Undocumented Migrants, and other stories.

My share in Facebook banters. In Friends’ Page/s.

THERE is a deluge of "immigrant" memes lately that infer a misleading advocacy. I am an immigrant but not someone who crossed the border without a passport and visa. Whether I was poor or not where I came from is beside the point. We kept that fact in us as we headed abroad to America. But we get here respecting America's border or immigration law, regardless that my country was forcibly claimed or colonized by the United States centuries ago. 

       My vision was clear: We are here to seek a better life and the only way to gain that is to play "fair." Find a job legally as we seek a higher education (irrelevant that most of us are already college graduates back home), and then get a better pay. These days, Asians are the most (college) educated and highest paid household per ethnic grouping in America, more than Whites. 

       Meanwhile, letting illegal immigrants in (because America should welcome anyone) doesn't help them at all. They are technically enslaved by landowners or farm owners and factory owners (in exchange for "staying") or paid half the minimum wage and no benefits, housed in trailer homes, 8 to 10 people in a house for 3. Many are used by drug cartels as couriers and mules. 

       The new wave of (undocumented) migrants also fear racial discrimination yet they are a convenient tool for partisanship caterwaul. And since record numbers (4,000 to 8,000) have been crossing since early 2021, fiscal management of the asylum system has been bankrupt. So they are ferried here and there like cows. We don't even know how many of them died when hurricane Helene hit; they are not counted. Etc etcetera. 

       The story in Mexico or Central America and their political and economic relationship with the U.S. vis a vis the migrant crisis is another huge discussion subject. 🗽🏃‍♀️🏃

THE immigration issue has gone whacked to super whacked. However, by digging deeper into the issue, we can connect dots per several factors. 

       Drug cartels and narcopolitics that date back to 1980s, bribes from street cops to presidents, NAFTA economics, business convenience to U.S. factories and farms, and how the migrant issue evolved as a tool for Washington partisanship intramurals. 

       Yet the amazing record number of crossings from 2021, 5000 to around 10,000 a day, is unbelievably massive. And confusingly unabated. Towards the border, cartels facilitate their "trek," don't we know that already? Of course migrants get “help,” that in itself is a huge story. How the illegal drug infrastructure runs and operates in the U.S. market is similar to how giant corporations run.

MIGRANTS carry out jobs for cartels. They had to. Gotta do it or their families that they leave behind are dead. Sure, they also take advantage of the various benefits and privileges that they get from the U.S. government. Etc etcetera. Sure, our government is aware of this. 

       How much did Donald Trump ask to strengthen the walls and upgrade border enforcement? Spare change compared with the taxpayer money tossed to Ukraine in its lost war vs Russia. 

       Now the media paints Mr Trump as a Nazi for securing the border? In fact, it is more inhuman to let this staggering number of migrants in. They are heading to an uncertain life in America despite the government dolouts. Remember, Mexico and Central America are not Gaza or Beirut. Their government can do something but not doing anything seems to be the most convenient “recourse.” 

       Mexico's economy gets pumped up somehow with cartel activity. As leadership's personal coffers get fed. Meanwhile, I am not against asylum but the number has exponentially spiked in just 4 years! No way to backtrack because each day the number increases. Immigration fiscal management has been bankrupt for years now. Etc etcetera. 🗽🏃‍♀️🏃

U.S. Aid to Other Countries / Guns Guns Guns.

My share in Facebook banters. In Friends’ Page/s.

<>U.S. Aid to Other Countries. 

“GAVE it all to foreigners" requires some elaboration. 

<>Foreign aid or USAid. Each time a development aid is handed out, an economic quid pro quo ensues. Zoom in on bilateral talks priorities, import/export. Etcetera. Military aid is meant to protect US corporate interests in a region in competition with a rival superpower or trade bloc. In most cases, "aid" only favors the leadership in a recipient country as stipulated in the quid pro quo, though not divulged to the public. Aid doesn't really benefit the people. <>Record number of migrants who almost randomly cross/ed the border. Asylum approval is fine but the massive border breaches are now a huge budget crisis. These undocumented migrants gain benefits, true. But the powers that reap gargantuan benefits are usually ignored in favor of partisanship politics. <>In all it is all about how the U.S. government deals with foreign policy and immigration, which could change, per change in leadership. 🏛🗽🏛

<>Guns Guns Guns. 

