The Day After the Night Before Christmas
Here at Fishwrap in downtown Nong Ban we hope everyone has a merry Christmas.
We hope all morose people who go through life pretending they hate Christmas also have a merry Christmas.
-- Editor and Staff, Fishwrap
p.s. Remember No Fishwrap on Boxing Day. Which is tomorrow.
Twas The Day After The Night Before Christmas
NOTICE: There are 364 shopping days until Christmas.
But yes, today is THAT DAY for 2022, and here's hoping your stockings and boxes under the tree had only good stuff, and no coal.
For your next Pub Trivia Night: Christmas is not a holiday in Thailand, even for government and schools. BUT New Year's Eve is an official holiday in Thailand. So, another 4-day holiday weekend.
The driver of this Bangkok taxi weaved around the gate at a railway crossing in Thung Song Hong sub-district in northern Bangkok, and pushed the pedal to the metal.
GUARANTEE: He will never do this again.
He's dead.
THAILAND SOUTH WEATHER
Well, didn't it rain, children...
A solid week of rain caused the Pattini River to overflow and flood that province.
Photos show streets in Pattani City, the province capital.
Just to keep up...
Serial killer Charles Sobhraj arrived in France after Nepal released him from prison
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2468079/
Predictable post-tragedy news stories
Before the HTMS Sukhothai corvette capsized in the Gulf of Thailand, cracks were seen on the port side of its hull near a gun bay, a retired naval commander quoted a survivor as saying.
Harrowing account of HTMS Sukhothai’s last moments posted on Facebook by 'friend of survivor'
https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand/general/40023422
Directly Related
HTMS Sukhothai death toll 10 as three more bodies found
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2468070/
CORONAVIRUS CHINA OUTBREAK
Qingdao battles major Covid outbreak -- and the Communist Party censors try to cover it up.
This is not a time to start your tour of China.
500,000 Covid infections per day
Half a million people in a single Chinese city are being infected with Covid-19 every day, says a senior health official. Predictably, the Chinese Communist Party worked to strike out all mentions. But the country's infection wave is not being reflected in official statistics.
Which fully explains everything you need to know about the reliability of Chinese statistics, particularly China's statistics about Covid.
• Also: Empty shelves at a pharmacy in Beijing. Cities have been struggling to cope with surging infections since China dropped its zero-Covid policy.
Qingdao City, northern China, population 9 million, tourist-friendly, "one of the happiest cities in China" -- until now.
The city has a great beach (currently freezing cold) and the Tsingtao beer museum.
And as of this morning, China's Communist Party has closed the city and Shandong province borders to all tourists and visitors.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/china-qingdao-half-million-covid-19-cases-day-says-official-3166436
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2468052/
NOT EXACTLY CHRISTMAS TIDINGS
PART 1: Video
Christmas in Nazi Germany: How Nazis Stole Christmas and Turned Adolf Hitler into Messiah.
Part 2:
Smithsonian: The National Socialists Fought the Original War on Christmas.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/nazis-fought-original-war-christmas-180961513/
NOTE: Some young folks may still not know that "National Socialists: are Nazis.
A shocking story has been revealed: Adolf Hitler was not a Christian after all.
Anatomy of a Crime
A lady from Hendersonville in the U.S. state of North Carolina, Mary McClear, received a gift box of bagels, cream cheese and salmon from a friend in New York City.
Mary placed the box on a small table on the stoop of her home, as a gift for any delivery men coming by.
A Black Bear, nose rampant, sniffed the air and discovered the air had a small of salmon.
Bear ambled onto Mary's stoop, sampled one of the bagels, literally held the entire box in its mouth, and ambled away.
The entire crime was captured and saved by a Ring doorbell camera.
Wildlife workers have not been able to bring the hairy black miscreant to justice, but Mary has learned to never place salmon in a place where bears might sniff it.
WITH VIDEO
https://www.t.ly/yVGc
SUNDAY READING
Yes and Probably, yes. Are there other questions?
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/middle-east-watch/will-china%E2%80%99s-pivot-middle-east-pay-206033
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/paul-pillar/are-geopolitics-middle-east-changing-206049
Combatant Commands Must Jettison the Forward Operating Base
America’s forward base strategy is enshrined but becoming outdated by advancing military technologies.
