darksidedog

To suggest an amnesty is not only an admission of failure and incompetence, it is an acknowledgment of the fact that the depth of the incompetence is clearly so awful as to be criminal in nature. Prayut is determined that he and his nasty cohorts will never face the music for any of the ills that they have done to this country.

We should be hearing cries of outrage from the populace, but those of course are being silenced.

44 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

 

As in the movie, this can be seen as getting their hands on anyone for the sake of it. Maintaining face but caring little about justice.

In two sentences that is about as fair a summation of the Thai judicial joke system as I have ever read. You do not have to be guilty, you just need to be in a situation when you will work as a good plausible and any real investigation, requiring brains and sophistication, is not needed.

As a 13 year prison visitor, the wisest words I ever heard outside a prison from a wrinkled faced old Thai lady was "This prison isn't full of guilty people. It is full of poor people." She was right.

The rich pay their way off, the well to do have a fighting chance with a good lawyer, given the prosecution are none too bright, nor the judges come to that,

The accused poor are as good as hung, the day the cops announce this is the man.

Thai justice, which strangely never finds any wrongdoing by bent cops, or politicians unless they have been overthrown in a coup, normally as an ends to justify the means.

I have been on the wrong end of this when the same family name was good enough for the cops to broadcast an arrest.

When they got it right and got the right fella, they broadcast that too, but never said sorry for their original mistake.

Photos and names of unconvicted accused should not be made public unless the evidence is overwhelming, and probably not even then as it could taint potential witnesses.

Try telling that to photo happy cops though.

Little island size of a cricket pitch, Just outside Port Vila, Vanuatu.

Hideaway Island.

Closest to heaven I have ever been and I have been there many times.

Awesome place, lovely people. (Mostly!)

Seriously could do a Tom Hanks survival here in luxury.

There has been much publicity surrounding Thais and foreigners coming to the aid of those locally who have been left destitute by Covid and the complete failure of central government to adequately assist. My hats off to one and all, who have as I, put their hands in their pockets to help those who are our neighbours.

I had the good fortune to work in India for a few years, speak a bit of a few dialects and have played badminton with the Pattaya Indian badminton group as an honorary outsider for some years. I have found Indian people everywhere to be wonderful in nature, though often I have seen them generalized as cheap and worse.

So, I am happy to have the opportunity to sing their praises right now for their assistance to those in dire straits in and around Nongprue, Pattaya.

With local assistance and wisdom, they decided not to make and give out free meals for all, given many would be taken by passing motorbike taxi/delivery workers, who didn't really need it.

Instead they found where those with nothing were, and have targeted multiple car loads of essential items in bulk, (about a 500 baht weekly parcel per targeted family), minimizing the daily contact small parcels bring. Rice, Eggs, noodles, Oil, Tin fish etc.

In the past week, 50 families have seen their 7 day essentials provided and young mums and wrinkle faced grandmas alike  have shed tears of joy at their unexpected offering.

Yet they seek no coverage or recognition, for doing what they see as their basic duty. In India, donating to those in strife without fanfare is common.

I hope those reading this will give them the respect they deserve for their quiet efforts, especially since they are substantially higher than being provided by pretty much (though not universally), every farang I know.

More miserable news and its tough to see a way out. Last night walking my dog I saw several groups in my village drinking and socialising with no attempt whatsoever at keeping any distance. Group sizes ranged from 4 or 5 up to 11. It really is no wonder its spreading, yet a single foreigner spotted without a mask is headline news. Crazy!

Crazy to do this without identifying the offending brand names, because you can guarantee a Thai police officer or other official will want to arrest and fleece you for having any sunscreen and good luck convincing him your one is on the green list.

This was a little late coming out today and with each passing minute, I was more convinced that it was going to be bad news. Hang in there folks and stay safe.

With two days slightly lower, you dare to ask yourself if we have seen the peak, or if it was just less testing over the weekend?

My son was telling me last night that there are a growing number of cases in his village, (Banglamung) but that you wouldn't know it from the way his neighbours are still socialising. Difficult to see this trailing away like the morning mist the way Prayut keeps trying to suggest.

