Skeddy me, bro. Skeddy you. All right, so it's a 49, so it is double. Yo, Ryan just said skeddy me, bro. Skeddy me. Dude. Welcome to another versus episode of Fun Bros. Food. We're here at Max's. We're here to settle a debate. Who's got the better fried chicken? Max's or Jolly Bees? Yes, the battle of the international Filipino restaurant change. Let's go. Are you doing the Filipino martial arts? Is that it? That's it. That's why they feel so good at dancing. Let's check out Max's fried chicken. All right, guys. So we're here at Max's Chicken. This is round one. We got all the chicken dishes in the beginning. And Max's is known for chicken, right? That's why we started with round one being all the chicken dishes. I'm not going to lie. I didn't know what Max's was. A lot more non-Filipino would know Jolly was just because of its commercial success. I think Max's is more for your real Filipinos. They know the chain from back home. Because I think there's over 140 Max's just in the Philippines alone. I saw a lot of nice families coming out of expensive cars in the parking lot. Do you think it's for people who are like, they want some of the food that you might be able to find out of a Jolly Bees? But they don't want to be in that, maybe in that environment. All right, guys. So right here we have the full chicken. We have the half chicken. This chicken already looks a little different than Jolly Bees. Obviously, Jolly Bees, the chicken joy. It looks more like traditional chicken. These look like smaller, artisanal chickens. They give you the fresh, orange slice. Of course, you got the banana sauce, the Jou Fran. Is that how you say it? Before all the Filipino viewers skewered me for mispronouncing it, I'm just going to say, I don't know.  Max's chicken. All right, naked.  I heard it's brine. It's a little vinegary. That's why I feel tender. It's such a different experience than chicken joy. Chicken joy, to me, is more based off the American fried chicken, southern Tennessee-style fried chicken. Right. It's not like your typical fast food, 12 blends of spices. The skin is not super thick. It's not too spicy. Obviously, you don't see that spice like injected into the chicken. You know how sometimes you see the layers of spice into the fast food chicken? It's falling off the bone. Look at this. Look at how it works, bro. Look at that. It's just... If you want a chicken done right and fried well, I would describe this. This is a chicken dinner. This is a chicken dinner.  Alright, last word on Max's fried chicken, guys. Is it better than Jollabies? How about this? No. It's not better. I'm not saying it's worse. I know what you mean. It's hard to compare it because one has better, one doesn't. One has more flavor, but one's higher quality. You made me use the stimulus of better. No, it's not better. It's not clearly better. My opinion is, and I don't want to have to do this, obviously, in a way, it's better. I mean, it's better quality. It's super tender. I enjoy things that don't have batter, too.   If I close my eyes and I picture a fried chicken, the one I want to eat, is this one. Alright, I will say, this is like, this is classy. I just feel whenever I go to a fast food joint, I feel so heavy after eating, and I know this is still fried chicken, but like the eatability factor for me is here, rather than the chicken. I can have like a couple pieces of chicken joint. This, I could demolish probably another full bird. That's it. That I agree with. Guys, we're not even through the chicken. That was worth the conversation, though. We had to talk about it in depth. So I've never had chicken sissy. When I started on the menu, I figured we had to order it. Because normally, when you get pork sissy, it's like a lot of the cuts on the pork head. From the snout, right? From the snout, the jowl, ears even. Kind of a lot of, kind of a lot of weird facial parts. So obviously, chicken sissy, I'm sure there's not a beak round up in there. There's not beak, but they did add liver. And I am a very big fan of chicken liver. Okay, the dark part is the chicken liver. Liver, that's a chicken liver. Not winter, winter, chicken dinner. It's winter, winter, chicken liver. Chicken liver, all right. Chicken sissy. They're not a regular chicken salad. Okay.  But like David said, there's this like vinegary tang that kind of permeates like through the whole entire bite. And then there's this like little bit of kick. One more bite. They got a liver up in there. Right. That is by far the most interesting chicken salad I've ever had. This is also the only chicken salad that I've ever eaten with rice. So from chicken sissy, something that we never tried before, we're going to chicken adobo. The classic chicken adobo. Oh, man. You know, I thought it was interesting because there was an egg on chicken. Did you eat the baby anthem? Yeah. This is the one. When they go to their Filipino friends house, this is what? This is the dish that's on deck. This is the dish that everybody asks for. No, this is like the one that is cooking when you walk into the house. Yes, yes. Like the mom is just, she's like, oh, I got adobo.  Let's go. Nax is chicken adobo. Nax is chicken adobo. I might just have to go in with my hands, guys. I'm going full Filipino. Full Filipino food. I mean, the vinegar's there. The soy sauce is there. It's chicken adobo, man. Like, there's nothing else you can really say about it. It's very homey. You know, there's kind of a lot of dishes in the world that kind of tastes like chicken adobo. Between the vinegar and the soy sauce and the stewiness of the chicken. What'd you guys say? That is one of the less pungent chicken adobos you've had in terms of like hitting you with that. Yeah. Pacquiao vinegar. Right hook. This chicken adobo, I would say like, it's a lot lighter. It's consistent. Like, I feel like if you order this, it's going to be the same like taste every single time. They probably have the formula down. Like if cheesecake ever were to become that ethnic, where they started incorporating ethnic dishes, I would imagine that the best cheesecake factory chicken adobo would taste like that. Yeah. All right. We got to compare Max's Filipino spaghetti to Jollibee's Filipino spaghetti. Okay. But here we're at a sit-down restaurant. Here we have the Filipino spaghetti.  Sketty me, bro. Sketty you. All right, so it's a 49, so it is double. Yo, Ryan just said Sketty me, bro. Sketty me. That's not the first time you've said that. No, it's not. That's how your other side talks. I know Filipinos don't say that. Sketty me, bro. All right, here. Let's get it. Let's get it. Max's spaghetti versus Jollibee's spaghetti. I like how the sauce covered all the noodles. All the noodles. It's a lot more balanced than the spaghetti from Jollibee. Less sweet. Less sweet. Still very sweet though. But a little less tangy, less of the tomato tang. Yeah. Immediately gone. I'm a burden. I think that Jollibee's is better. Jollibee's is better. I'm team Jollibee's on the spaghetti. Team Max's. All right, explain yourself because it's two to one. Because I don't have the biggest sweet tooth, right? And for me, the Jolli's spaghetti, it's just too sweet. I felt like this was more balanced. Okay. And I mean, at the end of the day, it's Sketty. At the end of the day, it's just Sketty, right? Like, when judging Sketty, you're just going to say, oh, yo, it's just Sketty. It's Sketty. Everything's Sketty. Sketty is Sketty. Sketty is Sketty. Well, what's the difference, bro? Sketty. It's close. Guys, we are in a spot where they also use it as the set for fresh off the boat. Oh, that is true. So this is obviously nice. Guys, this is the lumpia. On the menu, it's Lampiang, Lampiang, Lampiang, Lampiang, Shanghai. Obviously, I do think actually that these came over from Shanghai. That's why they call it that. Like, Filipino food, as we've talked about before, has multiple influences.   