Chiang Rai Cave Disaster

[Pdoggg]

Quote

Asked at a weekly news conference Tuesday if the boys had been sedated, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said, "Who would chloroform them? If they're chloroformed, how could they come out? It's called Anxiolytic, something to make them not excited, not stressed."
Prayuth also said the Tham Luang cave will be closed for some time. He said it needs to be made safe so it can be developed into a tourist destination.

 

[Pdoggg]

Saman Kuman, a true hero. RIP

 

[Pdoggg]

Two heroes from the UK!

[ArchieBunker]

Can you imagine all the nuts who will go and enter that cave now??  

Glad they are all out......

[JustSumGai]

On 7/9/2018 at 11:59 AM, ArchieBunker said:

Not one of my favs PD as its a bit too spicy!!  not too bad though.  Doesnt make my top 10!!!!

Hope they all get out and SOON!!!!!!

I was with ya at first. Now I sometimes  have it for breakfast :)

I understand the kids, probably be my first choice...with egg of course. Then kow ka moo, then pad see ew!

with green Fanta :)

 

[Pdoggg]

Discovery Channel is set to air the first feature documentary of the rescue of the Wild Boars football team from the flooded Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai.

The hour long Operation Thai Cave Rescue will air on Friday 13th July at 10pm ET/PT on Discovery Channel in the United States, followed by another airing on Science Channel on Saturday 14th July at 10pm ET/PT.

Not sure when it will air in Europe and Asia. Check your local listings.

[cobber32]

I'm very pleased that the rescue operation was successful, and the time the 13 were trapped in the cave must have been horrendous. I only hope that, along with the "don't forget my birthday" and "cook my favourite food", etc etc, and all the rewards being showered on them, they are made aware of the enormous effort that went into saving them, including the death of Saman Kuman, and the need to be responsible in their future lives.

This is not to be mis-read as laying blame; but I do hope proper counselling is given to the 13. That is the least that the rescue team deserve, to go with the praise already given.

[Pdoggg]

Is the Daily Mail reliable or is it "fake news"?

Quote

The hero British diver who rescued 12 Thai boys and their football coach from a flooded cave is dating a local nurse, MailOnline can reveal. 

Rick Stanton was the first person to reach the missing boys stranded in the flooded Tham Luang cave - and led the 'mission impossible' to free them. 

Now MailOnline can reveal how fearless Mr Stanton, 57, who was awarded an MBE for his brave cave rescues, is dating a beautiful nurse from Thailand. 

He has been dating Siripon Bugnngern, known as Amp, after meeting her just a few months ago while she was on holiday in England.

Amp is from Chiang Rai, northern Thailand, close to where the Wild Boar football team went missing on their ill-fated trip into the caves. 

She volunteered to work as a translator for the British diver and the rest of the rescue team when he was called in to find and rescue the stranded boys.

'Although it's early days and they haven't been together for long, Rick is absolutely besotted with Amp,' said a source.

'She is from Chiang Rai so when Rick was asked to come and help rescue the missing boys Amp was right by his side.

'She has been helping Rick and the other divers throughout the rescue operation. Amp is part of the team, helping translate between the British and Thai rescuers.

'They are very close. I wouldn't be surprised if they get married.'

Despite an age gap of more than 20 years, Rick and Amp share a passion for out-door pursuits. The couple are believed to have met several months ago.

Mr Stanton led the rescue attempt that captivated the world along with second British diver, John Volanthen. 

Mr Volanthen, 47, from Bristol, was part of the team that dived a recordbreaking 5.5 miles into the unexplored Pozo Azul cave system in Spain in 2010. 

Mr Stanton, who was awarded an MBE, has a reputation of being 'the man to call' for certain cave rescues. 

The firefighter from Coventry helped to rescue 13 British cavers in Mexico in 2004. 

He is a fanatical potholer and cave diver, while his new girlfriend loves canoeing and rock climbing and travelling.

The British diver had been on holiday to the Chiang Rai area seeing Amp just weeks before the disaster in which the dozen young players went missing in the flooded cave.

