MORNING THOUGHTS. Previously posted on my Facebook Page.

In my younger years as a journalist, I also reviewed (recorded) music and rock concerts. Of course, I organized musical events and managed bands. But my (aesthetic) appreciation and pleasure of music started and evolved from the 1960s to the end of the 20th century. Although it was easy for me to enjoy my dad and mom’s Elvis Presley, Connie Francis, and Matt Monro LPs, not so much with most music from 2000 onwards. Do I need to elaborate? I don’t need to. 🎸🎼🎷

AP: “Why Trump's alarmist message on immigration may be resonating beyond his base.” Those who downplay or deny the U.S. border breach crisis are either thinking via partisan A.I. brain cells or simply not paying attention beyond hate memes. Many would rather hide behind Left/Right shields or anchor their dogma per Liberal/Conservative shell instead of poring over government policies that are flawed. Ah. The idiocy that partisanship zeal creates upon us. 👈👁👉

Life happens and we age. We get older with a thick book of experiences to reflect on. The good things are easy as Simon and Garfunkel songs wafting along with a lazy afternoon breeze. The “bad” things are harder. Stupid things that we did when we were young. Silly, gullible, hard-headed. Although I didn’t do illegal drugs, broke into houses for kicks, or figured in bar brawls and got jailed, I had episodes of craziness as well. WTH did I do those?!? Stoopid me! 🧑‍🦰👨‍🦰👴

What if Donald Trump is actually jailed and bankrupted yet still allowed to run as President? The first two would surely satisfy his haters. But the third would irreparably divide the nation, whether he wins or loses. In fact, the massive crack in American society was sort of predicted by historian Howard Zinn before he died in 2010 though Mr Trump wasn’t yet in GOP’s prez shortlist at that time. Yet The D is the Perfect Alibi for such a wide Left/Right fissure in the U.S. 🗽🇺🇸🗽

Whenever the word “maid” or “servant” is mentioned, many define it as “plantation slave.” A linear gaze (sic) at slavery, mostly in a (Western) political sense. Yet “maid” in the Philippines, for example, is usually a distant relative from the province who seeks life in the city. Not hired via the job market. They are not called “alila” or “muchacha” as handed down by Spanish colonizers. They are members of the family who help in house chores. Kin. 

       Younger househelps are also sent to school by owners of the house. Some “yaya” or care providers for children also join the family on trips abroad or they live with them in the U.S. or wherever the family decides to live, beyond the Philippines. 😼😾😼

Thankfully, nice stuff and things are also present on Facebook beyond the eerie disinformation, distorted memes, and juvenile banter. Cooking videos, for example. Try Twins TV, two young ladies cooking in the forest, firewood and all. Also, these two Chinese fishermen who feast on seafoods, my favorite chow! Cat videos are very funny, funnier than dogs. But the Golden Retriever Mau Mau is not only hilarious, he is also smart. Smarter than most hoomans. Fun! 🐈🦀🐕

NY Times: “It’s the Cat’s Meow but You Just Don’t Understand.” And adds: “A study suggests that humans often misinterpret a pet’s signals; even purring doesn’t guarantee a contented cat.” Never had a problem getting along with cats. Our cat, my cat, their cat/s. I guess, I also act, behave or exist like a cat. I am aloof, calculating, careful, curious, and territorial. I don’t “touch” or hug strangers, especially. I love a crowd as long as they don't mind me. 😼😎😾

SUNDAY Easter Day THOUGHT. Yet we still come across memes and posts that vilify or insult Christian ritual as religious observance or cultural festival. Hate. When I was in India, Japan, Vietnam, and with the Muslim in Mindanao island back home, I joined days of worship and celebration. Hindu, Shinto, Buddhist. Islam. Wicca. Paganism. Atheism. We are what we are. Respect is cool. We share the good, and reject the bad. Easter Egg hunt is good. And fun. Happy Easter to y’all! ✝️🥚☮️

