spidermike007

This is simply a completely ridiculous abuse of power. There are a very limited number of homegrown jazz musicians in Thailand, and foreign musicians should be honored, celebrated and welcome with open arms. At what point are we going to finally see some adults in the room who have the power to make these decisions?

So far. That will change dramatically as his followers realize who he truly is, what his agenda is, and how he's not working for their welfare at all.

Increase the requirements for visas, screen all Chinese and Russians, and stop the utter desperation for ever higher tourists arrival numbers. Problem solved.

How many times will the mods allow one goon to change his name. Bragging is not merely designed to impress. Bragging is designed to produce envy and assert superiority. It is, therefore, an act of hostility. Bragging is also a transparent ploy. It reveals your lack of self-confidence. "I am not enough," you feel. So you resort to showering me with your "achievements," in order to mask your perceived deficiencies.

The more money he has amassed, the more ignorant and completely out of control the man has become. Trump will live to regret giving him this position, as Trump's own popularity will decline the more this man continues with his madness. It will take a while for Trump supporters to realize how bad a decision this was, and how little Musk is doing to improve the lives of the average American. 1984 here we come. Orwell was right. Trump was the guy he spoke of.

Correct. And the US is interfering in European politics so they become relevant by virtue of Vance's and Hegseth’s spectacularly ignorant intervention and dumbed down statements.

Trump, Vance, Hegseth and Patel are proving that daily. Musk might be the smartest among them, but his ignorance, foolishness, and hubris outweighs his intelligence every day. America is dumb and it's getting dumber by the day.

I would recommend doing a deep search and looking within for the source of your problems. If I were very wealthy I would likely only spend two or three months of the year in Thailand but since I'm not I'm here 3/4 of the year and I enjoy everyday I'm here. I used to have more issues than I do now. I worked on my attitude, which was getting in the way of appreciating Thailand for what it is, and was clouding my experience here. Used to stress over stupid stuff, as you can see from some of my past posts. Used to allow the politics to make me angry. Now it is not something I take seriously, just something I comment on, without anger or an emotional investment. Now, I just tend to laugh it off. Spent some real time outside of Thailand recently, and it allowed some clarity and perspective, that I am very grateful for. Now, I just chuckle at most of the nonsense. Water off a duck's back, so to speak. I was in the US recently and the prices and inflation are mind blowing. The cheapest lunch we have found was $30 for two. That is 1,000 baht, anytime you want something basic. A bag of groceries is 3,000 baht and up. A friend of mine is looking for an apartment to move to in LA, and really small, simple places are 70,000 baht per month. Nice two bedrooms are closer to 100,000 baht. Decent homes start at 125,000 baht per month. The cost of nearly everything has gone up dramatically. Runaway inflation? Thailand is still reasonable. It used to be cheap. Has not been cheap for a long time. But, it is still reasonable. I know people who pay 10,000 baht a month for newer 3 bedroom houses in nice towns. In major cities in the US? $2000-3800 a month. That is 120,000 baht! Friends of mine, who are single, enjoy the company of a young, beautiful woman for a couple of hours, for 2500 baht. In the US? $800 an hour and up, now for a beauty, with alot of attitude. I could go on and on, all day long. I live at a level here, that I would never be able to live at, in the US, in most of Europe, in Oz, or Canada. ,

One can’t understand the global system underpinning extremism without surveying the pivotal role played by the Saudi government as well as private organizations and individuals within the kingdom. In recent decades, the Saudis have spent up to an estimated $100 billion spreading Wahhabism and perpetuating the notion that they are Islam’s caretaker. Their methods to persuade and influence run the gamut and include the funding of mosques, schools, textbooks, imams, imam learning centers and exchanges, cultural institutions around the world. The Saudis don’t simply want their extreme form of religious practice and belief to prevail. Religious forces in the kingdom, backed by the ruling family, want to destroy other, local traditions within Islam. To that end, they are rewriting history, erasing evidence of the past to favor their own narrative—a move that ideologically aligned extremists in many parts of the world have since copied. The relationship between the Saudis and extremism is not merely one of affinity. The Saudi government and Saudi individuals have directly supported terrorist groups in the Middle East and beyond. I like this idea it makes complete sense if you talking about the security of a Nation you need to be able to keep track of troublemakers and while they're at it they should definitely ban the the niqab and burqa. Both are offensive, and both show a deliberate unwillingness to assimilate. It might work back in your home nation, and it might have worked 700 years ago, but it doesn't work today not in the West. I believe immigration policy should be reformed to the point where it should be staged, and all Muslim families should show a willingness to assimilate. I also believe that families with Muslim daughters who are teenagers can start by proving that they have participated in a bikini contest, and for teenage boys they must show a burden of proof that they're not affiliated with any of the local madrasas. Are we serious about keeping our nation's safe from extremists, or not?

