ThailandRyan

The Area around us down south of HH has been in a real-estate boom and have seen many sales. Just in our Mooban alone the last 5 houses available have sold in the past 3 weeks. Across the way they are building 11 new 2 story homes with pools and all 11 have been sold and are going to be completed by the end of the year. Of course this is at a higher price point than many folks are wanting to buy at. Starting price from 9.9 MThb to 25 MThb. Almost all are foreigners from Europe, Sweden, Switzerland and Germany.

The hits just keep coming, and yet the Trump fanatics still believe this is a witch-hunt. Looks like the January 6th issue will be uglier than the classified documents Indictment. 'More chickens coming home to roost': Legal experts pounce on Trump over bombshell Arizona phone call report - Raw Story - Celebrating 19 Years of Independent Journalism A report from the Washington Post that Donald Trump reportedly called then-Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) and tried to pressure him to overturn the 2020 presidential election results set off a flurry of commentary on Saturday, with many observers saying the DOJ has another investigation to launch if it hasn't already. According to the the bombshell report, not only did the then-president make a call, he also "repeatedly" attempted to get the Vice President Mike Pence to join in on the pressure campaign and that Pence did call but did not press the issue. The Post reported that a Ducey donor recalled the Arizona GOP lawmaker talking about the call at a luncheon, with the report adding, "The account was confirmed by others aware of the call. Ducey told the donor he was surprised that special counsel Jack Smith’s team had not inquired about his phone calls with Trump and Pence as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into the former president’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election, the donor said."

When I had to do this step for the Amphur in Udon Thani, I had the translation company take the translated copies and the notarized original and the copy they made to the MFA for me by using a courier they had in place. It cost me less than wasting a few days traveling down to BKK and going to the MFA myself. I still have a certified and stamped copy of that passport in my files, but I had to do a new one just recently when I transferred my yellow-book and because have a new passport. Lucky I have a place in BKK now so there was no traveling needed except by car from the condo to the MFA.

Seamen

Imagine being retired and paying your kids parent plus loans like I did while they were also paying off loans. My oldest daughter who is a Nurse Practitioner still owes almost 200K in loans and she has been working for 8 years in her profession while doing continued education. If they would reduce the interest rates to a small percentage instead of the 9.8% she is paying the loan servicer then she could make headway. She would not have qualified for the forgiveness plan and she will not qualify for the new one. How does one pay a House mortgage, raise kids and live life while working to pay US Income taxes of 33%, loan interest, and make it to retirement debt free. I know too many doctors and such who are still working at almost 70......

The land of corruption and brown envelopes. How many more are there like this in Thai society, and why can it not be eradicated? No this is not a rhetorical question. Please assist my addled mind in understanding what happens to the ones who try and make things right?

Coffee

Confused

Will this be the end of the MFP PM hopes, and will they then become the opposition. The caretaker PM wants to know so he can stop packing.....

So Nuclear capabilities is common knowledge now, as well as all locations of said weapons. I don't think so.

Lets hope that next week brings news which settles the issues facing the elections that were over a month ago. Time to move forward....no pun intended. This country has taken to many steps backwards in the past 9 years.

Maybe it was an intentional leak in order to play to the court of public opinion and encourage the Donald to seek an out of court Plea deal. It looks really bad for him from a former LEO's perspective.

Has he even looked at the laws that he signed making the laws stricter..... Trump blows hole in stolen document defense with 'bonkers' boast: analyst (msn.com) Writing that Trump -- or whoever wrote his speech -- should have read past the second paragraph where the Times' Michael Shear wrote, "Asking nicely is about all they [the National Archives] can do,” Benen noted there was much more to the story which went on to report, "that while NARA doesn’t have an ability to enforce its requests, after 'asking nicely,' Archives officials can turn to the Justice Department to ensure that laws are properly enforced. NARA can't require people to follow the law, but prosecutors can." "In other words, Trump told the public that under existing federal law, according to the New York Times, the Archives can merely request that former presidents please follow the law — and if they refuse, NARA simply has to accept and tolerate the intransigence, slinking away in disappointment. But that’s bonkers. Not only is this at odds with how law enforcement works, it’s largely the opposite of what the newspaper actually reported," Benen wrote before bluntly pointing out that an "absolute right” to ignore laws does not exist.

