TallGuyJohninBKK

And who does the Trump Admin have heading up Social Security for the time being? A formerly mid-level bureaucrat who had been placed on leave from his prior SSA job while under investigation for allegedly sharing unauthorized access to private Social Security Admin information with reps of Elon Musk's DOGE: How a Social Security Employee Under Investigation Rose to Lead the Agency March 2, 2025 "Leland Dudek, a mid-level career employee at the Social Security Administration, found himself at the center of a major shake-up when he was appointed as the agency’s acting commissioner. Just days before his promotion, Dudek had publicly stated that he was placed on administrative leave for cooperating with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency and was actively searching for a new job. His sudden elevation came after Michelle King, a longtime SSA official, resigned following disputes with DOGE representatives over access to sensitive Social Security records. King's departure is part of a broader trend of career government officials stepping down due to concerns about DOGE's influence within federal agencies. Prior to his promotion, Dudek had been under investigation for allegedly sharing unauthorized access to SSA information with DOGE representatives, according to The Washington Post. The agency's leadership team had reportedly placed him on paid leave over concerns that his actions may have violated privacy and tax laws. He was also accused of pressuring SSA personnel to expedite the clearance of DOGE engineers into the agency's systems. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/social-security-employee-under-investigation-000017561.html

And more from the Trump Admin cutting into the Social Security Admin, per AARP: Social Security Administration Plans ‘Significant’ Staff Reductions AARP calls for reassurances from SSA on commitment to customer service Published February 28, 2025 The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced plans this week for a “massive” restructuring of its operations that “will include significant workforce reductions” affecting thousands of jobs. ... The Social Security Administration had seen staffing shrink even before the recent announcement. SSA’s workforce had shrunk to a near-50-year low and attrition and hiring freezes were hamstringing efforts to improve customer service, SSA officials told AARP last year. [emphasis added] According to SSA performance data, callers to the 800 number waited 30 minutes on average to speak to a representative in January. The average disability application took eight months to process, compared to four months in January 2020. [emphasis added] https://www.aarp.org/social-security/ssa-workforce-reductions.html

Immunisation Saved At Least 154 Million Lives Over Past 50 Years – WHO Infectious Diseases 24/04/2024 "Immunisation has saved at least 154 million lives over the past 50 years, since the World Health Organization (WHO) launched its Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in 1974. [emphasis added] Of the lives saved, 146 million were children under five, and 101 million were babies. Global infant deaths have reduced by 40% and more than halved in Africa. [emphasis added] ... The measles vaccine has had the biggest impact on reducing infant mortality, accounting for 60% of the lives saved – 94 million. https://healthpolicy-watch.news/immunisation-has-had-a-massive-impact-on-human-survival/

Here's where the Republicans really are on Social Security, per CNBC: Trump plan would make Social Security insolvent in just 6 years, budget group says Published Mon, Oct 21 2024 2:40 PM EDT "Key Points Donald Trump’s tax-cut plans and other agenda items would hasten Social Security’s insolvency, a nonpartisan budget group said. The Republican nominee’s proposals would also expand Social Security’s cash shortfall by trillions of dollars and lead to even steeper benefit cuts in the coming years, the group estimated." https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/21/trump-social-security-plan-insolvency-faster-study.html Here's where some prominent Democrats are on Social Security: 02.27.2025 NEWS: As Republicans Attempt to Undermine Social Security, Sanders, Warren, Schakowsky, Hoyle Introduce Legislation to Expand Social Security "WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 – As Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress attempt to advance legislation to give massive tax breaks to billionaires and undermine Social Security, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee's Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions and Family Policy, and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), along with Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Val Hoyle (D-Ore.), introduced the Social Security Expansion Act. The legislation would expand Social Security benefits by $2,400 a year and ensure Social Security is fully funded for the next 75 years by applying the Social Security payroll tax on all income above $250,000. Importantly, this legislation would not raise taxes by one penny on the over 91 percent of American households who make $250,000 or less." [emphasis added] https://www.help.senate.gov/dem/newsroom/press/news-as-republicans-attempt-to-undermine-social-security-sanders-warren-schakowsky-hoyle-introduce-legislation-to-expand-social-security Where does anyone think Trump and Musk are going to come down on this? Protecting billionaires and millionaires, or preserving Social Security and providing a financial safety net for the 91% of American households earning less than $250,000 per year? The DOGE attack on various federal government departments is just the opening salvo in the Republicans attack on various federal programs that help support and protect the American non-millionaires and non-billionaires. And part of their movement to convince Americans that they can't rely on the federal government and its workforce to protect them against... who else... the millionaire and billionaire liars like Trump and Musk.

