Matt you're spot on regarding Medellin. The anti gringo sentiment stems from a combination of scum bags coming here for whores and drugs and prices being driven up in neighborhoods like Poblado. It doesn't help that quite a few of these dirtbags have exploited underage kids. There are stickers popping up around town stating, "Gringos go home." I've lived here for years though and have never experienced anything negative because of being a foreigner.
Last December my Thai wife broke her wrist in a fall from a ladder.
She is a recently retired nurse and she told the doctor at the public hospital that she needed surgery, he disagreed and sent her on her way with a cast. We travelled to Toronto where I am from for the Christmas holidays, but she complained of pain and discomfort the entire trip. Back in Thailand her cast came off mid January however for the next 3-4 months and several visits to different doctors things did not improve. She eventually had an MRI which revealed that she did indeed need surgery which she had a month ago and things are improving. She saw a total of four doctors and only the last one recommended surgery.
My own experience with the Thai health care system is as follows. A couple of years ago I had a rotator cuff tear. A sports doctor I consulted recommended an MRI which revealed serious tearing. Surgery followed. This was during the stupid lockdown scam period and the doctor was supposed to do the surgery in the public hospital which unfortunately closed the operating rooms to surgeries the day before I was to have mine. Fortunately the doctor had privileges at the private Bangkok Hospital which was open but cost a great deal more. The doctor did a great job but the procedure cost me about $10,000 more than it would have done at the public hospital even though the doctor performing the surgery was the same. It took about 6 months to recover and another 3 months before I was able to do pushups again. I'm now back to doing 15 pushups every other day and I am 77.
It would have taken me 6 months to get an MRI and 2 years waiting to have the surgery in the Peoples Republic of Kanada.
All in all health care is not perfect in Thailand but it is a lot better than most western countries these days. Research is necessary. In the public system there are a lot of incompetent doctors, the private system is better but much more expensive.
What happened to all those tax dollars I paid over decades for "the best health care system in the world", a refrain heard often from scumbag politicians in the Peoples Republic of Kanada when ever health care reform came up.
I don’t think it matters if the democrat candidate is still Biden if the election is rigged anyhow. It didn’t matter in 2020 when Biden hardly left his basement and yet still somehow won. The POTUS and VP are pointless figureheads and from the last “Juneteenth” celebration, where Biden and Harris were standing right next to each other in a public event, the secret service knows it as well. Since when has it ever been a good security risk to have those two standing together at a public event? Let’s face it, the Deep State is in charge. It does matter if Trump wins either, same case. Look at how Speaker Johnson met with Trump and then Johnson rams the Ukraine spending right on through with zero for our own borders security. The only solution is to somehow end The Federal Reserve banking cartel which has enabled all of this insanity for the past century plus.
Ukraine has sunk or severely damaged 15 Russian warships, fully half Russia's Black Sea fleet. They are scurrying for safety now and Cuba is a non threatening, warm water port of call to recover from an ass kicking.
Ukraine has “claimed” to have sunk 15 ships. Frankly it doesn’t really matter. We, the US and its war mongering NEOCONS, instigated this conflict back in 2014. We are completely in the wrong. There was no need to have NATO further invade the bordering countries surrounding Russia. The loss of Ukrainian and Russian lives is a complete waste and the whole thing is unnecessary. There has been absolutely no need to make Russia into an enemy, and now we have driven them into the arms of our other threats, China and Iran. We are now looking at fighting wars against three or more opponents at the same time with a much depleted and low morale military. Just imagine how things could have been different if we would have cooperated with Russia and worked out some really good energy deals. The price at the pump could currently be below $2 per gallon and all other costs reduced as well, energy IS LIFE. It’s a short trip across The Bering Sea. Real free market capitalism would have been a superior solution as it always is.
Since coming to power Putin has invaded or launched military actions and subversion on half a dozen of its neighbors and societal subversion on EVERY nation in Europe. If Ukraine fails the Baltics and Moldova are next. The people of Ukraine have a right to freedom and self determination.
I sincerely hope you begin to question our government propaganda and the mainstream media’s promoted narrative, best wishes for you in seeking an alternative viewpoint.
