jas007

After reading all these responses, I can only conclude that I have no real grasp on the value of money in Thailand. Off the top of my head, my initial thought was 140,000 baht a month. More than enough with money left over. Any less than that and I'd have to start having a budget. Today's fairly typical for me. Without breaking it down, I'm sure I'm at about 3000 baht.

I haven't been to the USA since July of 2022, but from what I can tell online, people are, for the most part, upbeat right now. Trump saved America twice from cackling lunatics. He kept Hillary out of the White House in 2016, and now, Harris is history. He deserves the Noble Peace Prize. The Biden Administration did everything in its power to leave a wrecked economy in its wake. Trump may be able to turn that around. Hundreds of billions of dollars are beginning to flow back to the USA. It may be a bumpy ride at first, but Trump won't have to worry about another term, so he has few political constraints.

The AI revolution isn't going to be good for a lot of people. Anyone who has a job where they show up every day and push papers around should probably be worried. In a year or two, some AI Bot will be able to do your job. People in the trades will fare somewhat better. Plumbers, electricians, carpenters, mechanics. This people will be in demand. In any event, the revolution is here and can't be stopped. They could't stop the railroads, they couldn't stop the internal combustion engine, they couldn't stop computers and the Internet.

Years ago, people who didn't t like prostitution figured they would get more traction if they stated labeling all prostitution as "human trafficking." And so they went on a crusade against "human trafficking." The while thing was turned into a joke. Nutty people. I don't pay much attention, but it's crazy. Anyone remember the feminist in Canada who was of the opinion that all heterosexual contact was "rape"?

I think most people can guess, at this point, that Lee Harvey Oswald was right that day when he said he didn't shoot anybody. He was set up. All that is marginally interesting, to me. Probably everyone involved is now dead. I can remember it all, but I'm now 73. What about RFK and MLK? Those cases are even more interesting. And Malcom X. I almost forgot. And then there's 9/11, the UFOs, the Scamdemic, the massive media censorship..... The hits just keep on coming.

It's an important issue, especially here in Asia where video surveillance for public safety purposes seems to be gaining traction. Publicly installed CCTV cameras are already in widespread use in China, for example. In the US, there's some movement towards establishing public-private partnerships. Some cities partner with companies like Ring or other security providers to expand surveillance networks. For instance, police departments may promote Ring devices or similar technologies to increase coverage in neighborhoods while maintaining access to footage via voluntary sharing. It's probably just a matter of time before all CCTV cameras are connected to an AI network and everyone will live in a surveillance state, like it or not.

According to the last thing I saw, Musk was of the opinion that the SoftBank guy only had 10 billion dollars of financing secured.

"Available facts." For sure, those are the typical metrics. But really, just someone's ideas about how to view or measure a business. The so-called "facts" don't prove much, other than they show what they show. At one point, those particular "facts" meant something to someone. But don't think for a minute they tell the whole story. Real life is more like a kaleidoscope. Every twist gives you a new perspective. Attach yourself to the "facts" of the past, or try to see how the world is evolving. Your choice.

And Russia is supposed to base its foreign policy on someone's interpretation of NATO's "intent"?

Moat of those numbers are ancient history at this point and don't necessarily reflect the whole story. There's more to the story than spreadsheets reflect. That's why Wall Street misses all the disruptive technologies that come along. The analysts have no vision. They can only see typical investment metrics. Look at all the people who lost billions trying to short Tesla. Or, look at IBM. IBM once thought all the profits to be made on personal computers would come from the hardware. Or, remember when Bill Gates went to see Ross Perot to try to sell him Microsoft? The businessman, Ross Perot, passed on 75 million dollars. Anyway, if you think Musk got cheated when he bought Twitter, you might want to think again. Mainstream media is dying. And there will be a replacement.

Normally, I think Trump realizes a lot. However, sometimes he seems to be in over his head and maybe really does believe whatever "the last guy he talked to" said. Recently, Bill Gates supposedly had a long talk with Trump about vaccines. And now there's chatter about RFK Jr. and his suitability to be head of HHS. That worries me. Finally a guy who understands the evils facing the population, and we might lose him. Because of some oligarchs. Fast forward to yesterday and Trump did a press conference on "Stargate," a huge project to propel the USA into the world of AI and technological research. The head of SoftBank was there to pledge 500 billion dollars to invest in the project. Also in attendance was Larry Ellison of Oracle and the Chat GPT guy, Sam Altman. It all seemed fairly typical for a Trump press conference. But Larry Ellison's presentation bothered me a lot. Trump had just praised the trio as some of the smarted guys out there in their fields, and yet there was Larry Ellison, touting sone new AI technique that could manufacture custom mRNA vaccines tailored to individual cancer cells. And this could be done with 48 hours of testing an individual's blood for any cancers that might be circulating., sequencing the DNA of those cancers, and using that information to build a vaccine. And yet what does Larry Ellison know about viruses, really? Anything? Or is he just another guy who takes as gospel anything the last guy he talked to told him?

Why does it matter? I'm allowed to have opinions. I write whatever I want. If it makes anyone stop and think a little, that's fine. If not, that's fine too.