Also, FWIW, the Social Security website still allows online access thru several different methods, not just Login.gov, as follows: Login.gov does NOT appear to work with GV. ID.me does work with GV... And older SS direct log-in accounts, including like the one I also have, when I tested it just now, it sent my 2FA to my registered email address... I can't recall from many past years whether I opted for that option, or that's what they wanted in lieu of a mobile ph number at the time.

Ya... I just checked. My Login.gov account has one of my regular U.S. mobile numbers set for 2FA... So that must mean my GV # didn't work on that platform. It's weird, though, because also in just checking, the fed government's similar ID.me account and log-in does accept GV SMS 2FA.

I remember! And that's going back to my early days in LOS.

The issue that often seems to trigger problems for Americans living abroad is when they try to log-in to their U.S. financial accounts using a foreign IP address. [Or make what I consider the potentially risky mistake of telling their FI that they're no longer living in the U.S. and instead are living abroad.] The various FI's security systems will tend to perceive those kinds of log-ins as dubious and/or threats, and that can trigger getting locked out of online access or other unwanted attention. The solution to that, in my experience, has been to ALWAYS use a U.S. IP address provided by one of the better VPN providers when doing online financial stuff. And that's worked for me for many years without any hitch. Along with keeping a U.S. address of record on all my U.S. FI accounts.

I'm pretty sure SS accepts my GV.... which was set up on my SS a long time back.

I've got quite a few U.S. financial accounts with brokerages, banks and credit unions, large and small... And fortunately for me, GV seems to work for 2FA via SMS messages with all of the FIs I deal with. I do know, however, (regarding your comment above) that some other members here have reported that some of THEIR FIs 2FAs cannot be received via GV.

And, the conclusions of a Science Feedback review of claims about the latest preprint cited here in the OP: The OP's study did not "definitively establish that the spike protein causes PVS. The research was preliminary, based on a small sample size and self-reported data, and its conclusions have yet to be peer-reviewed. As such, more rigorous research is needed to understand PVS, and claims linking the vaccines to immune system damage are unfounded and misleading." [emphasis added] https://science.feedback.org/review/vaids-not-real-medical-condition-causes-post-vaccination-syndrome-require-more-research/

Here's a Dec. 2023 FactCheck.org report on one of the prior reports issued by the same authors dealing with the same issues that also calls out its limitations: Yale Preprint Recorded Patient Experiences, Did Not Demonstrate Vaccines Cause New Syndrome December 18, 2023 "A preprint on a Yale-based study described chronic symptoms self-reported after COVID-19 vaccination by 241 members of an online group. The paper, which has not been peer-reviewed, did not show how common these symptoms are in the general population, nor whether vaccinations caused them — limitations popular online posts did not make clear." ... To be clear, the preprint assigns the label “post-vaccination syndrome” to patients’ self-reported symptoms, but it does not establish the causes of the symptoms or their prevalence among vaccinated people. ... “We cannot draw conclusions about the causation of the symptoms reported in this study based on the study design,” Dr. Linda Geng, an internal medicine doctor and co-director of the Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome Center at Stanford University, told us in an email. “Vaccines can be life-saving and it is important that we remember their benefits for public health and the broader population as we continue to research and better understand their potential complex effects in subsets of individuals.” https://www.factcheck.org/2023/12/scicheck-yale-preprint-recorded-patient-experiences-did-not-demonstrate-vaccines-cause-new-syndrome/

Indeed, this preprint has not been peer reviewed, and is the latest version of various reports being issued by these authors who started out by recruiting a bunch of anti-vaxers as their study subjects. And guess what? The anti-vaxers BELIEVE, without any clear proof provided by the study, that their symptoms stemmed from the COVID vaccines they had received. Unfortunately, there's not much here, if anything, that proves that the subject group's perceived (self-reported) symptoms did in fact stem from them having received COVID vaccines, as opposed to any number of other things/pre-existing conditions that weren't effectively ruled out by the study's methods. A good take-down of the flaws and limitations in this preprint is shown here below: Dr. Willson's summary at the end of his video below: "It's just not a well-designed or ground-breaking study." Re the author of the above video review, Dr. Dan Wilson: "Ph.D. in molecular biology that covers bad science while making good science accessible. This channel focuses mainly on pseudoscience surrounding the anti-vaccine movement and COVID misinformation. I earned my B.S. in Biotechnology and Molecular Biology from Clarion University and my Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University." ----------------------------------- It's also worth noting the opening two sentences of OP-cited pre-print study -- the first of which the various anti-vaxers getting excited by this report seem to be selectively ignoring: "COVID-19 vaccines have prevented millions of COVID-19 deaths. Yet, a small fraction42 of the population reports a chronic debilitating condition after COVID-19 vaccination,43 often referred to as post- vaccination syndrome (PVS). [emphasis added] https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.18.25322379v2.full.pdf

