TallGuyJohninBKK

Re your question above, the last time I checked, the latest currently available XBB variant COVID vaccine is available at several locations around Bangkok on a pay for service basis, unlike the past COVID vaccine campaigns run by the government where all the COVID vaccines were free to the public. Here's a link on where the current COVID vaccines should still be available here:

Thailand hasn't had a national COVID vaccinations campaign for the general public since 2022... So that means, the vast majority of people in the country with few exceptions are not up-to-date on COVID vaccinations and have not received the latest currently available vaccine version aimed at the more recent XBB variant. In the west at least in places like the U.S. and UK, there will be new versions of the COVID vaccines released later this fall aimed at protecting against the latest KP.2 / JN.1 variants... But Thailand thus far has shown no signs of any plans to make those vaccines widely available to the public. PS - It's not like COVID vaccinations offer some kind of magical permanent protection. The COVID virus keeps changing/mutating, and the vaccine versions typically protect well for about 6 months before the protection wanes substantially... We're likely heading toward a similar situation as with the flu vaccines, where a new version is produced and given annually to reflect the latest strains of that virus, and to top-up the provided protection.

And subsequently corrected his earlier misstatements in later congressional testimony, which clearly showed that there was in fact science behind the social distancing policy adopted in the U.S., as the 2020 US GAO report I cited above clearly shows. But for some reason, you choose to quote his original mistaken comments, and ignore the subsequent clarifications and corrections he made, which were widely reported in the news as well.

Ahh, the good old Rupert Murdoch NY Post... Fauci was wrong when he originally made that off-handed comment above, and he later clarified his remarks in subsequent testimony before a House subcommittee, which I'm suspecting you knew.... In his clarification, Fauci noted that he wasn't involved in the drafting of the U.S. social distancing policy, which in fact came from the CDC. And when he said not backed by scientific data, he meant and clarified, there had not been randomized clinical trials done. "Fauci sought to clarify on Monday that the 6-foot guidance came from the CDC and was based on droplet research, telling lawmakers: "It had little to do with me since I didn't make the recommendation and my saying 'there was no science behind it' meant there was no clinical trial behind that." Though asked if social distancing requirements and other public health measures to reduce transmission saves lives, Fauci said "definitely." https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/republicans-poised-grill-anthony-fauci-covid-19-response/story?id=110677611 And of course, there had been much research done on social distancing policies for viruses long before COVID came along, as this 2020 report by the U.S. GAO recounts: "A CDC guideline based on historical studies of selected infections says that the area of highest risk is within 3 feet of an infected person. Some studies suggest a buffer of 6 feet may further reduce risk. Other studies examining droplet dispersion in sneezing and coughing found they can go more than 6 feet. Also, viral material may persist in the air within a room for up to 3 hours." https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-20-545sp

When new weekly COVID hospitalizations have gone from 501 in mid-March to 2,881 as of last week, and are at their highest level in the past year, I'd certainly say something substantial is going on. Lots of people ending up hospitalized with COVID, and almost 750 of them as of today's update listed in "serious" condition. Meanwhile, I guess we'll just have to wonder whether and how the two COVID deaths reported for last week in the 20-49 age range were or weren't within your definition of "at risk."

Since you asked... the latest weekly COVID update is out today from the Thai MoPH: https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main The Thai Ministry of Public Health on Monday reported another week of worsening COVID conditions in the country, as weekly new COVID hospitalizations rose again to 2,881, the highest level of the past year, and new deaths and COVID cases currently hospitalized in serious condition both increased as well. The new COVID status report for last week June 9-15 shows new COVID hospitalizations rising 4.3% from 2,762 two weeks ago to an average of 412 per day. The weekly counts of new COVID hospitalizations now have risen week-over-week for 13 of the past 14 weeks since mid-March, when the tally stood at 501. Also in the latest report, COVID deaths rose from 5 to 7 over the past two weeks. The count of COVID patients currently hospitalized in serious condition rose 12.8% from 663 two weeks ago to 748 last week, and hit its highest level since late August 2022 when that count was 763. (more) https://aseannow.com/topic/1326140-hospitalizations-climb-in-thailands-spring-2024-covid-surge/?do=findComment&comment=18995834 Cumulative COVID hospitalizations in Thailand thus far this year -- 26,126 Cumulative COVID deaths in Thailand thus far this year -- 144 Of the 7 newly reported COVID deaths for last week, two were in the age 20-49 range, per the Thai MoPH.

