Democracy dies in 'Free Speech Zones'
Good morning kids. Today is Hump Day AND the Ides of June, June 15, 2022.
Democracy dies in 'Free Speech Zones'
Bangkok governor Chadchart vows that City Hall will allocate space for protests
Bangkok City Hall is finding an alternative site
for people to protest in order to lessen the impact of public demonstrations on  commuters  and  local  residents, Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt said on Tuesday.
 It is the first attempt to pen up anti-junta protesters since the 2014 coup.
Speaking at a meeting of Bangkok
Metropolitan Administration (BMA, City Hall) executives, the governor said he has been monitoring protests in the city, following  fresh  anti-government rallies over the weekend by the Thalu Gas movement.
Chadchart  said  he  wanted  to make it clear that the BMA does not support any form of violence.
[NOTE: The weekend protests did not involve violence, but stifling anti-junta protests could be the new No.1 priority.
[Chadchart has stayed out of the junta-protest folderal, but his new position may force him to choose a side.]
THAILAND TECHNOLOGY 5G HUAWEI
Chinese 5G experts ZTE have worked quite silently in Thailand for more 25 years, often in collusion/partnership with Huawei.
Now, ZTE emerges from the dark doorway.
Thailand's No.1 mobile supplier and ZTE agree to build Thailand first 5G network
The aim of their agreement is to 'enhance quality and deliver an excellent user experience' to AIS customers, while developing innovations to put Thailand at the forefront of the Digital Economy.
https://www.thaienquirer.com/40859/ais-and-zte-agree-to-build-the-first-high-level-5g-network-in-the-country/
WEEKEND READING
or IMMEDIATE READING
There is a quite wonderful, lengthy (by internet standards) discussion by Edward Luttwak entitled 'Three Blind Kings' - who are Putin, Xi and Biden.
It is published on the same day that Prayut and Lloyd Austin decree that the next Cobra Gold will be dedicated to 'cyber warfare training'. Luttwak calls this stupid, insane, the way to lose a battle and a war by using hybrid G4 and without an officer including general who ever has seen actual war - ever. Such as, ironcially, Austin and Prayut and the U.S. Pacific commandfer John Aquilino, who is in Thailand.
 This guy Luttwak has absolutely marvelous things to say, and the experience and analytical skill to back them up. His summary biography is included.
Three Blind Kings
Why do educated people believe in obvious stupidities like the crushing power of hybrid warfare in such a herdlike way?
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/three-blind-kings-edward-luttwak
VOLLEYBALL THAILAND CANADA
In the words of a Youtube headline writer:
 Thailand Volleyball Team Destroys Canada in Volleyball Nations League 2022
 This is the women's league and it is 100% certain that all Thai team members are women.
 The match had the appearance of the Toronto Maple Leafs against a real hockey team. The final score was 3 sets to zip, although it wasn't that close.
 The Thais were good sports and allowed the Canadians to score several points during the match.
CORONAVIRUS THAILAND TOURISM
No more scans - at the airport or anywhere
Scanning history
Air travellers will not be required to go through thermoscans at airports if a plan to end the requirement to use the devices is approved by the government.
PHOTO: Image scanning did uncover a tiny number of Covid cases, but the machines are going back into storage.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2325413/
A TRILLION HERE AND A TRILLION THERE...:
Prayut demands hurry-up to airport link railways
 Prayut claimed on Tuesday that he has urged (not ordered) all agencies concerned to speed up construction of the high-speed railway project in the hope of attracting more investors to the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).
 Plans call for a railway project linking Don Mueang airport in Bangkok, Suvarnabhumi airport in Samut Prakan and U-Tapao airport in Rayong.
 It is one of the junta's key infrastructure projects in the flagship scheme to develop the Eastern Corridor..
Related
China's High Speed Rail Network Is A Trillion Dollar Debt Sinkhole
https://bityl.co/ChMX
CORONAVIRUS ORIGIN CHINA
Chinese Communist Party slaps down WHO, its own global health agency
A WHO report called for a deeper investigation into whether Covid-19 originated in the Wuhan Virology Laboratory.
China had two responses on Tuesday:
1. It's a vicious, political lie
2. No more investigation, and that's final
 Funny thing: The Chinese response, again, made no mention of the origin of Covid-19.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian called the lab leak theory "a lie concocted by anti-China forces for political purposes," during a press briefing.
