humqdpf

I am not a medical specialist but carrying around a swollen limb, presumably without regular medical treatment (otherwise it might be fixed!) is not going to extend his life. His lack of mobility is going to create a lot of problems for him. Perhaps karma will catch up with him in that regard.

And remember we would never have heard about this kind of behaviour without the whistle-blowers, such as Snowden, Wikileaks etc.

On 28/4/2017 at 1:02 PM, LawrenceN said:

It's implied in the article that United will continue to overbook, but that they will offer up to $10,000 to passengers to delay their travel. I'm as sure as you are that other airlines will continue to overbook as well, so they can fill those planes. And I don't mean to judge the airlines harshly for overbooking; they do it due to the economic pressure to compete. The higher limits on compensation bring some balance back into the equation.

The issue was never with overbooking - overbooking is standard and it is a seldom event when there are not enough seats for everyone on the plane.

The problem was appalling management, that the airline could not properly manage the transfer of staff and filling of a plane.

First mistake, they decided that the staff were far more important than customers and that it was OK to get staff to take up paid-for and booked seats (staff had not booked any seats - otherwise there would not be this problem);

Second mistake, they did not perform the bumping BEFORE seating everyone on the plane. By that stage, passengers have already notified their relatives/lovers/colleagues/taxi drivers that they are on their way and it is very difficult to reverse out of that both from a personal management point of view and psychologically. Much easier to do it at check-in.

Third mistake, if it was so damn important or crucial that the staff be moved, then the airline did not properly auction the seats as an incentive. If it was worth $10,000 per seat to move the staff, then continue to increase the offer up to that figure. The airline did not do so. If no one takes any offer up to $10,000, then you know that the cost of moving the staff is going to be much more than the value of moving them on that plane.

Fourth mistake: use violence against your law abiding passengers. 

7 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Did you read the post immediately before yours? ID 10, From a Moderator, confirming that the warrant had already been issued?

I agree that serving it is going to be the tough part though.

Issuing a warrant with the view to issue extradition proceedings with the UK is not going to work with this fugitive as all he has to do is move country and wait for the extradition application to run out of time.

Only if an international warrant is issued via Interpol red notice where he can be arrested in any signatory country will anyone take the pursuit of this fugitive seriously.

It started with a hot drink before bed-time but before long my room-mate was reaching for the Milo packet first thing in the morning. Usual story - had to finance his habit and therefore was dealing and before you know it he was stealing radios from cars.

Had to bring him for detox - great place in the West of Ireland where there never was ever any Milo but plenty of black beer for him to drink. Now he is as right as rain - goes out with his mates for 10 beers every night, no worries. No need for any of that Milo stuff anymore!

There are special border books that have to be purchased ahead of time along with an insurance carnet. Ironically, it is much easier to bring your Lao vehicle into Thailand for a short time rather than bringing a Thai vehicle into Laos. It really depends on your patience and time you are prepared to give to this. I suggest you check with the biker interest websites/forums and see what the latest information is. Good luck!

There are quite a number of medications that have been passed by the European, USA, Japan and other developed countries but are not available in Thailand because they are not sanctioned by the Thai authorities yet. Until they get around to that, Thais and residents of Thailand have to either do with the cheaper and less effective older alternatives or buy abroad and import (there are a raft of laws about importing meds into the Kingdom so one has to be careful with this).

6 hours ago, rbmcn said:

Intelligence ship? Russian? Collision? Sinks?   Oh, yeh, Vlad!!! You've got a ripe bunch of clots running your navy.  Russian intelligence ship- the new definition of oxymoron.

And who said that Naval Intelligence was a contradiction in terms?

7 hours ago, darksidedog said:

I hope he stung them for a goodly sum for their really poor performance.

Well you can be damn sure it was not just a few bucks if United have managed to get him to agree to a gag order on the subject. I would imagine that United were facing an open court trial for compensatory damages of say max $1million plus a punitive damages based probably on a class action suit (the class being customers of the airline) of an amount that would be large enough to punish the airline - say $50-100million. This is not to say that he would have gotten the full amount or anything like it but he might have been angry enough to not want the money (he is an older gent) but instead want to see the CEO and the thugs who manhandled him have to answer questions in open court. United would have to pay a small army of lawyers which alone would probably cost somewhere between $5 and 10 million if they went to full trial. If they went on full defence, it would have cost them a lot more and they would have looked like idiots.

My guess is that United paid up at least $5million plus costs and may have gone to $10million.  But if the passenger decided to dig his heals in, they may have had to go a lot more as the costs of even going to court from a PR point of view would have been terrible.

