A womanizer loses in US runoff; not in the Philippines

“The game never changes, you must be in the secret before you are shown to the public.” 

― Michael Bassey Johnson

 

By Alex P. Vidal 

 

IF Herschel Walker were Filipino, he would have won the December 6 runoff senatorial election in Georgia, USA.

But he is an American and was rejected by the Georgians partly because of his “incredible” record as womanizer. 

Erap Estrada, the father and son Revilla, Robin Padilla, Freddie Webb, Lito Lapid, to mention only a few, were known “womanizers” but the Filipino voters did not consider their turbulent past when they elected them.

In fact, the Filipino voters love the underdog. The more you paint an opponent as bad guy, the more the voters will sympathize and vote for him.

Erap had openly flaunted his mistresses and was ripped apart by his presidential rivals in 1998, yet he mangled all of them with a big margin of votes.

The same “immorality” issue had surfaced when the former screen idol, known as “Erap para sa mahihirap”, ran subsequently for the senate and vice president but he came, saw, and conquered.

Padilla, a bad boy both in real life and in the movies, had confessed to have sired many children from multiple partners and was “abhorred” by the holier-than-thou, yet he recently became the No. 1 elected senator.

 

-o0o-

 

Walker, a Republican and long time friend of Donald Trump, had been accused of forcing at least two girlfriends to have an abortion, an issue leveled against him while in the heat of election campaign. 

It was supposed to be a negative publicity, yet he stood toe to toe against incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who is a pastor.

As of this writing, Walker (48.8 percent with 1,713,395 votes) was projected to lose to Warnock (51.2 percent with 1,796,196 votes) with a difference of 82,801 votes.

From start of the campaign period even before the November 6 US midterm elections, political detractors zeroed in on Walker’s dark sides, thus he actually had already “lost” to now reelected Warnock, but a runoff had to be arranged when both protagonists did not get more than 50 percent of the votes.

Walker, 59, at first glance, had a coveted political profile for a potential Senate candidate in Georgia.

He was a football hero at the University of Georgia before his long NFL career. 

 

-o0o-

 

Walker is a business owner whose chicken products are distributed across the U.S. And he’s a Black conservative with backing from Trump.

But an Associated Press review of hundreds of pages of public records tied to Walker’s business ventures and his divorce, including many not previously reported, sheds new light on a turbulent personal history that could dog his Senate bid. 

The documents detailed accusations that Walker repeatedly threatened his ex-wife’s life, exaggerated claims of financial success and alarmed business associates with unpredictable behavior.

Walker has at times been open about his long struggle with mental illness, writing at length in a 2008 book about being diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, once known as multiple personality disorder. But he had refused to openly discuss these events as a candidate.

AP reported that the Twitter tease intensified buzz about the potential for a celebrity candidate back in July. But it also helped surface details about Walker’s troubled past, many first disclosed by Walker himself in his 2008 book, “Breaking Free.”

“His account details years of struggles and an eventual diagnosis in 2001. Walker describes himself dealing with as many as a dozen personalities —or “alters”—that he had constructed as a defense against bullying he suffered as a stuttering, overweight child,” AP reported.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)

 

   

 

My thoughts are with the immigrants

“Immigration is not about visa numbers or building a fence. It is about reclaiming our roots as a nation of immigrants and a refuge for those who have been cast aside.”

— Mike Quigley

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

I WAS enormously fixated on the Georgia runoff election on January 5 or 24 hours earlier until initial results came out early morning on January 6, when riot broke out at Washington D.C.’s Capitol Hill at around 2 o’clock in the afternoon while the U.S. Congress was in session for the pro forma certification of President-elect Joseph Biden’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’ Electoral College win in the November 3, 2020 presidential election.

Early morning around 2 o’clock on January 6, I learned that one of the two Democratic senatorial candidates, Rev. Raphael Warnock, upset incumbent Republican reelectionist Senator Kelly Loeffler. 

