Entire Thai junta called in to consider half-penny rise in ramen packet prices
G'morn Rons, Ettes. It's another Thursday, August 18, and it's going to rain like heck again, innit?
Separatists step up attacks in South of Thailand
Bombs and fire-starters ravage Pattani - three bystanders wounded
Coordinated midnight attacks centered on businesses in the southern province capital. The Big C supermall was gutted, along with several fuel-service stations and attached convenience stores.
Most likely attackers: BRN, Barisan Revolusi Nasional, which (supposedly) is holding peace talks wih the junta and the Thai army.
Many photos at:
https://www.matichon.co.th/region/news_3511151
Summary: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2370458/
Also,
Prayut was quite annoyed by the Tuesday evening attacks across the deep South by separatist forces - local and foreign.
He and the Royal Thai Army commander General Narongpan Jitkaewtae want a full (i.e. secret) investigation of who might have been behind the bombings and arson that destroyed numerous buildings and wounded three people.
Even though everyone knows who did it - the Malaysia-based Barisan Revolusi Nasional Melayu Patani aka BRN, which is involved in peace talks with the Thai junta.
PHOTO: A typical BRN propaganda display in the deep South of Thailand.
Directly related
Blasts are most likely the work of the BRN
by veteran reporter Achara Ashayagachat
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1064584/
Prayut speaks
Read my lips: I will not dissolve the House
"He will carry on working until the end of his tenure," said his spokesman. Who did not mention when that will occur.
Reporters grilled Prayut on a rumour regarding the potential dissolution of the House after the Election ommission (EC) issued regulations related to the use of state resources and personnel that will affect future election results.
Yutthaporn Isarachai, a political scientist from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, said the rumour about the dissolution of the House may have been spread by the ruling Palang Pracharath Party to distract people's
attention from the controversy surrounding Prayut's tenure.
But he said Gen was unlikely to dissolve the House as this would do more harm than good.
Xayaburi Dam deal free to proceed
Top court rules in favour of power pact
Thailand's junta-owned Supreme Administrative Court upheld a lower-court ruling to dismiss a citizens' petition demanding that Thailand end a contract with Laos to buy electricity from the giant Mekong River dam.
The suit and petitions were signed by residents of eight provinces bordering on the river.
They accused the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat), the Energy Policy and Planning Office (Eppo), the Ministry of Energy and the cabinet of colluding to unlawfully conduct this energy project.
Thailand is committed to buy 95 percent of the Xayburi's electricity production.
The judges tossed them out.
TRANSPORT
Malaysia pitches in on ASEAN rail link
Five-nation deal for a Singapore-to-Yunnan railway
Transport ministers and/or aides from China, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Singaporeheld a meeting in Bangkok and had a delicious lunch.
They agreed unanimously in principle that what Southeast Asia needs is a new, high-speed railway network.
There are huge gaps in the scheme, including that Thailand has no high-speed railway and plans for one are proceeding as fast as a Galapagos Tortoise.
On Monday, the top five makers of dried noodle packets said they would need a price rise from 6 baht to 8 baht in real money, because of inflation - One Half of one American penny..
On Wednesday, the junta that rules all 70 million Thais plus foreign businessmen and tourists said, "Hmmmm. We need to study and consider that."
The junta's loyal 'minister of commerce' Jurin Laksanawisit has ordered the Internal Trade Department to consider price-rise request.
But personally, he said he feels a ha'penny price rise is way too much.
"Such a hefty increase may especially hit low-income earners."
PHOTO: Thais 'cook' the ramen like other people, but then add meat, seafood, green veggies, tofu, seasoning to taste, etc.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2370031/
THAILAND CORONAVIRUS EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN
Give them an inch, they want all night
Nightlife operators are demanding longer opening hours - until 4 a.m. Or so.
They have taken their demands to the ruling junta.
PHOTO: Ah, those were the days. Khao San Road, the backpacker's delight, is shown in a world without the coronavirus.
