xylophone

Surely a rhetorical question lordgrinz, as you have surely been around Thailand long enough to know that fat brown envelopes often rule the day with regards to construction projects and just about everything else which goes on here!

I saw a post stating that the building was started in 2020 and that something like 2 billion baht was allocated to it?? The reason I used the question marks was because over four years, the building has only been 30% completed, which seems very strange IMO – – why so long to complete a building like this when others can go up much more quickly? My Thai daughter, a university educated (with honours) and very smart young woman has a few contacts in Bangkok and she told me that the rumour mill is suggesting that major corruption had taken place over those years and that's why the construction/structure was not sound enough to withstand the earthquake. I did see somewhere else that soil liquefaction was thought partly to blame, and I have seen that in action in New Zealand and as I recall it collapses the buildings on it, and is unsuitable for future construction.

Ok I will give that a go, but the shootout in OR will be hard to beat although overall it is a good movie.

I am also with Allianz Ayudhya and when I originally signed up it was Aetna/Bupa and because I took out the policy prior to the age of 60, I am covered up until the age of 100, believe it or not! Of course by the time I get anywhere close to that, the premiums will have gone up so much that it won't be worth having, especially as I'm only covered for 1 million baht and inpatient only. As I mentioned in a previous post, I will reconsider my position in a couple of years or so, depending upon the premium cost. I have to say that the service from them has been excellent to date, so I'm reluctant to change providers, but then again I have probably got too many pre-existing conditions to even be considered!

But the Maga trumpies are still denying it ever happened.........even when the full transcript was published!!!! A lying cult taking after their lying felon and grifter; what a stuff up.

Going back through a few old movies I have seen in the past, I decided to watch, "Open Range" again, starring Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall and Annette Bening and I thoroughly enjoyed it, and if anybody really wanted to see a good old-fashioned "shootout" then the one in this movie at the end, was outstanding and I had forgotten how good it was. Highly recommended!

Well they would say that wouldn't they......!! And it would appear that the MAGA cronies just cannot stop lying, even when the female blonde White House spokesperson (forget her name now) publicly stated that everything they were going to hear from her on that podium was the truth, and immediately told a very large "porky pie" by suggesting that billions of dollars was given to Hamas to buy condoms.........which was later disproved and retracted. Talk about "egg on your face", well this latest stuff up and the efforts to cover it up by lying, have also fallen flat because the US magazine the Atlantic on Wednesday published the full exchange of leaked messages between officials laying out plans for an attack on Yemen, as the White House fought fiercely to defend itself over the slip-up. Details including the times of strikes and types of planes used were shown in screenshots of the chat between President Donald Trump’s top officials on the commercial Signal messaging app. The White House reacted defiantly, launching a coordinated attack in which it slammed the magazine’s journalists as “scumbags” and dismissed the story as a “hoax”. So more lies were told to cover up the previous lies, and lies seem to be the mainstay of this useless bunch of dipsticks, they would have difficulty running a kindergarten, let alone the White House/USA. One last point regarding the remarks by Hegseth and Vance about bailing out the Europeans and their freeloading because of the actions taken by the Americans, it is worthwhile pointing out that: – There was no official request from European Union officials that the United States carry out the strike in Yemen – they were simply informed, said a European diplomat and a European official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic conversations. It looks like the main qualification to be on trump's team is the ability to lie, lie and lie again and it is neverending....."After the Atlantic published the full texts, Tulsi Gabbard was confronted on why she lied in her testimony to the Senate yesterday. She says she misremembered". And she said it with a straight face........dipsticks all of them, and some.

When only the best will do.............Yeah right!!! LOl

Judy Collins in her song said, "send in the clowns.........don't worry they're here".

Sad man.........Alex Jones lied and caused pain, anguish and distress to the grieving families concerned and that man is a disgusting POS and anyone who supports him is likewise.

In some jurisdictions, you can be jailed for defamation, particularly if the statements are malicious, false, and cause harm, though it's more common to face civil penalties like damages. Jones had falsely claimed the attack that left more than two dozen people dead, including 20 children, was a hoax, and accused a grieving parent of being an actor in the days after the murders. A Texas jury awarded nearly $50 million in a separate damages trial this summer. Victims’ families who sued Jones said they were subjected to years of torment, threats and abuse by people who believed the lies told on his show. One father said conspiracy theorists urinated on his 7-year-old son’s grave and threatened to dig up the coffin. The man is a POS and I hope that once his assets have been liquidated he still doesn't have enough to settle the claims, so off to prison he goes. I live in hope.