Whether Putin is evil or not is not for you or I to pass judgement. Frankly, it's none of our business, Ukraine has been a corrupted mess for centuries. We should have never stepped our foot into that dogpile. I would rather see our troops brought home to guard our own borders. We have successfully driven our potential adversaries together and for the last two plus years we've help turn tens if not hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians into worm food. And for what? A country that suspended elections. Where's the "fight for democracy and freedom?" Kind of like the first gulf War, invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, no freedom and democracy in those places either. Just a bunch of people turned into worm food so our defense industrial complex can thrive. We have thoroughly bankrupted this country in exchange for it all. It's all coming to a messy financial disaster as the Saudis just ended trading oil in dollars and this suicidal administration just let it expire without anyone noticing, or maybe they already know the Saudis aren't foolish enough to renew the agreement. I pray this empire ends with just a financial meltdown and not a nuclear flash, but I believe this current administration was truly installed for our destruction. There is no "fighting for freedom" elsewhere when the original "home of freedom" is so filled with a government looking to take it away through suppressing free speech that disagrees with the promoted narrative. The only fight for me is the fight for free speech and Constitutional Rights here at home. The rhetoric and pro war propaganda is just exhausting. Eventually I hope you realize this.
We should give every ounce of support we can muster to Ukraine simply because they deserve it and the future of the free world depends on it.
We should do that in defense of our European allies because they and we can.
We are the last superpower and still the leader of the free world it IS our responsibility and we are sworn to the NATO alliance. If Ukraine fails wider wars will surely result and we will be drawn into direct conflict with the loss of U.S. blood as well as treasure. I spent 10 years in the U.S. military willing to do exactly that.
Watch the Jeffrey Sachs interview with Tucker Carlson. We in the U.S. have broken OUR promises to the former soviet union by dragging their former republics into NATO and canceling our own nuclear arms agreement. How would we react if China makes Mexico an ally (it's currently happening) and decides to let Mexico put their missiles on our Southern border? That's the equivalent of us working the same in Ukraine and we've just approved of Ukraine using our missiles to strike into the heart of Russia.
In answer to all the nonsense you've posted in the last hour:
Congratulations, you've swallowed all the disinformation, spin and B/S Putin has fed you through his useful, quisling, stooge Carlson.
I know exactly the role Nuland played in the Maidan and it was open and reported at the time. The people of Ukraine wanted to turn away from their historically domineering, anti democratic, historically brutal relationship with Russia and toward the freedom and democratic government and ideals of the west. Their parliament had just OVERWHELMINGLY approved a political association and free trade agreement with the European Union, finalizing it, and their crooked Putin stooge president Yanukovych nixed it and chose closer ties to Russia (under Putin's direction). The people rose up in protest against corruption and the abuse of power and their crooked president fled to Russia.
The Ukrainian parliament removed Yanukovych from office (vote 328 to 0).
The reason nations formerly behind the Iron Curtain of Russian authoritarianism overwhelmingly want to join NATO is because they know, more than anyone, Russia's history of imperial aggression and they never want to be its victim again.
You're mention of "U.S. funded Bio-Labs" confirms your witless gulibility in swallowing Russian propaganda. People like you make the job of Putin's FSB absurdly easy.
I wonder how the majority of Ukrainian’s feel now? Their male population decimated, untold hundreds of thousands dead(no one funding this has revealed a true figure), no free elections with Zelensky remaining as dictator for life, army “recruiters” dragging any male on the street off to almost certain death on the front lines, the lovely Azov battalion with their swastikas and sketchy checkered past and potential peace deals being shot down by the very same country with their defense contractors making big bucks from the continuing never ending conflict. Yeah, this is so000 much better than an economic alliance with Russia and its cheap massive gas and oil reserves. Speaking of which, after our own bumbler in Chief bragged about it beforehand, we definitely blew up the Nordstream pipeline and have driven the price of energy for our European allies up by a factor of four. Oh, and we are now supplying Europe with OUR natural gas at a wonderful premium price. To adapt from “Christmas vacation” and Chevy Chase: “Take a look around you Hellen, we are in the pit of American/NATO hegemony hell”!
You are Putin's silly-putty, you swallow every bit of nonsense spin he feeds you.
