Hanaguma

The top of your head needs some work. He never said anything about injecting bleach. The "nice people on both sides" is a lie trotted out by Biden during the 2020 campaign which has been repeatedly debunked. Given the "performance" of US intel, I don't blame his lack of trust. Some countries ARE indeed ...holes. And Greenland would be a lovely addition. Biden, by contrast, can't even muster up the mental wattage to even HAVE a coherent thought. He is guarded and protected from the public by his handlers. Hell, he just claimed to have been raised by Puerto Ricans last week! A remarkable feat considering that Puerto Ricans make up less than one half of one percent of the population of Delaware!

Maybe so, but irrelevant. If they are truly refugees then they won't be so picky about where to take refuge. The first safe place would be good enough, until such time as they can return home. Shopping around for the best place to live is not an act of desperation but of calculation.

For example, https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/39330133?check_in=2022-11-01&check_out=2022-11-30&display_extensions[]=MONTHLY_STAYS&federated_search_id=c78d2866-002e-416b-a97a-40e950b9ef33&source_impression_id=p3_1664964806_%2Bf5ct%2FMCXjyGaf8O

Here is a list of properties in the 10000 baht range in Jomtien... https://www.airbnb.com/s/Jomtien-Pattaya-Chon-Buri-Thailand/homes?tab_id=home_tab&refinement_paths[]=%2Fhomes&flexible_trip_lengths[]=one_week&price_filter_input_type=0&query=Jomtien Pattaya Chon Buri&place_id=ChIJO_oVdVuWAjEREfw807o3dU8&date_picker_type=calendar&checkin=2022-11-01&checkout=2022-11-30&source=structured_search_input_header&search_type=filter_change&price_filter_num_nights=29&room_types[]=Entire home%2Fapt&price_max=38873

Sounds like an eminently sensible policy. People trying to go from France to the UK are not in distress or danger. THey are already in a safe country, so there is no need to travel further to seek asylum. It is obvious that they are only seeking economic advantage.

I think you are half right. If people were honest with themselves they would admit that Joe is not the man he used to be, and is obviously slipping. He gets a big pass because of his predecessor, and it is all too easy to point at Trump's various 'interesting' takes on things and verbosity/BS/bluster. By comparison, a semi sentient Biden is, if nothing else, refreshing and relaxing. The question is, can he be safely navigated through his term in office without a major catastrophe. Because absolutely NOBODY wants Harris to take over as President.

Sure, always. Why was it important to mention that Jean-Pierre is an immigrant? You brought it up first, so obviously it means something to you. It is telling that Obama did not support his own VP in 2016 though, isnt it? And also was far more available to the press during his term in office. And Biden was still wrong on almost everything for 40 plus years.

Telling that you mention that Jean-Pierre is an immigrant. That has no bearing on her competence. Completely irrelevant. As are her embarrassing performances. Joe and US policy are oil and water. His boss Obama once said, don't underestimate Joe's ability to f... things up". In his 50 years in Washington, he has managed to be wrong on just about everything. He opposed the first Gulf War in 1991, supported the second, was against the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, messed up the Afghanistan withdrawal, and so on, and so on. He could hide as a Senator being wrong, but as President he cannot. As for Trump being so available, UCSB disagrees; According to the American Presidency Project at the University of California – Santa Barbara, Biden has conducted only nine total news conferences to date in his first year. That’s fewer than half the number done by Donald Trump (22) in 2017 and a third as many as Barack Obama held (27) in his first year in office. And it’s not just news conferences where Biden is lagging his predecessors when it comes to interacting with the press. Biden had done just 22 press interviews through December 31 of his first year in office, a total dwarfed by the 92 interviews Trump had done and the 156(!) Obama participated in during their first years as president. https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/10/politics/biden-fewer-news-conferences-trump/index.html So enough of the "but Trump...." nonsense already. Biden's own boss was the leader in speaking to journalists.

Not sure about Oz, but in Canada the opposition and government spar quite regularly, in public, in parliament. As for the American way, most of their action takes place behind closed doors in secret negotiations. I dont remember actually seeing the two sides debating in the open in Congress- Pelosi and McCarthy trading barbs and deflecting attacks. Would love to though!

I didnt mention the former President. Comparing Biden with ALL recent former presidents gives the same result. Obama was far more available to the press. As was Bush jr, Clinton, Reagan, etc. Joe doesnt just make gaffes. He makes critical errors that show a lack of understanding of US policy. His people can try and clean it up, but nobody really believes them. Given the remarkably poor performance of the current Press Secretary, perhaps it is better if we go back to press briefings being practically non existent. Jen Psaki was far better.

On this point, we agree. Although I would expand it to include most recent presidents. Perhaps the only one in recent memory who could have handled it was Bill Clinton.

I think one of the problems in the US, at least in politics, has to do with the Congressional system of government. Countries like Canada, the UK etc that are parliamentary are much more demanding. Party leaders need to take questions in Parliament, defend themselves, engage in back-and-forth with the opposition on a daily basis. In the US, the executive branch is removed from that and isolated. There is very little actual debate or communication between the two sides and almost none with the President. Makes it easy to hide. Also makes it easy for fossilized specimens to keep their positions well past their sell-by dates.

Nah, I am laughing my way to the apocalypse! Cast iron stomach here.

