Buckets of trouble
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This isn't the first time the US State Department has been accused of tardiness, but thankfully no real damage was done.
Except that maybe its ambassador in Thailand, Kristie Kenney, is feeling a little embarrassed.
What happened was that former Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt challenged Kenney last Thursday to undergo the giddily contagious Ice Bucket Challenge. Kenney subsequently posted a clip of her dousing on Instagram and, unable to decide which charity should get the ensuing donations, asked people to just send money to the good cause of their choice. “Volunteer, make a difference,” she urged her followers.
The next day another bucket of water landed on her head in the form of an internal State Department memo, of which the Associated Press “obtained a copy”, as they say in the trade. It forbids America’s ambassadors and other high-profile diplomats from participating in the charity stunt since it runs counter to federal ethics rules: Staff can’t use public office for private gain “no matter how worthy the cause”.
The memo makes no mention of punishment should its recipients choose to go get wet anyway, but at least Kris Kenney has ample proof that the new rule was imposed only after she’d endured the ice water. It’s too bad, though: There are times when John Kerry could really use a good soaking.
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Tongue’s wag over DJ Je Mam “wedding rehearsal”
Vinai "DJ Je Mam" Suksawang managed to make some noise apart from his music recently when he announced he was becoming the “lifetime partner” of another man, whom he refers to only as Boy. They met in June and Je Mam soon decided that Boy was Mr Right, as in worth getting married to.
The deejay first spilled the beans about his guy last month on the Channel 3 news show “Ruang Lao Chao Nee”, telling that Sutthanasuchinda bloke that he and Boy had a serious relationship going.
It got tongues wagging, of course, but not nearly as much as when photos of what looked like a wedding started circulating on the social media soon after. The celebrated celebrity wedding lensman Jakawin Photography took the pictures, so it must be a wedding, right? And look, there’s TV host Woody Militajinda serving as witness at the ceremony.
“Not a wedding,” DJ Je Mam confessed to the nosy people on the Nation Channel’s “Nation Midnight” last week. All that romantic scenery in the pictures was just part of a show Woody was shooting. “I was totally surprised that Woody had created such an atmosphere, but we only did pre-wedding photos,” he said. And, yes, Jakawin was there to take them.
There will be an actual wedding, Je Mam said, but not until next year – and it’ll be a lot more private than this.
