Fat is a type of crazy

So you don't think New Zealand or the UK are democracies? I think that is an excuse to throw out the baby with the bathwater - it's not perfect so I'll call it a "democracy" and deny it is a thing - and a good thing. Everyone is corrupt and bad and elections aren't fair so I'll give a pass to non democratic authoritarian leaders - at least they admit what they are. Straight out of the authoritarian playbook. Next thing you are defending the indefensible but who cares because they are all bad. Fight to fix democracy not accept authoritarian overlords.

As has been pointed out it is many of the Republicans looking back stating election fraud was thing. Looks like it didn't prove as much as a winner as they hoped.

A good sign Republicans haven't done well is when the election fraud stuff comes out. If you are correct it looks like, not for the first or last time, Putin got it wrong.

There are much worse aspects of human nature on show than things you have mentioned. Thankfully the Democrats did much better than expected - many Democrat policies are to the right of Australia, and the key point is they accept election results, and have decent people running as candidates. Not all bad for Republicans - they'll probably take the house. The prison release thing is not as simple as you think - America has more prisoners than China compared to population and many people held in prison are due to minor things like bond issues - nearly all democrats believe those who do serious crimes should get serious time. The saying sorry thing is a tiny minority and hey - open up to the fact that bad things happened. Young men hugging bunny rabbits - a bit of fun. You note YOUNG girls want mass migration - young uni students tend to be lefties but before social media you never saw them. Most people have commonsense on transgender stuff but if you want extreme opinions you can find them. You are Australian - you might remember a feminist group in the 80's protesting against ex servicemen - I don't agree but it's good to live in a country where you can have your say. Soldiers do do bad things.

John Oliver can be a mixed bag but you might like to watch his show tonight on youtube to get the gist of the risk of what is happening if you genuinely do not see it. So many candidates denying Trump lost and shouting about voter fraud that never happened. There's a difference between a few democrats raising issues once or twice after Trump won and such a widespread disrespect of free and fair elections based on such dodgy conspiracies in this case. The irony is that Republicans would probably do well on Tuesday without the lies and nonsense. Inflation is a b i t c h.

I attempted to give you a couple of points and personal experiences. You are fairly selective in your choice of statistics and I showed that a key fact on saving had little importance given the longer term shift. There are other good news stories coming that can have an effect such as plans by the government to intervene in the market to reduce domestic gas prices which will have an impact on inflation and benefit consumers and business alike. I am not saying there is no problem, there is around the world, but over the years there's been lots of doom sayers and there's the opportunity for rates to rise significantly if required. The fact that interest rates have NOT jumped as high as other countries isn't all bad, or a sign of some sort of corruption or retardation in the reserve bank as you put it, but is in fact a boon to the economy and we are still getting 24 cents to the thai baht so let's see what happens.

Still above 24. Savings rate still historically high but lower than during the period people were locked down getting huge government support so not a surprise. Property is struggling but after 2 huge years though. I have noticed a lot of food prices going down or staying the same. Things aren’t too bad. Petrol is an issue for some because high but so far not seemingly inflating further.

Should have could have but no

My local train station in the 90's at Balaclava is uplifted off the street and there was a dirt area underneath. Someone found $200,000 in a drum under the station. Took it to the police. Made the news. A walk from where I lived. A week later someone looked for more and found more money - $450,000 in total. Apparently they were allowed to keep it. Should have looked after the first one. Or just crims cleaning their money. Hiding it and finding it. Big finds of the past (theage.com.au)

When I first thought of retiring in Thailand, and based on my relationship at that time, I saw myself in a rural setting with fruit trees hopefully not too far from a city and a beach. But in reality I think I want somewhere with western comforts, reasonably priced good accommodation options, gym and swimming pool available, walking along a beach nearby might be nice even if not so good for swimming, other beaches and a big city not too far away, food and fun close by. Pattaya isn't somewhere I'd go for a holiday but it seems to tick boxes as an option as somewhere to live at least for six months at a time.

Different sites have different aims. I have found some news threads unreadable lately e.g. conspiracies about the Paul Pelosi attack, based on the notion of 'could be', or the fact that there is some trivial point that the police may not have explained yet. You may prefer total freedom but I like having posts where there is something to debate - an idea, an event where the actual evidence may point to two different possible scenarios, not just lots of posts showing preconceived hatred of one party or another. I don't like it because it is boring and there's nowhere the discussion can go if the opinion is based on hearsay or some remote possibility. That may seem like shutting down free speech but maybe there are other sites where posters can wax lyrical about whatever they have read on some other obscure websites or what comes into their head.