The bravery and motivation of the Ukrainian people has awakened the couarge of a sleeping Europe. Sweden and Finland, neutral since WWII, see clearly now the threat of Russia and the necessity to join the alliance against Russian aggression. You show complete ignorance of the history Eastern European Nations suffered under.
There is absolutely no evidence of U.S. complicity in Nord Stream, none what-so-ever. We would never illegally attack the infrastructure of an ally. Only Putin bullshit propaganda asserts that and you again display your quisling gullibility in believing it.
We are now the biggest oil and natural gas producer on Earth and the largest natural gas exporter in the world and have completely replaced Russia's opportunity to extort Europe over energy. That is a MAJOR contribution to the defense of freedom and nothing but totally positive in every way. If you think that's not a terriffic accomplishment, Putin has an Order of Friendship to the Russian Federation medal for you.
I think you are the one falling for the disinformation put out by our own government and THEIR willing stooges in our captured mainstream media. Look no further than the latest COVID debacle to see that OUR own government and the mainstream media are the ones not to be trusted. Listen to the Jeffrey Sachs interview, Sachs knows alot more about this history than you do. Your name calling and labeling truly reveals your ignorance in these maters.
Economics professors condemn Jeffrey Sachs in open letter on Russia-Ukraine war
By Gabriella Gregor Splaver / Staff Photographer
Economists condemn Jeffrey Sachs’ recent comments on Russia-Ukraine war in open letter
BY SAUL QUINTANAR • APRIL 9, 2023
An open letter condemning statements Jeffrey Sachs, professor of economics and director of the Center for Sustainable Development, has made on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has garnered hundreds of signatures, including those of seven Columbia economics professors and one Ph.D. candidate.
The letter, which has 311 signatures as of Sunday evening, was written by Economists for Ukraine, a global collective of economists and academics working to end Russia’s invasion and rebuild Ukraine. It was published on March 20 by Yuriy Gorodnichenko, a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, on the Berkeley Blog.
The letter identifies five recurring patterns in Sachs’ op-eds on his personal website: denying the agency of Ukraine, the idea that NATO provoked Russia, denying Ukraine’s sovereign integrity, pushing forward the Kremlin’s peace plans, and presenting Ukraine as a divided country.
Wojciech Kopczuk, a professor of economics and of international and public affairs who signed the letter, wrote in a statement to Spectator that he was spurred by the call for action as an economist who cares about the war in Ukraine. Additionally, Kopczuk wrote that he did not wish to be associated with Sachs’ viewpoints as a fellow Columbia economist.
“Having an extremely prominent member of the economics profession frequently and publicly speak about the conflict in ways that ignore Ukrainian agency, repeat Russian propaganda, misinform, and directly engage with sanctioned Russian propagandists … offends me enough to warrant speaking out on it,” Kopczuk wrote.
Brendan O’Flaherty, a professor of urban economics, also signed the open letter condemning Sachs’ comments about the Russia-Ukraine war. O’Flaherty hoped the open letter would make it clear that a lot of economists disagree with Sachs.
The most successful subversion of Europe has happened at the hands of the UN and their NGO's like the International Office of Migration which has pushed illegal immigration into Europe and now the U.S. They succeeded in using migration as a weapon.
We also launched illegal wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya under false pretenses killing millions. Look at those messes now. Please watch the Tucker interviews on X, especially the one with Jeffrey Sachs. It's an excellent review of how we got here and it's ugly.
"Putin is evil" is such a mainstream media narrative that only a fool would believe. Do your own research. We started this mess in 2014 with Victoria Nuland and the NEOCONS. Check out the audio recording obtained via FOIA request of Nuland and the our Senate Intelligence Commitee chairman planning the 2014 maiden revolution. We are the ones in the wrong here. U.S.funded Bio-labs in Ukraine, also admitted to by Nuland when questioned by Senator Rubio. Stop listening to Fox news and our usual propaganda outlets.
Matt you're spot on regarding Medellin. The anti gringo sentiment stems from a combination of scum bags coming here for whores and drugs and prices being driven up in neighborhoods like Poblado. It doesn't help that quite a few of these dirtbags have exploited underage kids. There are stickers popping up around town stating, "Gringos go home." I've lived here for years though and have never experienced anything negative because of being a foreigner.
