12 hours ago, elektrified said:

Little ability to judge the ladies? What is there to judge? If I wanted 'conversation' it would not be with a low-class sex worker in a bar. Most of these workers I've seen around C.M. are uneducated hill-tribes. How much conversation could you pay to have?

I have not been to a hostess bar in decades, the Karen Hut I references closed at least 25 years ago, But I had great conversations and lots of fun with the bar girls in Chiang Mai back in the 1980s.  I especially enjoyed the conversations around the pool in the afternoons at the Prince Hotel.  When in-country I still prefer conversations with lower economic class people in Thailand to the snooty and yet still relatively uneducated upper economic class hi-so posers.  And I see little difference in education levels between hill tribe folks and Thai folks. I meet few uneducated Thais, either in the lowlands or up in the highlands,  just poorly educated Thais as the public education system in Thailand is, to be polite, pathetic.  At least those who drop out of the public education system early have a better chance to gain some common sense.  You can encounter plenty of hill tribe folks at places like CMU and Payap.  Perhaps I should introduce you to my friend who heads a large department over at Payap who comes from the hills.

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

What did these conversations consist off ?

"Hes a playboy and he boom booms my friend "

"Buy me a drink"

"Play pool. I win, you buy me a drink,  I lose I buy you  drink 

Wanna play connect 4 ?

Sorry to infer that you have as little ability to judge the ladies as did that first poster I responded to.

13 hours ago, elektrified said:

In 31 years of visiting/living in Thailand, I think I've bought three "lady drinks". What a waste of money.

Sorry to hear you have little ability to judge the ladies. It has been some 30 years since I frequented such establishments, and although not every bar drink purchased was worth much, countless lady drinks purchased were well worth the price, usually just for the conversation alone. But perhaps the likes of the Karen Hut bar are long gone.

By the way, I also declined just as often as I bought a drink for someone.  You can always just say "no thanks".

6 hours ago, tracker1 said:

What were these other sources of information as  we paid around B30,000 to purchase one supposedly at the time 3 years ago

Don't want to get mods upset by linking to other Thai media sources, so just Google.  There are multiple articles quoting a Pol Gen Somyot back in 2015. My Google search turned up an article in the Chiang Rai times, but also turned up the identical article elsewhere.  I used the costs quoted by a previous poster relative to US retail costs as I have not attended a SHOT show in years.  Your B30,000 was at the high end of that range and may have included Thai taxes.  I used the lower end of that range to estimate normal wholesale costs in the US (based upon a 15% margin) and extrapolated from there.

23 hours ago, habanero said:

This is the retail price in the U.S....    I know they are getting a better deal from Sig. But, still how many Thai cops can afford this?

 

SIG Sauer® P320 Pistol

Regular Price: 

 

$649.99 - $849.99

Firearms are low margin items. So normal wholesale might be around $550. A thousand plus units would probable get at least another 10% off so ball park around $500 cost, probably well below that price for 150,000 units, closer to $400. Other sources indicate that the pistols will be sold to Thai police at 18,000 baht, or about $540, a nice profit margin (26%) for someone.

7 minutes ago, selftaopath said:

Russia "warns" U.S.? Russia is only a gas station with an army.

Russia represents a vast concentration of wealth centered around a ruling criminal elite. Whether a criminal elite or some other elite, such a vast concentration of wealth is a formidable adversary to a more dispersed concentration of wealth.  Very bad things happen when individuals begin to control billions in capital.  Armies??  Even the US military can have its attention diverted with sufficient organization and funding.

Oh please, it is a great ride on a scooter. Just avoid the main crowded highways as much as possible.  May I suggest taking the 1001 up to Phrao.  From there you can turn east to the 118 and head directly to Chiang Rai.  But better to maybe head westward and spend the night in Thaton (check out the 1346) and then head to Chiang Rai.  You can also cross over to the 118 just shy of Fang via the 109. So many alternatives to get to Chiang Rai while avoiding most of the heavy highway traffic. And if it begins to rain hard just pull over at some coffee shop, noodle shop or a roadside sala (shelter). Maybe experience just how much better Thai food is outside the city.

Actually a decent site to begin planning a ride for people new to Lanna Land.

I never use GPS, don't have any problem getting a bit disoriented, or getting a bit lost, or riding up some road where I end up turning around.  That is half the joy of riding.

I find the online maps to be of limited value. The small roads don't show up at larger scale, only when you are already close.  Far better to use the gt-rider maps.

12 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

Actually, since they plan to use this info to effectively disenfranchise voters who overwhelmingly would vote against those oligarchs, it's not a trivial issue at all.

A valid point.

Just another irrelevant distraction to take your eyes off the final dismantling of the New Deal and the imposition of the corporate oligarchy by then billionaire class, all of whom are envious of the Russian oligarchs and their monster yachts.  Don't mind about the slow degradation of public education by Betsy Devos, don't mind about the destruction of the environment by Scott Pruitt.  Instead, become fixated on the ghost busters chasing phantom voters or twitter battles. As long as you keep your eyes off the real news, the new ruling US oligarchs are happy.

