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My take-away for the 4 Day RNC "Trump Show"....... Trump broke the law AGAIN, this time by violating the Hatch Act in the most Defiant, vulgar, obnoxious and ostentatious way . What he did was "symbolically" thumb his nose, give us the finger and say "FUCK YOU AMERICA, I do what I want, not what YOU want or what the LAW tells me to do.... I do things MY way" At the end of his exhausting 71minute ego trip, we were reminded with the continuous rhetoric that "Biden will destroy your America", however what we SAW was the destruction of America right there, all lined up in Grand couture, from Jared all the way down the food chain including Kimberly, Lara and Tiffany.....For me the only one that gets a pass is little 6'6" Baron. who did not look like a happy or willing participant. Our White House emblazoned and festooned with tacky Trump banners and frou-frou was an eerie foreboding. What we witnessed when Trump and Melania made there regal final " entree' " onto the sacred WH balcony was akin to a Royal event at Buckingham Palace...All that was missing were hand maidens and footmen... He was not thinking of the American people...HE was thinking of DJT. Once you finished fact-checking the litany of LIES and misinformation from the Trump Shit Show, you must get up and VOTE. THIS is now Trumps America but before the Royal family gets another 4 years to don crowns and tiaras, we must drain the GOP swamp.. Let's make The Emperor's new clothes an Orange jumpsuit and shackles....unless you All want to become his hand maidens and footmen ? There is still plenty of room in prison for a few more corrupt and greedy Republicans !!!!

FAKE NEWS.... As reported by the corrupt media, and if you were watching, the shoes were FUSCHIA, not Red and matched her belt.... Dress by Valentino, shoes and accessories by Loubatin...in excess of $5000..... She certainly out-shone Frumpy Karen Pence. If it were ME, I would have worn my hair UP, and looked truly Regal. Fire her stylist !

I saw that story too, though the examples in it didn't seem particularly bad. I think that most liberals comfort and acceptance of trans people has evolved over the last 10 years, and that few of us would look great if the past was brought forward. Further, it's a comedian's job to be edgy, and to take today's most progressive standard and judge something made years ago against it... what's the point? Where Randy was (and many other liberals used to be) is still head and shoulders above where right-wingers are NOW, so by all means, let's flagellate *each other* for not being woke enough 5 or 10 years ago while *they* continue to do their damnedest to drag society backwards.

At least you remember yours.... I've lost count how many police stations I've been in foreign countries and only once in a cell. Waking up in an ambulance to a hospital .... and many other events, lol

I'm asking. More please!

Hey thanks @bcdaron. I have not seen these two since COVID, and I’ve been to Lagoa twice this trip now. I’ve seen them multiple times as dancers who do strip teases, but never on the floor like the regular GPs looking for customers. Unsure if they can be acquired tho maybe they can be at a (premium?) price. I do know that some gogó dancers at saunas are only dancers and noT for hire for more (hung out with a couple to know), but unsure if these two are for hire or not. Good looking both, tho the second one always looks like he needs more sleep whenever I see him at the sauna. He always looks like he just woke up when he appears in Lagoa. Make sure your travel insurance covers exactly your dates that you intend to stay. They are very exact for some reason this time. They do write on your entry stamp the number of days you intend to stay based on either what you say or what is in your insurance or date on your return ticket. @floridarob can shed more light on this. Awww, maybe I’ll see you then @Latbear4blk. The BF and I may drive over where you intend to stay. I don’t use them, but the ones in Guarulhos airport were open. Oh god LOL. As if I am not super long-winded in my regular trip posts already. Don’t ask me to write about the times I almost got killed/arrested/robbed/drugged/deported/suspected as a robber. Brazil does give one experiences one does not find anywhere else, whether you like it or not. I sincerely apologize for disappearing numerous times LOL. I will write about it. It was nice hanging out with you before you returned home. Hehe well clearly some of us are traveling, probably foolishly, but time will tell. We are your guinea pigs.

Thanks for the update. It's always fun to read these trip summaries, even more so now since nobody is traveling :/

Yeah yeah yeah. But seriously? You're going to give us your take-away, and not comment on the fashion combination of lime green dress and red shoes? Personally, I'm grateful to Melania for giving me something to like. Since almost everything else either bored me, or annoyed the shit out of me.

