Thai government explains that the entire press corps will adore Prime Minister Ung-Ing's weird Digital thingy
Also, Roger Crutchley officially announces to a grateful nation that Thailand is still Amazing.
Ahoy ye swabbies of all Thai and USA and Canadian ships of sea and others.
This below ye shall be the early Fishshshwwrap of Saturday the 23 November of 2024, and may allaya be plannin' and havin' a great weekend.
Fubar. Definitely Fubar.
Democracy is not a crime.
 -- Karen Kuo, spokespersonlady for Lai Ching-te, president, Taiwan
 (More on this, below)
Invest now! So says Thai PM Ung-Ing
The loyal Prime Minister Paethongtarn Shinawatra, better known as Ung-Ing has hiedd to yet another 'Summit' of rich business people, this one the Forbes Global CEO Conference on Thursday last at the Bangkok Ritz Carlton. And she wasn't making joking!
She went one-on-one very publicly with with Moira Forbes, executive vice-president of Forbes Media.
 Thailand now is an Investment Hub. Yeah, and I have my short- and long-term vision for the country.
 Frankly... the economy has not grown as fast as Thais have expected recently, and now it's time
 to try to attract more foreign investment, more, which is exactly what my predecessor as prime minister Mister Srettha Thavisin said, yes.
Once again, she cited two likely foreign investors -- Microsoft and Google and couldn't recall others.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2906340/
Whenever I see foreign investors, I tell them my government is ready to throw its full support behind the private sector. And the Board of Investment always stands ready to help foreigners through all of our red tape.
I will try to reform education to help tomorrow's leaders with the technology. We are ready, with a stable government.
Forbes, published in Thai by the Bangkok Post, asked, "What about that orange Trump guy, that's Literally Hitler?" and Ung-Ing refused to bite.
Perhaps future U.S. tariffs might hurt us a bit
 But
 I have plans in place to do more business with American firms.
Thai exports to the United States account for ten (10) percent of Thai GDP, not counting tourists and U.S. airline flights to the country.
Knock-On. The Thai Chamber of Commerce frets over tariff impact on Thai exports.
The TCC might as well cry, sobbing if they have zero plans already in progress -- as the Boss Lady Herownself insists.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2906081/
And on that general subject of the Bad Orange Man and TDS...
by Thitinan Pongsudhirak, professor Chulalongkorn University, senior fellow senior fellow Institute of Security and International Studies (ISIS)
Who had Trump's intellectual foundations on his Bingo card for 24 November?
 Trump when he is professedly unintellectual, even anti-intellectual. But make no mistake. Mr Trump is merely a phenomenon. Understanding it reveals his worldview and consequent policy prospects. But doing so requires seeing the Trump phenomenon as it is rather than why and how it is detested by countless millions of us.
(Previously Unrevealed by any other teacher of your children!)
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2906630/
THAILAND POLITICS THAILAND
And speaking of TDS, right here in the Kingdom, something like baseball:
 Thaksin, Safe At Home
Thailand's Constitutional Court, i.e. supreme court has told yet another group of apparently deranged Thaksin haters to take a hike; they don't have a case.
All nine judges said and wrote that an allegation that Thaksin was 'illegally and unduly influencing' the ruling Pheu Thai (For Thais) Party under his youngest caughter and Prime Minister Parthongtarn better known by her nickname Ung-Ing.
The same judges ruled 7-to-2 that no, Thaksin also isn't trying toi help Cambodia and the Hun Sen family over Thailand on the land-ocean strip of a joint-ownership management; nope, never happened.
A few days earlier, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) had ruled precisely after Thaksin haters charged in a petition that Thaksin was not only using influence illegally, but using it to overthrow the complete Thai regime including the King. "Naah, that didn't happen either," ruled the OAG which was put into office for a lifetime by the recently ended Royal Thai Army dictators.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/2906850/
THAILAND TOURISM
Stuff That Didn't Happen
The Full Moon Party took place on schedule, on Phangna. No Jew tourist or Hamas terrorist or Hezbollah hate-monger or Iranian of any kind -- diplomats included -- was harmed.
