Songkran Festivities Cancelled In Bangkok?
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43
Can this happen here....?
And your point is? other than a way to assert your anti American bonafides and toss out a few thumbs down Emojis. Saw you doing it earlier LOL Does size matter hahahahahahahahahaha -
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Weathering the Climate Debate: Meet the Young Meteorologist Challenging the Hysteria
Please take a photo and share it with us. Might win the Nobel Prize. -
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Video Transwoman Plans Escape to Thailand Amid UK's Anti-Trans Atmosphere
I recall an incident a few years back, I was visiting friends in their not cheap condo in Bkk. Suddenly the folks in the next unit having a serious loud argument / altercation. The Thai man (with wife and kids) who lived in the condo on the others ide of the 'noisy' unit knocked on my friends door and asked if my friend would support telling the lobby he was calling the police and then immediately calling the police. My friend agreed. Fifteen minutes later w cops arrive, one was a higher rank. Suddenly there's a mob in the hallway. tuns out there was 8 TVs / gatoeys sleeping / living in the unit next to me friend. One gatoey was very vocal and very loud and instantly confronted the senior cop and grabbed the cops collar. Loud vocal gatoey was telling the cop that TVs are special people and they don't have to obey any Thai laws. Meanwhile the condo manager had called the lawyer for the condo himself a TV, always dressed in a nice suit collar and tie and always very pleasant to talk to (lawyer speaks Thai and English). Lawyer TV listens for a minute to the 'loud gatoey who is continuing 'we <gatoeys> don't have to obey any Thai laws.' Lawyer politely engages with the senior police guy and says 'we <gatoeys> don't have to obey any Thai laws.' is obviously not correct and they are subject to the same laws as any other person.' Then in Thai and English lawyer very politely said to the cop 'this is causing too much disturbance for too many people, can I please request you take them all to your lock up and charge them all with 'disturbing the peace, and if you wish I will give them a serious calm lecture about 'same law for everybody. Cop agrees, and by now 3 more cops have arrived. Snr cop gives an instruction and in a few seconds the 8 gatoeys living in the next unit plus the actual tenant are in handcuffs and are being force marched out of he building. TV lawyer speaks quickly to the building manager and says 'I suggest you make a rule, and quickly get the owners committee to endorse, saying that TV can ent but cannot ever have even one more person (any person) sleeping / visiting any unit in the condo'. Lawyer continues 'whether that's legal needs further discussion but it might create a buffer to get multiple gatoey out of your building. -
237
The Boy Who Cried Wolf aka TACO
They have been in existence for a only a few months and if they have exposed any. MINIMAL MINUSCULE amt of waste, fraud abuse, corruption, etc they should be considered as a successful undertaking setting a precedent for government spending oversight going forward. Well done thus far and ONLY just getting started. Ai generated a chart and graphs which I put into summary point form including links. The DOGE is groundbreaking innovation of Trumps and Musk ands their forward thinking approach in dealing with gov't efficiencies and inefficiencies and should be applauded for their efforts to date and when compared to the corrupt admin of the mentally retarded joe Biden this is a breath of fresh air after Biden's intentional reign of disaster especially considering his USAID fraud and his planned open border illegal alien invasion. Trump and Musk have answers, solutions, in the very short period of their focus activities since Trumps inauguration. A huge win for identifying gov't fraud, abuse, corruption, nothing to complain about except for the nutters and haters. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), established by Executive Order 14158 on January 20, 2025, is an initiative of the second Trump administration aimed at modernizing federal technology, maximizing productivity, and cutting wasteful spending. Led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, DOGE operates as an advisory body, not an official federal agency, and has focused on regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions, and cost savings. Below is a list of key findings and accomplishments attributed to DOGE, based on available information up to June 2, 2025: Findings: Improper Payments and Fraud: Identified $5.1 billion in improper unemployment insurance claims since 2020, including: $59 million claimed by 24,500 individuals over 115 years old. $254 million claimed by 28,000 individuals aged 1–5 years. Claims by 9,700 individuals with birth dates in the future. Found $75 million annually in Louisiana Medicaid payments to non-residents, prompting action to end these ineligible benefits by May 31, 2025. Alleged $2.7 trillion in improper Medicare and Medicaid payments to overseas recipients, though this claim was refuted by two federal judges for lack of evidence. Claimed 20 million Social Security recipients were listed as over 100 years old, later acknowledged as a misunderstanding of the database. Approximately 3.2 million numberholders listed as 120+ were marked as deceased after a Social Security Administration cleanup. Wasteful Contracts and Grants: Identified $69 million for the Eurasia Foundation’s "digital transformation activity" in Europe, deemed unnecessary. Found $32 million allocated to Internews for programs like "media enabling democracy, inclusion," considered misaligned with priorities. Uncovered a $75 million contract by the Federal Consulting Group (FCG) for website customer satisfaction