Netnet Camomot US President-Elect Donald Trump refused to acknowledge a question from a CNN reporter at his recent press conference and told him, “You are fake news.” CNN Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta was asking Trump, “Mr. President-elect, since you have been attacking our news organization, can you give us a chance?” The attacks Acosta was referring to were for a CNN story on Trump’s connections with Russia. Trump reacted to Acosta with, “No! Not you. No! Your organization is terrible.” When the correspondent continued to request for a question, Trump said, “Don’t be rude. No, I’m not going to give you a question.” The most shocking part of this exchange, however, was not Trump’s behavior, since that’s allegedly his nature. The most shocking part was seeing other journalists not supporting Acosta and not protesting against Trump’s behavior right there. If this continues to be the norm in his future press cons, it will send off the wrong signals to the world—that the powers that be have the power to bully anyone. Meryl Streep was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille award at the Golden Globes earlier this week. That award is much-deserved—she has been collecting best actress awards for many years now, and her first Academy Award nomination was for that 1978 movie I waited for, the one I would rather watch then instead of “Star Wars”: “The Deer Hunter,” which was her second movie. She didn’t win then, but her performance attracted more roles and eventually more nominations. Streep’s latest award was a great honor but it was her acceptance speech that garnered more attention when she began to talk about Trump without mentioning his name, kind of a blind item: “…there was one performance this year that stunned me. It sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good; there was nothing good about it. But it was effective and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh, and show their teeth. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter. Someone he outranked in privilege, power and the capacity to fight back. It kind of broke my heart when I saw it, and I still can’t get it out of my head, because it wasn’t in a movie. It was real life. And this instinct to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life, because it kinda gives permission for other people to do the same thing. Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others we all lose. OK, go on with it.” Trump “performed” the disability of New York Times’ Serge Kovaleski in one of his campaign sorties towards the end of 2015. The latter has arthrogryposis which www.merriam-webster.com describes as a “congenital fixation of a joint in an extended or flexed position,” “any of a group of congenital conditions characterized by reduced mobility of multiple joints due to contractures causing fixation of the joints in extension or flexion.” In another instance before that, Trump claimed, “Hey, I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, N.J., where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering.” There was a Washington Post piece written on Sept. 18, 2001 that did say, “law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops while they watched the devastation on the other side of the river.” When people began to refer to that piece to support Trump’s claim, Kovaleski, one of the piece’s writers, said, “I certainly do not remember anyone saying that thousands or even hundreds of people were celebrating. That was not the case, as best as I can remember.”? And that’s how Trump ended up referring to the piece: “Written by a nice reporter. Now the poor guy, you ought to see this guy.” Then, Trump proceeded to “imitate” Kovaleski while saying, “I don’t know what I said. I don’t remember. He’s going like I don’t remember. Maybe that’s what I said.” Trump continued, “This is 14 years ago. He’s still... they didn’t do a retraction!” Trump rarely has press cons. The recent one, which came 169 days after the last, had at least one viewer commenting, “No wonder he hasn’t done any press conferences, he can barely string a sentence together and it’s all denial and bluster. No facts, nothing, no answers to questions. And this is the man you’ve got for President? Are you kidding? And now he’s speaking in the third person!” Yes, even I had to stop watching that. And I’m the kind who could read a Mad magazine from cover to cover. But he’s good at tweeting. And, of course, he had to tweet about Streep’s acceptance speech: “Meryl Streep, one of the most overated actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a…” Right below was a video clip from “Death Becomes Her,” with Streep blurting out this line: “You’re a tragic, boozy, flaccid, pathetic clown.” Meanwhile, there was outgoing US President Barack Obama delivering his farewell speech in his hometown Chicago: “…the long sweep of America has been defined by forward motion, a constant widening of our founding creed to embrace all, and not just some.” “Ultimately, that’s what our democracy demands. It needs you. Not just when there’s an election, not just when your own narrow interest is at stake, but over the full span of a lifetime. If you’re tired of arguing with strangers on the internet, try to talk with one in real life. If something needs fixing, lace up your shoes and do some organizing. If you’re disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for office yourself,” Obama added. “Show up. Dive in. Persevere. Sometimes you’ll win. Sometimes you’ll lose. Presuming a reservoir of goodness in others can be a risk, and there will be times when the process disappoints you. But for those of us fortunate enough to have been a part of this work, to see it up close, let me tell you, it can energize and inspire. And more often than not, your faith in America—and in Americans—will be confirmed.” Well, I guess that’s a timely message for Pinoys, too. But with a slight change in the last line: your faith in the Philippines—and in Filipinos—will be confirmed.