The Thai Ministry of Public Health on Monday reported another week of worsening COVID conditions in the country, as weekly new COVID hospitalizations rose again to 2,881, the highest level of the past year, and new deaths and COVID cases currently hospitalized in serious condition both increased as well. The new COVID status report for last week June 9-15 shows new COVID hospitalizations rising 4.3% from 2,762 two weeks ago to an average of 412 per day. The weekly counts of new COVID hospitalizations now have risen week-over-week for 13 of the past 14 weeks since mid-March, when the tally stood at 501. Also in the latest report, COVID deaths rose from 5 to 7 over the past two weeks. The count of COVID patients currently hospitalized in serious condition rose 12.8% from 663 two weeks ago to 748 last week, and hit its highest level since late August 2022 when that count was 763. Likewise, the tally of 339 currently hospitalized COVID patients requiring ventilation to breathe rose 18.5% from 286 the prior week, and hit its highest level since late December 2022 when the number was 352. With Monday's update, the latest total of new weekly COVID hospitalizations is now more than five times the number (501) at the start of the recent surge in mid-March, and reached Thailand's highest weekly total since early June 2023 when that count reached 3,085. Cumulative figures since the start of 2024 now are 26,126 COVID hospitalizations and 144 COVID deaths. The latest weekly COVID deaths total has remained in the same typical single-digit range seen most of this year, despite the large increases in hospitalizations. The Thai MoPH in the past has adopted a relatively narrow definition of the types of deaths it will count as official COVID deaths. Of the 7 new official COVID deaths for the past week, the MoPH is reporting that 2 were male and 5 female. By age, 4 were ages 70 and above, 1 age 60-69, and 2 were ages 20-49. The latest MoPH report on new weekly COVID hospitalizations shows them continuing a long upward climb since mid-March. The weekly tallies during that recent period have been: March 16 -- 501 March 23 -- 630 March 30 -- 728 April 6 -- 774 April 13 -- 849 April 20 -- 1,004 April 27 -- 1,672 May 4 -- 1,792 May 11 -- 1,880 May 18 - 1,882 May 25 -- 1,801 June 1 -- 1,863 June 8 -- 2,762 June 15 -- 2,881 By comparison, Thailand's key weekly COVID indicators to start 2024 were 664 new COVID hospitalizations and 4 COVID deaths for the first week of the year. Other than providing the sparse weekly statistical updates on COVID deaths and hospitalizations, Thai public health officials have provided virtually no public details about the impacts of the rising hospitalizations, what's typically happening with the patients, their ages, where the cases are located by area, or any anything else. Source: https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main

Thailand MoPH Weekly COVID report for June 9-15, 2024: --2,881 new COVID hospitalizations, averaging 412 per day, up 119 / 4.3% from the prior week --7 new COVID deaths, up 2 / 40% from the prior week --748 current COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition (pneumonia symptoms), up 85 / 12.8% from the prior week (dark purple) --339 current COVID patients hospitalized requiring intubation/ventilation to breathe, up 53 / 18.5% from the prior week (light purple) The current level of new weekly COVID hospitalizations has climbed markedly to more than five times the number (501) at the start of the recent surge in mid-March, and reached Thailand's highest weekly total since early June 2023 when that count reached 3,085. The latest weekly tally of 748 serious condition COVID hospitalized patients rose to its highest level since late August 2022 when that count was 763. The tally of 339 hospitalized patients requiring ventilation to breathe rose to its highest level since late December 2022 when the number was 352. Cumulative figures since the start of the year are COVID hospitalizations (26,126) & COVID deaths (144). Of the 7 new official COVID deaths for the past week, the MoPH is reporting that 2 were male and 5 female. By age, 4 were ages 70 and above, 1 age 60-69, and 2 were ages 20-49. The latest weekly COVID deaths total has remained in the same typical single-digit range seen most of this year, despite the large increases in hospitalizations. The Thai MoPH in the past has adopted a relatively narrow definition of the types of deaths it will count as official COVID deaths. https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main The latest MoPH report on new weekly COVID hospitalizations shows them continuing a long upward climb, with week-over-week increases in 13 of the past 14 weeks since mid-March. The new weekly COVID hospitalizations during the recent period have been: March 16 -- 501 March 23 -- 630 March 30 -- 728 April 6 -- 774 April 13 -- 849 April 20 -- 1,004 April 27 -- 1,672 May 4 -- 1,792 May 11 -- 1,880 May 18 - 1,882 May 25 -- 1,801 June 1 -- 1,863 June 8 -- 2,762 June 15 -- 2,881 By comparison, Thailand's key weekly COVID indicators to start 2024 were 664 new COVID hospitalizations and 4 COVID deaths for the first week of the year. Last year, Thailand had a similar spring COVID surge that saw new weekly COVID hospitalizations peak at 3,085 in early June, so the latest weekly tally now remains just below last spring's peak.

