Gecko123

Well, I would say please continue with your studies, because if you were as knowledgeable as you claim to be, you would be as alarmed as I am about the striking parallels between the MAGA movement and the rise of National Socialism in 1930's Germany.

Short sighted marginalized workers with little college education (and who are too young to know or remember the history of the rise of Nazism and fascism) as well as financial oligarchs (who are well educated and well-aware of what Trump is trying to do but who think they will have more leverage under white-minority autocratic rule) are the only ones who have bought into Trump's fever dream fantasy that this can be imposed on America.

https://www.vox.com/2019/3/27/18283879/nazism-socialism-hitler-gop-brooks-gohmert# Anyone who had done any reading at all about the rise of national socialism would know that some of the first people Hitler rounded up when he came into power were the socialists.

You overlook the fact that Thai culture is very tolerant and inclusive while Trump's agenda is anything but. It has long been a mystery to me how an outspoken Trump supporter would be able to maintain a peaceful household with a Thai female or why they would even choose to move to a majority non-white country in the first place.

If you're as fluent in Thai as you claim to be, biggest challenge would be to not accidentally correctly pronounce any words in Thai which would be a sure-fire give away that you're not fresh off the boat.

Sibling rivalries can be an issue when a foreign husband gives gifts to the wife's parents which outshine and are beyond the wherewithal of the wife's siblings, especially her brothers. You have to be sensitive to family dynamics and be aware of upsetting pecking orders when bestowing gifts on the family. There may also be conflicted feelings running under the surface about how the family feels about a family member marrying a foreigner. If there is any stigma associated with her marrying a foreigner (i.e., scuttlebutt about whether she was working in the entertainment business), an ostentatious gift from the new husband, as much as it might be appreciated, may trigger unwelcome gossip in the community inadvertently resulting in a loss of face for the parents. But in general, I think Thais are as appreciative as foreigners when receiving gifts, even if the social etiquette of ooohing and aaaahing over gifts (which is mostly for show anyway) isn't as entrenched as it is in the West. Thais don't really seem to give gifts that much. Don't see much in the way of birthday celebrations (except for very young children/maybe young couples). Mostly a little money in an envelope at weddings, monk ordinations, funerals, etc. It's a disservice to the expat community to characterize Thais as unappreciative when receiving gifts. Over the years, I have given small gifts to neighbors, schools, day care operations and have frequently been surprised that they still remember gifts long after I've forgotten.

You missed my point entirely. My point is that racial and national identity politics undermine social cohesion.

Can you check the label and tell me what the country of manufacture is?

That's a very large and famous retirement community in FL which has its own zip code. The Villages is the name of the town. In 2020 there were competing rallies there between Trump and Biden supporters, but the enthusiasm levels seen in the video seem to surpass 2020 enthusiasm levels for Biden by a country mile.

Despite all the honeymoon talk, I don't see the enthusiasm level for Harris dying down any time soon.

I don't think you have to be Agatha Christie to solve the mystery of why the guitar was smashed.

I would like to apologize to the OP for my earlier comments which unintentionally came across as body shaming and homophobic/anti-LQBT. This was unintended and do not reflect my beliefs or values. The only point I was trying to make was that after reviewing some of the OP's recent posting history it appeared to me that there was considerable reason to believe that interpersonal friction between the OP and community members might explain why the guitar was smashed. This was based largely on reading that the OP had been involved in incidents where he had thrown things at delivery and food court personnel and had been banned from a local 7-11. As I believe the OP likely was aware that incidents of this nature could go a long way towards explaining the underlying animosity, by not disclosing any of this history in the OP, he, perhaps inadvertently, unfairly portrayed the Thai males involved in the incident as wild drunken xenophobic savages completely disinterested in the child's welfare. But perhaps this is just a case of something getting lost in translation. If the perpetrator screamed 'Aiii farang!!!' while smashing the guitar against the floor, perhaps a witness concluded he hated all foreigners, rather than just the one who gave the kid the guitar. @JeffersLos

Informative segment:

Russia, whose involvement in the Olympics has been curtailed due to its invasion of Ukraine, and which has not appreciated Macron's advocacy of more direct military support for Ukraine, seems to have a real hard-on for France lately. Russia has also been very successful in undermining France's influence in the Sahel region of West and North Africa, and it is also probably disappointed that the far-right Rassemblement National party, which is Kremlin friendly, did so poorly in the recent French Parliamentary elections. This attack directed towards infrastructure rather than civilian casualties doesn't appear to fit usual pattern of Islamic terrorism.

After reviewing 20 pages+ of the OP's posting history I have concluded that HE is not someone I would want my children associating with either. I strongly suspect that the guitar destruction had nothing to do with the OP "being a farang" and everything to do with the OP's reputation in the community. OP has described himself on earlier threads as having a 50 inch waist line, weighing 400 pounds, having a history of throwing items at delivery drivers and food court employees and he started a thread about "where to find Colgate toothpaste with a flip top cap." 'Nuff said.' Instead of being vilified, the guy who busted up the guitar may deserve a good parenting award. And the OP should be ashamed of himself for his shameless Thai male bashing when he had to have known that the animus was more than likely directed at him personally rather than because of his foreign nationality.

Gives a good perspective of crowd size and enthusiasm level at Harris's WI rally.

Worth pointing out that the OP asked if anyone else has experienced a similar situation and no one has done so yet.

Exactly how did you come to this conclusion? Are the men you suspect did it still around? Ask them directly why they did it, whether they plan to buy a replacement, and if not, if you can. I find the "because it came from a farang" motive somewhat improbable. Was the guitar used as a weapon in a fight, or just willfully destroyed?

