spidermike007

Twice as a kid, but only overnight. I was headed towards a life of crime, and was saved by my ex, who had enough common sense to talk me out of my foolishness. I love prison films. I find them utterly fascinating, in a repulsive sort of manner. Prison is my worst nightmare. Prison, anywhere.

The RTP never could have anticipated social media, and the effect it would have on their income collection methods and enrichment plans. Nor the devastation of the pyramid scheme. Why do you think big joke is so upset? He likely will retire with several billion less than anticipated. Getting caught is the worse crime. It outs their methods.

Russia should be ousted from the security council, or not be allowed to serve as chairman. They are international pariahs. Putin has made that so.

Their biggest mistake was not the shakedown. It was getting caught. The joke takes offense at any cop who gets caught. It is not corruption he is fighting, but rather bad PR.

If a decent man cannot find a good woman here, he just may be past the point of no return. Or someone who was broken in the West. Happens to many good men. Emotionally wrecked by a cascade of difficult women, who don't have a feminine gene left in their bodies. They are simply beyond being hopeful. What is left once you lose hope? Or an eternal pessimist. Or someone who simply does not adore women anymore. Or broke. I went through a few years back in the US, where I decided not to date anymore. It was just too difficult, and the women I was meeting were not worth it. When I got here, things changed. Alot. The women here are infinitely more fascinating, alluring and feminine. And open to meeting a good man. My heart goes out to the men who have been pushed to the edge of hopelessness. Though I did not realize how much I missed it, once I got with a very good woman here, it sure felt alot better to have that love and emotional support. Now, I can't imagine being without that good fortune in life.

Perhaps his PR people advised him to admit to one failure, in an effort to gain the trust of the voters, now that it appears he is headed towards a very humiliating defeat, and likely the end of his political career. Thankfully. Hopefully.

Someone has been listening to a few too many podcasts. You may want to at least vet them a bit. There is an awful lot of nonsense out there on the world wide web these days.

Precisely. By going after foreigners who are causing no problems for anyone, they can say they are actually doing something productive. A very rare occurance for both the RTP or the sadsack immigration dept. Much blather over nothing.

So far, they seem to pertain only to the potentially weakest area, and that is the Stormy hush money. It is a huge strategic error in my opinion. Either that, or it is a deliberate way to get around having to convict the crime lord.

Note to Prayuth. Just to put the fires into perspective, they are one of dozens of areas where you have failed. You have been a dismally poor PM, you have failed at your promise to be a short term, interim PM, you have utterly failed as a leader and you should get out of politics.

In my opinion, they are pursuing the wrong line of attack. Nailing him for the Stormy thing seems lightweight. I think it is evidence that they are not sincere about putting this crime lord away. If they were, they would go after him for bank fraud or tax fraud. No doubt he is guilty of many counts. And no doubt those charges would not only stick, they would likely result in this sad mans spending many of his remaining years in prison. But, I don't think there is political will to lock up an ex president. These charges would appear to confirm that.

Rotten to the core. No doubt. And we all know this is a pyramid scheme. So, while top cop Joke pretends to be nabbing bad cops, and one does get convicted now and then, he no doubt collects millions per month in bribes that have filtered to the top of the pyramid scheme. Rotten to the core. The RTP.

I understand every nation has its laws. I am fine with immigration backing up those laws. A ten year overstay is quite an accomplishment. However, I consider integrity and honesty to be important. Saying this is about stopping some kind of loss to the nation is disengenuous. The average Thai earns around 20,000 baht per month. The average pensioner gets how much? 35,000 baht? 50,000 baht? Plus potential income from other sources. So, I just don't see any loss taking place. It is so typical of Prayuth to be dishonest.

Very ironic that the people who are subject to the government which is the greatest organ harvester in the history of the world, are afraid of this while overseas. Note to the Chinese people. Be afraid. Be very afraid. But, don't be afraid of the Thais. Organ harvesting is not their hobby. It is the domain of Xi, and your horrific CCP. “Forced organ harvesting in China appears to be targeting specific ethnic, linguistic or religious minorities held in detention, often without being explained the reasons for arrest or given arrest warrants, at different locations,” they said. “We are deeply concerned by reports of discriminatory treatment of the prisoners or detainees based on their ethnicity and religion or belief. “According to the allegations received, the most common organs removed from the prisoners are reportedly hearts, kidneys, livers, corneas and, less commonly, parts of livers. This form of trafficking with a medical nature allegedly involves health sector professionals, including surgeons, anaesthetists and other medical specialists.” https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/06/china-un-human-rights-experts-alarmed-organ-harvesting-allegations

