I'm from Kansas City, on the Missouri side so I'm pretty familiar with Kansas. Kansas is just so flat and windy, same with Oklahoma and Nebraska trust me the constant gusts of wind makes live unbearable at times. However, people in Kansas and the rest of the western have turned into dour, nasty people. At least Kansas can say they've always been this way. 

 

Missouri has rolling hills which slow the wind down considerably but still, it's Midwest weather which means wild 4 seasons of bad weather. Winter really seems to start right after Halloween the temps often under freezing until late March. April and May are warmer but often a lot of rain and wind. Once June hits you get the heat along with high humidity and then some days it rains for 2 days nonstop. September and October are really the only nice weather months in the Midwest.

 

It was fun growing up through all that bad weather, running through the neighborhood freezing cold barely making it back home lol. Good times. Years later I was living in Oklahoma City, a friend called me up and said his brother was near,  parked on the side of the highway doing his homework in his car because he was also chasing tornado's. This was years before the movie Twister came out. 

 

5 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

Oh, I thought you were a NY'er... I was just talking to a friend who is living in Fla... and he says it is overrun. He is in an expensive gated community w/a fabulous restaurant and everything he needs

within a short walk - he never goes to the beach - he has no financial issues and he just told me that he would love to move to a small town in Vermont - but - kids and grandkids are all in Fla - 

People talk about children with such reverence, but they end up being a noose around people's necks, and people end up becoming a martyr to their kids and grandkids. I'm thankful on a daily basis I'm not in that position.

 

I am from New York, but I lived in Southern California for quite some time, before moving here, and I still have a business back there so I travel back there often. The California of today has no similarity whatsoever to the fantasy that a lot of people have in their minds, nor to the place that it was 40 or 50 years ago. And you could certainly say the same thing about American in general, though there are some pretty nice spots, if you have fairly deep pockets, or if you own a house free and clear. 

 

Having said that I enjoy short trips back there, it's a nice contrast, I get to do a lot of things back there that I don't get to do here, and it's fun seeing friends and family. But I'm always shocked at the number of people I talk to that said they would leave America, if they could. Many could but they have self-imposed limitations, like kids and grandkids. 

54 minutes ago, nick supreme said:

I have feeling that you are a failure in life and blame on everyone else.  

First of all I don't post propaganda, I post what I see in my life, which is boots on the ground kind of stuff, not pie in the sky articles that you read online. 

 

And second of all I'm a successful businessman, I lead a very comfortable life, and I'm quite fulfilled. Sorry if that disappoints you, I know most conservatives like to think of most Centrist Democrats as failures, but that's just a bizarre and rather nasty notion that you carry around with you. Good luck with all that darkness and hatred. 

1 minute ago, angryguy said:

The dual pricing spans further than that. I feel safer where i live in the US than anywhere in thailand when i have to get in a vehicle. If youre dumb enough to take a username at face value i dont know what to tell you

ok - I am far from finicky myself - but Guy, your post is very angry - - it wasn't so much your name - 

 

Crazy unruly pricing is everywhere, isn't it? I remember many years ago trying to book a flight on the internet - I checked it 3x hoping the fare would go down and then it nearly doubled - and the next day it was back down again so I booked it. I am sure we have been through that routine with hotel rates too - I think if they asked everyone on the same airplane how much they paid, there would be an angry riot - 

 

I am here for a long long time - we don't lock our doors - nobody has ever broken into my car... I never was this safe in the USA and I lived in very safe areas too...  yes, there is violence here as everywhere, but it is mostly family or drunks - and of course there is plenty in the small farang bar areas after 2 a.m. - 

5 hours ago, Hawaiian said:

Don't know where you are coming from, but our constitutional rights are being trampled on with ICE behaving like the Gestapo, raiding farms, schools, churches, factories and private residences.  This has happened within an hours drive from where I live.  Even long time green card holders and naturalized citizens are being threatened with arrest and deportation.    

ICE are behaving like modern day, government condoned terrorists. Masked kidnappers. 

 

I get it and I wouldn't have a problem with it if they were going after major criminals, but that's a small percentage of who they're terrorizing. 

16 minutes ago, angryguy said:

The dual pricing spans further than that. I feel safer where i live in the US than anywhere in thailand when i have to get in a vehicle. If youre dumb enough to take a username at face value i dont know what to tell you

So now that you've admitted you live in the US what's your obsession with Thailand and the lives that we live here? Many of us are very content with our lives and you seem to take exception to that. 

2 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

Crazy unruly pricing is everywhere, isn't it?

There are deals to be had here but in general you get what you pay for. I have my wife do everything because racism is an endemic part of the culture. Blacks are treated better in the US than anywhere else

2 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

So now that you've admitted you live in the US what's your obsession with Thailand and the lives that we live here? Many of us are very content with our lives and you seem to take exception to that. 

No obsession. Thailand is just a vacation spot for me. If truth bothers you then indeed you will take offense to what i have to say

9 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

So much drama in your response. First of all, no one will offer you free car, house and money. You are not required to eat out in restaurants. 

