Walker88

Maybe I'm not old, but I don't think weed is the end of the world (though I have zero interest in using it), I don't smoke tobacco, I'm in top shape, I'm no booze hound, my diet is great, and I've never had a prescription. Best not to generalize.

I can appreciate the opinions on both sides. Shopowners were kind of hoodwinked into jumping into the business, despite the admonitions against 'recreational use'. Of course the explosion of shops never made sense to me...I assume the owners got high rather than doing a proper business plan. I can also see the new government's position that it's kind of an embarrassing view, as the shops are anything but subtle. Many sprung up in a major tourists and entertainment area (Soi 4 to Asoke)....I counted 25 shops in that stretch or just off Sukhumvit, and most champion the whole "pothead" motif. Turbocharged Cheech and Chong might not be the image Thailand wants. (It may not want the agogo image either, but at least in Bangkok those venues are fairly restricted to certain parts of town, while weed shops are everywhere.) From a business perspective, I cannot imagine many---maybe any---of the shops are turning a profit. They are mostly in prime (aka expensive) locations, and a lot of money was spent renovating former Family Marts/Lawson 108s/etc. to try to differentiate themselves from the weed shop next door....and next door...and next door...and across the street. I don't know the margin on the product itself, but I do have a pretty good idea of the costs for rent, electricity, staff, etc., so unless weed margins are massive---which is highly unlikely given the saturation of the market---I really doubt many owners are happy they jumped in. Personally---something that matters little to anyone else---I'm not fond of altered states of consciousness, no matter its source. I do enjoy a cold beer or a glass or two of wine with dinner, but that's because of the taste, not the effect. If I begin to feel the slightest buzz, I switch to water. Booze can be just for flavor, though I accept many or most people chase a buzz. With weed, the sole recreational point is a buzz. Others can make that choice; I choose not to have a buzz, as I find life interesting and exciting enough without it. I also find both drunks and potheads to be unbelievably boring. Most think every erratic or stray thought entering their noggins, while under the influence, is as profound as a cosmic revelation, when in fact it's banal if not downright stupid. Among their fellow drunks and potheads maybe it's "Wow!", but for those whose state is not altered, it's just irritating and dull. If weed has a leg up on booze, it's that a pothead is less likely to go looking for a fight. As for the benefits another poster listed earlier (e.g., blood pressure, inflammation, anxiety, cancer), one can get the same benefits from, of all things, an industrial dye: methylene blue, albeit with zero negative side effects and no altered consciousness.

It IS against the law to engage in violence because of a silly opinion. Courts that had judges appointed by both Dems and Repubs---and even trump-appointed judges---viewed the so-called 'evidence' and found it spurious. Recounts in several States found no evidence of fraud (save for a guy in PA who voted for his dead mother---and he had her vote for trump). Even the silly "Cyberninjas" who did the investigation in Arizona, found out that trump lost AZ. These 1/3 of Americans are the kind of people who believed the absurdity---spouted by the obviously insane Sydney Powell---that the dead Hugo Chavez programmed (from the grave) an Italian satellite that altered Dominion voting machines. The Onion could not produce a more absurd story, yet trumpers bought into it. That smacks of 60-70 IQ.

It should be noted that almost a third of all Americans believe Tom Hanks and Hillary Clinton are part of an international cabal that kidnaps, rapes, roasts and eats babies (QAnon). Look at the IQ Bell Curve. There's a huge area left of the mean, by definition. Go a standard deviation or two left of the mean, and you arrive in the heart of trumpistan. trumpers are not the brightest lights. They lost the Birth Lottery. They are the reason the Nigerian 419 Scam is still going strong.

Silly. They were sent there by a crybaby traitor and intended to both stop the certification of a legitimate election, plus hang the Vice President and kill the Speaker of the House. They assaulted cops, injuring 147 of them. Sadly, only one of the terrorists was shot. All should have been napalmed. Those terrorists represented a much greater threat to the US than all the jihadis in the tribal areas of Pakistan, in Afghanistan, or the Iranian general trump ordered killed.

None is so blind as he who has eyes but refuses to see. It WAS an insurrection...an attempt to overthrow the government. Those goobers and terrorists were not heading to the Capitol---at traitor trump's request---to buy souvenirs. They weren't beating cops with metal pipes, flagpoles and stick, nor shooting bear spray at them, because they just heard about a big discount on Capitol Coffee Mugs. They fully intended to stop the certification of the election. Many of them were hellbent on hanging the Vice President (because he refused to break the law) and killing the Speaker of the House. That you cannot see nor accept that says a lot about your mental stability, or lack thereof. There is no other explanation for that degree of idiocy.

