Jingthing

Was your post deleted? You doth protest too much. It doesn't wash.

I completely agree the poll question is simplified. That's a poll design issue. What did you expect? Ten different complex choices of response? But above all, this like all polls here are not scientific and are instead for entertainment and discussion purposes only. Next ...

That is not true which makes me even more skeptical of the credibility of your rave review.

Exactly. That's typical for countries that are actually SERIOUS about opening up. How long will it take for Thailand to drop this madness which is surely repressing well over 90 percent of potential actual tourists? I don't believe they're serious yet. That's OK but don't announce you're open when you're anything but. Saying you're open and putting up these absurd barriers doesn't cut it. Also absurd is the counting press. Surely the majority of people coming have very serious reasons to travel here, such as returning expats, family here, etc. They are NOT tourists!

For you. Which proves nothing about the bigger picture.

Jomtien has never demanded a same day letter or same day book update for me doing well over a decade.

INSABI. It's free but not great. Retired expats are mostly going with private insurance or pay as you go but for minor stuff INSABI could be good. So what are the costs? My impression is that paying retail for high level care is less than the expat centric hospitals in Thailand such as Bumrungrad. Obviously location matters as to what's available. There is a discount for foreign residents vs. tourists. Another reason to get residency. As far as the public options for retired expats I think Colombia is significantly better, but its not free.to enroll but it is required to enroll, and it also varies by location. Colombia has an innovative system. Its run by competing private insurance companies with government oversight. Everyone is accepted regardless of age or conditions.

I don't think there will be riots as a result of a verdict but there will be consequences.

Closing arguments!

Hopefully people will be informed of that risk before attempting to visit.

Crackdown in Mexico on illegal aliens from the USA, Canada, Europe, and elsewhere. Oh my! This is real as I've heard the same news from many sources. Its obvious that Mexlco now quite understandably wants to push out or push towards residence visas people living there permanently on tourist visas. If they keep this up, this represents a very big change. I have no issue with that personally as if I moved to Mexico I would apply for residency possibly after use of one 180 day tourist visa. However I would have a big problem with needing to always carry my original passport! But that is solved by getting residency.

Memo to self. Avoid Khaosan Road like the plague. Where is next?

Being on a jury is different than watching a trial on t.v. Speaking as someone that has been on a jury that probably should have been screened out but wasn't because I superfically ticked the boxes for an acceptable juror for both sides. This is a murder self defense defense. The prosecution had to.prove it wasn't self defense beyond a reasonable doubt. They didn't. But the excessive force charge is different.

Well I think the jury needs to think about his intentions when he stupidly walked out into the crowd with a rifle. Was it to murder people? I think he's proven that it wasn't. Was it really only to act as a medic (which he lied by claiming he was but wasn't)? If it was purely to act as medic, why carry a rifle? I think his motivation may have been partly to act as a medic but also some kind of psychological image of himself as a vigilante hero to somehow change the behavior of the protesters. I think it's too bad they can't convict him on first degree stupidity just for entering that crowd with his rifle in the first place (and his mother as well for allowing her 17 year old to get involved in such things).

OK, this isn't an O.J. trial and it's not the trial of the century or the trial of the decade, but it's definitely one of trials of this year anyway. Have y'all been watching this trial? Biased retro judge auditioning for a job on cable tv. Erring prosecutor. Defendant that takes the stand, and cries and cries. Did you find the crying authentic or totally staged and fake? What do you think the verdicts will be? I predict he will be found not guilty based on self defense on all the most serious charges but will be convicted on one of the lesser charges related to excessive force. That or he will totally walk. I don't know the hung jury or mistrial rules in Wisconsin so something like that might happen too. However, I will be shocked if he's convicted on the most serious charges. I think the crying was a totally coached act but word is the jury was moved by it, and having him testify was obviously a gamble the defense took that will probably pay off.

Phew. Dodged a bullet.

You're utterly wrong. https://www.politico.eu/article/viktor-orban-anti-semitism-problem-hungary-jews/

Trashing Soros has become code for antisemitism. Fact. .

You are 100 percent incorrect about it being limited to the U.S. https://apnews.com/article/8c46c95106f54a11883239aca0280750 Demonization of Soros recalls old anti-Semitic conspiracies WARSAW, Poland (AP) — In most nations, having a billionaire financier and philanthropist would be a source of great pride, a person many elected officials would want to cozy up to. Not for George Soros. The demonization of the American-Hungarian billionaire and Holocaust survivor has spread from Hungary and Moscow across Europe and into the United States, with the 86-year-old increasingly accused by nationalists of using his money to force his liberal values, including support for refugees, on their societies.

Soros is not the definition of globalist. Soros does indeed come from the left. Pro globalist sentiments are in no way limited to the left. There are significant pro and anti globalist factions on the right and left. Others have mentioned that globalization has damaged many people in the world. It has also been beneficial.to many and certainly not limited to elites. As globalism is a fact of life and not going away I think the wise thing is to advocate for policies that maximize the benefits and minimize the damage. Obviously easier said than done. Relating to this topic I think that expats (as opposed to refugees) are a group.that has benefitted from globalism for the most part. As this here is an expat forum, I thought that was worth discussing. Again I find the cases of expats expressing extremist anti globalist rhetoric to be interesting cases of hypocrisy.

That man is evil.

A cool dude?

No. I just found it hard to believe that there were people unaware of the connection between using globalist (especially when Soros is mentioned) as a slur and antisemitism.

Open. Schmopen. I know from open and Thailand ain't open. Take off the chastity belt pass wind and then we can book.

I'm not applying such values to people experiencing such values either way.