U.S. journalism sinks, but it drops slowly
The Bangkok-based ‘climate and energy reporter’ made up and pasted parts of this report from the Bangkok Postfor The Associated Press.
and clearly ingested made-up “facts” by the former ‘news magazine’ Newsweek.
The Associated Press: International tourism to Thailand has declined as a result of the conflict in the Middle East.
Fact: No it has not.
Newsweek: Thailand has strict laws against insulting the country’s monarchy.
Fact: True. Also true: Not one out of several hundreds of thousands of U.S. service members, tourists and diplomats has ever been suspected of trashing the Thai royal family. Why would they?

We are on the verge: Today our program proved Fermat’s next-to-last theorem!

You are doing a fantastic job and I’m supplying you all that money.-- The Donald congratulates NASA team on launch of Nancy Grace Roman space telescope.

OPINION
Thai diplomatic push in rising Africa
By Kavi Chongkittavorn, regional affairs expert

Above: That is Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow, third from left, with ambassadors and chargés d’affaires from Egypt, South Africa, Morocco, Kenya, Libya and Nigeria, cutting a cake during Africa Day 2026 at the Rembrandt Hotel Bangkok last May. The Rembrandt is Bangkok-famed for its Mexican nosh.
Relations began in the late 19th century when King Rama V (Chulalongkorn, son of the king in The King and I) passed through the Suez Canal and Egypt on a trip to Europe.
Last week’s visit by Sihasak to Nigeria and Ethiopia underscores efforts to continue the trend.

Chao Phraya River Spectacular Set for November 6

The stately procession is practising for another six weeks. There will then be two ‘dress rehearsals’ for the public including tourists.
The Royal Barge Procession to Wat Arun (Temple Of the Dawn) will include 52 ceremonial vessels and more than 2,200 Royal Thai Navy personnel.
Plenty more details including best viewing sites here.

Is there some reason the casualty toll in Nepal is so high and recovery rate so low?
Why yes, yes there is.

It’s close to identical with the Burmese junta’s lamentable actions after Cyclone Nargis, 2008.

CHINA IS ASSHOE
U.S. G-men seize domains in San Diego to block China from cyber hacking entities, from NASA to the Federal Reserve.
According to court filings, the platforms infected thousands of devices worldwide to construct an obfuscation network that masked attack origins. Federal agents reportedly neutralised both tools by seizing hard-coded domains essential for the malware’s communication.

CNN’s Trump Mail-In Voting Lie Blows Up in Their Faces With Humiliating Correction.
DISAGREE. ‘Humiliating’ presupposes a sense of shame

IS THERE ANYTHING TRUMP CAN’T DO?
Atlantic’s largest-recorded adult white shark ‘Contender’ moves into cool Atlantic waters off Canada.

SPORTS
America’s Newspaper of Record

CANADA

When the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade...-- Unelected “prime minister” Mark Carney of Canada sets a deadline for resuming trade-and-tariff talks with America.

ALSO CANADA

Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week.

1. Mutiny trailer

2. Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer

3. The Odyssey trailer

4. Toy Story 5 trailer

5. Disclosure Day trailer

6. Obsession trailer

7. Supergirl trailer

8. The Invite trailer

9. Minions and Monsters trailer

10. Masters of the Universe trailer

VISIT AMERICA

Communism is like one big phone company.

Thailand’s best-known second best-known singer is back on the charts.
Lalisa Manobal of Buri Ram has just released SaWaDiKa (a girls’ version of ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’).

She will have a 6-track EP called Press Play next month.
The Blackpink star used to be No. 1 in our hearts but that’s now Nene Royal.

School shooting gallery resumes normal classes

Three and a half weeks ago, a 14-year-old student killed his grandparents, and then invaded the large suburban school and killed five teachers.
The Thailand Department of Mental Health is providing mandatory “support” for one year to some of the 3,000 students.

Activist Tantawan “Tawan” Tuatulanon was on Monday sentenced to two years in prison, without suspension, for lese majesty in her Facebook livestream protesting against police clearing a route for a royal motorcade in 2022. The court granted her bail to prepare an appeal.

She was initially arrested in March 2022, after conducting a survey on opinions of royal motorcades[2] and livestreaming one. She was initially granted bail under the conditions that she stayed away from the royal family and didn’t post more about them on social media. On January 16, 2023, she and fellow activist Orawan “Ram” Phuphong, appeared in front of the Supreme Court, poured red paint over themselves and announced they were going to revoke their bail as a protest in favour of other lèse-majesté defendants who were not granted bail.

Above: ‘Tawan and Ram’ were featured at several anti-military demonstrations.

OPINION
Setting the stage for border talks
By Sihasak Phuangketkeow, minister of foreign affairs, Thailand
Thailand is preparing to engage constructively. We would have preferred to resolve the matter directly with Cambodia.

The Man’s Rules
1. There is no reason for guys to watch Ice Skating or Men’s Gymnastics. Ever.

Bangkok is the No. 1 nightlife city for 2026.-- Time Out magazine, London, England

Pattaya bar shooting leaves two wounded
No USS Abraham Lincoln crew was harmed. Or present.

The Cruel Curse of Oldest Citizen Strikes Again In Japan
Shigeko Kagawa, 115, has died at her home in Nara Prefecture, western Japan.

My longevity is rooted in my habit of walking so much for many years.

Fuyo Kishimoto, a 114-year-old woman in nearby Kyoto, is now the country’s oldest person.

NPR FIGURES IT OUT
Why couldn’t the American MSM understand for four days that the “authoriites” in Nepal lost crucial time and efforts to rescue hundreds of trapped people from hydropower tunnels?
Uninformed, misinformed, disinformed Americans are the least informed anywhere.


SPORTS
Lionel Messi has retired from international soccer.
‘The time has come.’

“Journalists” who haven’t sat in a science class since 11th grade declared themselves to be top experts in the field, and knew that any suggestion that the Wuhan novel bat coronavirus might have come from the Wuhan novel bat coronavirus laboratory was racism.

Phuket residents target Israeli tourists, demand 15-day stay limit.

At a forum held before the protest, participants argued that some Israelis arriving in Thailand were not coming solely as tourists and said authorities should ensure that those entering the country are “genuine tourists.” Some also complained that visitors stay in inexpensive accommodation, spend mainly at convenience stores and behave in ways locals perceive as arrogant or dismissive of Thai law.

The Dinner Party
Nadia shook her head.
“This is why these conversations are impossible. You keep retreating into facts.”
I stared at her. It remains one of the finest accusations ever made against me.

GEORGE ORWELL:
Antisemitism in Britain
Mind you, I’m not antisemitic, of course.
Now you are qualified to approach the subject of Antisemitism in Thailand.

LONGREAD
A map of Israel for the benighted
A short geography lesson for people with very strong opinions about where Israel should put its borders but know nothing about what those places look like. Read it all.

VISIT AMERICA

Positive reception of the Grand Theft Auto VI preview suggests positive reception of Grand Theft Auto VI, say analysts. (CNBC)
Where would we be without analysts? I mean, at the beach sipping Mai Tais, yes, but which beach?

GTA VI will only run at 30fps on consoles. (Tom’s Hardware)
GTA VI will not be available on PC at launch, and there’s no indication as to when that might happen.

The best time to buy a Mac Studio was a year ago.(WCCFTech)
The second-best time is in 2028 when the M7 Ultra CPU is expected to make an appearance. There may yet be an M5 Ultra, but that will drop into an otherwise unchanged MacStudio.


SOD OFF, SWAMPY
AOC wants to ‘break up’ tech giants after Apple hikes prices.

If you want a slightly fancier watch that won’t break the bank, Casio has two more options for you. (Notebook Check)
Still digital, and adding a pedometer and Bluetooth connectivity, starting at $80.

Oyster? I hardly Know Her!

Global House home improvement store in central Pattani town (centre, red dot on map).

It was the first big-store attack in nine years, when terrorists invaded the Big-C supermarket -- also in Pattani town -- and exploded two bombs that injured 56 people. Royal Thai Army soldiers tracked the bombers and arrested two, who are serving sentences of life in prison.

Map shows the three and a half provinces claimed by separatists.
Today’s version of the 60-year-old violent uprising is directed from a small schoolhouse in neighbouring Kelantan province, northweastern Malaysia by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional-Koordinasi (BRN-C) group, a descendant of the 1960’s Patani United Liberation Organisation (PULO).
Since 1947, Muslim remnants in the deep South of Thailand have demanded language and cultural rights, along with political autonomy -- a demand now considered to be secession. In 1977, a PULO group tried to blow up a train carrying King Rama IX, barely missing him in the assassination attempt.
While the region is Muslim majority, separatists have consistently rejected all demands by regional and global jihadists to base the Thai violence on Muslim forces such as al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.
The past 25 years have been marked by outright violence and terrorism -- including public beheadings of 35 men and women.

They cannot defeat the state, and we cannot eliminate them completely.-- Thanut Suvarnananda, National Intelligence Agency chief, intends to bribe Malaysia-based separatists with political power in Thailand’s South.

You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool Mom.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY CALL THAI WOMEN VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS?
The national women’s team beat China 3-2 in Tianjin China, qualified for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
They also beat Korea and Japan.
The Thai press calls them Slappers. Which kind-of makes sense.
Click to embiggen

Video of the final set here.

Be shocked, Americans: All members of the Thai team are totally female.

The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal agreed yesterday
To “allow” 11 Indian specialists in cave-searching to try to search and rescue the dead from floods.
In all, the pro-communist government has turned down offers from several countries to send search and rescue teams to Nepal as 517 foreign nationals remain missing.

It turns out that the 682 dead and 3,000 missing were caused by global warming.

SAY AGAIN?!? HOW BAD IS L.A. ‘STREET FOOD’?

There is a staggering 662-page dossier of 9,746 public health complaints about street food vendors.
A dog eating meat out of a street vendor’s bag before it was served to customers. Cockroaches crawling out of a food truck. Mice scurrying beside open salsa. Raw meat baking unrefrigerated in the heat. People urinating around cooking equipment.
Sorry... that’s the least stomach-churning summary.

Incompetent LA Mayor Karen Bass has ordered city police to stop issuing criminal citations to street vendors who flout the food rules.

Also, as of 2027 Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha will be official state holidays in California.

Ratko Mladic, ‘Butcher of Bosnia’ convicted of genocide, dies at 84 behind bars.
For a genocidal Muslim hating Serb, though, he had a great name.

IN 1883
One of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in recorded history occurred on Krakatoa, a small, uninhabited volcanic island east of Sumatra and west of Java.
Its explosions were heard 5,000 kilometres away, including in the brand new city of Bangkok -- the loudest sounds in human history.
The volcano tossed five cubic miles of earth 50 imperial miles into the air, created 120-foot tsunamis and killed 36,000 people.
A German warship passing by reported a seven-mile high cloud of ash and dust over Krakatoa. For the next two months, similar explosions would be witnessed by commercial liners and natives on nearby Java and Sumatra. With little to no idea of the impending catastrophe, the local inhabitants greeted the volcanic activity with festive excitement.
That excitement turned to horror as Krakatoa literally blew itself apart, setting off a chain of natural disasters that would be felt around the world for years.
The world’s temperature dropped 1.2° Celsius.

Mark Carney dismisses Donald Trump’s attempt to rename Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America’
And that’s how easy it is to prank the unelected prime minister of Canada.
The Canadian Mark then conducted a history lesson on X -- this is true -- on why it’s called Lake Ontario, and blamed the so frequently victimised Wendat people.

