connda

I'm glad you remade yourself bob, but "Elvis from Tupalo?" Well, whatever works!

...wonderful.

They have a funny idea what "good air quality" is. I guess they are now just lowering their expectations. Moderate Air Quality??? 👇 Sure! 🙄 In Vietnam maybe?

Fyi, I've driven though that much water in Korat back in the day. Korat floods too.

Move back to Ayutthaya.

Nothing new under the sun here.

Most of the ones I know hit it for an hour or so after work and then go home.

Like they do every year for Makha Bucha Day and a bunch of other Buddhist holidays to boot. Go to Makro tomorrow and stock up. Not the end of the world. Visit a park or a cafe. Read a book.

Unless the target bombs back, and you just articulated why a targeted nations might decide it's in the interests to arm up, nuclear and otherwise. To a hammer-like nation as the US, every other weaker country looks like a nail. As we said back in the 'Nam days, "Fighting for Peace is like Shagging for Chastity," (but we didn't say "shagging.") "Peace Though Strength?" Same same.

Wonder what his side of the story is. Probably will never find out now that the witch-hunt has begun.

Maximize

"The most dramatic narrative shift in this post-lockdown period has been the flip in the perceptions of government itself... How deep is the corruption? There are no words to describe its breadth and depth. Who is regretting this? It’s the legacy news media, the legacy academic establishment, the legacy corporate establishment, the legacy public-sector agencies, the legacy everything, and this regret knows no partisan or ideological bounds. And who is celebrating this or, at least, enjoying the upheaval and cheering it on? It’s the independent media, the genuine grassroots, the deplorables and nonessentials, the pillaged and oppressed, the workers and peasants who were forced to serve the elites for years, those who have been truly marginalized through decades of exclusion from public life. No one can be sure where this ends up – and no revolution or counterrevolution in history is without cost or complication – but this much is true: public life will never be the same for generations to come." - Jeffery Tucker, The Brownstone Institute https://brownstone.org/articles/the-most-dramatic-narrative-shift-in-modern-history/

Stuffed Green Peppers

Header

Yep - and it's a sort of scary feeling not having a passport in hand as well as trusting the mail system to transport your passports. However, been though that dog-and-pony show last year with a US PP renewal without a hitch.

You'll have no problems. Your extension based on marriage will expire on the date that your passport expires. I've just been though that. The only oddity was that they gave me a two month "under consideration" which I sort of believe was to match up my extension to my previous extension expiration dates. Should be no issues. But check your expiration date when they hand you back your passport. It should match your passport expiration. If it doesn't, bring it to their attention.

What? There's no hospital penthouse suite awaiting his dear sis who is on her deathbed and just wants to "come home to ride out her last days with the grandchildren?"

What does a "No Israel Here" sign in a Pai bar have to do with Hamas?

If the sign said, "No Russians Here!" it would be a non-issue, and if reported at all, it would have 80% of the AseanNow members whooping and cheering. If the sign said, "No Chinese Here!" it would be a non-issue, and if reported at all, it would have 80% of the AseanNow members whooping and cheering. If the sign said, "No Indians Here!" it would be a non-issue, and if reported at all, it would have 80% of the AseanNow members whooping and cheering. If the sign said, "No Middle-Easterns Here!" it would be a non-issue, and if reported at all, it would have 80% of the AseanNow members whooping and cheering. If the sign said, "No Scouse Here!" it would be a non-issue, and if reported at all, it would have 95% of the British AseanNow members whooping and cheering and laughing their butts off. If the sign said, "No Yanks Here!" it would be a non-issue, and if reported at all, it would have 100% of the British AseanNow members whooping and cheering and laughing their butts off. But it says, "No Israelis Here" so it's "antisemitic" and everyone goes quiet. 🤔

If Russians caused trouble it would be anti-Russian sentiments. If Chinese caused trouble it would be anti-Chinese sentiments. If Africans caused trouble it would be anti-African sentiments. If Indians caused trouble it would be anti-Indian sentiments. But when Israelis go off the rails and cause trouble, it's "antisemitism." Honestly, Thailand is uniformly racist when outsiders upset their apple durian carts. The average Thai could give a rip about jews or gentiles, catholics or hindus, muslims or mormans - all they see are farangs and kreak. So when the Israelis created problems it just created an "Ai Farang" moment. Framing that as antisemitism is just lunacy. The vast majority of Thais probably don't even know what the term means.

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra....... There! Fixed it!

"First Victim?"

I wonder how many Africans who are legitimate tourists visit Thailand? My guess is "not many."

I guess we'll find out for sure when the US sets Israel loose to do it again. Coming soon I'm pretty sure. The shipment of GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) munitions which the US is denying is a good indicator of what's to come. Wait for the KC-135 Stratotankers filling the skies and you'll know its on the way. Then? Guess we'll see.

There is definitely an internal power struggle in Iran between the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian (who is a moderate and is actively seeking talks regarding Iran's nuclear program and the reestablishment of a JCPOA and the lifting of sanctions) and the theocratic hardliners led Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The fact is Iranians want a change which is why a moderate like Masoud Pezeshkian was elected over other candidates aligned with the theocracy. The US would do itself a huge favor by driving a wedge between the Pezeshkian and the Khamenei factions and then supporting Pezeshkian and really push for talks and internal societal change. If the US goes hard-core, implements more sanctions, and then works with Israel to, in the immortal words of neo-con John McCain..."Bomb Bomb Iran"... all that will accomplish is to create a regional hot war, suck in most of the Islamic Arab world into conflict, and blow the lid off of the Middle East - and more than likely take the global economy down the drain with it. It would be a classic "own goal." But? That may be the point. The US MIC only makes money hand-over-fist when there is global conflict and forever wars. Color me pessimistic, but I've been around too long and have seen too much. My guess is that the latter course will prevail and the Middle East will be thrown into fires of hell right along with the global economy: Ordo ab Chao. Order out of chaos.