Even Japan to a certain extent, like after occupation. Oh, Indonesia as well, right? Indonesia as well. All the Filipino food is going to be a mix of different cultures. Lumpia, Shanghai. You see recently, Jokoi started the egg roll battles.  Chinese, I'll f**k your egg roll. Lumpia versus your f**king egg. Bring it.  And then Eddie had to come back and say, Hey, man. Eddie said, Hey, man. Those are from China. So we're getting royalties on half of everything. I don't really compare Lumpias with other egg rolls. Because they're so much smaller. And the composition is different. And you dip them. It's like, for me, it's tough to like, really compare. By the way, guys, this is the most famous type of Lumpia, the Shanghai Lumpia. But we got another one here. I believe that it's less popular. Lumpia, Ubon. Ubon. And there's even more kinds than this. This Lumpia is actually filled with heart of palm, shrimp, and pork. And it's topped with like a peanut sauce. Really reminds me of, kind of like a Vietnamese summer roll. I'm not just eating with my hand, man. I'm going full, full manila on this. Heart of palm, I don't know if I've ever had it. But there's like bamboo. I almost don't want to call it an egg roll. I'm so confused right now because I'm looking at it and I'm seeing something else, but what I'm tasting is Chinese egg roll. Yeah. What I noticed about Max's, and I don't know if you guys agree with me or not, the food is very inoffensive. Yeah. Like there's no way you can dislike it. Yeah. For a nice family dinner, like you definitely couldn't max them. Max's is a chain, right? So they're trying to pump out food for the masses. I think if you're not in LA, like in historic Filipino town, like there's not as many Filipino places to go to. So this offers you that kind of like slice from home. And they got a very expensive looking karaoke system. There have definitely been some karaoke wars in this room. Somebody has left hurt in being like, oh no, the other guy he beat me today. I left my heart on the floor. We got to say it, guys. You guys, this is it. We said there's so many comments in the last video because we were saying palabok. Palabok? So palabok. Palabok, palabok. Palabok. Pancit palabok. Palabok. Pancit palabok. Palabok. Palabok. You know what? I don't even know where we're almost there. Pancit. Pancit. This one crushed up. Wow. This is where your flavor is. Okay. This, from what I had, ranks up there, actually. I think for traditional. I got it going for some more. I'm just going to stamp it right now. If you come to Max's, obviously get the chicken, but please you would be remiss if you did not get the palabok. Ah. Ah-ha. We got to go with this one. And that's a gigantic, I don't know what kind, you know the chickens were small, but I don't know which kind of a pin they got this off of. And when you rip this, you just got to, ah. Crispy Pata. All right, guys. So here's a vinegar. Do you dip this first? I grew up with my grandparents at Woodside Queen. My grandparents are my Filipino side. I'm a Lola of my Lola. And we would go out to Ihaon. We've got Filipino barbecue. And then we would order this dish. That's so good. That's really good.  That is, some of the best crispy Pata I've had like ever. That was sitting there for like 10 minutes first and it's still, you're peeling it apart. Your fingers are getting sticky because of the collagen. And you got this little salad on the side. Ah. This is the palabola. The palabola and this crispy Pata, they were in my top tier. Yeah. Like of three different tiers. Of any Filipino restaurant that, you know, I personally had it. Yeah. Here's this crisp. Yes, what guys? We have the kate kate.  It's, it's scary. It's scary. I'm a fan of spaghetti. Every cuisine has, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on there, Andrew. Hold on. What? Before you serve the kate kate, you gotta add the bagaon, which is the shrimp paste. Oh my god. You gotta mix it in. Oh my god. My bad, y'all. So this is gonna give it like that little bit of like seafood, shrimpy taste. You know what I love about shrimp paste though, man? There's something so unique that you don't find anywhere else except for like dry shrimp paste. Yeah. Here's the kare kare. There's some oxtail for you. Okay. And then I'll get some for...  Did you not? I can't judge it because papa here, he just referred to himself as papa. Don't, I heard that. Kare kare. You said that really well. Mmm. Okay. Smooth. Shrimp paste in general though. Have you ever tried another dish that had peanut butter in a stew like this before? There might be like an African stew. To me, I would just pass over it not because I would be like, ugh, conical. I'd just be like, yeah, whatever. You know. From what I read, Chinese immigrants have been coming to Philippines since the 1600s. Yes. And they've been coming in different ways. First it was the Cantonese, then it was people from Fujian, okay, Hokkien, and then it was just like, since then it's just been kind of like rolling, right? Yeah. This is kind of like Chinese, I don't want to say it's Chinese Filipino food. This might be Chinese-inspired Filipino food. This is salted fish fried rice. This is chop sui stir-fry, which is vegetables. You have some pork. You have some shrimp. This is sizzling tofu on a hot sizzling plate, okay?  Yeah. Pansit canton. I didn't know what to expect before. You know, maybe it's like a chow mein or like a lo mein. I think it's using the yifu noodles, David. They're a little bit fluffier and lighter. It's a very Cantonese noodle. It is very Cantonese. That is easily better than a lot of chow mein that you get. And I like that the Filipino style gave you the lemon, because as you crush the lemons, that's another layer of flavor. Yeah. It's that citrus burst that you're talking about. One thing is like when you're eating things so heavy, you need some type of like acid or citrus to like cut through fat. All right, guys, here's the salted fish fried rice. And I wanted to get this because a lot of Chinese people, and particularly Cantonese people, eat the salted fish fried rice. This is a popular dish to have in Chinatown. Ooh, it tastes different. This is not the same one I grew up eating. It has some of this salted egg in there, David. Did you notice? Yeah. The salted egg is a popular thing to be eating in Chinese and even a lot of Southeast Asian cuisines too.  