Walker88

I seem to remember trump making a joke about the passing of Rep Elijah Cummings. I also seem to remember trump making a joke of Paul Pelosi getting hammered in the head. The glee the bloated clown gets from ruined lives is phenomenal.

They do. I'd like to think it's the matinee idol good looks, my sculpted bod, maybe the Cary Grant charm, but truth be told, I suspect it's the Gulfstream. When my new G-800 gets delivered, it's going to be incessant. You know, when you're a star, you can just kiss them, even grab them by the WHOOPS! That's somebody else' line. Frankly, I feel honored to be part of this AN Wobegon-style community, where everybody is above average. We're all handsome, all have 4-digit IQs, we're all mega-rich, everybody looks 10-20 years younger than they are, and we're all babe magnets.

It is a bit of a trek. I usually do Delhi-Chandigarh, stay a night, then do Chandigarh-Manali. Roads are.....bad, on the second leg.

I understand both Reps Comer and Gym Jordan are looking for a new liar, so that they can show false outrage and bring another vote to the floor of the House to impeach Biden for crimes no one has yet to find. The magas are also criticizing "libtards" and "demorats" for being stuck in a 'time is linear' mode. The magas want to convict and execute now, and later find some crime to indict. Delay is for ACTUAL trump criminal activity, whereas speed is for non-existent Biden crimes.

TDS is what afflicts trumpers, who are unable to see the fatboy is anything other than a corrupt, self-serving bag of sh!t. As the late Christopher Hitchens said of another trump-type loser, "He's so full of sh!t that if you gave him an enema, you could bury him in a matchbox." As for Tucker, he's always been a gutless weeny.

Try Manali in Himachal Pradesh. Absolutely spectacular. Manali is already at altitude and has lovely fresh air, carrying the glorious scent of the deodar cedar trees that pepper the landscape. Though it might be a tourist spot, I've never seen another tourist there. That part of India is predominantly Buddhist, not Hindu. Lots of bell-wearing yaks around town. There are small guest houses and one nice hotel, rooms with a fireplace and a large balcony, where the snow-capped Himalayas are in full view. From Manali it's a gut-wrenching drive up to Rohtang Pass, but well worth it (provided you survive). The road is gravel, winding up another 8-10,000 feet to Rohtang. Boulders sometimes roll down the moutain and cross the road, so one must keep his eyes open. Traffic obviously goes in both directions, but generally there's only space for one vehicle, and there are no guardrails. The traditional wood-framed trucks common to India roads come at you full speed, with Shiva as their co-pilot, so to speak, so caution is not their byword. There are a few spots along the drive where the drop is around 5000 feet, straight as a beggar can spit. Plenty of cars and buses do not make it, and their wrecks are still sitting untouched near the bottom of the drive. So common are bus mishaps that take dozens of lives on India's Himalayan roads, that the reporting makes maybe Page 29 of The Times of India newspaper. It's a 'dog bites man' sort of tale. Keep going after Rohtang and you hit the Ladakh area. The entire area gives one the feel of the Sean Connery/Michael Caine film "The Man Who Would Be King", based on the Kipling tale. In honor of that film, the first time I went I grew the beard as worn by Connery in the movie (the under-chin area clean shaven). There was a TV show in the US called Ice Road Truckers or something like that, and one of the drives they did was up over Rohtang Pass.

NARA isn't the agency in charge when highly classified documents are involved. NO docs classified TS, SCI, Codeword, SAP, SITK, HCS or RD will ever be part of trump's "Presidential Library". The reason the FBI got involved because it was brought to their attention the nature of what trump had stolen. NARA people do not have the clearance level to search or retain such documents. It would require a TS/SCI clearance level, and for the RD, a Q clearance. The various agencies have to assume what was in the docs trump stole is compromised. Because he stole some rated HCS, that likely means exfils of clandestine assets in sensitive positions in hostile nations. Perhaps Fox or Newsmax has given the talking points on what trump intended to do with such docs, because the only logical explanation is he intended to monetize them. putin would pay billions to know the identities of clandestine assets inside his government.

