WDSmart

No, I didn't miss that. Nor did I miss that Jews live by the Torah as the direct word of Yahweh and act on it accordingly. I suggest that both discard those fanciful delusions and live by the direct word of the UN.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. People are born with a mix of genders according to a mix of their genitals, organs, and chromosomes. That's rare, as far as I know, but it does happen. Also, some people born with what we would call a regular gender BELIEVE (feel like) they are the other gender. So what should we require of them? My question to you is, "What determines gender?" You'll probably say the external organs they were born with. But, as I say above, they could have opposite-gender internal organs and/or chromosomes. What then? To me, this whole uproar is just like the historical uproar about mixing races in public places, like drinking fountains or restaurants.

Who cares what the Quran or Torah says? They're both just fantasies. The UN gave Israel part of the land then called "Palestine," in 1948. But it was to be divided up with the Palestinians. That's the law that should apply now. Partition of Palestine | 1948 | Britannica

"Transgender" doesn't have to mean surgery. Here's the definition of the term from WIkipedia: "A transgender person (often shortened to trans person) is someone whose gender identity differs from that typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth." Transgender - Wikipedia

Well, "transgender" works both ways: men wanting to be women and women wanting to be men. I know the former is more of a problem because women are more sensitive to this.

I certainly hope not!

I've erased this post because it was a duplicate of the one above. Sometimes when I click on the SUBMIT button, nothing seems to happen, so I click on it again.

Yes! I've lived in Thailand for over 20 years, and most of that time has been far away from other Farangs and primarily with Thais. What surprises me is that most Thais seem to understand everything I say, but some just can't. I'll say something over and over again, and then some other Thai will come and say the very same thing (as it sounds to me), and then, of course, they understand it. I know it sometimes has to do with pronunciations, but I think it's more often the accent and whether a word is spoken with a falling, steady, or rising tone. I try to be aware of that, but as I say above, sometimes for some Thais it just doesn't work.

As long as Israel continues to try to occupy all the land they believe is theirs, given to them by their god, there will be strife between Jews and Muslims. Neither is right, IMO, and I wish they could just learn to live together and share the land, but I'm certain that is just going to happen. War is inevitable and, unfortunately, probably will be everlasting also.

It's not as simple as "born and man or a woman." What does that mean? Does that refer to your external genitals, your internal organs, or your chromosomes? Some people are born with a mix of these that is not what is considered normal. Also, of course, there are the psychological issues of what gender you associate with yourself, but those can not be as clearly diagnosed as the three cases above. I've never had any problem with people of this sort, but I'm a "normal" male, and wouldn't care if some half-woman/half-man shared a public toilet or shower with me. I can understand, however, how a "normal" woman would be more cautious about that. It's going to be a problem that will not disappear because, as I said above, gender is not as simple as some people think it is.

I like to post my thoughts on some of the comments. That's what these forums are for. I do care somewhat about what others think, not about what I post but about what they post. Some people, like you, who believe in the "Deep State" and are Trump supporters, are very, very scary. Soon, Trump won't be busy at all. He'll be locked up in a cell somewhere - I hope! That would be the second-best thing that could happen to him.

Number 6 just says, "Large tax cuts for workers, and no tax on tips!" I support that. It doesn't say anything about increased taxes on the rich. But, yes, I definitely support significant tax increases on the rich.

Thanks for this list. The only ones I support 100% are 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, and 20—although we would probably not agree on the means of achieving them. The other one I also support with some rewording is 10, by removing the words "migrant" and "foreign." I consider the rest of them just more right-wing, nationalistic, neo-fascist, anti-democratic bull<deleted>.

I hope this is untrue. The more left-wing she is, the more I like her. I'll vote for her anyway since she is running against Trump.

I will vote for her.

Yes, the USA should expand SCOTUS to 13 judges to match the 13 Judicial Districts. I'm not in favor of a term limit, but I am in favor of an age limit - maybe 70.

I wish! But she's still not as far-left as I'd like to see our (USA) government become.

Good! It's about time someone even indirectly associated with the US government started expressing support for the Palestinians' efforts to reclaim the land Israel stole and continues to steal from them.

I agree that women's prisons should be abolished. There should only be one prison system for all, male or female, convicted criminals to serve their sentences.

The largest threat by far to the entire world's ecosystem is humans.

No, I don't feel sorry for him. I'm grateful for his service to his country over the past 50 years or so, but I'm just relieved he decided to step aside and let Harris face Trump in the upcoming elections. I think she has a lot better chance than he would have.

So where did Forbes place Pattaya? Surely in the top 10!

My weekly Tuesday golf game was rained out this Tuesday. This is only the second or third time in around 20 years.

An example of "extreme right-wing, Neo-fascist diatribe" is Turmp's threats to use the executive and judicial branches of government to "go after" his legislative branch political opponents and, of course, his claim that he will be a "dictator" on day one of his presidency. The attempt to "preserve their culture" is also an example of an extreme right-wing goal. Left-wingers, like me, are not only open to evolving their culture by welcoming immigrants but encouraging it. I agree with you somewhat that "the left ...has lost its way," but that is because of the tremendous pressure it's being put under by Trump and his extreme-right, MAGA supporters. But it is my hope that the left will continue to have influence, like an expansion of inclusiveness and "wokeness," in our schools and universities and will continue to expand our government programs until we truly have a country who's economy is based on democratic socialism, not plutocratic capitalism.