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[VIDEO] Governor in Philippines, 5 Others Assassinated By Armed Gunmen
Philippines – In the most recent attack on local leaders, gunmen posing as military troops opened fire on Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo in front of his home in Pamplona town on Saturday morning, killing him and five other people.
According to the Manila Times, Three suspects were reportedly detained by the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office on Saturday afternoon in Sitio Punong, Barangay Cansumalig, Bayawan.
The governor’s mansion in Pamplona town was invaded by six suspects brandishing firearms and wearing uniforms resembling those of the armed forces, according to the local police.
Degamo’s murder was denounced by Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and the Department of Justice (DoJ) has offered a P5 million reward for information that results in the capture of his killers.
In a Facebook livestream, Pamplona Mayor Janice Vallega-Degamo, the governor’s wife, announced that Degamo passed away at the Silliman University Medical Center in Dumaguete City at 11:41 a.m.
The 56-year-old governor was shot many times by individuals wearing “pixelized uniform and in full battle gear” as he attended to some residents in front of his home in Sitio Nuebe, Barangay San Isidro, Pamplona.
On Saturday about 2:00 p.m., three vehicles thought to be the assassins’ getaway cars—a black Mitsubishi Montero (YAP 163), a green Isuzu van (GRY 162), and a Mitsubishi Pajero with the license plate NQZ 735—were discovered in Barangay Kansumalig, Bayawan City, Negros Oriental.
According to witnesses, bloodstains were seen inside the Montero. They added that at least 10 people were observed getting out of the cars and heading toward some mountains.
Degamo was assassinated after another governor, Mamintal Adiong of Lanao del Sur, was wounded in an ambush on February 17 that also claimed the lives of his driver and three police escorts.
Two days later, the deputy mayor of Aparri, Cagayan, Rommel Alameda, and his colleagues were slain in another ambush in Bagabag, Nueva Vizcaya. Ohto Caumbo Montawal, the mayor of Datu Montawal, Maguindanao del Sur, was shot by two assailants on February 22 in Pasay City.
The attacks against local lawmakers are being investigated by the Philippine National Police (PNP) to see whether there is a pattern.
The death of Degamo was “clearly a thoroughly deliberated and prepared crime, thought about, practised, and those involved definitely know what they are doing,” according to LtCol. Kym Lopez, spokesman for the Negros Oriental police in the Philippines.
According to Lopez, Degamo increased his protection after receiving threats months earlier. He stated, “We don’t have a clear motive yet; we are looking at all possibilities in the investigation.
Philippines President Marcos expressed his condemnation for Degamo’s murder in a statement on Saturday, promising that his administration “would not rest until we have brought the perpetrators of this despicable and horrible act to justice.”
“The murder investigation is moving quite quickly. We now have a clear direction on how to move forward to bring those responsible for this killing to justice after receiving a lot of information “added the President.
He issued the following warning to the murderers: “While you can hide, you cannot run. We’ll track you down. Your best course of action will be to give up right now.”
Philippines Justice Department spokesman Mico Clavano announced in a statement on Saturday afternoon that Justice Secretary Crispin “Boying” Remulla had posted the bounty.
“The criminals’ brutal and thoughtless execution of their plan must and will not be accepted. They not only killed their target but also innocent bystanders in the process. Those wicked deeds have absolutely no place in this nation “said Clavano.
He claimed that Remulla had directed the NBI to look into the event.
Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr., secretary of the interior and local government, also denounced the “senseless assassination” of Degamo. According to a statement from Abalos, “the forces of the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office as well as the police in surrounding provinces have been deployed to explore every nook of the territory to immediately catch the perpetrators.
Degamo was assassinated only a few weeks after the Supreme Court en banc denied the petitions of Pryde Henry Teves, a former mayor of Bayawan City who was Degamo’s political rival and whose victory in the 2022 election for governor of Negros Oriental was declared invalid by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Degamo’s favour.
On Saturday, the League of Provinces of the Philippines condemned Degamo’s murder. Also, it extended its “sincere sympathies” to Degamo’s family. Lawmakers from the House of Representatives condemned Degamo’s murder.
The incident, according to Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, “is a direct challenge to the authorities.”
