July 10, 2018

Great news: All 12 boys — and their coach — are now out of the Thai cave!

The NYT reports.
“Twelve Boars and coach are out of the cave. Everyone is safe. Now we are waiting to welcome our frogmen,” read a post on the Thai Navy SEAL Facebook page on Tuesday night.

Soon after, another post went up: “We are not sure if this is a miracle, a science, or what. All the thirteen Wild Boars are now out of the cave.”
Also in the article are quotes from the letters the boys wrote to their family when they were still trapped:
One boy promised to do his chores when he gets home. Another asked for barbecued pork....

“Don’t worry about me,” wrote Ekkarat Wongsookchan, 13, who is called Bew. “I’ve been away for two weeks. I’ll help Mom every day. I’ll be back soon.”

“I’m happy in here,” wrote Panumat Saengdee, 14, known as Mix. “The SEAL team takes very good care of us.”
Beautiful! What a lesson in gratitude.

204 comments:

1 – 200 of 204   Newer›   Newest»
MayBee said...

So wonderful! Look what humans can do!

traditionalguy said...

Making Thailand Great Again. Death loses and Pro-Life wins.

LilyBart said...

Yay! Good news.

David Begley said...

The boys say they want to go to the World Cup and FIFA said they would fly them in.

FIFA, as I understand it, is a wildly corrupt organization. If those people had any decency they would allocate $100 million to the divers, the estate of the guy who died, the organizers and planners, the boys and the coach.

FIFA will generate all sorts of goodwill over this incident and maybe spend $100k.

rhhardin said...

End of ratings bonanza.

tcrosse said...

They should issue a Spoiler Alert for the upcoming Disney movie, coming soon to a theater near you.

Mr. Groovington said...

Escorting the kids through the technical difficulties was a masterpiece of organization and skill by the international cave divers who by nature thrive on this sort of challenge. I see the Wiki page has started up. It’ll be interesting to read the whole story in a couple of weeks.

Unknown said...

I will be happy as soon as the rescue team is done. I am aware of deaths occurring as the dive teams pull all the gear and staged tanks out.

BigFire said...

Now, the coach faces some serious question regarding his decision to bring the team into that cave in the first place.

William said...

I tried to avoid this story. I didn't want to have a Challenger moment........Unlike many Trump supporters, I don't like to read about third world children being separated from their parents and forced to live in fetid caves. I know many here will accuse me of being soft and sentimental, but that's just the way I am.......Anyway, I'm glad this story had a happy ending. There were a lot of moving parts, and a happy ending was not preordained.......I just hope that the Thai government takes this opportunity to prohibit children from wandering in underwater caves and to reform the spelling of proper names in that country.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Coach needs to contact the family of the Seal who died.

Fernandinande said...

Wongsookchan

I bet they could export some of those names and still have plenty of syllables left over.

Nachos Go Wonk

Ann Althouse said...

Idea for the movie: The one SEAL who died becomes a supernatural being who makes the extraction possible. The truth is, all the boys and the coach would have died, and he had a vision of that sad future and therefore chose to release his hold on life to enter the spirit world. From there, he guided each of the boys through the place where he would otherwise have died. In the end, the living SEALs receive all the praise for their expert technical work and their courage, and the spirit SEAL witnesses the scene with humble, gracious love and ascends into Heaven.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Unlike many Trump supporters, I don't like to read about third world children being separated from their parents and forced to live in fetid caves.


Nobody likes to see families separated, William. Illegal immigration is a separate issue and during the Obama years, kids were separated from parents and nobody gave a rat's ass.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Good to know that those on the right still have it within them to care about the children of strangers, as long as those children aren’t on American soil brought over the border illegally.

tcrosse said...

Alternative scene from the stuck-in-a-cave movie genre:
We're Coming, Leo

David Begley said...

A nice respite from the usual insane speculation and foaming at the mouth at CNN.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

You never cared Inga, until you were told to care.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Inga is selective about the children she cares about. She gave no shits during the Obama administration. But that's our own Mrs. Magoo for you.

I'm happy for the kids. I hope all the rescuers are safe as well. They display masculinity at its' absolute best - and show it's still needed, leftist soy boys and pussy hatted harpies notwithstanding. As I said the other day, we could test that theory by sticking Inga is a cave and then sending Women's Studies majors to save her. At the very least, they might be able to get her a flashlight and a copy of "The Handmaid's Tale" to read while she's waiting to croak.

rhhardin said...

The coach has toxic masculinity.

Gretchen said...

Wonderful news!

stevew said...

Did they arrest the coach?

-sw

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Fantastic news. The heroism and ingenuity of those who made it happen is beyond praise.

Not to cheapen it with digression (but since the usual Lefty douche canoeists have already been at it), in an existence without a God, a guiding moral force, why would anyone even attempt this extraordinary rescue?

Ann Althouse said...

The boys crossed the border into a place where they did not belong, and they were forcibly removed and sent back home.

Birches said...

Yay! I woke up this morning wondering if they all made it or if it would take another day.

Ann Althouse said...

What do people want to see happen to the coach?

rhhardin said...

in an existence without a God, a guiding moral force, why would anyone even attempt this extraordinary rescue?

Because moral force has evolutionary advantages. It enables large scale cooperation.

Chuck said...

Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...
Coach needs to contact the family of the Seal who died.


That is the polite phrasing of what I was going to write. +1.

However -- and this is not the fault of DB@H -- I do object to calling the Thai Navy diver a "SEAL." SEALs are U.S. Navy commandos (we used to call them "frogmen," remember?). I heard a casually-reported story over the hazily-memorable July 4 holiday week that a "SEAL" had died, and I thought, "oh my God an American serviceman has died in this rescue effort." The fact that it was a Thai is no less tragic, but it is a rather different news story, than if an American naval officer had been killed.

rhhardin said...

Without large scale cooperation, you can't specialize, and everybody winds up impoverished.

AllenS said...

From what I've heard, that cave is open for anyone to explore. It is only during the rainy season (which came early this year) that it is closed. This is not the coaches fault.

rhhardin said...

The coach should keep coaching. It's specialization.

Since when do the self-entertainment needs of soap opera women rule.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

“Because moral force has evolutionary advantages. It enables large scale cooperation.”

What, almost like there’s a plan or something? Damn.

tcrosse said...

What do people want to see happen to the coach?

Have Andy Dick play him in the movie.

rhhardin said...

Put the 50 smartest geniuses on an island and they'll all live at the poverty line. There's no market for specialization that can support the specialization.

Chuck said...

Ann Althouse said...
What do people want to see happen to the coach?


Good question. What was the coach's mens rea? It was mere negligence at worst, right? Perhaps not even negligence. He may not have even known or even appreciated the danger.

William said...

Does the coach have a winning record? Any regional championships?........I just hope that the next time an incident such as this happens some efforts are made to diversify the rescuer force. Were they deliberately trying to eliminate women from the rescue force? Surely there must be some female cave divers somewhere. What did they do to discourage women from joining the force?

Chuck said...

tcrosse said...
"What do people want to see happen to the coach?"

Have Andy Dick play him in the movie.


I'm done here. I can't top that. Close the page.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Chuck

"a retired Thai navy SEAL preparing for that option by placing compressed-air tanks along an exit route ran out of oxygen himself early Friday morning and died."

rhhardin said...

What, almost like there’s a plan or something? Damn.

The disturbance with the fastest linear growth rate takes over everything.

Stuff winds up organized by that shape disturbance.

Crimso said...

Surely there's some way to make this reflect poorly on Trump.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

"...
Getting the boys to dive their way out of the cave has been raised as the most likely possibility, but a retired Thai navy SEAL preparing for that option by placing compressed-air tanks along an exit route ran out of oxygen himself early Friday morning and died.

Speaking at a news conference, a commander of the Thai navy SEAL group said the diver was found unconscious about 1 a.m. Friday. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful, and he was later transferred to a hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

[...]
The fatality, the first of the rescue mission, has raised fears that a rescue mission could be fraught and even deadly for the boys.

