7 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

9 minutes ago, JLCrab said:

In the USA, based upon a judge's procedural rulings, it might be Unsworth who has to prove that he is not a pedo.

Wow - seriously? I can accuse anyone of anything, and it might be up to them to disprove it? That seems crazy! 

No -- only if the person suing you would be deemed for the purposes of the specific case a public figure. And based on US Supreme Court rulings, there are very specific conditions as to what constitutes a public figure in a specific case.

So in this case if it goes to trial, Unsworths's attorneys would likely request that the judge rule that Unsworth is a private individual while Musk's attorneys would likely argue that Unsworth meets all the conditions of a limited purpose public figure.

Defend your dignity Mr. Vern...

Go for him!

24 minutes ago, colinneil said:

words cannot hurt you unless you are a 21st century snowflake who gets offended just by a few words.

Tell this to Weinstein in Hollywood...

2 hours ago, racket said:

Is Vern going to court just to prove he's not a pedo?

I thought it was not possible to prove a negative  

 

 

1 hour ago, darksidedog said:

I hope Vernon has plenty of money, because lawyers dont work for free, and suing in three countries will be VERY expensive.

I know he kicked things off, but Musk has gone too far and deserves to get nailed. Calling someone a pedo without evidence is just wrong.

Clear cut, especially now he's doubled down, unless there is demonstrable proof that it's true - they will work on no-win-no-fee I'm sure.

2 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Tell this to Weinstein in Hollywood...

Or Sir. Elton....?

22 minutes ago, JLCrab said:

In the USA, based upon a judge's procedural rulings, it might be Unsworth who has to prove that he is not a pedo.

How exactly does anybody prove he is not a pedo? Impossible!

 

27 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

I can sort of agree with you, but in this day and age, there are few labels worse that you can tag someone with. And, of course, your daughter's words were not reported in newspapers around the world...

 

That said, I think the English guy set the whole thing in motion - dumb and dumber, the pair of them. 

The English guy told Musk that the sub is useless for that operation and just a PR stunt. It seems he told the truth.

I just had a look at Wikipedia. It seems Musk is unbalanced in more than one area:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talulah_Riley#Personal_life

 

3 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

The English guy told Musk that the sub is useless for that operation and just a PR stunt. It seems he told the truth.

Maybe it was my upbringing, but I thought he spoke with neither grace nor class. IMO he was unnecessarily dismissive and snide.

 

Musk was approached to help; granted, his design seems to have been wide of the mark in terms of practicality, but it is not as if he was desperate for the publicity prior to this. 

1 hour ago, JLCrab said:

So what are they going to do have to wait for him to have to land his Gulfstream G650 ER in Thailand?

Sorry, you lost me there. What does that have to do with whether contingency arrangements are possible or not in Thailand?

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

How would you feel if someone would call you pedo and later that you are a child rapist? Wouldn't you be upset?

 

Vern said Musk could stick his metal tube in his ass. Judging from his statement, one would wonder if he could be a pedo after all.

25 minutes ago, racket said:

Vern said Musk could stick his metal tube in his ass. Judging from his statement, one would wonder if he could be a pedo after all.

Because only pedos tell someone else to stick whatever in their behind, correct?

That reminds me of the Mo#$%<deleted>*&@ word which some people use all the time. As far as I know it's just a swear word and has nothing to do with mothers or f$#%$#.

Elon Musk recently made a lot of enemies when he threatened to set up a web site where people could rate journalists. Journos flipped out over this on twitter. Subsequently he started to get more negative press on Tesla. I don't know if that is related. Anyway, the long and the short of it is that Vern could get a lot of media support to stick it to Musk.

 

Vern was a dick for responding dismissively to Musk. Musk obviously has a thin skin for reacting so insanely and for taking it this far. 

 

If Vern has any skeletons in the closet Elon Musk's lawyers will sniff them out. If he ever did aerobics with a 17yo Thai girl Musk's billions will bring them into court.

 

All this drama shows the value of not making yourself a target for short tempered and grumpy people. Best to duck out of trouble at the earliest opportunity.

1 hour ago, colinneil said:

Nonsense, my own daughter called me that when i told her i was marrying a lady 20 years younger than me.

Did i care, no i didnt it is just words, words cannot hurt you unless you are a 21st century snowflake who gets offended just by a few words.

You daughters allegations were between you and her , what she accused you off wasnt written all over the World in headline news for everyone to read

10 minutes ago, nemo38 said:

If Vern has any skeletons in the closet Elon Musk's lawyers will sniff them out. If he ever did aerobics with a 17yo Thai girl Musk's billions will bring them into court.

Musk made "pedophile" allegations , that means pre pubescent girls , a 17 year old wouldnt fall into that category

Pedophile and underage are conflated in ordinary western people's minds.

