spidermike007

I think someone on this forum has a pretty bad syndrome, and is working pretty hard to defend the indefensible. My heart goes out to you, it must not be very easy living in that head of yours.

Oh my God I am guilty of speaking truth to power, and maybe he wasn't the dear friend that I thought he was, and I got really upset and hurt over being spurned, completely forgetting that this is a man who regularly throws his most loyal and ardent supporters under the bus. He threatened to harm some of my business interests. Oops.

Who? Oh him. One might have thought he would have been imprisoned by now but we all knew from the very beginning that the authorities weren't serious about going after him. In my mind he was as guilty as the day is long, after all he was the ex Deputy National Police Chief, that says it all.

I used to smoke ganja when I was younger and I can tell you for certain it's a relatively easy habit to break, it's strictly psychosomatic and there are no physical repercussions when you just simply quit cold turkey. So I don't know if the extent to which this guy is going to is truly necessary. However I do applaud anyone for trying to improve their lives, and habitual use of ganja is a pretty dull habit.

One can only hope this is the case as direct flights to Los Angeles or New York would be fantastic. The thing that comes to mind is number one how reasonable will they be, and number two will they ever happen? I know they're being studied at this point but that doesn't mean that the airlines are going to determine that there is sufficient demand.

Not to sound hugely lacking in compassion but nobody should ever travel to Thailand as a tourist without travel insurance, it's easy to get and quite inexpensive, so why should others be required to pay for his recovery? It certainly sounds like some mischief took place, and I do feel sorry for the guy, it's a pretty horrific outcome of a vacation. However since the medical care in Thailand is quite good and significantly less expensive, maybe it makes more sense for his family to come here while he's recovering.

This teacher went way over the line. In general I think teachers (and parents) should be able to impose reassonable discipline on kids who are out of control. This was not reasonable. I suggest if the school system is unwilling to impose a harsh penalty on this teacher, the parents or the family should.

Completely ridiculous commentary like this skews the entire debate and sends it off into a deranged territory of highly partisan politics. In case you didn't realize that Los Angeles is a huge city of 470 square miles and that's just the city limits. These protests are going on in a few square blocks. Although a few vehicles have burned this doesn't quite hold up to the level of the George Floyd protests. Are you rational enough to understand that? Or just blinkered?

Did you know the person, or was this entitely online? There are a lot of people in this world who seem to be too lazy to work and would prefer to steal other people's money rather than hold down an honest job. Because of that we have to be incredibly cautious if we're buying from someone we don't know, and especially when we're buying online. If they're in Thailand it's best just to travel to wherever they are and do the transaction in person. If they have excuses as to why that can't happen that's a big red flag.

In reality I think Trump has been far more of a Marxist than the Democrats. He has taken a page right out of the Marxist playbook when it comes to using sloganeering and propaganda to try to convince people of non-truths. Think about that just for a moment. If you can open your mind to reality.

in reality, the trade truce – if that’s really what was accomplished this time around – is mostly just a return to the already-tense state of affairs from before April 2. Tariff rates from both countries remain historically high, and significant export restrictions remain in place. The United States has not opened its doors to China’s autos, nor is it going to sell its high-end AI chips anytime soon. And, in Trump’s parlance, China isn’t treating America much more “fairly” after this agreement than it did before. The compounding tariffs create significant trade barriers with America’s second-largest trading partner, raising prices for American businesses and consumers with no easy fixes or clear market alternatives. Some gigantic companies, such as Apple, have complex supply chains that can withstand some of the price pressures. But even Apple, which has said it would ship most US iPhones from India as Chinese tariffs rise, said it would face a $900 million quarterly cost increase because of tariffs – at their current levels, not at the sky-high 145% rate. Other businesses, such as Boeing, have been completely shut out of China’s market. Even without any tariffs or other formal barriers by China on purchases of US aircraft, Boeing has made virtually no sales in China, the world’s largest for aircraft purchases.

So does Trump. He needs to start engaging in some productivity, or the US is gone baby gone. Disinviting Rand Paul to White House picnic is not exactly productive. Neither is the destruction of tourism to the US, an industry that contributes 2.3 trillion dollars to US economic output and indirectly supports more than 20 million jobs. Do some work Don. Skip a few golf outings. Do it for the people.

For a man who claims to be a great negotiator he seems to be failing miserable at this point, when it comes to negotiating the hundred or so deals that he falsely promised. This so-called deal with China is astonishingly short on details and we all know why that is. Apparently it amounts to allowing Chinese students to study in the US in exchange for China doling out a few rare earth minerals here and there. China always had the upper hand in this, as the US overreached and they desperately need these minerals. Let’s be honest—this isn’t a trade “deal,” it’s a tactical climbdown. The U.S. just ate a hefty serving of humble pie, and China served it cold. Beijing has exposed a core vulnerability in American strategy: economic and industrial dependence. Rare earths aren’t just commodities—they’re the backbone of U.S. defence systems, AI, and semiconductors. China controls the global refining chain, and this “deal” simply buys time—it doesn’t change the leverage. The implications for Taiwan are stark. Despite relying on TSMC chips to power its military edge, the U.S. is structurally handcuffed. You can’t credibly defend a democratic ally when your missiles, radars, and drones need components processed in the aggressor’s country. Trump’s rhetoric may be loud, but his actions will be limited—he won’t jeopardise Wall Street, the tech sector, or midterm optics to defend Taiwan. On social media, Trump declared: “WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55% TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10%. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT!” But a White House official, who was not authorized to discuss the terms publicly and insisted on anonymity to describe them, said the 55% was not an increase on the previous 30% tariff on China because Trump was including pre-existing tariffs, including some left over from his first term. “We have no idea what the rules are,″ said Rick Woldenberg, CEO of the educational toy company Learning Resources, who is part of a lawsuit challenging Trump’s authority to impose the tariffs. “The U.S. found it needed to back off the restrictions it had thought would generate leverage,” he said, “and in exchange, they get merely a promise by the Chinese to dole out critical minerals a bit more quickly.” Veronique de Rugy, senior research fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, dismissed the London truce as “a handshake deal … It can change at any time.”