Do you have a reading problem? I wrote that it's guys who never venture beyond the bar scene who buy into the "woe is me bar girl sob stories." My posts were intended to give a more balanced 'real life' perspective away from the bar scene in rural Thailand and I've repeatedly indicated that my observations are based on village life which is the antithesis of the red light scene. In the future please read my posts more carefully before delivering your condescending and clichéd "you need to get away from your bar stool" sermons.

The question is whether rates of Infidelity and domestic violence are particularly higher in Thailand than they are overseas, and whether foreign men are genuinely viewed as having better track records in these areas. Foreign men are perceived to be better providers because they often have greater financial resources, but surely you have heard enough anecdotal reports on this forum alone to recognize that many foreign men cheat on their Thai wives, and domestic violence does occur in the expat community from time to time as well. For years now, I have ridden my bicycle around my amphoe in the early hours of the morning, a time when you might expect to find guys heading home from a booty call session or a karaoke bar rendez-vous, and the roads are absolutely dead quiet. In rural communities, I think it's simply a matter of insufficient funds and that most Thai wives are too vigilant to tolerate suspicious absences by their husbands. The two local incidents of domestic violence I'm aware of have involved women attacking their husbands. One guy's face was badly bruised in a domestic fight while the wife didn't seem to have a scratch on her), and another guy caught cheating on his wife was stabbed to death in the abdomen by her. In short, I believe the bad rep that Thai men have in the fidelity and domestic violence department is unfairly amplified on line by foreign men who have heard this self-serving propaganda from bar girls looking to elicit emotional and financial support. I can almost guarantee you that for every bar girl complaining about 'him hit me, him nok jai chan, him leave me, him no take care baby, him tit yaa baa, him gamble, him kii mao (alcoholic), him tit kook (in jail) there's a guy out there saying 'she len pai (gamble), she have many debts, she ki kiat (lazy), she no work, she no clean house, she ki talaw gan (argumentative) she nok jai phom (cheat on me), etc. The problem is most foreign men never hear the other side of the story.

Why many Thai women desire to marry foreign men? The most common one I hear about is for purposes financial security. Largely true. Travel opportunities, interest in living abroad as well. Others will say it is because Thai men treat them so poorly. One sided myth promulgated by bar girls to tug at 'white-knight' heart strings of gullible marks. Level of marital contentment in Thailand is likely higher than in many Western countries. I realize there are also millions of Thai women who aren't interested in foreign men. True for the vast vast majority of Thai women. Is there a chance they are simply attracted to something opposite to what they are familiar with? Sure. Opposites attract. There is also a perception that foreign men are over-eager sexually and easily exploited financially which tilts the risk-reward equation in favor of being receptive to any overtures they might receive. Is it perhaps they find foreign men attractive? Pop idols, movie stars, celebrities, athletes, sure. But this does not apply to vast majority of middle-aged sex-tourists/expats. Is it sexually driven in any way? Let me put it this way: I don't think Thai women are as focused on male penis size as some posters on this forum seem to believe they are. You read on this forum from time to time that Thai men suffer from penis envy over foreign men and that once a Thai woman has experienced sex with a foreign man there is no going back to Thai men. As near as I can tell this is little more than on-line braggadocios self-flattery with little basis in truth. Is it because they want to give birth to mixed race children? Towards the goal of giving birth to the next Miss Thailand? Rarely is this the case. The urge to have children with a foreign man is more often driven by the believe that bearing a child for the husband is a wifely duty, the hope that this will make the man more committed to the relationship, or an awareness that offspring can sometimes qualify for generous welfare stipends from overseas in the event of the death of the foreign spouse. The idea that foreigners are seen as genetic winning lottery tickets is delusional. And the proof is in the fact that if this were the case, Thai men would be eagerly pursuing foreign women which is not the case. What is the main attraction for Thai women to foreign men? From my observation the qualities that Thai women most value in foreign men are a generous nature (and I don't mean that facetiously), being easy going and accommodating, a good sense of humor and sunny disposition. It is also my observation that Thai women do not like foreign men who are overly dependent on her for companionship or as a conversation partner, overly analytical, overly talkative, overly opinionated or overly controlling. And, no, I am not talking from personal experience, but rather from observation of dozens and dozens of Thai-Thai couples and Thai-foreign couples I have observed over the years in my village/town.

The analogy is that Washington voluntarily relinquished power. The historically ignorant right....right there. Bone up on the rise of National Socialism in 1930's Germany while you're at it.

Right up there with Washington in terms of selflessness and putting party and country before oneself. Please take a moment to appreciate the stark contrast between Biden's honorable decision to step down voluntarily and Trump's disgraceful attempt to cling to power after losing the 2020 election.

Relieved. Waiting for clarity on who candidate is. Favor open convention. ActBlue account activated.

Good morning Mr. Bob: A thought occurred to me: have you ever revealed your on-line forum identity to ANYONE be it a foreigner, Thai or for that matter, your wife)? For example, if you've told any foreign buddies in your area, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if one of them haven't blabbed this to their Thai girlfriend or wife. There's a translation function on AN which makes it easy for anyone who isn't a native English speaker to read everything you've written. Some of the stuff you've written here is probably at least partially based on real-life events, and figuring out who you are talking about would be just the sort of parlor game intrigue that a lot of Thai women would find irresistible. Plus, you have to admit, many of the things you've written about Thai people haven't been particularly flattering, right? So a Thai person finding out a foreigner's forum identity and being able to read what they really thought about Thailand and Thais would make for some pretty juicy reading, right? All it would take is one person running around town gossiping about your posts before everyone in town was referring to you behind your back as 'Mr. Him-no-like-Thai-people' . Just a thought.