Johpa

I live in a small rural village in the hills where there is no garbage pickup. Instead of burning the garbage in my backyard, as do most of my neighbors, I just take it back to the local 7/11 from where most of the garbage originates. The trick is to take it in the morning when the garbage cans are still empty.


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Anticipated plus side:
How about the ones who might be able afford a normal health care plan, instead of the Obamacare premiums that doubled, tripled and quadrupled during it's short life?   Can we add that to the balance sheet?   Kill some, but save many more?    

Or better yet, create a better system that saves those Obamacare theft victims, AND helps those truly in need of coverage?  That was the campaign promise.  Let's see what happens before panicking with Chicken Little.    

I have noticed that those whose premiums increased significantly came from specific states. In my state the premiums within the ACA differed little from existing independent insured groups. Where the increases did occur is where people were previously placed into low risk groups that excluded pre-existing conditions or were Mickey Mouse plans with ridiculously low maximum benefits.

So in your world then you would gladly sacrifice those with pre-existing conditions. Well this chicken little rejects your small minded animal farm.

And just what is the plan to help those who "truly need coverage" and who shall determine such needs. The Republicans have had eight years to come up with some outline for a replacement plan to the ACA and still have nothing because, hold on to your hats folks, the ACA was the Republican plan to forestall any talk of a single payer system. But when Obama came on board with the plan after the Republicans had decided to obstruct any and all executive orders from the Black guy, well they never did have a plan B and still don't have a plan B.

Say hey, sometimes in my fantasies, instead of the slow, undignified, and painful death that my particular somatic mutation holds in store for me, I go out in a blaze of glory taking out a whole lot of Trump supporters along with me.

Trump has just signed off on some executive orders regarding the ACA that puts my life at risk by jeopardizing my access to health insurance. The world is less safe with pissed off terminally ill people like myself who no longer fear death. So you all had better get down on your knees and pray that my remission holds and that I am somehow able to maintain my non-violent nature.


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....,,,All this is about to change as a new pipeline is built to canada's west coast. That pipeline will provide the oil and gas  China needs. It will come from one of the world's largest reserves, and from one of the most stable of suppliers. Instead of money flowing to the USA it will go to China. In return. China has been buying up Canada's oil and gas industries slowly pushing out the USA.
The oil glut will soon come to an end. When it does, the USA will have singlehandedly  cut its own throat while feeding its economic rival.
 
Loans come up for renewal every month. various funding facilities require revalidation annually.
Piss off China and it call comes to a  halt. The Nw York real estate market would collapse.

The question is how does China pay for the oil. It can not pay in Canadian dollars as China exports too little to Canada to cover their costs of energy. So they still will pay with $US and thus will still need to sell boatloads of goods to the US to pay for the oil.

The PRC could have chosen an alternative direction to build their economy by focusing upon internal consumption rather than exports. But like their Teo Chieu brethren here in Thailand, they prefer the internal colonial model, export and extract resources, that benefits the elite at the expense of the nation.

The NYC housing bubble will inevitably collapse. The fragility of the US financial system is a self inflicted wound apart from Chinese policy. The US financial system too will collapse, but it can easily be temporarily nationalized if the politicians are willing to force the bond holders to pay and not the taxpayers. And that is a big if.



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China can both dump assets, and  call in its loans. US refusal to pay back loans would result in a massive financial meltdown and collapse of confidence in the US financial markets.
Need an idea of what damage this can cause? Watch the  movie Too Big to Fail.

I really doubt that China, or many other lenders can simply call in a loan unless it is part of the terms of the loan agreement. China is also an economic basket case and needs those US dollars to purchase oil. We are still a long way off before a Chinese currency has the stability of the US dollar and to be accepted by the oil producing states.

The PRC is mostly bluster and arrogance. Trump's attitude towards Taiwan is one of the very few topics where Trump and I have a convergence of interests. Even a broken clock is correct twice a day.


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Oy vey!


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What's really going to happen is the narcissistic left wing fascists are going to continue to lie and also claim that they are highly represented when they are not.  That was proved in the election.  It is not only real bad it has been real bad for a long time.  And it won't get any better until the liberals figure out that the world does not revolve around them and their self serving agenda.

Apart from your having no clue about what is a fascist, you are correct that the people you call liberals have a self serving agenda focused upon a myriad of social issues, all of which are secondary issues to the political economy. Meanwhile the majority of the 1% using their political vehicle, the Republican Party, are laser focused upon the political economy and have engineered the bulk of the existing capital into the hands of the few and have artfully set the rabble against one another over those very same social issues the "liberals" use to forge their self serving identity politics. They have divided and they will use the deserved hatred of Trump to conquer.

The OP will rue the day when he understands the true meaning of fascism when the government inevitably collapses under the ineptitude of the Trump regime.


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The aircraft carrier has not been involved in any corruption allegations and although it is not being used for it's main designed purpose due to financial restraints it is far from useless, the ship has been involved in many disaster and emergency situations and rescues.

A large barge could have been used to the same effect for far less cost.



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Good luck. I had a Windows 10 upgrade that required a complete wipe and reinstall. Local repair shop said it was not that uncommon. As long as the upgrade failure rates are in the low single digits MSFT just does not care.


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Which outsourcing was/is the result of wild, unrestrained capitalism, which is what Republicans do best.
All in the name of freedom of course.

In the name of the God Hayak, the invisible hand that anoints the blessed and condemns the poor. The new Sun Kings deserving to rule by the mere existence of their superior capital accumulation. Trump had brought on board, into his cabinet, many of these newly anointed Hayak gods. Woe is us, members of the lowly rabble.


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Hopefully these boys and the police will put the fragile little snowflakes in their place.

Hmmm, a nod to brown shirt movements. It is little wonder that reasonable people are protesting the rise of Trump d'III and the people who support him.


