Grubster

I supported Trump and I am regretting that, He is doing nothing for the working class that he said he would do. This investigation needs to take its course to see what did happen with the Russians and possibly Trump. 

14 minutes ago, iReason said:

 

It's not about what he has said about Pres. Obama, it's about what he has said about himself.

No, its about what Trump said about people who intentionally disfigure their bodies [ many times on our dime] and whether or not they should be allowed to stay in or join the military with the obvious mental issues they have. Thats the issue here. Pointing fingers in the play ground and saying "what about this and that" is sidetracking isn't it. My dad wanted to punish me for taking money from my moms purse to buy candy, and I said " but look at how much of our money you spend on bowling".  Some people grow out of it.

14 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

As you  noted, there is one special person who has explicitly disagreed with you. I won't leave you in suspense. His name is Donald Trump.

No he doesn't disagree with me, I'm sure he would tell you to your face that he didn't really think there was anything wrong with Obama golfing, He could also tell you that he said it to get some votes from those dumb enough to think it was wrong. Its about winning elections. I don't like Trump and he got a lot of those dumb votes.

20 minutes ago, Thakkar said:

 

President Trump is perfectly entitled to his leisure. The objection isn't about that. It's about:

His utter shameless hypocrisy for relentlessly criticizing Obama for golfing just one third as much as he does.

The fact that, as president, he declared he would spend weekends at the WH.

The fact that, since he plays at his own resorts at taxpayer expense, his leisure is impossible, to separate from his self-dealing and profit-making.

 

T

 

People with common sense know that what politicians say about what other politicians do with their leisure time [ as long as they are not breaking laws] is meaningless nonsense, Foolish people think they mean it and really foolish people may even change their vote over it. 

6 hours ago, selftaopath said:

Do you object - as a taxpayer - to 45's weekly golf outings that cost approx. 3 million per week? 

No I do not, Are you saying that the President of the United States of America should not be able to golf on weekends. Think about how stupid that is, I golf whenever I want to. He is the POTUS and that comes with a massive amount of security and Air Force One. I don't like Trump but my god, do you think the presidency is a prison term or what? Why do many people always complain about what any POTUS does for leisure, and other politicians use it against them in campaigns as Trump did with Obama.  I guess some were dumb enough to think their was something wrong with it.

This topic is about Russia warning retaliation for US sanctions that may be increased do to their interference with US elections.  Since Russia only supplies 20% of EU natural gas and that 20% can easily be made up by other suppliers, not to mention that they would be eliminating one of there biggest exports.  I think the Russians have a very weak hand here. Sending a bunch of US diplomats home is hardly a bad thing, I'm sure those people will be happy to be home. Maybe North Korea will support Russia.

On 7/27/2017 at 4:24 PM, Naam said:

i recommend you do some homework instead of shooting from the hip!

fact:

Western Europe's demand for natural gas is 18 (eighteen) times of the total U.S. production. yawn... 

The US produces about 30 trillion cubic feet per year, the EU uses about 20 trillion cubic feet per year. Your math is very very poor for a Physicist. 18 times? You should really stop yawning. Did someone shoot from the hip?

On 7/28/2017 at 11:22 PM, tonbridgebrit said:

 

There's hardly any Japanese military ships or combat jets involved. That's because, ever since they lost World War Two, Japan has been practically banned from using it's military outside of Japan. The ban was implemented by America and Britain. As for the Philipinnes, their leader Duterte, he's well in with China.

If any Chinese ships stop any ships, the US navy will easily blow whatever Chinese ships out of the water. It's very unlikely any American sailors will be killed. You realise how big and powerful America's navy is, when compared to China's very small navy. I think China has got one aircraft carrier, and that's it. Chna is simply no match for America's navy.

China is simply not stopping any ships, and if they did, they can be easily dealt with by America.

Things are changing quickly, Japan has been given the green light to build military and regardless of military might they are in China's face in a big way. The Philippines are not in China's corner on this issue.

2 minutes ago, attrayant said:

 

The democratic sales pitch for 2018 will be this: we saved everyone's health care tonight (which will certainly resonate with all those angry republican town hall constituents), now if you'll just give us a congressional majority, we'll lead the charge to make the needed improvements to the ACA. If republicans spend the next 18 months blocking bipartisan improvements to the ACA, that'll just be additional proof of how useless they are.

 

Maybe but had this bill passed we would have seen the results of their stupidity and the dems would have more evidence of how useless they are.

1 hour ago, tonbridgebrit said:

The politicians have made Britain look ridiculous with these silly announcements. So, Britain is going to send an aircraft carrier to the South China Sea.

These ships have used up a huge amount of tax-payers money. What's the point of sending them to the South China Sea ? They will take part in freedom of navigation exercises. Now then, the USA are already in the South China Sea. American aircraft carriers are already in the area, making sure that all ships can sail through the South China Sea.

