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Kind of interesting... Most "Westerners" aren't doing these things with "making merit" in mind. Whether Christian or not, the vast majority of Westerners are influenced by a Christian culture/moral/value system over many centuries. It would seem that Thais would be more likely (than apparent in this article) to want to help her out, with their very conscientious making of merit in mind. I definitely don't know the inner workings of their Buddhism... is it more important to go out of one's way to the temples, to make merit, to help build more edifices with shiny glass bits on them and help the Abbots get nicer cars than to help those who fate has brought along one's path, as if a test, and see how sincere one's merit making is by helping where one's help isn't likely to be seen by anyone? Maybe sincerity in merit making doesn't matter at all? I have no idea. I doubt the Abbots and other monks, enjoying their lives in the temples, care if the donations came with sincerity in mind or not.... It reminds me of an acquaintance who was head of a department at one of the top Thai universities (in BKK). He only cared about getting funded. He was a monk until his education was finished - through his PhD. Then he quit monkhood and used his newfound credentials to start a business as well as begin his teaching career. I guess monkhood can be a good scholarship program. That was a bit of a rabbit trail! Anyway... this is very curious to me - this image of Westerners trying to help her out, and the Thais apparently using her for sensationalism and complaining. To be fair, I'm sure there are Thais who care about her and would want to help, just as some Westerners did. But very strange how the reporting came out like this.

Definitely preferred the early 2000s when it was over 40 THB to 1 USD. Those were very good times.

Finally, at the very end of the article, their real concern comes out. They couldn't give a rat's a** about the woman, just the reputation of the world class family friendly tourist destination.🤮

So, somebody does something stupid and that justifies wishing harm on them? If that's how you want to live your life, that's up to you... but I'd suggest that it may be some sort of emotional dysregulation. Cognitive-behavioral therapy or anger management can be helpful.

Most definitely!! OMG🤯 What a disaster that would be!

I wonder how many gallons of fish pee people are swimming in... and nobody complains about the fact that the beach is the birds bathroom...🤪 No... I wouldn't advocate humans behaving like the animals... just wondering if people have ever even given it a thought. Unless, of course, you happened to have had the pleasure of hearing this song, back in the 70's! lol

And some people even wishing harm on her🤯 What kind of life do these people live to make them so angry at everything?

Hang 'em high!

Looks like the heart gesture to me! Just in action, like what the heart is doing while contemplating a cascade of brown envelopes... hmmm maybe they were doing the same motion, but the camera only caught a freeze frame of their unintentionally signaled corruption!

This is confusing.... So, is it a ladyboy? Or what? Ladyboys and "transgender women" are very obviously not women, except to people who need psychiatric help. What's with the apparent contradiction? Or am I missing part of the story?

Good to hear you were able to provide well for your family. It's good to know that you don't know something and do well in what you do know. Too many can't realize their own ability/knowledge and end up floundering. No idea why a couple of people responded with "confused" emojis on your comment. Maybe they are among those who are the leeches of society mooching those free bennies you mentioned.

You are free to believe what you like from the mass media. Notice that they never told you how many billions US folks lost on the NYSE? Notice that they didn't define who those people were... I can pretty much guarantee you that they were idiot traders who are among the 90%+ of traders who lose their money. In other words, they are not the people who have been invested in Bitcoin. Their stat is a manipulation to support their narrative. In 2023, Bitcoin went up 156%! How do people lose billions in a bull market like that?? Gold and the Dow Jones, in the same time period went up about 13%. The S&P performed better, but still VERY far from Bitcoin, at nearly 24%. Billions upon billions are not being poured into bitcoin by ETFs and other billionaires, like Larry Fink (Blackrock), for no reason. But there's a narrative and the mass media is sticking to it. Any guess why? There are definitely reasons. Even Goldman Sachs has admitted that Bitcoin/Crypto has outperformed stocks, massively. But, for one reason or another, they still believe that in the long-term, gold will outperform crypto. They didn't give any confidence in stock. Since 2020, crypto has outperformed gold by 40%! and the S&P by 59%! Those are not small numbers and not over a small volatile time period. But believe what you like, it's a free world (not really...). The US News might not make it "sound that attractive" to you, but you would be much better off to invest your money (and ideas/opinions) through your own research than by manipulative media doing the same old thing they always do. I'm glad I didn't listen to their narrative back in 2018... up about 800% so far... And cashed out some other coins for short term that did even better, but wouldn't recommend other coins to anyone other than people who have been in it for a while and understand it well.