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And that's in which Big Man's interest?

It would not be in any "big man's interest" to limit the upward flow of money at the provincial level or lower. The big men want to keep everything centralized in Bangkok. That is one reason provincial and even district governors are appointed and not elected.


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it has nothing to do with rubber tires or rubber shoes 

I have no clue what faith or religion you have if any... but its about showing respect

riding a bike through temple grounds is like riding a bike through a church, common sense you just don't do it out of respect for other people's beliefs!

 

and if you still dont get it... how would you feel if someone pissed on the side of your house?

Ever been to a temple fair at a decent sized village. Not much "respect" to be observed, although some scantily clad dancers may be in attendance. At our local wat on Loi Krathong no coyote dancers but the winner of the home made fireworks competition, as judged by the headman and monk, wins a bottle of Sang Som.

Won't bother to comment on the ridiculous idea that Buddhism is not a religion, but I believe it was the great Bhuddadasa who liked to pat the top of Buddha images heads to remind people that it is only a stone carving. The Thai rabble wading in the shallows of social media would be well advised to ponder his wise comments before engaging in their hypocritical orgy of sanctimonious offense.

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Perfect moment to overhaul the policeforce.

The only perfect moment is when they abolish the hopelessly corrupt national police force and replace them with a more local police force. Sure, Pattaya and Phuket will remain corrupt, but most provinces would benefit.


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When I travel from the west coast of the US to Asia on my way to CNX, the airport is filled with Chinese laden down with excess luggage and still shopping at the over priced duty free shops for brand name goods. When at CNX for the return still plenty of Chinese, but with ordinary travel bags and no last minute shopping. Two different worlds of Chinese travelers.

And can't say much about Bangkok or down south, but up here in Lanna Land there is but a single resort hotel that truly can cater to the 1%, and that is outside the city.


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Neither solution grasps the nature of the problem. Fact is, Israel wants the conflict to go on,  during which time they are gradually annexing the West Bank for themselves - that's their long-term goal, and their timeframe is Biblical.

 

Note the sociology underlying this: Israel wants either to push the Palestinians out or for them to get fed up and exile themselves, rendering them  stateless, wandering people such as the Jews once were. It's their divine retribution. Israel just needs to keep provoking the Palestinians into belligerency to give themselves an excuse to do bring this about.

Ridiculous. The heart of the problem remains even if the Likud and their delusional Orthodox partners abandon their Biblical aspirations and Israel were to withdraw to pre-1967 borders.

I believe posthumous military promotions are common around the world although a seven step promotion is perhaps far less common. And for some reason I think the rank of Air Marshal in the RTA as been maligned recently.


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The circus as entertainment is alive and well with the trend being towards the human circus acts of the likes of Cirque du Soleil. The circus sideshows are also alive from countless county fairs to city based hipster productions. It is only the traveling 3-ring show that has become obsolete.


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Neither appeals to international law, what ever that is, nor a one state or two state "solution" will resolve this conflict. The only current resolution of the conflict occurs when the vast majority of Muslins accept the legitimacy of the Jewish state of Israel or when Israel is eradicated from the map. Neither scenario is likely in my lifetime, and given the short nature of my lifetime, nor in my children's lifetime.


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No, I haven't been diagnosed. This is what I'm looking for...A recommended specialist in diagnosing...

Then at this juncture you want access to good pathology lab. The pathologist will determine the specific cancer. These days many types of cancer are targeted at the cellular and genetic level so a precise diagnosis is critical.

Song bird as in fageleh I suspect.


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We are a republic not a democracy and everyone understood the rules and how the system is organized with the electorial college. When voting fraud is factored into the popular vote it is questionable that Clinton won the popular vote but it really does not matter.

What does matter is the widespread belief, contrary to all available evidence, that voter fraud exists. Despite the absence of any evidence of voter fraud, Greg Palast makes a good case for the exclusion of a subset of voters who tend to be people of color and who tend to vote Democratic. Without the existence of the Crosscheck program instituted by Republican controlled states, HRC, would likely have won not only the popular vote but the electoral vote as well.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/the-gops-stealth-war-against-voters-w435890

Once took an undergraduate course in international relations. The professor, a former CIA analyst, had a simple premise, to understand international relations you had to understand how information was provided to heads of state via the intelligence agencies and thus he taught about the structure of those agencies. The corollary is that if you disrupt that information flow you disrupt the state. Putin has scored a tactical victory by playing Trump like a Stradivarius.

Again, the road up from the Fang bypass road is fun on a CRF going up, less fun going down. I encountered a Thai guy going down on a "big bike" with the big metal side cases (Touratech?) riding two up with his girlfriend who was not having fun trying to ride downhill between the ruts. And yea, that dirt road is not advisable with a city sedan. The road from the other side is largely paved, but steep. Check your brakes before departure.

Amazing that even up in Lanna Land most people are unfamiliar with the second highest peak. By the way, the only other Royal Project raising sturgeon is the one near the border northwest of Wiang Hang. I hope to be visiting there soon with my nephew who has been working within the Royal Project system.

Have you already been diagnosed with a biopsy? Then do your own due diligence as to what are the current treatments for your particular cancer. For some cancers there is a general agreement on first line treatments so you should be able to anticipate what the oncologist will recommend. That should allow you to find a more "reasonably priced" oncologist. If you don't respond to your first treatment then you need to find a specialist as the treatment options now increase and you would be eligible for clinical trials. Regardless, learn to read cancer survival charts and terms such as PFS, OS, CR, etc. Google all treatments by using generic drug names and not trade names.

And be aware that for some rarer cancers outcomes in Thailand are statistically less favorable than in "the west" and, at least in the US, outcomes are more favorable in the few major cancer research centers and adjacent facilities.

Good luck!


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