Rex Preston Stoner
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rexpstoner.bsky.social
Rex Preston Stoner
@rexpstoner.bsky.social
Risk Management | International Business Consultant - Georgetown University (MSc, Foreign Service), Washington DC - Political Risk/International Macroeconomics
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
Your logins will live on after you pass on. Make sure they end up in the right hands. www.wired.com/story/how-to...
Where Do Your Passwords Go When You Die?
Your logins will live on after you pass on. Make sure they end up in the right hands.
www.wired.com
September 29, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
“Deadly fettuccini outbreak”- these really are the dark ages if pasta is deadly.
September 27, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
has somebody thought of switching the US off and on again
September 19, 2025 at 12:59 PM
THAILAND/POLITICS : Essential reading for those following the endless cycle of political instability in Thailand, a country almost engineered for periodic political self-destruction.
Good morning...or is it? After the ouster of PM Paetongtarn, the scramble to form the next Thai govt is on.

- Pheu Thai Party-coalition sticks together, but does NOT confirm Chaikasem as PM pick
- Bhumjaithai Party claims to have enough votes with @peoplesparty.or.th

🧵Here's a break down...
August 30, 2025 at 4:15 AM
Slightly diminish a band :

“The Beetles”.
slightly dimish a band:

Fine Young Omnivores
August 13, 2025 at 5:13 AM
“Heart of Darkness” : This is a great read for those still intrigued by Conrad’s novella. 👇🏻
Sunday Pages: "Heart of Darkness" A novel by Joseph Conrad
@gregolear.bsky.social
How can we read Heart of Darkness today and not think of the disgustingly wealthy white men from Africa hellbent on destroying our country and the world for their own material gain?
open.substack.com/pub/gregolea...
Sunday Pages: "Heart of Darkness"
A novel by Joseph Conrad
open.substack.com
August 6, 2025 at 1:07 AM
THAILAND : "With those conditions set, wh/ already left the military with great influence over civilian politicians, in recent months the army has sent fairly clear signals that, after years of reformist parties trying to restrain it, it wants to be back in full power."
www.cfr.org/article/coup...
Is a Coup Coming Soon in Thailand?
Are signs pointing to a coup in Thailand?
www.cfr.org
June 27, 2025 at 12:56 AM
THAILAND : Rama X's son, Vacharaesorn, has been deported, according to this breaking report from Time's Charlie Campbell.

On June 23rd, "Vacharaesorn was escorted to Suvarnabhumi International Airport and ordered on [sic] a flight to New York City, ..." 1/2

time.com/7298029/thai...
Exclusive: Thai Princes Banished Again, Eldest Says ‘I Did Nothing Wrong’
Juthavachara Vivacharawongse speaks exclusively with TIME about his family’s banishment from Thailand and his desire for reconciliation.
time.com
June 26, 2025 at 11:47 PM
THAILAND/CORRUPTION : This piece (below) from the Substack by @mattyglesias.bsky.social entitled "The stationary bandits of New York City" got me thinking as I continue my research into institutionalized corruption in Thailand. It explores the concept of government as... 1/
June 26, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
2/2 1 new prize is for "The Voices of Women, Workers, and the Forgottten" & his post ends: "Let us remember: democracy does not only live in parliaments, but in memory, ideas, & the courage to speak." (Netiwit figures centrally in the book I talk about here www.dissentmagazine.org/online_artic... )
The Struggle Against Autocracy in Asia - Dissent Magazine
An interview with Jeffrey Wasserstrom, author of The Milk Tea Alliance.
www.dissentmagazine.org
June 25, 2025 at 12:34 AM
THAILAND : Greetings from BKK. Pl note below. How shall I advise my Thai colleagues ? Pls share if poss. @emptywheel.bsky.social @nuclearanthro.bsky.social
June 23, 2025 at 5:56 AM
The number of American MAGA supporters I encounter in Thailand is genuinely shocking incl their weird sympathies for RU. Anyway…see below. 👇🏻
June 21, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Excellent ! 😆👇🏻
COMFORTABLY NUMB in a bluegrass (?) style by a band that insists they're called Salty Strings, from here in Santa Barbara. Outside La Arcada opposite Satellite, as is a standard staging area for live music these days. They'd earlier played a version of NORWEGIAN WOOD. #PinkFloyd
June 20, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
And, this is a dumb example of Trump trying to leave his mark on us, but it's the part that stands for the whole. Every day, he wants to win the day and make us think he's a hero who can never be forgotten: jennifermercieca.substack.com/p/trump-is-o...
Trump is or is becoming the Leviathan
And it's really not good
jennifermercieca.substack.com
June 20, 2025 at 1:17 AM
THAILAND : This reporter’s understatement of the week :

“It is hard to read whether the minister’s optimism is warranted.”

