Exactly as the Mysterious Gypsy Lady foretold
Good morning kids, from the incredibly envied but quite chilly headquarters of the Fishwrap in eastern Nong Bon.
Did you notice you have two days to complete your Christmas shopping? And nine (9) days for the New Year?
The junta is back and it's not at all pretty.
The military 'government' yesterday set out a passel of New Year's Eve rules and regulations. Many are based on the 1971 edicts of the Thanom Kittikachorn regume, which have never been taken off the books.
Such as
 No drinking and no purchase of alcohol anywhere in Thailand at lunch time (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and no drinking or purchase of drinks after midnight on New Year's Eve.
 All bars, pubs, karaoke and private places can serve alcohol until 2 a.m., but absolutely not 4 a.m., as requested by nightlife operators.
 This New Year's Eve (a week from tomorrow, will mark the first time since the early 1980s that bars and pubs are banned from all-night operation.
Public, opposition MPs outraged at Navy corvette sinking
 Prayut, who serves the junta as 'minister of defence' as well as prime minister, refused to face any of the criticism. He dispatched an aide, four-star army general Chaicharn Changmongkol to deal with critics.
 General Chaicharn has no experience in naval matters.
 Sunday night's flooding and sinking of the Royal Thai Navy corvette HTMS Sukhothai off the Hua Hin coast killed six - but left two dozen officially "missing" but presumed drowned.
 Opposition Move Forward Party MP charged that the doomed craft put to sea, not only in horrific winds and waves, but even without safety gear.
 "I wonder whether there were
enough life jackets for crew members on board," he said.
 "And who will take responsibility for the losses of personnel and the loss their families are experiencing?"
 Well, definitely not Prayut, holed up in one of his offices. He has made no comment on the disaster.
 According to the navy, of the 105 crew members on board the corvette when it lost power, rolled and sank, 82 sailors have been found as of yesterday. Six were confirmed dead, and 23 are still missing.
THAILAND POLITICS
The political party set up four years ago with the specific duty to politically protect Prayut, is in trouble.
The Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP, 'People's State Power Part) has lost Prayut to a different, and even more junta-loyal party, the United Thai Nation. But it also has lost at least 40 members of parliament.
It announced yesterday it was going to "quickly" reorganise its structure. The new PPRP leader and former Prayut BFF, retired general Prawit Wongsuwon would be named, officially as party leader.
A Prawit aide said the PPRP would hold another fund-raising event for its election campaign at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center on January 25.
The first such 'fund-raiser' identified a dozen elite Thai business executives, who threw in several billion baht to the Prawit-supervised party funds.
This happens a couple, maybe five times every year. Almost always in the Gulf off the deep South. Some fishing captains just don't want to get out of the storm.
 According to the Second Naval Area Command of the Royal Thai Navy, based in Songkhla, the trawler left Pattani early this month and had requested help before the vessel foundered in stormy seas on Sunday.
https://www.thaipbsworld.com/trawler-crew-member-rescued-three-die-one-missing-off-songkhla-province/
The queen of Bhutan, Her Majesty Queen Jetsun Pema Wangchuck,arrived in Bangkok yesterday.
She set her first duty as travelling to the King Chulalongkorn Hospital, to sign the condolence book for HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha -- best known throughout Thailand as "Princess Phat".
Buddhist ceremonies were held for the princess in Thimphu on Monday.
A joint prayer session of Buddhist, Muslim and Christian clergy was held at the Thai parliament yesterday to wish Princess Phat a swift recovery.
No itinerary was announced for the Bhutanese visitor. Bhutan has close ties to Thailand.
As the mysterious Gypsy lady predicted...
Thailand's interest in serial killer Charles Sobhraj can't be measured.
The Bangkok Post newspaper, once the 'world authority' on the killer, dropped a small story about his prison release by Nepal on an inside page. Other Thai- Chinese- and English-language media were similar. Most TV news broadcasts didn't mention the story.
Sobhraj is to be released from prison in Nepal today, and whisked away to France.
Thailand has no warrants for his arrest.
