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FILE PHOTOS OK, I was wrong. The United States is not quite the Philippines yet. Yes, a convicted criminal has been reelected, but we don’t have our country’s leaders threatening to kill each other at news conferences as in the Philippines. At least not yet. That’s what happened Saturday when VP Sara Duterte said in an online news conference that she has contracted an assassin to kill the current president, Bongbong Marcos , his wife and the speaker of the Philippine House of Representative if she herself is killed. Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . And VP Duterte said she wasn’t joking. “Don’t worry about my security because I’ve talked with somebody. I said “If I’m killed, you’ll kill BBM, Liza Araneta and Martin Romualdez.” She was referring to the president, his wife and the speaker. “No joke, no joke,” the vice president added about her conversation with an assassin. “I’ve given my order, “If I die, don’t stop until you’ve killed them all.’” VP Kamala Harris said she owned a gun, but never said anything remotely that vicious about ordering an assassin over the phone. Still, Filipinos in America must be relieved? In America, by comparison, we are still a civil democracy. Or at least, “civil enough.” In the Philippines, where human rights violations and extrajudicial killings have routinely numbered in the thousands for decades – from Marcos’ father to the reign of Duterte’s father – civility is not easy to come by. The talk is hot between the Philippine president and his veep, mostly from disagreements on how to deal with the aggression of China toward Philippine possessions in the West Philippine Sea. But Sara Duterte reportedly has tried to walk back the hot talk, saying it was an expression of concern rather than a real threat. Still, the outburst gives Bongbong the moral upper hand. If that still means anything in the Philippines. “That criminal plot should not be allowed to pass,” Marcos is reported to have said in a televised statement. “ I’ll fight it ,” Marcos said. “As a democratic country, we need to uphold the rule of law.” This is of course super ironic coming from man whose family ruled the Philippines under martial law, were sent into exile by People Power, then allowed to come back in and be rehabilitated by Sara Duterte’s father, then President Rodrigo Duterte. Was Sara D. flexing her muscles? If she was, it’s backfiring. The Philippines is taking the threat seriously and is investigating Sara Duterte. How to kill political opponents the American way Donald Trump wasn’t joking when he famously said he “could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.” It was relevant last January, when the issue of immunity for Donald Trump came before a three judge panel in the DC Court of Appeals, the second highest court in the land. This is where Trump’s attorneys claimed that a former president could not be prosecuted for anything he did as “an official duty.” It took a probing question from federal circuit judge Florence Y. Pan to make it all crystal clear. “Could a president order Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? That’s an official act. An order to Seal Team 6,” said Pan in a hypothetical I can’t believe has ever been asked in such a high- level hearing in US history. Trump lawyer Sauer responded: “He would have to be and would speedily be impeached and convicted before the criminal prosecution.” Pan pressed on that: “But if he weren’t, there would be no criminal prosecution or criminal liability for that?” Sauer hemmed and hawed about the chief justice, the Constitution and the impeachment clause. But Pan wanted to get to the truth and politely but firmly cut to the chase: “I asked you a yes or no question. Could a president who ordered Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival, who was not impeached, could he be subject to criminal prosecution?” Sauer responded: “If he were impeached and convicted first.” “So your answer is a no?” Pan asked. “My answer is a qualified yes,” said Sauer. What is a “qualified yes”? A shameful way of saying no. The case went up to the Supreme Court and Trump won. The presumed immunity for official actions is a part of the reason Special Prosecutor Jack Smith is now withdrawing two federal cases against Trump. Remember, this ruling means the president when engaged in official acts has immunity and can pretty much get away with ANYTHING. So Jan. 6? The Mar-a-Lago documents case? Jack Smith is throwing in the towel. This is in America, land of the free, where in our democracy one man is above the law. Sorry Philippines. You’ll have to give the president, and in this case, maybe the vice president, immunity on all official acts first. And then they can plot away and threaten each other in public at will. Things are changing fast, Philippines. You can’t be left in the colonial dust. Don’t miss out on the Trump Executive upgrade to democracy. Immunity for official acts. Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He writes a column for the Inquirer.net’s US Channel. Next year, he’ll be bringing his one-man show to Winnipeg and Edmonton. Stay tuned. See his Emil Amok’s Takeout on www.patreon.com/emilamok Want stories like this delivered straight to your inbox?Stay informed. Stay ahead. 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Lewis 8-11 1-4 17, Lesburt 3-5 3-4 11, Lilly 5-13 6-7 21, Wrisby-Jefferson 1-3 1-2 3, Cooley 4-6 4-4 13, Erold 5-9 3-3 16, Jenkins 0-2 0-1 0, DeGraaf 1-1 0-0 2, Klores 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-50 18-25 83. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.Britt Baker says she’s ‘exhausted’ by social media critics: ‘I’m done being polite’
Trump taps Scott Bessent for Treasury, capping long drama over choiceDETROIT (AP) — A Detroit police officer has been placed on administrative duty in connection with a shooting that wounded two bystanders and a man who had pointed a gun at the officer during an illegal street party earlier this year. An investigation shows that the officer fired five shots after police responded to a report of shots fired on the city's west side, Interim Police Chief Todd Bettison told reporters Wednesday. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. Get the latest news, sports, weather and more delivered right to your inbox.
