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TallGuyJohninBKK

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Posts posted by TallGuyJohninBKK

  1. On 6/19/2025 at 4:15 PM, snoop1130 said:

    At the core is Makati's Yellow Card programme, offering all-encompassing health services to cardholders. This includes appointments, consultations, diagnostics, medications, free vaccinations, and full hospitalisation at no cost. A partnership with KonsultaMD, established in May 2023, ensures 24/7 teleconsultations, including mental health support.

     

    Something makes me wonder here if the "full hospitalisation at no cost" reference isn't exactly telling the entire story....

     

  2. His form of re-engaging, based on the OP, appears to be supporting giving the Thai military an even stronger hand in running the country than they already have.

     

    If that's what you want for Thailand, then he's certainly your man.
     

    Quote

     

    "He commended the Bhumjaithai Party for using the crisis to differentiate itself and withdraw from the coalition government, aligning with the military instead.

    ...

    Chuwit also revealed plans to re-engage in politics with the Rak Thailand Party, aiming to offer a clear patriotic alternative.

     

     

  3. On 6/20/2025 at 3:19 AM, webfact said:

    In response, the Department of Health Service Support (DHSS) under the Ministry of Public Health has initiated an investigation. The clinic was closed upon their arrival, but officials plan to summon staff for questioning.

     

    Given the death of the man in this incident, I'm guessing that it was no accident or coincidence that the "clinic" happened to be closed, and no one associated with it to be found, when the medical investigators arrived.

     

     

  4. 21 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:


    The free trial was only on the newly opened "spur line" extension from Muang Tong Thani to Lake Muang Thong Thani. It is a little two stop line. The rest of the pink line has been fully open and charging fares since December 2023.

     

     

    Screenshot 2025-06-21 at 16.39.55.png

     

     

    OP report could have done a considerably better job in making those facts clear.....  😞

     

    • Thumbs Up 1
  5. 7 hours ago, radiochaser said:

    If it was free to ride the Pink line, why was I charged on my prepaid card when I exited the turnstile?   That was back in Feb & Mar of this year. 

     

    Quote

    introduction of fares on the extended Pink Line in Nonthaburi

     

    It sounds like the end of free rides was just on the section at the one end of the line ending in Nonthaburi...

     

    My wife too had been paying for regular rides on the other section of the line toward the Lad Phrao area... no freebies there lately.

     

     

    • Thumbs Up 1

  6. Roger Hodkinson -- another in a long-line of anti-vaxer whack jobs who has been professionally sanctioned by his medical regulatory agency for unprofessional conduct and found to have spread COVID misinformation in the past, as detailed below:

     

    Hodkinson is a colleague of infamous COVID vaccine misinformer Peter McCullough, who was stripped of his medical board certifications over COVID misdeeds, and co-authored with him a bogus "flawed" study on autopsies on COVID vaccinated persons that was later twice withdrawn by journals where it had been previously posted.

     

    As FactCheck.org reported:

    Flawed Autopsy ‘Review’ Revives Unsupported Claims of COVID-19 Vaccine Harm, Censorship

     

    November 19, 2024

    ...

    "Hodkinson and McCullough, along with five other authors, are also affiliated with and have a financial interest in The Wellness Company, a supplement and telehealth company that sells unproven treatments, including for purported protection against vaccines." [emphasis added]

     

    The same report above also noted:

     

    "Dr. Roger Hodkinson, incorrectly claimed in 2020 that COVID-19 was a “hoax” and “just a bad flu.”

     

    https://www.factcheck.org/2024/07/flawed-autopsy-review-revives-unsupported-claims-of-covid-19-vaccine-harm-censorship/

     

    Expanding on that past episode above, the Associated Press had the following report re Hodkinson:

    Pathologist falsely claims COVID-19 is a hoax, no worse than the flu

    December 3, 2020

     

    "CLAIM: COVID-19 is “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated” and “just another bad flu.” Roger Hodkinson, a pathologist who identifies himself as the former chairman of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada Examination Committee in Pathology, made the comments by phone during a public meeting in Edmonton, the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta.

