johnnybangkok

Well aren't you just a true Trump devotee. You even argue like him; all insults and no substance. And I like many posters here, don't hate Trump fans (some of my closest friends are Trumpers), I just hate Trump. I think he is Captain Chaos personified and the single biggest threat to world stability and American (which in turn is world) economic stability. He's a selfish, narcissist, man baby. A convicted fraudster, sexual predator who isn't even allowed to run his own charity because, you know, he defrauded that. How anyone thinks this man is qualified to run the USA is beyond me. And I'm not alone in this. The vast majority of people who worked with him in the White House agree, as do many top generals referring to him in varying degrees of venom as completely clueless. Those of you who are fans are either completely unwilling to accept what your own eyes see and your own ears hear or are so bereft of morals yourself as to actually think he is what America needs. Either option doesn't bode well for you. P.S. I still think you are a troll so don't bother answering this. Oh and just as an aside, the GOP just got their a$$ handed to them in recent elections so polls are in fact irrelevant. ACTUAL voters are coming out in droves to stop the GOP and Trump. Thank God.

Another 'new' poster of less than 24 hours who only comments on Trump subjects. Do we call you comrade or tovarisch?

It certainly looks that way. 'New' member joined last Saturday at 0417 in the morning. Refuses to back up any of his wild claims with verifiable proof. I smell a troll or a resurected past member. I think ignoring might be the best option.

Agreed. Although I do think quality can be represented by the 3 emoji's - heart, thumbs up and winners cup (if that's what it is).

It's been going on for even longer than that:- '“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.” SOCRATES c. 470–399 BC (which is coincidentally around the time many of the posters here were born)

I take it you didn't read the article. the numbers are much bigger - 'In the United States, the Death Penalty Information Center reports that as of 2022, over 185 people have been exonerated and freed from death row'.

And therein lies the rub. You have some countries executing people for offenses that other countries see very differently. 5 years ago you could get the death penalty in Thailand for large scale weed production; now you can set up a shop! Without getting into a debate about the rights and wrongs of the drug trade, I use this as an example of how shifting opinions can dramatically change what is and isn't illegal. And how would you and/or your family feel about a son being executed for being gay in Libya or for being an atheist in Pakistan or the numerous countries that execute people for having a different political leaning? In Thailand you can still be executed for treason, which I think we all can agree could be VERY subjective. There's just too much arbitrary stuff going on in the world to justify the death penalty.

It does sound like you might need a second opinion but not sure where you are? If in Bangkok, I can recommend Asok Montri Dental Clinic - Dental Departures Always good work and although not the cheapest, certainly not the most expensive. Good luck!

This is good advice. I had a similar problem with a back molar when a VERY old filling (I think I got it in my early teens), came out taking half the tooth with it. The dentist said there just wasn't enough tooth remaining to do anything other than yank it. I was supposed to then get an implant but to be honest, it's just not been that much of an issue to merit the hefty price of an implant so I just left it. I've got plenty of other teeth and eating isn't an issue and since it's at the back, it can't really be seen.

An emotive subject for sure and as a father, I cannot imagine how I would feel if something happened to my own child BUT there are just far too instances of miscarriages of justice for it to be vindicated. Life however should mean life and I for one think spending the rest of your life in a Thai prison is certainly the kind of punishment that many deserve. The death penalty would be a relief to many of these people so I say let them suffer.

Opening their mouths

Oh I dunno, but it might have something to do with the fact that you NEVER actually criticise Trump. Never. You say you do all the time but you never actually criticise him (including this post), prefering to come across as some sort of Switzerland in the debate when your actual posts tell a very different story. Show us all a post (anything in the last 2 years will do) that shows you criticising Trump and I'll stand corrected.

Didn't expect you to understand.

He most certainly does and this is yet another (of many) ways he tries to get some sort of justification and vindication to his own, less than ideal life that sees his problem as not how he is, but rather how everyone else is. Take guidance from one of the great 20th century philosophers Bob who wrote 'I'm starting with the man in the mirror. I'm asking him to change his ways. And no message could've been any clearer. If they wanna make the world a better place, Take a look at yourself and then make a change'.

I also knew the father of a former coworker who started working in the 60's and did an average of a 90 hour week, 6 days a week for 'the man'. This man worked for 45 years in a soul-crushing job in the hope that it would all be worth his while when he retired with a healthy pension, but alas, it wasn't to be. The company he worked for crashed in the 2008 financial crisis after having robbed the pension fund. The big boss disappeared off the face of the earth, never to be seen again. He was then forced to work in retail but because retail doesn't pay $15 to $20 an hour, he struggled from hand to mouth. He now lives in Pattaya eking out his meagre pension and trying desperately to enjoy the few remaining years he has left. More concerning is he is not alone amongst his age group.

Oh look, another old duffer complaining about the 'youth of today'. As someone who actually employs Gen Z (about 20% of my workforce) and Gen Y (about 60%), I can categorically state they are NOT lazy. Perhaps your anecdotal examples of hospital cleaners or 7-11 workers might fall into the 'lazy' category but you could just as easily call them unmotivated. And therein lies the rub you see. If your job is boring, tedious and unfulfilling then you too might do the absolute bare minimum to get by but I would suggest this has been the same for every generation for a great deal longer than the latest. And congratulations, you also have the distinction of joining a long list of old duffers complaing about the 'yoof' including Aristotle who said 'They [Young People] have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations; moreover, their hopeful disposition makes them think themselves equal to great things -- and that means having exalted notions. They would always rather do noble deeds than useful ones: Their lives are regulated more by moral feeling than by reasoning -- all their mistakes are in the direction of doing things excessively and vehemently. They overdo everything -- they love too much, hate too much, and the same with everything else'. Or you can go with "The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress." (From a sermon preached by Peter the Hermit in A.D. 1274).

