Rambling thoughts
The war has begun, Filipinos on Filipinos, unforgiving on unforgiving. [Photo source: Philstar.com]
By Joe America
The State’s trolls are so very, very tiresome. They are working to lay responsibility for a questionable dengue vaccine on President Aquino. Their DAP, PDAF, and Mamasapano complaints are not yet enough to paint the ‘Highest Yellow’ as a bad, bad man. Which the entire enlightened world knows he is not.
Watching the House Justice Committee work on the Sereno impeachment is like watching the nation crash in super super slo-mo. Such wicked, petty values are these. Esteemed representatives of the people propping up a scurrilous complainant like Gadon is a horrid representation of a nation’s values, right up there with the De Lima jailing. I get in a literate frame of mind when watching such drama unfold and think that the Committee could fully staff the cast of the Wizard of Oz. The main characters are the scarecrow, tin man, and lion. Dorothy. The Wizard, a kindly huckster. Good witches. Wicked witches. Lots of witches. Lots of flying monkeys. And, of course the elves and Dorothy’s family back in Kansas. And Toto the dog who, contrary to popular reports, is NOT Senator Sotto.
Meanwhile, we read about a possible massacre of 15 NPA troops in an AFP ambush. This from all indications was a ruthless execution with horrifying firepower blasting limbs from bodies. It came after the President instructed the AFP and PNP to kill any NPA with a weapon. Cause. Effect. QED. The deed takes the AFP out of the wholesome, law-abiding category and places them right alongside the PNP as deadly, inhumane tools of the tyrant’s trade.
The President’s chatter about a Revolutionary Government stirred up criticism of him from many areas. That act would clearly be a violation of oath, which is to support the Constitution, not tear it up. House Speaker Alvarez is all for Revolutionary Government. Define sedition. The failed pro-RevGov rally shows that there is zero popular support for tossing democracy to the four winds. The only noise is coming from the President himself, and his cast of sock puppet sycophants.
When civility returns to the Philippines, I can imagine that there would be punishments for those who have betrayed the Constitution and the safeguards it is supposed to assure. I’m thinking a whole lot of people would be happy if today’s abusive leaders were never to taste home cooking again. I wonder if Filipinos will ever stop issuing pardons to crooks. After all, these pardons are not the kindness of forgiveness, they are the wickedness of impunity. My checklist of suspects due for some due process ipso post fuckup is led by Duterte, Bato, Aguirre, Cayetano, Alvarez, and Gordon. There are others, but those six strike me as particularly nasty, complicit, and willing to betray truth, their oaths, the Constitution, and the nation.
That jail awaits is one reason they will be inclined to do desperate deeds before leaving the scene.
Speak of the devil . . . Marawi was the reason for Martial Law, an incident that started when the President chased US intelligence away and incited the terrorist band to burn the town down. They did a fine job of it. Now the NPA is being taunted. It certainly seems that the President wants and needs turmoil to justify excessive measures in response. Never mind that his method is sure to produce many AFP deaths . . . way more than 44 . . . and possibly thousands of civilian and/or rebel deaths.
Columbian style banana republic. Down and dirty in the jungle.
The 604 kilograms of shabu apparently escorted into the nation by the Davao Group, to my knowledge, has not been destroyed or even accounted for. Senator Gordon managed to shut off inquiry into the possible engagement of the President’s son in the sordid affair. It will be interesting to see how this issue plays out in the 2019 elections.
Senator Poe irritates me more than any other person in the world. Conniver. Air head with a forked tongue, truly nasty disposition, and fake patriotic zeal. That’s my opinion from lots of observations. I won’t try to document them. You are free to like her if you wish.
Sucker.
I’m astounded that so many Filipinos don’t appreciate what freedom means and are willing to put on a pair of shackles to satisfy a guy of no class whatsoever, but lots of power and money and smug, self-satisfaction. Sigh. They are Sisyphus, only their rock is poverty. They got the rock near the top of the mountain with Aquino, but have let go of it. They probably think it was Aquino who made them let go, but it was their own needy weakness and emotional decision-making. Now the rock is at the bottom again and it will take a decade or five to get it back up.
Born to lose.
The economy shows so many red flags that we could easily be mistaken for a Chinese province. I swear that even sophisticated financial people here do not look forward beyond one week. They are too busy looking for culprits who they can say are really the cause of increasing debt, rising prices, more poverty, fleeing investors, more congestion, wheeling and dealing in billions with no transparency, and lack of bidding and a ‘friendship’ basis for deals. This economy is run by immaculate conception, no accountability whatsoever.
I have heroes. Senator Trillanes is one, Jover Laurio is another. Vice President Robredo. Senator Hontiveros. The entire Rappler team of reporters and editors, especially Maria Ressa. As with Trillanes, Laurio, and Robredo, they withstood the nasty blows from government trolls and stood firm for what is right. My friends and followers here at The Society of Honor, and on Facebook and Twitter, represent a huge gathering of people who are FOR democracy and freedom and civility. There are a few stalker trolls around, and maybe even some misguided, self-delusional Duterte supporters, but no bots that I am aware of, and the total must be somewhere around 10,000 people who stand up every day for the Philippines as a right decent and hopeful nation. They give me heart.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
“It is tiring. But ever action has a reaction, and perhaps the reaction to Duterte’s excessiveness will bring the nation back to civility.”
Good morning Mr. J 🙂
Good morning, amusing muse. Yes, the reaction is building steam, but, as it does, the desperate may panic and who knows what will transpire. Ruthless bunch. We are living history, for sure, no doubt about that.
HYSTERICALLY FUNNY
Isn’t it so ridiculous that Duterte admires China and Russia so much, two states that engage/tolerate in drug trafficking and doping of athletes (Russia just got banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics), despite his supposed anti-drugs campaign?
Many surmise that the drug fight is a mask, a cover, a reason to exert control. Same with NPA. That’s why his friends in the drug trade have no worries. I find fascinating the work of Sol Gen Calida who, to me, appears to tell the Supreme Court blatant mistruths about how police really work, on the ground, by keeping the conversation in the realm of “what should be”. But isn’t. SAJ Carpio called him on it, though, by requesting records on the 3,000+ cases in which deaths occurred under police actions. I’m guessing Carpio will not be the next Chief Justice if CJ Sereno gets impeached.
Here is former SolGen Hilbay’s tweet this morning about the NPA:
florin hilbay
The President’s order to tag the CPP-NPA as a terrorist group has nothing to do w/ the group’s activities, w/c are well-known to him, a self-proclaimed leftist & socialist. It’s all about his current desire to coopt the military into agreeing to RevGov or nationwide Martial Law.
All manner of tricks have been tried on the AFP, this last one as expressed by former SolGen Hilbay hits the bull’s-eye, I believe.
*******
1. The rambling thoughts did not ramble far enough to include SolGen Calida in the rogues’ gallery?
2. Calida is not only not a disciple of the Rule of Law but one of the main architects of the Rule of Power. He:
2.1. Originally sent Senator De Lima behind bars with trumped-up drug charges.
2.2. Has kept Senator De Lima behind bars on a technical argument.
2.3. Was instrumental in rescinding Napoles’ conviction on her illegal detention case.
2.4. Claimed credit for the biggest case under his watch — the West Philippine Sea dispute.
2.5. Erroneously dismissed the Constitutional provision that the Lower House must convene to review Duterte’s declaration of martial law.