On one of those weird weekends when Bill Maher was The Voice of Reason:

The liberals are very pissed at this. They say you can’t just go around changing things to fit your political agenda. Just ask any Latinx birthing person.

It’s why we refer to Canada as “gay”.

FUN GAMES SMILES ETC ETC ETC
Each weekend the boys at Powerlineblog file a collection of memes.
The Week in Pictures: Goodbye Dolly Edition

A day later, sci-fi writer Sarah Hoyt releases an even bigger one.
It’s the Eye of the Memes

Still East Asia’s choice as best Sunday columnist.
Thanks for all the memories, Dolly
I had always appreciated Dolly Parton as a singer, songwriter and above all as a genuine person. Dolly came across as a delightful lady who never forgot her humble beginnings which led to her involvement in important philanthropic work.
She was a bit special.

BRUSSELS (BELGIUM) - The EU said Thursday it expects Meta to address “addictive” features of its platforms in Europe, after the tech giant agreed to sweeping limits on teen use of Facebook and Instagram in some U.S. states.
The European Commission last month found Meta to be in breach of its Digital Services Act (DSA), one of several laws aimed at reining in Big Tech in the 27-nation bloc, ordering it to propose ways to make its platforms safer for children.
Because The Intertubes is dangerous and the EC needs €797.72 in U.S. dollars.

Anti-AI fonts are useless and harmful. (Yaros)
Based on the examples linked, we are inclined to agree.

Kimi K3 is a ripoff of Claude Opus. (WCCFTech)
Oh no. Anyway...

All the news is stupid.

AI use boosts the quality of students’ homework - and then craters their exam scores. (Economist)
Who knew?

China has Gun Control!

Don’t try to palm off coins on us... unless it’s this coin.

This flawless 10-baht (30 U.S. cents) coin began life in 1990 as a commemorative for the reign of the late King Rama IX -- and as an example by the Royal Thai Mint, using two rare metals to simulate the common 10-baht coin (still in circulation).
It sold at auction last week for 2,500,000 Thai baht, or more than $75,000.
Photo and facts of the auction sale here.

ANOTHER RARE GROWTH WARNING
The Thai government of Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul may still believe that the GDP growth of past years is alive and well.
It is neither.
Photo: Cargo ships at downtown Bangkok Port.

FOR ONE THING
Have you even heard of CBAM?

Europe’s non-negotiable Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism takes effect next February.
Its only purpose is to strangle $28 billion worth of Thai exports.

The Man’s Rules
1. The girl who replies to the question “What do you want for Christmas?” with “If you loved me, you’d know what I want!” gets an Xbox. End of story.

Nepal does not need foreign assistance for search-and-rescue operations.-- Lok Bahadur Chhetri, foreign ministry spokesman on offers of aid.

THE NEPAL TRAGEDY ISN’T OVER

Death toll nears 400, rescuers search for 1,400 missing after Nepal-Tibet mudslides and floods
Truth is... they’re not ‘missing’, they’re dead, including 24 Canucks, 90 Americans.
Initial search teams from Taiwan brought sniffer dogs to help in case of rescues.

HOW TO PERFORM A PROPER THAI WAI

Appalling, Horrid, Insane, Absolutely shameful
Report by Fishwrap Disinformation Expert
The government controlled official voice of The Great White North has banned the word ‘terrorism’.

Lilley is a reporter and columnist at the Toronto Sunnewspaper.
Read it all.
REMINDER
24 CANADIANS WERE MURDERED IN THOSE TERRORIST ATTACKS: Canadian Broadcasting Instructs Staff Not to Refer to the 9/11 Attacks As ‘Terrorism.’

The sickening CBC memo was signed “BB” -- which the remnants of the free press in Canada identify as Hoser Basem Boshra, senior director of journalistic standards and public Trust at CBC News.
Basem Boshra? Amish name, eh?
Full report here.

Sunday Morning Joke. Oldie But Goodie [h/t gd]

Paddy’s pregnant sister was in a terrible car accident and went into a deep coma.After nearly six months, she woke up and saw that she was no longer pregnant. Frantically she asked the doctor about her baby.The doctor replied: “You had twins, a boy and a girl. The babies are fine.”However, they were poorly at birth and had to be christened immediately, so your brother Paddy came in and named them.”The woman thought to herself: “Oh suffering Jesus, no, not me brother. He’s a clueless idiot.”Expecting the worst, she asked the doctor: “Well, what’s me daughter’s name?”“Denise,” said the doctor.The new mother was somewhat relieved and thought to herself: “Wow, that’s a really beautiful name. I guess I was wrong about me brother, I really likesDenise.”Then she asked: “What’s the boy’s name?”The doctor replied: “Denephew.”

SPORTS
Funny (not funny ha-ha) we were just wondering t’other day why world champs Jeeno Thitikul, Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn and so many Thais were avoiding some LPGA tournaments.

THE KING IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE KING OF NORWAY.

Reluctant Prince Haakon has taken on the dutiesfollowing his father Harald’s death.
Europe’s oldest living monarch, King Harald was ‌taken to hospital on August 17. The palace said he was being treated for a bacterial infection in his blood.
King Haakon, graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, is married to the commoner and now Queen Mette-Marit.
The new monarch is officially King Haakon VII in a line going back to the Vikings.

THIS WHOLE INTERTUBE IDEA COULD BE OCCASIONALLY USEFUL

Click to read thread and then click to embiggen the four photos.

JOHN 11:35Fishwrap has been officially informed by the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs that Monday 31 Augustis National Overdose Awareness Event Day from 0900-1500 in order to remember American veterans and their loved ones lost to overdose.
Overdose Awareness Day is not a U.S. National Holiday.
Correction: Not a national holiday yet.

Hugging Face has announced a new robot duck.(The Register)
$13 billion for this?

Intel’s 270K CPU - an honestly pretty good processor that you definitely shouldn’t buy - is now down to $200, putting it at the launch price of its slower sibling the 250K. (WCCFTech)
The 270K and its entire platform will be replaced by the end of the year, and its bargain price is dwarfed by the cost of memory right now.

Why does Claude Fable feel worse than older Claude Opus models? (GitHub)
In short, because the incentive was to forge ahead and get things wrong rather than to stop and ask questions.

The weather was cold and cold. (The Register)
Did Claude Fable write that article?

CRIME CONTROL: Fire a warning shot into his HEART!

Road closed, Bangkok airport cut off

Starting Monday and lasting seven months, road repairs will make it tougher to fly.
This is a sudden warning. No one had noticed that the only popular approach to Suvarnabhumi airport (BKK) needed repairs.
But authorities announced yesterday that three of the five approach lanes on Highway 9 will be closed.
That’s assuming construction will proceed on time and under budget.

Image: The fun part is that they’re going to start with the three (of five) inside lanes that actually lead into the airport.

One US dollar now costs 2 million rials in Iran, and here’s what it can buy
The currency features a picture of a dead man.

OPINION
Steps to rebuild Cambodia border trust, of which there is currently none.
By Kavi Chongkittavorn, regional affairs expert

ASEAN
Australian lawyer Katrina Cooper is the latest diplomat to try to wrangle the Conciliation Commission for the Thailand-Cambodia dispute into some kind of agreement.
That’s a welcome step -- but hardly what ASEAN and the Donald had in mind last year to end border fighting permanently.
There will be an ASEAN Summit in the Philippines in November. Maybe that will help.
Above: Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and the dishonourable Khmer Rouge heir Hun Manet (USMA West Point 1999) shake on it.


DIRECTLY RELATED

Cambodia strongly protests against Thai Prime Minister’s unauthorised visit to Cambodia’s sovereign territory in Preah Vihear province.
English translation: Thailand has stolen Cambodian land again and Hun Sen is angry.

International Council of Manlaws, Ltd.
It is okay for a man to cry only under the following circumstances:
o When a heroic dog dies to save its master.
o The moment Jessica Alba starts unbuttoning her blouse.
o After wrecking your boss’s car.

Americans, Indians, an Australian, Malaysians and Britons remain unaccounted for.-- Tourist Board of Nepal after mudslide avalanche, with 160 known dead.

This is Nene Royal’s full performance on America’s Got Talent on Wednesday Phuket time.
Including what the judges had to say.

Judge Mel B. gave her the Golden Buzzer right after saying:

Can I just say for a start... I met you backstage earlier tonight. I met a bunch of the contestants.You are just, like, the most quietest, humblest, sweet young lady, you know, and then you come out on this stage and it’s a different, a different vibe.I mean, I have to say that that is not (turns to cheering audience, entirely on their feet)I have to say that I love really good vocals.Now, I’m not... I’m, I mean I’m a ‘90s girl. I’m into pop music. That (Nene’s) kind of music is not my vibe.But your vocals are on point. Your guitar is on point, your look, your energy, your vibe.How could I not do this (smashes Golden Buzzer button)?

Judge Howie Mandel shouted over the crowd noise:

I’m not supposed to say this. NBC, give her the million right now!

Which earned him a wai. You can’t beat a smile right out of Thailand.

Miss Universe Thailand is Tareena Botes of Bangkok. Runner-up was Miss Phuket.
There was a swimsuit round but you are not permitted.
The 75th pageant final will be held on November 24 at San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Betteridge’s Law of Headlines
Will the heatwaves make this year’s French wines better?

LET’S NOT RUSH INTO THINGS
Military trial date set for mastermind of 9/11 attacks. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has been held at Guantánamo Bay since 2006.
Mohammed will stand trial starting in June 2028.

FREE TRANSLATION FOR ALL
Original Text by Limey Reuters:
The U.S. Education Department has issued guidance urging schools to stop what it calls ‘racial balancing’ ‌instudent discipline policies, prompting concerns that the Trump administration is making it harder to address longstanding racial disparities in school discipline.
Translation by Fishwrap (No Charge):
The Donald is urging schools to suspend troublemakers even if they are predominantly black, so that the kids of whatever race and background, who actually want to do some learning, are able to do so.

IRAN
WE UNDERSTOOD THIS REFERENCE: Mojtaba Khamenei Is (Still) Dead.

The that guy who thought it would be a fine jape to hand Border Patrol a “duress password” making his phone wipe itself rather than unlocking is facing felony charges. (Law Commentary)
His lawyers say that the CBP were unconstitutionally using their clients past criminality as a pretext to search for his present criminality. Uh, not admitting that either of those occurred.

Can parents trust OpenAI? (CTV News)
No.

Micron says that things are only going to get worse on the memory front. (WCCFTech)
Though they are talking a different kind of worse -- a widening gap between processor speed and memory bandwidth.
Don’t worry, everything is getting more expensive as well.

170,000 non-profits lost all their data. Is Microsoft to blame? (Slate)
Apparently, yes. Good work, guys.

Be careful to never split infinitives.

NENE FEVER

Seemed that most of Thai Town L.A. was present at the Pasadena TV spectacular, waving Thai flags and screaming adulation.
The 16 year old from Phuket plays incredible guitar licks and sings. Nene is a better guitarist than vocalist. But she’s a very entertaining performer. The young artist dishes out a screamo version of Black Hole Sun with plenty of wild lead guitar licks.
The crowd goes crazy. Judge Howie Mandel believes NBC should give Nene the million right now.

UNACCEPTABLE
Dolly Parton, greatest musical star of the last three generations, dies at 80.
The only person on the planet loved by all and hated by no one.
Artist, Philanthropist, actual human.

A heartfelt and frankly still understated message from the family of Dolly Parton.
The U.S. flag will fly at half staff everywhere in the world by presidential order.
Put away your sneers and read the whole thread.

The Man’s Rules
1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 Days.

The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines, will be in Thailand for rest and recreation after their long sea journey.-- Royal Thai Navy on the imminent arrival of the carrier strike force off Pattaya.

