Coss

Not for posting here go to - thediplomat.com if it's not on the main page do a search for 'Staying Power'

"four Australian experts in law and DNA. " - good on them.

Cruise Ships? try this - http://www.wired.com/2016/02/conspira-sea-cruise-know-truth/ (also posted in another thread but relevant here too)

And then there are these folk, worth a read - "SAY YOU’RE NOT one to believe the mainstream media. Maybe you think climate change is an elaborate hoax or the medical community is trying to hide the myriad dangers of vaccinations. Perhaps you are utterly convinced the government is overrun by reptilian beings. Where on Earth can you go to get away from it all, and mingle with those who share your views? Well, Conspira-Sea, of course. It’s a seven-day cruise where fringe thinkers can discuss everything from crop circles to mind control on the open sea. Last month’s cruise featured a caravan of stars from a surprisingly vast galaxy of skeptics and conspiracy theorists, including Andrew Wakefield, known for his questionable research and advocacy against vaccines. Also aboard was Sean David Morton, who faced federal charges of lying to investors about using psychic powers to predict the stock market. But they had an outsider among them, and not one from another planet. Harvard-educated attorney Colin McRoberts is writing a book about people who believe in conspiracy theories, and used a crowdfunding campaign to book passage on the cruise. He blogged about his adventure and told us all about it—including the bit where the IRS arrested Morton when the ship returned to port." http://www.wired.com/2016/02/conspira-sea-cruise-know-truth/

How did they know my name is Mr Sir?

Well you could argue that the restrictions on Tobacco, that adult sane voters have to endure, is similar to Prohibition in America. But that's another day. I am not opposed to companies in general, being able to package their products in a normal manner. If the govt wants to stop selling tobacco, do it, outlaw it. but to my point re the TTP - My assertion is that, if a person comes and protests outside my house, and the protest is because I have an illegal swimming pool, then when I show them I have no pool and give them documentary evidence that there is no pool, they still protest and spit tacks, should I accord them the dignity of treating them like sane normal right thinking people?

And that's the point of my first post, it's only arbitrary detention - drum roll - in the opinion of the UN working group. I question the use of the English language by the group. He is Avoiding Detention. On a separate mater - but exhibiting the same disregard for fact, in NZ there have been protests against the TPP agreement. What set the protestors off, was the secrecy around the negotiations during the inception of the agreement. Prior to the release of the details of the TPP, the various groups had many reasons why the TPP was bad. The NZ Labour Party even had 'Bottom Lines' that would result in their turfing out the TPP out if they are elected next time. Since the details have been released, virtually all the concerns about the TPP have been shown to be groundless. But the most vociferous of the protestors are still spitting tacks, even when they're confronted with the issues that they were warning about, not being issues at all. These people held a protest in Auckland and fucked up the travel in the city of a huge amount of people at rush hour, most when asked, didn't even know what the issues supposedly were. These are the kind of people that get on UN working groups. To paraphrase: They'll protest the opening of an envelope.

He's not under house arrest. He's been granted political asylum. That's not a detention.

Owner is not Burmese, 'nuff said...

Quite right, I am not a fan. What Wikileaks did, is as PTBM says 'fantastic, excellent, wonderful'. That's not in dispute. I think more transparency is better. But the point of the OPs is that he is not detained, he is in fear of being detained but not actually detained. So the UN panel is wrong. If they had said, enforced exile, governmental harassment, that would be fine. But FFS he is not detained. If he is detained, who is detaining him? I agree, I'm not dissing the actions of Wikipedia. I just think that Assange is execrable.

A good one here - Dream scenario for self-deluded WikiLeaks One - http://www.scotsman.com/news/celebrity/dream-scenario-for-self-deluded-wikileaks-one-1-4022925

The Purple Plain (1954) WWII pilot in Burma, finds love and gets shot down over enemy lines, walks back. Gregory Peck was a handsome fella back then. Win Min Than is stunning as the love interest. Well worth a watch. Interesting lady, Win Min Than is - More on Win Min Than here http://www.imdb.com/...f_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Another one Does the UN not realise that Julian Assange has detained himself? http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/02/does-the-un-not-realise-that-julian-assange-has-detained-himself/ Even by the high standards of the UN, its report on Julian Assange is ridiculous bordering on comic. The BBC is reporting that the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention will find that he has been ‘unlawfully detained’. This is patently absurd as the only person detaining Assange is Assange himself. He is free to leave the Ecuadorian embassy at any time. Now, if he did so, he would be arrested. But staying in hiding to avoid arrest is completely different from being detained by the state. But the UN panel seems to have missed this.

