LOTTO'S INSIDIOUS EFFECT

Bakit ka tumataya sa lotto? Para gumanda ang buhay ko. 

Magkano ang tinataya mo araw-araw? P52 pesos -- kasama na run ang EZ 2.

So sa loob ng isang buwan, tumataya ka ng P1,456. Sa loob ng isang taon, ilang beses kang nanalo? 

Isang beses. 

Magkano ho?

Apat na libo. 

Sa loob ng isang taon, 1,456 x 52 na linggo = P75,712 ang tinataya mo. Pero apat na libo lang panalo mo. 

Oo, ganun nga. 

Folks, our people are being deluded into thinking that life is always a matter of chance. This has an insidious effect -- they will no longer have pride over working hard and earning a good income. Instead, pakuyakuyakoy na pagtaya tuwing umaga at maghihintay ng bola ng PCSO. 

Maganda ba yun? 

I think that Lotto should have only small prizes. Let our people win little by litte and don't make them dream of a million and more because it is such an adventurous frustrating endeavor. 

The 1 Billion winners the other week do not look like they won the prize for themselves. Who really won? I don't think they are ordinary bettors. 

BAKAL

HINDI BA ANG BAKAL AY NAPAKATIGAS? Kung gagamitin itong panghampas tiyak itong makakasakit at higit pa diyan, makamamatay. 

Kaya lang ito talaga ang ginagawang panggawa ng traysikel. 


Mahilig akong sumakay sa traysikel -- maliit, mabilis, at mura (kung minsan). Kaya lang bakal ang paligid nito. 

Bakal ang paanan,bakal ang bubong, bakal ang mga nasa tagiliran. 

At kapag kaskasero ang drayber, o parang ahas sa daan ang pagpapatakbo, tiyak na tatalsik-talsik ka sa kaliwa't kanan o kaya bubunggo sa bubong ang iyong ulo. 

Masakit di ba? Siyempre. 

Baka magkabukol ka o kaya ay magkatumor at mamatay ng kanser. 

Pero wala ba talagang magagawa tungkol dito?

May pangarap ako -- na lahat ng traysikel ay upholstered ang buong loob. Malambot ang mga paligid, ang bubong at may carpet ang paanan. Nang sa ganito ang katawan ng tao ay hindi masasaktan kapag nagmabilis man ng takbo o magpagiwang-giwang ang drayber. 

At kailangang uniform din ang ba-ba ng tapakan papasok -- hindi yung may mataas o mababa. 

Mahirap bang gumawa ng order ang LTFRB para mangyari ito? 


Tricycle 3D Angelo Buenaventura

SI NUNAL, ISANG BABAENG NANG-AASAR

May isang babaeng nagtatrabaho sa isang mall, si Nunal.  Mataas ang katungkulan niya at meron siyang sideline: ang mang-asar ng isang mamimili.

Tatabihan niya ito at magkukunwaring interesado sa mamimili yun pala ay aasarin niya -- kakanta siyang ng mga awiting may salitang "lukaret" patama pero disimulado. 

Hindi alam ni Nunal kung bakit ginagawa niya ito. Pero siguro buwisit siya sa buhay niya at kailangan niyang mabago ang mundo niya paminsan-minsan. Pero sinisigurado niyang kikita siya sa ginagawa niya. 

Tuwang-tuwa naman ang kumukuha sa kanyang gawin ang pang-aasar. Nakatayo ito sa hindi kalayuan at tinitingnan ang ginagawa niya. Pagkatapos ay babayaran siya. 

Isang ideya ito para sa isang animasyon. Ipagpapatuloy pa. 

MUSEO NG KAGITINGAN

Mabigat ang mga paa ni Lorena papunta sa konsulada. Ayaw na ayaw niyang magpunta kasi hanggang ngayon ay nangangalisag ang kanyang mga balahibo tuwing maaalala niya ang nangyari sa kay Kashoggi noong ikalawa ng Oktubre, 2018. 