I didn't know that. So I Googled and there is this Randy Rainbow ‘Deeply’ Apologizes for ‘Racist and Awful’ Old Tweets: ‘They Make Me Sick to My Stomach’ Given your prior posts, I'm assuming we agree this is not grounds for cancelling Randy, right? So I posted my long rant from a year ago saying the Hunter issue is a real problem - even if it is more a problem of perception than reality. Meaning Hunter himself broke no laws, even if you assume what he did was sleazy and wrong. And Joe certainly broke no laws because Hunter played off Joe's position. I'll say again, this is one of the reasons I would have gone with Elizabeth. That said, Hunter at least quasi-apologized. And Hunter's sins don't seem to be sticking to Joe, despite the best efforts of the asshole who did effectively brand Hillary as "Crooked Hillary". Beyond that, perhaps just because I have no choice, I'm seeing more of Joe's strengths than I did a year ago. On balance, I think he's playing this whole campaign well. My expectations of him as a candidate were low. So it's easy from him to beat my expectations. And he is definitely beating my expectations. So what are you actually suggesting I do, if I don't want to fall for the "cookie, what cookie?" routine" Vote for President Toxic? Not vote at all?

First, thanks. You just taught me I'm psychic. This is the second time I was typing a response to a post you made before you posted it. See my post on China above. Second: Say It Ain't So, Joe That's a link to the thread I started a year ago. So I hardly dismiss the issue. In context, that post above was basically an argument for Warren. Since I'm psychic (or, if you prefer to believe, psycho) I'll tell you how Warren would have played out, if nominated. First, she would have pivoted. She's just the former Republican from Oklahoma, who wants to help Main Street. Not some socialist. And this is an election about corruption, which is what President Toxic stands for. She kept signaling again and again she intended to make 2020 a referendum on corruption. Of course, all that was before COVID-19. Warren could make a great argument about any of the "c" words: President Toxic's lack of competence dealing with COVID-19, his corruption, or his lack of character. We agree that the corruption/nepotism argument is a difficult to impossible one for Biden to make. Which is why it's better to let President Toxic make it, so everyone can say, "Really? Really? Give me a fucking break!" I honestly believe that Lichtman is right and Biden, Warren, or Sanders would all have won in 2020, if nominated. The difference might have been victory margin, electoral votes, and - most importantly - Senate seat pick ups. Sanders would have the wind blowing in his face in Florida (communism, socialism, Jews - even though Bernie is one) whereas Biden has it blowing at his back and pushing him ahead. Lichtman said in 2016 it should be a close call, and Trump should win. But Hillary might win because Trump is just so awful. One way you can read that is that even President Toxic could not fuck up where the fundamentals were driving the election. If you buy that, it's even more true today. Team Toxic won't be able to fuck up their own defeat, which is what the fundamentals are calling for. In fact, they'll help defeat along. To reinforce my point, here's Steven Bannon and Billionaire China Dude: Can I just say it? They make an adorable couple. Now, you can take this one of two ways. One, Steve Bannon is actually in bed with China's richest dudes. He's a hypocrite. I don't think that will fly. The image of Bannon in bed with anyone is gonna be a bridge too far even for a whore like me, who is open-minded about who I'm in bed with. Two, Steve Bannon and Billionaire China Dude are plotting to overthrow Communist China from a yacht off the East Coast. When you think about it, that's better than China Joe handing us to Xi on a silver platter. Right? The more you think about it, the more this makes sense. First, it worked super well when we tried it in Iraq. So why not try it again? Second, it worked even better when we tried it in Venezuela. So why not try it again? Third, Xi is a wimp compared to Saddam or that second rate Chavez wannabe. One or two nuclear bombs will take him out quick. Now, if any of what I'm saying makes sense to you, you belong on TV at the Republican National Convention. You can sit right next to the McCloskeys while you explain this to America. Although they did the whole gun thing super well. So I might suggest bringing a nuclear bomb to wave. For pretty much everybody other than the devoted base, I just don't see how they prosecute the China Joe argument given the criminal shit show they've created. There's a good argument that corruption/nepotism will fuck up a Biden Presidency. Either because Hunter or somebody does something new. Or because the Sacred Toxic Remnant that Trump leaves behind decides to impeach Biden over it. They'd need a House majority. Good luck with that. We'll deal with that when we get to it. But I don't think it's likely. I'm not even sure why, but all the toxic is sticking to Trump. Joe really is turning out to be Teflon Joe, at least so far. Since I invoked her name, I'm more concerned about whether Elizabeth Warren - or one her proteges - will be Treasury Secretary. If Biden gives it to someone like Geithner or Summers, that's a good time for progressives to break the glass and yell, "Corrupt hack!" And this video isn't precisely about corruption or nepotism, but those things are sandwiched in. I missed this particular Randy Rainbow parody when it first came out. Speaking of being best, I think this is one of Randy's best. When I watched it, my reaction was like when I hear the Trumps go off on corruption or nepotism. I was just laughing my ass off. I assume you've all seen Randy's videos already. But while we're on the subject, let's just go for the Biden And The Beast double header. This is also one of his best. All the stuff about hypocrisy, corruption, nepotism, and even blowing up Iran is in this one.

