Let’s get straight to the point, shall we?
On 8 January, I wrote a blog-post with a title which Franco Debono, because his knowledge of English idiom is poor, took literally. I’ve re-uploaded it in the post just before this, so you can see what all the fuss is about.
I wrote it after he and his mother were star guests on a special edition of Xarabank, Malta’s most widely viewed programme. He took his mother onto the show, and she went, in full knowledge that this would put her into the public eye.
That is precisely why they went on the show in the first place: to get attention.
They spoke about their relationship, about what he was like as a boy (awful, apparently) and about how she brought him up (badly, obviously).
When the attention the two of them got wasn’t the kind of attention they wanted – admiration – they went hysterical. Well, Franco went hysterical. I don’t know about his mother. She didn’t come across as somebody who reads things on the internet.
He has been badgering the prime minister to condemn me since then. He has accosted my husband in the street and at court and badgered him too.
He has spread the word with friends and acquaintances. But he has never had the guts to pick up his magic Blackberry and ring me, because he knows that I would eat him alive and he only knows how to deal with people who appease him, talk to him, and act as though he’s not beyond the pale.
Instead, the coward goes to the prime minister, as though I’m five years old and the prime minister is my father, or as if I work for Net News or the civil service.
On 30 May, a full five months after that post was published, Franco Debono was stll blackmailing the prime minister about it, when all sane people would long have let it go and never even bothered with it in the first place.
And then there are still some who think this man is normal. If you do, be seriously worried, because it means that you’re not normal either.
Adult men who react this way about their mothers are a sick phenomenon of Maltese peasant culture. Implicit within is the understanding that grown women cannot defend themselves, that mothers are sacred (except when their name is Daphne), and – this is the really creepy and freaky one – that the relationship a man has with his mother is somehow akin to the relationship he has with the woman who shares his life.
Franco, it is not your place to defend your mother. It is your father’s place, a man you seem to have replaced, if she is unwilling to do it herself.
And if you didn’t want her exposed to ridicule for the way she raised you, you should never have paraded her on prime time television.
Now watch this promo video.
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i believe its a question of killing two birds with one stone.
Now that he has paid back Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici for “badmouthing” him with the chief Justice, he’s shifting the blame on you for the post you wrote about his mummy and himself.
Maybe he believes that people will start blaming you for causing so much suffering to his family, his mummy and himself, and justify his action in parliament.
The reality is that it is now very clear that Dr Debono is unstable and is very dangerous.
Franco is a lawyer. If he felt so offended why didn’t he sue you in court? Of course, we all know the answer as much as he does.
And does Franco know about the separation of powers, and that the function of Parliament is to legislate, and not to get the Prime Minister, or any one else for that matter, to condemn individuals?
Does the Prime Minister have a post for a Minister for Revenge?
Suitable for Minister for Justice he is not.
@maryanne – ghax bla bajd.
So all the fuss is about this sentence? “Franco Debono’s mother should be arrested and charged with crimes against the state for foisting her ‘tifel biezel’ on us”.
He clearly needs some rest.
“…he has never had the guts to pick up his magic Blackberry and ring me, because he knows that I would eat him alive…”
Be careful how you write that, Daphne, because he might think that you’re advocating cannibalism, with him as the first meal.
Thank you, Daphne, for your sterling work.
Keep it up and never, I repeat never back off.
However, what worries me is if, God forbid, the PL comes to power, and you will be mercillessly hounded by these ignorant people, and obviously, with the goverment of the day giving its support. North Korea comes to mind. Thank you and take care.
“Il-mummy inhobbha hafna. Fl-opinjoni taghha jiena l-aqwa avukat u politikant fid-dinja u imnalla inkun jien ghall-pajjiz ghax kieku min jaf x’dizastru ghawn”……and he expects people to take him seriously?
What a twat. I can’t wait for this idiot to be out of parliament and getting on with his mediocre life surrounded by mediocre people who are stupid enough to think that he is something or someone.
Daphne, jista jkun li il-Partit Laburista qed jaghti struzzjonijiet lil Franco Debono biex ikellem lill-Prim Ministru biex jeliminawk? Il-Partit Laburista ilu jghid pubblikament li jrid iwaqqfek milli tikteb li trid, forsi qed jippruvaw jinqdew bi Franco Debono biex jirnexxilhom……minghalihom.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120601/opinion/-Rising-star-turned-renegade-.422262
Leader of the house kien imissu jitlaqlu f idejh gonzi, mhux hekk, ibqa cert li min house kien jghamilha burdell.