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/combatant-commands-must-jettison-forward-operating-base-206039
Also from the interesting National Interest website
Well, you'd think this is obvious. The strange part is that it implies that there is something you can trust them on.
Don’t Trust the Israeli and U.S. Intelligence Communities on Iran
It is fair to question the accuracy of these assessments, given the U.S. and Israeli intelligence communities’ many failures in foreseeing political changes in Iran.
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/don%E2%80%99t-trust-israeli-and-us-intelligence-communities-iran-206046
Actual headline from the Amazon-owned newspaper, The Washington Post:
and apparently real:
47 years later, Spielberg says he regrets impact Jaws had on sharks
NOTE: The Post reporter never talked to Spielberg (or any sharks), just sat on his extreme lower backside and found a BBC link:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001g8m4
Spielberg said he feels responsible for the decimation of shark populations in the decades since the film’s release.
“I still fear … that sharks are somehow mad at me for the feeding frenzy of crazy sword fishermen that happened after 1975,” said Spielberg, 76.
NOTE 2: Sharks can't get angry and the entire worldwide population of sharks (1 billion; 1,000 species) have never even heard of one small American.
https://www.t.ly/P0fe
DRUGS NARCOTICS SMUGGLING
This ship of the Mediterranean Shipping Company was carrying 22 tonnes of cocaine of the Balkan Cartel.
It was in Philadelphia, bound for Rotterdam, when agents of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection strolled aboard for a routine inspection.
Among totally worthless three-letter agencies that knew absolutely, totally nothing were the FBI, CIA and DEA.
And MSC executives are playing the same "Really? Oh, we knew nothing about that".
Quick summary: https://www.t.ly/Eq7F
Long read and details:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-12-16/how-world-s-top-shipping-company-became-hub-for-drug-trafficking
You trusted Xi Jinping to do WHAT?
A CHRISTMAS READ
Your Uncle Joe Will Handle This
Volume 1
Biden Enlists Xi Jinping to Prevent North Korean Nuclear Test
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/korea-watch/biden-enlists-xi-jinping-prevent-north-korean-nuclear-test-205883
Volume 2
'Inevitable Threat': North Korea Conducts Ballistic Missile Test
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/korea-watch/%E2%80%98inevitable-threat%E2%80%99-north-korea-conducts-ballistic-missile-test-205904
TECHNOLOGY
How much RAM do you need in your Windows PC? Don't ask a journalist, they only use Notepad. (ZDNet)
Nut cases, and ONLY nut cases, believe that eight (8GB) of RAM is way more than enough.
I happened to reboot my PC early this morning. By the time it had finished booting, before I opened a single application, 8GB of RAM was already in use.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-much-ram-does-your-windows-11-pc-need/
USA WORLD CORONAVIRUS
How many more admissions will there be? There have been so many off-handed, unstudied orders to the public during this pandemic.
Or is it just a scientific Broad Error Band?
LOCKDOWN FALLOUT:
CDC admits* lockdowns, mask mandates and school closures may be fueling Strep A outbreak in the United States.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention admitted that healthcare systems across the entire United States have been pushed to the brink after an unseasonably high number of flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases with some pediatric units forced to erect inflatable tents to treat patients in parking lots.
SURVEY SAYS...
Oh, Sod Off Swampy. Even if he's shot, a 19-year-old gang-banger is not a "pediatric firearms injury." Unless you count the dead and wounded Americans in Vietnam as children. I don't care if there were twenty-two studies about it.
Two studies, one finding: Guns injure, kill rising number of children in U.S.A.
* United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, famous for its prevention and control of the Chinese SARS Cov-2 novel coronavirus.
Surprise? Or Disappointment? This is not who we are.
The United States is only average when it comes to alcohol consumption.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/12/the-daily-chart-whose-booze.php
America's Newspaper of Record:
Dad Tells Kids Santa Would Prefer Beer And Cigars Over Milk And Cookies This Year.
https://bit.ly/3PKfsPh
