Go home! After midnight, the Covid-19 virus gets very dangerous
Hi kids, now we have begun Tuesday, June 14. Time is flying.
THAILAND INFLATION SHAKEDOWN
Thailand's cash-short ruling junta said Monday it is seriously considering seizing oil refinery profits to support its bankrupt Oil Fund.
Energy minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow justified the likely move to scalp Thailand's oil refineries and natural gas separation plants to try to support the fund, which normally is used to subsidise fuel prices across the board.
"The ministry must tread carefully because contracts exist and any action that may dampen investment should be avoided," Supattanapong said.
The profit-seizing plot is well advanced. The (alleged) 'government' has 'asked' the Council of State and the Office of the Attorney-General for advice on how to proceed.
PHOTO: Oil refineries are targeted by the junta to help to support the effectively bankrupt Oil Fuel Fund.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2325463/
CORONAVIRUS THAILAND COVID TOURISM
Prayut demands night-life crackdown
For the eleventyseventh time this year, Prayut refused to get involved in the Covid-19 brouhaha.
Once again, a senior spokeslady from his office dispatched herself to inform the media that Prayut was ever so concerned by all that curfew-breaking that's going on and he hoped police would crack down on bars, pubs, karaoke shops and massage parlours operating past the 12-midnight curfew.
Spokeslady Traisulee Traisoranakul claimed that complaints about after-midnight entertainment were rolling in, making Prayut angry.
Operating as the junta's alleged 'prime minister', Prayut said that after-midnight scofflaws. He has figured out that after midnight, there are high dangers of Covid-19 virus clusters, Ms Traisulee explained.
Weirdly, the junta's deniability agency, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, will recommend on Friday that entertainment places should be allowed to stay in operation until at least 2 a.m., without any mask mandate.
https://royalcoastreview.com/2022/06/pm-orders-a-clampdown-on-midnight-closing-rules/
THAILAND CORONAVIRUS
Thai media slipped unconsciously into using the horrible word "only" on Monday - as in 'New Coronavirus virus cases were ONLY 1,800'.
It's the lowest number of documented new cases in one for more than two months.
But if you're one of the 1,801 or a family member or friend of the 15 you might think that's a little callous.
Related. If it were not for the dedicated bureaucrats of Medicare and their access to email flood lists, I never would have thought of this before today.
Still, it's good advice.
U.S.A. THAILAND COBRA GOLD
U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is in Thailand (photo below, with Prayut) and so is the U.S. Pacific commander Admiral John Aquilino.
Their movements and actual talks with Thailand's junta, including the so-called 'defence minister' Prayut are as secret as the nuclear codes, hiding behing pleasantries such as, "The U.S. is committed to strengthening Thailand's militaryy with technology, training, weapons and defence industry development."
Meanwhile, according to a Thai army spokesman (but not Austin or Prayut) they agreed that Cobra Gold 2023 will be "a full-scale drill". Absolutely zero details on just what that means, except that "it will include cyber warfare training", which does not include actual war games.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2325453/
ASEAN CHINA U.S.A.
Thailand's leading analyst of foreign and ASEAN affairs thinks there is good news ahead.
Kavi Chongkittavorn writes that the ASEAN Regional Forum (August 5 in Phnom Penh), aka ARF, will bring the two powers to the negotiating table.
ARF includes the U.S., China, the European Union, India, Russia, Australia and Japan.
All of these countries are on the same page as far as ASEAN is concerned.
An ASEAN that is stable, peaceful, and focused on regional economic integration would be beneficial to the international community.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2325623/
CORONAVIRUS CHINA
Great Wall of distrust
A pro-Beijing American pointy-head admits that the Chinese Communist Party's 'Zero Covid' policy is nonsense.
Also, the government's opaque approach to Covid-19 vaccine development and deployment has backfired.
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-vaccine-resistance-lack-of-public-trust-by-nancy-qian-1-2022-06
Extremely related (and also American)
China's Bet on Homegrown mRNA Vaccines Holds Back the Nation
China is trying to navigate its biggest coronavirus outbreak without a tool it could have adopted many months ago, the kind of vaccines that have proven to offer the best protection against the worst outcomes from Covid-19.
Now health experts say that delay - a result of putting politics and national pride above public health - could lead to avoidable coronavirus deaths and deeper economic losses because whole cities would be locked down to insulate the country's unprotected population.
PHOTO: Visitors look at giant replica bottles of Covid-19 vaccine using mRNA technologies at the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing.
https://www.voanews.com/a/china-s-bet-on-homegrown-mrna-vaccines-holds-back-nation-/6587593.html
THAILAND ECONOMY
Interest rates likely to rise, but gradually
There is no longer much doubt that the Bangkok of Thailand will raise policy interest rates - and therefore all interest rates.
There is quite a spirited battle going on behind the scenes as Thai Big Business Elites pressure the central bank to keep the policy-rate rises slow and gentle.
https://tinyurl.com/4n459n8e
Same story, different version:
The Inevitable
Research houses are unanimous in predicting the Bank of Thailand will hike rates, but businesses are pushing for an easy, gradual approach.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2325008/
THAILAND INFLATION
Interprovincial bus companies began "revising" schedules on Monday - meaning a huge number of point-to-point bus routes have been cancelled for the foreseeable future.
