The value of the Thai baht continues to sink - slowly but surely.
Good morning boys, girls and all. Today is Saturday, so celebrate the weekend.
Comrades, friends, loyalists, citizens, you cannot even imagine your good fortunes.
Prayut rose in parliament on Friday, whipped off his (mandatoiry) mask and gave what amounted toi a mini-polity speech.
1. He will not resign as 'prime minister' or 'defence minister'. He will not change, shuffle or reshuffle the cabinet.
"No reshuffle. I am not thinking about it."
2. The 2014 coup was his, alone. No one helped or deserves blame or credit.
3. Rumour mongers lie. He is not corrupt and does not help corrupt friends. Heis not accumulating money that he skims from junta loans or spending.
4. Thailand needs and will buy American F-35 stealth bombers and Chinese yuan-class submarines. And other material that the Royal Thai Armed Forces need.
The Thai parliament will hold a 'confidence vote' today or ealy tomorrow on Prayut and the junta.
Prayut will win. Two of his loyal ministers may not: social development and human security minister Chuti Krairiksh and deputy finance minister Santi Promphat.
Sort of a conspiracy, right?
On Wednesday, the suspected author of the May, 2014, coup, backed Prayut.
 Former army commander and general Prawit Wongsuwon denied any foreknowledge of the coup. He said it was orchestrated by one person, his longtime bff Prayut.
THAILAND ECONOMY TOURISM
The value of the Thai baht continues to sink - slowly but surely.
Here are the foreign exchange rates for Monday morning, when markets and banks reopen.
Related
Bank of Thailand pledges gradual monetary policy adjustments
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2351754/central-bank-pledges-gradual-monetary-policy-adjustments
KBank sees weaker baht on Fed rate hikes
Kasikornbank (KBank) forecasts the baht will weaken more than previously projected because of the US Federal Reserve's hawkish rate hikes.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2351166/kbank-sees-weaker-baht-on-fed-rate-hikes
Hanged by the neck until...
 Singapore executes fifth drug trafficker since March
Nazeri bin Lajim, who was convicted of drug trafficking five years ago, has been hanged in Singapore’s Changi Prison.
The 64-year-old Singaporean was executed on Friday morning as scheduled, the city-state’s prison service confirmed.
Nazeri was arrested in 2012 after being found with 33.39 grams (1.18 ounces) of heroin. Singapore considers anyone with more than 15 grams (0.5 of an ounce) of the drug to be a trafficker and imposes a mandatory death sentence.
Timeline of 2022 executions:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/22/singapore-carries-out-fifth-execution-since-march
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2351794/
Baht falls as Bank of Thailand remains dovish, Asia stocks rise
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2351862/baht-falls-as-bank-of-thailand-remains-dovish-asia-stocks-rise
Patient missing
Thailand's first monkeypox patient reported missing from hospital
A Nigerian man with Thailand's first confirmed case of monkeypox in history fled a Phuket hospital and police, immigration and disease control officials have been ordered to find him.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2351784/first-monkeypox-patient-reported-missing-from-hospital
While this was going on in Thailand, the Rona didn't even pay attention. In the 24 hours of Friday:
• 2,424 confirmed new cases
• 25 deaths
• 24,028 active cases
• 868 serious cases
• 1,816 recovered
Yes, that's the point, writes well-known political expert and Chulalongkorn University professor Thitinan Pongsudhirak:
Keeping democratic institutions weak
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2351211/
U.S.A. WAR ON DRUGS
The day after the largest fentanyl drug bus in world history, the two alleged traffickers disappeared. California released them on zero bail.
The judge ordered law enforcement to arrest them and hold them without bond, if they pop up somewhere.
The biggest IF of the year.
https://tinyurl.com/58wxfumn
America's paper of record:
Biden Races To Sniff One Last Girl Before Losing Sense Of Smell From Covid.
MORE! MORE! GIVE US MORE! SPACE
 James Webb Spots the Farthest Galaxy Humans Have Ever Seen, Near the Dawn of Time.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgydaj/james-webb-spots-the-farthest-galaxy-humans-have-ever-seen-near-the-dawn-of-time
WEEKEND READING
JAPAN ABE ASSASSINATION
Fascinating!
 This is an Oped-length feature story by Reuters that could easily be a book or movie.
The 2.5 seconds of security lapses that sealed Abe's fate
Ex-Japanese PM's bodyguards could have saved his life
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
NARA, Japan, July 19 (Reuters) - Bodyguards could have saved Shinzo Abe if they shielded him or removed him from the line of fire in the 2.5 seconds between a missed first shot and a second round of gunfire that fatally wounded him.
PHOTO: With Abe down and dying, security policy grabbed the shooter. That didn't help.
https://reut.rs/3PszX2b
And on video:
This website is normally leftist-political but this is an excellent summary of just where baseball teams are night now.
Three-Quarters Of Baseball's Playoff Spots Are Up For Grabs
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/three-quarters-of-baseballs-playoff-spots-are-up-for-grabs-2/
By "doctors" PBS refers to the coming battle between the confident, up-and-coming Johns Hopkins and the hapless, shamed U.S. C.D.C. It's not about doctors at all:
POLITICS. THE REASON IS POLITICS. Why doctors are calling gun violence in the U.S. an epidemic.
Violence isn't a disease, it's a behavior. They only call it a disease as a matter of control.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-doctors-are-calling-gun-violence-in-the-u-s-an-epidemic
Yes, well, the point is NOT to end it.
 Lingering Covid-19 Restrictions Are Costly Hazards: Travelers and families find that some officials just can't let go of pandemic powers.
https://reason.com/2022/06/06/lingering-covid-19-restrictions-are-costly-hazards/
RUSSIA UKRAINE WAR
Prayut insists that Thailand is completely neutral. Nor the United States:
 U.S. considers giving Warthog warplanes to Ukraine and training its pilots.
 U.S. Air Force leaders have raised the possibility of training Ukrainian pilots in the United States and giving Ukraine the American fleet of A-10 Warthog ground-attack planes.
 You know why, right? It's a U.S. Air Force ploy to get rid of A-10s. What a shame.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/07/22/world/ukraine-war-russia#us-considers-giving-warthog-warplanes-to-ukraine-and-training-its-pilots
Really, nothing has changed from the times that 20 million Vietnamese believed they could count on U.S. aid, help and sympathy, except when Biden said, "Stop! Right There!" Not gonna happen.
 Fifty YEARS later, Biden Tells You It's Raining While... You Know [7-letter word redacted because of the children]... On Your Boots.
https://bit.ly/3awYFyG
FOLLOW THE SCIENCE
 Amid a flood of Alzheimer's research, questionable conduct persists.
 "A probe by a prestigious science journal, published Thursday, raises questions about the integrity of some Alzheimer's disease research, including scientific evidence that helped launch an investigational drug into large, ongoing clinical trials."
 SPOILER: The corrupt journal is Science, published by the corrupt American Association for the Advancement of Science.
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2022/07/21/alzheimers-drug-research-simufilam/6821658331014/
GREAT MOMENTS IN MAGICAL THINKING:
 In order to prevent all that gun violence that's going on, Pat Benatar won't sing 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot'.
 Fans 'are having a heart attack' over the decision, Patty says, 'I'm sorry, in deference to the victims of the families of these mass shootings, I'm not singing it. I tell them, 'If you want to hear the song, go home and listen to it.'
 Full reveal: She isn't actually sorry. The considerable money's already in the bank.
GLOBAL WARMING
THIS IS CNN:
 It is self-indulgent to insist on chilly temperatures in the middle of summer and rooms at T-shirt warmth in winter. The donning of sweaters indoors when it's cold outside, not because the AC is cranked up so high, is surely a habit one can adapt to.
 Stop calling us 'Shirley'.
 You know what else is self-indulgent?
 Air-conditioned server farms. As of this morning, CNN has never, ever adjusted the temperature of one of them.
Cold weather inside the U.S.A. Congress is also pretty self-indulgent, eh?
