KYTOP

Kokopelli passed?  I never knew that; sorry to read of his passing, he was like a twin brother to me.

I am sure the US State Dept was actually glad for this interview. Any opportunity for them to observe Putin is gold to them and I am sure they have picked the interview to pieces. There have been numerous rumors  for the past few years about Putin's health, using body doubles, mental capacity etc... 
The Government or administration may criticize the interview for political reasons, but for the CIA, state dept, and others any content in person content of Putin is valuable. 

my mirror usually does the same job for me

List reminds me just how old I am because I recognize quite a few of celebrities on it. 🙂

it should be stressed more forcefully 

In my private mailbox this morning was a message forwarded from this site wherein another poster said to me:
"You took to me to post bro  Don't reply to my posts again ok  One warning ok  "
 
But when I went to my mailbox here, the message had changed. Now it said:
"I feel empathy  for you not keeping yourself fit with all the sickness you have 
Hope you get better in your age , but as you said your 76 the bright side is you won't be suffering for much longer"
 
Now I had suggested that this old fellow might not be right for this board, given his posts. So what should I think now?

From Thai PBS World
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry has instructed its representative in Bangkok to investigate a car accident, in which an injured Taiwanese tourist was allegedly denied medical treatment by a hospital and died while being transferred to another.
Taiwan News online reported that the ministry also expressed its concern over the matter to the Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei and asked them to convey its request to take the matter seriously to the Thai government.
Details of the accident are still unclear, but initial reports state that a person called “Chen” was a victim of a hit-and-run accident on Pattanakarn Road at about 2am on December 8.
Rescuers rushed Chen, who was still alive, to a private hospital only 500 meters from the scene of the accident. Staff there allegedly refused to admit Chen, despite his severe injuries, because he was a foreigner.
He was then taken to a state hospital about 10km away, a journey during which he succumbed to his injuries.
Chen’s death came to light after a Taiwanese media outlet posted the story online, which spread to Thailand.
It is reported that police have arrested the 51-year-old driver, who drove away instead of helping Chen. He was allegedly intoxicated.
Upon learning of the case, Thailand’s Public Health Minister Cholnan Srikaew ordered an investigation, stating that a hospital cannot deny medical treatment to an emergency patient.
Cholnan said hospital staff denying treatment to a critically ill emergency patient could face a jail term of up to two years and/or fines of up to Bt40,000.
Cholnan also admitted today that the incident could affect the confidence of foreign tourists visiting Thailand and, since Thailand is a major tourist destination for Taiwanese holidaymakers, the government must take full responsibility and demonstrate publicly that it will solve the problem and prevent a reoccurrence.

There's some other relevant comparisons.
The IDF is clearly in a position to say this.  If you attack us, we will smear the streets with the blood of your dead.  And they are doing it.  Death here, death there, death everywhere.  We all agree it's sad.  Add lots of dead journalists, which is the point @Moses wants to make.  He's correct. It's a fact.  Israel is in a position to retaliate, defend, or whatever you want to call it.  And they are doing it.
Russia is clearly in a position to say this.  We can attack you, Ukraine.  And we will smear the streets with the blood of your dead.  Dead soldiers, dead citizens, dead journalists.  Death, death, death.  Russia will bring you death.  Putin will bring you death.  You may hate us for eternity, and hope Putin burns in hell.  But guess what?  We could fucking care less.  We can and will kill 500,000 of your soldiers.  We don't care.  Russia and Putin bring you death and misery.  It's just that simple.
Is there any question why Ukrainians hate Russians, and why Israel is pretty much united that Hamas sucks?  That doesn't mean Putin and Hamas will just go away.  Any successful plan has to start with the reality that Putin and Hamas can't simply be wiped out, unless we maybe want to blow up the whole planet.  But they ARE the problem.
Putin and Hamas have this in common.  They like death.  They want to kill.  They are sadistic butchers.  It is who they are.  It is what they do.  It is how they get and keep power.  All you have to do is read where people are dying, including journalists.  You are correct, @Moses.   Gaza and Ukraine are bloodbaths.  Why?  Because sadistic butchers like Hamas and Putin made it that way.
I despise Netanyahu and I think the IDF is going way too far.  I think Putin calculated correctly that he could at the very least weaken Ukraine and create a stalemate.  But none of that changes the fact that Hamas and Putin started the death.  Certain facts are plain and simple.  Hamas is a terrorist organization.  Putin is a sadistic butcher.  Do you agree, @Moses?  If you want to understand why we have so many dead journalists, look to the butchers and sadists and terrorists who started it first.
In my country, I could and did say George W. Bush sucks and this whole idea of attacking Iraq is insane.  Granted, we did it anyway.  I won't defend it, and I am not proud of it.  Now most Americans and most of the world agree with me.  My college mentor was a liberal Jewish professor who somehow ended up being a US Senator who was the only Democrat running for re-election in 2002 to oppose the Iraq War.  There are conspiracy theorists who actually believe that got him killed in a small plane crash. I don't believe that.  Here's my point.  I can say my leader sucks and is wrong.  Wellstone could vote against that war, and say it was a horrible mistake. 
In Russia, if you say these things, or oppose Putin, you are sent to the front.  If you oppose the war, you become fertilizer or dog food in Ukraine.  I'm not sure if you agree with Putin.  Or if you just don't want to be sent to the front.  Of course, I don't think Putin does that to journalists who disagree with him.  He just jails them, or kills them.  We settled that a long time ago.

