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And this from medical specialsts should quieten the Biden bashers and dumb trump supporters......... A lengthy report by the Department of Justice on President Biden’s handling of classified documents contained some astonishing assessments of his well-being and mental health. Mr. Biden, 81, was an “elderly man with a poor memory” and “diminished faculties” who “did not remember when he was vice president,” the special counsel Robert K. Hur said. In conversations recorded in 2017, Mr. Biden was “often painfully slow” and “struggling to remember events and straining at times to read and relay his own notebook entries.” So impaired was Mr. Biden that a jury was unlikely to convict him, Mr. Hur said. Republicans were quick to pounce, some calling the president unfit for office and demanding his removal. But while the report disparaged Mr. Biden’s mental health, medical experts on Friday noted that its judgments were not based on science and that its methods bore no resemblance to those that doctors use to assess possible cognitive impairment. In its simplest form, the issue is one that doctors and family members have been dealing with for decades: How do you know when an episode of confusion or a memory lapse is part of a serious decline? The answer: “You don’t,” said David Loewenstein, director of the center for cognitive neuroscience and aging at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. The diagnosis requires a battery of sophisticated and objective tests that probe several areas: different types of memory, language, executive function, problem solving, and spatial skills and attention. The tests, he said, determine if there is a medical condition, and if so, its nature and extent. Verbal stumbles are not proof, Dr. Loewenstein and other experts said. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/09/health/biden-memory-doj.html

But he did say.............. "He said at a rally on Saturday that, as president, he had warned Nato allies he would encourage Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to countries that didn’t pay their way in the alliance". The man is an idiot and is jeopardising an Alliance which has been formed to protect countries from the likes of Russia.

In fact, Nato partners do not pay the United States, as Trump implied. Nato members contribute to a common budget for civilian and military costs according to a formula based on national income and historically have met those obligations.

Veering off course just a little, but still related to the NATO subject, Russia/Putin threaten the West with their rhetoric, blaming NATO for "pushing their boundaries towards Russia", or words to that effect. However article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty sets out how countries can join the Alliance; it states that membership is open to any "European state in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to security of the North Atlantic area" Indeed Sweden and Finland applied to join in May 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine as the two countries feared for their security. In short, it is the threat of Russia and Putin which has driven countries to seek membership of NATO, not NATO's decision to expand per se, but that concept is too difficult for a simpleton like trump to understand.

Once more, just for you and trump's other "poorly educated" followers................. "The scorn for Nato that Trump expresses is based on a false premise that he has repeated for years even after being corrected, a sign that he is either incapable of processing information that conflicts with an idée fixe in his head or willing to distort facts to suit his preferred narrative. As he has many times, Trump castigated Nato partners that he called “delinquent” in paying for US protection. “You’ve got to pay,” he said. “You got to pay your bills.” In fact, Nato partners do not pay the United States, as Trump implied. Nato members contribute to a common budget for civilian and military costs according to a formula based on national income and historically have met those obligations".

The orange blob is delusional, or should I say, is dumb, and to find out why, read the following: – The scorn for Nato that Trump expresses is based on a false premise that he has repeated for years even after being corrected, a sign that he is either incapable of processing information that conflicts with an idée fixe in his head or willing to distort facts to suit his preferred narrative. As he has many times, Trump castigated Nato partners that he called “delinquent” in paying for US protection. “You’ve got to pay,” he said. “You got to pay your bills.” In fact, Nato partners do not pay the United States, as Trump implied. Nato members contribute to a common budget for civilian and military costs according to a formula based on national income and historically have met those obligations. It's a wonder he hasn't asked them if he can buy Greenland! A dumbo par excellence.

A well-to-do English man discovers that a long lost uncle has left him a farm in Australia, so he decides to go over and check it out. Unfortunately it is in the outback and has no neighbours or anything, and one day he is standing on the wooden veranda looking out into the distance when he sees a cloud of dust, which slowly gets closer, until a truck/Ute comes to a halt in front of the place, and out steps a typical outback farmer. G'day says the farmer, you must be my new neighbour, so I thought I'd pop over and say hello because we don't get many new folks out here. Oh, says the Englishman that's very nice of you, and where do you live? About 50 km east of here says the Aussie, in fact it's so rare that we get new people way out here, why don't you come over for a barbecue tomorrow afternoon. I'll get a few beers in, throw a few steaks on the barbie, put on some music and we'll have a bit of singing, a bit of dancing and a bit of rooting!!!! Oh, that all sounds rather splendid, what should I wear? Doesn't really matter said the Aussie, there'll only be the two of us.