It is also not clear who is taking liability on this. Yes, United ordered him off the plane but it was state employees (to my understanding) who dragged him off. He may or may not be taking individual cases against each of these guys but United may be including them in the settlement as otherwise you can get counter-cases with the thugs suing United etc. The last thing United wants is more discussion about this case in public anywhere ever and so they will pay up for everyone, at a guess.

The most amazing part of this story is that Thai Visa did not take the opportunity to headline it as follows:

Germany Bans Faceless Bureaucrats

No one is going to take this seriously until they put out an international wanted notice for him, either an Interpol red notice or an extradition request to the country where he is staying or something along those lines. Otherwise he can just fly in quietly on the family jet (does these guys even pass immigration??), do what he has to do in Thailand and be gone before the police even know he was here. Then they can play the game of "he was seeking medical treatment abroad" nonsense and he will never even be arrested.

But even then, will they keep him in jail until his trial? Not sure about that. Sure he could make bail if they allow. I would make the bail conditions quite strict - make the bail 100million USD and if there is one no show the family have to relinquish half. Second no show, they relinquish the rest. Some of this money can be used to compensate the victim's family.

What next? Clumps of Euro girls selling themselves in the bars around Sukumvit road alongside the locals? 

I always thought that this releasing of ghosts was the job of the monks.

4 years for rape? And gets off early with good behaviour? Lets hope they throw the book at him this time

4 hours ago, Fulwell53 said:

There is quite a lot to be said for luddite philosophy

although not much that makes any sense . . .

5 hours ago, NormanW said:

Try having a night out in PNG  (Papa New Guinea).

As I understand it, a night out in PNG occurs when you cannot get home because of some local incident involving gunfire and it is advisable to stay elsewhere (hotel, friend's house etc)

Fake News Alert: The headline makes it look like that Thailand is currently under strain due to current surge in tourist numbers. This is NOT true - there has been a drop in tourist numbers apart from short-term visits from China.

The headline should use the future subjunctive - that if there were to be a surge in tourism numbers, Thailand would be under strain.

Of course, the article makes no case for basis for expecting any surge in tourist numbers beyond what is happening today.

As always, the leaders of the developing countries and their elites do not suffer when development aid is cut - just the ordinary beneficiaries. So why carry out the cuts?

What happened to the happy zone? This is the happy zone. This is the way certain kinds of people are happy.

What I don't understand is why this is supposed to be news. If I were to go for a stroll long walking street during the very early hours, I would expect to see such drunken fighting (if you can call such antics as fighting! - I have seen ladyboys doing a much better job at fighting, with or without handbags!).

No one is going to claim that these guys are not monsters but here is a point about cruel and unusual punishment. The state should never encourage or give example of cruel and unusual punishment. Even if you are pro-capital punishment, telling someone that they are on for today, then strapping them to the gurney and then telling them "not today" has got to be cruel and unusual by any definition. You either get on with it or you don't

I also find it completely distasteful that the state of Arkansas is competing with Texas to be the next state to have executed two persons on the same day. The moral argument for capital punishment is based on two possible issues - moral equivalence/retribution (you wilfully take a life and the people in the form of the state takes yours) and deterrence (kill people and this is what will happen to you). These messages get muddied when the state appears to be bloodthirsty and it becomes a question of the criminal thinking that he only does what the state does anyway, namely killing people, the only difference being that the state officials think they have found a reason.

22 hours ago, Just1Voice said:

Arrest him for soliciting, and confiscate any money he has received. 

 

At the very least, the British Revenue (or the Tax Authorities in the home country) should tax the receipts as either income or gifts.

Still not sure what the "racket" was supposed to be.

To really understand this story, you need to go to the BBC: see the following link

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39663671

It explains what the Thai journalists just did not, which is:

1. Why in the name of everything that is sacred did a man think to import semen into Laos? Why was it worth someone's while to pay him to carry the semen across the border?

2. Why did the Thai authorities give a damn? Why did the Thais arrest him and not the Lao - usually in smuggling cases, it is the recipient country that brings the charges of smuggling. Why might it have been deemed illegal to bring semen across a border?

3. Why were the Thai's monitoring this man?

5 hours ago, The Deerhunter said:

We all take two tubes full with us every time we cross the border.  Tne tubes as someome else pointed out are called vas deferens.    .........

Not all of us, dear Deerhunter, not all of us.

There are those of us who are female who do not. And remember that there are those of us who are male but who have been "cut."

Let me get this straight - a man is transporting sperm from Chinese and Vietnamese donors but from Thailand and into Laos. I don't know about you Sherlock but there is definitely something they are leaving out of this story!