The murder that killed free media in Russia.
Why aren't you ashamed of living in a failing country run by a sadistic butcher, @Moses?  You should be.
By the way, did you notice that Xi, not Putin, went to San Francisco and was given accolades by Apple?  Have you noticed how China, not Russia, is having all-of-government meetings, starting with Biden and Xi, to figure out how to put out these fires, rather than starting them?  Have you noticed that the Chinese economy came out of COVID a mess, and the US came out of COVID with the strongest economy in the world? 
What I am trying to say politely, @Moses, is that Xi is playing your sadistic butcher of a leader, just like your sadistic butcher of a leader played his sadistic butcher of a chef, who is now dead.  Boo hoo!  You get my point, right?  None of this changes the fact that Russia is a failing economy that engineers who have the skills to work for Apple are fleeing in droves.  Because they don't want to end up being a journalist in Russia.  Or fertilizer in Ukraine.
 
 

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/war-has-killed-262-ukrainian-athletes-sports-minister-says-2023-04-02/
Russia's war against Ukraine has claimed the lives of 262 Ukrainian athletes and destroyed 363 sports facilities, the country's sports minister, Vadym Huttsait, said on Saturday.
 
https://yangoly-sportu.teamukraine.com.ua/en/
Requiem for the Ukrainian athletes who died. See their names, photos, and bios.
 
https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1138943/ukraine-fencer-killed-in-war-with-russia
Denys Boreyko, one of Ukraine's leading fencers, has been killed in the war against Russia, it was reported today.
The 34-year-old died on July 3 and was buried on Thursday (July 13), the Ukrainian Fencing Federation said. "Denys was a world champion and European champion among juniors, as well as a master of sports of international class."
 
https://war.ukraine.ua/heroes/ukrainian-decathlon-champion-volodymyr-androshchuk-was-killed-on-the-battlefield/
Ukrainian athlete Volodymyr Androshchuk died defending Ukraine against the Russian invasion near Bakhmut. Volodymyr’s death was announced on January 25.
 
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukrainian-kickboxing-champion-maksym-bordus-killed-fighting-war-website-2023-06-20/
Ukrainian kickboxing champion Maksym Bordus has been killed fighting Russian forces, a website that lists athletes killed in the war said on Tuesday. Bordus was killed on June 11 in "fierce fighting against Russian invaders." Bordus, who was born in 2000, had signed up to fight for the Ukrainian army on the first day of Russia's full-scale invasion in February last year. A petition was posted on President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's website calling for Bordus to be posthumously awarded the title of "Hero of Ukraine".
 
 
 

Does not need them? How come? Every respectable city needs them. 