2.6. Downplayed the danger of martial law by saying it is legally toothless, a sentence ending not in a period but with an exclamation point!
2.7. Seeks to replace either Chief Justice Sereno or Ombudswoman Carpio-Morales.
3. Calida is the Devil’s Advocate.
*****
Very informative list there on the “brilliancy” of Calida. As brilliant as my “favorite” SC Justice de Castro, that is.
Sorry, for belaboring the obvious. But,
5x (Calida + de Castro) = Carpio = Hilbay.
(Sorry, SC Justice Carpio, ex-Solgen Hilbay, I am not so charitable today.)
After reading of his testimony at the SC, I would gladly add him to the list.
Ballooning foreign debts. kailan ba magigising ang karamihan na sumusuporta kay Digong? So many things they should focus on. Kawawa naman tayo. Good morning Joeam!
Hi, arlene. I keep waiting for S&P or Moodys to downgrade the nation’s debt. President Duterte will go nuts if that happens. Truly, it will be a human meltdown of magnificent scale, and I’ll learn some new swear words.
He doesn’t care about those. he said that last year I think.
An intelligent and balanced view of Dutertenomics:
https://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/190037-duterte-twin-deficits-philippine-economy
The scary things about Dutertenomics:
1. The twin deficits- budget and current acct are not bad per se, but puts the country in a very vulnerable position once global economic shocks occur. Our core is OFW, BPO, and domestic consumption. The first two are vulnerable to changing conditions. The third one is a function of the first two.
2. Dutertenomics rests on a shaky and unstable foundation since the political side has not much moral basis for its activities. As I have said, if “bones and crystal is the foundation of build,build, build, it will crumble, crumble, crumble.”
You can’t separate the economic from the political, even if DU30 did appoint a competent team and he doesnt meddle much.
Anyone here think DU30’s economic have enough moral cojones to resist the political side when needed? Is there reason to believe they are different from the technocratic Viratas, Albas and Layas of the Marcos dictatorship, who were all spineless and cowardly?
Last para, there is some difference — although I am hanging on to very thin straws here — there is the Marcos experience Filipinos can refer to; and there is the technology, socmed to contend with, although fake news artists abound.
The scary part to me is that the impunity enablers include such people as Aguirre, Alvarez, Gordon, Bato. At the very least they would not want the current government system to remain, with the possibility that the next President may do some cleaning as that succeeding government is expected to do. Meaning these enablers would want to protect themselves by anything possible “now” under the current Administration. I do not see a road-to-Damascus event happening with these guys.
The thoughts, not quite so rambling, Joe.
Tuloy ang laban, para sa bayan!!
“I’m astounded that so many Filipinos don’t appreciate what freedom means and are willing to put on a pair of shackles to satisfy a guy of no class whatsoever, but lots of power and money and smug, self-satisfaction. Sigh. They are Sisyphus, only their rock is poverty. “
Sam Adams’ last 2 sentences right there, reminds me of yours, Joe.
Will toast to that 😉 .
Sam Adams. Haven’t had a glass for awhile. It used to be my choice of beers. Nothing better than bangers and mash, a few glasses of Sam Adams, and tossing darts . . .
Sam Adams is my favorite drink second only to Guinness extra stout. I stock up on Sam Adams winter variety pack. I am learning to like IPAs. Strong beer. Bitter finish. High alcohol content.
I’m actually surprised George Washington’s Whiskey from Mt. Vernon isn’t as popular, this stuff is better than most,
http://www.mountvernon.org/the-estate-gardens/distillery/distilled-spirits-at-mount-vernon/
Sometime in the 1850s, when Jack Daniel was a boy, he went to work for a preacher, grocer and distiller named Dan Call. According to company lore, the preacher was a busy man, and when he saw promise in young Jack, he taught him how to run his whiskey still.
However, on June 25, 2016, The New York Times published a story identifying the true teacher as Green, one of Call’s slaves. The newspaper said that the Green story has been known to historians and locals for decades, even as the distillery officially ignored it. However, Green’s story — built on oral history and the thinnest of archival trails — may never be definitively proved. A USA Today published story on July 19, 2017, corrected the incorrect spelling of his name (Nearis) and confirmed what Jack Daniel has also confirmed, his correct name was Nathan “Nearest” Green.
So Dan Call took the credit from Green for Jack Daniels’ whiskey expertise.
As did August Mobius taking the credit from Johann Benedict Listing for the mobius strip.
Happens all the time. Back when I was a bank clerk we played (actually gambled) like crazy over all the games in the recreation room — darts, table tennis and carrom. When I joined the bank I noticed that where it comes to backstrokes, they were all doing direct backstrokes. Although they were good, it was kind of boring to me. I went for fanciful back strokes – the types that go richochetting all sides. Kind of good for the ego when watchers go wow!!. After some time a colleague Mr Wong picked it up and follow my style. So these angled shots became known as Wong’s Angle, whereas it should be Chem’s Angle. Goes to show Mr Wong spent more time in the recreation room than me.
*******
Clearly, the Wong Angle is a mistake.
*****
Hey, I laughed.
chemp,
Dan Call was long dead, I think Jack Daniels did credit Nearest Green , when it was too un-politically correct to do so, ie. “a black dude taught me this” , so it was just swept away… but supposedly old time workers at Jack Daniels knew all along, just not publicly known, so its part of company lore. I think in this case just part of living in the South, not so much taking credit for nothing.
But to piggy back off of edgar’s racist joke, after a crash here like 3 years or so ago, news outlets reached out to NTSB for the identities of the dead pilots, and these names were read outloud by some local news channel in Oakland.
yeah, local news channel (i think it was only this one, from the Bay Area no less, if it was from the South it would’ve been expected, no surprise) dropped the ball in not seeing the obvious, they read it live to figure out the joke,
but NTSB blamed it some poor intern, but I think NTSB uses the above names like John Doe or Jane Doe when planes are Asian. So institutional in scope, but no one ever cared to investigate, becuz Obama was president— had it been Trump CNN would’ve been all over it.
p.s. I remember playing that board game in elementary, and I know the shots indicated, that is some fancy angling, chemp!
I retroactively rename chemp’s angle as the correct angle and not the Wong one, LOL!!!
Off topic
BBC reports: Australia unveils laws to prevent foreign interference, 5 December 2017
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-42232178
The new laws are meant for all foreign interference, but it seems to me that they are meant primarily on China’s interference.
Can a PH Legislator even contemplate such laws? Over one’s dead body, I presume. Not that it will be effective, even if passed.
Most interesting.From the article:
The proposed laws would include:
– New offences that target foreign interference in domestic politics and economic espionage, or theft of trade secrets
– A ban on foreign donations in Australian political campaigns
– Broadening espionage laws to target those who possess or receive sensitive information, rather than simply those who pass it on
– A US-style public register where foreign lobbyists must declare who they are working for.
