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Martial Law, Myanmar style

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Twinkling with Ninfa R. Leonardia

“On the House”. What a beautiful title for a book, and how appropriate! The author John Boshner (I should check my records about the spelling) but how I wish I could get my hands on a copy, because it is supposed to be a tell-all narrative on former U.S. President Donald Trump and reportedly isn’t very flattering to the former leader who was, in fact, edged out of office by the incumbent, Joe Biden. I heard that the author describes Trump as “mercurial”, and I’m sure many agree with him, but wouldn’t that earn him a libel suit from the subject” Let’s wait and see.

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Although the incident took place several months ago yet, the story of George Floyd, the black man who got choked to death by the knee of a cop on his neck, could put his name down in history books as another case of white versus black, or civilian versus policeman. This case happened last May, and we are almost there again, but it was only lately that the case got to the court and we may soon  find out how court will decide on it. I am sure I am not the only non-American who had seen the incident as it happened, fully covered by TV, which is why, I have this feeling that Officer Derek Chauvin could be facing an open-and-shut case.

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But if his lawyer is equal to the task, he might get away with conviction for a lesser offense, even if it was clearly seen on television how he had knelt on the neck of the poor Floyd who was moaning “I can’t breathe!” I believe it won’t be long before the world will learn about the decision on Chauvin, but so far, what we have seen from the courtroom scenes are about the minutes and seconds involved as Chauvin’s knee stayed on the neck of Floyd. If that happened in the Philippines, he may have years of hearings and postponements, but their courts move faster than ours, so his fate will be known soon. Will his sentence be heavier, considering that he is a policeman?

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Martial Law, Myanmar style, is certainly much different from the one we went through during the so-called “Conjugal Dictatorship”. There, the military is really pulling its weight in controlling the citizens. A scene on TV yesterday showed a young woman being interviewed by a CNN reporter who, tactfully, cut short their talk, with the reporter telling the girl not to say more as she might get into trouble. And sure enough, as soon as the CNN reporter  had turned her back, the girl was arrested and detained. But, fortunately for her, she was released within two days, and I am sure it was because the military did not want CNN to spread the story far and wide.

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It seems like another example of what they call a mingling of good news and bad news. What is good is that less elderly people have been stricken by COVID lately, but the bad news is that more younger ones are being hit. Have the vaccines not caught up with them? By the way, there are warnings published about being careful about the vaccine you may be given, because there are now reports of fake ones being produced and how does one, even medical people, tell whether what they are using are the real McCoy? There should be a law imposing the death penalty on those producing such vaccines. Will someone in Congress initiate it?

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How could U.S. President Jose Biden say that? He was quoted on TV as saying something  like “Enough of prayers, it’s time for action!” Hasn’t anyone ever told him that prayers can inspire and guide one into the proper actions? The way he said that made him sound like Trump! I hope somebody made the sign of the Cross over him when he said that. Does he think he is invulnerable to this virus? If you ask me, I think that statement was somewhat sacrilegious.

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A report citing the European Union said that “herd immunity” is expected to prevail in July. Now, I am not sure whether my own understanding of the term is correct, because even if I have seen and heard it mentioned a lot of times, nobody has actually given a definition of it. For me, I think it means that if everybody, or almost all of the people in your vicinity have been immunized, then you need not worry since nobody can infect you. But don’t take my word for it, do ask somebody more knowledgeable.

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I agree with President Biden when he told the U.S. Congress to do something about the rising “epidemic” of gun violence in their country. Indeed, there seems to be a lot of killings  made easier by the very lax laws on gun acquisition there. It does seem as if deaths via firepower are  getting into epidemic proportions, too. And no virus is involved, only the ease by which any Tom, Dick and Harry can go to a shop and buy a gun, no questions asked. Listen to Biden, guys!*

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