Buckwheat Flour

5 hours ago, ezzra said:

 

Hey, it could be a sting operation where after all the expat farang has gathered

together in one place the immigration and the police will come out to check

everybody visa status......

In any case, an expat fair for farang in Thailand has no redeeming values,

and it only serves ' the masters '  to show and tell....

as long as we're treated like a second and third class citizens with very little rights

and no voice or standing in the Thai system and society....

Seemingly,  the actual citizens of any country should have a voice,  but it is a stretch to say foreigners, even those who reside and pay paying taxes here, should have such privileges.  You can always vote with your feet.  

Which one?

47 minutes ago, PattayaBoy said:

Take a look at @SkyNewsBreak's Tweet: https://twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak/status/763966105002004480?s=09

 

 

 

Then obviously the CIA did this!  Damm Americans...yup

The over 50 people surely don't get it.... Its not the time to have aim and thought, let us live first, and we will think later on.

Yup there's another one for sure.... R.I.P where ever you are....11yrs here for me now and I hate this country, my plans to return home are coming soon....it's a bitter and brutal country once you look deeper into the people who live here.....bye bye Lieland

Well said. Ditto plans.

Great two bitter ones on the way out.

I wonder if you'd be miserable in any land. Are you over 50 by any chance?

I wonder if King Alfred would have agreed with your comments. Do you think that human nature has profoundly changed since the 18th century? Just to name a very few, of the many post 18th massacres committed by various zealots and governments.

France – Annihilated anyone who was even suspected of opposing the French Revolution

Belgium – Annihilated the Congo free state

United States – Annihilated Indigenous Population

Australia – Annihilated Indigenous Population

Germany – Annihilated anyone in Southwest Africa who stood in their way

Ottoman Empire – Annihilated Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Kurds and Maronite Christians

China – Annihilated Zunghars, Tibet

Nazi Germany – Annihilated too many to count

Stalin’s Russia – Annihilated knows, probably too many to count

Japan – Annihilated Chinese by the millions

Pakistan / India – One could argue that millions lost their lives due the British brilliant idea of partition

Recently:

Cambodia – Khmer Rouge

Burundi / Rwanda – Hutus & Tutsi going at it

North Korea – Political Camps & others

Indonesia – New Guinea, PKK Chinese and East Timor

Former Yugoslavia – Bosnia and Kosovo

Sudan – Darfur

ISIS – Ok, lets not even count them yet

There are so many other examples.

The US is a failed state because the citizens have a right to own firearms? I would argue the opposite because the dark side of human nature does not support your argument. Current times are not different, and absolute power almost never results in benevolent governance. The less those in power fear the people, the more bold and predatory they,or their agents, become. The more the populations is armed the balance of power changes substantially. An armed citizenry certainly has its risks, I'd take that risk rather than hoping a government will always act brotherly.

Good luck with your perception...

Amazing the lack of intellect by some . A member of the public .A US citizen had access to An automatic weapon used in war. Head in the "18th century constitution" sand. Failed state

Oh sorry mate....like you say, its a public forum so you have every right to blather about things you are not concerned about. I'll spit the binky back to you and suggest if you wish to criticize another country's constitution on a public forum, at least be armed with some knowledge. I'm guessing you know very little about the 2nd amendment of the US constitution. Since your country probably doesn't have gun ownership embedded in it's constitution, the idea of Americans having the constitutional right to own firearms probably scares you. The commonwealth ilk frequently argues that if the American population was simply disarmed, this would stop the murderous rampages in our country....WRONG MATE! You need to improve your aim. I doubt this the true reason you dislike American's having the right to gun ownership.

Moreover, does mass murder by any mean need a point? Crimes of this nature are committed worldwide you don't need a gun to kill a large groups of people. ...car ramming comes to mind, Should governments be more restrictive on motorized vehicle ownership because there is an increasing incidence of mass murder by car ramming? Motor vehicle ownership probably isn't written into many countries constitution so why not start there?

Americans currently have the right to bear arms in the US, and you probably don't have the same right under your constitution. Sorry, you can whinge all you want about our constitution, but your opinion is of little consequence. But oh....I forgot you said aren't worried about "out gun control laws" so maybe we should just drop the conversation there.

Well bully for you malt25...You are not a US citizen, you don't live there, and you probably never will. However, when uninvited Americans show up in your neighborhood with weapons, please feel free to comment. In the meantime, rather than worrying about the American constitution, why not focus on your own country's problems? NOYFB!

My state of Virginia allows open carry,issues concealed carry with application/passing authorized training course and doesn't require gun registration,,in fact you can't as there's no system in place for it. God love this part of America.
Okay fire at will,,I promise not to shoot back.

"God love this part of America." Oh, no he doesn't !

Any you wonder why so many mass shootings with guns so available to one & all.

For what it's worth, I was a gun owner & enthusiast from age 12 to 55, when I no longer had the need or opportunity to shoot.