Dramatic footage of the rescue attempt showed Mr Stanton discovered the boys stuck on a ledge in the cave where they had been trapped without food or daylight for nine days.

On the video, Mr Stanton could be heard saying, 'How many of you? 13? Brilliant.' 

When asked by the group if they will be leaving the cave, the diver said: 'No, not today, not today. There's two of us. You'll have to dive.'  

However, Rick and Amp did not meet in Thailand, they met while she was on holiday in the UK from Australia, where she has been working as a nurse in a care home.

A friend revealed: 'Amp's home town is Chiang Rai, but she met Rick while she was on holiday from her nursing job in Australia.

'She came back to Chiang Rai just a few days before Rick was called to help in the rescue operation by chance.

'She took part in the rescue mission and stayed with the team of divers during the operation.'

Amp's skill and bravery in taking part in the rescue mission has also been praised.

Commenting on the picture of her with the rescue team inside the cave posted on Facebook, her friend Chadaporn Chamyam said: 'Permission to admire. Amp never told anyone where she was. She is such a good person and a role model.'

Mr Stanton previously lost out in love because of his obsession with caving.

His former partner of 25 years Angie Timms told how the young couple were initially hooked on the 'thrill' of caving.

But the pair grew apart and split up as he became more obsessed with going underground.

Angie, from Coventry, told MailOnline: 'Our paths and interests changed. He was into cave diving and doing it more and more and his lifestyle was getting too dangerous and I was worried about him.' 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5946671/Hero-British-diver-rescued-12-Thai-boys-trapped-cave-finds-love-local-nurse.html?ito=social-facebook

 

[Pdoggg]

Billionaire creep Elon Musk calls hero diver Vern Unsworth a pedophile.

Musk's erratic behaviour caused Tesla's stock to plummet 3% in one day. 

Besides Tesla, Musk is the head honcho at SpaceX. Maybe he is headed to Uranus.

 

Quote

Tesla's stock fell Monday after a British diver involved in the mission to save 12 Thai boys and their soccer coach said he is considering legal action against Elon Musk because the company's boss labeled him “pedo guy.”

Spelunker Vernon Unsworth had called a submarine crafted by a team of Musk’s technicians a “PR stunt.” Billionaire Musk suggested the vessel — made out of a SpaceX rocket part — could be used to assist rescuers in freeing the soccer team from a flooded cave system in Chiang Rai.

“He can stick his submarine where it hurts,” Unsworth said of Musk’s submarine idea in an interview with CNN. “It just had absolutely no chance of working. He had no conception of what the cave passage was like.”

In response, Musk launched a scathing attack on the cave explorer on Twitter. On Sunday, he said in a now-deleted series of tweets that he would release video footage of the cylindrical vessel sailing through one of the caves.

He then made the baseless claim that Unsworth was a pedophile, saying: “Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it.”

After another Twitter user challenged him on his remarks, Musk said: “Bet ya a signed dollar it’s true.”

Those tweets have since been deleted.

“I believe he’s called me a pedophile,” Unsworth told The Guardian newspaper. “I think people realize what sort of guy [Musk] is.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/16/british-diver-mulls-legal-action-after-elon-musk-calls-him-pedo-guy.html

 

[ciobha]

7 hours ago, Pdoggg said:

Billionaire creep Elon Musk calls hero diver Vern Unsworth a pedophile.

 

That's typical behaviour of the Uber Rich!!! He didn't get his own way showpiecing his new expensive toy, so has thrown his toys out of the pram and having a pop at the people who put other people before personal profit.

[Pdoggg]

 

[Pdoggg]

 

[Pdoggg]

The Wild Boars will be at Old Trafford for the game tonight!

Perhaps Mourinho should put them on the pitch; it might improve the team!

[Pdoggg]

A Los Angeles judge has slapped down Elon Musk's bid to have a defamation case against him thrown out of court.

Musk called British hero Vernon Unsworth a 'pedo guy' and 'child rapist' on Twitter and in emails, after Unsworth helped rescue boys stuck in a Thai cave last year. 