Worst example so far:
The bus service from Khon Kaen town to Vientiane, run by Thailand's Transport Company and a Lao transportation firm, was scheduled to resume on Wednesday - tomorrow.
But that has been cancelled, too.
Price of diesel is up (from 250 to 450 kip per baht in three days) and the likely number of bus riders is lower than ever.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2325263/
Junta's plan for fast adoption of EVs runs into potholes
The state passed an incentive package for electric cars, but high prices and lack of charging infrastructure hinder buyers.
In the view of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), EV prices may not be attractive enough to bring about a massive change, while the availability of EV charging facilities poses a challenge to EV infrastructure development.
On the supply side, a number of local auto parts suppliers also need more time to fully adopt EV technology
PHOTO: A plugged-in electric vehicle (EV) model displayed at the Thailand International Motor Expo.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/auto/news/2325073/
The governor of the Bank of Thailand (head poobah in complete charge) said Monday something for you to think about and try to figure out.
[REUTERS] "We" (the Bank of Thailand) "We see less need for ultra-accommodative policy."
But any hikes in interest rates will be gradual, the governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput added.
https://tinyurl.com/ymv27zt3
A vendor at Bang Yai fresh market in Nonthaburi province, north of Bangkok, displays higher pork prices.
Thailand is expected to enter a cycle of policy rate hikes in the second half of this year in response to persistently high inflation.
Weed sells out
Cannabis fair sees overwhelming demand
BURI RAM: Demand for cannabis seedlings exceeded supplies at a 'Cannabis Fair' in downtown Buri Ram over the weekend.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2325283/cannabis-fair-sees-overwhelming-demand
THAILAND POLITICS PROTESTS
THAILAND GUNS
Crime Suppression Division police raided and busted an undergound gun-selling operation in Bangkok and five provinces.
Altogether, the 'Hanunam special operations unit' raided 21 locations in Bangkok, Chon Buri, Kanchanaburi, Udon Thani and Chiang Mai provinces.
The gun-selling was established and run by Danupol 'Bell' Samaesarn, a former deputy village chief in Sattahip.
Most of the weapons were stolen from army and government armories.
The raids were a follow-up to a CSD operation in 2020 in Chiang Rai and Nong Khai provinces in the North.
PHOTO: Police show off some of the loot seized in the raids.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2325228/
CORONAVIRUS U.S.A. CHINA
Biden's WHO Takeover
"Handing American sovereignty over to the UN is still on Biden's 'to do' list. . . The Biden [junta's] bid to surrender American control over public health emergencies in the United States to the World Health Organization fell short at the UN's 75th World Health Assembly in Geneva last month, but there is no reason to believe Biden won't try again."
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/06/bidens-who-takeover-matthew-vadum/
INFLATION U.S.A. BABIES
Still a good question: Why Was Abbott Labs Shut Down?
"The FDA has been seriously inconsistent in its actions regarding baby formula suppliers."
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/06/why_was_abbott_labs_shut_down_.html
CORONAVIRUS U.S.A. CORRUPTION GRAFT GRIFT
Just an asterisk in the many coming books and documentaries on Corruption In the Covid Age. But still...
U.S.A. FDA Sued Over Hiding Records From Moderna Covid-19 Vaccine Approval.
https://thenationalpulse.com/2022/06/09/fda-sued-over-hiding-records-from-moderna-covid-19-vaccine-approval/
POLITICS U.S.A.
Welcome back, Carter?
FACT: Jimmy Carter was also terrified of a bunny. The "1979 Jimmy Carter rabbit incident", involved a swamp rabbit (Sylvilagus aquaticus) that swam toward the fishing boat of then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter on April 20, 1979.
Great email on Sunday from the great white climes of Oz:
Did not go below zero last night in New House City, but 2C was quite cold enough when I had to sort through an unheated garage at 2AM looking for the two boxes with all the bedding. They were supposed to be at the top, since they weigh almost nothing (one box was literally filled with pillows), but turned out to be underneath not only multiple layers of boxes filled with books, but under a stack of bookshelves as well.
TECHNOLOGY
There is a very spiffy new search engine out and about. Yep.com is... well you type in what you're looking for as usual. It's very fast, mostly because every single bloat of Google and DuckDuckGo and all the rest of them has been stripped out. Yep.com does ordinary internet searching, and searching for news, and that's all, at least up until now.
The site has background information on who they are and what they're doing. It even has jobs. Yep does not keep track of your searches and report you to all the people who want to know about them.
https://yep.com
The Department of Keep Your Eyes Out for Bargains reports:
Acer has warned of a potential oversupply of laptops as inflation begins to bite and supply chain issues are slowly corrected. (Tom's Hardware)
If you need a new laptop, keep an eye out for bargains on previous-generation models - Intel's 11th generation and Ryzen 5000. They're perfectly good chips, and if manufacturers find themselves with growing inventories, they're likely to cut price to clear them out.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/acer-warns-of-laptop-oversupply
Is the iPad a substitute for the PC yet? No. (ZDNet)
No. It never will be so long as Apple maintains its restrictive software practices.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-ipad-as-pc-are-we-there-yet/
Baseball Zinger
Although you could apply this to Toronto Maple Leafs fans.