Looks like the original avian influenza diagnosis for this guy's cause of death subsequently has been retracted: WHO acknowledges bird flu patient in Mexico died of other medical conditions The patient had been hospitalized for three weeks before contracting bird flu. "The World Health Organization confirmed Friday that Mexican authorities believe the man with a rare human case of bird flu actually died from other co-morbidities. ... In the latest update, the WHO said health officials in Mexico had concluded the man died because of his co-morbidities. "A national multidisciplinary group of experts was formed to investigate the cause of death. It included infectious disease specialists, pneumonologists, microbiologists and intensive care professionals," the WHO wrote. "Upon review of the patient's clinical history and records, the national multidisciplinary team concluded on 6 June that, although the patient had a laboratory-confirmed infection with avian influenza A(H5N2) virus, he died due to complications of his co-morbidities." (more) https://abcnews.go.com/Health/acknowledges-bird-flu-patient-mexico-died-medical-conditions/story?id=111131166 And more of the same from Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexico-health-ministry-bird-flu-patient-died-chronic-disease-not-virus-2024-06-07/

A recent update on human cases of avian influenza from the WHO through May 3: "Globally, from 1 January 2003 to 3 May 2024, 889 cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H5N1) virus were reported from 23 countries. Of these 889 cases, 463 were fatal (CFR of 52%)." And specifically in Asia from the WHO's Western Pacific Region: "From 1 January 2003 to 3 May 2024, a total of 254 cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H5N1) virus have been reported from four countries within the Western Pacific Region (Table 1). Of these cases, 141 were fatal, resulting in a case fatality rate (CFR) of 56%. The last case in the Western Pacific Region was reported from China, with an onset date of 26 March 2024. https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/wpro---documents/emergency/surveillance/avian-influenza/ai_20240524.pdf?sfvrsn=5f006f99_132 Looks like WHO is saying Thailand hasn't had an official/reported human case of avian influenza A(H5N1) in many years, but both Cambodia and Vietnam (our nextdoor neighbors) have had cases and deaths thus far in 2024: https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/influenza/h5n1-human-case-cumulative-table/2024_may_tableh5n1.pdf?sfvrsn=6ab0fe24_3&download=true

And more: Counterfeit Covid Masks Are Still Sold Everywhere, Despite Misleading Claims Rising Covid cases have spurred a return to mask-wearing in the U.S. and overseas, at a time when flawed KN95s from China continue to dominate e-commerce sites. Updated Dec. 1, 2021 ... "Consumers who try to purchase N95 masks, mainly on Amazon, are often led to vendors selling fake or poorly made KN95s, a Chinese-made mask that is often marketed as an N95 equivalent despite the lack of testing by U.S. regulators to confirm virus-filtering claims. In fact, KN95 masks offered on Amazon and through other retailers are being sold without authorization for use in health care settings from the Food and Drug Administration, which last July revoked its emergency use authorization for imported masks that lack approval from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — a category that includes all KN95s from China. They include brands like Boncare, which is produced by a company that has repeatedly failed federal testing standards; Yotu, whose manufacturer has also failed European Union testing; and ChiSip, an Amazon top seller whose manufacturer, Chengde Technology, was cited by the C.D.C. for falsely claiming approval by federal regulators. (more) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/30/health/covid-masks-counterfeit-fake.html AND China seizes over 89 million shoddy face masks Issued on: 26/04/2020 Beijing (AFP) – China has confiscated over 89 million poor quality face masks, a government official said Sunday, as Beijing faces a slew of complaints about faulty protective gear exported worldwide. Demand for protective equipment has soared as nations across the globe battle the deadly coronavirus, which has infected nearly 2.9 million people. But a number of countries have complained about faulty masks and other products exported by China, mostly for use by medical workers and vulnerable groups. (more) https://www.france24.com/en/20200426-china-seizes-over-89-million-shoddy-face-masks