This is probably my least favorite thing. What? Honestly, like there's not that much salted fish in there and this is like way too salty for me. I went with the tofu next. Yo, this sizzling tofu has a twist. It's like got some like creamy coconut in there. Whoa. This is different. This isn't, you know, tofu is Chinese but I almost want to say like a sriracha mayo type sizzling plant. There's definitely vinegar in it. Yeah. There's, there's heat at the back of my palate. Same thing when we ate the chicken sisi. Chicken sisi. That probably is more similar to the tofu version of the chicken sisi that we had. Yeah. Yeah. Similar sauce. No, it's almost like a tangy ranch. Yeah. I like this like Filipino China Express food better than a lot of like regular just China Express spots. New, new idea. Instead of Pan Express, we open a Filipino Express. Oh. Or Manila Express. Manila Express. Uh, last but not least, we got the chop suey. Is it funny how, David, we're eating some kind of Chinese dishes, but there's no chopsticks present because a lot of Filipinos don't use chopsticks. They don't use chopsticks. Confirm. This, utensil right here. That's the chopstick. This is your everything. Not using your hands. You're using your spoon. All right. How's this chop suey? You see this flavor. It looks very light. That tastes like really like Chinese American. Yeah. Wow. What was your guys' favorite? I got to say for me, it was between these two right here. These two are fire. I'm going to roll with this one. Yeah. Pensit Canton. I think it took some of the really good elements of Pensit and then just with seafood noodles. I mean, it's pretty good. And normally like, I'm not a big fan of tofu. So I'm going to have to go with the tofu only because it had that wow factor. Like I put it in my mouth and I was just astounding. I was just like, what am I eating right now? Yo, you know what you said? Do you say it when you ate the tofu? You said, scary, bro. Scary. All right, everybody.  We have the coconut pandan. It's got pandan in it. Coconut ice cream, a little bit of coconut milk, maiz konyello, which is corn ice cream with, there was literal cheese in here. Your classic hollow hollow ube ice cream with the beach, shaved ice, jelly. Over here, we have the saba konyello, saba is a short, Filipino banana. Definitely got to mix them. Desserts. Like hollow hollow, mixed. Oh my gosh. Got to mix this. Mm. Whoa. Wow. I'm so pleasantly confused. This tastes so good, but it's so weird. I gotta say, you guys should try this. This is one of the best pandan ice creams I've ever had. Yeah? Yo, my art, you get up side of this. Guys, you got to try this. I'm trying it with the cheese. Dude, we're going crazy over this cheese corn. Whoa. Corn flakes, cheesy milkshake. Yeah. It's like cheese corn flakes in a milkshake. Oh. Like, and the cheese that they use, it's super sharp. Yeah. It's very sharp. It's very pronounced. I can't stop eating it. It's too good. Kind of addictive. I mean, process it real quick. The cheese definitely adds something because it's like, after you get through the iciness of the corn, you get this like chewiness from the cheese. And like, it brings like a full umami kind of like salty taste to it. When it first came out, you got to add sugar to it. I don't think you need sugar.  It tastes in between like a plantain and a banana. It has a little bit more firmness than a banana. Bananas are really soft. Last but not least, it's going on the hollow guys. Wait, wait, you got to mix it up more. You got to mix it up more.  You got it. You don't want the chunks. Oh, you got some Christmas colored things in there. I got to say, obviously, in comparison to Jollibee's, this just swept the board. It swept the board. I don't like dessert. I would come to Max's for dessert. I still got one more left. Is this caramel bar going to live up to the dessert expectation? Also, that packaging, so you know it's from Max's restaurant. Look at that right there. Proprietary. If you resell that at school, they're going to know it's from Max's. David, tell me that doesn't kind of taste like a mooncake. Mooncake. I'm going to be honest, though. This is my least favorite. Yeah. I mean, this is the one they give you for free in the combo. I got to say this. You guys, what was your favorite savory dish? And then a sleeper. I got to go with number one, Max's chicken.  We can say it in aqueous. Max's chicken. Max's chicken is fine. It's better. Man, there's two things that are tied for the sleeper and I'm sure you guys also acknowledge that they're really good is Pencep Palabok. Palabok. Palabok. Palabuk. Book. Like almost like book. Book. Palabuk. It was that and the crispy pata was like, the crispy pata and the chicken, I would actually say quality wise are on the same level. They're incredible. I don't like this guy. This guy, he just scatting me. He's scatting me. Scatting me. Why don't you say scatting for good?  So I picked crispy pata.  Oh, yeah. That was unique. I didn't know what to expect. There's the tanginess that came out. Then the heat kind of built to if it is a resident sleeper. Okay. I have to say and I always catch myself in retrospect what did I just continue eating more and more of even though we had to move on? I was I kept eating the lumpia. Really? Yeah. Like, like immediately to me it doesn't maybe set off my brain sensors like as amazing. It was good. But I'm saying that I'm just noticed that I just kept eating it. And then since everybody listed I got to give a props to Pancit Canton. Pancit Canton. Yeah, because it just like it was just so like it totally like my brain in terms of like I've had Chow Meen from the authentic version to the Americanized version of Chow Meen I have like I had 400 times in my life and that was the first time I had it with that citrus kick. Here at Max's I want to say 90% of the people in here work from the Philippines. But I didn't even see like tables of philams. Yo, you know I just realized why Max's isn't Glendale is because Glendale has a lot of private school Filipinos. Glendale is considered a upper middle class Filipino afterlife. A nice Filipino afterlife. You guys that wraps it up for our video here at Max's of Manila. Oh man. Yo. Ryan you suggested this? Shout out to the YouTube comments. I saw them actually it wasn't even the Jolly Bee video. It was like way way back they were like you got to try Max's. We read the comments so definitely thank you for leaving those comments guys. We took your suggestion we tried all Max's we were overall impressed and it was overall delicious you know so thank you Ryan. Another Filipino episode in the can Skeddy. Skeddy. And in brand new term Skeddy has been invented it's been coined in this video. You can give credit to Ryan Benson on UrbanDictionary.com Skeddy. Let's sked it. Alright guys thank you so much for watching that video. If there are any other Filipino chain stores or Asian restaurant chains that we can find in America especially the LA area let us know in the comments below. We'd love to try them out. Thank you so much for watching that video in the comments below you tell us chicken to chicken chicken versus chicken which one do you guys like better Jolly Bee's or Max's. This is the fun bros. Shout out to everybody watching for the Philippines. Thank you and until next time we out. Peace.


