Abortion in Thailand gets (much more) legal
Good morning all, even any adults who may be covertly monitoring us.
Today is Wednesday, commonly known as Hump Day.
Typhoon Noru has lost some strength, and is now a powerful tropical storm.
Vietnam [photo below] closed airports, announced curfews and urged thousands more people evacuate as intensifying Typhoon Noru barrelled towards the country.
Some 270,000 military personnel were placed on standby in Vietnam, as Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh urged authorities to expedite preparations.
A notated satellite photo predicts where it's going.
Evacuations have begun
Noru has changed course and is likely to smack into Bangkok today and tonight.
Plenty of guts, no glory
Thailand shoved into the cold.
Asia-ASEAN expert columnist Kavi Chongkittavorn has the story behind the story, under an awkward headline...
Aussie ties out of the woods, raring to go
Quick intro: Late 2018, in Iran:
British-Australian academic Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert was arrested by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard as she was about to leave Tehran. She was charged with espionage and at a secret "trial" was sentenced to 10 years in a shithole Tehran prison.
Fast-forward two years. Moore-Gilbert was freed when Thailand released three Iranian terrorist-bombers from their Bangkok jail.
Repeat
Three Iranian terrorist-bombers, arrested on Valentine's Day 2012.
Thia took two years of secret shuttle diplomacy administered by Thailand.
Australian media, broadcast and print, hailed the brilliant Australian diplomatic finesse. They did not mention the word "Thailand" and Canberra branded relegated all details to a top-secret folder and called it "a consular case".
Of course, that was not the end of the story.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2401058/
THAILAND DRUGS NARCOTICS CANNABIS MARIJUANA
Calls grow for tougher rules on cannabis
Lack of clarity leads to abuse by minors
The war is on. Again.
Calls grow for tougher rules on cannabis
Lack of clarity leads to abuse by minors
Health promotion networks are calling on the government to tighten its cannabis regulations until authorities take action to prevent its abuse by the nation's youth.
The call was voiced at a seminar jointly organised by a number of health groups, which included the Northern Youth Health Promotion group, Youth Phitsanulok, Children and Youth Council, along with a number of organisations working with children and adolescents in the lower North.
This will now be a political and election issue.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/topics/1700988/
Bhujjaithai Party leader and wannabe-next prime minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who led the battle for legalisation and open sale of cannabis, was having hone of it:
ECONOMY
World Bank report upgrades Thai growth for 2022 to 3.1%
The growth prospects from the export-led model that not long ago powered so much of Thailand’s economic growth seem to have diminished significantly, owing to a stagnation in productivity.
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/thailand/overview
THAILAND POLICE CORRUPTION
169 Thai police officers dismissed for serious disciplinary violations
No surprise. Corruption and misconduct is not unusual for the BiB.
Those who join the Royal Thai Police in hope of enforcing laws and making Thailand a better place... are seldom successful.
The Office of the Police Commission met with caretaker Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan yesterday for an overview of the RTP’s fiscal year for the last meeting of 2022.
The Commission told Prawit that 169 officers were dismissed this year due to serious disciplinary violations while another 215 officers were punished and disciplined.
Details are not available.
https://thethaiger.com/news/national/169-thai-police-officers-dismissed-for-serious-violations
Pattaya beach rules
Pattaya City mayor Poramase Ngampiches announced Monday that he is taking full control of all teaches within the city. Including
Fixed hours when approved vendors can try to sell or rent their wares
All 'wares' must be approved by Mayor Poramase or designated aides
The city (and vendors) will and fix prices of everything
No bargaining or haggling, that is forbidden
Vendors are allowed on the beach
6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and
6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday through Sunday and on special holidays
6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on special holidays like the upcoming Pattaya Fireworks Festival
Repeat: Fixed prices, no bargaining
More at
https://thepattayanews.com/2022/09/24/pattaya-mayor-announces-set-prices-and-legal-selling-hours-for-beach-services/
EV SUBSIDIES BEGIN
Lecturing and intimidation have failed to kickstart the sale of electric vehicles in Thailand. So starting on Friday, the ruling junta will throw money at buyers.
The junta approved an outlay of 2.9 billion baht to try to motivate sales of battery electric vehicles, or BEVs - 76.6 million U.S. dollars, 105 million loonies.
Dealers have 2,200 subsidy-eligible vehicles in stock or performing registration.
PHOTO: BEC recharges at a Siam Square station.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2401018/
The junta's Excise Department claims that 10,000 Thai buyers have committed to buying an BEV and collecting the subsidy.
For the next three months, every BEV buyer will pocket 150,000 baht.
ECONOMY AUTOMOTIVE Analysis: TRUE
Flooding stalls purchase of new cars
People see this (photo, below) on the TV news broadcasts every evening. And morning.