It obviously means something to them if they can't go 5 minutes in the day without bringing him up! You are right that "what happened, happened". I don't see the point in constantly regurgitating your anger and venom. I am no hardcore Trump supporter, but thank you for assuming so. I freely believe that he lost the election, and needs to shut up and fade away. But he won't unless people stop paying attention. So a symbiotic relationship builds up between the virulent anti-Trumpers and the man himself. They hate, he gets publicity, they hate, he stays in the news..... Time to break the cycle.

Glad you are healthy and hearty, although comparing yourself to the drunkards of Thailand is a bit of a left handed compliment... otherwise, there are good reasons that many stressful jobs have retirement ages. Pilots, police, hell even the university I teach at won't even let teachers work part time after age 67. Hard to get real data on Biden because he refuses to take any kind of cognitive test. And as for the press, they are largely complicit in covering up for him. The mainstream media is VERY reluctant to comment on the current President regarding his health, his strange obsession with ladies' hair, his near constant vacations, etc.

Feel better now that you got that out of your system? Perhaps it is time to let go. Let go of your anger and spite and outrage. Save your stomach acid for something that actually is meaningful. The gastrologists of America have been laughing their way to the bank for 6 years now. How many unnecessary ulcers have they treated due to people just not being able to move on...

In other words, he is being hidden. As senator and VP, Joe was never this camera shy. As for the President contradicting his team, Joe has done so on many occasions- latest being committing US armed forces against China if Taiwan is invaded. His team has been left scrambling to clean up after Joe far too often, especially considering how rarely he speaks off script.

You may have a point there... Perhaps the most clever thing Joe Biden has done in his life was to pick Harris for his VP. She is his best insurance policy- I mean, nobody wants her to be in charge! We can only hope that there are enough smart people around Joe to get him through the next 2 years a la "Weekend at Bernie's". Losing control of Congress will help, that's for sure. Less pressure to perform.

You can argue back and forth about the myriad video clips of Biden's erratic behavior and seek to either justify it or to vilify it. What can NOT be denied is that he is the least accessible President in modern history. Almost no interviews, he takes very few spontaneous questions from the media after reading prepared statements, almost no press conferences, his staff are uber quick to either hustle him away after he talks or to hustle the press out of the briefing room. The man even admits it- he has repeatedly said things like "I shouldn't be talking to you" or "I'll get in trouble for saying this". Sorry but a President just does not act like that. Unless he is hiding something.

Give me a break. Politifact has been carrying water for the Democrats for years. There is simply too much mounting evidence that the President is behaving in a manner consistent with a 79 year old man. Forgetting things, getting lost, needing 'guidance' from various sources (his wife, his staff, the Easter Bunny). The fact that everyone in the Swamp knows this is by the staggeringly few interviews and press conferences Biden gives. He is almost completely unavailable to the media for anything other than a shouted question. I guess hiding from the media was a successful strategy in the 2020 presidential campaign, so no need to change now.

Not sure where you are located, but.... if you are in Chiang Mai, my wife and I got accounts opened at the Siam TV branch of Bangkok Bank with very limited hassle. We had only 30 day tourist exemption stamps in our passports. No tourist visa or other type. We had Residency Certificates- were renting an AirBnb and the owner filled out the TM30 paper for us. Went through an agency to get the Certificates after that- took about 2 days and 1700 baht. Took the Residency Certs to the bank along with our passports. Mentioned that we need the accounts because we will be retiring in Thailand in the near future and need a place to deposit a whole stack of cash for the visa application. Finished in about 20 minutes, ATM cards in hand, fully connected to the Bangkok Bank app on our phones. We WERE turned down at two other branches though- one wanted a 3 month lease agreement proof and another wanted us to buy 5900 baht of life insurance each to make the branch manager look favourably on our application. Plus wanted to see proof of 1 year of health insurance.

Not ageist at all. Consider that John McCain was widely called "too old" at 72 when he ran for president. Think honestly for a minute- do you think that YOU, as a fellow 79 year old, would be up to the job of President? Not saying that Biden is a 24 hour basket case. He does have moments of clarity and brief spurts of energy. But they are interspersed with more and more periods of confusion and cognitive shut down. I don't think Reagan or Eisenhower ever tried to shake hands with a ghost, or repeatedly could not find their way off a podium, or dodged the press to the extent that Biden does.

"A lapse of memory" would be one thing, the man is 79 years old after all. Yet they are recurring, getting worse, and show no signs of ending. This is a far cry from the good old days of "friendly Joe from Scranton, the happy-go-lucky hair sniffer". Biden was never a very bright man or deep thinker at the best of times. Now that he is aging so rapidly before our eyes, the problems are too much to ignore. If he had an even somewhat competent VP I think there would be a very substantial hue and cry from within the Democratic party for him to step down. Perhaps 'for health reasons' and leave the VP in charge. Yet even that option is off the table.

He is not in charge any more. You don't have to expend so much angst and mental energy obsessing about him. You want to hurt Trump? Ignore him. Your use of "should be eliminated" really speaks volumes to the depths of your derangement. When we get to the point that we consider 'the other side' is actually evil and not merely wrong, then any possibility of compromise or reason go out the window.

Yes, but Harris will tear the Democratic Party apart in her lust for the top job. She is the epitome of entitlement and I guarantee she would put up a massive fight. The internal dynamics would tear the Democratic Party apart. She is obviously incompetent and shallow and not terribly bright, yet.... she is a woman and BIPOC. God forbid that a white man dares to run against her.