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For a moment I thought we had a real news story about Thailand on TV - a new form of corruption. Instead, it was the same old story about embezzlement of funds donated to Buddhist organization. Same old story.

11 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

One reason why I keep the minimum here, some Banks cannot be trusted. When buying a house 5 years ago I transferred a lot of money at 50 baht to the pound, they hung onto the transfer for a couple of days before putting it into my account until the rate went down to 49, leaving me 40k lighter. No amount of complaining did any good at all. On a prior occasion they reversed the process giving me the lower rate when they received the money different to the higher rate they day it went into the account. I no longer use that Bank, or swift to do the transfers.

I cannot speak for every country but the banks in the UK are just as bad if in a somewhat different way. For instance, many (all?) UK/EU banks are known to give you such a terrible rate on transfer of funds into foreign currency that it can cost you thousands - for instance, Barclays recently wanted to charge me about $3,000 above the mid-point to make a $60,000 transfer to an American bank account.

To see how they do it and make huge profits, see the following link to an article in the Guardian newspaper online:

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/apr/08/leaked-santander-international-money-transfers-transferwise

By the way, as the Guardian points out, you can always go with an online transfer company called TransferWise - you have to do a little setup with them re money laundering and so forth but it is worth it. TransferWise only charged me about $250 (including all fees) instead of Barclay's $3,000 and the amount was transferred at the "mid point". However, Barclays had to be hounded to actually allow the funds to be transferred into TransferWise's account in London (Barclays kept telling me that I made an error until I was able to produce a screenshot that showed the transfer was confirmed and then miraculously the money transferred to TransferWise!)

The sad truth is that NO BANK CAN BE TRUSTED! NO BANK ANYWHERE!

Once you know that, you can act accordingly!

The immediate problem with the Grenfell Tower Block disaster was that there was no way for the authorities to respond to a disaster of this magnitude. The local council does not have the resources to do anything beyond its daily duties and has long ago insulated itself against the public, no matter what the situation is. This includes those who are made homeless for whatever reason, including actions by the council itself.

The national government also does not have anything in place to respond to such a situation - for them, it is a local situation and it is up to the local authorities to deal with it.

It is about time that the government set up an agency like the American Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).  This could respond whenever there is a catastrophe of any kind and the rest of the time could be educating local and central government on how to respond to catastrophes.

14 hours ago, daboyz1 said:

If I had a nickel for every time I've heard the "help my family" excuse, I'd have enough money to help my family. 

There is a difference between a reason and an excuse. She is not trying to excuse her behaviour as she does not think of it as bad. She is just giving one of a number of reasons for doing it. Unlike Western countries, it is not acceptable in many countries, including Thailand, to allow your family to wallow in poverty while you are earning well. 

I know that it is traditional to praise a person when they die but Kohl was the person who equated the German currencies (East and West Marks), thereby creating huge economic devastation in the former East Germany as companies were unable to compete with their currency valued so highly. Unemployment in former East Germany rose to huge levels and East Germans had to go to Poland to buy goods and get work.

This had a blowback effect on the rest of Germany as the country almost bankrupted itself paying for the huge amount of unemployment and restructuring that went on because of this short-term move. Kohl did it to win votes among those in the former East who had bank accounts full of East German Marks that, at market rates, were worth at best a tenth of the West Mark - he got their vote by making them all instantly well-off and won the election - but in doing so he set the country back.

12 hours ago, darksidedog said:

They must really wants the Brits. In the list of countries we are listed twice, UK and Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

But not the Republic of Ireland?

Die Linke is an amalgamation of members of the former East German ruling party and disaffected former members of the Social Democratic Party who wanted a more "left" ideology. This has created a party with strange bedfellows - former East German socially conservative types mixed in with some very socially liberal Western types who liked to protest in former West Germany.

Without their history on the East German side, Die Linke would probably have polled much greater numbers over the years as they could have taken advantage of mis-steps and moves to the centre by the Social Democratic Party. But too many people remember the Stasi and that is why Die Linke will never reach the heights of Corbyn or any other left-wing movement.

14 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

He has appointed an very right wing conservative to the supreme court who is very anti-labor.

He wants to slash medicaid.

he wants to massively cut taxes for the rich 

he is undoing environmental protection

he wants to deregulate the big banks

he wants to defund Planned Parenthood

 

Not a conservative?  If you want to know someone's real politics, follow the money

It depends on what kind of conservative you are talking about

Many conservatives would consider his supreme court judice fairly middle of the road, yes not exactly very liberal. But then many Democrat presidents were not exactly pro-labor unions either (viz what the Kennedys were doing to the Teamsters).

Many conservatives think that if you have works and paid your dues, you should get medicaid if you are entitled.

Many conservatives are in agreement to reducing government involvement in the economy and to keeping income taxes as low as possible but they still think that the rich should pay their share.

