Thailand

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Peter Navarro (Thailand) going to jail
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New books by Peace Corps writers | January — February 2024
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Charles Murray (Thailand) . . . “The Most Dangerous Conservative.”
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Peter Navarro (Thailand) sentenced to prison
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Sawadee Kha (Thailand!) January 7, 2024
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“Made it safe to San Fran” by Arleth Nelson
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REFLECTIONS OF AN AMERICAN POLITICAL PRISONER by Michael O. Billington (Guyana)
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QUICK & EASY THAI: 70 EVERYDAY RECIPES by Nancie McDermott (Thailand)
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Robert Gurevich (Thailand) Remembering November 22, 1963
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Peter Navarro (Thailand) convicted
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Review | THROUGH GRATEFUL EYES: The Peace Corps Experiences of Dartmouth’s Class of 1967
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RPCV Thomas Tighe (Thailand) — President & CEO Direct Relief
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Exploring the Peace Corps’ sixty-year history in Thailand
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Tony Waters Remembers . . . and Returns to Thailand
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THE RAZOR’S EDGE by Robert Gurevich (Thailand)

Peter Navarro (Thailand) going to jail

In the news   WASHINGTON (AP) — An appeals court denied Trump White House official and RPCV Peter Navarro’s (Thailand 1965-68) bid to stave off his jail sentence on contempt of Congress charges Thursday. Navarro has been ordered to report to a federal prison by March 19. He argued he should stay free as he appeals his conviction for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

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New books by Peace Corps writers | January — February 2024

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com — CLICK on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance from your purchase that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards. We include a brief description for each of the books listed here in hopes of encouraging readers  to order a book and/or  to VOLUNTEER TO REVIEW IT.  See a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide? Send a note to Marian at marian@haleybeil.com, and she will send you a free copy along with a few instructions. P.S. In addition to the books listed below, I have on my shelf a number of other books whose authors would love for you to review. Go to Books Available for Review to see what is on that shelf. Please, please join in our Third . . .

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Charles Murray (Thailand) . . . “The Most Dangerous Conservative.”

  The New York Times put Charles Murray on the cover of its Sunday Magazine, calling him “The Most Dangerous Conservative.”   That was after he co-wrote the book, The Bell Curve, which argued that different ethnic groups have, on average, different IQs. As Murray puts it in my video this week, “Blacks on average have a lower IQ than whites. However, whites are not at the top. East Asians, on average, have a higher IQ than whites. Ashkenazi Jews have higher IQs.” Other researchers agree. An article in ScienceDirect journal puts it this way, “East Asians and their descendants average an IQ of about 106, Europeans and their descendants about 100, and Africans and their descendants about 85.” But many people don’t believe it. Many don’t even want such topics discussed. Last time Murray tried speaking to college students, a mob shouted him down. “They’re angry at you because you’re . . .

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Peter Navarro (Thailand) sentenced to prison

In the news —  Ex-Trump adviser sentenced to 4 months in prison   Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro (Thailand 1965-68) speaking outside a federal court in Washington, D.C., in September 2023. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro was sentenced to four months in prison on Thursday for defying a 2022 congressional subpoena from the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Why it matters: Navarro is now the second Trump adviser to receive a prison sentence for refusing to testify before the panel and provide it documents related to attempts to overturn the 2020 election. In addition to his prison sentence, Navarro was ordered to pay a $9,500 fine. Catch up quickly: Navarro was accused by the Jan. 6 committee of working with fellow Trump adviser Steve Bannon and others to develop a plan to delay Congress’ certification of the 2020 election. Bannon was the first high-ranking Trump official to be sentenced . . .

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Sawadee Kha (Thailand!) January 7, 2024

I have officially made it to Thailand, the land of smiles. These last 24 hours of traveling have been crazy. It started at 6pm on the 5th bringing all of our luggage to one meeting spot, getting on busses, and traveling to the San Francisco airport. The last day and a half of the orientation/staging we really connected with our director and our training officer so we all had to take one picture together to get everyone in. What I didn’t realize is that Peace Corps staff doesn’t accompany you on the travel to country, so you can imagine how trying to get 47 Peace Corps volunteers through checkin and security TSA was… a little chaotic. Nonetheless everyone made it on to the plane departing for Taipei, Taiwan. This plane ride was the longest I have ever been on, I can remember always complaining on the 4 hour plane ride . . .