True that ^ Speaking from a US perspective, he'd better have a 4.0 GPA and Medcats in the top 1%. Then there's all those prerequisites: Biology Human Biology Organic Chemistry Inorganic Chemistry Biochemistry Physics Advanced Calculus Of course I know he's not serious, but if he has a grandkid who is hellbent on med school.......

It's a bit unrealistic to think about med school at your age, though I suspect you know that. Two hours of sleep a night is the norm for several years. Better one is 22 years old and still full of piss and vinegar. The term 'pallor' was coined to describe the facial skin of med students and interns. (Oh, and your "six years" may well be unrealistic, unless your math, organic and inorganic chem, physics, biochem, etc., is still fresh in your mind.) Years ago I was on that path, saved only because someone offered me a paying job (and I was already up to my pallor in debt from undergrad). I would also suggest that before even thinking about med school, go visit a med school dissection lab. It can be jolting, both because of what you see and that smell which will never leave your nostrils. Table after table replete with a donated body, opened up in all sorts of gory ways, and the stench of preservative chemicals filling the air, even getting into your white lab coat. Lots of gallows humor, too, as everyone tries to get accustomed to the sights and enure themselves to what will be their own future, both in work and 'after'. Better you buy a bar than think about psychiatry.

She's actually a lovely young woman, perhaps a bit too trusting of her environment. Hopefully she gets her necklace back. If not, maybe a generous member here could be so kind as to replace it for her.

If you need specifics to squelch your attempt at Whataboutism, read the War Powers Act. That congressionally-passed Act allows the President to engage in military action when US personnel of US interests are threatened. The President has such power for 60 days from the first action. He merely needs to inform Congressional leadership of his actions, which President Biden has done. He also must continue to inform leadership of the ongoing actions, which Biden has done. So you, and your strange bedfellow Cori Bush can relax. Meanwhile, trump is still guilty.

I suppose trumpers who agree with their messiah that military personnel, especially those who died, are 'suckers and losers', they expect that---if military targets come under attack---they first have to send a FLASH cable back to the Joint Chiefs, who then call up the President, who then has to call Sen Majority Leader and House Leader to wake up their fellows and get to the Capitol, then take a vote---probably after debate that would run largely along partisan lines---then tell POTUS, who tells the Joint Chiefs, who then cables back to those under attack, and let them know if they can, or cannot, fight back. Of course something that Cori Bush et al might have forgotten, is that under her namesake Dubya, the Bills related to the War on Terror, give POTUS authority to call such strikes. Thus, Biden won't need the immunity. Oh, and yesterday, when questioned, trump agreed with his 'crack' legal team that a President is totally immune and, if he wants, can assassinate critics or political opponents and suffer zero consequences.

Don't you know? trump's crack legal staff is trying to argue, at least in his Georgia case, that trump is innocent because "he didn't know it was illegal to try to overthrow an election".

Really? I guess Cori Bush is a Constitutional Scholar. Please don't tell her that trump did the same thing in Syria. Oh, and trump ordered those strikes while having dinner with some foreign officials at his country club. He even announced to the table that "Excuse me, but I have to go order some air strikes against Syria". I'm always amused when trumpers demonstrate the degree in Whataboutism they earned from the now-defunk trump university. It's quite a stretch trying to go after Biden for taking steps to protect US military personnel and international shipping, albeit ignoring or excusing trump's attempt to overthrow 250 years of US democracy, theft of highly classified documents, etc.

555 Please provide proof of all the illegalities of Biden and Obama. As for trump, pointing out his illegalities is only limited by time itself, as his crimes come so fast and furious. Insurrection, fake electors, browbeating State officials to commit election fraud, theft of highly classied documents, sexual assault, business fraud, bank fraud, insurance fraud, charity fraud.... What trump should worry about is if Presidential immunity actually comes to pass. That would allow Biden to have trump assassinated, and then resign. Come to think of it, sounds pretty good.

Did you see trump's "Loser Face" sitting in that court yesterday. He knows he's up against it. He knows his years of fraud are going to cost him. Even if he appeals the judgement, he will still be required to post cash while he appeals. Interestingly, trump still has loans, via SIVs set up off Deutsche Bank's balance sheet, whose monetary source is Russian oligarchs. This was confirmed several times in the past by both of trump's sons. Stiffing US bondholders and subcontractors is one thing, but trump would be in a world of trouble if he stiffed Russians. A couple of Secret Service agents are hardly capable of keeping the hired help of the Russians away from trump. On Friday, another NY court will hear from E Jean Carroll, who is suing trump for ongoing defamation, and was already awarded $5 million for trump's sexual assault of her in a Bergdorf-Goodman dressing room years ago.