How Well Does the MMR Vaccine Work? "MMR vaccine is very effective at protecting people against measles, mumps, and rubella, and preventing the complications caused by these diseases. People who receive MMR vaccination according to the U.S. vaccination schedule are usually considered protected for life against measles and rubella. While MMR provides effective protection against mumps for most people, immunity against mumps may decrease over time and some people may no longer be protected against mumps later in life. An additional dose may be needed if you are at risk because of a mumps outbreak. One dose of MMR vaccine is 93% effective against measles, 78% effective against mumps, and 97% effective against rubella. Two doses of MMR vaccine are 97% effective against measles and 88% effective against mumps." https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/mmr/public/index.html

Measles resurgence is 'not business as usual,' doctor says https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqnWJLrECVQ

No cause of death has been determined as yet in the above cited case... But since you've posted the headline here, it's worth reporting what the article actually says on the issue -- that the risks from sickness from COVID far outweigh the risks from the vaccines: "the CDC committee evaluating concerns about the heart problems post-vaccination agreed that the risk of severe COVID-19 illness and hospitalization among unvaccinated adolescents and young adults was higher in every age group than the risk of myocarditis or pericarditis after a vaccine. ... That's a sentiment echoed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which issued a joint statement after the hearing that was co-signed by more than a dozen other organizations, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It said, in part: “The facts are clear: this is an extremely rare side effect, and only an exceedingly small number of people will experience it after vaccination. Importantly, for the young people who do, most cases are mild, and individuals recover often on their own or with minimal treatment. In addition, we know that myocarditis and pericarditis are much more common if you get COVID-19, and the risks to the heart from COVID-19 infection can be more severe." [emphasis added] https://www.freep.com/story/news/2021/07/02/jacob-clynick-pfizer-covid-vaccine/5323095001/

A child is dead from measles "A little child is dead. From measles. In the United States. In 2025. They were unvaccinated and otherwise healthy, making it the first casualty of the West Texas measles outbreak—and the first measles death in the U.S. in a decade. One death from a preventable disease is one too many. ... This didn’t happen randomly. West Texas has pockets of alarmingly low MMR vaccination rates. In the area where this outbreak began, one in five children is unvaccinated. Measles spreads like wildfire in unprotected communities—it’s the most contagious virus on earth. On average, one infected person will spread it to 12–18 unvaccinated people. [emphasis added] ... Measles is not just a rash. While many children recover from measles, some die of pneumonia caused by the virus. Measles can also lead to deafness and brain damage, and it can wipe out a huge fraction of immune memory to other diseases, like the flu, leading to an increase in all-cause deaths years later. The risks of infection far outweigh the risks of the vaccine, as the New York Times shows beautifully below." https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/a-child-is-dead-from-measles Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) is founded and operated by Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, MPH PhD—an epidemiologist, wife, and mom of two little girls. Dr. Jetelina is also a senior scientific consultant to a number of non-profit organizations. YLE reaches over 340,000 people in over 132 countries with one goal: “Translate” the ever-evolving public health science so that people will be well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions.

Texas reports first death in measles outbreak ... "Measles was eliminated from the United States 25 years ago, but dropping vaccination rates due to anti-vaccine advocacy groups erroneously linking the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism, has left some communities vulnerable to outbreaks. [emphasis added] Outbreaks occurring in unvaccinated kids The outbreaks in rural counties of West Texas are largely occurring among unvaccinated or under-vaccinated members of a Mennonite community, a TDSHS spokesperson told the Associated Press. TDSDH said the current outbreak is the largest in the state in 30 years." [emphasis added] https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/measles/texas-reports-first-death-measles-outbreak Including like this brain-addled moron whom Trump has appointed to head the U.S. Health and Human Services Department: RFK Jr. kept asking to see the science that vaccines were safe. After he saw it, he dismissed it January 31, 2025 "Kennedy repeatedly refused to acknowledge scientific consensus that childhood vaccines don’t cause autism and that COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of lives, and he falsely asserted the government has no good vaccine safety monitoring. While appearing to ignore mainstream science, he cited flawed or tangential research to make his points, such as suggesting Black people may need different vaccines than whites. His responses raised concern among health experts that Kennedy lacks basic skills needed for the job. “He ignores science. He cherry-picks sometimes fraudulent studies. Sometimes he takes well-done studies and takes little pieces of them out of context,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics. ... The science on vaccines is clear to doctors and scientists — but not to Kennedy Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and physician, said the science is clear that measles and other childhood vaccines are safe and not linked to autism." https://apnews.com/article/rfk-jr-vaccine-trump-science-autism-9b99621b01f11b7f0bdc81e5a0b82d2b

You've got Marjorie Taylor Greene on your side... That says a lot... more than enough for most thinking folks.