Now I'll return the kindness. Did you just write that? John Bolton? Are you maybe confusing John Bolton and John Kasich? One spoke at the Democratic convention. The other was nowhere in sight at either convention. But if Bolton's messages have been popping up, it's on the Republican side. Like Grenell. Gays should love President Toxic like I do. Because he still wants to blow the shit out of Iran, where there are an unusually high number of well hung Gay men. I'll put Tulsi to the side. But Bernie and Berniecrats were more than welcome at the DNC last week, as far as I can tell. And it's telling that the RNC is making zero effort to lure in the progressive crowd who care about things like climate change and gun control. Unless that whole McCloskey thing was a play for progressives who want to create a climate where it is righteous to point guns at Black people. I don't think we'll know about Millennials and Blacks until Election Day. And we should be focused like hawks on these legal and administrative issues of how they actually cast their ballots. But I don't worry that we don't have a slogan like "Get Clean For Gene" about Biden. Because I think what excites (or disgusts) the progressive crowd is that they want to be one of the millions of nails in the coffin of Toxic Trump America. I sure do. Now let's talk about China. I agree with you that the best attack on Biden would be to go after him as China Joe. But as I said already, President Toxic can't do that. He will do it, of course. But it won't work. Again, roll the tape of the kisses and hugs and compliments President Toxic gave Xi and Kuddly Kim. Upload the picture of Steve Bannon hanging out on the yacht with Billionaire China Dude right before he got arrested. And then give me a fucking break. China Joe? Give me a fucking break. I think one of President Toxic's many fatal flaws is that he really meant it when he said he's not responsible. He doesn't seem to understand that, especially as President Toxic, he is responsible for what he says and does. So in 2016 he could throw bombs at Hillary about shit he never had to actually deal with, and couldn't be held accountable for. He actually does not seem to get that this is not an option in 2020. When he ignores reality and lies about what we all know he said or did, he just loses votes. In 2016 Hillary did better at the debates than Trump. But one of her worst moments was NAFTA. Trump crucified her, and made her the poster child of NAFTA. She said something about how she wrote about that in her book. Nail, meet chalkboard. The sound could be heard all across factory towns in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Even though we missed it. We were all focused on what a Bozo Trump was. Again, he could get away with it because all he did in the 80's and 90's is talk about how it's okay for Whites to hate Blacks. For people like Axelrod and Brownstein who want more economic policy meat from Biden, this will be a key moment at the debate. Biden will need to show empathy for all those communities that are struggling, now worse than ever before. However he communicates it, here's the facts. We gained 1 million factory jobs under Clinton. We lost 5 million factory jobs under W., many of which went to China. Once the free fall stopped by Summer 2009, Biden was in charge of the recovery efforts, which brought 1 million factory jobs back. Now we have fewer factory jobs than when President Toxic was elected. In some states, like Pennsylvania, we now have fewer factory jobs than during the darkest days of The Great Recession. Does everyone see the pattern? I want you to know I understand your pain, and I have a plan to focus like a laser beam on these struggling communities again. I actually did that. We created 1 million factory jobs, which I know wasn't enough. But President Toxic has completely failed to do it. All he did is gave tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires like him. We raised taxes on the rich so that people could have more affordable health care, and not have to worry about pre-existing conditions. Give me a chance to improve on that and I will. Not destroy it, like Trump wants to. Something like that is what I hope Biden says. If you want to talk warmongers, Iran is not the issue. Biden has already said he wants back in on the nuclear deal, and the Paris deal on climate change. President Toxic will attack him for being a radical peacenik and Marxist climate freak. Maybe we'll actually get to "Jihad Joe" by the time this gets stupider, meaner, and more bigoted. If we're talking about warmongering for the next war, we should start seriously talking about China. There's a version of Lichtman - historical determinism - that applies to this question. It's called the Thucydides Trap. History tells us it's more likely than not we'll go to war with China. Then again, history told us it was more likely than not that we'd go to war with the Soviet Union. We dodged that nuclear bomb, even though it might have been a close call. I actually think that's one of the few silver linings in the cloud of COVID-19. Everybody knows it came from China. Everybody knows China covered it up at first. Giving hugs to Italians and poorly manufactured ventilators to the world didn't exactly make up for that. The polls show that people all over the world trust China less because of all