06-03 15:33: RANsquawk Today's Trading Edge
If the US media delights in its every day interactions with Donald Trump, who not only refuses to follow the conventional playbook, but has torn it apart and burned it for good measure, it would have an absolute field day with the Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte.
The reason is that earlier today, Duterte who takes over the local presidency on June 30, said that corrupt journalists were legitimate targets of assassination and should be killed, as he amped up his controversial anti-crime crusade with offers of rewards for killing drug traffickers.
As AFP reminds us, Duterte won this month's elections by a landslide largely due to an explosive law-and-order platform in which he pledged to end crime within six months by killing tens of thousands of suspected criminals.
It's not just corrupt journalists that are the target of Duterte's wrath: the "foul-mouthed politician" has launched a series of post-election tirades against criminals and repeated his vows to kill them - particularly drug traffickers, rapists and murderers.
In a press conference called on Tuesday to announce his cabinet in his southern hometown of Davao, Duterte said journalists who took bribes or engaged in other corrupt activities also deserved to die.
"Just because you're a journalist you are not exempted from assassination, if you're a son of a bitch," Duterte said when asked how he would address the problem of media killings in the Philippines after a reporter was shot dead in Manila last week.
Something tells us Trump would empathize; although there are mitigating factors. As AFP notes, the Philippines is one of the most dangerous nations in the world for journalists, with 174 murdered since a chaotic and corruption-plagued democracy replaced the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos three decades ago.
On the other hand, Duterte's blunt solution has an eerie sense of vigilante justice: "Most of those killed, to be frank, have done something. You won't be killed if you don't do anything wrong," Duterte said, adding that many journalists in the Philippines were corrupt.
Duterte also said freedom of expression provisions in the constitution did not necessarily protect a person from violent repercussions for defamation. "That can't be just freedom of speech. The constitution can no longer help you if you disrespect a person," he said.
Duterte raised the case of Jun Pala, a journalist and politician who was murdered in Davao in 2003. Gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead Pala, who was a vocal critic of Duterte. His murder has never been solved.
"If you are an upright journalist, nothing will happen to you," said Duterte, who has ruled Davao as mayor for most of the past two decades and is accused of links to vigilante death squads. "The example here is Pala. I do not want to diminish his memory but he was a rotten son of a bitch. He deserved it."
* * *
What jumps out here is the question of just what the president-elect believes makes a journalist "non-upright": considering the country's history with journalistic violence and murders and regressive retaliation, one would assume that something as innocent as writing an investigative piece exposing the corruption of the existing government, or perhaps even the president, would be sufficient grounds for putting said journalist on the "assassinate" list.
One of the world's deadliest attacks against journalists took place in the Philippines in 2009, when 32 journalists were among 58 people killed by a warlord clan intent on stopping a rival's election challenge. More than 100 people are on trial for the massacre, including many members of the Ampatuan family accused of orchestrating it.
Duterte has named Salvador Panelo, the former defense lawyer for the Ampatuans, as his presidential spokesman, a nomination criticized by the victims' families and journalists' organizations.
The president-elect also hopes to crack down in dramatic fashion on country's big drug problem.
Duterte, who will assume office in one month, also said he would offer bounties to law enforcement officers who killed drug traffickers. He said three million pesos ($21,000) would be paid to law enforcers for killing drug lords, with lesser amounts for lower-ranking people in drug syndicates.
Outlining some of his other plans for his war on crime, Duterte said he would give police special forces shoot-to-kill orders and send them into the main jail in Manila where prisoners run drug trafficking operations.
So... a country full of Judge Dredds who have virtually unchecked power over whom to kill. Surely, what can go wrong.
Finally, Duterte would also root out corruption in the police by largely the same means: he would enlist junior soldiers to kill corrupt top-ranking police officers who were involved in the drug trade.
"I will call the private from the army and say: 'Shoot him'," Duterte said.
Finally, in a line that would lead to unprecedented media ratings if it was uttered by Trump, Duterte also urged police not to wait until he assumed the presidency, and start killing criminals immediately. "Now, now," he urged them.
Police earlier confirmed killing 15 people in a series of drug raids across the country over the past week, which Amnesty International described as a sharp and sudden escalation in the long-standing problem of questionable deaths by Filipino security forces.
* * *
Finally, there was this:
The first ever, self-administered powersharing arrangement with the army in modern history?
