Jingthing

Iran is clearly in the driver's seat.

Nobody is saying the Iranian regime is good or not a promoter of terrorism. That's not the point. What Trump is doing is not the way to deal with them and if you actually followed the news. you would know it is BACKFIRING badly.

Calling Trump and Hegseth amateurs is an insult to amateurs. They're flippin' FECKLESS.

It certainly doesn't please me to realize this dark reality. This is a war that Trump (snookered by Israel) should have never started in the first place. However, this war more than anything else clearly signals to me that the American empire is declining rapidly. Maybe call it a suicide. This topic is being started to discuss and track the events related to Iran winning this war against the USA. I call it a war against the USA rather than a war against the USA and Israel because it would be an entirely different thing or even a big nothing if Trump hadn't gone for it bigly.

OK, it couldn't be this good in Thailand, but here's some from Bangkok's own world famous food freak Mark Wiens touring Addis:

There are a number of cuisines types that are probably more obviously missing in Pattaya now (notably Indonesian and Malaysian) but this topic is about Ethiopian. I'm curious about the interest and possible demand for a decently priced, reasonably good/authentic Ethiopian restaurant here. I know that many urban Americans are familiar with Ethiopian food, but I'm not sure about Europeans and other nationalities. It's my impression that it;'s a kind of food that once tried, the majority will like it enough to want it again. It's knee jerk thinking that you need a significant national customer base to support any kind of specifically national restaurant. I think that is often true but not necessarily always true. No, I have no plans to open an Ethiopian restaurant. So even if this poll shows massive interest, it would need to be someone else to take action on that. (Dream on, I know). To add, based on Bangkok, it's been proven that it IS possible to do good Ethiopian food in Thailand, so that's not the problem.

Well, it'll probably be a wash between those who are attracted to them because of their actions vs. those who are repelled by it.

This is a slippery slope. Those cheering this on aren't thinking it through, You may be next. Businesses should welcome all decently behaved customers regardless. As some Israeli and other categories of tourists sometimes misbehave, ban those individuals not ALL. A case in point. Recently in the U.S. a yogurt shop employee kicked out a customer who was wearing a Trump maga fascist hoodie. She wasn't even the owner so she really didn't have the right to do that, but suppose it was the owner. He should have been served normally UNLESS he actually started misbehaving by harassing Mexicans or something like that. The shop is located in an anti-maga fascist city so there is popular support for the banning, just as there might be popular support to ban Israelis from businesses in parts of Thailand. That doesn't make it right, in either case! Treat people like you want to be treated!

Update on my coffee adventures. Well, sooner than I thought it would, my very cool looking manual espresso machine transformed into a hunk of garbage, so back to backup plan to replace it with a Moka pot. As I said I like having two different methods available to have some variety. I'm not down on the cleaver dripper at all. I just want another method that is more espresso-like without actually buying a new classically electric literal espresso machine. So moka pot it is! I was seduced by the design of the Bialetti Moka Express DECO. It's a 6 cup baby as I wanted. Yeah I know I know you can get a perfectly functional moka pot for much less, but I don't care. Anyway so it arrived, read the tiny print instructions, followed the suggestion to run one cycle all water, then three with coffee to make the factory nasties go bye bye, and used it for real for the first time today. My very long ago experiences in my bohemian youth with moka pots was before the age of youtube so as you might guess, the results were bitter coffee, but I drank it stoically anyway. Well now in our golden age of way too much information to ever hope to process, I started to play with hack suggestions to improve the experience (which are not in the instructions). So what I did -- Heated up the water in a microwave instead of using cold water or room temp water. This wasn't as hot as from a kettle and then cooled off a bit which I will try later. Ground the beans a bit finer than medium grind which is usually suggested for Moka, You don't want to go as fine as for espresso though to prevent clogging My current beans are bargain priced medium-dark roast Arabica. So filled the unit to under the valve, put in the coffee, leveled not tamped, then started it on MEDIUM heat. Another suggestion I've seen is to start with the same hot water, but put it on high heat, but lower or even take off heat the moment anything comes out. I will try that option later. Using medium heat even with hot water, it takes longer than I'd like to start happening. A suggestion which I forgot to do but will do later, is to stir the resulting brew to even out the stronger and weaker parts of the results. Anyway, even without stirring -- WOW -- my first large serving from my Moka was way better than anything I used to make. Strong of course, yet smooth, not bitter, brought out flavors in the beans I didn't notice from the dripper, and no sediment. There was a wee bit of crema visible when brewing but gone when poured into the serving cup. I don't intend to try the crema valve, but I am going to try Moka Pot paper filters which I just learned about and also learned that sometimes result in significant amounts of crema. I'm curious about taste differences as well. Remember I had been debating whether a 4 or 6 cup Moka Pot was equivalent to the 4 shots of espresso I had been drinking before 3 was never enough but 4 hit the spot. Now I feel I made the right choice with a 6 cup Moka. It was a slightly bigger dose than the 4 shots of espresso, but I think 4 would have been short. 5 would be perfect but 5 cup models aren't sold. So now I'm at a very happy place with my coffee rituals.

