Walker88

Interesting thread in terms of the consistency of opinion and the fairly transparent virtue signaling. I wonder if this was GG's intent....to see if everyone would jump on the same page, suggest their own wealth, but then state why they have no need to show it. Let me join in..... I live in Bangkok. Having also lived in a host of countries, I find Bangkok almost on a par with Tokyo in terms of safety from bad guys. Perhaps others have not noticed, but there are tons of Mercs, Ferraris, Porsches, Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Lambos, McLarens, etc. on the road. Not sure if those folks are flaunting, but they do seem unconcerned with anything untoward, save for dents or scratches made by Grab or Food Panda delivery guys. Certainly if there are bad guys out there, their universe of potential targets is quite high. The odds favor being overlooked. Maybe if one strolls through a bad part of town, wherever that might be, wearing a Piaget or Richard Mille at 3am, that might lead to trouble, but I'm guessing most bad guys wouldn't know real from a copy watch. they're likely more interested in gold chains or a couple thousand baht. I'm also going to guess the bad guys could be fooled by someone wearing a street market bought shirt with the word "Armani" or "Chanel" plastered across the front, and not notice the guy wearing a non-logo'd Brioni or Stefano Ricci shirt or suit. Maybe....just maybe...bad guys might suspect a fit guy with clean clothes, shirt tucked in, neatly groomed, un-tatted, acting quietly and reserved, might be that expat multi-bazillionaire, and if so, I guess that's justification for being fat and tatted, unshaven, garbed in baggy cargo pants and a Chang wife-beater. Do the latter and EVERYONE, bad guys and normal Thais, look down on you and avoid you. You'd be perfectly safe, save from scorn. Perch your bulbous backside on a barstool and try to share stories of your SAS secret missions, and you'll be as safe as a man can be, nobody coming near you. Simply having wealth might be mentally comforting, but there's little point in having it, if one is afraid to buy things that might give one pleasure, whether that is a Lambo, a fancy house or condo, or anything else that is dearly priced. Might as well just give away all the dosh and do away with any unfounded fear of becoming a target. Maybe if one lives in rural Isaan, it might be wise not to park a Bugatti Chiron in the yard, but most of Thailand is quite safe. Showing off for the sake of showing off might not be as dangerous as many posters imply, though it is rather gauche. Enjoying the spoils of what one has earned, however, is kind of nice. I have things I enjoy owning---though I couldn't care less about watches or jewelry---and I do not have any desire to make anyone jealous, but I live, act and purchase how I want, without fear anyone cares one way or the other. It's for my comfort or pleasure. Besides, in a society where one pillar of the culture is saving or promoting "face", there are a myriad of other visible targets, should a bad guy be on the hunt. Odds favor one's safety.

Elon is not the Deep State; he is THE State, right out in the open. In fact, he's Leo Di Caprio on the bow of the Titanic, screaming, "I'm the King of the World!" Musk is running the transition and calling the shots in the US. Last night he decided it's time to interfere in Germany, too. The right always barks about George Soros. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember Soros heading to Delaware or Chicago or Arkansas to meet with Biden, Obama or Clinton. Musk sets the dinner menu at Mar-a-Lago, and is 47's shadow, or perhaps 47 is now in Musk's shadow. Musk has the strings of his puppet, 47. At this time, 47 has to run his own ideas past Elon. 47 was ready to support the spending Bill, but Elon quashed it and put 47 in line. Absent an 11th hour deal---47 sycophant Speaker Johnson has just come out playing 47 with "a concept of a plan"---Christmas is postponed. No budget deal and a govt closure may well mean airports close, as ATC personnel won't be getting paid, nor will TSA employees. Those on a govt pension or living off Social Security won't be getting their checks. Anyway, it all depends on what President Musk decides is best for him. We know he loves carbon credits, because that gives Tesla buyers a $7500 tax rebate. He and his partner Vivek might decide the US no longer needs NASA, but it can be replaced by Space-X. There's an interesting editorial on the Aussie site new.com.au, which can be seen here: https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/us-politics/beginning-of-the-end-elon-musk-overreaches-in-his-relationship-with-donald-trump/news-story/fd8772e86b0a8b4d80a93816d3cc8a6f A quote from the editorial: "Elon lobbied Republicans to ditch the bill, while Mr Trump said nothing. Once it became apparent that Elon had succeeded in killing it, Mr Trump belatedly came out to echo his position. That is not authority. It’s a last-minute scramble to save face."

