spidermike007

Trump is completely lost in space, and has lost the plot to a scary extent. He is so out of touch with the common man and the issues that the average person is facing. Sometimes the billionaires running the federal government sound like they’re talking to other billionaires. “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” President Trump wrote on social media last week, offering a stock tip that appeared aimed at the investor class rather than ordinary Americans watching their plummeting 401(k)s. Howard Lutnick, the secretary of commerce, has said his mother-in-law wouldn’t be worried if she didn’t get her monthly Social Security check. Elon Musk, who is slashing the Social Security Administration’s staff, has called it a “Ponzi scheme.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has asserted that Americans aren’t looking at the “day-to-day fluctuations” in their retirement savings. And if automakers raise their prices because of Mr. Trump’s tariffs? “I couldn’t care less,” the president told Kristen Welker of NBC. Psychologists say that extreme wealth does change people and their views of those who have less. For the record, Forbes put Mr. Trump’s net worth at $4.2 billion on April 8, Forbes estimated the net worth of Mr. Musk, the world’s richest man, as $364 billion on April 17 and Mr. Lutnick’s as $3 billion the same day. Mr. Bessent, formerly the top investor for the billionaire liberal philanthropist George Soros, listed assets in excess of $700 million on his financial disclosure form this year but is thought to be worth much more. “In the case of the Trump administration,” Professor Pinker said, “they have little choice but to twist themselves into artisanal pretzels in order to defend the indefensible.” “They play golf with billionaires, they have dinner with billionaires, they go to Mar-a-Lago,” she said. “When was the last time any of them bought a dozen eggs or a quart of milk?” Or as Mr. Trump said when he kicked off a Mar-a-Lago dinner with friends after his tax cuts became law in December 2017, “You all just got a lot richer.”

Just for a starter. China's response to U.S. tariffs stems from its focus on economic resilience and long-term strategy. Several reasons highlight why China adopts this firm stance: 1. Economic Diversification: China's economy is not solely reliant on exports to the U.S. It has strengthened trade relations with other countries and regions, such as the European Union and ASEAN, diversifying its economic partnerships to reduce dependence. 2. Domestic Market Growth: With the world's largest population, China has a substantial domestic market that supports economic stability. Increased consumption and investment within the country provide a buffer against external challenges. 3. Innovation and Self-Reliance: China has been heavily investing in technological advancement and manufacturing capabilities, aiming to reduce reliance on imported goods and improve self-sufficiency. 4. Global Trade Networks: Initiatives like the Belt and Road project foster international economic cooperation, creating alternative trade routes and opportunities. 5. Strategic Reserve Management: China's ample reserves of essential materials and goods allow it to withstand short-term trade disruptions. Ultimately, China's resilience is rooted in strategic planning, diversified economic activities, and its ability to adapt to global shifts. And none of this takes into account the massive reserves China holds in US bonds, their unwillingness to continue to finance US debt as is the case with many other nations now, and their extraordinary hacking abilities which could potentially cripple the US Military. I could go on.

Trump is in so far over his head and the real shameful aspect of this is that he is too dim, too arrogant and too self-absorbed to even know it. In addition to that he's being poorly advised by bottom of the barrel administration picks who are not doing him any favors. It's really quite thrilling to see Harvard fighting back, fortunately they are in a position to do so and nearly the entire educational establishment is rallying behind them and against the "let's try to destroy the American educational system goon". In addition he's being completely outplayed by China, Xi has a much better hand than Trump and Trump runs the risk of losing his base, losing his popularity, and very possibly not even lasting the entire term, if he keeps up this nonsense against China. Trump is a terrible poker player and unfortunately that's a game that requires some intelligence and savvy, none of which Trump has, and in addition Trump is burdened by the fact that he cannot even negotiate his way out of a paper bag. The art of the deal? More like the art of making America considerably less relevant, and spurned by the world. Good work Disaster Don!

A regular liar uses lies as a way to manipulate people and get what they want, the pathological liar does not seem to be able to control himself enough to engage in truth at any point in time. The lies are simply part of his inherent being and every time he opens his mouth that's what comes out. That is exactly who we have as the leader of the Free World. Trump is simply incapable of uttering anything that even resembles truth.

Yes. Big Don Trump. He is his own sort of mafia boss engaged in all kinds of criminal activities as a lifelong pursuit. The criminal activities continue now even as president, with his extreme lies to his supporters, and many policies that appear to be quite illegal.

And that's a huge part of the problem and unfortunately it doesn't bode well for the future of the nation, the youth are the lifeblood of the country and if they're leaving that's a rather scary scenario. Of course the problem is that they're simply not being encouraged and quite the opposite is happening in a sense that change, reform and progress are being thwarted at every move buy some very sinister elites, and some people that we just cannot mention. Unfortunately there's just too much money at stake and when you couple that with a primitive mind and a heart filled with greed that has no room for humanity, you get this kind of moral degradation.

Well I certainly agree with you that he's offering youth in those two fools, but certainly not offering any vision, nor any sort of quality leadership. Both of them have made absolute fools of themselves in the last 3 months and it looks as if the ignorance will just continue. Vance in particular is just an absolute abomination of a human being, he feels like an artifice, almost someone who is created by AI.

Do we have a pastor, or a puritanical man passing judgment here? Or simply a well doctrinated, well behaved American husband?

At least in Bali I found that if you stay away from the southwest third of the island it can be a pretty enjoyable experience, the whole area from Ubud to the north, the Northeast Coast and the Northwest coast are absolutely charming and not overcrowded. But anything in the region of Kuta, Legan and Seminyak is just a blight zone, that i would never want to return to under any circumstances.

That is normal operational procedure for an ambulance that is rushing a victim to a hospital, do we need more technical data than that?