The Pentagon's disinformation campaign above notwithstanding, there was SOME truth to the claims being made, particularly as to the often substandard quality or simply counterfeit COVID PPE originating from China, and to China's Sinovac vaccine being less effective (though not harmful or fake as claimed, AFAIK) compared to its mRNA counterparts developed in the West: Countries reject China pandemic product batches The Netherlands, Spain and Turkey question quality of face masks and tests March 30 2020 Several countries in or neighbouring the EU have rejected Chinese-made coronavirus testing kits and protective equipment as substandard, raising concerns about the quality of supplies. The Netherlands, Spain and Turkey have all claimed there have been problems with products including masks and tests, as rising confirmed cases of Covid-19 infection in Europe increase dependence on Chinese imports. (more) https://archive.ph/L0opY or https://www.ft.com/content/f3435779-a706-45c7-a7e2-43efbdd7777b AND Chinese Covid-19 vaccine far less effective than initially claimed in Brazil, sparking concerns January 14, 2021 (CNN ) — A leading Chinese Covid-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech was just 50.38% effective in late-stage trials in Brazil, significantly lower than earlier results showed, according to a statement published by the government of Sao Paulo Tuesday. While the number exceeds the threshold required for regulatory approval, it falls far below the 78% previously announced, raising questions as to the veracity of the data and fueling skepticism over the apparent lack of transparency regarding Chinese vaccines. ... The results suggest Coronavac [the brand name for Sinovac's vaccine] is less effective than alternative vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which have an efficacy rate of about 95%. (more) https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/13/asia/sinovac-covid-vaccine-efficacy-intl-hnk/index.html

And what was the U.S. Pentagon responding to from China?: China doubles down on baseless ‘US origins’ Covid conspiracy as Delta outbreak worsens August 6, 2021 "Hong Kong CNN — As Beijing grapples with a worsening outbreak of the Delta variant, an outlandish conspiracy theory linking the origin of the coronavirus to the United States military has gained renewed traction in China. The wholly unfounded theory, which claims the virus may have been leaked from a US Army lab, has been repeatedly promoted by Chinese officials and state media since March last year. ... The campaign comes after Beijing rejected WHO’s proposal for a second-phase probe into the origins of Covid-19 last month. The study would include audits of laboratories and markets in Wuhan, the original epicenter of the pandemic. That has drawn the ire of Beijing, with a top Chinese health official accusing WHO of “disregarding common sense and defying science.” https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/06/china/china-covid-origin-mic-intl-hnk/index.html

