforcement and if you were you sound to be not too well trained.

1) I said Partner and not "buddy"

2) I was in uniform and in a marked police vehicle and it was daytime.

3) Not well trained? This is based upon your training and experience? 

4) Drawing a weapons is not "guns blazing".  

5) The on duty watch commander is generally the person would be notifeid of any allied LE operations in the jurisdiction. This is SOP. 

3 hours ago, Dan O said:

Hmmm, not SOP to notify anyone as they dont know who's connected to those under surveillance. Pulling a gun on suspicious individuals is about as stupid as you can be when a phone call would have gotten police support.

So you have law enforcement experience in the US?  Back then I was the police.  So in your view I am the "stupid" guy for approachiing a suspicious vehcile with my weapon drawn.  Of couurse this is based upon on your  experience as a police officer in a major US city for years?   Any other pearls of wisdom on law enforcement tactics would you like to express at this time?

SOP for fellow Law Enforcement agencies to notify the agency in the city that they are conducting any activity with a point of a contact.  The exact nature of the operation does not have to disclosed.  

Lastly I cannot state anything about you as "stupid" because I do not know who or what you are.  Maybe you are, maybe you are not?  

5 minutes ago, Dan O said:

Doing due diligence isn't cumbersome, it's a result of proper planning and execution. They surveilled long enough to get enough supportive evidence to win the case. 

This is one case so it isdifficult to go after many fraudsters at once.  Also, from what the lead agent told me the Fraud Inestivation Unit is very small within the SSA.  I know about investigations and the legal process because I encountered the Fraud Unit because a citizen reported suspicious men goiing in and out of a van that had been parked on the street for days.  My partner and I ended up pulling the agents out of the van at gun point because  they had failed to notify us of their suveillance operation (this is SOP). We laughed afterwards because the agents knew exactly how to respond in this type of encounter. . 

I just logged onto SSA.gov and no issues. Also, the application status remains the same "pending review".  

SSA actually has Fraud Investigation Units throughout the country. I saw one in action in LA years ago. The team was targeting a guy on SSDI due to back injury.  He was collecting benefits  but the team got a tip that this guy was working.  The lead agent told me they needed hours and hours of surveillance in order to file a fraud case with a US Attorney.  In this particular case the fraud guy was working at his wife's restaurant and they had him under surveillance for a month before filing the case with the US Attorney.  This is how cumbersome it was or possibly still is to prosecute SSDI fraudsters. 

Oh I have seen examples of SS and SSDI fraud over the years.  For SS in some cases "grandma died but the checks still came in so we cashed them".  Many do not see a problem with this. In terms of SSDI it's like Work Comp fraud where some who are allegedly disabled are working, playing golf etc. 

1 hour ago, Harrisfan said:

Nobody has to go.

I guarantee people will go. In the beginnig it will be mostly out of curiosity.  Some will get hooked on the gambling side and some will just be curious as to what the experience will be like.  I can see tour packages for Chinese for gambling junkets.  Of course as time goes by the problems with casinos will bubble up.  Some of the nearby neighborhoods near the strip in Vegas are not places I would be at night.  

After 7 years in CNX the current AQI of 151 seem acceptable.  Certainly it is better than the 200+ that was common a few years ago.  Anyway I saw some pepole eating breakfast in the patio and I wonder why? 

Many years ago I was dating girl whose mother died.  I helped her by closing out the mother's affairs.  The mother was collecting social security and one of the things I did was to take her to the local SS office(this was when there were many offices around) and notify  SSA of the receipients death.  The benefits were then shortly terminated.  The girl's brothers and sisters completely lost it.  The girl became the pariah of the family because she had the SS beneftis terminated by reporting the mothers death. In the minds of the other family members why not just let the money keep rolling in.  I believe this type of thinking is common amongst some family members.  They did  not see anything wrong with.  

Without the family reporiing the death it can SSA some time before they found about the death of a recipient.  Of course the reverse can happen and a living person can be mistakenly be reported as deceased. 

No surprise here.  The F-47 NGAD (Next Generation Air Dominance) figher contract has been awarded to Boeing. The annoucement was made at the White House by the 47th President Donald Trump.  F-47 by the 47th POTUS?  As Joe used to say "come on man".  The initial contract amount is a mere 20 Billion but will be much larger as the years go by.  It just feels like this was a lifelong to save Boeing from extinction.  Boeing has not made a profit since the B737 Max crashes and it's reptuation as a reliable maker of passenger aircraft has been tarnished.  Maybe they will regain their reputation by making the newest manned fighter aircraft.   Anyway in some ways the US Defense budget has been used to create and sustain jobs for decades.  This new contract will create and sustain jobs for American so I guess it's all good?  Do we really need a new advnaced fighter jet at this fiscally challenging time in America? 

Lastly many and this includes the Tesaly Guy who have said the F-35 was a waste money.  They could be right because  the operational readiness rate of the F-35 has never been above 50%.  All this for $100 million per aircraft and over $200K per pilot helmet.  Some have said the F-35 was a jobs program for the US and some ot it's NATO partners.  This does not include France because they never signed up for the F-35.