TallGuyJohninBKK

If you DON'T want to find the actual answers as to WHY, then, I'd say that's exactly the way you'd do it.

And yet the project was one commissioned by the Thai government, and the construction contract was awarded and funded by the Thai government... So presumably they have / had some oversight role in how their money was being spent and how their project (that spectacularly collapsed) was being built. At least, one would hope.... There's LOTS of possibilities, including: --substandard site prep / foundation work. --substandard building design. --substandard building materials being used. --substandard construction methods/work by the contractor. Is the Thai government really going to come to legitimate, factual conclusions on whether and how those various factors played a role in the collapse within the 7-day inquiry timeline laid out by Dep. PM Anutin? Me thinks not. Instead, at some point, there may be a government public statement offering some assessment for why the building collapsed that probably won't delve too deep into what actually may have occurred and why.

And the one involved in the Rama II expressway fiasco...

More on the above: First there was this little-reported detail re the collapsed State Audit building: "the 30-storey building slated to be the new headquarters of the State Audit Office in Chatuchak district of Bangkok. The State Audit Office contracted a consortium of Italian-Thai Development Plc and China Railway No.10 Engineering Group to construct the 2.1-billion-baht building. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2991159/7-day-deadline-for-probe-into-chinese-built-high-rise-collapse And now there is this: BMA acts against 4 Chinese for removing documents from SAO building Police to charge Chinese nationals for removing 32 documents from collapsed SAO building, Jatujak district files complaint. SUNDAY, MARCH 30, 2025 Pol Maj Gen Nopasin Poolswat, Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, disclosed that on Saturday, March 29, 2025, four Chinese nationals were apprehended for illegally removing 32 files of documents from the rear of the collapsed State Audit Office (SAO) building, without permission. ... On Sunday, March 30, at 3pm, a lawyer from the Chatuchak District Office filed a complaint against the five Chinese nationals for violating the public announcement by entering the building site and removing blueprints and other documents from the collapsed SAO building. ... The four individuals were subcontractors working for a contractor under Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited. https://www.nationthailand.com/news/general/40048090 And further from the Bangkok Post on this: "Thailand's interior minister has demanded findings from a probe into the collapse of the Chinese-constructed State Audit Office building within seven days as four Chinese workers were questioned for snatching documents from the area. ... The four men had work permits and worked for a company that was a part of the consortium of Italian-Thai Development, he said. According to the deputy Bangkok police chief, the files contained various documents including information about contractors and sub-contractors. Police seized the documents and released the Chinese men after their interrogation. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2991159/7-day-deadline-for-probe-into-chinese-built-high-rise-collapse

First there was this little reported detail re the collapsed State Audit building: "the 30-storey building slated to be the new headquarters of the State Audit Office in Chatuchak district of Bangkok. The State Audit Office contracted a consortium of Italian-Thai Development Plc and China Railway No.10 Engineering Group to construct the 2.1-billion-baht building. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2991159/7-day-deadline-for-probe-into-chinese-built-high-rise-collapse And now there is this: BMA acts against 4 Chinese for removing documents from SAO building Police to charge Chinese nationals for removing 32 documents from collapsed SAO building, Jatujak district files complaint. SUNDAY, MARCH 30, 2025 Pol Maj Gen Nopasin Poolswat, Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, disclosed that on Saturday, March 29, 2025, four Chinese nationals were apprehended for illegally removing 32 files of documents from the rear of the collapsed State Audit Office (SAO) building, without permission. ... On Sunday, March 30, at 3pm, a lawyer from the Chatuchak District Office filed a complaint against the five Chinese nationals for violating the public announcement by entering the building site and removing blueprints and other documents from the collapsed SAO building. ... The four individuals were subcontractors working for a contractor under Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited. https://www.nationthailand.com/news/general/40048090 And further from the Bangkok Post on this: "Thailand's interior minister has demanded findings from a probe into the collapse of the Chinese-constructed State Audit Office building within seven days as four Chinese workers were questioned for snatching documents from the area. ... The four men had work permits and worked for a company that was a part of the consortium of Italian-Thai Development, he said. According to the deputy Bangkok police chief, the files contained various documents including information about contractors and sub-contractors. Police seized the documents and released the Chinese men after their interrogation. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2991159/7-day-deadline-for-probe-into-chinese-built-high-rise-collapse There are photos of the episode circulating in Thai social media circles, such as the following:

Updates on Hospital Services in Bangkok, as of 30 March 2025 Resumed operations: --Ramathibodi Hospital --Vajira Hospital To resume service on 31 March 2025: --Siriraj Hospital --King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital & the Thai Red Cross Society (special clinics and operations still available) --Thammasat University Hospital Outpatient services suspended from 31 March to 2 April 2025 --Rajavithi Hospital https://www.facebook.com/thailandprd/posts/pfbid02zJuei2Jm6J9DeKMkPDtM1EQPAiuHWHp5oMiejJK2vTxnfE6Bq2BMrbz1b9NUg7sEl

Here's the video of Sunday night's government update re the State Audit building collapse and other EQ related issues -- first part in TH language, followed by a relentlessly rosy EN summary of the same starting at about the 19 minute time point. Stats presented re the State Audit Building collapse: --11 deaths (up 2 from the prior day), 76 persons still unaccounted for (down just 2 from the prior day). The spokeswoman said some signs of life were detected early Sunday in one area of the rubble pile. [Curiously, though, Thai PBS also on Sunday had it own report saying the State Audit building death toll had risen to 13 with the discovery of three more bodies.] https://world.thaipbs.or.th/detail/three-more-bodies-recovered-from-state-audit-office-rubble/57043 The BMA said the number of requests it had received for EQ-related building inspections had approx. doubled over the prior 24 hours, from about 6,000 as of Saturday to about 12,000 as of Sunday. But what to make of those numbers was left somewhat vague, as the EN summary said those requests involved 9,874 "cases addressed" (without explaining what that meant) involving more than 300 buildings across Bangkok. Regarding transportation, only the Pink Line monorail remained closed as of Sunday, and the update said workers elsewhere are hoping to clear debris from a fallen crane impacting an area of the Din Daeng expressway by 5 a.m. Monday morning. Regarding EQ assistance, the government said it has launched an emergency advance fund of 200 million baht to assist those who were injured and those whose accommodations were damaged, but the EN update didn't spell out the exact criteria to qualify for that aid or what the limits might be on an individual basis. The Thai PBS report linked above had the following on a related matter: "the Insurance Commission says that owners of condominium rooms or houses damaged by the earthquake on Friday can proceed with repairs, without having to be assessed by insurance companies first. They are, however, advised to take pictures of the damage first, as evidence to support compensation claims."

And Steve Kirsch is a COVID nutter! There's a reason this poster's unending stream of nonsense is typically sourced to Substack columns written by a whole grab bag of non-credible Covid nutters... Because no credible news outlet believes them as credible sources, considering their long and sad histories of spreading proven false misinformation. Here's a laundry list of various columns by a respected medical professional addressing Kirsch's repeated nonsense. https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/tag/Steve-Kirsch/ An excerpt of one of the Kirsch debunking columns linked above: "So, when someone like Steve Kirsch, an aging tech bro turned one of the most rabid and ridiculous antivaxxers I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen a lot of antivaxxers over the last two decades), suffers a serious health problem, like a subretinal hemorrhage that causes a serious hit to his vision in one eye, unlike someone like Alexander, I don’t gloat or view it as some sort of deserved retribution. I simply wish him well strictly from the standpoint of his health, hoping that he recovers all or most of the vision in that eye, even as I don’t wish him success from the standpoint of spreading his antivaccine disinformation. [emphasis added] ... Here’s my prediction. The only way Kirsch’s analysis will be published in the “peer-reviewed literature” is if it’s in one of the most bottom-feeding crap journals in the peer-reviewed literature. There’s no way he gets it published in a reputable journal of epidemiology, vaccinology, infectious disease, or other relevant specialty. ... as an advocate of science-based medicine who has long combatted antivax misinformation, disinformation, pseudoscience, and conspiracy theories, I can still keep pointing out how Kirsch, whether with blindness in one eye or with two good eyes, mangles science, medicine, epidemiology, statistics, and facts." [emphasis added] https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/2024/07/27/steve-kirsch-had-a-subretinal-hemmorhage-no-it-wasnt-vaccines/ The above columns re Kirsch written by the following: DAVID H. GORSKI, MD, PhD, FACS is Professor of Surgery and Oncology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, a surgical oncologist at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute specializing in breast cancer surgery, and faculty in the WSU Graduate Program in Cancer Biology. ... Dr. Gorski first became interested in pseudoscience and “alternative” medicine around 2000, when quite by accident he wandered into the Usenet newsgroup misc.health.alternative and began critically examining the claims there. https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/editorial-staff/david-h-gorski-md-phd-managing-editor/