ASEAN BURMA

The laughable United Nations Human Rights Commission claims it has measured conditions in Myanmar and they’re not good.
Austrian lawyer Volker Türk, UNHRC chief issued a report on Monday that is music to the heart of the ruling junta and Russia and China. Also Thailand.

Above: Thailand brought the Myanmar ‘president’ to Bangkok for secret talks.
The report essentially absolves the military junta and so-called “government” of blame for 100,000 deaths in a fight between the military and ethnic groups.
Head self-appointed President ICC General... whoops, Mister elected Min Aung Hlaing aren’t at all responsible for many killings -- and the few they were involved in over the past year, they were just trying to defend themselves and the independence of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.

A few publications of the international MSM claim the U.N. report shows that human-rights in Myanmar are at an all-time low. But how do they and career civil servant Türk know that?

DIRECTLY RELATED TO PERFORMANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF THE U.N.
• Gazans are starving. Here’s what lack of food does to the human body. Washington Post interactive photo essay
• Gazans Are Dying of Starvation, The New York Times, July 24, 2025.
• Mass starvation stalks Gaza as deaths from hunger rise, The Washington Post, July 24, 2025.
• More than 100 NGOs warn Israel’s forced ‘mass starvation’ stalks all Gaza, Al Jazeera, July 23, 2025.
• Newborns die of hunger and mothers struggle to feed their children as Israel’s siege condemns Gazans to starvation, CNN, March 6, 2024.
Call us crude, we’ll accept that, but “Where all the dead kiddos at?”

THAILAND SHENANIGANS
‘Palestine’ flag in Phuket shop causes a kerfuffle
An Israeli man and woman entered, looking to buy, but the store didn’t have it.
They noticed a “Free Palestine” flag on the wall and began a ‘heated discussion.’
The French shop owner said the flag had been up for a year and if they didn’t like it, they were free to leave without being physically harmed.
Police were summoned.

Visas of troublemaking visitors to be revoked
Thailand refused yesterday to take sides in such disputes between foreigners.
“Visitors of all nationalities are welcome here.” However
“They must respect and comply with the country’s culture and laws” or get booted.

EDKH
Hillary Has Begun Planning Bill Clinton’s Funeral

VISIT AMERICA

Never send a Link to do a Zelda’s work: The LINK mission intended to boost the Swift Observatory into a higher orbit has itself spun out of control, leaving Swift to burn down, fall over, and sink into the swamp, by which we mean disintegrate upon re-entry and any surviving fragments fall harmlessly into the ocean and Canberra. (CNN)
The loss is lessened slightly, perhaps, by the fact that Swift was launched with a planned operational lifetime of two years... In 2004.

Who are you and what have you done with France? France’s Constitutional Council has found the French government’s plan to block social media access to children under 15 unconstitutional for the burden it would place on everyone over the age of 15. (Reuters)
Kind of obvious but something that entirely escaped major political parties in Australia and elsewhere.

Google Pulls Every Last Pixel Product Out of China. (Redstate)
Google is cutting Beijing out of its hardware supply chain entirely. Starting in 2027, every Pixel phone, watch, and earbud will be manufactured in Vietnam and India, eliminating China’s decade-long foothold in the company’s manufacturing.

Beauty is only a light switch away.

OMG you guys, Nene Royal will be on America’s Got Talent at 7 a.m. Thailand time Wednesday, and then on around a hundred YouTube channels a few minutes later.
She says she’s got “something special” for this week’s performance.
We’ll see how many Thai Town residents wheedle their way into Pasadena Civic Auditorium to wave flags.

THAILAND DEEP SOUTH

Separatists serve notice: They’re never going to stop terrorist attacks.

Saturday night‘s attacks across all three provinces of the far South were the heaviest in nearly 23 years.
The current Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) movement, based in Malaysia, mustered several hundred for attacks in Yala (photo below), Narathiwat and Pattani provinces.
Bombs started hundreds of fires.
The attacks were the strongest since January 5, 2004 -- the start of this latest round of violence and demands for “the Siamese” to get out of the deep South.

Starting yesterday, the Royal Thai Army and regional forces have returned.

The Thai dream, including Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who also is minister of interior, is for village and district forces to protect the area.
That doesn’t work.
As of last evening the 4th Army region reported 51 separate attacks on Saturday.
Three civilians were injured.
BRN commanders claim that this shows they have stopped targeting civilians, for now.

Just For The Record
The violence in the Thai South began in the 1960s.
While the bulk of the population and the entire leadership of the separatists is Muslim, the war is not religious and does not stress religion.
Groups such as BRN and PULO have specificallyrejected all offers of aid from international terrorist groups including al Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood.

ProTip: Save business cards of people you don’t like. If you ever hit a parked car accidentally, just write “Sorry” on the back and leave it on the windshield.

Secondary sanctions imposed on nations that purchase oil from or conduct business with Tehran will be the primary component of the new U.S. pressure campaign.
-- Scott Bessent, U.S. Treasury Secretary, on entering the end game against Iran.

Betteridge’s Law of Headlines
Will Being an EV Hub Help Thailand (Bangkok Post)

Floods in Nan city and farms receding. For the moment.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul finally returned from his down-under tour with his new wife.
He donned a full civil service military-style uniform and walked around Nan district in the lower North region of Thailand.
Some 380mm of rain fell in some areas on lastWednesday alone -- 15 inches.
The Thai government has warned of likely landslides and rising floodwaters.

You don’t actually see Buddhist monks scamper all that often.
Police armed attack drill sends temple monks fleeing.
Royal Thai Police in Korat staged a surprise “response drill” at a temple and school.
It sent novices, kindergartners and monks fleeing in terror.
The anti-crime division set up a fake scenario of an armed criminal running into the temple from a crime scene. Dozens of police responded in full anti-riot gear.

It took most of the day to calm the scene and there were no injuries. Except feelings.
Excellent report and photos at this link.

Follow-up to Fishwrap’s yesterday story on immigrant visas for Thais and others.

More than a million Burmese* and other foreigners in America were just declared illegal aliens overnight.
The Supreme Court ruled that “temporary refuge” means “temporary”.

*The number of temporary Burmese exiles is about 4,000.

International Oil Prices Drop, Gold Prices Surge and Climatolgists Finally Decide That Scare Headlines Announcing Record Global Warming Are Fake Horsehockey.
“There’s people that are out there saying these conspiracy theory things,” said American Daryl Ritchison, an actual expert.
The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) has refused to correct the misinformation.
In the United States, there has been a moderation of both hot and cold temperatures over the past century.

THE CHINESE CONUNDRUM
Usain Bolt was the world’s fastest human who never ran into a wall and died.
Then China built a red robot that ran the 100 meters two-tenths of a second faster and ran into a wall and died.

China has invented generative AI for students in Grades 7-12.
It reduces homework hours by 30% with higher scores than actually studying.
It reduces scores on final exams by 20 percent, so basically American results.

The New York Times reported, Harry and Meghan Will Move Back to Britain After 6 Years in U.S.
Two more self-deportations for Trump (4 counting the kids).

Who Is Going To Tell Her?

Be reasonable, see it my way.

The building was rented and the sign erected by the Chicken People (CP). (Click to embiggen the image.)

Nene will perform on America’s Got Talent tomorrow at 7 a.m. Phuket time, and then on about 100 YouTube channels a few minutes later.

The Saturday night violence was further noticethat the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) has no intention of halting violence against the hated Siamese.
In all, there were dozens of bombings and arson attacks in three southern provinces claimed by terrorists.
BRN has a headquarters in northeast Malaysia, opposite Thailand’s deep South.
The bombs damaged vehicles and communication gear. Two Thais were injured.

Regional commander and three-star Lieutenant-General Narathip Poynok (photo) visited the injured.
He insisted that the Royal Thai Army would track and capture the perps. Or kill them; that would work.

Flood-weary Nan braces for more rain

Off-again, on-again heavy rain struck the province again yesterday.

ABOUT THAILAND POLITICS
Coalition cracks threaten PM
Talk of red-green-orange alliance highlights uncertainty over coalition stability ? Bhumjaithai and Pheu Thai already positioning next generation of leaders.
Thaksinite reds and progressive People’s Party oranges are prepared for an election.
To add spice -- the main actor in the story is Thammanat Prompow, who served four years in prison in Australia for heroin trafficking -- but remains a key, active political supporter of Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul.

THAILAND ALIENS

‘Palestinian’ flag sparks dispute in south-central Thai province
An Israeli tourist visited barely legal Samui Exotic Park (photo), operated by a voluble French Jew-hating businessman named Kevin.
The park was displaying the anti-Israel flag, and the Israeli, Jacob, suggested that Kevin should take it down.
Kevin disagreed loudly. Police intervened.
The Surat Thani province authorities have asked the Thai Immigration Bureau to deport both of them.

U.S. Judge Strikes Down Trump Visa Ban
The pause on issuing immigrant visas applies to Thailand and 74 other countries.
The U.S. State Department and Secretary Marco Rubio claimed in June that citizens of those countries tried to cheat American agencies in order to obtain free stuff.
For Southeast Asia, the regulation affected Thais, Cambodians, Lao and Burmese.

Actual Situation
This article above (from The New York Times of course) is a horrid example of 5-P “reporting”.
Thais and people from 74 other countries, plus Euro poors, have no problem getting visas to the U.S., as the 10 million tourist surge built around the World Cup proved.
The pause in issuing visas that this “report” should stress, applies to full-on immigration visas, i.e. green cards -- and to specific groups such as distant cousins and other relatives, not to actual immigrants.
In fact, immigrant visas are still available and issued to Thais in Thailand.

THERE IS A NEW CRATER ON THE MOON
SpaceX made it. NASA just released the before-and-after photos made by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).

On 5 August, an old Falcon 9 upper stage crashed into the lunar surface near crater Einstein.
The new gouge is 10 feet deep and 60 feet wide.
No small green men were harmed by the collision.

VISIT AMERICA

FUN GAMES SMILES ETC ETC ETC
Each weekend the boys at Powerlineblog file a collection of memes.
The Week in Pictures: Dog Days of Summer Edition

A day later, sci-fi writer Sarah Hoyt releases an even bigger one.
Meme with Me, I want to be you…

Still East Asia’s choice as best Sunday columnist.
When Django roamed the rice fields
It might seem strange but the name Django immediately triggered memories of my early experiences in rural Thailand.
I was fortunate enough to be writing film reviews for the Post in the mid-1970s at a time when they re-released Chaplin’s most famous silent films including The Gold Rush, Modern Times and The Great Dictator.
Every Chaplin film I saw in Bangkok at that time played to packed cinemas. The audiences simply loved The Little Tramp.
Chaplin’s humour touched a chord with the Thai public especially the slapstick scenes.
The audiences were literally falling off their seats in laughter.

Except now Crutch is paywalled. Which means the only way you can read him is frustrating. And complicated.
You can pay. Or

1. Press Ctrl-U to get the Crutch story’s HTML source.

2. Find the text of his column, with all sentences backwards.

3. Call up the ‘reverse-text decoder’ at Textreverse.io.

4. https://www.textreverse.io/backwards-text-translator

5. Paste all of the backward sentences into the provided box. Read the Crutchley column in straight-ASCII text with annoyingly stupid, made-up HTML tags.

6. Get another cup of coffee.

Mitr Chaibancha made more than 300 films and his popularity was such that when he died production had to be halted on 18 films because he starred in all of them.
In addition to action films he teamed up with actress Petchara Chowarat in rom-coms and they made an astonishing 165 films together.

Hollywood didn’t come close.