Yea, he loves it so much he tried to overthrow 250 years of democracy, and also put US national security at risk by stealing thousands of highly classified documents and keeping them out in the open in his wedding planning facility, where anyone willing to pony up $200K can join and have access. Those with an inability to see reality are fooled by performance art like dry-h#mping the flag at the CPAC conference run by Matt Schlapp, a guy who likes to "grab'em by the cojones", not small kittens like 45/47. As President Musk shuts down government over the holiday season, Americans on Social Security, a government pension, SNAP or SSDI, or who work for entities a South African immigrant and an Indian immigrant plan to shut down, are going to understand a phrase 45/47 used to use: "They're killing Christmas" The Grinch now has a name: Elon.

Who? Obviously President-Unelect Musk. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess one thing Musk and DOGE will not cut is carbon credits on things like.....oh....electric vehicles. With a $7500 rebate per Tesla sold, the stock price of Tesla clearly benefits from carbon credits. The US/DOGE might even shut down NASA and turn it over to Space-X, and make Space-X the only partner of Space Force. I'm also going to guess the US once again pulls out of global climate accords, but retains carbon credits on electric vehicles. President Musk will insist, and he will pull the strings of the bloated puppet sitting behind the Resolute Desk.

This is a good "fly on the wall" thread to observe. That being said...... In the internet age what seems clear is that nobody likes anybody, and racism is hard wired into our genes. Individually, we might get along, but the "other" is most always worse. A few comments on the comments: One is that Japanese are better behaved and refrain from "walking around with floozies on their arm". Well, one reason is they have their own street---Thaniya St in Bangkok". On visits to Thailand before I bought a business and moved here, I often stayed in the Silom/Saladaeng area. At breakfast, especially during the Golden Week holidays, dozens of Japanese men would come down to breakfast with their previous evenings' partner. The men would chat among themselves, as would all the young Thai women, and then all would go their separate ways---the women home, the Japanese men to the golf course. One of the reasons this may have changed is because the Japanese economy is in the doldrums and the yen trading near its weakest level in decades. Then there is a comment on "floozies", a reference to Thai women who work in the entertainment industry. Personally, I do not feel superior to those women, as I did not grow up as they did. Whatever their job, I have no moral superiority to them, and I would never use a disparaging term to describe them, such as floozy, slut, whore, etc. Yes, "your" wife or girlfriend is a good girl, and at worst was a "cashier". Good for her. That does not make her superior, nor you. And no, I don't have a girlfriend who works in the trade. They have more taste than to choose me. Most of us goal seek when we wish to feel superior. We're not like the drunk Russian who decides to dance shirtless on an agogo stage. We're not the Brit who runs naked through the streets of Pattaya. We're not the tatted Aussie who thinks it's okay to walk shirtless through the streets of a major cosmopolitan city. We're not the American caught with an underage girl in his hotel room. Whom do the Thais prefer? Maybe if I'm an Administrator at Bumrungrad Hospital, it's Arabs. Maybe if I own agogos, it's young Koreans or multi millionaire Western expats. If I own a pub in a major tourist zone, it's Brits with a serious drinking problem. If I'm a landlord on Walking Street in Pattaya, it's French men. Maybe if I own a seafood grill, it's Chinese. Maybe if I'm an Indian watch seller, it's "Bob", looking for another "Roleks" or "P R J". Personally, all I know is I am luckier than most everyone, and I had nothing to do with it. Accident of birth. I thus feel a responsibility to behave, act polite, dress well, keep my voice low, accept the inevitable difference of opinion or misunderstanding that might possibly result from cross cultural contact, and just "be nice". There but for the grace of Zeus go I, as a "floozy" or dancing drunk Russian or shirtless Aussie or eternally angry and status-seeking "Bob".

