rkidlad

We've already heard some from the army side telling students to be careful unless they want a repeat of the 1970s massacre. And as one astute Thai Twitter user said, "If you don't want a repeat, then don't kill people for expressing their opinions".

The army, etc, are unwilling to concede any ground. They want it all their own way. The only way they can act now is with violence. Violence that would be screened to millions via social media, etc. Something that would turn the world against them very quickly. 

I made my friends from them just living in the same area and just starting up a conversation, to my friends I've made through work or friends of friends.

I've got friends here who are established expats and friends here who are teachers. To be honest, I prefer going for a beer with the teachers. My expat friends are great, but they do talk about work a lot. If it's just a few of us, it's great. When there's a larger group with wives and gf's, etc, it becomes very status orientated. Nothing annoys me more than having to listen to their wives bragging about where they went shopping or had lunch on their husbands' dime. Sometimes I feel like doing a Larry David on them. 

5 minutes ago, DirtyHarry55 said:

Didn't PM promise not to use Emergency Decree against protesters?
And yet here we are yet again he didn't keep his word.
Hopefully the protesters will continue without them.

There’s a flash mob happening at MBK today at 4pm. I hope to see huge crowds. 

But Prayut promised not to use the emergency decree to stifle decent. I’m confused. I guess he’ll say he didn’t know about the detaining of some protestors and that the matter is up to the police. 
 

Sad to think there are people in other countries who enjoy a much higher level of freedom of expression who are using it to silence others. I miss the good old days when it was good ideas vs bad ones. Not my team vs yours. 
 

‘Mr. Suthon maintained that Vorayuth’s car speed was 177kph, while Mr. Saiprasit maintained that the speed was about 79kph’

How can two ‘forensic scientists’ be so far apart in their calculations. It’s as if one of them base theirs on science and the other one on a large pile of cash. 
 

Wait 'til he hears about the leaked video of people removing CCTV from the gambling den where that copper was shot. 

6 years ago he promised to reform the police, and today the police and courts, etc, are just as bad as they've always been.

Look at how he deals with reporters when they ask him even the slightest uncomfortable question. I remember him walking away with his fingers in his ears and those stupid cardboard cutouts.

This man doesn't do listening. 

A brilliant bit missing from the article is why police omitted the drink driving charge. Apparently his blood alcohol level was so high he wouldn't have been able to drive. The assumption was he drank after he killed the police officer and got home.

So there you have it, everyone. You ever get drunk and kill a police officer, etc. go home and wait it out. Keep on drinking as you don't want your levels to go down. The police will do the rest for you. 'Cause remember - there are no double standards here. 

Did they think they could just drop the charges and people wouldn't kick up too much fuss? Yes, that's exactly what they thought.

Well done to everyone who did kick up a fuss and who rightly condemned this decision. He won't be coming back to Thailand anytime soon, and his family are losing face quicker then they're losing cash for handing out bribes. 

An utter embarrassment for all involved in this cover up. 

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Expats sought to help Thailand’s tourism industry in its hour of need, end to dual pricing mooted

I remember a good friend of mine went to immigration to renew his work permit. They kindly informed him that he didn't do his TM30 (this is when the whole issue was brought in) and he had to pay a fine. Not only did he have to pay a fine, he also had to wait for hours to hand over the money. He's been here over 10 years, married with a kid and working and paying taxes. He was furious and decided to travel to places like Vietnam, etc, a few times instead of weekends at the beaches here. 

I also remember the meeting with immigration at the FCCT forum. They simply didn't have any good answers for why they were trying to enforce this ridiculous law. I remember one officer smugly replied, "don't travel, then" when asked how people could find time to do the TM30 on a Monday after a weekend away to Pattaya, etc, when they have jobs and responsibilities. It felt like a complete abuse of their authority and just one abhorrent cash grab.

Now, I'm not the sort of person who isn't going to travel because I wanna vote with my money. If I wanna go on holiday or have a weekend away, I will. But asking me to travel to help them? No chance. I'd have quite happily done it had they just left me alone. I wasn't looking for any favours or special privileges. I just wanted some basic decency to be shown and not be treated as a criminal. 

I have sympathy for people who work in the tourist industry. I have absolutely zero for Thailand's tourism chiefs. Som nam na. 

If you apply the discipline that's needed to avoid covid19 to driver education and safety, then you can easily and dramatically lower your numbers of road fatalities. 

Many people won't drive safely if they aren't educated to do so and/or made to do so by law. 

I tell you what - if I ever decide to commit a string of serious crimes, I'm doing it in Thailand. I've never seen law enforcement elsewhere go so out of their way to support criminals and defend them. We've got immigration welcoming him back, expert witnesses being replaced by witnesses so dumb they forgot to mention at the time what they saw, and now dentists saying it wasn't cocaine but something tantamount to novocaine. 

Anyone would think the police were actively looking for ways not to prosecute.