zaphod reborn

Way to easy to obtain guns in the US.

I'm sure this sick individual would have found another way to vent his jealous rage, had he been denied the purchase of the gun. A beautiful and smart woman snuffed out by an emotional, immature <deleted>.

Murphy should meet with the NLA and tell them that the US wanted to teach the redshirts the importance of adhering to the 12 core values so as to bring happiness to the Thai people. After all, the US would never interfere with the internal politics of another sovereign nation.

For example, 866 million pairs of shoes imported by the US, of which 68 per cent of them would be unloaded at Los Angeles and Long Beach, said Ms Jirapaphan.

Wow, does everyone in the US now wear shoes from Thailand?

I work for a shoe manufacturer in Thailand and the US is the largest consumer by far. The EU is a distant second.

The alleged victim is a very wealthy Las Vegas businessman. I'm not sure why extradition is being requested or that jurisdiction would be in Thailand. The kidnapping incident did occur in Phuket, but the ransom and extortion scheme allegedly was also to take place in the U.S. Therefore, the criminal court should rule that extradition is not necessary, because, if there was an legitimacy to the criminal complaint, a prosecution could be brought by the West Palm Beach district attorney's office. The victim is also taking a risk, because if extradition occurs, the victim may also be extradited for les majeste, if there is any evidence the victim has claimed he has strong connections to the Royal Family. Easy way out of the mess for the trial judge is for the case to remain in the US.

The cover up begins. When they lost tea money from vendors, they moved on to harass foreigners. There was a social media backlash. BIB has significantly curtailed the harassment in the last few weeks. I don't see them between Asok and Thong Lor anymore. There was one night in December, at approx. 6pm, that I saw 40 BIB in front of the Westin doing nothing but harassing foreigners. Glad it has ended, but this is the way the government manages to save face - a cover up. I don't know about the particular story reported in Time, but any resident in the Sukhumvit areas knows what foreigners were subjected to after BIB lost traditional sources of tea money.

I, like many others, wait patiently for the British autopsy to truly find out the cause of this tragic death. That being said, below quite clearly shows a mix that in my unprofessional opinion could prove deadly.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422339832.545132.jpg

The toxicology report would provide the details necessary to determine cause of death. They're just not releasing it to the media, and why should they? When you run a toxicology report, it gives you the concentration of alcohol and drugs in the blood. A medical examiner could then rely upon that data to determine whether it more than likely caused her death. A British autopsy won't yield anything more, just as sending British investigators into Koh Tao revealed no new facts about the unrelated case the Brits keep yapping about on this thread.

Unfortunately, the media has billed Danny Russel as someone who should be respected as a diplomatic leader. Unfortunately, that is not the case. He had absolutely no diplomatic experience prior to being selected by Obama to serve as US Asst Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. He previously did some embassy work in Japan and a little in Korea, but nothing in Southeast Asia. By his own admission, "My previous job in the White House was as a staffer, and as a result, I spent all my time behind closed – behind four walls of an office and didn’t get out very much." (From his first speech upon being appointed to this post, 22 July 2013). http://fpc.state.gov/212107.htm

Given that, Mr. Russel has elsewhere stated "let me say that there is no greater priority for the U.S. Government than the welfare and the safety of U.S. citizens abroad". http://fpc.state.gov/212107.htm If that is the case, he failed to mention that Thailand has been on the brink of a civil war ever since Thaksin was removed by a coup. Mr. Russel would be better served by examining U.S. intelligence reports about the danger caused to U.S. citizens in events such as the Red Shirt protests of 2010 and the attacks on civilians during the PDRC protests of last year.

This guy is a political novice, and a typical under-qualified Obama nominee. He, the U.S., and the U.S. ex-pat community in Thailand would have been better served had he kept his mouth shut, and not commented on events that are far beyond his ability to comprehend.

No clarification necessary. Local authorities love the ambiguity created by poorly written legislation and regulations. They are salivating at the opportunity to extract tea money to favorably interpret the law for generous donators.

He's correct about this. Asking children to recite the 12 values only reinforces the rote-learning methods universally used in the Thai education system. Reporters should be asking children how the values should be used to help solve real life problems. That would develop critical thinking skills.

Yingluck says she’s done nothing wrong

BANGKOK: -- Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra today defended accusation of negligence of duties in the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) that resulted in huge loss and rampant corruption, claiming that they were unfounded and imagination.

She remained adamantly that her rice pledging scheme is beneficial to the farmers, and will enable them to have a quality of life.

In the 50-minute defence of her innocence, she said she has done nothing wrong and still hoped the scheme could be of great benefit to the country to the poor farmers if it is continued.

She said accusations that the disappearance of million tons of rice and the G-to-G rice deal with China were also misleading the public that they were true.

She produced documents shown with PowerPoint on the screen saying she had many committees to supervise and monitor rice sales to ensure no corruption, and transparency.

She also said the accusations were based on those who were hostile to her government but were kept as witnesses by the NACC.

She identified opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, and Dr Warong Dejkijwikrom as her political foes but questioned why the graft buster called them to give information.

She also questioned the short 21-day time taken by the NACC to conclude its probe and accused her, saying it had hidden agenda.

Her defence of the rice-pledging scheme in the closing statement today came after the National Anti-Corruption Commission member Vicha Mahakun verbally presented summary of the accusations in the closing statement.

She denied all accusations and pleaded for justices from the NLA, saying she never has any thought to corrupt, to neglect, but would merely want a chance for the poor farmers to have better living, to stand on their own feet, and live happily.

In one stage, she said should she were to be removed by the NLA under unfounded, doubtful, and vague accusations, it would be tantamount to deprive her of the basic right of freedom as she would lose her political rights for five years.

Mr Vicha said in the closing statement calling NLA members to decide without bias the guilts of the former premier who he described should have more conscience and responsibility than ordinary people to sit in the top position in the country but neglected such responsibility.

He said person with no intellectuality but commits serious wrongdoings deserves pardon if he has morality as he could be remedied and can be beneficial to the country.

But a person with intelligence, knowledge but lacks of conscience, morality will merely cause enormous damage to the country that could never be seen again of such enormous amount in this century, he said.

Mr Vicha described how the pledging scheme of the accused was a total failure, saying “the farmers pawn their lives while the country pawns the debts.”

Every step of the scheme was corrupted, and caused serious damages to the country, he said.

He said the damage of almost 700 billion baht incurred by Ms Yingluck’s negligence of duties now poses heavy burden for this government to slowly release 17 million tons of the pledged rice in the stocks, so as not to affect the rice price.

Now the farmers are suffering from such remaining huge stocks, he said.

He called on all NLA members to make history to punish and remove irresponsible politicians.

The NLA will vote tomorrow whether to remove her or not.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/yingluck-says-shes-done-nothing-wrong

-- Thai PBS 2015-01-22

good for her! but the die is cast and the long knives are out and they do not care about the truth

The truth is she raped the country's rice farmers for the personal gain of herself, PTP and profiteers (rice millers, rice storage operators and rice smugglers).