15Peter20

Is having the death penalty about deterrent and prevention or about public outrage and need for revenge?

Not as if a likely perpetrator goes "oh well, lifetime imprisonment, yeah...that's worth it". Doubt if they consider

the difference between potential punishments.

Another point, mistakes and biases are inherent in any legal system. Thailand's legal and law enforcement

reputations are less than stellar, to put it mildly. Not sure that trusting them with such judgements is quite

as reasonable as the wise Facebook users suggest.

Exactly. Whilst open to human error or worse, a process which results in state sanctioned killing must always be avoided if at all possible. People can die whilst not being guilty. I know of at least one case where 3 guys were put to death in Thailand for a deed which available evidence suggests they did not commit.

I was going to say this is unbelievable but it makes perfect sense and fits right into the establishment playbook.

After 12-18 months of populist policies the (mainly jaded, apathetic) people are induced to vote by being paid for it. I wonder which party they'll vote for - maybe it'll be the one most closely aligned to the 'happiness-giving' junta, the Dems maybe? - just a guess.

Subversion of the democratic principle that PTP would have been proud of. But then again, they didn't have the big weaponry and even bigger bosses on their side. Nuff said, unfortunately.

Hi

There are at least 8 cats living directly opposite my house in a derelict lot but a guy from up the road keeps feeding them every day so they aren't moving on. Every day I wake up and open my front door to see at least a couple of cat turds right in front of my gate, the smell of cat sh!t and p!ss wafting into my house and a bunch of flies buzzing around.

I believe this represents a health risk. Does anyone know of anywhere in Thailand where I can buy one of those sonic cat repellents which has a motion sensor and emits a high pitched (not audible to humans) noise that encourages cats to vacate the area? I'm in Bangkok but anywhere in Thailand will do.

I looked on things like Amazon but I don't think they deliver to Thailand. Thanks a lot for any help on this.

15P

Next to boosting the economy, determining national budgets and policies on things like education and rice subsidies, am I the only one who thinks it strange that 'traffic at Victory Monument' should rank alongside these issues in terms of importance? Or is it that in their fevered pursuit of all things 'Shin' the junta is moving against a key constituent of red support - the taxi/van drivers?

I do hope all this witch-hunting brings joy to the masses, otherwise it would just be...well, a dreadful waste of time among other things.

Was it near the Bangkapi or Samut Prakarn end of Srinakarin?

Why? Does it make a difference?

Going to lay flowers?

That's a nice idea. You must be a really nice guy!

if they continue these Path, than don't need pull up my wife ," german politicians should move in to clean up the mess"

Again. In plain english this time.

He'd probably get banned if it was in plain English.

If the army's embrace of Thaksinesque populist style policies is to continue, I see the Village Fund changing its name to the People's Happiness Fund and acquiring a new founder - Coupmaster P himself. Apart from that, I predict business as usual on this issue.

In the beginning, i was very alarmed by this military coup having seen what has happened with coup's in the past.

However now as each day goes by and i read of things like this crackdown on transport corruption, i am becoming more inclined to hope and pray that the army remain in charge for some considerable time into the future. They seem to be 'ticking' off corruption points one by one, many which go directly back to the RTP and it's higher echelon. I just hope that these corrupt police are identified, relieved of their ill gotten gains and dismissed with no benefits whatsoever. Well done to General Prayuth, but he has to be neutral and not seen to favour the likes of Suthep and his gang of theives in any way.

Agree about the need to appear even handed, but I'd advise you to save the true gushing for when the army actually imprisons those found guilty of large scale crime. I'll be gushing right along with you when that happens. Until then, lets wait and see and of course, not criticize.

Was it near the Bangkapi or Samut Prakarn end of Srinakarin?

I guess she isn't rich enough to get out of this particular pickle.

I think the army are doing a fine job of promoting Gross National Happiness. Creating nationwide happiness based on censorship and intimidation can indeed very easily be seen as 'gross'. I thank you.

