spidermike007

1. Carlson is NOT a journalist. Never has been, never will be. He is a political commentator. 2. I hope he stays there. He would be doing the world a favor. 3. Maybe, just maybe he will say the wrong thing, and find out the true meaning of a dictatorship.

I always wonder what the level of inspections are like here, and if there is much emphasis put on safety, at all.

The Click is one of the worst. And it is made for smaller people. It has a very stiff and low end suspension. I would suggest a Honda ADV160, or even better a Honda Forza 350. I have the latter. It is a very smooth ride. You might need to step up a bit.

My respect for them is fairly limited too. One likes to see some sort of example. Show me, do not tell me. Same applies for priests and rabbis too, and especially Imams.

Some comments are barely worth the bother. Like yours. Let's just go ahead and lump the entire ex-pat community into one thoughtless, mindless, inane, hateful comment. So, that is who you are? Singapore is boring and crazy expensive. So is Monaco. Both are also very vanilla. Argentina is not a bad choice, and so is Portugal. For those with real money. Many of us here have limited budgets, and live very well here. Many of us here are not whore mongers. But, you would not understand such complex issues.

Correct. Thais count the number of years they have been alive, instead of their upcoming birthday. Hence 17 means 18. Always best to ask for a real ID, if in doubt. Even better to pass, if it is that close!

The US does issue a passport card, for an extra $10. Very convenient to have, as it serves nearly all ID purposes.

There are many ways in this world to make merit, showing great love and respect to other people, being generous with people who deserve your generosity, extending yourself whenever possible, being a very decent human being, paying honor to our elders, and helping homeless people from time to time. The list is endless if one wants to do good in this world there is no end to how much we can help others, if we're in a position to do so. The least effective way in this world to make merit is to donate your money to a temple. That is just sloth and laziness, in my opinion.

Her father was making an effort to redefine the word lowlife, and he did a pretty damn good job of that. Somebody should give that so called man a beat down.

I am not sure about deliberate setups, but I have heard of guys getting into major trouble here, for being found with underage gals. As an American, the laws in the US apply to all US passport holders, worldwide. Often the Thai cop will demand 100,000 baht, if she is 17, or one million baht, if 16 or under. You do not have it? You are turned over. Many guys end up on planes with an assistant DA dispatched from DC, in handcuffs, facing federal statutory rape charges. Unless you have millions to throw at a lawyer, you are looking at 10 years in a federal pen. And you will be on the sex offender list the rest of your life. Many will dispute this. I have spoken to lawyers about it, and it is correct info. And the US government is over zealous about the underage thing. Not worth it. Always best to check if she looks really young. If she does not have ID, that is real trouble. Do not proceed. The law changed in 2003, when the PROTECT Act was enacted. Prior to that, sex with minors abroad was covered by Customs statutes, which required proof that the US citizen left the US with the intent of having sex with persons under the age of 18 - something that was very difficult to prove. (It's also worth noting that both Jerry Lee and Elvis married teenagers. Laws in the US are peculiar in that many states allow marriage to someone below the age of consent, as long as their parents agree.) Under the PROTECT Act, there is no need for the government to prove intent. If an American has sex with someone under age 18 while in a foreign country, that's a crime, period, even if that sex isn't against the law in the country where it took place.

According to some friends, who have interactions with younger, more progressive Russians, there are some nice ones out there. Hope I get to meet some, at some point.

Quite an impressive man, between the height (6'3"), the $800 million smile, and the socks. Would be great if he had some actual policy and implementation to go along with the show pony stuff.

Great source. It said: The discovery, which has been published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, is helping astronomers unveil the secrets of early low-mass galaxies. Safe to presume Thaiger just makes stuff up, and enhances news at will!

My sense is that it is made available to the Astronomy community, at large. So while their use of the scope might be legit, their claim to have discovered the biggest secret in the universe is not. In shallow men the fish of little thoughts cause much commotion. In oceanic minds the whales of inspiration make hardly a ruffle.

The few so-called hi-so people that I have met we're really not worth meeting at all, and they are not even people that I would want to share a beer with. No thanks, I'll stick with the so called peasant class. I can relate to them.

There's no doubt that it's a very broken nation and it is on the decline. Perhaps somewhat akin to Rome in the year 460 AD before the Visogoths marched in and sacked the city. Security guards should be able to take these things into their own hands and act as they please, beating down the criminals to whatever extent they like. Of course that'll never happen but that's what should happen. Let's have some fun!

I was in an elevator recently with a Russian family and I turned to the young boy and said you're really fortunate, when I was your age I never got to travel around the world, and the father looked at me like I was his archenemy and gave me the evil eye. They are really truly pathetically unfriendly people. Yikes, no thanks, if I never meet another Russian for the rest of my life I'll be happy.

