spidermike007

Saint Donald. Total revisionist history, a complete reformation of his entire career, and a total erasure of his past crimes, moral terpitude, and a total and complete willingness to overlook a lifetime of moral bankruptcy. I do have some friends that will come right out and say the man is a butthead, he's an idiot, and he's an absolute clown, but I like his policies. Those are the Republicans I admire.

I've had a lot of dental work done in Thailand, and it's far better than the US, at 1/5th the price.

In his first 100 days back in office, Donald Trump has made a strong case that his second term will be by far the worst presidential term in US history. So many of his actions are mind-boggling and heart-wrenching. So many seem powered by ignorance and incoherence, by capriciousness and callousness. With their sociopathic desire to disrupt anything and everything, the presidentand his top henchman, Elon Musk, seem eager to pulverize the foundations of our government, our democracy, our alliances and our notions of truth. In just 100 days, Trump’s new term has shown itself to be the most lawless and authoritarian in US history. The most dangerous part of Trump’s agenda is his war against our democracy and constitution – defying judges’ orders, deporting people without due process, pardoning hundreds of January 6 criminals, calling to impeach judges who rule against him, suggesting he will run for a third term, using federal agencies to take vengeance against his perceived enemies, and banning books from military libraries. Underlining his contempt for the rule of law, Trump has even talked about disappearing US citizens to foreign prisons where they could be locked up for ever. For anyone who cares about democracy and basic liberties, this is Defcon 1 stuff. Trump’s economic stewardship has been so inept that many economists are predicting a recession this year, with some saying it has already begun – a stunning contrast to early this year when they said there was no way the US would slide into recession anytime soon. Consumer and business confidence have plummeted. With such an erratic, economically illiterate man at the US’s helm, global investors are souring on the US and the dollar as never before. Nervous bond investors are asking whether the US will make good on its debts – a fear that has caused interest rates to jump, hurting millions of Americans. Convinced that Trump is dragging the US down, not lifting it up, many investors are questioning the dollar’s primacy and whether it should remain the world’s reserve currency – a privileged position that gives the US many advantages. Trump has in effect downgraded the US and the dollar. Trump seems more myopic than Mr Magoo. More than any president in memory, Mr. Make America Great Again is pushing policies that will harm our country long-term. His executive order to ban federal agencies from using paper straws deserves a spot atop the Pantheon of Presidential Pettiness. Trump has felt a perverse need to trash the US because his insatiable ego demands that he be able to claim, however falsely, that he made America great again. It’s hard to deny, though, that second-term Trump is making America less great. He’s taking a wrecking ball to our democracy, rule of law, alliances and scientific research – the list goes on. Trump 2.0 means decline, not greatness. After Trump’s first term, a poll of 154 historians ranked Trump as the worst US president ever, even behind Buchanan. But with Trump unbound, with the guardrails off, with no adults in the room, Trump’s second term is shaping up to be far worse than his “worst-in-history” first term.

That highway is an absolute abomination, heads should be rolling and company executives should be imprisoned. The fact that the delays are allowed to continue and the public safety is being ignored, is nothing short of a national tragedy.

I've been getting good quality crowns and root canals done for about 9,000 baht, a small fraction of what it would cost in the US and the work is top quality. I got an very good implant for 35,000 baht, and my friend was quoted $7,000 in the San Francisco area. I spend a lot of time in India and I love the place, but I don't think I would trust it for medical treatment. Thailand is infinitely more sanitary than India.

I think it is fairly safe to say that Vance said that sometime before he sold his soul to the dark forces, for the sake of power. Perhaps he still had a nanogram of integrity within his small body.

Sometimes a mistake is wearing white at a formal gathering after Labor Day in New York City, and sometimes a mistake is advancing German forces into Russia at the onset of winter.

I think it's time for the false piety and the fake purity to end. This netizen outrage is becoming nonsensical. Look, you invite 40 million tourists into your country in a desperate bid for their cash and you're going to have some delinquents, you're going to have some that misbehave, you're going to have some lowlifes. If you want to avoid that you put some qualifications on the visa process. Otherwise, just deal with it and stop the moaning.

The reality is that regardless of what side of the aisle you're on the quality of a Tesla is not very admirable especially the Interiors which year by year seem to be getting cheaper and more chintzy looking. All the interior value seems to be in that ridiculously large monitor. And then there is that utterly ridiculous and juvenile looking cybertruck. And then you come to the man himself. Even Republicans are having a hard time defending him at this point, as there's been no transparency whatsoever when it comes to the supposed DOGE savings, there's been huge job losses amongst Republican supporters, and he's become such a liability and such a fool, that even Trump's having to let him go, and that says a lot.

This story does not make any sense, how would you go out without some cash knowing that you were going to be engaging in some form of paid companionship? I don't know of too many ladies (or men) of the night who accept payment by bank scan.

