News
Student Protesters in Thailand Label their Critics as Dinosaurs

Student protesters in support of the Free People movement in Thailand, have labelled their critics, many of whom come from older age groups, as dinosaurs. A war of words has broken out in Thailand, particularly on social media.
The Thai youth-led protests began with three demands: House dissolution, amendment to the constitution and an end to the intimidation of state critics. Later, a 10-point proposal to reform the monarchy was announced at the Thammasat gathering on Aug 10. Sparking yet more controversy in an already divided Thai political arena.
The Free Youth group has also expanded into the Free People group and over 10,000 people joined the rally at Democracy Monument on Aug 16. The repetition of their calls has also drawn warnings and opposition from those who say politics must be kept out of schools.
Eyebrows were raised again over the past week as anti-government activities spread to even more junior school levels. With the three-finger salute and the use of white ribbons making appearances in many schools around the country.
Respect the civil rights of the students
Arthitaya Pronprom, 18, a leader of political rallies at Mahidol University, told the Bangkok Post in her opinion, politics is everyone’s business. “Everyone’s voice should be equal and everyone should have an equal opportunity to have their opinion heard. However, in Thailand, students and teenagers are being attacked by older members of society who say that we are politically naive or brainwashed,” she said.
Ms Arthitaya said she wants adults to respect the civil rights of the students as well as realize that students have minds of their own.
“Students nowadays learn about Thai political history, which is not taught in schools, through the internet and social media. It may be that we have more sources of information than they ever had. We absorb the facts and realize numerous problems are hidden under the carpet in this country. We see injustice and inequality and we want change,” she argued.
Ms Arthitaya said many among the older generation seek to avoid vigorous face-to-face arguments by changing the subject or making light of it, while she and her peers are more inclined to speak out against what they perceive to be injustice or mistreatment.
“Just because we have a different vision of how Thailand ought to be in the future, it doesn’t mean we hate the nation. The tensions between the generations can be eased if we start to listen to each other. The government should respect students’ freedom of expression and be open-minded towards our demands,” she said.
Students in Thailand risk-taking behaviour is a good thing
Assoc Prof Sirichai Hongsanguansri, a specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry at the Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, said each generation is shaped by a different set of circumstances. Attributing the student protests to a climate of growing inequality and injustice.
When asked whether they are being manipulated by others, Assoc Prof Sirichai said he believed that was a myth. “Their brains can analyze and grasp abstract concepts, such as injustice, at this stage. In fact, anyone can be gullible regardless of their age. They may be careless and single-minded due to their limited experience. But their risk-taking behaviour is a good thing,” he said.
Suriyasai Katasila, dean at Rangsit University’s College of Social Innovation, and a former coordinator of the yellow-shirt People’s Alliance for Democracy and co-founder of the Action Coalition for Thailand (ACT), has called the student movement a “new frontier” in Thai politics which transcends the color-coded conflicts of the past.
Yuttaporn Issarachai, a political scientist from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, said while the generation gap might also be a factor. Its ideologies and the will to instigate change that brought the protesters together.
However, he also noted that political groupings of the past have also sought to align themselves with the young.
Thai Academics warn of cultural earthquake
Suvinai Pornavalai, a former economics lecturer at Thammasat University, warned that student protests against authorities are creating a “cultural earthquake” in the same vein as China’s Cultural Revolution.
In 1966, Chinese leader Mao Zedong launched a political campaign against capitalist influence, allowing youths known as Red Guards to destroy perceived enemies of Chinese culture. They followed and spread Mao’s teachings contained in Little Red Books. The period of upheaval ended with Mao’s death in 1976.
Wasana Wongsurawat, a history lecturer at Chulalongkorn University, however, dismissed the comparison as well as the context, saying that Thai student protests actually show the government’s lack of cultural power over the younger generation. “Its attempts to manipulate cultural production have not been successful.
For example, textbooks portray Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha as a great leader. But schools are no longer the centre of knowledge when what is on the internet is apparently more convincing,” she said.
Clashes between liberal and conservative values
Kanokrat Lertchoosakul, a political science lecturer at Chulalongkorn University, challenged the tokenisation of the youth-led demonstrations as a generational conflict, stressing that such a discourse is more of an attempt to discredit the movement than it is an effective refutation of its arguments.
“They are clashes between liberal and conservative values. These progressive students are the by-products of liberal efforts over the past 20 years. They grew up in families who encourage out-of-the-box thinking. In addition, they are digital natives used to robust debate on social media,” she said.
Asst Prof Kanokrat cited examples from her research in which she has interviewed over 80 students who joined pro-democracy rallies in seven provinces since the flash mobs began in February.
One student called her school is “the very agent of authoritarianism”, while another described her alma mater as “hell” over its fussy rules on hairstyles, said the professor.
Asst Prof Kanokrat said student protesters know about the Oct 14, 1973 uprising and the Oct 6, 1976 massacre, but believe the expression of political opinions does not necessarily provoke violence and the potential for violence is being played up by ill-intentioned adults who oppose their views.
Effective education reform fro students in Thailand
Mr Suriyasai argues that “It is time to implement national reforms where possible to ease the pressure. Reforms are long overdue and they should no longer be used by parties to vouch for votes in an election.
“If we look carefully and deeply, we will see problems in schools. Opening up for children to discuss and find solutions is a good thing. Creating safe spaces for political discussion in schools is a smart solution by the education minister and it might hopefully lead to effective education reform.”
Asst Prof Kanokrat proposed that schools become forward-thinking institutions and respect student rights in a productive way.
“Don’t just organise hearings. It is reforming government policies that will help defuse tensions,” she said.
While on the 10 demands related to the monarchy, Mr Suriyasai said the question is not if the issue can be raised, but how it can be discussed in a reasonable and proper manner.
Source: Bangkok Post