Prime Minister Anutin chills in Australia and New Zealand for his fourth consecutive missed emergency at home.

OPINION
GDP growth: A bit of ‘window dressing?’
By Chartchai Parasuk, freelance economist
The recent announcement that the GDP had grown by 1.9% was a big surprise.
That wasn’t because the figure was low. Because it was far too high.

RELATED

A Preliminary Case for Thailand Entering Its Second Lost Decade
By Pravit Rojanaphruk, Senior Staff Writer, Khaosod English
The first lost decade, between May 2014 and August 2023 was largely brought about by coup leader and four-star army General Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Thailand has just registered the lowest economic growth among major ASEAN economies. The economy grew by just 1.9% year-on-year in the second quarter (see item above).
Toyota (Thailand) is urging the government to be fair to it compared with Chinese EVs, while Indonesia is publicly urging Toyota to move its ASEAN production base from Thailand to Indonesia, promising many incentives.

Life’s short. Make sure you spend as much time as possible on the internet arguing with strangers about politics.

China is a country governed by the rule of law, and there is no such thing as so-called wrongful detention.-- Spokesman Lin Jian, Chinese Foreigh Ministry, on the wrongful detention in Yunnan of U.S. citizen and Thailand-based scholar Min Zin.

FAKE AMERICAN ‘SI RACHA SAUCE’ SQUEEZE-BOTTLE USERS HARDEST HIT

Salmonella outbreak linked to imported jalapenos sickens 431 people, reports the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
The mildly spicy Mexican peppers are rarely seen in Thailand except at Subway sandwich outlets.
The outbreak is supposedly tied to a single chilli supplier in (checks notes) California, an American state.
By coincidence, it’s where David Tran of Huy Fong imports jalapenos to make fake Si Racha sauce.

The Langham Hotels and Resorts, which operates 5-star properties worldwide, is busy on the Bangkok riverside.
The Langham, Custom House, Bangkok is scheduled to open on December 20, 2026.
It transforms (work is under say) the historic Bang Rak district, fire-damaged Customs House on the Chao Phraya River into an ultra-luxury boutique hotel.

For a country that doesn’t have any housing bubbles, China sure has a lot of housing bubbles.
The founder of boomtown Evergrande Group, Xu Jiayin, just got life in unpleasant jail.
It has been five years since his idiotic town self-collapsed but even in China, justice occasionally catches up.
Evergrande now looks more like Chernobyl than a streamlined metropolis.
Click pic for full view.

Excellent report, background and photos.


SPACE
A ‘UFO BUBBLE’ OVER THE GREAT LAKES: It appeared without warning. On Saturday night, Aug. 15th, a luminous bubble expanded over the Great Lakes. In the middle, a point of light slowly moved away. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” reports photographer Ben Kawecki, who shot the display from his home at Awenda Park, Ontario, up there near Georgian Bay.

It was a rocket. Earlier that evening, a SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral. One orbit later, the upper stage came back around and vented its leftover propellant above the Great Lakes.
This was a mission for Globalstar.

This morning is Day 530 of imprisonment without a hearing of Rodrigo Duterte by the United Nations and its International Criminal Court.

SPORTS

We’re Number 21! We’re Number 21!
LEAFS HAVE BOUNDED ALL THE WAY FROM LAST PLACE.
The Athletic/New York Times has asked 10,000 hockey fans what they think of the league on the cusp of another season.
Torontonians hardest hit. The Pepsis of Montreal are the second-best. Because “They have a smart front office that exercises patience and makes prudent, calculated moves.”
Habs’ fans can see that the team’s best years are ahead of them.
Maybe, but the NHL is All-American. Vancouver, Winnipeg and Edmonton are the worst.
This is not paywalled.

ILLEGAL ALIENS

New ‘Great’ Britain PM Andy Burnham Is Taking Migrant Rape Seriously. He’s Distributing a 15-Page Pamphlet Telling “Migrants” They’re Not Allowed to Rape (Or Have Sex With Children). And Stop Making Kissing Noises At Them!
Actual text here.

SPEAKING OF SUPER-CRAZED PEOPLE

Professional attention-seekers Malignant Narcissist Meghan Markle and her poisonous cuck husband Harry, previously known as Prince are moving out of America -- to the previously great Britain.
They’re getting no respect from Americans and watchers of Master Chef Australia.
The couple are also packing up innocent kiddies Archie and Lilibet.
EXCLUSIVE: Harry never will be king and Meghan’s royal authority has peaked.
Who says self-deportation won’t get rid of The Horrids?

VICTORIA TAFT: Harry and Meghan Think California Schools Suck Too.

Are You Ready for ... Megxit 2: Back to Britain Boogaloo?
The Sussexes came to the U.S. seeking fame, fortune, and validation as poor victims of the Establishment, complete with complaints about racism and classism.... The two of them palled around with Oprah and the A-list for a while.
They sought U.S. political clout beyond the dreams of any British royal since George III.
And then ... nothing happened

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are making the wrong move -- they should live in Toronto.

“Whistleblower” Arturo B?jar leads testimony in landmark trial against Meta. (NPR)
“At the end of the day, it was the company culture that Mark had created that made it so that it was practically impossible to deliver features that addressed the wellbeing and safety issues that we’ve been talking about,” he said.
Well, that sounds serious. What wellbeing and safety issues are we talking about?
Grooming? Sex trafficking? Drugs?
But he said efforts to introduce or change features to effectively address those risks were difficult to implement. Instead, B?jar testified, at almost every turn the company chose policies that boosted usership and revenue over safety. Safety was “not a meaningful priority,” he said.
Yes, but what safety? What are the actual concerns here?
He called features like video autoplay, “like” counters and infinite scroll “inherently unsafe for teenagers.”
This is why Meta is facing a fine of $1.4 trillion.
Likes.

Beulah, peel me a grape.

IS PAROLE TOO GOOD FOR HIM?
Former drug kingpin Laota Saenlee, 86, has been released from Bang Kwang Central Prison after receiving a royal pardon.

Commentary
Laota was definitely not a kingpin, although he was a rather clever criminal who beat charge after charge in court.
He is a Lisu who has helped the UWSA move some of its meth and ice but he is far closer to being a street-corner drug peddler than a kingpin.
He’s 85 and as frail as a wounded bird. He isn’t going to hurt anyone any longer, so there’s that.

Korat halts school milk supply
NAKHON RATCHASIMA
Health and education authorities ordered ‘temporary suspension’ of pasteurised milk to schools, citing excessive levels of Bacillus cereus.

As of June, 55 samples were tested; all 27 UHT samples passed while 27 of the ‘fresh’ 28 pasteurised samples failed.
The public health office said the overall testing showed contaminated product, and all supplies of milk to all Korat schools was stopped.
Betteridge’s Law of Headlines
Will the BBC apologise for its role in the Jason Arday story? (Spectator)

Why do supermarkets make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front?

Global geopolitics is changing around us. Thailand’s response is to build resilience through a stronger business ecosystem driven by technology and innovation.-- Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul to business in Australia and New Zealand.

SYDNEY: Thailand has promised to step up cooperation on trade, investment and fighting cross-border crime.
There also will be a free-trade deal.
Photo: Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Aussie Premier Anthony Albanese shake on the deal.

RELATED

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul (left in photo) revealed that two New Zealand businesses are preparing to invest in Thailand Aiming to set up a base to distribute fruits and open an amusement park.
This came from the Kiwi horticultural firm T&G Global and Skyline Enterprises.
Details later, but the pay-to-play park will be indoors in Bangkok.

PUT DOWN YOUR BAT SANDWICH AND READ THIS

The conspiracy against Americans the world by Don Tony Fauci has broken open.
Even The Washington Post admits that it was a willing plotter.

Top Fauci aide David Moren finally admits, “Yeah, I hid emails and shredded documents and covered up those pesky charges” that the Chinese plague of 2020-2023 came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in (checking notes) China!
He used Google Mail to hide contacts on the issue with
• Co-conspirator 1, who is probably the “doctor” who never saw patients.
• Co-conspirator 2, who is EcoHealth Alliance president, Peter Daszak.
Their “back channel” convos covered up their conspiracy until Egotist Supremo Fauci wrote a diary about it and posted it to government accounts -- which means they are public and cannot be copyright.

Should the world hope that this case will continue?
Why yes. Yes, the case should continue to unravel and put people in prison.

RELATED

The little dude who was so full of himself that he tried to argue every attack on him was an attack on science itself is only sitting free because of a pardon of questionable legality, at least in my opinion.
And we find everything we’ve learned about him to be morally disgusting, and the latest revelation is nothing new.

AND THAT’S NOT ALL

The U.S. federal Small Business Administration announced it has referred multiple fraud cases against A-List entertainers to the Treasury Department for collection.
Entertainers claimed tens of millions of dollars that the Fauci Shutdown cost them.
Named in early efforts to claw back $34 million in the grift via the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) are:
Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, Marshmello, Steve Aoki, Alice in Chains members...
They claimed harm by the ban on performing during the Chinese plague.
The “entertainers” grabbed the free money offered by the The Big Guy of the Biden government and ran.

Just For The Record
The alleged so-called ‘reporter’ of dirty deeds done cheap by Biden, Fake Jake Tapper of historic fraudulent CNN now says:
The “horrific” fall of Kabul and Afghanistan was botched by... you guessed it, right? Trump.
And Jake reveals that Pete Hegseth was in on it. But not Biden. In fact, Jake the Snake himself can’t recall who was the president that ordered the botched bugout, so better not name him.
We can be certain that by 2036, Jake will have a book naming the HMFICC.

FIFTY YEARS AGO

Former U.S. president Ronald Reagan lost the Republican Party nomination to then-president Gerald Ford.
Reagan then gave the impromptu speech that launched his political legacy.
In the wake of the fall of Saigon, Future President Reagan asked:
What would people of the future think if they opened a time capsule in 100 years? Would they believe Americans had met the challenges of the moment?
Photo: Reagan waves to delegates at the Republican National Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. President Ford is third from right.
Full and historic report here.

VISIT AMERICA

Microsoft GitHub says the 8-hour outage of its systems was caused by a combination of Microsoft Azure and Microsoft VS Code. (The Register)
Have you tried turning it off and just leaving it like that?

A federal judge has ruled that a state judge who used AI to handle the entire decision in a case so she could spend the day playing Cookie Run Kingdom or something equally important cannot be sued. (Tom’s Hardware)
The state judge’s actions may not be reasonable, or even legal, and the decision can be appealed, but the judge cannot sued.

Judge James Lemongrab has ordered Google to stop fucking around and make it easier to install alternate app stores on Android. (The Verge) (archive site)
Unacceptable!

Apple also seems fully committed to fucking around. (MacRumors)
The company wants a 15% cut of purchases not made through Apple’s servers.

Move fast and crash planes: Google just bought the anonymised databases of the defunct Spirit Airlines for $10 million to train AI models. (CNN)
With OpenAI training on Reddit, Amazon training on Twitch streams, and now Google training on incompetent and defunct airlines, I don’t think we have to worry too much about AI taking our jobs.

Atheism is a non-prophet organisation.

Baby, It’s Warm Outside. Yes, 93 imperial degrees.

U.S. War Secretary Hegseth headed to Bangkok
The date isn’t set, but he’s coming to sign a new agreement on defence cooperation with Defence Minister, three-star lieutenant general Adul “Big Dul” Boonthumjaroen (photo).

He intends to brace Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Khmer Rough remnants Hun & Son in Phnom Penh to ‘get your stuff together’ and completely stop haggling and shooting at their border.
Bangkok-born Pete-hater and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth hardest hit.
This was why Under-Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge A Colby came to Bangkok last week. Anutin’s Thai loyalists are working to deflect the U.S. peacemaking attempt.

