TallGuyJohninBKK

Back in 2022, the IOs at BKK CW informed me that they had a then new policy being that anytime anyone came to the L section seeking any action of any kind for someone on a retirement extension based on bank deposits... (not just applying for a new extension) ... they were going to require proof that the 800K deposit requirements had been complied with, including a bankbook update and photocopies on the day of that visit. So the notion they conveyed was, they'd also enforce checking on bank deposit compliance if you came to the L section for things like having stamps transferred to a new passport (which was what I was there for, and they imposed the bank deposit checking requirement on me when I was mid-term on an existing extension) or whatever else might be done in the L section, as a person on a retirement extension based on bank deposit. That was then... I have no idea if that supposed policy is still in effect there now... but your comments above kind of suggest it is.

Regarding the Cochrane report referenced above... 1. Most of the studies cited in their report had nothing to do with (and predated) COVID... and 2. Cochrane itself later came out publicly and rejected the claims being made that their latest review update concluded masks don't work, calling those assertions "inaccurate and misleading." Cochrane Says Review Does Not Show That ‘Face Masks Don’t Work’ Against Covid-19 "You know that recently published Cochrane review that some have claimed as evidence that face masks don’t work? Well, have some of these claims been a bit, shall we say, too cocky and not Cochrane-y enough? Well, in a statement issued on March 10 by the Cochrane Library, Karla Soares-Weiser, MD, PhD, MSc, Editor-in-Chief of the Cochrane Library, emphasized, “Many commentators have claimed that a recently-updated Cochrane Review shows that ‘masks don't work,’ which is an inaccurate and misleading interpretation.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2023/03/11/cochrane-says-review-does-not-show-that-face-masks-dont-work-against-covid-19/?sh=7b681d331937 From Cochrane on their report: Statement on 'Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses' review "Many commentators have claimed that a recently-updated Cochrane Review shows that 'masks don't work', which is an inaccurate and misleading interpretation. It would be accurate to say that the review examined whether interventions to promote mask wearing help to slow the spread of respiratory viruses, and that the results were inconclusive. Given the limitations in the primary evidence, the review is not able to address the question of whether mask-wearing itself reduces people's risk of contracting or spreading respiratory viruses." https://www.cochrane.org/news/statement-physical-interventions-interrupt-or-reduce-spread-respiratory-viruses-review Keep in mind, in addition to the issues addressed above, the Cochrane update isn't any actual research of its own. It's a review and recapping of other prior research in the field, which as I noted above, mostly involved prior studies that didn't have anything to with mask wearing during COVID at all. Don’t believe those who claim science proves masks don’t work A new scientific review of the efficacy of masks is deeply flawed. That hasn’t stopped some from touting it "Out of the 78 papers analyzed in the review, only two actually studied masking during the Covid-19 pandemic. And both of those found that masks did protect wearers from Covid-19. But these studies are drowned out by the greater number of studies on influenza included, where the benefit of masking is harder to detect because it’s a far less contagious virus than Covid-19." https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/27/dont-believe-those-who-claim-science-proves-masks-dont-work For anyone but anti-maskers, at this point, it's pretty hard to use Cochrane as an argument against face masking during COVID when Cochrane itself has disavowed those claims, and little in the actual review had anything to do with masking during COVID.

Good job here... 3 illegally operating clinics not named, and no mention of any legal or licensing action taken against them. 3 involved doctors not named, and no mention of any legal or licensing action taken against them. But somebody up in far away Nong Khai is arrested and mentioned only with a first name. If the folks involved here were breaking the law, how about shuttering the clinics and arresting the doctors responsible for enabling the illegal surragacy?

