dean

The point with Social Security was if enough people on SS die from the Coronavirus, problem fixed (at least in the short term).

Trump has been saying since he announced his candidacy in 2015 that he had a plan to fix Social Security. I think that he found it through the Coronavirus

The bottles were finally removed from their hiding place. The dogs didn’t get to it but the insects did. Eight of the bottles were in wooden boxes, which were eaten enough to make it unsafe to keep the bottles in them. No damage to the actual whisky, though.

The Florida official that ran the department that handled the coronavirus statistics was fired last week, allegedly because she refused to “adjust” the statistics to show that Florida’s reopening of the Florida economy was within Federal guidelines. I wonder how many other fed states have cooked their coronavirus numbers to allow their states to open up their economy? It doesn’t set up an optimistic picture when the second wave hits.

If I had known that in the last 3.5 years, the U.S. would end up where we are at now, I would have retired to my house in Chiangmai in January, 2017. At least Kansas has a sensible Governor that approaches Coronavirus for the long term, and has not opened up the economy full tilt, like other States (notably Georgia). We are looking at a second wave of the virus this fall, which could be as bad or worse than the first wave. I have no faith in 30-40 % of Americans following any kind of social distancing. The Presidency is my main concern. My vote won’t mean anything because I live in Kansas and Trump is a lock there. My second concern is the Senate. McConnell has pushed through a lot of Federal Judges, many unqualified. The only litmus test is that they are anti abortion and radically strict Constitutionalists. And they have to be around 40 years old, so they serve 30-40 years, as they are appointed for life. McConnell is sticking his nose into Kansas politics. With Kris Kobach running, the Republicans have a decent chance of losing the Kansas Senate seat that is up for grabs in November. McConnell has, for several months, been urging native son Mike Pompeo to run for that seat. Publicly, Pompeo says he will remain at the State Department. With the alleged investigation of Pompeo’s improper use of appointed officials as errand boys, I hope that he still stays at State. It will be for only 7.5 months. As our Senator, he will be there for at least 6 years, or until he decides to run for President in 2024. The deadline for filing to be a Senate candidate is June 1, so I guess that I have to sweat out the next 2 weeks.

The locks were the first thing that I changed. They settled for 5,000 baht because I was going to have to spend 15,000 to 20,000 to clean house and grounds. It turns out only one of the coconut trees died, along with an older mango tree, so I got off relatively easy on not having a working sprinkler system during the hot season. I have a company come by once a month to spray for insects, mainly termites, but the renter was not letting the company inside. Most of my windows are teak and 2 of the windows have been eaten by termites. With no one staying there, the house will get a spraying throughout in the next couple of days. I asked the lady that takes care of the house to check to make sure that my secret stash of 17 bottles of whisky and tequila are still there. I’ve got one bottle of 33 year old whiskey and a bottle of 1803 cognac that list for $500=600 apiece. It would be virtually impossible for the renters to find the stash but I’d be really unhappy to find out that he had unexpectedly found it.

They moved out yesterday but kept the 2 keys to the house, saying they would return them when I paid them 20,000 baht. I’m checking on what it would cost to have a locksmith change the locks. I did replace the padlock for the front gate, so they can’t open it. I told the lady that manages the house for me that if they try to get on property to call the Police and have them arrested for trespassing. In the meantime, the lady that manages my house walked around the grounds today and noticed that the two large dogs pooped everywhere. I can’t wait until she gets inside and sees how clean they left the house. With 6 years left before moving back, I’m not inclined to rent house out again.

It’s a bat. I showed it to 2 Thai friends and they said bird, and very common to see them in Chiangmai. I think that they were at least right about it being common to Chiangmai.

I I got a picture from my tenant this morning, saying this bird, which is crawling on an outside wall, is a health hazard. He wants 20,000 baht to leave. I offered him 10,000 baht in return, the difference between the 40,000 baht deposit and the 30,000 owed to finish lease on May 12. Maybe, I should just pay him the extra 10,000 baht to get rid of him but I don’t take very kindly to being called names and subtle threats. I asked my manage friend to try to talk some sense into him. I think eviction is a real possibility.

