spidermike007

With my extreme lack of judgment I decided to be friends with a genocidal former Pol Pot leader, who is a lying, serial killing thug, that has stolen billions of dollars from his people. Geez, what was I thinking? And I thought I was a smart man, and I thought it was giving good advice to my daughter. I guess I now deserve to be banished along with the rest of my family.

Good point. I would only send my child to University if they were interested in pursuing a vocation that had significant demand, such as certain medical specialties and health care technicians, any type of engineering, cyber security, an MBA from a top ten school, or fine art restoration. So many other professions are obsolete and so many college graduates are having a very hard time finding quality work. When you graduate with a quarter of a million dollars in debt and you can't find a job, or the job pays marginally more than someone without a degree, you know you've been suckered by the system.

Even though my wife is very smart, I do not get much intellectual stimulation from the relationship. But, I get so much else. And in all of the relationships I was ever in with really smart women, who I got intellectual stimulation from, there was also so much grief to contend with. Such combative women. So much competition. Yikes. Thrilled to death to have left all of that behind. When I was only in the relationship for a year or so, I had dinner with a very sharp American friend. I asked him about that. He laughed. He said, when you feel the need for intellectual stimulation, call me. We can hook up for the meal, and break down the origins of the cosmos. Do not fret. That same brain that gives you that stimulation, also tends to give you so much grief, it is not worth it, on any level. Get over it. Enjoy all of the other qualities, that make your day so delightful and fulfilling. Great advice, that I have followed to this day. I learned long ago that an intellectual woman, who can match me intellectually, also tends to be a combative woman, and the chance of harmony is low. I for one, love a harmonious house, where my woman is joyful and light hearted, with a great sense of humor, and an amazing attitude toward life, and us. Just my point of view. Whatever works for you, stick with it.

And the so called China deal is just a loose framework. What people don't realize is that Trump is a terrible negotiator, and he's hired substandard people on his team, which is his stock in trade. The other aspect of this is that countries simply don't want to be dictated to, and they're getting sick and tired of American arrogance. BRICS is getting stronger by the DAY, and people are now actively pursuing alternatives to AMERICA, which in the long run is a great thing for the world. But, a horrific outcome for the US. Thanks Don, for making us irrelevant with your stupidity, for raising prices, increasing inflation, diminishing Medicare, and lowering the quality of life at the average American.

A lot of foreign men move to Thailand at least partly because the only women that they have a chance of being with back home are women their own age. Why would you want to be with a bossy, nosy, difficult 65 or 70 year old woman, if you do not have to? No thanks. Life is too short for that.

I agree. When I used to live on Samui I ran into quite a few scoundrels that were on the run from the law, it was the go-to place at that time to hide out, as the local police had no interest whatsoever.

Wealthy lawyers with a wife and children are not necessarily well behaved, he may have a great reputation but we have no idea whatsoever what he does in his private time.

He is as guilty as they come. The man has more skeletons in his closet than a Papuan Highlander cannibal.

During the first Trump term, I would sometimes have to catch myself because even though I thought and think that Trump is uniquely despicable and dangerous, the fact remains that if you just want to look at the number of lives lost and global damage done, George W. Bush really outstripped him. Trump is maybe a worse person, but the damage that he did in his first term was much more contained. I think that in the second Trump term he’s changed that very quickly. Not just by taking America’s soft power and setting it on fire in all sorts of ways, but really making these abrupt decisions that are going to kill hundreds of thousands and maybe more than a million people and he’s doing it in this incredibly arbitrary, careless way. Trump is destroying the US economy one step at a time. It could be intentional. It could be diabolical. Nobody knows. He could simply be unhinged or following the dictates of a very sinister cabal. One thing is certain. He is accomplishing very little, he will NOT bring manufacturing back to America, which is stupid over priced (I am here now and inflation is raging at 20% or higher right now), he is causing alot of pain, he is losing support, destroying businesses, and consumer confidence, he does not have a coherent plan, and he is a destructive nimwit. Globalization made the world great, the manufacturing ecosystems within globalization and low tariffs allowed the US economy to thrive for decades, and he's never going to bring back much manufacturing to the US. End of story, just a slogan. The fact that so many people are buying into his nonsense and destruction, is what is truly sad.

I have a good friend who just spent a week and Pattaya, he's been coming there once or twice a year for 15 years, and he said he's never seen it so quiet, and in all that time nearly everyone he ran into was an expat, and they were very few tourists anywhere he went.

I would tend to agree as long as you keep your nose clean and stay away from Pattaya. The biggest danger here is on the highways, crossing the street, breaking your ankle on a decrepit sidewalk, getting electrocuted by hanging wires, hitting your head on a low hanging sign, and other such public hazards. I'm infinitely more worried about getting robbed, assaulted, or murdered in Los Angeles and most other large American cities, than I am here. Thailand it's quite safe for most tourists and expats, as long as you're sensible, and keep your wits about you, and drive very, very carefully.

I'm not saying that they shouldn't be cracking down on overstay. I'm just saying that they could be focused on things that are far more important. And yet they don't.