Nasa kuwarto sila at nagtatrabaho pero pinauwi sila ng maaga. Natagalan siyang makapagbalot kaya narinig niya ang mga pangyayari. 

Aaaaah. Ayoko, ayokong umuwi sa bansa natin. Papatayin nyo lang ako run. 

Hindi, hindi ka namin papatayin. 

Basta ayokong sumamasa inyo. 

Ah hindi ha. Heto, heto ang mangyayari sa mga daliri mo. Ang mga daliri mong ginagamit mo sa paninira sa kaharian. 

Aaaah...ahhhhh..... 

Mga demonyo....kay......

Sumilip si Lorena sa pinto at nakita niyang wala ng ulo ang si Kashoggi na pinalilibutan ng may labinlimang kalalakihan. 

Heto na heto ang ulo niya. Balutin nyo na yan. At ipapadala natin sa kaharian. 

At narinig ni Lorena na parang may naglalagare ng buto. Nang sumilip siya nakita niya ang lalaki, may headset, na pinuputol-putol, nilalagare ang katawan ni Kashoggi na kanina pa sumisigaw. Parang siyang masusuka sa eksenang nakita niya. 

Nagsalita ang naglalagare-- Kung hindi ninyo matagalang tumingin dito, makinig na lang kayo sa musika. 

Kinilabutan siya at tahimik na sinarang muli ang pinto. Naisip-isip ni Lorena, kung ganito sila kasistematiko sa pagkilos, marahil ay marami na rin silang napagpraktisang gawin yung mga ginawa nila sa lalaki. 

Nang maramdaman niyang nag-alisan na lahat, dahan-dahan siyang tumalilis. 

Sa mga sumunod na araw, maraming nagpuntahang mga taga media at taga gubyerno. Nag-uusisa. Galit na galit dahil ginawang slaughterhouse ang konsulada na nakatirik sa lupa ng gubyerno, na pinahiram lamang sa banyagang bansang ito. 

Hindi maaaring hindi bumalik si Lorena sa opisina para magtrabaho nguni't parang sementeryo ang pupuntahan niya at hindi opisina. 

Paano kayang naging miyembro ng Nagkakaisang Bansa ang bansang kumikitil ng mga mamamahayag, naitanong ni Lorena sa sarili niya. 

Makalipas ang ilang araw, may bumabang memo: gagawin na raw ng gubyerno na museo ang konsulada bilang pagtanaw sa kabayanihan ng lalaking napatay. Manunulat si Kashoggi na tumutuligsa sa mapaniil at malupit na kaharian at hindi marunong kumilala sa karapatang pantao. Paaalisin na raw ang dating mga taga konsulada dahil taliwas sa kagalingang pandaigdig ang ginawa nila. 

Kailangang makahanap na si Lorena ng ibang trabaho. 






Sinulat ni Emma Orozco  

CREEPING FASCISM

DECIPHERING MEANINGS BEHIND WORDS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Folks read These:

 

Wednesday, October 24

TRUMP: KHASHOGGI KILLING ‘WORST COVER-UP’ Trump called the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi “the worst cover-up ever.” He told journalists: “They had a very bad original concept. It was carried out poorly and the cover-up was one of the worst cover-ups in the history of cover-ups. Very simple. Bad deal, should have never been thought of. Somebody really messed up.” [HuffPost] [Tweet | Share on Facebook

 

Questions: 1. Was he talking as how a president of a democratic Country should be or just as a bureaucrat who likes analyzing Projects?

2. Was he talking as a Moral individual who could be sensitive to the plight of any victim of violence?

3. Was he teaching the Saudians how to be more refined in their aggressiveness and violent Actions?

4. Was he speaking and acting as a leader who would guide the People to the path of a very righteous land?

It pays to analyze the words of a leader in order to know where he is bringing the world - to more bloody endings or a haven for all who are tired of what is going on now - wars, Inflation, Powerplays and many more.

