connda

Wildfire Woes: California Regulators Halted Palisades Fire Prevention Project to Save Rare Shrub "In 2019, the LA Department of Water and Power (LADWP) set out to replace aging wooden power poles - some nearly a century old - with fire-resistant steel poles and widen fire-access lanes in the wildfire-prone Topanga State Park. The $2 million project was designed to bolster fire safety after the area was deemed an "elevated fire risk." "“This project will help ensure power reliability and safety, while helping reduce wildfire threats,” the LADWP said at the time. “These wooden poles were installed between 1933 and 1955 and are now past their useful service life.” "A lone hiker notified the utility company via email about the plant’s endangered status." "On Wednesday, the commission approved a cease and desist order and a restoration plan that LADWP agreed to follow. The utility will pay $1.9 million for the violation and perform erosion control, reverse any grading it performed, and replant the area." The rest is history. Gone are the shrubs, the canyons, the houses. Up Next? Save endangered ocean fish - drain the LA reservoirs! Never mind! They already did that! Perhaps the SoCal Lefties need to change their priorities. https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2019-07-31/endangered-plants-bulldozed-state-park-city-crews https://www.zerohedge.com/political/wildfire-woes-california-regulators-halted-palisades-fire-prevention-project-save-rare https://nypost.com/2025/01/14/us-news/california-bureaucrats-halted-pacific-palisades-fire-safety-project-to-save-endangered-shrub/ https://www.courthousenews.com/la-to-pay-1-9-million-for-utility-crew-damage-to-endangered-plants/

We've come full circle - and it's hilarious!

Thai women look better naked in bed, well, until they hit menopause - then they look better in a heavy coat.

"Climate Change" is causing the LA fires (pan to video of arsonist setting a palm tree on fire) Of course it is. Wildfires and the Hoary Hoax of a Burning Planet by David Stockman "Here they go again, blaming the wildfire catastrophe in Los Angeles on Climate Change when the actual culprits are the very politicians who never stop howling about what is a monumental hoax. In the first place, of course, the current raging California fires, like those which have periodically gone before, are largely a function of misguided government policies. Officials have essentially curtailed the supply of water available to LA firefighters, even as they have drastically increased the supply of combustible kindling and vegetation which feeds these wildfires. The latter, in turn, are being amplified by the seasonal Santa Ana winds, which have visited the California coast since time immemorial." <complete story below linked here> https://brownstone.org/articles/wildfires-and-the-hoary-hoax-of-a-burning-planet/

Is the harsh criticisms of Sir Keir Starmer fair and justified Yep!

I can just imagine who are going to be convicted in the next 4 years. Just saying.

Now that Thailand is a BRICS partner country with the next step being full membership like Indonesia just received, I imagine that Thailand want to detach itself from being too interconnected with the US. F16 jets means a US military and US aerospace/weapons manufacturers presence in Thailand for the foreseeable future. Thailand has other plans as it aligns with the BRICS nations. I'm sorta surprised they didn't opt for Sukhoi jets.

Back in the days of newspaper barons like William Randolph Hearst, owners of media corporations would routinely write op-eds about a variety of issues including criticizing the actions or inactions of governments. So the current brouhaha by the UK government is really a testament of the utter collapse of the Brit government into nascent totalitarianism. Musk is simply reflecting the hypocrisy of the UK government which is literally covering up and explicitly condoning the crimes of people if they fit a certain class of "minorities" while throwing average UK citizens, especially if they are white Anglo citizens, into jail for pointing out the crimes and the government's hypocrisy and refusal to prosecute the crimes. Totalitarians "chill" the speech and actions of the public by threatening them with prison if they dare to speak out against criminal behavior which is condoned by that same government. And the UK government is now dead-set on "chilling" the speech of the owner of one of the few free speech oriented media platforms that currently exist. Can you imagine a government going after William Randolph Hearst for his op-eds? It's essentially what the UK government is attempting to do to Musk, as well as any other member of the public who dares criticizes the government's protection of sub-classes of criminals in their country. Pedophiles, rapists, and grooming gangs are an unconscionably blight on society. Any government official who condones that kind of criminality should be removed from power as they are complicit in the continuation of those criminal acts.