This is the result of severe government sloth, and farmers who don't care one iota about their nation, combined with refiners who are not being held accountable. The problem will continue, until the youth are able to lead this nation forward. Now, highly corrupt families are leading Thailand further into the abyss.

That does raise an interesting point. I wonder what percentage of Trump voters even have a passport. I would guess well over 50% have never been outside the US borders. Lecturing Europe on democracy, that's a real hoot.

I don't see many Thais bragging on this forum, actually I see very few posters bragging on this forum. You are bragging enough for all of them. So very tiresome. So boring.

My guess is that the majority of people who disapprove of Europe, and are lecturing Europeans tend to be American, just like the very dull man Vance. Does America really have the moral authority to lecture Europe on democracy? Is America even a democracy anymore? If it is democracy is barely hanging on. And it may not be a democracy at all after a few more years of the goon.

The only time most men enjoy the moaning of a woman is during the act of sex when she moaning in passion. Baby, baby!

Bragging is like coughing without covering your mouth. It sends the virus of separateness and arrogance everywhere and makes everyone weaker. Nothing edifies less in an ingenious conversation, than boasting and rattle. It is as it were the dropsy of the mind, and swells a man like a bubble into nothing at last. The irony of bragging is what it communicates --you're a needy guy who craves approval. Why else would you have to talk yourself up like that? Bragging is often merely a ladder we build for ourselves out of words when we are afraid we are not tall enough in the eyes of the world. It is an unwitting confession to low self-esteem. Bragging is not merely designed to impress. Bragging is designed to produce envy and assert superiority. It is, therefore, an act of hostility. Bragging is also a transparent ploy. It reveals your lack of self-confidence. "I am not enough," you feel. So you resort to showering me with your "achievements," in order to mask your perceived deficiencies.

There is no doubt about the fact that you are a legendary man, but only within the confines of your own mind. You will never hear a good word said about a bragger, unless you hear him talk about himself.

Anytime a stranger tells me about how successful or how wealthy they are I just roll my eyes, the most successful and the wealthiest people I've known have also been quite discreet about what they have. In shallow men the fish of little thoughts cause much commotion. In oceanic minds the whales of inspiration make hardly a ruffle. Certainly the same could be said about a braggart.

Again it's a pinhead of the people who visit, so while a warning about caution is likely prudent it's not really something that Taiwanese or Chinese people have to worry about too much. I saw the news I just didn't pay it a lot of regard. Though being kidnapped and made to work in a scam center would be a terrible fate, it's very likely that getting hurt while crossing the street at home is far more dangerous.

They might use different fats but they're also using things that resemble wax, and I know low quality when I taste it.

One thing many of us know is that the RTP are involved in a multiplicity of criminal activity, smuggling, drug running, and who knows what else? The one thing that they're not doing much of is law enforcement and engaging in anything that even remotely resembles Traffic Safety or Public Safety.

I would not call that schooling, I would call that embarrassing the American people to no end, with his completely ridiculous lecture on democracy. He does not have any leadership ability, he does not possess a nanogram of moral authority, and he's in totally over his head. This man has very little skill, it's very likely that world leaders were laughing at him during the speech, and continue laughing afterwards, he made a complete butthead of himself. He would be qualified to run the state chapter of the Boy Scouts but as vice president he is way over his head.

As his wealth continues to grow Musk seems to be a more obnoxious individual by the day, the last thing in the world he needed was more power and yet due to the horrifically poor Judgment of Trump, that's exactly what he got. But then again he more or less bought the presidency didn't he? So maybe he's the real president.

I think this is a somewhat silly warning considering the fact that 99% of crime here is Thai on Thai, any scams seem to affect a tiny pinhead of people who visit. But timidity seems to be an ever-growing trend in this bizarre world of ours.

It always feels like there are multiple interests that conflict with each other here. TAT is desperately clawing its way back to a high volume tourism destination, then you have other elements within this hapless and spectacularly incompetent administration that are doing the opposite, and sabotaging tourism. Then of course you have daily reports about the RTP and immigration, and other factions that again hurting tourism, in addition to the daily reports about crime which really don't affect us too much, but nonetheless likely have some sort of impact on tourism. I always tell my friends who are visiting here for the first time to keep in mind one thing - Thailand is not a foreign country, Thailand is a distant planet. Which works for me, I find the incomprehensible and unpredictable aspect of this place quite refreshing.

No, what I'm saying is I'm very capable of independent thinking but I've never had really low end chocolate like Ritter before, so it was a interesting to see how much filler and how much junk they had added, to create some sort of artificial texture. It was nasty.