Coss

And I have to laugh... See the below post on " ...it's not a twitter, it's an eX twitter!... " Surrendering is exactly what he did for the mug shot ! Does he know what day its is?

I return to my 13 yr old school girl analogy : "Donna! The principal will see you now."

God Is a Bullet 2023 Based on real events. A bit Mad Max, but without the madcap fantabulism. Quite riveting.

Tuesday was a dramatic day in Thailand as parliament staved off a potential political crisis by finally voting for a new prime minister as one of the country’s most polarizing figures returned from a 15-year self exile. Thai lawmakers chose real estate tycoon and political newcomer Srettha Thavisin of the populist Pheu Thai party to be the country’s 30th prime minister – an outcome that ended three months of deadlock but one that saw the party enter into a governing coalition with its longtime military enemies. Srettha, 60, received 482 votes out of a possible 747 in both houses of parliament, far more than the majority needed to secure the premiership. On Wednesday, Srettha received the King’s endorsement, making his appointment as prime minister official. Speaking after the ceremony, he said the next four years will see much change, and the government under the Pheu Thai party will work tirelessly to improve people’s lives. The return of Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted former prime minister of Thailand and patriarch of the Pheu Thai political juggernaut, added a new layer of intrigue, with some supporters welcoming his return and others less sure of what the future will bring. Some analysts say his return was part of a wider arrangement with the country’s powerful conservative and royalist establishment that involved a reduced jail term or possible pardon in exchange for keeping the election-winning Move Forward Party from enacting its reformist policies that targeted the heart of this establishment. So why is Thailand’s new prime minister not the leader of the election-winning party? And why did Thaksin’s party do a deal with the same military clique that ousted him and his sister Yingluck in coups? ... https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/23/asia/thailand-explainer-election-prime-minister-intl-hnk/index.html

Donna! - STFU! click https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23921630-donald-trumps-bond-agreement?sidebar=0

Tanks?

Fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will be given additional security and appropriate “conveniences” while he is detained at Bangkok remand prison, following his return to Thailand this Tuesday, according to Aryut Sinthoppan, director-general of the Corrections Department... https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thaksin-to-get-extra-security-and-adequate-conveniences-while-in-prison/ Thaksin faces ten years in prison on three convictions: two years for the two- and three-digit lottery project, three years for the 4 billion baht loan extended by the Thai Exim Bank to Myanmar government, for the purchase of equipment from his Shin Satellite company, and five years for allowing nominees to hold his shares in Shin Corp, owned by his family. The statute of limitations has already expired on his two-year sentence for the Ratchadapisek land deal conviction. He is entitled to apply for Royal pardon. ___ Hop to it, Lurch!

Organ Trail 2023 R 1h 52m Satisfyingly gruesome Western, set in winter. Good gore. Well worth the watch for the non squeamish.

BANGKOK – Citing the need for maintaining order and unity, the Council for Maintaining Peace and Order (CMPO) announced strict new visa rules for foreigners wishing to enter the kingdom. Some of the “high quality tourists” the CMPO says are welcome in Thailand Effective today, tourist and non-immigrant business visas will be limited only to persons whose motives for entering Thailand involve solicitation of sex workers, consumption of alcholic beverages and mind-altering illicit substances, attendance at all-night music parties, or petty criminal activity that doesn’t involve politics. “Thailand can no longer endure the presence of certain types of undesirable persons, such as journalists, academics, NGO employees, teachers, responsible business owners, or those working for charitable social organizations,” said Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Prajin Juntong, the NCPO’s economic chief and acting head of Immigration. “Foreigners who engage in activities such as writing, reading, thinking, discussion, dissemination of truthful information, the betterment of underprivileged people, and empathy with the electoral majority are simply incompatible with maintaining unity among all Thais.” “We have tried to be patient with these people, but they continue to repeatedly offend with their actions,” he added. Prajin stressed that Thailand was still a welcoming place with famous hospitality, but that the nation would now focus on attracting “ high quality tourism.” “We wish to extend our warmest invitations to anyone who would like to sexually exploit our women and lax drug enforcement policies, as well as those seeking self-destructive entertainment that leaves no time or brain cells for the contemplation of society, politics, or justice.” Foreigners caught reading books on Thai history, or with a blood alcohol level of under 0.1% risked deportation. Consideration was being made for certain exceptions, such as allowing English teachers who were unqualified to do anything else, so long as those teachers agreed to spend all their earnings on prostitutes and drugs, rather than save up for starting a business. Short-term tourists from rich nations would still be welcome in Bangkok, so long as they were on package tours that took them directly from their hotels to well-known landmarks such as Wat Arun and the Grand Palace. Upcountry tourism is prohibited under the new rules, to prevent “any possible encounters between foreigners and non-compliant Thai nationals.” Entry visas would also be contingent upon adequately failing a Thai language test, Prajin added. http://notthenation.com/2014/05/new-visa-rules-restrict-entry-to-sex-tourists-alcoholics-drug-addicts-ravers-illiterate-troglodytes/