The diver was identified as Saman Kunam, a 38-year-old retired navy officer. His body was taken to a naval base in central Thailand, and then on to his family in the northeastern part of the country. "

rhhardin said...

Thank heaven none of the boys had a food allergy, so peanuts were acceptable.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The coach almost killed all those boys and himself. A Thai Navy SEAL was killed attempting the mission. +Heaps of shame.

AllenS said...

Thank God, that there are men like this coach to lead boys through an adventure. All of the boys wanted to do this cave exploration, and their parents were ok with it. What have we got in this country for men? Men who tell their little league players that they can't count how many runs they score, because there should be no winners or losers?

Shame on everyone willing to call for the coaches head.

rehajm said...

Keep on coaching. Try a different bonding exercise.

Nonapod said...

An amazing job in both planning and execution, but there was also no small amount of luck involved. If they hadn't had such a low amount of rainfall over the past few days they may not have been able to pump out enough to keep the water levels low enough to make such a rescue feasible.

rehajm said...

Frisbee golf is kind of cool...

Ralph L said...

Did anyone count the number of lawyers on site?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Allen S - I'm all for risky male bonding adventure. This was a bit much.

Ralph L said...

They need to install a really good drain on the cave.

Browndog said...

The coach is bonded with those boys for life.

Also, in the event of great news that is not political, liberals demand the world knows how miserable they are.

AllenS said...

The only "a bit much" was the rains came early. Otherwise, you would have never known about the adventure in the cave. Lawyers? This isn't the United States of Lawsuits.

stevew said...

The coach did not take the boys on a challenging, learning experience adventure. He put their lives at risk unnecessarily, and created a situation in which a huge price was paid to rescue them all, a price that includes the life of one of the rescuers. This wasn't some challenging activity meant to teach the boys about competition, strength, and resilience. This was a foolish and negligent act by the coach that put the boys and everyone assembled to save them in jeopardy. For that he should be sanctioned.

-sw

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Chuck wrote: "Perhaps not even negligence. He may not have even known or even appreciated the danger."

This. I am willing to give the coach the benefit of the doubt until we know more.

The only time I have ever ventured into a cave was in Kentucky - and that didn't last for long since I discovered there were more spiders in there than I thought existed in the universe and I beat a very quick retreat. Imagine the things that live inside caves in Thailand. Friends of mine who vacationed in Thailand unwisely left some fruit on the table of a cabin they rented in Chiang Mai and a dozen bats invaded. They also reported seeing spiders the size of salad plates. And then there are the poisonous snakes. Being trapped in a cave there must be like landing in one of Dante's Circles of Hell.

tim in vermont said...

Chuck wrote: "Perhaps not even negligence. He may not have even known or even appreciated the danger.”

So he gets the Hillary Clinton ‘Get Out of Jail Free” card?

Birches said...

I strongly dislike the tendency many have to punish someone when something bad happens. This is why moms get arrested for leaving their kids in the car when they go pay for gas. Just stop.

etbass said...

"What do people want to see happen to the coach?"

Indeed. He was just 23 years old, wasn't he? A kid himself.

Nonapod said...

Not sure what the legal system is like in Thailand, but I suspect it isn't quite as inheriently litigious as most Western countries where lawsuits are just par for the course in these sorts of situations with lawyers circling like vultures. Sometimes it seems like people are far more interested in paydays than any kind of reparation.

And I don't know enough about the situation to judge whether the coach did anything wrong either. Sure, at first glance on the surface it seems like he may have been foolish and negligent. But there's often a lot more than meets the eye.

mockturtle said...

Were all of them alive? I guess we won't know their condition for a while but what a fine display of courage and determination to pull this off. Hope the others get out safely.

john said...

Allen: Exactly. And also well put.

narayanan said...

Indiana Jones is available ... if the waters did not make all the snakes tangle up together in one cavern that he cannot avoid.

mockturtle said...

What should happen to the coach? Did he do something wrong? Weather is not always something that can be well predicted which is why people die on Denali even when they take proper precautions. Torrential rains have killed 157 in Japan this past week.

Chuck said...

Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...
Chuck

"a retired Thai navy SEAL preparing for that option by placing compressed-air tanks along an exit route ran out of oxygen himself early Friday morning and died."


You're not correcting me; do you get that? And I wasn't correcting you.

I understand very well, that news organizations all over the USA called the Thai diver a "Seal." I knew that, and I knew that you did no more than to repeat that news coverage. I was not criticizing you for that.

But what you were repeating, perfectly understandably, was wrong. First, it isn't "seal." Or even "Seal." It is "SEAL," for what the U.S. Navy denotes as "Sea, Air and Land," with the E coming from the "e" in SEa. An acronym.

The BBC reported this story, of course, and because neither the Brits nor the Thais actually have SEALs, they never used that acronym. They referred to the deceased as a "retired Thai navy diver."

And I see that in at least one news-report quote they got it right, with the all-cap spelling of the acronym SEAL.

Do you see my point? I heard a report that a SEAL had died. And to me that automatically means a U.S. serviceman.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Ann Althouse said...In the end, the living SEALs receive all the praise for their expert technical work and their courage, and the spirit SEAL witnesses the scene with humble, gracious love and ascends into Heaven.

Unnecessary; he died doing his best to save others, fighting against literal forces of nature-that's an express ticket to Valhalla already. You can make the rest of the team inspired by his example and sacrifice without even needing a supernatural angle!

Ann Althouse said...What do people want to see happen to the coach?

Forgiveness and a complete acceptance of God's love and abiding grace.

Job well done to everyone involved!

paminwi said...

I heard the coach was a Buddhist monk before he became a coach. Thoughts are that he helped his players meditate and remain calm during their ordeal. I am, at this point, willing to wait to hear the whole story before I pass judgement on him.
I also will not consider this a complete success until all the divers are out of the cave alive.

Why do people jump to conclusions before the whole story is told? The Thai government kept a pretty close lid on many aspects of this story so there is still much to learn.

Let's bitch about how little we have learned about the Las Vegas shooting. Now THAT'S a story we still do not know the truth about and who else there is to blame besides the actual shooter.

mockturtle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Curious George said...

"Blogger Chuck said...
Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...
Coach needs to contact the family of the Seal who died.


That is the polite phrasing of what I was going to write. +1.

However -- and this is not the fault of DB@H -- I do object to calling the Thai Navy diver a "SEAL." SEALs are U.S. Navy commandos (we used to call them "frogmen," remember?). I heard a casually-reported story over the hazily-memorable July 4 holiday week that a "SEAL" had died, and I thought, "oh my God an American serviceman has died in this rescue effort." The fact that it was a Thai is no less tragic, but it is a rather different news story, than if an American naval officer had been killed."

Thailand has a SEAL team and they have every right to be called SEALS. Blame the reporter for not being specific to nationality. Frogmen refer to Underwater Demolition Teams. The SEALS came about in the 50's when the UDT skills and missions expanded to air and land SE(a)A(ir)L(and). ALso, most SEALS are not officers, but enlisted men. Almost 3 to 1.

mockturtle said...

Paminwi suggests: Let's bitch about how little we have learned about the Las Vegas shooting. Now THAT'S a story we still do not know the truth about and who else there is to blame besides the actual shooter.

OT, but I agree. That's the shortest story on a mass shooting in my memory.

jaydub said...

Thai SEALS and US Navy SEALS conduct many joint exercises together, which is probably why this particular operation went so smoothly.

Howard said...

Allen S nails it. Also, in the real world of men doing manly things, the dead SEAL is not a hero, he failed himself and his family by violating the first rule of rescue. Roughnecks have a word for this: worming out

wwww said...


This rescue was incredible and these rescuers deserve every relevant metal and honour. I am deeply impressed with the heroism of the rescue team and the endurance of the boys. An 11 year old got out doing a technically difficult cave dive after days living in the dark without food. That water was not clean and calm. It was dirty water filled with currents.

