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RedShirt Chair Says Movement will Double within Five Years

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Red shirt chairwoman Thida Thavornseth say we already have 10 million supporters

 

CHIANGRAI TIMESRed shirt chairwoman Thida Thavornseth said the red-shirt movement will double within five years and will facilitate a legal revamp as well as media reform.

Thida said that if a new Constitution is adopted next year, and the processes of media and justice-system reform are conducted accordingly, by 2017 Thailand should be 60-per-cent democratic.

Red shirt chairwoman Thida Thavornseth Photo The Nation

The number of red-shirt supporters by then should have increased to 30 million.

“I think the number of people who agree with us should increase. Consider the labour force; that should be over 30 million people. Eligible voters number over 40 million people. Now we have over 10 million supporters, which can be seen from the election result plus those who did not vote for Pheu Thai,” she said.

Asked what Thailand would look like if the red shirts dominated the country, Thida said now that Yingluck Shinawatra had been elected the prime minister, Thailand is 20-per-cent democratic, as there are appointed senators and members of independent organisations.

“I don’t know when Thailand will be 100-per-cent democratic. But at least, after the Constitution amendment, we might get 30 per cent to 50 per cent more, as some laws will be better, such as the ones relating to the Senate. Some people might say that some elected people are embarrassing. They are seen to be people from the lower section of society, but they are elected, and that’s legitimate,” she said.

“To have 100-per-cent democracy, first, people must see military coups as the worst kind of conduct. Second, the state mechanism must be entirely linked with the people via direct or indirect elections. We don’t expect 100 per cent, but 70-80 per cent is alright.”

Thida refused to discuss the status of the monarchy in her definition of democracy.

She said it would be up to the Constitution Drafting Assembly.

Thida said the red shirts are not necessarily Thaksin's supporters.Thaksin was only a symbol, as he was abused just like the red shirts.

She said the red shirt movement’s main aim is to eradicate military coups and fight for equality.

All the senators, if the Senate remains must be elected, she said.

Thida said the red shirts are not necessarily Thaksin’s supporters.

Thaksin was only a symbol, as he was abused just like the red shirts.

“Whoever takes the people’s side is on our side. If you reject military coups, you are one of us,” she said.

“Are Thaksin and [Deputy Prime Minister] Chalerm Yoobamrung like me? No. There are a lot of elites in the Pheu Thai Party. But if anyone opposes military coups, they’re on our side. There’s no need to push anyone out just because they think differently. The point is whether to accept military coups,” she said.

She said grassroots people love Thaksin because he served their needs.

He became a hero because of the military coup.

She said people in the bureaucratic polity network cannot get over Thaksin because they think the red shirts are acting for Thaksin.

This is not true, Thida said.

“Even if Thaksin died today, or if we put Thaksin in a space capsule and shot it out of the Earth, or even General Prem likewise, even if he died today or he was put in a capsule and shot away, will there still be fighting? Would the red shirts end their movements if Prem was dead? No. If something happens to Thaksin, will the red shirts stop? No. They will try harder.”

On whether it is possible that the red shirts would split from the Pheu Thai Party, Thida said it depended on whether Pheu Thai remained a political party for the masses.

“Our goal is to get away from the bureaucratic polity, and we need justice. So people came and supported us. If we don’t fight, we can’t stay. People won’t accept us and we are not worth it,” Thida said about the red shirts.

“But the government’s duty is to administer the country until the end of its term. Stay as long as possible without any military coup to topple it. If it doesn’t do its duty well, people will blame it and it won’t be able to stay.

“We have to consider what kind of political party it is; if it’s a party of capitalists who think they have money and can win – many MPs think so – if they don’t care about the masses, the red shirts, and only want canvassers or want to change the red shirts into canvassers. In that case, the red shirts will have to decide if it will quit, be part of the party or be a fighting agency,” she said.

Asked about the red shirts’ path to reconciliation, Thida said the question did not concern the group, as creating reconciliation was not its business, but an issue for the government.

The red shirts’ duty is to call for justice, she said.

“The people do not have to reconcile with the rulers. The people can reconcile among themselves for peace in the country. The only duty of the people is to fight with the rulers. Do not ask the red shirts how to reconcile. This is not our duty,” she said.

“You have to first understand the principle. In this world, there are the rulers and the ruled. We are the ruled, we are abused. How could you ask us to reconcile while our people are still in jail and charged with many cases?” Thida said.

She said the red shirts do not oppose the government’s reconciliation effort, but their peaceful campaign is the best reconciliation.

Thida, nevertheless, is known to be an advocate for national reconciliation.

In private talks with her red shirt supporters, she reportedly always expresses concerns that the ongoing confrontation will only lead to a lose-lose situation.

She accepted that the government has tried to deliver justice to the red shirts via compensation and rehabilitation measures, as well as bail for red shirt detainees.

But these are not sufficient, she said.

Real reconciliation, on the other hand, must start with finding the truth – an area in which there has been very little progress, according to Thida.

