Morality has no “other side” and mainstream media don’t get it
Analysis and Opinion
By Joe America
Morality is not negotiable. It’s the foundation for every decision we make.
Well, yes, moral systems can vary, for example, communist versus capitalist or Christian vs Zoroastrian. But for a group of peoples, like nations or groups of them, morality is the rock of good behavior and right decisions.
The US and Philippines are similar. The moral system is “western”, Christian-based, diverse and open, stressing honesty, equality, and fairness under laws. It emphasizes education and knowledge and always strives for self-improvement.
Social interactions are robust and sometimes tense. Mainstream media play the role of information-intermediaries between diverse groups and government, an important role that keeps both nations free and open. Mainstream media have earned the title “Fourth Estate” as the informal fourth branch of government, performing a vital check and balance function.
Journalism ethics traditionally demand that media report facts and keep opinions clearly labeled and separate from news reporting. But since the greater openness and more robust advocacies of the internet era, this has broken down and a lot of news has taken on a slant.
Indeed, I’d argue that mainstream media have totally lost their bearings. Facts are so distorted by argument that they have become lost. Advocacy has become so prominent that morality has become lost. There is no foundation of “right” behavior left as media portray issues as being one side against another.
So it becomes Democrats vs Republicans in the US, not decency vs indecency. As if Trump’s lying were a legitimate “side” to an argument.
Or as if Duterte’s killings were a legitimate side, opposing human rights.
No. No. No. No. Decency and human rights are not sides of an argument. They are the foundations of good and right decisions, the moral basis for harmony and understanding. They are non-negotiable.
Mainstream media today are allowing themselves to be led by the nose by powerful advocacies into PROMOTING the undermining of decency and human rights. They are legitimizing the values that are sure to tear down harmony and understanding. Lying by government officials is wrong. Killing citizens outside due process is wrong. They are not sides of an argument.
Media need to re-center their ethics and report on facts and moral rules, not abandon them as if our nations were nothing better than packs of fighting jackals. If they fail to place facts within a moral framework, democracy will most assuredly break down. Indeed, on the current path, journalists will soon no longer be free to report. They’ll be propaganda vendors.
_______________
Photo from Council on Foreign Relations.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
Morality should be at the center of reporting by the media, mainstream or otherwise. There should not be other-siding the issues in the arguments — in the news. I agree. In the opinion columns maybe. But even in opinion articles, F. Sionil Jose writing on Maria Ressa’s Nobel Prize Award is, to me, clearly wrong, as John Nery, a long-time friend of Jose wrote.
https://www.getrevue.co/profile/jnery_newsstand/issues/political-animal-a-newsletter-by-john-nery-issue-1-628125
Our friend sonny may have a Quantum-Mechanical view of the current blog topic though. 🙂
Nery is a moral columnist. Jose is a rude old man. My short-take on it.
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/all-nobel-peace-prizes/
nobel folks shoulda awarded for RAPPLER instead, been done before. w/ Ressa you get the nagging feeling that she helped bring about DU30, by diminishing folks like Nonoy and Mar thru too much balance.
but a newspaper getting the prize, its like pushing media farther. IMHO, joe.
Awards are given to persons, not institutions.
The Nobel Peace Prize 2020
World Food Programme (WFP) “for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict”
Go figure.
🙂
I do, Joe, as with every piece written in TSOH. Quantum Mechanics is the final frontier for making sense of our physical universe, hence of our physical bodies. The continuum from the physical to the spiritual is bridged by both the social & physical sciences. That bridge we build by our behavior (e.g. morality) and the STEM (e.g. computing) we employ. Even religion can be made sense of by engaging in building that bridge.
“I do, Joe”
Sori, NH. Sori, Joe. Naduling na ako. 🙂 My eyes are not themselves these days.
😎😁
Same here about the eyes — 🙂
But your take about QM is still appreciated. QM is applicable to the small particles of physical objects hence the object itself. The brain — which controls the body and its various functions, including emotions — is a physical object composed of cells and small particles subject to the laws of QM, etc.