I WAS exposed to kin who were war veterans and law enforcement officers when I was younger. An uncle taught me how to use guns, especially .45 pistol and Armalite rifle. Yet I grew up and old not wanting one in my hand or ownership. As a young journalist, I covered narcos raids, gang violence (crime beat), countryside wars, and coup d'etats. I saw deaths, buried some, and mourned many. I don't like guns because I experienced what firearms are capable of. Yet I am not against arms per se as a defensive weapon, obtained strictly and safely kept at home. 

       But in America, especially with a high level of mental health ailments and heightened degree of hate, 120.5 ownership per 100 is just too much. This is an American cancer with seemingly no cure because, like others crisis areas, it is tackled as a Left vs. Right wrestle more than it is a danger zone for all of us. ☮️☮️☮️

MY THOUGHTS About The News.

Previously posted on my Facebook page. 

New York Times: “What Does African Rejection Mean for the U.S.?” And adds: “The U.S. is losing its terror-fighting presence in Africa. That’s not a bad thing if Washington uses the development to help African governments deliver more to their citizens.” The issue in Africa isn’t terror but economic opportunity. Which the U.S. lost in the last few years. Top FDI country or investor in Africa is China; 16 percent. The U.S. and France hold eight percent each. ☮️☮️☮️

New York Times: “Just How Dangerous Is Europe’s Rising Far Right?” And adds: “Anti-immigration parties with fascist roots — and an uncertain commitment to democracy — are now mainstream.” What is really dangerous? Media stereotyping of the shift of people-power in Europe. By perennially aligning a populist call for immigration reforms amidst economic freefall, the issue is driven as solely a political tempest, not an economic fact. 👉👉👋

Smithsonian: “Can Anger Affect Your Heart Health? Scientists Find the Strong Emotion Impacts How Blood Vessels Function.” Can anger affect mental health? I mean, don’t we know this already? Plus blood pressure, of course. No need for hugely-funded new medical study or scientific research. But then this is an effective rationale to issue more drugs after shrink visits. Be angry as long as you have your pills at your hand’s reach. But are we really fixing it? 😠🫀😡

NY Times: “Israel and Saudi Arabia Are Trading Places.” Thomas L. Friedman adds: “Netanyahu is making his nation more like the worst of the old kingdom, and the crown prince is making his kingdom more like the best of the old Jewish state.” Even before the Oct 7, 2023 Hamas attack, Israel’s leadership was already in shambles. Bosschief America was busy with the Ukraine war. While Saudi Arabia played golf, hosted concerts, and joined BRICS. 🇮🇱☮️🇸🇦

NY Times: “Campus Protests Give Russia, China and Iran Fuel to Exploit U.S. Divide.” And adds: “America’s adversaries have mounted online campaigns to amplify the social and political conflicts over Gaza flaring at universities.” I don’t think U.S. rivals care that much about the social or political. It’s all trade deals. As America gets embroiled in a student storm, Trump theater, and Israel on Gaza, BRICS gains. Meantime, check China’s new economic high. 🇮🇱✊🇵🇸

New York Times: “Soldiers exposed to thousands of low-level blasts from firing weapons like mortars say that they wind up with debilitating symptoms of traumatic brain injury — but no diagnosis.” Besides the physical damage, the mental beat-down is harder to fix. But sadly, these don't shake the masters of war. With A.I., now they create weapons that soldiers need not hold at all. Robots or computer screens will do that from a great distance. One click, 1 thousand dead. ☮️☮️☮️

AP: “An AI-powered fighter jet took the Air Force’s leader for a historic ride. Here's what that means for war.” A.I. helps direct drones to their targets. No person needs to hold the trigger or make the final decision to detonate. The development of lethal autonomous weapons (LAWs) or A.I.-equipped drones is on the rise. DARPA* works on making swarms of 250 A.I. drones available to the U.S. military. The future of wars. Deadly detachment. Video game killings. (*DARPA: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.) 🦿🤖🦾

