Parliamentary opposition targets junta front-man Prayut in no-confidence debate
Good morning kids. It's the Day After Hump Day, Thursday, June 16, but sad to say, it's still 2022.
CHINA TAIWAN U.S.A.
The United States said something on Tuesday that just made the Chinese Communist so darned mad...
China's Foreign Ministry said Beijing and its armed forces "have sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait."
The United States replied, "Whoa, hold on there.
"The Taiwan Strait is an international waterway, meaning that the Taiwan Strait is an area where high seas freedoms, including freedom of navigation and overflight, are guaranteed under international law."
China replied, "Nope, That's a false claim when certain countries call the Taiwan Strait 'international waters." It's not.
The issue won't stop there.
PHOTO: The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd and U.S. Coast Guard cutter Munro 'transit' the Taiwan Strait.
https://reut.rs/3xRDAIx
Immediately after they demolished Canada's national women's volleyball team, all members of Thailand's women's volleyball team sat still for Vid-19 probes. And it didn't go at all well.
Eight of the young women are infected by the Rona.
That leaves dominant Thailand with just seven players and one libero - for the second round of the world championship in Istanbul.
Substitutes are on their way from Bangkok. The Thais face Poland this morning, 10 a.m. Thailand time.
https://www.nationthailand.com/life/40016676
Bad News Disease preliminary statistics for Tuesday, June 15
The number of new cases of 'vid rose by more than 400 in a day - to more than 2,0000 once again - but the death toll continued downward.
Summary:
2,263 new cases
18 deaths
21,581 active cases
644 serious cases
2,109 recovered
https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40016655
MARIJUANA LEGALISATION
One week after passing a law to legalize cannabis and hemp, Thailand's junta began to circle back.
There will be a law (soon) to ban all cannabis in schools.
Every school [in Thailand] will be declared a cannabis-free zone.
Trinuch Thienthong, minister of education
Even though cannabis has been delisted, it has to be controlled.
Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit, ministry of education
The junta's alleged 'minister of public health' Anutin Charnvirakul announced that a well-rumoured death of a 51-year-old Bangkok man was not because of a pot overdose.
'It was heart failure which was not brought on by cannabis use,' said Anutin - completely unaware of the irony that every death of every person is caused by heart failure.
The panic about 'marijuana overdoses' continues. The dead man was one of four hospital patients because of weed overdose.
The junta was reported on Wednesday to be considering whether to pass one or several laws to ban driving while under the influence of Mary Jane.
STREET MARKET MARIJUANA
Cannabis truck merchants delight the tourists
The truck parks on Bangkok's Khao San Road, the former backpackers' haven, and peddles the weed.
Tourists appear to favour these brands: Amnesia, Jack Haze and Night nurse.
700 Thai baht per gramme - 20 bucks U.S., or 26 Canuckistanian loonies.
The 'legalisation' of marijuana and hemp is still hazy, but smoking weed in public can result in arrest and a prison term.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/life/social-and-lifestyle/2326183/
MARIJUANA NUISANCE
It's been quite a week for ganja, and for its for sibling hemp. And now it's getting worse.
Call it environmentalism, or nuisance, or heck, like Canadians, a nuisance.
Starting immediately, if anyone smells or believes he (or she) smells weed, pot, Mary Jane near you, then you are guilty of being a public nuisance. Prima facie.
As crimes go, it's not that major. But the paperwork and the three days in the hoosegow doing it, are excruciating.
That's offical. In the Royal Gazette (front cover below), source of all laws and regultions.
https://www.matichon.co.th/local/quality-life/news_3400413
Opposition gets serious
The official parliamentary opposition submitted its motion of no-confidence on Wednesday. It targets Prayut and 10 of his junta loyalists. The debate could begin as early as next month.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/2326903/censure-motion-filed-targets-prayut-10-others
Thai Parliament passes 'marriage equality'
The bill sailed through after four hours of debate, but the vote was close and showed how difficut it will be for Thailand ever to legalise same-sex marriage - which remains illegal.
The Marriage Equality Bill (MEB) was sponsored by the progressive Move Forward Party.
Thanyawaj Kamolwongwat, a list MP for the MFP who is a zealous supporter of the MEB, told parliament that LGBTQI+ people were reclaiming the rights that rightly belonged to them and they deserve to be treated without discrimination in their marriages.
