spidermike007

Well of course Israel is going to deny this. It makes them look like animals, to deny humanitarian assistance. Exactly what Bibi and his extremist partners are. Ferocious, hateful, nasty, genocidal animals. Don't believe their lies. It is part of their endgame.

Alot of nonsense in this post. And a very poor defense of Israel and the extremists driving this attempt to exterminate the Palestinians and destroy their land, Syria style. As posted previously: The IDF response was ridiculously disproportionate, the number of women and children killed was horrendous, and Israel is paying an enormous price for this hatred and racism toward the Palestinian people, who are about 2 genetic markers away from being Israeli. Israel is losing more allies by the day, the US in on the cusp of withdrawing aid, and the extremist Netanyahu is finding himself in a more indefensible position, by the day. Between 1 January and 12 February, 51 per cent of missions planned by humanitarian partners to deliver aid and undertake assessments to areas to the north of Wadi Gaza were denied access by the Israeli authorities. More than 625,000 students and nearly 23,000 teachers in the Gaza Strip have been affected by school closures and attacks on education, leaving them with no access to education or a safe place. According to the Ministry of Education, as of 6 February, more than 4,851 students and 239 educational staff have been killed and more than 8,227 students and 836 teachers have been injured in the Gaza Strip since 7 October. Speaking earlier Sunday at the African Union summit, Lula called Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip a "genocide." What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has no parallel in history. South Africa, which accused Israel in the unprecedented case, argued Israel’s air and ground assaults on Gaza were intended to “bring about the destruction” of its Palestinian population. https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-02-18-24/index.html

The IDF response was ridiculously disproportionate, the number of women and children killed was horrendous, and Israel is paying an enormous price for this hatred and racism toward the Palestinian people, who are about 2 genetic markers away from being Israeli. Israel is losing more allies by the day, the US in on the cusp of withdrawing aid, and the extremist Netanyahu is finding himself in a more indefensible position, by the day. Between 1 January and 12 February, 51 per cent of missions planned by humanitarian partners to deliver aid and undertake assessments to areas to the north of Wadi Gaza were denied access by the Israeli authorities. More than 625,000 students and nearly 23,000 teachers in the Gaza Strip have been affected by school closures and attacks on education, leaving them with no access to education or a safe place. According to the Ministry of Education, as of 6 February, more than 4,851 students and 239 educational staff have been killed and more than 8,227 students and 836 teachers have been injured in the Gaza Strip since 7 October. Speaking earlier Sunday at the African Union summit, Lula called Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip a "genocide." "What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has no parallel in history. South Africa, which accused Israel in the unprecedented case, argued Israel’s air and ground assaults on Gaza were intended to “bring about the destruction” of its Palestinian population. https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-02-18-24/index.html

Flourescent lighting is horrendous. It is inefficient, ugly and belongs in the heap of history. I changed nearly every fixture in the house to accomodate LED bulbs. The light is beautiful, and they are highly efficient and save alot of electricity. Just say no to flourescent lighting!

Many of us still tip. I do not use a digital wallet much. I avoid it like the plague. I love cash, always have, always will. But, even if I pay online, I still give the Foodpanda guy or gal a tip. They work hard, out in the hot sun, and do not get paid as much as they deserve. The 20 baht means nothing to most of us. It means alot to them. I can see that by their reaction. Same applies in a restaurant. Anywhere. From my point of view, a lack of tipping emanates from a very cold heart, that shuts itself off from people. Giving and charity are very healthy for the heart and soul.

You make an interesting argument. Let us see how this plays out, now that the army and the PT are highly compromised partners.

Not only that, but the fact that her party capitulated, and abandoned any pretense of goodness, morality or ethics by jumping into bed with the do nothing, toxic army, alienated a huge swath of PT supporters. I have family in Issan, and they are now indifferent at best about the PT, and anything Shin related.

NO. Not at all. He yaks, yaks, and yaks. He puts on a good show, but please show me some evidence his yakking is resulting in anything that benefits the people, or the economy he is supposedly directing, in his twin job as finance minister. I have not seen any progress at all. On any level. Granted, he is less embarrassing than Prayuth. But that little guy was pathetic leader on every level imaginable.

From my point of view, AI and smartphones are both evidence we are moving backwards as a society, and as a culture. Technological advancements are not always a good thing, and not always a sign we are moving in the right direction.

Yeah, the initial intentions were fine, and the operation was a success. But, once he got the reins of power, he became a money grubbing dictator for life. The number of people he jailed of killed for simple dissent was astonishing. And it was estimated he stole billions from the people. He was a monster. He totally failed the people. Do not blame the embargo. Cuba trades with the entire planet. The problem is they have barely anything to offer, their forests have been stripped bare, their land is infertile, due to stupid Marxist agrarian policies, etc. Want me to go on? I spent alot of time in Cuba over the years, and heard firsthand stories. Doctors I spoke with made $40 a month. Engineers moonlighting as tour guides. Hospitals without alcohol or bandaids. Communism does not work. Castro was a plague on the land. When I would meet locals, they would nearly all say the same thing. Fidel was universally despised, and so was the regime. All of that was said in hushed tones, for fear of being discovered, and sent to one of his concentration camps, or marched before a firing squad. I would stop to chat with a local, and within minutes he would get picked up by the police. I would later find out he was held for days, under suspicion of offering either prostitution services or currency exchange. The government hated for the people to engage in exchange, as it gave them power and freedom. It was sickening. I stopped visiting, around 2008, as I got so disgusted with the government and the low quality of life the people had to endure under the despotic regime of the Castro brothers. They are absolute vermin, on every level. I was told by reputable sources that both brothers had fortunes into the billions of dollars, and many of the generals were worth billions. Total hypocrisy. Castro lost his ideals, and sight of the bigger picture within 30 days of assuming power. It was all about the money, and the power, and the totalitarian rule. It was not about the people.