I was waiting, in particular, for the result of the contest between another Democratic bet, Jon Ossoff, and Republican reelectionist Senator David Perdue, which came late in the afternoon on January 6 when the Capitol Hill siege, led by unhinged and violent supporters of President Donald Trump, was already escalating.

Between the Georgia runoff election (January 5) and the certification of the Electoral College votes (January 6), the latter, of course, was the bigger and more important news.

 

-o0o-

 

While the two political parties battled for the senate supremacy in the Georgia fisticuffs, the most important “battle” was in the Capitol Hill, where several stubborn Republicans in the House and the Senate had threatened to oppose the certification of Biden’s and Harris’ Electoral College win.

But my focus was still in the Georgia runoff election. 

I knew nothing could stop Congress from certifying the Electoral College which traditionally was only ceremonial despite the saber rattling of two ambitious Republican senators Ted Cruz (Texas) and Joshua Hawley (Missouri) and other Trump die-hard Republican congresspeople. 

To make the long story short, I personally wanted both Warnock and Ossoff to win in Georgia.

My main interest was in Georgia—until the riot erupted in Washington D.C.

 

-o0o-

 

I never hid my preference for the two Democratic challengers as manifested in my previous articles in November and December 2020.

Their victory would translate into domino effects for legislations that will favor the immigrants, especially undocumented Filipinos who aspire to avail of President-elect Biden’s promise of amnesty, among other bills that will help our kababayans and other foreign nationals now wanting to change their immigration status in America through the help of Mr. Biden and the Democrats in the two legislatures. 

Thus I became emotional when I learned the Democrats had swept the George runoff election. 

I am pro-immigrant by heart, and I favor more stimulus assistance for all Americans in dire straits due to COVID-19 pandemic, something that the Republicans continue to detest and had pathetically opposed (like the proposed direct payment stimulus check worth $2,000).  

Before Warnock and Ossoff both clinched the twin victory, the Republicans controlled the U.S. Senate (50-48) with top Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell lording over as majority leader.

The victory of Warnock and Ossoff meant the Democrats will now be the new majority (50-50) as Vice President-elect and incoming presiding officer Harris will cast the deciding vote on disputed legislations. 

 

-o0o-

 

AS of this writing, some world leaders and even prominent politicians who had previously tolerated Mr. Trump’s incredible and unfounded claims of election fraud, have condemned the “terrible act of insurrection” by the mob egged by Mr. Trump to march and storm the Capitol Hill where they created mayhem that resulted in the death of four people.

It was Mr. Trump’s relentless efforts to reverse the results of the 2020 election that took a dangerous turn January 6 afternoon.

The armed and angry mob of his supporters also clashed with police just as Congress convened to validate Mr. Biden’s presidential win.

A woman was fatally shot in the violence that ensued as pro-Trump protestors breached barricades and advanced into the halls of the Capitol building, smashing windows and brawled with police officers in what is widely being considered one of the worst security breaches in US history.

The Capitol Hill in Washington DC was placed under lockdown Wednesday at 6 pm until 6 am after hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the historic building and wreaked havoc in an attempt to stall the certification of the election results.

The raucous group of demonstrators waved ‘Trump 2020’ flags and wearing T-shirts and hats with the president’s signature ‘Keep America Great’ tagline printed.

The rioters entered the second-floor lobby of the building right outside the Senate chamber, the doors of which were being guarded by law enforcement officials.

The mob managed to get past the guards and enter the Senate chamber, where just moments earlier the election results were being certified. 

One of the rioters was reportedly seen climbing up on the dias and yelling, “Trump won that election.”

It was America’s shame and scandal that became the outgoing President’s legacy.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

 

 

 

 

   

Why Filipinos need to focus on Georgia run-off

“Voter fraud is almost non-existent. People don't just show up on election day, trying to impersonate other people.”

—Nina Turner

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

SOME Filipinos with relatives and friends intending to avail of the Biden-Harris incoming administration’s “comprehensive immigration reforms” are hoping—and, perhaps, praying—that Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock will win the Georgia senate race run-off election on January 5.

Both Ossoff and Warnock are Democratic challengers respectively against incumbent Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.