I am less impressed with judgements from individuals half way around the world who had no role in the rescue. "They should just drill a hole and get them out!" "it's all the coaches fault!" "I know how to solve this and what punishment to meet out!"

Hundreds of engineers and divers on the ground but Karen on facebook is gonna get the boys out.

It's my understanding the cave was open, and there was a tradition of the soccer teams running into the cave to write their names on the wall. There is a drawing circulating in Thailand, and on the internet, of the coach holding the little boars in his hands, meditating, to get them through their trials.

Hundreds of people came together to volunteer their time. Many volunteered to put their lives on the line for strangers.

I do not know what happened, and I am not interested in judging a situation in which I have little information. This is a time for prayers, thankfulness, and honour to be given to the rescuers and the hero who passed.

mtrobertslaw said...

Say what you will about the coach, but he kept those boys alive and their spirits up for the week or so before their location was discovered. And there are reports that of the little food they had with them, he ate nothing and gave his share to the children. The Thai SEALS reported that of all those rescued, he was in the weakest condition.

mockturtle said...

wwww writes: I do not know what happened, and I am not interested in judging a situation in which I have little information. This is a time for prayers, thankfulness, and honour to be given to the rescuers and the hero who passed.

Amen!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

chuck - i didn't capitalize "seal". but yes, he was a SEAL. and he died bravely attempting a rescue.

Howard- you're a fuckhead.

Kathryn51 said...

One of our best friends is married to a lovely woman from Thailand and he has followed this story closely. He says the coach is Hero #2. After I posted something on FB regarding the diver who died, my friend posted this yesterday on FB:

"One of the two greatest heroes of this tragic episode. The other being the young assistant soccer coach that went into the cave looking for "his" boys, found them, led them to a safe place when the cave suddenly flooded, kept them together, kept them calm, and kept them safe for two weeks now.. . . .The real story is that the kids went in on their own (which they apparently often did) and when they didn't return home, some of the parents called the coach asking if he knew where they were. He took it upon himself to go looking for them. Apparently by the time he found them there was no way for any of them to get out, so he led them to a safe place to await the hoped for rescue that finally came."

YoungHegelian said...

I hate to be a dick here, but I don't think the Thai government is being honest with the world about what happened. This is just too happy of an ending, with too many "just so" details thrown in along the way.

At CNN, there are oodles of photos, but yet not one of the boys as they left the cave. No one has leaked a photo of one of the boys from the hospital? I don't believe it. Not one family member has spoken to the press?

Yeah, I know. In quarantine. Families made a pact. And on & on. Like I said, just so. I don't believe it. I want photos of those boys & the coach at the hospital. I want some of the ball team or the coach at a press conference. Don't tell me they're all right, show me they're all right, & then I'll believe the "miracle".

traditionalguy said...

The Spirit Seal reigns...selah! But wait a dang minute here. There are no female heroines in the narrative. Quick, let's make them up.

AllenS said...

I'll consider this a complete success when no mention of blood sucking lawyers are mentioned.

Also, thank you, Kathryn51 for that information. I'll bet that's correct.

Howard said...

DB@H: hahaha that's right. Reality is incomprehensible to housewives and cucks. I thought you of all people would get it since you cheered when President Bone-Spurs demoted John McCain because "He's not a war hero. He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured."

Big Mike said...

@Dickin'Bimbos, Howard is NOT a fuckhead. Howard needs to up his game to be a fuckhead.

Oso Negro said...

@Kathryn51 - the other side of the story. Thailand lacks the number of litigious assholes per capita we see in the USA

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

YH @ 10:30

yes

J. Farmer said...

@Oso Negro:

@Kathryn51 - the other side of the story. Thailand lacks the number of litigious assholes per capita we see in the USA

Plus, Thailand has a barely functioning judiciary.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The media told me the coach brought the kids in there. hmmm. It's sad when we cannot depend on the media for accuracy or truth.

Bad Lieutenant said...

I thought you of all people would get it since you cheered when Candidate Trump
[FIFY] demoted John McCain because "He's not a war hero. He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured."




Just to be clear, gyrene, this is you, endorsing that sentiment, yes? Or will you plead /sarc like a bitch?

Fernandinande said...

YoungHegelian said...
I hate to be a dick here,


Why?

Being noncompuctive, I'm enjoying anagrams of their funny, er, vibrant names:
- Butt Hopes Thong
- Charmed Gun Kooks

At CNN, there are oodles of photos, but yet not one of the boys as they left the cave.

Forget it YoungHegelian, it's Thai chi town.

Don't tell me they're all right, show me they're all right, & then I'll believe the "miracle".

Do you think the cave might be like the cave in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and they've all been turned into pod people? Because that's what I think and I don't want anyone else thinking the same thing.

Oso Negro said...

@J Farmer - but somehow, they live complete lives.

wildswan said...

There was an early heavy rain which flooded the caves, I've heard. Otherwise it just would have been a venture in the dark and dank underground. And the Thais were able to get the boys out because the monsoon hadn't really started - just as the coach thought. The Thai government and the international divers really shone in this operation.

Considering the deaths from early fast-moving "unexpected" wild fires (resulting from refusal to cut brush) in California I don't think the left is a position to criticize people who get trapped by unpredictable weather. But criticizing the accidental mishaps of others while ignoring disasters such as fires in accumulated dry brush or such as Venezuela, resulting from their own controls and their own planning, is the how the left operates.

Howard said...

BL: You can't handle the truth

buwaya said...

This is good for Thailand.

Its a huge national win, a successful collective effort, with heroes and civic volunteers and a unifying cause. This is the sort of thing that builds nations.
Among other factors, these kids, and the coach, far northerners, are both rural provincials and cultural minorities, and the coach is actually a Shan refugee from Burma. Much of the Thai unrest recently is a matter of these rural-provincial struggles against the urban center. Where else have we seen that, eh?

Thailand is currently run by a military junta that took over in 2014, following yet another round of struggle, basically between the periphery and the center, and they just lost their exemplary King Bhumibol, who kept the stress of modernization and consequent unrest within reasonable bounds. Thailand needs this.

Fernandinande said...

Younghegelian and Ekkarat Wongsookchan ... Your Love Score is 40%

Younghegelian and Panumat Saengdee ... Your Love Score is 41%

Younghegelian and Tham Luang ... Your Love Score is 71%

J. Farmer said...

@buwaya:

As good news as this is, I doubt it will have a significant impact on Thailand's internal tensions. Thaificiation of Thailand's periphery has been going on for decades with limited success. Bhumibol has been a unifying force and possessed almost universal approval by Thais; his son, much less so. I had to pay bribe money once after being caught with the infamous video clip of his son and then wife topless throwing a party for her poodle. But even then, the so called "red shirts" were not as royalist as the "yellow shirt" urbans. The fundamental problem is that Thailand is not a unified country. The changing of the name from Siam to Thailand was itself an ethnonationalist act. The people of Isan (northeastern Thailand) are ethnically, culturally, and linquistically more connected to Laos than Thailand. And from the Bangkok perspective, they are poor dumb farmers who need to just shut up and do what they are told. There is the additional complication of the fact that a Chinese diaspora in Bangkok controls a significant amount of the nation's wealth.

J. Farmer said...

@Fernandistein:

Younghegelian and Tham Luang ... Your Love Score is 71%

Haha. To be fair, the actual name of the cave of Tham Luang Nang Non.

Susan said...

The Guardian is reporting that all divers and the medic have successfully left the cave!

Everyone out we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

narayanan said...

"Let's bitch about how little we have learned about the Las Vegas shooting. Now THAT'S a story we still do not know the truth about and who else there is to blame besides the actual shooter. "

My theory is that FBI and other LEAgencies might have been setting up a sting and the stingee did what he wanted to do and killed the agent in place and disappeared.

Mr. Groovington said...