There is no need for Britain's military presence in the Far East. If Chinese ships do actually stop whatever ships, let the Americans fire a few missiles and blow the Chinese ships out of the water.  This whole thing is bad use of the resources.


And what's the main point ? It's being done, because Washington wants to make it look like, that there is an international coalition involved in the South China Sea. There isn't one.

I think there is an international coalition involved in this issue, The US, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea,The Philippines and Australia, are in for sure and I don't know why GB would be doing this if they are not in.

2 hours ago, Naam said:

 

 

Of course Putin can, but many of his top lieutenants and billionaire friends cannot get one that works in the west where they all want to be most of the time. Do you know who Sergei Magnitsky was?  I suggest you read up on the lead up and aftermath of the Magnitsky act passed by congress in 2012 then the additional sanctions put on the rich buddies of Putin in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea. You can read about how these poor billionaires can't even visit their mansions spread all over the world. Some of them have had all their money frozen in the foreign accounts that they put all the stolen Russian money in.

42 minutes ago, Naam said:

humiliated?

Wow they are sending some american diplomats home, this is really a strong move, Yes Putin is humiliated and getting more so, He is far and away the richest man in the world, but to bad nearly all of it is in foreign banks as it is money stolen from Russia and he may end up losing it all. Maybe you think the Magnitsky act is about adoption?  No but Putins response to it was to ban americans from adopting disabled orphans from Russia, now they just let them die. Nice guy your friend Putin.

This is by far the most unorganized white house in the history of the US.  It is a painful joke leveled on the US people.

I am shocked that this very one sided bill even came close to passing, I think the repubs. dodged a bullet here as if this passed they were doomed in 2018. Now they can say that all things bad in health care are the dems. fault.  Most of their voters don't know any better and will gleefully follow suit. They will block any meaningful repair of Obama care.

2 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

I didn't say that giving money to the rice farmers was a waste, just that this particular scheme was a waste.

 

If the money had been spent on the health service it would also be spent back into the economy of Thailand.

 

Not all private doctors HAVE to work at government hospitals. Mainly it is the younger ones just starting out.

 

The only link I have found about that is here but the study dates back to 2009.

 

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/HEALTHNUTRITIONANDPOPULATION/Resources/281627-1095698140167/THLHealthWorkforce.pdf

 

This is from page 9

 

(2) Compulsory strategies

Compulsory public service:

All PCWs and nurses trained by colleges under the

MOPH are required to obtain a government scholarship and to sign a contract for

compulsory public service for 4-8 years after graduation. Due to a zero growth civil

servant policy, this approach was terminated in 2001. In the case of doctors, this

approach was initiated to address a critical shortage of doctors in rural areas. Since 1972,

all doctors have been compelled to serve in rural public hospitals for 3 years. If they

breach their contract, they are required to pay a fine of USD 3,000 (1997 price). This fine

was increased to USD 8,000 and 16,000 in 1971 and 1977, respectively.

 

 

I think even this rice scheme was better for the people than the money spent on military dreams. We will never know who stole the most rice from it either as the Junta had total control after the coup and I'm sure they were totally honest as they are yet today. Even the money generated from the stolen rice most likely went back into the economy. They should have just given direct subsidies of so much per rai of land up to a certain top that I would agree.

   I never said ALL doctors had to serve in public hospitals.

4 hours ago, Naam said:

it's debatable who makes utmost ridiculous statements without invoking a single thought as far as logistics are concerned.

 

the U.S. sanctions pertain to some Russian pipelines which deliver natural gas and crude. only a layman could come up with the idea that it is more economically to deliver both by ship with no adeqate ports existing on both sides.

 

i am taking a break because it's useless to discuss the paint stroke of an old master with a blind man. it reminds me of my futile attempts to explain quantum mechanics to my gardener

OK old Master of all. I guess the logistics in WW2 were also unsurmountable, and who said it was cheaper to ship the gas than to pipe it? I didn't. I can tell you it will be done and once the ports are done it will not cost much more to deliver old wise one.

     The worst sanctions we have put on Putin and his gang of billionaire's have nothing to do with any gas or oil pipes.  I don't know what these new sanctions pertain to because they have not been passed yet, but I guess you know the inside scoop.

   I will also take a break from debating with a guy who would try to explain quantum physics to his gardener. I will now put my paintbrush down and I hope your eyes get better. So anyway old master of the universe, have you decided the origin yet or are you resting on the big bang theory.  Bye Bye and good luck with your billionaire Russians.

1 hour ago, Kwasaki said:

Not accorded to my old ex-KGB friends,  l could pm you and tell you but then l'd have to kill you.

