A study in contrasts So, America, you say you're looking for a candidate who's a man of action, who says what he thinks and doesn't care what people think, and who gets things done? You might just want to look at the Philippines's brilliantly Trumpesque new president Rodrigo Duterte, who seems like an
This is getting scary. And I would never want to see the Philippines turn into another North Korea. How is anybody going to try to stop him? I suspect there will be more where he came from--that if you somehow take him down, another will replace him and will be just as bad or worse.
Hmm...that reminds me of "justice" here in the US. For instance, I'm a big fan of "Serial" (season one only, please) and the podcasts "Undisclosed" and "Truth & Justice with Bob Ruff." In "Undisclosed" and "Truth & Justice," there's been a lot of talk about the kind of people who the police will go after--and it doesn't seem to matter if it's a relatively big town like Baltimore, MD or some smaller town like Tyler, TX. The "justice" seems to be working the same way. The police will choose a person to be guilty of a crime based on whether they're from the right side of the tracks and whether they're poor. In Adnan Syed's case, there was a racial and religious aspect to how and why the police went after him and decided he was guilty of Hae Min Lee's murder. The police pick a person who they think is guilty, then build a case around that, arrest their target, then dump the mess into the legal system and pass the buck onto judges and attorneys who need to sort through the mess and try to get "justice" out of that mess.
Anyway--point is, we play the same dirty politics and have the same dirty justice here in the US, too. Here in the US, between this fixation on numbers and metrics, and the cops who operate on "guilty before proven innocent" and try to "solve" cases at any cost, just to get the good numbers that they're being judged by, we're not getting true, real justice. And we aren't going to get real justice until we fix this system where people are being judged according to metrics, meaning that they have to turn those red cases black as quickly as possible and at any cost. Crimes don't happen according to this system of metrics--and neither should law enforcement when it comes to investigating them and doing their jobs properly.
Well, at this point, it's a matter of when, not if someone tries to organize a coup against him. Did I mention how angry the Army is against him after all the shit he pulled off with China, and the Communist Party, and Abu Sayyaf? It's like he did everything he can to get them to violently eject him from Malacanang.
Yikes. He really is crazy. Sounds like he has a death wish or something.
Thing is, though--like I said, there's more where he came from. If anybody tries to rebel or resist the regime, they'd better keep in mind that it's not just him they have to take down. It's him *and* his network of thugs and goons. You'd have to worry about taking them all down somehow. No idea how that will work, but it has to be done. Otherwise, yeah--it won't be worth organizing a coup if you're still basically stuck with the same dictator, just with a different face and a different name.
Oh, I'm actually optimistic that when he does get booted out, his followers will all disappear into the ether and pretend that they never really supported him at all. Especially when all the bad stuff about his ties to China and his terrible decisions come out. Filipinos do not like backing a loser.
I agree! And the big reason why there's all these news about "drug addicts and drug pushers arrested/turning themselves in" is because the police leadership and local government units were handed down quotas that they have to meet. And some places, they don't have enough publicly outed drug-involved folk, so they're making shit up with evidence that the courts will throw out. And in other places (like my mom's hometown, where 80% of the population is using and/or selling drugs) the police AND the local politicians are involved in the drug biz, so they're either not gonna name names, or name the ones who they don't like.
I mean, he's doing somethings that I like and he hasn't killed anyone I know yet... so maybe he's not that bad.... Are you actually reading what you write there?
This is getting scary. And I would never want to see the Philippines turn into another North Korea. How is anybody going to try to stop him? I suspect there will be more where he came from--that if you somehow take him down, another will replace him and will be just as bad or worse.
Sounds like you're on drugs. And in that case, shouldn't you be worried that Duterte will kill you?
Hmm...that reminds me of "justice" here in the US. For instance, I'm a big fan of "Serial" (season one only, please) and the podcasts "Undisclosed" and "Truth & Justice with Bob Ruff." In "Undisclosed" and "Truth & Justice," there's been a lot of talk about the kind of people who the police will go after--and it doesn't seem to matter if it's a relatively big town like Baltimore, MD or some smaller town like Tyler, TX. The "justice" seems to be working the same way. The police will choose a person to be guilty of a crime based on whether they're from the right side of the tracks and whether they're poor. In Adnan Syed's case, there was a racial and religious aspect to how and why the police went after him and decided he was guilty of Hae Min Lee's murder. The police pick a person who they think is guilty, then build a case around that, arrest their target, then dump the mess into the legal system and pass the buck onto judges and attorneys who need to sort through the mess and try to get "justice" out of that mess.
Anyway--point is, we play the same dirty politics and have the same dirty justice here in the US, too. Here in the US, between this fixation on numbers and metrics, and the cops who operate on "guilty before proven innocent" and try to "solve" cases at any cost, just to get the good numbers that they're being judged by, we're not getting true, real justice. And we aren't going to get real justice until we fix this system where people are being judged according to metrics, meaning that they have to turn those red cases black as quickly as possible and at any cost. Crimes don't happen according to this system of metrics--and neither should law enforcement when it comes to investigating them and doing their jobs properly.
Well, at this point, it's a matter of when, not if someone tries to organize a coup against him. Did I mention how angry the Army is against him after all the shit he pulled off with China, and the Communist Party, and Abu Sayyaf? It's like he did everything he can to get them to violently eject him from Malacanang.
Yikes. He really is crazy. Sounds like he has a death wish or something.
Thing is, though--like I said, there's more where he came from. If anybody tries to rebel or resist the regime, they'd better keep in mind that it's not just him they have to take down. It's him *and* his network of thugs and goons. You'd have to worry about taking them all down somehow. No idea how that will work, but it has to be done. Otherwise, yeah--it won't be worth organizing a coup if you're still basically stuck with the same dictator, just with a different face and a different name.
Oh, I'm actually optimistic that when he does get booted out, his followers will all disappear into the ether and pretend that they never really supported him at all. Especially when all the bad stuff about his ties to China and his terrible decisions come out. Filipinos do not like backing a loser.
I agree! And the big reason why there's all these news about "drug addicts and drug pushers arrested/turning themselves in" is because the police leadership and local government units were handed down quotas that they have to meet. And some places, they don't have enough publicly outed drug-involved folk, so they're making shit up with evidence that the courts will throw out. And in other places (like my mom's hometown, where 80% of the population is using and/or selling drugs) the police AND the local politicians are involved in the drug biz, so they're either not gonna name names, or name the ones who they don't like.
Dut fanboy, treat as troll.
Your more on drugs bitch....
Reported and blocked. I don't need to have garbage like that one bothering me.
Wannabe dictator fanboy banhammered; bye!
-- Dok Zoom, Yr Friendly Neighborhood Comments Moderator
No comment (I'm scared of possible Duterte repercussions).
I mean, he's doing somethings that I like and he hasn't killed anyone I know yet... so maybe he's not that bad.... Are you actually reading what you write there?
Really? I haven't read of a single cause for optimism from any coverage. He's absolutely horrifying.
The economist has a pretty grim picture of what's likely to happen - a failed narco state indeed with militias run amok.
Hey hey hey it's early days!