When it comes to bans, conservatives are often the most interventionist - some conservatives want to impose the old Gold Standard on the banking system (Ron Paul). And we have to remember that it was a Democrat, Bill Clintion, who repealed the Glass-Stegall Act.

There is a strand of conservativism that was deeply involved in protecting the environment. It is the sort of conservativism that was closely allied with nationalism, with the preservation of our forrests, rivers etc as a form of national pride and in keeping with the conservative view of being close to the land.

Planned parenthood covers a lot of territory, from family planning to emergency abortion. I find that the best indicator as to whether you would agree to a family member having an abortion would be religious beliefs and not political position.

Having said that, there are or at least were conservatives who believed that the Government should stay the hell out of people's lives and allow them to make their own choices - abortion being one of them.

I do agree with your statement, follow the money. Especially in Trump's case, it is all about money. There is nothing ideological about him. It is all money. Follow the money and you will find out why Trump, who used to identify as a Democrat, is not supposed to be a conservative and a Republican.

5 hours ago, Mickmouse1 said:

I thought they were finally getting the BOSS EXTRADITED??????

They are looking like they are doing so, just in the same way as in the West End of London threatres every night someone on stage gets "murdered." It looks very convincing but at the end the "dead" person takes a bow at the curtain call.

Lets wait until Boss is  a) found b ) in a country that will extradite to Thailand          c) Thailand actually makes the extradiction petition in the proper way according to the holding country's rules and laws d) the handover takes place and Boss is flown back to the Kingdom e) he is not given bail but kept in prison f) he is actually put on trial and g) he is found guilty and h) sentenced. So many steps, so much time. Maybe the statute of limitations will be gone over before we even pass c).

1 hour ago, phantomfiddler said:

We,re not detestable, many of us are cute little devils spreading joy and enlightenment around the world !

What little Englanders fail to realise is that if all other nationalities applied the little Englander view to visitors and migrants (and lets face it, all falang living in the Kingdom of Thailand are migrants),  little Englanders would have to stay at home and would not be spreading anything around the world.

A little misleading - when you say that passengers jumped from the plane, it usually means from a jet like a 737 and without a stairs. This would lead to severe injuries, such as broken bones at the very least, especially if the jet were larger. It would appear in this instance that the passengers simply exited the plane without injury as it was a small turboprop and probably had its own stairway and would have been much closer to the ground anyway.

What do you expect from the Donald, the man who never shirks from kicking someone when they are down. Just when your city (London) has been on the receiving end of a terrorist hit will be when the Donald will move in with his uninformed comments that are intended to undermine. Just because the mayor voiced his concerns with just one of the Donald's so-called policies.

But then the Donald is now leading the USA into a whole new category, that contains really only one other country, Syria, the category of those who are not part of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change (Yes, Nicaragua never joined because they believed the Paris agreement never went far enough but the USA wants out because they believe it goes too far).

It would be truly horrifying if the man had some emotional intelligence - imagine how his own people feel when he claims to adhere to one policy and then does not tell even his own people when he changes it! I wonder how that feels!!

But lets just watch what happens - when the former FBI chief tells all in front of the select committee. And when the investigators at the FBI get their teeth into the Russian connections . . . 

9 hours ago, anto said:

My experience living here in the Suburbs of Chiang mai for the last 8 years is that yes there has been a mass migration of Farangs out of here .A lot of young English teachers especially .Also retirees if the nearly always empty number one bar in town is anything to go by .It used to be full of Aussie old times daily in the past .

I don't think that it is just Chiang Mai - anyone who was doing a bit of English teaching on the side to make end meet has given up. Many of those too young for a retirement visa have moved on, some to Cambodia. When you go to a Thai consulate in a neighbouring country, the vast majority queueing up are either tourists on a package tour or Asean or Asian tourists. As the songs says, times they are a-changing.

As with the many medical questions that we see on Thai Visa, it would be impossible for a vet to make a decent diagnosis based on your photo. You bring the dog to the vet if you want the dog to become healthy again.

How are these statistics on number of visitors being counted? If it is the stats from the Thai immigration, in the light of severe restrictions on "visa runners," the chances are that there are approximately the same number of Brits living in the Kingdom but they have found another way of dealing with the visa issues other than doing visa runs. In other words, those old enough have opted for retirement; some have found an employer; some have found a spouse. Everyone can find a way to stay in Thailand legally if they really want to and with relatively little expense.

4 hours ago, stander said:

The intelligence community is always watching the Russian government as closely as they can and the NSA can track just about any electronic communication.

 

The Obama administration had every incentive to expose to the world anything sinister and illegal going on between the Trump campaign and the Russian government but, they did not.

 

They did not expose it before the Election, before the Electoral College voted and they did not expose it before Inauguration Day.  

 

I wonder why, maybe because there is no evidence.

I think a quick check of the time-line and how the FBI operates under the constitution would help you with this.

No one would bother running an investigation unless there is some sort of suspicion or primary evidence that might lead one to thing that an investigation is worthwhile.