Jan. 31, 2023 "Unvaccinated people were more than seven times as likely to die from COVID-19 in Los Angeles County as those who received an updated booster during the latest coronavirus spike, underscoring the potential benefit of an additional shot even as pandemic metrics improve. Over the 30-day period ending Jan. 3, which covers the bulk of the post-Thanksgiving coronavirus surge, the death rate among unvaccinated Angelenos was 16.6 per 100,000 residents, according to an analysis by the county Department of Public Health. Among those who had received an updated bivalent booster, the comparable rate was significantly lower: 2.3 deaths per 100,000 residents." https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-01-31/who-is-still-most-likely-to-die-from-covid-in-l-a-county

Just some examples of what numerous studies have found on the effectiveness of COVID vaccines in limiting COVID deaths vs. increased risks of death for the unvaccinated. Study of Hospitalizations in Canada Quantifies Benefit of COVID-19 Vaccine to Reduce Death, ICU Admissions May 08, 2023 "A cohort study of more than 1.5 million hospital admissions in Canada through the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic has quantified the benefit of vaccinations. Unvaccinated patients were found to be up to 15 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than fully vaccinated patients. Investigators analyzed 1. 513 million admissions at 155 hospitals across Canada from March 15, 2020, to May 28, 2022." https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/991698

Trump must have been proud of Pezzola for his two-faced courtroom performance: "Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola sobbed in a Washington, D.C., courtroom Friday as he asked a federal judge for leniency in his Jan. 6 sentence and vowed to stay out of politics in the future. However, after receiving a 10-year prison sentence, Pezzola reportedly raised his fist and shouted, “Trump won,” as he left the courtroom, according to WUSA. ... At Friday’s sentencing hearing, Pezzola apologized for his actions and told U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly that Jan. 6 was “the worst, most regrettable decision in my life,” according to NBC News." https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4183555-proud-boy-reportedly-claims-trump-won-after-sobbing-for-mercy-at-sentencing/ Based on his courtroom outburst, presumably Pezzola means, "worst, most regrettable decision of my life" because he ended up getting arrested and prosecuted for his offenses -- not because he actually has any understanding that it was wrong and illegal to try to mount an insurrection against his own country.

The OP here seems to have been posted BEFORE the latest sentencings from the Jan. 6 attempted insurrection, though it mentioned these two criminals had sentences upcoming (yesterday), which now have been handed down. Some folks never learn... A Proud Boy pleaded for leniency from a judge, then yelled 'Trump won' on his way out Updated September 1, 20234:58 PM ET A self-described "sergeant of arms" for the Proud Boys and a member of the far-right extremist group were sentenced to a combined 28 years in federal prison for their roles in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in 2021. Ethan Nordean, a leader of the Seattle chapter of the Proud Boys, was sentenced to 18 years in prison and three years of supervised release. ... Dominic Pezzola, a member of the Proud Boys that became one of the more recognizable faces of the riot at the Capitol, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison and three years supervised release." (more) https://www.npr.org/2023/09/01/1197186891/proud-boys-member-dominic-pezzola-sentenced-to-10-years-in-jan-6-riot-case

Kind of bizarre how only AFTER they're convicted of attempted insurrection (seditious conspiracy) and other crimes related to the Jan. 6 plotted insurrection, do some of these types come around to the sad admissions.... "the President (Trump) told me to do it... told me the election was stolen..... told me to fight for the country," etc etc.... If any of them had a thimble full of brains between them, they never would have been listening to or believing Trump, about anything, in the first place, given his long and well-publicized history as an inveterate liar, which he continues even now with his ongoing "the election was stolen, the election was rigged" rants.... Hopefully some long stretches in prison will give the worst of the attempted insurrectionists a chance to consider just how and why they landed there, and hopefully gain the wisdom of not trying to go down the same road of dishonor again in the future.

That thread is about some Thai COVID cases that had a DIFFERENT variant, not the BA.2.86 one that is the subject of this thread.

UK announces earlier rollout of fall vaccines "Out of caution while scientists gauge the threat from BA.2.86, the UK's HSA today said it will start COVID and flu vaccinations earlier than planned, starting on September 11 with long-term care residents and those at highest risk to receive them first. Though BA.2.86 isn't classified as a variant of concern, the HSA said speeding up the autumn vaccine program will deliver greater protection, support those at highest risk, and reduce the impact on the National Health Service. In the HSA statement, Jenny Harries, MD, the group's chief executive, said there is limited information about BA.2.86, so the potential impact is hard to estimate." (more) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/sweden-canada-report-ba286-uk-speeds-fall-covid-vaccine-rollout

