spidermike007

This is an entirely subjective topic, of course. But some of us live very good lives here. Some of us have been fortunate enough to find an outstanding woman, who is delightful to be around, on a daily basis, always has our back, and is fun, smart, and lovely. For me, that likelihood of finding that back in the US, would be very low. So, that is a big factor for me. The second factor is just the quality of life. Sure, I miss alot of the culture back home. The theatre, independent film (which I can download here with no issues at all, and a super fast 1 gbps fiber optic connection, at under 700 baht per month!), stand up comedy, live jazz, etc. But I have a lovely home that I rent, for about 10% of what I would pay in California, I live very well on an income which is not huge, have access to great health care, at a tiny fraction of what it costs in the US, and do not have to put up with alot of the aggravation that I had to when I lived back there. I also like the fact that law enforcement stays out of my face here, and the Nanny state is not constantly telling me how to live, how to behave, what to say, and what not to say. It is a very personal choice. I have friends who seem to be dropping like flies. I could be dead next year. You just don't know. I am not extravagant, but I live very, very well. A nice house, a new car every few years, new motorbikes for my gal and I every few years, a great art collection, plenty of good wine in the wine cooler, a new 77" OLED TV, a world class home theatre, plenty of international travel, etc. For me, it is a great lifestyle, that I could only dream of in the US. Well worth the expense and very easy to justify. Life is way too short. I have never been a person of extreme thrift. To each his own. I used to have more issues than I do now. I worked on my attitude, which was getting in the way of appreciating Thailand for what it is, and was clouding my experience here. Used to stress over stupid stuff, as you can see from some of my past posts. Used to allow the politics to make me angry. Now it is not something I take seriously, just something I comment on, without anger or an emotional investment. Now, I just tend to laugh it off. Spent some real time back in the US recently, and it allowed some clarity and perspective, that I am very grateful for. Now, I just chuckle at most of the nonsense. Water off a duck's back, so to speak.

What an absolutely pathetic reply. You won the award for lamest reply on the thread.

While the post may not be as coherent as it could have been, it is an interesting point and it's an important topic. I think in general a lot of people have lost the art of parenting. When we grew up many of us got a lot more support from our parents than kids do these days. Of course the other difference is we played outdoors, we played sports, we engaged in all kinds of activities other than spending all day on Tik tok and Instagram, which is probably the least productive activity any human being can engage in. There's no doubt that screens and social media are dumbing down the population and there's no doubt that gen Z and those younger than gen Z are some of the scariest people, and perhaps some of the weakest people to have ever walked the face of the earth. There are exceptions of course, the cream is always going to rise at the top, and the top several percent of the population within those groups are going to find a way to rise above the negative influences affecting them. When people think of civilisation, they typically think of increasing technological sophistication. That has always been a part of what anthropologists examine when they write about different civilisations. But they’ve always gone much beyond that to look at other attributes of society, most notably temperance and disposition to co-existence. One does not have to be an anthropologist or sociologist to notice that both are generally static or in decline worldwide. Today the echo-chamber is largely housed in social media, where groups reinforce each other’s grievances without rebuttal or critique. It has the effect of compromising rationality, even of otherwise rational people. In general this would not be a time that I would want to bring a child into this world.

Japan's population is projected to fall from a peak of 128 million in 2017 to less than 53 million by the end of the century. If you look at the curves birth rates are falling all over the world, except in Africa, the forlorn continent. Falling in China, Thailand, Japan, etc. Some are predicting China's population to fall to 650 million within 50 years, the crisis is that bad. I don't call it a crisis. I think it's a huge blessing. Italy is expected to see an equally dramatic population crash from 61 million to 28 million over the same timeframe. They are two of 23 countries - which also include Spain, Portugal, Thailand and South Korea - expected to see their population more than halve. Hooray!!! https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53409521

The declining birth rates are simply symptomatic of intelligent people looking at life in this day and age, looking at their financial situation, looking at the lack of state support, and just simply deciding that having children it's just not some place they need to go. If they're going to have children, many are limiting it to one child. There is nothing that could possibly be more positive for the future of Thailand, and the world, than a seriously declining birth rate. It's something that we need drastically. The last thing in the world this planet needs right now is an expanding population. Of course there will be challenges that will accompany a declining population, and those that support an ever expanding GDP will argue that a declining population is not sustainable. I would argue the exact opposite.