Smithsonian: “How Artificial Intelligence Is Making 2,000-Year-Old Scrolls Readable Again.” Am I interested in reading a centuries-old manuscript? Maybe. But would the universe benefit from such a fix? I don't think so. This A.I. madness negates humanity's primal reflex, struggles in imperfection, and pursuit of happiness. My existence is anchored on seeking answers and finding ways to survive. I don’t want these handed to me in an Amazon box. 🦿🤖🦾

Rolling Stone: “Randy Travis's New Song Recreates His Voice With AI Technology.” Travis, who lost his speech after suffering a stroke in 2013, used an AI voice clone on “Where That Came From.” So are we up to Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison, Aretha Franklin, David Bowie, and Janis Joplin A.I. records? Well, they already had John Lennon sing in a “new” Beatles song. As for me, they are already dead but I still play their songs–before the was A.I. Just my reality. 🎼🤖🎼

Smithsonian: “World's First Race of A.I.-Driven Cars Was Filled With Spins, Swerves and Stops.” Everything will be obsolete, I guess. Driving means a remote control via your cellphone. And NASCAR are “drivers” controlling and manipulating their cars to win from afar. Do we still call this driving? Nope. I guess, baristas and checkout cashiers and bank tellers etc etcetera will all be A.I. robots. Would I want to live or coexist in that future nightmare? Nope. 🦿🤖🦾

MY THOUGHTS About The News.

Previously posted in my Facebook page. 

New York Times: “Trump Sues ABC and Stephanopoulos, Saying They Defamed Him.” And adds: “The lawsuit stems from the anchor’s recent contentious interview with Representative Nancy Mace.” Today’s media earn/s huge-ass profit by defaming, shaming, and insulting whoever they deem super-baits for nonstop clicks. So Mr Trump was fined millions$ for his nasty mouth; holier-than-thou talk show hosts didn’t. So Donald hits back. This is showtime politics of the moneyed! 🏛🗽🏛

New York Times: “Mayor Adams Is Accused of Sexually Assaulting a Colleague in 1993.” And adds: “In a lawsuit, a former police colleague of Eric Adams said that he demanded oral sex in exchange for career help in 1993 and assaulted her when she refused.” Ain’t we getting tired of Mr Adams’ shenanigans and ineptitude? It’s not like Conservative media is solely policing him; liberal papers such as NY Times relentlessly cover and expose his dirt. 🗽👎🗽

New York Times: “It’s Not You: Dating Apps Are Getting Worse.” And adds: “Hinge, Tinder, Bumble: They used to be free and maybe too good to be true. Now paid versions and fatigue are making dating apps worse — and expensive.” I can’t relate. Must be that I aged? Been there, done those. The dating game. Yet it’d be cool to meet a female friend, post-Covid and amidst all the hate, essentially as a conversation partner. Is that even a possibility these days? 👩‍🦰❤️‍🔥👱‍♂️

New York Times: “How Trump’s Allies Are Winning the War Over Disinformation.” / “Trump Says Some Migrants Are ‘Not People’ and Predicts a ‘Blood Bath’ if He Loses.” Except with the New York Sun, most news sources that I read are known liberals. I don’t know the extent of similar silly mudslinging that “conservative” papers hurl at Joe Biden. All I know is NY Times et al toss hate-Trump shitbombs as though their readers are all partisan idiots. 🏛🗽🏛

New York Times: “What Trump’s TikTok Flip-Flop Tells America.” And adds: “On yet another issue, Trump sides with a foreign adversary over America.” Ah media rabblerouse. Why would China be a “foreign adversary” when top U.S. giants do business out there, for decades! Apple Inc., General Motors, Microsoft etc etcetera. Yet any hot chili that comes out of The Donald’s mouth offers distorted think-tank ideas for his political foes as we head to November. 📱🗽📲