Repeat: All marriages in Thailand must be between two opposite-gender people.
and
Parliament shows it has an open mind.
PHOTO: During the debate, The 'Rainbow Coalition for Marriage Equality' campaigned for same-sex marriage. There were no casualties.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2326978/
THAILAND RESIDENTS TOURISM
And another Royal Gazette notice:
Effective immediately, everyone on Earth is exempt from filling out a 'Tor Mor Hok' aka TM6 card before entering Thailand.
Immigration police claim the pesky little forms cause congestion at airport arrivals. So forget about them.
Below is the top half of the two-part RM6.
https://t.co/aMDPoMyX2a
THAILAND CHINA TOURISM
Cautious restart of China flights
Thai Airways International aka THAI will resume flights to China on Saturday after Chinese authorities agreed to allow two flights per week from Thailand.
Saturday's flight will terminate at Guangzhou.
Three other Thailand-based airlines also will resume flights to China - using THAI'S two slots.
No other airline has announced flights - and China continued its ban on all flights to Thailand by all Chinese airlines.
https://www.nationthailand.com/business/40016627
UNEXPECTEDLY SAY WHAT?
Associated Press: U.S.A. retail sales in May slip 0.3% amid surging inflation.
https://apnews.com/article/retail-sales-economy-inflation-prices-1b9fa15cfc6c43efd860a5279baebc24
U.S. Economy Technically Enters Recession.
https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2022/06/15/breaking-us-economy-technically-enters-recession-n1605657
Economists consider the economy to be in recession when there is zero or negative growth for two consecutive quarters or more.
Guy walks into an East Side Tops supermarket in Buffalo (a town in New York state) unpacks his little friend and AR-15 copy Bushmaster XM-15 rifle, sprays .223s, kills 10 people and wounds 2.
He now faces 13 separate criminal charges of hate crime , during which he (pay attention!) "caused bodily harm"!
{Being dead of a .223-calibre bullet would seem to meet the definition of 'bodily harm.']
Buffalo police and city lockup guards have physically ensured that the thug will not spread or contract Covid.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/15/us/buffalo-shooting-payton-gendron-federal-charges/index.html
But The New York Times smiles like that fictional Cheshire cat.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/15/nyregion/buffalo-shooting-hate-crime-charges.html
TECHNOLOGY
Microsoft keeps a promise. It said a year ago it could no longer, at any time or in any way, support the Internet Explorer web browser. As of yesterday.
There still are people alive today who remember, vaguely, the 1995 rollout of the IE. There are people who still use it.
It's dead, Jim.
https://bit.ly/3xPug82
Speaking of browsers, the very-much-alive Firefox has a new feature, effective today: Built-in, anti-tracking that is 'ON' by default the next time you download and install it.
In brief, no website you visit with the newest Firefox can put cookies on your computer and use them to follow and track you.
https://www.engadget.com/firefox-enables-anti-tracking-feature-by-default-130033590.html
That there (below) is the transparent Nothing Phone 1. You can't buy it for another month (or so) but the US$525 device is currently the biggest buildup since the two-wheeled, self-balancing scooter.
https://tinyurl.com/4r3hjx8z
The Japanese now can imprison you for insults made online. You'd think you'd be appeasing the anti-free speech advocates by fining and jailing anyone who makes online insults. You'd be wrong. The nannies think legislation has not gone far enough.
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/1b6a89afcb135023bea85ecf0b85a177ac14d892
Also, https://globalnews.ca/news/8919171/japan-passes-bill-online-insults-punishable-one-year-in-prison/
Fort Benning Social Events
The army put up with the Fort Benning, Georgia, garrison commander, Colonel Alexis River Espada, for a year and fired him last week.
Lieutenant Commander Yolanda Edwards, a former stockage guard, replaced him.
Benning has 47,500 soldiers
https://tinyurl.com/5n72fa3n
If you see your daughter crying...
K-pop phenoms BTS are going on "a hiatus" while each of them works on solo projects.
The group told fans during a televised dinner celebrating their anniversary that the group had been going through a "rough patch".
It seems they are happy about it. Their fans are not. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-61803343
America's Newspaper of Record:
Biden Says The Economy Is As Vibrant And Healthy As He Is.
How old will this Brazilian gal be before she first laughs at this?