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Labour and the Tories are under pressure from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK to come forward with a credible plan in the wake of record-breaking net migration numbers. Reform blasted the Conservatives as the “architects of mass immigration” but Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp says Kemi Badenoch has the “courage” to take a bold “new approach” to the challenge. He said: “These changes will be radical, but there is no alternative.” This comes days after official figures showed net migration reached 906,000 in the 12 months to June 2023. In the subsequent 12 months, 728,000 more people entered than left the UK. Mr Philp said: “Labour cannot be trusted to get this under control. Their approach to immigration is to kowtow to lefty lawyers and demonise those who speak out about the impacts of unfettered immigration.” But deputy Reform leader Richard Tice said: “More people entered the UK under one year of Tory rule than the entire population of Leeds. The Tories are the architects of mass immigration and can never be trusted ever again. “Only Reform will end the failed mass immigration experiment.” Labour claims it is restoring order to a “broken immigration system”, noting that net migration is “four times higher than it was before the pandemic”. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has pledged to “tackle the big increase in overseas recruitment”. Former Conservative security minister Sir John Hayes said there should be a target of “net zero” immigration so the number entering the country roughly matches the total of those leaving. He warned of a “permanent housing crisis” if the number coming to the UK does not fall. Both David Cameron and Theresa May pledged to get net migration down to the “ten of thousands”. Sir John said the failure to deliver on this target was “highly significant” in contributing to the Tories ’ disastrous election result this summer. He said: “Because of that failure we have to be much more radical to regain distrust which is why I’m suggesting we opt for a net zero approach.” Alp Mehmet of Migration Watch said: “The Tories will struggle to regain trust on immigration after 14 years of repeated failure and reneging on promises to reduce it. Having accepted that they screwed up, they will now not only have to come up with policies on how to reduce net migration – we believe, to zero – but also be convincing on how it’s to be done.”WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returned home Saturday after his meeting with Donald Trump without assurances the president-elect will back away from threatened tariffs on all products from the major American trading partner. Trump called the talks “productive” but signaled no retreat from a pledge that Canada says unfairly lumps it in with Mexico over the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States. After the leaders’ hastily arranged dinner Friday night at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Trudeau spoke of “an excellent conversation” but offered no details. Trump said in a Truth Social post later Saturday that they discussed “many important topics that will require both Countries to work together to address.” For issues in need of such cooperation, Trump cited fentanyl and the “Drug Crisis that has decimated so many lives as a result of Illegal Immigration," fair trade deals "that do not jeopardize American Workers” and the U.S. trade deficit with its ally to the north. Trump asserted that the prime minister had made “a commitment to work with us to end this terrible devastation” of American families from fentanyl from China reaching the United States through its neighbors. The U.S., he said, “will no longer sit idly by as our Citizens become victims to the scourge of this Drug Epidemic.” The Republican president-elect has threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders when he takes office in January. U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border last fiscal year, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border. On immigration, the U.S. Border Patrol made 56,530 arrests at the Mexican border in October alone and 23,721 arrests at the Canadian border between October 2023 and September 2024 — and Canadian officials say they are ready to make new investments in border security. Trudeau called Trump after the Republican's social media posts about the tariffs last Monday and they agreed to meet, according to a official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to publicly discuss detail of the private talks. The official said other countries are calling Canadian officials to hear how about how the meeting was arranged and to ask for advice. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, after speaking with Trump on the telephone, said Thursday she was confident a tariff war with Washington would be averted. At the dinner that was said to last three hours, Trump said he and Trudeau also discussed energy, trade and the Arctic. A second official cited defense, Ukraine, NATO, China, the Mideast, pipelines and the Group of Seven meeting in Canada next year as other issues that arose. Trump, during his first term as president, once called Trudeau “weak” and “dishonest,” but it was the prime minister who was the first G7 leader to visit Trump since the Nov. 5 election. "Tariffs are a crucial issue for Canada and a bold move was in order. Perhaps it was a risk, but a risk worth taking,” Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal. Trudeau had said before leaving from Friday that Trump was elected because he promised to bring down the cost of groceries but now was talking about adding 25% to the cost of all kinds of products, including potatoes from Prince Edward Island in Atlantic Canada. “It is important to understand that Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out. There’s no question about it,” Trudeau said. “Our responsibility is to point out that he would not just be harming Canadians, who work so well with the United States, but he would actually be raising prices for Americans citizens as well and hurting American industry and business,” he added. The threatened tariffs could essentially blow up the North American trade pact that Trump’s team negotiated during his first term. Trudeau noted they were able to successfully renegotiate the deal, which he calls a “win win” for both countries. When Trump imposed higher tariffs as president, other countries responded with retaliatory tariffs of their own. Canada, for instance, announced billions of new duties in 2018 against the U.S. in a response to new taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum. Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US $2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day. About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports are from Canada. Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing in for national security. Canada is one of the most trade-dependent countries in the world, and 77% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S. ___ Gillies reported from Toronto.AP Sports SummaryBrief at 5:15 p.m. EST