What if Taiwan sinks the Liaoning?
G'day to all, whatever your pronouns and we have hit Sunday, 24 April 2022, so Passover is passed, Easter is over, and there is just a week left in the month of Ramadan.
We'll be covering the important news, like science and the environment  and such.
FYI and nothing else: This is the last week of the Ramadan fasting month. The largest celebration of the Muslim world, Eid al-Fitr aka Hara Rayi, will be on or near May 1, depending on your location. For example... In Saskatoon, probably on May 2.
Lumpini Park, Bangkok
The Mystery That Has Stumped 100% of Scientists for 66 million years
There is not a single scientist who can explain,
Why Does a hia Cross the Road?
Speaking of the big lizards, here's today's lead headline from India:
 Four men 'gang-rape, kill and eat' monitor lizard.
Men are in their 20s and 30s, and they appear to have done it for fun, says local official
 "There was no religious or black magic agenda."
Forest officials arrested the men between April 1 and 5, and found photos and videos on their phones.
India’s monitor lizards are endangered, and are a protected species by law.
The incident took place on March 29 at the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.
The suspects are out on bail.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2353471/four-men-gang-rape-kill-and-eat-monitor-lizard-in-india
THAILAND HUMAN RIGHTS
In 2017, an old biddy appointed as 'headmaster' of a large and popular school run by a Buddhist foundation in Pattani province in the deep South of Thailand ruled that no student, now or ever in the future, could wear a hijab.
 In a province where 90% of people, including children, are Muslim, this was as popular as Jane Plemiannikov at a Vietnam veteran's funeral. The old biddy dug in her heels: "So sue me."
 Which mothers of students and a large assortment of groups including the junta's ministry of education and the Buddhists for Peace organisation did.
 After four years of legal yak-yak the Administrative Court ruled on Saturday, "sure, why not?" and the hijab is legal, like everywhere else in the country.
PHOTO: Anuban Pattani School is the most popular in the province, with more than 2,000 students.
https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/thai/hijab-ruling-04212022150321.html
https://www.naewna.com/local/648839
THAILAND EDUCATION
And speaking of Thai schools
The new academic year begins on May 16.
If there are students in the building, they have to be masked, distanced, checked for temperature and so on.
At least 85 per cent of teachers, staffers and students must be fully vaccinated (whatever that means) and taking antigen tests "regularly" (whatever that means)
China has more, not fewer Covid problems
 The air quality is sinking quickly again
 The tens of thousands of netizens voicing opposition to lockdowns have turned the pandemic into a Battle of the Communist Party censors.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2299202/
Beijing has announced, officially, that the Asian Games 2022 will take place as scheduled, September 10-25, to Hell with pandemic lockdowns.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/sports/2022/04/23/asian-games-2022-to-go-on-as-planned-says-ocm/2055258
New Chinese colony eases a few bans on international arrivals
But Hong Kong's 'zero-Covid" nonsense, along with plenty of flight bans turn trips into nightmares.
A traveler's tale shows how Hong Kong's single-minded 'zero-Covid' nonsense policy is a deterrent to travel, punishing enough to cordon off "Asia’s World City".
PHOTO: A Cathay Pacific aircraft makes safely into Hong Kong International Airport. but with few passengers.
https://bityl.co/Bv3q
Thailand spent another horrible, awful, very bad depressing day trying to fight the Chinese Covid-19 disease, failing everywhere.
20,052 new cases documented, 48 from abroad, 32 in prisons
129 more deaths
Of the above,
45,847 in hospitals (-3,864 compared with Thursday)
1,962 in ICU (-59 fewer)
921 on ventilators (+36)
WHAT PEOPLE SAY WHEN THEY'RE BREAKING THE LAW:
 Fauci Says CDC Mandates 'Should Not Be a Court Issue
 Fauci's worst soundbite of the pandemic.