Royal Thai Police claimed three days later that there is no such thing as a threat to Jew tourists -- as of RTP had a clew of what Special Branch and Mossad and CIA know
The government of Malaysia did not start any kind of preparation or work on its threatened 100-klick, high wall to keep out Thai goods smugglers. And Jews.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, better known as Ung-Ing spoke to several B-List big-shot IT people. In Peru. She did not talk to any Faebookers, not even The Two Zucks. She also didn't even meet any Chinese delegates at the APEC summit so Thailand still has no clarity on whether it will get, ever, even one EV plant to export cars. Ung Ing did not bother meeting Elon but she bragged about a "digital transformation" that will be either amusing, or her downfall.
Prosecutors tossed out charges that Thaksin was conducting Undue Influence over the ruling Pheu Thai Party and by extension his youngest daughter, the second girl to ever be leader of Thailand (literally infinitely more than the U.S.A). The Office of the Royal Thai Army-appointed Attorney-General said there was not a credible point in the charges by non-stop Thaksin-haters; therefore, no charges, no trial, no jail, etc.
The government including all helpers and gofers of the Prime Minister's Office with any authority have warned Thai media -- newspapers, magazines, TV news shows and all Thai bloggers of any type: Prime Minister Paetongtarn's sudden idea of a Digital Transformation of the entire nation is brilliant and will achieve full press support. Or else.
Hanging Question: Or else what? But the campaign is under way.
Three mid-level United Nations "experts" in the Bangkok Post, who, just to mention, don't live anywhere in or near the Kingdom.
Meaningful digital transformation
So Get This: The United Nations, striving to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, finds itself lamentably behind schedule.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2905262/
Paetongtarn's largest electricity generating EGAT states:
A Digital Platform now is key
BackEN EV, a digital platform for electric vehicle charging station management, is playing an important role in the future mobility ecosystem
https://www.nationthailand.com/business/tech/40041441
The Incredibly Efficient PM's government
 Khao Sod (Fresh News) newspaper: 4 million Thai seniors to receive ฿10,000 Digital Handouts in January https://t.ly/x2Hqb
Homespun American Nativism
After having successfully fought global conflicts on two continents in the 1940s and won the Cold War in the following four decades, an exhausted and overstretched America should come home to repair and recover the domestic front.
By 2004, the famous Harvard political scientist Samuel P Huntington conceptualised and codified this simmering nativism into a book.
 Dear Prof Thitinana: If you have to write that Huntington is famous -- he isn't.
TAIWAN CHINA
Democracy is Not A Crime and autocracy is the real evil.
Lai Ching-te, president of Taiwan and his official spokespersonlady Karen Kuo came down hard after the People's Republic seized, blindfolded and took away 45 mostly young, all pro-democracy activists and ex-protesters -- and apparently locked them up somewhere in a PLA-guarded prison as far from Hong Kong as possible.
Among the victims: Joshua Wong, friend of many in Hong Kong and in China and in Thailand and the West. Even The Guardian dropped its all-in-for-Beijing briefly to condemn the arrests and hostage-taking. Beijing was thrilled to announce that a pro-Communist Party court, not a Hong Kong court, immediately gave Joshua four and a half years in a Chinese, not Hong Kong prison.
"We strongly condemn the Chinese government's use of judicial measures and unfair procedures to suppress the political participation and freedom of speech of Hong Kong's pro-democracy activists," said Kuo -- speaking directly for President Lai.
Hundreds of protesters turned up at the Chinese courthouse in Hong Kong but were simply pushed out of the way -- with police truncheons brandished.
ALSO TAIWAN
Ex-president Tsai Ing-wen is off to Halifax, the first former head of state of the Republic of China to visit Canada.
Tsai was invited to the Halifax International Security Forum. She will stop in Toronto for two days on her way back home, probably to visit and speak with thousands of Chinese in the Big T-O.
This is Canadian instigation that will enrage Beijing, what a darned shame, eh?