The problem with this guy's analysis is that it ignores reality. He thinks Putin is a gambler and his only tactic is to bluff and raise. Manipulative brinkmanship. Fine. If we accept all that, then what? Does the West sit down and gamble with Putin? That seems to be Browder's game plan. And yet, if the West loses the game we all lose the world as we know it. WWIII would be over in 45 minutes. Gambling with Putin doesn't sound like a sensible game plan to me. Too many unwarranted or dubious assumptions. What is Browder assuming? That Putin is bluffing. That the Russian economy isn't doing so well at all, and that Russia will never again be able to sell natural gas to Western Europe and will never recover financially. He seems to be counting on a Russian economic collapse which will eventually force Putin's hand. How sure are we about that? Browder also assumes Putin is some sort of psychopath. Gambling with a psychopath? Sounds like a risky endeavor to me. Putin usually doesn't back down once he's engaged in a certain course of action. Anything can happen, and risking the world on Ukraine sounds like a bad bet to me. It's not that important, except in the minds of some delusional Neocons who think Putin wants to reassemble the old Soviet Union. They went bankrupt trying to hold the old one together. They won't make that mistake again.

After his first inauguration, Trump had the good sense to skip the National Prayer Service. He should have continued that tradition.

Even if you assume the invasion was "illegal," it did happen. Was I trying to "justify" it? I was trying to explain the situation in the context of history. There's a difference. At this point, justification won't change anything. It would help, though, if the actors would recognize reality. And the reality is that the war is continuing, thousands continue to die, billions are being spent, and what's done can't be undone. Russia has a legitimate security interest at stake. It sees NATO missiles on its doorstep as an existential threat. To expect that they will not act in their own best interest is a fantasy. Going on and on about Ukrainian sovereignty and how the invasion was "illegal" is a distraction. The world isn't the perfect place some would like us to believe. International law works until it doesn't. Take a look at the UN. People like to think that it performs a useful function, and it does, to a point. And then it's useless. Nation states act in what they perceive to be their own best interests once that line is crossed.

There''s a new twist on any possible deal with Putin to stop the war. He wants the USA to extradite Fauci to Russia for "crimes against humanity." Funny, and I wish it would happen, but it's highly unlikely, legally.

Inasmuch as the war is all but over, I've more or less stopped paying attention to it. Unless I'm mistaken, didn't Putin recently voice his disapproval of any type of "ceasefire"? The rationale being that a ceasefire would simply give Ukraine breathing room and time to restock its supplies. In other words, counterproductive for Russia. Anyway, unless the Neocon warmongers get to Trump, I think what'll happen is that the money flowing to Zelensky stops. At least the money from the USA will stop. Why pour money down the drain? The European leaders talk a lot, but their countries are all broke and/or on the verge of economic collapse, so I can't see them stepping up to fund a losing proposition. Once Zelensky sees reality, he'll cut a deal. Russia will get whatever land it then occupies and a guarantee of no NATO for Ukraine, ever.

Unlike Musk, people on the left are all basically brainwashed and don't have any real vision. The spin doctors told them that Musk had been robbed, purchasing Twitter for that price, and they believed it. And to this day, many of them are still repeating that nonsense. Meanwhile, Musk has turned X into one of the most widely read news sources in the world. And he's expanded and improved it with AI. It's a free speech platform, with "Community Notes" available for readers to critique posts they don't agree with. Facebook has now supposedly gone forward with this concept as well, after firing all its "fact checkers." And supposedly, Musk is considering expanding X to include a payment platform. With his PayPal background, her has much experience in that realm, so I think it'll probably happen.

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” Sometimes attributed to Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda chief, although there's apparently no evidence that he ever said this. The idea itself, of "the big lie," came from Hitler in Mein Kampf. Anyway, there's no need to look to the 30s and 40s, except by way of comparison to the playbook used by today's Democratic Party in the USA. The propaganda, the lies, the extreme efforts dedicated to suppressing the truth by labeling it "misinformation," and so on. Once they lost control of the narrative, it was only a matter of time before it was game over. The evil was defeated, and Donald Trump is now the President of the USA. Free speech is more important than many people seem to think.

Don't forget all the Russian speaking people in Ukraine that were being slaughtered. Again. look at the history.

I think you're conveniently ignoring the history of the region and especially the history of USA meddling around the world to install puppet dictators by way or "regime change." It's a Neocon fantasy that finally met its match. Russia isn't some puny third world country that can be pushed around. Russia has very legitimate security interests. It has a "sphere of influence." It doesn't want NATO missiles on its border, and rightly so. The USA wouldn't tolerate Chinese or Russia missile installations in Tijuana. Why should Russia tolerate NATO forces on their border? Do you have any idea how many Russians lost their lives in WW II? What was it? 21 million people? You can pretend it's all about the invasion of a "sovereign country," but it's more than that.

Even if you assume that, I think I'm right. It's over and it will stop. The sooner the better. Why kill a bunch of kids when the outcome is already certain? All those people that die. They're real people with real lives. Some have families. Shouldn't they be allowed to live? You had that privilege. Shouldn't they? The people who think war is a good idea? They're not the ones going to fight. If they were, the war would already be over.

It's just a matter of time. Everyone knows that. The war is over. The killing needs to stop. Soon enough, Putin and Trump will get together and figure out a solution. And Zelensky won't have any real say. Fort him, it's take it or leave it. and if he wants to leave it, he can start spending his own money on an exercise in futility.

21%??? That's crazy. Then again, depending on non how they define the term "disabled," maybe that's the problem. What started out as a well intentioned disability safety net has been morphed into a catch-all welfare program. That's usually the way these things work. In the USA, the Social Security Administration always has a backlog of cases to adjudicate. Hundreds of thousands, including cases on appeal. The numbers increase when the economy takes a downturn. People can't find a job and so they claim "disability." It costs them nothing to apply.

If you want to think that, be my guest. All I know is that that the Apple Health Monitoring sensors and app and pretty accurate, according to everything I've read. And there isn't a device out there that's "100%" accurate. In any event, I'm sure there may be devices you can buy that probably don't work so well. You should probably look into it sometime, if you're really all that interested. You might be surprised.