Still believing in curses, when I saw 666 likes on an insta post, I immediately pressed like to make it 667. Always ready to save a manβs soul.
@attapu
Private practice lawyer. Senior Lecturer at University of the Philippines College of Law. Lifelong teacher, coach and debater. Father to kids who love dad jokes. Views are mine only. #criticalthinking #offcenter
Still believing in curses, when I saw 666 likes on an insta post, I immediately pressed like to make it 667. Always ready to save a manβs soul.
βBetween equal rights, force decides.β (Marx)
Our political history in a nutshell.
There are levels of corruption. Mild to moderate to severe. But ours in the Philippines is on a level of its own. As my generation used to say, itβs βALIENβ!
We need to be less a nation of resilient people, and be more a nation of fed-up people.
Food is good if itβs eaten. A joke is funny if the audience laughs. An order is valid if it is followed. Validation is always found in the quality of the reaction. As the truism goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Power is in the receiver, not the giver.
True to her name, Jane Goodall embodied the good that can be in all of us. RIP to a beautiful human.
Strong leaders build institutions. Strongmen rely on military force.
βDonβt wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and (only) the pig likes itβ.
Expressions of our liberal democracy, in remembrance of one of the darkest periods in our nationβs history, and to ensure it doesnβt happen again in whatever shape or form.
From here on, my resume:
Iβm really good at this stuff.
To quote RWE: βTo know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.β
This cat is definitely breathing easy. I think heβs my salvation.
Indelible ink on the finger to show that one has voted.
Our democracy is not perfect, but itβs trudging along.
Voted and did my part regardless of the outcome π΅π
Speak truth to power.
For anyone who needs to hear this today.
βThe arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward Justice.β - MLK Jr.
The judicial branch relies on the confidence and support of the people to work. Without these, itβs the weakest among the branches of government - it has no police power, military power, or purse power.
In a constitutional crisis, it would be the first one to collapse, and justice along with it.
βThe legal profession is a bridge between the law and the legal profession. We are all travelling that bridge. For some, that bridge is short, beautiful and through a scenic route. For many, that bridge is long and winding, and is the only way.β
We are all travellers, riding a pale blue mote suspended in the rays of the sun, hurtling blindly through space, dodging planet-ending asteroids (thank you for this perspective, Carl Sagan).
How dare we be afraid.
Let me hold your beer, Bishop.
Kim Wagnerβs new book, βMassacre in the Clouds,β argues that the 1906 massacre at Bud Dajo established a template for future American war crimes: gross abuse leading to a cursory investigation, a coverup, impunity, and, finally, erasure.
Read Sheila Coronelβs review:
π
Me: Hope is a tyrant.
Emily Dickinson: βHope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
β¦
Iβve heard it in the chillest land,
And in the strangest sea,
Yet never in extremity
It asked a crumb of me.β
Me: Fine.
"You better fix my entire life"
~Me to my coffee
This is, or should be, a big deal -- Ann Telnaes, an absolute legend, quitting WaPo due to censorship of a cartoon criticizing billionaires
anntelnaes.substack.com/p/why-im-qui...
My first Rappler column in 2025, where I look back at the economy in 2024 and offer ideas about where we're headed in 2025. Incidentally, this is also my 400th Thought Leaders piece! π«Ά
www.rappler.com/voices/thoug...
Nowadays, it is not as important for me to be right, at the expense of delaying a case, taking care to avoid getting intoxicated on meaningless wins at the expense of genuine victory.
open.substack.com/pub/headwayj...
You know youβre getting old when finding a lost pen makes you really happy.
You know you havenβt grown up when finding a lost pen makes you want to celebrate by buying more pens.
Heard from a Brit comedian: this is our chance to retake America. Itβs weak and divided!
Pinoy-Ams: over our cold untouched adobo on Christmas morning, you will.