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/5977038
THAILAND WEATHER
Air Quality in general is Good this week, if you ignore all that rain.
https://www.iqair.com/us/thailand/bangkok
THAILAND HOLIDAYS late 2024/2568
 November - None
5 December Thursday Father's Day
King Bhumibol's birthday, born Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1927
10 December Tuesday Constitution Day (1932)
24, 25 December Tuesday, Wednesday Christmas (Not holiday, not observed)
25 December also is Day One of 8-day Happy Hannukah. Not Thai, obviously, and mostly home-based but the best of three, oldest synagogue in Bangkok is Rabbi Yosef and Nechama Kantor's Beth Elisheva at 121 Soi Sai Nam Thip 2, Sukhumvit Soi 22. Dollops of more info at
https://www.jewishthailand.com
and at Shalom Sawatdee. Jewish eating is everywhere, including for Orthodox.
https://www.jewishthailand.com/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/913059/jewish/Bangkok.htm
30 December Monday New Year Special Holiday (National)
31 December Tuesday New Year's Eve
1 January Wednesday New Year's Day
11 January Saturday, Children's Day. (Kind of like Christmas)
Speaking of which
BUY NOW! Prices will rise.
If you're planning to give your wife and girlfriend a brand new vacuum cleaner to show them your love on Christmas morning, Fishwrap recommends Buy Now and hide them until The Big Day, and just imagine, just dream how thrilled they will be!
Ready for the Holidays: Dyson V8 Cordless Vacuum Cleaner.
Currently 12 percent off and a mere US$413. What a deal, eh? -- 14,310 baht and 45 satang in real money.
https://amzn.to/3OcL1kN
We're not done reading, far from it. Or recommending Good Stuff to Read, neither.
But we're starting this new idea this week,
Good (mostly) cine/TV Stuff We Watched in the last week or so.
What We Watched this past week or so, mostly on the most-envied crystal-clear 72-inch screen in the most=envied Break Room in the entire Nong Bon, right inside our HQ in a Bangkok area that's so close to the next, non-Bangkok province that we could walk there. Or jog, but we won't.
Invasion Of the Body Snatchers (1956) 4/5
That's correct, 70 years old and not the even cheesier Donald Sutherland pain of the '80s.
'Made from a Collier's magazine serial' Now that is a line for wrinklies.
NOTE: The movie's hard to find but there's an excellent colourised version on Youtube!Â
The movie has stuff older than your grandpa. Like a dial telephone. You may have to pause the film while you explain it to young'uns and try to convince them not to be afraid. Also, people smoked, right in those movies back then, and used ashtrays, can you imagine! Also the Body Snatchers are just communists who want everyone to be equal, is that so  bad, eh?Â
(rewatch) Big Daddy 1998 5/5
No historian ever will write a three-volume... heck even one-volume hagiographic account of the brilliant Adam Sandler's acting, writing or production genius, but oh, my does this guy still know how to keep a theatre or Break-Room audience glued for 100 minutes at a time.
The Chelsea Detective, Season 2, Limey, 3.5/5
A DI and his unbelievably skinny and smart Nepalese-halfie DS solve a murder per episode.
Partly insomniac Police Procedural but Episode 1 has the best cold opening in the 90-year history of global TV. And the DI's ex-wife is particularly shitty.
The Thing, Hollywood 1951 5/5
Howard Hawks' first flick to use this title. Even better, the remarkable James Arness plays the title role.
There are excellent lines:
 It's an airplane all right. (Actually it's a space ship.)
 Can you tell what metal that is?
 I'll need some tools. Barnes, bring down some tools.
Die Hard (1988) 5/5
We confess... There are several, maybe a dozen decent-to-great Christmas movies about.
Last week on the crystal clear 72-inch in the Fishwrap Break Room that envious love to love, we played The Greatest Christmas Story Ever Filmed, and we'll probably play it four or five more in the next month.
Galaxy Quest, Hollywood 1999 3/5, well maybe 4.5/5
Began life as a vomitous Star Wars parody, now it's a cult favourite, leaving open the question of how in the bloomin' ***k they enticed Signourey Weaver into it.
