spidermike007

Yes, Thailand is an outstanding choice if you're on a limited budget. I would almost go so far as to say that for most folks who are not on a limited budget Thailand would not be in the top 5 or 10 choices, but for those of us who do not have significant wealth it's a great choice.

So very typical of morally bankrupt billionaires. Lock him up.

This is a good point, but Trump and his minions simply do not have the brain power to even conceive of such a notion.

It is called leadership and it is called moral conviction, neither of which Trump knows anything about.

By looking out for the world, we greatly enhanced our position and influence. All that is disappearing. Insular Don is destroying all that. America is on the decline, and he is precipitation that decline. Life is not always about the self. Granted, it is for Don. But, small mindedness is his M.O.

Good topic. Thanks. When a small mind labels me a communist, because I am a centrist dem, there is no room for discussion. I have alot of conservative friends and family. There is kindness, love and understanding between us. We discuss things, but it is not personal. I may dislike Trump, but I don't dislike conservatives. We agree to disagree, but keep it civil. Those are my favorite kind of conservatives. Humane and decent. The labels say everything. It says hatred, division and intolerance, ugliness and nastiness. Totally uncalled for, but not uncommon.

Just another example of how extraordinary dangerous and reckless Trump is. He is the polar opposite of an intellectual, and does not think important policy through. Kneejerk Donnie.

His dumbness seems to be increasing over time. Likely due to his increasing level of insanity and senility.

Desperate men will often do bizarre things for power and money. Like sell their souls. Vance is an empty suit. He might not be human, at all.

Absolutely lovely news. The world is rejecting Musk. He deserves that. A survey of over 100,000 Germans revealed that 94% won’t buy a Tesla vehicle. It doesn’t bode well for the automaker, whose sales had already been falling off a cliff in the important European market. In 2024, Tesla saw a 41% reduction in sales in Germany compared to 2023 despite EV sales surging 27% during the year. This has already raised red flags about Tesla’s future in Germany, but it is nothing compared to Tesla’s performance so far in 2025. Tesla’s sales were down 70% in the first two months of 2025, and again, that’s compared to its already poor performance in 2024. There are many factors at play, including increased EV competition and the Model Y changeover, but in recent months, industry experts have attributed Tesla’s decline in the country to Germans being upset with Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s meddling in local elections and promoting the far-right AfD party. Musk is currently under probe in Europe for his political meddling, and his reputation has crashed in Germany after a couple of Seig Heil salutes at Trump’s inauguration and several questionable posts promoting fascist and Nazi ideologies. Now, a new survey of 100,000 Germans by T-Online about Tesla showed that only 3% of respondents would consider buying a Tesla vehicle: It’s a rejection that couldn’t be clearer: More than 94 percent of t-online readers say they won’t buy a Tesla again. Only three percent said they would still consider a car from the former electric pioneer. Around 100,000 readers voted—a record turnout. The message is clear: Germans are turning their backs on Tesla. Those are impressive results, and they explain Tesla’s current sales in Germany. Some Tesla shareholders hope that the new version of the Model Y will help reverse the trend, but those poll results don’t look good. Furthermore, Tesla’s Model 3 sales are also crashing in Germany, which suggests that Model Y is not the only problem. https://electrek.co/2025/03/14/tesla-is-done-in-germany-94-say-they-wont-buy-a-tesla-car/

Up until 6 months or so ago Elon Musk was quite popular both in America and around the world, then he made the incredibly boneheaded decision to toss his hat into the political arena, and man did that backfire on him. Besides losing at least 150 billion dollars of his fortune he's become one of the most hated people on the planet, and there's untold amounts of sabotage being conducted against his brands. I can't say that my heart bleeds. At the risk of sounding like I support anarchy, I am rather enjoying the destruction. He has worked hard for it, he has earned it, and he's kind of getting what's coming to him. No tears from me.

I find Five Star to be a step up from the chains, and some of the roadside stands have really excellent grilled chicken.

The supermarkets don't have a particularly good selection of wine, anyway at least not good wine. There are wine shops and liquor stores throughout the US that have astonishing selections of very good French, Italian, Spanish and other imported wines.

That reason applies to Mexico, it doesn't apply to Canada. The US saw a miniscule amount or fentanyl smuggled in from Canada last year. It is a false flag.