THAILAND CORONAVIRUS
The virus that will not stop
Since the pandemic started in early 2020, there have been 4,626,057 Covid-19 cases, including 2,402,622 this year, with 4,574,240 complete recoveries to date.
The accumulated death toll stood at 31,915 since the beginning of the pandemic, including 10,217 so far this year.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2370376/
RIP
Asia's fastest female, vivacious Lydia De Vega died at the Makati Medical Center after a four-year battle against breast cancer, aged 57.
and
Hollywood director, German Wolfgang Peterson, died in Hollywood, age 81.
Famed for Das Boot - then went on to make The Perfect Storm, Air Force One, In The Line of Fire...
THAILAND POLITICS
Rumour of the Month, hands down:
The junta's Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) and the next-generation of Thaksin's Pheu Thai Party are going to get married - but only after an election that will dump Prayut.
https://www.matichon.co.th/article/column-page-3/news_3508070
It pays to increase your Thai vocab power
Click the link to see the 22-second panoramic video of the impressive station.
GLOBAL WARMING
Germany has cancelled plans to kill off its last three functioning nuclear plants. And it STILL won't have enough energy for winter. Germany used to be quite good at planning.
and
Germany Faces Power Grid Collapse as Demand for Electric Heaters Soar.
Germans are now panic buying electric heaters after firewood supplies and stoves sold out, a desperate backup option to survive the plummeting winter temperatures.
https://www.dailyfetched.com/germany-faces-power-grid-collapse-as-demand-for-electric-heaters-soar/
Giorgia Melon is the first female prime minister of Italy. She is the first fascist political leader of Italy since Italians hanged Mussolini from a light pole.
Gaun yersel'! It will be a skoosh.
Without naming sex, gender, puberty... without any of that, Scotland's now makes 'period products' free to anyone who does or might or fantasises he needs them.
Salman Rushdie's attacker is in custody.
"We may never know the motive," promised the FBI.
https://bityl.co/DsTY
U.S.A. CIVIL RIGHTS
America's National Basketball Association has cancelled all games scheduled for November 8. The official excuse is that if Americans don't have NBA basketball to watch, they will rush out to vote for senators and congresspeople.
U.S.A. POLITICS
The suddenly famous congressladywoman Liz Cheney, now known as "the Washington Generals of Laramie" was crushed in the state of Wyoming mid-term election.
Before she returned to her actual home in [consulting notes] Virginia she made a speech that some supporters said was "Churchillian" because Churchill also was fat.
Actually, she compared herself to Lincoln.
Also, she can't find the pee tape.
HEH, INDEED:
The Best Historical Analog For Liz Cheney Isn't Lincoln. It's Colin Kaepernick.
Rather than engaging in serious self-reflection as to why her popularity plummeted among the Wyomingites she swore to represent in Congress, Cheney decided to play the victim card and cast her work in the disgraceful January 6 Committee as necessary for the future of the republic.
https://thefederalist.com/2022/08/17/the-best-historical-analog-for-liz-cheney-isnt-lincoln-its-colin-kaepernick/
By the way...
Representative Liz Cheney's (PRC-WYOMING) net worth ballooned from an estimated US$7 million when she first took office in 2017 to possibly more than $44 million in 2020, according to analysis from the Center for Responsive Politics and her most recent financial disclosure forms.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/08/11/records-liz-cheneys-net-worth-ballooned-much-600-percent-during-her-time-office/
DOCTOR Jill Biden has tested positive for Covid-19. She bravely reported that her symptoms are mild.
Still getting the 'vid, however mild, will make it more difficult to track and keep the reins on The Big Guy, and keep him in line.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/jill-biden-tests-positive-covid-rcna43283
She tested negative again on a rapid antigen test, but a PCR test came back positive. The First Lady is double-vaccinated, twice boosted, and only experiencing mild symptoms.