CRUELTY: A TOOL OF DICTATORS

WHERE DOES SENSE OF CRUELTY COME FROM? WHY ARE THERE CRUEL PEOPLE? READ THESE:

TRUMP PRAISES GOP REP WHO ASSAULTED REPORTER President Donald Trump praised Republican lawmaker Greg Gianforte, who last year assaulted a Guardian reporter. “Any guy that can do a body slam, he’s my kind of guy,” Trump said at a rally in Montana, as supporters cheered him on.

Huffington Post, October 19, 2017

According to an account in the pro-government daily newspaper Yeni Şafak, and a later report citing Turkish officials by the New York Times, the audio recording proves that Khashoggi was seized as soon as he entered the office of the Saudi consul, Mohammad al-Otaibi, on 2 October.

The dissident journalist was beaten and had his fingers cut off, according to the news account. Otaibi asked for the torture to be done outside his office, saying: “You will put me in trouble.”

“If you want to live when you come back to Arabia, shut up,” the consul was told by a Saudi hit team who had flown to Istanbul hours before Khashoggi’s planned visit to the consulate, where he had expected to pick up legal papers he needed to get married.

Khashoggi was beheaded and his body was cut up. A Saudi forensics specialist Salah Muhammad al-Tubaigy can be heard putting on headphones to listen to music and telling others to do the same while the body was dismembered, according to the reports.

Investigators believe that after the killing, Khashoggi’s body was taken to the consul general’s house, where it was disposed of.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/17/jamal-khashoggi-pompeo-to-meet-erdogan-as-gory-reports-of-killing-emerge

In the eighties when we were campaigning against the martial law, we dreaded being near government agencies knowing that there were spies inside who could report on what we were doing there. However, due to the need to survive we also had to look for jobs and I found one in the Budget Commission, now the DBM ThereI used to work as senior management specialist where some co-employees of ours we had found to be spying on every one -- especially those who have ties to the underground. One employee's former partner then had just been released from Bicutan and so she was targeted for minute-by-minute espionage. 

We did our jobs well, not minding what they were doing. As far as we were concerned, our work was legitimate, assessing proposals of government agencies for budgetary allocations for organization, salaries, and operations, among others. 

What kind of cruelty did Marcos employ? The partner of that employee was tied to the bed by handcuffs; some detainees were made to sit on ice; others were placed in solo incarceration. I don't have much info on the more horrible methods save from what I have come across in the papers. 

So CRUELTY is not something indigenous to Marcos. But for the I O  to exercise a neurotic cruelty over media people shows a dangerous leader who could do worse in the future. I think the United States had better watch out for future worse scenarios with him at the helm. 

Meanwhile, what happened to Kashoggi is a product of an aristocratic society where the underlings had fallen head over heels in working for the MBS. In that closed society, where women are at their worst situation, the breeding of a cruel leader is no longer surprising. Unlike in Britain, where the monarchy enjoys the people's adulation, and women are liberated socially, in Kashoggi's country, the prince has turned out to be a spoiled brat. And with the blind obedience of his people, he could order anything, to be as cruel as can be to his enemies. 

Britain has a long history of enlightenment philosophically, unlike in Kashoggi's country. I think that really, a good grounding in philosophy among the people is the best defense against the propagation of cruel leaders. Why because, armed with a strong philosphical bent, then the people can counter intellectually and actively any overturning of their human rights. 

As Plato says:

There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands. 

MAY KASHOGGI'S SOUL REST IN PEACE

 

In commiseration with the relatives of Jamal Kashoggi, the Washington Post columnist Saudian who left his country, settled in Virginia, USA, and has now disappeared, after entering the Saudi consulate in Turkey to get his divorce papers last October 2, 2018,  let us listen to this song Ave Maria by Schubert sang by Elisabeth Kulman,

Schubert: Ave Maria - Elisabeth Kulman

MAMMA MIA --THE MUSICAL

I spent a considerable time in London in the eighties and met a lot of women there. Some were married with a spouse and children; a few with a boyfriend and a child by him; others with several children from different fathers. But there was a beautiful woman who shacked up with a man with several children. So she became some kind of a surrogate mom to the latter. 