An interesting news report and peculiar kind of military disinformation campaign, rooted in part in prior Chinese propaganda baselessly blaming the U.S. for the origins of COVID. Here's some added info from the Reuters report for perspective clarifying that the campaign in the Philippines was aimed in particular at China's Sinovac vaccine, which in fact had been shown to be less effective than comparable mRNA vaccines: The subheadline of the article: "The U.S. military launched a clandestine program amid the COVID crisis to discredit China’s Sinovac inoculation – payback for Beijing’s efforts to blame Washington for the pandemic. One target: the Filipino public. Health experts say the gambit was indefensible and put innocent lives at risk." And from the article: "“COVID came from China and the VACCINE [referring to Sinovac] also came from China, don’t trust China!” one typical tweet from July 2020 read in Tagalog. The words were next to a photo of a syringe beside a Chinese flag and a soaring chart of infections. Another post read: “From China – PPE, Face Mask, Vaccine: FAKE. But the Coronavirus is real.” ... "The military program started under former President Donald Trump and continued months into Joe Biden’s presidency, Reuters found – even after alarmed social media executives warned the new administration that the Pentagon had been trafficking in COVID misinformation. The Biden White House issued an edict in spring 2021 banning the anti-vax effort, which also disparaged vaccines produced by other rivals, and the Pentagon initiated an internal review, Reuters found." ------------------- What was true -- the Pentagon disinformation campaign notwithstanding -- was that the Chinese COVID vaccines like Sinovac were shown in trials to be less effective against COVID, though not harmful or fake AFAIK, compared with their mRNA counterparts developed in the West. And, China during the pandemic did produce and sell to desperate customers in the West and elsewhere a lot of poorly-made or downright fake/counterfeit face masks and other PPE, just as the propaganda campaign claimed: Sinovac jabs not as effective in preventing severe disease: S’pore study December 16, 2021 "Researchers found that the Sinovac vaccine was 60 per cent effective against severe disease, compared with 90 per cent for the Pfizer vaccine and 97 per cent for Moderna’s vaccine. In other words, people who took the Sinovac vaccine were more likely to require supplemental oxygen and intensive care, and also more likely to die of COVID-19." https://www.ncid.sg/News-Events/News/Pages/Sinovac-jabs-not-as-effective-in-preventing-severe-disease-S’pore-study.aspx AND Faulty masks. Flawed tests. China’s quality control problem in leading global COVID-19 fight April 10, 2020 ... A growing list of foreign complaints about faulty medical gear and testing kits imported from China has upset Beijing’s designs. Within the last few weeks, scientists and health authorities in Spain, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Turkey and Britain have complained of faulty antigen or antibody coronavirus tests purchased from Chinese companies — in some cases, costing these governments millions of dollars. ... Last week, the Netherlands asked to return 600,000 face masks purchased from China that had inadequate filters and fit incorrectly. On Tuesday, Finland tested a shipment of personal protective equipment, or PPE, from China and found the items unsuitable for hospital use. Australian border officials have also reportedly seized 800,000 faulty or counterfeit masks from China. The problem is worse at home. On March 12, officials at a State Council news briefing announced that authorities had seized more than 80 million counterfeit or faulty masks and 370,000 defective or fake disinfectants and other anti-coronavirus products in the prior month alone." https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-04-10/china-beijing-supply-world-coronavirus-fight-quality-control So, at least in this instance, there was some truth behind all propaganda allegations being made against China.

Frankly, whether the new Thai tax rules come into effect or they don't, I'd prefer to NOT be taking any discretionary / non-mandatory financial decisions like an optional LARGE amount IRA to Roth conversion that could result in EITHER the U.S. or the Thai governments taking a 30-35% tax cut of my earnings/distributions. But, if I needed to do a large IRA distribution for some reason, it might very well be financially worthwhile to AVOID being a Thai tax resident for the year in question, avoid the Thai 35% maximum tax rate, and settle for a 24% tax rate in the U.S., and avoid amounts that would push me into any higher tax bracket ($192K and above).

If I'm reading the Thai and U.S. tax tables correctly for 2024, Thailand has overall higher tax rates for the same amounts of income than does the U.S. for a single filer right now -- just going off the tax tables, not factoring in exemptions or deductions. For example, if I did a $100,000 IRA to Roth conversion as my only taxable income for the year, all of it would be taxed by the U.S. at 22% or less (the first $47K or so would be taxed at 10% and 12%, while everything from $47K to $100K would be taxed at 22%) If I did that same transaction and it was fully taxable in Thailand, everything from roughly $27K (1M THB) to $54K would be taxed at 25%, and everything from $54K (2M THB) to $100K would be taxed at 30%. Obviously, if a person already had OTHER regular taxable income and the abovementioned IRA conversion was being added on top of the regular taxable income, then the add-on income from the conversion would be being taxed in the higher tax brackets to start with. In Thailand, you get to the 35% tax rate for all taxable income of roughly $136,650 (5 million THB) and above. In the U.S., roughly $100K to $192K of taxable income is only getting taxed at an incremental 24% rate for that bracket, AFAICT. Depending on the total taxable income amounts involved, the differences in tax rates between the U.S. and Thailand seem like those could result in many thousands of extra dollars of taxation occurring here if driven by large amount IRA to Roth conversions under the proposed new Thai taxation rules on foreign income.

