AndreasHG

It takes a very poor opponent to lose against Donald Trump. A terrible opponent. It's a nearly impossible feat, and one that Democrats appear poised to accomplish twice. I keep my fingers crossed, but I know it's not going to suffice.

EssilorLuxottica operates a large plant in Rayong manufacturing ophthalmic lens and frames, covering 220,00 sqm and employing 6,000 people. Prices in Thailand shall be competitive, due to no import duties. For those who don't know EssilorLuxottica, the company owns the brands Ray-Ban, Persol, Oliver Peoples, Alain Mikli, Oakley, Foster Grant, Costa Del Mar and many more, in addition to licensing prescription and non-prescription sunglasses frames for many luxury and designer brands including Chanel, Prada, Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, Michael Kors, Coach, Miu Miu and Tory Burch. The company retails its products also directly, through its fully owned retail chain "Sunglass Hut".

I took once the Ijmuiden (Amsterdam) Newcastle ferry, and I saw the British booze culture in action. Minutes before the bar closed for the night, I saw all British travelers, including truck drivers, rushing to buy who two, who three pints of beer, to ensure they were set and covered for the night. Only minors where excluded. All other Brits, from 18 to 80 y/o, including girls, grown up women, mothers and grandmothers took part in the alcoholic bacchanal. A new experience for a continental European, who grew up with plenty of alcohol available, and very little appetite for it outside of social events.

If it works as intended, it's a great initiative! Pity not to have access to this insurance while being on a retirement VISA, especially for injuries due to accidents caused by uninsured third parties.

Thank you for your comment. I appreciate your honesty. Health care spending, both per person and as a share of GDP, continues to be far higher in the United States than in other high-income countries (e.g. Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland). And yet, Americans see physicians less often than people in most other countries and have among the lowest rate of practicing physicians and hospital beds per 1,000 population. Screening rates for breast and colorectal cancer and vaccination for flu in the U.S. are among the highest, but the U.S. has the highest rate of people with multiple chronic conditions and an obesity rate nearly twice the OECD average. As a result the U.S. has the lowest life expectancy at birth, the highest death rates for avoidable or treatable conditions, the highest maternal and infant mortality, and among the highest suicide rates. Elections should also be fought around this topic.

1. Obamacare predates Trump: Why Trump didn't fix it? 2. Because, and you should know unless you left the US many decades ago, big pharma charging outrageous prices in the USA has been ongoing since decades. And you still can't see any potential conflict of interest. That is something I can't fix...

Enstilar is a foam produced and sold by Leo Pharma used to heal some skin conditions. We all can see the benefits for American and UK consumers. Do you see anything else? What you don't see is the result of the vicinity of American businesses to the American politicians.

I never doubted you can't see anything 👍.

For a man whose main businesses rely on public fundings, his proximity to a candidate to the top public office in the country should rise more than one question. But many Americans seem oblivion of this fact. Tesla: Even ignoring federal and state incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles, Tesla benefited from regulatory credits for a total of $8.286B (billion USD) from 2016 to 2023. In 2024 Q1-2 regulatory credits stand at an all-time high of $934 million. Tesla is on track to cash a total of more than $10B in regulatory credits by the end of this year, cash which is generated with no cost for the company and that competitors must pay Tesla because mandated by the federal government. Space-X: NASA is this company's main customer, but also other Federal agencies including the military, and foreign governments, allies of the United States or close to it. The Space Development Agency (SDA) is Starlink the largest publicly known customer. The Boring Company: this enterprise is an underground tunneling system company, founded by Elon Musk to solve big-city traffic problems. X Corp.: political ads are a significant component of the revenues generated by this money losing enterprise (Elon Musk’s X Courts Political Advertisers Ahead of a Contentious Election Year - WSJ). Elon Musk focused all his entreprises on activities heavily relying on American people's public money support, either federal, state or local. Here are some articles on the topic. I start with the WSJ, certainly not a lefty newspaper. Musk Role in a Trump Presidency Raises Conflict-of-Interest Questions - WSJ Elon Musk’s Big Business and Conflicts of Interest With the U.S. Government - The New York Times Elon Musk campaigning for Donald Trump raises conflict of interest concerns What do Elon Musk and other billionaires want in return for backing Trump? : NPR

In recent times, this is exactly the play book Hugo Chávez followed in Venezuela. The end result was not the redemption of the losers and marginalized of the Venezuelan society, but the triumph of the corrupt and the profiteers, starting with Chavez himself who died as the richest man in Venezuela. Corrupt, exploiters and profiteers do not tollerate scrutiny, accountability or any opposition. Only the well-intentioned, the honest and decent people do not fear criticism and scrutiny by their fellow citizens. And I can't understand what additional evidence the American public needs, to realize that Trump is a crook, an exploiter and a profiteer. Freedom, contrary to general beliefs, is not a human right acquired at birth. Freedom is something people must deserve. Every individual and any society as a whole must earn the right to be free and to live in a democratic system. The right to live free is a daily struggle and an achievement for everyone, including for the American people. I don't fear for American democracy. I fear for the American people, both from the right and from the left, and for what happened to their lust for freedom, and to their education system, which failed to teach them how to stay free, and how a precious gift freedom is in our life.

Seoul should support Kiev in developing tools to induce North Koreans to defect en masse. North Korea is one of the poorest countries on Earth, with a terrible human rights record. Drone dropping leaflets with information on how to defect safely and what awaits defectors in South Korea, would be a good start.

I already acknowledged the mishap in a previous post. I cannot amend my original post because it is now frozen. And yes, reporting by post is a viable option. I don't know what SAE is. So far (in two years with a retirement VISA), I only did my 90 days report either in person or online. What is SAE? Thank you in advance for your clarification.