“I anticipate the National Police will move swiftly in apprehending those accountable for this heinous deed. Put an end to lawlessness and reestablish peace and order in our neighbourhoods. Your [PNP’s] sworn duty is to do that “said he.
Rep. Kristine Alexie Besas-Tutor of the Bohol Third District “condoled with Negrenses who lost a committed public servant to assassins who perpetuate the culture of violence and the proliferation of private armies and illegal firearms on Negros Island, which has had a tragic history of assassinations,” according to a statement by the representative.
Rep. José Francisco Benitez of the Negros Occidental Third District in the Philippines backed the motion to prosecute those responsible for Degamo’s death. Rep. Julienne Baronda of Iloilo City asked the PNP to “leave no stone unturned” in bringing the criminals to justice.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson of Negros Occidetal remarked, “Violence-inducing acts like [the Degamo homicide] must be stopped, and I fervently hope that justice will be served. Our citizens and elected officials ought to be able to live without fear and in peace.”
Degamo’s passing was described by Philippines Vice President Sara Duterte as “a tragedy for the province of Negros Oriental.” Former governor of Bohol Arthur Yap sent his “sincere condolences” to Degamo’s family.
Yap praised his commitment to helping the weak and underprivileged in society. Harry Roque, a former Palace spokesman, said: “Violence of this nature must end in the Philippines. In a democracy, it has no place. Now imprison his killers!”
Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito, senator Degamo’s murder and Adiong’s ambush, according to Ejercito, were “barbaric deeds.”
Degamo was born in the Negros Oriental village of Siaton. He majored in mechanical engineering at Silliman University, where he received his college degree in 1989. He passed the license tests he took in the same year.
He started out in politics as a councillor in Siaton, where he held the position for three terms in a row from 1998 to 2007.
From 2004 to 2007, he presided over the Provincial Councilors League of Negros Oriental, which earned him a position on the provincial board. Moreover, he won the position of Region 7 Chairman, which gave him a seat on the Philippine Councilors’ League National Board.
He ran for a position on the provincial board in 2010 and won with the most votes.
Degamo assumed the role of vice governor after Agustin Perdices, the vice governor-elect, assumed control of the office left vacant by Emilio Macias 2nd, the elected governor, who passed away before taking the oath of office for a second term.
Degamo was once more obliged to ascend in the provincial political ladder as a result of Perdices’ passing. He was previously elected to three terms in a row, the first in 2013 under the PDP-Laban, the second in 2016 under the National Unity Party, and the third in 2019 with the Nacionalista Party.
Degamo had managed to evade three orders to be fired from the Office of the Ombudsman between 2011 and 2022.
For allegedly squandering the P480 million calamity fund for victims of Typhoon “Sendong” in 2011, the Ombudsman ordered his dismissal in 2016. He was successful in getting the Court of Appeals to issue a 60-day Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) stopping the suspension.
He received a three-month suspension in 2017 for allegedly misusing funds from the 6.9-magnitude earthquake in 2012. Mark Macias, the vice governor, then assumed the role of acting governor.
After Degamo was found guilty of grave misconduct for allegedly misusing P10 million in intelligence money in 2013, the Office of the Ombudsman issued another dismissal order against him that same year, while he was serving his suspension.
On January 11, 2018, Degamo avoided the dismissal ruling by requesting a further TRO from the Court of Appeals. On November 13, 2019, the Philippines Supreme Court dissolved the TRO.
Yet as it turned out, Degamo had already been cleared by the Court of Appeals as early as September 2019, once more postponing his discharge.
News
Trudeau’s Gun Grab Could Cost Taxpayers a Whopping $7 Billion
A recent report indicates that since Trudeau’s announcement of his gun buyback program four years ago, almost none of the banned firearms have been surrendered.
The federal government plans to purchase 2,063 firearm models from retailers following the enactment of Bill C-21, which amends various Acts and introduces certain consequential changes related to firearms. It was granted royal assent on December 15 of last year.
This ban immediately criminalized the actions of federally-licensed firearms owners regarding the purchase, sale, transportation, importation, exportation, or use of hundreds of thousands of rifles and shotguns that were previously legal.