Expression of concern coming for paper some used to link COVID-19 vaccines to deaths June 14, 2024 "The journal BMJ Public Health is placing an expression of concern on a paper it said “gave rise to widespread misreporting and misunderstanding,” namely, “claims that it implies a direct causal link between COVID-19 vaccination and mortality.” The article, “Excess mortality across countries in the Western World since the COVID-19 pandemic: ‘Our World in Data’ estimates of January 2020 to December 2022,” appeared online June 3, and quickly attracted attention and criticism. The expression of concern is not yet live. ... On June 13, BMJ sent a press release to reporters saying it is “investigating the quality of the research and the messaging” of the paper, and would place an expression of concern on the article." (more) https://retractionwatch.com/2024/06/14/expression-of-concern-coming-for-paper-some-used-to-link-covid-19-vaccines-to-deaths/ As of this writing, the journal's "expression of concern" has yet to be posted/added to the subject study. As noted in prior posts above, the Dutch hospital where three of the study's authors work has subsequently distanced itself from the study and disavowed its findings relating to COVID vaccines. The listed funder of the study also has issued a public statement denying that it was the funder. https://www.prinsesmaximacentrum.nl/en/news-events/news/the-princess-maxima-center-distances-itself-from-publication-excess-mortality-during-covid-19-pandemic https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/study-does-not-say-covid-vaccines-may-have-fuelled-excess-deaths-2024-06-13/ The journal/publisher itself, BMJ, also issued a public statement rejecting various news reports that it said had falsely linked excess deaths during the pandemic to COVID vaccines, stating that the subject study never made that explicit finding.

Re an earlier comment in the thread, AIS and 3BB had some kind of corporate merger lately that, as I understand it, results in AIS taking over ownership control of 3BB's home internet services (though they continue to be billed and serviced by 3BB at least for the time being). The link below has a Q&A for customers toward the bottom of the webpage: https://www.ais.th/en/consumers/fibre/fibre3/ AND NBTC clears AIS-3BB merger with 5-year cap on broadband pricing 13 November 2023 "Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) board greenlighted the merger of Advanced Info Service (AIS) and Triple T Broadband (3BB) on Friday, so long as it doesn’t raise broadband prices for the next five years. AIS broadband subsidiary Advanced Wireless Network (AWN) struck a deal in July 2022 to acquire 100% of 3BB, along with a 19% stake in Jasmine Broadband Internet Infrastructure Fund (JASIF). The merger makes AIS the biggest fixed broadband player in Thailand with 4.69 million subscribers, displacing True Corp, which has 3.8 million fixed broadband subscribers." https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/telecom-regulation/15779-nbtc-clears-ais-3bb-merger-with-5-year-cap-on-broadband-pricing.html

That hasn't been my experience with multiple domestic travel trips/hotel stays in recent months with BKK-CW as my home Immigration office. And I've never ever been rejected for online 90-day reporting because of any failure to update my TM30. In fact, my one and only TM30 via BKK CW is from circa 2019, and I've never filed a new one ever since through multiple trips abroad and even more domestic trips/hotel stays... always returning to the same Thailand address I've had through all those years. All of the above being while on annual retirement extensions with annual re-entry permits. That said, I entirely believe that OTHER Immigration offices in misc. other provinces are and have been enforcing their own rules about travel (either domestic or international) triggering the need for new TM30s to be filed. Because I've seen the numerous complaints of such by posters here over time.