Wrong...........because the charge of wilfully retaining and sharing classified documents would be unable to be proven given that he owned up to having them and notified the proper authorities and did not lie about any aspect of it, so the worst possible scenario would have been a slap on the wrist for being forgetful. Unlike your fat hero who lied and constantly obstructed efforts to retrieve the stolen documents....see the difference?

IMO the Hur report is a hatchet job and is just what the Republicans needed at this particular moment in time. The real reason that the Biden affair wasn't taken any further was not because of any frailty he may or may not have, but it's because it's quite obvious to those who have read the charges that the documents were not knowingly taken by Biden, nor was there any intent to deceive, because he owned up to the fact that he had them, so there is not much to charge him with. Whereas the orange clown lied through his teeth time and time again with regards to his knowledge and whereabouts of the classified documents, even claiming that he "declassified them" with his mind – – a totally different scenario, and Hur knew it.

If one has a British passport, is it still possible to live full-time in Spain, or is there some restrictions regarding Schengen visas??

Well I suppose there are a few things in Biden's favour, inasmuch as he hasn't asked one of his team if they can buy Greenland, as did Trump, nor stolen from a charity or bankrupted several companies thereby stiffing the working man. He is an elderly man and can be prone to gaffes/memory lapses, but then again compared to the ex-president, he is intelligent, squeaky clean and a diamond.

No but Fanny is his Aunt!!

I like your reply because in some ways it mirrors my retirement here, as a single guy, but with an unofficially adopted Thai daughter who does her own thing anyway, I have plenty of time on my hands but I'm never "bored". I am a completely different person now in my retirement that I was in my younger days and professional working life, where I always wanted to be successful and pushed myself to the limits. In my youth it was football which was my passion, then travelling and adventure to various inhospitable places, then switching to the corporate world and studying and training in various disciplines before retiring at the age of 58. Now I rent an apartment, have a motorbike and a car which I like driving around the place, although not in the centre of Patong, visiting shopping malls, planning meals and cooking them of course. I also like hunting around for new wine experiences and wine bargains, and like you, I'm quite happy doing absolutely nothing apart from spending far too much time on my computer and not just on AN!! I never drink during the daytime and I will never be one of those poor unfortunates sitting on a bar stool day in and day out, although I will go out in the evening about once a week to meet up with a friend or two and may well have a drink at a favourite bar. I never thought I could be this happy doing nothing as I was just the opposite when I was younger, and this life seems to suit me now I have reached the age of 76.

Have just watched, "Mr Bates vs The Post Office" and thought it was bloody brilliant, a bit of a tear jerker at times and with great British acting. Made my evening, so, many thanks to whoever recommended it!

As I have said in another post, his leaving is not specifically because of hospital costs, but mainly because he is disillusioned with life here as a whole. He also has a large mobile home (very large apparently) in Canada in which he can live and in which he can travel around in and stay with friends and relatives, a bit of a nomadic existence, if you like...........he gave Phuket (Patong) a try, but not for him now.

NO.............that is an added extra and not the main reason. He is simply tired of all that goes on in Patong from corruption to traffic, to bad roads, to unruly and ignorant tourists, to crowded sidewalks to............etc, etc. And to add to that a couple of bad experiences with women. He has had an eye operation here and paid for it and he has a pension as well as savings; he liked hunting and fishing and living a little free and now he misses it.

I think with quite a few people who decide to leave Phuket, what was once "living the dream" is no longer, so there are many aspects of life in Phuket which can grate, and it's quite possibly a combination of things which make people leave. One of the friends who left for the UK has a family there and wants to see his grandchildren grow up, as well as getting tired with life in Patong. Whereas the other friend is disillusioned and because he is facing some health problems (not severe I may add) then going back to Canada will ensure that he can get them fixed free of charge.

Well he obviously does have a competent team to support him because the economy in the USA is doing very well indeed under his and his team's guidance. As regards corruption, well nothing has been established about this, and although many Republicans have looked into this matter, no one has found any evidence of corruption. The Trump family corruption though, is an entirely different matter.

I note your comments, but I don't think that my friend is a candidate for that flying club, because despite all that has befallen him, he still has a positive attitude and knows that he can go back to Canada and get work there. I think he has put it all down to experience and he has enjoyed some of the time in Patong, but poor decisions have eventually bought him to his senses.