In terms of nasty and reckless moves, one that stands out for me is the gutting of U.S.A.I.D., because it’s illegal and because it’s so flagrantly immoral and utterly self-destructive. 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. I don’t think he has a coherent value structure as most of us understand it. I think we’re seeing a president who’s operating without anything any of us would recognize as a conscience. Truly. It is about showing what he can get away with. It’s about showing his enemies that what they support, he can tear down. It is all about displays of brute strength. He gets off on that, and in that sense, it seems not so much an autocracy but a flexocracy. Let me show you how I can flex my bicep as I use it to power my fist coming into your face. It’s not about any coherent values. It’s not about any North Star. It’s about showing that you can turn the boat 180 degrees around and that you can do whatever you want and you can bring the people who opposed you to their knees.

In terms of nasty and reckless moves, one that stands out for me is the gutting of U.S.A.I.D., because it’s illegal and because it’s so flagrantly immoral and utterly self-destructive. 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. I don’t think he has a coherent value structure as most of us understand it. I think we’re seeing a president who’s operating without anything any of us would recognize as a conscience. Truly. It is about showing what he can get away with. It’s about showing his enemies that what they support, he can tear down. It is all about displays of brute strength. He gets off on that, and in that sense, it seems not so much an autocracy but a flexocracy. Let me show you how I can flex my bicep as I use it to power my fist coming into your face. It’s not about any coherent values. It’s not about any North Star. It’s about showing that you can turn the boat 180 degrees around and that you can do whatever you want and you can bring the people who opposed you to their knees.

The US wine industry is already suffering on multiple fronts, and now this guy suggests just another way to destabilize the economy and create more unemployment. The US is one of the world centers for wine sales, and with this proposal he will make London the world center of wine, in just one stroke of the pen. That is light years beyond dumb. Many of us thought that Trump was unhinged, unstable and at least partially insane, but the last two months have proven that theory to a startling degree. His latest threats to put a 200% tariff on imported wine from Europe is so spectacularly dumb, so phenomenally ignorant, and so devoid of reason and common sense. It could cost the US tens of billions of dollars in lost revenue, the wine industry in the US is very dynamic and the domestic industry is just a small part of it. The entire industry is intertwined, a concept that Trump's tiny brain could never comprehend. Holly Seidewand, owner of First Fill Spirits, a shop in Saratoga Springs, New York, said before Trump threatened the tariffs on European alcohol, the spirits industry was already reeling from layoff announcements in the Kentucky Bourbon sector and the tariffs planned by the EU on American spirits. “This ongoing tariff war doesn’t just harm importers — it weakens domestic brands, disrupts distributors, and squeezes retailers who rely on global selections,” she said. “In the end, consumers will bear the brunt of it all.” Gabriel Picard, who heads the French Federation of Exporters of Wines and Spirits, said 200% tariffs would be “a hammer blow” for the sector. He said the U.S. market is worth 4 billion euros ($4.3 billion) annually for French exporters of wines and spirits. “Not a single bottle will continue to be expedited if 200% tariffs are applied to our products. All exports to the United States will come to a total, total, halt,” Picard said in an interview with The Associated Press. “With 200% duties, there is no more market.” As of now, Europe seems unwilling to back down. “Trump is escalating the trade war he has chosen,” Laurent Saint-Martin, the French delegate minister for foreign trade, said on X. “France, together with the European Commission and our partners, is determined to fight back. We will not give in to threats and will always protect our industries.” Trump’s latest tariff threats suggested that even companies that have publicly stood by him could be collateral damage, raising questions about whether the wider business community would be willing to openly challenge a series of trade wars that have hurt the stock market and scared consumers who worry about inflation worsening. https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-eu-whiskey-cb259623a25ca1bfdb4673262ceef85b

Many of us thought that Trump was unhinged, unstable and at least partially insane, but the last two months have proven that theory to a startling degree. His latest threats to put a 200% tariff on imported wine from Europe is so spectacularly dumb, so phenomenally ignorant, and so devoid of reason and common sense.

There is no question that Thailand has had morally bankrupt leaders for a very long time now. Abhisit was probably the last one who had a modest level of integrity and they got rid of him, Pita has a lot of integrity and they wouldn't let him rule, even though he was democratically elected. The power base here is simply way too toxic for a man with honor, like him. Anything any nation can do to embarrass the Thai government, humiliate them, and expose them for what they are is a good thing. The deportation of these people to China was an abomination and left a huge amount of egg on the face of Thailand. Shame on you little Thaksin Jr.