The Repubs are both moronic and cowardly. They're afraid of a mean Tweet, so nobody will stand up to trump. trump lost them the House in 2018, the Senate in 2020 and 2022, he personally lost the WH, and he's going to lose them both the House and Senate in November. Perhaps trump realizes his goobers are tapped out, so he's stopped schlepping NFTs and threads from his suits, and just gone straight for the Repub treasure chest to pay his legal bills. With DiL now Vice Chair, he can probably tap the RNC to cover what he owes E Jean Carroll for sexually assaulting and defaming her. Repubs just accept trump's taking all of the Party's money for himself. It looks as if trump also lost them the open House seat in NY, as the Dem candidate scored points on the border issue, while the electorate was aware there's currently no border deal only because trump wants it to remain a campaign issue. Voters want a deal now, not in January, so that took votes away from the R candidate. trump, of course, blamed her, because she was late endorsing him. Nothing is ever trump's fault. I'm sure it was Obama or Biden that made trump an obese slob. Only Nikki has suddenly discovered some cojones, as she realizes her only chance is to discredit him. She (finally) took exception to trump's years of disparaging the military, but only because the fatboy went after her husband, a Major now deployed in the Horn of Africa. She dredged up trump's comments about 'suckers and losers'. Of course Haley waited far too long to go on the counterattack. At least she's got more balls than Ted Cruz, who fully accepted trump calling Cruz's wife ugly. With trump's tiny hands in the Repub cookie jar, candidates for dog catcher in rural America are going to have a bigger war chest than R Senate or House candidates.

Kind of surprising a thread about glasses runs to 5 pages (so far), with some folks 'focused' on price rather than vision. Unless I missed it, you did not mention the actual reason for your dissatisfaction...not clear? Dizzy when wearing? Double vision? I would suggest going to a hospital and having an proper eye doctor check you out, not only for an exact prescription, but for things such as macular degeneration and cataracts. With the strong sun in Thailand, cataracts come early in life, and can evidence themselves in double vision. I don't know your age, but I remember my father developing macular degeneration after age 60. Glasses cannot correct for either of those. Also, if your test includes 'this one is better', there is a possibility you over-correct on the prescription. That can make you dizzy when wearing the glasses. Most eye doctors see what you say is clearest, and knock a little off for the actual prescription. Good lenses with proper coatings and ground accurately across a wide range of the lens are well worth the money. Cheap lenses have poor coatings and the prescription is only accurate in a small center portion of the lens. Frames are obviously a personal choice. A nice titanium from from a company like Lindberg will retail for 25000 baht but every shop will reduce to maybe 17000. Many of their frames have a groove, so it takes an expert to cut the lenses. With the groove, the lens will never pop out, and with titanium frames, you have many chances to inadvertently sit on your glasses without breaking anything. If you haven't checked, do look at cataracts or MD. The sun is a killer for cataracts. I have met doctors who do freebies in Myanmar on 10 year old kids who live along the Ayewaddy River, and the combo of strong sun and reflection off the water gives the kids cataracts at a young age.

The Biden Administration, despite Joe's age, is getting things done. The economy is absolutely booming, several million jobs go unfilled, more Americans are working than at any time in US history, and the long-neglected infrastructure is being repaired. It's likely the best times in the US since the late 1990s. trump can destroy all of that, divide the country further, alienate allies and trading partners, and likely lead to a total and final collapse of the dollar. Easy choice for rational people.

There's also some weird foreigners who arrive at multiple complex solutions with minimal information, back up their assertions with a one-time anecdote, and all of their concocted solutions are invariably dead wrong. One might consider such practices a kind of mental health disorder, or evidence of failure in their study at the Sherlock Holmes School of Deductive Reasoning.

Totally unhinged. Typical trumper. Biden started what war? He has gone after those who attacked the US. putin invaded Ukraine, Hamas attacked Israel. Your messiah wanted to kill somebody, so he ordered the strike on Gen Qasem Soleimani. I know you're not well-versed in economics, but here's a question....what do you think would be the result of giving $25,000 to every man, woman and child in the US? trump did that, at least by adding $8,400,000,000,000 in new National Debt in his 4 miserable years. Biden & the Fed have that down, more Americans are working than ever, the economic growth dwarfs even the coattails trump inherited from Obama, and the dollar is strong. Part of the reason folks are trying to cross the border is because of Biden's roaring economy. Under trump, with his massive failure in Covid, even those fleeing persecution didn't want to come. trump, along with his supporters, are losers. They should ask themselves this question: Would anybody on the face of the Earth be envious of them and what they have accomplished in life? LOL

Wait! You're tucker carlson now, with insight into putin's mind? Perhaps you can explain why bombing schools and hospitals in Ukraine is in anyone's interest, except for a little guy who hopes to rebuild the empire of Nicolas II? Three weeks under your current iteration, and already 1100 posts. Rich and rewarding life you must lead.