Traffic, traffic, crowds and noise – – about sums up my venture into Patong Central last night. However the traffic situation was horrendous with the traffic backed up from the roundabout at the end of Nanai, to Soi Nanai 8, and then further backup on all of the other approach roads, and the reason was......two members of the BIB were endeavouring to direct traffic around the roundabout with absolutely no success whatsoever with cars and motorbikes whizzing by on either side of the roundabout from any direction, despite the BIB guys waving their lighted battens at the perpetrators. It was an absolute disaster and one would have thought that it was a film set for a sketch in an episode of, "Monty Pythons Flying Circus", because it was so unbelievably bad, not funny. However my young motorbike taxi driver managed to weave in and out of a lot of this chaos and got me to Blue Beach Cafe and Restaurant after a 20 minute ride from Nanai! Good man. Blue Beach was a welcome haven from all of this turmoil and I caught up with an old friend there, and much to our surprise and delight, there was only background soft music playing from a DJ, which was brilliant, and allowed us to be able to have a conversation across the table, whilst enjoying the food and a glass or two of wine. It was an enjoyable "catch up", but at about 9:30 PM my friend decided to head off home, whilst I ventured up Bangla, weaving in and out of the endless moving stream of bodies to get to a quiet little bar in Soi Sea Dragon (yes, they do exist). Bangla was jampacked and it was hard to make my way against the endless stream, most of whom seemed to be heading towards the beach area, and in amongst that melee were Chinese, a fair amount of Indian folk and many others whom I couldn't distinguish by their looks. Whilst the music bar/venue at the bottom of Bangla (the beach end) had only about half a dozen customers in it, despite there being a live band, the live music bar, "New York" was not only packed inside, but had people standing eight deep outside of it listening to the music! Bar funk was not very busy and overall the smaller bars did have some customers, but not many. I headed home on the back of a motorbike taxi at about 11 PM and getting out onto the middle road from Soi Sansabai was a bit like taking your life in your hands, or should I say placing it in the hands of the motorbike taxi driver, because it was downright dangerous, but we managed it okay. During the daytime on Friday the traffic was at times, gridlocked, and as other posters have commented on here and other threads, it is becoming a nightmare which Patong cannot really handle. Just before I sign off, there is a large "depression" in the concrete in Soi Banzaan, which has been there now for about three years or more and is slowly getting deeper, and I do believe it was made when a very large truck was waiting to get into the vacant land beside the small hotel called, "The House". Despite it being there for some time and slowly getting worse, nothing has been done about it and it won't be long before someone is thrown off their motorbike after hitting that – – beware.

I spent a little time in Chiang Rai, along with my girlfriend at the time and our daughter, and I thought it was a lovely place, and even looked at houses to buy, but eventually came back to Patong to live and have been here ever since! Just occasionally I get the urge to go back to Chiang Rai to have a look at it, but my Thai daughter wants to live in Phuket, so I suppose I'm pretty well stuck here, unless I can persuade her that Chiang Rai also has other teaching opportunities for her. Time will tell.

Palestinians living side by side with Israelis would IMO be normal, even if they never managed it in the recent past!! You took my use of the word "normal" too literally.

Sadly, a good friend of mine who has lived here most of the time for years has now decided to call it quits and has moved back to the UK. I am in contact with him and he says although the weather is disgusting, he is glad to be free of the traffic, Russians, invading Chinese and poor roads here in Patong/Phuket – – he owned a Triumph Bonneville and loved riding it around, but not safe to do that now, so sold it and he has gone. Another friend is considering going back to Canada because he is fed up/bored with Patong and has been financially shafted by one Thai girlfriend, thereby losing his business, and his latest Thai girlfriend has decided to dump him! Not a happy chappy, so I expect him to leave very shortly. As I have posted previously, this is not the place I remember it to be, but I'm tied here by friends and a daughter, so I will have to put on a happy face and carry on!

I was Chief Manager Investments for a major New Zealand bank, and I and another guy had started the division, which I was now running, along with 25 Investment Advisers and a team of back office investment personnel. A far cry from my days working for oil companies in the Sahara desert (twice), Nigeria, offshore Norway and a couple of North Sea platforms. The stress of the bank job was starting to get to me, so I took a holiday in Phuket, and around two years later I was living here!