12 hours ago, funandsuninbangkok said:

Sorry no. Democrats were experts and Republicans against gerrymandering. 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/22/us/california-gop-seeks-to-void-redistricting.html

 

truth is Abe Lincoln was right(good Republican BTW). You can't fool all the American people anymore. Less and less vote Democrat. 

Indeed gerrymandering is as old as the hills, both sides have engaged in the practice.  But what happened in 1981 pales in comparison as to what happens today because of the amount of data accessible. There has been, quite literally, a quantum leap in the malfeasance behind the current gerrymandering compared to what took place decades ago. Hopefully those on all sides of the political spectrum can agree that given the new volumes of data and the newer algorithms that we should rely on non-partisan formulas for redistricting the electorate and remove the politics out of the process in hopes of restoring democracy to the land.

On 7/2/2017 at 0:21 AM, Thaidream said:

 I am more concerned that Russian agents directed a hack of the voting machines and changed the vote totals and that Trump may not actually have won.

Donald Trump is wasting millions on this nonsense and his private travels to Florida while refusing universal healthcare to millions of Americans.

You don't have to look outside the country for manipulation of votes. May I suggest reading investigative reporter Greg Palast's book "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" for a glimpse into machinations with voting machines and voter rolls.  And then maybe take a hard look at the extreme gerrymandering that occurs in the strong Republican "states rights" states. Putin only needs to manipulate Trump who, as a master intelligence handler, he plays like a Stradivarius.

On 6/30/2017 at 7:37 AM, Redline said:

USA, Turkey and Russia...China is on a roll.  They are taking over while everyone is bumbling around

 

Time to learn Mandarin!

Nations are being made irrelevant.  The blocking of the TPP was just a minor bump in the road for the corporatists and the oligarchs.  Trump is their convenient foil. Armeggadon will be the battle between Jeff Bezos and Jack Ma with Google acting as referee.  Rollerball!

4 minutes ago, Bung said:

Trump has shown himself intellectually and emotionally incapable of making the transition from minor entertainment figure to major political figure. He is in the strange position of being a B-list celebrity who is also the most famous man in the world. His recent Twitter attack on Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC’s Morning Joe exemplifies that as much as it does the president’s other by-now-familiar pathologies, notably his strange psychological need to verbally abuse women in physical terms.

I think Rachael Maddow makes a great point to the brilliance of Trump's attack on Joe & Mika as we all talk about this  gossip rather than the real news.

8 hours ago, bushdoctor said:

 

Wasting money is not a good thing. Trump is putting an end to it. You don't justify bad behavior by pointing to other bad behavior. By the way, you failed to mention the trillions of unaccountable dollars happened under Obama not Trump. 

Actually the unaccountable Pentagon funds were first noted under Bush the Younger, and highlighted by none other that Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld. And as I noted, when the disappearance of funds in the trillions makes it into the public eye very, very very bad things happen,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E12b4V1ilmg

48 minutes ago, bushdoctor said:

 

"a broad pledge to eventually raise $100 billion a year globally — not just by the United States — to help developing countries mitigate climate change. The United Nations Green Climate Fund counts as part of that pledge

 

the United States has given the Green Climate Fund $1 billion already. President Barack Obama pledged a total of $3 billion to the fund by 2020 as part of a global goal of $10 billion, but Trump promised not to finance it as a candidate and Congress has not made further contributions since the election."

Again, the Paris Accord did not mandate anything, not even a single nebulous pledge. Trump could have maintained the US as signatory to the Paris Accord  and reduced any pledge by Obama to any environmental fund to any extent he wanted to keep his denier base happy, and still be a signatory to the accord.

And why worry about a billion dollars relative to the trillions of dollars unaccountable in the Pentagon budget alone every year. But of course we can't talk about that or very, very bad things begin to happen.

9 hours ago, bushdoctor said:

The Paris accord cost the USA billions. Your claim that it cost the US nothing is just more fake news. Please research before posting things like this. 

If infrastructure is not to your liking, how can you possibly blame a brand new president? Trump wants a trillion dollar overhaul for US infrastructure. 

CNN is totally guilty of fake news. They have had to make several retractions and then there's the undercover video. 

Where have you been getting your information from? 

The Paris Accord cost the US nothing. It is simply an accord where numerous nations agree that they are in accord, in agreement. In this case it is related to global warming, nothing more.

I do not put the blame on our crumbling infrastructure solely on Trump. But he continues the tradition of campaigning to invest in infrastructure and then doing nothing while increasing the military budget. Worse,  he surrounds himself with some of our most inept military leaders, which includes most of the generals and admirals in the US military.  The good guys in the US military, the real brain trust, rarely rise above the rank of colonel.

I cut my TV cable long ago so I do not have direct access to CNN. I tend to use the BBC for headlines and Google news as it collects news stories from multiple sources. I do look at the source and evaluate the credibility of the source by reading the "about us" page on the website and looking at the other articles being posted on that website to determine whether the website is a genuine news website, and yes they might get things wrong, or a fake news organization like Breitbart. I also note whether it is primarily a propaganda outfit such as FOX, and that is determined over time.  But once I determine they are trying to feed me the Kool Aid, I tend to, at the very least, give them less credence.  I suggest you do the same.

