How are your fights against The Big 19 and The Smog From The East coming along, Mister (formerly general) Prayut?
Hello again everyone, it's Monday morning in Thailand, April 11.
Songkran is going to last the whole week.
How are your fights against The Big 19 and The Smog From The East coming along, Mister (formerly general) Prayut?
The distressing, 24-hour (Sunday) report on Thailand's struggle against The Big Coro:
25,139 confirmed new cases and 23,199 probable cases, or 48,338 confirmed new cases. 67 were carried from abroad by visitors; 80 occurred in prisons.
108 deaths
View From The East
You will need to wear N95 masks today (Monday), even outdoors in parks, due to the bad air quality.


PHOTO: A couple enjoys the view of filthy, smog-laden Bangkok from a Lad Krabang high-rise, next to Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport (just off to their right).
On Sunday afternoon, when the photo was taken, Lat Krabang and the airport reported PM2.5 levels of 92 µg/m³, which is nearly double the government's 'safe' limit.
QUICK FACTThe reactions of the junta's (alleged) 'government' on the distressing coronavirus news and the Eastern smog were identical.
The National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll, took a survey on Saturday.
The result is shrilly simple and unsurprising.
As of today, with an election for Bangkok governor scheduled for May 22, the likely winner is Chadchart Sittipunt.
Running as an independent Chadchart controls aboiut 38.8% of votes.
The spectacularly unexciting current governor and former police general, Aswin Kwanmuang, has slipped into second place among those polled.
In reality, it's a runaway.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/2293066/
The lone single (1) 'expert' who has been wrong about everything to do with the Covid-19 coronavirus:
Doctor Professor Deanj Prasit Watanapa of Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University.
He states on Sunday:
"Most coronavirus deaths were either people who weren’t fully vaccinated or weren’t vaccinated at all."
Which might be true. Then his foot went back to his mouth:
"Thailand is expected to record about 100,000 new Covid-19 cases per day following the Songkran holiday" i.e. next week.
GAMBLING ONLINE LOTTERY
Thailand's ruling junta decided on Sunday to permit sales of lottery tickets via a smartphone app, Pao Tang.
"People who want to buy tickets for the June 16 draw will be able to buy tickets through the app soon." He did not say when the tickets for that draw will be offered.
The meaning of the word "soon" will be explained soon.
THAILAND DEEP SOUTH WAR
The faltering 'anti-Siam' forces of the deep South managed to ambush kill a popular teacher early on Sunday.
Abdul Mutole Awae of Al Islamiyah Wittaya Foundation School was killed after late-evening Ramadan services outside the country mosque in Pattani province.
A group of assailants waited at his home and immediately opened fire.
Awae was popular in the southern communities, and neither police nor family could come up with a quick explanation for his killing.
Applying double standards in Ukraine is a risky business
Russia’s suspension from the United Nations Human Rights Council was long overdue, even without the mass killing of innocent civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.
A country that poisons or otherwise does away with its critics at home and abroad and stifles freedom of the press, expression, and association should not qualify for a seat on the Council.
... China has brutally repressed its Turkic Muslim population in the north-western province of Xinjiang in an effort to Sinicise its ethnic and religious identity. China has also built a surveillance state in which free access to information and basic human rights are denied.
... The double standards exposed by Russia’s suspension in the Human Rights Council go beyond the question of whether the Council should have a fit-and-proper test analog to Britain’s assessment of candidate directors of the National Health Service Trust or prospective owners of clubs in its various football leagues.
The double standards also raise issues that go further than the difference between the reception granted by Europe and the United States to Ukrainian refugees as opposed to those fleeing wars in Syria, Libya, and Yemen or the Western country’s willingness to counter foreign occupation, as in the case of Morocco and the Western Sahara or Israel and Palestine.
James M. Dorsey is an American academic who writes on the Middle East from Singapore.
10 Apr 2022
MALARIA MOSQUITO DENGUE
OLD AND BUSTED: The Asian Murder Hornets.