As I said, a bunch of right-wing Trump supporting Republican politicians, some with long histories of promoting COVID-related misinformation and unsupported claims, including nutjobs like Majorie Taylor Greene, Rich McCormick and disgraced former White House physician Ronny Jackson. And needless to say, their opinion was not shared by the Democrat members of that House subcommittee. The FBI and CIA both took the position that a lab likely was responsible, with their assessments being based on "low confidence", along with the Dept. of Energy, for a total of three federal agencies. But as the NY Times reported, the CIA and Dept. of Energy's individual assessments disagreed on what exact lab each thought was responsible. Counter to that, five U.S. intelligence agencies took the opposite view that COVID most likely emerged from a natural spillover event. Per the NY Times from late Jan.: "Five agencies, including the National Intelligence Council and the Defense Intelligence Agency, assessed that natural exposure most likely caused the epidemic. But they [too] 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://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/25/us/politics/cia-covid-lab-leak.html Re the Republican-majority House subcommittee's report: "The committee’s 520-page report, released on 2 December, offers no new direct evidence of a lab leak, but summarizes a circumstantial case, including that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) used NIAID money to conduct “gain-of-function” studies that modified distantly related coronaviruses. [emphasis added] ... Democrats on the panel released their own report challenging many of their colleagues’ conclusions about COVID-19 origins. They conclude, for example, that the viruses studied at WIV with EcoHealth funding were too distantly related to SARS-CoV-2 to cause the pandemic." https://www.science.org/content/article/house-panel-concludes-covid-19-pandemic-came-lab-leak And re Georgia Rep. Rich McCormick, one of the Republican subcommittee members: https://dccc.org/quack-doctor-rich-mccormick-excoriated-by-local-press-for-spreading-covid-19-misinformation/ Re Rep. Ronny Jackson: Rep. Ronny Jackson was demoted by Navy after probe into misconduct https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/rep-ronny-jackson-was-demoted-by-navy-after-probe-into-misconduct/ar-BB1jvPNU https://www.yahoo.com/news/white-house-doctor-raved-trumps-024430725.html And the Republican subcommittee members in general: "A recent HuffPost report added, “McCarthy’s other GOP picks for the COVID subcommittee include Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Iowa), who spread false information about the CDC planning to mandate COVID vaccines for children and about children not being affected by COVID; Rep. Michael Cloud (Texas), who in March 2020 voted against the Families First COVID Response Act, which provided emergency funding for free COVID testing and paid leave for workers hit by the pandemic; Rep. John Joyce (Pa.), who filed a bill to block the government from issuing standardized COVID vaccine status cards; and Rep. Rich McCormick (Ga.), an ER physician who spread misinformation about masks and COVID vaccines.” https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/problem-gops-new-covid-committee-members-rcna70610

Sick animals suggest COVID pandemic started in Wuhan market 04 December 2024 ... "Most researchers agree that SARS-CoV-2 originated in animals." https://archive.ph/YGIHJ#selection-977.0-977.16 "While the origin of the virus remains unknown, scientists think the most likely hypothesis is that it circulated in bats, like many coronaviruses, before infecting another species, probably raccoon dogs, civet cats or bamboo rats. In turn, the infection spread to humans handling or butchering those animals at a market in Wuhan, where the first human cases appeared in late November 2019." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cia-covid-likely-originated-lab-low-confidence-assessment/

Your view continues to be the stuff mostly of unsubstantiated right-wing and Republican conspiracy theories... Meanwhile, contrary to your unsourced and unsubstantiated claims above, the majority of U.S. government intelligence agencies voicing an opinion AND the bulk of scientists with expertise in the field believe COVID in humans occurred via a natural jump from some animal species to humans. For the time being, there's been no definitive proof either way as to the origin... just a mainstream opinion of science, and a lot of unproven and often nonsense claims largely coming from various politicians and right-wing social media types who know nothing on the topic.

You might note, I specifically asked about OTHER COUNTRY tax filing obligations....not the Thai ones.

Nada for me in BKK as of today.. But as I mentioned above, I'm pretty sure BKKB had me fill out a FATCA form some years ago when I opened a new account at one of their branches, because they told me I couldn't transfer the existing account I had at the time to the new branch I wanted to use.

Assuming your wife is Thai, have you posted anywhere about the process you went thru to get a Schwab International brokerage account for her? Is so, would appreciate a link. If not, maybe you could write up something on that? Also, is Schwab still requiring an opening $25K USD for their international accounts? I've often wondered whether creating a Schwab International account for the Thai wife would be a helpful/convenient way of handling estate planning issues for her as my Schwab U.S. accounts already all list her as my beneficiary. PS - are there any other country tax filing obligations for a Thai national residing in Thailand as regards a Schwab international account?