CORRECTION: His Worst Soundbite SO FAR: "Everything said, done or implied by Fauci and Cronies should trump the law."
https://hotair.com/allahpundit/2022/04/22/faucis-worst-soundbite-of-the-pandemic-n464181
SUNDAY READS
Turkey's Secret Prisons in Syria
Let The Debate Begin!
Is Turkey's prison system of black sites in Syria better or worse than the C.I.A.'s "safe house" black site in Thailand, where two American women supervised the waterboarding and other torture of al-Qaeda suspects?
PHOTO: TURKEY'S VICTIMS: Syrian Kurd Nadia Hassan Suleiman (right) was kidnapped in June 2018 and imprisoned for two years in Turkish-controlled northwest Syria. Her husband, Ahmed Rashid (left), disappeared two months earlier, and she now believes him to be dead.
https://www.meforum.org/63172/erdogan-secret-prisons-in-syria
https://www.syriahr.com/en/169426/
Yeah, well, good luck with that, Mo.
Saudi Arabia targets a more Republican Washington
https://www.jamesmdorsey.net/post/saudi-arabia-targets-a-more-republican-washington
I haven't even watched this, and it is not brand new, but it sounds pretty interesting. It sort of picks up after the earlier doco that Jason recommended.
Breaking Point: The War for Democracy in Ukraine
Just days after the 2014 Maidan Revolution in Ukraine that led to the toppling of the country's corrupt president, the country was invaded by Russia. Ukrainians of all backgrounds rallied to the country's defense, creating a new sense of Ukrainian nationhood in the process.
https://yts.pm/movies/breaking-point-the-war-for-democracy-in-ukraine-2017
GLOBAL WARMING
U.S.A. fixes price for 'renewable energy' gazillionaires to kill and brag about killing bald and golden eagles: $29,623 per bird - one million Thai baht in real money.
 [Story is from Amazon's Washington Post, so you might want to double-check it.]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/04/09/eagle-turbine-deaths-settlement/
Just spit-ballin', but how much effort to you figure the entire U.S.A. oil industry would require to kill a protected eagle?
If you are a politician, you will eventually rue that one time you went, way, way too far. Like the day that the AFP arrested Thai political up-and-comer and bigwig Thamanat Prompow for some heroin he had carried from Thailand to Australia. Like those times Joseph Biden was caught vigorously opposing any U.S. resettlement for Indochina refugees: "NO ASIANS," as Biden's son put it colourfully to his pimp. Like the multiple times that well-connected Democrat Party youngster went from sliming to raping multiple young women. Like day Barack Obama laughingly approved a brochure celebrating toddlers, "boys and girls, who have body parts that feel good when they're touched."
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2022/04/22/watch-remember-when-obama-pushed-graphic-sex-education-to-5-year-olds-n1591987
CORRUPTION GRAFT GRIFTING
Is the Next Big Solyndra Going to be First Solar or Masimo Corp?
 Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform are digging into "a $500 million federal loan to First Solar, a company co-owned by a Biden megadonor. Now, they are also seeking information about nearly $3 million in federal contracts that were awarded to another major Biden donor's company.
https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/house-republicans-expand-investigation-into-biden-admin-steering-federal-funds-to-dem-donors/
WELL AREN'T THEY THE LUCKY DEVILS? Spotify Parts Ways With the Obamas. How come Spotify gets all the good stuff?
 Conclusion: The fascination with the Obamas never ceases to amaze, but Spotify is showing us that not everyone is willing to keep shelling out enormous stacks of cash for them to create small amounts of content.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/chris-queen/2022/04/21/spotify-parts-ways-with-the-obamas-n1591740
TECHNOLOGY
GRIFTING FROM TOP TO BOTTOM
After 25 years of effort, scientists and technicians have never found anything more corrupt than online absentee voting.
https://nsjonline.com/article/2022/04/democrat-linked-organization-tied-to-funding-offer-for-nc-absentee-ballot-portal/
TECHNOLOGY
Will Microsoft cut off security updates if I run an unsupported install of Windows 11? (ZDNet)
 Probably. Microsoft already says you won't be entitled to receive updates, not that you won't receive updates.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/is-microsoft-really-going-to-cut-off-security-updates-for-my-unsupported-windows-11-pc-ask-zdnet/
Fired CNN Minus Employees Will Get Severance Packages of 90 Days to Six Months' of Pay, and Are Still bitching, moaning, threatening lawsuitgs and Complaining about it. What Planet of Millennial Media-Worker Entitlement do they live on?
