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From Fintech News The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) has launched the Bakong Tourists app in collaboration with Mastercard at a ceremony in Phnom Penh. The app simplifies digital payments for international tourists visiting Cambodia. Tourists can download the app upon arrival and seamlessly top up their Bakong accounts using their Mastercard issued in their home countries. This allows them to scan KHQR codes and pay at over 3.3 million merchants across Cambodia, a major advantage in a country where only 60,000 POS machines accept card payments. The app is available for download on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

From Pattaya Mail Rescue teams responded to a report of a woman falling from the sixth floor of a condominium on Soi Bong Kot in Pattaya, at 4:36 a.m. on November 10. Upon arrival, they found a large crowd gathered at the scene. The victim, identified as 21-year-old Miss Savry Pich from Cambodia, had fallen from the sixth floor, hitting the roof of a classic blue Volkswagen van before landing on the ground. The vehicle sustained roof damage, and the woman was critically injured. Rescue workers administered first aid on-site before rushing her to the hospital. Friends of the victim reported that they had been drinking together in the apartment before separating for the night. The reason for her jump is unknown; however, friends noted she had previously attempted to jump from the 14th floor but was stopped. Pattaya police have documented the scene and informed Police Colonel Navin Thirawit. Investigators are reviewing CCTV footage to determine the circumstances of the incident.

It’s the revenge of of the anti-liberals. Presidential elections—like the World Cup—come every four years and payback’s a bitch.

I stopped by bar at 12:40 a.m. Boy who I met first night bar opened sat with me and I brought him at beer.). He filled me in on some details. - all boys who work there from Myanmar - boss is from US - Four boys dance on bar (shirtless) at following times: 9 to 9:30 10 to 10:30 11 to 11:30 1 to 1:30 I watched few minutes of dancing and tipped boy who had sat with me who was now dancing. His English is very good. He studied physics in uni. Other guys also spoke good English.

For the past few months it was been difficult not to find a daily news accounts of a pyramid scheme that is said to have scammed over 1,000 locals. Assets amounting to $3,8 mln USD have been seized. ———- From Bangkok Post Pyramid scheme charges filed against 18 The iCon Group suspects Warathaphon ‘Boss Paul’ Waratyaworrakul, founder and CEO of The iCon Group, is escorted by police from the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) to the Criminal Court in Bangkok on Oct 18. (Photo: Nutthawat Wichieanbut) The Department of Special Investigation additionally charged 18 detained suspects of The iCon Group with pyramid scheme and direct sales law violations. DSI deputy secretary-general Wisanu Chimtrakool said that DSI officials pressed the additional charges against the 18 suspects at the Bangkok Remand Prison and the Central Women Correctional Institution in Bangkok on Monday. They were charged with violating the Law on Loan Amounting to Public Cheating and Fraud (also known as the pyramid scheme law) and the Direct Sales and Marketing Act in addition to public fraud and computer crime charges placed earlier by police. Pol Capt Wisanu said that the DSI had consulted its plan on the additional charges with representatives from the Fiscal Policy Office and the Consumer Protection Board and collected enough evidence for the latest charges. “They had work processes and different roles… The combined roles shared the same objective that was public fraud-oriented borrowing,” the deputy secretary-general said. According to its statement released on Monday, the DSI said the suspects collaborated as they had teams of executives, team leaders who invited others to invest in The iCon Group business and teams of celebrities who presented their wealth from the business. The suspects operated direct sales and marketing business in the way that people were invited to join business networks with a promise to offer returns in exchange for their subsequent recruitment of other network members. Moreover, the suspects operated a direct sales business without a licence, according to the DSI statement. Withoon Kengngan, lawyer of the detained suspects, said on Monday that the business of the group was not a pyramid scheme. A pyramid scheme would not have had genuine business activities, would have paid money collected from older network members to new members and would not have had any merchandise, he said. The suspects were ready to expose the back-office system of The iCon Group to prove their innocence, the lawyer said. He also said he prepared about 3,000 defence witnesses for authorities to question. Police arrested the 18 suspects including The iCon Group chief executive officer Warathaphon “Boss Paul” Waratyaworrakul and several celebrities last month for public fraud and putting false information into a computer system. They have been detained at the Bangkok Remand Prison and the Central Women Correctional Institution since. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2900196/pyramid-scheme-charges-filed-against-18-the-icon-group-suspects

Phetboy is looking to become your one-stop shop for various erotic needs.

