Rob Browder

Trump says lots of stupid things, yes. He never suggested "injecting bleach," as some claimed, but what he did say at that press-conference showed he could not pass Biology 101. Trump never mentioned Ivermecitin - to this day, that I have seen. Note that HCQ was called a "curative" in leaked govt-documents from April 2020**, and it is quite possible then-president Trump learned this, while it was still classified. One can see/review all of the medical studies for these and other substances, here - you be the judge of what actually worked, and did not. Make a mental-note of which were "on patent" and "off patent" - and which were actively-used, vs what was shown to actually work / not-work: https://c19early.org/ Also an early study using HCQ, used to discredit it, was pulled by the Lancet for fraud: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-hydroxychloroquine/truly-sorry-scientists-pull-panned-lancet-study-of-trump-touted-drug-idUSKBN23B31W/ Trump announced to the press that he quit taking HCQ two weeks in, after it was demonized by that later-retracted study. The smear-study had served its purpose. ** This information was leaked by a member of the USMC, and remarked upon by Senator Ron Johnson here: https://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/2022/1/senator-johnson-demands-answers-from-dod-on-disclosure-about-covid-19-origins-and-early-treatment

I also favor peace and USA non-interference in foreign conflicts. Unfortunately, Trump did not end a single conflict, in which the USA was engaged - after hiring Neocon staff - and he escalated with Russia in Ukraine as POTUS - consistently. Obama** refused to send lethal-aid to Ukraine, but Trump did, and has bragged how what he sent was used to kill Russians. Trump also withdrew from the INF Treaty on medium-range nuke-capable missiles, which would have been placed in Ukraine, within striking-distance of Moscow. He also withdrew from the "open skies" treaty. Dismantling these firewalls to war was "short-sighted," to use a polite term. Trump never ordered Ukraine to follow the Minsk Agreements, in exchange for receiving aid, which would have prevented the war. Neither did co-signatories Macron or Merkel - with Merkel admitting later, it was just a ruse to buy time to build up Ukraine's army for war. Trump increased sanctions on Russia, including blocking the Nord-Stream II pipeline. That economic bridge to Europe was beneficial to maintaining a reason for peace, as well as keeping energy costs low in Europe (to spite their idiotic "green" energy-policy), to facilitate their (now wrecked) manufacturing base. ** To be fair, the Coup of 2014 with the CIA and Gloria Nuland (Neocon Team I.S.W. / Kagan) was under Obama's watch - I am not a fan. But he did correctly state that Russia had "escalatory dominance" in Ukraine - why he refused to send lethal-aid - a perspective which has been proven correct. They also had 'surge capacity' for war-production, which we did/do not.

Yes - 100% Fake story/investigation, which was begun by Republicans to use in the R-Primary. It's lack of substance was proven, beyond all doubt, when the closed-door Congressional testimony from Crowdstrike was released - when they admitted they had no evidence of a Russian hack of the DNC. But note - Without Russiagate, the Trump voting base would have been raising hell over him trashing everything they had just voted for - vs rallying to his defense, because of the "Russiagate attack" on him. Also note - The "investigation" was running out of steam when Trump said on-camera that he fired FBI-Director Comey over Russiagate - contradicting his lawyers' legal-reason, and creating the basis to run with an "obstruction" charge. The "indictments" during the R-Primary this cycle served a similar function. Whether one believes this was a "conspiracy" or not, the result is the same - Trump's POLICIES were ignored by the Republican base, in favor of sensational stuff.

Let me know when Kamala takes the "means of production" away from the Rulers - who pay for her campaigns, and the Republicans' campaigns - and hands it to the workers. Does anyone think Larry Fink of Blackrock is worried? "Cultural Marxism" is another thing, but the Republicans now support 90% of that agenda, so no help there.

Of course not. There was a time when the DNC supported American labor, but that went away under Bill Clinton's tenure. Until Trump in 2016, neither party's candidate even said they would meaningfully help American labor. McCain and Romney played the old "Jobs Americans Won't Do" bit, which we did until the day we were replaced at less than 1/2 our former wage. The Democrats promised more "safety net" help for those de-employed / impoverished. At most, they promised re-training for "Jobs of the Future," but then gave the new careers away via Visas and Outsourcing, just like the ones before.