Was it a big deal having children out of wedlock? Not at all. The women all led normal lives, meaning, they lived, loved and laughed. They never worried much about how to feed the baby because the State gave them welfare allowances -- as a single mother, child allowance and cheap housing. 

This is the major focus of the play Mamma Mia, one of the longest running West End plays in London. Donna, a woman who had had three boyfriends and then got pregnant without her knowing who really fathered her child. She raised the child by herself and when the girl was about to be wedded to her boyfriend, she is reunited with her boyfriends. It turns out that the daughter had invited all the guys to her wedding. 

The meeting turned out to be a chance for Donna and the three men to sort out what really had happened to all her encounters with them. 

Donna also met her feminist friends and they swung their way in the play, dropping feminist quotes here and there. They exhibited also unusual relationships, one with a much younger man, and the other running after a man, a sort of reversal roles, instead of the man doing the hunting. The quotes were revolutionary in the nineties may be when it was first shown, but now they are rather commonplace already, that is for e. 

The story is funny interspersed with pop songs by the Swedish ABBA  composers Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus.

Catch it quick at Solaire . You could also dance by your seat should you wish to join in the merry scenes. 


__________________________________________________________________________________Background:
Mamma Mia! (promoted as Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus' Mamma Mia!) is a jukebox musical written by Britishplaywright Catherine Johnson, based on the songs of ABBA composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, former members of the band. The title of the musical is taken from the group's 1975 chart-topper "Mamma Mia". Ulvaeus and Andersson, who composed the original music for ABBA, were involved in the development of the show from the beginning. Singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad has been involved financially in the production and she has also been present at many of the premieres around the world.
The musical includes such hits as "Super Trouper", "Lay All Your Love on Me", "Dancing Queen", "Knowing Me, Knowing You", "Take a Chance on Me", "Thank You for the Music", "Money, Money, Money", "The Winner Takes It All", "Voulez-Vous", "SOS" and the title track. Over 60 million people have seen the show, which has grossed $2 billion worldwide since its 1999 debut. A film adaptation starring Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski, Stellan Skarsgård and Julie Walters was released in July 2008.e was not a moment of boredom at all, as the music of ABBA. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamma_Mia!

SCHOLARLY ASSESSMENT OF ELECTION CANDIDATES

             

I am really wondering why the Comelec seems to be at a loss on how to classify candidacies. The words they use are highly political. Although voting is a political exercise, yet determination of those who are to be put up as candidates must acquire a degree of scholarly evaluation, some kind of objectivity -- meaning to say the following factors are to be studied and considered first upon the submission of the candidates' application papers, namely:

1. education;
2. experience;
3. capacity to develop a program of action once elected;
4. capacity to communicate with clarity, whether using verbal or sign language; and 
5. the endorsements of other groups or individuals are secondary, among others, 

Hence, in this manner, the individual's application is studied and treated with respect. 

But the best way really is to interview the individual. 

I was told by a Comelec lawyer that they assess candidacies by asking for the dossier of the individual/s from the military and the police. I really do not know how that can help at all, knowing that these sectors are after those who destabilize the State, primarily. Hence their data could be one-sided. Besides the dossiers may not be updated so that the developments in the mind and life of the individual may not have been considered anymore. 

Anyway, this is my concluding statement: any assessment of candidates' application  to run for a political position whether national or local shall result only in three kinds:

1. Qualified candidate meaning the application satisfies all the requirements (excluding capacity to run a campaign as this is a highly individualistic style)

2. Disqualified candidate -- meaning to say the candidate has pending cases; and 

3. Unqualified candidate 

This is the scholarly way of labeling candidates. By using these terms, the Comelec does not diminish the humanity of the applicants for candidacy to position. The Comelec recognizes that every Filipino citizen, male or female has the right to aspire to be elected for a political position and serve the country. .  