Very good summary.
I am more of the visual type. As far as fetish, I am very much into a guy's pecs and Nipples. Much more of a turn on for me is a hot pecs with quarter size Plus nipples. I have never been a big cock person. In most cases I would rather play with a guy's nipples than their cock. Probably why I absolutely love male strippers and strip clubs.

Around 30 years ago, when I was much, much younger, and Pattaya was a gay paradise, my friend and I had nowhere to sit in a bar in Boyztown - was it Throb? too long ago to be sure. We had to share a table with a guy (he was alone) who didn't mind at all. In fact he probably welcomed the company and the opportunity to make conversation. I remember this incident even though it was the last century because it was the first time I had ever met someone with a foot fetish. For the better part of the time in that bar, he went on and on, and my friend and I had little to say in response.
Looking back, I should be grateful to him. He opened my then-younger eyes to the fact that all of us have wildly different tastes. Sure, growing up gay, we sort-of know that. Most of my college friends liked pussy, but the very thought of it freaked me out. However, the flip side of that sense of exclusion from the straight fellowship was to seek identity in the gay minority, yet in doing so, I must have somehow assumed that if they're gay like me, their erotic desires must therefore be similar to mine.
How wrong I was. I am sure most posters here, in their life journeys, have come to same conclusion, each of us via our individaul learning journeys, though mine was unusual in having been through a baptism of a foot monologue.
One of the most fascinating things about this board is that, in the course of members either describing their trip reports or asking questions about what to expect in places they're planning to visit, between the lines in the posts one can sense what their erotic desires are. Having had my eyes opened years ago, I've been watching this space, so to speak, and now may be a good time to throw in some ideas about what I have observed.
(I am also nervous about opening this topic because it can get controversial.)
Here I am not referring to the appeal of physique, you know, the twink-lovers, hunk-lovers, chubby chasers, etc.
There are different ways to look at desire. The first cut I can think of - and the categories are not meant to be exclusive, in fact, there is likely to be a continuum of tastes - goes like this:
1. Those who give more weight to the visual
2. Those who give more weight to the tactile
3. Those looking for a boyfriend experience (the connection of personality)
I see Group (1) among the posters whose focus lie in how the boy looks - whether he be twink or twunk or hunk or whatever. This is the market for Moonlight's models, with people ready to pay remium pricing because the guys look a certain way. I also see Group (1) in those posters who've clearly asked for information about satisfying their body worship desires, as well as in those who describe themselves as choosy about a certain "type" of partner.
The visual leaves me relatively cold, which also correlates with the fact that I don't have a specific "type" that I am looking for. Instead, I see myself as a Group (2) where the tactile pleasure is more important than the visual.In other words, it doesn't really matter what the sex worker looks like; I want the delirium of hands on body or body pressing body. Members here may have noticed that I write a lot more about massage than about offing gogo boys, for example.
Then there are posters here who ask for information about overnights or about going off to an island for a few days with someone (even temporarily) special. I call them Group (3). The boyfriend experience (even if fleeting) is at the centre of desire.
Yet another way to slice the pie is like this:
4. Genital focussed sex
5. Warm-body sex
Especially on the Latin America forum, many trip reports spotlight either insertive sex or the size of the appendage. There is hardly any description of the body that the cock is joined to. Here and there in the Thailand forum, whenever a boy is mentioned (e.g. because he was advertised on a massage site) the question is quickly Top or Bottom? I may be wrong (since I don't belong to this Group (4) but at least in my imagination, the sex that takes place has a greater emphasis on penetration (one direction or the other).
I am Group (5). The size of the appendage has rarely mattered to me (unless it's been disfigured by silicone). I have had great time swith guys (paid and unpaid) who might not have been more than 10 cm (not that I measured). Instead it's the full-body "wrestling" that's been important. As a result, those (usually straight) boys whose idea of servicing a customer is either to stand beside the bed and give a handjob or move into a penetrative position as a matter of course, have always left me utterly frustrated.
Are there other categories that others have observed?

he was, it's why they divorced

It seems "today's" kids are not having or not as interested in sex as much as we did.