He cannot clear his name. He is guilty by association. He is not only RTP, he is the deputy chief. Please. Statistically, what are the odds the biggest joke was the exception? Vegas would likely put it at well under 1%. This is not a witch hunt, and there is nothing prestigious about his career. When he was chief of immigration, he made a constant fool of himself, by his ridiculous xenophobic rants. Recently, as deputy national police chief, he hogged the spotlight, with his fake crime buster image. I consider all the PR, all the grandstanding, all the hogging of the limelight, the nonstop press conferences, statements, declarations, and proclamations and crackdowns to be window dressing, meant to deceive the most naive among us. Think about how many of the guys he went after. Then research how many were actually convicted and jailed. Then consider the fact that he was one of the top cops in a land where cops are known to be crooked. The RTP at its inception seems to have been created with a status quo from the government. We will NOT pay you a living wage, but you have a franchise, and the limit of your income is based solely on your own creativity and initiative, and you will always be protected. Is that not the case? He spent alot of time and effort trying to convince the public he was clean, and a real crime buster. I always knew this was fake and that he was a publicity hound and loved the limelight. He was the chief of immigration. Then the deputy police chief. Both of those are pyramid schemes. Few immigration and police officers are clean. And the money gets funneled to the top. So, the money laundering was necessary to clean what was likely billions of baht, over the years. This joker likely has a $20 million lakefront château in Switzerland or a penthouse in NYC, and multiple overseas accounts, where he is stashing his ill gotten gains. The real mystery is why he was caught. The cops are above the law. He must have pissed someone off.

I doubt if Interpol will even attempt to contact the RTP. Why would they bother? Let us hope someone takes matters into their own hands, and eliminates these insects, disguised as humans. They have already self revoked their right to consume oxygen.

It is the entire world. Especially those under 45. Absolutely obsessed with social media, selfies and taking photos of their food, and other things that do not mean anything. The world has lost touch with reality. We are no longer advancing as a species. Smartphones have insured that.

It is likely alot higher than that. And nobody does anything about it. DNS (Do nothing Sretta) does not want to offend his masters who own the sugar mills. His level of fealty is scary.

The people might be pissed off, but the army will let her return scot free. It was likely part of the deal with PT, when they surrendered all ethics and let that toxic organization back in. Ten lousy years of horrible leadership. It continues unabated, and the economy continues to flounder. Only 20 million people in the streets might stop them. And that is not going to happen.

I got mine 15 years ago in LA. No pain, took 15 minutes, and only slight discomfort for a day afterwards. Amazing. One of the best days of my life! And deciding to NOT have kids was one of the smartest decisions of my life. I like kids. But, they are over rated.

Mine has alot of friends who drink like fish. They complain about being hung over the next day. It is as if they cannot connect the result with the action. When young, we all drink too much from time to time. But, these women are in their 40s and 50s. At a given point in time it starts to become silly, dangerous to one's health and just bizarre.

Many of the soda dispensers have a side tab for water. That is likely what he was getting.

They are likely jobs the locals don't want. Same as the Burmese workers here and the Latino workers in the US.

No. Would go if the trip was free. Otherwise, don't have much interest. Japan is near the top of the list. Great food, sake, sights, culture, etc. Not South Korea.

I know a top attorney in Bangkok who said that the number of expats leaving right around 2019 and into the first year of covid was enormous, well into the tens of thousands. No way to know how many new ones have come, I guess.

Koreans, like the Chinese have very good reason to hate the Japanese. They were subjected to two or three generations worth of brutality, rape, subjugation and humiliation. Those kind of scars don't heal easily especially when your grandparents are telling you about the horrors. The Thais are completely different story, what have the Thais ever done to the Koreans? And if they suspected them coming there to work illegally, I suppose that's a different story. However it's much the same as in the US, these countries desperately need laborers, if not legal than illegal.

Well that was certainly not very helpful, and FYI there are not very many websites out there that offer accurate information about the expat population in Thailand. I've been searching for this information for years thank you very much.

How can you even equate a bottle of water from 7-11, with free water at a restaurant? It's no skin off the restaurants back, it means absolutely nothing to them, it doesn't cost them one satang.

I wonder if the restaurant made a big deal about it, or was it just patrons who witnessed it and were offended by a lowly delivery man getting water from their machine. Either way it's very offensive behavior, and rather pathetic. Can you imagine driving around a motorbike in this heat all day? Who wouldn't be thirsty, and why aren't the restaurants offering their delivery men water?