Unsworth is suing the Tesla mogul for defamation in California federal court.

Musk asked the judge to throw out the case last month, claiming his tweets were protected by the First Amendment and shouldn't have been taken seriously.

However, in an order issued on Friday Judge Stephen Wilson denied Musk's request, allowing the case to go forward.

Lin Wood, one of Unsworth's lawyers, told DailyMail.com: 'We are extremely pleased with the denial and I look forward to speaking with Musk under oath about his false, heinous accusations against Mr. Unsworth.'

Unsworth, 63, is a British financial broker from St Albans, near London. He has a 40-year-old girlfriend of seven years, Woranan Ratrawiphukkun.

The experienced diver was part of a team who successfully rescued a soccer team of 12 boys and a coach who got trapped for 18 days in a Thai cave last July.

Unsworth was hailed as a hero and was invited to visit the British Prime Minister at her residence in Number 10 Downing Street.

In his lawsuit, filed in September, the Brit demanded at least $75,000 in compensatory damages plus unspecified punitive damages from Musk.

On July 15 last year, the Telsa founder tweeted to his more than 22 million followers, calling Unsworth a 'pedo guy'.

Although later apologizing, Musk doubled-down on his comments in an email to a Buzzfeed journalist, telling the reporter to investigate Unsworth and 'stop defending child rapists'.

n their bid to get the case thrown out, Musk's lawyers characterized his slurs against Unsworth as 'over-the-top' comments in a 'schoolyard spat on social media'.

They wrote the tweets and emails were 'just imaginative attacks; even if offensive, such speculative insults are by their nature opinion and protected by the First Amendment.'

However, Judge Wilson was not persuaded, and denied Musk's request to dismiss the case.

[strocube]

So according to Musk, any guy who goes to Thailand is a “child rapist!?” What an asshole. 

I hope this dude can get some money outta the bastard. 

[duke007]

On 10/28/2018 at 3:53 AM, Pdoggg said:

The Wild Boars will be at Old Trafford for the game tonight!

Perhaps Mourinho should put them on the pitch; it might improve the team!

I was on the pitch that night with the Wild Boars 

[duke007]

[duke007]

For those that can speak Thai

https://www.seesantv.com/seesantv2017/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw5J_mBRDVARIsAGqGLZCt5Sk4knbD_pEayqHdS2dYC2upHwxF3hSnK1AXXE6BAZ_IY6pki6caAus-EALw_wcB

[BigTel]

3 hours ago, duke007 said:

For those that can speak Thai

Nice find there Amigi  Thank's .

[duke007]

9 minutes ago, BigTel said:

Nice find there Amigi  Thank's .

Sorted boyo  

[Pdoggg]

Quote

When Elon Musk publicly called a British cave rescuer who had insulted him a “pedo guy” last year, the billionaire entrepreneur had no evidence to back up his claims. And while he later apologized for the outburst, the Tesla Motors and SpaceX CEO went on to hire a private investigator to dig up dirt that might support his unsubstantiated accusation.

BuzzFeed News has found that the self-proclaimed private investigator whom Musk hired was a convicted felon and scammer.

Public records and interviews reveal that the man Musk contracted, James Howard-Higgins, stole money from his business partners and was sentenced to three years in prison for fraud. Past associates of the man described the Englishman to BuzzFeed News as a “Walter Mitty character” who repeatedly defrauded a company he cofounded despite disciplinary actions that were meant to keep him in check.

Recently released court documents from a defamation case in US federal court show that Musk retained Howard-Higgins after the self-proclaimed investigator cold-emailed him offering to “dig deep” into Vernon Unsworth, a British expat who played a key role in the rescue of a boys soccer team from a Thailand cave system in July 2018. Unsworth, who had criticized Musk’s efforts to involve himself in the cave rescue, is now suing the billionaire for publicly calling him a pedophile and “child rapist,” an allegation partly based on unsubstantiated information given to him by Howard-Higgins.

