newnative

If I was a Japanese, German, Korean, or American car maker I'd be worried. One new vehicle after another coming from China with very impressive, fresh styling, features, and technology at very good prices. And, as previously mentioned, the list of 'trending' cars left out some other equally impressive Chinese models, including the one my spouse and I have ordered.

Well, it's a big joke no matter how you look at it, that's for sure.

My first visit to Thailand was in December 2009. I took an extended leave from my college job and had the whole month in Thailand with my Thai partner, who was returning to Thailand from the US. Every day was absolutely perfect--blue sky and sunny. I hate winter and it was such a wonderful contrast to what northern Virginia can be in December--cold, gray, and dreary. It didn't rain a single day until the very end, when there was some rain just before I left to return to the US, to finish out the school year before retiring and moving to Thailand in June 2010. When I got off the plane at Dulles on my return to the US, I was greeted by bone-chilling cold and a slushy mix of sleet and snow. Yuck. My favorite months for Thailand are November thru March, but love living here year-round.

I am 72. I still enjoy reading--mostly fiction--and I still enjoy movies and tv shows. However, like you, I don't listen to music like I used to when I was younger. My spouse will sometimes have music on when we are swimming or eating at home but it's usually just instrumental background music stuff. We do still listen to music in the car. This whole lack of interest was brought home to me when my Thai brother-in-law retired from his job in the US and returned to Thailand. He brought with him 3 big binders of CDs of mine that I had left with him when I came to Thailand in 2010. Hundreds of CDs that I had collected and enjoyed when I was much younger. Looking through the CDs, it made me realize how much more time I had spent with music when I was younger, compared to now. Spouse has mentioned that we could put some of the CDs on a flashdrive. Might get around to that at some point but not a high priority.

I'm very surprised, too. I really thought he'd accept another debate--what does he have to lose? It's very unlike Donald to ever turn down being in front of a camera. Maybe you are correct regarding his self-confidence. In any case, a big win for Harris. She looks young, strong and willing to debate. He looks old, weak and scared.

Umm. Why in the world is this nothing story headlined as one of the top two stories of the day? Oh, wait. It has a Pattaya angle. Never mind. Meanwhile, this Aussie should decamp for northern Virginia, where I used to live. According to my brother-in-law, who ran a pharmacy there, police will not respond to store thefts unless the amount of merchandise stolen amounts to $150. Bottle of Vitamin C? Good to go.

As long as it stays 30 or above I am happy. At this point I am not sending any money to Thailand and spouse and I are living off money we already have in Thailand, which should last for sometime.

Odd crimes being the reason all these non-Pattaya folk are 'fixated' on Pattaya? I highly doubt that's the reason--although it's true that Asean Now seems to delight in using any Pattaya crime, no matter how minor, as one of it's two lead stories far too often. However, I'll pass your idea along to the Just Can't Quit Pattaya Fan Club and, perhaps, they'll chew on it a bit at their next meeting. Also, an application to the club is on its way to you!

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. More teeth gnashing for Trump and his idiot running mate--who certainly should not have done 59 interviews.

Complete waste of time--Trumpets do not care about either truth or fact. The whole issue has been investigated to death with no evidence found. I think there was a Republican who voted his dead wife. There are always a few of these in any election.

Sometime you might explore the Darkside area of Pattaya, if you haven't already. That's where my spouse and I have ended up and we are liking it. Wide variety of housing available and there are still some rural areas. We are near Lake Mabprachan but can be places like T21, Index, Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, Central Festival, etc., in a half-hour or less, non-rush times.

Another 'stop the presses!' story--just as I predicted the other day. Likely another one will be along tomorrow--we haven't had a breaking headline 'gold necklace stolen' story in awhile.

Another misleading headline--read it and thought, great, 'completion by 2025'. Somewhere in the headline 'paperwork' needed to be added.

Jesus 2 here. And, many of my friends. Save the frogs is just totally clueless--especially with his utterly ridiculous statement that 92% of the women in Pattaya are bargirls. Guess he missed all the women working in the thousands of retail establishments, in all the hotels and tourist businesses, in the hundreds and hundreds of restaurants, in the 4 or 5 large hospitals Pattaya has, plus its numerous optical stores, pharmacies, general and dental clinics, etc., etc. Yet another one who visited Pattaya and, from his laughable comments, never left Walking Street.

