Walker88

Okay Sparktrader, then let's have Israel take down the wall between Gaza and Israel proper. Hamas has more fighters now since before 7 October, as the killing of so many innocents in Gaza was a boon to Hamas' recruitment. Since not only can terrorism not be stopped, we now have proof that retaliation against areas housing terrorists creates even more terrorists. Give Netanyahu a call and share your MAGA wisdom with him. Oh, and some of the laid off workers in the US guard the US' nuclear stockpile. I guess terrorists who might get their hands on some US nukes cannot be stopped, so why bother. MAGAs. LOL!

Maybe one of the , like really stable genius MAGAs here, can riddle me this..... If President Musk deletes 25% of the Federal workforce, how much money is saved? (Hint: It's less than 1% of the Federal Budget, but it will slow govt services like tax refunds, inspecting food for bacteria, getting a passport, approving new drugs, monitoring ports for contraband, etc. But hey, that <1% of the budget, which might mean 26 cents for the average MAGA, is worth waiting 3 years for your passport, right, or a dirty bomb getting through Baltimore and into Washington, DC?) Where's the actual fraud, waste and abuse? I suggest in that Fox Talk Show Host's department...Defense. Of the top 10 defense budgets on planet Earth (is Musk still here?), the US' is larger than the next 9 combined. I don't see anybody invading any of those other 9, except Ukraine. Heck, Pete the SecDef just got $50,000 to repaint his official residence. Now if he and Elon had any brains, they would pay a couple of illegal aliens five hundred bucks to do the job...and THEN deport them. Oh, and Elon isn't on any GS-system; he's getting paid $8 million a month for his DOGEwork, as if he needs the money. It's pretty dangerous to think just because a guy can hire smart engineers who can figure out how to catch a rocket booster he also can instantly determine where all the fraud, waste and abuse is in government, especially when he hires 19 year old college freshman to help. As I noted in another thread about the actions of President Musk, USAID funded prison guards in Syria who look after hundreds of ISIS jihadis. When their pay stopped, the guards left. Shortly thereafter, so did the ISIS jihadis. Call me a cynic, but I don't think those jihadis were rehabilitated in that Syrian jail. I suspect they're going to go back to doing what they do best, which is killing innocent people, some of whom are4 likely to be Americans.

I think you might be confusing MAGAs with Russians. MAGAs are the loud, dumb-looking ones in cargo shorts and Chang wifebeaters over their flabby, tatted, wrinkled skin.

Under Biden, besides actual GDP growth that was the best since the late 1990s, there was an increase in both spending and savings by consumers. Also record job growth. I understand the average MAGA lacks anything the modern economy demands, so it's little wonder they did so poorly while people with skills and talents made hay while the Biden sun was shining. The sad joke is that MAGAs think the PINO can help them, even if he cared they exist (which he no longer does, because he got all he needed from those losers, which was their votes.) And if you thought the inflation Biden tamed (from 9% way down to 2.2%---faster than any G& nation) was bad, wait until grocery prices soar because the folks who pick produce or prep chicken, pork and beef are either deported or too scared of getting caught in an ICE raid to go to work. I've selected an '82 Petrus to enjoy with a large helping of schadenfreude when MAGAs realize their "dream" is really a nightmare. Federal layoffs and agency closures will hit them in such ways as long long delays for tax refunds, SSDI and SNAP payments, getting a passport, having their special needs kids cared for by a country lacking a Dept of Education, more e coli and salmonella in their food due to short staff at the FDA and Dept of Agriculture, and maybe even a surprise terrorist attack because foreign intelligence liaison has stopped 100% due to nobody trusting the PINO. Now President Musk doesn't care about any of this, because he's got his $400 billion.

I think you know who he is...or was...and was before that....and before that.....and before that........

