What is happening to the police in the United States? Now it seems as if they have become enemies rather than protectors of the people. We are not generalizing, but the number of cases where policemen are the alleged perpetrators of killings does seem to be increasing. What is their President doing about it? Is he so absorbed in his reelection strategies that he has forgotten his main mission, which is to protect, not only his country but also its people? By the way, I may have missed any reports about his reactions, or action taken again policemen involved in killings, but, what has he actually done about it?
***
Anyway, nobody can accuse me of politicking because the U.S. election is forthcoming, since I am not a voter there, nor are there people I can influence as far as their election is concerned. In fact, I was disturbed when somebody told me that Pinoys in the U.S. are expected to go for Donald Trump. What privileges or special concessions has he given to make them feel that way? Has he made immigration and naturalization easier for them? There are now only less than three months before voting day comes, and the Republican Party, to which he belongs, have started their convention, and for sure he will again be nominated as the party’s standard bearer. Well, it is no business of ours, but we do care about what happens in the U.S. from which our own country has benefitted and learned so much.
***
I understand that Trump is supposed to be relying on the Women’s vote to set him up for another term. Was that why he made his wife, Melania, one of the speakers at the party’s convention? I don’t know about others who heard her speech, but I think it was lackluster and could not have made much difference with voters, I mean the ones who are still independent so far. We are lucky that our own elections are still too far away to bother us much these days when our main concern is the pandemic that has settled on the world, and in our country as well.
***
Let me sympathize and pray for the people of the state of Louisiana, especially in the city of Cameron where a deadly Hurricane was expected to hit yesterday. Since it is also expected to bring heavy rains, people are being advised to evacuate, and damage to property could be unimaginable. But at least they have been given early warnings, so we hope and pray that the cost on human lives will be nil, and everybody in vulnerable areas have listened to direction that they abandon their areas, or risk danger to their lives.
***
Would you believe? I saw a report on TV that insect spray can be used to ward off the Coronavirus. The report came from the United Kingdom and has probably roused the interest of medical researchers and companies. Unfortunately, the news item did not say how the insect spray will do it. Should it be sprayed all over the environment, and will that not be dangerous also to human beings who might inhale it? I hope that method will not involve spraying it from the air, which could even be more dangerous. I am hopeful, though, that a cure and vaccine will be discovered against it soon, before another new virus comes into the picture!
***
Now there is another furor in the U.S. about the killing of a black man named Jacob Blake and of two other men in which a teenager was the suspect. How did he do it? He was reportedly sporting a long gun. That would be a surprise to us Filipinos where the laws on the acquisition of firearms are so strict, even the mere possession of one is a crime already. I think the American government is more lenient in granting such licenses, which is why killings with the use of guns are rather common. In the Philippines mere possession of a gun without the proper documents allowing it could lead one to big trouble.
***
It gives people hope that a vaccine or cure for this COVID disease that China has gifted the entire world from its city called Wuhan, may be available by yearend, i.e., in December, but how many more victims will it claim before then? I don’t know which country will be the first to produce it, but Russia seems to be the frontrunner in the race. Let us therefore hope and pray that they will be successful so that world population will no longer suffer more decimation.
***
Unless changes in plans are made, or the national government disapproves the idea, Bacolod City may go on lockdown starting today. Which means that people will not be free to roam around except for dire emergencies. So we will all be either “working from home”, which, by the way, I have been doing for almost six months now, with my usual workload being brought to my bedroom, and where this column is being written. Thank God for TV, I can keep up with the news to comment on, interpret, or expand on as a real “worker from home” a phrase created by the advent of the Coronavirus that China shared with the world.*