Musk’s failure to effectively vet a private investigator he hired and his willingness to repeat serious and unfounded allegations against Unsworth are the latest in a series of public blunders for Tesla’s CEO, whose win-at-all-costs mentality has drawn him into a number of high-profile fights with regulators, former employees, and shareholders. And it has renewed the concerns of institutional investors, some of whom have sued to keep Musk from engaging in reputationally damaging arguments on Twitter.

With Musk facing a defamation suit from Unsworth, court documents prepared for his defense show that he and the head of his family office explicitly retained Howard-Higgins to find information that might support Musk’s claims that the cave rescuer was a pedophile. But these same documents also show that the billionaire entrepreneur’s staffers did little to vet the investigator, a 47-year-old man from Dorset in southwest England, who served 18 months of his three-year sentence in October 2016 for stealing more than £426,000 (about $525,000) from his company, Orchid Maritime Security Ltd.

As a cofounder of Orchid Maritime, a private maritime security company based in the English seaside town of Poole, Howard-Higgins worked on sales and marketing, according to former business associates. Those associates told BuzzFeed News they noticed large amounts of money missing from company accounts and suspected Howard-Higgins was responsible.

They were right. A local press report describing the incident noted that Howard-Higgins confessed to stealing around £260,000 ($320,000), though the company forgave their cofounder and absorbed the debt he’d accumulated.

Following that incident, Howard-Higgins opened a credit card for the business under another person’s name and began racking up debt again, according to the report. After Orchid Maritime busted and disciplined him a second time, Howard-Higgins began directing company funds into a personal account.

“James Howard-Higgins systematically stole from his business partner over a sustained period of time despite being caught in the act and given numerous second chances,” a detective constable wrote at the time of his arrest in 2016. “He selfishly abused his position of trust.”

Charged with 14 counts of fraud, Howard-Higgins pleaded guilty to seven. He did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

In a statement to BuzzFeed News, Mark Wood, another Orchid Maritime cofounder, likened his former business partner to Walter Mitty, a fictional character known for indulging in fantastic daydreams about himself, and called him “manipulative, persuasive and coercive.”

“The enormity of his deception and fraudulent actions within the business led me to call in the police,” he said.

“With a prison record it ought to be difficult to continue in this same line of business,” Wood added. “Sadly it appears not to be the case."

“You May Want to Dig Deep”
After being released from prison and barred from directorship of any UK-registered company for 10 years, Howard-Higgins revived an old venture he called Jupiter Military & Tactical Systems. There is no UK registration for the company, and sources close to Howard-Higgins described Jupiter as little more than an email account and a website.

On July 17, 2018, the same day Musk had declared Unsworth a “pedo guy” for calling a mini submarine the billionaire contributed to the Thai cave rescue effort “a PR stunt,” Howard-Higgins reached out to the Tesla CEO from a Jupiter email address.

“You may want to dig deep into Mr. Unsworth[‘s] past to prepare for his defamation claim,” he wrote in a note that was forwarded to Musk’s personal assistant and then his chief of staff, Sam Teller. Omitting his full last name, Howard-Higgins identified himself as James Howard, CEO of Jupiter Military & Tactical Systems.

“No smoke without fire!” he added.

In early August of that year, Musk received a legal threat from Lin Wood, an attorney representing Unsworth, notifying the billionaire that the cave rescuer had retained counsel and was preparing a libel suit. Shortly thereafter, around Aug. 15, Musk directed Jared Birchall, the head of his family office, Excession LLC, to retain “James Howard” according to Birchall’s sworn declaration in the Unsworth defamation case.

Musk claims to have never directly spoken with the private investigator. But in a deposition, he said he thought Howard-Higgins “appeared to be credible” based on information given to him by Birchall, who was communicating with the investigator using the alias “James Brickhouse.” In emails sent by Howard-Higgins to Birchall, he claims to have spent 11 years in the UK special forces and two years with the United Kingdom’s security services with additional work for the likes of billionaires George Soros and Paul Allen.