This side of the political caterwaul who continually demonize Christianity are concerned or just heckling-hot? that Donald Trump sells Bible copies. Mr Trump is a business person. He knows his market. And with a flood of legal hassles on his way, The D raises some dough due to the obvious. As he campaigns for November. What am I concerned with? The billions$ tossed to two current wars. As RFK Jr. puts it, military aid is “laundered” American taxpayer money. ✝️🗽☮️

Another time of year to demonize Christians, I guess? “Holy Week.” Ah. Can’t we post stuff and things that’d be enjoyed, appreciated, and shared per our commonality? Is it really pleasing, validating and self-gratifying to engage in hate frolic as Social Media activity? I was born Catholic but I am not the religious sort. I can also say a lot that I dislike about the religious or irreligious, or Pagans or Islam, Hindu etcetera. But why would I? Because it is cool to offend them? ✝️☮️☪️

About Dogs and Cats and their Buddies. And other quick jokes.

Previously posted on my Facebook Page.

DOGS spend much of their day snoozing, but in the hours they're awake, they probably spend time thinking about some of the same things that a 2- or 3-year-old child would: Solving problems, what's for dinner, what's that over there? Until cats taught them stuff like objectivist epistemology, cognitive psychology, cultural anthropology, constructivist pedagogy of babedawgs and koolcats etcetera. 🐕🙄🐕

NUMEROUS studies indicate that social media use is linked to increased risks of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and low self-esteem. Other studies also say self-esteem is negatively associated with mobile phone addiction. The higher the individual's self-esteem, the lower the degree of mobile phone addiction. Fake news? I guess? Maybe it depends on what brand of cellphone you own? Samsung Galaxy S24 or Apple 1Phone 15? You reckon? 🥹📱📲

THE majority of cats can happily coexist with a dog if they are given time to comfortably get to know each other. If a puppy and kitten are raised together, they generally will learn right away to tolerate each other, and some cats and dogs grow to be real friends, even playing and napping together. Also, when they get really friendly with each other, cats teach dogs how to play chess and Uno, and how to google stuff or fiddle with the TV remote. 🐈🫂🐕

CAN a cat learn chess? While many animals have demonstrated impressive cognitive abilities, training them to play chess is highly unlikely. Chess requires a complex understanding of rules, strategy, and abstract thinking, which are difficult for most animals to grasp. Fizz The Wiz: “Fake news! Pasckie Dude, whoever told you that is wrong! I can teach that personage Sicilian Defense, Caro-Kann Defense, Ruy Lopez Opening, or my invention Shinobi Fizzo Tensai Variation.” 🐱♟🐱

DIGITAL wallets are online payment tools, usually in the form of an app. The wallet securely stores virtual versions of debit and credit cards, so you don't need to enter your card details or carry a physical card at all to make payments. You may also get yourself an “digital (--your name–)” a.k.a. A.I. to “hold” your digital wallet. Uh huh. 🤖👝🤖

YUP. AI or robots can now walk your dog. The robot does the job by continuously comparing sent and expected sensor information, running reflex loops, and adapting its motor control patterns. Algorithm stuff. Uh huh. But then, machines malfunction. So when AI/robot and doggie get lost, you’d see posts like: Has anybody seen a border collie with a robot dressed like a Barbie singing Bad Bunny’s `Me Porto Bonito’ repeatedly somewhere in your neighborhood?” 🦮🚶🏃

WHEN it comes to the type of pet owned, conservatives seem more likely to own dogs than cats, with no such difference existing among liberals. Experts say. So conservatives and liberals care for their dogs and cats the way they judge others, read, listen to music, watch a TV series, view Tay-Tay, do sex–based on their ideological paradigm yadda yadda. So when dogs and cats hang, they go, dog: “Hey, are you conservative or liberal?” / cat: “Hello? Just look at my hooman!” 🐈🤔🐕

SNIFFING is just something all dogs, puppies to adult dogs, do to get the lay of the land, mark their regular routes in the neighborhood, and sniff out familiar scents from other dogs marking those spots. Scent sniffing also helps them understand if something, or some new dog, is in their area. You may try it, too. When you walk your dog, sniff with him/her. You’ll know it makes sense. 🐕👃🐕