 In the past two years, China has blamed Italy, India and the United States (Fort Detrick) as the original source of SARS Cov-2 novel coronavirus aka Covid-19.
https://bityl.co/Cgbe
On Tuesday, China re-locked down huge parts of Shanghai and Beijing in the elusive and impossible search for 'zero Covid'.
U.S.A. VIOLENCE POLITICS
After a year and a half of preparation, Nancy Pelosi is quite unprepared.
The January 6 panel delayed a hearing scheduled for Wednesday to allow staff more time to prepare.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/14/us/politics/jan-6-hearing-delayed.html
Today is the fifth anniversary of what-was-nearly the greatest mass assassination in American history - a partly successful attempt by a weirded-out Democratic Party Bernie Bro to murder dozens of Republican Party members - at a baseball game.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/06/commemorating-614-%E2%80%93-congressional-baseball-frontpagemagcom/
CHINA TAIWAN WAR
Taiwan Official Warns Supersonic Cruise Missile Can Strike Beijing.
Indeed. but the actual, real question that no one will dare ask is:
Will Taiwan (again) choose to develop nukes?
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/taiwan-official-warns-supersonic-cruise-missile-can-strike-beijing
TWITTER MUSK BOTS
Will he live-tweet it?
Elon Musk to Participate in Twitter All-Hands Meeting - tomorrow.
 It still can't be determined whether the plans for Musk to speak to Twitter employees mean the two sides have come to an agreement about how to count the spam accounts.
https://on.wsj.com/3xwpbjk
THAILAND SPORTS GOLF
Welcome, all you Thai golf professionals, everyone who has never won a PGA Tour Championship, take one step forward.
Not so fast Thongchai!
At 52 years old, Lop Buri's ex-army paratrooper Thongchai Jaidee survived a 16th-hold bogey to win the American Family Insurance Championship at University Ridge, his first victory on the PGA Tour.
https://tinyurl.com/2p8jka9b
THAILAND ECONOMY INFLATION
Forget all the hullabaloo about Experts and Analysts. As of this morning, June 14, Thailand has the lowest policy interest rate in Asia - 0.5% (Zero Point Five Percent). The rate of 0.5% has held without change since May, 2020.
Barring an extremely unlikely junta declaration of economic emergency of some sort, that rate will continue until the next exciting meeting of the Bank of Thailand's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in mid-August.
Central Bank governor warns against premature interest hikes
It is the first public comment on Thailand's inflation and exchange rates by Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput.
PHOTO: Bank of Thailand governor Sethaput spoke at a forum, about interest rates.
Stock Exchange of Thailand index SET dives to 3-week low over concerns on U.S. inflation, Covid outbreak in China
https://www.thaienquirer.com/40845/set-dives-to-3-week-low-over-concerns-on-us-inflation-covid-outbreak-in-china/
U.S.A. ECONOMY INFLATION
Every month... Set your watches and clocks by it, literally, the U.S.A. government releases a Short-Term Energy Outlook.
It is written, edited and published by
the U.S. Energy Information Administration, under the Department of Energy, under Secretary Jennifer Granholm, under President Joe Biden.
In other words, it's totally anonymous and there's not a person in America from the President to the Washington, D.C. employee of the Residential Trash Collection of the U.S.A. Department of Public Works who will admit, never mind claim, they ever had any connection to the publication.
On December 7, 2021 (no Pearl Harbor jokes, thanks) the latest available Outlook auspicated this (again, no joke):
We forecast that retail gasoline prices will average $3.13/gal in December before falling to $3.01/gal in January and $2.88/gal on average in 2022.
That prediction does not seem to be working very well.
America's Newspaper of Record:
 Biden Administration To Provide Grief Counselors At All Gas Pumps.
Retirement? What retirement plans?
 The [U.S.] stock market has lost all the gains it made since President Joe Biden was sworn into office, according to recent data reported by Fortune on Monday.
 The S&P 500 took a sharp downturn, closing on Monday 151 points below where it was in January of 2021. The other two major indexes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite fell by 876 points and 530 points respectively, both below where they were when Biden took office.
