Melania to Donald: You're Blowing It
Fellow kids! Comrades! Children! I understand. You're excited. It's Friday.
THAILAND POLITICS
We're not at the end, but everyone senses the end is coming.
Example: The conservative Bangkok Post newspaper runs an anti-junta editorial cartoon. This one shows the former chief constitution writer Meechai Ruchupan telling Prayut that everything will be okay.
It's relevant. In Thailand, all revolutions come very, very slowly - and occur overnight.
Tap or click to embiggen.
CORONAVIRUS THAILAND WORLD
The Chinese Communist Party-owned director general of WHO? says the Covid pandemic is pretty much over.
Former Maoist guerrilla fighter Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said:
"Last week, the number of weekly reported deaths from Covid-19 was the lowest since March 2020, We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic. We're not there yet, but the end is in sight."
PHOTO: Americans may need yearly shots to protect against Covid.
We have ways of making you roll up your sleeves.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/14/health/pandemic-end-in-sight-who/index.html
Four days after warning the public about a new super-virulent super-spreading Omicron Covid mutation, the Thai junta's Department of Medical Sciences (DMSC) has updated that warning. The new warning is:
Do not panic, do not worry, this new BA.2.75 Covid mutation is no big deal.
PHOTO: DMSC director Dr. Supakit Sirilak kept his mask on while issuing the newest junta-approved "DO NOT PANIC!" order. No questions were permitted.
https://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news/detail/TCATG220915112735710
New York Court Rules That Cop Can't Be Fired For Refusing the Vaccine
https://nypost.com/2022/09/14/nypd-cop-cant-be-fired-for-refusing-covid-vaccine-judge/
I am Woman, Hear me Nag
Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle Get Emotional at Queen's Funeral Procession
Standing shoulder to shoulder with their husbands Prince William and Prince Harry, Kate and Meghan seemed to blink back tears before the monarch's coffin, which was draped with the Royal Standard and raised on a catafalque.
https://bityl.co/EOqV
FUN 'N' GAMES ENTERTAINMENT
Markobi of France: Watch the new world champion of card magic's astonishing act
10-MIN VIDEO: https://boingboing.net/2022/09/13/watch-the-new-world-champion-of-card-magics-astonishing-act.html
and
Here is new meaning to "nothing up my sleeve." Magician Justin Willman performs Magic for Nudists.
5-Minute Video:
https://boingboing.net/2022/03/10/watch-talented-magician-do-tricks-for-nudists.html
GLOBAL WARMING EVs
So... what's with the whole Toyota deal?
Why Toyota – the world's largest automaker – isn't all-in on electric vehicles
In Thailand, the 'Detroit of Asia', Toyota isn't even a little-bit 'in'
Toyota has a goal to produce 3.5 million electric vehicles by 2030, which would be more than a third of its current sales.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/13/why-toyota-the-worlds-largest-automaker-isnt-all-in-on-evs.html
also
Is Toyota really anti-EV, or is it playing a long game?
Toyota is making a lot of money selling its hybrid vehicles that cut emissions by 30-40 percent at a modest price premium across their range of products. But its leaders are very prominent opponents of a rapid shift to electric vehicles.
https://thedriven.io/2022/09/14/is-toyota-really-anti-ev-or-is-it-playing-a-long-game/
For Australia only...
Tesla plans world’s biggest EV charging station, with 164 stalls
Related Ugh
Toyota loses $315m tax case
TMT must pay tariffs from 2015 dispute
Toyota Motor Thailand (TMT) Company has lost a 2015 import tariff dispute in which the car maker was ordered to pay 11.63 billion baht (US$315.5 million) in missing taxes in connection with its move to import parts to assemble Toyota Prius cars in Thailand.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2392556/
Seen this movie yet?
'The Woman King' glorifies African slave-trading kingdom.
FACT: The movie, which is currently being lauded as a celebration of African resilience and womanhood due to its fierce depiction of black Amazonian warriors, couldn't be further from the reality of the Dahomey kingdom, which was first put in its place by the British for the practice of slavery, and later defeated by the French.
EXPLAINER: The French attacked them because the tribe was attacking villages and capturing men to ship to Britain as slaves - after Britain banned slavery.
https://www.rebelnews.com/the_woman_king_glorifies_african_slave_trading_kingdom
Trailer:
Fraud, Bullying, Intimidation: Facebook Worked With FBI to Spy on Americans Who Questioned 2020 Election.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2022/09/15/facebook-worked-with-fbi-to-spy-on-americans-who-questioned-2020-election-n1629782
While they were drinking coffee and eating donuts something dubious happened to the San Francisco Police Department,
Thieves Steal San Francisco Police Department's Catalytic Converters Right in Front of the Station
https://www.thedrive.com/news/thieves-steal-sfpds-catalytic-converters-right-in-front-of-the-station
THAILAND CORONAVIRUS
Every day, seven days a week, there are hundreds of hospitalized new Covid cases. And more than 25 Covid deaths. But the politics go on.
