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That's the conventional thinking. But you have to be the opposite of your opponent, not a clone. The electorate is hungry for a clear choice. Young people (under 35) have not been excited enough to vote since Obama was running. The Dems need a ticket that excites them and gets them out. This is not the time to worry about playing to the center. You're going to get them anyway because they know all to well the real Trump. And you're not going to get any Trumpsters to cross over. Like in a military campaign, this is the moment to do the unexpected. I believe Kamala and Pete would complement each other in a way that Trump and Vance can not. If Trump suspects for a moment that he's being upstaged by Vance, he won't be able to hide it. Could indeed happen. His presidency was full of such examples.

That's exactly what I'm suggesting. Harris and Buttigieg both poll well with women and young people--two crucial groups the Dems need to come out in force. She needs a white male on the ticket with military background. Agree that Mark Kelly would be be a good choice, too, as RockyRoadTravel suggests. (Regarding the swallowing, breath through your nose and you'll be fine).

One guy whose name has been mentioned for VP recently is Peter Buttigieg. Has name recognition, a serving cabinet member and ex-military.

From CNN President Joe Biden has thrown his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris to become the next Democratic nominee for president after announcing Sunday he is dropping out of the race. Should Harris officially become the party’s standard-bearer, she would be the first Black woman and first Asian American to lead the ticket of a major political party. The historic endorsement comes after weeks of disarray within the Democratic Party, following a disastrous debate performance by Biden that called into question his ability to win a second term and govern for another four years. Biden ended his campaign Sunday amid growing calls from members of his party to step aside. Logistically, Harris is the natural heir to the ticket as Biden’s running mate. She would inherit the Biden campaign’s massive political operation and war chest. Recent polling has also shown her performing better against former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, than Biden and other potential Democratic contenders.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race for the White House on Sunday, ending his bid for reelection following a disastrous debate with Donald Trump that raised doubts about his fitness for office just four months before the election. The decision comes after escalating pressure from Biden’s Democratic allies to step aside following the June 27 debate, in which the 81-year-old president trailed off, often gave nonsensical answers and failed to call out the former president’s many falsehoods. Biden plans to serve out the remainder of his term in office, which ends at noon on Jan. 20, 2025.

+1

Actually Golden Cock merged with Nature Boy further down same soi. I believe the GC mamasan can still be found there. Super A remains open for business. Its hawkers can be found on your right shortly after passing the Mango Tree restaurant.

I choose massage over offs most of the time and I reserve at lest 10 minutes to reverse roles and massage the masseur. On occasion some guys present particularly well-muscled bodies that cause me to to extend the time I allow myself this pleasure. And it not just the hunks who can present me with this type of passive satisfaction.,. Twinks and twunks can also come with solid muscle tone that cries out to be touched. I've also found that the recipient not infrequently becomes more affectionate as a result of the experience that they normally don't find themselves receiving. But be forewarned: this can lead to sex.🙂

The following article was posted on the National Public Radio (US) website last year. It examines a lot of contributing factors, some of which we have control over--food, alcohol, sleep aids and pre-flight preparations. It also looks those we have little or no influence over. It may not change your life but it may affect how you feel after arriving. From NPR If you're trying to squeeze some travel into the last few weeks of summer, you'll want to get the most out of your vacation. And nothing ruins a trip to the Louvre or a scuba-diving excursion like your body telling you it's time for bed NOW. So can you "hack" jet lag, so to speak? Or at least mitigate it? We posed the question to NPR's International Desk and got an array of helpful answers from our globetrotting staff. For instance, NPR producer Greg Dixon is enthusiastic about an app for jet lag called Time Shifter. "You input your travel schedule and it spits out a plan for a couple days before and a couple days after your flights, advising you when to get/avoid natural light, drink coffee, take melatonin, etc.," Greg writes. "It has worked really, really well." Research on jet lag is limited, and most of it is on athletes, who — much like NPR's journalists — are expected to jet across time zones and perform at their best. A recent consensus statement to help athletes manage jet lag and travel fatigue in the journal Sports Medicine, offers few guiding principles. David Stevens, a physiologist from Adelaide, Australia, who co-authored the statement while working at a sleep research center at Flinders University, breaks it down. First off, you'll want to understand the workings of your body's circadian rhythms, that is, our internal clock that tells us when it's time to fall asleep and when to wake up. Then you can take advantage of what sleep researchers call zeitgebers or time-givers, external factors that set the pace of these rhythms. Light is the most important one but exercise, meals and even social cues can also trigger sleepiness or wakefulness. Whether you use an app or not, Stevens suggests starting your time zone adjustment a few days before your trip begins. "One of your best strategies to prepare for any westward travel is you just go to sleep, for example, an hour later each night," Stevens says. And go ahead and allow yourself to stay in bed an hour later each morning as well. Things get tougher when you're heading eastward. "It's brutal from west to east. It usually takes me 10 days to adjust, say from Washington to Tokyo," writes NPR's Asia editor Vincent Ni. Stevens says there's a simple explanation for this. Going to bed later than normal – as you do when traveling westward – is relatively easy for our body clocks to understand, because you get more tired in the evening. "My body's going, hang on, you're meant to be asleep now, why aren't you asleep?" he says. But when you travel eastward, you have to try to go to sleep when you're not yet tired, and that's just... confusing to your circadian clock, Stevens says. "The body's going, hang on, you're not meant to be asleep yet. What are you doing?" And to make matters worse, one of the body's peak performance times, when we're naturally most alert, is around 7 p.m., he adds. So in these cases, Stevens says, prep a few days before your trip by going to sleep earlier than normal and getting up early to take in lots of morning light. Continues at https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/08/20/1194877864/jetlag-cures-symptoms-travel-sleep-app