I had hoped to read somewhere that expat Brits would be given some priority.

2 minutes ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Thailand is now seeing an increase in new cases in the provinces, the DDC said.

That's what happens when you don't restrict travel outside of cluster areas.

My take on lending money here comes down to me asking myself one question.

Once I know what the money is needed for, I ask myself if I would be willing to put my hand in my pocket to pay for said assistance outright, without it being a loan.

I have given several families money I see they are desperate for, but could never realistically pay back if I "loaned" it to them.

Better to give to a worthy cause and feel good about yourself, than loan money you will just get stressed over never seeing again.

I have lent money to those where I thought they could afford to actually pay, especially if they are trying to create an income.

Expecting to lose everything on those loans, they have with one exception, been repaid. And that one I saw coming, but it was worth it.

Thai people are on the whole, a lot more honest at repaying than many given them credit for. (No pun intended!)

Lending to the destitute on the other hand is not a wise plan, and many with debt are in that bracket right now, a fact the banks are starting to understand and worry about.

Had they taken such actions in closing everything and restricting travel before Songkran we probably wouldn't be in the situation we are now. Finally joining COVAX will hopefully help in the vaccine supply and that really should be the biggest priority for the country right now, as the current levels are pathetic.

37 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

(CCSA) has approved a plan to purchase

But hasn't actually actually purchased anything yet?

New generation vaccines, I mean really?

Might be semi plausible if they had managed to get even a half sensible amount of first generation ones that work.

Even more plausible if alluded to vaccines are already approved and in mass production, which I suspect is not yet the case.

Good. Very stupid idea to buy them in the first place, with about zero worth to the defence of the country, especially when its people are buckling at the knees in financial woes from the economic shutdowns.

Predicting numbers is like guessing the lottery numbers. Short while back UK was under 2,000 a day now above 50K, albeit with a well vaccinated populace.

2,000 here became 3,000, became 4,000, then 6,000 and in no time has almost doubled with not much really in the way of a lockdown, which seems to stem from the welfare payments needed if they do call that. I do not see 30K as the worst case scenario, rather a likely one. The worst case could be way higher, as other Asian countries can testify.

You will generally see very bad road problems repaired after a series of nasty accidents, which normally require at least one death or involvement of someone from an important family. There was almost a crater on Kaonoi for a long time. A half senior copper hit it one night in the rain and was badly scraped. Fixed the next day surprise, surprise!

People who dig stuff up here, don't see providing a safe road surface afterwards as part of their job.

Add the absolute lack of coordination between any of the road crews here, who should patch things up and its the perfect storm for long term danger.

Go slowly, expect a serious drama round every corner and you will get through.

Fixing the roads surfaces is not foreseeable in the near future. Or the long term future either thinking about it.

Pure idiocy on every front.

Idiocy to consider reopening when the Covid numbers around Pattaya are skyrocketing.

Worse idiocy to believe tourists will flock in "large numbers" to somewhere with rampant Covid and a list of mad conditions longer than your arm.

As for the projected numbers and revenue, yes, you guessed it, more idiocy.

Very bad figures everywhere and getting worse by the day. You would think a competent government would be throwing every resource they had at getting vaccines in and administered, yet their performance on that front is appalling. God help us all, because aside from the French, our own countries are not going to it seems.

It seems much is being done, or in the case of test numbers not being done, to keep it below 10,000. Wonder how long they can keep that lid on?

34 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

How have IOs tried to extort money from you?

They didn't try, they did. I had a legal issue in 2008, which I won in 2008. In 2012 it was discovered there had been an appeal, but immigration wouldn't give me a criminal justice visa for a case five years old, even though I couldn't leave. Cost me 30,000 to stay out of jail (not bail), then when I won the case a second time, a further 20,000 not to be done for the overstay and by now it was 2014, plus of course the 20,000 at the airport for the "overstay", which was the only thing I ever got a receipt for.

As a prison visitor I have seen MANY people finish their case at court being found not guilty, but then having to pay immigration not to be deported. Never seen a receipt for any of those.

Then of course, every time you need a residency certificate, which I understood are supposed to be free, it costs you.