And of course you are correct Bubi. a mess in its most descriptive form. As messy as a messy thing. And this is not to ignore the warnings he and his "lawyers" (cough cough) have had, about committing crimes and posting inflammatory or sensitive information or interfering with witnesses or justice staff, on the interweb... All of which he is doing. --- I hark back to my early description of Donald as the 13 yr old, school girl playground bully, smoking: --- In the school yard parallel - one group of girls standing on one side, and the other group of girls all wearing gold on the other side. The leader of the golden ones, Donna, is furiously smoking cigarettes, one after the other, smoke rising from her vicinity in a plume, she is joined by her BFF, Julie Annie... The non-golden lasses are calling out the smoking. Non-golden: "Donna, we can see you smoking and there's a huge plume of smoke above your head, you too Julie Annie... Donna: "Yeah so? I'm Queen of the playground, I can do what ever I want" Julie Annie: "Yeah so there see?" Chorus of golden lasses: "This isn't even a playground, that's not smoke, those cigarettes are not straight, so they're not cigarettes. Any way what about Hermione at that other school, the one who's not even here, so there." Teachers: "Donna and Julie Annie, stop that smoking now Chorus of golden lasses: "This isn't even a playground, that's not smoke, those cigarettes are not straight, so they're not cigarettes. Any way what about Hermione at that other school, the one who's not even here, so there." Chorus of golden lasses: "This isn't even a playground, that's not smoke, those cigarettes are not straight, so they're not cigarettes. Any way what about Hermione at that other school, the one who's not even here, so there." --- ...Donna is facing the teachers and holding the cigarettes in her hand, daring the teachers to call her on them... Which they've done and Donna is now negotiating, the terms of her entry into the Principal's office, all the while, taking quick puffs on a cigarette that she thinks no one can see, or if they do, she still believes she's Queen of the playground...

‘Bored Apes’ investors sue Sotheby’s, Paris Hilton and others as NFT prices collapse https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/bored-apes-sothebys-lawsuit/index.html

Friday week US time (Sat week my time) will be interesting, all 19 defendants are to voluntarily surrender by then. Else the police will go and arrest them. The Prosecutor says everyone will be treated like any other indicted citizen. I'm hoping for a Police vs Secret Service showdown, on account of Trump viewing his secret service detail, as tax payer funded henchmen. note to self: get more popcorn and beer.

M.I.A.

just seeing if you're awake

Here y'go Cav: excerpt of: full document ... No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability... Baude, William and Paulsen, Michael Stokes, The Sweep and Force of Section Three (August 9, 2023). University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Vol. 172, Forthcoming , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4532751

Kong, as cautious as I am, to beg to differ, the log woulda floated down the river and then sunk 150 yrs ago, then be salvaged recently - good money. In NZ there is a Swamp Kauri industry that digs up trees from 45,000 yrs ago. Some of the big Kauri take 2,000 yrs to grow and as they got so big, they got very heavy, eventually tipping over and sinking into a swamp, where they remained until farmers and the like, digging ditches and such, came across them in the modern era. https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/swamp-kauri/

Heroic Losers 2019 In times of the infamous Argentinian Corralito, the neighbors of a little town trace a plan to recover the money they lost after learning that their bank manager and a corrupt lawyer have stolen it. Argentinan/Spanish - English subtitles. Well made, I really enjoyed this -

NTN NEWSROOM – A plastic bottle containing a message from the municipal government of Roi Et was discovered floating near the eastern flood wall in Minburi yesterday. The bottle was opened by NTN staff and found to contain a single-page handwritten note with the city’s official stamp on it. The message read: “Help us. We are experiencing terrible floods. No one is answering our calls.” The letter was dated August 21, 2011. Phone calls to Roi Et City Hall were unable to get through.

Notorious Arab motorbike riders were forced to cancel their road-racing plans after some 200 policemen and Interior Ministry officials were deployed to keep law and order on Pattaya roads late on Saturday night. Officers from Pattaya Police Station and officials from Chonburi provincial administration were deployed to check the roads and sois where local residents have complained about road racing and the blocking of traffic by Arab youngsters, mostly tourists from Kuwait. Interior Ministry officials also joined the operation. Most of the riders parked their motorbikes on the roadside as soon as they saw the officials approaching. Some, however, were defiant and continued riding their bikes, only to be stopped and fined for violating traffic laws. The officials did not arrest those who had parked their bikes, but they were interrogated and found to be mostly Kuwaiti teenagers. Police said the interrogation of some 200 youngsters continued into the early hours of Sunday. Last week, Pattaya police held a meeting with other agencies concerned to discuss measures to prevent road racing, which has become popular among Arab tourists but is making life difficult for local people. Motorbike rental companies have been warned to strictly check the identification particulars of tourists and their driving licences before renting out bikes. https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand/general/40030179

A new species of beautifully colored crab has been discovered in Thong Pha Phum in Kanchanaburi province by a 48-year-old local farmer Jirapan Khankaew He was delighted when he found these stunning crabs in his rubber plantation. The new crab species is to be officially registered through academic channels. Jirapan, resident of Ban Khanun Kli 1, Tha Khanun sub district, Thong Pha Phum district, Kanchanaburi province, shared the beauty of this new crab species on social media platforms such as Facebook and TikTok. He expressed his excitement and happiness after being informed by the district fisheries department on August 10 that the four crabs he had sent to the Kanchanaburi Freshwater Fisheries Research and Development Center for inspection since June 21 were indeed a new species of freshwater crab. The newly discovered crab species is characterized by its purple coloration of the carapace, with orange-yellow legs and pincers. The crabs that Jirapan sent belong to the genus Thaiphusa. The District Fisheries Department is in the process of preparing academic documentation for publication in a scientific journal. Once this is published, the research center will be notified and further action will be taken. More... Can Eat?

I guess one could opine that Laos is really Upper Isaan . Certainly the rocket festivals I've attended, are at a small village about 30 minutes from Vientiane and just over the river from Isaan proper. I wonder if either side of the river has ever got it into their heads to angle the rockets, towards the other side...

And Laos, a yearly event for me when there, beer, explosives, what could wrong?