Chinese Communist Party locks down 68 cities in stupidly futile quest for Zero Covid
It's Tuesday again, kids. Lots of things happening and lots of people talking and writing about them.
Man with longest legal appeal in Canadian history loses again
Ex-bank embezzler Rakesh Saxena also holds Canadian record for 'Most Expensive Legal Battle'
From 1994-98, Saxena ripped off millions from the Bangkok Bank of Commerce - and caused its bankruptcy, followed by the Asia-wide financial depression known as the 1997 Tom Yam Kung.
During his stay in Canada, Saxena suffered strokes that crippled him for life.
PHOTO: Officially bed-ridden by his medical care in Canada, Saxena is seen occasionally travelling by wheelchair.
(Thai language) https://www.matichon.co.th/local/crime/news_3558612
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2389966/
RUSSIA UKRAINE WAR
The headline we all have hoped for...
Ukraine Strikes Multiple Targets INSIDE Russia, More Deputies Call for Putin's Ouster.
https://tinyurl.com/2n33txj9
THAILAND POLITICS
ZOMG! That's Potjaman!
Thaksin's rarely seen ex-wife turned up at a political rally for the Pheu Thai Party in Chiang Mai.
The conspiracy theorists went crazy, because they still believe that all Thai politics is about bringing Thaksin home from Dubai. He has promised to return to Thailand next year.
The Chiang Mai rally highlighted the couple's little daughter Paetongtarn, in the red jacket and hands on knees, below. She has been promoted inside Pheu Thai, and even has attracted comments that she will be Thailand's next prime minister.
Pheu Thai, the latest iteration of Thaksin's original 'Thai Rak Thai' is aiming for victory in the next parliamentary election, possibly next year. It is politically strongest in the North and Northeast regions.
PHOTO: Potjaman (in white blazer) along with, from left, her son, 2 daughters and 2 sons-in-law, at the Pheu Thai Party's political rally at Chiang Mai on the weekend.
https://www.thaienquirer.com/43999/analysis-potjamans-presence-at-pheu-thais-event-sends-alarm-bells-to-conservative-that-some-kind-of-deal-is-done/
The headline that is not going away, any day soon.
The current rain is on account of a 'moderate monsoon trough' lying across the North, upper Central and the East regions of Thailand.
 People have been warned of likely flash floods and runoffs, especially along the foothills, near waterways and lowlands.
 Temperature is expected to vary from lows of 22 to 26 degrees Celsius and highs of 28 to 34.
 The east coast of the South (Gulf of Thailand) will also be battered by metre-high waves, which will get higher in thundershowers. On the west (Andaman, Indian Ocean) coast, waves are expected to be above 2 metres high from Phuket upwards to at leaast Krabi.
https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand/general/40019985
BANGKOK FLOODS CHADCHART
Bangkok governor Chadchart is already taking the political battering that all Bangkok governor take during the rainy season.
 Word on the street about Chadchart: Sink or Swim.
 Chadchart Sittipunt, governor for just three months, faces some major challenges if he wants to solve flood problems in the capital following four days of extremely heavy rainfall last week - and still going on.
 Submerged roads and pavements caused by the persistent heavy rain that began early in the week paralysed traffic in several parts of the city. Among the worst hit areas were Don Muang, Chaengwattana, Phahon Yothin, Bang Kkan and Lat Krabang.
 The latter is a main city road to the international Suvarnabhumi airport.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/2389355/sink-or-swim-for-new-governor.
but
Say this for Chadchart. He was out, sloshing around in an eastern Bangkok suburb to learn what's going on.
 That is Chadchart, in the white shirt, slogging ther floods of Lat Krabang district
REMINDER The 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington killed and wounded Thais.
THAILAND POLITICS LESE MAJESTE
Thailand's junta-controlled Criminal Court tossed a 23-year-old political activist into jail for her clothing.
It's a long-ish story but Jatuporn Sae Ung was supposedly wearing a crop-top like the one in the photo. Anti-junta activists calling for reform of royalty wear the top to mock royalty.
Under no circumtances is any Thai media allowed to show well-known photos of extremely high-ranking Thais wearing the crop tops.
Jatuporn was arrested on October 29, 2020. The judges said she was disrespecting and criticising the king and royal family.
She was charged with lese majeste and with being a member of Buri Ram Plod Ak (Free Buri Ram).
She was charged with colluding to defy the emergency decree, breaching the communicable disease control order, posing a public health risk and causing public inconvenience, among other offences.
She pleaded 'not guilty' but so what?
NOTHING PERSONAL
Vietnamese fishing boat burns, sinks after being caught - in Thai waters
 ... HTMS Si Racha of the 2nd Naval Area, under Lieutenant Commender Phumtham Junjuajan, was patrolling the Narathiwat-Koh Losin-Songkhla area when it spotted two boats fishing in Thai waters about 8am.