Last December my Thai wife broke her wrist in a fall from a ladder.
She is a recently retired nurse and she told the doctor at the public hospital that she needed surgery, he disagreed and sent her on her way with a cast. We travelled to Toronto where I am from for the Christmas holidays, but she complained of pain and discomfort the entire trip. Back in Thailand her cast came off mid January however for the next 3-4 months and several visits to different doctors things did not improve. She eventually had an MRI which revealed that she did indeed need surgery which she had a month ago and things are improving. She saw a total of four doctors and only the last one recommended surgery.
My own experience with the Thai health care system is as follows. A couple of years ago I had a rotator cuff tear. A sports doctor I consulted recommended an MRI which revealed serious tearing. Surgery followed. This was during the stupid lockdown scam period and the doctor was supposed to do the surgery in the public hospital which unfortunately closed the operating rooms to surgeries the day before I was to have mine. Fortunately the doctor had privileges at the private Bangkok Hospital which was open but cost a great deal more. The doctor did a great job but the procedure cost me about $10,000 more than it would have done at the public hospital even though the doctor performing the surgery was the same. It took about 6 months to recover and another 3 months before I was able to do pushups again. I'm now back to doing 15 pushups every other day and I am 77.
It would have taken me 6 months to get an MRI and 2 years waiting to have the surgery in the Peoples Republic of Kanada.
All in all health care is not perfect in Thailand but it is a lot better than most western countries these days. Research is necessary. In the public system there are a lot of incompetent doctors, the private system is better but much more expensive.
What happened to all those tax dollars I paid over decades for "the best health care system in the world", a refrain heard often from scumbag politicians in the Peoples Republic of Kanada when ever health care reform came up.
I believe they will replace Biden with Hillary. This is my bet.
How come you never talk about JFK for 2024
What are you thoughts
I don’t think it matters if the democrat candidate is still Biden if the election is rigged anyhow. It didn’t matter in 2020 when Biden hardly left his basement and yet still somehow won. The POTUS and VP are pointless figureheads and from the last “Juneteenth” celebration, where Biden and Harris were standing right next to each other in a public event, the secret service knows it as well. Since when has it ever been a good security risk to have those two standing together at a public event? Let’s face it, the Deep State is in charge. It does matter if Trump wins either, same case. Look at how Speaker Johnson met with Trump and then Johnson rams the Ukraine spending right on through with zero for our own borders security. The only solution is to somehow end The Federal Reserve banking cartel which has enabled all of this insanity for the past century plus.
Ukraine has sunk or severely damaged 15 Russian warships, fully half Russia's Black Sea fleet. They are scurrying for safety now and Cuba is a non threatening, warm water port of call to recover from an ass kicking.
Ukraine has “claimed” to have sunk 15 ships. Frankly it doesn’t really matter. We, the US and its war mongering NEOCONS, instigated this conflict back in 2014. We are completely in the wrong. There was no need to have NATO further invade the bordering countries surrounding Russia. The loss of Ukrainian and Russian lives is a complete waste and the whole thing is unnecessary. There has been absolutely no need to make Russia into an enemy, and now we have driven them into the arms of our other threats, China and Iran. We are now looking at fighting wars against three or more opponents at the same time with a much depleted and low morale military. Just imagine how things could have been different if we would have cooperated with Russia and worked out some really good energy deals. The price at the pump could currently be below $2 per gallon and all other costs reduced as well, energy IS LIFE. It’s a short trip across The Bering Sea. Real free market capitalism would have been a superior solution as it always is.
Since coming to power Putin has invaded or launched military actions and subversion on half a dozen of its neighbors and societal subversion on EVERY nation in Europe. If Ukraine fails the Baltics and Moldova are next. The people of Ukraine have a right to freedom and self determination.
Putin is evil and you are a fool.
I sincerely hope you begin to question our government propaganda and the mainstream media’s promoted narrative, best wishes for you in seeking an alternative viewpoint.
So Putin isn't evil? Do you want a list of political opponents he's poisoned or imprisoned and assassinated and countries he's invaded?
I sincerely hope you examine in yourself why you're so gullible to destructive 5th column foolishness.