A representative for Soros found no evidence that Howard-Higgins had done work for the financier or his related companies. One former colleague said the only connection between Howard-Higgins and Soros was that his uncle had done “property work” for the Hungarian American billionaire. Vulcan Inc., the investment and philanthropy office of the now-deceased Allen, did not respond to a request for comment.

Former colleagues disputed Howard-Higgins’ characterization of his military record. Mark Wood, his former business partner, said, “[Howard-Higgins] categorically never served in the police, military or any intelligence services.” The UK’s Home Office did not respond to questions about Howard-Higgins.MENT

According to a web archive from August 2018, Jupiter’s now-defunct website — which featured a black and white phoenix symbol used by several gamers and a London-based electronic music producer — said the company provided bespoke “Government Police and Military Training Solutions,” and listed a PO box in Doha, Qatar, and an address in Berkeley Square, an upmarket area of Mayfair in London. In reality, the UK address is used by one of Howard-Higgins’ former business associates, who told BuzzFeed News the location is the registered headquarters of his current company, and not linked to Howard-Higgins.

It appears that Birchall and Musk were not aware of any of this. After reviewing documents and supposed past work provided by Howard-Higgins, Birchall “believed Mr. Howard to be a capable and credible investigator” and agreed to hire him for around $50,000. Meanwhile, Howard-Higgins was already feeding him unsubstantiated theories about Unsworth.

“The target is unlikely to have a history of offending in the UK as this would already have come to the surface but I think like others that his motivations for residing in Thailand may unearth some unsavoury practises and relationships,” Howard-Higgins wrote to Birchall.

Project Rowena
The pair began regular contact on what they called “Project Rowena” — according to two sources, Howard-Higgins’ girlfriend is named Rowena. Birchall, posing as Brickhouse, would call or email Howard-Higgins, and relay whatever information he was given back to Musk.

In email correspondence detailed in the court documents, Howard-Higgins’ made innuendo-laden claims about Unsworth and his associates, without providing any evidence to back them up.

"We aren’t looking to frame anyone"
“Early feedback on the target is there is indeed an unpleasant undertone to some of his lifestyle choices,” he wrote in an Aug. 17, 2018, email to Birchall. “There is no question that the target 'associates' locally with Europeans who enjoy 'Thai comforts' that are not acceptable in a developed society.”

Birchall then followed with an email on Aug. 27, according to legal exhibits, asking for more explicit and exact details on Unsworth. Claiming that there were “planned attacks in the media and/or a lawsuit,” he sent a list of 14 specific questions asking for information about a possible divorce in the UK and whether Unsworth’s Thai partner was “the 10th teenage girl he met before he decided to settle.”

“With that said, we aren’t looking to frame anyone,” Birchall added.

There is no evidence to suggest that Unsworth or his friends in Thailand behaved in the ways Howard-Higgins alleged.

Birchall did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

In his statement to the court, Birchall recalled that shortly after he retained Howard-Higgins, the investigator told him there was a Thai news article that claimed Unsworth’s Thai partner said she first met him when she was 11 or 12. Birchall said he reported those details to Musk.

But court documents include no evidence of the Thai news clipping Howard-Higgins allegedly described to Birchall, and BuzzFeed News was unable to find it. Moreover, two documents Howard-Higgins sent to Birchall explicitly note that the investigator had not confirmed the age of Unsworth’s partner. In an Aug. 27 email, for example, Howard-Higgins color-codes her age as something he is “in the process of verifying.”

“Mr Unsworth is 63 years old,” Howard wrote in a different, more formal report dated on Aug. 30, 2018 that was included in the defamation case’s filings. “His wife we believe is 30, (we will confirm this in the next 48hrs) which would have put her at 18/19 when they first met. The target would have been 52 yrs old at the time.”

In September of last year, Unsworth’s longtime partner, Woranan Ratrawiphukkun, told BuzzFeed News she was actually 40. Lin Wood, Unsworth’s attorney, said in a statement to BuzzFeed News that the cave rescuer is not technically married to Woranan, but that he consider her his “partner and companion.”