 

The popular western media have vilified western men who visit Thailand because of feminism. Thailand breaks western women's business model. The media publish stories full of innuendo and largely free of facts. I remember seeing a documentary where a big, fat, western man took a slim Thai woman back to his hotel. The video was shot from a distance. You couldn't tell how old the woman / girl was. There was just a voice over of the narrator implying something shady was happening. That is the overton window into which Musk's expensive lawyer will pitch his case.

 

I don't know anything about Vern's actual background. I've no idea what will come out. 

I wouldn't want to feed the 'ignant folks' who just think most of us expats are pedos.

Musk is probably one of them, but speaks it out loudly.

1 hour ago, GarryP said:

3 hours ago, JLCrab said:

Sorry, you lost me there. What does that have to do with whether contingency arrangements are possible or not in Thailand?

Contingency arrangements or not, he doesn't again  ever have to BE in Thailand if he doesn't want to be in Thailand.

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

How exactly does anybody prove he is not a pedo? Impossible!

 

That would be a procedural call by the judge at least in California Court. But that is why according to some attorneys, public figures rarely sue.

Probably be settled out of court. Vern may not be a paedeophile but he may or may not, have one or two skeletons in his closet he doesn't want aired in publlc. Typical bully if you ask me, taking Vern's non-reaction as a sign of weakness. Only one way to deal with a bully, punch them on the nose.

45 minutes ago, nemo38 said:

Pedophile and underage are conflated in ordinary western people's minds.

I think questions like this are no longer vague after Musk's latest rant. He called him a "child rapist" and claimed he'd gone to Chiang Rai to marry a 12 year old child bride. These statements seem to be far clearer and more defamatory than the earlier ones. 

4 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

"It's not illegal to call somebody a pedo,"

It is in Thailand. 

It Is if its not true

Its called defamation 

21 minutes ago, nausea said:

Probably be settled out of court. Vern may not be a paedeophile but he may or may not, have one or two skeletons in his closet he doesn't want aired in publlc. Typical bully if you ask me, taking Vern's non-reaction as a sign of weakness. Only one way to deal with a bully, punch them on the nose.

True but Unsworth's attorney says that he'll be soon ready to file for civil damages  so team Musk may be saying: 'OK let's see what you got' and then file to dismiss.

3 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Tell this to Weinstein in Hollywood...

And Kevin Spacey and a whole host of others.

2 hours ago, GTgrizzly said:

It Is if its not true

Its called defamation 

It doesn't matter whether it is true or not.

In Thailand it is the intent to defame that is against the law.

10 hours ago, GTgrizzly said:

It Is if its not true

Its called defamation 

I suggest you read my text again , it says the same.

13 hours ago, RuamRudy said:

Maybe it was my upbringing, but I thought he spoke with neither grace nor class. IMO he was unnecessarily dismissive and snide.

 

Musk was approached to help; granted, his design seems to have been wide of the mark in terms of practicality, but it is not as if he was desperate for the publicity prior to this. 

Right, so being dismissive, snide and classless makes you fair game for being publicly accused of being a pedophile by a guy who's megaphone broadcasts to the entire world?

 

Regardless of his manners, if you came to me and started trying to solve a problem in my area of expertise in a manner that was completely obvious and clear to me would not work, I would tell you so and why. If you persisted in attempting to do the thing after having had the impossibility explained and had an obvious ulterior motive in doing so, I would start to become rude, because you were ignoring my well-founded advice and your presence was therefore at best a distraction and at worst an obstruction.

 

This is a life and death situation and while Musk came to help, it should have become apparent to such a clever fellow that it wasn't going to work and he should therefore vacate the premises. He didn't, and when called out on it got angry and lashed out. The first time caused major losses to his company's stock and the Board started to express concerns about his leadership and stability. The second time has strengthened this view. His revealing article in the news that described his mentally breaking down at Tesla trying to keep things moving demonstrated another cause for concern. This looks more to me like a person in the throes of losing it and looking for an easy target to lash out at. This is a real shame, as we need ambitious and audacious entrepreneurs like Musk to expand the boundaries as quickly as possible so we can address the existential concerns we face. Often great intelligence and insight comes with mental issues unfortunately.

12 hours ago, nemo38 said:

If Vern has any skeletons in the closet Elon Musk's lawyers will sniff them out. If he ever did aerobics with a 17yo Thai girl Musk's billions will bring them into court.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

 

I think some people would tell anything in court in exchange for enough $$$. Thai witnesses? who to trust? how to prove perjury?

In case anyone is interested. I can't stand the guy but it might be interesting to see if they talk about what happened during the cave rescue.