That said, what explains the way QM is treating JoeAm’s brain compared to Marcos Jr’s brain, sonny? Is the location, Biliran versus Ilocos, a factor? 🙂
[JoeAm — my apologies for lumping you in the same sentence as Marcos Jr.]
No problem. He has his Oxford degree. Mine’s from Moo U.
QM works equally for everybody. It’s the starting materials that differentiate the result. As to Biliran vs Ilocos – the laws of epigenetics takes care of that; the air in Biliran is healthy. 🙂
So there we have it.
Lately, or say during and after the 2016 election, the issue of morality seem to have been obscured…
Yes, the loss of moral framing occurs when the good are bad for making mistakes, but bad are never bad because, well, we know they are bad. Duterte has been given respect by the media while doing absolutely horrid deeds.
pcoo, presidential communication operations office with budget of 1.91billion and a spokesman like roque, it’s no wonder duterte is given respect, by force, threats of libel, imprisonment, loss of livelihood, sometimes of life.
press freedom is alive and well in the philippines, if you dare, lol!
Duterte’s mouth has trickled down to the media and massess it’s become acceptable and preferred form of discussion in social media. IF you can’t argue like a troll, shouting ,cursing and insulting, you can’t be heard. I guess the media picked up on that so they adjust.
sa akin lang po, trolls dont set the standard. at kaming mga not so educated use earmuffs vs trolls noise. trolls can shout and curse as much as they like, but we have the remote.
Yes I just hope majority of the Filipinos on social media can filter and discern as effectively. Pero parang naging ganun na ang style sa social media threads and forums at comment sections. IF you don’t speak the way, your arguments will not hold water.
Sensationalism, ratings, deadlines, and now likes and shares; what else makes media not care about morals?
Mainly the noise. Right or wrong and facts are not received well by the massess. They’re cliche and boring. Filipinos take pride in being contrarians, against anything mainstream. It gives the illussion of being “smart” or taking the more intelligent persepective. Despite being poorly educated with politics
Joeam calls media: Tabloid media
NHerrera is right. There is a news segment and there are opinions segments.
For News, it is straight forward reporting. Reporter reports what he sees, no personal comments. There is no morality issue here, not even any attempt to distinguish truth which is subjective. It is plain factual reporting. That’s why there used to be a position called news caster. He merely reads out what are filed by the reporters.
Opinion is anything goes. The difference between a balanced and a partisan opinion differentiates the presenter.
I’m not quite sure if it is an issue of truth or morals. How are we framing morality? Does it mean a fornicator cannot present a truthful narrative? I think the point is a presenter must craft the narrative honestly from his world view. He may be right or wrong, we may agree or disagree with him, but those are his honest opinion. Lack of morality is when he expresses his opinion solely in obligation of an agenda out of political or monetary or other interested persuasion. This is the problem today as all these talk show hosts are now really political activists in disguise. Nobody’s interested in objective truth anymore.
Truth or morals? Truth is moral, by western Constitutional or biblical standards, but not by Chinese government or American political standards. Morality is the framework that says China is not playing fair by western ideals, Americans are weak by Chinese, and talk show hosts are not journalists but liars like the politicians. Truth is a high-minded ideal that is hard to arrive at in a competitive, greedy society. But, morally, it is better for group harmony and peaceful progress than lying. Fornicators are moral as long as they don’t commit adultery, which is a form of lying.
The exchange reminds me of the little book, “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran. Al Mustafa who lived among and learned from the people in his adopted land is now ready to board the ship that will take him to the land of his birth.
But the people of his adoptive land entreated him to stay awhile and asked of him — speak to us of Truth; speak to us about Morality. And with tears flowing, he said unto them long have I walked and lived among you but now I must leave to go back to the land of my birth. But since you asked, this I say about Truth…And this I say about Morality…
[The last paragraph of course is my concoction.]
Merriam-Webster:
On Truth
: the property (as of a statement) of being in accord with fact or reality
On Morality
: of or relating to principles of right and wrong in human behavior
I agree with the definition. The problem is there is subjective vs objective. Sometimes the difference is crystal clear, sometimes it is not. That’s why we have laws and constitution to make as much as possible stand on solid grounds. But still it can never encompass all human endeavours.
the best test for this principle of principles is if all the candidates, now or in the near future, start talking about D5.
