johnnybangkok

Yes well done, you found the rocking horse $hit I mentioned. As has OneMoreFarang. There will always be an example to find something by someone to “corroborate “ your view but again, it’s VERY rare. If someone is truly trans, then where are they to go? Should they be forced into male changing rooms and men’s toilets where they can face more than a few hysterical women having a hissy fit? As usual, it’s a nuanced subject not helped by the VERY few examples where common sense should prevail. And the “old foggies” I was referring to are you lot.

All the usual old foggies getting their knickers in a twist about complete non -events like trans using women’s bathrooms. Firstly this is as rare as rocking horse $hit, excessively amplified by the right and their quest to make identity politics the main dividing line for us all. living in Bangkok I see ladyboys using women’s toilets ALL the time (it would be more weird to see them use the men’s) and not one single time have I ever seen a women complain about it - so exactly what is the problem? Now if a 6ft brikkie walks in wearing nothing but lipstick then sure, it would be weird but again, what exactly is he going to do? Peer over the cubicles? Try and get a glimpse of a woman on the toilet? It’s just all exaggerated nonsense to get the gullible all worked up. And many of you are falling for it time and time again.

Of course you dont. And I have neither the patience nor the crayons to explain it to you.

It has little to do with corruption as corruption has always been endemic in Thailand and is also rampant in a lot of other SE Asian countries who are doing considerably better than Thailand. The truth is much more nuanced. Covid obviously affected the world but in 2022 the world came out the other end and in many countries there was a boom in business (2022 was one of my best years ever) but then 2023 rolled along and with it came the Thai elections and the surprising showing of The Move Forward Party. Their victory of course didn't suit the powers that be (or even Pheu Thai) so deals were done behind closed doors and Move Forward was dissolved. Notwithstanding the completely undemocratic nature of all this, the country was without leadership for at least 6 -9 months in 2023 and matters dragged into 2024 with the ousting of Thavisin. This affected business substantially as who is going to invest in Thailand or expand their business here when there is so much political turmoil going on? Companies want stability and Thailand just hasn't offered that for quite some time so why risk your business when you could just as easily go to Vietnam or Malaysia? Thailands problems are self-inflicted but can also be rectified with a coherant and forward thinking (excuse the pun) policy that addresses the very real percetion out there that thailand is now 'The Sick Man of Asia" https://world.thaipbs.or.th/detail/has-thailand-become-the-sick-man-of-asean-thailands-prolonged-political-crisis/228 There are some positive signs though (casino's, large data centres etc) that could turn things around but Thaksin is correct, 'systemic failure borne out of neglected fiscal responsibilities' is the problem so until Thailands politicians stop looking after their own interests before the country's, problems will continue for many years to come.

And you MAGA brigade are so myopic in your view and so selective of your facts that you don't even know that the highest amount of illegal immigrants who committed a crime ever deported from the US was under Biden. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-deportations-rose-decade-high-fiscal-2024-outpacing-trump-years-2024-12-19/ Or that the highest number removed previous to this was under Obama at 2.5 Million between 2009 and 2015 https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obamas-deportation-policy-numbers/story?id=41715661 Illegal immigrants who committed crimes were already being sent home long before Trump jumped on the bandwagon. He just made it sound like nothing was being done about it so that people like yourself got all riled up and voted for him. Oldest trick in the book (demonising the many because of the few) and you all fell for it.

Lightweight

Merkin

I've just had my nephews arrive last week and both of them only had one way tickets and got in no problem without onward flights. BUT I think most posters here agree it's a bit of a lottery with some airlines requiring onward flights and some immigration officials wanting it too so I think first check with your airline and then as one poster mentioned above, be prepared to book an onward flight IF you get asked at customs.

Oh the sqirming from the obvios MAGA cohorts is truly something to behold. As much as I don't think it was a Nazi salute (no one can be that stupid surely?) it was VERY clumsy. With so much talk of authoritism and right-wing idealogy levelled at Trump anyone with half a brain would surely stear well clear of ANYTHING that resembled a Nazi salute but not ol' Elon with all the self-awareness of a teenager on Tik Tok. Clumsy. VERY clumsy.

WhatsApp Video 2025-01-21 at 15.10.10_894f2a31.mp4

So many doomsayers not taking into account that there's already thousands of ILLEGAL gambling establishment in Thailand mostly run by the police and/or army (I know of at least 10 in my area of Bangkok) so if someone wants to lose everything on gambling, there's already places to go; all the government are doing is legalising it to get the considerable tax revenues and increased jobs that come with these things. However, if they want to play safe then the easiest thing is to only allow tourists and ban those without an international passport from entering. This would massively mitigate the 'we are creating gamlers' brigade in one easy step.

Nonsense suggestion. If the job gets done then why should someone be paid less because they live in a cheaper area or they don't have to commute? Many companies already use remote workers with Thailand's recent investment to lure digital nomads being a prime example of how popular it's becoming because it doesn't matter where you are as long as the job is done. And pushing a button every 30 seconds - talk about big brother! Most if not all those WFH have KPI's to adhere to and as long as these are achieved, then who cares if someone works 4 hours or 8 hours! I can assure you that if people are slacking they usually get found out VERY quickly.