This construction project is nothing short of an Abomination, and a boil on the face of the nation. The company that is managing this project should be terminated and the chief executives should be jailed or worse. How far behind is this project, a decade or more? And they're still at kilometer 36. How far do they have to go, 15 years, 25 years? Just go ahead and hire a Chinese company, and the project will be finished in two years, suck up the debt and then default, no big deal. Just like every other nation on the Belt and Road initiative.

The stock market likes stability, the economy in general likes stability, Wall Street likes stability, bankers like stability, consumers like stability, all of which fly in the face of one of the most highly unstable men in the world currently leading the United States. Not only is he unstable he's a an idiotic maniac with a terrible plan that could very likely destroy the world economy. The man is extremely dangerous and needs to be stopped.

It's actually a very subjective subject and it's rather condescending. Kind of a typical "we white people are so vastly superior" type meme. My Thai woman for example has a high school education but is absolutely brilliant, she has an incredible memory she's taught herself fluent reading and writing of Elglish, she has the mind of a structural or mechanical engineer, she can just look at something and she knows how to take it apart and put it back together, her mind works like a high-speed computer and after nearly 20 years together she continues to astonish me with her intelligence. But it's a very practical form of intelligence, she's not a philosopher, she's not into the higher sciences, but she's very curious and she's constantly teaching herself about the world and it's quite fascinating to watch the way she processes stuff. Her mind is lightning quick. Thais have a completely different way of looking at the world, and a completely different way of relating to the world, and it makes it very difficult for us to truly evaluate their intelligence, but I think we consistently underestimate them.

He is dumb. Really, really dumb. Republicans are getting so much push back and so much flack from their constituents at the Town Halls that they've decided to just stop having them all together. Better not to face the people who voted for your candidate. Democrats to Hold “People’s Town Halls” in GOP-Held Target Districts Where Republicans Are Hiding From Their Voters & Constituents Earlier this month, House Republicans’ leadership told their members to avoid hosting town halls with their constituents. That’s because Republican members of Congress know they sold out their voters by backing Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s agenda — and they’re terrified to be in the same room as the people who sent them to Washington. So Democrats are showing up instead. During this congressional recess, Democrats are launching “People’s Town Halls,” a series of in-person public events in all 50 states across the country featuring local and national Democratic leaders. This is a chance for people to make their voices heard — regardless of where they live or who they voted for last year. Upcoming People’s Town Halls include: Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. Gabe Evans Florida’s 13th Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. Zach Nunn Michigan’s 10th Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. John James Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. Ann Wagner Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. Don Bacon Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan.

Republicans are getting so much push back and so much flack from their constituents at the Town Halls that they've decided to just stop having them all together. Better not to face the people who voted for your candidate. Democrats to Hold “People’s Town Halls” in GOP-Held Target Districts Where Republicans Are Hiding From Their Voters & Constituents Earlier this month, House Republicans’ leadership told their members to avoid hosting town halls with their constituents. That’s because Republican members of Congress know they sold out their voters by backing Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s agenda — and they’re terrified to be in the same room as the people who sent them to Washington. So Democrats are showing up instead. During this congressional recess, Democrats are launching “People’s Town Halls,” a series of in-person public events in all 50 states across the country featuring local and national Democratic leaders. This is a chance for people to make their voices heard — regardless of where they live or who they voted for last year. Upcoming People’s Town Halls include: Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. Gabe Evans Florida’s 13th Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. Zach Nunn Michigan’s 10th Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. John James Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. Ann Wagner Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. Don Bacon Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan.

This is sure far cry from Trump's claims that he would have the war resolved in a day once he became president. “Well, I was being a little bit sarcastic when I said that," Trump said in a clip released ahead of the episode airing Sunday. “What I really mean is I’d like to get it settled and, I’ll, I think, I think I’ll be successful.” It was a rare admission from Trump, who has a long record of making exaggerated claims. Trump said at a CNN town hall in May 2023, “They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done — I’ll have that done in 24 hours.” “That is a war that’s dying to be settled. I will get it settled before I even become president,” Trump said during his September debate with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. “If I win, when I’m president-elect, and what I’ll do is I’ll speak to one, I’ll speak to the other. I’ll get them together.” The Republican repeated the claim frequently on the campaign trail.