Republicans currently are in control of the U.S. Senate, 50-48, after the November 3 election. 

A win by Ossoff and Warnock will make it 50-50. 

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who will sit as the Senate President and Presiding Officer, can break any deadlock in crucial legislative impasse. 

“Sana sila (Ossoff and Warnock) na ang manalo para tuloy-tuloy at walang hadlang ang mga legislative agenda ni (President-elect Joseph) Biden,“ quipped Erlinda, 66, a gynecologist in Cagayan de Oro City, who is now a caregiver in New Haven, Connecticut.

Erlinda’s younger sister, Rhodora, 58, a retired teacher, is looking forward to avail of Mr. Biden’s immigration reforms, one of the centerpiece programs of his candidacy in the recent U.S. Presidential Election.

Rhodora, now a nanny in Bridgeport, Connecticut, left her three children in Cagayan de Oro City in 2005 and overstayed her tourist visa while in Burbank, California. 

 

-o0o-

 

Rhodora has been “religiously paying her taxes,” Erlinda said even if her younger sister did not have a social security number (SSN).

As a tax payer, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Rhodora with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), a tax processing number only available for certain nonresident and resident aliens, their spouses, and dependents who cannot get an SSN. 

It is a 9-digit number, beginning with the number "9", formatted like an SSN (NNN-NN-NNNN).

ITIN can be used along with an unexpired passport to open a bank account.

Erlinda, a U.S. citizen, wants Rhodora to avail of the Biden administration’s “amnesty” and vowed to help pay for her sister’s legal fees.

Jason, 46, a nursing assistant at Montefiore St. Luke's Cornwall, said Rebecca, 44, his friend and town mate in Dumaguete City in the Philippines, also doesn’t have a legal status but has been working as a  food server in a Filipino restaurant in Hackensack, New Jersey.

“I want to help her. She hasn’t seen her only son in Negros for almost 15 years now. We are also looking forward for a Democrats victory in Georgia so that Biden’s immigration reform agenda will pass smoothly,” said Jason, an active organizer of an LGBT organization in Passaic, New Jersey.  

 

-o0o-

 

Armando, 54, of Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, has been working “under the table” as a private caregiver and in various home care facilities in Lake Forest, California since 2008. 

A former member of Lion’s Club, he toured the U.S. in 2008 and did not go back to the Philippines.

Armando worked as a chef in a bakeshop in Brooklyn as of February 2020, but lost the job during the lockdown caused by the pandemic. 

“I want to go home before I reach 60,” he vowed. “I hope Biden can help me (with my immigration papers).”

Republicans and Democrats are searching the state of Georgia for new voters, although CBS News exit polling of the general election suggests neither party has much room to grow outside of their bases before the January runoffs. 

Time is short, with little over two weeks before early voting begins. 

One race pits Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler against Democrat Warnock and the other has Republican David Perdue defending his seat against Ossoff.

 

-o0o-

 

The runoff elections will determine which party has a majority in the U.S. Senate. 

Democrats need to win both seats to split control of the chamber 50-50. The vice president (Democrat Kamala Harris beginning in January 2021) casts tie-breaking votes in the Senate. 

Republicans only need to win one seat to maintain their majority.

National Republicans frame the fight over Senate control as a fight against socialism in America. 

Democrats say the incoming Biden administration needs a Democratic Senate majority to make progress on immigration, healthcare and pandemic recovery.

Georgia's last Democratic senator, Zell Miller, left office in 2005. Republicans have had a trifecta in the state—holding the governor's office and controlling both chambers of the state legislature—since 2004. 

And Republicans have had a triplex—holding the offices of governor, attorney general, and secretary of state—since 2011.

Georgia's legislature passed a law in the 1960s requiring runoffs for general elections in which no candidate receives a majority of the vote.

The top two finishers in the general election advance to the runoff. Runoff elections are required for all congressional, state executive, and state legislative elections in which a candidate does not receive a majority in the general election.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, is a former editor of two dailies in Iloilo, Philippines)