1. set D5 free.
2. ejk D5.
3. keep her there til may!
no mention of her of course is immorality to the max. 😉
Only Moreno has commented on De Lima so far, I think. He’d leave her in jail and let justice play out. Other camps have not really articulated policies on controversial issues.
methink, the 3months of political campaign will see controversial issues and topics addressed and brought to the front. it will be intense 3months prior to the may 2022 election; policies will be forwarded and scrutinized by citizens. trolls will be most active as well, their pay triple the rate, lol! and hopefully, no more fake emergency alerts the likes done by bong marcos.
leni is sticking to the guideline is what I think. she will do her full mandate as vice president maybe until the end of december 2021. last I know, campaign period officially starts on january 2022 through to march 2022. candidates are supposed to rest on the month of april 2022, though some candidates will still be out campaigning to reach more people in far flung places, once again reiterate their policies and gather more votes.
Oh i’m a member of pro marcos and duterte groups in Facebook. THey’re full throttle now, almost multiple videos a day, full commentary, bashing , mostly of course against Leni. The number of likes and views are astounding. I think the trolls are like team leaders, empathisizing nd coddling the real people , humoring them, gently and patting their backs for a job well done or a comment well written.
trolls dont always have it easy. some of their facebook accounts have been closed and surprisingly, some trolls are in the military.
as well, there is move to clean up facebook, ntc is also trying to stop the sale of blasters and its illegal use like the sending of emergency text alert in support of presidential candidate bong marcos.marcos.
Yes I agee, I hope they do it sooner than later. the problem with trolls and their influence to manipulate BBM supporters is underestimated IMHO. THe conduit of misinformation driven are primarily Facebook and YOutube, and I believe they should also be the cure. A more adaptive and accurate filter for non english speaking nations like the Philipppines should be in place, posts that are not in english. Here’s a video from John Oliver about that.They should start helping against misinformation, because it’s making the job too easy for these paid trolls especially from the Marcos camp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5jtFqWq5iU
Tiktok is flooded now with BBM’s son – Sandro. They are trying to win millenials with the son’s good looks ala-Daniel Padilla. I also see a lot of the revisionist crap on old man Marcos’ golden years. With budget in the billions, fake news blast is in full throttle.
Hope Leni’s pink force can counter. For starters, they need to hammer how PHL was 2nd only to Japan before Marcos came to power. 20 years later, he left a country in ruins. This is a narrative to counter the “Marcos golden years” propaganda.
Yes that’s what i thought, the propaganda and trolls SHOULD be countered with the opposition’s own Network of streamlined attacks. The lies should be corrected aggresively, in the same toxic aggression as those seasoned trolls since before 2016. Truth and Facts should be thrown at their faces like bricks. The hateful spite is their language, it may just be the only way to convince and win the arguments.
sandro? another musmos of the marcos clan, lol! two musmoses for the price of one.
the marcos golden years and imelda was dripping in jewels, while bong marcos admited to being musmos at the time, hence adamantly not privy to the father’s excesses and the mother’s largess.
the musmos bong marcos was about the same age as sandro is now, bong marcos also incumbent of ilocos in the martial law years, a full grown man yet claimed to be – musmos – maybe sa isip!
yes the Marcos family redemption as motivation is strong. It’s in the genes ! lol talagang buhos lahat dito sa 2022, pera , effort. In poker, ALL-IN na
down the track, there is harap-harapan, then the much heralded presidential debate with nationwide coverage, done live. fake diplomas vs the real thing.
yes i wonder what would be the difference from the first time they did the debate back in 2016. Both have been smeared quite considerably, Marcos Jr will sing the same defenses, but hopefully the truth seekers and fact checkers will be more unforgiving this time around. THe amount of dirt they throw and will throw at Leni will only pile. They’ve already managed to come up with new material in just a week, replete with those widely shared edited videos. The negative campaigning is out of hand and well sustained from BBM’s side IMO
bu t if framed as morality vs immorality, Joe.
then, VP Leni has no choice but to save D5, other wise she’s immoral,
conversely, VP Leni supporters too, if they are not clamoring for Save D5 now, then they too are immoral, meaning more important stuff more important than D5 take precedence.
