James105

The late Christopher Hitchens was quite prophetic about this back in 2009: "Resist it while you still can and before the right to complain is taken away from you, which will be the next thing. You will be told, you can't complain because you're Islamophobic. The term is already being introduced into the culture, as if it's an accusation of race hatred for example or bigotry, whereas it's only the objection to the preachings of a very extreme and very absolutist religion". How right he was. Actress complains about people that support terrorist groups and as predicted by Hitchins back in 2009, she is accused of being Islamophobic and has to issue an apology. No apology is sought or needed by the terrorist supporting goons for she was referring to.

This is probably my biggest gripe with them, especially as the ATMs over here operate differently to literally anywhere else on the planet. Here it is: Request Cash -> Take Cash -> Retrieve Card Everywhere else in the world: Request Cash -> Retrieve Card -> Take Cash I'm now in my 5th card in a couple of years and I'd prefer to use the cashless withdrawals but since this is only possible with SCB ATMs it means going to the branch every time to get a new card I do this. If they operated like everywhere else and you take the card but forget the cash then as long as no-one is quick enough to grab it, then it is swallowed back into the machine and the account is re-credited. Once the card is swallowed then it means an annoying trip to the bank. I did originally use Bangkok Bank but their app (at the time) was terrible so switched over to SCB which had a (still messy) but usable phone app.

My suggestion to save America from themselves. Step 1: Set max age of President starting a term to be 65. Step 2: Have election between 2 physically and mentally able candidates. If out of the 330 million people living in America they are unable to find 2 suitable candidates that meet this criteria then perhaps it is time to hand the land back to the Native Indians.

Is this really what passes for a "normal" president nowadays? The man is senile and needs to be at home getting looked after by a nurse, not running a country.

"Immigration can bring cultural richness, economic dynamism, and innovation." The UK is a magnet for the opposite of this due to the generosity of the welfare system. If the UK "needs" such high levels of immigration can we at the very, very least stop giving social housing and benefits to those who have never contributed. 18% of immigrants are in social housing which means they cannot even afford to live in the UK without the UK taxpayer funding it. In London that percentage is a staggering 48%. In what other country on this planet can you simply rock up and be provided with subsidised social housing because you cannot actually afford to live there because you do not have the skills to earn enough to do so?

So the complaint here is that a legal document states facts rather than aspirations? I would very much like my Passport to reflect how I feel about myself which is at least 10 years younger than I am but I appreciate that would not be factual and be misleading to anyone that is required to check it. Also "sex assigned at birth". This gaslighting needs to stop. Sex observed at birth would be a more appropriate term (if we really have to have one) as let's not pretend that Doctors are choosing what to put on birth certificates based on anything other than the scientific fact that the newly produced offspring has a penis or otherwise. "Transgender people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and they should have the same rights as everyone else." I agree. But what rights do non-transgender people have that we need to give to transgender people they do not already have, that does not take away the rights of another group (let's call them women), and their rights to have safe single sex spaces and sports?

Look at Germany/Japan where their respective leaderships were ousted after WW2, this exemplifies how such interventions can lead to prolonged peace, stability and prosperity for everyone.

I think its just a case of prepare for the worst and hope for the best, although as someone else pointed out it is pretty clear that any monies transferred into Thailand after 1 Jan will be assessed for tax. So to counter this I'm transferring 2+ years worth of spending money into my Thai bank account prior to 1st Jan for example, and if the worst happens, put the money I might have to pay in tax towards fun travelling adventures for 6 months every other year, and during that "other year" transfer enough into the Thai account for the next 2 years etc. I'd be surprised if this scheme gets off the ground though as (like most tax raising measures) when under serious analysis will be found to be completely counter productive and result in less tax revenue overall.

If they were good enough then they would not need government incentives though and people would just buy them if they were better. There were no government incentives for companies to use email over fax for example, but companies switched to email as email is simply better. Will the government will be there to help when the battery degrades and the car has lost almost all its value? I'm all for early adopting tech, but I have my limits and EVs (currently) is beyond that limit due to the battery degradation problem, the extra weight of the car, the range issues and the time it takes to charge issue. I suspect when these things are mainstream it will be in about 2/3 decades time, the batteries are a LOT smaller and swappable and that is of course no competing fuel technology that does not have the same problems comes along in the meantime.

I presume an owner of a petrol powered car would be able to take the humble jerry can filled with petrol if driving to an isolated area as a backup in the event there are no petrol stations. What is the similar solution for an EV? Maybe one day when EV's have standardised and easily swappable small batteries that can be exchanged for a fully charged one, or when the batteries are small enough to be able to carry spares, then they will become mainstream. For now they are really just for early adopters who are able to fit their lifestyle around their cars. Nothing wrong with that of course, but I get the impression that based on the amount of time people spend defending their purchase choice on this that they have a bit of buyers remorse.

Yes of course. Is the UK just bringing in the type of migrants who do not age then and/or are we expecting them to return to their origin countries when they get older so that they do not also become part of a much larger problem down the road? The problem with Ponzi schemes like this is that it requires continuous feeding and at some point it will inevitably collapse, most likely taking the welfare and health system with it.