From The Thaiger Thai AirAsia X announced the suspension of its sole Australian route between Sydney and Bangkok, effective August 1. Despite the temporary halt, the airline assures it remains committed to the Australian market and plans a grand return in December with increased flights and enhanced connectivity. The decision to suspend services was driven by fleet management and operation hub movement. As part of a strategic shift, Thai AirAsia X will relocate all operations back to Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport (DMK) from October 1, moving away from Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK). To minimise disruption, Thai AirAsia X will reroute impacted Sydney-Bangkok flights via Kuala Lumpur, operated by AirAsia X Malaysia. Affected passengers can alter travel plans with free flight changes, flight credits worth the value of the flight plus 10%, or opt for full refunds. Notifications will be sent via email or SMS to direct bookers, while others should check their booking channels. Thai AirAsia X previously ceased flights to Melbourne and Brisbane in May 2023 and April 2020 respectively, leaving Sydney as its only Australian operation since December 2022. The move to Don Mueang is aimed at leveraging the extensive AirAsia network for better connectivity and easier access to central Bangkok. Parent company AirAsia has been active in Australia and New Zealand, with new services from subsidiaries including Indonesia AirAsia’s Cairns-Bali route and AirAsia Malaysia’s flights to Perth. The group also plans to expand into Europe, North America, and Africa, reported Karryon. In related news, Thai AirAsia announced a new route connecting Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport and Lampang, marking the airline’s 25th domestic destination in Thailand. Starting October 1, travellers can look forward to daily flights on this new route, operated by the airline’s trusty Airbus A320 aircraft.

Mr. Fisher wasn't screwed over; he's getting exactly what he contracted for. I think his real bitch is that he doesn't like the idea that the lowlifes (most of us) are getting a better deal if we choose to take advantage of it.

From Thai PBS World Thai cybercrime police, working with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission and internet and mobile phone service providers, have launched a joint operation, codenamed “Blasting the Bandit’s Bridge”, to crack down on call centre scam gangs in Myanmar and Laos, operating in the King’s Roman entertainment complex, located in the Golden Triangle. According to Pol Lt-Gen Tatchai Pitanilabutr, the assistant national police chief, the King’s Roman complex contains casinos, hotels, other entertainment venues and an airport to handle tourists from Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and China. The complex and its surrounding areas are known as safe havens for scammers, particularly Chinese, operating call centres defrauding victims in Thailand and China. Thais and other nationalities have been lured by promises of high pay to work in casinos, hotels and other entertainment establishments, but were eventually forced to work as slave labour in call centres. Pol Lt-Gen Tatchai said that the officials will use special signal jamming devices to disrupt internet and phone traffic sent to the area, but with limited impacts on legitimate service users, adding that mobile phone service providers will also cut the signals of suspicious phone numbers. He noted that telecom cables should be confined within Thai territory and should not be extended into neighbouring countries, which would be helping the illegal activities of the call centres. The assistant police chief warned that SIM card retail outlets, which sell SIM cards without proper registration, could face legal action and be banned from selling them again. Commenting on a report that some scammers have resorted to the use of the Starlink service, to bypass ordinary mobile phone services, Tatchai said the Starlink service is not as stable as the use of SIM cards with the mobile phone services provided by the four existing providers. Meanwhile, in Chiang Mai province, police have arrested a Hang Dong district police officer, Pol Lt-Col “Bandhit”, who allegedly ran a call centre in the province. “Bandhit” was booked early this morning at a temple, where he entered monkhood in an attempt to evade arrest. He was rapidly defrocked and escorted to Chang Phuek police station for questioning. The suspect claimed that he was just a member of the call centre, which was actually run by Chinese businessmen.