Whether Putin is evil or not is not for you or I to pass judgement. Frankly, it's none of our business, Ukraine has been a corrupted mess for centuries. We should have never stepped our foot into that dogpile. I would rather see our troops brought home to guard our own borders. We have successfully driven our potential adversaries together and for the last two plus years we've help turn tens if not hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians into worm food. And for what? A country that suspended elections. Where's the "fight for democracy and freedom?" Kind of like the first gulf War, invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, no freedom and democracy in those places either. Just a bunch of people turned into worm food so our defense industrial complex can thrive. We have thoroughly bankrupted this country in exchange for it all. It's all coming to a messy financial disaster as the Saudis just ended trading oil in dollars and this suicidal administration just let it expire without anyone noticing, or maybe they already know the Saudis aren't foolish enough to renew the agreement. I pray this empire ends with just a financial meltdown and not a nuclear flash, but I believe this current administration was truly installed for our destruction. There is no "fighting for freedom" elsewhere when the original "home of freedom" is so filled with a government looking to take it away through suppressing free speech that disagrees with the promoted narrative. The only fight for me is the fight for free speech and Constitutional Rights here at home. The rhetoric and pro war propaganda is just exhausting. Eventually I hope you realize this.
See my answer to Matthew Smith.
Let’s assume you’re right and Putin is evil. He certainly has done things that I wouldn’t ever do. The question is what should be done about it?
Is it our responsibility to fight him? If so, would you be willing to enlist to fight? Would you send your son to war against him?
"what should be done about it?"
We should give every ounce of support we can muster to Ukraine simply because they deserve it and the future of the free world depends on it.
We should do that in defense of our European allies because they and we can.
We are the last superpower and still the leader of the free world it IS our responsibility and we are sworn to the NATO alliance. If Ukraine fails wider wars will surely result and we will be drawn into direct conflict with the loss of U.S. blood as well as treasure. I spent 10 years in the U.S. military willing to do exactly that.
Watch the Jeffrey Sachs interview with Tucker Carlson. We in the U.S. have broken OUR promises to the former soviet union by dragging their former republics into NATO and canceling our own nuclear arms agreement. How would we react if China makes Mexico an ally (it's currently happening) and decides to let Mexico put their missiles on our Southern border? That's the equivalent of us working the same in Ukraine and we've just approved of Ukraine using our missiles to strike into the heart of Russia.
In answer to all the nonsense you've posted in the last hour:
Congratulations, you've swallowed all the disinformation, spin and B/S Putin has fed you through his useful, quisling, stooge Carlson.
I know exactly the role Nuland played in the Maidan and it was open and reported at the time. The people of Ukraine wanted to turn away from their historically domineering, anti democratic, historically brutal relationship with Russia and toward the freedom and democratic government and ideals of the west. Their parliament had just OVERWHELMINGLY approved a political association and free trade agreement with the European Union, finalizing it, and their crooked Putin stooge president Yanukovych nixed it and chose closer ties to Russia (under Putin's direction). The people rose up in protest against corruption and the abuse of power and their crooked president fled to Russia.
The Ukrainian parliament removed Yanukovych from office (vote 328 to 0).
The reason nations formerly behind the Iron Curtain of Russian authoritarianism overwhelmingly want to join NATO is because they know, more than anyone, Russia's history of imperial aggression and they never want to be its victim again.
You're mention of "U.S. funded Bio-Labs" confirms your witless gulibility in swallowing Russian propaganda. People like you make the job of Putin's FSB absurdly easy.
I wonder how the majority of Ukrainian’s feel now? Their male population decimated, untold hundreds of thousands dead(no one funding this has revealed a true figure), no free elections with Zelensky remaining as dictator for life, army “recruiters” dragging any male on the street off to almost certain death on the front lines, the lovely Azov battalion with their swastikas and sketchy checkered past and potential peace deals being shot down by the very same country with their defense contractors making big bucks from the continuing never ending conflict. Yeah, this is so000 much better than an economic alliance with Russia and its cheap massive gas and oil reserves. Speaking of which, after our own bumbler in Chief bragged about it beforehand, we definitely blew up the Nordstream pipeline and have driven the price of energy for our European allies up by a factor of four. Oh, and we are now supplying Europe with OUR natural gas at a wonderful premium price. To adapt from “Christmas vacation” and Chevy Chase: “Take a look around you Hellen, we are in the pit of American/NATO hegemony hell”!