So, do you have money? Its not clear from your post ????

Don't listen to the old farts. They went down a traditional route of working for the man, slogging their guts out to make someone else rich and now barely scrape by on ever depleting funds. The bitterness you are seeing here is not neccessarily aimed at you but aimed more at the disappointment their own life has become. Personally I would ignore the negativity and focus on what sounds like all the positives in your life. You are doing something that brings happiness to you and more importantly your family and I for one can't think of anything more fulfilling than doing an honest days labour and actually getting to see your kids growing up (and I bet they love the farm). In the immortal words of that esteemed philospher Taylor Swift, haters gonna hate so just shake it off and keep doing you.

As is usual with this type of topic, the devil is in the detail and the detail is in what careers are open to you at an early age in Thailand (Hint: not many). First of all, foreigners legally should be paid a minimum of 50k per month which immediately rules them out of a great deal of 'starter' jobs. And of course the language becomes a problem if they don't speak Thai, again ruling out a whole swathe of careers. However, there are quite a few that do work well and if the 'youngster' was experienced in these, then Thailand makes absolute sense. We have already heard from the I.T. guys and the digital nomads, two great careers that pay well (way over the 50k) and don't require fluency in Thai. There's also quite a few careers that require working with other countries (import/export, logistics, buyers etc) and as long as you can tolerate working across time-zones, these can be lucrative and fulfilling. There also seems to be a never ending supply of wealth managers in Thailand, all geared towards the ex-pat market and of course the tourist industry opens up opportunities, but salary may be an issue. Banking, finance and insurance also has a strong, foreign representation. So the question of 'When is too young to leave farangland, and if it was your son or daughter at that age would you talk them out of it?' is less to do with age and more to do with skill-set.

Boring? Really? 'Gaza is in essence a refugee camp (about 70 percent of those living in Gaza come from families displaced from the 1948 war) and an open-air prison, according to human rights groups. The United Nations describes the occupied territory as a “chronic humanitarian crisis.” Israel has blockaded Gaza since Hamas assumed control of the territory in 2007, and neighboring Egypt to the south has also imposed severe restrictions on movement.' https://www.vox.com/2023/10/7/23907912/israel-palestine-conflict-history-explained-gaza-hamas No one is condoning the actions opf Hamas but you MUST acknowledge they have reason (I wonder how many westeners would tolerate the same). Israel's continued persecution of Palestine has to be addressed and flippant statements such as 'Boring, rather than interesting. Nothing new there' add nothing to your impartiality and therefore your credibility.

I often think posters on on AN think that the whole of Thailand is working at 7-11 or in a crappy restaurant or hotel when the facts are very different. The industrial and service sectors are the main sectors contributing to Thai GDP, with the former accounting for 39.2 percent of GDP. Of this the automobiles and automotive parts industry accounts for 11%, financial services is 9%, electric appliances and components 8% and tourism is only 6%. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Thailand Paying a graduate 25k per month is out of the reach of most 7-11's but this isn't their target demographic anyway (you don't need a degree to heat up a toastie) but 25k is not unusual for many companies when hiring graduates (I pay this myself to grads as the competition for good grads is definately there), and raising daily wages to initially 400 thb per day is a step in the right direction. If your business can't afford to pay 400 thb per day (approx. 8-10k per month) then fine, take your business to a lower cost centre such as Vietnam or Cambodia but be prepared for even more bureaucracy and corruption than even Thailand. You could try increasing your prices (or make less profit) but that's just a business decision most companies owners have to take and is the same argument these people made when daily wages were raised to 300/350 thb. They all cried poverty but most are still here. I know that many, many companies already pay in excess of 400 thb per day and 25k for graduates (so this isn't going to be such a big thing for most companies anyway), so I agree with this kind of money (or much more) being paid as it's the only way to drag Thailand into a middle income country status.

Bit of an urban myth this one I'm afraid, 'According to the Encyclopedia of Wars, out of all 1,763 known/recorded historical conflicts, 121, or 6.87%, had religion as their primary cause. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_war

My apologies for the misread. But having read all of your other posts, you can probably understand why. And I don’t know why you don’t think I’m being genial. I’ve not been rude or unduly provocative. And being this sensitive yourself, you would have thought you would understand trans kids better. (ok that was a bit provocative but couldn’t help myself).

My position (not that you really care) is that denying a child medical help when they have a serious condition is akin to child torture. I see no difference to this treatment as to any other treatment a child must have whether their condition is of a physical or psychological nature. However, I also believe these decisions are best left in the hands of medical professionals who know a lot more than me and certainly a lot more than you.

Well you’ve met one now. I do think it’s ok to be trans (and gay and bisexual and other private choices) because, unlike you I don’t see they have a choice. And we’ve done the whole “but, but think about the children “ routine with you already. You’re not listening so no point in explaining it all again.