It’s not. It’s the time-honored tradition of Thai public officials floating wildly over optimistic forecasts.
June 17, 2025 at 8:15 AM
THAILAND/LESE MAJESTE : Songchai Niamhom is a prominent ultra-royalist in Thailand, self-proclaimed leader of the King Protection Group, a small but active vigilante organization in the southern provinces. 1/2
Clothing vendor arrested for royal defamation over Facebook posts
Clothing vendor arrested for royal defamation over Facebook posts A clothing vendor was arrested last Thursday (12 June) and charged with royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act over two Facebook posts, after a complaint was filed against him by members of an ultra-royalist group. Kittipong Chuanwanpen (Photo from TLHR) Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that Kittipong Chuanwanpen, 45, was arrested last Thursday (12 June) while at a restaurant in Bangkok. The arrest warrant was issued by a court in Surat Thani on 10 June. Kittipong did not receive a summons before being arrested. Kittipong was held in police custody and taken to the Chai Buri Provincial Police Station in Surat Thani. He arrived on Friday morning (13 June) and was notified of his charges and questioned. He was then detained for another night at the police station before being taken to court on Saturday (14 June). TLHR said that Kittipong was charged for two Facebook posts made in March and April 2025, in which he criticised ultra-royalists for not speaking out against the King’s trips to Germany. The complaint against him was filed by Songchai Niamhom, leader of the ultra-royalist King Protection Group, known for filing royal defamation complaints across the southern provinces. Most of those Songchai accused of royal defamation do not live in the provinces complaints against them were filed in, requiring them to travel long distances for police appointments and court hearings. Kittipong was granted bail on a 100,000-baht security and released after 3 days and 2 nights in custody. He told TLHR that he is a clothing vendor and had just started working as a delivery rider for an online platform when he was arrested. He said that, while he was being transported to Surat Thani, the police did not allow him to contact a lawyer until Friday morning. He said that he felt like he was being silenced. Having a complaint filed against him in another province means that he will have to carry the expense of traveling to police and court appointments, a high cost that means that his family cannot go with him. His mobile phones were also confiscated, which will affect his work as a rider. eng editor 1 Tue, 2025-06-17 - 11:50 * News * Royal defamation * Section 112 * Computer Crimes Act * online freedom * Songchai Niamhom
dlvr.it
June 17, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
Moments like this are when you should be educating yourself, so I've put together this playlist of podcasts about the various philosophical ideas that I've based my work defining Verification, Deliberation and Accountability as pillars of healthy democracies around open.spotify.com/playlist/3NJ...
Philosophical Foundations of the VDA Framework: A Structured Listening Guide
Playlist · TheyCallMeBrownMoses · 32 items · 254 saves
open.spotify.com
June 13, 2025 at 7:45 AM
LA PROTESTS : A video 🧵. To be honest, the cops here are not nearly as brutal as their Parisian gendarmes counterparts but this is shocking all the same. 😳👇🏻
For the sixth day in a row, hundreds of anti-ICE protesters are marching through downtown LA in opposition to recent immigration raids.
June 12, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
If you're in DC and interested in Asia, it's a rich week for speakers. Jeff Wasserstrom @jwassers.bsky.social talks about his new book on dissenters in Hong Kong, Burma and Thailand, "Milk Tea Alliance," at the National Press Club on 6/12, Thursday, at 6 pm. Info: www.press.org/events/npc-h...
June 12, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
In case anyone's interested in Buddhism and how young people engage with organized religion in Thailand!
2025/42 “Examining Religious Engagement Among Thai Buddhist Undergraduates” by Panarat Anamwathana
This paper examines the relationship between Thai Buddhist undergraduates and their religion, drawing on survey data from the Youth and Civic Engagement Survey carried out by ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Insti...
www.iseas.edu.sg
June 11, 2025 at 9:20 AM
It's important to remember that these are not typically "rubber bullets"--they are "rubber-coated metal rounds."
Watch the slow motion: it appears to me that the officers discuss the photographer and reporter before the one on the end fires on them (it looks to me like he's aiming at the camera, not the reporter, but you decide)
June 9, 2025 at 3:10 AM
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
We all know AI models can now create realistic images and videos but how do they fare at identifying where a real image was taken? Bellingcat researchers have put Large Language Models to the test: www.bellingcat.com/resources/ho...
Have LLMs Finally Mastered Geolocation? - bellingcat
We tasked LLMs from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Mistral and xAI to geolocate our unpublished holiday snaps. Here's how they did.
www.bellingcat.com
June 6, 2025 at 8:09 AM
😆👇🏻 The “Jesus Conspiracy” !
June 7, 2025 at 1:03 AM
😆👇🏻
June 2, 2025 at 3:32 AM
THAILAND/AUTHORITARIANISM : From the piece 👇🏻: “This case demonstrates how Article 112 has transformed from a law intended to protect the monarchy into a tool of political repression. Its vague language allows authorities to reinterpret academic discourse as a threat to national security.”1/2
June 1, 2025 at 9:21 AM