Songlaw

I suspect they’re hung up on the first step: demanding and receiving real governance, real elections and all that. It’s hardly the fault of the citizenry.

Yep. And probably goaded on by an Irishman while a Scot looked on approvingly!

The part, where you must have firstly, a Thai ID. And secondly, a legally registered business. Unfortunate, really. So it goes. Nothing stays the same forever. Especially here.

Why would anyone be even remotely concerned with the least significant of the royals at this particular time? For the love of Dog, the Queen’s just died. Give the pettiness a moment’s rest.

There’s not been one event in recent times that wasn’t either surreal or tragic. The Queen’s death is no exception. My sympathies to her family, the Kingdom and her countless admirers across the globe. We are certainly not the better for her passing. Long live the King. ????❤️????

I am not generally a fan of false equivalencies, but I’ll bite just to see where this goes. Say what? I am dying to see the “trail of logic” for this gem.

Well, I am happy to see that at least one person seems to understand that any woman, even if completely bare-assed - walking, dancing or otherwise traipsing about on any street at any time -would have agency over her person/body/dignity at all times, irrespective of employment. Bravo.

My advice to anyone staying here for more than 20 minutes is to get comfortable with the myriad forms of transportation both public and private that make it reasonably convenient not to drive here. Of course, if you have kids, that's quite another matter - a vehicle of some sort becomes imperative. Otherwise, when you get the odd urge to ride a m/c or something, rent one for the day or maybe a weekend and be done with it. Short term usually no fuss, no muss. But, if you own a vehicle full-time, your life becomes, almost literally, a daily game of Russian Roulette. Yes, we can avoid problems much of the time, but when we can't there's no telling how the chips might fall - and relying on dumb luck is not a suitable strategy. In my view it's just not worth it. Life-changing outcomes can happen within the blink of an eye, with always less-than-desirable odds for desirable outcomes. I am ultra-sorry for the loss of these young girls. Their families must be devastated. I've witnessed countless versions of this since relocating here, and, as a father with a daughter of roughly the same age, I live with the realization that this is just part of life, every day. Fortunately (some might say miraculously), the number of people engaged in what Europeans would consider risky or dangerous life choices, is belied by the actual number of serious injuries and deaths. The system works but attempts to unnecessarily engage with it are ill-advised. Or not. Feeling lucky?

I expect a lot of visceral over-reaction to this but uncovering the nearly infinite parallels between Thailand and the USA has been a continuous source of bemusement for quite some time. Holy mother of <deleted>.

Those are some mightily deluded doctors. I think I will self-serve my illnesses/injuries from here on out.

Most things in life have to be recognized as having equal ramifications negative and positive. As a society and as individuals, we have to constantly analyze whether the positives are such that they outweigh the negatives and, barring that, can we live with or mitigate the negatives, which will always be with us in one form or another anyway? In this case, sons, fathers, daughters and mothers have been allowed to return to their families and loved ones, industries and tax bases have been either instantly created or enhanced (tourism being a major beneficiary), and for those who prefer not to dissolve their livers and kidneys while anesthetizing their life-induced trepidations now finally have a viable and arguably preferable alternative to lao kao. And, as a poster on one of these threads once pointed out, fun, to some degree, has consequently returned to Thailand - if by no other means than the lessening of the dread that stems from the draconian pall that has permeated this society for far, far too long. May the pendulum not be impeded in its efforts to correct the misguided and undeserved policies of the past, and may we continue with the hope that dominoes will continue to fall. If the goal was ever to bury Thaksin’s legacy by way of comparing and contrasting then with now, the powers that be could not have stumbled and blundered their way into a more fortuitous shift in circumstances. I think we can agree that the past 15 or 20 years have been a mixed bag in most respects. Let’s hope this portends of trends that will result in a less insidious reality for everyone. A guy can dream, right? I, for one, have tired of the darkness. Imagine what it’s been like for the generations of Thai who have never known any other way? Thank Dog the tide finally shows concrete signs of having shifted. It ain’t over by any means, but it’s a start.

It’s marijuana not LSD. These types of memes are not helpful to the cause and will simply scare counterproductive, draconian measures into existence. Recent events will be a boon to tourism and perhaps even to Thai society if we can accurately assess and address the issues facing Thailand’s recent attempt to adapt to oftentimes dual-edged global trends. I would even say that the teetering economy, by way of tourism, depends a great deal on Anutin’s success in this endeavor. So, if we are to laugh, let’s do so only after the subject gets properly codified into law. This is too important to laugh at and potentially lose.

For a change. So far so good. May cooler heads prevail - on both sides of the “divide.” It’s ours to lose. I think l’ve met my quota for cliches. If you need me, I think you know where I’ll be, and precisely what l’ll be doing.