Yep, gone are the days where there was no such thing. I remember opening a bank account in Japan in the 1980's with no problem at all on a research visa. And in Thailand in the 90's on a tourist visa. No documents other than a passport required. Thankfully, I still have 2 accounts open in Thailand from when it was simple. I don't know how they'd grandfather me into their reporting system without me signing something... but I do remember, back in around 2011 or 2012?, I went to open an account in another bank and they gave me US tax documents to fill out!! I was shocked. What on earth is a Thai bank giving me U.S. Internal Revenue Service documents for!? They said it is required now... some new law (i.e., threats from the U.S. Federal Reserve/U.S. Treasury). So, I said, see ya! Turned around and walked out. The intrusiveness of governments in banking is astounding. I saw one post in here from an Australian who seemed certain that he was safe from such reporting as the CRS... he'd be shocked to find that Australia has signed on to the system. At least 120 countries have signed on to it. You can thank the U.S. government for this invasiveness, it started with them, as does any financial tomfoolery, it seems. And guess what! If you are not a U.S. Resident and living in the U.S., you don't have to worry about CRS! The country that started the whole stupid thing doesn't practice it. The U.S. has another set of laws that screws its own citizens even worse than CRS and they don't seem to care about tracking/reporting foreigners to their respective countries! A nearby option, if one really likes SE Asia and might be affected terribly by CRS - the Philippines and Cambodia have yet to sign on to CRS. Who knows if they ever will....

I don't believe there are many wealthy individuals who would care to have residency in Thailand. There are so many better alternatives. Of course, "wealthy" can be defined different ways and granted my hometown area is an expensive area, so my idea may be a bit more than some, but to me, if you don't have AT LEAST 4-5 million USD (approx. 170 million THB) in net worth and somewhere around 600-800k USD (20-27 million THB) per year income, then I don't think you qualify, as I don't. Back home, I have a good number of friends and family who do (the median house costing between 2 to 3 million there, it's no surprise that I know a lot of such people), and they would never dream of residency in Thailand! They'd laugh. So, I don't know how much of a "golden goose" foreigner's income is.... Of course, the foreigners in Thailand who aren't necessarily wealthy, but have plenty enough, add up to a fair amount, so I suppose arguments could be made re this tax policy change dream of theirs. But I don't think it's as significant as some make it out to be. But, the bad feelings and bad looks would affect things with keeping people away and driving some out. Banks/governments around the world have gotten more and more restrictive and share more information than ever before. The wealthy are able to create structures to protect their wealth and some who were smart enough, have been able to do some of that through cryptocurrency, although that is getting more difficult these days as governments put in place more and more restrictions and dish out more threats to crypto exchanges. It's even difficult to buy gold without AML laws and KYC regulations screwing with you these days, although a lot easier in some countries than others... but then transporting it... lol Keeping one's wealth to oneself is getting more and more difficult.

This guy is the walking definition of "imbecile". I'd honestly be surprised if his IQ is over 85. I'd guess quite a bit lower, but being that he somehow got to his high rank, he must have something up there that's working. This speaks VOLUMES about leadership in this country! And the fact that he is defended!!?? OMG Completely insane.

Pai is nowhere near any border, unless bordering other Thai villages counts....

I don't even think it can be called a mistake at all, let alone a horrendous one. For all anyone here knows, she may have issues at home and she was confiding in him and she may have hugged him, seeking solace. There are numerous circumstances that may have brought that about that we have no idea of.

Asking for trouble??? How on earth is that asking for trouble, especially in a family friendly city such as Pattaya! For all we know, they may have had his shirt removed to check for injuries. But even if he was shirtless while jogging... get a clue! That is no excuse for assault and battery! The Thai fool was apparently drunk. You act as though he was morally outraged? lol The level of nonsense here is so high, I'm thinking that this could be sarcasm! If it is... you got me!

I happen to know someone (very well) who had their life destroyed by unfounded accusations and an over zealous District Attorney (in the US). This article makes me remember that nightmare... and from what this article stated, there's nothing that I can see that is even remotely illegal. All the speculation is insane. You would think differently if you ever knew a decent guy who got caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time and said some stupid things to manipulative police, and went from a 160,000 USD/year job +bonuses (with 4 kids in private schools (now in grotesque government schools), a nice house, and 4 cars - 2 hobby cars and 2 luxury cars) to finding it extremely difficult to find a job, losing his million dollar house, and all but one car, (not to mention about $50,000 USD for bail and lawyer) after having pleaded out to a sexual crime that they were trying to throw him in State Prison for years, to a lesser crime, it was a very long and stressful year+ for him and family. And of course, his reputation is tainted forever in the community. The "authorities" (Sheriffs and Child Protection authority who kept up a threat of removing his daughters to State custody - with no reason other than their accusation, made up out of thin air, that he sexually abused them) couldn't care less about real evidence, just a conviction to keep their record looking good. It would take too long to explain, but it was a complete farce with somewhat similar undertones as the case here. The best thing for this guy to do is to not say a word to ANYONE - AT ALL - and get a lawyer as soon as the police arrested him.

Agreed, although in this case, it appears to have been a Burmese rather than a Thai....

What's sick? Would it be better if they were more middle-aged and breaking the law, instead of young and toward the old side?

Kinda hard to deport nationals, which if you did deport nationals for not operating by the Law of the Land, you'd lose 80% of the population. I guess they could be banished to remote islands.... I'm all for equal treatment.

All planes serviced by this team should get a thorough going over ASAP! Wouldn't that take the cake if the plane that went down the other day was serviced by these guys....