However did the UK cope in the 90s when net immigration was about 100,000 per year? I don't recall any panic going on about needing an extra 350,000 people per year to plug the gaps. When did the UK public vote for such high immigration numbers? Has any party ever had this on their manifesto?

Buy it new as the difference between new and second hand prices do not justify the potential downsides to buying one second hand. You can get one brand new for 49,900 or you can get a 3 year old one for 38,000 according to this site: https://www.motors.co.th/en/bikes/buying?make=HONDA&model=SCOOPY

Does it really? Should the Thai's be worried then about the fact that non Thai's do not have the same rights as their citizens here?

It's a shame then that the virus can also enter your system though your eyes completely bypassing your double masking efforts, which would not actually stop the virus from entering anyway unless they are tightly sealed N95 masks that are changed regularly. Do you also follow the medical experts advice about a healthy diet and plenty of exercise or is it just the advice that takes very little effort you prefer to follow?

Diet and exercise protects from a myriad of illnesses/diseases and viruses. It's no coincidence that the people dying from covid and below average life expectancy were typically overweight. A mask doesn't even stop someone from catching covid so wearing a mask and being fat is higher risk than not wearing a mask and being fit. Hardly anyone wore "quality" face masks, hardly anyone wore them properly and hardly anyone changed them every 4 hours as they were supposed to, and people felt a false sense of security thinking they were protected only to catch covid despite wearing one. I'm sure you can point to 100s of studies that show in optimal lab conditions a high quality mask did wonders but in the real world (as is very obvious from all the countries that mandated these things) they achieved absolutely nothing to stop covid spreading at equivalent rates to countries that did not.

It's fairly common here. I almost never make it past a checkpoint without being pulled over even though I'm wearing a helmet. Out of (and I'm guessing here) 50 checkpoints I've been waved through once and stopped the other 49 times whilst wearing a helmet every time. I do see Thai's getting pulled over if not wearing a helmet though, but never a Thai with a helmet. I think everyone knows these are just a money making venture rather than a safety one. Since that is the goal then racial profiling makes sense here considering motorbike rental shops will rent a bike without the renter needing a licence, whereas Thai's will have a licence unless they happen to be my GF who has never had a licence and never been stopped at a checkpoint so doesn't see the need to get one :/.

Why is it always these useless masks (that give people a false sense of security) that are being recommended when a far better defence against covid (and other illnesses that really do kill humans in great numbers) would be a healthy diet and exercise?

Hamas have stated since Oct 7 that they want to repeat this atrocity over and over again. Isreal has an obligation to their citizens to prevent this from happening again. I don't really understand why (some) people find this complicated. If Hamas were in any way not monstrous barbarians that simply want to kill Jews and wipe Isreal off the map then perhaps there would be opportunity for diplomacy, but unfortunately for the small percentage of Palestinians that do not support Hamas and their barbaric actions, Hamas have left Isreal no choice but to continue on the path of destroying Hamas. It's quite obvious that should Hamas surrender unconditionally and release all the innocent hostages that they kidnapped, that there would be an immediate ceasefire and then a diplomatic solution, but such is the intense bigotry of low expectations that comes from the left that they never call on Hamas to do so, even though that is the guaranteed way to stop the unfortunate loss of civilian lives.

Isreal has the equivalent of ISIS as a neighbour. Since their ISIS like neighbours invaded their land, killed, raped, mutilated and burned alive 1400 Isreali civilians I don't think there is a country on this earth that would not respond to that kind of barbarism with the full might of their military to ensure it never, ever happens again. I'm surprised at the restraint Isreal are showing as they have the military capability to raze Gaza to the ground if they chose to do so. Obviously it sucks to be a Palestinian just now, especially so if they are one of the small percentage that do not support Hamas or their barbaric actions, but war is a messy business. If my country (the UK) decided that instead of using a democratic vote to leave the EU and instead decided to send thousands of soldiers to commit murderous atrocities against French civilians I would fully expect the whole of Europe to respond in the same way that Isreal is doing, and I would be cursing the governing body of my own country for causing it and not blaming those that are obliged by their own citizens to do everything in their power to prevent it happening again.

You need an asterix on this line: what is killing over 11 thousand Palestinians* *figures provided by murderous lying rapists also known as Hamas

Ok I have some questions: How many other open air prisons do you know that allow their prisoners to pro-create and double their population? How is it that Arabs living in Isreal have the same rights as Jews? Does Isreal not know how to do "apartheid" correctly?

Raping innocent women? Killing children? Taking grandmothers and kids hostage? You support these kind of atrocities?

Even if it is correct... so what? With Isreal living next door to genocidal maniacs who want to kill them at every opportunity then I imagine there are thousands of potential threats they have to investigate every day/week/month. Since Isreal has not occupied Gaza since 2005 I imagine it is also pretty difficult to verify every single potential attack and after all, the terrorists only need to be lucky once. It's not Isreals fault that terrorists invaded their land, raped their women, killed their children and took innocent civilians as hostages.... it is the terrorists. If you are looking to apportion blame for the atrocities committed, then you need look no further than the terrorist organisation Hamas.