That sounds like good advise. I woke up at 8 and our last messenger comments were made at noon. At one point, we threw some insults around and he came back with” you don’t know me or what I’m doing, son.” I took that as meaning what he is doing at my house and to my house. I told him if he either damaged my house or grounds, I would be visiting Thailand soon and visiting him and his girlfriend. It really didn’t go very well after that. He claimed that that statement referred to knowing what his job was. I said I apologized if he meant it that way, instead of the more logical meaning. As of now, he will move out on Wednesday but pick up his belongings by May 22. I’ll see if he actually moves out on Wednesday. If he doesn’t, it’s going to be very hard to evict him without a confrontation, as he and his girlfriend are in self quarantine, never leaving the house. Fortunately, my Thai friend, who manages my house, is married to a policeman.

I’d like to get your opinion on a dispute I am having with a tenant at my house in Chiangmai. His lease started last May 22 and he has asked several times if he could extend it by 2-3 years. I got a message from him 3 weeks ago that, because of the coronavirus in England, some of his tenants there were requesting rent reductions because of the virus, as they are allowed to under English law. I told him to let me know how that turns out and I would try to work out something with him. Today, I got a message that there was a rat in my attic and one set of lights were fluttering, insinuating that the rat was eating the wiring (which may or may not be true). He has been kind of a pain with his problems with the house, mainly electrical which required replacing the switch, not electrical wire eaten. I have a teak sliding front gate that his dogs were forcing the wood apart far enough to get out, so I hired someone to put thick wire mesh over the slats but should have told him that it was his problem because of the dogs. anyway, I offer to have someone over to set traps for rat and fix lights. He says he is in quarantine for coronavirus (he’s not infected but doesn’t want to catch it). He will not let anyone in house. He wants to move immediately and wants his 40,000 baby back. As he is 30,000 baht in arrears on rent, I offer to pay him 10,000 baht. As he will not be staying for the final month, he wants that month’s rent back, 20,000 baht. I refuse, we go back and forth descending to not nice comments. After 3 hours of almost constant messaging, he agrees to the 10,000 baht and will move out this Wednesday but leave his belongs there until May 22nd. Am I being a prick with him. He kept repeating that living there was a health hazard. Would THAI law back that up. Any comments would be welcome.

My wife takes diabetes medications that come to about $60 every 3 months with her insurance. I’ll have to bring her prescriptions with me to Thailand in December.

Long time since I’ve posted anything here. I’m not good with computer change and when the Thai 360 board was updated, I was going to have to relearn how to use it easily navigate it. I decided in stead just to visit without posting. Nothing much is up. My son is almost 12 and in the sixth grade, which means I have just under 7 years before I move back to my house in Chiangmai. In the meantime, I did rent my house last year. Unfortunately, it was to a teacher who moved here from Japan for the job but didn’t get along with the international school’s owners, and left after 7 months. I’ve rented it again since June 1 and have used my wife’s bank account for the rent deposits. However, she can’t access her account online and I need a bank account where I can at least transfer money to the lady that takes care of the house to pay for any repairs. Preferably, I’d like to transfer some of the money to my U.S. bank account, at least by wire transfer, or to my PayPal account. I’ll be back in Thailand in December to set this up (along with talking with the renter to see what improvements he wants to make to house and landscape), so I’d like to open bank account then. Anyone have any recommendations on which Thai bank would best suit my needs? I’m only going to be in Thailand for 6-7 days, so I’ll probably only be in Bangkok for 1 night each way in the middle of rye week, if anyone wants to get together for a drink.

Paul Allen, co founder of Microsoft and owner of the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers, has died at age 65.

Due diligence in hiring Espanics and not just look at either a Visa or Green Card and accept it as a fact. But then, employer s tend to want to claim ignorance as a defense when they hire Espanics at far below the going rate. That’s not the point that I was making. As soon as the killer was revealed as an illegal alien (I guess that those papers didn’t fool the Police), the pro wall faction jumped on that as proof positive that all illegal aliens were potential criminals and possibility murders. All I’m saying is that only those with clean hands should be taken seriously.

https://g.co/kgs/f2jztW

It turns out that the alleged killer was living rent free on a farm owned by a big Iowa GOP contributor. I doubt if the hard lined anti immigration leaders will mention this fact.

Senator John McCain, U.S. navy pilot and POW during the Vietnam war and two term Congressman and six term Senator and the 2008 GOP nominee for President, died today. He said that he never received an apology from President Trump for disparaging McCain’s military service. Trump can now say nice things about Senator McCain but if he were my father, there is no way that I’d allow Trump to attend the funeral or any family services for Senator McCain. RIP!!!

Trump’s chief lawyer at the White House has been cooperating with the Mueller investigation. I wonder what dirt Paul Manafort has on Trump that Trump’s lawyer doesn’t have?

