Walker88

Sit back and watch the mental gymnastics his cult goes through. First, claim it's untrue. When shown 45 did suggest it, they return to the Mothership for reprogramming. Next, they'll parrot 45, suggesting the FBI could have 'planted evidence'. Next, it will be stated as fact, despite a total lack of evidence. And they will BELIEVE ! And if all else fails, "what about her emails !"

Been following your 'discussion' with another poster, and I have to say my own experience matches what you see. Not every resident owns a paddy field, and banks hardly want lots of paddy as collateral on their books. Granted a few banks got silly before Covid, but with the level of NPLs now in Thai banks (real NPLs, not the window-dressing accounting they have been allowed), few are looking to take in more paddy as collateral. Thai household debt is at an all time high. Overall, I know corporates issued debt at a multiple of GDP growth since 2011, which suggests the so-called Thai boom was just debt fueled. Given the current state of the banking system, on the bottom of the customer list is going to be Isaan. I do think one's view is a function of where one spends time in Isaan. Be adjacent to a major highway, things look not so bad. Houses are fairly new, running water and modern toilets common, even a (financed) car outside. Get a bit away from the major highways, and it's outhouses, leaky roofs, no jobs save for field work, and at best a beaten down motorbike. One sees old car batteries with wires attached running lights strung under a woven bamboo roof. if there is public electricity attached to the house, best to not assume it's properly grounded. Maybe there's a car in the area, and if yes, one can hire it, but most homes have no car parked outside. Everybody knows where the closest "7" is, but it's a long way off. If there are young people still in the village (more males than females), they might have a goal of working in a Big C or a petrol station. Some join the military. Again, others' experience may differ. What you write is what I have experienced.

No, one need not be 'terribly naive' not to think that; one need only not to be a conspiratorialist or cult member, or not have their cynicism impacted by the grifting behavior of 45. 45's son made a particularly silly statement, which reflected perfectly his gene pool, when he said, "Nobody knows more about how the White House works than me, and I know the President and AG discuss these things" Well, sad sack son knows only how his grifter father ran the WH; he has no clue how more moral and law abiding Presidents did things, which is to stay out of DoJ matters and let the AG do things without fear nor favor. AG Garland is 100% by the book, so he would not have informed Biden. In contrast, 45 tried repeatedly to weaponize the DoJ, wanting them to go after his enemies like John Brennan and Andrew McCabe, as well, of course, HRC. In contrast, I am intimately familiar with how the Obama Admin handled the entire Russia matter. It first came to the attention of CIA, and NOT via Christopher Steele. John Brennan, then DCI, immediately set up a Bigot List, severely restricting knowledge of the intel (some of which came from clandestine sources). Brennan did nothing with it except hand all intel, in total, to the FBI and DoJ, who would have authority on matters when a US Person is involved. Obama also decided to make no public statement regarding the fact that putin was trying to help 45 (this is not saying 45 knew and accepted the help, only that putin had a goal of helping 45). THAT is professional, and even was subsequently blessed by Durham, who found Brennan and CIA, plus Obama, had followed the letter of the law 100%.

Are you playing the Home Version of Whataboutism?

