By Alex P. Vidal “Voter fraud is almost non-existent. People don’t just show up on election day, trying to impersonate other people.”—Nina Turner 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
December 1, 2020
By Alex P. Vidal “Housing is absolutely essential to human flourishing. Without stable shelter, it all falls apart.”—Matthew Desmond ON December 31, 2020, Veronica, 77, a semi-retired pastor and former worker in the United Nations in Manhattan, and her son, Jaime, 51, are among the 6.7 million Americans who could be evicted from
November 30, 2020
By Alex P. Vidal “People live too much of their lives on email or the Internet or text messages these days. We’re losing all of our communication skills.”—Tracy Morgan THREE weeks after the November 3 U.S. Presidential Election, I continued to receive emails from “President Donald Trump” and members of his family, including
November 28, 2020
By Alex P. Vidal “Men and women must be educated, in a great degree, by the opinions and manners of the society they live in.”— Mary Wollstonecraft IT’S not nice for a man to use social media to attack or even think of attacking a woman. It’s not good for a frustrated politician
November 27, 2020
By Alex P. Vidal “Fake news and rumors thrive online because few verify what’s real and always bias towards content that reinforces their own biases.” —Ryan Higa IT is believed that made-up facts and boastful dissimulators have been with us for hundreds of years. But do we know our taradiddles from our ultracrepidarians?
November 26, 2020
By Alex P. Vidal “A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation.” – James Freeman Clarke THE answer is very obvious: President Rodrigo R. Duterte can’t run for reelection under the constitution. Elected in 2016, he’ll have to vacate Malacañang in 2022 (unless, of course, “unforeseen” events will
November 25, 2020
By Alex P. Vidal “All of life is a dispute over taste and tasting.” – FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE HOW do we differentiate a bad taste from a good taste? Who determines whether my taste, your taste, their taste is better? That people differ in their tastes is itself an indisputable fact. It is also
November 24, 2020
By Alex P. Vidal “Every single immigrant we have, undocumented or documented, is a future American. That’s just the truth of it.”—Junot Diaz I HAVE written this in the past and I am writing this again: Filipinos with expired temporary visitor’s visa, among other expired non-immigrant visas and passports who have been staying
November 23, 2020
By Alex P. Vidal “Please kindly go away, I’m introverting.” —Beth Buelow, Author THE day I decided to take my fourth coronavirus disease 2019 (COIVD-19) test on November 19 in New York City, was the same day the United States neared 252,000 new coronavirus infections as the pandemic claimed its highest daily death toll
November 21, 2020
By Alex P. Vidal “For good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument, debate.”—Margaret Heffernan MOST Filipinos in our predominantly Asian community in Elmhurst, Queens have finally decided to bury the week-long post-U.S. Presidential Election tiffs as the Americans mourned November 18 the death of a quarter of a million
November 20, 2020
By Alex P. Vidal “Misinformation or distrust of vaccines can be like a contagion that can spread as fast as measles.”—Theresa Tam “WILL you be taking the COVID-19 vaccine?” asked a survey in the United States undertaken by KTUL Channel 8. Even after being tested negative in three COVID-19 tests in the last
November 19, 2020
By Alex P. Vidal “Men are like the stars; some generate their own light while others reflect the brilliance they receive.”—Jose Marti WE all know that Iloilo City’s Dinagyang Festival 2020 was the only annual festival that survived and was held in January this year before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COIVD-19) pandemic eviscerated
November 18, 2020