Lacessit

It's pretty mild compared to gweiloh ( Chinese ) or gaijin ( Japanese ). Then there's the Russians, with chorny.

I have worked with both races, plus Japanese. As individuals, not the same deal. Your generalisation is more applicable to groups. Thais don't like Chinese because they haggle over price to the point of exhaustion. Shopkeepers detest them.

It must have changed from when I was there in the 90's. I saw some pretty raw racism then. Black people were less guarded with me, because I had an Australian accent.

I can remember an Indian guy in my Chiang Mai condo who complained the Thai women treated him like dirt, even though he was quite wealthy. Thais are quite obsessed with white skin. It's a status thing. To me. racism is all about lack of education.

I remember the book " Black like Me" by John Howard Griffin. He was a white American journalist and author who, in 1959, darkened his skin and traveled through the Deep South for six weeks, posing as a Black man. The book is his account of his experiences with racial prejudice and segregation during that time. In Thailand, dark skin means you are in the lowest socio-economic class, working in the rice fields. To me, black skin means a beneficial genetic inheritance. People with it are far less likely to develop skin cancers. It's like the epicanthic fold in Asian eyes, which originally developed to prevent snow blindness.

Going to be interesting to see what happens in the mid-terms.

Personal safety, climate, food, infrastructure, living costs and, yes, women were all factors in my choice. The other countries struck out, for various reasons. To give one example, you don't pay rent in Indonesia on a monthly basis. You pay 12-18 months in advance.

I spent 6 months researching Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia before retiring here.

You beat me to it with the Titanic analogy.

The most I ever paid for a big basketful of laundry here is 200 baht. 3200 baht is an AI that does not know Thai prices. One could buy an entire wardrobe at a secondhand shop for 3200 baht. My Gf does my laundry for me.

Now wouldn't it be ironic if Putin was forced to ask the North Koreans for help?

What makes you think Harris would have negotiated with Putin?

The only thing making Russia a superpower is its nuclear weapons. Given the amount of corruption and slipshod maintenance exposed in the army, there's some doubt as to how many actually work. By any other metric, Russia is not a superpower. It's an unstable federation encompassing many ethnic groups, many of whom are restive under the Russian yoke. It is tribal, as Sir Laurens van der Post noted. Its economy is now a train wreck. Its army would not stand a chance against NATO, even without America. Its GDP is a fraction of the US, EU, and China. As John McCain said, it's a big gasoline station. You can bet China is eyeing eastern Siberia quite covetously. The pseudo-partnership may not last long. Xi holds all the cards.

He says he got his withholding tax back. He also says his age pension is paid into a BB account monthly. A years' pension, disclosed to the TRD, is approximately 600,000 baht on current exchange rates. Logic says the TRD would not have paid the withholding tax back if tax was assessable on his pension. Whether or not the accountant is wrong is immaterial. The TRD has accepted the return, and responded with a refund.

How would he know?

Patton had the right idea, but was overruled by Washington. He could see further ahead than most.

I can see US allies rushing for the exits. Canada is already signing trade deals with the EU and China. Who wants to be an ally of a nation that hits them with tariffs? Who would want to ally themselves with a nation of gutless appeasers, knowing no alliance is worth the paper it is written on, led by an unstable dotard?

Do they pay you to parrot propaganda?

You are a reincarnation of Voltaire? If a seminal thought ever entered your mind, it would be a clear case of promiscuity.

So the OP is saying based on his experience, the Centrelink Age Pension is not taxable?

Where's the white flag emoji? Oh, there it is. https://static-00.iconduck.com/assets.00/waving-white-flag-emoji-1522x2048-88c5pa5m.png

The OP's post states: "I receive the Centrelink (Asssie gov pension) payment into my BBL account each 4 weeks" It is somewhat ambiguous as to whether it is the Age Pension, or a government pension. Do both come from Centrelink?

You are aware you are hanging out a juicy bait for the trolls?

I have the best of both worlds.

You were talking about the lack of thought that goes into the labels of left-wing and socialist.