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California will welcome the new year by becoming the first state to offer health insurance for all undocumented immigrants. Starting Jan. 1, all undocumented immigrants, regardless of age, will qualify for Medi-Cal, California's version of the federal Medicaid program for people with low incomes. Previously, undocumented immigrants were not qualified to receive comprehensive health insurance but were allowed to receive emergency and pregnancy-related services under Medi-Cal as long as they met eligibility requirements, including income limits and California residency in 2014.

No. But I lived in a small town in central California, Porterville, and it is a farming community. Immigration does not have a presence there. Farming has a had pass for generations by US Immigration. This does not mean the entire nations should be flooded with migrants. Not all Farm workers all illegal or “undocumented”. Many are on on guest worker visa’s.

I never asked for your judgement. You inserted the story about Joe Biden with your response.

How would I remember such a thing if I am just like Joe Biden?

So I am now uncle Joe? Ok, if you say so.

Legal Immigrants. I was once a legal immigrant. As a former immigrant I am not anti-immigrant.

Actual data? Macro data rarely indicates what is actually happening on the streets. A positive story about of a migrant who is under asylum consideration can be countered by migrants overwhelming local social service agencies. The city of Los Angeles had to house migrants at hotels. Of course this was all “free”? I just paid more in California incomes taxes than I have in more than a decade. Of course I do not have data to indicate why but i can guess. California Gov Gavin wants “undocumented’ residents to have free medical care. Great and the California budget deficit is only 73 Billion for this fiscal year. Again I cannot connect the “dots”t but who knows maybe millions of “undocumented” workers will save the California and US Economy? Lastly I have never owned a ‘MAGA” hat or voted for Donald Trump. What do you know about my “political orientation”? The answer would be nothing.

It is going to be a trial in a limited number of stores and will fail.

I never said I was nonpartisan or objective. Just the like the yahoo report is nonpartisan or objective?

Are you in the US now or been back recently? I got back to CNX from a two month visit back in Southern California and I can say these macroeconomic numbers have little meaning to most working people. That is legal workers? This article seems to be pushing the vast benefits of illegal immigration? As former legal immigrant and naturalized American Citizen my perspective on migrants is different from others. Yes there are many jobs. Wages have gone up but prices of food and everyday items have shot up more than wages. Wal Mart, Dollar Tree and 99 Cent stores were packed with people trying to make ends meet. In my home state of California as of April 1 2024 fast food workers will have a minimum wage of $20 per hour. A funny thing I saw was when I went to local Wendy's and discovered they were now open at 0900 due to fewer workers.

An online video or a handout should be given out to anyone who plans on traveling to Thailand or any other SE Asian countries. It just has to say this "Freedom of Speech and expression may not be present at your destination. Failure to follow local laws and customs could result in imprisonment, financial penalties, deportation or all three". Back in the 1980's and early 1990's the Korean Government required all of it's citizens to take a mandatory four hour class before taking any international trip. This class essentially laid out the do's and don'ts while in a foreign country.

I was born in Busan. I grew up in California and have been back to the "Land of the morning calm" many times. When I go back to Korea I am a JAF (Just Another Foreigner). Korea does not allow dual citizenship. I think it is less racism and probably xenophobia or even the old feeling of "my country and my people are better than you". Many Koreans are fiercely proud of their country, customs and contributions to the world. That is if KPOP or KDramas are actually contributions? Th truth is Korea has the lowest birthrate in the developed world (this from the OECD) and desperately needs foreign workers. Of course the expectation is people from SE Asia will do the DDD jobs (Dirty, Dangerous and Dehumanizing). Does anyone think a Thai National will get an office job at Samsung Headquarters.

I think you are onto something. I checked with Thai Airways, Bangkok Airways and even Air Asia. The fares for round trip from CNX to BKK all were over 3500 Baht for late April and early May. Bangkok Airways was over 4000. I thought Air Asia would be much cheaper but it was not.