They lack social skills and the inability to have conversations ....glued to their telephone scrolling. I figured maybe with all the free porno, maybe that filled the niche, but no....they're masturbating less , much less than we did/do.

Look on the apps/sites , outside of hustler areas, in your home town....what % are younger guys, when I go to the US, the sites customers average 50 yrs old.... NYC has some young guys on apps, but think about how many live in that city.

Damaging artworks is criminal and should be treated as such, even damaging those of dubious value. 
Interrupting performances may send message across but not necessarily in a way intended

In my opinion, they should protest the lawmakers, the people taking money from oil companies, the oil companies themselves, etc. Targeting people going about their daily business, art galleries, etc is the easy option, self defeating (they will never win without public support) and leads to violence. 

From The Nation
Lufthansa has announced it will resume direct flights to Thailand with the world's largest passenger plane on Sunday.
Lufthansa has announced it will resume direct flights to Thailand with the world's largest passenger plane on Sunday.
The decision to deploy the Airbus A380 on the Bangkok-Munich route from October 29 came in response to tremendous demand, particularly during the winter high season, said the German flag carrier’s regional manager Anlee Do.
Nicknamed Superjumbo, the A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jetliner with a capacity of 509 passengers. The standard cabin layout features eight seats in first class, 78 in business, 52 in premium economy, and 371 in economy.
Lufthansa is the only airline operating the A380 nonstop between Thailand and Europe, said Do.
She added that travel demand for Thailand is consistent and strong thanks to its location as a gateway to Southeast Asia.

I look forward to Putin being arrested as a war criminal and imprisoned for the rest of his miserable life. Thailand's support for him is an international disgrace.

Well, I am glad that he made it safely home. Not sure what being there in person accomplished. The Jordan trip would have been helpful.
I hear they had to stop Kamala Harris from measuring the drapes in the Oval Office.

For many Americans the Holocaust is the only background information they have concerning the Jewish people and their situation. (Or Charleston Heston as Moses leading them put of Egypt)  It is also the reason many Americans have sympathy and support for the Jewish people.

For many Americans the Holocaust is the only background information they have concerning the Jewish people and their situation. (Or Charleston Heston as Moses leading them put of Egypt)  It is also the reason many Americans have sympathy and support for the Jewish people.

For many Americans the Holocaust is the only background information they have concerning the Jewish people and their situation. (Or Charleston Heston as Moses leading them put of Egypt)  It is also the reason many Americans have sympathy and support for the Jewish people.

Completely disagree. If there was no holocaust, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

These stories always make me want to roll my eyes. 🙄 Do we have a bunch of men who want money to just fall on them because they're good-looking? This comes straight out of the article:
"Barrett Pall, a former model turned life coach and activist, said he felt pressured into attending an event in the Hamptons in 2011. Then 22, he said he was recruited by an older model, who received a referral fee, to be his "replacement" for "some sort of sexual experience" with the couple. He said he felt obliged to comply as the older man had been supporting him financially and he felt indebted. Like the other men, he said initially he attended a "test run" with Mr Jacobson. Mr Pall said the older model told him that "you don't have to do anything you don't want to do" but suggested that "the further you go, the better", and alluded to career opportunities. When he arrived at the event, he said he felt under pressure to "perform". "How was I going to leave? I didn't have a car," he said. "I had a chaperone sitting and watching me."...". 
Well, sir, you were a grown man who knew exactly what "some sort of sexual experience" meant. If you consented, you may have done so financial reasons, but you were a consenting adult nonetheless. New flash: a lot of people wouldn't go to work if they weren't being paid either. You were not a child. You were not drugged. This was a Saturday afternoon, apparently. You didn't have a car? Poor baby. Maybe you could do what the vast majority of New Yorkers/Long Island residents do: take the Long Island Railroad if you were late in understanding what "some sort of sexual experience" meant. And he makes his living being a life coach now? Please. 

 

Like Omega, I wonder if the young men were led on about what they might get modeling career-wise if they consented. Even so, this feels a bit like an attempt to extract further money from the guys who apparently gave them "envelopes with thousands of dollars of cash". That's a pretty generous payscale in the world of sex work for attending a sex party.