That's what I call a very low information, very non-intellectual reply. How much time did you give that reply, 1/10 of a second?

A deterrent can often be very effective, word gets around and people start behaving differently, however Thailand doesn't seem to believe in the concept of a deterrent and it has one of the weakest and most compromised police force and judicial systems in the world.

It can also mean Trump deceives his supporters. And they love him anyway!

His insanity seems to know no boundaries. His thirst for unbridled power is beyond gluttonous. He is a ugly, wannabe dictator, and is pushing as hard as he possibly can. I don’t think he has a coherent value structure as most of us understand it. I think we’re seeing a president who’s operating without anything any of us would recognize as a conscience. Truly. It is about showing what he can get away with. It’s about showing his enemies that what they support, he can tear down. It is all about displays of brute strength. He gets off on that, and in that sense, it seems not so much an autocracy but a flexocracy. Let me show you how I can flex my bicep as I use it to power my fist coming into your face. Trolling meme removed. It’s not about any coherent morality. It’s not about any North Star. It’s about showing that you can turn the boat 180 degrees around and that you can do whatever you want and you can bring the people who opposed you to their knees.

While in Italy I witnessed ambulances with monster bumpers literally pushing vehicles onto the side of the road, and tearing them up in the process. It was a gorgeous sight. The drivers were left stunned. Would love to see that in Thailand. You don't want to move and help to save lives? OK, let's destroy your vehicle. HA! They were similar to the image below. Such a great idea.

Well that certainly applies in some countries, Thais do tend to be quite polite but I do agree that we are fairly invisible to them, and we will never be considered to be a part of their culture, no matter how long we live here and no matter how good our Thai becomes. It's just part of their tribal culture, that they are very closed to the idea of embracing foreign people as an integral part of their lives. I have not found that to be the case in Mexico, if I lived in Mexico for 5 years the people around me would consider me one of their own, and the same applies to many other nations. The Thais are uniquely insular. And it really doesn't bother me because I've never really felt a deep need to belong. I feel that with my woman, and I feel that with her family and some of her close friends, but I certainly don't feel that with society at large, which works just fine for me.

Yeah I could see where the deities could be off-putting to some people, but from what I've gleaned from my studies of Hinduism, it is that they are devotional manifestations of specific aspects of Divine creation, and it's the devotion itself that is the extraordinary aspect of the practice. Hinduism when practiced at a deeper level can be very profound, especially the meditation techniques and the devotional chanting.

With many people, once they got attached to a theory, it was hard to get them detached. They’d screen out unhelpful facts, invent favorable ones, and ignore contradictions in their own claims. Look at those Sandy Hook, multiple fraud convictions, and Jan. 6th truthers, babbling about false flags and crisis actors and all the rest. When people were motivated enough to believe something, they were going to believe it no matter what. There was no such thing as a bridge too far. That most certainly applies to Trump a hundred fold.

Exactly. Trump's autocratic tendencies are very indicative of his hatred of democracy and open and free speech, so what does that say about his continued support?

Well this is a massive failure, either on the part of air traffic control, the helicopter crew, or a third party. I hear that Reagan Airport airspace is incredibly congested, and they should have systems in place to prevent these kinds of occurrences. It never should have happened.

What is really being said here is that Trump is going to decide whether or not he's going to throw Ukraine under the bus and side with his pal Vlad, or whether or not he's going to show some dignity and reliability by supporting Ukraine and standing up to a serial killing despot dictator. I bet on the former, the Lads spurning of Trump and him having shown his true colors lately does actually seem to be pissing Trump off, which is amazing. Is it possible that Trump could actually do the right thing for a change?

Who pays attention to "netizen outrage" these days? So many people just sit down behind the keyboard and express their outrage. Perhaps this excessive criticism of misbehavior of foreigners has gone just a little bit too far? What do they expect, they invite anyone and everyone in a desperate bid for tourism cash, with no criteria whatsoever. Who was harmed in this adventure other than a broken lock? It just doesn't sound like a big deal at all, trespassing is a crime but as far as crimes go it's pretty damn minor.

Only truly demented people who have made the huge mistake of going off their medications, have pests and rodents as pets. This is one of the most ridiculous things I've heard in quite some time, and I hear a lot of ridiculous stuff.

Well Pattaya was getting 15 to 20k arrivals previously so they weren't just there for the women, and the Chinese for the most part are not a particularly heavy clientele for the industry. There are so many other factors that work here including the Chinese government encouraging its citizens not to travel abroad, and instead encouraging domestic travel, which has has exploded. The Chinese also tend to be rather timid and easily scared, and I'm certain that the scam center scandals has discouraged a lot of Chinese from visiting too.

You left out Hinduism, which has likely produced the greatest number of saints in the last couple of thousand years.