And i don’t mean, When I become President I’ll FREE D5… because that becomes a conditional, it should be FREE D5 now, she’s innocent, it’s in the Constitution. 😉
But framed as THIS IS WHAT I CAN DO,
then it becomes about interests, things people can vote on,
like, ex.
I can keep the internet getting faster;
or I can keep the addicts from coming out of their homes again (not necessarily EJKs but maybe some other means in doing so).
Like in 2016, I “knew” Hillary would get us into another war, because that was her pattern; and Trump wasn’t , again bcuz his pattern was to want something out of it, if he cannot then no war, that was his calculus.
So no war.
Biden 2020 is Afghanistan and the Haitians. to me he passed w/ flying colors, and when i saw that footage of him in the 70s saying America is not responsible for saving Vietnamese and bringing them here, his moves this summer makes sense now, that’s a pattern I can support.
I mean collecting those Haitians and flying them back to Haiti, that was gangsta!
Fits my interests though, namely immigration– I don’t support open door policy. But Trump was better in this regard.
My point, what can VP Leni offer either promised or patterned or both, that Filipinos can support. If its just lugaw and tsinelas, I’m sure lots of Filipinos there want more.
There has to be more than just morality vs. immorality. What are the deliverables. Start w/ D5.
We’ll see. One of her three broad initiatives stated yesterday in a speech is to stop the abuses of law.
It is early in the new blog topic to nudge it in a certain direction — and so this may be considered as off-topic until later when the theme of morality guiding media has been discussed fully.
Clearly, in the days from October 8, Leni Robredo has shown more than a glimmer of hope that come May 2022 she will be the next PH President. But, not to forget, the obstacles are still formidable.
My question: what are the main factors that hope or dream will come to fruition? Complementarily, what are the main factors that will dash that hope? Conceptually the main elements of this thought can be framed in a multi-dimensional matrix.
The matrix using the theme of the blog must be guided by morality which Team Leni exemplifies compared with all the others, all of who are really Administration Candidates in various guises.
But morality must be expanded to include pragmatic tactics at the grassroots level, not high falutin ones. Leni as VP has shown that approach, but we hope the whole Team Leni machinery is aligned with this. An example of this approach, most recently, is the Team’s efforts during Typhoon Maring which has devasted the North including BBM’s sphere of influence.
Optimization of tactics is still key since money resources is still a big element when compared with the resources of the whole caboodle of Administration- Candidates- In- Disguise. Dirty tricks are also verboten by the nature of the Team that Leni represents.
Robredo is indeed the rare moral politician. The rest are gamers at different points on the truth-to-lie moral-o-meter. From 1 to 100, Robredo scores 3, Pacquiao 37, Lacson 44, Moreno 78, and Marcos 91.
In case the BBM trolls use those numbers for their ends, here are the numbers translated to their complement from 100 — Robredo scores 97, Pacquiao 63, Lacson 56, Moreno 22, and Marcos 9.
In any case, the rankings are quite right on the truth-moral-o-meter.
Thanks.
🤣😂🎯
Morality definitely is way down the list of priorities for the BBM and DDS fanatics. I can’t stop thinking of BBMs rise to popularity powered by facebook pages and pseudo news from YOutube. WHich if you would observe, as I have joined those groups, have been more prolific the past few weeks, like nonstop. IMHO it’s dangeorulsy underestimated, BBMs threat. Morality is still the target of demolition jobs that’s going on against Leni. Her being boba, a dilawan, a brother in law who’s a druglord. Mainly the disente dilawan social construct crreated that irks people at commmand. And it’s only been a week. These troll work will only grow louder until issues of morality , ejk and even Duterte’s would drown in obscruity and be forgotten. Leni should bring forth a strong campaign that taps into that theme. TO the tune of You wouldn’t want president who is a thief or a murder, would you?