And finally The Stanford Prison Experiment (Netflix) 3 episodes 3/5
It's the docu that proves that not only can't Netflix produce and show even a one-shot boxing match without exteriors, or one lousy football game, but also that Netflix also sucks at making documentaries and should really, truly ask experts for help.
We could not binge this horror series and had to watch a bit at a time.
There isn't a happy ending. At least Netflix got that right.
Settle in. Chair or sofa, and a small warm kitty for motionless company.'
We have a Few Good Reads, kicking off with Roger of Reading, always a good read, with
 'Amazing Thailand' Just Won't Go Away
It is rarely amazingly dull for which we should be thankful.
I must confess to groaning just a little this week upon seeing the headline "Amazing Thailand is back. I am not sure it ever went away. We were informed that next year we are in for "Amazing Thailand Grand Tourism Year" with the aim to attract more than 40 million visitors to these sunny shores.
When the "Amazing Thailand" slogan was first introduced back in the late 1990s it felt a little over the top. But I've grown to accept it because it's more or less accurate.
GLOBAL POPULATION BOMB
In South Korea, sales of strollers for dogs outpace those for human babies.
And yes, yes! of course we have the picture.
Here's Why Asian Americans Shifted Right
An alliance is emerging. And both Democrats and Republicans should pay attention.
https://amgreatness.com/2024/11/21/heress-why-asian-americans-shifted-right/
But really… How do you make a Hermit State even more Hermity?
Heckuva job, Jong-Un!
 North Korea severs all road and rail links to South Korea.
With one public speech, dictator Jong-Un further escalated hostilities.
USA 21st Century FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS
Can a Woman be Drag Queen?
Back in the day (says 30-something Marcus who wasn't alive in 'the day') the definition of drag was basically: This is a man dressing up as a woman.
ARYAN POWER TARA COPP
The latest published "report" by one (1) TDS victim with possible ties to Aryan Power, best known as White Supremacy centres on the Bell-Boeing (Woeing) Osprey MV-22B hybrid tilt-rotor helicopter-aeroplane of the U.S. Marine Corps, or USMC.
Tara Copp with the aid of two actual male reporters claims that 'The AP' and only 'The AP' has discovered "issues" that could destroy the U.S. Marines, because "someone" that she refused to identify has allowed the Ospreys back into the air again after a period of grounding. Uniquely in the world, she claimed yesterday that
 There are still questions from herself as to whether it should be.
Copp, who claimed she had found one (1) U.S. serviceman opposed to Trump's designated post-January 21 Secretary of Defence Peter Hagseth who should be chased and detained because he is a Christian and almost certainly a celebrant of 900 years of Christian racism. But she also was exposed as an employee who took payments from a group known as The AP, which could or might possibly mean Aryan Power under Literally, Hitler. She has refused to refute, deny or even to explain getting large and regular cash payments from 'The AP' including in her personal bank account and elsewhere. But she is total expert on the V-22 Osprey, having never flown or been in one.
https://apnews.com/article/osprey-crashes-safety-problems-military-takeaways-0fad201081f34d9030c7c6ff88ed03d0
tbf Her three-byline "reports" contains several verifiable facts, but without attribution of who inserted them -- Copp, her two male helpers or an actual fact-addicted editor of The AP.
ENTERTAINMENT USA AMUSEMENT
No, No, NO! the House Of Stephanopoulos assured all American and many Canadian women, "Absolutely No! Donald Trump, better known as, Literally, Hitler definitely has no mandate (from the election). Not!
None of them attempted to define the term but that wasn't the main part of the amusement, which was that in 1992 when Bill Clinton won 43% of the vote and became president, his main press guy who was Georgie Stephanopoulos informed the entire U.S. and foreign press gaggle thusly:
CENSORSHIP
The extremists' new favourite "social media" site Bluesky banned the @EndWokeness group in 30 seconds, for attempting to post:
Full censored post: https://x.com/ClownWorld_/status/1858194893249917377