this. We can't do a thing about that right now, though. Because they don't trust President Toxic, either. I think the magic word is "containment". A very smart group of people probably would not agree what containment with the Soviet Union was. Even though they'd agree it worked. So we'll have to figure this out as we go, just like we did before. Like you, I don't want warmongers leading that discussion. I want someone clever, with a backbone. I checked, and Indiana Jones isn't available. I think in the Obama/Biden White House we now know that Biden was one of the ones who tended to say behind closed doors that we should just get the hell out. We can't win. So he doesn't strike me as the kind of guy into fighting wars he knows he can't win. I know, I know, I know. Iraq. I feel the same way. All that is part of why I wanted Warren, and voted for Bernie. But containment means never having to say you're dreaming in some alternative reality. So somehow we're going to have to figure it out with Joe. I'll close with one more anecdote trashing a former Republican friend. Believe it or not, I do edit myself. Reading Stuart Stevens brought up lots and lots of conversations I've had over decades with Republicans. So I picked a few in the post above. Here's another one that is relevant to how warmongers like Bolton (or Cheney and Rumsfeld) actually get what they want. The best explanation I ever heard of why W. was re-elected in 2004 came from a former Republican friend who I was having lunch with maybe about 2010. And when I say "Republican friend" I should qualify that he voted for Obama in 2008 and as I recall was calling himself a Democrat back then. That lasted until about Fall 2010, I think. I guess old denials are hard to break, as Stevens might say. I said at this lunch that I could easily get how he voted for W. as a compassionate conservative in 2000. But why did you vote to re-elect him in 2004, by which time it should have been incredibly clear that Iraq was a disastrous mistake? I'll never forget his answer: "I think I just really wanted to believe that what W. was saying about the war was true." I didn't have the vocabulary "permission structure" in my lexicon at that point. But what he was saying is that W. said just enough to give him permission to vote for W. Which is what he really wanted to do. That's exactly what is happening this week at the RNC. At the time this actually occurred, my attitude was kind of, "We're friends. Let bygones be bygones." This is the same guy who in Spring 2017 complained to me about all this noise about Trump, who he'd voted for. He wasn't supporting or defending President Toxic at that point. He just was sick of the noise about him. As I posted already, at the time I was polite, and the only question I asked was, "What did you expect when you voted for him?" One of my escort buddies came up with a good nickname for this guy, or his behavior. Mr. McGoo. Because it's like he doesn't see or connect his steps, and the consequences of his own actions. Or, as Stuart Stevens might say, he doesn't really want to think too hard about the likely consequences of his own voting decisions. Stevens himself didn't really want to think about the consequences of re-electing Bush by Gay-baiting. Shucks. We were at least trying to be our better angels. If we're talking warmonger, that's the real danger I see today. I'm sure many who supported Hitler didn't really intend that whole thing about concentration camps. Leni Reifenstahl, Director of the Nazi propaganda film Triumph Of The Will, always defended her movie against claims that it paved the way for genocide with the willfully ignorant explanation that the movie never even explicitly mentioned or attacked Jews. I think President Toxic is already paving the rhetorical groundwork for war with China. As in, "China virus". One of the reasons the Hitler analogy is a stretch is that Hitler was very clear that he actually wanted Mein Kampf. This is more like Mein Herr McGoo. Like with COVID-19, President Toxic won't have a plan. He won't think much about what he decided to do today, which will be very different than what he decides to do tomorrow. General Kelly or Mattis, hardly peaceniks, would of course try to prevent the worst consequences of President Toxic's behavior. But we all know what happened to them. And it just makes sense. President Toxic is way smarter than them, anyway. And he's smarter than Bolton, too! The final thing it takes to arrive at nuclear holocaust is willing Mr. McGoos in your base, who really want to believe what President Toxic is telling them is true. About the China virus. About how China Joe will hand the US to Xi on a silver platter. About how China and secret Chinese labs did this to us on purpose, as Fox News reported and everybody who isn't lied to by the fake news knows. I'm not predicting this will happen if President Toxic wins. But I think it's far more likely that President Toxic would go this route than President Biden. Biden will get to work on containment, I think. I understand that "containment" with the Soviet Union in real terms meant things like the Vietnam War, and all kinds of proxy wars and assassinations, among other bad things. So we have a huge number of challenges ahead of us. And this could end very badly. I agree with you that we should be very sober. And vigilant for warmongers.