I can’t imagine any foreign country objecting to that. More difficult is the purchase of domestic companies with technology secrets or being a listening post to private correspondence.
Sandra Cam in PCSO….wow…salamat…….It still pay off to be rude at airports….
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/950398/cams-background-will-boost-govt-campaign-vs-illegal-gambling-pcso-pcso-sandra-cam-palace-appointment-board-of-director-corpuz
RAMBLING THOUGHTS …
I keep away from people who begins their sentence with:
1. “Honestly, ….” meaning, their sentences before “Honestly” were not truthful
2. “Trust me … ” meaning, do not trust them prior to “Trust me”
3. “You know what …?” I know what, I do not know, OK?
4. “You know …” I do not know nothing
5. “Bless you …” Huh? It seems everybody is God nowadays blessing hither and thither. Please do not bless me … I AM ALREADY BLESSED …
*******
1. Bless you!
2. Honestly, the word “bless” has many meanings! Trust me, it can even have oppositional ones. It can mean:
2.1. “to consecrate or sanctify”
2.2. “to request of God the bestowal of divine favor”
2.3. “to bestow good of any kind upon”
2.4. “to extol as holy”
2.5. “to protect or guard from evil”
2.6. “to condemn or curse”
2.7. “to make the sign of the cross over or upon”
— From dictionary.com.
3. You know what? There is something of the eternal rebel in people. You know, like Dostoyevsky.
4. And people will do the opposite of what you tell them. Why? Because.
5. Incidentally, I keep away from people who answer with “because” without giving any reason. But I cannot keep away from myself — that would be some trick, huh? — so I will give three reasons.
5.1. Because people are contrary.
5.2. Because people are funny.
5.3. Because people — especially intelligent ones! — like satire.
6. Yes, you are blessed with intelligence — you write ENGLISH! But there is no harm in wishing you — and everyone — are blessed with more.
6.1. Or is there?
*****
Hahaha… Next time MRP sneezes we’ll say , “Cover your mouth!”
It’s God holding your heart hostage for a second, SB, to remind you your nose hairs work for a reason.
Nose hairs are meant for a reason to filter foreign objects entering the lungs that turns into booger. The dryer the booger the easier to pick.
Stop it.
MASSACRE AT MAMASAPANO … I love this subject … I got thorny questions nobody can answer … My questions from my armchair makes me think the Senate investigators are just totally brainless … or they may have brains but the Filipino Fake News screwed it up because they have to translate it to American English that may not be American in nuance that I may understand completely different.
I CAN SAY FOR SURE, the Senate investigation and the rants from Fake News are totally shallow compared to FBI investigation of U.S. Special Forces ambushed (massacred) in Somalia. They were even able to retrieve bits and pieces of body parts and brought it home in pomp and ceremony.
Do I listen to Senate investigation? THAT IS A BIG NO !!! I’d rather read bloggers than Rappler, Inquirer and other fake news and FORM MY OWN OPINION.
Here are my rehashed repeat opinions for those who missed it:
1. State witness, A FARMER in the middle of nowhere in Mamasapano, saw a DRONE !!! Purportedly operated by Americans ! So, farmers knew what drone looked like? Really? May I laugh? AHA! HA! HA! HA!
2. Everyone in SAF knew who was the FBI covert operative in Zamboanga to hand over Marwan’s finger.
3. Everyone in SAF knew what hotel the FBI was holed in because they were able to hand deliver the Marwan finger
4. SAF survivors took a night-owl to Zamboanga to FBI before rigor mortis kicks in …
5. Why hand-over the finger to FBI?
6. Considering questionable intelligence of SAF and the rest of the military HOW DO THEY KNOW to cut the finger as prima facie evidence he is “dead”?
7. So, they did have a training before operation to cut the finger not bring the whole body
8. The finger was placed in Styrofoam sized enough for the finger filled it with CO2 jet it to Los Angeles FBI field Office at Flower Street and Pico Avenue to check for DNA
9. So the FBI was ready for custom made sized enough for finger only styrofoam box.
10. So, therefore, FBI instruction to SAF44 was to bring only the finger?
11. FBI knows a finger does not kill. Proof: Japan cut fingers of thieves and they are still walking around. Yakuza cut fingers of their members as a sign of loyalty
12. FBI said it belongs to Marwan
13. Fake News with all their supra-intelligence plastered : MARWAN IS CONFIRMED DEAD
14. So, if Marwan was confirmed dead who has a bounty of $50k did the Philippine Government received it?
15. If so, SHOW THE PEOPLE THE MONEY !
Bet, Obama did not give the reward money. Here are whys:
1. NO NEWS ABOUT THE MONEY !
2. If there was money somebody must have pocketed it because there is no news
3. Obama did not give the money because there is no news
4. there is no news because Obama asked for the body not the finger
OF COURSE, IF I WAS IN OBAMA’s TEAM, I wouldn’t give the reward money. Finger do not kill. Show us the body we will give the reward money.
http://filipinogerman.blogsport.eu/facing-the-music/
Mariano Renato Pacifico
January 25, 2017 at 20:25 · Reply
Philippine Media is promoting idiocy in the Philippines.
1. A poor farmer in the middle of nowhere in Mamasapano who have not gone to metropolitan area in his lifetime. No cable TV. No stereo. No camera. Yet knew what a drone was like. In one of the incredible stories in Inquirer, a farmer saw a drone hovering while the SAF44 were made as target practice by instant reinforcement by the rebels to protect Marwan while SAF44 support team were at the highway laughing, telling jokes and smoking;
2. Incredible story from Inquirer mentioned one of the survivors of SAF44 went to Zamboanga to bring dirty finger of Marwan to an FBI handler/agent. Therefore, SAF44 team knew who their covert FBI handlers were … not in the real world of espionage, puppet-on-a-string and proxy spies. Incredible!
3. Tony Tiu asked by Sundalong Kanin Trillanes to prove he was a dummy of Binay by demanding he brings with him the TCT of BinayLand instead of Sundalong Kanin to find out for himself by the power of Senator vested upon him to go to Register of Deeds and get a copy for himself;
4. Bureau of Immigration were accused of accepting 50,000,000.00 pesos bribe carried in paperbag. They saw the paperbag but did not know what was inside the bag. Yet they know it was 50,000,000.00 bribe. Wheeew ! Wow ! Incredible journalism and investigation
5. deVenecia ran to the Philippine Press there was ZTE bribery but not evidence yet Philippine Press publish right away without vetting. Incredible!
6. Gosh, I can go on and on and on ….. When Donald Trump said he is cheated from popular vote because of illegal immigrants the American Media were asking for evidence …. evidence …. evidence …. were it to happen in the Philippines Philippine Media would have been drooling over witness accounts …. affidavits and battle of counter-affidavits ….
Puputi na lang ang uwak hindi pa matoto ang mga Pinoys ….
MRP is totally incredible. He has a trove of information straight out from his finger unto keyboards and BAM! He hit the SUBMIT button. Wished I could meet him. Touch his hand that write outlandish addictive commentaries.
MARAWI SIEGE befuddled my addled brain.
The news report just do not make sense at all. Filipino News outlets not giving ME the timeline, number of terrorists, how many military responded, how long it took … But if they give me all the details WOULD I BELIEVE IT? Definitely Absolutely a big NO.