It just keeps getting better for the Indicted former Potus. He has dug the whole even deeper. “That’s not the law”: Legal experts say Trump’s new defense shows he’s “in for a world of trouble” (msn.com) Former President Donald Trump claimed on Saturday that he had the "absolute right" to keep documents after leaving the White House but legal experts say that defense won't hold up in court. Trump, who pleaded not guilty earlier this month to 37 charges related to his handling of classified documents, has repeatedly claimed that he had the right to take the documents under the Presidential Records Act, which legal experts have refuted. Trump reiterated his defense during a speech at the Faith & Freedom Coalition's annual conference on Saturday."Whatever documents a president decides to take with him, he has the absolute right to take them," Trump claimed.

Mascot

Not sure what your going on about. My condo was built in 1995, upkeep is done regularly and the building looks as good as it did when I bought it many years ago. It was why I bought it. Close to Lumpini Park, and both the MRT and BTS. No slums around us.

The next question from Trumps attorneys should be "Where a phsychiatric medical doctor so we can check on our clients mental acuity to understand what's happening". Is the man that unaware of how his statements actually sound, or does he not listen to himself.

I am sure the prosecution will appeal her ruling to a higher court in order to shield these folks from any possible retribution. One wonders if they may even be moved into Witness protection.

Sounds like she has gone into a psychosis. Maybe she should be removed from office

When I obtained my LTR Visa, as one of the first in the country, I asked this question when they handed me the 2 LTR documents (Letter and sheet indicating the Visa Dates) and told me to hold on to them as they would be needed at the end of the 5th year in order to recertify the Visa for another 5 year stamp. The BOI folks advised me that when the time came to recertify I would just have to upload the same documents, updated ones of course, as well as what they gave me, back into the system when they requested them. I was told it could be done from outside of the country and the system would be updated so when I re-entered I would have the needed documents for Immigration to stamp me in for another 5 years.

Was this not the same case which saw a General from the Thai Government, who oversaw operations in the south Jailed, and the whistleblower to flee for concern over his life?

That's the way I understood it. If you leVe before tge end of the year and then return after you would end up getting a restart on the 1vyear, much like a 90 day

So if what your trying to say is so true and evidence is in place, tell us why a trial or grand jury has not been convened. Have you ever thought that the paper trail is suspicious in-itself. Your sure grasping at straws. You must really find the Biden family distasteful yet you seem to adore another con-man.

To the above I will add this The Coup Is Over, but Putin Is in Trouble (msn.com) Prigozhin and his men came within 125 miles of the capital—that is, closer to Moscow than Philadelphia is to Washington, D.C. He then said that a deal had been struck and that Wagner’s forces were turning around to avoid bloodshed. Apparently, however, the blood Prigozhin saved from being shed was his own. If the “deal” announced by the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov accurately reflects an actual settlement, Prigozhin has in the space of a day gone from being a powerful warlord to a man living on borrowed time in a foreign country, waiting for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inevitable retribution. According to Peskov, Russia is dropping all charges against Prigozhin, who must now go into exile in Belarus. Wagner fighters who did not take part in the rebellion will be given amnesty, and then they will sign contracts that will bring them under the control of Shoigu’s Ministry of Defense. I suggested yesterday that Shoigu’s attempt to seize Wagner’s men and dissolve the force might be one of the reasons Prigozhin went on the march. This outcome is a defeat of the first order for Prigozhin, who has now lost everything except his life. We can at this point only speculate about why Prigozhin undertook this putsch, and why it all failed so quickly. One possibility is that Prigozhin had allies in Moscow who promised to support him, and somehow that support fell through: Perhaps his friends in the Kremlin got cold feet, or were less numerous than Prigozhin realized, or never existed at all. Prigozhin, after all, is not exactly a military genius or a diplomat; he’s a violent, arrogant, emotional man who may well have embarked on this scheme huffing from a vat of his own overconfidence.

Ben, what month did you obtain the Visa? Pib has been trying to keep track of those folks and how long it took from application to approval.