Why Stuart Stevens Wants to Defeat Donald Trump I'm adding this interview here to play off the OP's thread title. At least Stuart Stevens is shocked and morally indignant about the amazing toxic waste Trump Presidency. Stevens does not use the word "shocked". But it is close enough to describe how he feels, alongside the whole Lincoln Project gang. As well as God knows how many other Republican consultants, Republican politicians, Republican ex-Presidential candidates, and Republican ex-Presidents. This is not a good omen for the Republican Party under President Toxic. There's three different levels of shock that are worth noting. The first level of shock is Stevens' own shock at what his beloved Republican Party has become. I know part of why I am binge reading everything I can find about Stevens' epiphany is that I feel like I have been having these intense conversations with him for many years. Which is to say I actually have been having these intense discussions for years. But with Republican friends and clients I decided I no longer respect, and don't want to have any more conversations with. This is helping me process my very mixed feelings about that. I feel a little bit better about what I did. And a little bit worse about what Republicans I was close to believed. Stevens is saying it was all a lie, it was racist and rotten to the core, and it really just needs to be burned to the ground. This is the Republican who worked for W. and Romney, among many others. If he feels that way, he's way further out there than I am. Whole chunks of what he writes are conversations, almost verbatim, I already had with a number of Republicans. I remember the conversations about Trump hijacking the party. Sometimes with the unstated implication that I should feel sorry for these Republicans, who were almost the victims of aggression. It never quite made sense. How do you hijack a major political party in the United States? Why is Trump saying inflammatory things I've heard coming out of your mouth, with increasing intensity, for years? And, after he was elected, why do you seem to be falling in line, rather than fighting him? So I agree with Stevens. President Toxic allowed the Republican Party, and these individuals I knew, to show their true face. As President Toxic himself said to an opponent, it's not a pretty face. There is also an element of willful denial, or willful ignorance, which Stevens talks a lot about. Again, all of this is a trip down memory lane for me. And not a fun one. Stevens' biggest claim to fame is Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign. He still believes Mitt would have been a great President. One who would have tried to be one of the better angels of the party. And who was the kind of guy who might have balanced the federal budget. Maybe. I had a horrible conversation with a guy who I can describe as a Romney Republican in Fall 2012. I kept arguing that in theory, cutting taxes without also cutting spending - like Romney/Ryan proposed - will just blow up the deficit again. Which is of course what Republicans always bitch about. And in reality, when Reagan and W. cut taxes, it blew up the deficit. But when H.W. and Clinton raised taxes, it reduced the deficit. I kept asking him to explain how the math worked different than in theory, or in reality under every President since I was born. And the clearest answer I could get, which wasn't clear at all, is that either I wasn't very good at math, or he wasn't very good at explaining math. I ended up deciding this is going nowhere. And that Bill Clinton had the best one word answer for how he balanced the budget: "arithmetic". Sure as shit, when Ryan finally got to pass his tax cut law thanks to President Toxic, we were back to a $1 trillion annual deficit well before COVID-19 hit. Stevens still seems to believe that Romney would have figured out the math differently. So at least part of the economic agenda was not a complete lie to him. Maybe Rush Limbaugh is just more honest with himself. He said that all that Republican carping about the deficit "has been bogus for as long as it's been around." The second level of shock involved in reading what Stevens and other Lincoln Project leaders have to say is that I'm shocked they are shocked. Which is to say, we all know they weren't really shocked at all. At least with some of their lies and racism and bigotry. They knew exactly what they were doing. There's many ways to take what Mehlman said and did. But as a Gay man who helped fight for same sex marriage, I think it's fair to take it the cynical way. Mehlman was perhaps saying this to Blacks: "We're sorry that we race-baited you for a generation to elect conservatives who thwarted your interests. We're going to stop doing it. Because it's less effective than it used to be. It's now more effective to Gay-bait." Those are not his words, of course. But I think