Oso Negro said... @J Farmer - but somehow, they live complete lives.

Family, Buddhism, community and a hundred smaller reasons, like guppies.

Mr. Groovington said...

Travel idea: Bangkok. An extraordinary place, one of the best.

buwaya said...

True, this is not going to solve Thai politics.
Still, it helps.

Interesting that exactly the same political split is seen around the world. The Thai case is analogous to American politics, to Philippine politics, to Brexit, even to the Poles and Hungarians vs the EU. And its not ideological. Ideology is now a symbol, not a driver, and it can vary. Interests are what all this is about.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Howard said...
BL: You can't handle the truth

7/10/18, 10:57 AM


And what truth would that be, Howie? Did you order the Code Red? Spell it out for all of us. Use small words. You're a Marine, you should be good at that.

wholelottasplainin said...

YoungHegelian said...

"Don't tell me they're all right, show me they're all right, & then I'll believe the "miracle"."
****************************************

Riiiight.......and "Capricorn One" was filmed in Thailand.....everyone knows that....so Thais routinely engage in cover-ups....

And don't you see? YoungHegelian thinks the world needs to genuflect to his wishes.

Even if they show him the kids, he'll argue, "How do we know those are really the kids?"

J. Farmer said...

@Oso Negro:

@J Farmer - but somehow, they live complete lives.

So does your average Iranian. So what?

As for Thailand, please tell the activists there that are trying to improve their society that they are wasting their time, since, after all, they have a "complete life." Never mind that they can be randomly stopped by cops and shaken down for bribe money or threatened with sitting in a Thai jail for months before seeing a corrupt judge who would not hesitate to deliver a guilty verdict with no evidence. And don't expect any records of this to be kept. But who cares, you have a "complete life."

gilbar said...

"The Naval Special Warfare Command, Royal Thai Fleet (Thai: หน่วยสงครามพิเศษทางเรือ กองเรือยุทธการ), commonly known as the Thai Navy SEALs (an acronym for Sea–Air–Land), is a 144-man special operations force within the military of Thailand.
The unit was set up in 1956 with the assistance of the U.S. Government and has trained with the United States Navy SEALs which it in fact predates. A small element within the Royal Thai Navy SEAL unit has been trained to conduct maritime counter-terrorism missions. This unit has close ties with the U.S. Navy's own SEAL teams.
"

Again, i apologize for thinking that i was in a thread with people that were NOT complete idiots

J. Farmer said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Trumpit said...

Trumptards could not find Thailand on a map. What's a map, you ask? Thailand is one of Trump's infamous "Sh-thole countries" just before or after Haiti on the list of undesirable places and people. Pedophiles from the U.S. and Europe flock to Thailand to molest children of both sexes. These rescued boy scouts are but a tasty morsel to them. Rescuing kids from a horrible situation is not on Republicans' mind, so I find the outpouring of celebratory sentiments here to be shameless lies to pretend they are human. They are most definitely NOT! They are a MOCK UP built on weak and shifting sentimental sands.

Mr. Groovington said...

To be fair, the actual name of the cave of Tham Luang Nang Non.

A border section there was originally drawn along a river course, which over time has wandered, creating a technical mess, although not as bizarre as sections of the border between West Begal and Bangladesh, the cartographer’s favourite spot on earth.

I’ve been up close to the cave’s location 3 times as nearby the Chiang Khong village border is the most convenient way through Laos into China. The Mekong, always beautiful, is spectacular here.

gilbar said...

Chuck is trying to be like that bozo that redefined GROPE to mean what He wanted it to mean; instead of what the rest of the people on earth wanted it to mean.

To recap:
The Thai people call Naval Special Warfare Command, SEALS
The Thai Navy calls them SEALS
OUR Navy calls them SEALS
But Chuckles says; no no no! Words mean what i want them to mean, not anyone ele

J. Farmer said...

@buwaya:

Interesting that exactly the same political split is seen around the world. The Thai case is analogous to American politics, to Philippine politics, to Brexit, even to the Poles and Hungarians vs the EU. And its not ideological. Ideology is now a symbol, not a driver, and it can vary. Interests are what all this is about.

I agree we are seeing similar developments around the world. This was kind of predicted in Fukuyama's End of History and Barber's Jihad vs. McWorld. Conflicts around the world are much less driven by ideology. Etno-nationalist conflicts have been dominating. But also I am a firm believer in Robert Michels' "iron law of oligarchy." The elites of the world are suffused with a globalizing ideology that is destructive to nations and national identity.

Nonetheless, I think Thailand is experiencing good old fashion nation-state conflict. It is at least two nations trying to share a single political space. And doing so very unsuccessfully. The same thing is going on in Iraq, for example.

J. Farmer said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
TWW said...

Didn't know they were also recuing feral pigs?

jaydub said...

Chuck: "The BBC reported this story, of course, and because neither the Brits nor the Thais actually have SEALs, they never used that acronym. They referred to the deceased as a "retired Thai navy diver."

The Underwater Demolition Assault Unit (UDAU)[1] of the Royal Thai Navy (Thai language: หน่วยทำลายใต้น้ำจู่โจม) is a 144-man special operations force within the Military of Thailand. The unit is colloquially also known as the Royal Thai Navy SEALs (Thai: หน่วยซีล)

I guess they're SEALs to everyone except Chuck.

YoungHegelian, are you saying " "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." If so, are you sure your name isn't Thomas?

J. Farmer said...

@Trumpit:

Trumptards could not find Thailand on a map. What's a map, you ask? Thailand is one of Trump's infamous "Sh-thole countries" just before or after Haiti on the list of undesirable places and people.

Well, not to throw a monkey wrench into your "analysis," but I voted for Trump and I assure you I can find Thailand on a map. And I can further assure you that Thailand has a border that it believes in protecting. Oh, the horror! And it may be worth remembering that Thailand has a GDP per capita of about $6,000. Haiti is about $800. They also have a human development index of 0.740, which indicates high human development. Haiti's score is 0.493, which indicates low human development. The national IQ of Thailand is also nearly two standard deviations above that of Haiti.

Rescuing kids from a horrible situation is not on Republicans' mind, so I find the outpouring of celebratory sentiments here to be shameless lies to pretend they are human.

Now I am an atheist, but I wonder what all those Christians I worked with at NGOs in Thailand trying to address human trafficking in the country were doing. Perhaps, Trumpit, you care to tell us what you have done personally to try to improve the lives of children in Thailand. Is it simply delivering moral denunciations of others?

clint said...

Birches said...
"I strongly dislike the tendency many have to punish someone when something bad happens. This is why moms get arrested for leaving their kids in the car when they go pay for gas. Just stop."

^^ This, exactly.

Mr. Groovington said...

Trumpit said...

Wow. That hate and distortion must be eating you alive.

Clyde said...

It's great that they all were rescued. Kudos to all of the people who worked so hard to make it happen, and a moment of respect for the former Thai Navy Seal who died during the rescue attempt. Greater love hath no man...

Michael K said...

trumpet is just being its crazy self.

No knowledge. Just hate.

Trumpit said...

"The national IQ of Thailand is also nearly two standard deviations above that of Haiti."

Your racist comment is offensive to Haitians. I know because I'm part Haitian. One can't reasonably argue with such insulting sophistry, so I won't even try. You're another right-wing troll who's found a home. Sad!

Clyde said...

Ann Althouse said...
What do people want to see happen to the coach?


I'd like to see him eventually return to normal life, once the spotlight of the press moves on. Coaching the soccer team. And staying out of caves during the monsoon season. If he's guilty of anything, it's poor judgment, but if that was a crime, a lot of people would be in prison.

traditionalguy said...

Thai parents will sell one or more girls to sex traffickers from Bangkok for the Globalist Perverts sex networks. The parents needthe money. So a Christian Ministry supported by our Church pays the redemption price for them raises the young ladies at a missionary school.

The world wide sex trafficking of children has been Trump's number one enemy. That is the real reason that the Clinton Gang is desperate to stop Trump before he exposes them all the way to the top.

