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Thailand on the Verge of Historic Change: Government Endorses Bill to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage

(CTN News) – When it comes to his wedding day, Somphat Satanavat is planning big.
He has searched for the ideal neoclassical or colonial-style hotel to host the feast. He has thought about who should play traditional Thai music and clearly knows what he wants to perform.
For him and his long-term partner, it remains an unfulfilled fantasy because he is gay and lives in Thailand, a country where marriage is legally mandated to only involve males.
I [am] planning only in my mind,” Somphat stated.
Maybe that will change shortly.
A measure to expand the definition of marriage in Thailand’s Civil and Commercial Code to include any two “individuals” was approved last week by the cabinet of the Thai government.
Legalizing same-sex marriage would make Thailand the second Asian country (after Taiwan) to do so and the first in Southeast Asia if Parliament were to approve the measure.
With any luck, next month will find the administration moving swiftly to hold the first of three votes necessary for the bill to become law.
The prime minister is eager to push it. Government spokesperson Chai Watcharong told Al Jazeera that the bill’s sponsor is eager to get it debated in Parliament as quickly as possible.
“All legal rights after they marry will be 100 percent like man and woman,” he stated, if and when confirmed.
Since everyone should be free to choose their own lifestyle, we don’t see any reason to say no. They love each other even though they are male.hence, they ought to be entitled to it,” he emphasized.
The two preceding administrations introduced two separate bills legalizing same-sex unions or marriage. On each occasion, however, they could not pass a bill through the lower house before Parliament was dissolved to allow for national elections, thus beginning the process all over again.
Those fighting for LGBTQ rights in Thailand see this as their greatest chance to pass the bill so far.
With just a few months left in its four-year term in office, the Thai government has more than enough time to pass the measure (barring an unexpected coup or collapse). The measure has the support of major political parties from both the Republican and Democratic camps.
Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand policy analyst and consultant Rapeepun Jommaroeng anticipates resistance from certain religious groups, particularly the Christian and Muslim minorities in the mostly Buddhist nation. The organization fights for LGBTQ rights. They will probably not scuttle the bill, though, he claims.
The country’s stance on forcing religious leaders, priests, or monks to officiate same-sex marriages has been made clear, according to Rapeepun.
Nobody is being coerced into doing something they aren’t comfortable with by this law. According to him, this is intentionally broad so that everyone can have equality.
All it takes is freedom and liberty for two people to be together.
The fact that Muslims in Thailand’s southernmost regions can seek to have Islamic law supersede some national laws (except those about defense and security) could also help the measure pass more easily.
Muslims in the south should, therefore, be exempt from the Civil and Commercial Code and its modifications.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, government spokesman Chai stated that the rule does not pertain to Muslims residing in certain provinces.
In contrast, members of Thailand’s LGBTQ community see this measure as a harbinger of a new day, one that will grant them more tolerance, equality, and freedom to be who they truly are.
“If it passes, it means that the country has progressed to another level of civil liberty or civil freedom to recognize the diversity in Thai society,” Rapeepun stated.
“Now is the moment for them to revel in being authentic and free from deceit.”
According to Tunyawat Kamolwongwat, one of the first four openly LGBTQ MPs elected to Thailand’s Parliament in 2019, it can genuinely mean the difference between life and death.
The re-election took place in May, and he reflected about a journey to the north of the nation last year. During that trip, a young woman came up to him and told him the story of a gay buddy who had been rejected by his family and had taken his own life.
His family’s rejection of his lifestyle led him to make the decision to end his own life. “I believe things will change soon so people can come out,” Tunyawat added, adding that he was crying when she told him the story.
According to Tunyawat, the LGBTQ community would finally have a voice with the legalization of same-sex marriage.
We may stand up and tell the bully, ‘I am a human being, and you are not.’ Because everyone has the same rights.
Additionally, the bill would remove a number of barriers that have previously only been available to married people, including the ability to adopt children from same-sex couples.
Declining that they are legally a couple is not just about marriage status. Transgender activist and gender studies professor at Thammasat University in Thailand Kath Khangpiboon said that there is a legal component as well as social welfare, social assistance, and other benefits.
The advantages include tax breaks and the ability for spouses to co-manage assets, transfer wealth on to one other, and provide medical consent to each other.
For example, Somphat, owner of a confectionary company, has been troubled by thoughts of not being able to leave his share in the operation to his life and business partner in the event of his death or by the prospect that his partner may be denied the ability to make decisions regarding his medical care if he falls into a coma.
Marriage would also open up a world of public health benefits for LGBTQ government workers.
A trans woman Somphat knew from her time teaching at a public school shared the story of her boyfriend, who desperately needed thousands of dollars to pay for treatment for a terminal disease.
Somphat related that the couple was unable to tie the knot, which meant that the lady could not include her partner in her health insurance, and since they could not afford the therapy, he tragically passed away.
“I would prefer to spend the day enjoying flowers and company rather than merely exchanging rings,” Somphat stated. He emphasized the importance of our country’s laws acknowledging his identity.
The bill’s backers hope that if Parliament approves it, Thailand’s legal climate will reflect the country’s reputation as an ally to the LGBTQ community.
Nearly 80% of respondents to a 2022 National Institute of Development Administration poll favored making same-sex marriage legal.
Proponents of the bill say the military, which supports the country’s extremely conservative monarchy and has substantial political clout both directly and through proxy parties, and conservative political contributors are to blame for the bill’s slow development.
The pressure from Thailand’s neighbors, according to Rapeepun, is another reason for the delay.
The Muslim-majority Southeast Asian nations of Brunei and Malaysia, as well as Myanmar, have passed laws criminalizing homosexual and lesbian intercourse. For people who are longing for change elsewhere or for those who are fleeing persecution because of their sexual orientation, he believes that Thailand can soon serve as a “beacon” of hope.
Somphat can’t wait for that day to arrive.
“If it is feasible, I will visit the government office and register to be married on the first day,” he declared.
“I can tell anyone, by the law he’s my husband…” he said. It sounds like it’s going to be a joyous occasion.