 Cryptocurrency has also taken a hit. Bitcoin lost 15% of its value, and Ethereum lost 16%, according to Fortune.
https://dailycaller.com/2022/06/13/stock-market-gains-erased-joe-biden-administration/?utm_medium=push&utm_source=daily_caller&utm_campaign=push
The Four Steps of Inflation Analysis
Inflation isn't happening
Inflation is transitory
Inflation is because of Putin
If you gripe about inflation you are literally Hitler (h/t IowaHawkBlog)
U.S.A. ABORTION DECISION
The U.S. Supreme Court is due to announce within two days its decision to reverse the 'Freedom of Abortion' decision aka Roe v Wade.
 The F.B.I. (Federal Bureau of Ineptitude) has just warned it "will not tolerate violence or criminal activity under the guise of... demonstration.".
 No one believes them. There is some hope that the F.B.I. will not once again organize violence and entrapment.
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2022/06/11/fbi-warns-it-wont-tolerate-violence-disguised-as-a-demonstration-ahead-of-abortion-decision-1248966/
CHINA MILITARY ARMY
Hillary is quite concerned about the Chinese military build-up
 She said:
"World leaders are not paying enough attention to China's military build-up and growing political influence in small nations.
"China is engaged in a very significant military build-up. Not only in the build-up of the People's Liberation Army and the development of a blue water navy including aircraft carriers, but they are extending throughout the Pacific region and into Africa a number of not just seaports, but military ports.
"They're also engaging in a lot more aggressive behaviour."
https://www.asiamarkets.com/why-hillary-clinton-fears-chinas-military-build-up/
ASIA CHINA ECONOMY
There's a run on Chinese banks and it's being ignored by the world.
A run on rural Chinese banks has been unfolding for months, but there's now evidence contagion is spreading to big cities. The global ramifications of a major run on Chinese banks would be enormous.
https://www.asiamarkets.com/chinese-banks-run/
Well, at least Thailand doesn't have it. Yet.
Monkeypox/Poxvirus is a viral disease that occurs mostly in central and western Africa.
And the U.S. state of Massachusetts.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-61501679
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2022/05/18/massachusetts-first-us-case-monkeypox-2022/9829670002/
MONKEYPOX WARNINGS
The fantastically useless disinformation spreader known as the C.D.C. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has raised their so-called 'alert lever' on monkeypox.
https://www.mic.com/life/cdc-monkeypox-level-2-travel
MONKEYPOX THAILAND
The number of active monkeypox cases in Thailand remained static at a perfectly round digit.
U.S.A. CORONAVIRUS CORRUPTION
PRIORITIES. GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT.
 Golf courses in Colorado Springs (in Colorado state) receive millions from the feds' Covid recovery fund.
 "The City of Colorado Springs is planning to spend millions of federal dollars meant for Covid-19 recovery on the city's two publicly owned golf courses, Patty Jewett Golf Course and Valley Hi Golf Course."
PHOTO: Even the Biden administration can't improve the breathtaking scenery from the Patty Jewett course.
Much more at
https://krdo.com/news/2022/05/16/13-investigates-colorado-springs-golf-courses-receive-millions-from-federal-covid-recovery-fund/
Also from southern Colorado...
Hot with critical fire weather Thursday. Snow Friday and Saturday
https://krdo.com/weather/2022/05/19/hot-with-critical-fire-weather-thursday-snow-friday-and-saturday/
TECHNOLOGY
'A Mass Invasion of Privacy' but Canada's Tim Hortons skates
What does it mean when Tim Hortons, which describes itself as part of the fabric of Canada, whose business boils down to coffee and doughnuts, is collecting so much data on its customers that it's in hot water with the country's privacy commissioners?
https://financialpost.com/technology/pulling-back-the-curtain-on-tim-hortons-privacy-breach
SpaceX has environmental approval for a full test flight of its Starship. (Ars Technica)
The rules are kind of bullshit, ranging from bans on launches on holiday weekends to indirect lighting to avoid confusion in sea turtles to signposting for a post-Civil War Civil War battle, but it's approved.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/06/spacexs-starship-launch-plan-gets-an-environmental-ok-from-the-feds/
The Celsius cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme bank has suspended withdrawals because everything is fine. (Ars Technica)
Celsius offered implausibly high interest rates on cryptocurrency deposits.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/06/cryptocurrency-plunges-as-crypto-bank-celsius-suspends-withdrawals/
People... fergawdsake!