Completely wrong. In the 2000 presidential election, former President George W. Bush won the electoral vote but lost the popular vote to former Vice President Al Gore. President Barack Obama won the popular vote and the electoral vote when he ran in 2008 and 2012. When President Donald Trump ran in 2016, he won the electoral vote, with the popular vote going to Hillary Clinton. In fact, CNN states that “more Americans voted for … Clinton [in 2016] than any other losing presidential candidate in US history.” This was a devastating loss for Democrats across America. The Electoral College is at best outdated and at worst disparaging. It’s time that we re-examined our election system before the next election season. https://blog.washcoll.edu/wordpress/theelm/2020/11/the-electoral-college-is-an-outdated-system-that-needs-to-be-abolished/

Thailand has unraveled the mysteries of the universe. That is quite a statement. Such humility. Such brilliant and unsurpassed minds! Give them a Nobel peace prize.

The Electoral college is an abomination that has to be abolished. It may have worked 150 years ago, but there is absolutely no place for it in American society today.

Man up, you coward. Take responsibility for your own nation. Though some smoke may be coming from fires across the border the vast majority is caused locally. It is the selfish sugar farmers and the refiners that are the real culprits in this horrific mess that Thailand's found itself in. They need to do something and they need to do something quick, and it seems like there's no willingness to go up against Big Agra. Sretta is a huge coward and half a man. He is all talk and absolutely no action, and incredibly unimpressive PM to date.

I had the great fortune of living in New York City for the entire 1980s and into the early '90s. It was a golden era in New York, the city was coming up from a terrible time in the 70s, and things were really vibrant and alive. Lived in huge lofts downtown, for $2000 a month! (They are now $15,000 and up, per month). Needless to say, when you brought a woman back to a space like that, you got a strong reaction. Always very positive! The nightlife was amazing, I was into the club scene back then, and of course I was much younger. The ratio of single available straight women to single available straight men was seven to one. It was absolutely ridiculous, like fishing for salmon in Scotland or Alaska. I had a lot of gay friends at the time and they would invite me these incredible loft parties (I guess I was the designated straight friend) where there were 200 people, and 130 were women. Maybe 70 guys, and typically only two straight men in the entire loft, and I was one of them! It was insane. Alot of the women were supermodel types, as they love their gay friends. They were totally open with me, would give me a bear hug and a kiss when meeting me, as they assumed I posed no threat! Ha! Needless to say those those kind of parties resulted in a very good time. Sometimes, I would have to prove to these women, that I was straight, as they could not believe a straight man would want to hang out with their gay friends! The fashion was horrible back then, and with the exception of Warhol, Basquiat, Mapplethorpe, Kiefer, and Richter, not much great artwork. But red and white Burgundy was cheap, and so were the other great wines of the world. Rents were low, properties were affordable, the standard of living was good, the politicians were less toxic, there was no social media, and the world felt like a better place. That was really a glorious era, and I look back on it with a lot of fondness.

It's normal and it's part of the evolution of the soul. I smoked for a long time too, and I got to the point where I was only enjoying it about half the time I smoked, the other half of the time I really wished I was sober. At that point I realized it was time to quit and I never looked back. Thrilled to death to have left it behind, though I did have some very pleasant experiences along the way. At this point I feel like to each his own, I feel like it's a relatively harmless, alcohol is infinitely worth and God bless the people who continue to smoke. It's all good.

Such bizarre people. Such social misfits. I have friends who know younger Russians. And they say they are kind, friendly and progressive. I have no idea what percentage of the population these younger people represent, nor how representative they are of the Russian population. Personally, I have met very few friendly Russians. Anywhere in the world. The vast majority of Russians I have met, seem to have very, very few redeeming qualities. It is no wonder. I can only speak from my experience. Have run into alot of Russians both in the US, and on Phuket and Samui, 98% of them seem to be grumpy, unfriendly and gruff. Some of them are downright hostile. Likely a reflection of a very, very rough culture and environment. So, perhaps it is not a coincidence that the world is not standing up to support them and show them kindness? I do not think it is a sense of entitlement. I think it is a reflection of the current culture. It was destroyed by over a century of callous and murderous leadership. Stalin, Lenin, Khruschev, now Putin. They have become somewhat savage and crude. No grace, no finesse, no courtesy. Rather uncivilized. My family was from Russia a few generations back. I used to ask my great-grandmother when she was still around, why they didn't teach us anything about the old country. She would give me this look, and tell me "the reason we never taught you about the place we came from, is because the place we came from was the most horrific country on earth, it was the most destitute, horrible, oppressive place and we were thrilled to finally get out of there and leave it behind. That's why we don't teach you about the old country, the old country doesn't exist for us".

Pauly Shore, Bill Burr, Matt Damon, Taylor Fritz, or Celine Dion. They would all be far more qualified than the huge cheater.