it's fair to say Stevens and Mehlman knew exactly what they were doing. I think the third level of shock is the most important one for what happens in November. Everything Stevens and the Lincoln Project are saying is going to come as a shock to almost all of the people who still approve of President Toxic, and see him as the rightful leader of their Republican Party. And shocked isn't a strong enough word. They'll be shocked and indignant. How could these people like Stevens say these things? They are the liars. And they are obviously part of The Deep State. Or maybe even Q Anon. Reading Stevens helps me understand what's happening right now at the RNC. Denial is a powerful thing. I think the Republicans are working very hard right now to deny. All conventions exaggerate, and try to make their party's leaders and policies look better than they are. The over-the-top alternate reality of this RNC mostly feels desperate, to the point of being counterproductive. The best explanation of what's going on I heard was from a Morning Joe talking head this week, who like Scarborough is a lifelong Republican and now Never Trumper. His key phrase is "permission structure". Which is to say that the people actually paying attention to this show are pretty much the Republican base. And the effort is designed to give the big chunks of the base that are fraying a permission structure to vote for President Toxic, anyway. Even though they see all the things Stevens and The Lincoln Project is talking about and it troubles them. This guy said that as a conservative, I have to tell you that they are doing it well. They are getting my juices going. That makes perfect sense to me. I think the election is going to get uglier, stupider, and more racist. It's not good news for President Toxic that both Kasich at the DNC and the crazy rich White gun pointing couple at the RNC are trying to persuade the same group of Republicans. Even as the Democrats consolidate and Independents keep saying they lean heavily to Biden. If 2020 is like 2018 - start from the base and subtract - President Toxic will in fact lose in a landslide. There's going to have to be a massive amount of denial and permission structures between now and November to keep this alternative reality of a perfectly perfect President afloat. Red meat (including lots more racist meat about Black Marxists abolishing your suburb and cancelling you, I'm guessing) will be tossed out everywhere. I thought of this yesterday when an escort buddy told me about his most recent email from his sibling. I mentioned in a different post that this friend has hit a wall with a sibling who he has always been close to, but who supports President Toxic. His biggest gripe is how Trump is throwing LGBTQ folks under the bus. So she sent him an email today, responding to his email. His sibling basically invited him to look into the Log Cabin Republicans, with a hyperlink, who have some interesting things to say. Which is of course Grenell saying President Toxic is the most pro-LGBTQ President ever. My friend's reaction was this is complete bullshit. Of course, if my buddy's sibling wanted to learn about what "LGBTQ issues" means, which I'm pretty sure they know very little about, it would take 30 seconds or so to Google HRC's list of "unprecedented steps" Trump has taken to attack the LGBTQ community. It would have taken 10 minutes to read. To be fair-minded. the sibling could have emailed both the Log Cabin tweet from Grenell and the HRC list to my buddy and said, "One says Trump is doing really good. But the one from HRC says he's attacking your community. What do you make of this?" That would be what a sibling might do if they wanted information, or understanding. Or just to show empathy. I think what the sibling really wants is a permission structure to feel like it's perfectly okay to vote for President Toxic. After all, he's the most pro-LGBTQ President ever! I think between now and November we're going to have a lot of shock and indignation on the part of ardent Trumpists. They'll be shocked and indignant that Gay men like me and my buddy don't see that President Toxic is the most pro-LGBTQ President ever! They'll be shocked that the Lincoln Project is so mean and dishonest. They'll be shocked that President Toxic doesn't get more thanks for his remarkable leadership on COVID-19. They'll be shocked that the mainstream media wants to cancel them, even as they speak on national TV about how the mainstream media sucks, and go to rallies in support of cancelling a woman's right to choose. They'll be shocked and indignant about many things. The thing that will be most shocking, of course, is when President Toxic loses on election night. And I think they will be shocked. Stevens knows his former party way better than I do. If he's saying that they are all heavily invested in believing and defending the lies, I believe him.