Like much media, CNN has suffered because it splits the intelligent demographic among many networks geared toward an above average intellect demographic (i.e., CNN, MSNBC, PBS, Al Jazeera, NBC and non-cable media) Roger Ailes of Fox had a cynical, albeit brilliant idea to create a network for lesser intellects, assuming actual news was far to complex for them to understand. Instead, he created a venue where everything is black and white and simple. He also knew his demographic wants rage and wants to be angry at something, as it gives their lives meaning. He purposefully chose staff of mediocre intellect, assuming they could relate better to the left-of-the-mean on the IQ Bell Curve that was his target demographic. In his business plan he argued that despite the lesser intellects being less economically successful, if he could draw a majority of them to his network, their combined economic clout would be attractive to advertisers. He was right. He knew his creation would not draw Porsche or Brioni or Audemars Piguet, but it would draw My Pillow, Bud Light, Denny's, the F-150 maker, and tobacco chewers ("Just a pinch between your cheek and gum and it sure feels relaxing"). CNN, like other news media (save for Fox, Newsmax and other Fox wannabes), gave the viewing public too much credit for being intelligent. They are far too high brow, whereas guys like Hannity and Watters and Gutfeld are low brow enough to attract the goobers of society. A second problem is that professional journalists saw that news had become entertainment, so far too many argumentative panel shows were put on, Only a few networks like Al Jazeera, BBC, PBS and NHK have maintained programs that do in depth studies of important issues.

I'm thankful that the Cult of the Wormheads has come here to solve this mystery. I have no doubt that the next volcanic eruption or solar eclipse will also be attributable to "The Jab". I'm a little surprised how many expat PhD biochemists have settled in Thailand and joined AN. We're just lucky, I guess. I'm one of those Luddites who do not believe that correlation equals causation, nor do I believe everything on the internet is Gospel truth. That's just the natural skeptic in me. I see that data and consider things like: ---Awareness among the area population that that particular hospital has developed a comprehensive cancer treatment program and broadcast it, so folks turn toward it for treatment ? ---The prevalence of the area consumption of Koi Pla, which has been linked to liver cancer ? ---Rising levels of pollution countrywide, but cancer patients not congregating at one specific hospital in other areas ? ---Some particular cancer causing substance in some factory or farms in that area ? ---Better reporting and data keeping re cancer numbers ? ---Better detection methods ? ---Tattoos ? ---An alien bio weapon being tested first in Khon Kaen ? /sarc The skeptic in me also questions the credibility of a proponent of odd conspiracies who takes exception to FDA-approved vaccines, but is perfectly comfortable injecting himself with heroin sourced from rural Myanmar or Afghanistan.

Another 50 or so similar lawsuits, and ABC will approach the penalty paid by Fox Comedy News for lying about Dominion Voting Machines. Of course there's still Smartmatic, and that one, if it ever get adjudicated, is for $2 billion and change. We need more apologies from the radical fascist and lying right.

So if I understand the 47 Doctrine, which is capitulation before combat, if and when Mexico decides to reclaim its ancient and long historical sovereignty over southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, 47 will just let them have it. No bloodshed and wasted resources. Certainly the ethnic Hispanic people in those States likely prefer to be under Hispanic and Latin leadership, not some white guy from Queens. Maybe give south Florida, including Mar-a-Lago (that name certainly doesn't sound Caucasian), to Cuba, too. Hispanic people are the majority in south Florida anyway. And the bonus is maybe Mexico will then build a wall and even pay for it. Oh, and since I'll be running my business in Thailand, it makes no difference to me and my life.