Even 76 year old Stevie Wonder can clearly see that the fallacious “U.S. plans to build drones in Thailand” story by the Thai press was planted by the Northeast Mafia behind Anutin.
Washington assures
Security ties will not be linked to negotiations over U.S. trade and tariffs -- which look a little bleak on the Bangkok side.

TRADE AND TARIFFS

Suphajee will visit the US from Sunday to Tuesday (August 30 to September 1) try to kickstart bilateral talks on a U.S.-Thailand Agreement on Reciprocal Trade. Call it ART for short.
That will be her second such trip after abject failure to bargain a trade-and-tariff deal in May.
She is now stressing that Thai companies have invested more than $19 billion in America, and plan more.
The U.S. is a key supplier of energy, corn and soybeans to Thailand, while remaining the primary market for high-value Thai exports such as seafood, rubber, automotive parts and electronics.
American ambassador Sean O’Neill said that restoring the trade balance would benefit consumers, give Thai investors greater access to the U.S. market.

She faces two yuge problems.
• Thailand has been totally unmasked as a main fence of illegal Chinese goods.
• Major human trafficking by Chinese triads and the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia.

The Man’s Rules
1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine... Really.

There will be teams outside the USA.-- Roger Goodell, commissioner, on the expansion of American football.

MYANMAR

Severe cholera outbreak hits largest Burmese city
More than 100 cases have struck residents of Yangon, formerely Rangoon.
The ruling junta has closed all street food outlets and the city’s health officials have stepped up attempts to make drinking water more palatable.
Hospital workers said yesterday that more than 200 city residents are in hospitals with severe diarrhoea.

Meanwhile, the junta leaders are in Moscow to shake hands with Putin.

OPINION
No trade-off between security, tariffs
By Kavi Chongkittavorn, expert on regional affairs
This deserves a rational sub-title:
Kavi notices what his fellow journalists and Bangkok Post owners refuse to notice.
The Thai government is furiously peddling their version of a serious story:
There is no link between talks with the U.S. over defence and negotiations on trade-and-tariffs.
This is preposterous.

THAILAND AUSTRALIA

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told a dinner crowd in Sydney to go to Thailand.
He said Aussie business could reach 700 million people in and around ASEAN.

Thailand, Myanmar seek to reset ties
By Kavi Chongkittavorn, expert on regional affairs

Meanwhile in Burma...
Hundreds hospitalised in Yangon cholera outbreak

SOME DARE CALL IT CENSORSHIP
Thai Premier Anutin sets limits for censure debate
Suddenly, the Thai government will “allow” a non-confidence debate in parliament.
Under rules that strictly limit where the opposition can go.
That will turn the ‘debate’ into a shutdown on theprogressive People’s Party.

How it started: Europe shrugs off tariffs and plans to end its complete reliance on America for all its technology. (The Register)
Except for ASML, anyway.

How it’s going: Amazon is finding that Europe is not exactly a powerhouse when it comes to, well, power. (The Register)
AWS has moved quickly to flood the European continent with its elastic compute fabric, but while it may take two years to bring a new datacenter online, securing power for the facilities can take up to seven years

SOMETHING ELSE AMAZON DOES

Amazon Caught Destroying Rare Books to Train AI.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says the AI backlash is fundamentally a crisis of trust and also that water is wet. (Tech Crunch)
Well... Yes.

Anthropic is planning to watermark text produced by their AI systems. (Bleeping Computer)
At fault is the European Union, as usual.

Every fusion power startup that has raised over $100 million. (Tech Crunch)
Your weekly reminder that it is the 21st century, and not everything is poop-flavoured ice cream.

Bluesky has shrunk by 50% in 18 months as the crazies come crawling back to Twitter. (Tech Crunch)
Damn.

Bug-free programs -- rare as Rocking Horse manure.

Truth is that there is always sunshine that gets through the clouds.

Okay, first: the worst of the Bad News
Israeli mother and daughter badly beaten on Koh Phangan
French assailant freed on bail by police after unprovoked attack that put them in surgery.
You understand ‘unprovoked’, yes?

FROM THE FAST LANE OF THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY

Out in the Open: Antisemites Not Even Trying to Hide It Anymore.
YES, THEY’RE OUT AND PROUD

Thai Prime Minister rejects claims of delay in exam probe, even though there is iron-clad proof that he’s delaying the corruption ‘investigation’

As Fishwrap has reported for years...
Thailand ‘transships’ Chinese goods that cheats the U.S. economy out of more than 20 billion dollars a year.
Easy to explain: Goods made in China, from hugely expansive computers to Temu-sized knickknacks are shipped to Thailand and 40 other countries, which awards them with, say, false “Made In Thailand” labels.
To the profit of the Chinese Communist Party and industries it controls.

One of the top global profiteers in this smuggling gang is Amazon.
Yes, the company that used to promise to stop selling commingled counterfeits in its “Sold by Amazon” channel didn’t stop and as of this morning gives no sign that it intends to stop selling fenced products.
A lot of details on the Bezos Criminal Enterprise here.

The most expensive vehicle to operate, by far, is the Foodland shopping cart.

I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises with South Korea!-- The Donald hands a gift to Kim Jong Un proves the United States is unreliable to all of East Asia.

THAILAND OPINION
Iran’s mountains won’t bow to bombs

By Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Chulalongkorn University professor and respected commentator.
So long as American bombs cannot beat mountainous Iran, Tehran can hold out. Time is on its side.
This conflict at the heart of the broader contest over the reshaping of the Middle East will persist indefinitely despite occasional ceasefire and peace talks.
As the great American philosopher Wayne Gretsky almost put it: You lose 100 percent of the wars that you don’t win.

RELATED

Iran’s Dangerous Strategy: Outlast Trump, Return Stronger
For the remaining time of Trump’s presidency, the regime plans to play a familiar game of opening and closing the Hormuz waterway, dangling intermittent negotiations, employing intermediaries, walking up to the table and then walking away.
Before anyone notices, two years will have passed.

QUESTION ASKED: Who could replace White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt?
AND ANSWERED:

THAILAND POLITICS
A Bhumjaithai politician bought a brand new, top-of-the-line electric sports car.
He parked it on the street, and just as he opened the door, a truck flew by and tore the door clean off.
He jumped out screaming: “My car! My beautiful eco-friendly car is ruined!”
A cop ran over, shaking his head, “Sir, you politicians are so out of touch with reality that you didn’t even notice your left arm was completely ripped off!”
The politician looked down at his bloody shoulder in absolute horror and shrieked,
“Oh no! My Rolex!”

SEARCH and RESCUE

A French family vacationing on the island of Samui (cf: The White Lotus, Season 3).
Rented a jet-ski for a 15-minute jaunt out in the Gulf of Thailand.
Which during the rainy season is pretty dumb even for Frogs.

The boat’s operator alerted provincial and Royal Thai Navy officers who began a search.
After 16 hours bobbing in the sea, they were rescued, and actually resumed their holiday.

SPORTS LIFE

The Guardian seriously hardest hit.

WAIT
She knows how to fight for CC22, she’s against political correctness...
We like the cut of this blonde’s jib!

Taliban mark five-year anniversary of regaining power in Afghanistan

IT WASN’T ONLY KABUL
Joseph Biden had already ramrodded deals that delivered Vietnam and Laos into communist control and half of the 7 million Cambodians into slaughter by the Khmer Rouge.
Thoughtful, truthful background on the lead-up to the Biden betrayal here.

Let’s. Play. Jeopardy.
The answer is: David Hogg and a mile of track for California’s high-speed rail line.
And the question is: What are two things that will never get laid?

OPINION: THE GREAT WHITE NORTH
Alberta Independence Is a Necessary Bulwark Against Canada’s Capitulation to the Enemies of Western Civilisation
By Buck Throckmorton, banker and blogger.

Canada is gone. It cannot be saved nor restored to the polite, commonwealth country we knew in the 20th Century.
Alberta, however, and much of Canada outside of Ontario and the Vancouver-area can still be saved. They need to be saved.
Photo: Farmer salutes Alberta province flag; Mountie holds Canuck version.

NOT A JOKE
Starting on April Fool’s Day, Thailand plans to slap an ‘arrival fee’ on every foreigner.
The charge to every man, woman and newborn child will be 450 Thai baht -- $14 or 19 loonies. There will be no exceptions, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

Thailand has threatened to levy this fee since the time of the last military dictator.
In addition to the euphemistic ‘arrival fee’ and mandatory Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC), the Immigration Bureau intends to demand a massive amount of personal info from every foreign arrival.
People arriving by land and sea won’t pay until April 1, 2028.

THREE PRIME MINISTERS AT PRAYER
Current leader Anutin Charnvirakul, ex-premiers Thaksin and Paetongtarn Shinawatra.

They attended a funeral celebration for Krieng Kalptinan, a long-time politician who died in hospital last Tuesday from cancer, aged 74.
He was a deputy interior minister under all three premiers, as an MP from Ubon Ratchathani.

Why do banks leave vault doors open and then chain the pens to the counters?

A building collapsed, killing a 54-year-old woman. Two other people were injured.-- Fathur Rahman, head of Indonesia’s Joint Search and Rescue Team

This is your fault, Racists.

What does an Air India pilot from New Delhi do during a layover in Phuket?
Correct! He tokes a couple of three joints, then tries to fly back home.

That may read a bit dramatically but it happened. So did other stuff.
Flight AI2379, an Airbus A32neo (new engine ordered) got out of Phuket properly.
Then, as it entered Indian territory over eastern Odisha state, it lost all power. Which is not a good place for a flying machine.
Anyways... the co-pilot went nose down for 300 feet, the engines kicked back in.
During the fall, a couple of dozen passengers of the sort, “Seat belts? Nah!” flew up the ceiling, then fell down and several were seriously injured.
The pilot tested positive for smoking illegal Thai sticks. The “incidents” may not have been linked but the pilot is looking for work.

ASEAN
Sultan of Brunei strips daughter-in-law of royal titles over ‘unbecoming’ behaviourPengiran Raabi’atul Adawiyyah, 33, showed a lack of respect to Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, 80, the world’s longest-reigning living monarch.
Official broadcaster RTB News didn’t specify the exact crime. The Office of the Grand Chamberlain said it was personal.

Click to embiggen.
His Majesty is the only Sultan and prime minister that Brunei has had since it gained independence in 1984.

ANIMAL PLANET
The Discovery Channel announced that Shark Week 2026 had the highest viewership in seven years.

Sandy, we’ll say it again, we don’t believe you but we like your big tents.
But what we asked was, Was it crazy enough?

US carries out first triple execution in 16 years

Computer and Epstein Island grifter Bill Gateswith accused ‘cookie stuffer’ daughter Phoebe.
She faces 20 years in prison for wire fraud. She will likely get off but then get sued for many, many millions of dollars over fraudlent Phia web-browser extension.

HOW BAD IDEAS GET DIFFICULT TO KILL
In every generation, there are always brave individuals who stand up to fight for human freedom. And generally speaking, they are on the losing side.

A shaky claim becomes a study, the study becomes a textbook lesson, and the lesson becomes conventional wisdom.
Credentials, baby.
Read it all.

WNBA: We Tried to Figure Out What a Woman Is But The Task Is Beyond Our Capabilities.
In fairness -- they’re not biologists.

FUN GAMES SMILES Etm Etm Etm
Each weekend the boys at Powerlineblog file a collection of memes.
The Week in Pictures: Sophie’s Choice Edition

A day later, sci-fi writer Sarah Hoyt releases an even bigger one.
And Now the Memes...