There is plenty of food for thought for the operatives of Team Leni in this article by Boo Chanco:
https://www.philstar.com/business/2021/10/13/2133668/we-are-all-filipino
Great article . thank you
This is slighlty off topic, but still talks about cheating. It’s about Rappler taking down their online survey and being accused of manipulating results. With BBM leading that online survey before it was taken down and Rappler apologizing. I’m wondering how you see that? BBM camp has been using this narrative lately, how they have been cheated by Leni back in 2016, and how they’re worried of cheating next year, an ominous sign and an attempt of reverse psychology?
HEre’s what i posted this morning on my facebook wall.
Rappler dropped the ball on this one (taking down online survey). Did they get giddy after Leni’s pronouncement? Or Ressa’s win? It only fed the propaganda efforts to BBM fanatics delight. They even managed to flip the script on who’s manipulating results. They have screenshots of Pakistanis and non Filipino profiles voting for Leni. Although I think no one can be that dumb, eveyone knows the profiles are visible. I would speculate it was the BBM camp’s troll network synchronizing hundreds of votes for a few minutes to take a screenshot for a great script. Brilliant diba?
Not the best way to engage especially while the troll farms and propaganda pages are in full swing. BBM’s cult like rise in popularity is widely undersestimated IMHO. These are real passionate BBM supporters on the rise.
Nevertheless, you still got to love Rappler’s fact checking and investigative journalism also known as truth telling. Even for those who have been sold to the idea that they’re dilawan, biased or funded by the US (which imay be partly true, but better than being funded by China and being puppets of Xi Jinping ei? . This one we give credit to Duterte’s troll networks since 2016 .
You can’t deny Rappler’s fact checks are gold (not as heavy as 10k tons of gold in the basement though lol). It’s valuable information except for those allergic to facts or truths of course 🙂 We’ve never had similar contents from either new or traditional media before. Well done Rappler!
***dangles an imaginary Nobel trophy 🤣
I’ve not followed the issue. I think Rappler has high journalistic integrity but can miss on a headline or story. Some of their news stories have an advocacy basis, with the framing unstated. So they aren’t an icon of virtue. I’ve long held that their “mood meter” is journalistically wrong, trying to inject emotions into the conversation rather than taking them out in favor of analysis. So they are a bit just like Facebook.
they were tauted one of the least trusted media outlet in the Philippines. by Reuters last year. I think can be attributed to years of defaming by Duterte camp trolls, as explained in that documentary A Thousand cuts. Their faceboook page is a haven for BBM and Duterte bashers. Yes i remember the mood meter, not sure if it’s still up. People think they’re extremely biased and US funded, which is partly true.here’s the link of their apology, which was taken as admission of defeat as BBM started to overtake Leni in that survey 6 days after it started. https://www.facebook.com/rapplerdotcom/photos/a.317154781638645/5017638191590257
Thanks.
The now-controversial informal poll was completely swamped with artificial likes and comments with strange gibberish, implying it was attacked by dozens of what appeared to be several troll farms with thousands of controlled fake accounts; some were Marcos while others posed as Robredo supporters.
As it stands, you and I bet there are, and will be, some serious psychological warfare operations involved now, backed with huge money, and there’s more of that to come in the next several months, the point being is to coerce the voters into believing Marcos has countless loyalists, would deliver everything and satisfy their greed and want.
Who are funding these will leave us speculating about their identities.
bong marcos should not be too complacent, his troll loyalists may not give him the votes for the 2022 presidency. the way his trolls failed to deliver the votes for bong marcos to win the vice presidency last 2016 election despite the billions of money spent.
2016 was a close call because of what looked to be a thin gap of 300k between him and Robredo, which should be a grave concern for next year and thus a focus for the opposition.
I agree. It was a close call back in 2016 . And many trolls , especially Duterte’s were more focused on Mar Roxas and the “dilawan”, now Robredo is at both BBM and Duterte trolls sights. Robredo may get the taste of being hammered by the trolls the first time, as evident by this first week after her proclamation.