Hi everyone, Joe for jazby's casebreaks.com. We did it.  Justin Robert Kevin Terry, Carl and Richard Appreciate you guys getting in on this. All 30 teams are in. Let's roll it. Let's randomize it one and a four or five times one two three Four and five. This is just for names and teams And different dice roll for the giveaway part as usual one and a four five times for the teams one two three four Five we got the gris down to the pace All right, there's the first half of the list right here. There's the second half of this right there Trades in these little filler packs. All right, and let's print and rip and that's the mixer sitting back there That's gonna come up in a separate video Here's a little filler pack. I think I've got to go whole hobby box of this back there somewhere in the mixer Fresh box. All right. Let's see what we got here TJ Warren Red Calden Johnson nothing too crazy here, but what's crazy is who's gonna win spots in this mixer right here So let's go back to the list gather everybody's names again One through 30 You dice new list There are your names And let's roll it and randomize it two and a four six times So top four after six. Good luck one two three four five and six and final time So there's gonna be a lot of sad faces here, especially from five Carl down to 30 But Carl did have the odds with him is his name would be the top four Along with someone else. Maybe Kevin. You're in Richard you're in Robert is in Wow Sorry Carl, but congrats to Richard Robert and Kevin for making this happen after six times It's just the top four. It's gonna be a lot of sad faces, but for three very happy faces right up there I'm Joe for Jasper's case breaks calm. Thanks for watching. Thanks for breaking with us and we'll see you for the mixer Bye-bye


rationally mergers are undertaken to reap the benefits of synergy. Now synergy takes place if the value of a combined firm after the merger is greater than the sum of the values of individual firms participating in the merger process. In fact, there are incremental cash flows that work as a driving force behind the concept of synergy. Now this energy comes from many sources like revenue enhancement, cost reduction, lower taxes and capital requirements. So how revenue enhancements can result in incremental cash flows? In fact, a combined firm may generate greater revenues than two separate firms through this process of merger. Then we have marketing gains, improved marketing can yield incremental cash flows for the combined firm in the form of enhanced operating revenues. Then we have strategic benefits which is the likelihood of more options than a standard investment opportunity. For example, acquiring a computer firm by a swing machine, firm MIM allow the swing machine to manufacture and deliver computer operated swing machines. Market or monopoly power, acquisition of a firm may reduce computation to increase the prices which helps in earning a monopolistic profit. Cost reduction, a combined firm may operate more efficiently than the two individual firms. Economy of scale, average cost falls as the production level increases and this economy of scale is best fit for the horizontal mergers. Economy of vertical integration, this is the coordination of closely related operating activities which become easier and efficient. For example, most airline companies own airplanes, they purchase their own hotels and car rental firms, then there are no more inefficient management in the acquired firm. So, the change of the firm's management by board of directors allow often increase in the firm's value, tax gains. So, reduction in taxes is a powerful incentive behind the merger processes. When we talk about net operating losses, the firms with taxable profits take advantage of potential losses. In the firm that the firm's profitable division can offset the losses of other unprofitable divisions. So, the overall reduction in the tax bill of the firm can take place but this benefit cannot be reaped by the participating firms in their individual status. To reap the benefit of tax shield, there is a tool of using the debt in the combined firm. So, mergers allow firms for increased debt and achieve a larger tax shield. We discuss now two cases to check this happening of tax shield. The first is the case of unused debt capacity. High-risk firms generally cannot borrow much debt. A firm's debt may be low, optimal level because of two reasons. The one reason is that its managers are risk averse and the second reason is that the managers are unable to assess the debt capacity of their firm. So, at optimal level of debt, marginal cost of financial distress equals the marginal tax shield. So, we can say that a firm with too little debt may not increase its value and this in fact invites the merger. As a result, the acquirer raises the target, confirms the debt level in order to create a bigger tax shield for itself. The case two we have where the case is regarding the increased debt capacity. Combined firm is less risky in relation to the individual participating firms and the bank will fully lend to the combined firm more than the total of what they can lend to the individual firms. So, the post merger, higher interest payments can reduce the tax bills of the combined firm more than the sum of the pre-merger tax bill of the individual firms participating in the merger. And this increased debt capacity after a merger can reduce the taxes. Another source of energy is the surplus funds. Acquirer can use free cash flows for acquisition with no taxes. For example, if the profits are used as a dividend payment from the acquired firm, these dividend payments are tax free.