They cannot fool me with APC mounted thermal 30 caliber that killed their capo de tuti de capi.
Like what I said Filipinos love incredible outlandish news stories intended to be news for Filipinos that love incredible outlandish stories.
How about dengue.. does this timeline help you? https://www.rappler.com/science-nature/life-health/190022-timeline-dengue-immunization-program-doh-philippines-dengvaxia-vaccine
I get your point on Philippine media missing the big picture. Rappler does a bit better I think.
Still, only at the level of a typical regional paper in developed countries. Not at the level of a New York Times, a Washington Post, a Süddeutsche Zeitung, a Le Monde, a Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Deep dive articles giving full context, not he-said she-said, even if Rappler has a few of them. Especially good are the EJK articles of Patricia Evangelista, they are at top level I assure. But it still takes time to get a picture of what is going on – in Germany I read Süddeutsche which sends me mail updates, needing about 1/5 of the time I need to get the Philippines news.
This is first time ever dengue vaccine? Jeeesh ! Filipino children will now be studied by the maker of dengvaxia how Filipino children reacts to the vaccine. In short, FILIPINOS ARE REAL LIVE GUINEA PIG !
There were three test phases (this is standard) before the vaccine was officially allowed. The fourth phase is what Malaysia wants to wait for. Philippines and Brazil went for it first.
India I don’t know if they continued monkey tests – but they also have their own vaccine ready.
Aha! Ha! Ha! Your last far-a-graph ! Made me rock ! India have their own vaccine for monkeys ready !!!
I did not know you have a morbid sense of humor, Mr. Salazar. But I like it.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/science/why-india-is-struggling-to-introduce-dengue-vaccines/articleshow/54762243.cms – October 2016
Two vaccines against the dreaded disease – one foreign and one Indian – await regulatory clearances. A multi-national pharma giant seeks waiver for a large clinical trial to be done so that the vaccine can be introduced as soon as possible looking at the emergency.
A promising Indian candidate vaccine rusts on the shelf of a laboratory in Delhi even as millions suffer. So should India bite the bullet and go ahead tough and not easy choices need to be made? ..
Earlier this year the Indian health ministry rejected the introduction of the Sanofi dengue vaccine to India as the company wanted fast track introduction and sought a waiver of the Phase III clinical trial in India.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare noted that “the evidence was not sufficient to waive conducting a clinical trial in India.” ..
Another candidate is an Indian vaccine made by a lab in Delhi which is awaiting its first human clinical trials and the search for an industry partner is delaying its further development. Reports suggest that Indian pharma giant Sun Pharma has evinced prima facie interest in partnering.
Indian scientists reported a breakthrough in 2015 and the vaccine was tested on monkeys. Scientists say it will take time to get to the human trials stage and if everything works to plan, a made-in-India dengue vaccine could be available in five years from now..
Baylet says it illustrates the company’s commitment to providing solutions to the unmet medical needs related to dengue. Dengue vaccine development represents one of the largest financial commitments made by Sanofi in the past decade, about 1.5 billion euros. It includes investment in production infrastructure dedicated to the dengue vaccine of around 350 million euros.
Of this amount, approximately 300 million euros were dedicated to a new vaccine production site near Lyon. In India Sanofi did a limited Phase II trial among adults aged 18-45 years across five sites — Delhi, Ludhiana, Bengaluru, Pune and Kolkata.
Sanofi says they found the vaccine to be well tolerated and producing antibodies against all 4 dengue serotypes – which is consistent with the global trial results.
India is taking a precautionary approach on the introduction of the Sanofi dengue vaccine.
Swaminathan says, “In fact in younger children there was reverse effect which was found to increase the severity slightly. So we felt that is the scientists who evaluated it felt that it might be safe to wait for a little more data to get generated and to see its uptake and experience in other countries before we proceed in India.”
But how safe is the vaccine?
Says Baylet, “We have extensive clinical data including 40,000 people in 15 different countries including India. The results of the clinical trial in India are very similar to the results of the global clinical trials worldwide. We have now 4 years of follow up on these clinical trials. We have vaccinated over more 5 lakh people. There is no issue with the vaccine.”
Are they hyping dengue ?
How many dengue incidence recorded in the Philippines?
How many deaths as a result of dengue?
Where?
When contracted?
Age parameters?
Filipino journalists (fake or not) should ask these questions not parrot from DOH, DUH!
Those are really good questions. According to Dr. Edcel Maurice Salvana, 87% of 730K kids who were vaccinated had it. How they get that figure, I have no idea really.
The details of that should be checked by journalists, they should not be too lazy to do it.
The details to the questions should not be checked by Philippine “journalists”. Chemrock can do it.
Correction: First introduced in Asia according to Rappler.
Why is this Pharma picked Philippines? Well, must be because according to most Filipinos when I attack them of their racist inclination towards white skin is “FILIPINOS IS AN AMALGAM OF DIFFERENT ETHNICITY AND CULTURE”.
So, why bother test Parisians when they have Philippines that “covers all ethnicity in the world” !
You mean the mixed race?
So Filipinos for white plus brown plus yellow, and Brazilians for white plus brown plus black?
Hmmm… let us wait for forensic evidence… this thought leads to strange places.
I have no comment on Sereno Impeachment why she will be impeached. There is no blog about it why.
🙂 ‘Cause you didn’t write it? 🙂
Someone taunted me I should write a blog. I explained to them this way:
“Americans speak English only a fraction are in journalism or in blogging”
Why Filipinos think this way? Because Filipinos believe if someone speaks English THEY SHOULD WRITE !
Where in the world they got this idea?
From Americans.
No News about Duterte Tax Reform Bill. No news because the tax was good for the working class people. Good news does not sell. Philippine News love bad stories from Marcos to Duterte it is all bad news no good news.
Philippines does not have like what we have National Public Radio. We have so many member public radio in the U.S. that gives no slant.
Not in the Philippines. They are only good in English. Because in the Philippines English is measure of intelligence. No wonder Americans are extremely intelligence because WE SPEAK GOOD ENGLISH than Filipinos. I AM SORRY FOR SAYING THAT IT IS BARE NAKED LOGIC logic plucked from Filipino idea of English and applied it to Americans. There they got it. AMERICANS ARE INTELLIGENT PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY SPEAK ENGLISH.
“AMERICANS ARE INTELLIGENT PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY SPEAK ENGLISH.” Tell that to the Marines or to LCPL_X. 😀
Re tax reform: it is theoretically good for some tax payers at the bottom and the middle. For those who don’t pay taxes, it increases prices due to higher indirect taxes and stuff.
Possibly it also makes prices higher for everybody, so even for working class it is zero-sum. That was what my populist did to me – I mean Chancellor Schröder, the choice of the new German middle class of the late 90s, composed of migrants and former working class. Finally I could buy less even if I had more in my pocket, because he raised all other taxes and prices rose. There should be more reporting on real buying power of different Filipino income groups.