Back to the daze days of Reefer Madness, 'eh?

Thailand is pretty much made it be know that it IS NOT a destination for asylum seekers. Once they open that can of worms, they'd never be able to close it again. However, I don't understand why Thailand would want to keep asylum seekers in a Immigration remand prison for 10 years as opposed to simply sending them on their way to say, Turkey. My guess is there is back-channel conversations that have taken place with Western sources: "Don't send them back to China, but don't send them to us either." But? Who really knows.

Stick build houses burn for sure. I remember a whole lot of years back when a fire swept through the hills of Oakland and only one house remained: the house owned by an architect who build his house to withstand fire. It can be done.

We'll have a return of the Yellow Shirt's protests if Yingluck comes back and gets the Thaksin Shinawatra Kid-Glove Treatment. "Come back and Thailand is yours after doing a couple of months in a hospital penthouse suite." Bet that's exactly what happens. "Me too!"

...as the worst president in US history. That's a hell of a legacy.

Obviously you've never shot, field dressed, and cut up a deer or elk. Same same except you get your own hands dirty. Or fish like salmon (less messy though). "You gotta kill if if you wanna grill it." - Ted Nugent

This is your friend. Don't enter the kitchen without one. Guaranteed to make those tough chicken breasts as tender as Kobe beef. I have one just like this. Bon Appetite. https://shopee.co.th/ซีกัล-หม้ออัดแรงดัน-ความจุ-6-ลิตร-8-ลิตร-สีเงิน-SEAGULL-PRESSURE-COOKER-6-L-8L-SILVER-i.144046792.19388979079

Makro sells whole pork loin backstraps. Unlike that West, these tenderloin backstraps are cheaper than those with fat. Bacon cuts are often more expensive then tenderloin. I've picked up some just beautiful pork loin from Makro. Plus, if you buy the entire backstap you get a discount. I buy the backstraps to get the discount and then cut them up at home to put in the freezer.

There are available women all over Thailand. Why pick Pollyanna Polyamory?

Like everything that is Thai - it's about enforcement, or the lack thereof.

Just researched it and my sources say the recreation use is illegal beginning Jan 1 2025, yet cannabis shops are still selling. The question is a valid one. But obviously ya'll are too stoned to come up with a valid answer.

I didn't know that cannabis use created ***(donkey)-holes. Guess I was wrong. Mods - you can close this. It's a valid question, but obviously I'm not going to get a valid answer.

North Hollywood

I thought that the Thai government was planning on making cannabis illegal except for medical. I was in CM today and the pot shops are still there and open for business. Just wondering.

You're not giving them any ideas are you?

That's a pretty savvy scam. I wonder how many Asean Now members - who are already freaked out about supposedly new tax rules that they feel are aimed directly at them and who are biting their nails and are totally on edge - would fall for this scam. I fully expect to see farangs targeted with more scams exactly like this. Hell, I could imagine actual corrupt government officials with the right credentials tempted to work this angle on their own. There are plenty of farangs who are freaked out by this tax issue that's been hyped-to-the-max all last year who would take the bait hook, line, sinker, bobber, rod, reel, and boat. Fyi. Immigation has all your banking details from the bank paperwork you submit if you rely on the funds in the bank or annual transfers to meet threshold requirement for an extension of stay based on retirement or marriage. And your home country can demand the same information for tax reasons. If you a US citizen, hell, you have to file all that information about foreign bank accounts with the US Treasury annually. So - It is not far fetched. So really - jing jing - fellow expats - this scam could work if corrupt government officials gets involved. That's sort of scary. Bottom line. Don't show anyone anything unless you are at an official Thai government office. If it's Immigration issues - we go to the Immigration office. Tax issues - we go to the province tax office. Anything else - we go to the local police office. This scam is ripe for exploitation. I bet this ain't the last we here of this.

Man Dies in Warming Fire Incident in Surin Happens every year. Most often by carbon monoxide poisoning. But then you also get the inebriated ones who fall into fires and are too drunk to know they are burning to death. Freaking sad. RIP. Sounds like a Darwin Award winner of the week.