jingjai9

IDK I think the most troubling thing about this controversy over Fauci is that I do not know what to believe. There is perhaps too much information and this results in a severe case of cognitive dissonance. What is true about the cause of COVID and what informs your opinion? Who is credible? In this age of tribalism on the political front with misinformation and disinformation blanketing the Internet by both US political parties and perhaps hostile third parties - WHO KNOWS? I guess you could sum it up with one acronym - WTF? How do you develop and arrive at your opinion?

Civics is the study of rights and obligations a citizen has in a society. Civility is formal politeness and behavior. This is stressed in Thai schools.

Imagine how awkward it could be teaching students in the classroom in this attire.

When I went to school in the USA we were required to recite a prayer out loud either before or after the Pledge of Allegiance (I cannot recall which). Then in 1962 we switched to silent prayer. The USA definitely secularized in the past 50 years or so. The problem is that when they removed religious teaching and tried to make the schools more and more separate from the church, they never replaced the Christian values with anything. Students were not really learning ethics and morals. Couple this with the termination of the Hayes code (1966) which had governed the content of Hollywood movies since 1934. Many would argue the USA has gradually become morally bankrupt over the last half century. There is little double we need to teach civics and civility in public schools. The troublesome area however is imposing Christian teachings on the entire population as a requirement. I am not anti-Christian nor am I opposed to anyone's right to worship. Aren't there many similar values common to the major religions that could be culled in order to restore morality and ethics in education without a religious label?

Simply put, Joe is a typical American politician: me first the party second the people a distant third. If the Democrats do not get a hold of this, they may very well be a party to Trump's second term as president. Everyone will be watching Joe Biden through a microscope moving forward. We have to sit tight and tune in for the next chapter, "Will Joe be consumed by his vanity?"

Dear Novacova, For your information I have lived and worked in Udon nearly 20 years. Usually the police raid places when they receive a complaint locally. Several years ago a Karoake in Udon was closed down because a teacher in the Muang District saw one of her students in front of the bar.

I believe the use of towels during a message are for the benefit of the masseuse. When massaging the back or legs they get more traction and the customer will not feel any friction from the rubbing motion, especially it the customer wants a "strong massage."

The article does not mention the name or location of the bar - in the province or in Amphur Muang??????

Here is an excerpt from a news story than ran yesterday in ASEAN.Now: This is in reference to legalizing casinos. "However, the prospective downsides are concerning. Wichian warned of potential increases in underground economy activities, household debt, income inequality, and the social costs linked to gambling addiction." To counter these issues, he recommended strict regulations, rehabilitation programs for gambling addicts, and the allocation of revenues towards social and economic development initiatives by the government. Do you think the downsides to legalized gambling are worse for society than decriminalizing weed? The second paragraph above calls for remedies to mitigate the downside. The powers that be will get what they want. Same old same old. Even though this article is favorable for legalization of weed, NEVER underestimate the spin doctors.

Here is an excerpt from a news story than ran yesterday in ASEAN.Now: This is in reference to legalizing casinos. "However, the prospective downsides are concerning. Wichian warned of potential increases in underground economy activities, household debt, income inequality, and the social costs linked to gambling addiction." To counter these issues, he recommended strict regulations, rehabilitation programs for gambling addicts, and the allocation of revenues towards social and economic development initiatives by the government. Do you think the downsides to legalized gambling are worse for society than decriminalizing weed? The second paragraph above calls for remedies to mitigate the downside. The powers that be will get what they want. Same old same old. Even though this article is favorable for legalization of weed, NEVER underestimate the spin doctors.

Every year it becomes more evident The USA is run by the two parties, not rule of law. You could call Trump the "middle finger" of US politics as he has in the past pissed off both sides. So now he has taken the Republican party under his wing and is forcing the party's sycophants to get down on their knees and swear loyalty . Not until people can pull away from this duopoly, will there be even a kernel of hope for the future of US democracy. How about the Democrats? There are many videos one could view to recall how the Dems used legacy media outlets with their panels of "experts" to state the Hunter Biden affair was Russian disinformation. Now an FBI agent has testified under oath at the Hunter Biden trial about the laptop's authenticity. Could it have been the Dems were covering up a scandal before the 2020 election? The SCOTUS debacle is just one more manifestation of the duopoly wrestling for power.

This looks like a Thai massage. This time they are massaging the facts with one of those surveys that most often fit the narrative of the powers that be.

It is simply the latest iteration where the powers that be simply block any attempts to challenge their hegemony. Has the MVP ever really been able to move forward?

"The secrecy shrouding NROL-146 underscores the delicate balance between national security imperatives and the principles of democratic governance. While the need for vigilance against emerging threats is undeniable, so too is the imperative to uphold civil liberties and democratic values." This story is absolutely frightening. There are many journalists and social critics warning us that the Tech companies are colonizing the LEO (lower earth orbit and the GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit). If Elon Musk is involved in a secret mission one can only imagine the power he has. Is this just one manifestation of the "secret government" that has been growing like a cancer on American democracy since the inception of the CIA in 1945 (then known as the OSS, Office of Strategic Services). Carl Sagan is calling from his grave, quoting from his book. "The Demon Haunted World" - “I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or Grand children's time .........when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the the people."