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“Made it safe to San Fran” by Arleth Nelson

About Me January 5, 2024 Yesterday was a full on travel day to San Francisco. I woke up in my Wisconsin home at 3, got dressed packed those few last minute things, loaded them in the car and me, my parents, my grandparents, my boyfriend and 2 best friends (a whole group!) trecked our way down to Green Bay for my 6am flight. The ride was sad, seeing Door County one last time. During all of yesterday I’ve was listening and resinating to the song “You’re gonna go far” by Noah Kahan. If you haven’t heard this song it’s really good and just had me in my feels with moving, I was sad to leave by I knew it’s what I needed. I am so happy with all the love I was met with by my family they really have supported all of my dreams and aspirations. My first flight was . . .

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REFLECTIONS OF AN AMERICAN POLITICAL PRISONER by Michael O. Billington (Guyana)

  Reflections of an American Political Prisoner: The Repression and Promise of the LaRouche Movement by Michael O. Billington (Guyana & Thailand 1967-71) EIR News Service 2015 435 pages $9.99 (Kindle); $19.99 (Paperback)   As part of a book tour for his autobiography Reflections of An American Political Prisoner: The Represssion and Promise of the LaRouche Movement, as seen by Michael O. Billington,  Billington, the last of the LaRouche political prisoners to be released on parole, after ten years in jail–two years in Federal prison, and an additional eight years as a inmate of the Virginia Correctional system (his sentence in Virginia was 77 years!), wrote a personal account of his political, philosophical, and moral development over nearly 35 years, including his work in the Peace Corps in the late 1960s. Most of the book is dedicated to his life and work, over the period since he became, in 1972, . . .

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QUICK & EASY THAI: 70 EVERYDAY RECIPES by Nancie McDermott (Thailand)

  About the author Nancie McDermott (Thailand 1975-78) is a North Carolina native, born in Burlington, raised in High Point, and educated at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has written 13 cookbooks. Nancie’s first 10 cookbooks focus on Asian kitchens, Her three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand gave her a lifelong love for the cuisines, history and cultures of Asia, and she has spent the last twenty years cooking, reading, traveling, writing, and teaching about Asian food. Since moving back home to North Carolina in 1999, she has written three more cookbooks which focus on recipes of the American South, the place she fell in love with cooking in her grandmother’s dairy farm kitchen. Now living with her family in Chapel Hill, NC, Nancie writes, researches, and teaches about both her beats, while serving as a contributing editor for Edible Piedmont magazine. Nancie . . .

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Robert Gurevich (Thailand) Remembering November 22, 1963

  I was a PCV (Thailand 1963-65) assigned to the Pibulsongkram Teachers College (TTC) in Pitsanuloke,Thailand as a faculty member in the English Department. My daily routine after waking up was to turn on my short-wave radio and listen to the English language news broadcasts of any station I could pick up (usually VOA or BBC). That morning, I got up a little later than usual and missed my usual start time of 6:30 am by a few minutes. When fiddling with the dial in search of a news broadcast in English, I hit upon the NHK news broadcast out of Tokyo. Since the broadcast had already started, the first thing I heard was that the Japanese Prime Minister had sent his condolences to Mrs. Kennedy. It only indirectly suggested that JFK had been killed. No other details about the events. Having missed the first sentence announcing the death of . . .

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Peter Navarro (Thailand) convicted

  WASHINGTON — Former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro (Thailand 1973-76) was convicted Thursday of criminal contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena related to the plot to overturn the 2020 election. The jury deliberated for about four hours before finding Navarro, 74, guilty of two counts of contempt for refusing to testify before the House Jan. 6 committee and turn over subpoenaed documents. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta scheduled his sentencing for Jan. 12. The two counts each carry a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of one year in prison, in addition to a maximum fine of $100,000. “There’s no mistake, no accident,” prosecutor John Crabb told jurors in the Washington, D.C. federal courtroom during closing arguments Thursday morning. “That man thinks he’s above the law,” Crabb said. “In this country, nobody is above the law.”