“AMERICANS ARE INTELLIGENT PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY SPEAK ENGLISH.” Tell that to the Marines or to LCPL_X. “
This was actually the point of the movie “Arrival”, not so much of intelligence but of cognition (or maybe that’s the same thing), awareness of the 4th dimension it seems.
But the film aside, I have read something about languages and how it affects cognition (or vice versa) , Chinese and German specifically— Chinese for its symbols and German for its precision (is this correct, Ireneo?).
English is a derivative of German, related. this is all anthropology and linguistics now, I know, but I do believe that there is some truth to SB’s “AMERICANS ARE INTELLIGENT PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY SPEAK ENGLISH” , I believe the same can be said about Germans, and the Chinese for speaking German and Chinese.
There’s really no real Filipino language anymore, most sophisticated words found in Filipino languages are either in Spanish, or English, some Arabic too, throw in Chinese for good measure.
Now whether its genetic, the chicken or the egg, nurture vs. nature, I don’t know, but we know the more words you know the more intelligenter you are 😉 ; whether or not that translates to wisdom, I dunno —- since wise acts don’t depend on language (but who knows, maybe edgar has a different take on this).
Yes, language and cognition are related.
German is the root of English, more specifically old Saxon. A Saxon in the year 800 somewhere in Hannover and a Saxon in one of the old Saxon kingdoms of England (Wessex, Essex, Sussex and Middlesex) would have understood each other easily, much like two Visayans with slightly different forms of Bisaya. Then the Normans came into England and brought in French. So you have pork (French porc) and swine (German Schwein) as well as beef (French boeuf) and cow (German Kuh). Then of course you have American English, which assimilated a lot of migrant words. German is precise, English a little less, but the English used by MTV, CNN and Joe America is FLEXIBLE enough for a worldwide audience and PRECISE enough to describe a lot of stuff. So yes, in today’s global world, very helpful for cognition, for learning to form precise thoughts. Lot of work in English today flows into the language and its world of thoughts, much like it did into Latin when Rome ruled its world.
Latin BTW has a lot of words for killing, my Latin teacher once remarked when we were going through some texts by Caesar. What words a language has says a lot about the people. Miss Smillas Sense of Snow is about a half-Inuit, half-Danish woman who literally sees the snow differently from the Danes – Inuits have words for snow melting, snow freezing over etc. – or Filipino with its different words for rice in its raw, harvested, cooked forms – palay, bigas, kanin. Cultural priorities become clear when one looks at the language. Even taboos. Why is fuck a swear word in English, but Germans use more of Scheisse/shit? Filipino assumed a lot of words from other cultures because the original culture was under the other ones for long.
So you have no word for clock time in Filipino. Oras = horas (Spanish). Panahon for time and for weather, but that is a more organic view of time, pre-clock. The word for money is even more bastardized: pera. Spanish Carlists (conservatives) exiled to the Philippines looked at a coin with the face of Queen Isabel (liberal) and said perra (bitch) as they disliked her. Shades of Mocha wanting to remove the Aquinos from the 500 peso bill. Bitch lost in translation: pera.
Modern Filipino is inventive of words that express new concepts: trapo for traditional politician, word playing with trapo for rag in Spanish. epal for politicians too keen on bragging rights, etc. while it still hardly mixes with intellectual Filipino learned in college but barely used in the street.
—————–
German term Hochsprache (high language): used by everybody (CNN/MTV/Joeam English)
German term Bauernsprache (peasant language): used by simple people (street Filipino, even more the Bisayan tongues) – tongues with no usage in “higher” or “educated” circles
German term Kanzleisprache (chancellery language): used only in formal settings (old high German in the Middle Ages, used by the Imperial Court and by scribes, but everybody else had their own dialect – Swiss still call High German Schriftdeutsch = written German) one could also take legal English, especially the legal English in the Philippines, as a Kanzleisprache, or the English the Senate uses but Pacquiao and Mocha don’t understand.
——————-
Romanian degenerated from Old Vulgar Latin (street Latin spoken by the ex-cons and soldiers sent to Dacia back then) to a peasant language mixed with Slavic and Turkish. It had to be enriched from its cousin French to become a high language again in the 19th century.
Filipino has not only many words for rice, it has a lot of shades of feeling, more than English. And more verb forms than noun forms. It is a language of change, not a language of being. Not (yet) that useful for the modern world, with its cold hard facts and modern forms of analysis.
And of course as long as it remains de facto a Bauernsprache (peasant language) or just a street language, not seriously used in all walks of life, it will not yet grow to model modern concepts better. German was the dreamy language of Grimm’s fairy tales until the likes of Goethe and Schiller gave it more popularity and substance. Most words used in German then were French, the aristocrats spoke more French. So it is all a give and take, a process. And languages can also disappear. Except for Breton, no old language of France survived Caesar.
There are specialists who say (and this is part of Filipino K-12) better teach small kids in their mother tongue so they can connect reality and concepts better – stronger abstraction. Teaching Filipinos in English (foreign tongue) too early is harmful according to them.
Shades of this I also see in some Germans from migrant households who grow up without German at home but have to learn it in school. The cognitive gap they try to bridge at times is noticeable and a lot like the one Filipinos from a non-English-speaking home tend to have.
The Filipino middle class speaks more English at home, or the kids learn it in kindergarten and nursery, so the gap is not that huge by the time they have to start using it in Grade school.
Thank you for validating Filipinos premise. Filipinos are right after all, SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARE INTELLIGENT PEOPLE. Those that write do not. Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!
TRUE THAT! Because I have seen OP-EDs in English but lacks substance. Written English does not make one intelligent because it would take days to write a column while speaking English is extemporaneous and instantaneous without the oooohmm aaaaah you know.
English speakers regardless if they are born with it are intelligent people. That is why America rule the world because of their English language.
It is unbelievable at first … It is beyond logic but works all the time.
Ireneo ‘s got a good point here, SB. Before English and German, Latin was king, Latin was still envogue for academics, mathematicians and philosophers up til Newton’s time (and am sure farther, right sonny? wasn’t Darwin’s book in Latin? )
So after the demise of the Roman empire other languages, to include Latin based languages, were ascendant. German evolved from the backwoods talking barbarian type language to something precise worthy of science and philosophy.
Whether written or spoken, the language goes hand-in-hand with the cognitive development. I don’t think monkey-see-monkey-do type adaptation (that which you are describing) of another language will do it, SB. But i’m no linguistic anthropologist.
So I think the Philippines has to have a space program or quantum computing program , or just some precise philosophical field break through, in which the language evolves (whether the act/s of precision first or language first, i dunno) then cognitive expansion follows.
Here start with ,
morality = ?
amorality = ?
immorality = ?
which ever Filipino language. then,
Nano tech = ?
Cold fusion = ?
Hyper sonic = ?
Quantum computing = ?
etc. etc.
Latin was the language of scientific minds back then …
Greek was the language that made the bible … That is why Bible remains greek to all people and still fighting about it.
Filipinos contribution to American language is “boondocks” from the word “bundok” meaning “mountain” according to my unpaid researchers.
Filipinos embed the name Descarte into their language with “s” no more silent.