The DOCTOR and hubby have six shots of vaccine but they got Covid anyway.
TECHNOLOGY
Hard drive shipments dropped 15% in the most recent quarter. (Tom's Hardware)
A combination of factors at work here, including the timely demise of the Chia storage-based blockchain BS. MSRPs haven't changed but if you shop around you can save up to 40% on high-end drives - making them fairly competitive with low-end drives that don't offer such deals.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/hard-drive-volume-dropped-15-percent-q3-2022
U.S.A. CELEBRATION GALA
The United States enthusiastically celebrated the first anniversay of its Craven Kabul Surrender with a USD$7 billion-with-a-"b" gift of military hardward from howitzers to sniperr rifles.
The U.S. also celebrated the decision by U.S.-trained special forces and security forces to move to Iran, with all weapons and vehicles.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/aug/16/more-7-billion-us-provided-weapons-seized-taliban-/?utm_source=onesignal&utm_campaign=pushnotify&utm_medium=push
https://freebeacon.com/national-security/u-s-trained-afghan-commandos-fled-to-iran-with-weapons-report-finds/
WEEKEND READS
Fascinating article, written, by a 'noted military expert' who is right up there with the noted medical experts of 2019-2022.
1940: Hitler's Military Options
A Phony War magazine article by Major General George Ared White (1880 - 1941) in which he muses wistfully (as Oregon men are wont to do) as to all the various, dreadful choices that were spread before Herr Hitler in the early months of 1940.
As varied as Hitler's military options were, the General believed that France's Maginot Line was impregnable and he did not think that Hitler would commit to such an undertaking. General White believed Hitler had six options before him which are all illustrated on the attached cartoon map.
LONGREAD COVID CORRUPTION WEEKEND READS
For now, or save it for the weekend.
The Covid Reckoning Is Coming.
'At least' USD$163 billion in "overpayments" went to both legitimate recipients of unemployment benefits and fraudsters. The Paycheck Protection Act, which provided forgivable loans to businesses adversely affected by the pandemic, was described by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz as an "invitation to defraud" the government.
https://www.commentary.org/noah-rothman/the-covid-reckoning-is-coming/
Directly related
The Elite Panic of 2022
https://www.city-journal.org/the-elite-panic-of-2022
Also for the weekend, and careful thought:
INTERESTING Polio Facts:
The Salk vaccine, generally known as the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), developed first and used exclusively in the U.S.A. since 2000, is incredibly effective (99%+) at preventing paralytic poliomyelitis but does not convey mucosal immunity, and therefore does little to reduce transmission of the poliovirus.
If you blame the "unvaccinated" for the spread of polio, you’re wrong.
Spiegel reports from Xinjiang on a Surveillance System you can hardly imagine.
Xinjiang, one of the most remote and backward regions in booming China, has become a real-life dystopia. It provides a glimpse of what an authoritarian regime armed with 21st century technology is capable of.
Beijing brought in hardliner Chen Quanguo, party boss in Tibet, and put him in charge in Xinjiang. Within two years, he implemented the same policy he enacted in Tibet and installed police stations across the region. These bunker-like, barricaded and heavily guarded buildings now litter every crossroads of the major cities.
Chen also introduced a block leader system not unlike the old German Blockwarts, with members of the local Communist Party committee given powers to inspect family homes and interrogate them about their lives.
That last para is fascinating. It describes exactly what the Vietnam Communist Party did to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and other cities within six months of the victory of April, 1975 - Ten Families One Informant. And the unspeakably cruel Lao People's Revolutionary Party after December of 1975.
New research: #MeToo movement hurt female productivity.
Apparently they couldn't see the consequences of demanding we believe all women.
https://unherd.com/thepost/new-research-metoo-movement-hurt-female-productivity/
Speaking of people with Honor and Integrity and Principle and Pre-Diabetes...
Liz Cheney "feels bigger" than "small" Wyoming.
Also,