At the same time, and rather surprisingly, local village families are getting relatively high prices for the ubiquitous banana.

57 minutes ago, bushdoctor said:

The Paris accord did nothing to reduce greenhouse gases, but you wouldn't know that by blindly believing the fake news sources. The US was paying out billions of dollars and getting nothing in return. If you don't like it either vote or run for office....you won't make one bit of difference by complaining. 

You are correct on many points, but not all.  The Paris Accord was just that, an accord, not a treaty. It said nothing more than signatories agreed that global warming was an issue and, as such, would voluntarily attempt to reduce carbon emissions. But being a signatory to the Paris Accord cost the US nothing. By withdrawing from the Paris Accord, Mr. Trump abdicated the symbolic position of President of the United States of also being "the leader of the free world". And that is the first tiny step towards the dollar being replaced as the world's reserve currency.  The eventual cost to the US economy by this ridiculous move will be measured in the trillions and not the billions of dollars.

The US is quickly slipping out of the developed world status and beginning to resemble Thailand more than other democratic European nations. We have a corrupt military, corrupt political parties such as the Republican Party which is owned by the 1%, who also have a controlling interest in the Democratic Party.  We have a second class and crumbling infrastructure, but still tax money is spent on military contracts.  Our public education system has a poor record as does the health system which has poorer outcomes than other developed nations. 

In semi-retirement I work as a tour guide here in the US and have on average 12 guests from out of the country every day. They are gobsmacked by Trump, gobsmacked by our poor infrastructure, our homeless and our beggars in the large cities, our traffic, and the list goes on and on. 

But you are absolutely correct, people must stop complaining and run for office or at least get out and vote.  Even if our electoral system is out of date and frustrating in that at the presidential level it allows the looser of the popular vote to win the election, people must not give up.

And there is no fake news, only fake news organizations, like Breitbart. Mainstream media may not get it right all the time, but they are not the sources of fake news. The fake news story is just Trump attempting to draw attention away from his ineptitude.  But I have to admit, Trump being a professional conman, a wise guy, this fake news ploy is  his masterpiece.

See, I told all you people Mae Rim sucks and you should all stay away.  We have Aussies who speak cryptically, over priced steak houses, and because Mae Rim is such a geographically small district we must all deal with the wafting stench of pig manure on a daily basis. Yes, Hang Dong should tempt you all with their lush green fields and modern "mubaans".  I mean heck, even I travel down for a burger at Papa Rocks. Head south young and old men, head south.

5 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Evidence of collusion to influence the election.

What has tax returns got to do with the OP?

If ifs and buts were candy and nuts we would all have a merry Christmas.  And if evidence of collusion simply showed up on one's doorstep then indeed there would be no need for a special prosecutor to look into matters and we could all just drop the matter and get on with our business.

As for the tax returns, they would either affirm or rebuke Trump's son's statement that the Trump organization has long been borrowing money from Russian banks. A heavy debt to Russian banks would give a motive if, and yes it is a big if, any collusion was going on.

3 hours ago, Spaniel said:

Looks like no one has been to Mae Om.     

Maybe Mae On??

13 hours ago, Dagnabbit said:

So far, there is zero evidence.

Just made up stuff in New York Times that got repeated.

As much as people may dislike Trump, there's no smoke or fire.

Sent from my SM-A720F using Tapatalk
 

Zero evidence of what? Comey states, under oath, that Russia made concerted efforts to interfere in the electoral process.  Trumps people had numerous documented meetings with Russian government officials, including known intelligence operatives, and some meetings after being warned of Russian intent.  That is the smoke.  Mueller will clear the smoke. And maybe there is no fire, just smoke.  Maybe. But if you really want to begin to clear the air of smoke, ask your man to release his tax returns.

18 hours ago, F4UCorsair said:

The opposition to his presidency has had seven or eight months to turn up some real evidence, but failed to do so, so isn't it about time, in the absence of that evidence, that the accusation be put out to pasture??  

 

Seriously.

No, it is not the job of the opposition to come up with evidence but the job of the FBI and now the Special Prosecutor Mueller.  According to Comey there was Russian meddling in the election process.  There were contacts made, several in fact, by Trump campaign team members as well as Trump transition team members with known Russian intelligence folks. An FBI investigation was underway.  Trump fired the FBI director to alter that investigation.  So why exactly would you want to put this all out to pasture apart from the extreme embarrassment it causes Trump supporters for supporting such an embarrassing individual.

6 hours ago, tomwct said:

More Fake News! No Impeachment because there is No Crime! Secondly, the Republicans Control the Senate! So Stop Dreaming

and enjoy life. Making America Great Again everyday of the year! Thanks President Trump!

Making America great again?!? In my lifetime, regardless of which party occupied the White House, regardless of the individual sitting as President, the President of the United States was always regarded as the leader of the free world.  Donald Trump has abdicated that position. How you can imagine that the US is greater today than before Trump is mind-boggling and shows a complete lack of situational awareness. It doesn't bother me so much regarding TV posters, but I find that Trump's military advisors, like Mattis and McMasters, and their willingness to see this strategic weakening of the USA to be highly disturbing.