And there are relatively few US citizens who’ll work in undesirable, low wage jobs in food processing. Trump knows that and will do what his backers tell him. There will be a big push to empower local police to check for status of anyone they stop for questioning and turn illegals over to Immigration authorities. Some states, however, prohibit this practice.The 2025 proposals see a way around this and it will end up before SCOTUS. Trump claims he wants to deploy federal troops to facilitate deportation but here he runs directly into the face of the “Posse Comitatus Act,” legislation originally enacted after Civil War to limit powers of government to interfere with states rights. It has even been strengthened over time and remains a cherished law, particularly in red states. The Posse Comitatus Act bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement except when expressly authorized by law. This 143-year-old law embodies an American tradition that sees military interference in civilian affairs as a threat to both democracy and personal liberty. However, recent events have revealed dangerous gaps in the law’s coverage that Congress must address. What does the term “posse comitatus” mean? In British and American law, a posse comitatus is a group of people who are mobilized by the sheriff to suppress lawlessness in the county. In any classic Western film, when a lawman gathers a “posse” to pursue the outlaws, they are forming a posse comitatus. The Posse Comitatus Act is so named because one of the things it prohibits is using soldiers rather than civilians as a posse comitatus. What are the origins of the Posse Comitatus Act? The Posse Comitatus Act was passed in 1878, after the end of Reconstruction and the return of white supremacists to political power in both southern states and Congress. Through the law, Congress sought to ensure that the federal military would not be used to intervene in the establishment of Jim Crow in the former Confederacy. Despite the ignominious origins of the law itself, the broader principle that the military should not be allowed to interfere in the affairs of civilian government is a core American value. It finds expression in the Constitution’s division of power over the military between Congress and the president, and in the guarantees of the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments, which were in part reactions to abuses committed by the British army against American colonists. Today, the Posse Comitatus Act operates as an extension of these constitutional safeguards. Moreover, there are statutory exceptions to the law that allow the president to use the military to suppress genuine rebellions and to enforce federal civil rights laws. What does the Posse Comitatus Act say? The Posse Comitatus Act consists of just one sentence: “Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.” In practice, this means that members of the military who are subject to the law may not participate in civilian law enforcement unless doing so is expressly authorized by a statute or the Constitution. Are all members of the military covered by the Posse Comitatus Act? No, only federal military personnel are covered. While the Posse Comitatus Act refers only to the Army and Air Force, a different statute extends the same rule to the Navy and Marine Corps. The Coast Guard, though part of the federal armed forces, has express statutory authority to perform law enforcement and is not bound by the Posse Comitatus Act. Members of the National Guard are rarely covered by the Posse Comitatus Act because they usually report to their state or territory’s governor. That means they are free to participate in law enforcement if doing so is consistent with state law. However, when Guard personnel are called into federal service, or “federalized,” they become part of the federal armed forces, which means they are bound by the Posse Comitatus Act until they are returned to state control. What are the main statutory exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act? There are many statutory exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act, but the most important one is the Insurrection Act. Under this law, in response to a state government’s request, the president may deploy the military to suppress an insurrection in that state. In addition, the Insurrection Act allows the president — with or without the state government’s consent — to use the military to enforce federal law or suppress a rebellion against federal authority in a state, or to protect a group of people’s civil rights when the state government is unable or unwilling to do so. What are the constitutional exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act? There are no constitutional exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act. The law allows only for express exceptions, and no part of the Constitution expressly empowers the president to use the military to execute the law. This conclusion is consistent with the law’s legislative history, which suggests that its drafters chose to include the language about constitutional exceptions as part of a face-saving compromise, not because they believed any existed. This has not stopped the Department of Defense from claiming that constitutional exceptions to the law exist. The Department has long claimed that the Constitution implicitly gives military commanders “emergency authority” to unilaterally use federal troops “to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances” when doing so is “necessary” and prior authorization by the president is impossible. In the past, the department also claimed an inherent constitutional power to use the military to protect federal property and functions when local governments could not or would not do so. The validity of these claimed authorities has never been tested in court. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/posse-comitatus-act-explained

Having visited the bar twice, I, too, am puzzled by the owner’s aspiration. On my first visit, all three waiters came to table to inquire if I wanted company. On second visit, sat at bar but was generally ignored. Compared to the three other gay-oriented bars on Patpong 2 (the two HM bars and the one under Fresh Boys with pool table), they all have very friendly staff who speak English and are offable. Dragon an Koi doesn’t appear to be operating with same agenda. And if that’s the case, it’s main competition is the Crown Royal across the soi.

