Fat is a type of crazy

I am no fan of the royal family but it is so condescending to say that she can 'educate' them. Have to be careful if you go to a party, a bit nervous amongst the so called socially elite, have a few drinks, maybe are having a bad day, that you don't say a sentence or two that could be construed as not totally appropriate and gets you labelled a racist for life. Lame.

Happy to have competition. Thought cheap airfares might be finished but Jetstar has a current sale $400 return for later this year possibly due to this competition. AirAsia fares seem to be around $400 one way which is still significantly better than some.

The problem is workers can't win. Times are bad. No pay rise. Economy surges. No pay rise due to inflationary risk. Wages are one input into the cost so a rise in wages does not mean the same percentage increase in the cost of a service or good. There has to be common sense but if you are looking at whether a country is successful, the ability for every day workers to live a happy and dignified life, is a key benchmark.

Air in Phuket much cleaner compared to most places north. Beaches too as a rule though Patong can be bad. A bit of rubbish can wash up throughout South East Asia sadly. Phuket isn't that big that you can't live near a fairly clean beach and be not far from high quality health care.

Wise is a fair bit cheaper and often instantly into their bank account. Don't need phone to send. Maybe you do to set up account.

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If the story is that someone said something heard by some people what evidence can you have except to confirm that those people say he said it. They had multiple sources. You would probably be aware that at that level they would likely check the people are who they say they are, that they were in attendance at the event, and that that they are not well known as having a particular anti Trump bias etc. For what it is worth that female reporter on Fox News is one of their credible ones and the fact that it is reported on a range of left leaning and right leaning media may give you further credence. Anonymity is reasonable as the individuals who heard may not wish to expose themselves to crazy Trump supporters.

Do you now look at his presidency itself in a different light? It may have seemed like some were overly concerned, before and during the Trump presidency, about what might lie ahead. The signs were clearly there though - poor decision making, constant lies, rarely acting in good faith. Many were criticised as exaggerating Trumps lack of character and smarts but here we are.

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So the term 'causing offense', by this definition, does not address if it is good or bad but talks only of the state of mind of the offended. Therefore causing offense can be a good thing. Communicating truth. Helpful and can have a good and positive outcome.

Not so much offended but it certainly significantly lowers the quality of life and it is a high priority to avoid such things.

I got quite into watching the videos where they get the indian scammers back - more light hearted posters like kitboga, to ownage pranks to scammer payback to the more serious ones where they are a bit more computer literate like scambaiter and Jim Browning. A few of these hit the spot sometimes.

I don't think of things like this as something special - just part of the misunderstandings, territorial games and social faux pas, that make life interesting and different. Have a laugh. Don't be too serious. Overt racism should be, and is condemned, but marginal situations like this should be seen as part of the rich tapestry of social situations that can be uplifting or can go south fast - people should be given the opportunity to come back tomorrow and hopefully do a bit better. To conclude, with no reasonable doubt, she had conscious ill intentions and is racist is making assumptions based on your own subjective opinions. Similar to what racists do and are condemned for doing.

I am not comfortable with this. I would say she is more likely culturalist than racist. Probably a bit snobby and uppity. Not ideal. Her comments though were not totally wrong - she was brought up by people who spent their formative years in the Carribean. We all have a picture of what it is to be British, or French etc. That picture may be a bit flawed and out of date and imperfect. But concluding someone as having a different cultural background to you because they look, talk and dress differently is not necessarily racist. It may be ignorant or it may be likely accurate based on statistical likelihood. Second point is we all make mistakes. Each poster here has probably gone too far, asked one too many question, been a bit obnoxious. Are you happy to be judged solely on one specific post of your 1000's of posts. If she does not have a history of racism or bad acts the 83 year old should get a pass. Let people breathe and make a mistake and get an opportunity to do better without being forced to resign.