An interesting aspect of this is that neither DoJ nor the FBI publicized a thing about this warrant and search. The only reason it became public is because 45 told everyone. The search took place over ten hours. Not a peep from DoJ or FBI. Had either said anything publicly, 45 would have whined that those entities are trying to prejudice people against him and how 'terribly UNFAIR !" is it, as is his usual Snowflakian whine. 45 was given no ammunition, so instead he simmered for a while then decided how he was going to grift it: portray himself as an innocent victim and then raise money off of it. His cult then had their talking points already ready and helped him play the victim card, even insinuating that ex-POTUSs are above the law. That is just more proof of the damage wrought by the carnival barker 45....the most cherished US ideals are suspended for him, such as being subject to law or admitting defeat in an election he clearly lost, or helping in the peaceful transition. Everything he ever does is 100% self-serving and aimed at fueling the passions of his cult, even toward violence. The Cult had their comments ready: one House Rep tweeted: "If they can do this to a former POTUS, imagine what they can do to you", as if law enforcement has never executed a search warrant against a suspected criminal act ever, and it implied that an ex-POTUS is above the law. Has there ever been a sillier statement from an elected official who supposedly swore an oath not to a person, but to the Constitution? Now the reason the public knows what they know is because of a combination of 45 whines and on-scene reporters talking about 12 boxes of stuff carried off. Both DoJ and FBI have remained quiet, as they should. Any utterance by either would immediately be met with cries of 'prejudicial statements'. The pros at both entities have given no ammo to the cult. 45 is free to publicize the warrant, too, as he has a full copy, but he has chosen not to do so, as that would take away his ability to try to control the narrative. He can whine like the crybaby he is---and it works in his cult---but it has to frustrate him that DoJ and FBI are behaving 100% professionally and in no way prejudicing the situation.

There is a delicious irony unfolding in this case: As a stringer in a Bill he signed in 2018, the penalties were increased for "knowingly removing classified materials with the intent to retain them at an unauthorized location." Until 45 signed the Bill, the maximum penalty was a 1 year prison sentence. Now it is a felony-level offense and the maximum sentence increased to 5 years in the Federal Penn. It seems 45 might get hoisted on his own petard.

There are two kinds of people who still support 45 and are members of his cult. One kind is the cowardly hypocrites, like rubio, cruz and other pols who were aghast at HRC's server, but ignore 45's abuse of classified material. I recall one instance just after 45 fired comey, when he met in the Oval Office with Lavrov and Kislyak, where he told them some things Israel had shared in confidence about ISIS and a penetration of that terror group. Isis was listening, or maybe tipped off by russia, and the penetration was beheaded. That's okay to the cowardly hypocrites. All they want is to keep their jobs, so even though privately they will say 45 is a clown, publicly they fear alienating his rabid base. a guy like mccarthy is just dumb, so calling him a hypocrite gives him more credit than he is due. The other kind if the aggrieved unsuccessful white loser, whether an old guy or a young Incel, who cannot accept responsibility for their own abject failures in life and who are exploited by the siren song of 45, who tells them nothing is their fault. This group tends to inhabit the area well left of the mean on the IQ Bell Curve and is also willfully ignorant. They are too lazy to do simple checks to see when 45 lies (such as his constant boast of 'best economy evah', when it wasn't even as strong as under Obama, and at the lower end of all POTUSs since the end of WWII.) They don't understand any of the concepts and ideals upon which the US was based, such as rule of law or even democracy, and they are so naive and gullible as to make me understand why the Nigerian 419 scam is still active after all these years. PT Barnum wrote of them being among the 'suckers born every minute'. I am reminded of those who get outraged and violent because a Danish cartoonist penned an image of a certain someone. The mindset of those religious fanatics and 45 supporters is identical. One can see across social media today these miscreants calling for assassinations, 'defunding the FBI' and other idiocy. I'm at a loss to try to explain how so much of the US could have sunk so low that they support a self-serving, corrupt, Narcissistic, fascist, entitled, autocrat wannabe who is really nothing more than a modern day Snake Oil Salesman. How did the US get so ignorant? I think the AG knows full well that no matter what the investigation finds, 45 will lose no support. He could hand putin the nuclear codes and the cult would jump to his defense. It seems Garland chose to do what's right, not what might make a difference. NOBODY is above the law. Garland is reminding us of that today.

Yes, taking any sort of moral stand to aid innocents suffering unspeakable atrocities is so passe. Clearly Edmund Burke was so wrong.

And with NATO comes the US and its nuclear capability. That is a deterrent both nations sought. NATO nations contacted Biden to request troops and training, plus equipment upgrades. Biden responded. Perhaps you have inside contacts in Foggy Bottom or Langley? Maybe Crystal City? I'm guessing......No.

