jas007

I have this problem now. I have several brokerage accounts, so my US Schwab account is not an urgent mater. I have stocks in it, but they're long term holdings and I wasn't really planning on selling any of those stocks, anyway, so I've been lazy, I guess, and I've put it off. Before Schwab, it was a T.D. Ameritrade account. When it was switched over to a Schwab account, I got all the usual instructions about how to log into my new Schwab account. So, one weekend, I did. It worked fine, but then by Monday morning I was no longer able to log in without calling them first. Or maybe it was a 2FA problem? Anyway, I decided I needed to switch it over to a Schwab International account and I called them, but no one ever called me back. Since I didn't really care too much one way or the other, I sort of forgot about it. Maybe I should start establishing accounts I can access from Thailand without too much difficulty. I like the idea of the State Department Federal Credit Union. I can do that any time, and I can direct some or all of my government pension into that account. Having that might make the brokerage thing easier. And a credit card?

People torching Tesla's don't know what they're doing. It's just that simple. They don't understand Musk, they don't understand the importance of what he has done and what he's doing now, and they appear to be brainwashed. Very shallow people with no sense. But that's typical of mobs, I guess. The people behind the push to destroy America and the people behind the propaganda don't fully grasp the consequences. And the mob certainly doesn't grasp the consequences. I wonder where they think they'll live and work if the country is destroyed? If America goes under, then what? No nothing for them, including a safe place to live, and every basic human right they've come to know.

You think too much of Russia and Putin, I think. Putin is a former Soviet KGB officer, for sure. But, as you must surely recall, the old Soviet Union couldn't even hold together its empire, back in the day. It went bankrupt trying. Not only will they not make that mistake again, they don't need any of what the West has. They have the largest land mass on earth, they have all the natural resources you could possibly imagine, and at this point, they simply want to be left alone. The GDP of Russia is less than the GDP of Italy. They are not a threat to the West, and they don't want to be.

Absurd and non-sensical? Except when it's true and is verifiably true. The Russia Nuclear War Code, for example, which is law. Anyone can look it up. And yet you are now conveniently ignoring that fact you earlier labeled "Russian Propaganda." LOL. As for Ukraine "starting: the war? Well it's a proxy war and was instigated by the USA years ago. You can thank the CIA for that. All done at the direction of the Neocons at the State Department. I'll spare everyone the history lesson.

There's a lot of evidence floating around that some people conveniently ignore. For example, a certain sequence or certain sequences of the virus were patented by someone (Bill Gates?) well before 2019.The probability of that same gene sequence recurring naturally was infinitesimally small. So, in all likelihood, the virus was designed for a purpose. And the drug companies? They were producing the jabs long before the supposed lab leak. Or course, the drug companies were given immunity. In any event, they were just contractors. The jabs were ordered by the government. I could go on all day. The point is, it doesn't look good.

It was more than a "lab leak," I'm afraid. The virus was an engineered bioweapon designed to be released as part of a population reduction scheme. Once the virus was released, the world's largest and most expensive Psyop followed, designed to scare everyone on planet Earth into taking the COVID jabs. The jabs were the real killers. Most people in the Western world were fooled, and we're now seeing a massive increase in "excess deaths" all around the world as the jabs slowly kill. Of course, all the politicians were exempt from any kind of mandatory jabs, as were the employees of the drug companies, and I suspect even those who received jabs got saline solution and not the real thing. Some Western governments have now woken up and are pushing for the arrest of Fauci and all the others involved.

Absolutely. He has no clue, apparently. The Russian nuclear doctrine is codified. Just like the United States Code. It's a law, not a Regulation and not an executive order of any kind. It's something that you can look up.

So that's your way of arguing? Calling everything you don't agree with or, more like that not, don't understand, "Russian propaganda"? It's all something that you can look up. Much of it is nothing new.

