JaiDee

On Wednesday afternoon, Variety reported that Steve Martin, Jim Carrey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tina Fey and Barbara Walters were seen entering the Ed Sullivan Theater, and that Chris Rock and Peyton Manning would be on hand for the final taping.

Dave is certainly original and his show in the early 80's was incredible and must-see TV. I am old enough to remember Johnny Carson and IMO he was the best ever, but Dave was easily 2nd; fuck Leno. By the way, he has one more artist on his last show [tonight], and it's the Foo Fighters, or as Dave calls 'em, The Fighters of Foo. They are keeping the guests a closely-guarded secret but they have released the first minute already, see below. I'll be watching tonight for sure! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5XZunwreYo

Here's a very large dump truck; school bus for scale.

I always find it odd when I see biker gangs in Thailand.....I mean, I get that you wanna look cool and show off you colors - I guess - but fer crissakes, it's 100 fucking degrees out and muggy as hell, can it really be comfortable wearing black jeans and a black leather vest? This photo has been making the rounds in America, with people saying "can you imagine if 9 people were shot and killed at a shoot-out in Baltimore, would you see a bunch of potential black suspects guarded by just ONE guy?" Of course not, but then again this is Texas, where it's A-OK for white people to walk around with loaded assault weapons.

Same neighborhood, the Italian north end, this past week.

Here's a side street in Boston just 3 months ago, seems hard to believe right now.

That must have been relatively new, there was never a Reggae bar on Haad Rin when I lived over in Ban Tai.....but there was a well-known one on Haad Salad beach. IMO the best beaches - amazingly, considering the influx of tourists the past 20 years or so - can be found on Phuket island. Surin, Kamala, Patong, Karon, Kata, Kata Noi, even little Laem Sing are all beautiful and all face west, getting maximum exposure until about 6:30 every night of the week. If you go about 10km north of Surin beach it's possible - or was possible, it's been a good 10 years since I went there regularly - to find a beach you could literally have all to yourself, not far from the Phuket airport. I never found the beaches on Phangan all that exceptional except for maybe Thong Nai Pan. Haad Yao was pretty nice too, I wasted many a day there doing absolutely nothing.

In Maryland, schools take a back seat to prisons. Then they wonder why cities like Baltimore go up in flames. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-hogan-announcement-20150514-story.html#page=1 Hogan: No additional funding for schools http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-youth-jail-20150513-story.html State approves $30 million youth jail

One Massachusetts city has it right; help addicts, don't arrest them. Decriminalization of all drugs in favor of treatment is the only way to go, the drug war is a pathetic failure. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2015/05/05/gloucester-cops-addicts-ask-for-help-and-won-arrest-you/9nrZEse0deDpPqt1t1VozI/story.html ''Opiate addicts in Gloucester who come to the police station — even if they’re carrying drugs — won’t be charged with a crime. They’ll get help. “We’re committed to the idea of attacking the demand rather than attacking the supply,” Police Chief Leonard Campanello told Boston.com. Following dozens of overdoses in town and a Saturday forum on opiate addiction, Campanello wrote in a Facebook post that any addict who comes to police headquarters will get an “angel” to walk them down the road toward detox recovery. Even if someone walks in with needles and drugs, they won’t be charged, he said.''

Burmese and Cambodians have it especially rough in Thailand.....seeing all the Burmese help on Koh Phangan working 12 hour days for 200 bucks a month used to make me think they had it pretty bad, but stories like this make it evident it's much, much worse than that.

America; getting our priorities straight since the failed war on drugs started.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/12/asia/north-korea-defector-kim-power/ CNN reports on a defector who says Kim will be finished within 3 years North Korean defector: Kim will lose power within three years

Thanks Sam, I always knew you guys were kind of 'socialist light' but never really knew the differences. Honestly, while I love America I really enjoyed my 9 months [over 2 years] in Canada as well as all the weekend trips I have done there since the 80's. Great country, great people, super-friendly, very liberal and open-minded, not TOO religious [MTL is still very Catholic but as with everywhere else that's dying off] and very European. In case you can't tell I am also a big fan of Europe, I think Europeans just "get it."

85% atheism rate, socialism which works, easily the best-looking girls in the world; I was surely born in the wrong country!

I have a friend from Denmark and we were discussing this once.....he says "sure, Denmark has great health care and we can send our kids to college for free [even subsidized with a 900USD stipend per month!], but we are taxed at 50% of our income''. This for cradle to grave security. I dunno, that seems like a pretty good deal to me. Hell, we are taxed in the 30's anyway, and we don't get anything near socialized health care and sending a child to college costs anywhere from 50K to 200K. I know this from recent experience. I know the Scandinavian countries tend to have small populations and they say socialism works better on a small scale, but it seems like a pretty good deal to me. I've lived in Canada off and on as well; seems to work fine in a country of 35 million.

Not sure about these measurements or prices, it's just a chart I found online! America didn't make either side; we are paying about 2.60 for a US gallon right now, which is very good.

Just watched the replay of Bill Maher from last night; this clip is only 5 minutes and he mentions "Jade Helm" and why it makes Cons look pretty bad.....especially when the Governor of a state brings out the state National Guard to keep an eye on the government. Sigh. https://www.facebook.com/Maher/videos/10152917687087297/

Here is where you will spend the most - and the least - on petrol these days.

Legalize! It's time.