On this "the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention released a report which found that Julian Assange, one-time leader of Wikileaks and general enemy of government secrecy, has been unlawfully detained " Where's the logic? Who pays the members of the UN Working Group? 1st he's not been detained, he will get detained if he leaves the Embassy, but until then, he's using it as a refuge, he's hiding inside. He's avoiding detention. Ergo, not detained. He can leave the Embassy and walk about the streets at any time. Ergo, not detained. How far he'll get is another matter, if the cops are negligent he might not get detained at all. As someone else said, 'If there is anyone who'll push and shove to get to the front of the queue to get crucified, it's Julian.' So how's that working out for you, Julian? Unlike Snowden, who was the one responsible for leaking the info he had access to, Assange merely published the efforts of others and recklessly so (Chelsea nee Bradley Manning). Quite a good article on Assange and his Jesus complex here: http://www.extremete...ge-is-no-victim

But they didn't ask the guy in the spiderman costume in the back of shot, I bet he's got a vote.

Odds were on the tuned up wheel chair at 2:1. the scooter was 3:1 and the zimmer frame 8:1 Sergeant Colonel Vice Umpire General Somchai Brigituan, who was booking the bets had also disappeared by the time order was restored...

And technically none of these people were in possession of more than 13 cards in a hand, or 52 if dealing them. So even if there was a big box of them somewhere, only the custodian of the box is liable.

And The Sydney Morning Herald I guess the average tourist Joe will have to be careful, of this crack down on gambling, whilst indulging ladies of a questionable age, in P4P, with alcohol, at 4 in the morning, within spitting distance of a school, at a gutter-side bar. He shouldn't say things like: 'I bet you go off like a rocket', or 'I'll wager that those are real'. He could find himself in serious trouble if the BiB are eavesdropping at the next plastic child's table, on the hunt for serious offenders in the Kingdom. You do wonder what these police are thinking. the fact that there is a Contract Bridge League of Thailand suggests that the game is not unknown to Thais, I suppose it must be the equivalent of $194 bail.

I refuse to click the play button. Inside every fat girl, there's a thin girl she's just eaten.

So 'Hire Purchase' the vehicle = owe a lump of money. Refinance with someone else = owe a 2nd lump of money. Sell the car and piss 3rd lump of money up against the wall. Hide behind door.

Anonymous-linked hackers leak 100 Thai prison databases. an excerpt - "Anonymous claimed in a Facebook post that those sites remained offline because the Corrections Department did not make backups of the databases the hackers stole. On Wednesday, a week after the attack, 19 of 20 prison sites were offline. "We are just giving back in order to restore your justice prison sites," the group wrote in a message that accompanied links to the databases, calling the department's IT skills "embarrassing"." read the rest here http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/security/850612/anonymous-linked-hackers-leak-100-thai-prison-databases

Sucheera Pinijparakarn, Kamolchanok Theekhakul The Nation February 4, 2016 1:00 am ANUCHART DEEPRASERT, chairman of the Thai Hire- Purchase Association, said hire-purchase lenders would not be hurt as long as borrowers could pay their debts on time, even if their cars had been seized by police. His comment followed a report that 204 cars worth Bt60 million had been impounded from a Lak Si district mall's parking lot since November by Bangkok's Thung Song Hong police. In practice, after a police investigation, they [the police] will contact hire-purchase companies to collect the seized vehicles because the company is the real owner under the leasing contracts. Only after the borrowers pay up all their debts to the leasing companies, the companies will transfer the vehicles back to the borrowers. If borrowers do not pay their debts on time, the hire-purchase lender will contact them under the debt-collection process. If the debt is not settled, the lenders can take legal action and ask police to return the vehicles to the banks, Anuchart explained. Surat Leelataviwat, managing director of Kasikorn Leasing, said frequently hire-purchase companies found that borrowers had taken vehicles to others who were not financial institutions for refinancing. "When the banks give an auto loan to car buyers, they [the banks] face the risk the borrowers will [later] take the vehicles for refinancing with others, [like pawn shops.]" Lenders in such a situation will repossess the vehicles and file legal proceedings against the borrowers. The repossessed cars will be sold to other customers interested in buying used cars. Rungnapat Thongkua is the widow of Pol Captain Thawee Meunrak whose suicide was believed to have stemmed from stress over a car-seizure case. Yesterday, she confirmed that Thawee had shot himself in their flat in front of her and their child because of stress from work. "He complained to me all the time that he was stressed out from work, because he was constantly scolded and pressured. Since he started working on the car-seizure case, he had cumulative stress. "This [suicide] directly stemmed from his work; he was pushed to file cases as 'these people and those people' wanted their cars back," Rungnapat said. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Hire-purchase-lenders-not-affected-by-car-seizures-30278491.html

Video won't play for me - Thank you Jesus, thank you lord...

Rock the Kasbah (2015) - good. I heard somewhere that Bill Murray was quite selective in the films he does and this one is quite good, Scott Caan and Bruce willis take minor roles, Kate Hudson is there too. Story is a Girl with a fantastic voice gets to sing on Afghani TV, 1st time for a woman. Worth a watch.