On seeing the patrol boat the two fishing boats split up and fled in different directions. HTMS Si Racha chased and caught one of them. Which was painful for the Vietnamese.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2389728/
PHOTO: A Vietnamese fishing boat burns and sinks after being caught illegally fishing in Thai waters on Sunday by a navy patrol boat in the Gulf of Thailand off the southern province of Songkhla.
King Charles III speaks to parliament, accompanies his mother's funeral cortege
Click or Tap to embiggen.
Possibly their last photograph together.
Taken on June 2, the queen's official birthday.
CORONAVIRUS CHINA ZERO-COVID
'Do they just want us to die?'
 Desperation grows in hard-hit Chengdu mega-city's indefinite Covid lockdown
The city of 21 million has endured heatwaves, power cuts, quarantine and a deadly earthquake, and now is hit by Xi's abominable and murderous 'Zero Covid' nonsense. And now Xi and the CCP extend the lockdown - there is no end in sight.
The Guardian, of all places, has an excellent summary. https://tinyurl.com/2s4xdhmr
Chengdu (pop 21 million, capital of Sichuan province) is one of at least 68 cities that are now in partial or full lockdown, according to data from the country’s National Health Commission, fuelling anxieties that restrictions initially planned for days could extend into weeks or longer as occurred in Shanghai this year.
Notice the weasel word
"URGED"
Reflecting the sweeping impact of President Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid policy, authorities have urged citizens to stay home for the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival. The decision dealt a blow to hundreds of millions of workers, who often make a rare trip to their hometowns for family gatherings for the annual event, which started last Saturday.
https://www.ft.com/content/62bab8f1-859b-4aa0-9699-ff12f535040a
Directly Related: Meet Hiroo Onoda, The Japanese Soldier Who Kept Fighting World War II For 29 Years After It Ended.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/hiroo-onoda
THAILAND DEEP SOUTH VIOLENCE
The BRN separatist rebels talk peace but have no intention of contributing to it.
Army pickup bombed in Narathiwat
PHOTO: The pickup truck of Ranger Company 4916 damaged by a road bomb in Si Sakhon district, Narathiwat, on Monday morning. No one was hurt.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2389760/
US opioid crisis documentary wins top prize at Venice film festival
Well, it's an issue that deserves much greater attention. Especially from the U.S. government in its relations with China.
Unfortunately yet again, this documentary hardly touches the subject. It's all about the [arguably evil] Sackler family that is unbelievably rich on its addictive "pain management" pills.
VENICE: A documentary tracing an artist's campaign against the family behind the U.S. opioid drug epidemic scooped the Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday.
 Cate Blanchett (photo, looking like an opioid junkie) won 'best actress' again.
https://apnews.com/article/2022-venice-film-festival-winners-cate-blanchett-b39b9a5c95379966f536b296a161ee9c
You rarely hear about Seri Thai (Free Thai), even less from American sources. So good on the U.S. Embassy's consul-general and Chargé d’Affaires Gwen Cardno for digging into history and presenting the story:
 Despite Thailand's declaration of war on other allies, the United States never recognized the Kingdom as an enemy combatant - instead building upon the critical relationship formed with the Free Thai movement.
 When the war ended, the U.S. State Department argued for a "free, independent Thailand, with sovereignty unimpaired and ruled by a government of its own choosing."
Much more of her remarks at
https://th.usembassy.gov/remarks-by-u-s-charge-daffaires-gwen-cardno-commemoration-of-seri-thai-movement/
Follow-up by Gwen:
What's on the gridiron, mama?
After their performance against the Argos, the Redblacks have climbed into 4th place in the CFL East.
People keep saying, "Oh, that's Hillary's last hurrah!"
Are they finally correct?
 Hillary Clinton laments extremism and calls for unity https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/11/hillary-clinton-calls-for-unity-september-11-attacks-anniversary
But speaking of dark humour and CANCEL CULTURE
Background: The new Apple iPhone 14 is selling for between 41,900 and 44,900 baht at every mall in Thailand — at least 1,502 loonies or US$1,1512.
So the new meme trending (as they say) is young people meme-ing that maybe they should sell their kidney to afford one.
And the Thai Red Cross and its Organ Donation Centre say that darned kids are... get this... inappropriate AND unethical.
Chief nonsense-utterer is Doctor Sophon Mekthon, because (Shut UP, Twitterers)
Because "There is no organ trading in Thailand" and do you memers know why there is no organ trading? "There is no organ trading because there is a law that prohibits it."
Sounds like a fun guy to invite to your next party.
Not that there is a lack of humour about the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Brit comedian Kevin Bridges in Glasgow, noting inflation and out-of-control prices noted that "She won't be the only old lady to die this year."
[Click or Tap to embiggen]
Even the deadly serious Europeans are growing orgasmic over Cancel Culture.
 Swiss social media abuzz over 'RAT OUT YOUR NEIGHBOR' energy use posters.
 But breathe out. For now, as The New York Times puts it, that story is Fake But Accurate.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/swiss-social-media-abuzz-over-rat-out-your-neighbor-energy-use-posters
But seriously... How many people are dumb enough to buy this and keep this company afloat?
At least there is no cruelty to bees.