I do believe that God has already chosen Trump. Certainly, no more than ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei has been chosen by God to rule upon Iran, or Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Amir al-Mu'minin (i.e. the 'Commander of the Faithful'), has been chosen by God to rule upon Afghanistan. No more and yet, all of them equally chosen by God. As a general rule, the less a leader's legitimacy comes from the popular will, the more likely the leader rules because chosen by God. Therefore, God must be the one who chose Trump in 2016, since he lost the popular vote. But don't despair: a good example of the validity of this general rule is Louis XVI, who governed France by the will of God, but was beheaded by the will of the people.

I hope that the whole investigation does not end up scapegoating some of the officials and private individuals involved in this sad incident. The real problem is the laws that allow the circulation of vehicles, weighting many tons or carrying dozens of people, well beyond their reasonable age limits. In Thailand, vehicles that in other countries would be considered vintage and collectible, are allowed to travel fully loaded and to carry out commercial services. If busses and trucks first registered in 1970 can still be legally used to transport people and goods, despite not being equipped with ABS, ASR, and all the modern technologies and devices capable of ensuring maximum safety, Thais will always be exposed to high risks when they travel by road. If obsolete busses and trucks are allowed to travel on Thai roads, no transport company equipped with modern busses or trucks will be able to compete in the Thai market. Outdated bus and truck operators will always outcompete modern bus and truck operators, because their paid-for-in-full vehicles give them a decisive competitive cost advantage. Change will undoubtedly come at a cost: the cost of safety, the cost of saving human lives. But if the Thai authorities are serious about tackling the road safety issue, they should start by progressively banning the oldest and most obsolete vehicles from the roads. And what better starting point than busses and heavy trucks, which are the most lethal vehicles not only on Thai roads, but on any road?

You're right. I never mailed. I only did it online or in person.

You can, but only if it is not the first 90 days report after re-entering the country from overseas. The first 90 days reporting, after you enter Thailand from a trip abroad, has to be done in person.

So, you all know each other, isn't it? You confirm you all work for the same Troll factory in St. Petersburg.

Even with regards to women, Russia still has the third shortest life expectancy in Europe. Only Moldova and Azerbaijan do worse than Russia. With regards to the US, I can't care less. And you shouldn't care either, because the USA is no match for your country Ivan, just like it is no match to mine. The difference is that in my country we know what our place in the world is. On the other end, Russia, and the Ivans who populates it, suffer of grandiose delusions which, together with vodka, constitute the national antidote used to endure your daily misery. Hence, drink Ivan, drink... ...and when drunk forget your misery and dream about being at the helm of a world power.

And yet, in USA people live much longer than in Russia. Sorry pal...

Nevertheless, the Thai Baht keeps on strengthening, closely tracking the gold appreciation. The charts below show that the price of gold in THB has been relatively constant from April '24 onward, while in USD ita has appreciated significantly. This implies that the THB appreciated against the USD (and other major currencies). There are other factors at play too (FDI, export resiliency and growing tourist inflows), but the link to the gold price is stronger than any rate cut the BOT may introduce.

What has this to do with the life expectancy at birth of Russians? But to answer your question: the US males life expectancy at birth is 76 years, 10 years more than Russians, despite having 800 military bases around the world. And if Russia had 800 military bases around the world, it would have zero budget for health care, education, pensions and welfare, and Russian males' life expectancy would drop from 67 years to 36 years only. The same as in the stone age.

He feels no hate for Israel. @john donson is just one of the handful of Russian trolls active here... ...ignore him and move on.

I have recently been diagnosed psoriasis in Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok. Actually, I have been diagnosed as affected by psoriasis more than 20 years ago, by coincidence, in the same hospital. This time, I sought the help of an allergologist and a dermatologist for a severe skin allergy, I strongly suspected I had, without any clue of the cause. But both the dermatologist and the allergologist ignored my itchy allergy and focused instead on my psoriasis (which is, I guess, where the money to be made is). The dermatologist offered me straight away to undergo a monoclonal treatment which, according to her, would have addressed all of my skin issues. This is the quotation I received (paying out of my own pocket, i.e. without any insurance): Scapho 300 mg / 2ml pre-filled injection pen: 24,000.00 THB Nursing charges: 180.00 THB Other Hospital charges: 485,00 THB Physician Fee, Outpatient care: 1,500.00 TOTAL per DOSE: 26,175.00 THB (or approximately $790.00) Recommended doses were: one on week 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4, followed by one each month afterwards. Total cost in the first 4 weeks: 130,875,00 THB ($3,950.00). Monthly cost afterwards: $790.00. Cost for the first year of treatment: $12,640.00. Cost for any of the subsequent year: $9,480.00. These costs exclude any additional laboratory test which may be required during the treatment. As an alternative, she stated that UV-B therapy was also available, but she did not elaborate. Since I positively knew my issue was an allergy, I changed hospital and, after a throughout investigation lasted 2 months, and a lot of additional expenses, we identified the cause as being a severe (and painful) allergy to clindamycin, which was promptly added to the list of antibiotics to which I am allergic. And since my psoriasis is really mild, I keep on using Enstilar foam when needed to keep it at bay. Approximately $80.00 per bottle in any European pharmacy (paying out of my own pocket, but a physician prescription is required). I consume approximately 1 bottle per year. Unfortunately, it isn't yet available in Thailand. I hope this post may be of help.

The only way to really know what Israel is, is to visit the country, spend some time with its people, eat ist food, travel around renting a car, possibly work with Israelis and, since you're there, enjoy the nightlife. It's the only country in the Middle East where I would settle and that I would turn into my home without hesitation. And I am just an average European, not Jewish, Christian by education but agnostic to the bones.