The actual sad reality is that his cult excuses every single crime their messiah commits, whether it is bank and insurance fraud, fomenting insurrection, stealing highly classified documents, trying to browbeat State officials to commit election fraud, appoint fake electors to try to overturn an election, get away with sexual assault, etc. trump's "crack" staff, just this week, argued to two different courts (Georgia State system, DC Circuit Court) the following: 1) In Georgia, his team filed a defense stating "trump did not know trying to overturn an election was illegal" 2) In front of the DC Circuit Court, his lawyer argued that a President is immune from prosecution unless first found guilty in the Senate after impeachment in the House, and this means a sitting President can have his political opponents or critics assassinated and be immune from prosecution, unless impeached and convicted in the Senate first. That means, according to trump's lawyers, he could have had Biden assassinated, and then resigned before impeachment, getting off scot free. Silly trump had better hope the DC Circuit Court strikes down this immunity nonsense, lest Biden decide to have trump killed, and then Biden could simply resign before getting impeached, and walk away scot free.

Yes. Imagine a country where people are held accountable for their crimes! What's next? No automatic immunity? How is a dictator wannabe going to be able to assassinate his critics and political opponents? The HORROR! I'm sure you either don't know or are incapable of escaping the vapors from trump's bloated backside, but here is the crux of the NY trial: trump lied on his financial statements in the hope of getting reduced rates of interest (which is a crime in NY). At that time he was heavily investing in NJ casinos, too, so he was cash strapped. Had he not been able to get the reduced interest rates, he would not have been able to service the loans from NY. Also, the NY borrowings had personal guarantees, so non-payment would hit his wallet. In NJ, he did a few things differently. He set up each property as an independent entity, with no personal guarantee. Collateral was the land and project itself. He borrowed from 72 banks, plus he issued junk bonds. As CEO of each of the NJ projects, he paid himself a massive salary, and used that money to repay his personally-guaranteed NY loans. He then declared bankruptcy for each of his NJ casino and hotel properties, stiffing the banks, bondholders and subcontractors who did the construction and renovation. He violated the covenants of both his NJ loans and the junk bonds, but lenders and bondholders knew he was tapped out and settled for 30 cents on the dollar or less as they assumed his land and properties. As you might know, those losses eventually get passed on to taxpayers, as the stiffed entities---banks, bondholders, subcontractors---put their losses against profits in order to reduce their taxes. An amusing side story is that trump's father co-signed the NY loans, so was also personally liable. (The supposed "self-made" donny had his dad as co-signer of all his loans until his dad passed. trump also inherited $412 million when dad died, and had been receiving a massive allowance from dad since the age of 3, which amounted to over $100 million by the time his actually successful dad died. When a loan payment was due in NY, dad had an associate go into one of donny's NJ casinos and purchase $3 million in chips. That cash was then used to meet a loan payment in NY. Dad was charged with making an illegal loan. One key part of the lawsuit is that it is illegal in NY to lie on bank loan applications and also to lie on insurance applications. The crime doesn't even require a victim, though there are victims in the fact that lenders and insurers---and their shareholders---earned less revenue. trump's claim that the banks should have done their own "due diligence" is both legally irrelevant and silly. If borrowers are not required to be honest, there would be no point in filling out a loan application. Lenders have to rely to a large extent on what loan applicants attest to with their signature on applications. Oh, and the whining about an unfair judge is immaterial. trump's legal time had the choice of a bench trial or jury trial. They chose a bench trial, which means only one person---the judge---determines guilt or innocence. Judge Engeron (who received a bomb threat at his home just this week by a typical violent trump cult member, like the goobers who attacked the US Capitol at trump's urging), ruled that trump and his company committed fraud according to the NY law. This is all a matter of public record, and can be accessed with a bit of Googling.

Amber

He did get to speak, so that's one less thing the snowflake can whine about. For unknown reasons, trump's legal team chose a bench trial rather than a jury trial. They had a choice. The judge then ruled that trump had committed fraud. trump was able to get much lower rates because of his lies. At that time he was also heavily investing in Atlantic City casinos, so he had poor cash flow. The low rates he got via his lies helped, but he also siphoned money off of his casino projects, which he funded via 72 banks plus via the issuance of junk bonds. So he was only able to repay the fraudulently favorable NYC rates because he siphoned off his NJ projects. A key part of these deals is that the NYC borrowings had personal guarantees, while his NJ properties were only guaranteed by the land and projects themselves. So bankruptcy of his NJ properties would not hurt him personally, while non-payment in NYC would have hit his own wallet. When he had siphoned off enough from NJ to repay his NYC borrowings, he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for his NJ properties, stiffing the banks, bondholders and the subcontractors he had used in the construction of his casinos. It is possible that the AG of the State of New Jersey will consider doing what the NY AG James has done, and charge trump with fraud for siphoning off funds to use in areas not entitled by the junk bond covenants for his casinos. That would also fall under SEC rules, so federal charges might result.