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

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.
According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.
Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.
Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding
Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.
Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.
Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.
To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.
Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.
On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.
In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.
Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

Pixa Bay
Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding
On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.
TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.
When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.
And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.
Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.
A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.
Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.
But today, it feels more like reality.
Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.
SOURCE | CNN
News
2024 | Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

Washington — Trump Media, The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear an appeal from social media platform X about a search warrant acquired by prosecutors in the election meddling case against former President Donald Trump.
The justices did not explain their rationale, and there were no recorded dissents.
The firm, which was known as Twitter before being purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, claims a nondisclosure order that prevented it from informing Trump about the warrant obtained by special counsel Jack Smith’s team violated its First Amendment rights.
The business also claims Trump should have had an opportunity to exercise executive privilege. If not reined in, the government may employ similar tactics to intercept additional privileged communications, their lawyers contended.
Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case
Two neutral electronic privacy groups also joined in, urging the high court to hear the case on First Amendment grounds.
Prosecutors, however, claim that the corporation never shown that Trump utilized the account for official purposes, therefore executive privilege is not a problem. A lower court also determined that informing Trump could have compromised the current probe.
Trump utilized his Twitter account in the weeks preceding up to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to spread false assertions about the election, which prosecutors claim were intended to create doubt in the democratic process.
The indictment describes how Trump used his Twitter account to encourage his followers to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification, and falsely claiming that the Capitol crowd, which battered police officers and destroyed glass, was peaceful.
Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case
That case is now moving forward following the Supreme Court’s verdict in July, which granted Trump full immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president.
The warrant arrived at Twitter amid quick changes implemented by Musk, who bought the company in 2022 and has since cut off most of its workforce, including those dedicated to combating disinformation and hate speech.
SOURCE | AP
News
The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.
The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.
Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.
This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.
In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.
The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.
This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.
The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.
In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.
According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.
Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.
The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.
Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.
For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.
Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.
As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.
As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.
The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.
SOURCE: AP
SEE ALSO:
Could Last-Minute Surprises Derail Kamala Harris’ Campaign? “Nostradamus” Explains the US Poll.
-
News4 years ago
Let’s Know About Ultra High Net Worth Individual
-
Entertainment2 years ago
Mabelle Prior: The Voice of Hope, Resilience, and Diversity Inspiring Generations
-
Health4 years ago
How Much Ivermectin Should You Take?
-
Tech2 years ago
Top Forex Brokers of 2023: Reviews and Analysis for Successful Trading
-
News11 years ago
Enviromental Groups Tell Mekong Leaders Lao Dam Evaluation Process Flawed
-
Lifestyles3 years ago
Aries Soulmate Signs
-
Entertainment3 years ago
What Should I Do If Disney Plus Keeps Logging Me Out of TV?
-
Health3 years ago
Can I Buy Ivermectin Without A Prescription in the USA?