     

    AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Not only is COVID-19 deadlier than the flu, but symptoms can be long-lasting, according to medical experts.  [emphasis added]

     

    (more)

     

    https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-9765563716

     

     

    And then earlier this year, Hodkinson finally was professionally sanctioned for unprofessional conduct by his governing medical regulatory agency in Canada for his past misstatements:

    Dr. Roger Hodkinson sanctioned by CPSA Hearing Tribunal

    March 27, 2025

     

    "Edmonton, AB – Edmonton pathologist Dr. Roger Hodkinson admitted to charges of unprofessional conduct and was sanctioned by a CPSA Hearing Tribunal. [emphasis added]

     

    On several occasions in 2020 and 2021, Dr. Hodkinson made public statements (at an Edmonton City Council meeting, in a media interview and on social media) about public health measures in place at the time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

     

    The comments offered by Dr. Hodkinson fell outside the scope of practice of a pathologist, and were inconsistent with accepted public health medicine guidelines."

     

    College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA)

    (Alberta's physician regulator and responsible for overseeing the practice of medicine in Alberta) 

    https://cpsa.ca/news/dr-roger-hodkinson-sanctioned-by-cpsa-hearing-tribunal/

     

     

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  7. Back to the OP issue in this thread, per National Public Radio on RFK Jr.'s report to Congress on COVID vaccines for pregnant women:

    RFK Jr. sent Congress 'medical disinformation' to defend COVID vaccine schedule change

    June 13, 2025

     

    "A document the Department of Health and Human Services sent to lawmakers to support Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s decision to change U.S. policy on COVID vaccines cites scientific studies that are unpublished or under dispute and mischaracterizes others.

     

    One health expert called the document "willful medical disinformation" about the safety of COVID vaccines for children and pregnant women.

    ...

    "It is so far out of left field that I find it insulting to our members of Congress that they would actually give them something like this"... said Dr. Mark Turrentine, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine."

     

    National Public Radio

    https://www.npr.org/2025/06/13/nx-s1-5431935/rfk-hhs-covid-vaccine-schedule-faq

     

    • Thanks 1
  8. And more of the same:

     

    The findings — and scientific problems — in White House ‘MAHA Report’

     
    Parts of the “MAHA Report” contradict scientific consensus.
     
    May 22, 2025
    ...
    ..."During the briefing, Kennedy claimed that “prescription drugs are now the number three cause of death in our country, after cardiac arrest and cancer.” However, the third-leading cause of death in the United States is accidents or unintentional injuries, which includes deaths due to drug overdoses, motor vehicle crashes and falls, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mortality data for 2023.
     

    Gun violence, the leading cause of death for children and teens in 2020 and 2021 according to the CDC, is not mentioned in the report."

     

    Washington Post

    https://archive.ph/qPTVK

     

     

     

    • Thanks 1
  9. Nor is the latest episode reported above the only time Trump's HHS Secretary RFK Jr. has been caught lately misreporting data and making up information in their communications, another recent instance being Kennedy's "Make America Healthy Again" report, as follows:

     

    White House MAHA Report may have garbled science by using AI, experts say

     

    The report, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was intended to address the reasons for the decline in Americans’ life expectancy

     

    "Some of the citations that underpin the science in the White House’s sweeping “MAHA Report” appear to have been generated using artificial intelligence, resulting in numerous garbled scientific references and invented studies, AI experts said Thursday.

    ...

    Other citations include the wrong author, and several studies cited by the extensive health report do not exist at all, a fact first reported by the online news outlet NOTUS on Thursday morning. [emphasis added]

    ...]

    “The MAHA Report: Making Our Children Healthy Again,” ... was led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has a history of misstating science, and written in response to an executive order from President Donald Trump."

