Straight Outta Bangkok: Another Week, Another Pittance.
Good morning girls and boys and others, today is Monday, June 27, which means the start of Week Number 128 of the two-week lockdown to flatten the curve.
If you haven't followed Thai politics for a while, please sit down before reading ...
Paetongtarn top favourite as Thailand's next prime minister
 The National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll, released the results of its most recent survey. Thailand is growing sweet on Ung Ing, the nickname of Thaksin's littlest baby daughter Paetongtarn.
 Asked to name a person they support for the post of prime minister today, the answers varied:
 25.28% pointed to Ms. Paetongtarn, Pheu Thai Party's chief of the Inclusion and Innovation Adviser Committees, saying they want to give people of a new generation to take the helm of the country's administration.
 11.68% still like Prayut, because he is an honest and straightforward person who has restored peace and order.
 The allegedly 'popular' new Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt isn't all that popular. He got 4.2% of the votes in the Nida Poll survey.
 Still, that was 3 times the votes for the loyal minister of public health Anutin Charnvirakul, who brags he is ready to become 'prime minister' today!
THAILAND MILITARY CORRUPTION CHINA SUBMARINE
Thailand's designated 'prime minister' has assured a small group of news reporters that his purchase of a Type 039A (Yuan class) submarine is still on the table, and 'negotiations are continuing'.
 Thailand has set aside US$1.05 billion for the purchase of three subs, or 35 billion baht in real money.
 Refurbishing, at a sub base in Wuhan, has been slow. For one thing, Thailand wants a German motor, and Germany has flatly refused to sell.
https://bityl.co/CuF8
Bangkok to give designated 'free speech areas' a one-month test
The extremely sudden coup- and Prayut-supporting governor Chadchart Sittipunt has agreed to 'try out' the seven designated roped-off areas for 30 days.
 Chadchart said, "I hope the opening of seven sites for activities would put an end to conflicts as people have venues to express their opinions."
Spoiler: It won't.
"We are moving in the right direction," the governor said. "It will be on a trial period for one month."
The issue forced Chadchart to join Thai politics, for the first time since the 2014 coup against his former (elected) boss and prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
PHOTO: Political activists from the We Volunteer group prepare to walk to Lan Khon Muang in front of the City Hall office in Phra Nakhon district on Friday to mark the 90th anniversary of the Siamese Revolution and absolute monarchy in 1932.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/2334163/
Thais 'willing' to wear masks in public
Prime Minister 'appreciates' coronavirus-protection effort
 Might be true. Quite possible. Even plausible. But in this long-ish newspaper, no fact is offered.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2333818/
THAILAND CORONAVIRUS UNDERCOUNT
Thailand intentionally under-counting Covid victims - by 90% a day
 THE NATION: The actual number of Covid-19 infections is 10 times higher than reported by the Public Health Ministry as most patients develop mild symptoms, top virologist Dr Yong Poovorawan said on Sunday
https://www.nationthailand.com/life/40017047
"We expect Covid-19 to spread quickly from this month and the number of infections to reach their peak between July and September."
"They will rise again, beginning in October."
WHO says monkeypox not currently a global health emergency
WHO? Well, if WHO? says so, why worry?
Remember in 2019 and 2020 when WHO? told us to wait, they'd let the world know if there was any reason to be concerned about the SARS Cov-2 novel coronavirus?
 Global monkeypox outbreak isn't an international public health emergency 'at present,' WHO rules/ But there is evidence of an increased growth rate in cases.
 None of those cases is in Thailand, where 'none' is exactly zero.
https://www.who.int/news/item/23-06-2022-ihr-emergency-committee-regarding-the-multi-country-outbreak-of-monkeypox
https://fortune.com/2022/06/25/global-monkeypox-outbreak-isnt-an-international-public-health-emergency-at-present-who-says/
A real head-scratcher
In charge of keeping an eye on people assigned to keep an eye on monkeypox is the former lieutenant-general of the Maoist Tigray People's Liberation Front of Ethiopia.
PHOTO: Lt. Gen. (ret.) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Last Friday, Taiwan reported the first case of monkeypox in the 6,000-year history of the Middle Kingdom.
Related: Taiwan said on Sunday it might, maybe, possibly, allow family-reunion visits again, beginning on Friday, which is Canada Day.
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4580167
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4578832
Are those washed-out Toronto Maple Leafs jerseys? Pretty close. (Answer inside.)
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4579570
MARY JANE CANNABIS GRASS AMP JOINT
Um, yeah! Why do you think people buy CBD? To cure their cancer?
 Study finds THC in 60% of CBD products tested.
That's not a bug, Mr Government Regulator, that's a feature.
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2022/06/24/THC-in-CBD-products/3941656075799/
EXCLUSIVE: DAILY FISHWRAP GETS AHEAD OF THE STORY
There is NO TRUTH to the claim by the White House, the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York (MDC Brooklyn), and other U.S.A. agencies that Ghislaine Maxwell committed suicide.
Ghislaine Maxwell did NOT commit suicide tomorrow. [Neither did Jeffrey Epstein, for that matter.]
HEADLINE: Ghislaine Maxwell put on suicide watch, but isn't suicidal
The Guardian: https://bityl.co/CudA
HEADLINE: Ghislaine Maxwell Placed on Suicide Watch Before Sentencing
Socialite is due to be sentenced for sex crimes on June 28
Bloomberg: https://bityl.co/CudI
Ghislaine Maxwell is on suicide watch but isn't suicidal
CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/25/us/ghislaine-maxwell-on-suicide-watch/index.html
PHOTO: Ghislaine at trial and the New York prison where the White House and others will claim that she killed herself.
Suicide Watch is where the U.S. government turns off the cameras and sends the guards on break, right?
TRIVIA MURDER
The Federal Bureau of Prisons is the agency that locked up and murdered Bangkok University's American scholar Roxanna Brown in 2008, in a facility similar to the above, in Seattle. The U.S. government claimed it was an accident, although it was a U.S. government killing.
https://www.southeastasianarchaeology.com/2008/05/21/remembering-roxanna-brown/
There is a new study, or at least a new edition of Thailand's history available. The authors are Chris Baker & Pasuk Phongpaichit, of which there are none that are better.
Summary: How a landscape of sparsely populated forest and jungle was transformed into villages and paddy fields, with a rural society of smallholder peasants and an urban society populated mainly by migrants from southern China. It demonstrates how throughout the twentieth century, Thailand has been drawn into the international system.
 Their book, 'A History of Thailand' (fourth edition), gets a thorough review by James Wise, at
https://t.co/2I49U0dPNG
https://www.amazon.com/History-Thailand-Chris-Baker/dp/1009014838/ref=sr_1_11
Crutch documents a new, post-cannabis Thailand. Much more at
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2333998/
Why does NASA exist?
ASSOCIATED PRESS:
NASA asteroid mission on hold due to late software delivery
https://tinyurl.com/48se6yam
GLOBAL WARMING
Germany Shuts Down Three Perfectly Good Nuclear Power Plants
https://reason.com/2022/01/04/germany-shuts-down-three-perfectly-good-nuclear-power-plants/
'Green' Germany Prepares To Fire Up the Coal Furnaces
https://reason.com/2022/06/24/green-germany-prepares-to-fire-up-the-coal-furnaces/