CATS don't thrive on a grain-rich diet because they should get their calories from animal protein. If you want to share some noodles with your cat, don't. They can be harmful. In fact, Fizz told me via a text that fact a day after she and sis Ching got here from Brother Wolf almost two years ago. Fizz also told me that a cat named Komofukfuk invented noodles but he didn't eat noodles. Like drug lords who don't use (illegal) drugs but they sell them. 🐱🥡🐱

CELLPHONE as a distraction is one of the most urgent issues that worry parents. Recent data from iKeepSafe suggest that 28 percent of teens report that their iPhone time interferes with stuff. So when a mom asks a teenager to wash the dirty dishes, the Gen Z says, “mom, I am busy with TikTok!” mom goes, “Oh okay, sorry. Never mind, I’ll just do it.” If you take your child away from the gadget for 15 solid minutes, that’d make her/him sad, hence depressed. You dig? 👧📱👦

MORNING THOUGHTS. Previously posted on my Facebook Page.

Again, I reiterate my utter disgust of today’s movies and TV series with dark lighting. Irritating. Filmmakers rationale: Movies today are often shot in darker lighting due to the switch to digital cameras, which perform better in darker settings. They say it helps “preserve highlights and skin tones.” Really? I disagree. Including in scenes that are supposedly lit, such as a dinner moment and in the bathroom while brushing teeth. Dark? Simply uncalled for. 🎥😾📽

NY Times: “We need mission-driven, imaginative news leaders who are not bound by the models of the past.” Not bound by models of the past? Past journalism is The Journalism. Four Ws and 1 H. Inverted pyramid. No opinion. No influencing. A spade is a spade. Triple-checked facts. And we spent hours in the field, embedded right where news happened. Not “imaginative” but factual. That, to me, is mission-driven journalism. Not today’s so-called journalism. 📜✍️📰

News: “2 visitors captured on video destroying ancient rock formations at Lake Mead.” Are people bored, deranged, or stupid? All of the above? To think that these hooligans and nincompoops are adults, not your uncontrollable 7 year old. Many in the guise of Leftist activism also ruin classic art in galleries. Yet others who couldn’t devise a more result-oriented protest mode, glue themselves in stadium bleachers or tie their ass to a basketball goal. Have a life! 😏😒👎

Food donations to war. Admirable, noble, humane. But food donations, as the war continues on or airstrikes of civilians go unabated, serve band-aid purposes. What the war needs is a cease-fire that leads to the negotiating table–towards lasting peace. Meanwhile, foods are a-plenty. For example, the U.S. wastes between 30-40 percent of its food supply, which is about 133 billion pounds or $161 billion worth. Most of Africa is starving. ☮️🍲☮️

News: “Jontay Porter receives lifetime ban from NBA for violating gambling rules.” Literally, Mr Porter gambled his million$ NBA salary away. Of course, he lost. I guess, the stupidity of youth? I mean, a 6-year college diploma will not even assure you a $1+ million (rookie) pay on your first real job. In fact, not even a PhD. So these young pro basketball players are so fortunate for an NBA contract. For sure, Jontay had some serious ass-whipping from mom! 🏀🎲👎

News: “Nike's U.S. track suit for Paris Olympics slammed: 'Everything's showing'.” Not so content with skimpy outfits, mostly by women in track and field events? Recently, the “transparent” pants of the L.A. Dodgers were also in the news. More palatable news seems to upstage sports games per se these days. Why is that? Corporate sponsorships. Uniforms don’t simply show numbers and colors. Company logos as well. Gotta buy the skin-tight sexy running shorts! 🎽🏋️‍♀️🎽

Unlike many, including my older brother Alberto and my son Duane, I am not into “extreme sports” or contact sports. Nothing’s wrong with them. Skydiving, motocross, kayaking, skis, climbing cliffs, or mixed martial arts and wrestling. As kids, dad taught us karate and judo. But I was never into those. But it doesn’t mean I am “scared” of danger. As a young journalist, I covered countryside wars, coup d’etats, narcos stake-outs, and violent street protests. 🏂🥋✍️