Other than in the fever swamps of the intellectually challenged in MAGAstan, where was Biden a "laughing stock"? When US GDP grew at 3 times the average g7 GDP from 2020 to 2024, do you think other G7 leaders were laughing? When the Recession the PINO produced at the end of his first term ended shortly into Biden's tenure, who was laughing? When the US was the first major nation to get the Covid-caused inflation down, who was laughing? When Biden took the previous loser's 6.8% Unemployment and saw the longest string of sub 4% unemployment in 64 years, who was laughing? For a guy supposedly "out of it" mentally, the joke is that economic performance under Biden dwarfed even the best of what 45 produced. Now THAT is funny!

Pariah...Piranha....let's call the whole thing off (sort of) Come on Jingthing...you have to cut MAGAs some slack. It's not as if a one of them sits to the right of the mean on the IQ Bell Curve (unless they're a billionaire angling for another tax cut).

That's some top level virtue signaling there, but I have to say a pretty weak attempt at Whataboutism with the Clinton jab. What Clinton did was immoral and inappropriate, but it was manly. You know the saying, "When you're a celebrity, they let you grab'em by the pussy". I'll state again that there's little chance young X Æ A-Xii Musk is going to be logging in to Asean Now, so he won't feel bad that someone made mention of his behavior. And if he does happen to visit---and if Elon keeps his reusable rocket booster in his pants---little X Æ A-Xii Musk is looking at $400,000,000,000 / 12. I think that would salve any hurt the kid might feel.

Up at the top of the page you'll see your screen name. Click on it and a menu drops down. At the bottom you will see "Sign Out". There's a safe space for gentle snowflakes like you behind that menu choice. Not sure if they offer woolly blankets and coloring books, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

You mean the fat guy sitting in the chair? I have no idea. Not sure why President Musk even lets that guy in the West Wing.

Truly. Always happy, unlike MAGAs, and especially unlike the crybaby behind the Resolute Desk always screaming UNFAIR!

I don't think you should get your panties in a twist over this. I seriously doubt X Æ A-Xii Musk is going to be reading Asean Now.

From the DNA in that booger, one could possibly clone a person who cures cancer. From the DNA of the fat guy plopped in the chair behind the desk, nothing useful could ever come of it. Note already his mutant spawn.

Of course folks are free to adorn themselves with any and all the ink they want. Up to them. I also have a way I wish to make my body look, and undoubtedly many would take exception to it. I'm a 'natty' gym rat, and I enjoy having a six pack and definition, even though it's hidden from view under my garments. I guess getting tatted is less work and perhaps less painful than hours in the gym. Tatts are others' choices, fitness is mine. Folks are free to have an opinion about tatts or fitness. In fact, it is not possible to NOT have an opinion...whether about tatts or pink hair or Chang wifebeaters or the architecture of a new building. Even being totally indifferent is an opinion of sorts. Many state their opinion that they like tatts, while others---like me, as noted in my original post---think nobody looks better with a tatt and most bearing them look downright silly. I use the term "noisy", in the way I might use it to describe, say, Victorian interior design vs traditional Japanese interior design. That I think tatts look like crap means nothing to those who find them fetching. Those who might argue I should keep my opinion to myself fail to realize how ironic that is on a Forum, the purpose of which is to state opinions......about politics or circumcision or different beers or an expanded list of pronouns or whether it's wise to date a bargirl or if one should or shouldn't get vaxxed. Perhaps the site should provide a safe space and coloring books to those gentle snowflakes offended by an opinion to which they take exception. When something was a fringe practice for thousands of years, and then suddenly became mainstream, that screams FAD. When TV shows are made about it, with competitions leading to "voting off", similar to cooking shows or drag queen performances or seeking a job with a former Game Show host turned President, it screams FAD. When a celebrity known for his heavy use of ink decides to go through the pain of burning it all off, that suggests endgame. When tatt removal parlors begin to emerge in different parts of Bangkok, that, too, suggests endgame. When I get SPAM that offers me a chance to get rid of the tatts I don't have, that also suggests endgame. The tide seems to be changing. Cocktail party chat or beer bar chat might soon shift from showing off one's latest ink to regaling others with how much it hurt to burn the stuff off. Watch. I think it's coming. My Pete Davidson example is the canary in the coal mine. The truly trendy will try to be one of the First Removers. That is my opinion, too. I could well be wrong and might end up being the last holdout on the planet with unadorned skin, like a character in the movie "The Body Snatchers", yet to be assimilated by invading aliens. Won't I then be the freak! There is an oft tossed-around term to describe people who latch on to current trends and adopt something they never considered back before the fad: sheeple. Everybody knew tatts existed 20, 30, 50 years ago, but few chose to get them. Suddenly half the people decided they had to be a part of something they never previously considered. That is a fad, and the adopters could be reasonably called "sheeple". I don't like that term, and much prefer "lemmings", especially since just as lemmings suffer the consequences of their 'follow the crowd' behavior, studies showing ink can cause some to develop autoimmune diseases and those with colored ink can develop cancer, says ink might have a negative cost. Those who joined the crowd, enjoy! Just be honest about your lack of individuality and your need to 'fit in'. We all choose the way we either wish to stand out or fit in. Even if I absolutely loved mullets or powdered wigs, I wouldn't wear either, so I admit to lacking total individuality. I saw tatts as a young kid, as my grand dad had an anchor on his arm he got on a port call during the war. Had I found such things appealing, I could have added one, too, but didn't. Tatts weren't yet a fad. Few others added them at that time either. Then the fad hit, and in my view, society is a lot less aesthetically pleasing because of it. Still, those who did or want to join the crowd are welcome to knock themselves silly. As they say in Thailand, up to you. Now back to "other opinions" on this vehicle whose purpose is to state opinions.