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

A recent report indicates that since Trudeau’s announcement of his gun buyback program four years ago, almost none of the banned firearms have been surrendered.
The federal government plans to purchase 2,063 firearm models from retailers following the enactment of Bill C-21, which amends various Acts and introduces certain consequential changes related to firearms. It was granted royal assent on December 15 of last year.
This ban immediately criminalized the actions of federally-licensed firearms owners regarding the purchase, sale, transportation, importation, exportation, or use of hundreds of thousands of rifles and shotguns that were previously legal.
The gun ban focused on what it termed ‘assault-style weapons,’ which are, in reality, traditional semi-automatic rifles and shotguns that have enjoyed popularity among hunters and sport shooters for over a century.
In May 2020, the federal government enacted an Order-in-Council that prohibited 1,500 types of “assault-style” firearms and outlined specific components of the newly banned firearms. Property owners must adhere to the law by October 2023.
Trudeau’s Buyback Hasn’t Happened
“In the announcement regarding the ban, the prime minister stated that the government would seize the prohibited firearms, assuring that their lawful owners would be ‘grandfathered’ or compensated fairly.” “That hasn’t happened,” criminologist Gary Mauser told Rebel News.
Mauser projected expenses ranging from $2.6 billion to $6.7 billion. The figure reflects the compensation costs amounting to $756 million, as outlined by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).
“The projected expenses for gathering the illegal firearms are estimated to range from $1.6 billion to $7 billion.” “This range estimate increases to between $2.647 billion and $7 billion when compensation costs to owners are factored in,” Mauser stated.
Figures requested by Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs concerning firearms prohibited due to the May 1, 2020 Order In Council reveal that $72 million has been allocated to the firearm “buyback” program, yet not a single firearm has been confiscated to date.
In a recent revelation, Public Safety Canada disclosed that the federal government allocated a staggering $41,094,556, as prompted by an order paper question from Conservative Senator Don Plett last September, yet yielded no tangible outcomes.
An internal memo from late 2019 revealed that the Liberals projected their politically motivated harassment would incur a cost of $1.8 billion.
Enforcement efforts Questioned
By December 2023, estimates from TheGunBlog.ca indicate that the Liberals and RCMP had incurred or were responsible for approximately $30 million in personnel expenses related to the enforcement efforts. The union representing the police service previously stated that the effort to confiscate firearms is a “misdirected effort” aimed at ensuring public safety.
“This action diverts crucial personnel, resources, and funding from tackling the more pressing and escalating issue of criminal use of illegal firearms,” stated the National Police Federation (NPF).
The Canadian Sporting Arms & Ammunition Association (CSAAA), representing firearms retailers, has stated it will have “zero involvement” in the confiscation of these firearms. Even Canada Post held back from providing assistance due to safety concerns.
The consultant previously assessed that retailers are sitting on almost $1 billion worth of inventory that cannot be sold or returned to suppliers because of the Order-In-Council.
“Despite the ongoing confusion surrounding the ban, after four years, we ought to be able to address one crucial question.” Has the prohibition enhanced safety for Canadians? Mauser asks.
Illegally Obtained Firearms are the Problem
Statistics Canada reports a 10% increase in firearm-related violent crime between 2020 and 2022, rising from 12,614 incidents to 13,937 incidents. In that timeframe, the incidence of firearm-related violent crime increased from 33.7 incidents per 100,000 population in 2021 to 36.7 incidents the subsequent year.
“This marks the highest rate documented since the collection of comparable data began in 2009,” the criminologist explains.
Supplementary DataData indicates that firearm homicides have risen since 2020. “The issue lies not with lawfully-held firearms,” Mauser stated.
Firearms that have been banned under the Order-in-Council continue to be securely stored in the safes of their lawful owners. The individuals underwent a thorough vetting process by the RCMP and are subject to nightly monitoring to ensure there are no infractions that could pose a risk to public safety.
“The firearms involved in homicides were seldom legally owned weapons wielded by their rightful owners,” Mauser continues. The number of offenses linked to organized crime has surged from 4,810 in 2016 to a staggering 13,056 in 2020.
“If those in power … aim to diminish crime and enhance public safety, they ought to implement strategies that effectively focus on offenders and utilize our limited tax resources judiciously to reach these objectives,” he stated.
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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

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
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
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