From Pattaya Mail Passengers advised to arrive 4 hours early Airports of Thailand (AOT) is facing severe disruptions as the Navitaire check-in system has gone down, impacting automatic passport control. Passengers are urged to arrive four hours early as the manual check-in process causes significant delays. Mr. Kirati Kitmanawat, President of Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited (AOT), addressed the issue caused by the failure of the Navitaire Host Data Center. This disruption affects all airlines worldwide using this system, making it impossible for passengers to check in and reserve seats. The primary airlines already impacted include Thai Air Asia (FD) and Scoot Tiger (TR), with potential effects on: 1.Air Asia Berhad (AK) 2.Philippines AirAsia (Z2) 3.Indonesia AirAsia (QZ) 4.Air Asia Berhad (AK) 5.Firefly Airlines (FY) 6.INDIGO AIRLINES (6E) 7.Jet Star Asia (3K) 8.CEBU PACIFIC AIR (5J) 9.GO AIRLINES (INDIA) PRIVATE LTD. (G8) 10.HONG KONG EXPRESS AIRWAYS (UO) 11.JETSTAR AIRWAYS PTY LIMITED (JQ) 12.SPICEJET LTD. (SG) 13.THAI AIRASIA X (XJ) 14.Norse Atlantic Airways (NO) Due to this incident, passenger check-in times are significantly longer. AOT requests passengers to allow four hours before their flights to avoid missing their departures. The automatic passport control system is also down, prompting AOT to coordinate with the Immigration Bureau to fully staff all checkpoints at Don Mueang Airport (DMK) and Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK).

My experience over a half century strongly suggests there are straight guys EVERYWHERE willing to get sucked. Count on it.

From Pattaya Mail Expats angry at huge concessions in latest Thai visa announcements By Barry Kenyon Longstay expats with expensive visas say the new 60 days visa-exempt policy and the 180 days Destination Thailand Visa have made the Elite visa and the annual extensions of stay for retirement and marriage worthless. Geoffrey Fisher, a Brit who recently paid 900,000 baht (about 20,000 UK pounds) for the five year Elite visa said he had wasted his money as more or less anyone can now stay in Thailand almost indefinitely for a paltry sum. The disenchanted argue that the 60 days visa-exempt can evidently be extended at local immigration for 30 days more followed by a border run to start the whole process again. Some immigration officers at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport have allegedly told new arrivals they can now do as many border runs as they like. Separately, the five years and multi-entry Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) offers 180 days on entry for 10,000 baht (around 200 UK pounds) plus the chance to extend for a further 180 days. The process can then be repeated by briefly leaving the country. American expat Dan Silverman, who holds a yearly extension based on retirement, said, “It’s just ridiculous. I have to keep 800,000 baht in a Thai bank, obtain medical insurance, face ever-changing regulations and regularly report my Thai address throughout the year, or be fined.” He added, “And for what, when you can come and go as you please with the new visas?” Views such as this are currently being voiced widely on social media as expats digest the latest visa announcement. Of course, the critics may be over-reacting. Information officially published so far does not specify the number of times the visa-exempt discretion may be used. The DTV requires a cash bond or other proof of 500,000 baht. It is principally aimed at digital nomads and freelancers working for foreign companies (not Thai based) and applicants are expected to show to embassies contracts of employment or portfolios of work undertaken. Yet the foreign affairs ministry also accepts DTV applications from participants in Thai “soft power” activities such as Thai cooking classes, Muay Thai training, medical treatment, music festivals or seminars. Although applicants have to show some relevant documentation on application, there is wide concern about the ambiguities. One expat with a one year marriage extension said, “Would an appointment letter from a hospital for extracting your teeth enable you to get 180 days plus an extension of 180 days? Does a foreigner learning Thai cuisine need five years to learn how to cook?” Immigration consultants say that the basic problem is that the foreign affairs ministry controls visas from embassies, but the immigration bureau under the interior ministry is responsible for extensions and what happens after arrival. Immigration lawyer Jessataporn Bunnag said, “The DTV throws a great deal of responsibility on embassies to check out initial applicants and on the immigration bureau to monitor extensions and repeats.” He expected some clarification once the impact of the changes had been analyzed. Meanwhile, the Bangkok Post suggests that questions may be emailed to deeperdiveThailand@gmail.com Next week that newspaper will interview Narunchai Niddad, deputy director of consular affairs at the foreign affairs ministry. One is bound to wonder how many of the beneficiaries of the new visas will understand that, once they are in Thailand for six months or more in a calendar year, they become tax residents of Thailand and subject to the income tax policy of the Thai Revenue Department. Whatever that is.