Hello and a warm welcome to NewsClick, I'm your host Neelu Vyas and this week on Point of View we talk about Battleground Manipur. The 60-member assembly goes to polls in two phases on Feb 28th and March 5th. It's a high stakes battle in this northeastern state with BJP ruling for the last five years. Question being, can it return to power for the second straight term? For Congress, which has formed an alliance called Progressive Secular Alliance of six parties including the left, it's a do or die battle. In 2017, Congress emerged as a single largest party but could not form the government. There were a string of desertions and Congress was left high and dry. Which way will the voters swing? What are the issues resonating this year? What about the divide between the hills and the valleys? All this and much more on the panel discussion. Joining me today is Congress leader Ningam Bam Bupenda Meti. Welcome Ningam Bam on NewsClick. And also joining on the panel discussion is Pao Jail Chauba who is the executive editor of the Frontier Manipur. I welcome you also on the program. I would like to begin the discussion today with Bupenda because lot of questions are being asked whether how comfortable Congress really is in this election? Because the last time your party emerged as a single largest party but still you couldn't form the government. So how prepared are you? Are you in a position to say that Congress is better prepared this time as compared to in 2017? Yes, we are far better prepared this time because if you compare between the Congress and BJP, if BJP is voted back to power then Armed Forces Special Power Act is going to remain in Manipur. But if Congress comes back which we are extremely hoping for then Armed Forces Special Power Act will be lifted up will be removed entirely from the state of Manipur. You see nowhere in our country ever any of our Congress Prime Minister did ever say that they will give two crores of job every year to the youth and it did not happen. But in case of our own Prime Minister, Sri Narendra Modi, what is happening? He has already promised two crores of job to the youths every year. There is no job. Similarly here in Manipur, the Chief Minister of Manipur, BJP Chief Minister of Manipur has promised 1.5 lakhs of employment every year. So in the whole of five years they are supposed to give 7.5 lakhs of employment but there is no employment at all. Even Manipur Civil Services exam was never conducted in the five years of BJP's misrule in Manipur. That is why Congress is calling this is nothing but not only the Congress, the people of Manipur are calling this era as a darkness. Are you trying to tell me that if BJP has not done it then has Congress provided a concrete roadmap to the people? Are you confident that if whatever you are projecting before the people of Manipur are going to vote for Congress? Yes, see when Prime Minister came, Prime Minister came a few days ago, Home Minister was also here, Defense Minister was here, Finance Minister was here, all the ministers were here except the Cabinet Foreign Minister was not here, except him. Now what is happening? See when Priyanka came here, what did she see? She was talking about 33% of women reservation in all the government position, government jobs in our state. We are also putting that in our own manifesto. If we are talking about the youths, those who are yet to get the jobs, those who are yet to get placement in the government sectors and for those who are yet to get meaning the unemployed youth, we will give them the allowance to the unemployed. And even we are setting, we are going to set up staff selection commission to recruit group C and D services. So this is happening for the first time. Now for women, for farmers to increase their productivity from single croppers to double croppers even to triple croppers in a year, we are also going to update the educational facilities in our state. Not only that, the emotive issues of the protection for our entire indigenous population of our state, and there are so many other issues with our company, the development of our state. There has been no inclusive development in the state so far. Once the Congress comes back, mind you this time, see what happens? The people of Manipur gave its mandate to the Congress in 2017. Somehow they abused Ras Bhavan, that's how the government was formed. At the end, the Supreme Court has to strike, has to strike down one minister, strip the ministerial power from one fellow and he got this verified later. That is why now. Indeed, I mean the entire world saw, the entire world saw how the government, no, the entire world saw how the government was formed in Manipur. But I want to come to Chauba now that, what is the general perception in Manipur? Because with whomever I have been talking, they are saying that somehow BJP will form the, they are comfortably placed in Manipur. So, what Ningambam is saying that no people will vote for Congress, which way do you see the wind blowing in Manipur? There is some speculation that I think every political party will have on how many numbers they will have. In Manipur, as you pointed out, in the last 2017 elections, Congress got 28 and the BJP got 21. So, this time when even the MPP, Congress president has joined the BJP Ben Wagon. And of course, there are many others who have also joined, shifted over to the BJP. Now, they are filling all 60 assembly constituencies and our political scenario is in such a way that we also go to where the wind blows from the center. So, if someone is holding power in the center, Manipur definitely follows suit. So, when BJP is there, in Manipur, there was no BJP government, but in 2017 they came. Now, this time they are, as you have said, very well and comfortably placed and with some hidden alliances, which might be there after the vote because BJP was not going to get the magic number. It will be a hung assembly. But of course, they will be coming out with numbers, which will be more than like we are speculating around 2021. So, with some or perhaps more, but around these areas. So, I think they will more or less be comfortable in like going into an alliance with some other smaller party like this time. But Paujal, another factor which has been really a hallmark of Manipur politics is the instability, the political volatility which we see because of so many desertions happening, people not sticking to their party, then ultimately people taking oath that okay, they will not lead the party. How potential is that factor in this election and will it really resonate amongst the electorate of Manipur? See, I feel that we have yet to grasp what quality politics is in Manipur. It's just like what we see, more money and muscle power flowing around and the electorate also has this very poor sense of judgment when it comes to selecting the right candidate, but rather it all goes on money and muscle power or whatever, I mean like very unfair means. So, if we have quality politicians, then of course these are the people who are not very well off, who don't have very good, who doesn't have very deep pockets. So, the person who comes to the forefront in our Manipur elections are the ones who are like contractors, and some sort of people who have got wealthy from very ill means, unjustified means, and a lot of black money. So, we can at least place the question on is there really quality politics in Manipur and the quality candidates in the first place. But do you think BJP has been able to bring that difference in the politics or maybe in the political landscape of Manipur, what you're talking about the clean politics, where people believe in the parties, where people believe in the political system, has BJP really made a difference in the last five years? What's your honest assessment? I feel that it's a changing sifting sense of Manipur politics, I mean Congress was there for the last 15 years, and during that time we saw 1528 fact