And then...

Still East Asia’s choice as best Sunday columnist.

News stories you may have missed

As recent news has been distinctly on the depressing side, in a probably futile attempt to cheer up readers here are some genuine snippets I have saved over the years which made working on the Bangkok Post so much fun.

... For those unfamiliar with the song the opening line goes: “Jellied eels, jellied eels, Woggling about like wonky wheels.“

The song concludes with “When you get the taste you won’t wanna waste them lovely jellied eels“. I can only say that jellied eels are an acquired taste and one that I have yet to acquire.

WE LOVE A HAPPY ENDING

Armed Good Guy Successful in Miami Gardens When 2 Street Entrepreneurs’ Business Plan Goes Badly.
The pair approached the driver and tried to rob him at gunpoint. The driver, who just wanted to deliver an order of banana pudding, apparently unimpressed with their career choice and professional skills, produced his own firearm and abruptly ended the negotiation.

SK Hynix plans to expand its production in China by 50 percent. (Tom’s Hardware)
And it’s gone.

Windows 11’s built-in weather app uses 1.2 gigs of RAM all by itself. (Tom’s Hardware)
Fire, for the killing with.

Sergey Brin has now spent $100 million opposing California’s demented billionaire tax.(Tech Crunch)
The article says the tax would cost Brin $13 billion, but if so they have revised it. The original language would have hit Brin and Google co-founder Larry Page particularly hard due to how voting rights are assigned for their shares, sending his tax liabilities soaring to around $50 billion.

Speaking of demented billionaires, Mark Zuckerberg wrote an essay on why we should be thankful for AI. (Tech Crunch)
And managed to make a convincing case... For the opposition.

The entire planned DRAM production for 2027 from Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix has already sold out. (IGN)
We were reporting on the growing crisis last year but didn’t take it personally until I watched a YouTube video advising people that there was no need to panic buy, and that prices would level out in 2027.
So we promptly panic-bought.

VISIT AMERICA

How is it possible to have a civil war?

PRIDE OF THE NATION

The highest ranking female member of the royal family honoured Nene Royal.
Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, sister of the King, acknowledged the Phuket phenom as Outstandingly Filial Child.
The in-person award was made on Wednesday, the Thai Mother’s Day. Her dad, mom and 4-year-old little brother were also bursting with pride. (Photos courtesy Royal Household)

U.S. agrees to separate trade and defence issues with Thailand.
And Operation Cobra Gold 2027 will proceed as it has every year since 1982.
Talks described as “friendly” reaffirmed the 193-year joint alliance, underscoring commitments to strengthening modern security cooperation.
Photo: Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul chats with visiting American Under-Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge A Colby at Government House.
Anutin even snuck in a thanks to the Donald for breaking up the border fighting.
He then underscored the strategic importance of the military alliance, which contributes to regional peace and security.

Why don’t you ever see the headline ‘Psychic Wins Lottery’?

The Earth will not stop having gravity for a random time on a random date this year.-- IFL Science Explainer on the dumbest Tik Tok report.

Correction: the dumbest report so far.

THAILAND POLITICS
Bhumjaithai government, PM Anutin losing momentum
By Nattaya Chetchotiros, veteran political reporter
The Bhumjaithai Party (BJT) is facing a crisis of public confidence.
The stream of negative news is exhausting public trust and corroding the image of Thai Pride Party.
BJT has a comfortable majority in the House of Representatives.
However, the growing joke among voters is that four months of Bhumjaithai rule have felt like four years.

Thai Government Redoes Its ‘Gun Ban’
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul was shocked into action by the mass murders at Bangkok’s suburban Debsirin school.
The 14-year-old shooter stole his grandfather’s pistol (photo), shot the grandparents dead and killed nine at the school.

As always, quick-witted haters blamed the gun -- which, to remind, didn’t shoot itself.
Anutin promised a crackdown on guns held by an estimated 10 percent of citizens.
A day later, on Wednesday, the government “clarified” its proposed crackdown.
For example, if an intruder forces his way into your house at night, shoot him in self-defence!

COMMUNISM PREVAILS
The average rent price for an apartment in New York City is up a bit:
$6,655 for a one or two-bedroom dig -- 220,147.40 Thai baht in real money.
That is 15 times the price of a luxury high-rise apartment in Nong Bon, Thailand.

For example...
The United States (read: The Donald, personally) will spend tens of millions of dollars to equip federal immigration agents with gloves capable of delivering electric shocks.
The Independent (Limey) outdoes its “the end of snow” report of March, 2000.

Musical Interlude
This is the country they took from you -- California in the 80s.
Listen to it all.

Also Mike Kobe, Wild Horse aka Gen Z Generation 1.

THEN and NOW

News 6 in Florida reported, Seminole County assistant principal accused of DUI on e-bike, deputies say.
Amateur. George Jones did a beer run with a lawnmower.

VISIT AMERICA

OFCOM (Limeys) wants American police to collect its speech fine. A foreign censor is demanding that U.S. police override the First Amendment to finish its collection job. (Reclaim the Net)
No. Also ROFL

Astronomers have discovered a potentially habitable exoplanet orbiting a star about 25 light years away. (Notebook Check)
Bit of a commute but it’s in a good neighbourhood.

John Deere tractor owners and third party repair centers have been granted the same ability to repair the devices as the company’s own service technicians under a 10-year agreement with the FTC. (AP News)
Doesn’t mean they’re repairable, just means the company can’t forbid you to try.

Speaking of settling Elon Musk has done so with the SEC over his purchase of Twitter back in the late Bronze Age. (Tech Crunch)
He was fined $1.5 million, which represents approximately thruppence in comparison to our own bank account.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Blue Origin reportedly raising $10B at $130B valuation. (Tech Crunch)
Billionaire Jeff Bezos’ space rocket company Blue Origin is raising $10 billion at a $130 billion pre-money valuation from Coatue Asset Management, Bezos himself, and other large investors.

Think education is expensive? Try ignorance!

Phuket’s Nene Wins A Bye To Final AGT Round
The Singing Sensation performed Hysteria by Muse, and judges at America’s Got Talent in Malibu said she didn’t have to perform on Tuesday night, California time.
Nene Royal (her stage name) has blown the minds of judges including personal sponsor Howie Mandell and the two women, Brit Spice Girl Mel B. and comic Colombian Sofía Vergara.

Nene Royal’s real name is Rattikarn Amloy, nickname Praew. She changed it so that foreigners who came to see her perform at the weekend Naka Market in Phuket could pronounce it.
Her parents are Narong and Aom.
Narong, who had his own dreams of musical fame as a youth, reminds us of Laszlo Polgar, the Hungarian who “experimented” with his three daughters by removing them from school and forcing them to study chess for 8 to 12 hours a day, seven days a week. (Queen of Chess, 2026 movie)
Judit grew up to be the world’s best female chess player in history, and beat Garry Kasparov. Zsuzsa became second best.
Narong Amloy did much the same with daughter Praew -- putting her in the soundproof “rehearsal room” he built into the family home in order to learn a few musical instruments but chiefly guitar. Mom Aom handles the bookkeeping including obtaining U.S. non-immigrant visas.

THAILAND ECONOMY
Travel subsidy nears launch
New scheme to help during low season
The moribund Anutin Charnvirakul government needs a way to fight falling tourist revenue.
A number of desperate plans are under discussion -- new taxes and mandatory arrival fees for all foreign visitors.
State-owned Krungthai Bank plans to borrow 1.25 billion baht -- $38 million, to subsidise up to a third of tourist spending by poorer people eligible for Plus Thais Help Thais.
Below: Thai tourists enjoy the sights at historic Temple of the Dawn, also known as Wat Arun on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River.

SEE ALSO
Thailand’s foreign tourist arrivals down 3.2% on year so far
Foreign tourist arrivals ‌dropped in the Jan. 1-to-Aug. 1 period ‌to 18.51 million visitors.
The country had 40 million tourists in 2019 before the Wuhan Plague hit.

The best collection of the full “Doctor” Fauci diary.
CORRECTION: Best collection, so far!

KEYBOARD: Instrument used to enter ERRORS into a Computer.

MAGA is America’s version of the Nazi Party, without the Holocaust and all that stuff.-- Don L’mon, former CNN deep thinker who believed that MH370 disappeared into a black hole.

OPINION
Thailand, Myanmar seek to reset ties
By Kavi Chongkittavorn, regional affairs expertMyanmar’s self-appointed “president” and army general Min Aung Hlaing came to Bangkok.
He gave respects at the memorials of the late Queen Mother Sirikit and Princess Bha.
Major criticisms were heaped upon Thailand for welcoming such a controversial war-loving leader.

ASEAN

Vietnam’s VinSpace signs SpaceX launch deal
VinSpace, posing as the communist nation’s ‘only private space company’ has signed a deal for Elon’s SpaceX to shoot its first satellites into orbit.
The Vietnamese firm claims that it can develop and operate the birds.
VinSpace is an arm of Vingroup, Vietnam’s large, private conglomerate.
Next year’s multiple launch will be Vietnam’s first.

Colin Wright tweeted, Jason Arday, the Cambridge professor exposed for plagiarism and fabricating major aspects of his life story, has resigned. According to leading AI writing detection software Pangram, Arday’s resignation letter is Fully AI Generated with High Confidence.
Why bother learning to read and write when you can cut and paste?

SPORTS

Last year’s baseball Biggest Losers prepare for a repeat.
Toronto Blue Jays lost the season long before the August 8 trade deadline.
It is the culmination of abject failure for everyone involved with the Blue Jays.

The brightest light in the skies right now is Comet 220P/McNaught.
Astronomers call it ‘naked-eye visibility’. Have a peek.

Also get up early or stay up late for the spectacular Perseid meteor shower.

The best time to buy a Mac Studio was a year ago. (WCCFTech)
The second-best time is in 2028 when the M7 Ultra CPU is expected to make an appearance. There may yet be an M5 Ultra, but that will drop into an otherwise unchanged MacStudio.

SOD OFF, SWAMPY
AOC wants to ‘break up’ tech giants after Apple hikes prices.

If you want a slightly fancier watch that won’t break the bank, Casio has two more options for you. (Notebook Check)
Still digital, and adding a pedometer and Bluetooth connectivity, starting at $80.

AI coding costs are on track to match human payrolls.(Infoworld)
But you are still spending infinite amounts of money.

Why Wall Street thinks Micron is the next Nvidia. (Tech Crunch)
Wow, they really hate Nvidia over there.

Be reasonable, see it my way.

It will all come out... but eventually, and what good is that?
By the time mentally crippled Anthony “Don Tony” Fauci completed 111 recitations of the U.S. Fifth Amendment, we knew that everything they said about him was absolutely true.
It was simply a repeat of the 1950-51 hearings by Senator Estes “Big Stuff” Kefauver against the Mafia, mobsters and gangsters..
Carlos “The Godfather” Marcello took the Fifth 152 times at the U.S. Senate’s Kefauver Committee on organized crime on January 25, 1951.

Fauci Privately Acknowledged the Fake Vaccine Could Cause Miscarriages -- But Denied Any Such Risk Publicly.
Which is pretty close to murder.

Surprise! Jason Arday Was Also a Shit “Teacher;” Did Not Teach Actual Academic Subjects, Just Riffed About Racism and Popular Music In Every “Class”
By Fishwrap Disinformation Experts

Yet as the module progressed, and he failed to turn up for yet another class, things began to change. It gradually dawned on us that we were learning nothing of substance, and that much of his talk was nonsense.

Heaps more at this link.