During his first term, and likely under the influence of John Bolton, a card carrying Neocon, Trump cancelled some short and intermediate range missile treaties. And so now Russia is concerned with its strategic assets inside Russia being within proximity of those kinds of missiles. It's part of the Russia strategic defense system and part of their "trip wire" system. And whether you like it of not, and whether the EU or any other of Russia's neighboring states likes it or not, that's how Russia sees it. That is the reality Trump is dealing with. The more Russia is surrounded, the more they'll push back and expand. The best way forward? Stop now and end the war. It's already over. Russia won and mo one can take back the territory they've returned to Russia. In other words, the West should quit while it's "ahead," so to speak.

Especially with Zelenskyy at the helm. Look for him to be gone soon.

Reality check time: at this junction, neither the USA nor any Europeean country that's inclined to get involved could successfully sustain a ground war against Russia and successfully retake what is now Russia. Impossible. Those are the facts. Anyone who understands how armies work will tell you the same thing. And yet we continue to hear delusional nonsense from some European countries and from the head of the EU. In any event, Trump is a realist and wants the killing to stop. Putin will not compromise on issues that are existential for Russia. No NATO for Ukraine, ever. No foreign boots on the ground, wearing a NATO costume or otherwise. And they are not going to cease the current offensive except in one very limited circumstance as agreed to by Putin. It's over. And now, the warmongers need a new "forever war." The Middle East fits the bill, I think. And that one will be big trouble.

Reality check time: at this junction, neither the USA nor any Europeean country that's inclined to get involved could successfully sustain a ground war against Russia and successfully retake what is now Russia. Impossible. Those are the facts. Anyone who understands how armies work will tell you the same thing. And yet we continue to hear delusional nonsense from some European countries and from the head of the EU. In any event, Trump is a realist and wants the killing to stop. Putin will not compromise on issues that are existential for Russia. No NATO for Ukraine, ever. No foreign boots on the ground, wearing a NATO costume or otherwise. And they are not going to cease the current offensive except in one very limited circumstance as agreed to by Putin. It's over. And now, the warmongers need a new "forever war." The Middle East fits the bill, I think. And that one will be big trouble.

Reality check time: at this junction, neither the USA nor any Europeean country that's inclined to get involved could successfully sustain a ground war against Russia and successfully retake what is now Russia. Impossible. Those are the facts. Anyone who understands how armies work will tell you the same thing. And yet we continue to hear delusional nonsense from some European countries and from the head of the EU. In any event, Trump is a realist and wants the killing to stop. Putin will not compromise on issues that are existential for Russia. No NATO for Ukraine, ever. No foreign boots on the ground, wearing a NATO costume or otherwise. And they are not going to cease the current offensive except in one very limited circumstance as agreed to by Putin. It's over. And now, the warmongers need a new "forever war." The Middle East fits the bill, I think. And that one will be big trouble.

I guess my point was that people were living in that land since forever, and Israel didn't come into existence until 1948. And we can see the result. The creation of Israel didn't go over too well. Why was it necessary? Whatever tensions previously existed were only exacerbated.

In general, people aren't too smart. That's the only conclusion I can draw. Elon is on a mission to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, and to stop the theft of taxpayer money. And what do some of the idiot taxpayers do? Torch Teslas in an effort to destroy him. Why do they like it when someone steals their hard earned money?

Eight years ago, I had cataract surgery, First one eye, and then one moth later, the other eye. At the time, one eye was most definitely worse than the other, but somehow the doctor was able to get authorization from Medicare (I was in the USA) to do both eyes. Anyway, I think each person is different. Some people might be better doing it sooner, rather than later. I was extremely myopic in both eyes. I developed a retinal tear in my right eye, six or seven moths later. right eye, so I needed surgery to repair that. That surgery went well, but then last spring, I needed more surgery, as the entire lens bag had become detached and was floating around in my eye. So I needed surgery for that, under general anesthesia. I'm now fully recovered from that and I have a follow up appointment next month in Bangkok. Bottom line: I might have been better off doing the original surgery sooner, rather than waiting as long as I did. The older you get, the more possible complications with any additional surgeries that might be necessary.

I wasn't thinking so much about an isolated example, but rather an entire "scene." You know it when you're there.