 

What I do dislike about paying for take out using a credit card, you are asked about tipping in the transaction. So, I pay cash for meals.

 

I imagine you don't really have enough cash to return. This happens to those who sold out RE before leaving the US. There are many like you on this forum who bad mouth the US out of jealousy.

You completely misunderstand a lot of our sentiments, this has nothing to do with jealousy. I travel back to the US frequently and I can't even imagine what kind of offer it would take to entice me to live there, these days. It's not the country that I grew up in, and the quality of life has declined so dramatically, on so many levels. You're there and you may not have the perspective to see it. 

 

 

10 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

People talk about children with such reverence

No, he's not like that really - I don't think he would let the kids stand in the way of his moving - - he has many business interests there and the kids run the businesses for him - he helps out sometimes, but I think less and less so the last few years. 

I was a businessman many years ago there - it seemed every year it became more difficult to find decent employees... and lack of business ethics were increasingly problematic. I used to go back 2x a year to visit/help my parents but they are gone now - - I sure don't miss the flights. 

I still love that speech that Jeff Daniels made in The Newsroom, even though it was over a decade ago it was incredibly accurate, and on the money, and almost a prophetic vision towards America's future, which is now today. 

 

Sharon, the NEA is a loser. Yeah, it accounts for a penny out of our paychecks, but he (gesturing to the conservative panelist) gets to hit you with it anytime he wants. It doesn't cost money, it costs votes. It costs airtime and column inches. You know why people don't like liberals? Because they lose. If liberals are so fricking smart, how come they lose so GODDAM ALWAYS!

And (to the conservative panelist, with a straight face) you're going to tell students that America's so starspangled awesome, that we're the only ones in the world who have freedom? Canada has freedom, Japan has freedom, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium has freedom. Two hundred seven sovereign states in the world, like 180 of them have freedom.

 

And you—sorority girl—yeah—just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there are some things you should know, and one of them is that there is absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we're the greatest country in the world. We're seventh in literacy, twenty-seventh in math, twenty-second in science, forty-ninth in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, number four in labor force, and number four in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending, where we spend more than the next twenty-six countries combined, twenty-five of whom are allies.

 

None of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you, nonetheless, are without a doubt, a member of the WORST-period-GENERATION-period-EVER-period, so when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don't know what the fu@@ you're talking about?! Yosemite?

 

We sure used to be. We stood up for what was right! We fought for moral reasons, we passed and struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chest. We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and cultivated the world's greatest artists and the world's greatest economy. We reached for the stars, and we acted like men. We aspired to intelligence; we didn't belittle it; it didn't make us feel inferior. We didn't identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn't scare so easy. And we were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. By great men, men who were revered. The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one—America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.

 

And in a recent speech:

We've lost respect for the rule of law, we have normalized verbal abuse on the internet, we've normalized bullying, the woke generation tried to change that, but it went out the window, there goes our character, our integrity. I mean nobody has great things to say about politicians they never have, go back to Mark Twain, but ideally we're supposed to elect the best of us, not the worst of us. He is everything that is wrong not just with America, but with being a human being.

 

Always so refreshing to see somebody tell it like it is. A lot of Americans don't like to hear this kind of stuff but that doesn't change the reality. 

 

 

8 minutes ago, angryguy said:

No obsession. Thailand is just a vacation spot for me. If truth bothers you then indeed you will take offense to what i have to say

I take absolutely no offense to what you say. I care not one iota what you say or what you think, it means less than zero to me. 

Just now, spidermike007 said:

I take absolutely no offense to what you say. I care not one iota what you say or what you think, it means less than zero to me. 

Fair enough. Nothing you have to say about the US is even accurate, as california has been ruined by people like you

4 minutes ago, angryguy said:

Blacks are treated better in the US than anywhere else

Switzerland? Iceland? Scandinavia in general? I doubt there is ever a Breona type incident - I saw one black businessman in Minnesota say he had been stopped over 50x while driving his car to work  [sorry, I forget the timeline, but there are countless stories about blacks being pulled out of cars - often for no reason]. Maybe get out of your 'better than everyplace else' and ask some black people what it is like - I also saw a clip of a black teen in Georgia just sitting in his car - the police questioned him - and the police were very polite - and the kid was a real ass-ole - - and the point of that is there seems to be a lot of anger on both sides - - none of which sounds like fun to be around - - 

5 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

Switzerland? Iceland? Scandinavia in general?

Do blacks live there? How do the locals feel about the arab migrants? Probably alot worse than the white vs blacks in the US

22 minutes ago, angryguy said:

Fair enough. Nothing you have to say about the US is even accurate, as california has been ruined by people like you

It's all good, I don't care. Now that I realize you've moved back to the US, it gives me more understanding of why you're the angry guy. I get it. 

Just now, spidermike007 said:

It's all good, I don't care. Now that I realize you've moved back to the US, it gives me more understanding of why you're the angry guy. I get it. 