First off, all comparisons about presidents should be made AFTER their terms are done! Or close to it.......Obama has a year left; so when he is done, let's compare HIS full 8 years in office and then compare the full 8 years of Bush. And Clinton. And let's see where they all stand and how their records look. Saying Bush did well in his early years and we should base his presidency on THAT? Without mentioning what happened in 2007 and 2008? That's one of those "well, besides that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?" His 8 years were a disaster we will be paying for for a very long time......including the very real possibility that our social security - yours, mine, everyones - will be raided to pay for 2 wars we were never even close to winning and only left the middle east worse than ever and the USA hated more than ever around the world. Oh, and there was also a little thing called the 2nd great depression; sure, go ahead and blame Clinton for something that happened in 2008; if you can say it with a straight face good for you. That clown practically destroyed our economy and even threw the whole world into freefall. Harry Truman once said; "the buck stops here." So what happens on your watch is your problem; same as Obama should not blame Bush for any of his failings, no way Bush should be blaming Clinton. When this election season starts in earnest, do you really think GW Bush will be out there campaigning for Jeb? No fucking way, he'd be an embarrassment; but you can damn well bet you will see Bill Clinton at practically every stop for Hillary. That little snapshot alone says a lot about which guy had a more successful presidency. As for lumping every R in the same boat; that's just plain not true. My brother-in-law is a hardcore rightie, more than you, and is also a retired Major from the USMC. He is calm and rational, reads the National Review, loved Buckley and Reagan, Grover Norquist, etc.....he's also one of the smartest people I know. Just happens to have different political views than I do; would I ever compare HIM to those losers in Texas who think Obama is coming to put them into a death camp? Or those weekend warrior militia men playing dress up at Bundy Ranch last summer? No way! You either, hell - anyone with a brain can see people like that are just scary caricatures of the far-right - but they are out there! And frankly they make your side look bad. My now-deceased Stepfather was also a Goldwater/Reagan guy and he was nothing like the people I see today, not even close. Give me some liberal comparisons......besides Charlie Sheen and Rosie O'Donnell latching on to some inane conspiracy plots about 9/11, because those people are just as crazy as the Jade Helm people. But go ahead and give me some others; name some websites and people who are out there screaming from the rooftops that the government will take over, who walk around with AK-47's on their shoulders at Target, who rip on transgender and gay people, who depend on the word of some 2000-year book, who want to regulate a women's body [based on said old book of fables], want to kick out all immigrants, build a 2000-mile fence, mock any and all attempts to keep the environment clean, want a war with Iran, etc.....if there are liberal comparisons, I'd love to see them! Sure, Rolling Stone and MSNBC are far-left and so are people like Mike Moore and Bill Maher. But never once do I remember them, during the Bush years, saying he was going to install Martial Law and install himself as a dictator, nor once did we ever see Democratic-led state militia's gearing up for all-out war with the government. Or pushing for more guns on the streets. Or against gay marriages. Or abortion. They made their points and told us why they didn't like him, but they didn't sound completely unhinged and off the wall. Sorry, but these people in Texas and the south these days ARE unhinged; unfortunately by being on their side on many issues lots of righties will get painted with the same brush. It's not my intention to put YOU in that category, hell of all the people I know at least you can debate rationally and with common sense, even if I disagree with you on most topics. Now, what's your opinion on Jade Helm? Training exercises or Obama taking over Texas? And seriously, why aren't the moderates in your party ..... say, O'Reilly and Geraldo and Krauthammer, Goldberg, etc....shouting down all the crazies who do make the R's look so bad? A FOX news expose on how and why those Jade Helm people look so weird would go a long way right now......they will happily send Jesse Watters to Vermont or to an Occupy Wall Street rally to show how funny the carrot-crunching liberals are, but not down to Texas to mock these fools? If they did maybe even *I* would start watching!

More updates on the US government about to declare martial law on its citizens, with Obama staying in power as a King or a dictator; you have been warned! This from LiberalTribune.com http://conservativetribune.com/17-video-martial-law/ ''These 17 videos on YouTube show that Jade Helm 15 — a set of special operations exercises many believe might be a precursor to martial law — isn’t anything to sneeze at.''

70 years ago today the Germans packed it in. Yanks celebrating in Times Square.

Does this also count for Irish-Americans???

Agree with what you say, but if for no other reason than to perform your civic duty. It's also a good feeling when you leave the voting booth, especially later on in the day when you see your guy or gal has won!

Can't help but thinking those are the same people who think the gub'mint is coming down to Texas to take over and who think we are all going to be led away in shackles to some death camp somewhere. And who have been saying Obama is a communist muslim homo marxist fascist since 2008, led by the likes of weirdo's like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity. Hell, Obama could cure cancer AND give everyone health care, end all wars, heal sick puppies and bring back Jesus and they would still say he sucks. I have a friend, his wife works for the Union Leader, one of the most conservative newspapers in the whole country. William Loeb making Ed Muskie cry in 1972 before losing to Nixon is one of their proudest moments LOL.....anyway, this couple are hardcore righties, they even used to tell me how great Sarah Palin was .......recently, their boy needed expensive surgery and because he was only 23 years old he was all covered, 100%, because of Obamacare. Ironically, his mother's insurance coverage for that far-right-wing rag is very good, and under the ACA all children are covered till age 26 now. My friends are OK with Obama now, and they were gushing over how their son didn't see a penny of any bill; see, when something hits close to home like that, or when someone may need medicare or medicaid or unemployment because they lost their job or have come upon bad times, THEN socialism is just fine. Until that moment; evil.