The object of U.S. and China competition is microchips or supply of the pertinent “ingredient,” silicon. Not “security.” But economics. America has recently invested $6.6 billion to Taiwan’s TSMC to build a factory in Phoenix. But TSMC is dependent on Chinese silicon. China produces 60+ percent of the chemical. Hence Treasury chief Janet Yellen went to China to negotiate. So Joe’s aggro actuations vs. Beijing is baffling. But that’s how he rolls. 🇺🇸☮️🇨🇳

Many would rather date someone with the same partisan stance. Left or Right. Conservative to a conservative; liberal to a liberal. But it doesn’t apply to me. I am a traditional Leftist activist. But most that I dated were either Conservative or apolitical. My current BFFs are typical Conservatives. Why do I blend with either polar extremes? I focus on the positive over the negative though we will never be the same. Yet there’s always something good to share. 👈🤝👉

On serious issues pertaining to (partisan) politics, cultural diversity and religion, I respond to or comment in relatively longer but complete sentences. No silly laughing emoji, nope. I fully express myself though, I reckon. I usually don’t respond or even read responses to my response since I believe I already said what I needed to. Also, the usual response/s or replies to responses are nasty, which I avoid. So I just scoot away and let others speak their mind as well. 🗣📱📲

Drug Cartels. And Stuff.

Reuters: “Romantic tryst led to the capture and death of Mexican drug lord El Mencho.” Suddenly the erasure of drug cartel boss El Mencho is a big deal or he’s a hero to the (new) Left as did dictator Nicanor Maduro? All because it was Donald Trump who took them down? And Washington’s anti-cartel work in Mexico is a first-time operation? Hey, the U.S. and Mexico have always been at work together in pursuit of narcos. U.S. money has always been spent on several anti-drug programs across the border for many years. 

       U.S./Mexico anti-cartel cooperation. Operation Condor in the mid-1970s was meant to eradicate or weaken the Golden Triangle of Sinaloa, Durango, and Chihuahua. The heat heightened in the 1980s after the murder of DEA agent Kiki Macarena during the reign of cartel boss Felix Gallardo. Then there was 2006’s Operation Michoacan that led to the Merida Initiative in 2007, which Joe Biden abolished and replaced with the Bicentennial Framework in 2021. 

       Apparently, Joe Biden’s “holistic” Bicentennial Framework (2021), replacement to the Merida Initiative, was too "lenient.” Drug cartels facilitated a record number of border crossings from that year to 2024: 4+ million in 4 years! The difference with Mr Trump's Project Portero? President Claudia Sheinbaum's willingness to carry things out compared with her predecessors. Narcopolitics is a major problem in Mexico. Ex-prez Enrique Nieto received at least a $100 million bribe from El Chapo, for example. Etc etcetera. 

       My question to the Left: Are we against illegal drugs or are we against Donald Trump? Take note as well that drug trafficking has direct links to human trafficking. Those migrants who cross the borders, via cartel facilitation and coyote “deliveries” to wherever, are technically trafficked humanity. But why are we quiet about all these? Because this is supposed to be the handiwork of Mr Trump? Hey, U.S./Mexico anti-cartel programs are a historical fact although The D seems more intent to pursue it. 🇺🇸☮️🇲🇽

MORE on Oil. Pipelines.

Past Facebook posts. Not updated.

OIL and natural gas companies will continue, exponentially earning. Especially that these giants are owned by private corporations. Same with the oil-rich Middle East. Nonstop. In fact, even as the war in Ukraine continues and sanctions on Russia are imposed by the U.S. and most of Europe, energy resource deals are ongoing.

       News on 3/31/2022: “OPEC and Russia are set to meet as the war continues to roil the oil market.” Big producers seem to be sticking to modest output raises and alliance with Russia. No brainer why the Middle East didn’t join the U.S./E.U. collective whip versus Moscow for the invasion. Although war, especially prolonged war, is mostly bad for energy business or business per se. Except for the merchants of war, of course.

       Meantime, in America: “Biden will tap oil reserves, hoping to push gasoline prices down.” The plan would mean release of crude reserves daily for six months—or up to 180 million barrels in all, over 180 days, aimed at helping “ease prices at the pump.” The price per gallon hasn’t really moved in about 2 weeks since the start of Ukraine tempest on Feb 24: At around $4 average.