New York Times: “Nicole Shanahan Emerges as a Top Candidate to Be R.F.K. Jr.’s Running Mate.” The Bay Area lawyer and investor was the primary financial backer behind Mr. Kennedy’s Super Bowl ad. Uh huh. Bobby Junior considered NFL’s Aaron Rodgers and now, who? Tell me, do top Super PAC donors qualify as kickass political running mates? Then why aren’t Sheldon Adelson, Harold Simmons, George Soros, or Bob Perry not in any party’s shortlist? 🏛🗽🏛

New York Times: “Why a Native American Nation Is Challenging the U.S. Over a 1794 Treaty.” The Onondaga asked an international commission to find that the U.S. violated a treaty guaranteeing the nation 2.5 million acres of land. The first U.S. treaty with an American Indian tribe was ratified in 1778. A total of 374 treaties were ratified from that point. Yet almost all have been violated by the U.S. government. So this new one is met with resigned skepticism (sic). 🗿🗽🗿

New York Times: “Food Experts Predict ‘Imminent’ Famine in Northern Gaza.” And adds: “The warning came amid an Israeli raid on Al-Shifa Hospital. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also agreed to send military and humanitarian officials to Washington to hear the Biden administration’s concerns.” This ensued following President Biden’s phone chat with PM Netanyahu. So Bibi’s people are flying to DC to hear what they already know? Wild, wild world indeed. 🇮🇱☮️🇵🇸

Rolling Stone: “The Inventor of Karaoke Has Died, But His Legacy Is Louder Than Ever.” I’m not worthy! I’m not worthy! Same reverence that I gave Mr Momofuku Ando, the inventor of Cup-a-Noodle ramens. Karaoke is a very popular pastime for Filipinos. Some would literally die for it. On one sad night, a microphone hugging Pinoy was shot dead for singing the longest song ever on the karaoke list: Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.” The perp couldn’t wait for his turn. True story. 👩‍🎤🎼🧑‍🎤

Time: “Why You Shouldn’t Wear Makeup When Exercising.” I wondered out loud, as well, when I strode in a gym in Los Angeles years ago–to see an instructor friend though I didn’t ask. Some of the women had make-ups. Lipstick, eyeliners, mascara? I guess, the same reason as why many women basketball players wear false eyelashes? To look good? Lookin’ good is good. No argument. But “experts” say don’t wear makeup when on a treadmill. Google and read the quoted line. 💋🏋️‍♀️💄

The Divide that we Widen.

Response to a friend's Facebook post.

SO much (self-destructive) division in America. Eerie. I didn't realize this until I lived here (yup, I wasn't “born and bred” in these parts). No wonder the US isn't as powerful anymore as it was. "Divided we fall." The perfect alibi is Donald Trump. His 4 years didn't see taxpayer money tossed to wars and he had a better handle of the economy. 

       Mr Trump's crass personality is the ideal excuse for the wide crack in US society, not the mirror in front of us. I came from a country which is almost 90 percent Catholic though there are dozens of Christian denominations with diverse, even contrary practices. A major island is Muslim. 

       Yet I didn't experience this kind of American animosity between/among creeds. It is VERY offensive and disrespectful to slur any religion. In my band our lead vocalist was Muslim (who wore the burqa, dad is an Imam). We had Jehovah's and Mormons in a Catholic school where they are allowed to observe their Faith (like no attendance in flag ceremonies, no ROTC, served their choice of food in the school cantina etc). No argument. 

       I also lived in Japan where Shinto is the majority. The friendliest people. My devout Catholic aunt (actually 3 aunts and 5 cousins) are married to Shinto. No problem. They observe their religions or interface them inside the house. Home. 

       My cousin works/lives in Qatar. Arab Muslim yet majority of the people are expatriates or non-Qatari; they coexist and work together to make Qatar the richest or 2nd richest nation (behind Luxembourg) per capita. 

       America is obviously rich as evidenced not just by many benefits and relatively better way of life but as proven by billions$ spent in wars and bailouts to giant corporations etc. 

REASON why we fight or slur Christians in our midst? We are so bored in comfort we implode in hate? So America popped pills with alcohol to sustain the anger till it explodes out there in deadly hate? 