I love the interview with Michael Franzese, where he says that he was in the same prison and very close to the same cell, and states that the bunks are two feet off the floor that there's absolutely nothing within the cell to use to hang oneself, the sheets are tissue thin, the video system is very high-end and it never gets turned off, and the possibility of him having committed suicide was less than zero. I completely agree. I would put the possibility of suicide at 0%. There were a lot of very important, and influential people who wanted him dead. Including Trump.

I'm not saying that cannabis does not have any negative effects but I think it largely has to do with how weak one's mind is and how undeveloped one's personality is. Generally speaking I consider alcohol to be infinitely more dangerous and toxic.

I actually do consider it quite safe, in all the time that I've been here I've never had a major incident nor have I ever been attacked or robbed. That says a lot about the place, despite the poor policing, despite a horrific justice system most Thai people manage to behave themselves, it says a lot about who and what they are. Of course one needs to be careful in major tourist areas, and keep one's nose clean, but I still think those areas are much safer than the majority of America and the majority of Europe.

No. Higher education is higher education, it doesn't matter, even just a couple of years at a small college is a really big deal for an upcountry gal. It shows a huge amount of initiative, and it likely opened her mind to a dramatic degree. Kudos to your gal. She sounds like a keeper!

This is how to keep Thailand safe and boost tourism, go after people who are overstaying their visa. By all means ignore human trafficking, ignored drug smuggling, ignore corrupt policemen, ignore corrupt customs and immigration officials, ignore public and traffic safety, and ignore the dozen issues that were plaguing tourism prior to covid. Just keep on marching backwards into tourism oblivion.

When I was living and working in India I realized that many of the beggars were doing this professionally or working for professionals who were collecting a significant amount of money from their work. So I started carrying around a daypack with fruit inside it, and when I would be approached by a beggar I would offer them a banana or an orange. The professionals would look at me with a great deal of disdain, whereas the real beggars would accept the fruit with gratitude as they were truly hungry. It worked! Helping people in need is a wonderful thing, and this minister is likely a wealthy man who is very much out of touch with reality, and is displaying very little in the way of humanity and compassion. Fools like this simply need to be ignored with all the strength of our being.

I'm sure many on this forum are going to insist that weed is evil and weed causes people to do horrific things, and that couldn't be further from the truth. Weed may strip one of ambition, and weed may make people lazy and lethargic, but it certainly doesn't make people violent. If anything the opposite is the case, these guys are just psychopathic super freaks, and whether straight or stoned they had a propensity toward violence, they were sorry, dark souls, with absolutely no emotional development, nor good parenting, and sooner or later they were bound to act in a tragic manner.

Though absolute contentment must be a beautiful state of mind, it is not something most of us are blessed with, in case you have not noticed. The fact that I complain, does not mean I do not love Thailand, nor most of it's people. I do. I love my life here. I have a very good life here. But, I do have some complaints, and there are some things I would love to see improved. I should leave because of that? Having said that I do agree to some extent, complaining is one thing, but whining and moaning all the time is quite another. I may seem obsessed with politics to some, but I'm really enjoying my life here, and I treasure every day that I spend in Thailand. It really beats the hell out of my life back in broken down America.

I know you'll accuse me of being a conspiracy theorist again, but I believe that the Deep State controls anyone who's in power, they are not partisan, so they controlled Biden just like their controlling Trump. And the last thing in the world they wanted was for that list to be released and that's likely the reason why they had Epstein killed.

You mean more than the one deal that he struck with the UK, and the framework of a deal that he's working on with China, that isn't a deal yet? Wow. Impressive.

Oh yes for sure, God will punish those who criticize his savior and prophet Saint Donald. Actually there's a special place in hell for people who strip millions of grandparents of their health care and Medicaid, and deny some of the poorest people in the world medicine, to pay for another missile or two, and give massive tax cuts to their billionaire buddies. Keep on drinking the Kool-Aid, it's good stuff, delusion can be a very powerful thing.

Oh it seems like I've hit a rather sensitive spot didn't I? You hate to hear criticism of your master don't you?

A rather hilarious anecdote to this whole Epstein scandal. “Remember when we learned that our wealthiest and most powerful people were connected to a guy who ran a literal child sex trafficking ring?” Vance wrote in 2021 on X. “And then that guy died mysteriously in jail? And now we just don’t talk about it.” Vance was just as adamant in suggesting powerful figures colluded with Epstein, only for the Justice Department and FBI to announce Sunday that they did not find the “incriminating” list he was rumored to have — prompting Vance’s old posts to resurface. “What possible interest would the US government have in keeping Epstein’s clients secret? Oh…,” 0he wrote on X in 2021, before doubling down in another post: “If you’re a journalist and you’re not asking questions about this case you should be ashamed of yourself.” Many conservatives are condemning Patel and Bongino on social media for what they deem to be a dishonest reversal on Epstein’s death. Vance is now receiving similar backlash, as he has yet to react to the DOJ’s findings. We all know that Vance had a tremendous amount of disrespect and dislike for Trump prior to the opportunity to become VP. Over the course of history many have sold their souls for power, this is such a great example of that moral bankruptcy.