The red shirts have been misunderstood by the global community as fighting with weapons, she said.

“Don’t say that the red shirts do not reconcile. We have been very patient in the past five or six years. Some have been jailed, some died. If we don’t reconcile, we must have fighting with weapons. But the government’s reconciliation measures, such as pouring water [to pay respects], are childish acts done by adults,” she said.

Thida stressed the importance of media reform as she said there was a conspiracy to frame the red shirts.- By Olan Lertrattanadamrongkul

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Trudeau’s Gun Grab Could Cost Taxpayers a Whopping $7 Billion

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Trudeau's Gun Grab
Trudeau plans to purchase 2,063 firearm from legal gun owners in Canada - Rebel News Image

A recent report indicates that since Trudeau’s announcement of his gun buyback program four years ago, almost none of the banned firearms have been surrendered.

The federal government plans to purchase 2,063 firearm models from retailers following the enactment of Bill C-21, which amends various Acts and introduces certain consequential changes related to firearms. It was granted royal assent on December 15 of last year.

This ban immediately criminalized the actions of federally-licensed firearms owners regarding the purchase, sale, transportation, importation, exportation, or use of hundreds of thousands of rifles and shotguns that were previously legal.

The gun ban focused on what it termed ‘assault-style weapons,’ which are, in reality, traditional semi-automatic rifles and shotguns that have enjoyed popularity among hunters and sport shooters for over a century.

In May 2020, the federal government enacted an Order-in-Council that prohibited 1,500 types of “assault-style” firearms and outlined specific components of the newly banned firearms. Property owners must adhere to the law by October 2023.

Trudeau’s Buyback Hasn’t Happened

“In the announcement regarding the ban, the prime minister stated that the government would seize the prohibited firearms, assuring that their lawful owners would be ‘grandfathered’ or compensated fairly.” “That hasn’t happened,” criminologist Gary Mauser told Rebel News.

Mauser projected expenses ranging from $2.6 billion to $6.7 billion. The figure reflects the compensation costs amounting to $756 million, as outlined by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).

“The projected expenses for gathering the illegal firearms are estimated to range from $1.6 billion to $7 billion.” “This range estimate increases to between $2.647 billion and $7 billion when compensation costs to owners are factored in,” Mauser stated.

Figures requested by Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs concerning firearms prohibited due to the May 1, 2020 Order In Council reveal that $72 million has been allocated to the firearm “buyback” program, yet not a single firearm has been confiscated to date.

In a recent revelation, Public Safety Canada disclosed that the federal government allocated a staggering $41,094,556, as prompted by an order paper question from Conservative Senator Don Plett last September, yet yielded no tangible outcomes.

An internal memo from late 2019 revealed that the Liberals projected their politically motivated harassment would incur a cost of $1.8 billion.

Enforcement efforts Questioned

By December 2023, estimates from TheGunBlog.ca indicate that the Liberals and RCMP had incurred or were responsible for approximately $30 million in personnel expenses related to the enforcement efforts. The union representing the police service previously stated that the effort to confiscate firearms is a “misdirected effort” aimed at ensuring public safety.

“This action diverts crucial personnel, resources, and funding from tackling the more pressing and escalating issue of criminal use of illegal firearms,” stated the National Police Federation (NPF).

The Canadian Sporting Arms & Ammunition Association (CSAAA), representing firearms retailers, has stated it will have “zero involvement” in the confiscation of these firearms. Even Canada Post held back from providing assistance due to safety concerns.

The consultant previously assessed that retailers are sitting on almost $1 billion worth of inventory that cannot be sold or returned to suppliers because of the Order-In-Council.

“Despite the ongoing confusion surrounding the ban, after four years, we ought to be able to address one crucial question.” Has the prohibition enhanced safety for Canadians? Mauser asks.

Illegally Obtained Firearms are the Problem

Statistics Canada reports a 10% increase in firearm-related violent crime between 2020 and 2022, rising from 12,614 incidents to 13,937 incidents. In that timeframe, the incidence of firearm-related violent crime increased from 33.7 incidents per 100,000 population in 2021 to 36.7 incidents the subsequent year.

“This marks the highest rate documented since the collection of comparable data began in 2009,” the criminologist explains.

Supplementary DataData indicates that firearm homicides have risen since 2020. “The issue lies not with lawfully-held firearms,” Mauser stated.

Firearms that have been banned under the Order-in-Council continue to be securely stored in the safes of their lawful owners. The individuals underwent a thorough vetting process by the RCMP and are subject to nightly monitoring to ensure there are no infractions that could pose a risk to public safety.

“The firearms involved in homicides were seldom legally owned weapons wielded by their rightful owners,” Mauser continues. The number of offenses linked to organized crime has surged from 4,810 in 2016 to a staggering 13,056 in 2020.

“If those in power … aim to diminish crime and enhance public safety, they ought to implement strategies that effectively focus on offenders and utilize our limited tax resources judiciously to reach these objectives,” he stated.

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

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Google

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

google

Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

google

Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

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The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

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(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

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