Ponzi is as Ponzi does.
 Any time some stranger promises to let you, yes you, in on their amazing investment opportunity that reliably and consistently outperforms other investment vehicles, you are being scammed. They are not your friend. If they had such an opportunity, they would hoard it zealously, borrowing against other assets in order to make a shitload for themselves. (h/t Ace)
Free, open source options to Microsoft Office updated, and work faster than ever.
LibreOffice, Collabora, KDE Gear all updated their Microsoft alternatives - and they work on any Operating System
TSMC and China: Mutually assured destruction now measured in nanometers, not megatons
The Taiwanese government might give TSMC's chip fabs their own self-destruct systems in case China invaded.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/13/column/
Sort of trivial but darned interesting...
Europe's most powerful supercomputer is an all-AMD beast
First of Europe's pre-exascale systems inaugurated, hits top 3 even without GPU partition fully installed
https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/13/finlands_amdpowered_lumi_arrives/
U.S.A. 'GUN CONTROL'
There is no end of criticism of the bipartisan U.S. Congress' proposed new gun legislation, including that it doesn't contain even a tiny measure to control guns or to prevent mass shootings.
That's not enough for future Democratic Party chief Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York aka AOC. She explains it's all racist.
https://bityl.co/CgZ9
NOTE: AOC turns 35 a month before the next U.S. election for president in November, 2024. Pundits and even some politics writers are wondering if she will run. For one thing, she won't comment.
https://victorygirlsblog.com/is-aoc-thinking-about-running-for-president-in-2024/
U.S.A. ENERGY SHORTAGES GLOBAL WARMING
As if the tragic shortage of fake "Sriracha sauce" wasn't enough for Americans to suffer...
The Democratic Party's 'Renewable Energy Plans' face battery shortage as they run up cost of reliable fossil fuels.
Industry CEO says battery shortage will be followed by lack of raw materials.
U.S. renewable energy developers have delayed or scrapped several big battery projects meant to store electrical power on the grid in recent months, scuttling plans to replace fossil fuels with wind and solar energy.
https://bityl.co/CgXe
U.S.A. INFLATION
The Department of Inflation Has Consequences reports on Milton Friedman's Revenge:...
https://freebeacon.com/columns/milton-friedmans-revenge/
Dow tumbles 876 points and stocks enter Bear Market on worries of drastic rate hikes:
 The Dow (INDU) sank 876 points or 2.8%. The Nasdaq was down by 4.7% and has tumbled more than 10% in the past two trading sessions.
 Recession fears mounted after Friday's miserable Consumer Price Index report showed US inflation was significantly higher than economists had expected last month. That could make the Federal Reserve's inflation-control efforts more difficult.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/13/investing/dow-stock-market-today/index.html
Related
Are housing and jobs markets bubbles about to pop?
 Fortune warned this morning that housing prices in as many as 40 markets could sharply drop over the next year as stagflation necessarily turns into recession.
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2022/06/13/are-housing-and-jobs-markets-bubbles-about-to-pop-n475868
TECHNOLOGY
COSTLY FAILURE: Trudeau Liberals shutting down 16-million-dollar 'Covid Alert app'
While millions were spent on the app's development, it was hardly used by Canadians.
https://bityl.co/CgYO
Something you didn't know until right now.
Google Russia is bankrupt after Russia stole all their money. (Ars Technica)
This is how it works, yes.
Google has not closed services in Russia, and was rewarded for this about how you'd expect.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/05/googles-russia-subsidiary-is-filing-for-bankruptcy/
CANADA U.S.A. MUTUAL ADMIRATION SOCIETY
 Trudeau says GOP 'interference' holds back 'climate leadership,' and Newsom's California shows 'how to do things'
https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-trudeau-says-gop-interference-holds-back-climate-leadership-and-newsoms-california-shows-how-to-do-things
 Newsom praises Trudeau's 'leadership' on gun safety over proposed handgun ban
https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-newsom-praises-trudeaus-leadership-on-gun-safety-over-proposed-handgun-ban