To be sure, the new Philippino approach to fixing a crime-ridden society will be different from anything tried before (and perhaps after). It may even work. if so, we wonder how many other somewhat "radical" leaders will adopt Duterte's approach of enabled vigilantism, whose outcome will be very binary: either the complete eradication of crime, which we find unlikely, or total social de-evolution and rampant, and even more violent crime.
Never go full retard
What about politicians? Are their assassinations off the table?
Can we get this guy to work in Washington for a while?
The new president is bad stuff. And so is anal sex. Did you know that anal sex is the devil's work. It's true. So please pull your pants up and start acting correctly. Word to your mother.
A politician deeming a jurnalist corrupt, yeah, sure to be trusted!
“It may even work. if so, we wonder how many other somewhat "radical" leaders will adopt Duterte's approach of enabled vigilantism, whose outcome will be very binary: either the complete eradication of crime, which we find unlikely, or total social de-evolution and rampant, and even more violent crime.”
Well you know, they already have the latter in Chicago, so what’s to lose for “enabled vigilantism” and bounties there?
Where is Charles Bronson when you really need him?
Taking bets this type of statement will come from the next US President within 3 years of taking office. Who wants the other side?
I'll give you five to one.
We won't make it three years.
It looks like the people there will have to start staking out their local police departments. If they don't they're going to die anyway, so might as well.
Hey, it's a democracy, so you know Uncle Sam is cool with it.
"Hey, it's a democracy, so you know Uncle Sam is cool with it"
Uncle Sham's USA lackey didn't make the cut. Bloomberg was upset.
"Initially, Bloomberg analysts were going for Western leaning candidates, green card holder Grace Poe.............."
https://geopolitics.co/2016/05/10/bloomberg-failed-to-influence-philippi...
"Uncle Sham's USA lackey didn't make the cut. Bloomberg was upset."
Uh oh. With the US, it's much better to be a friendly dictatorship than an independently thinking democracy.
Beware the cookies...
http://russia-insider.com/sites/insider/files/Nulands-Cookies.png
What if your President said you could shoot illegals?
I suspect skin whitening products and blue contact lens sales would soar.
What if som European leader said migrants should leave of their own free will - or be assaasinated?
I guess it is one solution,
RS
If you would have the rule of law, then you must have the rule of law. Let there be a trial, followed quickly by a sentancing and an execution, if so mandated.
Corrupt journalists do, in fact, deserve the worst possible fate a society has to offer. Whether that be death or something else is up to the members of that society, but such people have committed the worst of crimes, screaming fire in a crowded theater when there was none, or urging people to remain in their seats as the fire licks at their flesh.
The worm turns.
If Journalism had any integrity left as a profession this would sound crazy.
"Philippines' and "Murdering" in the same sentence???
I am dismayed...totally shocked.
The US dark state lackey advocating totalitarian rule? Naaahhhh!
Conspiracy theory.
"The US dark state lackey advocating totalitarian rule?"
You're in for a very big surprise of you think he's gonna be a USA lapdog.
Trump found a new VP!
I'm protesting outside Z/H Offices tomorrow morning as this new unannounced format is playing havoc with my senses.
It's already cost a 50% drop in the frequency of my comments, although some might disagree and tell me that's a good thing. lol
I have my doubts that he will be the modern day Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus.
As in once the crime and corruption are stomped out, retire from his position.
In fact, that there was but ONE instance of that in recorded history says a lot.
Cincinnatus, yes! But also, I think George Washington, who couldn't WAIT to get back to his farm and away from the politics of trying to win a war with so many other generals working behind his back to unseat him so they could get the glory.
Totally agreed with him. There are a lot of journalists in US that most be killed right now.
Duterte + Edrogan = two fuckers of the same feather.
I live in the Philippines most of the year now and they love this guy.
Davao City (Mindanao island) used to be the murder capital of the Philippines but due to Duterte, "The Punisher," as mayor there's now no crime because he ran off all the bad guys with masked death squads and since then the city has long been rated as one of the safest in the world. Mindanao is home to the muslim population.
Now he is president and we'll see what happens.
I came back from Davao late last year. Aside from the usual panhandlers I had an excellent time and hope to be setting up my second business there soon.
Muslims in Mindanao live separately in predominantly Muslim provinces known as the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The region is also home to the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist network with international links.
Muslims are intermixed everywhere on Mindanano., not just in the Auton Region.
Duterte might have already saved your life and you don't know it. Those bad guys he ran off might have ran into you someday. I will be living on Luzon in the near future and that thought stays with me. Ignat ka.