surveys and an attempted $830 million award, criticized as excessive. Noted a $181,000 USDA contract for a “technical climate advisor for central Africa” as wasteful. Redundant Systems and Processes: Social Security Administration audit revealed: Four redundant survey tools costing $118,000 to $1.8 million annually. Payment for 10,000 UI Path licenses, with only 5,011 in use. Highlighted the Department of Veterans Affairs’ $20 billion expenditure on a dysfunctional electronic health records system. Noted the minting of pennies at 3.7 cents each, costing more than their value. Accomplishments: Contract and Grant Terminations: Terminated 10,871 contracts, saving approximately $32 billion. Examples include: $3.1 million for “healthy relationships social media presence.” $3.5 million for IT consulting contracts. Canceled 15,149 grants, saving approximately $40 billion. Terminated 494 leases, saving approximately $216 million. Over two days, agencies terminated 522 contracts with a ceiling value of $285 million, saving $110 million. Deregulatory Actions: The Department of Energy, in collaboration with DOGE, announced 47 deregulatory actions, estimated to save $11 billion. Executive Order 14219 (February 19, 2025) directed agency heads to review regulations for deregulation, aligning with DOGE’s agenda. Executive Order 14270 (April 9, 2025) introduced zero-based regulatory budgeting for energy agencies, incorporating sunset provisions. Workforce and Process Modernization: Executive Order 14210 (February 11, 2025) mandated significant workforce reductions through a 1:4 hiring ratio (one hire per four departures). The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), with DOGE, replaced a 65-year-old paper-based process with a digital alternative, reducing wait times for benefits processing. Dissolved the Federal Consulting Group, eliminating inter-agency consulting contract brokering. Agency Efficiency Leaderboard: Introduced a competitive leaderboard to track agency efficiency, incentivizing cost-saving measures. Over 2,200 contract terminations were listed on the DOGE website. Data Transparency: Launched the DOGE API to allow public analysis of government spending and savings data, promoting transparency. Publicly posted contract termination notices, despite potential lags in federal databases like fpds.gov. Context and Criticism: Scope and Impact: DOGE’s actions have led to mass layoffs and agency restructuring, with small businesses reportedly bearing significant cuts. It has also supported immigration crackdowns and accessed sensitive government data, raising privacy concerns. Legal Challenges: Lawsuits filed on January 20 and February 3, 2025, by unions and advocacy groups allege DOGE’s access to Treasury’s payment system violates privacy laws. Federal judges issued restraining orders on February 8 and 14, 2025, limiting DOGE’s access to taxpayer records. Criticism: Democrats, including Rep. Jamie Raskin (claimed by one muppet to be the smartest muppet in Congress) and Sen. Chuck Schumer, have criticized DOGE as an “unelected shadow government,” arguing it lacks legal authority and transparency. Concerns include potential conflicts of interest, given Musk’s businesses (e.g., SpaceX) receive federal contracts. Nothing illegal about DOGE activities and they, including POTUS are limited in their power to cut ANY discretionary spending w/o congressional approval, this is well known. Unintended Consequences: Layoffs in agencies like the National Park Service and FEMA have raised concerns about reduced wildfire fighting capacity and public safety risks however this is only speculative and there is no evidence to support this concern. Notes: Some claims, like the $2.7 trillion in improper payments, were overstated or refuted, highlighting the need for critical scrutiny of DOGE’s findings. All good, transparency is MAGA ethic and more WINNING DOGE’s accomplishments focus heavily on cost-cutting and deregulation, but critics argue these may not translate to true efficiency without addressing systemic issues like outdated processes or underfunded services. The initiative is set to conclude by July 4, 2026, aiming to deliver a “250th birthday present” to the U.S. by overhauling federal bureaucracy. Links and reference https://doge.gov https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/public-finance/what-awaits-department-government-efficiency-hks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Government_Efficiency https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/implementing-the-presidents-department-of-government-efficiency-workforce-optimization-initiative/ https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/elon-musks-government-dismantling-fight-stop/story?id=118576033 https://www.npr.org/2025/02/04/nx-s1-5286314/department-of-government-efficiency-doge-explainer-elon-musk https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/democracy-governance/analyzing-doge-actions-one-month-trumps-second https://www.nextgov.com/ideas/2024/12/department-government-efficiency-what-about-government-performance/401506/ https://www.governing.com/management-and-administration/the-steps-that-can-achieve-real-government-efficiency https://www.govexec.com/management/2024/11/good-luck-department-government-efficiency/401155/ -
43
Can this happen here....?
Mexico, same as more than half of united states used to be Mexico. Approximately half of Mexico's territory, or about 55%, was ceded to the United States, mainly through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. This included all or parts of what are now California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming. This land, known as the Mexican Cession, represents a significant portion of the current-day United States, particularly the American Southwest -
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