Learn to Code, Junior. Anyone who left a "stable job" to work at CNN Minus is himself not a stable person. Prove me wrong.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/spencerbrown/2022/04/22/fing-crazy-cnn-employees-react-to-streaming-platforms-chaotic-end-n2606215
 Twitter Bans Climate Change 'Propaganda' Ads That Deny 'Scientific Consensus'
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2022/04/23/twitter-bans-climate-change-propaganda-ads-that-deny-scientific-consensus-n1592174
AVIATION
UPS Takes Delivery of Final 747
The story has more holes than lace lingerie, but readers rush in with facts to patch it up.
The main point:
 On April 8th, N633UP took off from Paine Field in Washington state to the UPS Worldport in Louisville, Kentucky.
WE'VE SEEN THE LOCKDOWNS AND THE DAMAGE DONE
 For example: Routine childhood vaccination rates fell during pandemic.
SNOWFALLS ARE NOW JUST A THING OF THE PAST:
 After 53 Earth Days, Society Still Hasn't Collapsed.
https://reason.com/2022/04/22/after-53-earth-days-society-still-hasnt-collapsed/
Month of the Weasels: Game On!
CNN+ is already a unit of measure.
It's a unit of measure. Instead of saying things like, "I'll be gone for about a month," you can say, "I'll be gone for a CNN+."
 "Wow, why is Becky being so crabby?"
 "Oh, it's just her time of the CNN+."
Is Netflix Dead Yet? Or just shopping for cheap coffins?
Netflix lost 200,000 subscribers last quarter, and had actually projected a gain of 2.5 million. Kind of overshot the mark there a little bit, eh?
Furthermore, they now expect to lose an additional two million subscribers next quarter. The last time Netflix lost subscribers was October, 2011.
CONCLUSION: Netflix has become a predictable & stale streaming service for woke suburban moms.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/19/netflix-nflx-earnings-q1-2022.html
A somewhat muted Brazil Carnival opened in Rio, for the first time in three years.
 The all-night parades by the city's top samba schools Friday and Saturday nights are the first since February 2020, marking a turning point for hard-hit Brazil, where Covid-19 has claimed more than 660,000 lives, second only to the United States.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/life/social-and-lifestyle/2299170/
You didn't see this. And you never will, because you didn't watch CNN-plus and you never will.
SUNDAY READ
CHINA TAIWAN INVASION
Taiwan Defense Minister: Ukraine War Will Change China's Invasion Plans
https://www.newsweek.com/china-taiwan-invasion-defense-minister-chiu-kuo-cheng-1699218
Very Very Related
China 'very likely' to try to seize Taiwan's Kinmen as distraction
NOTE: 'Kinmen' is the name of the island we used to call 'Quemoy' in English. 'Kinmen' is closer to the local Mandarin than Wade-Giles could manage.
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4513028
Remark. FWIW.
I think both of the above are correct AND miss the main point - which is that Xi Jinping will have to come up with some sort of 'achievement', whether real or BS, or face serious threats to his dopey 'president for life' Maoism, along with every one of his economic and foreign policies.
He's not the only one, of course. Here in Thailand, the ruling junta and the entire Royal Thai Army face the same sort of conundrums.
And Now for Something Completely Different
Likely prime target for Taiwan
China's flagship and bragging point Liaoning could be as vulnerable as Russia's Moskva to Taiwan's missiles
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4515499