       I am not an economist, and definitely, I am no oil price expert. So I wonder out loud: By tapping U.S. oil reserves, it’d mean lower gas prices? Let’s see and that’d be awesome. But then, fact is, the U.S. is already #1 in oil production globally since 2016. Yet we still import oil/crude oil from 73 countries. Russia was #4 U.S. importer before Vladimir Putin got infuriated and earned a sanction. Yet even if we kick Moscow out, doesn’t America already have lotsa oil?

       Or this is the rationale post-Ukraine War (please let it end) because the end has just justified the means? Now let’s wait and see if gasoline cost/s per gallon go down to 2019 levels or at least the 7.9 inflation rate is cut in half. ⛽️⚓️⛽️

At the time that I typed this post up, gasoline cost per gallon was at $4.22 average. Remember, it was $2.41 in 2017; $2.74 in 2018; $2.60 in 2019; $2.17 in 2020. On Bidentime, in 2021: #3.15, the lowest cost.

       Sure, Saudi Arabia and Russia are wrestling for price. OPEC and U.S. are pretty much in the thick of the market haggling as well. No brainer since the U.S. and Saudi Arabia/Russia are #1 and #2 (#3) in oil production and oil export.

       Yet look at South America’s average: Below a dollar. Oil-rich Middle East, a bit higher than in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela et al but still below 1 dollar. Russia, amidst war? $2.10. (Add info: Moscow’s oil industry is state-owned. All oil trunk pipelines, except Caspian Pipeline Consortium, are owned and operated by the government’s monopoly Transneft and oil products pipelines are owned and operated by its subsidiary Transnefteproduct.)

       Meanwhile, gasoline cost in Europe has always been high so the $5.79 in the U.K., $5.57 in Germany, and $5.54 in France aren’t really such a big deal. (Those numbers are last week’s figures.) But let’s see what’s up next per stoppage of supply from its #1 supplier Russia.

       It’d be an understatement to say that the U.S. aimed to grab the top spot as Europe’s oil/gas importer from Russia. So this announcement from the Biden administration of release of U.S. reserves clearly points to impending demands from Washington allies’ in the region.

       Another thing that confounds me is the extent of the United States’ inflation rate, which is now at 7.9 percent. Norway, which is also a bigtime energy exporter: 2.7 percent inflation—although the European average is 6.20 percent. In case you are wondering, inflation in China is 2.2 percent. ⛽️⚓️⛽️

To sort of aid the gasoline problem in the U.S., I read posts and memes that suggest reactivation or lifting of suspension of the Keystone XL pipeline.

      The proposed Phase IV, Keystone XL Pipeline, would have connected the Phase I-pipeline terminals in Hardisty, Alberta, and Steele City, Nebraska, by a shorter route and a larger-diameter pipe. It would have run through Baker, Montana, where American-produced light crude oil from the Williston Basin of Montana and North Dakota would have been added to the Keystone's throughput of synthetic crude oil and diluted bitumen from the oil sands of Canada. And so on and so forth.

       Said pipeline attracted opposition from environmentalists. In 2015 it was temporarily delayed by Obama. In 2017, Trump took action intended to permit the pipeline's completion. But when Biden sat in White House, he signed an executive order to revoke the permit.

       However, I don’t really see much significance of Keystone XL’s pipeline vis a vis America’s flood of oil. You see, there are 70 operating oil and gas pipelines that cross the Canada-US border: 31 oil and 39 natural gas. There are 16 operating pipelines which transport other commodities.

       The United States is also home to the greatest number of oil and gas pipelines in the world. As of December 2020, there were 185 operational oil pipelines in the country and a further 34 under development.

       So why the high cost of energy, again? I don’t blame oil/gas titans per se. I blame economic management by a country’s leadership. There. ⛽️⚓️⛽️

Ukraine War and the Deep State. And Stuff.

Responses to Facebook chats.