There are many questions that come to mind when reading the news coverage and blog commentary.
If people agree with your take on events that Franco Debono and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando are narcissists holding the country to ransom as they demand attention – then how did these two individuals get through what one hopes is a rigorous selection process before being allowed to run as candidates for election to national office?
Who were the individuals who approached these two MPs to run and who mentored them? Why didn’t they pick up on their character flaws before they were allowed to get to positions of influence?
If people agree with the Labour Party’s take on events – that the PM lacks leadership skills because he has allowed a power clique to form around him that has antagonized and alienated others in the party – then why hasn’t something been done about it?
Perhaps, the most relevant point looking at this whole sorry spectacle as objectively as possible is that clearly the governing party is coming apart at the seams and incapable of governing effectively and perhaps, just perhaps needs to spend a while in opposition to clean out its stables and get its act together again.
That’s what most people must have been thinking today as the Leader of the Opposition spoke about social impact assessments on economic decisions and the governing party and its supporters ranted on about who was to blame or not to blame for Wednesday’s Parliamentary fiasco.
[Daphne – Actually, no. What people – those with sense and insight – thought was that Muscat’s advisers told him that now would be a good time to release a policy initiative to limit the damage caused by the bad decision to help Franco Debono lynch a universally respected man.]
Policy initiative? It’s just another set of empty slogans and free floating ideas designed for the credulous and unthinking.
He hasn’t said how he’ll pay for those ‘policy initiatives’, any more than he’s expkained how he’ll reduce utility bills without raising taxes.
“Why didn’t they pick up on their character flaws before they were allowed to get to positions of influence?”
If you have had the good fortune of never working with or having a narcissist for a friend, it will be very difficult for you to understand how a narcissist works. And I am not giving you any blame.
It is extremely difficult to realise this trait in a person if not after having known him for a long time, sometimes even years. They are very good at manipulation and most of them have a double personality, as has been point out on this blog. When one realises the fact it is almost always too late. Franco is a text-book case.
Please never blame a friend or colleague of a narcissist. The flaw is in the latter’s personality and nobody is a trained psycholigist, except the professionals, to deal with such people.
Having said this, however, one can always be on the look-out when friends and colleagues make you suffer through their words and actions. Narcissists have no empathy and they ride roughshod over whoever is in their way.
Franco Psycho Debono – Top Criminal Lawyer (Only In Malta version) – More Yellowish than Yellow
I have been meaning to ask this question – is Franco Debono’s father alive? We never seem to hear about him – not that it is any of my business – but he never seems to come into the equation. Was Franco brought up by his mother only?
‘Issa jekk ma jwaqfux lil Daphne,inwaqqa l-gvern’
The trouble is that it won’t stop Daph, because last time I checked, Daphne does not work for the government. Or for the Nationalist Party.
Franco, she’s unstoppable.
I think Franco’s mother heard what was written on this website from Gejtu tal-Hut fuq iz-zuntier ta’ Hal Ghaxaq.
Then considering their relationship, that of a mother and child at a parent’s day (Xarabank episode) she restriced Franco from watching television for a couple of weeks.
So Franco goes “How can I get my revenge?”. Being a little bit loony, he associates his revenge against one MP with his revenege against a blogger.
Because you know, we’re supposed to believe that a prime ministers tend to have personal relationships with bloggers sharing the same political views.
It’s like watching a poorly acted Italian soap opera which is only understood by the scriptwriter.
I am fed up of people saying that Franco is intelligent, a good lawyer or that he has valid points.
Even a moron sometimes comes up with a “valid point”. This was seen on a Facebook page “Light travels faster than sound. That is why some people appear bright until they speak.”
I’m not sure this applies to Franco though as he does not even appear bright, but he might to some people.
I have nothing but admiration for the Prime Minister, and the way he has soldiered on in the face of all sort of adversity in the past few years.
However, a situation has developed where this self-inflated moron is clearly undermining the PM’s authority, even ridiculing him at times, and I cannot help feeling that the PM’s image will only suffer if this charade carries on for much more.
