TallGuyJohninBKK

That's a curious restriction. In your contacts with Schwab, did you get any info on how, for their intl accounts, they would handle a situation where the accountholder has passed away, and there's no beneficiary allowed to be listed on the account?

So, were those new accounts for you and your wife Schwab International accounts reporting your Thai addresses, OR, Schwab U.S. accounts with the added restriction against being able to purchase any U.S. mutual funds?

Vaccination Dramatically Lowers Long COVID Risk Several new studies reveal that getting multiple COVID vaccine doses provides strong protection against lingering symptoms January 3, 2024 "At least 200 million people worldwide have struggled with long COVID: a slew of symptoms that can persist for months or even years after an infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. But research suggests that that number would likely be much higher if not for vaccines. A growing consensus is emerging that receiving multiple doses of the COVID vaccine before an initial infection can dramatically reduce the risk of long-term symptoms. Although the studies disagree on the exact amount of protection, they show a clear trend: the more shots in your arm before your first bout with COVID, the less likely you are to get long COVID." One meta-analysis of 24 studies published in October, for example, found that people who’d had three doses of the COVID vaccine were 68.7 percent less likely to develop long COVID compared with those who were unvaccinated. “This is really impressive,” says Alexandre Marra, a medical researcher at the Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital in Brazil and the lead author of the study. “Booster doses make a difference in long COVID.” https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/vaccination-dramatically-lowers-long-covid-risk/

And only idiots make that kind of unsourced, proven false, nonsense statement: Vaccinated kids at 57% to 73% lower risk of long COVID, CDC study suggests February 26, 2025 "mRNA vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 was tied to a 57% and 73% lower risk of having at least one or two long-COVID symptoms, respectively, in US children ages 5 to 17 years, according to a case-control study led by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The four-site study involved 622 children who were eligible for COVID-19 vaccination when they were infected with the Omicron variant and who completed a post-COVID condition (PCC) survey at least 60 days later. They were enrolled from the Pediatric Research Observing Trends and Exposures in COVID-19 Timelines (PROTECT) study, a longitudinal SARS-CoV-2 surveillance cohort convened in July 2021. ... "Our findings suggest that children should stay up to date with current COVID-19 vaccination recommendations as vaccination not only protects against severe COVID-19 illness but also protects against PCC," they concluded. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/vaccinated-kids-57-73-lower-risk-long-covid-cdc-study-suggests AND Recent COVID-19 vaccination tied to lower risk of long COVID November 7, 2024 New data from the VENUS (Vaccine Effectiveness, Networking, and Universal Safety) study in Japan reveal that the risk of developing long COVID is significantly lower when people have been recently vaccinated before infection. The study was published yesterday in Vaccine. The retrospective study followed participants diagnosed with COVID-19 between August 2020 and December 2022. The incidences of 36 post-COVID-19 conditions were monitored 3, 5, and 8 months after infection. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/recent-covid-19-vaccination-tied-lower-risk-long-covid

No one is or was arguing that older people weren't at greater risk, of course they were/are. But that's irrelevant to the real, albeit lesser, risks that young people faced from COVID. The low death "rate" numbers for young people don't somehow wipe away the 1,800+ American youngsters and estimated 17,000+ young people worldwide who died from COVID -- Alex Berenson notwithstanding.

Here's a global estimate for COVID deaths among youngsters -- more than 17,000 globally: Child mortality and COVID-19 Last update: December 2023 How many children have died from COVID-19? Among the 4.4 million COVID-19 deaths1 reported in the MPIDR COVerAGE database, 0.4 per cent (over 17,400) occurred in children and adolescents under 20 years of age. Of the over 17,400 deaths reported in those under 20 years of age, 53 per cent occurred among adolescents ages 10–19, and 47 per cent among children ages 0–9. [emphasis added] Data correct as of December 2023. https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-survival/covid-19/

More than 1,800 young people in the U.S. (up through age 18) died from COVID during the pandemic through mid-2023, per the CDC. And that's not counting the many tens of thousands who were hospitalized from it. The above count also is just from the U.S., leaving out the rest of the world. Berenson was simply wrong in his claims that young people were not at risk from COVID... Lesser risk compared to adults and older people, yes. But not no risk or immune from risk. https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Deaths-by-Sex-Ages-0-18-years/xa4b-4pzv

There are lots of different kinds of coronaviruses, including many that have nothing to do with the COVID pandemic. That the Wuhan lab was studying certain types of coronaviruses is undisputed. But there's no evidence or proof that lab was studying the specific version(s) that became or had the potential to become COVID. Per the New York Times: "There remains no evidence that the Wuhan institute stored any virus that could have become the coronavirus and caused Covid, with or without scientific tinkering, researchers have said. Scientists who specialize in tracing outbreaks have published analyses of early cases and viral genomes that they say point to the pandemic’s starting at an illegal wild-animal market in Wuhan. The presence of the coronavirus in samples from the market containing genetic material linked to raccoon dogs, they have said, is consistent with that scenario." https://archive.ph/Ho5gO#selection-7189.0-7197.51

Genetic ghosts suggest Covid’s market origins 19 September 2024 "A team of scientists say it is “beyond reasonable doubt” the Covid pandemic started with infected animals sold at a market, rather than a laboratory leak. They were analysing hundreds of samples collected from Wuhan, China, in January 2020. ... Prof Michael Worobey, of the University of Arizona, said ... this study, combined with other data – such as early cases and hospitalisations being linked to the market – all pointed to an animal origin of Covid. (more) https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8095xjg4po