trump tapped into the Loser Demographic, which are people who cannot make it in a modern, competitive world or who feel entitled to things because of their ethnicity. He tapped into those who are incapable of accepting personal responsibility for their own failings and who need someone else to blame. He also tapped into losers who jump on to every conspiracy theory whackjobs make up. He tells them what they want to hear to salve their fragile loser egos. Look at his cult: the racist tikitorch slimeballs from Charlottesville, who chanted "Jews will not replace us". trump owns the QAnon Cult. He has the entire Incel movement. He has the vast majority of non-college educated, below average wage, below average intellect demo. He has the Talibangicals, who even hold the silly belief that some deity sent a serial philandering, pathological liar, corrupt, self-centered, misogynistic Narcissist to 'save 'Merica'. He has the gun nuts, who think the US has no First Amendment, but just the Second. Oh, and his cult hates the Fourteenth Amendment, which prohibits anyone to run for elected office if they have engaged in insurrection against the government, which trump most surely did (fake elector scheme, pressuring election officials to change votes, calling his goobers to DC on 6 Jan 2021 and then encouraging them to go disrupt a pro forma election certification). Analysis of his demo groups paint a picture of losers, the forlorn, the unsuccessful. Consider: trump won 85% of all US Counties, but collectively they represent only 38% of US GDP, while Biden (and HRC in 2016) won only 15% of US Counties, but they represent 62% of total US GDP. Doing the math, that means Biden areas are 9.25 times more productive than trump areas. trump owns the Red States, but they lead the US in being parasitic (taking more from the Federal Govt than their citizens pay in taxes), lead the US in % of citizens on Social Security Disability Insurance and SNAP Cards, also opioid addiction rates. It's no wonder they have little connection to reality. They think trump was a success, when the reality includes: trump was the first President since Herbert Hoover in 1932 to leave office with fewer Americans employed than when he entered, and his economic growth (as measured by GDP change) was the worst since Hoover...and that was even before Covid hit. Oh, and trump's tenure was 80% finished when Covid hit the US, so "Covid" is hardly an excuse for his failure. In any society there are always going to be losers. There is also likely to be self-serving clowns whose one skill is telling the losers what they want to hear. trump sings that siren song. The thing is, losers will still be losers.

Heaven? A fantasy, dipped in hope, covered in superstition. My heaven is right here, right now, because it is all I will ever have. Enjoy it while you last.

Had a memorable flight on Saudia many years ago, on a business trip from NY to Jeddah. Got put next to a Saudi woman holding a baby. Mom's face was covered, but she decided to breast feed shortly after takeoff. Her 'milk carton' was out in the open about a foot from my face. It was......uncomfortable. I asked the flight attendant if I could be moved. She found an empty row in Economy, and asked if that was okay. I went back there, and the entire section was all female, all Western. Apparently the women were temp hires to be used on charter Hajj flights. So back section economy was one guy and 100 temp flight attendants. While it sounds entertaining, the lines for the bathroom went forever. I was kind of disabused of the fantasy of 'doing the flight attendant'. I kept thinking of the Robin Williams' skit about 'AIr Jihad': "Will you be sitting in armed, or unarmed?" Since I had an entire row (seating back there was 3-5-3), I put all the arm rests up in my row and made it a bed. No booze, but overhead compasses let me know the exact direction of Mecca, just in case I felt the need to pray (which I did not). I would not recommend Saudia, unless the flight was free. Even then, no.

Classical: Julian Bream Finger style: Leo Kottke, Ton van Bergeyk Fret Tapping: Stanley Jordan Popular: Prince Offbeat: Michael Hedges

As they say on Late Night Infomercials.... But wait! There's more! In the last day, here's some absurdities spewing from that abomination known as trumpistan: ---trump hopes the US economy crashes, thinking it will help him ---trump's legal defense in his Georgia case is, "He didn't know trying to overthrow an election is illegal" (This is what his 'crack' legal team filed with the court in the US State of Georgia yesterday.) ---trump re-posted on his Lie Truth Social a video where he is portrayed as a messenger from god. The video actually says: "And on June 14, 1946, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, ‘I need a caretaker,’ so God gave us Trump.” Ostensibly that sort of nonsense appeals to the US Talibangicals.

How ignorant does someone need to be, and how broken is one's logic to think trump meant anything less than HE WANTS A CRASH BECAUSE HE THINKS IT WILL HELP HIM? The reason the Nigerian 419 Scam still exists i because their are such people.