Re Dengvaxia:
1) http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2017/12/04/edcel-maurice-salvana-dengue-mass-vaccination.html
Of 730K kids vaccinated, 87% probably had dengue before…
2) https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sanofi-dengue-philippines-cases/severe-dengue-vaccine-risk-in-uninfected-2-in-a-1000-sanofi-idUSKBN1DZ0QY
Sanofi says the risk for those vaccinated without prior exposure is 2 in 1000.
-> makes around 200 children at risk of contracting severe dengue.
NOT 730K like Sasot panicked about in her video
NOT 90K like Mocha panicked about in her blog reacting to article 1)
… OF COURSE “I AM BIAS” – in favor of reason… the vaccine was tested in 3 phases before being used by the Philippines. OK Malaysia decided to wait for the 4th phase (not needed for approval I think) and India wanted to test it on monkeys, Assam State decided to sample test for 70% exposure..
BUT what was done was not necessarily unreasonable. 87% means 635K kids NO LONGER at risk of any dengue. Definitely less cynical than the logic of Tokhang – “less rape because adik killed”.
The panic VACC, Gordon, Aguirre are spreading that kids died… is politics until proven otherwise.
India to test the vaccine on monkeys? Others use guinea pigs! They were successful now they need to test it in humans. And the test group are the Filipinos. Partial report trickling in: http://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/156668/child-given-dengvaxia-hospitalized-dengue
2/1000 is 0.2% multiply that by the number of sucker school children you get 40,000 children assuming there are 20,000,000 school children. Hey, there are only 40,000 children. More children to come since Philippines has the highest growth rate than their GDP.
In the U.S. one child MATTERS. No child left behind. That is our mantra. 40,000 children? In the Philippines? Naaaah, REPLACEABLE ! Remember Yolanda? Day after Yolanda 12,000 replaceable children were born.
Malaysia waits for the 4th phase (The Philippine Test). If Filipinos comes out alive Malaysia will try.
Mocha’s math may be wrong even her number is slashed to half that is still a lot of children. Who will pay for the children’s hospital bills? The Pharma? Why was this allowed by the administration?
Sanofi Gross Sales is something to rock and droll … 33.82 BILLION ! Pre-tax income 5.68billion ! that is in American money. https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/sny/financials
Brazil went for the vaccine also. I think about 300K children were vaccinated.
The question is: were Brazil and the Philippines careless, or India/Malaysia too careful?
How many do you save, how many do you risk hospitalizing, is there are real death risk?
Assam state in India wanted to test for at least 70% prevalence first before going for vaccines.
So is the risk worth the kids saved by vaccines? The answers I believe are not so simple.
Yes, Sir. The answer is not simple. This requires Trump-esque answer which he derives from the pious:
1. If vaccine fails, blame Pharma
2. If vaccine succeeds hurrah to the bright boys that allowed it
Works all the time.
Denguevitis broken down in numbers from Duterte’s Government Expert, PLEASE DO NOT LAUGH. In the Philippines if it is humorous it is true:
The dengue immunization has been carried out by the Department of Health (DOH) since April 2016, … (as a) pilot program. IMMUNIZATION WAS A PILOT PROGRAM
More than 730,000 children from Central Luzon, the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon, and Metro Manila were administered Dengvaxia, the anti-dengue vaccine from pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur. (DESCENDANT OF LUIS PASTEUR?)
Salvaña explained that only 13 percent or over 90,000 would be at risk from severe dengue. SO, MR. SALAZAR’s 0.02% (1 in every thousand) INFECTION RATE IS IN THE LOW END OF THE CALCULATION SCALE. IT IS MORE 12.3%
Furthermore Duterte’s government expert said … lisiten to this … do not laugh …
“NO ONE’s DIED, according to the trials, according to the analysis at this point,” Salvaña said.
THEY WILL STOP PILOT GUINEA PIG PROGRAM UNTIL DEATH DO THEY STOP !!!
Gosh, I just lovin’ it !!! That is why I love Philippines. Never a dull moment.
over 90K at risk and according to Sanofi only 0.2% actually get severe dengue out of those who are in the risk group… I think the computation is quite simple if you don’t misrepresent it.
GAGO.
Just exactly who is GAGO Mr. Salazar ????
Just out: http://filipinogerman.blogsport.eu/up-to-200-filipino-children-risk-severe-dengue/
@Lance,
I was looking for MRP’s mention of drones but found this: Why he hates UP.
https://joeam.com/2015/02/15/mamasapano-who-was-at-fault-and-why/#comment-109405
https://joeam.com/2015/02/09/joeams-findings-senate-hearing-on-the-battle-of-mamasapano-day-1/#comment-108648
Quad Drones from radio shack.
http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/philippines-rolls-out-worlds-first-dengue-vaccine
But still, a UP Professor was one of the first to warn against the dengue vaccine!
It is good to ask the right questions if you are willing to accept answers that you don’t like.
“UP Professor … warn against dengue vaccine!” – MR. SALAZAR
“A study by the state-run University of the Philippines (UP) said the vaccine could cut the number of dengue cases by more than 24 per cent in five years.” – STRAITSTIMES
WHO allowed it? I mean the World Health Organization.
READ EVERYTHING:
Dr Antonio Dans, a professor at UP’s College of Medicine, warned that while the vaccine could reduce the number of dengue cases, it could later increase the disease’s severity, a phenomenon known as “antibody- dependent enhancement”.
Citing Sanofi’s own studies, he said this could happen three years after the vaccine’s introduction.
“The real dengue we are afraid of is severe dengue, not the mild ones. If a vaccine prevents mild disease but causes severe dengue, we shouldn’t be using it at all.”
GAGO.
Irineo, your article was a refreshing read. Like, rational, in a sea of bizarre political firefights. It is tough for all parties, the citizens who just want to be healthy and cannot afford medicines, the Pharma who has tried to develop a useful and profitable medicine, and the regulators and scientists who try to calculate the pros and cons in a statistical sense. The trolls and politicians largely have no business opening their mouths without first respecting the parties involved. To ascribe malfeasance to those acting earnestly is a supreme malfeasance, it seems to me. Just as trying to impeach a decent Chief Justice by manipulating facts ought to be an impeachable offense.
hanks Joe… also for sharing it on your FB page.
I just did it because the madness was too much – this is about the future of children. And you won’t build a modern country with a modern medical policy with a reputation like that of VACC who seem to believe in “garlic against vampires” i.e. witchcraft. Fortunately there are a few sane voices like that of Dr. Gideon Lasco http://opinion.inquirer.net/109289/whats-stake-dengue-vaccine#ixzz50Wl7SAUr – a modern-day Dr. Rizal who studied in the Netherlands, travels all over the world, climbs mountains, writes blogs and twitters. Davao native BTW..
What is also interesting is how a known Dutertian (Krizette Laureta Chu) seems to have favored the vaccine inordinately: https://www.breakdengue.org/dengue-vaccine-philippines/ and http://2016.mb.com.ph/2016/04/12/should-you-get-vaccinated/ – the first article is early 2016.
But then again, how many major bloggers as USexes supported Leni back then.
Now who said Filipinos are hardheaded? Damn, I did.
I think MRP loves drones or good at taking drone movie shots for Youtube videos.
