Presnock

yeah last year under the influence of El Nino but this year La Nina though reports that La nina is slowly fading and the "expertss" don't know what that means for the upcoming rainy season. But, this Hot season has seen a large increase in Summer Storms which replensished low dam waters already, downed a lot of BIG trees and damaged a lot of the flimsy chonabot houses.

For US civil servents contemplating move to Thailand and having a US govt sponsored health insurance such as BC/BS - today I received a note that the US Congress is looking for ways to cut money from the budget so they can award those tax breaks for billionaires - anyway it says speciificately that they are looking at cutting civil service retiree benefits and health insurance! If they don't, some of the US insurers also cover you well in Thailand.

I got another message today, Congress is looking for cuts for the current budget bill and are looking at government retiree benefits and health insurance cuts so they can fund those tax cuts for the billionaires - just passing along as you might have heard about it or not.

Today after the above, I received another message concerning US govt retiree benefits and health insurance. The message indicates that the US Congress is currently working on ways to find ways to lower government spenditures so that they can fund that tax cut for the billionaires. Now they have indicated one place they might find some funding is in the benefits for US government retirees and their Health Insurance! I guess nothing is sacred of course for the Congress folks except they must keep their billionaire donors to the re-election campaign chest full. I don't know the full story of course, only that they are looking at that as a possible source of funds to cut. One might contact their congressman/woman to see what else is there.

Yes, time to take them all out and start with fresh faces not beholding to the billionaires from either party!

Yessir, yesterday I listened to a review of the world trade situation from Univ of Colombia professor and economist Jeffry Sachs - in answer to a question about the Congress possibly controlling Trump' antics, he said that nowadays, Congress folks do not really have party affiliations, they all get huge campaign funds from the billionaires and thus we see all those Congress folk look out for is more funds for their campaign chests so that they can coninue in their cushy jobs which also allows insider trading so they can also get very rich by the time they leave govt service. This was at an international forum in Turkey and he pulled no punches when talking about the idiotic tariff scheme and its affect on the world trade. NOw I hear that Trump says that he plans to drop the Chinese tariffs and that he will be very nice to the Chinese...back stepping all the while after causing so much problems.

can't very well blame the boys in brown...with the "extra scrutiny" now on foreigners then he should have been more careful. IMHO I have been stopped many times over the years for followiing the crowd on turns at stoplights, and at other times just because I was a foreigner and the police told me that I made an illegal turn when I didn't turn at all. I do speak Thai well enough and eventually the police either said as I told him I was just following the Thai drivers on the turns and he agreed and said don't do it again, they will pay your fine and the other police just gave up trying to convince me that I had made a turn when my travels would have been from a different direction. I definitely would not want to spend a night or even an hour in any jail here.

Maybe you just haven't seen the signs in Thai script that say "don't drink drive"

I do believe the motto here is :do not drink and drive! you should have waited until you got home or let your wife drive. IMHO

Guess Trump finally got the message on that possibility - as he has come out on camera saying no way he would do that.. Experts say this shows that the head of the Fed reserve is more powerful than the president.

planned a wild night I guess - I have noted that she is really into modelling and wearing the HLS warriors' protective clothing, so maybe she planned on a shopping trip. But carrying that much money, and the other important items and then not being careful - what another idiot the Trump nominated people seem to be! IMHO

Yeah, today i got an informational email about health insurers and govt workers which included the zooming costs of BC/BS since 2016. Then I looked at the what I thought would be great savings of one plus one - just under a 100 USD a month so not even close to what I thougt it would be. Lots of comments from customers and many are in fact dropping BC/BS for cheaper plans but the overseas full coverage keeps me there. What I hate most is that the increases are caused by the poor diets of people meaning that the pharmas and doctors are kept busy taking care of people that don't take enough care of themselves. So I guess the best thing for me and my family is to eat better diets, some exercise, etc...BTW I have changed my diet and have been eating well for years, plus since HS I have exercised regularly nowadays 1.5 to 2+ hours a day and don't take any medicines. I haven't even had a headache for over 25 years so not even aspirin/tylenol. No drugs nor alcohol. But, I still have to pay for the health care as I have read too many stories of how illness and/or accidents bankrupted too many people. I do wish you the best of course and hope life is great for you too.

absolutely true in every aspect IMHO I listen to a lot of news clips daily especially those about the US economy. These trusted professors in prestigious universities, former economic advisors to senior leadersll all call his tariff plan crazy, idiotic, his former economic professor said Trump would get an "F" if he said that in class. Now that he is after the Fed chief, I am hearing that Trump is "utterly insane" off his rocker, not a clue to what drives an economy in the world of today. I hear no one other than his appointed economy people and they just mouth whatever he is saying. For sure, unless nature says his time is up, we might be doomed - at least the economy will be and who knows how long it will take for any confidence in the US be restored if ever.