Fernando Amorsolo Painting shows Marcela Marino de Agoncillo, Lorenza Agoncillo, and Delfina Herbosa de Natividad in Hong Kong sewing the flag first flown in battle on May 28, 1898. It was formally unfurled during the Proclamation of Philippine Independence and the flag of the First Philippine Republic, on June 12, 1898 by President Aguinaldo.

WHEN EXERCISING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IS BEING CURTAILED

Because of my article on Feminism is Sisterhood, I am now the target of fierce harassment. When I turned on my radio last night, this announcer over a station of a kind Fil-Am, started playing nasty songs like "Crazy." Then when this morning, as I was taking my ride at the Commonwealth Avenue, a guy in violet and riding a motorcycle swerved in order to make the soot blow on my face. Then when I tuned in to a classical music station, the announcer mentioned a composer Wilhelm who died poor. Folks, my name is Wilhelmina.  Fourth,  I cannot stand for long because sometimes my hip hurts. and the elevator at the building where I am participating in the study of the Bible took ages to open. 

Actually, at my residence, I suffer form intrusions on a daily basis. The other day, I lost my pictures and so I claimed to the Camp Karingal intel group. Last night I found it hidden in my pile of things. 

Folks, there's a hidden camera in my residence and I have not found it. I asked the governor of the building to put up a camera on the hallway to find out who enters my residence but she refuses to put up one. 

So the harassers know which radio station I am tuning in, , and then they can text or tell the sounds engineer to make the announcer play nasty songs. They also know everything I I am doing, when I enter the CR, when I change clothes. Then they can make the roosters at the parking lot crow in the middle of the night during my private moments. 

Tonight, I wonder what I will find again when I go home. 

I also  wonder if the FBI has been involved in these things? Have they given a budget to the PNP to concentrate on harassing me?  I don't understand why they should act in that manner  when I am just exercising my freedom to speak out through my writings. 

Disrespect of human dignity in 2018? 

FEMINISM IS SISTERHOOD

When the women's movement came to the Philippines in the 80's, many members of the non-government organizations did not believe it. Some thought Filipino women were already liberated, just because they were involved in the socio-political processes of the country like social work, the anti-Marcos movement, and having an all-women membership organization.

But through the years, things have changed. We've  been able to show that the Feminist consciousness is different from being purely political. Feminist consciousness in politics is looking at the problems and issues from the Feminist point of view. And what is the Feminist point of view?

It is looking at the Problems from an aware women's eyes. For example, looking at the Kavanaugh problem last week, we view it as not merely recognizing that Christine Blasey Ford suffered in the hands of the attempted rapist. Rather it is doing justice to what had happened to her by acting on the nomination.

And so when I read that a Senator said, "oh yes she suffered; her story is true but it is not enough to block the confirmation of the nominee for justice," then there is a contradiction there. The injustice remains in the head but in terms of acting on it, dismissal of the Story is the result. No action on it. 

Instead, the nominee was thrust into the position as if nothing, no Intervention had been made to show the character of the nominee being irrelevant to the position. 

Hence  Feminist consciousness is absent here. Why because Feminism is not a purely rational endeavor but is connected, tied to the idea of acting to solve and correct the problems of women.

In my study of the sense of Sisterhood among three sectors of women: urban poor, corporate and academic women I found out that the most open to the idea of helping women were those in the urban poor. They had to band together to face the State which wanted to demolish their homes. In the corporate world, the women were most maternal. They had always felt guilty leaving their children at home. Why because their work required them to stay in the office longer than usual in order protect their positions and thereby earn a good salary. Unfortunately, the women from the academe were the most competitive, and least maternal as they had had to vie with the men for positions of power and for grants for intellectual research.