Assuming the Pattaya go go bar scene has seen better days and that the business model is no longer what it was, where did they move it to? Where is nirvana? I'm not sure what the correct terminology might be, but to me, it seems like there's always a place in the world that's just the right place, but they move it around from time to time. Given that, where is it now? I guarantee you it's somewhere.

As I've said all along, Russia isn't going to be fooled again by Kiev. So Zelenskyy is going to "consider" the proposal? LOL. So far, no real progress other than an agreement to continue negotiations. References to the Middle East are interesting. I'm not sure why Putin doesn't somehow tie that into the deal. Trump as Mr. "stop the killing" in Ukraine, and yet trying to start WW III in the Middle East? That doesn't make much sense, does it? Rubio and the Neocons will be the end of us all, I'm afraid. Clutching onto a view of a world that no longer exists.

I first smoked a cigarette in 6th grade. That was a one time thing. Later, by about the 8th grade, I was smoking and continued to smoke through high school and beyond, until I finally decided to quit. I knew it wasn't good for me. My body told me that every day. Anyway, it took med four or five tries, but aI finally got it right. That was 50 years ago. No nicotine patches, to tapering off. I quit cold turkey. One of my best friends, who claims he started smoking because he was around me, never did stop, and he's currently battling lung cancer. He had one surgery, but it returned. I'm not sure what's next for him. Probably death. Anyway, it was a different world back when I was a kid. People smoked everywhere. On airplanes, in restaurants, in bars, in schools. One time, in the 80s, I was working for a federal agency when it was decided that smokers could smoke only in "designated smoking areas." The solution for my office? Everyone who smoked had their desk designated as a "smoking area." And life went on.

In other words, it's never going to stop. That's simply not the mindset. Hamas is not really people, it's a belief system. An idea. And that idea is that Israel must be wiped off the face of the earth. And that's the problem. Once upon a time, Palestine was simply part of the Ottoman Empire. Palestinians and Jews lived together under that rule for thousands of years. And the world didn't have all this trouble. The trouble began when someone had the bright idea of creating a homeland for the Jews, and that finally came to pass in 1948? Something like that. And that was the beginning of all the trouble. I try my best not to pay attention to any so called Middle East "news." But all anyone needs to do is to look at a map of the area. Hundreds of millions of people, all opposed to the existence of Israel, and there's no way Israel can bomb their way out of that problem. And the US? The Neocons are allowing it to happen, want it to happen, and blame Iran for being the source of all the trouble in the region. A recipe for big trouble. This won't end well, I'm afraid. Russia will not let Iran be bombed into submission.

The guy that may well start WWIII and usher in the end of humanity is named Marco Rubio. A card carrying Neocon and big trouble, if you ask me. "American exceptionalism" may be all well and good in some parts of the world, but that won't work when the adversary has enough nuclear weapons to wipe America off the face of the earth. "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" is just asking for trouble. The Middle East is a mess. It's all interconnected and the problem has been brewing for years. Dropping bombs is not the answer. Not in an area where you can't possibly win a war. America needs to stop taking its foreign policy directions from Israel and face a few facts. Anyway, I usually try to avoid thinking much about the Middle East, because its;s a problem with no solution.

I think you're missing the fact that not much is produced in the USA these days that the rest of the world wants. Aren't many of its agricultural products already banned in other countries? Anyway, the more important point is that America is a rich country with lots of consumers who like to buy stuff. perhaps that's the more important factor? If the rest of the world wants to do business in America, that may be the more important factor.

The Ukraine thing is all but over. Up next: the Middle East. And, as always, it's going to be big trouble. The US making sense on one side of the world and yet in the Middle East, the Neocons seem to be in control, and that means trouble. It's almost like someone dug up John McCain and his "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" narrative. It's seems to be underway at this moment.

The right music can be as good as any buzz. Still, back in the day, we used to have a lot of fun with certain music. Or at least it used to seem that way. The music was written and performed by someone buzzed out and was best consumed that way. All you have to do is go back to the 60s and 70s and take your pick. A lot of it seemed tailor made for that purpose. Jefferson Airplane. Jefferson Starship. Grateful Dead. Jimmi Hendrix.