I recently switched back to the retirement visa. I found myself getting very frustrated with immigration. I did not feel it was worth the aggravation. The upside to this visa, is that only 400,000 is needed as a deposit, and it does not have to stay in the bank, once your visa is granted. The downsides are: The hurdles you need to jump over, in order to get a marriage visa are stupid, ridiculous, unnecessary, draconian, wasteful, and silly. I understand the need for them to verify that you are a legitimate couple. Upon the first application. But, the dumb requirements should not relate to renewals. You should not be required to show fresh images of the house each time, copies of the marriage papers, the house documents, either come with a local Thai witness, or bring a signed affidavit from a local Thai each time, provide new maps to the house, and dozens of other requirements. I just do not even know what to say about the process. I felt like a street dog by the time I left. After hours of paperwork, copy after copy after copy, each page having to be signed, and then being grilling by the surly officer, I literally felt like a street dog. The level of disrespect that immigration shows married couples here, and foreigners in general, is totally uncalled for, beyond the pale, and inane. The copy woman, the guy sorting our papers, they were all nice. But, the officers? Such sourpusses. The woman who was helping us was so difficult to work with, when she finally rejected us over the tiniest thing she did not like, after nearly an hour of reviewing every document with a microscope, so to speak, and finally I responded by saying YES, you are going to do this. YES, you are going to do this right now. YES, you are going to stop saying NO to me right now. This ends now! She looked at me and did not know what to say. I asked for the manager. The top brass came over, and we had it sorted in 30 minutes. Took nearly 3 hours. And as usual, it will be a month, until I have final approval. Is it worth it? NO. It was my last marriage visa. I went back to a retirement visa. It was that, or leaving the country, before I subject myself to that abuse one more time. Frankly, I think at least some of this comes from the rather extreme level of xenophobia and the toxic racism of the army. It filters down throughout the government. I do not think they want us here. And making these procedures difficult is one way of expressing that. Fortunately, I feel very little of that sentiment from the non governmental Thai people.

1. America is in love with both guns and violence. 2. It is no good to have the right to abort a fetus, but when kids get gunned down, no big deal really. 3. The NRA owns congress and the senate. I doubt we will ever see any meaningful change. 4. America is going downhill fast. And I sure hope that does not mean a future world with the heinous CCP (People's commy party) in charge of things. That would be very ugly, as they do not wear their power with any grace.

As we all know, Thailand is one of the whale centers of the world. Bull whales. Certainly no lack of blowhard officials, though.

These guys love to make rules, but rarely enforce them. A rather strange paradox. Will they enforce this one? I doubt it.

The RTP chief preaching correct and responsible bahavior. This is rich. Try setting an example for the people, and yakking less.

Having kids is a valid and lovely thing to do, if you are really feeling it and prepared to be the best parent you can possibly be, are in a position to support and love the kid, and provide a great environment for them. Sounds like you are doing that. For me, I never felt it. And I am glad for that. It has simplified my life and we have a good life partly due to the lack of kids and that responsibility. One thing is for certain, though. This planet does not need more kids. And bringing kids into this world, at this time, requires a certain degree of self absorbtion, and a buy in to the traditional family dream. There is alot of concern about zero, or negative population growth. There are about 25 countries with the highest population growth. If memory serves me correctly, at least 23 of them are Muslim nations. The rest of the world seems to be coming to their senses, and having far fewer babies. Kudos to those who choose not to spawn, at this point in time. Smart move.

Most are likely Russians, and not Ukrainians. Therefore, they likely would not qualify for refugee status, no matter where they were. When your leader is a serial killing madman despot, who seems to enjoy targeting woman and children, sympathy tends to be in limited supply. You were simply born in the wrong country.

You combine poorly justified nationalism, with money, and it can be a toxic brew. In this case, add in the title of doctor. It may or not be racism, but it sure is a heavy dose of arrogance, with absolutely nothing to back it up.

A little off topic, but I know a guy who bought many properties in central Prague around 23 years ago. He paid an average of $50,000 for a 4 or 5 story townhouse. Yes, they needed work. But, they eventually ended up being worth 15 million euros each, and he made himself a tidy $200 million. I do not foresee that ever happening in Phuket or Bangkok.

I find there is little in the way of any sort of class structure in the US. I have a number of very wealthy friends. They mix it up with me, and all sorts. Wealth is rarely a factor. Very little judgment or arrogance. Not at all the case here. The so called hi-so (I think it is a very bad descriptor, as it indicates some level of sophistication, when it is often not the case at all) here are incredibly arrogant, full of themselves, fairly useless, and can be quite toxic.

Easy for me to say, being one of the fortunate ones to have avoided having kids (I like kids, but have had zero interest in having any, in this lifetime) but don't have kids. It simplifies your life to no end, it makes breaking up or getting divorced alot simpler and cheaper, and in my opinion, the planet simply does not need any more people. I know many will say this, or that, but this would be my best relationship advice.