The New Hotness? In California, an army of genetically engineered mosquitoes awaits release. Will it backfire?
... Oxitec, a private company, says its genetically modified bugs could help save half the world’s population from the invasive Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can spread diseases such as yellow fever, chikungunya and dengue to humans. Female offspring produced by these modified insects will die, according to Oxitec’s plan, causing the population to collapse.
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-04-08/genetically-engineered-mosquitoes-may-soon-fly-in-california
Iran espionage
NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Secret Service agents in Biden detail reportedly part of bribery scheme.
“At least four Secret Service members were compromised by alleged conspirators Arian Taherzadeh and Haider Ali, according to a Friday filing by federal prosecutors. The feds say Ali boasted of links to Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency and his passport indicated recent trips to Iran and Pakistan.”
If the United States took its security seriously, it would have long ago killed the top 100 people in the Pakistani ISI.
https://nypost.com/2022/04/08/joe-biden-secret-service-agents-tied-to-bribery-scheme-report/
The reason for the inserted mention of Iran is the upcoming (April 29) al-Quds Day, when Iran prefers an atmospherre of street violence.
The visit was as secret as it gets.
That said... is there one other world leader that you can imagine and name who is capable of such an act?
Not even one? Yeah, me too.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson makes secret trip to UKRAINE, Meets with Zelensky.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/uk-prime-minister-boris-johnson-makes-secret-trip-to-ukraine-meets-with-zelensky
Gosh! China? Doing espionage inside the U.S.A.?
Hard to believe? How 'bout, this is what China does every day inside the U.S.A. Is that hard to believe?
My, My, you are so young.
Jury convicts U. of Kansas professor for hiding ties to Chinese government.
https://www.thecollegefix.com/jury-convicts-u-of-kansas-professor-for-hiding-ties-to-chinese-government/
30 Years and a Fine of Half a Million Dollars
Related
Please explain, in English where possible. why you do not believe this:
University of Kansas Researcher Convicted of Secretly Working for China.
https://bityl.co/Bieg
To be fair...
'Feisty' is not, and never was, one of the top 3,000 words that is popularly used to describe Pareena Kraikupt.
Please try again.
Interesting and depressing view from Colombo, via The New York Times:
Sri Lanka Hits Rock Bottom
As inflation soars and basic goods grow scarcer, fury over economic mismanagement intensifies.
PHOTO: Protests against dire economic conditions in Colombo are becoming daily events.
https://bdnews24.com/world/south-asia/2022/03/26/sri-lanka-economy-has-hit-rock-bottom-putting-pressure-on-president
BILL MAHER
Maher: GOP Has Become ‘Obsessed With Pedophilia’ in ‘Very Short Time.’
Too true, but so what?
Two bullet points he "forgot" to mention are the 1998 and 2007 Defenses of Paedophilia by Bill Maher.
https://www.newsweek.com/bill-maher-gop-has-become-obsessed-pedophilia-very-short-time-1696645
==
Backgrounders
Bill Maher defended pedophilia in 1998 and 2007.
https://www.mic.com/articles/169240/bill-maher-milo-yiannopoulos-pedophilia-comments
If you do not read the Roger Crutchley column every Sunday, we will require a written explanation by COB on Monday.
Excerpt
... During the early 1960s there were so many dance crazes it was impossible to keep up with them. It even sparked a song -- 'Land of a Thousand Dances' made famous by Wilson Pickett. The original version by Chris Kenner featured 16 dances including the Pony, Chicken, Mashed Potato, Alligator, Watusi, Twist, Fly, Jerk. Tango, Yo-Yo, Sweet Pea, Hand-jive, Slop, Bop, Fish and Popeye. Pickett's version settled for just half-a dozen. If you remember any of them you are most likely a certified wrinkly.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2292994/
It's systemic, baby! That's what it is, SYSTEMIC!
We have to do something about all these dad-blasted SUVs.
My recommendation:
Do this in Texas.
Report back. If you can.