The good ol US of A ! When one of your presidents has the gonads to address this situation, problem the better for you all.

Like you, I'm ready for the ambush.

Cheers..... Mal.

Sorry ol mate. "NOYFB!" WRONG ! Public, open forum. I've as much right to comment as you have to disagree. That's what forums are all about.

I'm not at all worried about you're out of control gun situation. Just passing a comment re the number of pointless mass shootings you poor souls are experiencing due to the availability of guns.

Keep shooting, your aim ain't real good so far. Go & have a coldie or a nookie, you'll feel lots better.

Cheers, again. :-)

Well bully for you malt25...You are not a US citizen, you don't live there, and you probably never will. However, when uninvited Americans show up in your neighborhood with weapons, please feel free to comment. In the meantime, rather than worrying about the American constitution, why not focus on your own country's problems? NOYFB!

Done! Anything else?

I would ban all non-Thai Muslims and Middle Easterners/Arabs/Persians from entry into the Kingdom as a starter.....1 death from an ISIS nutjob is 1 death too many. Let's cut out this PC-bullsh!t and take extreme measures. Look at what happened in France.

Let's bomb them all and steal their resources......oh no wait, we did that already!

Stole their resources!? What Marxist fantasy land do you live in? We have been paying 100 dollars a barrel to Saudia Arabia for decades and the the Saudi power elites AKA The House of Saud has stolen 99 % of their peoples resources. Without 'us' there would be no oil industry or gas industry or any modern technology in the stone age middle east.

Um I could be wrong but I don't remember the west invading Saudi Arabia and deposing of it's government. Surprising given it's human rights record and the west's propensity to refer to human rights as justification where it has done exactly this with other countries.

What was that about a fantasy land?

Middle Eastern oil wealth is largely controlled by the state, yet most of the population remains poor......Getting off topic aren't we?

No security alert on US embassy website as of 10:00, 21-Feb-16........

You listen to Trump supporters and they're all in on this banning Muslims thing. They're scared. That's a characteristic of a Republican voter. They're fearful of everything but especially Muslims.

The chances of an American being killed in a terrorist attack by a Muslim on American soil are negligible. It's been estimated at 20,000,000 to 1.

The Donald with his xenophobia appeals to the scared and the stupid, the Republican base.

Agree .....Trump supporters seem to be distracted and paranoid. They should be more concerned about anyone expressing nauseating condescension and a delusional sense of superiority.

Elect us so we can run your lives. And if you don’t want us to, that only proves how stupid you are.

A positive note is that lots and lots of normal Thai's own guns meaning that Thai citizens are not a soft target for ISIS militants as people in Europe are [ except Swiss ] and the UK . Imagine if ISIS militants tried to rape women in Texas !.... Bang!....brains splattered all the way back to the middle east.

Maybe, maybe not. Based on past performance here, people might just stand around and watch. Been known to happen.

And, just because the PM does not have any information, does not mean they did not cross the border. as another poster mentioned, it seems that all they might need is a small brown envelope.

Re: unarmed people standing around to watch....

Assaults, usually involve circumstances where the physically superior party can inflict overwhelming injury to the victim. If bystanders are unarmed, it seems natural for them to avoid intervention when the attacker appears to have an advantage. A gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and defender . Moreover, a gun makes lethal force easier, and therefore favors of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is at least level.

This post must have slipped by the editors/moderators who manage this site.

An update

The guy in the photo with the PM is Tom Cotton, a right wing senator from Arkansaw who has been in the Senate for one year. He became famous for a letter he drafted to the leaders of Iran that, in effect, said that the President of the United States did not set foreign policy. Like any newbie, he has sits on sub-committees and has no power in the Senate. He certainly does not represent Amercian foreign policy with regard to any country, including Thailand.

Thanks. Wonder if Rep. Cotton is spending a few days in Bangkok on a "fact finding" mission, courtesy of the taxpayers. I'm always suspicious of the need for moralizers to investigate the dens of iniquity. Soi Cowboy....I tell you friends, it was horrifying.

Let's not kid ourselves, both sides do this at taxpayer expenses. I've sat next to several office holding leftist Democrats undertaking these so "fact finding" trips. It's a bonus watching them squirm in their seats when I start asking questions.

Too little, too late. This doesn't even scratch the surface of what needs to be done with gun control.

So why don't you scratch the surface by expanding on your remarks?

So an 18 year old thug with an illegal gun is shot by an off-duty policeman is an immediate reason for the gun control freaks to start screaming to take away all guns, even those legally obtained by following the 20,000 or so gun laws.

There is a little more to the story...

"CMPD says Thomas Ferguson, an off-duty officer, arrived on scene after hearing shots fired inside the mall. Witnesses tell WBTV the shooting was in retaliation to a shooting that happened last week involving the deceased suspect's brother."