I trust god and have faith in him. ang lamang between leni and marcos might have only been 300k, but that is a god given miracle, small maybe, but terrible and devastating.
and no matter how much marcos tried to sway the outcome, the number holds true.
Thank you. THat’s a good point it took some time for the trolls to overtake Leni on the survey after the weekend. It makes sense. The battle now would be to make them realize the propaganda they’ve been fed. I would speculate those pakistanis are the same trolls used , only using their real accounts perhaps
aha, that’s how they do it! trolls swamping in droves, and rappler close the online survey.
that reminds me of opinion and poll surveys often topped by duterte et al. instead of closing the survey to protect its integrity, pollsters continued on with the duplicity and raked in money, while rappler was ridiculed.
I think all media organizations are biased in varying degrees. The values, views, and advocacies of the founders or owners somehow find their way in how they deliver the news. However, you are right. Recently, the media has totally lost it. The newscaster becomes part of the story and their opinions are delivered as news.
Yes. On all sides of the political spectrum.
It is impossible for any press organization to be completely objective in this hyperpartisan atmosphere, as it is inevitable that some of those organizations would inject a bit of color and drama into presenting reportage. That pundits will have stronger biases in making their opinions on newspapers and broadcasts.
As much as the intelligentsia will want the bland straightforwardness of, say, Japan’s NHK presentation style of reportage, some Filipinos may not easily catch on the news, hence the use of sensationalism by some organizations.
That’s true, and it’s why, as Ressa pointed out, the Philippines is the world leader in democratic basket cases, showing other democracies the destructive nonsense coming their way.
Not a morality thing. But I just tweeted this.
I don’t know, fellows. But going to a cinema and seating there with the others for about 2 hrs even with a face mask and face shield to watch a movie is not my cup of tea. How abt walking, smiling, enjoying the sunny days in the “ber” months. Bring along an umbrella just in case.
Related to the above — 89 million Covid vaccine doses have arrived and only 51 million have been administered.
Surely the schedule of vaccine deliveries has been anticipated more or less, so why has the jabbing rate not increased. A slow boat to China? We do not have the mentality of Trump’s Republicans, so I do not believe we have a sizeable vaccine hesitancy, especially since the vaccination level is still low.
there is not enough jabbers around and some health workers have already resigned. pay is poor, working condition is bad, and health workers are overworked and near burnout dahil sa back to back na trabaho. work until they drop dead is not what health workers signed for.
if duque is dutiful, he ought to help with vaccination. be there at vaccination hubs and actually vaccinate people. same with verguirre, she cannot just be a mouthpiece to be seen only in t.v. go out there and help vaccinate the public, lessened covid infection. volunteer.
the same thing can be said with the military’s medical doctors, they can help with vaccination, if only duterte tells them to do so, the faster our people can get their jabs.
Very good points there! Instead, we have this crazy statement of jabbing those hesitant when they are asleep.
aba, marami dyan sleep with itak o guns under their pillows and wont hesitate to kill home invaders armed with syringes, lol!
Colmenares out, but Binay, Gordon in the senate slate of Leni?
She has one opening left and wants it to go to a people’s rep, so it could still be him.
Ok, but Binay?
what chances leni has of winning voters in ilocos? she may even be denied to campaign there, ilocanos told not to attend her soiree. but with binay, leni has key to the city of makati, and access to millions of voters with deep pockets.
this is politics now, get my drift po? previous enemies can be helpful with numbers. so long as binay does not campaign to downgrade leni, he’s in.
here’s leni’s lineup of candidates: https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/15/21/robredo-touts-unity-in-senate-slate-despite-history-of-bad-blood
people had so wanted leni to run for president, now that she is running, the same people ought to trust her choices, it was not done lightly.
you trust leni? then let her fly! leni is in the presidential race to win it.
Copy
Here is a thought. What if this early Pacquiao withdraws and supports the Leni-Kiko ticket?
– Will it help Leni?
– Will it help Pacquiao’s political stock in the future?
– What is the chance of this happening?
Ask Sal.