I think it's a problem not limited to Thais, but young people worldwide. Modern 'conveniences' have led to limited development of the brain, which ostensibly stops developing at age 25. Buy something for 40 units most anywhere, and give a 100 denomination note, and out come the calculators in Bangkok or Boston. Others have mentioned map reading....many young people couldn't find their way home without GPS. They fail to learn spatial skills or conceptualize the layout of their domain. I've impressed the hell out of service staff by instantly telling them change, such as what I'm due for a 787 baht meal if I've handed the staffer a thousand baht. One is instantly Eye N Stine. Again, this is hardly limited to Thailand. I'm going to guess few of today's young people could do Feynman tricks for solving complex integrals in their head. Another thing is many young people cannot read the time on the watch they are wearing as a fashion item. They do not know what the three hands...hour, minute, second...mean and how those relate to the numbers in a circle. They need to look at their phone, which say 13:26. Many skills that helped the brain develop lots of connections are no longer being used. Most people do not even write long hand anymore, instead just typing or using their thumbs to touch a phone screen. Writing cursive script once helped the brain develop spatial orientation and coordinate hand movements. No more. This stuff doesn't just materialize on its own; it requires doing specific actions to generate neural connections.

Michael Estes, Curtis Allen, Gavin Wright, Patrick Stein, Adam Purinton, Jeremy Christian, Wade Page, Edgar Welch, Sam Woodward, James Fields, Dylann Roof, Robert Bowers, Ian David Long, Cesar Sayoc, Gregory Bush, Stephen Paddock, Christopher Hansson As Trink used to say, " 'nough said".

The Third Man, The Man Who Would Be King, Casablanca, To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, Lawrence of Arabia, The Maltese Falcon, The Comedians....and if anything more modern, Body of Lies (especially Mark Short's performance), The Big Short, and Margin Call (most accurate depiction of a Wall Street firm and trading floor).

Let me fill in the missing parts of Bob's story.... He forgot his phone but had his camera. Since Bob is a Rolex guy, I assume his camera is a Leica M6 rangefinder, and he probably had the 35mm Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0 attached. The camera is film, however, not digital, and in his haste he grabbed a roll of Kodachrome 25 from the freezer. Sadly, the last two labs that developed K25---Yodobashi Camera in Tokyo and a neighborhood lab in New Jersey, stopped doing K25 about 15 years ago, so Bob was stuck on the sidewalk, conclusive evidence in hand, but nowhere to develop the film and subsequently post the image here. Just the luck of that nasty taxi driver that Bob is a bit of a Luddite and still uses film. Otherwise, he would have used his connections and gotten Big Joke all over this affront to geometry and theology.

The "Great Disaster" that was Bidenomics delivered the highest US growth in two and a half decades, and saw unemployment drop below 4% for the longest stretch in 64 years. Since taking office and inheriting the Recession and 6.8% UE left by 45, the US grew at 3 times the rate of the average G7 nation. I guess---to quote Bill Clinton---it depends on what the meaning of 'disaster' is. I fully understand that the modern tech economy requires labor bring talent and marketable skills to the table. Those who cannot do that were left out, while those who did bring those things to the table saw their wages rise and lifted overall national savings rates and spending, which is truly rare. What is somewhat surprising, or maybe amusing, is that those who did not see their net worth soar under Biden failed because they lack the skills the modern economy demands, so those who diss Biden as some sort of economic failure are really admitting that THEY are the failures. Good that those who post here about how bad the Biden economy was (or rather their own ability to benefit from it) freely admit their personal shortcomings for all the community to see. Now during the campaign I did hear things about Hannibal Lecter and things about Arnold Palmer's junk I never knew, but unless I missed it, I do not recall 47 outlining his plan to help those the modern economy has left behind. Maybe it's still just a concept of a plan? I know it's not "Drill, baby, drill", because under Biden the US produced more energy than it used, and still has 9000 approved drilling leases nobody has picked up. His disciples can correct me i"m wrong, but I don't think massive tariffs nor military tribunals to get Liz Cheney in jail are going to help the kind of person who voted for 47. Lacking any other info about 47's plan, which no doubt "some people....many people...are saying it's the best plan they've ever heard", I have to assume his cult is chomping at the bit to get those strawberry picking jobs currently being staffed by undocumented migrants. The fresh air and exercise will be good for them, as I see from his rallies much of his supporters are on the obese side of things.

