JAG

The ship has sailed; however the lighthouse was not operational due to the funds to operate it having been identified as criminally corrupt and wasteful by a 17 year old who had never seen the sea, and the ship is stuck on a sandbank just outside the harbour 😄!

Well, if as I suspect, it is "Susan" then she won't have one, but let's not open that particular MAGA can of worms!

Back in the days of the Cold War European countries were largely dependent upon US equipment, aircraft, artillery, tanks and logistics. Now there is little if anything that the US produces in the military field that cannot be made in Europe and elsewhere in the world. Look at Poland, they have in the last 15 years completely rebuilt their military, getting rid of what was left over from the Soviet times. Tanks: German Leopard 2, Artillery, British AS90 gun on a South Korean Chassis; relatively little of their kit is of American origin, and that which is is supplemented by similar equipments from Europe or South Korea. The "divorce" with America, initiated by Trump will be inconvenient, but life will continue.

The bodies per se, are just remains; the utter cruelty, savagery and foulness of the charade that was produced to return them, that's unforgettable, and to my mind unforgivable. To me, it is yet further justification for sealing off Gaza from Israel, and leaving them (HAMAS) to sit in the wreckage. Aid? Food rations and medical treatments. Brought in from Egypt. Beyond that, well HAMAS are the authors of the destruction, and the people they rule seem to be enthusiastic for them. Let them get on with it.

Gracious me, and I thought it was my rugged good looks, winning smile and gallant attempts to flatter in the languages (Thai and Akha) which led to my popularity in the two (out of the few available) bars I patronise! That said it does confirm my suspicions about one other in the neighbourhood, which rejoices in the name "69 Bar"!

Well everyone needs a hobby, even I need a break from model trains from time to time! Mind you, not so much Isan, but then I live in the "Top North" :" angzang hniang!"

You can always tell he is coming your way, he is the one wheezing away inside a cloud of strawberry flavoured smoke!

In the local stores defence, I am sure that they know she is fetching it for the "Falang Uncle".

B8400 an afternoon? Blimey O'Reilly, must be quite some gaff!

But, but, but, now a certain poster has returned, rich beyond our wildest dreams following a couple of months in Hong Kong, the good times can roll again! I joined Thai Visa in 2003. I believe the first post I read was telling us that the bars were empty, Pattaya was dying, it was all over... Must try and get down there before it all ends!

Bread and circuses. Ended well, so history relates.

Horrific. HAMAS and the death cult embracing society they have created are <deleted> savages. Beyond redemption, utterly.

All pertinent for teenage girls travelling, here, or anywhere in the world.

And now we hear (BBC) that the adult females remains was not that of the children's mother. <deleted> savages!

I don't think there is any solution. Seal the place off, and leave them to their savagery. The culture of Hamas, the society they have created is frankly irredeemable. They have created an utterly savage, dystopian society, which reveres a death cult, and trumpets that it intends to continue to slaughter in the pursuit of that cult, because that is the focus of their existence. Fine, seal them off and let them continue.

There have been times where some of us have been sceptical of the United States Air Force ability to find places on a map, especially during the excitement of dropping bombs!

Oh, I don't know! 😔😄

Trumps administration and it's policies are built upon lies, driven by lies, screened by lies and perpetrate lies. They come thick and fast, the bigger the better - " Ukraine started the war against Russia".

So we can take that as a "yes" then?

"Trump’s Proposal for Gazan Relocation makes perfect sense". It makes perfect sense if you are a multi billionaire property developer crony of Mr Trump, who is possibly about to be handed a blank canvass, with of course lots of investment funds, to build a " new middle eastern riviera"! Incidentally a few hundred kilometres north up the coast lies Lebanon - once referred to as the "Riviera of the Levant". That ended well didn't it?

Actually I suspect that you are sitting in a squalid bedsit in Poole counting the days until you can afford another return flight to Thailand and another week on the back streets of Pattaya - meanwhile passing the time posting this <deleted>!

Anyway, the "nutter on the bus" (you know, the person you see advancing up the aisle, and hope and pray doesn't sit next to you), is in charge now!

Well, apart from killing children, perhaps causing blindness and deafness, and being totally preventable by vaccination.

You can't hack a 2B pencil attached to the voting booth with a bit of string, and paper ballots.🤔 Polls close, sealed ballot boxes transported by police vehicle to a local counting centre, votes are counted, results collated and announced. Accredited observers are permitted at counts, to observe and not interfere. Oh, and anyone turning up with their Walmart gun counter special offer hung around their neck, to "ensure the integrity of the election" is arrested and banged up until the whole process is done and dusted, and then prosecuted.