I said most California farm workers were here on permits but certainly not all. A very similar situation applies to foreigners working in Thai construction and food processing industries (some on permits and some exploited illegally). Consider the places we frequent on our visits. 🫢

Heard same rumor 22 years ago on my first trip so must be just rumor.

Agree about domestics, Most of the Mexican farm workers are here legally on agricultural work contracts.

Two major issues propelled Trump to then White House: inflation and immigration. Voters will soon find that there’s nothing he can do to improve the former and his plans for tariffs could likely make it worse. Mega employers of foreign workers (who were big time Trump supporters) are already influencing him to tread lightly around their industries and concentrate on issues at the border and in big cities that are mostly in blue states.

From Pattaya News One of the most common emails and complaints we get to our news desk is about scams or people who have been taken advantage of by a scam. We have written recently about an alleged regular scam involving miracle cures and herbal products in Pattaya that have led to hundreds of complaints and police reports and multiple raids and arrests over the past few months, including this recent situation. Now, let’s take a general look, presented by our legal sponsors at Anglo Siam Legal, of common scams in Thailand. 1. Online Dating Scams – Scammers create fake profiles on dating sites or social media, pretending to be interested in a relationship. They might ask for money for various reasons like traveling to meet you or dealing with personal emergencies. When money is given , they usually block or remove their profile. Particularly targeted in Thailand are middle-aged Thai women, often with pictures of young, handsome men pretending to be pilots, doctors, or military. 2. Phishing Emails – These scams involve emails that look like they come from legitimate sources like banks or service providers, tricking individuals into providing personal information or clicking on malicious links. Scammers pretending to be government officials or police are also common. 3. Fake Investment Scams – Scammers promise high returns on investments, often in cryptocurrencies, forex trading, or pyramid schemes. They might show fake profits to lure more investment before disappearing with the funds. Recently, the Icon Group scam dominated headlines as we discussed here. 4. E-commerce Scams – Products are advertised online at very low prices, but once payment is made, the buyer receives nothing or receives counterfeit goods. An example includes ordering expensive electronics like iPhones or Playstations and receiving rocks or fake items instead. These scams are widespread on places like user marketplaces, groups, and social media. Buyers should always insist only to pay upon delivery and after inspecting the package in person. It is advised to never pay a deposit or money upfront before getting a product from individual buyers. It is a massive red flag if the seller insists not to meet before payment or before inspecting the product in person. 5. Advance Fee Fraud – This includes scams where victims are promised rewards or services but must pay upfront fees or deposits, after which the scammer vanishes. These are often called processing or administrative fees by the scammer with promises to in return give the victim huge benefits. 6. Rental and Real Estate Scams – Listings for rentals or properties are posted with attractive prices, but upon payment of a deposit or fee, the property does not exist or is already occupied. In Pattaya, scams around renting villas that aren’t available are common, usually on social media groups. Buyers should use reputable companies for booking property and not book through random individual social media users. 7. Lottery or Prize Scams – Notifications about winning a lottery or prize that you didn’t enter, requiring payment of taxes or fees to claim the prize which never arrives. 8. Charity Fraud – Scammers exploit natural disasters or crises by setting up fake charity collections, promising to help those affected but pocketing the donations. There are many legitimate charity organizations in Thailand, giving to the organization or center directly versus through a third party is always advised. 9. Tech Support Scams – Fake tech support representatives contact individuals claiming there’s a problem with their computer, leading them to install malware or share payment details for unnecessary services. 10. Loan Scams- Offers of easy loans with no collateral or credit check often require an upfront processing fee, after which the loan never materializes.

You spiked my curiosity. Looks like interesting alternative.

Sounds kinky. I like that in a man.

Wear your walking shoes. 🙂

From The Nation Selected historical sites in Ayutthaya province will be illuminated with lighting art installation and projection mapping shows from now until November 17 to showcase the glory of the old kingdom. The Culture Ministry, the Fine Arts Department, and related agencies joined hands to launch a collaborative project “4 Temples, 1 Palace of Early Ayutthaya Era”, aiming to boost nighttime tourism in Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand. Complementing the government’s plan to organise “winter festivals” around the kingdom to boost tourism at the year-end, the project also aims to raise public awareness of Thailand’s arts, culture, tradition and folk lifestyle of the early Ayutthaya period (1350-1448), the Culture Ministry said during the press event on Friday. From November 9 to 17, the Fine Arts Department will decorate four temples and a palace in Ayutthaya with lighting art installation, namely Wat Chaiwatthanaram, Wat Ratchaburana, Wat Mahathat, Wat Phra Ram, and Chankasem Palace, from 6pm onwards.