They have a completely insane genocidal maniac leading the country, who practices serial killing and the slaughter of women and children as a sport. He seems to be so demented that normal thrills the kind of which we would recognize, do not work for him anymore, so he has to exercise his Godlike control over the dominion of mankind practicing a bizarre hobby of unnecessarily taking innocent lives. What does this tell us about Trump's good buddy? And what does this tell us about Trump's judgment?

Well if you want to avoid extremists who are racist freaks, then it's best to avoid racist leaders like Trump and Musk. They do not exactly set an example, do they?

Biden should simply just retire and write off into the sunset he's a very old man and he has no place representing the Democratic party at this point. Having said that Trump is also a very old man, is at least semi senile, and is quite insane and extremely dangerous. He has no business being president and I think quite a few of the people who elected him are starting to understand that he is the polar opposite of the man that he represented himself to be during the campaign. Modern day politics needs youth and it needs a forward-looking vision, totally unlike anything that Biden or Trump are capable of offering.

I wonder if the same corner did an autopsy on Jeffrey Epstein and decided that the sheets that had the consistency of toilet paper we used to hang himself from a bed that was two feet off the ground? Talk about not passing the smell test. I smell some very stinky and rotten fish. There's about a 0% chance that Epstein died of suicide and my guess is that the same number applies to poor Joe.

It is a 95% certainty that this ambulance had its lights flashing and it's sirens blaring and yet this absolute numskull still managed to smash into it. Nowhere in the world have I seen less regard paid to ambulances and people on the verge of death. In most civilized nations ambulances are given a very wide berth so that people have a decent chance at survival. Parents slhere simply have to try harder to educate their children and give them some sense of what reasonable priorities are in life. You can't ignore your kids and you can't get away with not teaching them anything, and expect them to become decent human beings.

Thailand does have some very creative and innovative youth, who could really be a major tribute to the country if they were allowed to truly have a voice, and if they were given a platform to express themselves. My guess is that the dinosaurs designed this entire thing and all they have to lean on is historical culture, which gets a bit boring and very tired after a while. The youth look toward the future while the dinosaurs cling to the past, we see that all over the world with creepy out of touch leadership.

Of course. Combine Phuket with Bangla Road, and it is close to hell on earth. I was first in Phuket in 1976. No resorts. A few bungalows on the beaches. Beachfront land was 1,000 baht a rai. They could not give it away. Went back in 1986. Had developed alot, but was still very nice. Again in 1993. Far more development. Still amazing. Azure seas. Spectacular women everywhere. Great food. Did not return until around 2008. It was degraded, for the most part. But, still decent. Good nightlife. Again around 2014. Nowhere near the place it used to be, with a greatly diminished nightlife, but not awful. Back again in 2023 and there was absolutely no charm left, very few attractive gals and Bangla Road was absolutely horrific, with barely a good looking girl to be found with the exception of just a couple of Go-Go's charging truly stupid money. The primary population of tourists were Arabs, Malaysians, Indians and Russians and most of them felt like low end tourists and expats. The proliferation of Russians was too much to bear. They are SO obnoxious. No need to ever return. The charm is lost. The over development is stunning. The prices were crazy. Phuket is now worse than Bali. Yikes.

Russia needs the hydropower and Putin loves the Latvian furniture for his various chateaus and palaces.

Yes. Absolutely. Trump is a pathological liar, and anyone who does not believe that is self deluded or is simply not well versed in recent American history. He would say or do anything to achieve an end and his complete lack of ethics, coupled with his total moral bankruptcy allows him to do so without inhibition.

The name of this article should be "Trump fails once again to deliver on one of his primary campaign promises". Don is really tearing things up and solving very little.

This is the behavior of a half man. An undeveloped mind, a lost soul. Absolutely nothing there. He seems to have never been taught any values, and possesses no sense of ethics, like a wild forest animal. Where were his parents when he was growing up, and why did they fail so miserably? As a man, I can accept blame, apologize for an offense caused and take responsibility for my actions. No big deal. I care not one iota if I "lose face". Means less than zero to me what others think of me. Some will say it is a cultural difference. True. But, what about the deeper aspects of self esteem and having enough of it to be able to act like a man? A real man accepts responsibility for problems he has caused. When that is being constantly deflected due to a pathological fear of looking bad in the eyes of others, that creates enormous problems for society. I despise the practice of face, and think it is the single greatest weakness of many Thai people.

I think you're reading way too much into it, there's no question that the entire thing was staged, Zelensky was set up, Vance was told to act like a pit bull, instead he embarrassed himself in front of the entire planet and made himself look like an utter and completely ignorant fool, puffing his chest and trying to do a Tarzan look alike, which failed miserably. You can't make a emasculated wimp look like Tarzan, it's impossible, it just can't happen. He is a nobody, play acting the role of VP, and doing it very poorly. Dan Quayle was the last VP I can recall who was as embarrassing, and as incompetent.

Well a few things come to mind. Number one Trump is as far from a diplomat as any president has ever been, number two he has appointed nothing but low quality officials from the absolute bottom of the barrel with no diplomatic skills whatsoever, rather they are very skillful at insulting and bullying our allies and coddling up to our enemies, and number three we know that everything that comes out of Trump's mouth is a lie and is completely insincere. So when he said he would resolve the Ukraine issue many of us knew that was an outright lie, a political talking point that his followers believed along with a huge basket of other nonsense, such as lowering prices and bringing manufacturing back to America. Lies and more lies, just like everything else that comes out of his foul mouth.

Wow. Talk about missing the plot.

A 2 m long bamboo staff can be very effective at warding them off or punishing them if necessary, and though awkward, a can of insect spray can work wonders, all animals are petrified of the stuff.