The CEO of Hong Kong airlines was nice enough to honor the mistake fare tickets. Once I saw the mistake fare on Facebook, I went over to Flyertalk and members were posting at an average of one post every 3 minutes over a 7 hour hour period. The concensus was that Hong Kong airlines would not honor the fare, so that shows how much most of them know. This ticket gives me less incentive to try to rent out my house. However, we have a second studio house in an orchard outside of Chiangmai which, while small, will be alright for a two week’s stay. I just hope that the Chinese running the Hong Kong airport aren’t like the pricks that run the airport in Shanghai.

I just saw a “mistake fare” on Facebook, for LAX to BKK for next March on Hong Kong airlines. For business class, it was $666 round trip. I have until the end of the day on the 18th to cancel with no penalties. There is also a chance that the airline will cancel the mistake fare. I’ve never flown Hong Kong airlines and have not flown through Hong Kong. I hated flying through Shanghai my last two trips. Is Hong Kong any better? I’m hoping that Hong Kong airlines is a better quality airline than China Eastern (who I’m suing over the “lost bag”) I’m sure at the price that I paid that business class is worth it but has anyone flown it and could give me their observations? Is it worth it to schedule a 1 day layover in Hong Kong, since I’ve never been there?

Aretha Franklin, the Queen ofSoul, has died at age 76. RIP!

The only time that you have to re gesister to vote is if you move. I’ve lived at my present location since 2010 and haven’t had to do anything but show up and present an acceptable ID to vote. There is a deadline before a Primary to change party affiliation, which is usually about a month before the Primary.

There’s one more interesting race in my district. Our Congressman, Kevin Yoder, is solidly Republican, taking as much money from special interests for his re-election (so you know where his loyalty lies) and towing the line of the Republican leadership and Trump. In return, he was appointed chairman of a sub committee that appropriates funds to support agencies that enforce the immigration laws and funds for the wall. Kansas is at least 1,200 miles from the Mexican border, so his appointment makes little sense except as a payback for his support. Yoder isn’t very subtle in making decisions to further his career. A couple of weeks ago, he came out in support for a Democratic proposal to ease separation of illegal kids from their parents at the border. The same day, he is blasted by Republicans for this stance, particularly by Laura Ingram on her Fox show. The next day, he retracts his support, saying that he is going to work with the Trump administration to solve the problem. Plans, for the last two years, he has refused to hold Town Hall meetings, which most Congressman and Senators of both Parties regularly do. His Democratic opponent is Sharice David’s, a Native American and openly lesbian lawyer. Raised by a single mom in the military, he got her law degree, spent a couple of years as a martial arts fighter (I’d pay to see a martial arts fight between her and Yoder), worked on the Pine Bluffs Reservation for a couple of years and worked as an aide in the Obama Administration, then moved to Kansas, where she went to high school and community college when her mother was stationed at Ft. Leavenworth. She came out of a crowded 6 person Primary where one of the candidates was endorsed by Bernie Sanders, and won. Even though Kansas is a solid red state, most political prognosticators say that this district is up for grabs, as it went with Hillary in the last election. Yoder has the support of most Republicans in a Republican state. But there are a lot of Democrats, Independents and moderate Republicans that can’t stand Yoder for his towing the Republican leadership line and his caving to special interest that contribute 93% of the money that goes to his re-election campaign. As strange as it sounds, Kansas may have the first Native American Congresswoman this coming January.

To be an eligible voter, you have to register as either a Democrat, Republican or Independent. I tend to vote Democratic but Kansas is a solid Republican state, so I register Republican in order to screw up their Primary (as much as one voter can do that). All Primary voting in a State is done the same day. In my case, if I had registered as a Democrat, I would have voted in the same building that I voted at yesterday but would have voted for the Democratic candidates running for office. You can’t vote more than once in an election and there are severe penalties imposed if you are caught voting multiple times. Plus, you need a nationally recognized ID, like Drivers license or passport, in order to vote. I know that the Democratic leadership in Kansas wanted Kobach to face the Democratic candidate for Governor because Kobach is an extremely polarizing figure in Kansas, they felt that he would be the easier candidate to beat. I just wanted to make sure that Kobach never reached the General election. I have no idea who will win the Republican Primary at this point and it will be at least a week before all ballots are cast. Longer if the losing candidate contests the results. And if the results are contested and there is a recount, guess who certifies the result? The Kansas Secretary of State, Kris Kobach.