       I used to organize many fun events to gather a diversity of people in music, dancing, and food. Not anymore. I am afraid that the convergence that I create may be used as a platform of hate and with 120.5 ownership of guns per 100 Americans? Nope. 

       

I ENJOY America for its joy, privileges and beauty. Mere fact that my two (women) BFFs are both Conservatives yet who practice diverse Christian rituals and way of life--while I am a longtime Leftist with strong political beliefs and a Margii who prays and meditates with a Bible in my room (my huge family here and back home and elsewhere are Church going Catholics)--means peace is possible in friendships and family with diverse gods or goddesses. 

       How would I fall into boredom and start slurring people with contrary thoughts and views when there's much to enjoy? Streaming TV, land for gardening, dogs and cats, nonstop Bee Gees. I eat dinner with my housemates twice a week and pray before eating. I mean 15 seconds of praying when I used to pray a much longer and redundant Rosary with grandma twice a day and I used to group meditate with Margiis in India thrice a day (before we mass-fed in poor villages of Hindus and Muslims). 

       Cool or peace or the freedom to attain them is indeed a huge political caterwaul in America. 🏛🗽🏛

All About Ships.

Response to a friend's Facebook post.

WHAT matters is what or who produces the raw materials to build ships. Aluminum: China, India, Russia. Steel: China, India, Japan, US, Russia. Brass: Italy, South Korea, Germany, China. 

       Obviously, China has all these and they also build as a priority over exporting the materials. Same case with topmost "ingredients" per "green economy." China has a lot of lithium (for EV manufacture) and silicon (for microchips). So China is #1 in EVs (BYD over Tesla, although Elon Musk buys lithium in China via his factory in Shanghai).

       Meanwhile, China has already solidified its trade partnership (per silicon/semiconductors) with Taiwan. No brainer: They are blood kin, the One-China rhetoric is just political blah sideshow. Sure, Joe Biden is worried that China will clog the global market of "green economy" exports after the US sank $6.6 billion and $6.4 billion investment with Taiwan's TSMC and South Korea’s Samsung for factories in Texas + huge ass tax incentives and bailouts to local/US manufacturers. 

       But Joe employs an annoying hawkish tact to break the Chinese though he also sent Treasury chief Janet Yellen and State secretary Antony Blinken to Beijing to confer or negotiate. How can Janet and Antony deal with stuff when their boss keeps on derailing talks with his dirty mouth and "security threat" intrigues. 

       And now the Philippines is expectedly dragged as a pawn in that pissing drama in the South China Sea. That is Washington's brinkmanship playbook at work, for them. Not us, Filipinos. 

       The Chinese are not that stupid to bite the bait. Check, why would the US hand Taiwan military aid (most recently, packaged with aid to Ukraine and Israel)? First, Taiwan is rich. It doesn't need aid. But hey why not, they now got a factory in Texas. The Chinese (China or Taiwan): It's all business. No war. Refer to Sun Tzu. His art of war is about defeating the "enemy," without fighting. 🛳⛴🚢

TAXES and Stuff.

Response to a friend's Facebook posts.

I ALWAYS come across anti-rich memes that talk about “taxing the rich” as though they don't pay taxes at all. Clearly, the message refers to “wealth tax” or tax specifically imposed on the upper 1 percent in the income bracket.

       Fact is, majority of countries, rich or poor, don't impose wealth tax. Some in Europe impose very low as in 1 percent or 0.7 percent.        

       The highest wealth tax is excised by Luxembourg (7.18 percent over tax revenue) and Switzerland (4.77 percent). All others impose tax per personal income tax. Russia, 13 percent. U.S., 10 to 37 percent. China, 3 to 45 percent. 

       Corporate tax: U.S., 21 percent. Europe, 21.3 percent. Asia average, 19.80 percent. China, 25 percent. Saudi Arabia, 20 percent. 

       Anyhow, high tax or low tax, what matters is how a government uses taxes. The U.S. spends too much taxpayer money on military spending: $825 billion (750 military bases abroad) versus China's $231.4 billion (1 military base, in Djibouti) and Russia's $109 billion (21 military bases). 🏛🗽🏛