Thailand's junta-appointed 'experts defend use of favipiravir pills
(BP, Sept 13).
The Thai junta's Department of Medical Sciences (DMS) has rejected the results of a trial of favipiravir done in the United States, Mexico and Brazil that concluded the drug lacked efficacy in treating Covid.
In defence of its widespread use of favipiravir — as a first-line treatment for Covid in Thailand — the DMS cites a local trial done with 93 patients in three hospitals, which apparently yielded satisfactory results in favour of favipiravir’s efficacy, in spite of the small sample size and apparent lack of an international peer review.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2390011/
And in America, they have the disgracefully useless Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, better known as 'CDC' and still searching for studies that show a difference between elbows and anuses.
==
IF OUR PUBLIC HEALTH ORGANISATIONS would start cleaning up their act right now, it will still be a generation before they're trusted again:
e.g. CDC Finally Admits It Lied About Covid Vaccine Safety Monitoring.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/kevindowneyjr/2022/09/13/cdc-finally-admits-it-lied-about-covid-vaccine-safety-monitoring-n1629231
China-owned and -maintained.
The near-totally corrupt World Health Organization (WHO?) has just added the U.S.A. to its (thankfully short) list of countries with polio myelitis outbreaks.
The 30-country list includes mainly low- and middle-income countries, plus Israel and the UK. So mainly useless.
PHOTO: Pakistani child gets a 'shot' of the Salk polio vaccine.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/09/us-officially-added-to-whos-list-of-poliovirus-outbreak-countries/
CLUE 1
Poliovirus may be spreading in London; virus detected in sewage for months
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/06/poliovirus-may-be-spreading-in-london-virus-detected-in-sewage-for-months/?itm_source=parsely-api
CLUE 2
Poliovirus detected in New York City sewage; health officials urge vaccination
At least two readers of The Daily Fishwrap are interested:
https://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/articles/2022-impact-ranking/
Splain this. Please.
Joseph Biden is using US$80 million* on a law to enforce a ban on GPS.
https://bityl.co/EPf9
*฿3 billion in real money
This even makes me feel sorry for KJP, who should quit and find employment so she knows what 'work for a living' means.
VIDEO:
Texas governor Greg Abbott Sends Two Busloads of Immigrants to Kamala Harris's Home.
Biden's new law prevents Biden and all U.S. federal law enforcement agents from knowing this.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/lincolnbrown/2022/09/15/greg-abbott-sends-two-busloads-of-immigrants-to-kamala-harriss-home-n1629756
Vitit Muntarbhorn is a well-known international human rights defender. He has become a Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
His latest new commentary:
How to invigorate multilateralism
Precisely because power is in the hands of the few, it is difficult to raise issues of responsibility.
Interesting: Professor Vitit does not mention, even once, the World Economic Forum (WEF) of Davos.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2391875/how-to-invigorate-multilateralism
Ross Douthat is a columnist for The New York Times. He claims:
Winter promises to be decisive in Ukraine war
This is scary. The last time this happened, millions died because of Joseph Stalin's policies and orders.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/10/opinion/ukraine-war-europe.html
Okay Groomer
U.S.A. First Lady DOCTOR Jill Biden, in an interview with NBC News correspondent Sheinelle Jones, argued that parents shouldn't be able to exclude any books from school libraries.
"Parents and politicians are now weighing in on what books should be in our school libraries, and what their kids are being taught..." Jones began "Where's the line, in your opinion, with how much of a say parents have..."
"All books should be in the library," DOCTOR Jill Biden said, cutting off Jones. "All books. This is America. We don’t ban books."
[This is stunningly uninformed for an American university graduate.]
https://bit.ly/3DpCmqY
VIDEO:
The blog is called 'The Truth About Guns' so its opinions may include bias.
IT'S NOT A WAR ON GUNS, IT'S A WAR ON AMERICANS: Civilian Disarmament Chronicles: The State of Biden's War on Guns After 18 Months.
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/civilian-disarmament-chronicles-the-state-of-bidens-war-on-guns-after-18-months/
And don't think your flapjacks and maple syrup are keeping you safe, Canada. Canadians "health experts" are on the case.