encounters and a lot of other issues including burning pockets, but since 2017 after the BJP took over, there has been no freedom of speech in Manipur. People have been arrested left, right, and center just for putting out simple posts on social media. And on top of that, whatever mandate the election manifesto they had in 2017, the BJP, they have removed all of that in 2022. This time, there is no upspot, no anti-corruption, no drugs, nothing, but back then they were saying we'll remove corruption, we'll do this, we'll be there to uphold the freedom of speech. Now what happens is people are getting so annoyed also with the BJP government that it's not, that's not been fair, they have not promised, kept their promise, of course this very much I mean illogical to think that the politicians will keep their word, but nevertheless when they have a policy at least they should adhere to at least a bit of it. Now they were saying that they'll remove upspot, as Bhupen had pointed out, now where is that in the manifesto? Nothing. Now they're saying that we don't need upspot because it's now the law and order is fine. So I believe that BJP has not been able to make much of a headway in Manipur either, in this term. Right, but as you pointed out, and I'll come to Bhupenda on this bit, as Chaubal is saying that there were no economic blockades, there were no encounters, what we really saw during the Congress's regime, but the way the BJP government is criticized is that they've curved the freedom of expression, they've mounted cases of wapa against people. So do you think that the Congress is narrative and the way you have building the campaign, is it really correct? Because if you have to resonate amongst the people, then you have to ring the right bells. Is the Congress really ringing the right bells in Manipur right now? Because what you're saying about unemployment, what you're saying about other issues, it's not Manipur specific. You find those problems in every state. Uttar Pradesh is also going to polls and the same problem exists in Uttar Pradesh as well. So my question to you is that is Congress really ticking the right box when it comes to campaign and building the narrative? Well, we are rightly resonating with the people's sentiments and the voices, the inner voices, in fact. What we did, we lifted armed forces special power by detaining disturb areas in seven assembly segments in the heart of this state. We did seven in power for the last five years. So what is with the impeachment is saying here is, look, you see what has happened in Nagaland? Nagaland assembly passed, Nagaland cabinet passed to remove, to leave up the armed forces special power from the state, but the central government reimposed it. Then that is because of this apprehension. It is better than reconciled with the center, but that is not the way that how we did. Our then-Congress Chief Minister, Bobby Singh, did. We lifted it. We lifted it up. Now we are saying we did it. We did it partially. That was our commitment. We are going to do it. The moment when Congress Chief Minister comes back, this is what we are saying. There will be no more VJP Chief Minister in Manipur. Once on March 10, after March 10, we will have a Congress Chief Minister in the first cabinet. We are going to have a decision on that. But Bupenda, my question is that supposing if a similar scenario like 2017 emerges this year as well, where you are the single largest party, but you're not able to form the government, are you prepared for that possibility? A similar thing happened in Goa, a similar thing happened in Manipur. My point is that do you have a plan B? Supposing you become the single largest party, but in your armory, do you have that weapon by which you will form the government? Because VJP will use its money. VJP will use its muscle power. It will use all the tactics to form the government. But do you have that tactics of that plan B? We will have a comfortable majority. But then if you see the statements- You're fully confident that you're going to have a comfortable majority? Are you fully confident? We are. We will have a Congress Chief Minister, but if you see- Okay, okay. I want to bring in- I want to say one second. If you read the statement of Assam Chief Minister Hemant Abhishek Sharma here, what did he say? He said, we don't need NPP. We don't need NPF Naga people's friends. We don't need Konrad Sangma's National People's Party. Then where will they go? If they have to be a part of the government, they have to come with us. Or who's whoever who wants to be a part to develop Manipur further, inclusively for better Manipur? Obviously Congress will sow the lich. And that is why we are saying, because our, besides our manifesto, see the contrast. Prime Minister came and spoke about palm oil transition. Pupenda, you have managed- See, your party was right with desertions.  Now you have barely managed- No, no, no. Let me complete my question. Let me complete my question. My question is that your party has barely managed to form a flimsy alliance of six parties, which includes the left. Now, do you think that people will be confident people still feel that Congress doesn't have numbers and you've just managed to form some alliances? No, please do not undermine the left forces here in Manipur. Manipur has been a socialist in society for ages, for decades. We have so many comrades from our left and they are going to vote for us. These are our common candidates. Now, with regard to those who wish to defect to other parties, the Supreme Court of India in his landmark judgment in K Megachandra versus Speaker of Manipur, what did they say? Now it is applicable to all the state legislation of the country as well as the parliament that all pending disqualification petitions in the Speaker, whether it is in the Lok Sabha or in the state legislator, must be decided within three months. Within three months, this came after 2017 because of our Congress that is going to the Supreme Court. That is why now on mass tenure, very difficult to defect. Who wants to get defect? Then matters will have to be decided within three months. Earlier, it took ages and ages because there was no binding in terms of the time outer limit. Now there was already given in the judgment of the Supreme Court. Okay. I just want to take a few from where you said that you are euphoric confident that Congress will have a comfortable majority and I would bring in Paojal here. Can you really counter Congress's claims where it says that they will have a comfortable majority? But I have to take Bupenda's statement with a pinch of salt. What is your assessment? See, there was a recent reaffirmation ceremony where the leader of the Congress, Mr. Okram Ibobi, along with his Congress entourage, went to all the different holy places, including the Kanglata Masjid to the churches. For what? To swear an alliance, an allegiance with the Congress government that they are not going to run towards the greener pastors, which would obviously be happening also in this present term, as we assume and as we calculate. So when the Congress are so, I mean, unsteady with their own MLAs that many of them are switching sides and many are also on the pipeline, in the pipeline. Now what the Congress government is doing is like they are not sure of themselves also. Of course, there will be wins, there will be wins, but how much of a win will there be when you say that the Congress is not sure of itself? What is it really that it's unsure of? It's not sure of the numbers, it's not sure of its MLAs sticking to their party, what is it that you, what is that unsureity angle you're trying to project as? It is the MLAs, the credibility of the ethical stance, one point is that. But as I've said, we don't have quality politicians in Manipura. And you may say that BJP and Congress are both sides of the same coin because it is now the said minister is the former Congress Emily minister who