On the contrary - "economic globalization" = "policies." There was nothing "inevitable" about it. Without any new law from Congress, or breaking any court-precedent: Trump could have stopped the foreign-worker Visas. He could have re-started enforcing the Felony prohibiting employing illegal-alien workers. He could have used the "POTUS may ban any alien or class of aliens" law (no "exceptions" to this) to shut-down the "caravan" surge. He could have put tariffs on Mexico (he promised 35%) instead of signing another NAFTA. He could have recalled American forces from a slew of foreign engagements / bases which do not benefit the American people (saving hundreds of billions in inflationary-spending). He could have kept his promise to release anonymized HMO data for analysis of correlations between childhood vaccinations and severe-allergies and autism - proving that one way or the other with solid-data, vs smaller studies and anecdotal evidence. Trump CHOSE, instead, to align himself with those opposed to ALL of that.

You have to understand, until fairly recently, anyone willing to show up and work a full-time job had a good life in the USA. When that ended, many people could not cope. They voted for Trump, who promised to reverse the GOVERNMENT POLICIES which directly impoverished them - the primary factors being the mass-immigration of people willing to work for MUCH lower wages flooding the labor-pool, and "free" trade which sent their careers overseas - but Trump did the opposite of what he promised. Combined with his massive deficit spending (continued by Biden) - which caused today's inflation - they are now WORSE off. "But WHY?" they ask. And Trump needs them to vote for him, again, to spite stabbing them in the back. Enter the conspiracies.

How else COULD it be? Trump threw everything he promised in 2016 in the garbage-can, as soon as he won the election that year. The "Russiagate" bit made an effective cover for him, as he trashed it all, and hired ONLY those opposed to everything he had just promised - but, some sort of rationale was needed for why he didn't do anything he promised. Enter "Q" - where betrayal became "5D-Chess" and "Trust the Plan." The alternative was for his supporters to admit they had been conned by a liar - a tough pill for many to swallow. Over time, the "Q" phenomenon was taken to absurd levels - especially given his open-partnership with Bill Gates, praise for Klaus Schwab / WEF, Lindsey Graham, Anti-2nd-Amendment position, pro-Amnesty for illegals position, etc - all diametrically-opposed to everything his supporters thought he "stood for." The most intriguing aspect, is that many anti-Trump people believe the SAME THINGS about Trump as his supporters - only they oppose those Q-fantasy positions.

Open any bank accounts you need - including "checking" accounts may be possible.

If you get the Non-O from a Visa-Exempt or Tourist entry in Thailand, then you get the 90-day visa at immigration first, (2 visits for this, with an "under consideration" period between them), then you return again to apply for the 1 year extension. If they let you simply change the reason for your permitted stay from work (Non-B) to marriage or retirement (Non-O), then it's just one "step." Whether they will do this (like they always did before) is not clear, and may depend on the office. If they do not let you make this change in-country, then you will need to leave/return with a border-run. In that case, I would personally just get the 90-day Non-O in Laos, vs doing that step in Thailand - but you could do it either way. Note that no funds are required for a 90-day Non-O based on marriage at Vientiane or Savannakhet - but, the 1-year Multiple-Entry version at Savannakhet does require showing 400K in a Thai bank for 2 months. That ME-Visa gives you 90-day permitted-stay per-entry for the year, requiring border-bounces. You may also extend your permitted stay on any new entry to Thailand by 60-days "to visit your wife" - regardless of whether a TR, VE, or Non-O entry. In theory, you could do this from the cancellation date on your Non-B permitted-stay - but, I would ask this after you complete canceling your Non-B stay. Your wife must attend immigration to get that 60-days. Canceling the visa-extension first would not make a problem at Immigration. Canceling the Work-Permit first COULD create a problem with immigration, as your Non-B permitted-stay would become "Invalid" when the WP was canceled. You could be charged "overstay" for every day after the work-permit cancellation that you remained in Thailand on a Non-B permitted-stay.

You are talking about the "Kor Ror 2" form, showing you are still married. "COR," in this context, is an abbreviation of the English words, "Certificate of Residence."

Visiting Family was added to the reasons to use Visa-Exempt entries since the change to 60-days. If they see family-based extensions, that might be a factor. I doubt the pink-ID is any help, other than it gives them an address to use. Years ago, on VE / TV entries, I found showing the business-card of my condo made IOs happy, when they asked where I would be staying. The scribble in the tiny space on TM6 cards (still in-use then) was mostly useless.

