connda

Russian President Putin has made Russia's red-line clear to Western leaders. Defensive nukes are on the table. In one of the stupidest moves of the Ukraine war, Ukraine launched drones and hit two of Russia's Over-The-Horizon Early Warning radars which are the tripwires which watch for Western first-strike ballistic missile launches. I've checked the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists regarding the Doomsday Clock but nothing is recent and it does not take in account the latest developments of the attack on Russian nuclear deterrence infrastructure. The Doomsday Clock is still officially at 90 seconds to midnight. Personally I believe with the strikes on Russian nuclear Early Warning radars that clock has move to about 15 seconds from midnight. Do you believe we will see a nuclear Armageddon before 2025, or do you think we'll all still be around this time next year. Why? Personally - I'd say there is about an 90% chance that we collectively won't see the New Year. But I hope I'm wrong. Thoughts? Please keep it civil. Thanks.

Ideologue: "No one used Lawfare against the person I hate, but the person I love is being attacked with Lawfare by other people I hate. Grrrrrrr." Now go back a read what I said because you obviously didn't grasp it the first time around: Lawfare -- regardless of whom it is directed at -- is going to destroy the United States as a functioning Democracy.

Yes - there ya go. All those women and children terrorists need to be slaughtered, and every last one of the 1 million Gazans who haven't been neutralized are all terrorists. Just ask Benny Gantz. If 1 Israeli is killed, then kill 30 Gaza civilians. That will show Palestinian women and children to stop their civilian terrorism. And all those terrorist children - kill them all I say, even the one's in diapers! And blow their schools up too to stop terrorist education. That's the ticket. Lindsey Grahams got the best idea. Just nuke all the sub-human civilian Palestinian terrorists in Gaza and let God sort them out. Or maybe just gas them all then incinerate them. Nah - nukes do the same thing but with less hassle. How's that work for you Mike? Sound about right?

Yeah - I wrote a note in Thai and put it on the top of the 90 day report paperwork. They just told me they didn't know why, in Thai, when they handed back the receipt. Oh well.

Anybody can "teach" Buddhism; living Buddhism is a different story.

Call Hollywood. Make a movie!

You mean like the open-air concentration camp called Gaza? I remember when there was a wall like the one surrounding Gaza built to separate East and West Berlin. How the liberal West howled! Gaza is now essentially a ghetto and the slaughter of civilians a pogrom. The irony is simply off the charts.

Kill another 10,000 Palestinian civilians - that'll show those Hamas terrorist!

Like I said - the person on the end of the customer service line basically speaks the corporate "script" that is given to them. They don't "lie." They tell you want they are told to tell you! You were rude to someone who has very little control over your transaction so you belittled them - you need to be lectured. Complain to management. You don't seem to grasp how corporate customer service actually works: who has power, and who does not.

If a company in the West can manufacture products at a lower price which then benefits consumer's pocketbooks - it's called Free Market Capitalism. If companies in China manufacture products at a lower price which then benefits consumer's pocketbooks - it's called a "commo-fascist dictatorship" by Western ideologues. Blinken said it, Yellen said it, the Biden Administration says it, even Orange-Man-Bad says it. Must be true, 'eh. "Sanction China!" and if that doesn't work, "Nuke them!!!" That's where it's going. But in my book? The U.S. can no longer compete in the game of Free Market Capitalism because during the last few decades, all of the most greedy U.S. corporations off-shored all of their manufacturing to "errrr" 🤔... China ... and literally gutted the U.S. manufacturing base. Now that a McDonald's employee can command $20/hour flipping burgers in California, and the cost of living is so inflated that U.S. citizens who have jobs still end up living on the street (while illegal "migrant" get hotel rooms to help offset the slave labor wages they are paid under the table to do "jobs that no U.S. citizen will do" <because U.S. citizens are already broke and don't get free housing>) - trust me - manufacturing (other than bombs, missiles and weapons of mass-destruction) isn't coming back to the U.S. because they simply can not compete given the cost of labor as well as inflated cost of raw materials produced in the U.S.. "China bad - China over-product!!!" "Horse-pucky. They have beaten Western capitalists at their own game and now they cry to the U.S. government to hurt China any way that they can - because Western capitalists can't compete in the Global Free Market any longer. Hey kids. Do wake up - it's an new world and it ain't your grandma's and grandpa's world any longer. It's the world of economically developing BRICS-based nations led by the billion-plus citizens of China and the billion-plus citizens of India who will be manufacturing affordable products for the other 7 billion people on the planet who are not part of "The West." If "The West" can't compete and doesn't want to play? <shrug> Then they can just continue to create more misery and suffering for their own impoverish citizens as the U.S. middle-class is decimated by inflation and unable to enjoy the benefits of inexpensive BRICS manufactured products due to duties and tariff. "Never support the commo-fascist dictatorship that locks up people for religious & political beliefs" (Like Julian Assange? Like pro-live protestors praying in front of abortion clinics) and seeks to invade and occupy other people's territory (like Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Granada, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yeman, Somolia, Sudan, Afghanistan....). Don't buy their products. (Feel free to buy expensive products for the West).