Is MRP (Mariano Renato Pacifico) the same person in DPReview? Here is his profile and comments: https://www.dpreview.com/members/7963681774/overview
In the Philippines it is hard to say who had a previous nfection.
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/12/05/1765469/dengvaxia-still-beneficial-sanofi
“…
important to note, however, is that it depends on which country you might be in. It’s sometimes not easy to really identify who had a previous infection because we saw three out of four cases can have no symptoms,” she said.”
I read MRP’s piece about drones and U.P. I agree with MRP of his take about U.P. He does not hate U.P. He is stating the fact that U.P. should not be taken with high regards.
MRP’s complaint is valid and should be scrutinized. MRP is a Filipino? an American? Naturalized U.S. citizen? Born-American? 100% white American? Or, he is hyphenated immigrant-come-lately? I do not know.
Suddenly he drops from the grid.
He commented in my blog just seconds after I posted the article over here. Hmmm.
But he is banned in my blog, so that comment on potential bribery is deleted – by me.
Gosh, MRP must have hacked your account, Mr. Salazar. He is banned and able to post bribery related comment? You better report him to your blog provider.
No, I just hiked up certain settings. I don’t want to bother my free blog provider with that.
Some things don’t work properly at times but I am content as I am but a minor blogger.
Please post your blogsite link so I can visit.
SB,
Which is the most superior camera system, I’ve looked into Leica since uncrate.com and coolmaterial.com always feature this brand , but too expensive for me.
I rock some cheap Canon powershot (less than a hundred at time of purchase), I wanna upgrade, but I don’t wanna get into photography, i just wanna shoot good pictures, w/out learning aperture and all that stuff, just point and shoot.
small, able to zoom (farther the better) and shoot low light too. that’s my parameters, nothing fancy. but it has to be touristy (like a Leica), i like the Lieca look.
I apologize, camera is not my thing. Maybe Mariano Pacifico at DPReview. Of course, I do have Canon PowerShot G7x Mark II. I am disappointed to the point of depression. The colors do not pop like what I have had before S100 also made by Canon.
Well, goodluck on your hobby. Don’t get fooled by Leica nor iPhone products. YOU CANNOT TELL WHICH PICTURES WERE TAKEN BY WHAT.
U.S. President Donald Trump declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel !!!
Donald Trump is also the president of Israel?
The Muslims and Palestinians did not react kindly. The world will go back in the days of 70s when it was not safe to fly to destinations. I’d be target so do people who hold American passports.
These are the years of living dangerously!
The revgov rally was expected to have a million participants nationwide but went pffffft.
Roque was supoosed to have connections with the ICC to get them of Duterte’s back, but the ICC is still on his back so they bluff on breaking away, but they can not do that.
Duterte will now send Sandra Cam instead…..
Here is a nation run by a bunch of characters all suffering from the same Dunning-Kruger Effect. Nothing is more evident that what’s playing out in Congress with the Sereno impeachment inquiry. If there is one act that can define the killing of democracy in Phillipines, it will be the impeachment of the Chief Justice. And the stupidity of hall of shame that is congress will be played out for the whole world to see. It will end like this :
All those who say the complainant Gadon is a liar say Ay — AY
All those who say this proceeding was a shamble say Ay — AY
All those who vote for impeachment of CJ Sereno say Ay — AY
So off it goes, to the Senate. Is Philippines Democracy tittering on the shoulders of a few Senators? Absolutely. But I think it is a gamble Dunning-Kruger Effect sufferers are taking. There is no sure win for them. Can they garner the 16 votes needed to impeach?
YES TO IMPEACHMENT
1. Gregorio Honasan
2. Loren Legarda
3. Aquilino Pimentel III
4. Grace Poe
5. Cynthia Villar
6. Tito Sotto
7. Richard J. Gordon
8. Juan Miguel Zubiri
9. Manny Pacquiao
NO TO IMPEACHMENT
1. Antonio Trillanes
2. Franklin Drilon
3. Francis Pangilinan
4. Risa Hontiveros
5. Ralph Recto
6. Bam Aquino
FENCE SITTERS
1. Sonny Angara
2. Nancy Binay
3. JV Ejercito
4. Francis Escudero
5. Panfilo Lacson
6. Win Gatchalian
NON-QUALIFYERS
1. Leila de Lima
2. Joel Villanueva
Of the fence sitters _
1. Sonny Angarra has shown no balls. Has never voiced out against any outrages actions of the Admin. He cowers in the shadow of Alvarez. Expect a YES vote for this cowardly young man.
2. Nancy Binay is beholden to the Executive. A NO vote will see daddy marching to jail on fast tracked corruption charges. Election Duterte has said he will jail Jojo Binay, but has not anything in that direction to date. Why? So he can hold Nancy by … wherever he wants. THAT IS THE REASON WHY ONE MUST NEVER VOTE FOR ANYONE WHO HAS WEAKNESSES AND BE BEHOLDEN TO SOMEONE. Expect a YES vote from her.
3. JV Erjercito — I don’t think Dad’s closeness to Duterte is a factor that will cloud his judgement. 60% chance he will vote NO.
4. Francis Escudero — For all his slithery appeal, I think he is sensible when it comes to the core. I think he is smart enough to sense the tide has turned for Duterte. I give a 90% vote for NO from him.
5. Panfilo Lacson — This is a devil himself, sly and very smart in game playing. Where is his weakness at the moment? His son’s involvement with Pulong. I think he will play for long term security, so a NO vote for him.
6. Win Gatchalian — He stays in the safety of the sidelines with Angara when controversial issues of the admin explodes. Difficult to tell, a 50-50 case. His family is off the hook now regarding the lousy bank that they load onto a govt water agency. So is he beholden to someone?
What may likely happen is the Senate majority may pass a new unconstitutional resolution to revamp the need for 16 senators in view of DeLima, Villaneuva and Cayetano being out of the count.
*******
IMO, Ejercito will vote to impeach. He has shown no independence.
*****
Superb assessment, both of likelihood of impeachment and the character of the senators. What is the basis for Honasan being in the yes camp. I would have put him in middle ground at 50/50. I keep holding hope that Senator Binay will vote principle rather than favor, as she did in the Poe fake news hearing when she condemned state-sponsored lies. I might slide her to the middle. Gatchalian is Angara’s twin to me, so I would have put him into the yes bucket.
The Escudero comment is priceless. I would also say I think his wife would be very dismayed with him if he went crassly political on the deal.
As to Honasan, it’s all otang na loob, debts of gratutude. Honasan took refuge in Davao when he was wanted for coups againsr Cory. By the way, when he was finally caught, he was found under a bed. They never said whoose bed it was. They actually claimed Cory was hinding under her bed during those coups.
I think Duts sounded out a cabinet post for Honasan recently. I mean if Cam gets a post, not fair to Honasan right.
Honasan – is probably going to get DICT. Yes, anyone can do any job. Filipinos are smart!
Ah yes. Good thing he either has to resign or wait till his term is over. Can’t contemplate having two dicks in the Senate. It’s too much.
*******
Secretary of DICT. But he vows to finish his term (2019).
*****
Ah, makes sense now. Yes, he is likely yes.