It’s all over but the burning. Say goodbye to the silliest fad of the last two decades: tattoos. Yes, tattoos have existed for thousands of years. In civilized society the bearers tended to be losers or sailors, which I guess is kind of redundant. Yes, certain ethnic minorities or faiths got tatted to reflect their culture or belief system, but tatts were still fringe in the wider world. Around 20 years ago tatts became a fad. Suddenly they appeared everywhere, as those who ‘wanted to be different’ began doing what everyone else was doing. The author Charles Mackay might have called it “Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds”. Celebrities got tatted. Athletes got tatted. Beta Males got tatted. Regular Joes and Janes (or maybe Noahs and Chloes) got tatted. Society began to get so “noisy” that one couldn’t tell a Hell’s Angel from a librarian. Let’s be honest. NOBODY looks better with a tattoo. Now some folks swear their tatts have ‘special personal meaning’, but it’s difficult to guess what that might be when a geeky affluent kid growing up in Greenwich, CT and attending Choate or Phillips-Exeter sports a Maori Warrior tatt. In the old days, those of us who had events or experiences with ‘special meaning’ took a different approach, rather than getting stuck with a needle and injected with ink that can cause such autoimmune reactions as Lupus: we committed things to memory. I guess we assumed that if the memory ever failed, no tattoo would be able to remind us, as we’d forget what ‘special meaning’ that tatt commemorated. Some aficianados also like to argue it’s “art”. Well, if tatts are art, then the Louve should have “Tigers Painted on Black Velvet” and “Dogs Playing Poker”, as they are equivalent in terms of importance and uniqueness. To the best of my knowledge, the Louve does not carry such works, nor does the Met or Hermitage or The Prado. (Okay, some museums do carry stuff by Damien Hirst, so I guess even curators make mistakes.) In late stage fads, things get extra silly. TV shows sprang up that combined two then-current trends, such as competitions where losers are “voted off” the show, and with the competition being the application of tattoos. A second evidence of the tattoo apocalypse being upon us was when aging and beer-bellied expats in Thailand began getting tatted, assuming the ink might make them the babe magnet they found themselves not to be when they moved to the Kingdom to “live the dream”. They would have been better off spending the dosh on a gym membership, unless they could afford the historical and quintessential symbol of Mid Life Crisis: the Porsche. Nothing screams “I blew my life” louder than a guy with an enormous gut sporting a barbed wire tatt around flabby biceps or a flame tatt on wrinkled forearms. And what’s with the old man leg tatts? Nobody is going to confuse a pensioner with a Vory v Zakone. Enter a celebrity named Pete Davidson, apparently a graduate of the US TV show Saturday Night Live, and passed-around boyfriend to other celebrities like Kim Kardashian. He was everyone’s boyfriend just as Taylor Swift was everyone’s girlfriend and Olivia Culpo was every NFL Players’ squeeze. (sidenote: Swift got Travis Kelce, a definite first ballot Hall of Famer, while Culpo finally settled for the gifted, but oft-injured Christian McCaffrey.) This Davidson fellow was knee deep in the tatt fad and was walking cacophony in the helter skelter way he had chosen to get himself stuck. (Article with pics attached). Recently he came to his senses. He began a process of burning off his youthful indiscretions and trying to make his skin look peaceful again. One pic in the attached article allegedly shows what his tabula rosa looks like now, though in the age of both Photoshop and AI, one has to retain a little skepticism. Because Mr Davidson has a platform, his actions are likely to have consequences, perhaps setting a new trend toward unadorned and non-defaced skin. If so, upscale youth will adopt it, as I’m sure Mom and Dad will be happy to pay. At some later date, bargirls who pull in 200-300K baht a month might visit the ever-expanding number of tatt-removal clinics now seen in Bangkok. I fear a time when the only remaining tatted will be non-babe magnet expats on a pension, as they will be unable to afford the laser removal fee. Insult to injury. In tech, those early to adopt the newest trend are called “First Movers”. As the tatt fad comes to an end---and not before time---Pete Davidson will likely be called a “First Remover”. https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/pete-davidson-revealed-body-looks-235614517.html