was with the Congress for 15 years. Now it is our Congress, safe with the president who's shifted to BJP. Likewise, it's just like putting that all white in a new bottom scenario. Yes, the new bottle. So that is a scenario over here in Manipura. It's like we do not have that good politicians who are going by the party standards who just stick to the party stand until we die. But just when there's a riff or something happens, people just switch over to the other side. That is the main thing. So what is the popular sentiment? Do the people of Manipura realize that if there is a particular government which is at the center, the people will have to vote for that particular party. Do by and large, the Manipuris feel like this? I believe that Manipura's political way of choosing our candidate does not necessarily go on the political parties, but rather also on the individual who's contesting. So the situation is a little bit different, but it also depends on the hills and also on the valleys. So we have got 46 in the valley, 20 in the hills. So the circumstances are a little bit different in the hills and the valleys compared as compared. But when I speak of the valley, people are also inclined with the party. Of course, there will be Congress loyalists, there will be BJP loyalists, there will be some NPP loyalists and people over there in the hills. Now, but individuals by and large stick to the candidates irrespective of the party, but the majority of the some of the constituencies will obviously want to go with the winning side with the ones who's in power at the center will be like getting much more money from the center and there will be some development because Manipur as itself, we don't want to be in the opposition side, but we want to want to be with the ruling thing. That is the basic mind frame that some people, the electorate have here in Manipura. I will tell if I may ask you that what are the real issues which are the overriding factors in this election of 2022 when it's very specific to Manipur? What are the people really looking for? Unemployment is a problem which exists in all the states. But if I may ask you, what are those overriding factors which are going to really govern the mind of the electorate in this election? What are those factors? The main thing is, as I said before, it's money money and muscle power. We have seen a lot of escalation. Are you trying to say that whichever party throws money at the people, people are going to vote for that particular party? It plays one big chunk of that money plays a major denominator and the muscle power. As I have said, we are politicians who are buying the electorate basically, in a way. So the ones who have got deep pockets, it matters. For example, we have one person from the NPP or some other party who has got very deep pockets. For example, the richest man in Manipur, so he's spending lots of money with his assembly constituency for the last so many years and it grows up and he's got everything on his side. So there's one person who doesn't have money, but who has got that particular ethics, who will be a good politician, who will make good policies. But if money is the driving factor, then who seems to have a clearer edge, Congress or BJP? Now that's a very juvenile question, I know. It's a very good question. Now let me come to that. So when the Congress came to power, they aren't a hell of money. The MLS administers over there. Now when the BJP came here, they looted that public also and the crores have gone up. Congress looted in hundreds, BJP looted in thousands. I mean, that's the inflation of Manipur in a way. So the minister got richer and the Congress, when they looted the public, they were rich also. Now they still got their money with them. Now the BJP is the one who got five years to loot the public money. They have got deep pockets now, but there are other factors, which are like from anyway, other parties who have got some money with them. They are ex-former bureaucrats who have done the same thing. They have drug lords who are in the fray. So these are the things that also matters. Like you have got some organization at your back, clubs or people who are armed. I mean, armed organizations like in the hills. There's been a lot of complaints about revenue groups getting into the fray by those, I mean, supporting one political party or an individual. So they have different dynamics in our Manipur politics, but money, as I'm saying, and the comes, with that comes obviously, power. So these are the two main factors and the violence that is going up. Now this combined makes a very disastrous recipe in our Manipur politics. It looks like a lethal cocktail almost and which is very unfortunate for the democracy. But my question to you, Bupenda, now is that according to what Pao Jail is saying, and I'm going purely by what he's saying, that Congress is no different from what BJP has been or what BJP tries to project. I mean, only the scales have differed. If you were in hundreds, BJP isn't thousands. So what is the kind of difference you are promising to the people? And why would Manipuris really get convinced of what Congress is saying? They would rather go with the center, which is BJP ruled. See, when there was a protest against citizenship amendment bill in New Delhi, what did BJP government do in the center? They sent a CBI raid at the residence of our former Japanese because they were speaking against CAV then. So you see the timing when we were about to form the government in the legislature Manipur Legislative Assembly for no confidence motion, there was a voice vote there should have been a voice on divisions. The voting should have been done on divisions. But instead of that, there was a voice vote. So see, this is a contrast. What has BJP done in the five years? They have built a palatial, beautiful, gorgeous BJP central office in Imphal. But they should have also completed our new secretariat complex in the heart of the city, joining our Manipur High Court because they have failed to do it. What is BJP trying to do? We have the only, I mean, there is only one airport in Imphal, Imphal International Airport, which is also now called as the Kendrick International Airport. Now the government, the BJP regime, what they are trying to do? They're trying to privatize it. They're trying to sell it off. So wherever BJP comes to power, they sell the properties, our public assets, our public properties. The same thing is also happening in Manipur. That is why. Now see the contrast between the BJP and Congress. Let's talk about the local democracy in the hills and in our valley. We have urban local bodies. We have municipal corporations. We have municipality elections. We also have an Autonomous District Council elections in the hills that democratizes the hills. The common people of our hills, our brothers and sisters in the hills have been given power to exercise their rights for the local administration in the hills. But what has the BJP government done? The BJP government has not even conducted an ADC elections in the hills, despite even after the completion of the tenor, the full tenor of the ADC. That's the difference. So what we are saying once Congress comes back to power, when we will have the Congress, Chief Minister. But if you're so confident, Bupinda, when you are so confident that Congress is coming back to power, who's really going to be your leader? Your leader is old, though he's very, very experienced. But as the BJP tries to project, but you know that the Congress has a very old leader, he does not have the energy to drive that kind of sentiment in Manipur. You have no other leader than Okram Ibobe Singh. Who else is there? Do you have any young leader who can be projected as a Chief Minister? Or your party is really going to bank on Okram Ibobe Singh and nobody else? We have no dirt of leaders. But the point is Okram... No, but who else? Who else is the Patron of Okram? Who else is the Patron of Okram? Who else is the Patron of Okram? Okram Ibobe Singh is also one of the tallest leaders on the Congress party in the entire country. So that's the point. Now look, see, what once on March 10, we will have our MLA's, Congress MLA's, we will have the Congress Legislative Party meeting where our Congress Legislative Party leader will be elected by the members of CLP and then we will decide an extra minister. But yes, who is Ibobe? Ibobe, to my language, I should term him as the modern architect of the developing Manipur. What we are having right now in Manipur is the results of our Ibobe Singh late Congress government in the last 15 years. We are having peace now. BJP is claiming that they have brought peace. But all those gains were lost in 2017. You are counting on the gains which you had for 15 years, but you lost those gains in 2017. But whatever you are saying is with respect to the fact that you have comfortable numbers on 10th March. I have to wind up the show. In 2002, there was Atal Bihari Bhaspai as the Prime Minister. We came to power. 