jas007

Even if you assume all that, what's the alternative? A brainwashed fact checker? People will figure it out. The town square. All sort of nuts, and yet life goes on. That's reality. Have you ever lived in NYC? Ever been to the heart of Manhattan? All sorts of nuts, on every street corner. Some have microphones and amplifiers. They'll tell you about Jesus, or the end of the world, or the evils of capitalism. They spew nonsense 4/7. And yet most people pay no attention. They just walk on by. And life goes on. The crazy people are no danger to anyone. What's the real danger? People who want to shut down free speech because they think they know what's best. Those are the dangerous people.

You have been brainwashed. My condolences. You just don't understand. People should be able to say whatever. If it's nut, the other people will figure that out. What's the alternative? A brainwashed fact checker?

I don't have any kind of breathing difficulties, so I don't notice. For those that do, I'm not sure there will be any changes anytime soon. Air pollution isn't unique to Thailand. Big cities all over the world have a similar problem. The very first time I flew into Los Angeles, it was a beautiful day. Sunshine and clear skies. Then, as we approached LA, there was a brown fog over the city. Clear skies one minute, and a few minutes later the plane descended through a bunch of pollution. That was LA, back in the day. You could be on the ground in LA, and not be able to see the mountains for all the pollution. Partly, it's the result of a temperature inversion or whatever. Some cities have it wore than others.

Platforming? It's called free speech. An important right in America. Without that, we have nothing. The rest is just noise.

I'm not the Mexico expert by any means, but I did look into it at one point. I once lived in San Diego, so a trip to Mexico was simple. I never spent too much time there, but I'd go once in a while if I had a friend in town who wanted to see what it was all about. I never traveled beyond Ensenada, so I have no first hand experience with most of the country. Anyway, and for what it's worth, they've recently raised the financial requirements for anyone wanting a long term visa. I think the amount of monthly income required can vary somewhat, depending on your local Mexican embassy, but let's just say the increase was fairly substantial. Some people don't have the monthly income or don't want to go through all the paperwork, so they just come and go on 180 day tourist visas For them, it's just a matter of a visa run twice a year. The big draw for an American on Medicare with health conditions would be the proximity to the US. Hop on a plane and you'd be back in the USA in an hour or two.

I'm not the Mexico expert by any means, but I did look into it at one point. I once lived in San Diego, so a trip to Mexico was simple. I never spent too much time there, but I'd go once in a while if I had a friend in town who wanted to see what it was all about. I never traveled beyond Ensenada, so I have no first hand experience with most of the country. Anyway, and for what it's worth, they've recently raised the financial requirements for anyone wanting a long term visa. I think the amount of monthly income required can vary somewhat, depending on your local Mexican embassy, but let's just say the increase was fairly substantial. Some people don't have the monthly income or don't want to go through all the paperwork, so they just come and go on 180 day tourist visas For them, it's just a matter of a visa run twice a year. The big draw for an American on Medicare with health conditions would be the proximity to the US. Hop on a plane and you'd be back in the USA in an hour or two.

I'm sure it will be considered a "complete disaster" by those who attempted to cancel free speech in America. For those people and the Legacy media whose relevance is fading by the day. For them, the game is over. Ditto for those who would weaponize the judicial system and the federal law enforcement agencies. And it can't come soon enough.

The little AI chatbots you're playing with are primitive early toys. Faster than you can imagine, AI will develop the ability to learn and reason. At this point, the computing power is growing exponentially, so to speak. It will all take tremendous amounts of electric power, though, which seems to be the real impediment. Anyway, all the big tech giants have billions of dollars of investments planned to solve those problems, and it will all come to fruition, soon. Whether that's good or bad remains to be seen. It will all be very disruptive of the current workforce, though, that much is certain. Another industrial revolution. Just look at how computers have advanced in the past few decades. This next move will be faster, still.

Musk and his self driving cars are probably coming sooner than you think. They are already in use in certain parts of China. And the development of the software s increasing at warp speed, so to speak. I know there are people who think it's all a pipe dream, but many people have lost fortunes betting against Tesla and Musk. Think twice if you're one of them So far, he's made me some good money, and the best is yet to come. The humanoid robots, Optimus, should be in production in a year. AI is coming sooner than many people think is possible.

In theory, perhaps. In reality, hiring managers often bend the rules to meet DEI "goals."

Not necessarily so, unless things have changed recently. Medicare sets the reimbursement rate for some items and services based on an evaluation process that considers market conditions in the metropolitan area and existing provider agreements. No big deal for the patient if the doctor or hospital or provider "accepts assignment." The provider accepts whatever Medicare pays. Otherwise, the patient may be stuck with a very expensive bill, even after Medicare has paid according to its schedule. For example, I once saw a case where a Medicare patient was charged thousands of dollars for an air ambulance trip in Hawaii. Medicare paid its part, but, over the years, the air ambulance charges in the Honolulu area had been increased to a level far in excess of where they were when the rate schedule was originally set. The patient thought he was covered. He was, but was still on the hook for thousands.

I would draw the line at hiring people do a job that they are incapable of performing, or who can only perform that job at a sub par level. People's lives can sometimes hang in the balance. Airline pilots, air traffic controllers, life guards, paramedics, doctors. The list goes on. Should the LA Lakers have to hire a midget or two, just to be "inclusive'? Should Hooters have to hire morbidly obese women?