Analyzing what happened to Christine Blasey Ford, I think that the women who should have supported her were not aware of what it means to be a Feminist.

Feminism is tied to the theme of Sisterhood, not mere institutionalization of benefits to women through legislation. It means thinking, feeling and acting for and with women.  

To those who do not think or act along those lines, they are still imprisoned by the idea that they have to shine before the eyes of men, instead of acting from within; that men's approval is more important than women's supportive acts; and that enjoying the appreciation of men is shining also under that power - that reflected light that I call. That being with men and being appreciated, though in a subordinate role is so much more uplifting for them.

How sad really.


Psl HD Images African Women Painting – Motherhood by Marietjie Henning Free Download

QUESTION TO SENATOR LISA MURKOWSKI .

May I ask Senator Lisa Murkowski, who voted against the nominee's confirmation in the US Senate last Saturday: 

Madame Senator, would you have felt more attractive to the Republican Party male senators had you voted for the nominee's confirmation? 

Lisa Ann Murkowski is an American politician serving as the senior United States Senator from Alaska, having held that seat since 2002. She is a member of the Republican Party, and is the second most senior Republican woman in the Senate.

WANTED CLIMATE WARRIOR-SOLDIERS

How many issuances have been made about climate change? The latest:

CLIMATE PANEL: CATASTROPHIC GLOBAL CHANGE IMMINENT A sobering new report issued by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that the world is rapidly running out of time to scale back greenhouse gas emissions. The document says that global warming must be kept within 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels to stave off catastrophic planetary changes. To do that, fossil fuels must be aggressively phased out to meet net-zero emissions by mid-century. More immediately, emissions would have to drop by about 45 percent below 2010 levels by 2030. 

Do they mean at all? I think Mother Earth responds faster than all of these issuances. Indonesia is the latest casualty with tsunami victims about to reach 5000 dead. 

The Norwegian Refugee Council reported that "In 2016, more than 31 million people fled disasters in 125 countries and territories. Disasters displace three to ten times more people than conflict and war worldwide,,.On average, 26 million people are displaced by disasters such as floods and storms every year. That's one person forced to flee every second." (https://www.nrc.no/what-we-do/speaking-up-for-rights/climate-change/)

In Japan, here's another report:

Two people have been killed after a powerful typhoon struck Japan.

Typhoon Trami made landfall on Sunday at 20:00 local time (11:00 GMT) near the western city of Osaka, with gusts of up to 216 km/h (134 mph).

The storm caused widespread disruption, with many flights and trains cancelled. More than 750,000 homes lost power.

At least 120 people were injured. The typhoon comes less than a month after the country's strongest storm in 25 years hit western Japan.

Typhoon Jebi caused widespread flooding and at least seven deaths in early September. (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-45698950?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cjnwl8q4g7nt/japan&link_location=live-reporting-story)

In the United States, wildfires occur due to extreme heat. In Germany the people suffer from long summers and truly cold winters. 

In the Philippines, typhoon Mangkhut caused the death of 100 miners in the Northern province of Benguet, and 5.7 million are reported to have been affected by the storm. 

We could refine our methods of research on the effects of climate change, concoct nice words to call such climate happenings, but still Mother Nature will be wreaking her havoc everywhere, at every corner of the world. 

We all know the cause: unabated use of fossil fuels to operate machines in the highly industrialized countries that cause the atmosphere to heat up

.Here is a more scientific explanation:

"The main reason why fossil fuels cause so much damage is due to the amount of carbon dioxide or CO2 emitted when fossil fuels are burned. This burning and release of CO2 is a huge contributor to the greenhouse effect and climate change. More CO2 in our atmosphere causes less sunlight to escape back into space, causing the planet to warm.

When fossil fuels are burned, CO2 isn't the only gas released. Other harmful gases such as nitrogen and sulfur oxides. Burning fossil fuels causes air pollution and smog." (https://socratic.org/questions/why-are-fossil-fuels-harmful-for-the-environment)

So what do we do now?