2002, Congressive Minister was there in 2002. And that is why in 2004, UP Government came back. Now in 2022, we will have a Congress CM and in 2024, we will no more have Prime Minister Modi as the Prime Minister. You are sounding like a soothsayer right now. But the results will be known on 10th March. Chauhbilla, I want to conclude with your comment. BJP with BJP, a lot of people are saying that there are a lot of revulsions and churnings within the BJP about whether the fact in birin Singh becomes the Chief Minister again. How is BJP placed? Do you see any kind of factionalism as far as BJP is placed in Manipur? Very much, very much because that fight has always been there within the BJP. Because since 2017, there was a fight on who would be the Chief Minister because the billion, billion, I had just switched sides from the Congress, came to the BJP and he got the Chief Minister. But the next in command, Mr. Bishuji is also vying for that particular post of the Minister. Now this time also the BJP itself is internally a little bit polarized in the sense that once who is going to be the Chief Minister candidate for the BJP? You mean to say that because of its own internal politics, the going is not going to be very easy for BJP in Manipur? No, yeah. But you have said two different things which again prompts me to ask you another question. You said that the going is not very easy for BJP because of its internal politics and because of the money power, because of the way the MLAs are bribing the people, you say the BJP has an edge. So what am I to understand? Is BJP winning this Manipur election or Congress is going to sweep this time? What is your assessment? And with that, I'm going to close the program. In 2017, the Congress had the numbers, they couldn't do it, they can't. BJP is coming back, it will be a hung assembly this time, it will be a coalition government. That's it. Oh my God. That's the thing. Okay. So Manipur can be a hung assembly, says Paojal Chauba, who is the executive editor of the Frontier Manipur. Bupenda, you want to say something before I wind up the show? He's saying he's predicted a hung assembly for Manipur. What are you going to do? Well, I don't believe in prediction, but certainly the people of Manipur are... You predicted. There's a short while back, you made predictions and predictions. I'm saying the people of Manipur are already fed up with this double engine, which indeed has become a trouble engine today. Okay. Okay. Okay. So you say that the double engine has become a trouble engine for BJP. Well, the results will be out on 10th March. Thank you so much, both of you, Bupenda and Paojal. And we hope to see you again on 10th March with a lot of discussions. And then we'll find out whom the electorate has really voted for. Give us feedback on how you like the discussion and stay tuned for another episode of Point of View. Thank you so much. Thank you, gentlemen.


It's the playoffs and my team needed me. Simple. And secondly I mean how are you feeling afterward and do you plan to play in game six? I feel great we won. So that's all that matters. At this point it's you know My any means necessary As long as there's a W on that column and you know, we keep we keep reckoning when it's all that matters. So No Obviously Katie had unbelievable game, you know and carried us, but just Jeff, you know made some shots This is a great team went for us. We haven't really had You know We haven't really been together, you know the entire year We've had so many dealt with so many injuries or whatnot That you know, we really haven't had an opportunity or been through adversity, you know, so You know, we know that there's going to be times in the postseason, you know We hit adversity where things feel like they're up against us or Or they can't be done and in reality they can be done and We just got to find ways to get them done and you know We showed a little bit at it and at Boston series and then even this series is the same thing Like it feels like just when things are going well, it's something hit us and You know my my approach and you know to the god to the guys is you know keep fighting like it's it's always It's going to be great on the other side and and we we did that tonight. So uh proud of the guys Bruce back NBC, New York James will this be a game that that you remember not so much for the stats but for the heart that hardened showed tonight Yeah, I mean, it's not about me man. That's about the Brooklyn Nets and us as a team as a whole You know, I think individually we all have to do something and bring something to the table to to to win And We did that tonight, you know, so it's not about me. It's not about obviously Katie had an unbelievable game But I think it's about everybody else as well.  You made big shots on the stretch like it's a it's a total team effort and like we always preach is It's going to be no different guys, you know every single game But you know as long as we had that right mindset and we all for each other good things going to happen for us and Tonight, you know, they did Brian Lewis with the new york post Start I was asking how would you uh describe Kevin's performance and be for yourself. What would you at what point in the game did you start to feel like yourself? You know explosion wise mobility wise Uh Kevin's game was just I'm believe like like Like he was unfazed the entire game Like he just he was poised especially in that second half Like he started to take his time. He started to get to his spots and kind of like I seen kevin directing people to where he wanted them to be and Once kevin gets that like he's comfortable. He's in his own. It's like it's pretty pretty much hard to stop him Um And just we fed off that, you know, and so but for me, I'm just you know, I'm good. I'll be all right Christian Winfield with the daily news And james kind of piggybacking off of that, you know ten assists for kevin as well I mean you as the the de facto point guard on this team Are you able to kind of enjoy his performance playmaking for everybody else out there when when you're not able to yes Yes, because now his corn is unbelievable. Obviously He shot pretty efficient, but his playmaking, you know, once he got to the spots and The the second defender came over help. He made the right decision, you know, majority of the time if not every time And that's an improvement of his game right there and he's not just a score He's able to make plays and let the game come to him.  Let's go like it's not. I mean I tried to go out there and do the best that I can. Um Hopefully that I gave my teammates some encouragement some some life Um Obviously, I wanted to score the basketball and you know, do what I normally do, but it is what it is and we win And um, then we watch film get to get our rest and prepare for game six Like we said it, he just loves to hope