I take exception to that. I do agree this applies to Pattaya and Phuket, but I think Bangkok is quite an incredible city. There's a lot to see, the food is great, there's a great museum in MOCA, and I always have a great time there. There is a good reason why it's the most visited city in the world.

I think there's no question that Russia, Putin and the Kremlin have very, very bad intentions. Think about it, other than their space program what have they done to benefit mankind in the last 70 years?

He does appear to be wearing a device that resembles a colostomy bag. His health is likely very poor. He is very, very old and not very coherent.

Absolutely fantastic news, keep up the good work guys, you are fighting the good fight, and you destroying a corrupt, serial killing, thuggish, thieving, heroin dealing, gem smuggling, land grabbing, heinous monster.

The reality is that tourists simply have too many options these days, Thailand has gotten more expensive, and Thailand has not bothered to improve itself or address any of the problems that have been plaguing tourism for a decade or longer. I was in Phuket last year and the island is now one big garbage heap, people seem to keep on traveling to Phuket but it was such a pale shadow of what it was when I was last there 10 years ago. It was absolutely infested with low end Malaysians, Arabs, Indians and especially the spectacularly unpleasant Russians. No thanks, I never need to go back. The traffic was an abomination, everything was overpriced, Bangla Road was utterly horrific with barely an attractive woman in sight, and the entire place just reeked. Yikes.

The progress on the High-Speed Rail Project is absolutely pathetic, there's no reason why it should be taking so many years to build one short corridor. Just go ahead and hire China and they'll have the entire country down in a couple of years. The same applies to Rama II, it is at least a decade behind schedule, and they've only partially built out to kilometer 36? What are we looking at two more decades? Head should be rolling, the people in charge should be imprisoned, and drastic actions need to be taken.

I don't think so. Been with alot of women way, way past 100 and they were totally well adjusted. It depends on alot of factors, but hundreds of millions have been with way, way beyond 100. Fake puritanism makes many men unable to handle that fact.

You are perverting the scales, there's no such thing as an 11, frankly I don't think there's any such thing as a 10. I've met a few 9s, but only a few in the course of my lifetime. It's an Olympic scale so it's 1 through 10, and it's weighted so a 6 is quite cute, a 7 is really hot, and an 8 is quite incredible. Let's try to keep this real. Also I find the whole virgin thing not only overrated but downright boring. I've been with a couple and it's just not much fun, it's pure Quaker type puritanism, with a hint of juvenile Islam thrown in.

Yes, seriously. Most men have absolutely no idea how many men their women have been with, but I think a lot of American women have been with well over a hundred men and I don't know what the big issue is. I tend to like experience, I think innocence is very overrated and I think most men tend to be fairly puritanical about this whole thing.

If you really analyze this Trump needed something like this to happen, as he's failing on almost every front. His tariff plan is falling apart, China is making him look very weak, contrary to what he promised inflation continues to rage despite the fake numbers coming out of Washington, the economy appears to be imploding, the US is losing its influence daily, Brics is getting stronger by the day, and Trump appears to be failing miserably.

False. Jan. 6th was far worse than what is happening in LA. U.S. Capitol Police announced late Thursday that an officer hurt during this week's violent assault on the chambers of Congress by protesters loyal to President Trump has died from his injuries. "At approximately 9:30 p.m. this evening (January 7, 2021), United States Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick passed away due to injuries sustained while on-duty," a statement from the U.S. Capitol Police said. "Officer Sicknick was responding to the riots on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol and was injured while physically engaging with protesters. He returned to his division office and collapsed." https://www.npr.org/sections/insurrection-at-the-capitol/2021/01/07/954333542/police-confirm-death-of-officer-injured-during-attack-on-capitol Trump’s news conferences, public speeches, and social-media communications in the weeks leading up to the January 6 attack have frequently been characterized as “stochastic terrorism,” understood as the repeated use of vilifying rhetoric by a public figure that inspires acts of violence against a targeted person, group, or community. According to a Justice Department report released in July 2021, approximately 140 Capitol and Metropolitan police officers were criminally assaulted by the rioters in the January 6 attack. Among those victims, one died of a series of strokes after being hospitalized for injuries sustained in the attack, and two others committed suicide. One of the rioters was shot and killed by police, another died of a heart attack, and a third was apparently crushed to death by the stampeding mob. The rioters caused an estimated $1.5 million in damage to the Capitol building. https://www.britannica.com/event/January-6-U-S-Capitol-attack

Just another reason for tourists to stay away. If I were a tourist, or an expat considering Pattaya, and I knew about this program of overhead drones spying on us on a constant basis, I don't think it would provide much motivation to visit. It really does sound like a big brother state, a bit of a 1984 kind of vibe. No thanks.