TOURISM TAIWAN LANTERN FESTIVAL
Taiwan revives Chinese New Year lantern lantern festival
East Taipei takes centerstage in first major international event following easing of Covid rules
 The annual festival is the culmination of the Lunar New Year holiday, the most important holiday in Taiwan.
 Themed "Light up the Future," the 2023 edition will take place February 5-19.
PHOTO: Artist's impression of a light installation to be featured at the 2023 Taiwan Lantern Festival.
With Video
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4755352
USA TERRORISM VANDALISM
Coordinated attacks on the U.S.A. power grids.
White supremacist Boogaloos online claim their movement is behind them.
https://www.dailydot.com/debug/white-nationalist-power-grid-attacks/
Related:
Report shows 6 'intrusions' at Florida power stations
https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/southeast/report-shows-intrusions-at-6-power-stations-in-florida/
How many more admissions will there be? There have been so many off-handed, unstudied orders to the public during this pandemic.
Or is it just a scientific Broad Error Band?
LOCKDOWN FALLOUT:
 CDC admits* lockdowns, mask mandates and school closures may be fueling Strep A outbreak in the United States.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention admitted that healthcare systems across the entire United States have been pushed to the brink after an unseasonably high number of flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases with some pediatric units forced to erect inflatable tents to treat patients in parking lots.
SURVEY SAYS...
Oh, Sod Off Swampy. Even if he's shot, a 19-year-old gang-banger is not a "pediatric firearms injury." Unless you count the dead and wounded Americans in Vietnam as children. I don't care if there were twenty-two studies about it.
Two studies, one finding: Guns injure, kill rising number of children in U.S.A.
* United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, famous for its prevention and control of the Chinese SARS Cov-2 novel coronavirus.
CDC admits Covid response fell short, launches reorganization
CDC Director Walensky to reorganize agency after admitting Covid pandemic response fell short.
The organizational changes are focused on sharing data more quickly and making public health guidance easier for people to understand.
Includes video
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/17/cdc-admits-covid-response-fell-short-launches-reorganization.html
Closely Related
 The Wuhan panic underlines how scientists have abandoned the search for truth.
https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/essays-and-commentaries/the-wuhan-panic-underlines-how-scientists-have-abandoned-the-search-for-truth/
Why didn't someone warn us this would happen?
This just in: New Report from The Department of Because Of Course
 During the last three days, the Taliban banned girls from elementary schools and attending seminaries.
 Women are also prohibited from teaching or working in schools. Under Taliban rule, women need a male escort to visit a government building, take a taxi, see their doctor, or travel more than 70 kilometres. All females can also no longer visit public parks. Other than medical jobs, women cannot be employed.
 And today is Friday, the Sabbath -- Perfect day to start the other new rule: No women allowed in mosques.
https://archive.ph/20221221175102/https:/www.wsj.com/articles/afghanistans-taliban-ban-all-education-for-girls-11671642870
TECHNOLOGY
Turns out that Trump's US$99 were plagiarised. [Gizmodo.com]
Most of the 'art' was taken from small clothing companies, and the apparent theft was indeed so poorly hidden that a quick reverse-image search was all that was needed to identify the apparent original.
https://gizmodo.com/donald-trump-nft-trading-cards-1849900531
CAUGHT ON VIDEO by NASA
Telescopes captured black hole destroying a star
One lone star got a little too close to a black hole recently.
The black hole is in the center of another galaxy than ours.
https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/nasa-telescopes-captured-black-hole-destroying-a-star/
Elon Musk conducted a poll on Twitter, asking whether he should resign or stay. [Newsnationnow.com]
The majority said 'quit' so Elon is going to resign as CEO.
https://www.newsnationnow.com/business/tech/musk-says-he-will-resign-as-twitter-ceo-once-he-finds-replacement/
McDonald's opens a Texas branch with fully automated ordering, service and payment. [Dailydot.com]
The customer response is incredible.
Why not Bangkok? Or Krabi? Is there a reason? Why yes, there is a reason; well, several reasons.
https://www.dailydot.com/irl/mcdonalds-fully-automated/