1. If the three (3) — De Lima, Villanueva and Cayetano — do not count in the Impeachment Trial, that makes 21 total counts that matter.
2. If six (6) will surely vote NO for conviction or removal, we have only 15 (=21-6) maximum for a YES vote.
3. At least 16 is needed for removal, so the result is a NO for removal — no matter the sentiments of the six (6): Angara, Binay, Ejercito, Escudero, Lacson, Gatchalian.
4. I hope I have not missed something here considering Premises 1 and 2.
It’s funny how the numbers play out, isn’t it. I’m pretty sure God is playing a joke on Satan.
What are the chances that Pimentel will do an Alvarez and redefine the constitution. With 24 senators 16 YES are required for an impeachment. So with 21 senators only 14 YES are required. Cartimar market vendors advise that Lapdogs are intelligent breeds.
The Constitution’s Article XI, Section 3, Paragraph 6 has this line: No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate.
You have a point. Interpreting that line — all the Members of the Senate — will be interesting. Not a lawyer and I have not researched the precedence. But I believe it will harden the stand of Escudero and Lacson which you say is a likely NO. So we have 4 + 9 = 13, still lacking 1 from the needed 14.
De Lima remains a Senator even if she is in jail. She should count among “all the Members”.
*******
1. Premise: Only Cayetano can be counted out.
2. If so, there are 23 senators.
2.1. One third is 7.666 senators.
2.2. Two-thirds is 15.333 senators.
2.3. So 15 votes are needed to convict (The assumption is round low.)
3. Per Chemrock’s breakdown:
3.1. There are 9 solid YES votes.
3.2. There are 7 solid NO votes (includes De Lima).
3.3. There are 7 fence sitters (includes Villanueva).
4. Conclusion: Impeachment is still a possibility. That’s 9 YES + 7 fence sitters = 16 votes.
4.1. It will take 2 fence sitters to vote NO for the impeachment to fail.
*****
*******
My 2.3 is wrong.
According to this table, 2/3 of 23 is 16.
Click to access determinevote.pdf
So 4 is correct, but 4.1 is not.
As NHerrera says, it only takes one vote from the fence sitters for the impeachment to fail.
*****
If these latest iterations/ assumptions/ premises from Irineo and edgar are considered on top of chemrock’s, then we have the solid count of edgar — a conservative picture. (At least one fence sitter from the 7 needs to vote NO, for a NO removal result.)
A subjective thought: when one considers the recent weighty political decisions of the Supreme Court, this tight YES/ NO vote scenario in a Senate Impeachment Trial probably speaks better of the elected Senators than the supposed Judicial Fount of Wisdom that is the appointed members of the Supreme Court.
Philippine Senators and Congressmen and most of all their Presidents wouldn’t stand a chance scrutiny into their private lives by Americans. All of them are crooks in their hearts, minds and in their hands.
The Filipinos are actually electing THE LEAST EVIL that is the only alternative.
The hit job on the Binays have stopped all the drib-a-drab-jab-jab after the election so are the character assassinations of the rest led by not-so-clean Antonio Trillanes who also have skeletons not yet out-of-the-closet.
Antonio Trillanes attacked the Binays because Crooked Binays stood Trillanes up in Peninsula Siege-skirmish-coup … how many times was it downgraded by Philippine Fake News? From coup to siege to skirmish to misunderstanding … incarcerated … ran from prison … elected … now because the hunter of those who turned their back on him.
Well, this is the Philippines, like in 3rdworld countries, they become elected.
*******
All the Fence Sitters voted to extend martial law until the end of 2018.
Fence Sitters? I think there’s a missing “h” in the term… and it’s not in the first word.
****
THE DEVIL’S ARGUMENT: you are bad, you deserve me! – also rambling…
This is the argument so many are trapped into in the Philippines. They cannot BELIEVE they are capable of being good, going the straight and narrow path, think cutting corners is the only way.
So they hate on those who are good, thinking “it just can’t be true” – witness trying to find fault with Sereno all the time. “Unfortunately”, born-again Christian Sereno never slept with her driver so they have to go for technicalities, minor stuff to prove, hey she is not saint, she is just like US!
Ano, may kalabaw bang walang sungay? Pare-pareho tayong hindi mga santo, ipokrito ba kayo?
It starts with: “paano kung hindi tayo makapag-jaywalking” over “buti kung mailusot ko iyan sa tax” to “gagang Kim Henares, pati si Pacquio kinukulit, tanginang dilaw talaga” to the worse forms.
The worst form might be neutrality – those neither good or bad stay at the Gates of Hell, in Limbo. At some point they cannot dance the limbo anymore, they have to stay on a side, like Gordon.
That theory could explain Sisyphus and the rock of poverty..
There is the other possible explanation: convenience. Fear of the unknown and fear of responsibility. Better have a tyrant take care of you. Blame him if things go wrong. Simple.
Success can also be quite frightening. Because you don’t have any excuses anymore. Being miserable is easy and misery loves company. Carabaos like mud baths. Cool!
“Never mind that his method is sure to produce many AFP deaths . . . way more than 44 . . . and possibly thousands of civilian and/or rebel deaths.”
I’m sure the Duterte’s find a way to blame Aquino for that too.
“The 604 kilograms of shabu apparently escorted into the nation by the Davao Group, to my knowledge, has not been destroyed or even accounted for.”
Where’s my fair share of that shabu? 😉
“They are Sisyphus, only their rock is poverty.”
That’s some powerful stuff right there.
“They are too busy looking for culprits who they can say are really the cause of increasing debt, rising prices, more poverty, fleeing investors, more congestion, wheeling and dealing in billions with no transparency, and lack of bidding and a ‘friendship’ basis for deals.”
Let’s remember, politics is a lot about perception. It does not really matter how bad things become. What matters is that people maintain their perception of a government “which finally does something”, under a leader who “walks the talk”. How painful is it for an individual to admit that he or she was wrong all along? And this does not only apply to Filipinos but to all human beings. Pride is a bitch, and it gets you when you’re already dashed to the ground…
Yes we have heroes. Let us support them, encourage them and inspire them continuously. This is a long and nasty battle which just has started. The real enemies here are not only the “President himself, and his cast of sock puppet sycophants”, but also the President’s puppet masters who will likely not be defeated within five decades, let alone one decade.
The night will be long. Thank you for reminding. Candles are needed.
Nicely put.
Joe mentioned in one of his commentaries in his own blog that Facebook is as close he can get to Philippines pedestrian mentality without leaving his house.
I sensed that, too !
I didn’t put it in those terms. Pedestrian mentality? Facebook is a vibrant place of great passion and fun.
I,too, have a pedestrian mentality. TSOH is solely for the elites, I take it. Must be the reason I am being moderated. Now I get it. I remember Joeam mentioned that he is addressing only those in power. Must be nice for the power launchers ✄
You are not on the TSOH’s moderation list. So it is not through any action here. The spam scanner sometimes gets quirky, as edgar’s comments are often sent to spam.
Okay, here comes ZTE-NBN 2.0.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/money/companies/636021/china-telecom-chosen-to-enter-phl-as-third-main-telco-player/story/?utm_source=GMANews&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=money