International Council of Manlaws, Ltd.
Women who claim they “love to watch sports” must be treated as spies until they demonstrate knowledge of the game and the ability to drink as much as the other sports watchers.

I have not ruled out the possibility of running for president in 2028.
-- Sandy Cortez, who has just decided to freeze her eggs.

ASEAN

The hidden workforce Thailand needs
By Kavi Chongkittavorn, Thai expert on regional affairs.
The little Cambodia-Thailand brouhaha last year resulted in the forced departure of 3 million Cambodian lowly paid workers.
Which realistically leaves one border nation available to do the work that Thais won’t.
The Burmese work force -- mostly in factories -- has shrunk from 4 million to one.
In turn, that makes almost all Burmese illegal aliens.
Below: Thai Supreme Commander Gen Tanasak Patimapragorn greets Burmese junta commander General Min Aung Hlaing (file photo).

Betteridge’s Law of Headlines
Are we on the brink of World War Three? (Spectator)

This story was not reported by The New York Times, The Grauniad, etm, etm although it will be once they figure out the angle that it was all Trump’s fault.

In the past 18 months, the United States has lifted the immigration papers of 175,000.
Full details will come out. So will attempts by thousands of Americans to defend their illegal alien friends and future voters.

The truth is that all ... well, almost all of those forced deportations are
• criminals including drink-drivers and “peaceful protesters”;
• drug and human traffickers;
• organisers and members of ‘birth tourist’ gangs trying to get kids born in the USA.
• anti-U.S. and yes, anti-Trump protesters including many who celebrated Charlie Kirk’s murder.
More details here.

Five of America’s top tech companies - Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Oracle - are expected to burn through $125 billion in cash this year on their AI rollouts. (Washington Post)
Oh no, and here’s us all out of popcorn.

Things look even worse for SpaceX. (CNBC)
Well, that sucks.

SpaceX’s revenue doubled and losses halved in the recent quarter. (Reuters)
Sucks for CNBC, that is.

On the fifth of August of this year, SpaceX will blow up the Moon. (Yahoo)
Wait, that was... seven days ago. Well, can’t see the Moon right now. Guess it worked.

China’s CXMT aims to have 30% of global DRAM market share by 2030. (Tom’s Hardware)
Go for it, guys.

Memory is now selling at prices last seen in 2007. (Tom’s Hardware)
Though the memory price crash of 2007 was one of the reasons why there are only three big memory manufacturers today.

BEHIND EVERY CLEVER MAN

Beer, it’s not just for breakfast anymore!

Thailand response to school shooting: tougher discipline

The Minister of Education has outlined a ‘90-day School Safety Plan’.
Prasert Jantararuangtong promised on Saturday tougher standards including
• better screening of possible mental health problems of students
• zero-tolerance of bullying
• tighter gate and classroom checks for all types of weapons
Debsirin Nonthaburi School is closed for the week, although staff and students alike have been instructed to work at home.
Photo: Parents and friends created a floral tribute at the school gate.

A weekend survey by North Bangkok Poll showed 71 percent of residents in favour of reviving use of capital punishment.

The Anutin Charnvirakul government is desperate to show that it is Doing Somethingafter a student killed five teachers, three fellow students and himself last Friday.

This must not happen again. Every child must be safe at school.

Counseling will be available to all students in Thailand starting today and all during the 90 days.
Police are trying to determine the source of the 98 bullets carried to the death scene.
The 14-year-old killer fired 64 shots during his short rampage.

According to a Scotsman in Japan who writes for a Limey journal,
Gun massacres are becoming all too regular in Thailand
Sure, every six years, regular as clockwork...

Thai PM vows new gun law after deadly school shooting

The Man’s Rules
1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.

The Strait of Hormuz will not be opened until the Great Satan corrects its behaviour.-- Supreme National Security Council of Iran issues unlikely demand.

REMINDER

Coming Tomorrow: Straight Outta Phuket, Thailand’s Great Hope Nene Royal
The Zombie singing sensation will perform at the Judges’ Callback show from the Malibu home of show inventor Simon Cowell at 7 a.m. Thailand time.
Cowell is a legal alien and scofflaw who breaks the California state environmental ordinance by drinking with plastic straws.

This is Nene’s first time on America’s Got Talent

THAI RAINY SEASON IS ON!

The heaviest storms are in the far North as usual(photo) and lighter rains occur daily in most of the 77 provinces.
Carry your brolly, rolled up until you need it.
Photo: flood effects of the rising Su Tong Pe in Mae Hong Son province.

GO AWAY, ASEAN
The self-appointed “president” of Myanmar turned fiercely on the regional bloc.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, now claiming to be an elected leader, told ASEAN to forget about appointing a new special representative -- and no, you can’t see or talk to imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi.
“It’s a new era. We had an election (late last year) and the army’s in charge.”
ASEAN claims to have a five-point ‘peace plan’ for Myanmar. General Min Aung Hlaing laughed.
Philippines Foreign Secretary Ma. Theresa P. “Tess” Lazaro is sad.

Photo: A representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross met secretly with Suu Kyi in 2019.

Pointing the finger of blame accurately

Chinese activist held by Thailand arrives in Canada
Zhang Xinyan succeeds on second attempt after being prevented from boarding flight a month ago
Photo: Zhang Xinyan (centre) is welcomed by supporters on her arrival at Vancouver International Airport.
Question: What will China’s response to Thailand about this Falun Gong felon?

In her defence, though, she did not bad-mouth the Buffalo Bills.
But to be fair, “Canada” is a C-word.

DIPLOMACY
Head Vietnam poobah To Lam is visiting Australia. Like all other tourists, he will head to Kiwiland tomorrow, then go home for the weekend.

USA TOURISM
Just the News reported, President Donald Trump signed two executive orders Thursday that attempt to restrict birthright citizenship and end the practice of birth tourism, in hopes of circumventing a recent Supreme Court decision.
The Supreme Court in June decided American citizenship is worthless by giving it to everyone.

FUN GAMES SMILES Etm Etm Etm
Each weekend the boys at Powerlineblog file a collection of memes.
The Week In Pictures: Winner and Still Champion Edition

A day later, sci-fi writer Sarah Hoyt releases an even bigger one.
Meme, Meme Against the Dying of the Light!

And then...

Still East Asia’s choice as best Sunday columnist.
Count Binface and friends back in action
For those who enjoy a touch of absurdity in the murky world of politics there is a by-election in Clacton on the Essex coast of England this week that should fit the bill.
There are 34 candidates challenging Reform Leader Nigel Farage -- including Count Binface, previously known as Lord Buckethead.
He wants to nationalise the singer Adele, and close down shops that play Christmas music before December.
And who doesn’t?
The Official Monster Raving Loony Party is running on its slogan: “Vote for insanity, you know it makes sense.”
Politics doesn’t have to be a total bore.

You’re spec-taco-lar

He seemed such a polite, well-behaved young man

Grade 9 student kills sleeping grandparents, seven schoolmates
He shot another 22 students in a short rampage, all of them in far-to-good condition. He killed himself.
The boy stole his grandpa’s 9mm weapon from a locked gun case.
Terrified students streamed out of the DebsirinSchool in far northern Bangkok.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has promised to reform all gun laws.
Friday’s killings came less than two years after a wacko teen-ager, also 14, killed two and wounded five at the elite Siam Paragon mall.
He was mentally ill and surrendered when he was cornered.

Thailand has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in Asia, with the prime minister vowing to introduce a new firearms control law.
“The new law will only allow government officials on duty to carry guns,” Anutin said.
(Much more on this, a little later)

DARNED WEATHER IS KILLING OUR EXPORTS

El Niño effect may result in rice exports of 7 million tonnes
Just for comparison, Thailand used to lead the world by exporting 12 million tonnes.
Now, chief of the Thai Rice Exporters Association is bragging that drought caused by the Little Boy could kill so much rice in Cambodia, Vietnam, India, etm, that Thailand would prosper.
Export prices are likely to rise.

BUT WAIT, WHAT?
We were assured that El Niño would make us hot, bothered and dry as a bone.
But No! Not a chance! The rivers are rising.

In northernmost Chiang Rai province (photo) and along the muddy Chao Phraya (below) it’s all about the flooding.
The Chao Phraya Basin water levels are 1.5 metres above flood level, although Bangkok is dry. So far.

I took my wife to Los Angeles because she had never pooped on a sidewalk.
-- Jimmy Failla, Fox News Saturday Night.

We had a very unfortunate decision in the Supreme Court concerning birthright.-- Deejay Trump, U.S. president (for now) attempts to halt’birth tourism racket’ by visa curbs.

U.S. Navy base set for West Australia

HMAS Stirling, named for an Aussie war hero, is at the bottom-left on the map.
It is already the prime base of the RAN submarine and Indian Ocean fleet.
Fast-evolving plans will put 2,300 U.S. troops and an undisclosed number of ships and boats alongside the Ozzies.

THE BRANCH COVIDIANS

Betteridge’s Law of Headlines
Is the Canadian Red Ensign an extremist symbol? (Activehistory.ca)

Thai serial killer ‘Aem Cyanide’ beats another case

In her sixth Criminal Court trial, judges ruled that state’s evidence was thin.
Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn has been found guilty in four cases -- sentenced to death, although Thailand rarely executes any more.
As of today, there are 480 prisoners on Death Row including the frail above.

CRIME

Toronto police have arrested two young men in the terrorist shooting.
One of them is Xen-Ul-Abdeen Syed, 19 and the other can’t be named publicly because he’s 15..
Name sounds Uyghur.
Cops and leaders of the Trawna Jewish community say the pair got orders to shoot at the consulate in a University Avenue building via encrypted messages on a social channel.
It’s the second useless but dangerous bit of terrorism at the U.S. consulate in a month.
Film by Toronto Police here.

Thai gunman ‘took his own life’ after temple murder
A man is believed to have killed himself in a rented flat under siege by police after allegedly shooting another man dead and wounding two others at a temple in Bangkok.

Anutin vows justice over (different non-school) murders
Urges swift probe into killings of Russian siblings, Thai family
Missing family of three found buried near Russians
Thana “Pong” Kerdthong, 43, and Thongchai “Bong” Srinil, 39, were only recently released from prison.
Just a mile away, police found the bodies of a mother, father and daughter shot to death and buried in a shallow grave.

Second chances can turn deadly
Not “can”; do.
2018: Thana “Pong” Kerdthong, 43, was sentenced to prison for seven years for attempted murder.
2026: Released in June, Pong killed five members of two families because he needed a motorcycle and some cash.
The Thai and Russian victims’ families just want the death penalty -- and they are backed, at last, by at least nine “non-government” groups.

ANALYSIS
ASEAN’s next security challenge is cyber
By Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Chulalongkorn University professor and respected commentator.
Future conflicts will not simply be fought over sovereignty and territory. They will increasingly be waged over data and information.
This may sound obvious in the age of artificial intelligence (AI), but the implications are profound.
Cyberattacks no longer target only military networks. They can cripple hospitals, banks, ports, airports, power grids, telecommunications systems, and financial markets. Undersea communication cables, cloud servers and data centres have become strategic assets as critical as naval bases and airfields.

Did we mention that artificial intelligence is artificial?

OPINION
ASEAN’s human rights system evolves
By Vitit Muntarbhorn, international expert on human rights.

Photo: Rohingya refugee wades ashore at Aceh, Indonesia.
The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) was established more than a decade ago.
It is supposed to promote human rights and has done a poor job of it.