Per the WHO from its global COVID report as of Aug. 25, which they specifically note is an undercount of actual COVID cases due to decreased reporting by countries/agencies: --a 63% increase in globally reported COVID cases compared to the prior month. "In the last 28-day period (24 July to 20 August 2023), nearly 1.5 million new COVID-19 cases and over 2000 deaths were reported from WHO’s six regions, an increase of 63% and a decrease of 48%, respectively, compared to the previous 28 days. As of 20 August 2023, over 769 million confirmed cases and over 6.9 million deaths have been reported globally. ... Currently, reported cases do not accurately represent infection rates due to the reduction in testing and reporting globally." https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/weekly-epidemiological-update-on-covid-19---25-august-2023

AI generated "journalism"???

...

Ditto on that, for me... Read the opening posted part.... no clue who's actually doing what to who.

This latest covid variant could be the best yet at evading immunity "BA.2.86 stands out in the omicron family tree because of how much it has morphed. It has more than 30 mutations on its spike protein, the part of the virus that pierces through the cell and that vaccines train the body to fend off. Experts believe the antibodies forged through battles with earlier variants will have a difficult time recognizing this new foe." https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/08/25/covid-variant-ba-2-86-pirola/

Because the BA.2.86 variant has MORE mutations (dozens) than any of the previous variants, and the current scientific belief is that those will make it able to evade existing protections that people have from both prior infections and also prior vaccinations. Those issues have been widely reported and written about re the emergence of BA.2.86... But as I mentioned in the earlier posts, no indication thus far that the COVID illnesses it causes tend to be more severe than other Omicron variants.... Still early days on this one.

"Official" COVID deaths globally have been substantially undercounted, not overcounted: https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/coronavirus-excess-deaths-estimates Factcheck: False: COVID deaths are overcounted "Globally, Wakefield’s research suggests that there were 14.91 million excess deaths in the years 2020-2021, with most of these likely attributable to COVID. That is 2.75 times the deaths reported as COVID deaths." https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2023/04/06/factcheck-false-covid-deaths-are-overcounted/

COVID Omicron carries 4 times the risk of death as flu, new data show News brief August 26, 2023 The risk of death from SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infection was four times higher than that from influenza in late 2022 and early 2023 in France, a Harvard Medical School researcher reports today in Epidemiology & Infection. ... Flu was tied to a yearly average of 15,654 deaths during the 2014-15 through 2018-19 seasons and 7,851 deaths from week 33, 2022, to week 12, 2023. During the latter period, 32,607 people died of COVID-19, or their deaths were related to the disease." https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/covid-omicron-carries-4-times-risk-death-flu-new-data-show ---------------------------------- The bottom line "Although COVID-19 and influenza may look the same to some people, they are definitely different. COVID-19 is more deadly and has the potential to cause more serious illness and complications than the flu. https://www.goodrx.com/conditions/covid-19/flu-vs-coronavirus-mortality-and-death-rates-by-year

Aug. 28 health newsletter from Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security: "COVID-19 indicators increased in 3 of the 6 WHO regions, and US CDC data show a continued slow but steady rise in COVID-19 activity in the most recent week, with hospitalizations up nearly 22% and deaths from the disease up a little more than 21%. Though the US is in a good position to face this late-summer increase in COVID-19 cases—as well as other respiratory viruses responsible for the majority of fall and winter hospitalizations—the uptick serves as a reminder that the novel coronavirus is here to stay." Source Link ----------------------------------------- Most recent Thailand Ministry of Public Health COVID update for the week of Aug 20 - 26: https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main --256 new COVID hospitalizations --6 new COVID deaths --124 COVID cases hospitalized in serious condition --79 COVID cases hospitalized requiring intubation to breathe Since the start of 2023, 32,488 total COVID hospitalizations and 790 COVID deaths in Thailand.

Who writes this stuff? "Exclusive Lifestyle Privileges Await Members: The company proudly showcases the range of privileges designed to make members’ experiences seamless and luxurious, including: *The Elite Personal Assistant gold uniforms." So they want me to pay them some millions of Thai baht, so their staff can wear fancy looking gold uniforms??? The first item on their list of "benefits." And I'm supposed to feel good about that?