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Review | THROUGH GRATEFUL EYES: The Peace Corps Experiences of Dartmouth’s Class of 1967

  Through Grateful Eyes: The Peace Corps Experiences of Dartmouth’s Class of 1967 by Charles A. (Chuck) Hobbie (Korea 1968-71) — Compiler/Editor iUniverse Publisher 273 pages July 2022 $2.99 (Kindle); $39.99 (Paperback); $31.95 (Hardback) Reviewed by Evelyn Kohl LaTorre (Peru 1964-1966) • “Talk less and listen more.” “Accept the values of the population you’re working with.” “Adapt to being comfortable being uncomfortable.” These are a few of the sage learnings found in this 2 ½ pound, 8 1/2” x 11” tome that relates the Peace Corps experiences of 19 members of the Dartmouth class of 1967 and several of their spouses. All served in the Peace Corps in the late sixties and early seventies, and their exploits are a sampling of the 30 Dartmouth ’67 graduates who went on to join the Peace Corps. Their fascinating, and often humorous, stories are punctuated with 146 photos that show the youthful volunteers . . .

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RPCV Thomas Tighe (Thailand) — President & CEO Direct Relief

Thanks for  the ‘heads up’ from Matt Losak(Lesotho 1985-87) Thomas Tighe has served as President and CEO of Direct Relief, a nonprofit humanitarian medical organization, since October 2000. Since Tighe’s arrival, the organization has provided cash grants of more than $170 million and furnished more than $9 billion in essential medicines, equipment, and supplies to support health services for low-income people in over 100 countries and all 50 U.S. states, where the organization conducts the country’s largest nonprofit charitable medicines program.   During Tighe’s tenure, Direct Relief has been named among the world’s most innovative nonprofits by Fast Company, has been rated by Forbes as being 99 percent efficient or better in fundraising since 2001, won the Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation, the CECP Director’s Award, the Esri President’s Award for GIS innovation, the Office of the Surgeon General’s National Leadership and Partnership Award, and became the first U.S. nonprofit to . . .

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Exploring the Peace Corps’ sixty-year history in Thailand

Peace Corps in the news Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Dale Gilles (Liberia 1964-66) by Samantha Rose Thaiger Latest News     The Peace Corps is a United States agency established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy to promote peace and friendship worldwide. Peace Corps volunteers have been working in Thailand since 1962, assisting Thai government agencies in various fields. Currently, they operate in two main projects: Teacher Collaboration for Development and Youth Development. Over 5,500 volunteers have worked with Thai communities for more than 60 years, but their work was halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This year, Peace Corps volunteers returned to Thailand and underwent a 10-week training programme before being dispatched to 29 provinces across the country. Their swearing-in ceremony coincided with the 60th-anniversary celebration of Peace Corps cooperation in Thailand. It is always exciting and impressive when encountering foreigners who can communicate excellently in the . . .

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Tony Waters Remembers . . . and Returns to Thailand

  Tony Waters (Thailand 1980-82) is czar and editor of Ethnography.com. He was a professor at the Sociology department at California State University at Chico since 1996. In 2016 though he suddenly found himself with a new gig at Payap University in northern Thailand where he is on the faculty of the Peace Studies Department. He has also been a guest professor in Germany, and Tanzania. In the past, his main interests have been international development and refugees in Thailand, Tanzania, and California. This reflects a former career in the Peace Corps (Thailand), and refugee camps (Thailand and Tanzania). His books include: Crime and Immigrant Youth (1999), Bureaucratizing the Good Samaritan (2001), The Persistence of Subsistence Agriculture: Life Beneath of the Marketplace (2007), When Killing is a Crime (2007), and Schooling, Bureaucracy, and Childhood: Bureaucratizing the Child (2012). His hobby is trying to learn strange languages – and the mistakes . . .

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THE RAZOR’S EDGE by Robert Gurevich (Thailand)

  What’s it like being the only expatriate manager of a multi-million dollar development project with a staff of over 200? What’s it like having to start off dealing with a major embezzlement on a previous project that occurred prior to your arrival? What’s it like to work with senior staff who hate each other and could be complicit in the embezzlement? What’s it like having to deal with a donor agency and host government that view you with deep mistrust while demanding that that you get project activities up and running quickly? These are but a small part of the complex challenges depicted in this novel that are involved in fulfilling a development missios abroad.   Robert Gurevich is an Applied Anthropologist specializing in education and development. In addition to service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand, he undertook long-term assignments in Indonesia, Somalia, Albania, and Ethiopia, along . . .

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