     

    (more)

     

    Washington Post

    https://archive.ph/TFUSl

     

     

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  10. Screenshot_3.jpg.1f2cc5ac22e3f80540c53d01f5d0d94d.jpg
     
    June 19, 2025
     

    "A memo sent to Congress by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services misrepresented medical studies to justify the agency’s decision to stop recommending COVID-19 vaccines to pregnant women, the studies’ authors have told NewsGuard.

     

    The HHS memo sent to lawmakers, which was first published by KFF Health News (NewsGuard Trust Score: 100/100) on June 13, 2025, includes a section about the scientific evidence that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr relied upon in his decision to remove the COVID vaccine from the recommended vaccine schedule during pregnancy.

    ...

    ...NewsGuard found that the study in question did not identify a link between COVID vaccination and an increased risk of miscarriage, and the study’s lead author, Dr. Maria Velez, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at McGill University in Montreal, confirmed this finding to NewsGuard."

     

    (more)

     

    NewsGuard

    https://www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/researchers-slam-hhs-memo-for-twisting

     

     

    Meanwhile, the full linked NewsGuard article above goes on to explain that in the case of another study cited in the HHS memo to Congress, a co-author of that second study also said their published findings were misrepresented in HHS's memo.

     

    The NewsGuard report notes that the HHS memo to Congress also failed to acknowledge "abundant" other evidence supporting the safety of COVID vaccines during pregnancy.

     

    NewsGuard previously, and as repeated in the above report, noted that RFK Jr. and the anti-vax group Children's Health Defense that he founded, had made more than 100 provably false health-related claims in past years.

     

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  11. Former Governors: Trump Is Weaponizing the Power of His Office. It's Putting Our Country at Risk | Opinion

    Jun 17, 2025

    ...

    "Day 137 of President Trump's presidency, when he unilaterally federalized and deployed thousands of California National Guard troops to Los Angeles without the consent of Governor Gavin Newsom, may well be inscribed in history as a defining moment for our democracy.

    ...

    These actions have real and troubling consequences, not only for the men and women in uniform but also for the overwhelmingly peaceful protestors and for the immigrants who are targets of large-scale immigration raids. When a president breaks with foundational norms, laws, and separation of powers, our entire nation is at risk."

     

    (more)

     

    https://www.newsweek.com/former-governors-trump-weaponizing-power-his-office-its-putting-our-country-risk-opinion-2086379

     

    Authors are Kathleen Sebelius (D), governor of Kansas from 2003-2009, and Marc Racicot (R), governor of Montana from 1993-2001.

     

     

    • Agree 1
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  12. Screenshot_2.jpg.9967d91851ba0545c1509dd1e5ab66d7.jpg

     

    "Former President Barack Obama has issued a warning about the future of American democracy, cautioning that the country is “dangerously close” to normalizing behavior “consistent with autocracies.”

    ...

    “What we’re seeing right now … is not consistent with American democracy,” he continued. “It is consistent with autocracies."

     

    (more)

     

    MSNBC

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/barack-obama-warns-the-u-s-is-dangerously-close-to-slipping-into-autocracy-under-trump/ar-AA1GYrce

     

     

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  13. Screenshot_1.jpg.967c030601f7b8ed5e30abac82c76a3b.jpg

     

    "The scale of last weekend’s “No Kings” protests is now becoming clearer, with one estimate suggesting that Saturday was among the biggest ever single-day protests in US history.

     

    Working out exactly where the protest ranks compared to similar recent events has been a project of G Elliott Morris, a data journalist who runs the Substack Strength in Numbers, calculated turnout between four million and six million, which would be 1.2-1.8% of the US population. This could exceed the previous record in recent history, when between 3.3 million and 5.6 million people showed up at the 2017 Women’s March to rally against Trump’s misogynistic rhetoric." [emphasis added]

     

    (more)

     

    The Guardian

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/were-the-no-kings-protests-the-largest-single-day-demonstration-in-american-history/ar-AA1H1HuD

     

     

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  14. 1 minute ago, ronnie50 said:

    I'd be willing to get one for both countries - and go back and forth.

     

    That's also reasonably easily done with the Philippines and their long-established SRRV retirement visa, which has a whole lot lower local bank investment requirement than any of the options Vietnam seems to be considering.