Jim, I'm glad you posted this topic, because it brings added focus to the issue of how Americans with IRAs and Roth IRAs might be impacted by the latest PROPOSED changes to Thai tax rules for expats. Specifically, that in the future, U.S. IRA distributions (including Roth conversions) might become subject to Thai taxation and are not shielded by the current US-Thai tax treaty. However, I think the notion above of the PROPOSED Thai tax changes being something that ought to trigger folks now to suddenly do LARGE dollar value Roth conversions is a problematic one... First, because we really don't know yet what if anything the future Thai tax rules will be and/or when they might take effect. But also second, making one or two-time high-value IRA to Roth conversions would be a taxable event in the U.S., and potentially push that person into a much higher (and very costly) U.S. tax bracket for the year/s in which the conversion or conversions occurred. Here's the U.S. tax brackets chart for 2024: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/taxes/federal-income-tax-brackets#2024-tax-brackets-and-income-tax-rates As folks can see, for this year, anything over $100K of taxable income (including IRA to Roth conversions) for a single filer would start out at a 24% U.S. income tax rate, and total taxable income for the year in excess of about $192,000 would get taxed by the feds at varying rates between 32% and 37% for the current year. Now, totally absent the Thai taxation issues, I know the financial advice I've always been given about IRA to Roth conversions is that, ideally, you want to spread them and the converted amounts out over time, so that when you do conversions, they don't kick you into a higher (or much higher) tax bracket that you'd otherwise be in. Now, IF the Thai authorities do go thru with their latest plan (unlike the prior one they seem to have suddenly abandoned after months of discussion and debate about implementation), will the latest plan make it sensible for an American to do a single or maybe two very large amount Roth conversions, and how would doing so wash out between the U.S. and proposed Thai taxation schemes. That part seems very unclear to me at present..

I've gotten the impression over time that there's (not surprisingly) some variability from IO to IO as to whether new TM30s are or are not required post-travel. At least at BKK-CW in recent months for domestic and for international as of last year, they're weren't enforcing any such rule.

I've made several domestic overnight-stay hotel trips in recent months, each time registering at major established hotels with my passport. My 90-day reporting is to BKK CW. Each time after my return from those trips, I was able to do my 90-day reports online without any problem and without having to file any new/updated TM30. I'm just talking about BKK-CW... Can't speak to the policies at any of the other IOs... Also, last I heard (though I haven't personally confirmed it lately), BKK CW also doesn't require new TM30s when people travel internationally, so long as when they return, it's to their same Thai address that's already in the system. When I did my last international travel in mid 2023, I was able to continue doing my online 90-day reports and wasn't required to file a new TM30 upon my return. Also was able to do a new retirement extension last fall with the same many years old (circa 2019) TM30.

I had a similar thing happen once before after getting a new passport. Apparently, when you do your next 90-day report in person after getting the new passport, the IO handling your report has to do something in their system that results in your online reporting capability being restored. In my case, they apparently failed to do that the first time round. So I had to go back to Immigration a second time around, explain I was still being blocked from online reporting, and at that point they fixed it, and been OK ever since.

A bit of an update here from the U.S. FDA on the COVID variant that will be used, apparently, for the upcoming fall 2024 version of COVID vaccines in the U.S.: FDA Updates Advice to Manufacturers of COVID-19 Vaccines (2024-2025 Formula): If Feasible Use KP.2 Strain of JN.1-Lineage ... "FDA has continued to monitor the circulating strains of SARS-CoV-2. Based on the most current available data, along with the recent rise in cases of COVID-19 in areas of the country, the agency has further determined that the preferred JN.1-lineage for the COVID-19 vaccines (2024-2025 Formula) is the KP.2 strain, if feasible. This change is intended to ensure that the COVID-19 vaccines (2024-2025 Formula) more closely match circulating SARS-CoV-2 strains. FDA has communicated this change to the manufacturers of the licensed and authorized COVID-19 vaccines. The agency does not anticipate that a change to KP.2 will delay the availability of the vaccines for the United States." https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/updated-covid-19-vaccines-use-united-states-beginning-fall-2024

An update from the website Dutch News: "The article [study] was widely criticised in the scientific community after international newspapers including the New York Post and the Daily Telegraph reported on its findings, with the Telegraph running the headline “Covid vaccines may have helped fuel rise in excess deaths“. Some compared the publication to the 1998 paper in The Lancet by former doctor Andrew Wakefield that claimed vaccines were a possible cause of autism in children. The paper was withdrawn 12 years later after a BMJ investigation found Wakefield guilty of dishonesty and fraud. Stuart McDonald, an expert in demographics and longevity at consultancy firm Lane, Clark & Peacock, said the Dutch study into vaccines should “not have been published in its current form”. (more) https://www.dutchnews.nl/2024/06/cancer-hospital-regrets-paper-linking-vaccines-to-covid-deaths/ And the above cited news report also has separate researchers -- whose data on excess deaths during the pandemic was used by this disputed study -- essentially accusing the study authors of plagiarism. From the above news report: