What did you think he would do? Quit?
Good morning all, please cool down and let's get something done.
ASEAN FOOD
Sweet, sweeter, sweetest
Who want mango and rice that is sticky?
 Yes. Double yes! Thailand has mangoes and sticky rice and it's trending around the world thanks to Milli at Coachella.
 This is the moment (and a few more), captured by TikTok.
https://bityl.co/Bsv6
 But wait! There's more.
 The entire government of the Philippines is working its *** off to make black garlic ice cream a thing.
 After all, durian ice cream is already a thing. And black garlic is just regular garlic that has been aged and fermented, and offers a comparatively milder, sweeter, smokry and sour flavour. Delish, right?
FACEBOOK: https://fbook.cc/3sLt
https://sea.mashable.com/life/20095/philippine-government-now-trying-to-make-black-garlic-ice-cream-a-thing
All attempts by Thailand to stem Covid fail. Again.
The bad news for the single day of Thursday:
 New Covid cases jump to 21,931
 129 deaths, equal to the Omicron-wave record
Of the 129 reported deaths, 117 were either elderly or had an underlying disease. The age range was 1-99 years
And of the 115 international tourists who flew in for a vaction with their pet coronavirus, 18 were French.
Well, you know... France.
PHOTO: Covid-19-infected people with mild symptoms can drive in and get Covid-19 medicines at a newed Drive Thru service at a public van station in Pathum Thani's Thanyaburi district. That's where MacAlan Thompson lived.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2298054/
Uh... what did you think he would do? He has countries to invade, a third term as president to work out, diplomacy to fake, and he needs power. Oh, and the country's going broke.
 President-4-Life Xi Jinping defended China's lockdown-dependent approach to fighting the pandemic, even as he sought to reassure the world that the country was still committed to opening its economy.
  Nations must expand cooperation to ensure a recovery from the virus-fueled downturn of the past two years, Xi told the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia via China's own sexting Zoom software.
 Xi made no mention of the embarrassing Shanghai lockdown or the growing debate over the costs of China's "Covid Zero" strategy. He didn't apologise for his massive failure to fight China's own Covid virus.
https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/xi-urges-greater-global-coordination-to-aid-pandemic-recovery
Alternate link: https://bityl.co/BtBv
CHINA ASEAN INTIMIDATION
What in the flaming blue blazes of Hades did China mean when its foreign minister Wang Yi told Vietnam's Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son:
"Don't let something like Ukraine happen" to Vietnam?"
It's worth remembering that China has lusted for Vietnam for 1,000 years (Tran Huong Dao born 1229) and (Hai Ba Trung around 40 A.D.)
 China & Vietnam's Ukrainian Question.
An interesting interview - and commentary from Australian-base academic &
VOHer Carl Thayer - about what the Chinese are telling Vietnam in the wake of what's going on in Ukraine.
 From RFA's Vietnam language service.
 https://www.rfa.org/vietnamese/news/vietnamnews/what-does-china-s-hint-by-saying-not-to-let-similar-ukraine-war-happen-in-vn-04182022081121.html
THAILAND ECONOMY
Truckers serve notice: Prepare for a huge hike in transportation fees
The Land Transport Federation of Thailand said its members plan a major hike in freight charges beginning in 10 days, when the government stops capping the diesel price at 30 baht per litre.
REMEMBER WHEN...
Remember when socialists and communists were violently against Davos. Ah, those were the days...
UK approves extradition of Julian Assange to U.S.
Radical lefties quite annoyed
The U.K. High Court has formally issued an order to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to face espionage charges.
 ... Following the court's order, Assange's lawyers have until May 18 to appeal to Britain's interior minister Priti Patel, who holds the final decision on extradition.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/apr/20/uk-court-approves-extradition-of-julian-assange-to-us
BIG MEDIA U.S.A. LOLGF
CHRIS WALLACE CHOSE... POORLY:
 CNN-Plus Shutting Down
 And now it is legitimately funny.