Cheer up its national knees up day next week

Indeed - much more enjoyable than national hands up day, which we've just had. (somebody stop me!)

I think the army are doing a fine job of promoting Gross National Happiness. Creating nationwide happiness based on censorship and intimidation can indeed very easily be seen as 'gross'. I thank you.

And again the same family....

For sure they are corrupt like hell, but your point is just as easily explained by selective law enforcement. Lots of Democrats, military, etc., are involved in corruption too but you don't read about it because they're "good people".

Yeah, and they're educate too, so they also know what they're doing very well.

My hope is that in 6 months time - not now (that's asking too much) - army lovers will start posting on the 300th page of this thread their queries about why no other negative sounding threads have been started since this one. After all, real and meaningful change takes time.

Somehow I doubt we'll be reading any stories detailing how internal as opposed to external factors are to blame for disappointing economic or social conditions. Lap it up folks, it isn't going to get any better than this!

A two-week feeding frenzy par excellence....at least they're trying to keep it short.

Is Prayuth giving us his interpretation of what it would be like under a Thaksin dictatorship?

"

...soldiers armed with assault rifles and wearing helmets, green camouflage uniforms and bullet-proof vests have positioned themselves inside the editorial offices of the local Nation newspaper and other media, insisting they can control the flow of published information.

"

From Asia Sentinel today.

When I saw that picture in the OP I threw up a bit in my mouth.

I am glad to see people lightening up, I mean, getting closer to the true barometer of the junta. Sprinkling a little humor here and there, and not being drips about it is refreshing as a shower....well, I certainly wouldn't want to cloud the issue or precipitate an ill wind blowing anywhere.

This is no snow job that I won't hail either side. It is just good to see the clouds have silver linings, sometimes.

I am certainly not stealing anyone's thunder. I would like to put a freeze on all the ball lightning people take turns throwing at each other, but that doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hades. No one should be trying to glaze over the issues, but maybe a calm before the storm is in order.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I hate you

Yes, we need more stories like this....to let the army carry out its 'business' without people worrying about it too much. Tomorrow's headline: "World's Biggest Isaan Sausage Cooked In Ubon".

Probably safe so far. However, there were some worrying signs of anti-foreigner sentiment today reported on social media, which seem to be linked to unhappiness with the international media reportage. See various twitter feeds on you know what.

LINK !

I've decided to stop posting non-mainstream links and cut down on my posts generally for now. If you Google twitter and a certain topic you'll find the tweets. Clue: this relates to PA announcements at a monument in central BKK.

I think what you are alluding to is the army's loudspeakers lambasting foreign media as being supporters of Thaksin and telling them to go home. No need for coyness. They won't kick you out of the country for reporting something they distributed from loudspeakers at a busy intersection in the capital city. I hope.

Have the IMF and the world bank changed their opinions recently? Have they declared that paying out, is OK now?

What has changed in the "purely financial" arguments of the banks? It is safe now, why will the banks not loose their solvability now ?

As for the anti election commission, don't bother to explain their turnaround.

I am not talking about "recently" or even "now". I am talking about before. Check the dates. I even added links!

Farmers have been paid.

Do you have an issue with that?

Good to know that farmers have been paid - but do you mean today? I wouldn't expect details like what their names are or how much, but if you could at let let us know in which province(s) they were paid today - and where you got that information - that would go some way to alleviating any lingering doubts that the army's announcements carry as much weight as Thaksin's (paraphrasing) 'everyone will be rich in 6 months' or Chalerm's several pronouncements of eradication of this that or the other social ill within a ridiculous timeframe.

I hope that all the army lovers out there apply the same stringent (by Thai standards) level of accountability and transparency they expected of the PTP to the current object of their affections.

Okay, we may now have levels of freedom and transparency that makes the PTP tenure look like heaven, but we'll put that down to operational necessity. But the clock is ticking. How long will this honeymoon period last?