Mr. Groovington said...

Trumpit said... Your racist comment is offensive to Haitians

No one mention Equatorial Guinea.

Rick said...
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Yancey Ward said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Yancey Ward said...

I only opened this thread to see if Chuck could find a way to criticize Trump in this thread about a rescue in Thailand. At least Chuck found a different way to make himself look foolish for once- I'm all for diversity in this regard.

Rick said...

Rescuing kids from a horrible situation is not on Republicans' mind, so I find the outpouring of celebratory sentiments here to be shameless lies to pretend they are human.

A mind so diseased it can believe anything to support its hatred. Unfortunately they're not rare these days as our education and mainstream media continue to infect the weak minded.

J. Farmer said...

@Trumpit:

Your racist comment is offensive to Haitians. I know because I'm part Haitian. One can't reasonably argue with such insulting sophistry, so I won't even try. You're another right-wing troll who's found a home. Sad!

Of course it's perfectly possible to "reasonably argue" with my point. Simply point to data that shows that Haitians have high average IQs. Or point to some other data that explains why Haiti is the poorest, most underdeveloped country in the Western hemisphere. Or explain why Haiti's neighbor to the east is almost ten times as wealthy as Haiti and is considered to be of significantly higher human development.

We can "reasonably argue" the answers to all of these questions. On the other hand, sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting "racist" is not going to answer any of those questions.

By the way, you have not told me all of the things you have done to help the children of Thailand. If there are none, then does that mean you don't really care about any of these children? See how ridiculous your logic is?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

blah blah blah... "you're a racist!" is about as far as it can go with some people.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Haiti is exploitable, and the Clintons have cracked that code.

n.n said...

Intrinsic value. Inordinate worth. 13 enter. 13 exit.

Michael K said...

"I know because I'm part Haitian."

Which part? Your brain ?

Jim at said...

Great news.

I'll be honest. I didn't think they'd be able to pull it off.
Amazing.

Jim at said...

Good to know that those on the right still have it within them to care about the children of strangers, as long as those children aren’t on American soil brought over the border illegally.

Good to know there are still assholes on the left who turn every fucking subject into a partisan shitpost.

mtrobertslaw said...

Thai SEALS train with U.S. SEALS. They have the identical battle cry or mission cry: Hooyah, Hooyah, Hooyah.

Oso Negro said...

Michael K said “Which part? Your brain?” I laughed out loud in the cafe in Odessa. Possibly the best personal insult I have read on this blog.

Oso Negro said...

@J Farmer - I hate NGO activists. I was in a whirehouse in Rayong City when the last military coup went down. Supporting local business. It’s one thing to fuck the natives, it’s quite another to fuck with their culture.

J. Farmer said...

@Oso Negro:

@J Farmer - I hate NGO activists. I was in a whirehouse in Rayong City when the last military coup went down. Supporting local business. It’s one thing to fuck the natives, it’s quite another to fuck with their culture.

I assume you meant whorehouse. And not all NGOs are created equally, of course. One group I have worked with quite a bit is EMPOWER, which does advocate for the distinction between those who have freely chosen to work in the sex industry and those who have not. It was founded by a Thai woman, Chantawipa Apisuk, a friend, in the mid-1980s and is staffed primarily by Thais.

Also, trafficking homeless or kidnapped or abandoned children through the Golden Triangle is not "their culture."

AllenS said...

July 6th --

“Inside the cave is tough,” said Thai Seal commander Rear Admiral Arpakorn Yookongkaew. But he added: “I can guarantee that we will not panic, we will not stop our mission, we will not let the sacrifice of our friend go to waste.”

^

This.

mockturtle said...

These boys seem to have been trained not just physically but spiritually, as well, which was probably just as important to their well being.

It should be noted that the coach gave all of his food rations to the boys and is the weakest member of the group at this time.

J. Farmer said...

@mockturtle:

Indeed. The coach had actually been orphaned as a young child in Burma and spent nearly a decade in a Buddhist monastery. News reports (taken of course with a grain of salt) have suggested that the coach used meditation to help calm the boys during the ordeal.

gilbar said...

so, i'm getting a pool started, on what Chuck will do next?
Positions:
Will respond saying: Well; whenever *I* hear the word SEAL, i think of our boys, so..
Will respond completely obliviously, and act like he isn't the idiot that he is
Will just NOT respond to this thread, being the coward that he is
I think that's all the possible positions, but feel free to add one.

Additional (non-pool) question. I've been following this blog for only a couple of years now; and in that time i don't remember Chuck EVER having a Valid or Correct fact. Does anyone remember one? Maybe he correctly identified the governor of Michigan once? Anyway, if anyone can think a factual item that Chuck ever got right, let's hear it.
I'm starting to think that he is some sort of weird reverse double moby, where he just Pretends to be a completely incompetent and incoherent Soros plant pretending to be a Life long republican; which, would be pretty clever if you think about it.

Mr. Groovington said...

@J Farmer - I hate NGO activists....

Man, I could tell some NGO stories. And have thousands of the fuckers to look forward to between here and Cairo.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
langford peel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
langford peel said...

Now who is going to be brave enough to rescue the poor boys who fell into Amy Schumer's vagina?

Howard said...

Blogger Bad Lieutenant said...
And what truth would that be, Howie? Did you order the Code Red? Spell it out for all of us. Use small words.


Get Chuck and/or a woman to splain it for you. If you can't finger it out for yourself, continue to ride the pine

TA said...

Well, this discussion certainly turned into a lot of rat shit.

I just wanted to say, given the way the Thais carried off this rescue operation, and the way the kids handled themselves, I think we should encourage a lot more immigration from Thailand.

Bad Lieutenant said...

J. Farmer said...
@Trumpit:

Jesus, Farmer, don't you know that Trumpit is a troll? An act? I don't pretend to be your friend, but it hurts me to watch you with him/her/it.

Hey, it's your soap and your dick, you can wash it as long as you want.

Drago said...

Trumpit: "Your racist comment is offensive to Haitians."

You are assuming the Haitians are capable of understanding his comment.

Assuming facts not in evidence.

Simply have a couple of Dominicans pop over to explain it to you. Those guys are apparently doing okay.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Howard said...
Blogger Bad Lieutenant said...
And what truth would that be, Howie? Did you order the Code Red? Spell it out for all of us. Use small words.

Get Chuck and/or a woman to splain it for you. If you can't finger it out for yourself, continue to ride the pine

7/10/18, 3:04 PM


Splain WHAT, sad sack?!? That you agree with the President, and millions of Americans, that McCain's credit with the American people is long since used up? Good for you.

Wow, there I was, thinking that even a former Marine would own his own shit.

MadisonMan said...

The Hollywood Screenplay writes itself as soon as a villain is identified. How about someone who dammed up a stream to flood the caverns when the rains came early?

tcrosse said...

The Hollywood Screenplay writes itself as soon as a villain is identified.

Climate Change, natch. They can pin it on Trump. Box Office Gold ! The hard part will be getting Melissa McCarthy to squeeze through the tight spots as she leads the rescuers. Kristen Wiig can help push her through.

DanTheMan said...

>.The Hollywood Screenplay writes itself as soon as a villain is identified

Come on, Madman... you know darn well who the villain is: American Big Oil causing global warming!!!!

Merny11 said...

Seriously Inga? You who glorifies and celebrates the murder of infants by PP have the audacity to state that conservatives don’t care about children? What a twisted mind you have ....

J. Farmer said...

@Bad Lieutenant:

Jesus, Farmer, don't you know that Trumpit is a troll? An act? I don't pretend to be your friend, but it hurts me to watch you with him/her/it.

Well I respond to you, too, so that should give you a sense of how unbothered I am.

Howard said...

BL whinging for someone, anyone to change his nappy. A&D ointment optional

Big Mike said...

