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  "path": "/2026/05/ok-there-are-lizard-people.html",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-26T21:23:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://40yrs.blogspot.com",
  "tags": [
    "The Philippines has aggreed to hand over a few thousand acres to the United States",
    "foreign concessions in China",
    "Philippine officials have categorically denied that anything resembling this deal has been agreed to",
    "a planned United States-backed industrial hub on the main island of Luzon"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n_I expect him to eat live guinea pigs in private\n\n\nSomething dead there\n\n\nSee the TV Series \"V\" for Reference _So, the  _Wall Street Journal_ just put out an exclusive, saying that The Philippines has aggreed to hand over a few thousand acres to the United States as a part of the US \"_Pax Silica_ \" initiative.\n\nIt turs out that the  _WSJ_ is wrong. There is no agreement, perhaps because the deal proposed is more one-sided than the notorious pre-WWII foreign concessions in China.\n\nThe deal is proposed/being negotiated by Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg, a \"Senior advisor to Alex Karp Palantir.\"\n\nThe details are:\n\n  * The US will take control of 4,000 acres in the Philippines.\n  * A lease renewable for 99 years and a rent of $0.00\n  * The area will have diplomatic immunity.\n  * The area will operate under us \"Common Law\". (Whatever the f%$# that is.)\n\n\n\nIt appears that Helberg misled the authors of the story, because Philippine officials have categorically denied that anything resembling this deal has been agreed to.\n\nThis is not a surprise.\n\nUnlike in the US, the memories of colonialism are still very much remembered in Far East societies. (Somewhere between ¼ and 1½ million civilian deaths as a result of US actions during the Philippine Insurrection)\n\n> Philippine officials on May 18 pushed back against reports that a planned United States-backed industrial hub on the main island of Luzon would operate under American laws or grant diplomatic immunity to US personnel.\n>\n> The clarification came during the visit by US Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Jacob Helberg to New Clark City, where he joined Philippine officials in unveiling a marker for the proposed 1,620ha Pax Silica industrial hub under the Luzon Economic Corridor initiative announced in April.\n>\n> Mr Joshua Bingcang, president and chief executive of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), said the Philippines had rejected US proposals that would place the project beyond local jurisdiction.\n>\n> “That’s their request, but we did not agree to that,” Mr Bingcang told the media when asked about a Wall Street Journal report on April 17 claiming the hub would operate under US laws and enjoy diplomatic protections.\n>\n> “There will be no special arrangement accorded to the US,” he added.\n>\n> Mr Bingcang said the project would instead fall under the Special Economic Zone Act, which governs investment incentives and operations in Philippine economic zones, as well as BCDA law that oversees the conversion and development of former US military bases into investment and commercial hubs.\n\nI'm not primarily writing about this. I'm writing about Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg.\n\nLook at him. He's a f%$#ing lizard person. There is no humanity behind those eyes.",
  "title": "OK, There Are Lizard People",
  "updatedAt": "2026-05-27T04:27:33.120Z"
}