One of the conspiracy theories is Pacquiao goes to the VP slot and Pangilinan to the last Senatorial slot. Sal hasn’t run any numbers.
if pacman listens to god and not just to the power hungry people around him, he’ll cambio and support leni.
at the moment, it appears pacman does not want to displease the many hangers around him whose fame and fortune depended on him. maybe, they would rather see pacman lose the election so they can offer their collective shoulder for him to cry on, then the more indebted to them pacman will be, theirs forever. habang buhay.
The political fun and games are changing daily. Philippine fiesta politics daily. Oh, what fun it is to have even before the Christmas Season. That conspiracy theory is new to me but I sense from the ether — the QM kind of sonny — the vibes emanating from that, hence my questions.
Robredo-Pacquiao, a complete 12-senatorial slate with Pangilinan in and a pragmatic mix — not the purist kind of tea but has a pink-vote-addition potential to get the job done first methinks.
But I am definitely still for the Senatorial Slate of Bato-Go [if there is such a set]. Because you see, I am a just a mere but a good soldier and if General Stone orders me, I will follow. Who am I to question Bato? By the way, my only nega comment is: I love the original bald head of Yul Brynner than Bato’s. Also, that bald pate and the weight he has put on lately — must love his work at the Senate — makes him look more like a comedian. But enough of this nitpicking. Hehe.
sabi ni bato if pdp laban party will not support his candidacy, he’ll withdraw. by supporting his candidacy mayhap bato means support with political campaign at sagutin all the expenses incurred. hope cusi has the fund.
“… That conspiracy theory is new to me but I sense from the ether — the QM kind of sonny — the vibes emanating from that …”
NH, read this article on Quantum Entanglement. This might well point to “mysterious,” spooky phenomenon connecting people through the QM ether as you call it. Might give legitimacy to interconnectedness as seen by astrology. Scary.
https://www.yourtango.com/2018310374/what-quantum-entanglement-and-how-it-explains-why-some-people-are-psychic
From my tweet in reply to yours:
Yes! Leni is fast learning and driving the bus — evolving into the complete politician of the better kind, preserving her core values while using the necessary legal, non-criminal pragmatics to get to the goal. Business people, no doubt are noticing this. Rivals meanwhile evolve southwards.
My coffee somehow tastes better today.
Here is another fantasy — based on real events as the movies will put it — if you will allow. I imagine The Man from Davao suddenly realizing his political demise calling a former acolyte now having the potential to be up there walking the Palace Halls as a President in Waiting and Learning after May 2022.
*****
The Pres in Waiting and Learning: Yes, who is it?
Secretary of PWL: A man sir, he says he is a former friend from Davao and it is urgent.
PWL: Tell him to wait, I am on the red phone with Leonor.
PWL: Ok put him on.
MFD: Manny, forget our tough guy exchanges lately, they are really meant for TV and for my Davao friends and for that fellow up North. I have always liked you not only for your boxing prowess but your potential as a future leader who will do good for our country.
PWL: What do you want? [PWL is learning but not as fast as Leonor.]
MFD: When you are up there after May 2022, please do not forget me for old times’ sake.
PWL: If it is not something illegal or immoral, I may be able to help. But I tell you what. Get yourself a good set of Lawyers and Accountants from a reputable Law Firm and Accounting Firm starting this week. And for goodness sakes do not listen to that Caregiver of yours and certainly not the recommendations of that fly-by-night Pharmaceutical Company. [See, PWL has learned ever since he started talking to Leonor.]
MFD: But…
PWL: Sorry, I have to go. I have a meeting with Leonor I can’t miss. Don’t forget my recommendation about hiring reputable Law and Accounting firms.
*****
Ha. Could be, could be!
For information, if the Editor will allow. Also, I don’t know how this will appear in the Blog.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FBzvEeJUUAA0WmR?format=jpg&name=medium
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FBzvEeNVIAUlI_a?format=jpg&name=medium
Here is another one posted separately to adhere to the editorial policy of a maximum of two links per post.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FBzvEeLUYAIl0E1?format=jpg&name=medium
Who are in the Senatorial Slate of Marcos Jr? A Phantom of a Slate? Can someone please provide the lineup? If not maybe we can ask Oxford?