Kitty Genovese. She applies. The concept is the same. The US prefers not to be like those who ignored Kitty. When a combination of US interests and common decency apply, the US gets involved. Occasionally the US gets involved even when its interests don't apply, but not always. Oh, why did your messiah kill Gen Qasem Soleimani? What threat was the general to kids playing baseball in Nebraska? Maybe donny just wanted to say he killed somebody?

From your poll of N of 1. Not statistically significant. How's the economy in your country doing, Sparky?

Since trump has a habit of never paying his bills, I guess E. Jean Carroll, now owed $88.3 million from the convicted sex offender, and any others the deadbeat trump stiffed, should be ‘encouraged’ to do whatever they want to trump. For example, if Ms Carroll wants, she should have trump tied down, have raw wagyu steaks rubbed all over his johnson, and then unleash a few hundred rats to consume whatever of trump’s junk they want---if they can find it. Hardly even a meal for one---says Stormy Daniels, whose exact quote was “..not freakishly small, but well below average”---it at least would be apropos and justice for the assault a jury concluded trump committed against Ms Carroll, and what the presiding judge said was rape.

A rare point of agreement. Of course, anyone with more than one brain cell, not just a brain cell, knows trump meant it, just like rational and intelligent people knew trump wasn't joking about injecting disinfectant to fight Covid or locking 'her' up (he found that he couldn't appoint an AG who would do his bidding). putin is evil, but he is not an idiot. trump is an idiot. As a former spook, putin can assess character, and no doubt knows exactly how to manipulate trump. putin, if he so chose, could take up what you call an "off the cuff remark" and move into Poland, Estonia or Finland, and trump would do absolutely nothing. Besides being an idiot, trump is a coward. I will never forget trump's ashen face in Helsinki after meeting with putin. putin, OTOH, wore a Cheshire Cat smile. One can guess (or know) what words were exchanged in that closed door meeting. Minutes later trump claimed he trusted little vladdy more than the CIA. putin owns trump. That is why trump's idiotic words were dangerous, and have European officials up in arms.

Your understanding of geopolitics is on par with trump's understanding of Quantum Field Theory. Tug already pointed out your talk of Biden accepting money from China is a lie. Your North Korea comment is too silly to bother with a comment. You can access numerous history books to bring you up to speed. As for Iran, Biden did not 'give' Iran billions; he returned Iran's money to it. No doubt if he hadn't, you would call Biden a thief. The JCPOA, put together under Obama, 100% took Iran out of the nuke game. Their high speed centrifuges were smashed, all but medical research reactors were filled with cement (so all enrichment of U235 to bomb quality was halted). Iran's capability was reduced to about 18% enriched, and 93% is required to make a bomb. International AEC inspectors were allowed to inspect at any time, and the CIA had to issue a report every six months confirming Iran was in compliance with the deal. It was one of the most effective negotiations the US ever had with any enemy ever. Obama also authorized the use of Stuxnet against existing HSC facilities before negotiating the JCPOA, so Iran knew the US had them in their sights. That was leverage. trump abrogated the JCPOA for no reason other than Obama had put it together. Iran immediately began importing machinery to begin enriching uranium again, and also knew how to get around Stuxnet. It was a childish act by a fragile ego, vindictive moron. The secondary goal of the JCPOA---other than its wildly successful aim of getting Iran out of the nuke game---was to negotiate additional measures against Iran's support of Shi'a terror groups---like Hezbollah and the Houthis. Because trump abrogated JCPOA, that foothold into Irani negotiations was gone...and history shows what that led to, such as the horrific Yemen civil war and Hamas attacking Israel.

You think putin won't take that as an open invitation? You think trump would actually do anything---other than pull out of NATO---if putin attacked a NATO member? You think that sends a positive message to NATO allies and the world? Perhaps you get your jollies hearing about innocent deaths, like in Ukraine---oh, unless you think all Ukrainians are Nazis like many trumpers. Incredible naivete.

