jas007

What do you get for 5000 baht? I'd pay that, if the wine was exceptional. Why not post some examples? In reality, among wine enthusiasts, 5000 baht isn't very much at all. The cheap good stuff probably starts around 15,000 baht and goes up from there.

Steak and eggs and a mandarin orange. And some coffee.

If this is the policy that supposedly results in no taxes on wine priced at less than 1000 baht, I'm afraid I still see wines that cost much more than I would expect. For example, I'm sitting here now sipping on some wine from Chile. 999 baht in Thailand. It's not bad, but why so expensive, if there are no taxes?

I've been investing since 1974, however many years ago that was. And I retired almost twenty years ago. Anyway, sometimes you absolutely know what's going to happen, you just don't know when. And you absolutely know when there's no risk, long term. Those situations don't arise often. Almost never. But when they do? Almost a sure thing. I say "almost," because there's always the chance of some crazy extra-market event that could upset the apple cart, so to speak. An asteroid slamming into earth. A global thermonuclear war. And if anything like that were to happen? Oh well, you tried, and there wouldn't be stock portfolios to worry about, in any event.

When I first moved to Thailand in 2006, I used the affidavit from the US Embassy. That worked, although immigration at the time also wanted to see at least some money in a Thai bank account. My income at the time was easy to prove, if anyone had bothered to look. Way more than enough, just from a government pension. The embassy could have easily logged online and looked. On the other hand, some people's situation isn't so simple. They may have rental properties, investment portfolios, and so on. It can be a convoluted mess. One time I had a job where I had to verify people's income. A simple affidavit wouldn't do it, and I had to sort through all sorts of junk to figure out what was what. I can see where an Embassy wouldn't want to routinely wade Ito that kind of mess. Still, if an income can be easily verified online, why shouldn't they do that? It takes two minutes. Income letters for anyone with easily verified information, otherwise, no.

Didn't Ukraine send a fleet of drones to attack Putin's helicopter? I'd be mad, too. However it happens, the sooner this war ends, the better, preferably without additional US involvement. Perhaps Putin can bring Zelenskyy to his senses? Trump is doing the wrong thing here, by calling Putin crazy. Threatening new sanctions? Absolutely the wrong thing to do.

Unless it pans out. Anything can happen over the short to intermediate term, but if you're in the right thing, it's hard to lose, long term. Is it gambling? Maybe. What about card counting in Blackjack? You're in a casino and you appear to be gambling, but maybe not so much.

Whatever is going on, I'm sure it's not just random noise. It's something more than particle physics and random occurrences, somehow morphing into life by way of evolution. Our current universe may be old, but it's not that old.

Have you been paying attention? Do a search on "time travel" or "past lives." People who pop up seemingly out of nowhere, and yet come from the past, or the future. Or, people who can recall intricate details of past lives, lives lived in another place or another time. And the details check out.

Read a book by James P. Carse called "Finite and Infinite Games." Echoes of Eastern philosophers, such as Alan Watts. I was fortunate enough to have the guy for a teacher, back in the day. He's dead now. I think you can see some of his lectures on YouTube.

Does everyone know who Kurt Vonnegut is? He wrote a novel called "Cat's Cradle." I'm not sure of the exact quote, but the basic premise of it is that human beings are just mud, up walking around and observing the universe. Observing God's creation. It makes sense, when you think about it.

I'm pretty sure they're now realizing that the "Big Bang" didn't happen exactly as advertised. It's not as if the entire matter of the universe was at one time condensed down to the size of a basketball and then blew up. It's something that happened everywhere, all at once. And the current universe could be but one of many. Or, the current universe could evolve in cycles. The most recent Webb telescope observations have discovered other universes, perhaps. Or galaxies apparently older than the current universe. It's upending traditional theory.

For sure, many people are brainwashed at an early age, nut not everyone. In any event, what do you say about the people who can recall past lives? People who can recall people they've never met, places they've never visited, all in perfect detail and all accurate. Or what about the time travelers? Some of those people tell stories that are pretty convincing.