"Hardly a supporter of 45" That's some funny stuff. dershowitz spent 4 years trying to have 45 appoint him to the SC. He sucked up endlessly. As for 'declassified', a POTUS---not a former POTUS, by the way---can declassify, but it is formal. Perhaps dershowitz has all the memos regarding individual documents and secrets 45 declassified? Ha ha ha.

Gee, I see no argument. NATO is now unified again. It's even adding two new members. 45 wanted to disband it, as he had no understanding of what it did for the world since its founding. I find it astonishing how his cult believes all of his lies. It's either mass insanity or willful ignorance. 45 can grift all day long, and his cult keeps feeding him. It's a gaggle of old white losers who cannot accept responsibility for their own failures in life, and along comes 45 to give them both excuses and enemies to blame. "Best economy ever" was one of his man spurious claims. NOT EVEN CLOSE A simple check of quarterly GDP figures going back to the end of WWII shows 45 to be a bottom dweller. That was BEFORE Covid. After Covid he sunk even lower. Obama's job numbers and stock market while Obama served dwarf 45. Obama inherited a Recession and pulled the country out. 45 inherited growth and handed Biden a Recession. What's worse, is that 45 added a 37% increase to the total national Debt, built up over 250 years. That is astonishing profligacy, and when debt growth exceeds GDP growth, that's called debt-fueled. Your neighbor maxes his credit cards buying a new F-150, a bassboat, a 50-cal Barrett sniper rifle, and pretends he's successful. Then the mailman comes with the bill. Seems he wasn't really killing it businesswise. Now his cult is trying to come up with excuses why 45 should be forgiven for illegally removing and keeping classified docs, claiming it was in error and returning some of them (but keeping others). The same cult members joined in his chants of "Lock her up" for HRC's server, yet excuse what are likely massive security breaches of highly classified material. Pure hypocrisy. I've written a lot already on the procedures involved in monitoring and tracking the most sensitive >TS material. The system would know what is missing (of hard copies made). The system would even know the date of printing hard copies and on whose printer. 45 is likely in deep trouble, He is coming to the realization he is not above the law.

I'm glad if that's the case. In my many visits to Isaan, what I saw was what I wrote. Maybe just (un)lucky. I see areas particularly hard hit by Covid, as remittances stopped, bank loans dried up, and dreams died. The major roads look fine, but go off a km or more and it is a different world.

Again, since you have no knowledge of how the classification system works, your opinions are prone to error. In the past, I was on some Bigot Lists...which are built to monitor the most sensitive documents and secrets. Often a courier would come around with a folder that read "Eyes Only". I would be allowed to read a numbered copy. My reading would be recorded. There was a continual trail following that doc by the number, as well as any other copies of it. If the time came to either archive or destroy the document copy, that, too, would be recorded. Every single copy ever made of that doc would have a trail. Clearly some sensitive docs printed during 45's Admin are unaccounted for. These docs might involve sensitive sources and methods, could be the nuke codes or other highly sensitive nuke data, it could be new weapons systems....things like that which could jeopardize natsec or clandestine assets. The paper trail seems to have led to MaL. When I worked in the position I did, I was told that my first priority was to protect a source, even if that means putting myself in jeopardy or giving up my own life. I was told we owe that to clandestine assets. Enormous long term harm could come from any exposure of a clandestine source---not just to the source, but to future sources who might realize their identities could be subject to the whims and entitlement of a former elected official. Now I don't know if the sought docs involve clandestine sources, but I do know whatever was being sought was of major significance, and a paper trail went fallow somewhere that led to MaL. This is not 'political'. Believe what you want, but you are doing so out of ignorance of how the system works and what safeguards are built into it.

I used a Cray supercomputer and it spat out the answer: The OP should try to marry Pansy Ho, the late Stanley Ho's daughter.