I am no expert either but the basic fact is if you are 60 you can get the lump sum tax free If you're 60 years old or older and your only source of income is super benefits from a taxed source, which yours is likely to be, you won't pay tax or need to lodge a tax return. There's lots of stuff on google if you use key words like tax at 60 if retired. I still find it a bit complicated and I have a defined benefit which is taxed differently with a little bit of tax. Withdrawing your super and paying tax | Australian Taxation Office (ato.gov.au) Accessing your super to retire | Australian Taxation Office (ato.gov.au) This might be helpful for your specific issues. How to use your retirement savings once you’re retired (bt.com.au)

I'll be the serious one. All the laughs and fnarr fnarr's seem to ignore the fact that a guy was apparently inappropriately touching, i.e. molesting, this girl. Not for us to judge what a girl should do in a vulnerable situation - she told him to stop - taking a video might be smart as evidence.

That's one extreme. The other is that it's not a level playing field, between rich families and poor families, and worker and employee, and the power of large business and small business. Regulation and taxation can make for a more level playing field without distorting free markets too significantly. If you look at the difference between taxation policies in the United States and in Australia, between the main parties on the left and right, it is not much different - a few per cent here and there.

I am not saying right leaning people don't help others. But in terms of political philosophy the left is more about the idea that it is worth spending money and providing other assistance to the poorer or disadvantaged folk, to get them a helping hand, and level the playing field, paid for with taxes, whereas the right is about leading by example and self reliance and low taxes.

Sounds like you are doing genuinely good things and have a bit of pride and happiness from that. Helping people who would not otherwise get ahead. Sounds like a left leaning thing. You say you are a Marxist, which is clearly to the left, but make blanket criticism of the left which you assume are woke and therefore apparently insincere. Contradictions.

I like Hey Mr Tambourine Man William Shatner - Mr. Tambourine Man - YouTube

Don't think Flynn - too associated, correctly, with the crazy right. If you are crazy right you need as a minimum the ability to wax lyrical and win over an audience like Trump. He hasn't got that.

Banks do make money out of this. But people aren't obliged to use the service. They want to. I want to. It makes live simpler and more fun. Don't overthink it. Cash is not needed in most cases in modern society. Privacy is a separate issue but it is normal and fair that someone makes a profit from providing a service beneficial to customer and normally to the business too.

That's expensive. I looked around for places with them about 8 years ago and found some poor ones e.g. rude staff with dank rooms and or not much outside area. This one is run by the Lutherans - about 30 per cent of residents are German - you see them drinking decent german beer in the cafe and the home has the best cakes. In Australia there are income tests - if you are getting full Age Pension each fortnight you can often get it for 85 per cent of that pension and that's it. In Australia we had a recent Royal Commision into nursing homes, and in addition there had been homes found out treating residents poorly during covid, so there's a lot of scrutiny and funding now which is hopeful. If you have assets or high income it becomes expensive here too - I concur - if you've got a bit saved you could do it nice in Thailand and be well looked after. More fun too.

You've pulled out that video a few times to make your point and I have replied by noting it is young people, in a college in Portland I think, which is possibly the most liberal city in the world next to San Francisco, and they are training to be social workers and as such have a focus, could be overdoing it, on being sensitive to peoples' needs, wants and peculiarities. I appreciate you are looking to make a point but look at your average community and average activists and see if they fit the same mould as ultra rich famous people or fairly extreme left kids who are finding their way.

Not all nursing home stories are bad. A close relative is in one near me in Australia, takes money from age pension only to pay, sunny one bedroom with nice bathroom, nice gardens, lovely staff, food not perfect but pretty OK. If you are in OK shape but need a bit of help you can do your thing within and outside the home fairly independently, but can come back to warm friendly place with your own space and have all cooking, cleaning etc done. If incapacitated then life is difficult where ever you are but having the staff, machines, and decent support is better than many alternatives. I fully understand people wanting to stay in Thailand as they age, I may do the same, but from what I have seen the alternative might be better than what you are imagining.