They should cancel them both at the same time. The Non-B is invalid after the work-permit is canceled. Ask them to provide you with a letter stating your termination date, in advance, which you can present to immigration. Others have answered the other questions - and not clear if they will allow you to switch w/o leaving the country - would have to ask. I would ask them immediately after you cancel your permitted stay from the Non-B, while you still have some permitted-stay days remaining. An easy place to get a Non-O 90-day Visa is Savannakhet Laos - for retirement or marriage. Keep in mind that whichever you choose, when you apply for your FIRST 1-year extension at immigration, it will need to be for the same reason as the Non-O. Marriage-based is possible at Vientiane. Both Savannakhet and Vientiane require booking an appointment in-advance through their online system. Also, I hope your local Ampuhur does not "time you out" on the Yellow Book, until it is too late to get into Thai-Health. Mine took months after supplying everything including witness statements, but others report getting it on the day of application.

To work in Thailand, you would need a Non-B OR a Non-O based on marriage, not retirement. If not planning to work here, the Non-O based on retirement is a much easier process. If your employment has ended, I assume you provided Immigration with a letter from your company terminating your Non-B extension on the same date as your last day of work, and are now on a different permit-of-stay? Edit: Related - also consider extending your Thai-SS health insurance - paying monthly to keep it - only possible to do within a limited-time from your job's end-date, and with a Yellow-Book and pink Thai-ID card.

Has anyone heard if being enrolled in the Thai-SS insurance program, obtained due to previously working in Thailand, qualifies for the required insurance?

For those from the AU, UK, and USA - we cannot get "embassy letters" stating our income. The "xfer-method" is sending 65K Baht or more every month to Thailand for at least one year - then getting a stamped bank-statement showing the transfers, plus "credit advise" proof per-each transfer that they were international-xfers, if the bank statement does not specify this. Those with embassy-letters can get that document from their embassy once per-year, and only transfer what they need, when they need it. There was never a requirement to "send every month," before our embassy-letters were canceled.

The proposed changes to other visas may be getting done as a batch - and is not yet finalized.

That's better than VE, but, if entering at Bangkok airports with an extensive stay-history (which I would never do), I would use their agent-service, to be assured of no issues:

I am disgusted with what they are doing. The rules are published. They don't care. Clearly, IOs don't want to bother with a "complicated" application, but this is brazen. I don't know if the agent-system up there is functional any more. They may have been prohibited from having an agent-system, due to being VERY abusive with it in the past. They used to make people "camp out" all night in the parking-lot to queue for retirement-extensions sans-agent - but skip the queue if you paid. It was making bad-press, so was shut-down. Maybe this sort of thing is their retribution - or maybe there is an agent-fix. I am not aware of agents who will do the mo-xfer method, much less a combo-method - though such may exist. A well established agent in Patts is reported not to do the xfer-method, even if you have the transfer-proof. One would need to let them fake 800K in the bank, or DIY.

Unless the visa is specifically "only available" in your home country (METV, Non-O-A), the eVisa system should allow you to apply somewhere else where you are at the time - just not while in Thailand.

I looked but didn't rent at Nirun, because the price wasn't great for what it was - but the room I looked at wasn't "bad." The building was clean (then, at least - maybe its worse now). There was another project which was dirt-cheap but filthy, hard-NO on that one. Some people's life-enjoyment is not affected much by their room - not only hard-drinkers, but some of them fit the category. If you tripled my budget, I would not move to a bigger room than I have now - can think of other spending priorities - like travel to more parts of Thailand and SE Asia. The phrase "feed your head" comes to mind - but not in the druggy manner referenced by the Jefferson Airplane tune.

removed

Exactly. I had over 400K for years, but used the Non-O-ME to avoid EVER having that done to my wife again. I don't care if they want to abuse me - because I don't give any weight to what some corrupt slime says - but my wife is something else. Then covid hit, and I had to deal with in-country - one in Bangkok - RUDE, deja-vu. Two more up-country - they were "civil," but took literally the entire day both times with our ream of paperwork and dozens of photos, so they could find 4 they "liked" + home visits (those guys were even friendly), another long-drive to go back "after consideration." A trip to Savannakhet + border-bounces was FAR preferable - no stress. Thank GOD I turned 50 and no longer working in Thailand, so can use retirement-based. Much better.

Glad to hear they worked out an "arrangement" - will make life easier for the folks down there, even if it costs a bit more now.

Yes, unlimited "for a fee." There is no "official fee" to enter Thailand or Malaysia Visa-Exempt. It is nice they let you make the payoff directly, instead of through a middle-man / agent.