SPORTS

Important announcement: I am upping my offer, $10 million dollars for a head-to-head basketball game between the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces and a boy’s high school state title team of my choice.If the Aces beat my team, I will give them $10 million.-- Clay Travis

Why these NHL teams are in danger of getting stuck in the mushy middle
Can the Leafs realistically bounce back and make the playoffs next season? Absolutely.
However, the issue is that even if they make the playoffs, the path to a deep run feels quite unlikely in a stacked Atlantic Division. The Montreal Canadiens, Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres are all stronger teams than the Leafs on paper. Their future outlook also faces several question marks.
Much more at this link, no paywall.

RHINESTONE EXILE GAL
What in the bloomin’ heck has Thailand’s original female prime minister Yingluck got up to?
Full video here
She spent 9 days plucking tiny Diamond Paninting stones to make this for Big Brother’s birthday.
Follow her at pouyingluck_shin on IG, where she shows off her art.

Orchid is a delightfully retro and approachable hipster synth. (The Verge)
That bad, huh?

Meanwhile Apple just hired the original team behind Qwen. (WCCFTech)
Who Alibaba had fired in a quiet reminder that grotesque ineptitude is not solely a gift of the western world.

OpenAI has rushed to reassure users that the brand new GPT 5.6 still has all the same features they know and love. (InfoWorld)
Like accidentally deleting all your files but being really sorry about it afterwards.

Nvidia’s 5000 Super graphics cards are lined up on the runway ready to go as soon as someone breaks the news to the passengers that the price of their tickets just tripled. (Tom’s Hardware)
Or less obliquely, the 3GB memory chips used for the Super models are three times the price of the standard 2GB chips.

God’s last name is not damn.

SEPARATISTS
Malaysia wants proof southern insurgents find shelter there

Above: A separatist gang placed mines that killed all five rangers on a patrol.
Kelantan state police chief Mohd Yusoff Mamat told official Bernama News:

Every time there is a shooting incident or bomb explosion in southern Thailand, there are often allegations that the suspects flee to Malaysia. Until now, no evidence has been presented to us to support that claim.

Mamat was frightfully busy and had no time to walk to the Kelantan state schoolhouse where the actual Barisan Revolusi Nasional (National Revolutionary Front, BRN-Coordinasi) (BRN) terrorists have their Malaysian headquarters.

Thailand used to be the progressive pot-nation of East Asia. Now, not so much.
The Ministry of Health has seized 109 million baht of product -- $3 million.
More than 3 dozen shopowners who thought they were on Millionaire Row are in lockup awaiting trial.
Bottom Line: Carry weed into or out of Thailand and you’re in the jailhouse.
Photo: Bangkok ‘dispensary’ license shows in the front window.

International Council of Manlaws, Ltd.
Thou shalt not buy a car in the colors of brown, pink, lime green, orange or sky blue.

Prosecutors have failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.
-- Criminal Court acquits serial mass murderer ‘Aem Cyanide’ on one charge.

Fauci ally breaks, fingers Wuhan lab as likely source of Covid

Dr Ashish Jha was the Biden-Covid team’s response coordinator, whatever that was. He was primarily a Fauci loyalist.
So it’s interesting that he now admits:

Oh, right, yeah, now that I think about it, Covid-19 was from some kind of leak from the Wuhan Virology Laboratory. Anyways, it wasn’t a “natural outbreak” as I tried to convince people at the time.This is going to surprise some people. When I went into the White House [sic], my view was this was almost surely a natural outbreak.Based on information since then, I have come to conclude it is more likely to have been a lab leak ... We still need transparency and accountability on this point.

His important point:
No one in the United States could know for sure. The only people who do know for sure are the officials in China who have been less than forthcoming.

As we also know for certain, Fauci believed at the time that the WIV lab was the more plausible explanation.
Doubts about the wet market explanation existed at high levels from the first weeks of 2020.
Fauci treated all doubts as a single and unique conspiracy theory.

ALSO
Time to toss the ‘science is settled’ groupthink.

OPINION
The hidden workforce Thailand needs
English translation: The Myanmar junta will help Thailand, right?

By Kavi Chongkittavorn, regional affairs expert
About 4 million Myanmar nationals were living in Thailand in 2024; 2.3 million had legal work permits.
That number has dwindled to 1 million.

OPEN SECRET
Malaysia holds key to peace in South
by Veera Prateepchaikul. former editor, Bangkok Post
Malaysia has long served as a second home for insurgents and terrorists active in the deep South of Thailand.
They feel safer living openly in Malaysia, particularly in next-door Kelantan state, because many hold dual citizenship.
Thai media are in no mood to play the “good guy” after the loss of five rangers and a string of violent incidents in recent weeks.

Rescued wild elephant calf in critical condition
The wild elephant is a female, about one week old and weighed 62.8 kilos.
Just two feet at the haunch, she gets a daily bath of turmeric and galangal juice which -- it says here -- smoothes her hide and keeps the skeeters away.
They’ll give her a name shortly and she’ll be on TV regularly for a while.

Photo: The week-old female elephant calf walks with a caretaker as she recovers from injuries after being found starving and abandoned in a forest in Kanchanaburi on Thursday.

UPDATE
The baby pachyderm died on Tuesday, apparently of liver failure.
It suffered from exhaustion and diarrhoea since its rescue.

Friday Morning Joke [h/t gs]
A United States Marine was deployed to Afghanistan. While he was there he received a “Dear John” letter from his girlfriend.
In the letter she explained that she had slept with two guys while he had been gone and she wanted to break up with him. To add injury to the insult, she said she wanted back the picture of herself that she had given him.
So the Marine did what any squared-away Marine would do. He went around to his buddies and collected all the unwanted photos of women he could find. In all, he got more than 25 pictures of various women (some with clothes and some without).
He then mailed them to his now-former girlfriend with the following note:

I don’t remember which one you are. Please remove your picture and send the rest back.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (illustration, below) is exactly like the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope.
Well, except it’s 1,000 times better. Or so.
SpaceX is going to hoist it on August 30 -- 7:26 p.m.

Then it will sit at Lagrange Point 2, a gravitationally stable point a million miles away, between Earth and the sun. (Convert to Canuckistanti distance here.)
In five years, adjustments may be necessary.

Nancy Grace Roman, a pioneer in her field who was the first female executive at NASA as well as the agency’s first chief of astronomy.
She’s sometimes called the “mother of Hubble”

Pull up a chair. Or just set there on the chesterfield if you’re Canuck.
Feel free to pet the kitten or the pup, we will not judge. Now you’ll need some reads that are worth the effort.

OLD MAN SHOUTS

Biden to Release Memoir About His Time as President.
Does he remember any of it? We bet he doesn’t remember his contribution to Vietnam or the 7 3.5 million people of Cambodia.

ALSO OLD MAN

Warren Buffett stops Gates Foundation donations, will give $6 billion to family foundations.
For a guy who spent a lifetime picking winners and dumping losers, he sure held on to Gates for a long time -- longer than Melinda.

POWER
Tips for being non-partisan in a partisan age
Real nonpartisanship means criticising allies, crediting opponents, resisting ideological drift, and defending free speech without checking the speaker’s party registration first.

As usual, we can’t trust U.S.-Canuckian media to report news:
Anyways, forget that and ask the most important question:
Is it rare enough?

Avoid polysyllabification!

THAILAND TOURISM
Foreign tourist arrivals down 3.2% on year so far in 2026
It sounds low, but it’s another two and a half million people who didn’t come.
So far this year January 1 to August 1 -- 18.5 million tourists entered.
Photo: Eurobabe dolled-up in Thai duds enjoys the Temple of the Dawn, Bangkok.

EXCLUSIVE EXCEPTIONS
There really are tourists we don’t want here in Thailand, and we do not mean fans of last year’s White LotusSeason 3.
Just because they’re Canucks, they’re still entirely welcome.
Here’s a man who actually knows Thailand and Thais.
He has a terrific story of potty-mouthed, swaggering Eye-Tyes who are not at all wanted, and exactly why the entire country of 70 million turned against them because they were rude and arrogant on an electric train (BTS) ride in Bangkok.

A fellow passenger asked them to keep the noise down -- and that’s when an entire nation turned on stupid Italian visitors. They are not missed.
A lesson on world travel, in 22 minutes.

The question remains: Are Italians unintelligent, or just their teachers?

The Man’s Rules
1. If you think you’re fat, you probably are. Don’t ask us.

It’s impossible to make a billion dollars without lying, cheating or stealing.-- Sandy Cortez, new American socialist, dumber than she looks.

WHO KNEW?
Sure, Thailand’s trade deficits are growing with almost every country.
But that’s a good thing.
It means Thailand is actually transitioning to more foreign investment, higher value-added trade.
Didn’t know that, did you? Photo: Port of Thailand, Bangkok.

UPDATE
We wrote that meetings of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA, City Hall) are to be shown live.
That will happen at

https://webportal.bangkok.go.th/

The channel will be dark unless there is a meeting under way.

SPORTS BASEBALL
The best pitcher for more than 8 years gets sold to the El Lay Dodgers

Word is he’s ‘looking good in Dodger blue’ of the World Series champs.
He joins baseball’s best player Shohei Ohtani at Dodgers Stadium.
Lefty Skubal lacked the guts to appear in front of his fans in Detroit. So he wrote on Instagram instead:

Detroit will forever have a special place in my heart.

Not exactly...

Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.-- Lou Gehrig, July 4, 1939 after being diagnosed with ALS

Trade deadline cheat sheet. Top storylines, predictions, best available players of all teams.

If the Dodgers win their third consecutive title this year with a payroll that is $300 million more than that of the Brewers and Rays, it will just fuel MLB owners who want to impose a lockout for the entire 2027 season in order to get a hard salary cap like in the NFL, NBA and NHL. However, if there is a World Series between the Brewers and Rays and one of them acquires Skubal at the deadline and the other team also adds big, then the argument for the cap should lessen.
No paywall.

ICC

The court that claims it wants to arrest Bibi Netanyahu for all those war crimes and stuff, just fired its only chief prosecutor merely for raping a young staffer.
Now, Jew-hating Karim Khan, can’t.

Video report here.

Matt Taibbi did the fabulous Twitter Files expose.
(Where “our” is of course the USA.)

Trump Was Right. Six Months Post-Maduro, Venezuelan Recovery Defies Critics.
It’s amazing what getting rid of the communism will do for you.

Major record labels are proposing to join forces to force AI slop out of the charts. (The Verge)
Replacing it with regular slop.

A man has six items in his bathroom: toothbrush and toothpaste, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel.
The average number of items in the typical woman’s bathroom is 337. A man would not be able to identify more than 20 of these items.

Microsoft has vowed to make Windows 11 actually work in 8GB of RAM, which is timely given that the company is shipping Windows PCs with 8GB of RAM. (Tom’s Hardware)
Before the DRAM Apocalypse advice was simple: Do not buy a system with 8GB of RAM unless it is user-upgradable and you plan to immediately upgrade it.
Now the advice is more along the lines of: Buy a Mac, or run Linux.
Since both of those options hit Microsoft below the water line, the company is finally bothering to start to unshit its bed. Long overdue and the outcome remains to be seen, but at least they’re trying. Or claiming to try.

VC-backed startups commit more fraud and researchers think they know why. (Tech Crunch)
Yes, it’s exactly the reason you immediately thought of.
Congratulations, you are now a researcher.

Setting up OpenClaw isn’t as easy as the internet claims.(Tom’s Hardware)
Having 48GB of available video memory should allow us to run a fairly powerful AI model on the system.
Wait, 48GB of VRAM? What hardware... Oh, a Beelink mini PC, and that’s shared memory with the integrated graphics.

Bachelor: One who’s footloose and fiance free.