John Drake

Sihanoukville 2.0 Keep the local riff raff out, unless they're coming in to work cleaning out the toilets and sweeping the floors.

Idiot comment. The title is: Thai Tourism Sector Shaken by US Tariffs and Market Uncertainty Tariffs! Tariffs! It is your comment that is a waste and off topic.

No mention of the one word in Trump's message about tariffs and how they will be applied. That word is "reciprocity." And it should scare Thailand to death. Because there is no reciprocity. Thailand has been given almost free access to the American market because it was considered a friendly nation. That's in the past. It has now aligned with China, BRICS, and regional dedollarization agreements. So, get ready to say bye-bye to that $10 billion trade surplus with the US. Might have helped had Thailand bought the F-16s, but they botched that, too.

Xi isn't that smart. It's just that everyone else is that dumb.

He was certainly better than many people gave him credit for. He walked the line between China and the US far better than his successors. He handled Covid well. He didn't impose a remittance tax on my money from abroad. He largely kept Immigration unchanged (very important to me). And if I had him among the choices for leaders on this list, he beats 80 percent of them.

Man bites dog.

Again, you want to reduce/cancel Social Security benefits and colas to people who spend their money outside the US. That would include any Social Security recipient who traveled outside for so much as a day and spent their money there. More, it would prohibit social security recipients in the US and who have never left it from purchasing merchandise directly from overseas--like ordering a book from an overseas book dealer. Social security is fungible. You cannot separate it from other income or other pensions. It's all in one big pot for each recipient. And what this loopy idea creates effectively is an Iron Curtain locking older Americans within US borders. Unless you're a millionaire. What's next? Special forms, declarations, and filings with SSA that list your daily spending habits and where the money goes? Crackpot idea.

This is Barry. Anymore questions? https://www.pattayamail.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Barry-Kenyon-PCEC.jpg

Too bad he didn't have time to apply to his car business which is going into the toilet after having transferred the core technology to Chna.

Crackpot argument, especially this: "However, if someone is receiving more than they contributed, then it is reasonable that the funders be able to set a condition that funds be spent in the nation providing the additional benefit." Your formula would mean that anyone on social security can never leave the United States, not even for a day trip. Because that would mean their benefits would be spent outside the US. Take a trip to Cancun? Sorry, no more Social Security of Cola for you. This would mean locking up older Americans behind their border. Crackpot belief.

So Elon and the billionaires are going to get a "refund" to go along with their tax cut. Sounds fair.

Who does this sound like is in the crosshairs of new trade policy? Maybe Vietnam? But it really, really sounds as if it was almost written to describe Thailand's practices.

Another rival political party about to bite the dust?

DOGE and Musk's role in it should have been to conduct the audits and investigations, keep his mouth shut, and turn over his results to the decision makers in the Oval Office and/or cabinet. But, no. This man's narcissism dwarfs even Trump's. He must be center stage, dressed and acting out like a teenager. His qualifications to enact government cuts and reorganization are non-existent. Most of his ideas are half-baked and short-lived, because he can't focus and when he blunders, he runs away (remember six weeks ago he turned a good portion of Trump's supporters against him, Musk, because of his pro-H1B infinite Indians immigration desires). He moved the entire apparatus then to take aim at British immigration in order to distract and cover up his mess. I'm getting very tired of seeing Musk's fingerprints on everything and his ugly mug on every news story.

People don't want to hear it on Aseannow, but Prayuth did a much better job of threading the diplomatic needle between China and the US/West. The Shins are totally going in the tank for Xi.

Wasn't Sihanoukville restrictive? There, the locals were only allowed to come into the city to clean the toilets or pick up the trash their Chinese masters made.

I favor continuing to support Ukraine. I think Russia should be defeated. I also support Nato. That said, you can go back to when Bill Clinton was president and there were warnings this day would come, if Europeans refused to significantly increase their contribution to Nato readiness. Even back then, Clinton and others warned that European footdragging would eventually cause an American taxpayer revolt. And now it's happened.

The same guy was crying, literally, about Vance yesterday. See the two videos on this link.

What about high risk for health and air pollution?

Elon Musk's life and his baby mommas as Asian soap opera.

I wake up this morning, look at Twitter/X, and see Musk is involved some sordid depraved baby momma affair with Ashley St. Clair. This guy needs to live in a double-wide. He has the morals of a goat. As much as I do approve of what DOGE is uncovering, Musk is making it all very unseemly with his trashy behavior.

A lot of nonsense if not criminality is being uncovered. Million dollar salaries were going to two British politicians (through one's wife) and being paid by USAID. How does USAID need to give aid to British politicians. I also see that DNC vice chairman David Hogg has just been found to be pilfering money through a salary generated by a non-profit. Hogg may go to jail.

I like much that DOGE has uncovered and am happy to see cuts where needed. I do feel, however, that the deportment of Musk has been depraved and positively low brow. I'm ready to allow him to run his technical audit. But he has no business using that material to suggest government policies or advocate for bills, such as he and Vivek did for the continuing budget vote. The White House and the Oval Office doesn't need to be made into some nightmare version of Romper Room. Musk is good at figuring out how to get things into space and maybe make cars. His politics are poisonous however. That Trump can't see this is yet another indictment of Trump's poor people skills. Elon/Trump are leading us into a disaster in Ukraine that will resemble another China 1949 debacle, where Joe Stilwell so poisoned the US relationship with Chiang Kai-shek during World War II that he created an atmosphere that turned off support of Chiang after the war and made Mao's victory possible. Sometimes your allies are going to be corrupt. But it's better them winning than your enemies. I still think Trump wants to do a Nixon Goes To China gambit. And with Musk pushing in that direction, we just might get it. Catastrophe.

Where did he get the money for that lifestyle?

No, those were Bush lies. The Bushes and the Clintons should be in prison for their lies, leading to untold victims and trillions in wasted spending.