There's supposed to be another televised EQ briefing tonight. Will be interesting to see how much change (or not) from last night's 1st full 24 hours after deaths and rescued counts. How those tallies change for the 2nd daily update may signal where the outcome of this is going.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-32485586 How long can survivors last under rubble? The UN usually decides to call off search and rescue attempts between five and seven days after a disaster, once no-one has been found alive for a day or two. However, people have been known to be rescued alive beyond this point. In May 2013 a woman was pulled from the ruins of a factory building in Bangladesh, 17 days after it collapsed. Workers heard her crying out "please save me" and used video and audio detection equipment to locate her exact position. From the World Trade Center towers collapse on 9/11: Genelle Guzman-McMillan was the last person rescued alive from the rubble of the World Trade Center after the September 11, 2001, attacks, having been trapped for 27 hours. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genelle_Guzman-McMillan#:~:text=Genelle Guzman-McMillan is a,New York and New Jersey

Obviously, they're dealing with a literal mountain (30+ stories worth) of concrete and steel rubble out there. And the longer the poor souls trapped there remain trapped, and not freed, the worse their odds get for surviving, assuming any of those unaccounted for might still actually be alive. I wanna say, from past building collapses elsewhere, there have been cases where people actually were alive and rescued like a week later (but that assumed they had managed to somehow survive the original collapse and weren't crushed to death at the outset. Tonight, one rescue team member said in TH on TV that they've only been able to assess, thus far, the top 4 meters of the rubble pile, which appears a whole lot higher/deeper than that. At some point, it's going to become less of a rescue mission and more of a recovery one.

The national govt and the BMA provided an EQ briefing on TV tonight at 7 pm in TH and EN language. Sounds like they're planning another tomorrow night same time. Update on the collapsed State Audit Building as of tonight -- 9 people confirmed dead, 42 injured and rescued, and 78 still unaccounted for. BKK rail lines -- all running as of Sat EXCEPT the Pink and Yellow Lines, with those expected to have service restored by Monday. The Sat briefing didnt specifically mention the EQ damage to BKK hospitals, but reports earlier in the day talked about damage to Lerdsin, Rajivithi and I believe one other. Not sure of their operational status at present. The BMA also said there have been some 6,000 requests for inspections of buildings in BKK to assess potential EQ damage Owners who want to request an inspection were asked to call the BMA on phone 1555. Also, at least in the EN version, no mention of the roadway damage/buckling that occurred on Rama II road (the route from BKK to Hua Hin.)

I suspect the ruling junta there is just a bit preoccupied at the moment...

That's a curious restriction. In your contacts with Schwab, did you get any info on how, for their intl accounts, they would handle a situation where the accountholder has passed away, and there's no beneficiary allowed to be listed on the account?

So, were those new accounts for you and your wife Schwab International accounts reporting your Thai addresses, OR, Schwab U.S. accounts with the added restriction against being able to purchase any U.S. mutual funds?

Vaccination Dramatically Lowers Long COVID Risk Several new studies reveal that getting multiple COVID vaccine doses provides strong protection against lingering symptoms January 3, 2024 "At least 200 million people worldwide have struggled with long COVID: a slew of symptoms that can persist for months or even years after an infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. But research suggests that that number would likely be much higher if not for vaccines. A growing consensus is emerging that receiving multiple doses of the COVID vaccine before an initial infection can dramatically reduce the risk of long-term symptoms. Although the studies disagree on the exact amount of protection, they show a clear trend: the more shots in your arm before your first bout with COVID, the less likely you are to get long COVID." One meta-analysis of 24 studies published in October, for example, found that people who’d had three doses of the COVID vaccine were 68.7 percent less likely to develop long COVID compared with those who were unvaccinated. “This is really impressive,” says Alexandre Marra, a medical researcher at the Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital in Brazil and the lead author of the study. “Booster doses make a difference in long COVID.” https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/vaccination-dramatically-lowers-long-covid-risk/