You are Putin's silly-putty, you swallow every bit of nonsense spin he feeds you.
The bravery and motivation of the Ukrainian people has awakened the couarge of a sleeping Europe. Sweden and Finland, neutral since WWII, see clearly now the threat of Russia and the necessity to join the alliance against Russian aggression. You show complete ignorance of the history Eastern European Nations suffered under.
There is absolutely no evidence of U.S. complicity in Nord Stream, none what-so-ever. We would never illegally attack the infrastructure of an ally. Only Putin bullshit propaganda asserts that and you again display your quisling gullibility in believing it.
We are now the biggest oil and natural gas producer on Earth and the largest natural gas exporter in the world and have completely replaced Russia's opportunity to extort Europe over energy. That is a MAJOR contribution to the defense of freedom and nothing but totally positive in every way. If you think that's not a terriffic accomplishment, Putin has an Order of Friendship to the Russian Federation medal for you.
I think you are the one falling for the disinformation put out by our own government and THEIR willing stooges in our captured mainstream media. Look no further than the latest COVID debacle to see that OUR own government and the mainstream media are the ones not to be trusted. Listen to the Jeffrey Sachs interview, Sachs knows alot more about this history than you do. Your name calling and labeling truly reveals your ignorance in these maters.
From the Columbia Spectator:
Economics professors condemn Jeffrey Sachs in open letter on Russia-Ukraine war
By Gabriella Gregor Splaver / Staff Photographer
Economists condemn Jeffrey Sachs’ recent comments on Russia-Ukraine war in open letter
BY SAUL QUINTANAR • APRIL 9, 2023
An open letter condemning statements Jeffrey Sachs, professor of economics and director of the Center for Sustainable Development, has made on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has garnered hundreds of signatures, including those of seven Columbia economics professors and one Ph.D. candidate.
The letter, which has 311 signatures as of Sunday evening, was written by Economists for Ukraine, a global collective of economists and academics working to end Russia’s invasion and rebuild Ukraine. It was published on March 20 by Yuriy Gorodnichenko, a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, on the Berkeley Blog.
The letter identifies five recurring patterns in Sachs’ op-eds on his personal website: denying the agency of Ukraine, the idea that NATO provoked Russia, denying Ukraine’s sovereign integrity, pushing forward the Kremlin’s peace plans, and presenting Ukraine as a divided country.
Wojciech Kopczuk, a professor of economics and of international and public affairs who signed the letter, wrote in a statement to Spectator that he was spurred by the call for action as an economist who cares about the war in Ukraine. Additionally, Kopczuk wrote that he did not wish to be associated with Sachs’ viewpoints as a fellow Columbia economist.
“Having an extremely prominent member of the economics profession frequently and publicly speak about the conflict in ways that ignore Ukrainian agency, repeat Russian propaganda, misinform, and directly engage with sanctioned Russian propagandists … offends me enough to warrant speaking out on it,” Kopczuk wrote.
Brendan O’Flaherty, a professor of urban economics, also signed the open letter condemning Sachs’ comments about the Russia-Ukraine war. O’Flaherty hoped the open letter would make it clear that a lot of economists disagree with Sachs.
The most successful subversion of Europe has happened at the hands of the UN and their NGO's like the International Office of Migration which has pushed illegal immigration into Europe and now the U.S. They succeeded in using migration as a weapon.
We also launched illegal wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya under false pretenses killing millions. Look at those messes now. Please watch the Tucker interviews on X, especially the one with Jeffrey Sachs. It's an excellent review of how we got here and it's ugly.
"Putin is evil" is such a mainstream media narrative that only a fool would believe. Do your own research. We started this mess in 2014 with Victoria Nuland and the NEOCONS. Check out the audio recording obtained via FOIA request of Nuland and the our Senate Intelligence Commitee chairman planning the 2014 maiden revolution. We are the ones in the wrong here. U.S.funded Bio-labs in Ukraine, also admitted to by Nuland when questioned by Senator Rubio. Stop listening to Fox news and our usual propaganda outlets.
Gruesome Newsom would ruin the United States like he did to California.