I opened a 19 Crimes Cab Sav last night and it is pretty good for a cheaper wine. Saw Xylophone recommend the brand and it is not too expensive in Thailand at 600 baht. Half decent Australian wine at the lower end. It is 300 in Australia but that’s how it is. Sold widely in the United States too. I like a YouTube channel Gas Station Encounters where this guy catches thieves at his service station and they always have a prominent stand selling it there. Last point irrelevant but fun fact.

This is a sense of lightheartedness and lack of clear cut condemnation on recent topics like this that makes me wonder what sick stuff some who post here get up to.

When I go to Thailand my kind of girlfriend doesn't want perfume now - she wants a kilo of almonds. Interesting points you make - I eat a lot of nuts and carbs and it's my feeling that exercise, sometimes strenuous is necessary, offsets concerns. Chocolate will be my downfall - eat a lot but not the Hershey sweet <deleted> they sell in Thai 7 11.

Topics like this are tiresome. The commonsense approach is surely to say the likelihood is 98 per cent plus that the story as told by the police about who the assailant is and what happened is correct. Available evidence backs this up. Therefore no need to waste space on this site turning your mind to alternative theories or stating that further evidence is needed before you can make a reasoned likely conclusion. Otherwise there would need to be a similar discussion on each and every news story about the possibility it is false. Tiresome. If there is some actual fact down the track that raises a real sense of doubt then speculate away at that time.

That's a fairly high bar. Absolutely. No one's perfect and they may do things that you consider a betrayal but to them is just their take on things or not too serious. Trusting people mostly and you can retain faith in human nature somewhat.

Like the show but I've been disagreeing with Bill Maher a bit lately. I agree with his overall sentiments on political correctness but I feel he is getting too cliched and even closed minded on some topics such as covid, the attitudes of young liberals and even this topic. He can sometimes use extreme examples to make fun of the left, and sometimes the right, that are not representative of their overall views. It's like the punchline is king. He gives obvious examples where costumes are of course fine. Call me old fashioned, but I do not think it is cute, fun or ironic for kids to dress as an appalling serial killer or as Hitler. Not saying ban it but having a line in the sand is sensible and not being a wowser.

Some 20 year old kid at Red Rooster, an Australian chicken take away shop, forgot to give you a napkin and it still irks you. Hotels are busy places and they can't constantly monitor patronage and adjust prices accordingly to maximise dollars. Hotel managers wouldn't have the time or inclination to be negotiating prices customer to customer, for short stays, like a market stall selling T Shirts. I must admit I have picked certain times to travel based on seasons - why not travel May or October where 2000 to 2500 baht a night gets you 5 star in Koh Chang and the weather's still pretty good rather than go in April or November. Too much sunshine not good for my complexion. Maybe you forgot about high season and that is what irks you.

Not stock tips but I point out that for people with Thai baht or in my case Australian dollars the US market doesn't look cheap - risen a fair bit lately and after taking into account exchange rate it is still fairly high. Over 2 years S&P nice in AUD and THB.

Cheap hotel beforehand. Probably every prebooking for November charged 800. They know how many bookings they have coming up. November less rain and more sunshine and customers. Gotta go up some time for high season. Harsh to criticise them just for doing what's normal. If found a better deal then all good.

Unfettered free speech is good. But does the means justify the ends. Twitterers do not have even power and with power comes responsibility. Twitter tried to deal with Trump by allowing him to tweet by putting warnings on the tweets that objectively were likely to be or factually were lies. But he kept on with it and we got January 6. They banned him. The powerful posting dumb conspiracy theories, i.e. ideas without proof, can do serious damage. See the damage lies on facebook did in Myanmar to the Rohinga people. If not google it. Just one example. Not easy solutions but just posing devil's advocate questions doesn't provide a solution either.

The cost of living is a bit bad. I remember there being more bogans before, i.e. the seventies as a kid, and the eighties and many bogans now are cashed up due to big pay for trades. Do you think bogans are depressed or cause depression in others. I am suspicious of culture. Aspects are nice for sure but when I hear the word culture I often think of something created by those in power to give wishes and dreams but not a good reality to those with no power. Surely much worse political and public servant parasites in Thailand.

I think other countries would be higher where they don't feel free to speak. Still not good that Australia is so high. I wonder what it is. Could be rural folk. Or kids on computers.

Off topic but Indonesia 77 and Thailand 80 are not particularly densely populated out of 195 countries. Indonesia is large being 15th biggest in the world.

Actually on my last trip it was the Queen's birthday weekend and there was a hellish queue to get to the ferry. Delays of 6 hours. Weren't sure what the other ferry would be like so the driver just took the wrong side of the road as others did and let us off at the front to make our own way .. We used to get a bus that went by Centrepoint but had a few bad experiences of cancelled boat rides or delays but looks like it is needed.