THIS Ukraine War gets complicated. Or more complex. <1> During the NATO summit, President Trump dared Europe to increase their budget share to the military alliance; the EU said they will. Already in Trump I, then U.S. share was lowered from 22 percent to 16 percent, currently almost equal with Germany.

 

       Yet still, since the EU renewed its arms support of Ukraine this year, this war continues. The Kremlin is of course pissed. Vladimir Putin's previous peace chat with Donald Trump was negated or derailed. Volodymyr Zelensky's eyes shined! More war means more aid coming. And he stays as Ukraine's President. 

       <2> Last year, the U.S. Congress appropriated a $174 billion (total) aid package to Ukraine; the House approved $61 billion. (Numbers vary per source.) Mr Trump previously held the arms shipment as peace negotiations with the Kremlin ensued. But then here comes NATO (sans Trump's Washington) ready to continue the war. 

       What can The D do but go on, send more U.S. arms. But now he told NATO that now it's Europe's responsibility to toss weapons to Kyiv. Anyhow, fact is, if Mr Trump continues to refuse the aid that Congress approved, he might be impeached again. 

       <3> FEMA had a $7.4 billion deficit last year, which President Trump lowered to $2.9 billion. Then here comes the flooding in Texas. I mean, WTH? Send taxpayer money again to war and ignore the people? America!

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Facebook Friend (from Manila): Yup, and it will get even more complicated because the Deep State (not just Trump) wants to wage a 3-front world war: Vs Russia via proxy Ukraine, Vs Iran via proxy Israel if not directly, and Vs China via Aukus or Quad or whatever alliance it could drum up including its most loyal puppy, the Philippines.

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No POTUS can ever go beyond the Deep State. Some may divert a bit, but still things slide to the hawkish playbook. 

       Jimmy Carter was supposedly all-dove but he had Operation Cyclone dirt all over his "legacy" book. They propped up Barack Obama as a real cool, peace-loving prez. The gullibles bit it. Yet he is one of the most hawkish POTUSes. He prolonged the Afghanistan war and as he left, he installed a U.S -trained prez (Ashraf Ghani) so that didn't go well with the Afghanistan people. 

       Mr Obama also upgraded military aid to Israel in 2016. (And he also deported the most number of migrants, 400,000 average, in his first 4 years.) 

       Sans his unbelievable mouth, I am cool with Donald Trump's policy playbook but that doesn't mean he can ignore the Deep State. That's just the way it is. 

       The Philippines actually registered a fine economic growth, so far at 5.6 percent. The 9 U.S. military bases are a given, what can we do? We kicked Clark and Subic, only to be upgraded later, by more. President Marcos Jr. has to play economics with China, dance politics with the U.S. Pretty much like Vietnam. As long as there's no actual war in the South China Sea, besides the usual drama, all are cool. But then our politicians are such Washington suckers, LOL! Ah those USAID… But that is another huge subject to discuss. ☮️☮️☮️

Filipinos and U.S. Politics.

Responses to Facebook chats.

BACKGROUND: I edited Filipino/Asian newspapers in New York City and Los Angeles. My take: Filipinos are majority Democrats, historically. Although Bill Clinton's (sexual) shenanigans split them big time in the 1990s, their views are essentially via the woman's choice. That is a cultural truth. 

       Filipino-American community leader Loida Lewis and her organizing mojo hugely helped Hillary Clinton in her New York run in 2000, for example. But families are usually split in politics; although Filipino households don't really discuss politics as often as Americans do. 

       We vote, we go home, and do other things than sit and talk about Donald Trump or Joe Biden. Waste of time. Largely, Filipinos are not really aligned per Democrat or Republican. Though, as I mentioned, my “kababayans” tend to go Blue, they don't usually prance around declaring that. 

       Back home in the Philippines, it is multiparty but majority Conservative per Catholicism as cultural fact (not per political ideology). So in case you meet a Filipino and say I am Democrat or Republican, in most cases, they are just being polite or trying to avoid a lengthy discussion on the subject of Trump, LOL! 

       Also, Filipinos who came here as adults and Filipinos who came here as kids to study and evolve as adults and Filipinos who were born here are all different Filipinos. 🗽🇵🇭🗽