spidermike007

On 7/18/2018 at 6:42 AM, z42 said:

In some respects Thailand is pretty safe and certainly secure, but in many cases it is dangerous and lawless as some of the most notorious scams have been going on for decades and have been shown to have the authorities in cahoots in orchestrating them.

Example in point, the jet ski scams, where a nice cop will come along and negotiate a lower fine rather than bust the people who are threatening violence on others. The general safety seems ok, but on islands such as those in the Samui archilpelago the problems are not so much safety, more justice when people have been raped, robbed, killed or whatever.

 

Those in uniform are tainted because it seems that the bad apples outnumber the good considerably. This will dent confidence undoubtedly

Thailand is relatively safe, as long as you stay at home. If you venture out of your home, the roads are deadly. So, you have to be extremely aware at all times, when driving. If you are walking on the sidewalk in a place like Samui, you have to be constantly aware of low hanging signs, that can cut your head wide open. Also, same goes for the sidewalks. They are a hazard. I driving a motorbike on Samui or Phuket, do so with extreme caution, and only if you have many years of driving experience. Alot of tourists return home in wooden boxes, after a vacation on Samui or Phuket. 

My advice to anyone visiting Thailand is, if you are here in the rainy season, do not even consider going on any boat trips or diving. Avoid any bungee jumping, zip lines, or anything that requires experts to assemble. There is little in the way of safety standards, and you cannot count on the authorities to enforce safety standards. You cannot count on the police, in the event of an emergency, as 90% of them are compromised, and are revenue collection agents, posing as policemen. Make sure you have good health insurance, or an accident policy, as the private hospitals will not take you in without that.

The one fortunate part about living here, or visiting Thailand is the people. As long as you keep your nose clean, are respectful toward the people, and do not do anything really stupid, the people are cool. Thais are not violent for the most part, and the ones who are, inflict their violence on other Thais, and rarely on foreigners. I feel much safer here, than in the US, where violence and gun deaths are rampant. 

2 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 Example, 2 older americans, arrive at Hong Kong airport walk to the obvious immigration line, well signed, and ask the immigration staff member supervising the fast moving queue 'where's the line for US citizens', lady points to the line, American man says 'where's the US gov't representative', Imm. lady again points to the line and explains in clear English please join the line any you will quickly get to an immigration desk to get your passport stamped. American man asks 'there's no special line for US citizens?'

 

Seen similar to above at Shanghai airport, and on arrival in Sydney Australia, sniffer dog detected meat in a suitcase. Owner from the US, loudly insistes' I'm an American citizen you can't tell Americans what they can carry in their baggage'. 

 

 

Funny. Americans can be very clueless. They have been fed a constant daily diet of lines about American superiority. No question that America was an impressive nation for a long time. No longer. Sorry. The country has been in a constant state of decline for decades now. And I am not referring to immigration. I think the color of the nation is the best part of America, these days. I find most white people to be boring beyond tears. And I am a white male. But, most white people bring so little to the table. I am talking about the culture, the degree to which the nation has become less relevant, and the accelerated decline of the nation since Tiny Don took over. Making America less great again, by the day. 

On 6/28/2018 at 1:10 PM, BritManToo said:

Turn it round on them.

Don't have any money ready, let everyone wait for you, or change your mind and don't pay at all.

When she misses the bus, change your mind and go back home, or go on your own.

 

Always amusing to see foreign men letting local women give them the run around.

A few 'punishment not paying', not going, going with another woman works wonders for your personal standing as a man. 

Plenty of other Thai women willing to step into her place (short or long time), that's what's so great about Thailand.

In other words, man up. Take charge. Bring common sense and reason into the equation. A little discipline. Thai workers really respond to not getting paid! Always hold the money back until progress has been made. Then piecemeal out the cash bases on certain tasks having been accomplished. Mistake number one in construction is giving them too much money up front.

1 hour ago, jenny2017 said:

Let's put it this way. An adult with Alzheimer's and a brain damage that could be from a tumor. When does he understand that his Superpowers never existed? America is long in China's and Russia's hands. He's just an old senile fart. 

 

   I'd love to know what drugs he's on. 

In my opinion, the issues stem from the fact that he is not on enough drugs. He is clinically insane. Some of that condition could be medicated. He would be far less of a menace to society if he was ON HIS meds.

I had the good fortune of visiting Cuba many times, while "LA chcaracha grande" was still in power. I befriended many in Cuba. Amazing place. Extraordinary people. Great culture. But, all had the same thing to say about Fidel.

They had a great PR machine, and it would crank out alot of hyperbole about their educational and healthcare system being the best in the world. And you would then have numskulls like Michael Moore pick up on that, and run with it, to create utter disinformation campaigns. Yes, they did produce the greatest number of doctors per capita. But, most would have to leave the country to make a living, as they could not live very well on the $40 a month government salary. I met civil engineers, who had trained in Russia, and specialized in suspension bridges, who made $38 a month, and moonlighted as tour guides, to feed their families. All the while Castro was living in his gilded mansion, feasting on lobster tail, and socking away billions. For some of us, we were able to see for ourselves, and we saw that the dissemination was just that. 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 tens of 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.