@Trumpit, if you really are part Haitian, then answer me this question. How much money did Hillary Clinton's foundation raise for Haitian earthquake relief, and how much was actually spent in Haiti?

tim in vermont said...

I know a couple Haitians in South Florida and they are very sweet people, hard working and entrepreneurial. Nothing like Trumpit.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Great news!

Now if only someone could rescue our brain-dead conservatives from the tiny little intellectual and emotional caves in which they live. But first they'd have to want to be rescued.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

You who glorifies and celebrates the murder of infants by PP have the audacity to state that conservatives don’t care about children?

They don't. Or else they'd care about 'em once they're born.

The connies only care about intruding into women's bodies and forcing pregnancies to term. They think that female chastity/promiscuity is a moral issue and that's their only motivation. Again, if they cared about actual, living, born kids they wouldn't be cutting their lunches and healthcare. But they don't. It's all about what kind of a pregnancy they can force to term through a woman's uterus and how they should be able to control and "provide" through that instead of through the state that keeps them from dying or going sick or malnourished once life is a reality.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

a reality rather than an abstraction.

john said...

Blogger tcrosse said...... The hard part will be getting Melissa McCarthy to squeeze through the tight spots as she leads the rescuers. Kristen Wiig can help push her through.

They need to resurect the set of The Posieden Adventure for that one.

Shelly Winters is sadly no longer around to act as stunt coordinator for getting circumferentially challenged people through underwater passages in a dress.

Michael K said...

Well the human scroll bar has arrived so this thread is done.

dustbunny said...

The coach was very weak from taking care of the boys and giving his share of food to the kids. I think he did everything to care for them, I hope he isn’t punished for a bad/uninformed decision

Vance said...

First, good for the Thai forces to have such amazing success.

Second, look at all the butt hurt leftists who are royally mad that someone, somewhere, is having success by being manly and noble, and that they can't blame trump.

Third: Ritmo, you suffer from the classic liberal conceit. And that is this: if you are not being taken care of by the government, you are not being cared for.

See, unlike you and the left, who promote dependency and enslavement to the government, people on the right promote independence and self sufficiency. Unlike you and yours, a welfare check is a bad thing. The dole is evil, no ifs, ands, or buts--regardless of whether it is income, or free food, or "free healthcare."

So when you say the right hates children, and cuts their lunch and healthcare-- you completely ignore the much more rational explanation: no one on the right wants to enable another generation of welfare mooches, parasites on society. Plus, again unlike the left, we on the right believe in personal responsibility and having consequences for your actions. When you go out and knowingly havesex with a guy with AIDS, why should the rest of us pay for your treatment? Pay for it your own self. Women shouldn't spread their legs if they aren't prepared to have a baby and care for it--they shouldn't be "Oh, i'll just get on welfare and let everyone else pay for me."

And when you do get into trouble, because it does happen--the government should be the very, very last resort. Family first, then church and community. Get back on your feet, then take care of yourself and your own! Not just keep "cashing dat guvmint cheese" like you advocate.

What is better for the kid: to have a slovenly, addicted crack welfare mother cashing government checks for their whole life, or someone who made a mistake, got back on their feet through family and friends, and made something of themselves, learning skills and self sufficiency and gaining experience through the school of hard knocks? You leftists prefer the addicted crack whore who votes Democrat to keep the money coming in. But it's not at all "hating children" to say that the second is the preferred method. Weaning people off of reliance on the government is not "hating the children!" like you claim it is.

Your method of addicting the children to dependance on government and enslaving them to it is far, far more hateful to children.
The left tries to kill as many babies as possible, then if they somehow do get born, the left tries to get them and their families addicted to government largesse so that they will vote Democrat in order to "stop ebul Rethuglicans from taking away your bennies!" Enslavement to the very people who wanted you dead before you were born: that's your definition of "compassion." Sickening.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

If only I could be as underemployed and bereft of prospects as Michael K., I could comment all day long also and scare his wrinkly old ass away earlier!

But I'm happy to make the aged old snowflake bitch melt away when I can. Run along, Little Old Snowflake! Run along!

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Ritmo, you suffer from the classic liberal conceit. And that is this: if you are not being taken care of by the government, you are not being cared for.

Evidence that defunding school lunches and child healthcare leads to better fed, healthier children?

In the time it could take Vance Van Winkle to provide that non-existent evidence, he'll write twelve times as much in manifestoes that no one reads alone.

Just admit you hate the kids and want a government too incompetent to provide them what they don't have the value in the marketplace to demand and obtain. Child market value! That's a howler. Vancey actually thinks that sick and malnourished kids have some kind of market power that the government is somehow preventing them from realizing. Hilarious.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

What is better for the kid: to have a slovenly, addicted crack welfare mother cashing government checks for their whole life, or someone who made a mistake, got back on their feet through family and friends, and made something of themselves, learning skills and self sufficiency and gaining experience through the school of hard knocks? You leftists prefer the addicted crack whore who votes Democrat to keep the money coming in.

Oh I see. Since they're black, it's crack. But the great white die-off at the hands of the opioid epidemic sits better with you than it does with your fellow white nationalists/white supremacists because... big Pharma pushed the pills on them, got them addicted and killed them. Whatever a powerful industry does is righteous and good, says Vance. Well, ok then. Keep on bringing on The Great White Die-Off. Less votes for conservatives.

The day when you suicidal, dangerous morons number less than the groups you hate will be a great day for human welfare and rational thought.

pacwest said...

@pp, I posted this comment on an earlier cafe regarding our discussion re uncontrolled immigration. Not sure if you saw it, but since I promised to follow up...

If pp is around I have a quick opener on the immigration debate we we having. If I understand some common thoughts throughout your comments, one of them is concern for income disparities. Since at least 1920 income disparities have fluctuated up and down in concert with the rising and falling of immigrants entering the country. Low skill and entry level wages are affected by increasing the supply of unskilled labor. Uncontrolled (illegal, lottery, chain) immigration has this effect, and is increasing due to the percentage of immigrants, especially illegals, who enter the US with low skills/low education. As wages decrease or stay stable in a growing economy the people and companies who benifit from low cost labor get wealthier, low wages and increased wealth at the top equals larger disparities.

Controlled (merit based) immigration has the opposite effect on income disparity, and supports growth.

Immigrant populations need to at least match native populations in skills and education if you don't want to increase disparities. Our current mix of immigrants don't do that. In fact they are comprised of nearly twice the percentage of unskilled, undereducated workers as the native population of the US.

Next up - the President's claim that illegal immigration is costing us $113B per year.

Perhaps if you are around for this evening's cafe?

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“The day when you suicidal, dangerous morons number less than the groups you hate will be a great day for human welfare and rational thought.”

That day is coming sooner than they realize, especially for baby boomers. Young people are liberal and every year more of them will be voting.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Well I respond to you, too, so that should give you a sense of how unbothered I am.

Knock yo'self out. Though we know that isn't quite true.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Dear Howie,

I forgot, who GAF what you say.

Jon Ericson said...

"Nice blog you used to have here. It's a shame what happened to it."

Paco Wové said...

Climate Change, natch.

Earth rapers. White supremacist earth rapers.

Douglas B. Levene said...

I'm wondering why the SJWs aren't complaining about all the toxic masculinity of the heroic men who risked their lives to save these boys.

Vance said...

I wonder if Inga and Ritmo, when they pen their daily screeds against "people who hate", realize that any cursory reading of these comments has them in the pole position for "top haters." Trumpit is the most hateful, over the top poster, but he's a troll. Ritmo is just behind him. And Ritmo actually views it as a sign of his moral superiority to constantly display the reason everyone else is repulsed by the idea of leftists.

As we can see, while the left shrieks about "Trump" and how dangerous he is, the fact remains that they are still free and not in camps. Meanwhile, does anyone doubt that if Ritmo were in charge he'd be sitting on a pile of skulls and bathing in blood from conservatives he's murdered?

Trumpit said...

