MORE about “2 Dead in Minnesota.” Two Filipinos weigh in.

My response to a Friend's Facebook post.

MAYBE I am cold. As a grandfather-old Filipino who lived through 20 years of dictatorship, countless wasted or "salvaged," dozens fatally shot in protest rallies, not to mention countryside wars and coups that I covered (including February 1986) and then living in affluent America and 2 deaths in Minnesota? 

       Uhh. Two deaths around circumstances that are absurd (you may interpret "absurd")? I am baffled. I can somehow understand the magnificent drama among Americans but some Filipinos ride along??? 

       In the same week that the 2nd person was shot, 6,126 protestors in Iran were erased by the dreaded IRGC. That, that massacre is THE news to me. Closer to the horror of my experience. But 2 deaths in Minnesota are such a big deal that the other side of the eerie divide calls it Nazi-era or dictatorship? 2 deaths. 

       Meanwhile, talking about Minnesota? What I could relate with in anger? The state government's billion$ social services corruption is drowned out by the 2 deaths. Koraps! That would drive me to the streets to protest. 

       Another bizarre fact in the U.S. is, the Left's response to Minnesota mutes the collective response when another mass shooting occurs (mass shootings that exponentially spike since Columbine 1999). And look, they have a betting site called Polymarket. (Worse than Pinoy uziseros!) Bet if Trump will attack Iran or not. Many already won after Venezuela although it was a regime change, not invasion. (Many lost per Greenland.) Yup, that's how Americans "view" carnage or shootings as they cuddle their "120.5 guns per 100." 

       I have been living in the U.S. for years. What concerns me here is the mental crisis, which ushers in this kind of Minnesota distress. In some cold, cold way (snow outside my house), I'd say this gargantuan drama indeed aligns with "long covid" which earns a drama king and drama queen "paid work leave" or unemployment benefit. And lots of FB likes. 

       I am sort of glad that I am a Filipino so much so that when Asheville (where I live) was hit by a calamity in September 2024, I simply shrugged it off. I live/d and my rice was untouched by the hurricane. 

Facebook Friend: “I have lived through, and struggled against, the same dictatorship, Pasckie. I have also suffered captivity and torture from rebels. I riled against willful killings, whether committed by soldiers or extremists.”

AS I already somehow reiterated above, “killings” in America aren't parallel with “dictatorship killings” in those years. We can't even compare EJKs or “salvagings” with mass shootings here. 

I am not saying the "2 dead in Minnesota" isn't tragic. Or should we compare ICE holding cells with the "torture from captivity from rebels" (that you experienced) or from soldiers (that I covered)? Migrant kids in foster homes or DOJ shelters have computers and flatscreen TV. I can't even compare those adult migrants held before deportation or asylum with Rikers Island but maybe in Guantanamo (what I read). 

       Yes, I can't parallel the events that led to the 2 shootings with how Marcos' soldiers snatched protestors then, then dumped somewhere. But the way media or social media project Minnesota to the world is even worse: Nazi Germany time? 2 deaths, video'ed and all, with thousands or millions burned in Sobibor? Is Trump is Hitler? ICE is Gestapo? 

       What scares me in America is not Trump or ICE but the 120.5 guns per 100 and the unabated spate of mass shootings due to hate and mental crisis. Today, there's one Louisiana shooting, 6 wounded. No one posted that per my Homepage. Thank God, no one is dead (as of the minute I read the news). But are we in a war or dictatorship in the U.S. right now as trumpeted by the media? No. 

       Minnesota is one of 50 states. Right now I am on Hulu watching a TV series and drinking beer. There's dangerous ice outside due to the snow. Not ICE. And if ever ICE comes to me, I will not kick and break the tail light of their van. Sheer common sense

Facebook Friend: “I’ll have to stop engaging here, Pasckie, because we’ll see no end to whataboutisms. You’re happy with how things are under D’rump, others are not, me included. Let’s leave it at that.”

I AM never happy with any POTUS as long as the military budget stays 4x higher than China. But then if I don't "hate" him as many seem bent to, I just look at his policies (vis a vis my own experience), yet I am automatically judged as "D'rump." 

       I disagreed big time with Barack Obama on immigration (as a Filipino) and foreign policy (as an anti-war activist) but since the passion isn't high on hate during his terms compared with Trump, I don't think my Barack criticisms were even heard (regardless that I published a newspaper here in Asheville). 

       There is no grown-up talk about Washington policies when Donald Trump is in the picture, I guess. I somehow expect to learn from you about Washington foreign policy but again, I am dismissed as "pro Trump." ☮️🗽☮️