You are correct but the coverage overseas is still 100% even if you get the treatment at a non-preferred hospital. Here of course there are so many preferred providers and they gladly let you know which are which. In addition, I wanted to switch to an LTR visa and needed a letter stating the 50K hospital coverage as BCBS is "unlimited hospitalization" but the BOI folks or their supervisors approving the visa didn't understand that so I mentioned it and someone else also having BC/BS said oh advise the insurance and they will send you an email letter stating exactly 50K or more for hospitalization. The very next day I had the letter, zapped it to the BOI and approved immediately. I like BC BS and had it earlier in my govt career and switched for some reason totally forgotten but when retirement was coming i switched back to them and have been happy with how they treat their customers. Anyway take care have a great day!

Basically for anything that should be sensitive it is banned from what I have read. But also we see aides and others talking about their senior people now using their personal phones for anything and everything. Then they fire 3 senior pentagon guys because the senior folks discussed classified on SIGNAL and the senior folks mistake was mentioned by Trump and co. as a fake story from teh Atlantic magazine. Just like yesterday, Homeland Security Agency Head has her purse stolen with $3000.00, govt clearance ID and badge, phone and who knows what else. Really an alert individual but I guess we already knew that.

Unfortunately for many vets, they do not know how much those responsible for their safety really care about that safety or not. Having been in VN and knowing how well the military took care of me and my fellow soldiers flying into danger daily made me more confident as I would sit through the pre-briefs and post- briefs and realize that we always were covered. Now if these same clowns were in charge I don't think I would feel that confident. Just like firing 3 senior Pentagon folks over the SIGNAL (first one) missteps instead of firing those senor folks who should have realized that there are special communications for talking about classified activity. Even Biden's team (not a fan) were aware of the dangers of that means of communication. Now with a bunch of amateurs running the shows, they are more concerned with ease of chatting instead of thinking about those going into danger. This is my opinion based on my time around seniors for many years in all kinds of classified activity.

Have to enroll within 5 years of retirement from a civil service job. It is BlueCross/Blue Shield and covers everything basically while I am here. Some small stuff may have a very small co-payment but I filed 20 claims for my daughter dating up to 2 years ago, they paid all without any questions. Fortunately most of the hospitals here do bills in Thai and English so don't even have to concern myself about translation. The insurance continues to go up in price regularly and recently really jumped but as I am 78 and in 2 years, my daughter will no longer be eligible for my coverage so will drop from family to me plus one which will cut the price basically in half of what it is now.

Yeah and even the Biden team 9of which I was not and am not a fan knew well about the dangers of using SIGNAL for classified information.

IMHO as an American, mil vet, civil servent 35 years, there are plenty of American citizens willing to serve, especially as agency heads. But to use size of bank acct to name this crew of Trump, is ridiculous and the cracks have been showing since the very beginning. These people IMHO have very little loyalty to the US in that they don't really care about JOE CITIZEN AND FAMILY and the Nation but only the prestige of working as an agency head. When your head of intel is there sharing classified material with a bunch of amateurs on a government known SIGNAL that is not for classified material, it shows how dumb some people are. Even Biden's crew knew that! I have been a chief and know about loyalty of your workers but they know that WE as a team must follow the rules and regulations which are LEGAL and support the US Constitution. These folks probably have not even read that even though they have been required to swear to that oath! IMHO

I have a US govt sponsored health insurance and it sure isn't cheap - but since it covers me an my family no matter where we are and that I can still afford it, I am happy with it. They provide the hospital with a complete coverage letter prior to any necessary treatment. In an emergency they still do that without me having to pay anything to the hospital except later, maybe a co-payment very cheap. Thailand can be very livable depending on one's lifestyle and where one wants to settle down at.

well my first thought would be if the Chinese used substandard materials for this GOVERNMENT project, what about the private condos being built all over Thailand. This same builder probably has and is working on many projects here. If the guy in charge is a member of the Chinese State Government, does he have immunity? Will they let him go home?

agree, in all that we read, never a kick in the stomach and never that she was pregnant or married even.

Dream on, he is as unqualified to be an agency head as almost all the rest of Trump's picks. He is only concerned with wealth, total kneeling at his feet in all aspects. MO anyway

IMHO she wasn't and isn't qualified to be the president. But that is my opinion and I also don't believe that Trump is qualified and is showing it now. But at least, had Harris won, our economy wouldn't be headed for a recession, nor we have such amateurs as heads of agencies nor DOGE. I do not like Democrat policies either.

well look at her, had heard the stories, we know she loves (not) dogs, only there as pleasue to watch and get those Dakota votes I guess. She is our Homeland security chief so what does this latest news clips reveal about her? Not one of the sharpest for sure IMHO but that goes for all the department heads named by DT