Yup, I was in malaybalay bukidnon also....lotsa Muzzies there. Right next door to where the 55 were greased.
Is the Philippines' news media as biased to the left as it is in the U.S.?A mere 7 percent of journalists in the U.S. identify as Republicans, and when they do give money to political campaigns they usually donate to Democrats.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/11/11/key-...
This guy's a riot. People think Trump is a little hard hitting....
Anyone remember the movie Stripes? Francis said..... "you touch me, I'll kill you".....LOL
So I've been watching a few in depth interviews with Duterte last week, some of them an hour long. He is very highly educated and has better vocabulary than most English majors here in the States....
But the best part is.... he told his "crooked" Generals.... "I'll give you three months to retire. Just walk away from the drugs that pollute our youth. I'll pay you full retirement pay to leave early. After that, I'll fucking kill you." He's pretty liberal with the F-bombs on national TV interviews.... He told the Police in Manila...... "you have three months to clean your act up....or....... I'll fucking kill you".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow9FUAHCclk
How's dem apples?
They must have Diebold voting machines in the Phillipines. Saw this fella the other day on TV. Chilling. CIA must love this guy.
He's got the overwhelming support of the majority of the population there. He's also spear heading peace talks.....although he did just flat blast 56 Muzzy terrorists in their tracks two days ago. Listen to his interviews... he makes a distinction between those who are politically different than himself.... and scumbag terrorists who kill innocent people. The former group he is willing to give seats in local government.....the latter.... well....."I'll fucking kill you". LOL.
http://aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/philippines-56-killed-in-clashes-in-mus...
Duterte sounds exactly like Ferdinand Marcos, Expatriate Chinese who pretended to be Filipino, Japanese spy during WW2, gangster who rose to the Presidency primarily by murdering political opponents, and who then inflicted a 21-year reign of terror over the Philippines. When he fled the country, his wife Imelda Marcos had to abandon the most famous shoe collection in human history. Photos: https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AwrBT4TKS05XNNwA3wtXNyoA;_ylc=X1MDMjc2NjY3OQRfcgMyBGZyA21jYWZlZQRncHJpZANYaUFsN05DZ1FRdVZpeklUQzF0aXFBBG5fcnNsdAMwBG5fc3VnZwMxMARvcmlnaW4Dc2VhcmNoLnlhaG9vLmNvbQRwb3MDMgRwcXN0cgNpbWVsZGElMjBtYXJjb3MEcHFzdHJsAzEzBHFzdHJsAzM1BHF1ZXJ5A2ltZWxkYSUyMG1hcmNvcyUyMHNob2UlMjBjb2xsZWN0aW9uBHRfc3RtcAMxNDY0NzQ5MDc0?p=imelda+marcos+shoe+collection&fr2=sa-gp-search&fr=mcafee&type=C011US400D20150428
Last I heard, Imelda was rumored to be a billionaire living in (where else?) New York City.
Sorry, Mary*2:
She's back in the PHI; with a Son or Nephew in Public Office. With All the Laundered USA Aide and Tax Monies.
BTW, You might wish to roll back the clock on the WWII situation. When the USA fought ESP, People
from the PHI declared Independence; but they were quashed (killed) by the USA; and the PHI became
a Colony of the USA. Many of those Pro Independence Advocates worked with the Imperial JPN Forces
during WWII...
Until the early 90s, the Local/Regional Women were pretty much abused by many a Sailor, Airman, and Soldier
from the USA. Money mostly spent on Booze and Hostesses. It's one thing to run a Bar or Club; its another
when that's all that a town has been reduced to offer. That can be blamed on Mr. Marcos.
Unfortunately(?), once PHI asked the USA to LEAVE, they had a hard time dealing with the Insurgents. Now, with
CHN taking over the Spratlyes and other Islands/Attols in the South China Sea and camping just offshore, they
might just have to return as a Vassal of the USA.
-She is probably living on a nice cool mountaintop in the north, surrounded by Ronin.
-Yes. I agree with all that. And I remember that, after the Spanish American War, Filipinos made an attempt at freedom, and the USA brutally squashed that. I do give the USA credit for at least building schools and hospitals. The Roman Catholic Spanish just didn't do things like that. They were all about "passion", which means "vanity", and therefore they saw no reason to help others.
-My opinion: All Empires are evil empires.
-Of course, the real rulers of the Philippines have always been the Expatriate Chinese. Regardless of whether the "government" is Spanish, American, Japanese, or Filipino.