     

    The other difference being  -- the Phils' SRRV retirement visa is real, official and available now, whereas the long-term Vietnam visa notions are still just vague reports of possibilities.

     

     

    • Like 1
  15. 6 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

    1. From what I understand the retirement Visa is still an issue in Vietnam it's a fairly simple process here. 

     

    I believe there have been recurring reports that the Vietnamese govt. supposedly has been considering some kind of long-term, multi-year visas for expats, but the proposals mostly seem to be focused on people willing to make sizable financial investments.

     

     

     

    If Vietnam did ever go down the road in an accessible way, I could see them giving Thailand a run for its money among the segment of the expat population here that is disgruntled/disaffected.

     

     

    • Agree 2
  16. Found this in my email inbox just now today, via the Washington Post:

     

    "The poll finds Americans opposing U.S. airstrikes against Iran by a 20 percentage-point margin — 45 percent to 25 percent — with a sizable 30 percent saying they are unsure." [emphasis added]

    ...

    Two-thirds of Democrats oppose airstrikes against Iran but Republicans are not as united, with 47 percent supporting strikes while 24 percent oppose them and 29 percent have no opinion.

    ...

    Among Trump voters, 46 percent support airstrikes while 26 percent are opposed and 28 percent are unsure."

     

    Screenshot_7.jpg.cef04cc253e4376df5b5e53c8d5f5afe.jpg

    Washington Post

    https://archive.ph/ym20d

     

    The poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,008 U.S. adults by text message on June 18. The sample was weighted for U.S. demographics, partisanship and 2024 voting choice.

     

  17. Poll shows most Americans disapprove of US joining Iran war; half see Tehran as ‘enemy’ and another 25% as ‘unfriendly’

    18 June 2025

     

    ...

    "Still, most prefer diplomacy over force. A majority (56%) believe the US should engage in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, including 58% of Democrats and 61% of Republicans. This represents a sharp decline in opposition compared to 2015, when 32% of Americans — most notably 52% of Republicans — opposed nuclear talks during the Obama administration, notes YouGov.

     

    (more)

     

    Times of Israel

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/poll-shows-most-americans-disapprove-of-us-joining-iran-war-half-see-tehran-as-enemy/

     

    • Thumbs Down 1
  18. 3 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

    Pick your poll eh...............:clap2:

     

    Published 19th June

     

    Republican senators line up behind Trump on Israel-Iran conflict as MAGA base splits on issue

    Senate Republicans largely lined up behind President Donald Trump's handling of the conflict between Iran and Israel and said they trusted Trump's judgment on whether the United States ought to involve itself.

    Trump said again Wednesday that he has not decided whether the U.S. should get more involved in the He signaled to reporters that he would decide at the last moment, stating he’d make the decision “one second before.”

    https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/republican-senators-line-trump-israel-iran-conflict/story?id=122983252

     

     

     

    I  guess that just shows that Republican senators are out of touch with what the majority of their Republican voters, and the public at large, want on the issue. No surprise there...

     

    • Thumbs Down 1
  19. Most Trump supporters want to keep US military out of Israel-Iran conflict, poll finds

    Findings show public appetite for peaceful approach to aim of forcing Iran to give up ambition of acquiring nuclear arms

     

    Wed 18 Jun 2025

    ...

    "The poll published on Wednesday, reported by the foreign policy thinktank Responsible Statecraft, comes as an increasing number of Republican politicians and Trump allies express their opposition to the prospect of the president involving US forces without the approval of Congress.

    ...

    On Wednesday, Tim Burchett, a Republican representative form Tennessee, told CNN he wanted to see “very little” US involvement in the escalating Middle East conflict, which has witnessed Israel and Iran trading missile barrages for several days.

     

    “We don’t need another endless war in the Middle East. Old men make decisions and young men die, and that’s the history of war,” he said.

     

    (more)

     

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/18/trump-republicans-iran-conflict

     

     

     

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