Pretty foolish.

From Thai PBS World AirAsia announced on its Facebook page that the outage of Microsoft Azure has affected its reservation and check-in systems at all airports. As a result, the airline has had to resort to a manual system, causing delays for passengers. Passengers are therefore advised to arrive at the airport three hours before departure time.

The city

Construction is well underway on a new JW Marriott nearby.

Stayed two nights at Le Meridien and can give it 👍+ for room and staff. Buffet breakfast about as good as it gets. A good splurge treat. (surprised by how many locals still refer to it as Saigon)

Forgot to mention that I did fire up Grindr just to sample what was out there and found mix of some tourists and good cross section of locals. Noting to compare with what you’ll find in Hanoi or HCMC but nonetheless suitable potential. For the record, no one shot me in the ear whole trip.

Rumor that HM’s Midnight Bar finished 51st still unconfirmed. 🙂 From CNN 1. Bar Leone (Hong Kong) 2. Zest (Seoul) 3. Jigger & Pony (Singapore) 4. Coa (Hong Kong) 5. Bar Benfiddich (Tokyo) 6. Nutmeg & Clove (Singapore) 7. BKK Social Club (Bangkok) 8. Penrose (Kuala Lumpur) 9. Argo (Hong Kong) 10. The Aubrey (Hong Kong) 11. Virtù (Tokyo) 12. The Cocktail Club (Jakarta) 13. Vesper (Bangkok) 14. Hope & Sesame (Guangzhou) 15. Sago House (Singapore) 16. Night Hawk (Singapore) 17. Darkside (Hong Kong) 18. Mahaniyom Cocktail Bar (Bangkok) 19. The Savory Project (Hong Kong) 20. Bar Cham (Seoul) 21. Bar Us (Bangkok) 22. The St. Regis Bar (Macao) 23. The SG Club (Tokyo) 24. Penicillin (Hong Kong) 25. Offtrack (Singapore) 26. Quinary (Hong Kong) 27. Pantja (Jakarta) 28. Craftroom (Osaka) 29. Smoke & Bitters (Hiriketiya, Sri Lanka) 30. Vender (Taichung, Taiwan) 31. Native (Singapore) 32. Origin Bar (Singapore) 33. The Curator (Manila) 34. The Bellwood (Tokyo) 35. Analogue Initiative (Singapore) 36. Bar Trigona (Kuala Lumpur) 37. Bar Mood (Taipei) 38. Employees Only (Singapore) 39. Barc (Kathmandu) 40. ZLB23 (Bengaluru, India) 41. Reka (Kuala Lumpur) 42. Fura (Singapore) 43. CMYK (Changsha, China) 44. The Public House (Taipei) 45. Mostly Harmless (Hong Kong) 46. Alice (Seoul) 47. The Halflington (Hanoi) 48. Le Chamber (Seoul) 49. Atlas (Singapore) 50. Pine & Co (Seoul) https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/16/travel/asia-best-bars-2024-intl-hnk/index.html

The “stipulated period” is 60 days. You can apply for additional 30:days for total of 90.

From Bangkok Post The Immigration Bureau (IB) is set to take measures to ensure immigration control at airports takes no more than 45 seconds per person. The move is part of efforts to support the government's expanded visa-free scheme for foreign visitors, which took effect on Monday. Pol Maj Gen Phanthana Nutchanart, the IB deputy chief, said on Tuesday that the bureau is ready to follow the government's policy. The number of immigration officials will also be increased to ease long queues in front of immigration check-in booths at airports during peak passenger hours. "We will try to ensure that each arriving passenger will take no more than 45 seconds to pass through immigration," Pol Maj Gen Phanthana said. Continues at https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2830383/immigration-bureau-implements-45-second-processing-for-expanded-visa-free-scheme

The Thailand News Service is reporting that foreigners wishing to stay in the kingdom beyond the stipulated period must apply for an extension, which can be granted for up to an additional 30 days.