@numazu1 Thank you for the info sir! I also concur with the other gents here. More PLEASE, your writings are one of the only brite spots in this COVID darkness.

Most of this ease restrictions are currently only applied to business travellers. Surely in the right direction though. For malaysia-singapore reciprocal agreement, there is 2 scheme. Short term business traveller less than 14 days, they need to be in their country 14 days prior, get tested 3 days prior, get tested during arrival, and free to go after getting negative results. And long term workers allowed to go back to home town once every 3 month, observing home quarantine 7 days prior and after. Middle of the line approach that i hope will extend to tourist soon.

Is the "Make America Great Again" working, seeing that many countries won't accept us. Is anyone else tired of winning yet , smh

I second that.

Rio Inside, Part 1 This was only going to be one post about 3 rainy days in Rio, and what I did. But because I can’t shut up, I am breaking this up into two posts. Late last week, a cold front of polar air suddenly pushed its way through the southern states of Brazil. Since it is winter, and I am always unprepared for winter whenever I go to Brazil during this time , it meant more than a good chance of the arrival of the occasional cold air and rain. This weather is obviously not conducive for most outdoor activities, which is the one thing I do whenever I can when I am in Brazil. But not when one has to be dressed like this (from the news last Thursday): So this was the weather forecast for Thursday to Saturday, with comments by me: This 3-day of rain and cold coincided with a 3-day break from the BF, as he had to scurry back to Sao Paulo. So I am left alone in Rio with the weather being bad. So, there is nothing to do but to look for trouble, or have trouble look for me. Day 1: Getting Back in the Grind “Putaria Agora” – the definition of my weekend in Rio Just my experience: I’ve always found Grindr in Sao Paulo to be much better with hooking up with locals than Grindr in Rio. My guess is, because of the larger tourist flow in Rio, there is more competition from “fresh blood” than the relatively less touristy Sao Paulo. Nowadays, with COVID decimating the tourist numbers, I’ve found that i was getting way more messages from non-GP locals in Rio, than even in Sao Paulo, so I was keen on taking advantage of this change. I’ve been discreetly looking at Grindr with the BF still with me (he does not have Grindr in his phone, to the best of my knowledge), and I was finding the same burst of activity that I have found last week in Sao Paulo. I call it “the COVID bump” - gays looking to bump and grind, as the gays are not finding their usual outlets to let loose available to them (clubs, parties, crowds), so hooking up, tho very risky COVID-wise, is one of the few things to do these days. So after lunch, when the BF drove away, I switched on the Grindr. It didn’t take long to get messages. The first guy who I thought was cute that messaged me, I replied back. cute 24 year old Carioca, latino looks, floppy hair. And it went like this: Hello. What are you looking for? Sex. Host? Yes. Nudes? And then I got a barrage of nudes. And then this intersting question: You like dominating? Dominating? This was interesting. This kid had a gigantic dick but wanted to be dominated by this Asian. Very very interesting. An hour later he was here. Handsome and lean. Very nice and tan, with the expected tan line where his sunga would be. Was very innocent looking. Aaaaaand... I tried my best in being “dominant”. Pushing, shoving, slapping, topping. Thought about what best swear Portuguese swear words I knew, with some English thrown in. I think it went well. It was nice seeing that big dick flop around while I was play-acting. I might like this dominating thing. Afterwards we walked the beach front of Copacabana. While the sex was good, his story was better. We had coffee. I paid for the coffee (a grand total of $2). Exchanged Whatsapp. Bid farewell. Getting back to the apartment meant opening up Grindr again, while watching TV. Some time passed and I got a message from a profile that had one green eye in focus. I open the messages sent and he sent 5 photos of himself, fully clothed. He was very handsome, branquinho, and those green eyes leapt out of the phone. He was 28, fairly tall. Very clean cut. The face alone was the selling point, and he new it. He wanted to kiss and cuddle. I invited him over. He wasn’t built like a Greek god or anything, but he was fit, big ass and thighs, which is a turn on. Big chest. Lots of cuddling, kissing, nibbling. Fairly low key and relaxing. He stayed for about two hours and left. While ordering in Uber Eats (sushi, yummy), I took another look at my conversations so far. Lots of good choices and convos, but I was looking for someone who could potentially stay the night, since it was getting late, and I was in the mood for overnight company tonight. I zeroed in on an 18 year old, lean and smooth looker who was very good conversation on Grindr. He was far away tho, in northern Duque de Caxias, north of Galeao airport, and needed a way to get to me. \ After weighing all my options, and possible risks (and looking at the many many nudes he sent me – nice face, fat dick, giant ass, big thighs, yummy abs), I asked him to get on a quick video chat with me. He quickly obliged. He was a cutie! Killer smile also. I decided to call him an Uber. 45 minute trip for $5. I ran to the closest 24 hour Zona Sul grocery store to replenish the alcohol supply. The good thing about calling an Uber for a trick is you can track when they are close by. When his Uber was close, I ran down to meet him outside. As advertised, and taller than I thought. He looks more indio than white, but because of Brazil’s amazing racial mixing, his tall nose and light brown eyes made his look more like the typical mixed Brazilian. When he got out of his Uber, he was reserved and shy, but once we got indoors, he showed me the biggest smile I’ve ever seen. Very attentive and charming. Wore me out, as only an 18 year old can. He stayed the night. With all the horror stories about crime in Brazil, it is naturally unnerving to have a stranger stay with you for an overnight. But it is something I have done before, and I do what I can to (1) do my due diligence to find someone I can trust and (2) make sure I am in a place that is secure enough (like with cameras or a porter that asks for ID) for peace of mind. I wouldn't recommend this for newbies. I say this as someone who invited someone over on their first ever night in Brazil. He didn’t kill me in my sleep (actually woke me up once for sex). He didn’t rob me. He didn’t ask for money in the end. He only asked for an Uber back after Café da Manha. He came 5 times total, as only an 18 year old can. Up next, Instagram boys, and another sauna visit.