The type of job is all important in this debate. When Covid hit, I like many business owners was forced into embracing WFH and on the whole it did very little harm, however my business requires a lot of telephone work and client meetings which were easily done through video conferencing. The new norm of video conferencing was wholeheartedly embraced by the larger business community and continues to this day. Once covid was over, I adopted a hybrid solution of 3 days in the office and 2 days WFH but I always felt (probably from my own personal preferences) that working in a big, bustling office surrounded by your peers was always a better solution so I quickly reduced this to 4 days in the office and 1 day at home. I consulted all my staff about this new change and the vast amjority were behind it, understanding the benefit of instant feedback from co-workers and the collaboration you can only get in face-to-face situations. I still have 2 staff who completely WFH (they have small children so it benefits them greatly) and on the whole they perform exactly the same as they would do in the office so I am still open to the idea IF the person has previously proved themselves. I'm not so keen on newbies doing this though. I am fortunate that the type of work we do allows such flexibilty but I also think there is a lot of merit in people all working together in the same environment. As I said, it's all about the job and how effectively it can be performed at home so this one-size fits all approach isn't the way to go in my opinion.

The short journey time from Bangkok is super appealing and I'm a regular to Samet because of this. I was there at Xmas and although busy it never felt crowded and as you mention, the beaches were clean and the choice of better accommodation is there if you want a bit more luxury. Got a beachfront villa at TubTim and although a bit basic, it has air-con, TV and was super clean. I highly recommend.

Another feeble attempt at justifying backwards thinking without understanding the context. ALL intelligence services look to hire ethnic minorities purely for the fact they are needed to do what they do. MI5 for example (the Uk's domestic intelligence arm) need ethnic minorities to infiltrate domestic terrorism cells and/or simply for linguistic abilities. It obviously isn't the main though as their own site informs you that only 9% of it's total wokforce are from minority groups, 5% from the LGBTQ community and 43% are women. https://www.mi5.gov.uk/careers/working-at-mi5/diversity With only 9% of staff being from ethnic minorities, they are in serious need of new recruits, hence the advert.

And I bet your previous experience got you all of these jobs. Knowing what the hell you are doing is usually pretty vital in most jobs.

Talk about going around in circles. Your very first post quoted me saying 'The idea this initiative has only worked because Trump is coming in and Hamas are too scared to go against Trump is spurious at best, a downright lie at worst.' It is literally what you quoted first. If you are not disagreeing with this then why even mention it? You then follow this up with 'Firstly, Trump's unpredictability should not be understated. What did he mean by "all hell will break loose" if the hostages were not released by the time of his inauguration?' Which at least infers that you believe what he said influenced Hamas. My point is I don't think it did. At all. And I've already agreed that he has had influence but only with Netanyahu so what exactly are you disagreeing with? Are you agreeing or disagreeing that Trump saying 'alll hell will break loose' influenced Hamas and if so, where's your proof?

An 'inability to be loyal to one's wife' will get the guy promoted to VP in Trumps books.

Ok then show me a single news article that says Hamas were forced to the negotiating table because of the threat made by Trump. Go on. I'll wait.

One last time for the hard of comprehension. Both you and BKK Brian are vearing away from my original post that simply said 'The idea this initiative has only worked because Trump is coming in and Hamas are too scared to go against Trump is spurious at best, a downright lie at worst.' THIS is all I am talking about. Who was influenced between the 2 sides and by whom. There's no evidence whatsoever to show Hamas were influenced by Trumps "all hell will break loose" statement. Quite the opposite in fact with them basically saying further threats are incredibly unhelpful. There's a negotiated peace in place because Trumps managed to convince/cajole/do a deal with Netanyahu. That's why there is an agreement NOT because Hamas feel threatened but rather a deal has been done with Netanyahu. Do we get it now? And how am I blinded by hatred? My original post clearly said 'Perhaps though the REAL credit should go with the influence Trump has over Netanyahu'. How is this hatred?

The mental gynastics you put yoursef through just to try and argue against the obvious is truly something to behold. You don't even like the guy but because he's a Trump pick you are now resorting to 'more experience does not always translate to better qualified.' Very, very occasionally it does - but not in this case.

You are not understanding (or can't see) where the influence went - despite your own post declaring 'Arab Officials: Trump envoy Swayed PM more than Biden'. The 'PM' in question is Netanyahu NOT Hamas. This whole discussion was from an original poster saying Trumps "all hell will break loose' statement had influenced Hamas. It didn't. It influenced Netanyahu. Understand the difference?

Not sure why I have to explain this to you but I'll try. Let's firstly ignore your inane 'DEI initiatives' or trying to make Austin personally responsible for the Afghanistan withdrawal fiasco, Austin has more experience at a higher military level than Hegseth having served as the 33rd vice chief of staff of the Army and as commander of United States Forces. He holds the unique distinction of having commanded in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan at the 1, 2, 3 and 4 -star levels. He is a recipient of the Silver Star, as well as five Defense Distinguished Service Medals.' Hegseth on the other hand reached the lofty rank of infantry officer in the Minnesota National Guard and although he served in Iraq, first as an infantry platoon leader and later as civil-military operations officer he has never reached anywhere near the heights of Austin. He volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan to train Afghan security forces and was promoted to the rank of major but left active duty to be assigned to the Army Individual Ready Reserve. He therefore lacks operational expertise and in-depth military knowledge as has nowhere near the business experience to oversea the millions of people in the miltary and the $820 billion budget. If the job was in the private sector, he wouldn't even make the shortlist. This is what what makes Lloyd Austin more qualified than Pete Hegseth.

I don't understand what you're not understanding. Trumps 'influence' has been predominately over Netanyahu NOT over Hamas as the original poster was trying to infer with his '......all hell will break out if the hostages weren't released..................' statement. Obviously 'all hell breaking out' wasn't aimed at Israel and since Hamas doesn't give a hoot about Trump or any Western Leader it logically follows that Trumps 'influence' has been in getting Netanyahu to the negotiating table NOT by threatening Hamas. So well done for doing that but because he's all about the 'deal', I wonder what he promised in return to get Netanyahu to commit to a ceasefire? Open season I reckon once Hamas inevitably does something stupid.