Why polio is back on the radar of Canadian health officials
https://brighterworld.mcmaster.ca/articles/why-polio-is-back-on-the-radar-of-canadian-health-officials/
Spoiler
Well, it's not going to be 800 baht in our current lifetimes, but it's going to get him and his lovely ex-wife/daughter/sister and Pheu Thai Party a whole passel of election votes.
https://www.thaienquirer.com/44138/thaksin-says-minimum-wages-should-be-800-baht-day-to-match-rising-cost-of-living/
Britain did not rule half the world by being nice. And they still know how to pounce.
https://notthebee.com/article/sweet-lord-cornwallis-those-brits-can-punch-hard
I don't know just what Big Al is on about in this morning's letter to the editor. At least he is factually correct, which cannot be said for all letters to the Bangkok Post editor.
But anyhow...
I don't know if you comrades are history buffs or not...
Who could have seen this coming, except for literally anybody who has been paying attention?
Details at https://tinyurl.com/43p4ancw
Video: German police checking citizens' papers. Haven't we seen this before?
Yeah, well, good on her - but who wasn't?
What do you think quite sharp Naraporn Rotchanachanand and Peng Liyuan are telling their husbands? And Ri Sol-jua?
'You're blowing this': New book reveals Melania Trump criticized her husband's handling of Covid.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/14/politics/donald-trump-book/index.html
tbf
Harvard got the impetus for this straight outta Ottawa.
Harvard students could be punished for not using preferred pronouns
https://bityl.co/EPjk
TECHNOLOGY
The headline speaks for itself, but there's much more at the link.
Twitter shareholders approve $44 billion Musk buyout
https://justthenews.com/nation/technology/twitter-shareholders-approve-44-billion-musk-buyout
Iran-supported hackers arrested for cyber extortion attacks against U.S. infrastructure
The attacks were part of a conspiracy to hack into hundreds of organizations across multiple countries between October 2020 and last month.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/14/politics/us-charges-iranians-hacking/index.html
Former singer and lifetime kiddie fiddler R. Kelly convicted in U.S. federal court on child porn and sex abuse charges
The federal jury found R&B singer Kelly, 55, guilty of three child pornography counts and three child enticement counts.
https://apnews.com/article/r-kelly-chicago-53e10cd71c4277773989863d6ace05c6?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_4
Someone should seek help for KJP. On Tuesday she defended Biden's celebration on the White House lawn at the same time inflation melted down the stock market:
"It Was a 'Celebration for the American People" who were not informed of their good luck.
[Even XiNN said, "Oh, bugger off!"
At the same, exactly the same time, there was an expected "unexpected" announcement of inflation for the month - the announcement that caused the greatest three-stock market fell since the covid panic of 2020.
When asked whether the lawn celebration created good optics when juxtaposed with the collapsing Dow, KJP brushed off criticism of the event's tone.
"Let's not forget the moment that we saw on the South Lawn of the president and thousands of get the inflation reduction act done was a celebration for the American people, was a win for the American people."
Real wages had their 17th-straight negative month.
And U.S.A. food prices rose - "unexpectedly".
https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/larry-kudlow-highest-inflation-40-years-deeply-embedded-economy-spreading
Of course it did. The weird part is why would LGBTQ++ want so expensively to be members of a group that unanimously detests them?
Supreme Court ruling forces Orthodox Jewish university to recognize LGBTQ club.
https://bityl.co/EOWV
Email directly from JB early this Friday morning:
I was specifically planning not to be an opioid addict but I suppose this is good to know.
https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/opioid-use-disorder-treatment-services
WEEKEND READ
The leading English-language libertarian publication Reason has come up with: 'Biden's Sneaky Censors'.
Behind the scenes, federal officials pressure social media platforms to suppress disfavored speech.
With their names.
Given the broad powers that the federal government has to make life difficult for social media companies, the administration's "asks" for stricter moderation are tantamount to commands.
Federal officials expect obsequious compliance, and that is what they get.
https://reason.com/2022/09/14/bidens-sneaky-censors/
WEEKEND READING
The Anatomy of a Hoax
This happens to you regularly and increasingly Learn how it works.
A Brigham Young University paper scooped The [increasingly useless] New York Times. All the students did was practice basic journalism. Which The New York Times no longer does.
Hunter Biden and the laptop from hell
By Miranda Devine
Actually, it's not "reading". It's listening - 36 minutes.
https://www.spiked-online.com/podcast-episode/hunter-biden-and-the-laptop-from-hell/