I thank everyone for their comments. Let me please set the record straight. 1. Even in this time of covid19, I am one of the fortunate ones. I am healthy and I am able to work part-time for about 4 hours each day. 2. I have a Thai partner. We enjoy being together and spending time together. Again I am fortunate in that I am here and he is here. I am sorry for all who have freinds and boyfriends here who are stuck overseas through no fault of their own. When I met my boyfriend on the Blued app he had never been in any gay establishment in Bangkok. He lived on the outskirts of the city, comes from near Chiang Rai and has a busy job with a company providing translation services. 3. If you had wanted a summary of gay bars 5 years ago I would happily be submitting long reports. The last time I was in Soi Twilight was a few nights before DIck's closed. I believe that was two years ago. A few friends and I met for one last dinner for old times sake. We then moved over to Hotmale 2, one of the host bars near the entrance to the soi for a couple of drinks and to people watch although there were not any people that night. I have not been in a gogo bar in that soi for about 4 years. 4. I have not been in Silom Soi 4 for more than 2 years. 5. When I used to go to Soi Twilight I would cut through Patpong 2 to get a taxi on Silom to avoid the rip off drivers. I have not been in the Patpong area since bars started moving there. I am sorry I cannot provide the reports that some posters want. One sad note for those who enjoy fine dining at a medium price. La Table de Tee, the little French nouvelle cuisine style reastaurant in a dead end alley off Saladaeng and a favourite of many is a casualty of the virus. It will not reopen.

Me too, 20 + yrs....why do customers seem to critique the boys in Thailand MUCH more than any other place I've been.....very direct and rude at times, is that because Thai's are direct and is fair play.....just don't feel comfortable when I hear comments like "he's ugly with those tattoos" or He's too fat/chubby, yet the person making the comment is a cow....wtf?

Re-read Divine Madman's comment and think of it as reverse engineering but remember that kind" includes generous.

Lies and false promises are coming from both side , Boys are trying to extract as more money as they can from their clients and the Farangs are trying to extract the best from the boys for their money. From many trips at the last 20 years I saw everything no one is saint .

I often wonder what it would be like if the boys had a criteria to pick US.....how many of us would pass muster, lol I know they talk about us with their friends, coworkers.....maybe they have their own site where they talk about their customers (new site idea Mike, lol) I know they do this willingly , for the most part.....but the scams (lies) have gotten bigger and more frequent than years ago,,,, maybe the shared learning from their site? I've been to MANY places where there are these type of places for hookups (client/boy)....I have to say I feel the most for the guys in Thailand (Viet, Thai, Cambodian, etc...) Many are treated so poorly, publicly examined and expected to do so much ....I know we all grow old....but many don't do it gracefully (looks/attitude/hygiene) and Thailand seems to attract these types from all over. I know, I know...there will be lovely stories about how many have been "rescued" or treated so well with money and gifts beyond their dreams...blah, blah, blah. But they have become more calloused from so many lies and promises from Farangs ....and no one here thinks they do this......but do we?