"Trumpit is the most hateful, over the top poster, but he's a troll."
If resisting the absurd, vulgar Trump presidency is over the top, while you , in mindless complicity, cheer him on, then you are the truly hateful one.

stephen cooper said...

Vance - one likes to think that the people who post cruel and over-aggressive comments here think, in their heart of hearts, that they are expressing love of the truth.

Whether that is true or not, cruelty is a boring subject. (Well I, like anyone else from the small percentage of humanity who posts on common ground internet sites, am not bored by people who say cruel things to me on the internet; while I like to think I am above that, at first I am not - at first I feel surprised and offended, then I try not to want to say something equally hurtful in response, then I am annoyed that there is someone else I absolutely have to pray for - I pray for my enemies, and even for those poor souls who do not have the strength of heart to be my enemy, but who want to hurt my feelings and be my enemy, in their childish way ....)

I know how those people would, in a better ordered world, regard their adult cruelty , if they could look at the vicious adult words and the adult desire to wound from that beautiful innocent young perspective they may have had, if they were once innocent and young and without hatred in their hearts: (here begins the best part of my comment, and I did not write a word of this part - it is all quotation) ---

"Cruelty! He said no more, shut his lips tightly over the mysterious word. What pure soul could distinguish readily between cruelty and madness, would not be tempted to confuse them? How could it believe that [anyone] could want to share hell with that horrible bread?"

(and the person listening to the other person, talking about cruelty):


"... that of all imaginable vices that was the only one she could not have kept herself from loathing. Yes, sin is cruel. No one can deny it. But what of its miserable victims? Isn't it bad enough that, by some hideous mistake, they should hold in their arms, hug to their bleeding breasts an armed beast like that - should we not pity them? Just the thought of such an absurd mistake filled her heart with pity. If they only knew!"

(That is from Bernanos, in his novel Joy, and I quote it here, remembering a comment from Althouse last week about the madness of reducing everything to labeled politics, or something like that).

stephen cooper said...

and I really liked "Beautiful! what a lesson in gratitude!"

well spoken

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I'm not into hate, Vance. I just think you're worthless. As someone who prostrates yourself to your superior, Trump, I'm sure you understand. You do not create anything of value, you naturally see yourself as worthless, and therefore never give a second thought to all those other people left behind by that marketplace that you venerate. Those who similarly have nothing of value to offer it and therefore be rewarded by in it. Only they're kids, or infirm, or unskilled, or have otherwise come upon hard luck in their life according to the American dream. But you OTOH are just a basic schmuck. One who despicably looks upon them as competitors.

pacwest said...

"never give a second thought to all those other people left behind by that marketplace that you venerate."

Pp, isn't that exactly what you are guilty of by denying the effects of illegal immigration? *See my comment above directed to you.

FullMoon said...

Re-posting because half the people here will comment without reading prior comments:

Kathryn51 said...

One of our best friends is married to a lovely woman from Thailand and he has followed this story closely. He says the coach is Hero #2. After I posted something on FB regarding the diver who died, my friend posted this yesterday on FB:

"One of the two greatest heroes of this tragic episode. The other being the young assistant soccer coach that went into the cave looking for "his" boys, found them, led them to a safe place when the cave suddenly flooded, kept them together, kept them calm, and kept them safe for two weeks now.. . . .The real story is that the kids went in on their own (which they apparently often did) and when they didn't return home, some of the parents called the coach asking if he knew where they were. He took it upon himself to go looking for them. Apparently by the time he found them there was no way for any of them to get out, so he led them to a safe place to await the hoped for rescue that finally came."

7/10/18, 10:29 AM

narciso said...

No I don't think so Mr. Cooper they are working off a script, to be as nasty as possible.

J. Farmer said...

@FullMoon:

The real story is that the kids went in on their own (which they apparently often did) and when they didn't return home, some of the parents called the coach asking if he knew where they were.

With all due respect to the original poster, I do not think this is accurate at all. I, too, have followed this story very closely and have been in touch with friends of mine in Chiang Rai to see if local coverage has differed significantly from international coverage. I have yet to here this claim, which would be a major correction to every news outlets' coverage hitherto. Also, in the handwritten notes that were sent out, the coach apologizes to the family, which would be an odd thing given the series of events described here.

FullMoon said...

IT was a birthday celebration after Saturday morning football practice. The 12 boys — members of Moo Pa, the Wild Boars football team — were drawn to a vast and seemingly magical cave, Tham Luang.

It’s two weeks ago now since it all began. The boys, aged 11 to 16, rode their bikes down to the cave and spent 700 baht ($28) at the local shop, buying food, soft drink and sweets.

They left their bikes at the entrance and descended deep into the cave. The sign nearby warning that venturing inside during the wet season was dangerous because of the risk of sudden flooding meant little — this was a place they knew and loved.

Rescue on for trapped Thai cave boys

They were a motley mob — hill tribe lads, Shan, Lahu and Lua, plus a couple of Lanna Thai (boys from the north) — on a boys’ own adventure. But their little journey of exploration was badly timed. A torrential downpour, hardly surprising at this time of year — rudu fon (rainy season) — has left them in a dire predicament.

Family members raised the alarm later that day. Where were they?

Their parents’ concern drove their coach 25-year-old Ekapol Jantawong, a stateless orphan who shared their love of football, to the cave. Near the entrance, he found their bikes, a discovery that meant he had to go deep inside to try to locate them and bring them back.

https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/world/thai-cave-rescue-how-the-cave-nightmare-began-ng-b88889337z

J. Farmer said...

@FullMoon:

I do not think this news story is accurate and does not make sense given everything that has been reported to this point. See, for example, this story in The Guardian, which unlike the Australian news site, actually quotes individuals involved in the story:

Songpol Kanthawong, 13, did not take a bike to practice that day. Thaweechai Nameng, 13, was ordered by his parents to return home to catch up on his homework.

Both narrowly avoided the fate of their 12 teammates, who have spent the past dozen days stranded several kilometres inside the Tham Luang cave while an entire country rallies behind the effort to free them.

Around 9pm on the day the boys left for the caves, Kanthawong got a call from his uncle, one of the team’s coaches. “Do you know where Ekk is?” he asked, in reference to the 25-year-old assistant coach stuck along with the boys.

“They went to the cave,” Kanthawong says he replied. It set off a frantic investigation by family and club members. Around 11.30pm that night, the coach called Kanthawong’s mother back with the news. “Their bikes are still in front of the the cave.”


The children were missing precisely because they had become trapped in the cave, which would have meant the coach could not have reached them by that time. Also, had the coach been dispatched by the parents to retrieve the boys, it seems odd that the team's coach would be searching for the assistant coach as well.

Several family members have been interviewed by the media, and I have yet to see one quote where any of the members of the family corroborate that view of events.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Pp, isn't that exactly what you are guilty of by denying the effects of illegal immigration? *See my comment above directed to you.

When Trump gets off on separating toddlers from their parents and sending them alone, without even legal counsel or a guardian, through the bureaucratic system - I know that his motivation is cruelty, not concern.

When Trump pretends that he's going to revive dead economies like coal I know that he is not in touch with reality. When he bullies countries party to the WHO for promoting healthy practices like breast feeding simply to beat the chests of formula manufacturers, I know that he is tireless in what kind of unhealthy cruelty he will pursue simply for a show of force to billionaires that Russia wouldn't let him sustain.

Immigration probably has an effect on low income workers (and an even greater effect on low information voters, like FullMoon). How much of an effect - especially when compared to other measures taken on behalf of the working poor in industrialized democracies? Who knows. Trump certainly doesn't seem to want to provide the poor with insurance and other things that drive them into bankruptcy, let alone a humane family leave policy.