No - they are producing products at competitive prices that Western nations can not match. Therefore, the US and other Western nations complain that China is "dumping over-production" when in fact they are economically out-competing the West - and the US and the G7 are crying like babies and threatening China with sanctions, tariff, and outright war. Which is basically the bell-weather of the fall of Western economic dominance. The West can not longer competed in a a free-market. 😭

I've worked 1st tier customer service in the past - getting angry at the rep for the corporate policies and customer service talking points is stupid and rude. It's not the person on the other end of the phone's fault. If you want to spew shade at someone, get the address (email or snail mail) of the corporate head of Consumer Affairs and write to them. Swearing and threatening the guy or gal on the help-desk is, again - stupid and rude. Really, there are ways to handle your complain and the way you handled it is not effective. Just friendly advice. Stay calm, work with the person on the customer service desk, if you are not happy (and wish to cuss at someone) ask to be put in contact with a supervisor. Easy. Btw - the customer service rep you spoke with showed you the kind of restraint you yourself should practice. Corporate policy and technical affairs are NOT their fault. Be civil.

Sometimes it's the receiving bank. Sometimes it's the sending bank. You need to take in account both your home-country holidays and Thai holidays as well as weekend banking and operating hours. I've waited as much as 5 days for a transfer to take place. It happens sometimes. But usually - seconds. Patience is your friend.

#MeToo. Asked the IO at Immigration "Why?" but that goes nowhere. 😟 "Do you know why the online application is rejected?" 👮‍♂️ "We don't know why?" 😕 "Can you find out why?" 👮‍♂️ "No." 🙄 "Ok - see you in 90 days."

Yeah. Haven't been able to file online for the last 180 days. The last time the system rejected the 90 day report with the tag that my "Entry date and visa expiration date do not match" their records or something to that effect. However - those dates are clearly stamped in my passport. Oh well, now doing 90 day reports in person.

So they have the cajones to file a report. Hope they stay healthy during their visit.

Take it to Yamaha and let them figure it out.

Bravo Sierra 🐂 💩 It's meant to harvest the most amount of tax revenue from the most economically downtrodden segment of society for the benefit of large Thai corporate entities and the gaping maw of a government facing a inflationary debt spiral. "Screw the peasants and commoners. We're going Feudal and Medieval on them!" Tax and inflation: Happiness To The People. They'll be asking for Prayut to come back soon.

Thailand is going first world: Tax every satang from the poorest segment of society right down to street beggars. In the meanwhile the billionaire class avoids taxes with a paddock of lawyers, tax havens, and offshore account. So - tax the commoners and peasants to death!

Mine too. The year that they required insurance for Non-OA, the IO at my immigration office was literally rubbing his hands together, "You come on Non-OA so need insurance!" <snicker snicker snicker> The guy was literally smiling. I pointed out in the passport that I came in on a Non-Imm B, worked for three years, and then went on extensions based on marriage. So the underlying visa is still a Non-Imm B. I've no plans on leaving, and Immigration and the Thai government in general seems much more friendly to those on Non-Imm B visas anyway. Why change?

Nothing good.

He rose from his remand prison hospital penthouse "death bed" and walks like a man arisen from the dead. Now there's a Miracle I say! Hallelujah, praise be Buddha!!! And no doubt we will see future miracles for the Shinawatra clan as Buddha and the pantheon of gods and deities in the Deva realms will intercede on his behave again as Thaksin walks with the gods of political righteousness, democracy, and freedom (for all Shinawatras). Hallelujah!

Of course he would be. Lawfare 101 in a progressive liberal city with a DA who campaigned on "getting Trump" and a judge who instructed the jury that they didn't need to come to a consensus regarding Trump's "crimes." So - this will go to the appeals court for sure based on procedural irregularities. "Ha Ha Ha MAGA supporter. Trump's gonna get jail time." I'm not a Trump supporter and don't plan on voting for him. I have huge problems with many of his domestic and foreign policies. But - I Detest Lawfare. It has no place in a functioning First-World Democracy, which basically means to me that the US no longer has a functioning First-World Democracy. It's what you see here in Thailand. "Ha Ha Ha We got Trump Ha Ha Ha - your boy is going to prison." He ain't "by boy - and if he 'goes to jail' the entire US has a serious problem in the future. But progressive ideologues can't grasp that reality as they are simple anchored to their opinions by hatred" You miss the point that this just galvanizes his base as well as other people who see though the Lawfare and really abhor what they see America turning in to. If Trump wins in November, the turnaround is fair play and they'll be Lawfare on Steriods - and then the US descends into the third-world of political Lawfare you see here in Thailand. And whatever form of government the United States is in 2025, it won't be a Democracy. Be careful what you cheer for and wish for. It will turn around a bite you in the derriere.

What about a manhunt for a cop-killing Thai billionaire's heir somewhere in Europe? Quid pro quo?

Whenever you see "experts say" it's time to figure out things on your own. But most people have all of the analytical power of a box of rocks, so they just go with their home-country's propaganda and call it "reality." Whatever..... Time will tell all although the moronic-class will be told that Freedom is Slavery and Ignorance is Strength - and they'll happily buy it all and cheer for war, as War is Peace.