TallGuyJohninBKK

Amazing day in Thailand! At least SOME people in some authority are actually held accountable for once. How often does that ever happen here? Color me skeptical.... but I have to wonder still..... if all this won't be undone somehow in the end... 😞 And yes, the public health minister ought to go too... not just because he's a political crony who was serving his master as always, but because he doesn't belong in the job, period!

Ha! Another jaffa cakes fan! And here I thought I was the only one! As an American, I had never even heard the term "jaffa cake" until I wandered into M&S CentralWorld that day some months back.....

WOW! I was shopping for a gift some months back, and ended up buying a package of those that I in the end kept for myself. Soft cookie-like confection with orange flavoring and chocolate coating... So good!!!! And ya, I think part of the reason I bought those was, at the time of my visit and shopping, they were indeed priced at about 50% off the list price! I would have gone back to buy more after tasting the first batch at home... except.... they were gonna send my blood sugar levels soaring!!! 🙂

But Malone is hardly alone. RFK Jr. and the anti-vax group he founded, Children's Health Defense, have an even LONGER list of documented false claims that have been researched by fact-checking group NewsGuard, as follows: RFK Jr. Healthcare Claims Depository Provably False Claims NewsGuard has identified 106 different false claims promoted by Kennedy. Nov 11, 2024 NewsGuard has identified 106 different provably false narratives, dating to 2016, that have been advanced by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the anti-vaccine nonprofit he founded, Children’s Health Defense. [emphasis added] Many of the claims relate to vaccines, the COVID-19 pandemic, bird flu, and food safety. More than half focus on COVID vaccines, including claims that these vaccines have caused millions of deaths, as well as cases of leprosy, miscarriages, and cancer. Kennedy has also claimed that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does not cause AIDS and that cell phone use damages human DNA. Below is the list of all 106 of the false claims that NewsGuard has identified and debunked in its Misinformation Fingerprint catalog. Vaccines cause autism HIV does not cause AIDS All vaccines can “shed,” meaning vaccinated individuals will infect others with the disease No vaccines have been tested in placebo-controlled clinical trials Fluoride in drinking water is dangerous Cell phone use damages your DNA and can cause cancer WiFi is bad for your health COVID-19 vaccines are linked to miscarriages Vaccines cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Multiple childhood vaccinations can cause ADHD... (The full list of Kennedy's many false claims is continued on the following weblink. Again, my quoting of content here is limited by the forum's fair use quoting rule:) https://www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/provably-false-claims

This is the type of misinformation nonsense that RFK Jr. is stacking the CDC's vaccines advisory panel with: The Myths Promoted by a New CDC Vaccine Advisor Dr. Robert Malone has promoted 13 provably false claims from NewsGuard’s database Jun 13, 2025 COVID Vax Can Cause Cancer, Killed 17 Million Among Hoaxes Advanced by New CDC Vaccine Advisor Robert Malone "One of the U.S. government’s new advisors on vaccine recommendations, Dr. Robert Malone, is a frequent source of vaccine misinformation, including the false claims that COVID-19 vaccines can cause cancer and increase the risk of stillbirths. Indeed, Malone has personally pushed 13 claims from NewGuard’s Misinformation Fingerprints database of provably false claims. [emphasis added] ... As noted above, NewsGuard found that Malone initiated or promoted 13 of the provably false claims on health topics in NewsGuard’s catalog of False Claims. NewsGuard left voicemails and sent emails to Malone and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services seeking comment on the claims described below, but did not receive a response. The 13 False Claims initiated or promoted by Malone are presented here in reverse chronological order: (more) [the full list of Malone's false claims is presented in the following weblink. I am prevented from posting the details of them here by the forum's rules limiting fair use quoting) https://www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/the-myths-promoted-by-new-cdc-vaccine-advisor-robert-malone

I don't think he's any kind of "general" anymore, in terms of holding current rank. But it does seem to be the polite custom in Thailand to keep referring to people who have retired from service, or in his case booted out, with their prior official titles...

SCB, AFAIK, just posted the other day that their prior opt-out waivers for facial recognition involving foreigners had now expired and were no longer in effect.

FATCA is a policy only pertinent to Americans, and likely is irrelevant and not applicable to most U.S. retirees in Thailand... Meaning, it would only apply to the very richest folks who would have to have hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars kept in foreign bank accounts. Considering the Thai FDIC-type insurance on deposit accounts here is now 1 Million THB per accountholder, per banking company -- a bit over $30,000 USD -- I'd be surprised if many Americans are keeping hundreds of thousands of USD on deposit here.