I use some of the Digital Nomad and work from home websites and many who advertise for job openings use Telegram. I understand it is a good app for scammers at it is harder to trace people on Telegram. Is this true? Any experts who can expand on the this?

Maybe if Trump has second thoughts about this debate with no audience and mics being silenced if the speaker goes beyond the specified time limit, he could insist RFK Jr. be included.

Why would he want to do anything to women when he is married to Claudia Schiffer?

You can propose and build anything new and fancy and use big words to describe it, but if you don't manage your infrastructure consistently, with consequences for violators, you get nowhere in the long run. I would estimate this is the 10,000th post on this theme.

Here is one source you might check: Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligence. It defines the term, "intelligence" and expands on the idea that "fancy book learnin'", 50- cent words and academic expertise are only one avenue of intelligence. Check it out.....https://www.verywellmind.com/gardners-theory-of-multiple-intelligences-2795161

I have been reading Thaivisa and ASNEAN.NOW for many years. I am surprised when I read stories such as this that female bosses are accused as often as male bosses. It just surprises me a bit that women are an important part of this criminal activity. When you go into an establishment that offers any kind of service to the public, I would think that you would not have to check an employee's age. You would assume that if she is working in a public place located on any street she must be able to work there as it is not a secret location and the police or any official could walk in, no secrets as far as a customer is concerned. If the establishment offers money to the police to stay open or turn a blind eye, how can the customer be held responsible? If you are offered a happy ending at a massage parlor and you accept, is that a crime in Thailand? If you are in a room with the massage person of legal age behind closed doors, the management does not know and they could be held harmless as the massage parlor is not offering the service. In such a scenario I would think the customer would be part of the transaction and culpable. I know in countries that have "John Laws" the customers are arrested along with prostitutes in a effort to discourage illegal activities, but this is often done with street walkers who solicit independently outside of local establishments much the same as Freelancers in Thailand. Does anyone on this forum know what the Thai laws say about activities within a massage parlor? As far as the young people being forced into service, this would have to play out in the courts. I am not sure how many would agree with me but I am not sure how serious Thailand is about underage workers defined by western standards; I do not mean 12 - 14, but 15 and up. I have been told by older Thai people that having very young girls working in massage parlors was not that unusual years ago. Much of the change came about when America started threatening countries with sanctions if they allowed underage workers in any industry related to sexual activities. There were also UN organizations that campaigned heavily for cracking down on underage sex workers worldwide beginning in the 1980s. I think this brought about action by the Thai government to crack down. Thailand was not the only country exposed. I do not intend to condone any activities mentioned in this article, but only present questions about this issue of underage workers in the sex industry and its effects on business and government.

Thanks Uweb

I want to take a van from Bangkok to Hua Hin. Are there any van services from Don Muang Airport? If not what are the options? I will be traveling on a weekday between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Thanks

In the past 3 or 4 years I have seen a significant increase in the number of Dental Clinics throughout my city, Udon Thani in the northeast. Many of the clinics built are rather large, colorful and modern. I believe the surge of new clinics has been fueled by the huge financial returns they can bring to their investors. However, as I have visited these clinics for non-cosmetic dental work (root canal and crown), I have been stunned by the prices. I have been quoted a price of over 20,000 baht by two clinics for root canal, a post and a crown. I have had this work done before in my city at a non government clinic for much less. I believe there is a connection between the rise in prices and the proliferation of the dental clinics in my community. I suspect the clinics are run by corporations and are not locally owned. These places are packed on the weekends by patients (customers) receiving cosmetic dental work and the clinics often post "menus" on the front of their buildings advertising what they sell. I do not want to be cynical. I want to get other viewpoints from people in other parts of the country. Is this now the norm? Is Thai dentistry following the US model of oral health care? I would like to ask, it 20,000 baht is really the going price everywhere around Thailand for root canal, a post and a crown on one tooth? I am American and I know what expensive dental care is like. In fact, it seems to me that the Thai dental clinics are using the America's playbook in setting up these beautiful looking, spacious clinics with inflated prices. I am having a difficult time trying to find a dentist who is independent of the clinic system. I can recall as recently as 4 or 5 years ago paying a fraction of the cost for dental work that I would have paid in my own country for any kind of non-cosmetic work from a private dentist. Also, I wonder how many corporations own these clinics - 2 or 3? 4 or 5? Is this a monopoly?

There is a difference between restocking shelves during the day while blocking merchandise with ladders and huge boxes or even closing aisles in the supermarket during the process. I have seen stores abroad restock during the day unobtrusively. People are inconvenienced slightly. However, in Thailand it appears to me that store clerks and their duties are more important than customer convenience and revenue. If this is in fact the philosophy of Thai customer service, as guests here there is not much we can do. However, we might also consider that when Lotus was Tesco-Lotus with a foreign partner, the practice of blocking merchandise while customers shopped along with closing store aisles while restocking was regularly practiced. So perhaps this restocking process during the day is a better choice for Thailand rather than opening the store overnight. Perhaps there is a fear of theft and other criminal activity late at night if the store were to remain open.. All I know is that I have been kept from making purchases in supermarkets due to employees blocking my way more times than I can count.