And only idiots make that kind of unsourced, proven false, nonsense statement: Vaccinated kids at 57% to 73% lower risk of long COVID, CDC study suggests February 26, 2025 "mRNA vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 was tied to a 57% and 73% lower risk of having at least one or two long-COVID symptoms, respectively, in US children ages 5 to 17 years, according to a case-control study led by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The four-site study involved 622 children who were eligible for COVID-19 vaccination when they were infected with the Omicron variant and who completed a post-COVID condition (PCC) survey at least 60 days later. They were enrolled from the Pediatric Research Observing Trends and Exposures in COVID-19 Timelines (PROTECT) study, a longitudinal SARS-CoV-2 surveillance cohort convened in July 2021. ... "Our findings suggest that children should stay up to date with current COVID-19 vaccination recommendations as vaccination not only protects against severe COVID-19 illness but also protects against PCC," they concluded. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/vaccinated-kids-57-73-lower-risk-long-covid-cdc-study-suggests AND Recent COVID-19 vaccination tied to lower risk of long COVID November 7, 2024 New data from the VENUS (Vaccine Effectiveness, Networking, and Universal Safety) study in Japan reveal that the risk of developing long COVID is significantly lower when people have been recently vaccinated before infection. The study was published yesterday in Vaccine. The retrospective study followed participants diagnosed with COVID-19 between August 2020 and December 2022. The incidences of 36 post-COVID-19 conditions were monitored 3, 5, and 8 months after infection. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/recent-covid-19-vaccination-tied-lower-risk-long-covid

No one is or was arguing that older people weren't at greater risk, of course they were/are. But that's irrelevant to the real, albeit lesser, risks that young people faced from COVID. The low death "rate" numbers for young people don't somehow wipe away the 1,800+ American youngsters and estimated 17,000+ young people worldwide who died from COVID -- Alex Berenson notwithstanding.

Here's a global estimate for COVID deaths among youngsters -- more than 17,000 globally: Child mortality and COVID-19 Last update: December 2023 How many children have died from COVID-19? Among the 4.4 million COVID-19 deaths1 reported in the MPIDR COVerAGE database, 0.4 per cent (over 17,400) occurred in children and adolescents under 20 years of age. Of the over 17,400 deaths reported in those under 20 years of age, 53 per cent occurred among adolescents ages 10–19, and 47 per cent among children ages 0–9. [emphasis added] Data correct as of December 2023. https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-survival/covid-19/

More than 1,800 young people in the U.S. (up through age 18) died from COVID during the pandemic through mid-2023, per the CDC. And that's not counting the many tens of thousands who were hospitalized from it. The above count also is just from the U.S., leaving out the rest of the world. Berenson was simply wrong in his claims that young people were not at risk from COVID... Lesser risk compared to adults and older people, yes. But not no risk or immune from risk. https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Deaths-by-Sex-Ages-0-18-years/xa4b-4pzv

There are lots of different kinds of coronaviruses, including many that have nothing to do with the COVID pandemic. That the Wuhan lab was studying certain types of coronaviruses is undisputed. But there's no evidence or proof that lab was studying the specific version(s) that became or had the potential to become COVID. Per the New York Times: "There remains no evidence that the Wuhan institute stored any virus that could have become the coronavirus and caused Covid, with or without scientific tinkering, researchers have said. Scientists who specialize in tracing outbreaks have published analyses of early cases and viral genomes that they say point to the pandemic’s starting at an illegal wild-animal market in Wuhan. The presence of the coronavirus in samples from the market containing genetic material linked to raccoon dogs, they have said, is consistent with that scenario." https://archive.ph/Ho5gO#selection-7189.0-7197.51

