Lacessit

For the last 4 years, I have been submitting my retirement visa extensions at Chiang Rai Immigration. In those years, a six month bank statement has been sufficient. Today, I was told I needed to have a 12-month statement. Either that, or update the bank book once every month. Any half-wit looking at the bank book can see the balance has not gone under 800,000 baht for over ten years. You have been warned.

Given Trump is a gold medalist in lying, why would you assume he will do as he says?

The people to talk to at Centrelink are Financial Services Officers. Front-line desk staff are almost financially illiterate. I can remember one desk officer where I had to explain what call and put options were, as part of my list of assets as that point in time.

Damn, you saw my prayer mat.

One person in Wall Street says Trump will win, he represents the view of every inhabitant of Wall Street? Am I alone in noticing the closer it gets to November 5, the more threads are launched by MAGA adherents in support of Trump? The question is, how many are Russian bots?

Zelensky will be negotiating from a position of strength if Harris wins. If Trump does, he won't.

Please tell me when negotiating with dictators has ever worked out well for the other party. You might as well try negotiating with a crocodile to only chew off one leg.

That will be nothing compared to the meltdown from MAGA when/if Trump loses. The Repubs are already preparing for all kinds of court challenges, although I don't know where they will get the money for the lawyers. Perhaps Musk or Putin will help out.

No doubt you love Tom Lehrer too.

I suppose the words Novichok and Navalny mean nothing to a Kremlin propagandist. Blatant lying as usual from you.

I am not sure Ukraine can afford the luxury of an opposition when it is fighting for its existence. OTOH, Russia could end this war in a few days by withdrawing from the Ukraine territory it has illegally occupied and annexed. Russia would survive, Putin probably would not. That is no great loss to the world.

AFAIK he is not poisoning opponents, imprisoning them to die in a gulag, or having them thrown out of windows.

You stated before you were not a Russian stooge. Your second post proves you are. Bye bye, tovarisch.

Let me explain..........

Admittedly there are films such as Avatar that don't look anywhere near as good on a smaller screen.

I really have to wonder if people even use cinemas nowadays. With wide screen TV's and Netflix, Amazon etc. why bother?

In the run-up to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, the civic authorities were concerned there would be problems with the mainly Aboriginal population of Redfern. Substantial incentives were offered to any Aboriginal willing to move to Wilcannia, on the Darling River in outback NSW. More than 20 years on, Wilcannia still resembles a war zone. All doors in the town are steel, all windows have bars. The new arrivals from Sydney were of different tribes to the existing Aboriginal population. The notion of a First People of Australia as some kind of monolith is absurd. When whites arrived, there was a Stone Age collection of tribes at perpetual war with each other. There are just under a million people in Australia claiming Aboriginal ancestry. Of those, less than 5% are pure-blood Aboriginal. It's all about money. Who do you think drafted the petition you posted? I am pretty sure it was not an Aboriginal. Possibly some well-meaning twit, or a lawyer smelling money. I had to laugh when I saw the addendum of addresses. Have you ever visited an Aboriginal township? Murrum Bridge on the Lachlan River, Wilcannia, or Fitzroy Crossing? It's like Harlem or Soweto. Any would probably have you soiling your trousers. You have probably not heard of Coronation Hill. It's a world-class deposit of gold, platinum and palladium in the Northern Territory. It would have provided thousands of jobs in development and operation for about a century. It was embargoed after local Aboriginals said it was bad luck to disturb the serpent sleeping beneath it. I don't use the term Koori. That's a woke expression invented to imply a united people. I suppose they are united in the pursuit of money. Governments have spent billions on Aboriginal welfare since Federation, and continue to do so. The money seems to disappear into a black hole. Any new dwelling built becomes a slum in the space of months. I don't know what the solution is, but IMO it's about damn time the tail stopped wagging the dog.

There are a couple of distortions in your post. AFAIK no nation is pressured into joining NATO. They apply, and have to be accepted by a unanimous vote of existing members. The principal reason for applying is no-one wants to live under the Russian yoke again. There is no "legality or illegality" about it. The Russian annexation of Crimea and invasion of the Donbas are both illegal. The minority Russians in Ukraine were transferred there by Stalin after the Holodomor to aid the Russification of Ukraine. Why do you think Putin is kidnapping Ukrainian children for indoctrination in Russia? Why do you think he is bombarding civilian energy and agriculture? It's Stalin all over again. Yes, the famine affected other areas of Russia. We are talking about Ukraine. Look over there is a deflection. You may not be a Russian stooge. You certainly sound like a Russian apologist.

I leave once a year, for medical reasons. I will always come back, until the time I am no longer able to travel. Then, I'll stay here.

Perhaps you have missed Peter Hollingworth, who was forced to step down from the office of Governor-General after the scandal of him enabling pedophile priests became public. Hollingworth still enjoys an ex-Governor-General's pension and entitlements costing the Australian taxpayer half a million dollars, along with three or four other ex-Governors still living. Then there are the pensions of the State Governors, and the reversionary pensions paid to surviving spouses. It's a high price to be paying for a function that is as useful as tits on a bull. IMO Turnbull was way too smart to be in the Liberal Party, as evidenced when he took the British Government to the cleaners in the Spycatcher case. Abbott and Morrison hated him, simply for being there. He would have done better joining Labor. Turnbull is a multi-millionaire, conservatively estimated to be worth $200 million. Abbott and Morrison scrape around for jobs in the UK and US, looking for sinecures. They are unemployable in Australia. Draw your own conclusions.

You would be eating your words if you had to buy or rent housing in Australia. The average rent at the condo where i live ( swimming pool, shop, restaurant ) is 7500 baht/month. Show me anywhere else in the world where it is that cheap in a city.

I guess it's about time the Saxons started petitioning for the return of their lands stolen by the Normans. What a fatuous argument. Every royal visit costs a fortune in security, accommodation and logistics. Just because the Samoans are simple, does not mean we have to be. We have enough problems of housing affordability and COL without wasting money on superfluous visits by royalty, who just view us as a break from the monotony of British weather. Isn't it time you grew up?

I'm afraid you are not an Australian. You're just a British sycophant who was indoctrinated at an early age, and are incapable of critical thinking.

Oh good, a driveling competition.