Maybe this is more correctly aimed at younger folks, who still have time to build up some wealth. If you’re old, it’s too late. Unless your pension and savings are substantial, they are unlikely to be enough to cover your living costs as time moves on, and no way it will cover end-of-life medical costs. There’s way too much debt in the world (often a result of entitlements and the need for governments to fund them). So to cover debt servicing costs, governments print more money, which is inflationary. The goal post becomes a moving target, as even if pensions try to adjust to cost of living increases, the money printed to cover the increases creates yet more inflation. Trying to asymptotically hit costs with rising pension amounts equates to failure and inability to pay. The goal post will move faster than any increase in entitlements. One and one equals two, not three. All retirement and pension systems are built on a Ponzi Scheme that always assumed ever-increasing populations. That has changed, and it changed at a time when debt is at or near unsustainable levels. Nobody paid into the system what they expect or need to get back, but via a Ponzi Scheme, we could long pretend to the contrary. Not anymore. Older pensioners just getting by then have two choices, neither of which is pretty. Stay in Thailand, and as the body decays, just grin and bear it. It’s rather unfair for expats to foist care costs on to the Thai taxpayer. Your decline is not their fault, nor their patriotic responsibility. The other choice is go home and hope the home government will take care of you at the end. Even that might become unlikely, as shrinking populations in many Western lands means fewer working folks have to cover an increasing number of pensioners, and eventually the workers are going to bark and---cold as it might sound---say “let them die, as they are no longer contributing to the general good”. Eskimos used to put their elderly on an ice flow and push them out into the cold seas. Japanese used to send old folks to ‘the eighth place’. Such behavior has precedent. So young people, start saving and planning for a future where public resources are going to be less, self-reliance more. As for old people just getting by, have a nice day.

The world has not gone any more mad than it has always been. What happens is that many old people, as they age, become bitter and let fairly meaningless things bother them and occupy way too many of their waking thoughts. To some extent such bitterness comes as the signs of dementia become apparent, as the brain tends to focus on things that elicit the strongest emotions. There are things of infinite more significance in the world than if some media shows same-sex couples engaged in affection, or a very small number of people insist on new pronouns, or it takes you an extra minute to delete people with whom you do not want to dally. Anti-wokism identifies someone as a bitter old man. It's a broadcast of your advancing age and declining mental facilities that have you focus on what outrages you the most. Let it go. All of wokeness is easilly avoided by being more selective in one’s viewing or reading habits or swiping left (right?). Too many old people become like moths to a flame, deliberately viewing unimportant things that send them into a rage, perhaps because that’s about all they have left to allow them to feel ‘alive’.

Unlike the Bloated Orange one, Maher is actually self-made. Granted talent is not a prerequisite for financial and popular success (I give you Kim Kardashian and Blackpink), but Maher does get a few things right. He was the first to accurately predict trump would cry like a baby if he lost and try everything possible to not give up the Presidency. Most people scoffed at Maher for that view, but he absolutely nailed it, fully understanding the self-centered, weak ego, childish and vindictive nature of Orange Pillsbury Dough Boy.

That's a bold statement, Sparky. Certainly I would put any Maher fan in a Mensa test room with a trumper and give odds on who comes out on top. It ain't gonna be no trumper (I know....double negative and slang). Person Man Woman Camera TV is John von Neumann-level to a trumper. Admittedly, Maher is slipping as weed and age take a toll, but he is one of the few mainstream interviewers who purposely brings divergent views to the table. Heck, he even had Bannon on once, and (though Maher himself doesn't seem to remember it) Vivek Ramaswamy.

Sorry, GG, but I'll take exception to your comments, and maybe burst a bubble. The first exception is that Maher is quite intelligent, but years and years of weed have probably taken a few billion brain cells and a whole lot of IQ points. His Random show puts it in living color. Maher insists weed gives him insight, though watching Random disabuses outside objective observers from affirming that. Nothing whose sole reason to be is to get one high---literally altering brain chemistry---is positive long term. As for Darien, it's frightfully boring, and is known as the town where hedge fund managers who can't afford Greenwich settle. It makes for a slightly longer commute to the City. It's not Paradise on Earth. That would be Pebble Beach and its surrounding area.

The line i put in bold not only says 'insurrection', but also disqualifies those who 'have given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof'. Obviously trump did that. Some of the terrorists were convicted of insurrection, and trump gave them aid and comfort, including announcing he would pardon them. Also, though it might be implicit, it does not state conviction. I realize there is zero chance that court is going to rule in CO's favor, and I also know that if they did rule in favor, States like TN, KY, WV, FL (DeSantis) and TX (Abbott) would take Biden off the ballot with some flimsy excuse. I wish SC Smith had charged trump with Insurrection, even Sedition, but I understand why he didn't. Still, the # of terrorists who would have showed up had trump not called them, or attacked the Capitol if trump hadn't wound them up, is ZERO. His lies and his fomenting brought them to DC and sent them to attack the Capitol. It is 100% trump's fault.