Virologists and epidemiologists back natural origin for COVID-19, survey suggests 6 Feb 2024 "...a group of risk experts has found a new angle on one of the most hotly contested science issues of our time—where the SARS-CoV-2 virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic came from—by conducting what it calls the first systematic survey of scientific opinion on the matter. The report, posted online on Friday, suggests virologists and other scientists with relevant expertise favor the view that the pandemic began when a natural virus jumped from an animal to a human, not because of an accident in a research lab studying or manipulating coronaviruses..." Respondents were asked to put a probability on each of three scenarios: that the pandemic was the result of a natural zoonosis; that a biomedical research-related accident was to blame; or that there was another cause. (The three probabilities had to add up to 100%.) On average, respondents assigned a 77% probability to a zoonosis, 21% to the lab-leak scenario, and 2% to the “other” category. One-quarter of respondents seemed to be very sure about a zoonotic origin, giving it a probability between 96% and 100%." https://www.science.org/content/article/virologists-and-epidemiologists-back-natural-origin-covid-19-survey-suggests

The source for the OP post, Alex Berenson, is a serial COVID misinformation spreader, not surprisingly.... That's in part why the source here is his own Substack post, instead of any credible news agency source. Re Berenson: "Early in the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Berenson vocally argued that people and the media were overestimating the risk of the new virus, that it posed little risk to young Americans, and that it was being used as a cover for government overreach.[8][29] Many public health experts have rejected his claims.[8][29]: ... In 2021, Berenson tweeted that COVID-19 vaccinations had led to 50 times more adverse effects than flu vaccine. PolitiFact rated the claim "mostly false".[12] The Atlantic called him "The pandemic's wrongest man", owing to what they termed his "dangerously, unflaggingly, and superlatively wrong" claims of the vaccine's ineffectiveness.[10] On January 25, 2022, Berenson appeared on the Fox News show Tucker Carlson Tonight declaring that existing mRNA vaccines are "dangerous and ineffective" against COVID-19, and further demanding that they be withdrawn from the market immediately.[31] The Washington Post's Philip Bump denounced Carlson for "inviting Berenson on, despite his proven track record of misinformation and cherry-picking" and observed that "Berenson's claims went unchallenged."[32] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Berenson#COVID-19_pandemic As for the claims of the OP, most scientists with expertise in the field continue to believe natural spillover is the most likely source for the COVID virus, and NOT from a lab leak. In addition, the majority of U.S. intelligence agencies (5) also continue to believe natural spillover is the most likely source.... even though a minority number (3) now believe a lab leak was the most likely cause. New York Times - Jan. 2025: "Five agencies, including the National Intelligence Council and the Defense Intelligence Agency, assessed that natural exposure most likely caused the epidemic. But they said that they had only low-confidence in their assessment. Until now, two agencies, the F.B.I. and Department of Energy, thought a lab leak was more likely. But their theories are different. The F.B.I. believes the virus came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The Energy Department put its bet on another lab, the Wuhan Center for Disease Control. Officials would not say if the C.I.A. believes one lab or the other was the more likely source of the virus." https://archive.ph/AeGpZ#selection-1087.0-1095.108

What else would you expect the liar-in-chief to say.... along with all the other lies and nonsense he has spouted, and then later ignored, during his political career. And this comes as Trump and Musk are trying to dismiss thousands of SSA employees, and pushing Republican tax legislation that non-partisan experts have said would hasten the demise of the current SS system and require major cuts in SS benefits by the early 2030s. "In October, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan watchdog, said Trump’s policies would hasten the demise of Social Security’s trust fund. It predicted that the Social Security Board of Trustees would start cutting benefits by 2031 instead of 2034 because the fund that covers the deficit between outlays and revenue would run out of money sooner." https://www.fortune.com/2025/03/03/social-security-payments-benefits-interruption-doge-cuts-system-collapse-retirement-disability/

That whole claim by Musk and Trump was false and fraudulent, as the OP article by Forbes here explains, and has been detailed by numerous news agencies elsewhere. "Musk had previous sparked concern about his plans for the safety net after he said tens of millions of dead Americans are receiving Social Security checks—a claim the Associated Press debunked. And on Friday, he added to fears when he called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” and described the federal government as “one big pyramid scheme.” In October, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan watchdog, said Trump’s policies would hasten the demise of Social Security’s trust fund." https://www.fortune.com/2025/03/03/social-security-payments-benefits-interruption-doge-cuts-system-collapse-retirement-disability/ Tens of millions of dead people aren’t getting Social Security checks, despite Trump and Musk claims https://apnews.com/article/social-security-payments-deceased-false-claims-doge-ed2885f5769f368853ac3615b4852cf7#

"Poised" is the eternal, hopeful, vague term used for high-speed rail in Thailand. Worth noting, nowhere in the OP article does it make any mention of when this supposed project might actually be completed.

And meanwhile, in the real world, government administrators with many years of experience heading the Social Security Admin have been / are being forced out, and the agency for the time being in effectively being run by a bunch of Musk-ites who pretty much have no real knowledge or expertise in Social Security matters at all. Scary! But I've never heard anyone refer to Musk and Co. -- who are doing all the "replacing," -- as "Wokeist cultural devolution" and "inexperienced, racist, diverse ideologues."