You can't spell 'Pandemic' without 'Panic' Day 1,449 Welcome to the Bulldog Fishwrap for Friday, February 8.  Â
The more people I meet, the more I like my dog. Kicking and screaming no longer.
The Phuket branch of the national Immigration Bureau lifted the visa of the Swiss man Urs "David" Fehr -- based mostly on public complaints that he kicked a Thai doctor. Normal circumstances: He will have two weeks to vacate the country BUT he can appeal, take his case to court or go to higher-higher IB officials in Bangkok.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin flew to Melbourne on Monday to attend the 2024 ASEAN-Australia Special Summit which ended yesterday. NOTABLE: The PM flew commercially with Thai Airways -- and not aboard state aircraft like his military dictator predecessor. Last night, Srettha bade bye-bye to his Australian hostesses and boarded a THAI flights to attend the ITB Berlin 2024, the world's largest tourism trade fair. https://www.nationthailand.com/world/asia-pacific/40036112
Meanwhile back home on the ground in Phuket, the minister of transport Suriya Jungrungreangkit announced plans to turn the southern island province into 'a regional economic hub.' The plans have been in the works for a while. Suriya said he has seven (7) projects ready to begin to upgrade transport infrastructure in Phuket province -- total cost 1.48 billion baht in real money, call it about 42 million U.S. Summaries of all 7 projects at the link, starting with
1. Upgrading Phuket International Airport in the second phase, to increase the capacity from 12.5 million passengers to 18 million passengers per year, with a budget of 6.21 billion baht.
Meanwhile, in Bangkok, packets of very bad news for hundreds of businesses in the tourist industry. In short: a preliminary search of current records shows around four hundred (400) tourist-aimed businesses are actually being run by foreigners using "Thai nominees" to front their operations. Which is tremendously illegal and strongly implies under-the-table corruption..
The Business Development Department said yesterday that areas with the most crooked such companies are in Phuket, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Surat Thani and Chon Buri (aka Pattaya). https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2754401/
One of the illegal businesses could be Elephant Sanctuary Park Phuket -- an already controversial project run by the doctor-kicking Swiss man Urs "David" Fehr. Allegations about this endeavour include  -- It's not a sanctuary, but includes domesticated elephants rented from their owners and mahouts in Surin province.
Thai judge to Ministry of Justice: Feed Them Halal. The two Uyghur-Chinese men accused of Bangkok's greatest terrorist attack in 2015 came to court to kvetch about their prison diet. Adem Karadag and Yusufu Mieraili, the alleged bombers who killed 20 ethnic Chinese and a Thai at the Erawan 'good luck' shrine in August, 2015, lodged a complaint to demand Muslim, or halal food in their prison cell. They found a sympathetic judge who ruled quickly to issue an order to the Corrections Department to satisfy the men. Lawyers for the two accused told reporters they are hopeful the case will come to trial by next year. https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/thai/bomb-trial-02212024134633.html
The case has made progress, and it seems that the court is genuinely intent on concluding the case promptly. -- Chalida Tajaroensuk, director, People's Empowerment Foundation, who has monitored the terrorism case over its years.
No News is not Good News but the No News Reports that it is incomplete without at least one Good News Item. This is Good To Know: Michelle (Ma Belle) Obama (finally) knocked back the talk that she would run for U.S. president this year. Â Her office released an official statement to NBC News on Tuesday morning,
 Quote: As former First Lady Michelle Obama has expressed several times over the years, she will not be running for president. Instead, Mrs. Obama plans to support the re-election campaign of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
otoh The Clintons are making yet another comeback. Bill and Hill are quietly re-engaging, offering advice and support to key figures in the Democratic Party. Their increased involvement comes as the party grapples with the upcoming 2024 election and the potential of a third-party run that could benefit former President Donald Trump. Hillary is convening groups of friends and political allies for private dinners to discuss the upcoming election season. https://mxmnews.com/article/982d1c87-9171-4f71-bbdd-40a41280f17a
Team Hamas USA got right up and heckled President Biden's personal DOCTOR Jill. The DOCTOR was speaking at an event in Tuscon, in the U.S. state of Arizona, when Team Hamas members shouted that she and her husband -- vocally suppoortive of Israel -- were backing 'genocide' in the Israel-Hamas war. The DOCTOR had been speaking of the importance of the 2024 presidential election when the hecklers tore in, at full volume. Her audience began chanting 'Four! More! Years!' and after they were silenced, the DOCTOR thanked them (cq). https://mxmnews.com/article/c63bdf53-4f23-4b64-9833-39d4f648f0d5
And in the other (Republican) Party She's gone. The last Republican with even a tiny-slim chance of defeating Trump -- and become the first woman ever to be elected as U.S. president, dropped out. Saying: Â I have no regrets. Associated Press: https://t.ly/OTHMW
If you have not (yet) watched Shoresy Season 1 Episodes 1 and 2 then you really don't know much about Canada. And listen up Bud, it's pronounced SUD-Berry! Like, you know, Canadian girls are rockers but SUD-Berry girls are Rockets!
And Speaking Of Entertainment Richard Dawkins writes on the perils of outlawing 'Islamophobia' (quotes needed) because Some fears about Islam are entirely rational. Short but super-sweet; maybe a Sunday read and long thought? PHOTO: 'Setan' is the Koranic word for the devil, Satan; 'Rushdi' is the still much-hated English-American writer Salman Rushdie, of 'The Satanic Verses'. The All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims wrote in 2018 that Islamophobia is racist, which is pretty dumb.
 You can't convert to a race or leave it. If Islam is indeed a race, apostasy is literally impossible.  If 'Islamophobia' becomes punishable by law, will it be illegal to even state, as a matter of fact, that a woman in some Islamic countries can be stoned to death for the crime of speaking to a man other than her husband? Will I be arrested for stating the undenied fact that apostasy carries the death penalty?
Like Netflix and Disney Plus, another major streaming service will soon be cracking down on users sharing passwords. (screen rant) Rebranded to just Max in 2023 following the Warner Bros. and Discovery merger in 2022, the service had previously been unaffected by the password-sharing crackdown. You wanna watch, gimme your money first. https://shorturl.at/yAINO
Keep in mind that this holey New York Subway was a major cause of American anti-Asian violence* during the coronavirus lockdown.
Now, the governor (centre) Katie Hochul of New York State is calling in the military to "help" to tamp down that violence and not only that  but the Mayor (on the right) of New York City Ric Adams has warned and admonished the New York City police (of which he is the former chief) to step the H**l up and do a better job of stopping and of catching violent perps in his city's subway system. *Thai student and model Bew Jirajariyawetch was savagely beaten and robbed in the New York subway by a man who figured out all by himself that she looks Asian. No one helped her but the cops later caught the perp.