Your not far off there as when a KGB agent spills his guts he will be killed by the KGB so I'm sure your just joking because no KGB agent is going to be telling any casual friends that he is in the KGB and there are no ex- KGB, they die KGB. Its no longer called the KGB but the new name evades my memory right now.

1 hour ago, Naam said:

sure, and natural is easy to deliver across the Atlantic to Europe per email attachment and parcel post. please Sir, stop ridiculing yourself.

Yes sir it is in fact very easy to deliver in liquid form and is being done all over the world. Canada is also in the process of building a large LNG port on their east coast, I think the west coast also but not sure on that. Australia has huge LNG ports with most of theirs going to China. Why you are so enthused with the most brutal government in the world is beyond me. I guess in your eyes the west cannot survive without Russia. Very ridiculous indeed.

5 hours ago, Naam said:

like i said, the dogs are howling but are afraid to bite 

The magninski act is a sanction that hurts Putin and his billionaire group of friends immensely, they cannot even travel without having someone else pay the bills, they can't pay for a meal with a credit card because they can't get one. They have billions and can't use it in their own names. Do you think that is a bite or a howl. Putin is humiliated by this act.

5 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

You could equally say that the 500 billion? baht poured into the rice scheme was more important than a fully staffed highly competent state hospital.

 

In fact the 500 billion? baht is more than the annual budget for the Ministry of Health, yet the previous PTP government chose to waste money on that.

 

I prefer to use the state run hospital over the private hospitals. My wife went private for one night and checked out the next day as it was too expensive at over 10,000 baht per 24 hours. She had to wait until the doctor treating her turned up from the state hospital where he also works 1km down the road. He turned up at 2:30 in the afternoon.

 

One of the medicines she was prescribed was Tylenol 500 mg at 18 baht per tablet. On the way home I went to the local pharmacy and bought a bottle of 100 Tylenol tablets for 100 baht.

Giving money to rice farmers is not a waste of money, all that money gets spent back into the economy. Money spent on arms in foreign countries is gone and will not benefit one single Thai person except the ones getting the large kickbacks.

  Yes Private Dr's are required to work in government hospitals also and I think that is a good thing. They have a much better system here than in the US I would say.

9 hours ago, YetAnother said:

based on my not insubstantial experience in both public and private hospitals as an inpatient, the differences between the two are pretty wide in favor of the private; happier workers, including the administrative personnel make a Huge difference

Yes there is no comparison between the two, I have instructed my wife to bypass the large government hospital and drive the extra 1 1/2 hours to the private hospital, if I die so be it but I do not want to wake up in a shit hole. I think these government hospitals are underfunded but if I were a poor person I would be very happy to have them available. They are much better than most of the rest of SE Asian nations have. I doubt the kid in this story would have survived in any hospital in the world.

4 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Thanks for posting that. It DOES make for a very interesting read.

 

Heck, it took the feds almost 5 pages of the complaint just to recite/list all the different cars, houses, bank accounts, cryptocurrency holdings, etc. that this guy and his wife had, spread out over quite a few different countries, not just in Thailand. He truly was an international (illegal) financier -- albeit now, a dead one.

 

I'm kind of thinking, the feds probably would have liked to interview and grill this guy at length, if they had been able to get their hands on him for the longer-term.  But as the saying goes, dead men tell no tales.

 

But according to the complaint, this guy was hardly acting alone. The complaint says there were 8-10 people working on his site and getting paid salaries for doing so. Wonder what's happened to the others???

 

Contrary to that I think if the Feds wanted to take him they could have day one, but maybe they would rather his mouth was shut. They surely could have talked to him even if Thailand wouldn't release him yet. They probably did and didn't like what they heard.

4 minutes ago, Naam said:

make up your mind who's meat they are chewing. that of Putin or of Russian citizens?

Are you saying that they are not one in the same? I think you are right there, Putin would kill ten million Russians to save his puppy.

Just now, Naam said:

i recommend you do some homework instead of shooting from the hip!

fact:

Western Europe's demand for natural gas is 18 (eighteen) times of the total U.S. production. yawn... 

Very true but the future US production that is ramping up right now as we speak is nearly endless. The US can and will fill the void if needed. Natural gas is easy to extract and is in abundance in the US and other western nations. Yawn.

Just now, Naam said:

please tell us the result of these "heavy" sanctions 

Well lets see. The Russian economy is in the tank and the rubble is in the tank.  Their people are getting very tired of living day to day. This may not effect Putin, but it effects his people, and if the sanctions are not having effect then why are they throwing threats around over them.

1 minute ago, Naam said:

like i said, the dogs are howling but are afraid to bite 

On the contrary the dogs are chewing on the meat of this bad man. If you were a Russian you would be feeling the bite.