Genetic ghosts suggest Covid’s market origins 19 September 2024 "A team of scientists say it is “beyond reasonable doubt” the Covid pandemic started with infected animals sold at a market, rather than a laboratory leak. They were analysing hundreds of samples collected from Wuhan, China, in January 2020. ... Prof Michael Worobey, of the University of Arizona, said ... this study, combined with other data – such as early cases and hospitalisations being linked to the market – all pointed to an animal origin of Covid. (more) https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8095xjg4po

Virologists and epidemiologists back natural origin for COVID-19, survey suggests 6 Feb 2024 "...a group of risk experts has found a new angle on one of the most hotly contested science issues of our time—where the SARS-CoV-2 virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic came from—by conducting what it calls the first systematic survey of scientific opinion on the matter. The report, posted online on Friday, suggests virologists and other scientists with relevant expertise favor the view that the pandemic began when a natural virus jumped from an animal to a human, not because of an accident in a research lab studying or manipulating coronaviruses..." Respondents were asked to put a probability on each of three scenarios: that the pandemic was the result of a natural zoonosis; that a biomedical research-related accident was to blame; or that there was another cause. (The three probabilities had to add up to 100%.) On average, respondents assigned a 77% probability to a zoonosis, 21% to the lab-leak scenario, and 2% to the “other” category. One-quarter of respondents seemed to be very sure about a zoonotic origin, giving it a probability between 96% and 100%." https://www.science.org/content/article/virologists-and-epidemiologists-back-natural-origin-covid-19-survey-suggests

The source for the OP post, Alex Berenson, is a serial COVID misinformation spreader, not surprisingly.... That's in part why the source here is his own Substack post, instead of any credible news agency source. Re Berenson: "Early in the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Berenson vocally argued that people and the media were overestimating the risk of the new virus, that it posed little risk to young Americans, and that it was being used as a cover for government overreach.[8][29] Many public health experts have rejected his claims.[8][29]: ... In 2021, Berenson tweeted that COVID-19 vaccinations had led to 50 times more adverse effects than flu vaccine. PolitiFact rated the claim "mostly false".[12] The Atlantic called him "The pandemic's wrongest man", owing to what they termed his "dangerously, unflaggingly, and superlatively wrong" claims of the vaccine's ineffectiveness.[10] On January 25, 2022, Berenson appeared on the Fox News show Tucker Carlson Tonight declaring that existing mRNA vaccines are "dangerous and ineffective" against COVID-19, and further demanding that they be withdrawn from the market immediately.[31] The Washington Post's Philip Bump denounced Carlson for "inviting Berenson on, despite his proven track record of misinformation and cherry-picking" and observed that "Berenson's claims went unchallenged."[32] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Berenson#COVID-19_pandemic As for the claims of the OP, most scientists with expertise in the field continue to believe natural spillover is the most likely source for the COVID virus, and NOT from a lab leak. In addition, the majority of U.S. intelligence agencies (5) also continue to believe natural spillover is the most likely source.... even though a minority number (3) now believe a lab leak was the most likely cause. New York Times - Jan. 2025: "Five agencies, including the National Intelligence Council and the Defense Intelligence Agency, assessed that natural exposure most likely caused the epidemic. But they said that they had only low-confidence in their assessment. Until now, two agencies, the F.B.I. and Department of Energy, thought a lab leak was more likely. But their theories are different. The F.B.I. believes the virus came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The Energy Department put its bet on another lab, the Wuhan Center for Disease Control. Officials would not say if the C.I.A. believes one lab or the other was the more likely source of the virus." https://archive.ph/AeGpZ#selection-1087.0-1095.108

What else would you expect the liar-in-chief to say.... along with all the other lies and nonsense he has spouted, and then later ignored, during his political career. And this comes as Trump and Musk are trying to dismiss thousands of SSA employees, and pushing Republican tax legislation that non-partisan experts have said would hasten the demise of the current SS system and require major cuts in SS benefits by the early 2030s. "In October, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan watchdog, said Trump’s policies would hasten the demise of Social Security’s trust fund. It predicted that the Social Security Board of Trustees would start cutting benefits by 2031 instead of 2034 because the fund that covers the deficit between outlays and revenue would run out of money sooner." https://www.fortune.com/2025/03/03/social-security-payments-benefits-interruption-doge-cuts-system-collapse-retirement-disability/