Grinds my gears, too. And, I've asked myself the same question. Why such an interest in Pattaya? Do they also read and post on the Peoria Forum? Heck, we even have posters who have never even been to Pattaya coming on and posting. Don't they have anything better to do with their time? Apparently, not. I finally decided the answer is, they just can't quit Pattaya. Wherever they ended up, likely some cold, dreary, boring, spot that leaves them with plenty of free time on their hands, huddled by a space heater, they hanker to be in Pattaya. Don't they ever. And, don't they just so envy those of us who are here--usually in the form of extreme sour grapes, brought to us time and again with disparaging, usually clueless, often woefully outdated, and sometimes just plain mean Pattaya posts. The closest they can get to Pattaya seems to be the Pattaya Forum. That is, until I took pity on them and created the Just Can't Quit Pattaya Fan Club. Now these poor, unfortunate folk have a club all their own, where they can meet on-line--or perhaps in person if they are both living in the same godforsaken place--and commiserate with each other about not being where they really want to be--Pattaya. No charge, of course. My only remuneration is the satisfaction knowing I've brought some small comfort to these folk living their lives of quiet desperation--somewhere, alas, not Pattaya. But I digress. One grind remains Pattaya allowing a relative handful of cars to continue to park on some of the major, very busy roads, instead of creating more traffic lanes from the parking spaces that would, instead, benefit thousands of travelers on these roads.

Yes, there's debate regarding the compact--I side with those who believe states have the power to manage their electors--but I find it encouraging that 17 states, both with large populations and small, have voted to recognize popular vote as the way to elect presidents in the 21st century. Also encouraging that other states are looking into it.

There is an on-going effort, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, to modify the Electoral College in determining presidential elections. If enough states ratify the compact to represent 270 EC votes, the national popular vote will be used by those states to determine the presidential winner. So far, states with a total of 209 EC votes have ratified, with legislation pending in states with a total of 50 EC votes. I don't think you are quite correct when you imply that small population states, the supposed beneficiaries of the EC, would never vote to eliminate the EC. Surprisingly, of the states that have ratified the compact, there are six states with 5 EC votes or fewer. You would think these states, being some of the smallest in population, would have turned down the compact but each voted in favor of the importance of using the popular vote to determine presidential winners.

Not just your opinion, that's exactly what is happening. Republicans want to make voting as difficult as possible. Donald Trump, himself, said if voting was made easy, Republicans would never win another national election. So, difficult is the Republican game plan--oppose mail-in voting, oppose absentee voting, oppose same-day registration, oppose convenient places to vote, make registering to vote as difficult as possible, intimidate voters with armed 'election observers' at polling places, remove legitimate registered voters from the voter rolls, gerrymander districts to favor Republican candidates, etc., etc.

Maya Angelou, the American poet and author, famously said, 'When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.'. Donald Trump has shown us who he is, in both his words and actions, and now it is up to us to 'believe him the first time'. It's that simple. It's all there for anyone to see and process and, no, I will not be wasting my time putting it all down here because it will, indeed, be a complete waste of time. Trumpets don't want to believe the real him the first time--or, any time for that matter. I will say my 'first time' was when Trump arrogantly stated: 'I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters.' I was, and still am, incredulous that someone could make such a statement. He was certainly showing me who he was--arrogant, deeply flawed, dangerously egotistical, with no respect for the law and, indeed, saw himself as above the law. Taking Maya Angelou to heart, I believed him the first time--and have not been proved wrong. He ended his presidential term ranked the worst in history, and rightly so, culminating in his illegal efforts to overturn the election. At 78 and with nothing to lose, he is even more dangerous this time around.

The houses, from the photos I saw, look like the Silk Road project in Pattaya.

Turning America into a third world country.

Horrible individual. Trump and Musk--separated at birth.

Another nothing story akin to yesterday's bar fight. And, likely another one will show up tomorrow. All pretty much the same. Someone posts something minor and the newspaper picks it up and gives it a bit of oxygen. I seriously doubt there was 'widespread outrage'--but quite a lot of widespread hype by the newspaper, and Asean Now.

If I recall the article I read regarding Swift's endorsement, it seemed to be more of a mixed-bag than what you would garner from reading the Post's take. I don't think the endorsement changed too many minds when it comes to voters who were already going to vote one way or another. I fall into that category--I was already voting for Harris. Jesus Christ endorsing, along with already 'saving' Trump, would not change my vote. I think the Swift endorsement will be a small net plus by getting younger voters, especially women, interested in the election, getting them to register to vote, and then getting them to actually vote. Young voters 18-29 have the lowest voter turnout rate in the US. Harris is winning this group but she needs to get them to the polls. The Swift endorsement might a bit help with this.

And, the rest of us who aren't 'party people' aren't 'upset and disturbed' at all. At least I am not. And, I doubt '95%' of the 'party people' are, either. This is a nothing story, blown up because there's not a lot of other news to report. It's the same thing with the hyped 'tourist gets gold necklace stolen' stories. Yawn. Gotta fill the space with something. If it was even reported at all in western cities and newspapers, it would warrant a one or two sentence blurb under a "Police Beat' column. Two drunk guys get into a fight at a bar in a tourist city. Stop the presses!