You make the assumption that this is harrassment. Do you think ex-POTUSs are above the law? Do you know how the classification system works, how the trail is kept, and what classified docs 45 has a right to hold (none)? As I have written above, the system for highly classified (above TS) is complex and sophisticated. The system would know how many hard copies exist and must account for all of them. It seems some highly sensitive docs were unaccounted for. As for Biden being 'dysfunctional' or suffering from dementia...he just got a few critical Bills passed, so if that is dysfunctional, let's have more of it. Biden is now as Biden has always been. He has always spoken freely and made as many gaffes at 30 as he does today. That is a pretty cheap and baseless comment, not backed by reality. It has become a meme, but that does not make it true. 3.5% UE, rebuilt NATO and expanded NATO membership, $350 billion debt reduction in FY21 and $1.7 trillion in FY22, and gas back under $4/gal looks pretty functional. Apparently Biden spends an inordinate amount of time actually doing his job, rather than golfing or calling into Fox.

Is he a child who needs my sympathy? Why have you gone full 45Speak only using superlatives 'most persecuted human being alive'? If you are American, does it not concern you that 45 not only encouraged the mob to storm the Capitol and overturn US democracy, but 45 did NOTHING for 187 minutes while watching on TV the mob screaming "Hang Mike Pence" as well as attacking law enforcement officers? Read my post above that explains a bit about the sophistication of the classification system and archive. The system would have a good idea what docs are missing, and how serious their presence in an un-secure location would be. By the way, there was a time when the term 'most persecuted human being alive' could have been claimed by Al Capone. There was persecution with good reason.

Chances are high something will be found. The classification and archive system is quite complex and sophisticated. When a classified doc is formed, it goes into a complex system. Every time that doc is accessed, the system records when it was accessed and on what computer. If a doc is printed, it is known when it was printed and on what printer. A printed doc then has a trail and must be reconciled, either where it is stored or when it made it into a burn bag. Also, there are no thumb drive ports in any computer than can access classified docs, so it's hard copy only. The system is not foolproof, but counterintel or the archive would have a good idea what docs are unaccounted for. The more sensitive the docs (above TS classification into codeword or Bigot List), every copy is accounted for, those with access is minimal, so what is missing is obvious. I can guess that it was this level of worry that allowed a judge to sign off on the warrant. The only sorts of things that would be so highly classified that this degree of concern would be warranted would be things like clandestine asset identities, covert actions, nuke codes, special weapons systems, etc. Obviously 45 would have neither reason nor right to retain such docs, and he would know that, so he cannot claim ignorance. It seems quite clear some highly classified docs were printed, the system knows when (e.g., early January 2021?), and the system cannot reconcile what happened to those printed docs. One might suspect an opportunist like jared as a possible culprit, as he regularly used his access first and foremost for personal gain, but the fact the warrant did not go after jared suggests the information the investigators had is highly specific.

Ah......no. Not a single tuktuk driver in Bangkok is going to take a foreigner from, say, Soi Cowboy to NEP for 50 baht. First ask price is going to be at least 200 baht, and maybe....just maybe...he'd settle for 100 baht for the 1 minute ride.

While there are (were) pockets of growth in rural Isaan, most of it (from my experience) is as you posted. Covid made things even worse, as it cut off remittances from women who had gone off to Patts and BKK. Yes, even in remote areas, one can find a Big C or Tesco-Lotus, but those tend to be wildly overstaffed. Few seem to be hiring. Half-built structures, started when banks lent freely, lost their funding during Covid, which not only means a NPL, but no new construction jobs. My experience in rural Isaan equals corrugated metal home walls, tarp roofs that leak during the rainy season, outhouses, hibachi-style stoves, scabies on the kids, and field work if lucky. Not particularly hi-so.