Safe to say they all were pretty far off the mark, including the larger shares of those types who died of COVID because of their mistaken beliefs along the way. Political party affiliation linked to excess COVID deaths "Today in JAMA Network Open, researchers published more evidence that personal political leanings may have contributed to excess deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research builds on previous work that has shown that right-wing "red" counties had higher death rates during the pandemic than more left-wing "blue" counties. The study looked at deaths in both Florida and Ohio during the first 22 months of the pandemic and found the overall excess death rate of Republican voters was 15% higher than that of Democrats. The gap widened further once COVID-19 vaccines were introduced." https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/political-party-affiliation-linked-excess-covid-deaths

I'd say you're right about that.... To detect a particular COVID variant one from another, they need to do genetic sequencing, which isn't exactly a run of the mill test. And, around the world, there's a whole lot less genetic sequencing going on now vs at the heights of the pandemic. The main point, though, regarding BA.2.86 is the scientists say it's probably the most highly mutated version of the COVID virus since the original outbreak, which they believe will enable it to better escape protections from prior COVID vaccinations or infections, which is concerning. But at least from what I've been reading lately, they HAVE NOT found any evidence yet that it causes more severe infections, or that in the real world it's more infectious -- although in theory it should be... Early days still, on this one.

This may be a bigger concern to worry about regarding a different and highly mutated COVID variant beginning to spread around the globe, including to Thailand: It's mentioned in the very final paragraph of the OP news report here: "As for the BA.2.86 sub-variant, he said that it was detected in waste water in Bangkok in July, but it has not been found in humans yet, although the sub-variant is being kept under watch." From other reports on the same topic: "Regarding the highly mutated BA.2.86 virus, which it recently deemed a variant of interest, the WHO said as of August 23, nine sequences have been reported from five countries. No epidemiological sequences were reported among the patients, and no deaths were reported. Also, two countries—Switzerland and Thailand—have reported the virus in wastewater." https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/covid-markers-continue-rise-us-and-globally -------------------------------------- Covid Variant BA.2.86 Detected In Thailand Wastewater: Scientist By CodeBlue | 25 August 2023 KUALA LUMPUR, August 25 – The BA.2.86 variant has been detected in Thailand through wastewater sample analysis, adding to the list of countries that have reported the presence of the highly mutated Covid-19 strain. Dr Leshan Wannigama, a physician scientist at the Department of Infectious Diseases and Infection Control at Yamagata Prefectural Hospital in Japan, posted on X last Wednesday about his findings. “After sequencing the SARS-CoV-2 S gene and carefully analysing the data with existing BA.2.86 data I can confirm that our Thailand wastewater samples [are] positive for BA.2.86.” (more) https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2023/08/25/covid-variant-ba-2-86-detected-in-thailand-wastewater-scientist/ --------------------------------------- What you need to know about BA.2.86, the new ‘highly mutated’ COVID variant What is BA.2.86? The new, highly mutated "Pirola" variant may be more capable of causing infection in people who are vaccinated or previously had COVID-19, the CDC says. ... “The critical thing about this variant (BA.2.86) is that it has a whole host of mutations compared to some of the omicron variants that emerged about two years ago,” says Pekosz. The mutations or changes in the virus sequence can affect how contagious a virus is, how well it responds to treatment and how severely it affects people, per the CDC. “It represents a highly mutated form of SARS-CoV-2,” says Pekosz — in other words, BA.2.86 looks very different from the prevailing omicron XBB subvariants circulating." https://www.today.com/health/coronavirus/ba286-pirola-covid-variant-symptoms-rcna100944

I believe they're kind of like the Thai version of a credit union... except from everything I've read in the past, very loosely regulated or effectively not regulated here...and often seem to be the location for various financial misdeeds by the big wigs involved. This one from the OP was a shocker: "Loans to cooperatives totalled 940 billion baht, with half being classified as non-productive loans." Half???

From the OP: "Despite the Finance Ministry’s efforts to improve financial literacy regarding borrowing, finance, and debt management, the survey indicated a decline in financial literacy and access to financial services compared to 2020."