The FBI (which is independent of any administration) did not have any suspicion early on - only later when certain evens ensured, including the cracking of emails of officials in the Democratic Party, did suspicions arise and ultimately an investigation was undertaken.

Under normal circumstances, the FBI never comments on ongoing investigations. The Clinton affair was unusual and a very hard call because it went to the question as to whether the incumbent (not the campaign) was to be charged. This was a very hard call for the FBI - if they had kept quiet, they could have stood accused of partisanship and keeping important information from the American public. If they exposed it, as they did, and decided there was not enough evidence to charge, they stood accused of interfering in the election of a US President.

In the case of alleged connections between the Trump Campaign and Russia, the decision would have been much easier - if the allegations turned out to be true, then there would be no need to let anyone know about the investigation in advance of laying charges.

However, the irony is that the connection with Russia might run a lot deeper, between the Trump businesses and Russia, between the Trump family and Russia and crucially between Trump and Russia - and when we talk Russia, we are talking the Russian government and its supporting oligarchs.

As regards the other agenties, the General Flynn affair sums it all up - Obama knew about it in advance (about Flynn's connection to Russia and Turkey and his lucrative consultancy/lobbying contracts) but did not tell the world - instead he warned Trump. And so did a number of others. Sometimes you just do not trumpted to the world everything you know about your opponent as you might be showing your hand as regards your sources.

4 hours ago, rkidlad said:

'A Nonthaburi local politician was arrested and reportedly confessed to buying sex services from a minor last September and also misrepresenting himself as the governor of Mae Hong Son' - We don't care that you had sex with children ha ha! We just need to know it wasn't someone influential doing it. 

 

 

Actually pretending to be someone influential or in authority can have something to do with it as a) it might have influenced the under age girl to partake in the activity (what is sometimes called "normalising" what is deviant behaviour and It might also normalise the behaviour among the population - if the provincial governor does it, then it must be ok.

Now that we have dragged you out of an Uber car and threatened you, you take my taxi, ok?

59 minutes ago, spiderorchid said:

Man released  because "crucial evidence had not been released for security reasons" .

A new low point in current British so called justice. Shame

Security = they are covering for someone

It cannot be national security because Ghadaffi is gone, so is his government. Perhaps this man will show that they put the wrong guy in jail for the downing of Pan Am 103 all those years ago. The man, Al Magrahi was eventually released on compasionate grounds but many people believe that the trial would have found anyone guilty who did not happen to have a watertight alibi for the whole time involved.

17 hours ago, xvend said:

 

I don't like the cut of your Jib

In the early 1700's the cut of the jib sail, often signified the nationality of a vessel. The term was being used figureatively by the 1800's to express like, or dislike for someone. So, the 'Cut of one's jib' refers to their general appearance of personality.

 

I don't like the cut of your Jib

An old expression showing a general dislike for somebody.

A "jib" was the name given in Bermuda for the national formal wear for men, which constituted bermuda shorts (almost to the knee), a white shirt, blazer, knee high socks and leather shoes. THe "cut of your jib" might have referred to how your dressed. 

3 hours ago, petedk said:

They don't want a revolution on their hands.

What on earth would Thai people do without Facebook?

Talk together???
 

Everyone will migrate to WhatsApp where the Junta cannot read their posts

14 hours ago, Thongkorn said:

Try Boarder Agency.. Quite rightly he was refused,  just becasue you have paid some tax for services already rendered why expect to get the service again for free.  Try it with your house insurance and see where you get.

I pay tax in the UK. Does that not entitle me to A&E at the very least?

That piano is somewhat out of tune (some of the notes are quite off) and Putin is very rusty in his playing. I can only imagine the Chinese hosts thinking, "Jeez, we just put the piano there for show and now the bugger is playing it!"

Not everyone is going to be so foolish as to use their everyday phone that hubby gave them to take compromising photos. But people are much more easy with sms and other stuff because they think it can all be erased. What you do is when you get the phone to give your cheating other is to set up with the sim card to send all SMS to your phone too - in some countries, only her sms will be sent, in others, only the sms id is sent. In some countries you can also have them send a log of calls received and sent. Put that together with GPS info and you have a very good picture of what is going on.

Get her a really nice number (one that is lucky or very memorable) - she will always wan to use that

As a pattern develops (she meets the guy every tuesday while pretending to play tennis with her female pal), you or someone you know can take pics of her and the guy together entering and leaving a location, like a hotel or his home etc.

For the cheaters out there, WhatsApp is the only way to communicate without anyone knowing about it. But it requires constant access to the Internet to work and not everyone has that - remember that both parties have to have Internet connection all the time. That is why people invariably resort to SMS and regular calls.

You will NEVER receive an email with a "click on the button below to login" from a provider who you are already a customer of. Instead, they will expect you to know to log in the usual way or otherwise contact them. This is without any doubt a scam.