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From human evil in wars, drone attacks, and brutal mass killings, to natural disasters as in earthquakes, floods and tornadoes, many innocent people have died and many survivors spend their lives mourning the loss. Amidst all this misery, we cannot help but ask, why? Is it fair that my lovely child who still has not tasted the good things in life died while those malicious people who killed him ran away? Is it fair that a flood comes to drown a group of people while others remain untouched? However, there is a beam of hope that still manages to arise only if we think deeper within ourselves.

NARCISSIST

This happened to me a couple of weeks ago while I was on my way home one early morning. I was on a jeepney, riding through Sampaloc en route to Pandacan, via Vicente Cruz street. It was around 5AM, and everybody I was riding with was either sleepy or drunk (there's a Padi's Point near SM San Lazaro, the terminal of this jeepney route), and all in all, you could say that it was a very idyllic ride. But that turned out to be a mistaken assumption.

I intended to post sporadically or not at all this week, and that's still my plan, but there is a new Washington Post article which contains three short passages that I really want to highlight because they so vividly capture the essence of so much. The article, by Greg Miller, is being promoted by the Post this way: "In 3 years, the Obama administration has built a vast drone/killing operation"; it describes the complete secrecy behind which this is all being carried out and notes: "no president has ever relied so extensively on the secret killing of individuals to advance the nation's security goals." Here is the first beautifully revealing passage:

Until someone explains how exposing the country's military operations and capabilities is a benefit to me, I'll continue to believe Snowden is a rat. Until I can understand what revelations to China, South America and Angela Merkel has to with "domestic" surveillance, I'll remain convinced that Snowden was without honorable, let alone heroic intentions. And until I know how consorting with Russia, whom presidential candidate Mitt Romney called our number one geo-political foe somehow affects and assures my safety and freedom, I ain't buying it.

Even stupid, self-centered Republican men have the right to their beliefs, I just don't want them imposed on me. Besides, I respect the opinions of people who speak from experience and have a stake in the outcome of the problem they seek to resolve. To my way of thinking, if Republican men really want to have credibility about the abortion issue, then they should get knocked up. Until then, I for one would appreciate it if they would just shut the f**k up.

"Q. How does your background as a constitutional law and civil rights litigator inform the way you approach research and writing as a journalist? One of the primary skills one learns as a litigator is to make one's case by beginning with first premises, establishing their truth with evidence, and then compelling the conclusions you want others to reach. That's how I try to write now. I think that if you want to make an argument, there's an obligation to lay out the premises for it, provide evidence for it, allow readers to assess the documentation for themselves. That belief probably comes from the way judges and juries need to be persuaded that an argument is true. Beyond that, I chose to litigate constitutional and civil rights cases, and to represent plaintiffs, because I wanted to use my abilities to empower those who are vulnerable and powerless and who are being mistreated by the powerful. That, to me, is a primary purpose of the Constitution itself, and, when done correctly, a core purpose of journalism. That's what I try to do now as well in the work I do. I'd much rather be at war with corrupt elites than serving their interests."