Presnock

yeah and from what I read/heard, the 500K barrels daily of oil from Canada to the US are "heavy crude" which the US has only light crude and the refineries in the US need the heavy crude to process and can't process the light crude from the US so India and China both need the heavy crude too so the US will find itself in deep doodoo shortly. And the way he is doing this tariff and trade bit will IMHO drive many more countries to join BRICS and abandon the dollar.

well once Canada finds replacements for their trade, i.e. China, India, EU countries, then they won't need anything from the US. If anyone said that the world would be this f&*(ed up) just a few years ago, I wouldn't have believed it.

prob a waste of time since those states that abut Canada need their electricity so will probably try to leave the United States and become part of Canada.

Spider, You forgot to mention that he has now turned the US into a copy of Russia - run by the Oligarchs with DJT at the helm. He appointed the richest that kowtowed to him to the cabinet positions - 14 being worth more than the GDP of 172 nations around the world! The Congressional hearings on these new heads of agencies are actually a laughingstock as each shows how ignorant they are to run whatever agency they now head. Seems one of the first things most are doing is to get rid of any senior leadership in that department that does not totally agree with the leader! Of course this is my honest opinion of US politics today where the Supreme Court decided years ago to allow unlimited funds to pour into the election campaign chests for BOTH parties and now they seem like a UNIPARTY to me. Hopefully, we can survive another 3+ years unless enough congress folks lose out and the dems do decide to impeach but it may be too late for too many people. If the dollar continues to drop as some economists are predicting, it might prove difficult for some that have retired here on limited funds, IMHO and if those economists are correct of course.

the bad foods have been around since the 1920's and just got worse from there - that is why el presidente is on drugs to keep the weight down! as too many Mikey D sandwiches.

beside the DOGE and Elon, cabinet members required only riches - funny hearings before Congress as they show their ignorance!

You can google "sourdough bread sold in (where you reside)" Bangkok has a number of stores that sell it in loaves. In some malls there are also shops selling it and even some small stores like in Latgrabang Robinsons Mall sell it by 4 slices for 60 baht or 8 slices for 100 baht. If you buy it by the loaf (some stores also deliver) and you plan to freeze any of it, ask that it be sliced before sent to you as it makes it easier when you thaw just what you need. The Siam shopping area has several bakeries selling loaves. Villamart sells a sour dough loaf but it is not the crusty and larger sliced loaves that I prefer. Some restaurants even sell sourdough sandwiches (cheese/fresh tomato) or others.

sour dough bread can be frozen, thawed after 3 months just like new.

exactly, used to make the bread even whiter and has been linked to many different cancers and like KhunLA says, bannded in China, Europe but not in the USA. Just like transfats which the USA watchdogs knew was unhealthy but allowed it to still be used for decades! Like big Pharma there, the food industry has some powerful folks too and they only concern themselves with making money off the masses and seem to actually care less and less about the citizens.

Yeah govt's are the same everywhere, a couple of years ago I got a "surface mail" letter from the US tax IRS folks. It said this letter is to advise us did you actually file your 1040 tax form. You have 45 days from the date of this letter (sent 45 days previous to my receipt) so I called their number immediately because they said that if I didn't respond within that 45-day span, then they might stop processing of that tax refund and then if they learned later, I could claim that on my next year's tax form. Fortunately I had already received my tax refund but they just don't seem to understand the world.

If it is WHOLE grain then it is healthier though once they remove the shell and add ingredients it changes.

If it is whole grain then still healthy and not over processed so that it would last for many days.

still to be healthy and not processed too much it must be whole grain wheat bread.

Actually the healthiest bread to buy and readily available in Thailand is SOUR DOUGH bread. Some PURE WHOlE GRAIN breads are okay and can be healthy too.

unfortunately, the govt spurred on by the food industry, have stripped most of the nutrients from everything edible. Just look at the lable on any bag or packaged "food stuffs" and most likely you will have no idea even what language those ingredients are but for sure you should then be able to toss that as non-food stuffs. This is why 40+ Americans suffer from diabetes and even more are grossly overweight! But there is light at the end of the tunnel for those who know how to read - find the books of Dr. William Li, a noted Harvard heart specialis, and now researcher and while his books have titles of DIET, what he does is tell you what foods can cure and prevent illnesses and the research that proves these claims. At least here in Thailand, there is an abundance of healthy foods readily and cheaply available but if one so desires, those "bad" foods are also around but probably more expensive. Best of health to all!

Yeah, I see from the final that they dropped to 1% which means they will recoup a lot less money than they originally planned. They had changed some parts of the provision so that if one had a US bank acct from which to send the money, no taxes either and am sure this was part of the arguments prior to this that meant US banks would be required to do a lot more work without pay and thus make it even more difficult to open an acct fm overseas at a US bank. Plus if one did get charged, extra paperwork for us.! I did get notice from American Citizens Abroad that they were along with other groups fighting against this tax too. Thanks for the update...now too see if the Senate will send it on to the House and we will see what they come up with.

have you got your Trump phone and T-shirt Yet. Heard him on youtube asking for money from all the maggots...what about that 57 ,million he claims to garnered so far this year on crypto? Just wondering.

In the ASEAN news today afternoon 28 June, edition, is an article about expats and long term health insurance in Thailand.

If you have a history of heart attack, any local insurer will have a clause blocking any repeat of that.

Google "top Expat Insurance" - today they have on ASEAN now a "get Quote" if one is contemplating moving to Thailand and one is supposedly free to ask the rates of all the possible international insurance providers. Some I have heard of, some not but you do have some experience with US provider - now you can check out these. Good luck! If any questions, just ask but since you have been here before you probably know what you need. I have a total of 35 years experience here but some was dip passport and since 2005 retirement first on "O" with embassy guarantee of pension and then monthly payments as I didn't want to tie up monies in a local bank.

I did mine last year at CM, absolutely no fee whatsoever!

Well, in my life of 78 years, I began living/working almost full time since 1966 and have done so in many countries of Europe, Asia, Central America and Africa - the complaint you just mentined has been universal in all the countries that I have stayed in, not only from the locals but the other foreigners there too! But, I notice lately, that the Chinese tourist/visitors seem to be a tad like that too.

You can google Thailand Insurance Companies and their costs to get a better idea IMHO.

I too am a retired US govt person - I sympathize with you and the US govt sponsored health insurance - for family, I pay almost a 1000 a month for my family, daughter will be turning 22 shortly so will then switch to one plus one but that too is fairly expensive. My wife is Thai so she does have some Thai insurance but the savings of 500 USD a month if I drop to self only, would probably be worth while. As a foreigner age 68, they will charge you quite a bit and put a lot of caveats that coverage so as you age it could become less useful. I have seen stories about getting adequate coverage when some emergency arises too with some different companies. There are other international companies that you might be able to get prior to coming here which will cover you while living here too. The best thing about the US coverage is that you are guaranteed coverage for whatever ails you and the hospitals and doctors here are aware of that too. Whatever, I hope you find what you need and can depend on - after all once we get old and then OLDER that insurance might be worthwhile.

As an American, not of the type above but I can tell you that is just about impossible to change an a-hole. I have seen the generations younger than me and they seem to be a tad worse for each new one and at least 50% of mine is useless too. Just remember I am in the same generation as the current US president. I rest my case.