rudi49jr

Thailand really is a very sick country, Buddhist only in name. Money, and only money, is the real name of the game. With money comes power, and those who have it will do anything to a) hang on to the money and power they have, and b) acquire more of it. Unfortunately, the powers that be belong to the wealthy class, they call the shots, so this is going to last into perpetuity.

Maybe the PM should put his money where his mouth is and not just express his admiration, but also spring into action. Like signing the treaty to stop deforestation by 2030, for starters. And do something about the growing air pollution. Stop the enormous use of pesticides. Start pushing energy transition. And about a million more things, but please no more cheap talk and do something!!

Always with these stupid crackdowns!!!! What do these people do the rest of the time? Just sit at their desk and do nothing? Go on day trips to go fishing? Or hang at a bar and drink beer and Thai whisky all hours of the day and night? Why not just do the job you’re supposed to be doing the whole time? It just boggles the mind.

You can warn all you want, but if you’re not going to address the root cause(s) of these high levels of PM2.5, what’s the point? Same goes for the burning season in the north. Every year we have the PM or the governor of Chiang Mai or some such brainless VIP promising to crack down on the burning, but nothing ever happens. I wanted to retire there, because the winters in the north are (or used to be, at least) so incredibly beautiful, but that plan was axed many years ago already, just because the air pollution there gets worse and worse every year.

Oh dear, not another crackdown? The previous crackdowns (there have been so many, many, many) have all been an utter failure. They keep doing the same old thing over and over again and keep expecting a different result. I think that was Einstein’s definition of insanity.

Ain’t never going to happen. All kinds of negotiations are going on behind the scenes as we speak, about who is going to pay whom how much. I’m surprised, by the way, that Joe didn’t “commit suicide” yet, or got shot while trying to escape, or accidentally stabbed himself in the back six times while cleaning his finger nails with a pen knife. Joe Ferrari and his buddies don’t want to go to jail for too long, and they certainly don’t want to get whacked. In a corrupt system money always moves up the chain, so there are probably quite a few people up there who don’t want their names mentioned in the ongoing investigations. And then there are the judges, who can be either harsh or lenient, depending on how “motivated” they are. We will never know what deals are being made between all the parties involved, but I’m pretty sure it involves a whole lot of fat brown envelopes, plus threats to Joe cum suis that they’d better keep their traps shut, or else.

Were you really surprised? This is the country after all where the PM, or other ministers, regularly have to tell/warn their subordinates to actually start doing their job. Not that it does any good, though, and I don’t suspect the Phuket taxi drivers (or the tuktuk drivers, for that matter) give a flying **** what this guy had to say.

Brown envelopes are what makes this country tick. So much ‘unusual wealth’, it’s just ridiculous. But about 70% of the population doesn’t have any problems with it. As long as they can profit from the system as well, that is.

Find out who they paid to smuggle them into the country, then follow the money up the chain. You’d be surprised how far up this goes.

If they put up a collection box and all cabinet members turn out their pockets and donate their loose change, I’m sure they will be able to raise 100 million baht, if not more.

Don’t just stand there guarding the borders! You have to carefully guard the borders! Wow, that’s really telling them.

Not to mention the billions and billions of dollars in the Vatican bank and all the fancy real estate the Vatican possesses in London. And they probably have quite some money/properties stashed away that no one knows about.

Yeah, science is just another opinion, right?

Maybe you should look into the difference between religion and science a little more…..

Sure it is, but us humans burning all those fossil fuels doesn’t really help.

I always used to love going up north in the winter and having to put on a sweater at night, and sleep under a couple of blankets or a thick duvet. But I have no idea anymore when the burning starts, seems the haze and smoke starts coming earlier every year. Such a shame, because it’s so beautiful up there in the winter.

They will in Holland, for free.

You would almost be inclined to think, seeing as how this is Thailand, that this guy has some vested interest in one of these vaping companies and has a lot to gain when it’s legalized.

Or that he, generally speaking, has a clue what he’s talking about. Hint: he doesn’t.

It’s always those dirty foreigners, isn’t it? Just like all those right-wing nutbags in the USA, blaming the immigrants for bringing in COVID and spreading it around.

Which ones? Jeez.

Weird argument. I think many more lives are saved by wearing a seatbelt, than lives are lost because of wearing a seatbelt. And it’s not as if you’re completely immobile when wearing a seatbelt, is it?

When someone doesn’t wear a seatbelt or helmet in my country and they get in an accident, they can end up in the hospital, when they have serious injuries. Guess who’s going to pay for that? And guess who’s going to pay for it when that person ends up being handicapped and needing help/assistance for the rest of their life? It’s just plain stupid and irresponsible to not wear a seatbelt or helmet, as far as I’m concerned.

I like traveling by train a lot, it’s much more relaxed than going by bus (or plane). Have gone from Bangkok to Singapore and back a few times by train. The one way trip takes a few days, but if time is not an issue it’s very enjoyable, just to look at the scenery going by, shoot the breeze with your traveling companion(s), you can order food and drinks from the restaurant car, it’s like a little vacation! And I always sleep very well on trains, which is something that I can’t seem to do on a bus or a plane.

Famous last words. Wonder when I heard that before? Doesn’t make me feel very confident, but I really hope Bangkok won’t have to go through what happened in 2011 again.