Though the consequences may be too unpleasant to think of, and political strategy might dictate otherwise, I would say the time has come for the PM to bite the bullet and call an election, and rid us all of the Debonos, JPOs and Muglietts.
If we’re going to be lumped with Joey ta’ Burmarrad, Anglu and Toni anyway, we might as well get started sooner rather than later.
I’ve made this comment some months ago, and I’ll make it again. I somehow think FD is cleverer than we all make him out to be. I have this sinking feeling, that he will outwit all and not only find himslef as a candidate on the PN list, but get elected. We wait and see.
Would not fuss too much about him and Muscat condemning and bitching about you, Daphne. I guess at this stage of play, one concedes that they have every right to do so, and should be considered fair play.
[Daphne – Oh dear God, what a country, and how frustrating it is to have to explain these things. That’s not the point. Of course they have a right to condemn me. The point is that it is PRECISELY THE OPPOSITE OF LIBERAL AND EUROPEAN TO DO SO. The prime minister and Opposition leader are not ordinary people. When they condemn a journalist, it is perceived, correctly, as putting undue pressure on that journalist to stop writing what he or she is writing. That runs DIRECTLY CONTRARY to established, time-honoured European traditions of liberalism and free expression. It is the sort of thing that happens in the Middle East, North Africa or the eastern Mediterranean. And no, Franco Debono is not clever at all, and if you think he is, or that he has some hidden qualities, I’m glad you’re not a woman because right now you’d be at Dar Merhba Bik.]
Well, apparently it’s Carm’s fault too, according to the paranoid narcissist (to put it very mildly).
He believes that had Carm passed good ‘libel’ laws, you wouldn’t have written such bad things about his mummy.
Since libel already exists in our laws already, there was technically nothing to stop him from suing you. Logic dictates that libel is libel is libel. But logic is not the forte of persons who should be locked away in padded cells.
I think Franco’s cardinal mistake was using yes using his mother and exposing her to the public on Xarabank.
But one thing you forget is the realtionship between mother and son is something different to that of daughter and mother, and this is something you as a woman can never understand.
Here in Malta I am sure it is the Italian mentality, where mothers are sacred to their male offsprings.
[Daphne – You see what I mean? ‘Daphne can’t understand the relationship between a mother and her son.’ SILVIO, I HAVE HAD A SON SINCE I WAS 21, AND THREE SONS SINCE I WAS 24. And it is precisely because of this that I know that Franco’s attitude towards his mother, to say nothing of her attitude towards him, is sick.]
Silvio. from time to time you make a lucid comment. This time you’re way off base. I reiterate the ‘Oepipus Complex’ here. This boy still needs his diapers bought and changed by Mommy.
Yes Harry you might be right, I would be presumptious to say that I am familiar with the ‘Oedipus Complex” .
Even though I looked it up, it is still beyond me.
What I intended was that there are boys who remain over-attached to their mothers and it is something very very common but the worse problem is when the mother senses this and exploits the situation because it is something that gives her joy.
I expect this might have some effect on the boy, but as I know hardly anything on the subject I do not know what the result will be on the boy.
As for myself I was, like all other boys, quite attached to my mother but when I was married and had a family, these always came first, but I must admit I would never permit anyone to downgrade my mother, which I think is natural.
[Daphne – Nowadays it is assumed that grown women are perfectly capable of dealing with things, Silvio.]
That over-attachment you refer to is at the heart of an Oedipus complex. If you put your family first, then you had no such complex yourself. Franco Debono is a narcissist with an Oedipus complex.
That’s the first reason he can’t put his own family first. The other, more obvious reason, is that he doesn’t have one, and never can because of his obvious psychological issues – obvious, that is, to everyone but himself.
Women understand that sort of mother-son relationship VERY well, Silvio. They hold it in contempt – unless they’re the sacred mother, that is.
The problem with people like him is that they honestly have no clue about how laughable and sick they and their actions are.
They think they are God’s gift to the human race when actually they are a scourge.
When they are very effectively exposed as to what they really are (e.g. by a certain blogger) their over-inflated ego fizzles out .
Then they are still unable to comprehend what is going on and react in even more hilarious fashion.
So, if Carm said something unpleasant about Franco to the Chief Justice, wouldnt that have been said in confidence, how did Franco hear about it then?
Take a look at Malta Today, Daph – you made the headlines too.
Someone said it is your turn now after Richard Cachia Caruana and boy were they right.