"I have faith in what Jared was conveying to me was an accurate retelling of this guy." 
It is not yet clear if Howard-Higgins ever managed to establish the true age of Unsworth’s partner. But it is obvious that the unsubstantiated, caveated claims he fed to Birchall made their way to Musk, who viewed it as proof of his allegations and eventually told a BuzzFeed News reporter over email that Unsworth was a “child rapist” who took a child bride. Attorneys for Musk and Unsworth have both requested testimony from BuzzFeed News.

“I have faith in what Jared was conveying to me was an accurate retelling of this guy,” Musk said in a deposition earlier this summer. In further questioning by Unsworth’s lawyers, the billionaire also made it clear he never verified the information before relaying it to a reporter.

“I just — I’d just been informed of a bad fact pattern,” he said. “It seems like if a journalist cares about finding what’s going on, they should go find out what’s going on. This is what I’ve been told. May or may not be true; please investigate.”

Musk sent the email with supposed information about Unsworth to a BuzzFeed News reporter on Aug. 30, 2018.

“I suggest that you call people you know in Thailand, find out what’s actually going on and stop defending child rapists, you fucking asshole,” he wrote. “He’s an old, single white guy from England who’s been traveling to or living in Thailand for 30 to 40 years, mostly Pattaya Beach, until moving to Chiang Rai for a child bride who was about 12 years old at the time.”

Musk has since defended his behavior by claiming “pedo guy” is South African slang for a creepy guy (though that’s been disputed) and arguing that he went after Unsworth because he feared he might be another Jeffrey Epstein. BuzzFeed News and Vanity Fair have since reported that Musk had been to several events with Epstein following the financier's 2008 guilty plea for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl, and visited his house “several years ago.”

Unsworth’s lawyer said in a statement that the documents released thus far in the case only tell Musk’s side, and that cave rescuer’s response to the defense’s motion for a dismissal of the case will reveal much more about “the falsity of his public statements.”

“Mr. Unsworth’s response will focus on the actual sworn testimony and documents developed in this case rather than the manufactured misrepresentations, half-truths, omissions and smear tactics presented by Musk in his motion,” Wood said. “In sum, Musk had no credible or verified information at any time that supported his false accusations that Mr. Unsworth was a pedophile, a child rapist who married a 12-year old child bride or lived for 30 years in Pattaya Beach.”

Photos posted to James Howard-Higgins' girlfriend’s private Instagram account after Elon Musk was sued last fall show the Brit traveling through the Middle East, visiting Wimbledon, staying at resorts, and eating at steakhouses.

With their response to Musk’s motion to dismiss the case for summary judgment expected next week, Unsworth’s legal team has dug in, seeking depositions from current and former executives at the billionaire’s companies and close confidants. Meanwhile, little has been heard from Howard-Higgins. In a statement, Wood said he has been unable to locate the British man for questioning.

Photos posted to his girlfriend’s private Instagram account after Musk was sued last fall show Howard-Higgins traveling through the Middle East, visiting Wimbledon, staying at resorts, and eating at steakhouses. That lifestyle, however, seems to have come to an end.

According to multiple sources, Howard-Higgins also recently violated the terms of his parole. Musk's private investigator is back in jail serving the remainder of his three-year sentence.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/elon-musk-hired-felon-james-howard-higgins-dirt-pedo-guy

 

 

[cobber32]

Musk and his team give arse-holes (ass-holes) a bad name.

[Pdoggg]

On 7/17/2018 at 7:29 PM, Pdoggg said:

Billionaire creep Elon Musk calls hero diver Vern Unsworth a pedophile.

Musk said, "I assume he literally didn’t mean to sodomize me with a submarine"

Quote

Elon Musk is due to resume testifying in his own defense on Wednesday in a defamation lawsuit filed by a British diver whom the Silicon Valley billionaire called “pedo guy” on Twitter.