It wouldn't be the first time, as the report below details the historical connections between right-wing extremists and police/government actions against protesters: Violence Against Black Lives Matter Protestors: a Review "Data from various sources suggests that police disproportionately target BLM protests for violent intervention. There is also mounting evidence of organized and vigilante right-wing violence targeting BLM protestors ... ACLED data also re-affirms the historically consistent reciprocity between the US state and right-wing militia actors. Similar to the collusive episode during the CIvil Rights era, described earlier, between Alabama state authorities and the Ku Klux Klan, there have been important interplays between the US state authorities and White right-wing militia groups like the Proud Boys. Indeed in response to Trump’s command to such extra-legal entities to “stand back, stand by” there were multiple subsequent episodes of Proud Boys initiated street-fighting during demonstrations in North Carolina, New York, California and Washington DC [20]. [emphasis added] There are also striking examples of unaffiliated or loosely affiliated White vigilantes directly responding to perceived calls to action from the state. For example, Kyle Rittenhouse, a right-wing White vigilante, killed two BLM protestors following a perceived muster call from the National Guard [19]. He viewed the presence of the National Guard as an indication to attack." [emphasis added] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9136198/

Of course, who would ever say they shouldn't be accepting medical advice from RFK Jr as Donald Trump's U.S. HHS secretary? HE!!!, for one. RFK Jr. says people shouldn't take his medical advice when asked about vaccines at hearing "When asked hypothetically if he would vaccinate his children today for measles during a House hearing Wednesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said "probably," but added he doesn't think people should be taking medical advice from him. [emphasis added] "My opinions about vaccines are irrelevant," he said in response to the question from Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin during the House Appropriations Committee hearing. "I don't want to seem like I'm being evasive, but I don't think people should be taking medical advice from me." [emphasis added] When pressed, he repeated he didn't want to give advice to other people." (more) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rfk-jr-medical-advice-vaccine-question-hearing/ So, don't listen to medical advice from RFK Jr. And his opinions about vaccines are "irrelevant." But then, somehow, he's qualified or capable of being the one person to unilaterally appoint a bunch of anti-vaxers, vaccine skeptics and COVID minimizers to head the CDC advisory panel that helps set U.S. vaccine policy??? Instead of the normal and past pattern of having non-partisan career experts in the CDC consider, vet and recommend panel members. YEESH!!!

The politician with no medical expertise who's now mis-directing U.S. vaccine policy. Where's his brain now??? Health issues, memory loss, mental fog, mercury poisoning!!! Kennedy seems to be saying he's recovered from all of the above. But I'd say his history and track record of public actions & comments suggest he's still a few cards short of a full hand. NYT: RFK Jr. says worm ‘got into my brain and ate a portion of it’ May 8, 2024 (CNN) — Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. experienced a series of health issues in recent years, including an abnormality that he said was caused by a worm that entered his brain and then died, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. [emphasis added] In 2010, Kennedy, now 70, experienced severe memory loss and mental fog, he said in a deposition two years later. According to the Times, he consulted top neurologists familiar with the medical history of his uncle, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, who had died of brain cancer in 2009. A New York doctor, after reviewing a scan of his brain, told him that his health issues could be “caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died,” Kennedy said in the 2012 deposition, which concerned a divorce from his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy. Robert Kennedy said at the time that his earning power had been negatively affected by the cognitive issues, the Times reported. [emphasis added] Around the same time, the Times said, he suffered from mercury poisoning, which can lead to neurological issues such as loss of peripheral vision, muscle weakness and issues with movement, hearing and speech, as well as memory loss. Kennedy told the paper he has recovered from the memory loss and brain fogginess and that the parasite did not require treatment. [emphasis added] (more) https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/08/politics/rfk-jr-mercury-poisoning-brain-parasite

They have a large shop at CentralWorld mall in BKK... I saw it open there lately... but haven't seen what's going on there, if anything, this week, as per your post.

RFK Jr. taps allies and COVID vaccine critics among picks for CDC advisory panel. Here's who's on the list. ... Kennedy's picks circumvented the usual CDC process for selecting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, known as ACIP. In previous administrations, career agency officials — not political leaders — vetted potential experts before forwarding them to the department for the secretary's approval. ... The picks announced by Kennedy include some close allies of the secretary and his inner circle. Several have a history of criticizing vaccine recommendations or questioning their safety. "The speed with which these members were selected, and the lack of transparency in the process, does not help to restore public confidence and trust, and contributes to confusion and uncertainty," Dr. Jason Goldman, president of the American College of Physicians, said in a statement. (more) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rfk-jr-cdc-vaccine-advisory-panel-names/

Kennedy Announces Eight New Members of C.D.C. Vaccine Advisory Panel The health secretary promised not to pick “anti-vaxxers.” But some public health leaders accused him of breaking his word. "Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday named eight doctors and researchers, including four who have spoken out against vaccination in some way, to replace roughly half the members he fired from an expert panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ... In a post on X late Tuesday night, a day after he removed the panel members, Mr. Kennedy promised he would not appoint “ideological anti-vaxxers.” After the new list was announced, infectious disease and vaccine experts immediately accused the health secretary of breaking his word. ... Richard H. Hughes IV, who teaches vaccine law at George Washington University Law School...said three of the new members are “legitimate physicians” who have “no discernible expertise” in immunology or vaccines. But he characterized the remaining four as “Covid-19 deniers, skeptics and outright anti-vaccine individuals.” (more) https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/us/politics/rfk-jr-cdc-vaccine-panel.html

RFK Jr. names some vaccine critics to key CDC committee after ousting entire panel ... "Retsef Levi – a professor of operations management at the MIT Sloan School of Management who has also served as faculty director of the school’s food supply chain analytics and sensing initiative. ... Meanwhile, Levi slammed mRNA vaccines in a post on X in 2023, which was still pinned to the top of his account Wednesday afternoon. “The evidence is mounting and indisputable that MRNA vaccines cause serious harm including death, especially among young people,” Levi wrote. “We have to stop giving them immediately!” (more) https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/11/rfk-jr-malone-cdc-vaccine-committee.html