And youre that guy who was shamed for having that photo of a hairstyle website guy so you picked this new creepier one. Grow some thicker skin

11 hours ago, JohnOFphon said:

I just got back from a short vacation in Southern California....be ready for sticker shock. ..Everything is triple what we pay here.

 

 

Not that bad in the USA though

21 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

Switzerland? Iceland? Scandinavia in general? I doubt there is ever a Breona type incident - I saw one black businessman in Minnesota say he had been stopped over 50x while driving his car to work  [sorry, I forget the timeline, but there are countless stories about blacks being pulled out of cars - often for no reason]. Maybe get out of your 'better than everyplace else' and ask some black people what it is like - I also saw a clip of a black teen in Georgia just sitting in his car - the police questioned him - and the police were very polite - and the kid was a real ass-ole - - and the point of that is there seems to be a lot of anger on both sides - - none of which sounds like fun to be around - - 

There is a tremendous amount of profiling going on in the US by law enforcement. I never get pulled over because I just don't fit the profile, but I have friends who are Latino and black and they get picked on a lot. 

 

Denial of that is just silliness and emblematic of the fact that some people are living in a bubble as you accurately stated. Or simply could be the fact that they don't have any friends of color, so they have no experience to draw upon. 

 

 

1 minute ago, angryguy said:

And youre that guy who was shamed for having that photo of a hairstyle website guy so you picked this new creepier one. Grow some thicker skin

You seem to be the only one who cares. What does an avatar mean, anyway? 

 

This will be the last time I respond to you. I will be promptly putting on my ignore list, as you seem to have absolutely nothing of value to say. 

7 hours ago, FolkGuitar said:

 

Perhaps it's different where you're from, but in the United States, everyone is guaranteed protection under the Constitution.

As for the question of Jails or concentration camps, we never had them in America before, not even during the Japanese Internment. 

What do YOU call this cage if not a concentration camp? Might be fine for other countries. Not fine in America. Our laws do not even permit farm animals to be treated like this.

 

 

Comparing Alligator Alcatraz to Auschwitz? This intellectual level of this place has really gone down hill. 

 

2 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

You seem to be the only one who cares. What does an avatar mean, anyway? 

 

This will be the last time I respond to you. I will be promptly putting on my ignore list, as you seem to have absolutely nothing of value to say. 

Seems to mean enough to you to have been shamed out of using that one for so long

51 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

First of all I don't post propaganda, I post what I see in my life, which is boots on the ground kind of stuff, not pie in the sky articles that you read online. 

You steal and plagiarize, you write nothing yourself.

 

49 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

ICE are behaving like modern day, government condoned terrorists. Masked kidnappers. 

 

I get it and I wouldn't have a problem with it if they were going after major criminals, but that's a small percentage of who they're terrorizing. 

As befits your reputation for honesty, the above statement is a blatant lie

4 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

This will be the last time I respond to you. I will be promptly putting on my ignore list, as you seem to have absolutely nothing of value to say. 

Nor do you, unless its copied, pasted; plagiarized or stolen.

10 hours ago, FolkGuitar said:

If they offered me a free house, car, and a monthly stipend, I would NOT return to the U.S.

First of all, it isn't the U.S. now. There is nothing 'united' about America today. Not the people, not the government, not the nation. It was a dangerous place to live before the current administration exposed and amplified those dangers. The current administration is making it so much worse.  Good grief! They just started building and filling Concentration Camps in America!!!!!   Why would any decent human being support that?!?

 

Next, why the hell would anyone want to live in a place where you are REQUIRED to pay half the salary for someone to serve you in a restaurant, and you stand a good chance of getting shot if you are pulled over for a traffic offence. God forbid you are the 'wrong color,' and find yourself in a detention cell after walking in the wrong neighborhood!

No... I will not return to the US.

I am sure you are missed!

5 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Nor do you, unless its copied, pasted; plagiarized or stolen.

hes jealous because my posts are all original content

12 hours ago, Celsius said:

Will they accept a Canadian 

 

For those house prices id move to the Midwest.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kbit8ZS1GsA&pp=ygUdSG91c2UgcHJpY2UgeGFuYWRhIHZzIGZsb3JpZGE%3D

14 hours ago, Knight Rider said:

And in rural Kansas one can build a house for $125K.

Where, on a tornado path?

7 minutes ago, novacova said:

Where, on a tornado path?

Good part of why I didn't retire in USA ... that, and already spending 45 years there, and 17 of those, working for airlines, so saw a good part of the country, since only 2 trips outside of the Americas.

 

Weather patterns+ ... no thanks

 

1 minute ago, novacova said:

Where, on a tornado path?

As someone who is house hunting, thats not a small bump in the road.

 

Folks outside the USA dont seem to realize how bad the weather can be in the USA, simply as a function of geography and size. Even areas that usually are safe, arent (like western NC). Then if the weather is decent, or liveable, the Government sucks. Some places have bad weather and bad government (Seattle, Chicago)

 

I have been looking at the areas around the Southern Appalachians myself. Not too cold, not to hot (depending), not too much government {Ohio, Ky, TN, NC, SC, WV, northern GA). Im even thinking about VA now that the wokeness has been banished.