I guess there powers that be see some benefit to subsidizing babies. For the poor people who have to pay taxes to pay fr it all, it probably makes no sense. Anyway, all those kids eventually grow up to be new economic slaves. But that, too, will eventually see an end. At some point, more slave labor won't be such a necessity, with he advent of humanoid robots, Between those and artificial intelligence, there will be a lot less need for labor.

Is infinite growth sustainable? Of course not. That's my point. The situation will resolve. Granted, there may be some grief along the way, but the situation will resolve. And usually, people are smart enough to see the writing on the wall. If babies are too expensive, they stop having them. People adapt.

You never know. Ocean Beach has a lot of older real estate. They rent it out and, year after year, the landlords make more and more money. Your old apartment might still be there. One time I lived there for a few months, back in the 70s. I don't think much has changed, other than the Beach area has lots of vendors in tents on certain days. Those must a fairly recent addition. Anyway, the Navy people probably still own a lot of the real estate. Navy retirees, especially. Their idea of dying and going to heaven was a house on Coronado.

The horror stories about "overpopulation" are often just that. Horror stories. Somehow, populations expand or contract to accommodate the environmenal, and social and political forces. In other words, one way or another, the population adapts. Years ago, I read an article about Mexico City and its population explosion. The author was of the opinion that, "based on current trends," the population of Mexico City would soon rise to 100 million. And yet that didn't happen. People migrated. People stopped having so many babies. Government policies also had in effect. In short, the situation usually resolves. There's no need for fear mongering.

Who knows? I think there are other potential buyers besides Musk. Anyway, I'm not sure I see the "national security" risk from Tik Tok. Someone, somewhere, wants to control the propaganda machine, and leaving that power in Chinese hands is problematic. It'll be interesting to see what the US Supreme Court finally decides. They may just see it as a free speech issue.

I've been following this for a few days.. Anything can happen, depending. Apparently, one sticking point to any sale would be that the Chinese company controls a "golden share" of the company that cannot be transferred outside of China. So, even if the US TikTok assets are sold, the company would still ultimately be under Chinese ownership. That issue alone might be enough to torpedo any sale. Also, politicians are concerned about the company's access to user data and the fact that Chinese law prohibits the transfer of the title Tok alogorythym outside of China. Access to user data is seen as a "national security" concern. That might just be the cover story, though. What's the real issue? Censorship or the lack thereof?

I use KBank, and now that you mention it, once a year or so when I use the ATM, I get message about an upcoming charge for a debit card fee. Something like that. But I never had to do anything at any specific ATM machine.

Many people there bought their houses years ago. And because of Proposition 13, they stayed in place over the years to keep the lower tax rates. Anyway, you're right. Current prices are insane. I'm more familiar with the San Diego area, but I'm sure it's pretty much the same story all over Southern California. Houses that you could buy for $175,000 back in the 70s now cost millions. Rents have also gone crazy.

1995? Compared to today, the country was in great shape in 1995. Things started to get crazy beginning around the year 2000.

Every so often, I look into this, but nothing much seems to change. They say the bureaucracy doesn't move too fast in Vietnam. One thing I have seen lately, is that the real estate market has "crashed." Maybe that will create enough of a problem for them that they'll seriously consider offering retirement visa options. I think Malaysia had a similar problem at one point, and in response they made it easy for people to retire there. That has since changed, but at one time, that's what they did to sell some of the condos.

To be sure, some people are there for work and have to live there somewhere. On my dad's side of the family, his nephew moved to LA from New York in the 60s to work for one of the Hollywood studios. He brought his parents with him. Another of my father's relatives moved there years ago to play n the LA philharmonic. If that's where the work is, that's where you live. But I think a lot of people moved to Southern California just to because they were sick of their lives and wanted a new start. They moved and then found jobs when they got there. Many people are there, but could just as easily be anywhere.

Executive orders are one thing, properly promulgated regulations are something else again. It's fairly easy to deal with Biden's executive orders. They can be rescinded, and "policies" established by Biden for the various agencies can be modified or withdrawn. However, federal regulations are another matter. Until recently, when the Supreme Court struck down the Chevron doctrine, federal regulations, once properly implemented, were the law, so to speak. Courts were required to give deference to an agency's presumed expertise. There are federal regulations on just about everything, or so it seems. Anyway, the Chevron doctrine is now history, meaning that agencies might not have such regulatory leeway going forward. It will be easier to challenge agency regulations. Administrative law. It's complicated. Anyway, I'm sure Trump will do whatever he can once he's in office.

Sure. The LA area is huge. Most of it was not involved in a fire. But if you've ever been to the LA area, you must surely know that much of it is not at all quality of real estate. Cheap stuff constructed after WW II. Little shoeboxes. Have you ever seen the LA traffic? People living in places like Pacific Palisades live there for a reason. It's close to the water, it's an area the everybody likes, and the weather is better than it is inland. It' a desirable area. For example, the temperature at the beach or in the beach areas might be 75 degrees F. And yet travel inland and you're moving into a desert with higher temperatures. It can be 20 degrees warmer. Anyway, it's Southern California and people want to be there for whatever reason, so many endure the long commutes.