I don’t like oil because I find it difficult to wash completely off after massage. Nevertheless I agree it can reduce friction between skin and masseur’s hands, making massage more sensual. A massage guy I know well always carries a small bottle of baby oil with him on outcalls. Finding the LINE ID can often present a challenge depending on how it registered its “official account “ with LINE. Sometimes I find I get it by searching LINE by shop name. But more often than not I need the ID. In those cases, I’ve often find it in a Google (or other search engine) listing. And you may also find it in posts by members who have taken the time to supply it. So try putting shop name in forum’s search engine.

You obviously didn’t read the article.

LINE is a messenger app used throughout the world but is most popular in SE Asia. Every guy I’ve run into uses it as do many members here. Easy to join and free. Just about all massage shops use it. https://line.me/en/

See post by “Liz” above with LINE ID.

From International Rivers Site of the proposed Sanakham Dam (October 2023). Credit: International Rivers By Rin Sohsai In early October, the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRC) sent a letter to Thailand’s Prime Minister expressing serious concerns about the plans for four more hydropower projects to be built on the mainstream of the Mekong River near the Thai-Lao territorial border— namely, the Sanakham, Pak Chom, Ban Kum and Phu Ngoy dams, all of which will be constructed in Laos but are expected to export electricity to Thailand. The NHRC letter to the Prime Minister comes in the midst of several high profile incidents of flooding of communities residing along the Mekong riverbanks and its tributaries. It is particularly timely, as the Thai government has been updating the country’s Power Development Plan (PDP) using assumptions based on outdated data and a process which has bypassed meaningful public participation. Meanwhile, government authorities have also failed to provide any assurance that adequate assessment of transboundary impacts have been done prior to moving forward with plans for this massive build-out of hydropower dams. On these matters, crucially, the NHRC findings and recommendations provided to the government echo critical concerns raised persistently by civil society and community based groups in Thailand as well as across the Mekong region. The NHRC letter to the Prime Minister is the result of an investigation by the NHRC undertaken in response to a joint complaint filed in June 2023 by ETOs Watch Coalition — a network of civil society groups, including International Rivers, which together monitors the human rights and environmental impacts of Thailand’s outbound investments — and the Thai Mekong People’s Network. Commissioners and their staff took the time to not only review documents at hand, but also heard testimonies directly from members of the communities along the Mekong who will be affected by the development of these dams, engaged with civil society groups and academics, held dialogues with local and national government bodies, and undertook site visits to areas within Thailand that stand to be affected by the Sanakham and Phu Ngoy Dam sites. Continues at https://www.internationalrivers.org/news/thailands-national-human-rights-commission-raises-serious-concerns-about-impacts-of-mekong-river-dams/

From CNBC Americans disappointed with the outcome of the U.S. election took their anguish online, with searches related to moving abroad surging following the results of the presidential race. Google Trends showed that searches related to “leaving the country” and “how to move to …” spiked following the news that Donald Trump would be returning to the White House. Searches for “how to move to Canada” peaked on Nov. 6, with Google Trends showing interest in the phrase highest among Democratic strongholds, like Vermont, Maine, Oregon and Washington. Those searching for “can I move to another country” were highest in two pivotal “blue wall” swing states — Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, which NBC News has called for Trump — as well as Oregon, Minnesota and Indiana. Here are the top countries where respondents indicated interest in moving, should their preferred candidate lose the election: Canada United Kingdom Japan Australia Italy Ireland New Zealand Switzerland Spain France Sweden Germany Netherlands Costa Rica Mexico South Korea also made the list at No. 21, followed by the Philippines at No. 22 and Thailand at No. 23.

From The Nation A once-neglected wetland area in Chiang Mai has been transformed into a stunning park, offering a tranquil escape for urbanites. The Chiang Mai Provincial Administration Organisation has successfully turned about 48 hectares of wasteland into a picturesque space featuring lush lawns, walking paths and cycling tracks. The park's centerpiece is a large, serene lake, offering breathtaking views of Doi Suthep. Work on the wetland area began in 2022 when provincial authorities sought to find a larger venue for the annual Chiang Mai flower festival, and since its opening on September 14, it has become hugely popular among health enthusiasts and families seeking to spend time outdoors. Continues with photos https://www.nationthailand.com/life/travel/40043119

Recent video on shop’s LINE feed: video_533905594319896629-7DVAkuJh.mp4