John Drake

Trump is a slug. But even for a slug this is tin eared. Weren't there at least nine or ten people around him who had the brains to warn him off against this sort of stupidity?

I wish Rubio would replace Trump as president.

The treatments for this disease also have horrific side effects. A book came out a few years ago, The Lost City of the Monkey God, which described an expedition to Honduras to uncover a heretofore unknown city. A good portion of the expedition came down with leishmaniasis, and the last part of the book details just how bad things can get. Look up the disease and then take a look at the images. It will tell you why to avoid this flesh eating disease at all costs.

I like paying with cash. And I don't do impulse buying. I plan ahead if I'm going shopping for something and usually carry sufficient cash with me. Usually, that means keeping 10,000 or 12,000 in my wallet. In malls I usually have Bangkok Bank or SCB branches available (although the number of SCB branches has declined drastically in my area) if I need a larger amount. At any rate, I always try to have enough cash on me to get by as the circumstances require. For example, during electrical outages the 7 Eleven will take out a clipboard, a cashbox, and continue to do transactions until the power resumes. Cash is just faster and more convenient than any other method for me.

He isn't panicking, he's folding. Just like he always does. Cause chaos, create damage, and leave the country in a weaker position than when he started. That's the Trump way.

Yea, just this minute opened up my Bangkok Bank phone app and got a message they are experiencing "high transaction volume at this moment. Please try again later." Never have that problem with cash in my wallet or even with ATM machines.

You're correct. And two years ago was even worse, with 40 and 41 readings at my house in western Bangkok during April and May. So far, this really hasn't been all that bad. Maybe the prolonged cool weather from December through March is making people feel comparatively distressed.

I use it to help write articles for scholarly journals. I've had what are almost real "conversations" on abstract subjects and Grok is able to anticipate where I am going in my argument. It actually makes abstract conclusions and can engage in reading a text. I'm very impressed with it. I didn't think I would be. But I'm now willing to pay for Grok. It's database, btw, is never more than 24 hours old. I've used Gemini--not good. ChatGPT mediocre. DeepSeek--just a slower version of ChatGPT, and Meta. Grok is heads and shoulders above. Just try it. Be persistent and ask it to make connections.

Yes, I use Grok, and it's a godsend. But you need to know how to use it. By that, I mean you must bring knowledge to AI and make connections and feed those connections--at least in my field. If you just go and ask questions out of the blue, you get a glorified search engine. People who are able to use AI most effectively are going to leave everyone else in the dust.

Thailand has been advertising itself as a transshipment hub for China for at least the last six or seven years. They advertised their offering to help evade sanctions and restrictions on China directly to Chinese manufacturers. This is going to be one hub they wish they had never started.

He is chaos. Why anybody thought it would be different this term than last amazes me. Well, there is difference, I admit. This term is a hundred times worse. There is no check on him, and he doesn't care what happens to the country as long as he is the center of attention each and every day.

Wish we had JFK or Eisenhower today. Or even someone remotely similar, instead of a parade of indecent men over the past 22 years, culminating with Trump, the most indecent person I've lived to see enter the White House.

Complete misunderstanding of how to use AI. You need to bring knowledge you already have to make AI work properly. In effect, you need to be able to make connections and then have AI "converse" with those connections. If you don't know anything to begin with, you're essentially going to receive what is nothing more than search engine results. Go to Grok, for example, and you'll find there are two entirely different ways it communicates, one is informational and the other is give and take and fill elliptical spaces. People not using AI properly are going to be left in the dust.

What would be the legal mechanism required for him to freeze the COLA? Or is there one? Can he just order it? Or does he need legislation?

Can Trump Halt China’s Global Ascent? Trump cannot. A deft, strategic thinking and knowledgeable leader could.

In early 1917, there were only between approximately 8,000 and 25,000 Bosheviks in Russia. By October this small but cohesive, well-armed, organization ruled the country.

Prayuth was better.

Leaving over priced scraps for the locals to pick through.

The country could not be in a bigger mess if things had been left to a chimpanzee banging on a keyboard to make decisions.

No strategic or tactical preparation for a tariff war with China whatsoever. No stockpiling of crucial materials, ingredients, or components. No preparation lining up alternative sources. Nothing. Just a big yutz in the White House shooting his mouth off and changing the details by the day and the hour.

Just a trashy, undignified person.

It's as if the country is being governed by a talk radio host.

Just a couple of miles north of where I used to live, although I didn't recognize any of the street names around there. I do know I'd rather be here in the western suburbs of Bangkok than there.

If you're manufacturing a computer in the US and need to import components from China, you pay 145 percent tariffs on the components. If you manufacture the computer in China, it comes into the US with zero tariffs.

It's all part of the plan.