Jump to content

placnx

Advanced Member
  • Posts

    2,660
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by placnx

  1. Several analysts remarked that it would be better for there to be a mini-primary to affirm Harris or select someone else as the nominee. This would keep voters from thinking that the grassroots is being ignored in the choice of Biden's replacement.
  2. Unfortunately there are too many closet racists with misogynistic tendencies in Amerika to make a Harris-Whitmer ticket viable.
  3. Amy Klobuchar has the qualities, but her Senate term ends this cycle, so it would be a very risky decision to run for president.
  4. Over the years the Saudis have been quite involved in helping the Palestinians diplomatically. The tried to reconcile Hamas and Fatah.
  5. Hamas felt that the possibility of Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords could lead to annexation of the West Bank and ehtnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. Although the Kingdom was insisting that there be an irreversible two-state solution, that apparently would have followed the same negociation model as the Oslo Accords. Thirty years of that has shown that it is an unworkable process. Now public opinion in the Kingdom would not allow such a deal to proceed.
  6. The US prevents the passage of a Security Council resolution that would authorize sanctions, an international force to replace the IDF in the West Bank, etc. However, individual countries have and can sanction Israel, but it will take a lot of countries doing so to move the immovable settlers.
  7. As I understand it, there is a concept that sounds like a guardian. It's called "pipat". The problem is that the court will name such a person, though if you have a local lawyer he might be able to steer this to someone that you trust. As for a trust, the law is based on European law where trusts don't exist, so you could set up a trust in the UK with a responsible family member as trustee (to avoid prohibitive fees). This would limit the incentive for the local court et al to abuse their power to appoint a profiteer.
  8. The pandemic experience is forcing a rethink. Since China is an historical source of pandemics, now the thinking is to curtail outsourcing to China and shorten the supply chain. In the US case, that means more manufacturing relocated to Mexico. Still, Thailand will get some of the industry moving out of China, but higher-end production is more likely moving to Malaysia or other countries with a well-educated workforce.
  9. To make comparisons, it would be better to compare median incomes than GDP per capita.
  10. BBC reported this morning that Trump has written a new speech for the Republican COnvention. Hopefully, he will tone down the rhetoric.
  11. For some reason Kamala strikes me as a Hilary analogue, so not interesting and not electable.
  12. Whitmer is good, but there's also Amy Klobuchar. I agree that it would be better to have Whitmer than Harris, considering that Harris has to carry the baggage of Ukraine & Gaza. How about Cory Booker for the VP slot? Check out his education. He would be an excellent follow on to Whitmer in 8 years, to be hoped.
  13. My doctor friend said that it was acetaldehyde. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/in-search-of-a-cure-for-the-dreaded-hangover/
  14. My doctor friend said that it was acetaldehyde. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/in-search-of-a-cure-for-the-dreaded-hangover/
  15. Biden should have set to work after the 2000 election to have a plan in place. Unfortunately, bureaucrats on the ground seem to have been in a bubble until provinces started falling day after day. It was much too late by then. I think that the writing was on the wall as early as 2006 that it was only a matter of time before the Taliban returned to power.
  16. It's about time that the State Department be reformed. Their doddering bureaucracy is not fit to handle a humanitarian crisis of the magniture of the Afghan debacle. Maybe it needs a unit that can respond by cutting through the endless hurdles to get the job done early with time to spare. It would need power to override resistance from the ninnies higher up, to communicate and coordinate directly with military and intelligence.
  17. The Supreme Court's recent presidential immunity decision will probably shield Biden from criminal indictment in US courts, but maybe the question is whether he is covered for civil liability. The others are not protected by the Court's decision, however.
  18. Cognitive ability only goes down from here. Unfortunately, they chose Kamala Harris as VP, an uninspiring person who had been polling even lower than Biden before the debate. Now some say that Black voters will be offended if she is not given the chance to run for president if Biden withdraws. It's a quandary that they should have considered before they chose her 4 years ago. Maybe Gretchen Whitmer as presidential candidate with Senator Cory Booker as VP would be a sensible ticket. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gretchen_Whitmer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Booker There is one catch. This year Booker needs to run for reelection to his Senate seat, and the other Senator from New Jersey, also a Democrat, is in serious legal trouble.
  19. I looked into Medicare at least 10 years ago. For me I understood that I would have to live in the US 5 years before I could qualify. I have been a non-resident of the US since 2004, and I never accumulated the 40 credits, so I when I looked at this I would have had to pay around $400 per month, probably for Part A. Maybe there was an assumption in the guidelines that a person in my situation was not a US citizen, just a green card holder. Perhaps the law was written based on this assumption, but I have no time to investigate this dead end.
  20. Exactly. Netanyahu would like to prolong to war to make Biden lose the election (besides keeping himself from being convicted of corruption). Then with Trump in power annexation of the West Bank can be done, and Saudi Arabia can become a client state of Israel!! If Trump and Netanyahu have their way, the Palestinians in Gaza will be left to rot, if they don't depart.
  21. I wonder whether your 90-day online rejection problem could be related to the introduction of the new online filing system for TM30. The latest version (to my knowledge/memory) was around September last year. Have you filed TM30 online since September last year? Also the gap between November 23 and March 24 must be more than 90 days.
  22. Usually they follow the non-interference principle, so abuses in India and Burma are not contested, either.
  23. I looked into Medicare, but living in Thailand officially means that I am ineligible. Maybe you have to live in the US for 5 years before applying.
  24. Surrogacy for straight and gay couples using IVF as needed.
×
×
  • Create New...