You Aussies want to blame somebody, try blaming the 18 year old thug that was prepared to exact revenge in a public mall.

How does the saying go? "People don't kill guns... Guns kill people"?

As an Aussi, I don't feel the need, or see the reason, to blame anyone... The blame games needs to be done by the parties involved, including law enforcement, your courts and your citizens

Seemingly some Americans wish to follow Australia's gun law example.... Which is fine, we don't mind... But Theres no point in getting upset with Australians, because we don't care... It's your problem, not ours... We fixed ours

And while its legal for you all to own a mini Arsenal, I support that, because your following the law... Although I do believe that if carrying, they should, by law, be visible.... Concealed is like a snake in the grass.

Well said Farcanell! But it seems many non-Americans can't resist on weighing in on this issue. Even a story like this one often brings a flood of winging about US gun control. I wholeheartedly agree with you, and wish some of the other citizens of the Commonwealth would recognize THIS NOT YOUR PROBLEM.

Near as I can tell, the Australian's never had the right gun ownership specifically written into their constitution. As such, implementation of a gun confiscation (sorry,mandatory buy-back ) law was much easier. However, implementing similar laws in the US is a nonstarter politically, unrealistic, and, by the way, completely unconstitutional. If you not an American, be thankful that you don't have this bag of rocks to carry around,. Surely your country has their own problems to work out. Perhaps some of you should focus your problem solving skills on those issues instead.

If you are a US citizen then the banks in Costa Rica will report to the US Government what you have in your accounts.The Bahamas is one of the few countries that does not report bank accounts.Costa Rica is a great place to visit and have fun but the cost of living has gone up drastically.

BAHAMA REPORTS , as does all countries now and just wait until 2017 gatca goes into effect for all the g20 nations.. the only way for ius citizen to avoid is to open a corporate account and that still doesnt guarantee it wont be reported

banking in usa is still the best tax haven in the world,,, banks in thailand also good,,, panama banks(next to CR also good) CR air and water much cleaner than thailand

great palces near usa for girls are columbia , panama, dominican republic, brazil ,,, but thailand has it hands down over the others as far as girls are concerned although miami is a melting pot for some of the finest latin girls you will find anywhere but a little more expensive

so if finances are not a problem i would but a small condo in so florida and travel to all the above places,,, can fly direct to all and with a one stop to thailand

This isn't a discussion about tax, but I'll just add a note regarding reporting a corporate account. If you are signatory on a corporate account, I suggest you report it on a yearly FBAR. I'm not certain about reporting corporate accounts under FATCA, but I don't think it is required. (at least that's what my tax advisor tells me). I hope she's right because if the FEDS catch an account missing on either form, they'll hand down some hefty fines.....so follow the herd and be a good milk cow.

Since you seem to be financially secure, I suggest you focus on the how to handle your early retirement from a behavioral perspective. Once your professional identity fades, you'll need to replace it with something meaningful. Keep in mind that when you previously lived in Thailand you were working. Making the transition to retirement (especially an early one) is truly a psychological challenge. If you jump into re-locating to Thailand,or Costa Rica, making that self-identity transition might be more difficult.

Unless you speak Thai or have some family roots here, my advice is to stay put until you feel comfortable with your retirement self. If you are hell bent on leaving the states (and yes I get that downward spiral stuff, but don't old people usually feel that way), the best advise came from Muffy ..."stay away from the bar flies male and female . Don't hang out with broke expats".

All the best,

Another Donald Trump. Yankee be quiet and connect your brain before speaking

Is your above remark in response to the news article, or someone else's posted comment? Suggest you follow your own advice.

.......where will this money come from........collateral accounts.....???..

"So far, she's offered few specifics about how she'd fund her plans. Her campaign said that her infrastructure proposal would be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes but didn't detail which breaks would be targeted."

"At the same time, Clinton has pledged to roll out hundreds of billions of dollars in middle-class tax cuts, saying she'd increase taxes on the wealthy to fund the new breaks. She's vowed not to raise taxes on families earning less than $250,000 a year, using that pledge to draw a contrast with Sanders."

Don't let fantasy and contradiction worry you......

Your country has been at war/conflict since before it's start (which is when my family left,after 150 years, as the domestic terrorists were taking over)

Oh please....where's the puke bucket? Nothing more than a veiled attempt to spin an ancient grudge using pretentious self-righteousness.

I suspect there isn't a point, just an opportunity to whinge about the American and mutter trite points.

Nice work....the firearm murder rate is based on 2002 statistics. Not sure what point of view you are pumping, but the per-capita numbers only support EyesWidOpen remarks. Interesting how this site places the firearm ownership rate under the crime banner.

The Immigration volunteer I talked with yesterday had not heard anything about extra ordinary check of foreigners, but I have got a meeting later this week with the Superintendent and hope to get some more info then.

Many Thanks!

"I see, said the blind man to his deaf friend who wasn't listening"