I can explain it. The areas in Blue represent 62% of US GDP. The areas in Red are a mere 38% of US GDP, and the areas most slurping at the Federal trough. The Blue areas carry the parasitic Red areas, as their inhabitants produce 9.25 times per capita the GDP output of inhabitants in the Red areas. Your numbers 312 and 226 are a reflection of Republican gerrymandering. The most glorious part of "American Democracy" is that the State of California has two Senators, while its population is greater than the combined population of ND, SD, IA, AL, AK, NV, WV, KS, TN, KY, UT, AR, NE, ID, MT, and OK, each of which have two Senators, the folks who get to approve Cabinet positions and judges. Funny those are all Red States, too. California is the world's 5th largest economy, but its Senators have less say than Senators from States who could almost fit all voters into the LA Coliseum. Absurdly, Wyoming has two Senators, but has a smaller population than Columbus, OH, a city ruled by a mayor whose name everyone outside of Columbus would have to Google.

President Musk would much rather cut the folks who do things like issue or renew passports, check food for e coli or salmonella, guard ports and inspect for drugs or dirty bombs, than stop the military industrial complex from selling $40,000 toilets or doing massive cost overruns in already-obsolete weapon systems. Why try to cut half the defense budget, or $400 billion (aka a Musk Unit), when he can fire a few thousand GS-10s who inspect food?

Absolutely. Make it mandatory on 10Ks. Let's see how good CEOs are at bribery, as that will be a new required skill set. Also, full disclosure will make it more difficult to hide kickbacks, as folks can question the recipient of a bribe to ask him if he kicked back to the US CEO. Foreign tax revenue departments will also want to see these corporate 10Ks to make sure the bribery recipient accounts on his taxes. When the US has a convicted felon and civilly convicted sex offender at President, it has to be expected that morality goes out the window. Next move will be threats. When bribes don't work to secure foreign business, corporates can threaten the families of those standing in the way of business. That happens now, but US firms are left out of such 'modern business practices'. So UNFAIR! Climb aboard the toboggan, because the slope is quite slippery.