Musk, the 48-year-old CEO of Tesla, apologized for the tweet during his first day of testimony in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Tuesday, saying he was responding to an “unprovoked” insult by plaintiff Vernon Unsworth.

Unsworth was leading a rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave in Thailand last year when, in an interview on CNN, he mocked Musk’s offer of a mini-submersible as a public relations stunt. He also said the Tesla founder should “stick his submarine where it hurts.”

Musk, wearing a dark suit and occasionally sipping water, started testimony with his arms tightly crossed in front of him. He clashed frequently with Unsworth lawyer L. Lin Wood, to the point where Judge Stephen Wilson warned “Let’s cut the repartee. ... That’s an order, not an invitation to a dance.”

Musk contends that Unsworth criticized him first, and he was responding with similarly heated rhetoric and was not making a literal accusation of pedophilia.

The dispute began when Unsworth criticized Musk for his efforts to involve himself in the Thai cave rescue in July 2018.

Musk and his employees developed a mini submarine, which they billed as an escape pod that could transport the kids out of the caves. On July 8, 2018, Musk wrote in a tweet, “Mini-sub arriving in about 17 hours. Hopefully useful. If not, perhaps it will be in a future situation.”

The sub was never used in the effort. After the rescue, Unsworth was asked during a CNN interview about the mini-sub and Musk. He said Musk could “stick his submarine where it hurts,” and viewed Musk’s efforts as “just a PR stunt.”

Lashing back, Musk called the caver a “pedo guy” in public tweets, and “child rapist” in an email to a reporter at Buzzfeed. Unsworth filed the lawsuit in the U.S. in September 2018.

At one point in his testimony, Musk said: “I assume he literally didn’t mean to sodomize me with a submarine. I literally didn’t mean he was a pedophile.”

Musk calls Unsworth comments an ‘unprovoked attack’
Musk attorney Alex Spiro said in his opening statements that the case was “about insults not statements of fact.” He said Musk’s tweets were “not allegations of a crime,” but only “joking taunting tweets in a fight between men.”

Wood asked Musk how influential he thought he is.

“I’m not sure to the degree I’m influential,” Musk replied. “I have asked people to take climate change seriously ... and I haven’t been successful.”

When Wood asked whether Musk thought he should choose his words carefully, the Tesla CEO replied, “There are a lot of things I say, and not all of them have the same quality of thought, ... not everything can be thoughtful.”

Wood proceeded to review the timeline of Musk’s efforts in the Thai cave rescue.

Musk said at first he thought his help would not be needed, but after a Thai Navy SEAL, Saman Kunan, died in the rescue, with a monsoon bearing down, he changed his mind. “If immediate action wasn’t taken, the boys would die,” Musk said. “That would be on my conscience forever. I’ve got to do something. We’ve got to try.”

Before an afternoon break, Musk argued that Unsworth’s comments about his involvement in the effort amounted to an “unprovoked attack.” Musk also described those comments as “wrong and insulting,” and said that’s why he insulted Unsworth back.

Later, Musk described a letter Wood sent asking for a settlement a “shakedown letter” from a “shakedown lawyer,” saying “The core truth of it is extortion.”

But Musk admitted that an investigator he hired to try and bolster his claims of Unsworth’s pedophilia or other criminal activity was a “professional con man.”

In a surprise moment, Musk’s lawyer, Spiro, asked him to describe his childhood in South Africa. Musk paused for long time before finally answering, “It wasn’t good.” He left the country at age 17.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/03/elon-musk-testifies-in-vern-unsworth-pedo-guy-trial.html

 

[Pdoggg]

Vern lost his defamation lawsuit.  Some speculate that jury selection played a part as the young social media savvy jury might have saw things differently than old farts would have.

[cobber32]

6 hours ago, Pdoggg said:

Vern lost his defamation lawsuit.  Some speculate that jury selection played a part as the young social media savvy jury might have saw things differently than old farts would have.

Maybe his statement of "he can stick it where it hurts" didn't do him any favours too. Just declining the offer may have been better, but it's easy to sit here in hindsight and make a calm assessment of it all.