It does not matter where this man is from, it does not matter if there are cultural differences, what matters is that there is never an excuse for physical sexual assault or non consensual groping. I suggest five years in a Thai prison where his fellow inmates will befriend him, and teach him how offensive uninvited groping truly is.

Something as simple as a sharp pencil can be very effective in these kinds of situations. It can be inserted into a wide range of bodily areas and can lead to massive reform of an errant, ignorant, abusive man who does not know how egregious his crime really is. It can change his life.

Finally I agree with something that a republican lawmaker is doing, hooray I should declare this a holiday. I have no issue with trans people but they should be limited to using the men's room, as well as men's locker rooms and men's sports teams. At a given point in time we have to say hey so what if you identify as being a woman, it just doesn't mean much to us, and we're certainly not going to turn our world upside down for you. And just for the record I say this is a Centrist Democrat.

Trump can easily relate to someone who "loves them young", as he was captured on video saying, while chatting with his buddy Epstein.

Using bond parlance, while his pick for defense is about a C rating, his pick for AG would be a D rating. A real junk bond level selection. True bottom of the barrel, as expected from Trump, as it is never about quality, intelligence, or capability. It is always about fealty.

Yes. Maga hats will go up in price. So will the bibles! Society will be torn asunder.

WALLACE: "But this brings up the point, the conservative American Enterprise Institute says, look, Donald Trump, he owns a dozen hotels, properties, all over the world. Your Trump Collection clothing line, some of it is made in Mexico…" TRUMP: "It's true." WALLACE: "…and China." TRUMP: "That's true. I want it to be made here." (Fox's "Fox News Sunday," 10/18/15) "[The Trump Store was] selling $80 Trump-branded cotton sweaters and $70 Trump-branded warm-up tops, all made in China. Also available with the made in China tag: golf hats stamped with the Trump crest and stuffed animals. Visitors also could buy leather made-in-China belts priced at $45 that are advertised as 'So soft, it feels like a million bucks.' And in the display case were neat stacks of colorful Trump-branded polo shirts that would be perfect wear for one of Trump's golf courses. The shirts, which sell for $70, were not made in China, but nearby, in Korea and Thailand. … All the Trump tie pins ($22) and tie clips ($28) are labeled as 'Made in China,' as are the cufflinks ($35 to $45 a pair) and even the boxes containing them." (ABC News, 4/28/11) The list goes on and on, make America great again baseball caps are made in China, his Bibles are made in China, his watches likely Switzerland, the list just goes on and on and on. The question is, does Donald Trump make anything in America? I doubt it. Hypocrisy of the highest order. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/rubio-campaign-press-release-donald-trump-proudly-outsources-jobs-china-mexico-other

I am Adichat. I know I look like a full grown man, but I'm actually 13 when it comes to emotional development. I look like a man, and I smell like a man, but I'm not a man. I never bothered to allow myself to develop into a man so I'm very sensitive. I have incredibly thin skin I have absolutely no self-esteem or self love, and every time somebody says something that I perceive to be an insult or I perceive to be offensive I have to lash out either verbally or physically. I just cannot handle it. So as you can see this lack of development makes me a menace to the entire planet, and I am a very, very sorry human being.