Our bodies eventually turn to dust, but that's not to say that that's the end for our "soul" or whatever you want to call it. Cosmic consciousness of a sort. The universe itself may be conscious. Our bodies just temporary receptacles of a universal consciousness. Or perhaps, we''re just living in a simulation? Recent research into quantum physics suggests that could indeed be the case. In any event, there's plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that time travel may be possible, that our souls are reborn into new bodies in new places, and so on. Anyway ever hear of the Stargate project? Remote viewing? How it all supposedly works?

And that's why silver is a good deal right now. There's only so much of it above ground, and only so much is mined every year. And it's not just for investment, it's used in industry. And for years, the price has been manipulated. One of these days, the true value will surface.

You guys used to live in NYC? I was there in the mid 70s. The heyday of craziness. You couldn't ask for a more crazy place to be. I lived down in the Village, back when rents were cheap. Or maybe they just seemed cheap? Anyway, you'd have to be there to appreciate it.

The problem with the funds is that when push comes to shove, they may not have the silver you think you were buying. If you read the fine print in the prospectus, they can cash you out instead of delivering silver. As for the "value." It may be much more than you think.

What's your time horizon? That can make all the difference. I remember buying 1oz gold coins in the early 90s for $300 or so. Easy to buy, easy to sell. It's been up and down ever since, but historically, it's a store of value and has been for thousands of years. My last purchases were five or six years ago. $1600? Something like that. The more money they print, the higher the price of gold. What's interesting at this point is the cryptos. And silver, of course.

I started watching Your Friends and Neighbors on Apple TV+ last night. I think I watched three episodes, and so far, it's pretty good.

It's just a TRO. Makes some sense, at this stage. A ruling on the merits will come later, but it looks like the administration's policy may be struck down be way of the first amendment. That may be a stretch, depending. What about the requested documentation? Was it provided as required?

I'm not sure they'd have enough money to pay me to go on one of those cruises. They do cost a small fortune, though. Back in the 70s, I knew a girl who worked for the company that booked around the world cruises on whatever Cunard ship was operating back then. As I recall, she said the top of the line tickets for the around the world cruise were $50,000. Something crazy. And when you think about all the inflation over the years, that was a lot of money at the time. I might look up what a similar ticket would cost today.

I was once in Phuket when one of the Cunard ships stopped by as part of an around the world cruise. That was years ago. Maybe the Queen Victoria? Anyway, the ship was huge. It looked nice, and I'm sure the people traveling that way were treated well, but for some reason, I can't stand the idea of a cruise, no matter how luxurious. I probably wouldn't do it, even if it was free. The only kind of cruise I might consider would be on a very small ship with a limited number of passengers.

Apparently, they provided some, but not all, of the requested information.

That may well be the question. As part of its regulated authority over the SEVP, the DHS has the authority to make requests for records or whatever as a condition of a school's keeping its SEVP certification. It's a published rule, so there's ample authority. The agency's enforcement mechanism is limited to the revocation of SEVP status. If a court is ever asked to review the revocation, the issue will be whether the agency acted in accordance with its statutory authority and was reasonable. If the action is deemed to be arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion, the agencies action might not be upheld for that reason. Otherwise, what DHS did will likely be upheld. One caveat: Recently, the Supreme Court did away with the Chevron Doctrine. Courts will no longer be required to defer to an agency's interpretation of an ambiguous statute or rule. In short, a court might see the agencies actions as arbitrary or capricious.

But this is a different set of circumstances. This is not about the Department of Education or any of its supposed threats to schools "targeted by the Trump administration." That may well have happened, but this is a different issue, I think. The State Department is responsible for issuing visas, including foreign student visas, and the Department of Homeland Security acting together with the Dept of State with respect to foreign students, set up a program called the SEVP. In order to obtain SEVP certification, the schools must keep a set of records: Standard SEVP Requirements for All Schools • SEVP-certified schools must generally: • Maintain accurate student records (enrollment, academic progress, attendance). • Report changes in student status to SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System). • Update the Form I-17 for material changes (like address or leadership changes). • Allow SEVP to conduct on-site reviews at any time. • Apply for recertification every two years. • Schools must comply with federal laws and regulations, and ensure their programs and operations meet SEVP standards. So, it appears as though the Trump administration was just asking for records the school was supposed to be maintaining. How is that a problem? I wonder if they have asked for similar records from other schools?