They hate your guts because you are always one up and they cannot beat you.
Keep it up – you certainly have my support and that of many others because you are quite a gutsy woman.
BTW they said you are a ‘fifty plus lass’ – they cannot get one thing right poor sods.
[Daphne – If they wanted to know how old I am, all they had to do was ask their boss, Saviour Balzan. His sister and I were in the same class at school for 10 years. We’re 47, going on 48. They imagine I must be 50+ because my husband is 56 and I have sons in their mid to late 20s. But it doesn’t bother me, because I’ve never been a try-hard. Anyway, ‘fifty-plus lass’ is a contradiction in terms. You’re either a lass, or you’re fifty plus.]
Belive you me, being 50+ is sheer bliss after the turbulant 20s and 30s. I recommend it to anyone.
He keeps on harping about reform for better democracy, but does not practise one of the basics of democracy – freedom of speech.
If Franco feels offended, he can make use of the legal laws which he so brags about. Expecting the prime minister of a democratic country to stifle free speech is anti-democratic in itself.
If anyone is yet to be convinced about FD ‘s capabilities and mental /psychological condition, I advice watching this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UxGLYvO3akM
On a more serious note – I ran across an article in The Times by Austin Sammut. Really worth reading again- so good, that I thought DCG wrote it :-)
Noises from the Backbench – dec 27,2011
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120601/local/man-claims-breach-of-human-rights.422309
“Lawyer Franco Debono said that the problem that his client had not been accompanied by a lawyer was compounded by the fact that he had a very low IQ and was illiterate. This had a direct effect on his answers in the statement.”
Franco Debono the politician lambasts Carm Mifsud Bonnici for not enacting the law quickly enough.
Franco Debono the criminal lawyer makes full use of the legal loophole in favour of a convicted murder accomplice.
“the problem that his client had not been accompanied by a lawyer was compounded by the fact that he had a very low IQ and was illiterate.”
Mela kif jghidu: like lawyer, like client.
Still waiting for Franco Debono to suggest something in favour of the victims of crime. Again I remind him that he was elected to represent all not just the criminals.
As a lawyer it’s his job, but as a member of parliament he is duty bound to look after the interest of the victims, something he is not doing.
On timesofmalta.com this afternoon –
“Lawyer Franco Debono said that the problem that his client had not been accompanied by a lawyer was compounded by the fact that he had a very low IQ and was illiterate. This had a direct effect on his answers in the statement.”
Who exactly “has a very low IQ and was illiterate” here?
The thought of you eating Franco Debono alive brings mixed feelings. Then again, you might not have meant it literally.
[Daphne – Oh God, HE would have taken it literally. Expect another scene at the prime minister’s office: DIK IL-BLOGGER QALET LI SE TIEKOLNI HAJ. JEKK MA TIKKUNDANNAHIEX SE NIVVOTA KONTRA L-GVERN. Uneducated sicko.]
Dik il-blogger ta’ tendenzi kannibali.
It seems that Franco Debono’s father has been excluded from this relationship. Maybe the Minister of Health could chime in with his professional advice.
Freedom of speech, eh? I really cannot believe that a lawyer and a party leader just don’t get it. It is sad and demonstrates lack of intelligent foresight. We’ll pay the price when the PL are elected.
Daphne, Joseph Muscat won’t shut you up. He wants you to scrutinise his actions.
“A Labour government would also adopt an open government approach that gave people the chance to scrutinise its actions and provide feedback.”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/…/all-major-economic-policies-through.4223...
Perhaps Franco’s mother didn’t tug at his willy like Charles J. Buttigieg’s did, and that’s why he’s got problems.
Maybe his father did.
That might explain why he has been sidelined.
By now everyone should have realized that Franco has a narcissitic personality disorder.
We now have a second diagnosis: Oedipus complex.
Shamelessly pillaged, ahem, from another Mary:
“how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.”
(Victor Frankenstein)
I’ve been trying to remember which film had explored the culture nurturing such characterial traits.
Directed by Nino Manfredi in 1971, who also plays the character as an adult who can’t get himself to marry, even though he slowly discovered love.
Manfredi also starred In Magni’s trilogy, portraying the life of a humble illiterate cobbler called Cornacchia who became Pasquino, poet who wrote harsh satire on the walls of Rome directed at the pope, at night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSpds313n1A