One may ask why has Putin chosen this moment to make his move on Ukraine? As many have pointed out, Russia is an objectively weak state — “Upper Volta with nuclear weapons,” as someone once quipped — with a nominal G.D.P. smaller than that of South Korea. Outside of energy, minerals and second-rate military equipment, it produces almost nothing that outsiders want: no Russian iPhone, Lexus or “Fauda.” If it were not for the minerals, oil and natural gas, I believe Russia would be a highly irrelevant state. Sure, it had alot of culture. Had. What have it's contributions been since the middle of the 20th century? Putin’s problem with Ukraine, starting with the Maidan uprising of 2014, is that Ukrainians want nothing to do with him. He is despised. And for good reason. If he were a Disney character, he’d be Rapunzel’s mother. But, he is not a Disney character, which makes him a pathetic, aggressive, serial killing despot dictator, who appears to be targeting women and children in his latest escapade, and further walk into the world of darkness.

Yes. Definitely. It is actually a large tax hike. It will hurt American companies and they will pass on the additional costs to consumers. It will likely restart a horrific inflationary cycle. This plan is dumb. Very, very dumb. The concept of bringing jobs back to America is a good one, and the concept of bringing manufacturing back to America is a good one. But it has to be applied with intelligence. You cannot just wish for this to happen and make it so. It has to be done progressively and it has to be done correctly. Incentives need to be offered and costs need to be reasonable. There are many reasons why those jobs and why that production shifted overseas to begin with. Just look at Trump's example, he manufactures in China every opportunity he gets because the savings are there, and he's a money grubbing sort of guy.

Well if he actually says it and if he actually means it, perhaps he can start working on getting rid of the hatred and division by encouraging his followers to be more accepting of diverse opinions. The absolute opposite seems to be the case right now, there's a lot of intolerance on both sides.

I do tend to agree with you about that, however that intolerance seems to be creeping over to the other side also. I think that had they listened they might not have lost the election, had they not pandered to the extreme left, had they not gone into this without a game plan, had they picked a better candidate, had they planned two and a half years ago to push Biden aside. There's so much that could have been done differently. But I've talked to a lot of centrist people who just could not stomach voting for Harris, so I get it. I didn't like her either, I just disliked her less than I dislike Trump.

Ignore the foundations of democracy at your own peril.

He is another dissenter just like me, and if there's one thing that maga does not like it is contrary opinions and dissent. There's absolutely no room for that left in the Republican Party. Which is a shame because historically that's been the foundation of democracy.

Any sort of individuality and any of your own opinions are not welcome within the maga movement. You have to subscribe to the policies of the master and if you disobey, if you disagree you are thrown under the train, or you are considered to be disloyal. Questioning his policy is going to be a bit like questioning Israeli policy, we are going to be labeled traitors, anti-American, America haters and all kinds of other ridiculous mumbo jumbo by the paint by the numbers crowd.

I've certainly heard of the concept of a sore loser in the past, but I've never really seen a great example of a sore winner. I'm seeing an awful lot of gloating and it's of a rather nasty variety. It just seems to be the continuation of the kind of division and hatred that the fake master has forged, and established, and his devotees seem to be continuing to run with the torch, and doing a great job of continue the animosity. It's precisely the opposite of what he promised which was to unify the country, however many of us knew this was exactly what was going to happen. Anytime Trump says something you can more or less predict the exact opposite is going to happen.

Guys like you are definitely living proof that the forum is going downhill, and some of the most toxic and hateful posts I've seen are from Trump supporters. The lack of dignity and grace is quite ugly, and very similar to the personal qualities of their Master.

Musk has an incredibly huge ego, one that may even be comparable to Trump's ego. So you have two incredibly self-obsessed men, with very big heads together, and you're going to have sparks flying. My guess is it's just a matter of time until Trump throws him under the bus. Having said that Trump has shown an utter fascination with men of great wealth, or perhaps it's closer to envy as they don't have the huge debt load that Trump has.

Okay even if you set aside charges that were mysteriously dropped, what about his experience? Doesn't that count for anything? He graduated from a low ranked Law School, he practiced very low end general law for two years, and he has zero experience in the Judiciary. Does that not mean anything to you? Is there any objectivity at all remaining in your thought process?

I just don't know what these people expected. I don't know how they thought that Trump would have an independent or open mind or be able to free himself from the clutches of Israeli interests, and the very toxic Israeli lobby. He is as beholden to Israel, and lobbyists, as any president in recent history.