But I find it ridiculous to be asked to care more about low income workers than those people are willing to care about the indigent, the infirm, the elderly, the weak and the children. Those who do have more credibility by me when they then want to talk about their narrow, adamantly held impulses re: work and immigration. It's too easy to hate the foreigner. Show me that you actually care about the most unlucky Americans - unluckier even than low-wage workers - and then I might find you credible.

buwaya said...

hill tribe lads = "deplorables"

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

As we can see, while the left shrieks about "Trump" and how dangerous he is, the fact remains that they are still free and not in camps. Meanwhile, does anyone doubt that if Ritmo were in charge he'd be sitting on a pile of skulls and bathing in blood from conservatives he's murdered?

You don't. But that's because you're a self-hating, paranoid moron with an inferiority complex.

Besides, I'm more than happy to allow the Great White Die-Off to take its course instead. I don't really ever wish death on anyone - much less seek to carry it out - but clearly your lot are a suicidally stupid one, and one that only ever found the closest thing it could find to political salvation in a sick, hateful, compassionless, trash-talking moron.

Of course, I'm sure you reject science generally, let alone the geochemistry of climate and how a certain atmosphere makes that possible. But let's illustrate a point closer to home: Colonel Sessions thinks that the harmless substance known as marijuana is the devil's weed, and is willing to prosecute against it full-force. And yet, study after study shows that opioid-overdose deaths decrease in states that have made cannabis more available. This is no longer controversial even in the medical community.

So what will Trump do? Continue letting Colonel Sessions prosecute to the hilt while doing nothing about the opioid overdose epidemic that constitutes a big part of The Great White Die-Off.

What better example exists of people so stupid and hateful that no matter how much you tell them to stop what they're doing to themselves and to others, still persist?

As Geoffrey Feiger said of Dr. Kevorkian, when insisting he represent himself in court - I don't participate in the assisted suicides of my clients.

And I won't interfere with your own political demographic's suicide, either. It must be something you really want.

Follow your dreams, Vance. Right off that cliff. You're not the only one who will be better off.

pacwest said...

"Show me that you actually care about the most unlucky Americans - unluckier even than low-wage workers - and then I might find you credible."

I just did that. You came up with some gobeldy gook about Trump being a sadistic bastard who has children in the basement of the Whitehouse that he tourtures on a nightly basis, and sells the parts to the Russians.

I know this stuff is hard to digest when you have invested so heavily in emotions rather than realities, but that way is madness.

I am disappointed (yes, I know you don't care, and have some invectives to throw at me) that you were unable to follow up on your comment regarding wanting to see information leading to the conclusion that illegal immigration is a net negative for the US. There are many other factors that lead to the same conclusion. I won't bother you again, as your comment shows you are unwilling (probably not unable, just unwilling) to engage in rational conversation.

I have tried the same thing with Inga. I don't understand why you two feel so threatened when your blind partisanship is challenged. To me it is a natural part of life to be checking out one's premises and assumptions. It keeps you from making conclusions that bite you in the ass later down the road. Try it. You never know.

All the best.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

"Show me that you actually care about the most unlucky Americans - unluckier even than low-wage workers - and then I might find you credible."

I just did that.


No you didn't.

None of your comments said a thing about kids, elderly or uninsured. Not a single one. So we know which one here is being the blind partisan.

Trump is setting up a kangaroo supreme court as we speak that will absolve him of any personal responsibility for avoiding criminal prosecution, judge litigants on the basis of their wealth, and finish the fight to strip 25 million Americans of health coverage. The fact that you don't see this monster of a man for what he is is horrifying.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Trump being a sadistic bastard who has children in the basement of the Whitehouse that he tourtures on a nightly basis..

He prefers to let them die in the streets.

What has Colonel Sessions done to stop the opioid epidemic? Apart from preventing addicts from accessing much safer alternatives such as cannabis, which decreases the opioid death rate in states that legalized it by about 20%?

Not sure why I'm asking the question, though. Matters of life and death clearly aren't important to people who live in a fantasy.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

But hey, those immigrants!

And their 3-year old kids, who clearly must be separated from their parents and made to face the state housing and prosecuting them without any guardian accompanying or attending to them whatsoever.

It takes a truly sick mind to dream up nightmares like this, and priorities as warped as yours are to support it.

It's Auschwitz 2.0. A kinder, gentler concentration camp. But one still just as big on the "forcible separation of kids and parents" thing.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Ask Ben Shapiro about the anti-Nazi creds of the Trump crowd. Targeted by more Nazis on social media than anyone in 2016.

There were bad people on all sides in Charlottesville, we're told.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I don't understand why you two feel so threatened when your blind partisanship is challenged.

You have a president who:

Was not popularly elected,

Governs against the will of the majority,

Maintains a court that perpetuates gerrymandering,

That will adjudicate based on the wealth of the litigants,

Who hates facts and science - going so far as to oppose breastfeeding.

I could go on forever.

Rest assured your own blind partisanship is secured in law and protected by your government from any empowered challenge.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Good night bootlicker.

I'll try to follow your sociopathic example and be less "invested in (normal, human) emotions." We should calmly, coolly stand by and appreciate the cold, calculating ruination of the country and its people.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“I have tried the same thing with Inga. I don't understand why you two feel so threatened when your blind partisanship is challenged.”

Says the blind man.

pacwest said...

Yes blind. Stop illegal immigration. Raise wages for the unskilled workers. Relieve the strain placed on state medicaid which frees money for the truly disenfrachised. My god, you folk are truly and blindly dense. The very policies you are advocating are the ones killing the poor, separating families, etc. But economics don't matter I guess. Better yet let's just suspend the laws of physics and transmute rocks into food and medicine. If wishes were fishes. It's like talking to third graders. Frustrating.

gilbar said...

so, i'm getting a pool started, on what Chuck will do next?
Positions:
Will respond saying: Well; whenever *I* hear the word SEAL, i think of our boys, so..
Will respond completely obliviously, and act like he isn't the idiot that he is
Will just NOT respond to this thread, being the coward that he is
I think that's all the possible positions, but feel free to add one.


And the results are in! The winner is:
Will just NOT respond to this thread, being the coward that he is

Aussie Pundit said...

Now, the coach faces some serious question regarding his decision to bring the team into that cave in the first place.

The coach didn't lead them into the cave, despite early reports. He went looking for them.

Aussie Pundit said...

How the cave nightmare began

Family members raised the alarm later that day. Where were they?
Their parents’ concern drove their coach 25-year-old Ekapol Jantawong, a stateless orphan who shared their love of football, to the cave. Near the entrance, he found their bikes, a discovery that meant he had to go deep inside to try to locate them and bring them back.

Bad Lieutenant said...

One who despicably looks upon them as competitors.


Assuming "them" is wetbacks, ie illegal immigrants - and I use the slur to be frank, as I believe you desired, about my displeasure - indeed they are vicious competitors.

Not to me, I don't do menial work and I don't live in border states. But they are death to the American black.

We owe the American black something, even though nothing we try works (most all the treats we try to offer get snapped up by non-American blacks, who don't need them). We don't owe Mexico shit. We owe Honduras even less.

J. Farmer said...

@Aussie Pundit:

The coach didn't lead them into the cave, despite early reports. He went looking for them.

That claim has been reported in exactly one source: Perth Now. And the writer, Jim Pollard, does not quote a single family member in support of it. Consider this story from The Guardian, in which other team members who did not go into the cave were named and quoted directly:

Songpol Kanthawong, 13, did not take a bike to practice that day. Thaweechai Nameng, 13, was ordered by his parents to return home to catch up on his homework.

Both narrowly avoided the fate of their 12 teammates, who have spent the past dozen days stranded several kilometres inside the Tham Luang cave while an entire country rallies behind the effort to free them.

Around 9pm on the day the boys left for the caves, Kanthawong got a call from his uncle, one of the team’s coaches. “Do you know where Ekk is?” he asked, in reference to the 25-year-old assistant coach stuck along with the boys.

“They went to the cave,” Kanthawong says he replied. It set off a frantic investigation by family and club members. Around 11.30pm that night, the coach called Kanthawong’s mother back with the news. “Their bikes are still in front of the the cave.”

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