45 was skipper of the Banana Boat. He tried to overthrow the democratically elected govt. That is sedition. Or do you think he sent all those cult members to the Capitol on 6 January to shop in the Capitol Gift Center? While watching the insurrection by the terrorists (FBI DIR Wray's term) he sat for 187 minutes doing nothing, knowing full well the mob was intent on hanging the VP. 45 did nothing. No calling out of the NatGuard---which only he could do, unlike some silly folks who think Pelosi could have...NOT A self-claimed 'law and order guy, he watched on TV as dozens or even hundreds of Capitol Police were attacked by the mob. The supposed 'billionaire' raised millions from his naive supporters, ostensibly for his defense or to 'prove' vote fraud, but used the funds for personal purposes. Just yesterday it was revealed $60,000 went to 45's wife's fashion designer. It baffles me why anyone still supports that clown. When did the US turn 40% willfully ignorant?

Seems you have forgotten history. Obama inherited an abject disaster. He brought UE down from 10.4% to 4.8%. The economy grew---and better than under 45 even before Covid. 45 tried to take credit for Veterans benefits passed by Obama. Obama saved the banking system by forcing banks to slash leverage, recapitalize, and sell off NPLs. Same with the insurance industry, after AIG tried to assuem all of te world's risk. 45 benefited from what Obama left him. Under 45, however, the National Debt exploded from $19.6 trillion to $27.6 trillion. GDP growth---before Covid---was less than the debt added, so the so-called growth was debt fueled. After Covid, growth went negative and UE jumped to 6,8%, where 45 left it---worse than what he inherited. Every POTUS has gotten a MidEast "Peace Deal". There never is and never will be peace in the ME. So what did 45 do except grift? Nothing. Well, he did almost destroy NATO, so there's that.

South Korea is a vibrant democracy that also operates via the rule of law. In theory, NOBODY is above the law. South Korea has jailed 3 former Prime Ministers for corruption. If South Korea can do it, the supposed beacon of democracy and rule of law can do it, too.

Remember that familiar chant from 45's Hate-ins back in 2016, brought back again in 2020? "Lock her up !" That was because HRC had a server in her basement. 45 brought back at least 15 boxes of documents from the White House, some of which were classified TopSecret and other classifications, like the old classification of TS Umbra and Codeword. No reason to remove such docs from the safety of a heavily guarded facility, and he had no need for them. Why would he take them? As a private individual, he has no right to such things, as it could jeopardize 'sources and methods'. Lock him up !

Some foreigners are under the mistaken impression it's still 1980. Thai women have a lot more knowledge and a lot more options than they did 40 years ago. I see older foreigners who come to Thailand to 'live the dream'. Back home they were old, fat, and of modest means. When they come to Thailand, they're old, fat, and of modest means...but in Thailand. Not exactly a 'catch' in today's Thailand. It takes as much 'game' now to win over a lovely Thai woman as it would to win over a desirable woman back home. One had best be neat, clean, in shape, kind hearted, and fairly successful. Young is also a plus. That is reality in 2022. The foreigners who are in long term relationships here had something to offer that was appealing to their mate. That being said, Thai women can be quite lovely and desirable to newcomers, and that could prove an inspiration to a man looking for a relationship. While beauty is probably evenly distributed around the country, I have often found---as some others who have posted here---that it's tough to beat Buriram. Just bring your A game, because a lovely Thai woman need not settle for second rate.

Was Hunter POTUS? Served in some govt position? Didn't know that. Thought he was just a child of POTUS, like jr & eric. He wasn't even a nepotistic 'senior adviser' like ivanka and jared. I do remember jr and eric were running around Dubai and India---at US Taxpayer expense with SS protection---trying to sell name-licensed properties, and jared's sister was selling condos that came with a Green Card. jared also got $1.4 billion in new financing for his 666 Fifth Ave property, just before it was to be foreclosed, by the Govt of Qatar. Shortly thereafter, Qatar was removed from a sanctions list. Coincidence, no doubt. Oh, and DirFBI Wray was appointed by....45 I guess 45 misjudged Wray, not realizing he believes in US ideals of everyone being equal under the law, and that Wray's loyalty is to the Constitution, not an individual.