Very, very typical of the regime of despots. You have been made so poor by our policies, and our systematic repression of the people, that there is no way you could afford a $60 boom box. I know people who have been put into jail for the most minor of offenses. During my last trip in about 2008, "la grande cucaracha" (Fidel, for those of you who do not speak spanish. The grand cockroach). started losing his faculties, and really begun a heavy crackdown. He became very paranoid, and probably should have been put on heavy anti-depresent of bi-polar meds. He started having people locked up for the most minor of offenses. Women who were hanging out talking to their friends were locked up on suspicion of prostitution. It was quite sickening. I left a few days early on that trip, and vowed to never return, until they had cleared out the vermin. I hope that happens. Nothing of any real significance will happen as long as Raul is alive. No doubt he is less dogmatic than his older brother. But, he is also a pragmatist. If he and his cronies can still maintain absolute control, while amassing many more billions of dollars, why not? 

I wish the best for the Cuban people. They deserve a better life, and they deserve better government. 

5 minutes ago, UncleTouchyFingers said:

 

Dude you just had a full blown meltdown in another thread that took up almost my entire monitor about trump so I think you can probably spare us all the pontification. 

 

 

Yet liberals (and Whoopi, apparently) continue on here and in the media with the exact same message. 

 

 

Id say thats incorrect. It started with indignant identity politics and virtue signaling during the Obama campaign. Thats when IMO Democrats lost their message of "Americans" as a whole, and started pandering to their extreme left base.

Not a meltdown on any level. My pulse did not go up one iota. Just fun. Tiny Don gives us a great opportunity to have some fun! He is such a buffoon, on a daily basis he gives us more comedic material to work with.He invites the criticism, with his ill informed character, his misconceptions, his lies, and his silliness. Just fun mate.

12 hours ago, moontang said:

you might be better off in Cuba.  You are going to have visa troubles here, unless you pay $$$.  Cambodia might be better, too.  What part of the US are you from?

Cuba absolutely sucks. Food is some of the worst in the world. Standard of living is higher than in the US, for nothing in return. People are cool. Government sucks royally. Avoid Cuba like the plague. Been there many times. I will not go anymore.

14 hours ago, UncleTouchyFingers said:

 

What's hilarious to me is how you keep banging on about trump and bigotry and everything else, yet at the end of this post you call people like me a traitor to his country and you can't see how messed up & glaringly hypocritical that is. 

 

Its also pretty bigoted in and of itself, you know. Bigotry isn't limited to race. You literally think you're better than me because of political ideology. Thats textbook bigotry. 

 

Whoopi is doing all the good for the right by melting down and I hope more follow suit. Makes it so easy to show others how much the extreme left HATES conservatives.  

Well, that kind of sums up the state to which the nation has descended. I have alot of conservative friends, and love and respect them. We discuss politics and it never gets heated. It is not emotional for me. Just a discussion. We disagree, and that is fine. But, the important thing to remember in this discussion, is that even though Clinton made a huge number of mistakes, including the comment about the deplorables (she lost 3 million votes over that comment, and hence the election), Trump really started this fight. He drew first blood. He descended the level of the playing field, and he hurled every insult in the book at his opponents, the media, and his critics. We are not calling his devotees traitors. We are calling Trump a traitor. He threw his nation under the bus, and the entire intelligence community, by sucking up to Putin on such an extreme level, refusing to discuss the infiltration of the Russian military and hackers in the election, and having that meeting behind closed doors, and refusing to discuss the dialogue that took place. 

Now that he was utterly and completely humiliated after that horrific meeting, he finally admits, after 30 months of campaigning and the presidency that it was the Russians after all. But it could have been someone else. LOL.

Seems as if the whole family is a bit thin skinned. At this time of his life, with the celebration and the festivities, and the admiration that was being heaped upon him, it would have been very easy to just laugh this off, as the rantings of a fool, and the accusations of a very, very small man, with an ego this size of Tiny Dons. Water off a duck's back mate. Shame he did not see it this way.

I am not saying what Musk said was not very offensive. It was. And it was unnecessary. Just a case of a malcontent dick stirring the pot. Just saying Vern could have handled this better. 

21 hours ago, wealthychef said:

 

Are you claiming that priests never rape their charges and the discipline from Christian authorities for rapists is so much more reliable? I think you are just biased.  Thailand apparently has a rape culture, like India and Catholicism.  

 

That is a very good point. Seems this kind of thing was allowed to persist, by the church, for decades, if not centuries. Even to this day, many of the perpetrators are still not being punished. And what about the bishops and the cardinals? They should be defrocked too, and face long prison sentences. 

Who on earth cares? She is such a "non factor". And did you get a good look at her? Other than her money, why would a man want to date her?

On 7/20/2018 at 9:21 AM, mtls2005 said:

"Lock them up, lock them up, lock them up"

 

Don Jr. is a happy hunter.

 

 

It would be fun to see this little man out in the wild, without a rifle. Survival of the fittest! Man against beast. He would survive for 15 minutes. Again, a demonstration of the family regard for nature, and the animal kingdom.