Take a number. Many similar potential disasters out there. While I have absolutely no doubt 47 will mess up the Biden Boom and drop the US into a Recession or Depression, one has to look at debt from a different perspective. Here's the Debt-to-GDP ratios of some ostensibly developed economies. In a relative sense, the US is not too bad. US: 89.79% Japan: 304.51% Germany: 80.89% UK: 110.76% France: 130.17% Italy: 175.39% Brazil: 108.09% Belgium: 126.06% Spain: 137.15% Greece: 231.76% hat the US has going for it, besides being less indebted relative to Japan, the UK, France, Brazil, etc., is that it has massive capital markets where money can flow in and out easily, and has a rule of law that the rest of the world trusts. Servicing debt is the key. Nobody thinks any sovereign debt of any nation will ever be repaid; it just gets rolled over and funds are printed to service it via interest payments. Now here's the rub: foreign entities---govts and private corps/individuals---finance around 25% of the yearly deficit. In his earlier iteration as the supposed President, 45 said he would consider defaulting on debt owned by non-US entities. That's not good. That doesn't build confidence. If foreigners went on strike and stopped buying US paper, rates would soar, and nothing the Fed could do that would not result in wild inflation.

He's a conspiracy theorist. Don't bother him with things like facts. Delusion is his stock in trade.

Well, there's a comment based on nothing but ignorance. Geopolitical eks bert are you? And what did 45 do that was a miracle? Better than the fish and loaves myth? Silly. Explain how Syria is Biden's fault. Maybe Tulsi Gabbard, the nominee for DNI, and Assad's best friend in the US can give you the lowdown?

You must be one of those poor guys who missed out on the best US economy since the late 1990s. Wages up, savings up, UE ran below 4% for the longest period in 64 years, and the Recession and 6.8% unemployment left by 45 was brought to a screeching halt. The US grew 3 times faster than the G7 average since 2020. Admittedly it required having talent or marketable skills to benefit from the Biden Boom, but to think 47 either has a clue how to bring obviated workers into the economy or even cares anymore (since he got the losers' votes) is the height of naivete and wishful thinking. Tell me what crime a civilian like Liz Cheney committed that 47 says she has to face a military tribunal? Sounds rather fascist to thinking people, which is to say music to the ears of the cult. The world has changed. It's Darwinian Capitalism now, where those with talents and skills prosper, while those without will be left farther and farther behind. If you failed to get rich under Biden and the economic boom, it's only going to get worse under 47. In his disastrous MtP interview, he followed his comment about jailing January 6 Committee members with saying he's re4ally concerned with "drill, baby, drill". What a willfully ignorant moron! It seems he failed to notice the US now produces more energy than it uses, and already there are 9000+ approved drilling leases that no one has decided to take up. Comments like he made fool the equally willfully ignorant, which is to say his cult.

I think maybe you meant Tass, not Fox. The guy is a traitor to everything for which the US supposedly stands. The fascist said in an interview he intends to pardon the terrorists who stormed the Capitol, wanted to hang the US Vice President, and injured 140 police officers, but jail the members of the January 6th Committee (who committed no crime). Perhaps Biden will pardon the guy caught with an AR-15 near where the bloated one was playing golf?