It is time to use

strong drastic methods. I think the UN should create climate warrior soldiers that will invade countries that use fossil fuels and close down 50% of such industries. Let us see what will happen afterwards. 

POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND ACTIVISM

How do we judge political consciousness? By its depth, by its physical manifestation; by the emotional expression? by the results? 

I am surprised by the level of activism that the American people showed -- both men and women - their reaction to the nomination of Trump's nominee. 

Some stood in front of doors of senators; others called one "Liar" to his face; others shouted "Shame, shame, shame" showing their fierce rejection of the nominee. 

Phones kept ringing in the senatorial offices for the callers to voice out their anger and frustration. 

Will the Filipino people ever reach that level of expression of their political positions?

It's very difficult to say because our people are very unassuming and not wont to confrontations. 

But may be the American people, especially the women could really project into the future as to what that nominee would do once he gets into office -- and that is, to be a parrot to be squawking what his nominator asks him to do. 

Now what are the women guarding against? That the right to control their bodies for or against pregnancy will not be abolished, for one. (Read Roe vs Wade law below.)

When you yourself live in the western world and experience four seasons all throughout your life -- summer, spring, autumn and winter-- it is very difficult to maintain one's physical well-being, what more so with another mouth to feed. And so, we cannot blame the western women when they find it important to have that right intact. 

Unfortunately, the majority of the senators who opted to confirm that nominee are not inclined to go against the wishes of the nominator. So after two years of questionable acquisition of the presidential position which is still being investigated for having the imprints of Russian intervention, the majority of the senators are still confirming the nominee, a favorable response to the wishes of the nominator. 

Hence the confrontation is harsh because the nominator is illegally occupying a post and yet can control the processes within. 

However, as seekers of change in our lives, we must guard against bringing the momentum of the movement to a conclusion that will bring chaos and greater disappointments. I have seen in the Philippines how the deposition of President Erap Estrada from being the president brought the people to states of fear, nervousness and hesitancy to engage in politics again. This was because the deposition was characterized by that fake Edsa crowding which was answered by another crowding for the sake of President Erap. The people feared in the ensuing elections that any activist move on their part would be an exercise in futility because there were and still are forces manipulating the politics in the country. 

Ergo, it is incumbent upon leaders of any movement to be very careful about causing the people to lose hope, resort to violent means,  much more so, become distrustful of democratic processes. 

Rather as Mandela says, "I never lose: I either win or learn," meaning to say, as our heroine Salud Algabre who fought for liberation from American rule in the 30's also said, each act that we take is a step towards refining the next steps until we reach our goal. 

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973),^[1] is a landmark decision issued in 1973 by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of the constitutionality of laws that criminalized or restricted access to abortions. The Court ruled 7–2 that a right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that this right must be balanced against the state's interests in regulating abortions: protecting women's health and protecting the potentiality of human life.^[2]Arguing that these state interests became stronger over the course of a pregnancy, the Court resolved this balancing test by tying state regulation of abortion to the third trimester of pregnancy.

Later, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992),^[3] the Court rejected Roe's trimester framework while affirming its central holding that a woman has a right to abortion until fetal viability.^[4] The Roe decision defined "viable" as "potentially able to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid."^[5] Justices in Casey acknowledged that viability may occur at 23 or 24 weeks, or sometimes even earlier, in light of medical advances.^[6]

In disallowing many state and federal restrictions on abortion in the United States,^[7][8] Roe v. Wade prompted a national debate that continues today about issues including whether, and to what extent, abortion should be legal, who should decide the legality of abortion, what methods the Supreme Court should use in constitutional adjudication, and what the role should be of religious and moral views in the political sphere. Roe v. Wade reshaped national politics, dividing much of the United States into pro-life and pro-choice camps, while activating grassroots movements on both sides.

Design on the right taken from the Southern Baptist website