-With Dictator Duterte, I guess the USA can look forward to "a new golden age of Commie-fighting", maybe reopening of Clark AFB, full reopening of Subic Bay, lots of fun advising Duterte's Deathsquads fighting the Mindanao Muslims, and of course trillions of dollars of graft and corruption. BULLISH! :-)
-I was in Davao some 15 years ago, before Duterte, I believe, and walked the streets at 2 AM with absolutely no problem.
-I don't blame the Mindanao Muslims for trying to break away from the total corruption of the north, but I feel sure that, if they ever won, they'd find a way to create their own total corruption, since that seems to be the Way of the World.
depend on what journalists. the world is better without people working for abccnnbbc
The details will matter to those involved. However, the basic background was exponential growth of the population, based upon being able to strip-mine the natural resources of the planet, reaching various limits of diminishing returns, at which points the previous exponential growth has already spectacularly overshot!
In 1591, based on tributes collected, there were about 660,000 people in the islands. The population of the Philippines was estimated in 1830 to be 2.5 million people. According to the 2015 census, the population of the Philippines is ~101 million. At the present time 0-14 years old are 34.6% of the total population, while those over 65 are 5%. The Philippines has been able to export its population problems for quite a while, but nevertheless, its own situation was another example of a basket case country, with "unsolvable" problems, other than sufficient death insanities.
I do not find it too surprising that this initially popular President would be promoting death insanities. However, I find it tragic that he and his ilk are not able to go through sufficient paradigm shifts regarding how they perceive the death control issues, although it is typical that under stress, people tend to regress ...
I tended to agree with the spin put on this story by the article above, expecting that the most probable futures are "social de-evolution and rampant, and even more violent crime."
Generally speaking, the "de-volution" of the government of the Philippines is merely another example of the ways that governments are the biggest forms of organized crime, controlled by the best organized gangs of criminals, which are operated by the best available professional hypocrites, who are able and willing to become increasingly psychotic psychopaths. It appears to me that, in a diffuse way, enough of the voters are dimly aware of their problems, enough to approve of promoting death insanities as the "solutions" to their problems, but they are not able to develop any higher consciousness regarding how that should be done.
Ummm, the crime rate went DOWN in Davao since he became mayor. Drastically.
Well, yeah you could just kill all the journalists that aren't respectful enough to say that the crime rate went down.
The Roman Catholic Church tells Filipinos: "don't worry that don't have a job; go ahead and get married and start having babies."
Sure, the RCs are the problem.
Belgium was once an RC country...its isn't anymore and they are SOOOOO much better off than the flips....right?
Hope you enjoy shuria.
Squid
Squid, if you don't believe me, visit the Philippines.
That's exactly what Roman Catholic priests tell young Filipinos.
The Netherlands had to fight the Popes for many many years. Maybe they've forgotten.... If so, they will pay.
Perhaps you didn't notice the Pope personally bringing in a bunch of "Refugee" Houseboys to the Vatican. That was a direct attack on Europeans. Once again, a Pope sells out to the highest bidder, which right now is the Rothschilds and the Gulf State Dictator Families. The Church is a Chamber of Commerce, a Political Party, and an Business Empire. And Jesus said, "I never knew ye".
Has parallels with how Nazi Germany started. A maniac gets elected, demonizes sections of society, eliminates the intelligensia and the plebs cheer it on. Truly terrifying.
I wonder if he is prepared to be subject to those same standards himself?
What else is he prepared to use murder for?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO8EpfyCG2Y
I think a few plane loads of fucking lying corrupt journos from CNN CNBC fox and Bloomberg to manila would clean up things nicely
Imagine that. Giving the cops the freedom to do their goddamn job.
Take good notes, children. Duterte is about to demonstrate how easy it is to solve a country's crime problem, if you're at all serious about doing so.
His words speak of
the true hidden
language, motive, will & morality
of the political class
Everywhere you go, everything you do, and every which way you look, we’re getting swindled, cheated, conned, robbed, raided, pickpocketed, mugged, deceived, defrauded, double-crossed and fleeced by governmental and corporate shareholders of the police state out to make a profit at taxpayer expense. At some point, somebody needs to step up and put an end to the shit. I'm not in favor of letting any knuckleheads, police, military, generals, politicians etc., run roughshod on the population. As Duterte stated, they would follow the law or pay the consequences.
Logged in just to complain about the new format. This is actually worse than the former bizzaro format.
I get less advertisment this way. I find it O.K.