Bit by bit Thailand edges towards yet another marijuana war

Good Day to all readers
You are perusing Fishwrap Early Edition of Wednesday 22 May 2024
  

Little Jewish girl runs up to her father, says "Daddy, daddy, I need $50."
He says, "40 dollars? What do you need $30 for?"

Those films showing me stumbling are all fake...
 I'll take my Talking Pills, and I'm feeling fine, and then they show these fake movies of me falling on the stairs. End paragraph. New paragraph.
-- Joseph Biden, online 'interview' with occasional newswomanperson Megyn Kelly

Possibly Exaggerated: Joe Biden was the coach of the Oshawa Generals who taught Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky how to play hockey.

THAILAND DRUGS MARIJUANA
Bloomberg Opinion: Thailand's cannabis U-turn is a cautionary tale
Seems you can have too much of a good thing. Or bad, depending on your view.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has ordered a U-turn on the country's landmark cannabis policy, saying the plant should be soon classified as a narcotic again and its use limited to medical and health purposes.
Thailand has enjoyed the high from the lucrative industry long enough. It is now time for a managed and rational come down.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2795845/
FACT: There are more marijuana sellers in the Patpong area than bars.

COUNTERPOINT OPINION EDITORIAL
Control weed, don't kill it
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin's goal only attests to his mediocre knowledge about the plant and the dilemma facing the country.
It's unclear why Srettha wants to push for the 're-listing'.
The major problem of cannabis is that the 2022 decriminalisation aka legalisation came at a time when the country had no control mechanisms, and that was unfortunate.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2793779/

REAL SPORTS HOCKEY

They were the last Canada-based teams in the Cup hunt, and now there is one.
Edmonton sent Vancouver Canucks to the green, green grass of golf -- and now are the only Canada-based team left in the Coupe Stanley playoffs.
Oilers made quick work of Canucks in the vital seventh game in front of a long-faced crowd at Rogers Arena.
The winners now get to play Dallas Stars, who are really on a roll.
https://www.nhl.com/news/edmonton-oilers-vancouver-canucks-game-7-recap-may-20

THAILAND POLITICS POLICY
Hardly secret but now there's a public document all about it by Human Rights Watch, and it's not a happy expose.
 Thailand helps neighbours repress dissidents
It's not just ASEAN but it's mostly ASEAN, and it includes Thailand going after dissidents around the world, although mostly in the ASEAN region.

During the past decade Thailand facilitated 'surveillance, violence, abductions, enforced disappearances and forced returns' while authorities also engaged in acts of 'transnational repression' against Thai activists in exile.

Benar News: https://t.ly/oQsxE

Asylum seekers and refugees do not feel safe in Thailand. This practice of forced returns escalated since the 2014 military coup and particularly during the period of military-led government of 2014 to 2023.

-- Elaine Pearson, Asia director, HRW
The new Human Rights Watch report details 25 cases between 2014 and 2023 when Prayut and the military were in charge.
Full Report at https://www.hrw.org/node/388041
A History of Repression

OPINION ANALYSIS THAI POLITICS
Three things about the late lese majeste detainee Bung Thaluwang (photo), who died following -- and probably on account of -- her 100-plus day hard-core hunger strike against Thailand's military dictaorship.
https://www.khaosodenglish.com/featured/2024/05/19/opinion-three-things-about-the-late-lese-majeste-detainee-bung-thaluwang/

Very Related
Bung's family sues to get her medical records from the Department of Prisons
The family had repeatedly pleaded to see the records, which contain details of Bung's condition in the days leading up to her death.
At least seven (7) times, the Department of Corrections waved them off.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/2796180/

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC WUHAN LABORATORY
An official at the NIH has finally admitted the obvious: multi-millionaire Fauci and Francis Collins did in fact fund gain-of-function research at Wuhan.
At long last, National Institutes of Health (NIH) principal deputy director Lawrence Tabak admitted to Congress Thursday that US taxpayers funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China in the months and years before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now this Doctor Tabak says well, sure, if you're talking about "general gain of function, we did do that."

Stupidity Should Be Very Painful
The extremely active and constantly helpful Jane D'Oh submits this Killer Hat Tip:
Local group works to tackle period poverty
 Period poverty is the lack of access to a sufficient supply of period products that are needed to actually get through a menstrual cycle,” explained Lacey Gero with the Alliance for Period Supplies.
 One of the biggest groups impacted by this are students. The report says they won't shower or even body-wash while they're having their periods, and they have remarkable B.O.
https://www.wtoc.com/2024/05/16/local-group-works-tackle-period-poverty/

By Kavi Chongkittavorn, veteran journalist on regional affairs

Southeast Asia eyes next 20 years of U.S.-China ties
The multipolar world will be a new ballgame that Southeast Asia will have to to grapple with.
Competition between America and China is not likely to subside given the tit-for-tat measures they have been conducting with each other.
PHOTO (below) Delegates, including former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, front centre, and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, front second right, pose for a "family photo" during the 26th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Bangkok in August 2019. Also in the picture: Thai dictator General Prayut Chan-o-cha, second from right.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2796479/

Unexpected headline, but especially from this source:
 Praise for traditional gender roles

Fishwrap Entertainment of The Week

The motion picture that was so perfect that it had two names

The Man Who Never Was

Operation Mincemeat

A classic British wartime drama. And a true story.
Made in 1956, starring Clifton Webb
The movie details a British effort to trick the Jerries into weakening Sicily's defenses before the 1943 attack. A dead soldier is dressed as a British officer and outfitted with faked papers showing that the Allies were intending to invade occupied Greece. His body is put into the sea where it will ultimately drift ashore and the papers be passed along to Third Reich Intelligence.
If you get the chance, don't miss it.
FOOTNOTE: The actor who played Winston Churchill was Peter Sellers.

FEATURE ARCHAEOLOGY
Not new, but this is a well-written and attention-grabbing piece on the return of (still more) stolen artefacts.
Thailand recovers ‘Golden Boy,’ but more than 100 stolen artefacts remain abroad.

https://www.benarnews.org/english/slideshows/artifacts-recovered-12212023144937.html