Dumb you say, well the dumbest person is trump by a country mile and his inability to tell the truth (that is he lies) is beyond belief........... In his second term, Trump fuels a ‘machinery’ of misinformation President Trump’s first four years in the White House were filled with falsehoods. Now he and those around him are using false claims to justify their policy changes. In her first briefing as White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt said she was “committed to telling the truth from this podium every single day”. Moments later she announced that the new administration had blocked a US$50 million ($87m) contract for condoms in Gaza. “That is a preposterous waste of taxpayer money,” she said. It was also a preposterous claim, improbable on its face and quickly debunked. There were millions in federal grants awarded to prevent sexually transmitted diseases in Gaza, but in the province in Mozambique, not the Palestinian territory. The condoms claim went viral anyway, seeping into the political discourse that President Donald Trump has used to justify his sweeping push to slash the federal Government. Trump’s first four years in the White House were filled with false or misleading statements – 30,573 of them, or 21 a day on average, according to one tally. Back then, though, aides often tried to play down or contain the damage of egregious falsehoods. But his aides now spread them, and some....... Read on……….https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/in-his-second-term-trump-fuels-a-machinery-of-misinformation/TFYG7Z4NJVEHVN6EC4EV3RAOCI/

He should have been locked up.....complete and utter scumbag.

Ideally the President of the United States and the stupidest person in the country would be two different people!!

Agree with your post....

A friend had recommended the series, "A spy among friends" so I thought I'd give it a go and I do like the two main actors, Damian Lewis and Guy Pearce, so I thought it would be a worthwhile watch...... But I watched three episodes and gave up, mainly because it was jumping around all over the place with regards to time, events and people and it was extremely difficult to follow, so I will watch no more of it. Such a shame because it is something that I was/am interested in, so I'll satisfy my curiosity by searching Google for the information I want.

I've done the same with him too!! Life is too short to try to converse/communicate with idiots.

You believe what you want......but the truth of it is that I have never been a Biden supporter and have voted on the "right" of the political parties in the countries of which I am a ctizen. I just don't like those who vote for the idiot trump , because he is an idiot, a felon, a liar and plain dumb. So the trump goobers can call me a leftie, which is totally wrong. And for the record I have had meetings and private dinners with the Prime Minister of a "first world" country and they were so much more intelligent than trump, so I have a yardstick for leaders and inteligence, and trump just does not measure up in any way shape or form.

All of the above......no climbdown. Just a dumb clown and some! Wasn't sure if the make-up was because he is a clown or because of his vanity. However he is still as dumb as ever...

But then again perhaps the make-up does everyone a favour....without it trump is butt ugly.

BS.......trump wears make-up to hide his awful skin. Nothing to do with racism, pure vanity!

I did post a precis of the report, and perhaps it would be timely to post it here as it sits with the subject being discussed here.....hopefully that will be ok? Key Findings: The Roberts Report provides an unflinching account of the horrors of October 7, laying bare the extent of Hamas’s atrocities and the targeted nature of their assault. Mass Murder & Targeting of Civilians: Hamas terrorists killed 1,182 people, injured over 4,000, and kidnapped 251 hostages, including 18 British nationals—the deadliest attack on UK citizens abroad since 9/11. The report affirms that 73% of those murdered were civilians, from a 14-hour-old infant to a 92-year-old Holocaust survivor. Planned Atrocities: Hamas spent years preparing for the attack, building mock Israeli communities for training exercises. Their fighters entered Israel carrying detailed lists of civilians to be killed or abducted. The assault was not spontaneous warfare—it was a deliberate massacre designed to maximize terror. Unprecedented Brutality: The report documents atrocities in chilling detail—families were executed in their homes, burned alive in safe rooms, or blown up with grenades. At Kibbutz Be’eri, 99 civilians were slaughtered; in Kfar Aza, 62 were murdered, including babies in their parents’ arms. At the Nova music festival, Hamas massacred over 370 young people, ambushing fleeing attendees with rifles, grenades, and RPGs. Sexual Violence & Mutilation: The report confirms widespread sexual violence, with victims raped, gang-raped, and mutilated before being murdered. Some corpses were desecrated—including instances of beheadings. Such sadistic brutality, the authors note, has few historical parallels. Hostages & Digital Terrorism: Hamas used social media as a weapon, filming their killings on body cameras and smartphones, live-streaming the massacres on Facebook, TikTok, and Telegram. They seized victims’ phones to send images of the atrocities directly to the victims’ loved ones, amplifying the psychological terror. Fighting Denial & Misinformation: The report addresses the rapid spread of falsehoods following October 7. Within hours of the attack, conspiracy theories sought to deny the massacres had taken place. Lord Roberts draws a direct parallel between October 7 denial and Holocaust denial, noting that misinformation today spreads faster than ever before. The report serves as a historical record of indisputable facts, based on eyewitness testimony, forensic evidence, and footage filmed by Hamas themselves.

It is certainly something to consider when taking out health insurance, because I'm now 77 and when I reached that age, the premium shot up quite markedly, so I had to have a look at my cover which was only for 1 million baht, and I weighed up the odds. I got hold of my agent and suggested that I would pay the annual fee if they would drop it to consider me paying a 50,000 baht deductible of the costs incurred, and they agreed, so my annual premium stayed at 150,000 baht, which is just about on the tipping point as far as I'm concerned, and after that I may well consider scrapping it!

My next oldie was a movie starring Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier, in, "Marathon Man" and I think I've seen it before but I couldn't remember anything about it so on it went! And I enjoyed it although it took a little time to come together! PS. After being thrown off the back of a motorcycle taxi and suffering severe concussion, I have to say that my memory is nowhere near as good as it used to be, and is probably why I can watch these old movies and not remember anything about them!!!!!