Lots of fertile imaginations among the cult members, stating fantasies as fact, or maybe just "alternative facts". Patel stated in his book and in interviews he would prosecute people who failed to believe the stolen election lie. Failing to believe a lie is not a crime, but Patel has stated he will go after former govt officials and media personalities. Kind of smells lie Fascism. But the cult is okay with that, though they cried like babies when their messiah was indicted for stealing hundreds of classified documents, which IS a crime, or getting intimately involved in the fake elector scheme.. Maybe Patel will investigate the investigators of the investigators, which is kind of a second or third derivative. John Durham gave, inter alia, John Brennan a clean bill of health for the manner he handled the intel received from liaison and other sources related to 45's campaign cooperation with Russian intel assets, such as Konstantin Kilimnik.* (I know John set up a Bigot List as soon as the intel came in, hand carried it to the WH for Obama to read, and sent all of it to the FBI, the agency with the authority to investigate Americans. That is textbook handling of intel of that sort. Durham not only interviewed everyone on that Bigot List, he even interviewed agency personnel who had no knowledge of the intel. The agency came out 100% clean. Maybe Patel is unhappy about that and will now investigate Durham. *(Recall that in his first week as Campaign Manager, Manafort traveled to Spain and met GRU asset Kilimnik and handed him detailed internal polling data, which Kilimnik passed to the GRU's Internet Research Agency in St Pete, who subsequently produced fake tales about HRC and other Dems and forwarded them to voters in swing States via Facebook and other social media feeds. All of that was in the Republican-led SSCI 1000-page report on the Russia investigation.)

You keep hearing these rumblings from your barstool? Maybe it's the alcohol talking? Anyway, even if you're correct that there are rumblings, I really don't think Biden is going to pardon Matt Gaetz.

LOL! Most members of the cult are obese, out of shape, dumb old men ("I love the poorly educated"...45). As for me, the government spent a lot of time and money teaching me to be skilled in things I would have preferred not to have ever had to use. "Snowflake" is probably not the right term for me and those like me. Gym Rat, maybe, but not snowflake nor blubberbutt like most of the cult. Oh, and you know absolutely nothing about "most illegals", nor do you know how most terrorists enter the US (#1 is via commercial airline, #2 is from Canada). Many terrorists are stopped, quietly, before they board a commercial flight, because foreign liaison intel services provide shared intel, from their own sources, to US intel. Already allied nations have said they will not share while 47 is POTUS, as he has both a history of mouthing off (Israeli penetration of ISIS was outed by 45 in his Oval Office chat with FM Lavrov and Amb Kislyak) and is wildly cavalier and irresponsible with the handling of classified documents. If you know nothing about all of this, best keep quiet, lest you do---as Lincoln once said---"want to remove all doubt" about your total lack of knowledge.

Really? How about "perhaps" you might be a pedo, so you should be investigated? Maybe you are unaware of how justice is carried out, but there must be suspicion of criminal activity in order to investigate. You have inside info? What crime did Liz Cheney commit? What crime did journalists and media personalities commit? Not believing the stolen election lie is not on the books as a criminal offense, except in magastan. As for FBI or the former DCI (all on the list), they are required by virtue of their jobs to pursue intelligence data. I know the former DCI well, and he followed his job mandate to the absolute letter of the law, and was even given not only a clean bill of health, but also was praised by 45-appointed SC John Durham. He is a target of Patel simply because he was critical of 45. What Patel claims he will do, if confirmed or recess appointed, is nothing less than weaponization of justice and fascism.

Let me guess...you did not read the LINKED article, nor did you listen to Patel's interview with Bannon. It was Rudy who said "truth is not truth", but you've changed that to "truth is nonsense".

Remember the George Carlin quip: "Think of how dumb the average person is. Now think half the people are dumber than that." The people who missed out on the Biden Booming Economy are not going to be helped by massive tariffs, nor cutbacks in programs that supplement their income (which DOGE will slash). 47 has absolutely no solution, not even the 'concept of a plan' to address the redundancy in unskilled human labor. It is only going to get worse as AI comes online. Perhaps a cult member has inside info on "a plan we'll be releasing in two weeks; some people are saying it's the most amazing plan they've ever seen". (Anyone who has listened to 45/47 knows this silly, albeit regularly issued line.)