The gun ban focused on what it termed ‘assault-style weapons,’ which are, in reality, traditional semi-automatic rifles and shotguns that have enjoyed popularity among hunters and sport shooters for over a century.
In May 2020, the federal government enacted an Order-in-Council that prohibited 1,500 types of “assault-style” firearms and outlined specific components of the newly banned firearms. Property owners must adhere to the law by October 2023.
Trudeau’s Buyback Hasn’t Happened
“In the announcement regarding the ban, the prime minister stated that the government would seize the prohibited firearms, assuring that their lawful owners would be ‘grandfathered’ or compensated fairly.” “That hasn’t happened,” criminologist Gary Mauser told Rebel News.
Mauser projected expenses ranging from $2.6 billion to $6.7 billion. The figure reflects the compensation costs amounting to $756 million, as outlined by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).
“The projected expenses for gathering the illegal firearms are estimated to range from $1.6 billion to $7 billion.” “This range estimate increases to between $2.647 billion and $7 billion when compensation costs to owners are factored in,” Mauser stated.
Figures requested by Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs concerning firearms prohibited due to the May 1, 2020 Order In Council reveal that $72 million has been allocated to the firearm “buyback” program, yet not a single firearm has been confiscated to date.
In a recent revelation, Public Safety Canada disclosed that the federal government allocated a staggering $41,094,556, as prompted by an order paper question from Conservative Senator Don Plett last September, yet yielded no tangible outcomes.
An internal memo from late 2019 revealed that the Liberals projected their politically motivated harassment would incur a cost of $1.8 billion.
Enforcement efforts Questioned
By December 2023, estimates from TheGunBlog.ca indicate that the Liberals and RCMP had incurred or were responsible for approximately $30 million in personnel expenses related to the enforcement efforts. The union representing the police service previously stated that the effort to confiscate firearms is a “misdirected effort” aimed at ensuring public safety.
“This action diverts crucial personnel, resources, and funding from tackling the more pressing and escalating issue of criminal use of illegal firearms,” stated the National Police Federation (NPF).
The Canadian Sporting Arms & Ammunition Association (CSAAA), representing firearms retailers, has stated it will have “zero involvement” in the confiscation of these firearms. Even Canada Post held back from providing assistance due to safety concerns.
The consultant previously assessed that retailers are sitting on almost $1 billion worth of inventory that cannot be sold or returned to suppliers because of the Order-In-Council.
“Despite the ongoing confusion surrounding the ban, after four years, we ought to be able to address one crucial question.” Has the prohibition enhanced safety for Canadians? Mauser asks.
Illegally Obtained Firearms are the Problem
Statistics Canada reports a 10% increase in firearm-related violent crime between 2020 and 2022, rising from 12,614 incidents to 13,937 incidents. In that timeframe, the incidence of firearm-related violent crime increased from 33.7 incidents per 100,000 population in 2021 to 36.7 incidents the subsequent year.
“This marks the highest rate documented since the collection of comparable data began in 2009,” the criminologist explains.
Supplementary DataData indicates that firearm homicides have risen since 2020. “The issue lies not with lawfully-held firearms,” Mauser stated.
Firearms that have been banned under the Order-in-Council continue to be securely stored in the safes of their lawful owners. The individuals underwent a thorough vetting process by the RCMP and are subject to nightly monitoring to ensure there are no infractions that could pose a risk to public safety.
“The firearms involved in homicides were seldom legally owned weapons wielded by their rightful owners,” Mauser continues. The number of offenses linked to organized crime has surged from 4,810 in 2016 to a staggering 13,056 in 2020.
“If those in power … aim to diminish crime and enhance public safety, they ought to implement strategies that effectively focus on offenders and utilize our limited tax resources judiciously to reach these objectives,” he stated.
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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue
Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.
According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.
Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.
Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding
Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.
Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.
Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.
To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.
Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.
On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.
In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.
Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.
Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding
On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.
TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.
When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.
And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.
Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.
A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.
Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.
But today, it feels more like reality.
Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.
SOURCE | CNN
News
The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.
(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.
The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.
Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.
This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.
In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.
The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.
This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.
The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.
In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.
According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.
Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.
The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.
Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.
For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.
Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.
As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.
As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.
The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.
SOURCE: AP
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