Why would they rush to buy a new car or pickup?
Toyota Motor Thailand marketers say frankly that flooding in many areas nationwide will cause a delay in the purchase of new cars until the rainy season comes to an end - November or December.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2400893/
QUOTE U.S. FED
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/have-they-gone-completely-mad-they-know-they-are-killing-economy-they-are-doing-it-anyway
Abortion is legal in Thailand
This edict truly was unexpected
Wait for it: Calls for Thailand to exploit this to make Thailand "the hub of abortions" in East Asia. You know that is coming.
The ruling junta of Thailand has suddenly and secretly sprung a new edict on the country.
Abortions may be performed on women, during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy.
This was totally unexpected and will be vigorously challenged, especially on religious grounds, by Thai Christians, Muslims and Buddhists.
The edict, printed in the Royal Gazette, reads:
Pregnant women who are between 12-20 weeks into their pregnancy could seek an abortion legally after having consulted with their doctors.
It will come into effect on October 26.
Planned Parenthood Association of Thailand (PPA) broadcasts that there are around 300,000 abortions being performed in Thailand each year.
https://bit.ly/3Cfbzgk
POLITICS THAILAND
For the past week, there has been constant chattering about a new coup d'état to throw out 2014 coupmakers - Prayut included.
A major source of the jibbering is the junta's own token 'minister of digital economy and society' (DES) Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn [photo below] - whose duty includes stomping on political rumours and those who spread them.
His current utterancce is that if a lot of protests were held against the government there might be no elections at all, come May.
A tandem rumour claims that this non-existent [so far] new coup would toss out both Prayut and Prawit - masterminds of the last military coup in 2014.
https://tinyurl.com/4crdk73f
TOURISM
Cabinet to consider fate of 300-baht foreign tourist fee
Within the junta, there are hard-core believers in the idea of charging every arrival for the privilege of stepping into the country.
I Am Woman, Hear Me Whine
Meghan Markle Reportedly Said "I Can't Believe I'm Not Getting Paid for This" While on Royal Tour in Australia
https://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity/royals/meghan-markle-australia-walkabout/
Meghan Markle Was 'Narcissistic Sociopath' Who Wanted to Be Rejected by Royals, Former Aides Say
[Just askin': Shouldn't that the "narcissistic bitch sociopath"?]
https://www.thedailybeast.com/meghan-markle-was-narcissistic-sociopath-who-wanted-to-be-rejected-by-royals-former-aides-say
You may laugh:
Plus: Harry is reportedly looking to make urgent edits to his memoir in the wake of the queen’s death, and Harry and Meghan still don’t know if Archie and Lilibet will become HRH.
FINALLY! THIS REALLY IS AN EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOM: Hunga Tonga eruption put over 50 billion-with-a-"b" kilogrammes of water into the stratosphere.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/09/hunga-tonga-eruption-put-over-50b-kilograms-of-water-into-the-stratosphere/
Proof (as if more is needed) that dinosaurs were really dumb. They never even thought of this.
NASA gears up to deflect asteroid, in key test of planetary defense.
tbh, China is way ahead.
https://phys.org/news/2022-09-nasa-gears-deflect-asteroid-key.html
Directly related (from superior humans)
NASA's DART Spacecraft Crashes Into Asteroid Dimorphos.
The asteroid Dimorphos, which circles a larger asteroid known as Didymos, poses no threat to Earth.
The mission is designed as a test run of planetary defense with the intention of proving that a deep space collision can alter the orbit of a space rock.
The carefully arranged death dive will destroy the DART and, if all goes to plan, alter the orbit of Dimorphos around its parent Didymos ever so slightly.
https://www.cnet.com/science/space/watch-live-nasa-dart-spacecraft-crashes-into-asteroid-dimorphos/
RUSSIA UKRAINE PIPELINES SABOTAGE
Cue the conspiracies
PHOTO: Gas leaks into the North Sea
Two undersea pipelines crucial to delivering Russian natural gas to Germany were hit with mysterious leaks on Monday, prompting concerns of sabotage.
Why it matters: The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines have been central to the energy crisis that has enveloped Europe in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
TECHNOLOGY
Venus before Mars? (The Guardian)
There's an argument being presented for making a manned mission to Venus before Mars. There's one major upside: Venus at closest approach is much easier to reach, and a flyby and return mission could be done in a year, against three years for Mars.
There's one major downside: If you land, you die.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/sep/25/target-venus-not-mars-for-first-crewed-mission-to-another-planet-experts-say
Jordan Peterson (University of Toronto, a town in the former upper Canada)
It is 'naïve' to think Russia will lose the war in Ukraine.
