Unrest grows, at home and abroad

Walt has been quiet for the last couple of days, waiting for other shoes to drop in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and the Excited States of America. Here's the recap. 

The presidential election in the Philippines turned out as Walt predicted. (Lifetime pct .992) Bongbong, aka Ferdinand Marcos Jr., son of the late Philippines dictator of the same name, is riding on a tsunami of votes. 

He has 30 million so far, more than double the total of his rival, the current Vice-President, Maria Leonra "Leni" Robredo. 

36 years after protesters drove his dad out of office, Bongbong will become Pinas' latest "strongman president". Ms Robredo, predicts that his election will sanctify and perpetuate the abuses of his father.

Against all such criticism, in Marcos strongholds in Bisayas (the nicest part of PI, IMHO), the historic family name holds an almost messianic appeal over impressionable and celebrity-struck people who don't know or don't believe the tales of corruption and dictatorship that marked his father's 21-year rule.

In the province of Leyte, ancestral home of his 92-year-old mother Imelda of the 1000 Shoes, the junior Marcos is seen as a man of the people, even though he's lived a life of wealth and privilege few Pinoys can imagine. Such is the power of political family names, like "Kennedy" and "Clinton" and [Next item please. Ed.]    

In another poor country which seems to be sliding from third-world status to fourth-world, Sri Lanka, mostly peaceful protests against leftist misrule have turned violent.

Walt has lost touch with his agents in Colombo and Kandy [Are you there? Send word! Ed.] but understands that a curfew is now in force across the country after mobs burned down homes belonging to the ruling Rajapaksa family and their cronies (such as government minister Sananth Nishantha, whose blazing house is shown below) amid mounting anger at the economic crisis. 

Last night's violence capped a day of unrest that saw Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa quit, but this failed to bring calm. Crowds besieged his residence, from which he was evacuated in a pre-dawn operation amid tear gas and warning shots. 

Protests are continuing despite the curfew. Seven people have died and over 200 have been injured so far this week. The island-wide curfew has been extended until Wednesday morning as authorities seek to quell the violence.

Back in the USA, although Antifa and other woke, pro-abortion terrorists have mounted "mostly peaceful protests" in such leftist strongholds as Seattle and Portland OR, their efforts to fire up the citizenry [No more puns please. Ed.] haven't held a candle [Watch it! Ed.] to those of the righteously angry demonstrators in Sri Lanka. 

Public opinion polls measuring the reaction to the leaked draft of the SCOTUS decision in the Hobbs case, suggest that the majority of Americans won't support attempts by Democrats and other liberals and leftists to codify "women's reproductive health rights", i.e. the right to kill babies if having them is inconvenient.

Meanwhile, Walt awaits news -- any news at all -- about the Marshal of the Supreme Court's supposed efforts to find and prosecute the source of the leak. Let me name names once again. Reports all over the Net identify Justice Sonia Maria Sotomayor and/or her clerk, Amit Jane, as the source of the leak. Has the Marshal interviewed either of them? We should be told!

Further reading: "The Real Threat is the Violent Left-wing", by Jeff Crouere, Townhall, 9/5/22. 

Freedom Rallies against leftist misrule break out in... wait for it...

Seems it's not only in Canuckistan that people are fed up with leftist governments that promise the sun, moon and stars but deliver only inflation, shortages, homelessness and ever-increasing government control of every aspect of the lives of struggling citizens. 

Walt's focus today shifts to the island state of Sri Lanka. Thanks to a decades-old religious connection, I have several friends (and two agents) there, from whom I'm getting disturbing reports of protests over the nation's severe economic crisis.

Just like Canada's "leader" Just In Trudeau did, when confronted by the truckers' Freedom Convoy, Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa recently declared a state of emergency as angry citizens demand that something be done about rising prices, shortages of essentials and rolling power cuts. 

When mostly peaceful protests turned violent, the government implemented a countrywide curfew, and placed a block on social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp. (Does any of this sound familiar to readers in Canada? It should!)  The chairthingy of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission said the measure was carried out on instruction from the Defence Ministry and aimed to "maintain calm" (read: silence dissent).

In the central city of Kandy (home to the Temple of the Tooth), police used tear gas to disperse university students and other young protesters, including our Agent 35. Inspector Buruva of the local constabulary said about 750 people were gassed, but none were arrested. So that's all right, then.

In Colombo, the capital city, around two dozen opposition leaders protested at police barricades near Independence Square, some shouting "Gota(baya) go home!" They say the roots of the crisis, the worst in several decades, lie in economic mismanagement by successive governments that amassed huge budget shortfalls and a current account deficit. Notice the sign that reads "How much debt are we really in?" That would be a good (if rather polite) question for President Brandon!

The crisis was accelerated by deep tax cuts President Rajapaksa promised during the 2019 election campaign, which were enacted months before the Covid pandemic, which wiped out parts of Sri Lanka’s economy. 

Opposition leader Eran Wickramaratne called the curfew and other restrictions "unacceptable" Others stood in small groups outside their homes or gathered in the street, some holding handwritten anti-government banners or waving the national flag.

A student at the University of Colombo told Reuters, "This government, we do not want them anymore. They have had years and years to show us that they could do change but there is nothing. The situation has just gotten worse by the day. We really need a change, we are stripped of our basic rights...people are fed up!"

How much longer can the anger of fed-up citizens of the AABC countries (America, Australia, Britain and Canada) be contained? How high does the price of gas have to go... how much do taxes have to be increased to pay for the "reparations" and the redistribution of wealth... how bad do things have to get before the sheeple of the Anglosphere do likewise?