What is the starting salary of a Thai Police Officer? My guess it is rather low. I believe there is a connection between low pay, large debt and yes corruption. I recall when I started in Los Angeles we were told about the massive corruption and on duty crimes committed by officers in Miami where starting pay was about $18,000 per year. I once went to New Orleans back in the 1990's and saw a uniformed police officer sitting at the front desk of the hotel where I was staying. This officer had to work a second job because his pay was $17,500 per year. A start might be to consider increasing the pay of Thai Police Officers? Of course even wtih higher pay some will be corrupt and some will get into high debt. I knew a fellow officer who was making over $100K per year but was broke most of the time. Of course the three ex-wives did not help.

Sounds like many of the women I have dated. “When it is good it is good, when it is crazy it was really crazy”.

That only shows the start times from the Airport. Any rider not at the airport will not know when any bus will arrive at a specific stop. At this point taking this bus is like a leisure ride and not a reliable form of transportation if one is on a schedule.

She speaks good English, is young and looks good. What’s not to like? Once the crazy settles down she might be worth a second look.

Out of curiosity I took the new version of the Chiang Mai RTC Bus this morning. There are three lines: 24A, 24B and 24C. I took 24B: 1. Picks up was at One Nimman and destination was the airport 2. Fare was 50 Baht’ 3. The Buses are smaller than the blue buses which were used before the pandemic. The AC was working fine and at 1000 AM I was the only passenger. Apparently ridership is rather low. 4. The journey was about 20 minutes. Traffic was somewhat heavy mainly due to road construction and because of TIT an ambulance going Code 3 was cutoff by a couple of drivers while it was trying to get to Suan Doak Hospital. Nothing new there. 5. The timing of the buses is something I have not figure out yet. At this point the only times posted appear to be when the buses start from the Aiport. It looks this is still a work in progress and hope to see improvements as times goes by. I rode on the blue buses quite a lot before the pandemic.

Same here. Over a 20 year span many times. Some people did not like getting handcuffed and certainly did not want to go to jail. A guy I used to work had part of his ear ripped off by an unhappy customer.

The US has other ways for gambling addicts to get even worse. 1) Sports betting is getting almost out of control 2) Lottery tickets can be bought in most states 3) Once your son turns 18 he can legally go into any casino. The US has more casinos in more states than most countries. Many of the Casinos not in Vegas or Atlantic City are technically on Indian Reservations. Once he gets to the US maybe a call to Gamblers Anonymous might be worth it. Good luck because an addict will always be an addict.

3 years ago I had the combo(Gastro and Colonoscopy). Had a polyp removed and biopsy was done. Back then the total came to 39000. Probably I will do the same sometime 2025 if I am still in CNX. I have had two Gastro's and one Colonoscopy at Ram Gastrol and so far no complaints. In 2019 the Gatrol was 17,000.

From Chiang Mai Ram:

Just got a call from an 877 number. The caller sounded very professional and knew my name and was a USAA Member. I knew right away it was a scam and told him Fxxx Oxx. I then called USAA Fraud and got this reply. Go to the USAA website and send us an email with the details of this fraud call. What a relief. USAA Fraud now can go back to denying my legitimate charges whenever I use a foreign merchant. In the past my attempt to pay for a Visa on the E-Visa site was always declined to due fraud. ????? I had to switch to debit card in order to pay for the visa.

Been with USAA since 1988. The downward spiral of USAA began with the hiring of Wayne Peacock as CEO. Peacock has no military experience or association. I have not been hacked (at least not yet) but getting simple things done with USAA credit cards has been difficult. Their entire fraud detection alert system. is a catastrophic failure. I tried to book a domestic fight on Thai Airways with my USAA Visa credit card. I got a fraud alert on the USAA app and a text message asking "did you make this purchase?". I replied Yes both time and it still got declined. I am not surprised at JimGant is going through.

I flew in Monday night from Incheon S. Korea. The plane was about 70% full but immigration at CNX only took about 20 minutes to get through. Got out of the airport 45 minutes after landing. Really did not see huge crowds the last two days. I guess the surge will occur for Lunar New Year?