 U.S.A. BIG MEDIA LOLGF
C'mon man, be fair. It lasted longer than Jeffrey Toobin.
 It even lasted a couple of weeks longer than April Oliver and her 1998 totally fake totally CNN-backed totally Scott Barnes-worthy fake news tale of 'Operation Tailwind' aka 'Valley of Death'.
For more news on how and what to use for garden and commercial-cropy fertilizer, see the World Socialist Web Site.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/1999/04/oliv-a22.html
All of that said, here's the deal: You cannot 'top-down' entertainment or news unless you are a dictator, like Prayut Et Fils, censor and order all media in Thailand.
And worse than that (as if anything could be worse than the failure of CNN-plus)
GET WOKE, GO BROKE: What the Hell Happened to Netflix?
Netflix was supposed to be the antidote to the bloated world of cable television.
Now it's in a headlong plunge towards Sodom and Gomorrah
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/04/what-the-hell-happened-to-netflix.html
TECHNOLOGY MEDIA FAKE
Russia fines Google over YouTube fakes news
Putin's government fined Alphabet Inc's Google 4 million roubles (1.7 million baht in real money) for failing to delete what it terms "fake" information about its special operation in Ukraine
https://bityl.co/BtCD
There may be an exploit in the Windows version of popular compression app 7-Zip. (Tom's Hardware)
Or there may not. One researcher suggests that the exploit only works if certain registry changes are made first, e.g. if your computer has already been hacked.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/7-zip-zero-day-exploit
GitHub bad. Very bad. (JSQ)
GitHub has been suspending the accounts of Russian users associated with sanctioned companies.
It turns out that when GitHub suspends a user, they delete all of that user's history, including work they've done in projects they don't own.
https://www.jessesquires.com/blog/2022/04/19/github-suspending-russian-accounts/
Balls of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) made of crystal
 The group's latest prediction from its Manila headquarters
 International tourism will recover next year, or so..
 Then, it will grow at a rate that will outpace global gross domestic product (GDP) growth.
 Whew, that's a relief.
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/money/economy/829261/wttc-global-tourism-to-recover-from-pandemic-by-2023-post-10-year-growth-spurt/story/
Unfair to baseball fans!
Without doubt, the best sports story of the week.
 Japan's rowdiest baseball fans desperate to end pandemic silence
OSAKA (JAPAN) - In a country of baseball fanatics, Hanshin Tigers supporters are known as Japan's rowdiest - so they are aching to cut loose as a pandemic ban on cheering drags into a third season.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/sports/2298122/
Make A Racket!
Finally! This has kept me awake at night for years now.
How To Save Your Skin From Climate Change
https://www.mic.com/life/how-to-save-your-skin-from-climate-change-84455723
The enduring headline that will never get old...
 The hypocrisy of Noam Chomsky
Chomsky has been a celebrity radical since the mid-1960s when he made his name as an anti-Vietnam War activist. Although he lost some of his appeal in the late-1970s and 1980s by his defense of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia, he has used September 11 to restore his reputation, indeed to surpass his former influence and stature.
https://newcriterion.com/issues/2003/5/the-hypocrisy-of-noam-chomsky
 He defended the self-genocide of the greatest mass murderer in the history of the world. From start to finish.
 Chomsky never has admitted and refuses today still refuses to admit how wrong he was over Cambodia.
Just FYI, rates as of this Friday morning.
SPORTS U.S.A.
Detroit Red Wings' Zamboni Driver Fired For Urinating in a Drain
Sobotka, 68, is suing the NHL team for discriminating against him on the basis of age and disability.
NOTE: Photos unavailable.
https://www.si.com/nhl/2022/04/20/red-wings-zamboni-driver-fired-after-caught-urinating-in-a-drain
You already knew this, right?
Taylor Swift is now a millipede
https://www.mic.com/culture/taylor-swift-millipede
Grateful Americans line up politely to heap praise on police who are dedicated to fighting crime and protecting them.