Hi there, I'm shopping for a topper now as well. Was your 3 inch topper shipped rolled up or flat? Thanks.

The apetite to bash Israelis is unlimited

I'm not saying Sachs is always wrong. but his persistent repeating of Kremlin narratives about the Russia - Ukraine war very much disgusts me. It makes me question his credibility about anything he says.

We'll know later but whatever we're in now, it ain't pretty.

Nothing to do with that group specifically. It's about the definition of what is a Jew. For someone who is so obviously obsessed with Jewish topics (with questionable motivation), your ignorance about this BASIC FACT of how Jewish is an ETHNORELIGOUS group and DIFFERNT from other major religions in that way is BIZARRE (and very annoying).

Stop it already. How hard is it to learn? I think in your case that you DO know but stubbornly cling to cringe-worthy willful ignorance. You don't need to follow the religion of Judaism in any way to be a Jew!

They're Jews regardless as Jewish means both a religion and a people. Why exactly did you post this? I have a theory but you can say. In any case, this bizarre group of Jews represents a tiny portion of one percent of the global population of Jewish people who are in themselves a tiny minortty compared to Christians. Muslims. Buddhists, Hindus. etc. Also of course very much unlike the Taliban this group has ZERO CHANCE of ever becoming even remotely popular with Jewish people or ever being any kind of significant political force in the world. So again -- why did you post this?!?

Total simple minded garbage. Iran is a theocracy. Nazi Germany was fascist. Fascists ALWAYS have scapegoats. For the Nazis, it was Jews. The maga fascists have different scapegoats though many of course hate Jews as well.

Most Dangerous Man. www.thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5646761-trump-second-presidency-danger/ It is easy to drift into alarmed hyperbole about Donald Trump’s second presidency. The guardrails and principled advisers who discouraged his authoritarian proclivities during his first term are no longer there. Without them, and with his advancing age, he has become the most dangerous man in the world. Some in the hyper-muscular manosphere (the so-called secretary of War is one) may consider that a compliment. It is not. The person who currently commands the awesome weapons of the presidency lacks the temperament, mental stability and moral compass required for the job. The American republic and the international order are hanging by a thread.

Germans were duped and they see what's happening in the U.S. as a repeat.

I think it's Trump. I'll agree with the Germans. They know a thing or two about most dangerous world leaders. Germans fear Trump more than Kim and Putin www.dw.com/en/germans-think-trump-is-more-dangerous-than-kim-jong-un-and-putin/a-51802332

No. It's nukes. If Ukraine had keep their nukes, they wouldn't have been attacked either. Iran will be trying to get nukes harder than ever now and they will get help. Nobody fair can blame them at this point. As far as your transparent anti-Jewish obsession, Israel's goal is clearly for Iran to become a failed state. That has nothing to do with greater Israel. Israel sees Iran as an existential threat and they're not wrong in thinking that either.

Trump is delusional and nobody in their right mind should ever believe one word out of him. Who's the most dangerous man in the world today?

There is no contradiction at all in not being sad that the Iranian supreme leader was offed and also finding Trump totally disgusting.

The bigliest level of repulsiveness imaginable and then some more!

Nha Trang -- do you speak Russian? You didn't ask for this but if you're seeking a cooler climate in Asia, a real long term visa option especially for retirement (not working, not marrying, etc.), within your budget, and acceptable for most people air quality, you might have a look at Tagaytay Phillipines. Yes it's near a volcano so there'e that. You would probably rule out famously cooler weather Baguio City because of the air pollution and more remote location. Also Tagaytay is within striking distance of Manila which you might want for shopping, embassy, and specialized medical care,. etc.