Since the OP took "embarrassing", I will go with shameful. But there is an answer. I'm in the process of relinquishing my US citizenship, as the nation of my birth and the land for which I served no longer exists. I will miss what it was, but not what it has become. And eff the "tax" on assets greater than $3 million. Come and get me, a-holes. Back a decade ago I planned for this eventuality. I bought property in several countries where it is allowed, and have my refuges. I've moved funds to a series of international banks, some of whom don't worry about FATCA. The US offers me nothing now except embarrassment, so it's time to leave. I also suspect lots of social upheaval in the not too distant future. If the California secession movement succeeds, I might return there at some future date. There are similar movements beginning in Oregon, Washington, and New England. The PINO might need Greenland, Canada, Gaza and Panama if he wants to keep 50 stars on the flag. The US won't miss me, but I have no interest in what it has become. I've lived in monarchies and totalitarian states before, and I do not want to do it again. I find it sad that only two Republicans had any balls, and one of those was a woman. The rest are cowards, afraid of a mean Tweet or getting primaried, so they ignore their oath to the Constitution and instead act as if they are North Koreans, clapping for the clownish autocrat like trained seals. If there is an afterlife, I am quite sure Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton are outraged. As Hamilton wrote in the Federalist Papers: "When a man unprincipled in private life, desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper, possessed of considerable talents, despotic in his ordinary demeanor---known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty---when such a man is seen to mount the hobby horse of popularity---to join in the cry of danger to liberty---to take every opportunity of embarrassing the General Government and bringing it under suspicion---to flatter and fall in with all the nonsense of the zealots of the day---it may justly be suspected that his object is to throw things into confusion that he may ‘ride the storm and direct the whirlwind’”

That's some funny stuff. I have to believe you wrote it in jest. The PINO is a weak man's idea of a strong man, a loser's idea of an Alpha Male. Yes, he can fool the goobers out there, but as George Carlin once said, "Imagine how dumb the average person is; now consider half the people are dumber than that. Churchill once said that democracy is a wonderful thing, until you realize who it allows to vote. And everyone knows the H.L. Mencken quote about a moron in the White House, presaged 100 years ago. The PINO is a whining crybaby, continually screaming "UNFAIR!" and living a victim mentality. I can't quite figure if he has the emotional age of a 5 year old or a barely teenage girl. It's always "woe is me" with that butterball. As for "not caring about trivial things", the bozo rage Tweets at 3am if some late night talk show host made a joke about him, usually adding "Nobody watches that talentless guy anymore" (except him, of course, otherwise he wouldn't know). . Last week he screamed about the cover of TIME magazine, because it had Musk behind the Resolute Desk....and of course then remarked, "I thought it went out of business". Nothing could be MORE trivial than the petty things that get into his Depends. Oh, and as for "high IQ Musk", intellect does not grant one expertise over every subject. Musk does hire well, at least engineers, who can take his random thoughts and turn them into reality by doing the heavy lifting. Musk seems to be a bit of a psychopath, however, with absolutely no empathy. Example: when he released the Beta version of his self-driving Tesla, and it ran some stops signs and red lights, causing accidents and some deaths, he spoke about how you have to break a few eggs making an omelette, or some similar uncaring coldness.

Apparently weed is some sort of sacrament, so is readily available when the draught taps are locked.

Please, MAGAs, keep wearing your colors. The Vikings/Danes, Panamanians, Canadians and Palestinians of Gaza need to know who to......well....be careful out there!

I think you know the term RINO (Republicans in Name Only). Well, the fat guy is President in Name Only, answering to Musk and Project25. All that's left for him is jinxing football teams and putting bigly signatures on meaningless documents, and then holding them up with the same pride a recently toilet trained kid shows when he begs mommy to come look what he dropped in the john.

I saw a guy the other day on Sukhumvit in BKK wearing one. Typical PINO cultist: short, fat, mid-70s, newly tatted...didn't look as if his life had been too rewarding, and if he came to Thailand thinking he was going to "Live the dream", he'd have better luck with Soi dogs than any woman. He didn't really need the hat to let others know where his political fantasies lie. Most of the PINO's supporters don't need the obvious indication, either. They stand out in a crowd, and not for any good reason. Like their love muffin, they pretend to be Alpha males, but couldn't pull it off in a million years. Bone spurs types, too. The whole world is laughing. Me, too.

Your background in finance and economics is what? Harvard or Stanford MBA? Perhaps rather than just try to disparage the writers at Yahoo, you might offer some facts that contradict what the OP posted. No, that would require work and thinking, something anathema to the PINO cult.