What’s happening in America these days?

Let it be known that Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella issued Executive Order No. 79 Sunday declaring the city under a state of GCQ effective 12:01 a.m. of June 1, 2020 until 11:59 p.m. of June 15, 2020 “or unless sooner lifted or withdrawn.” Let’s hope that all Cebuanos help out in ensuring that by June 15 or even earlier we would have already got out of our GCQ. Now as to the question of the need for quarantine passes, we learned that these are no longer required under the general community quarantine (GCQ) but local government units can still impose this requirement under localized lockdowns, according to the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

DILG Secretary Eduardo Año yesterday said quarantine passes would not be required anymore as part of the easing of movement restrictions to reopen the economy under the GCQ. Año also said despite the shift to GCQ, some restrictions are still in place such as curfew or limiting movement to work only or essential travel. The DILG chief said the country is not yet back to normal as the coronavirus pandemic is still without a cure or vaccine.

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What is wrong with America these days? Last May 27, a certain George Floyd, a black American, was arrested by Minneapolis police but policeman Derek Chauvin pinned him with his (Chauvin’s) knees. Floyd died due to lack of air, despite his plea for air. He died under the control of the police. This resulted in one of America’s great protests, but now it has gone from an ordinary protest march to one of America’s greatest riots in 40 years. Chauvin has since been arrested. Today, America is in flames because of the riots from many American cities and states.

I checked out Google on the number of protest riots that have happened in the United States of America (USA), and apparently that list is so long they almost have riots every single year. Since May 27, thousands have been arrested and many have been injured. Hundreds of millions of dollars of property have been burned, destroyed or looted. The National Guard has been called out to some cities, as many police stations have been abandoned and burned by the rioters. Meanwhile, riots are still occurring in many places in America, which is totally unfounded.

What went viral on social media yesterday were two articles from the New York Post that showed an Ivy League educated lawyer and a member of the Brooklyn Community Board named Colinford Mattis, 32 years old, who was arrested with his friend hurling a Molotov cocktail at a marked NYPD vehicle during the protest and riot.  Mattis is a graduate of Princeton University and the New York University School of Law. He is an associate at corporate Manhattan firm Pryor Cashman. Both are now detained in the police headquarters and facing criminal charges.

One would think that these riots and those who join them are the lawless elements of America. You would never believe that an Ivy League lawyer with a good job in New York would not only join the protest, but also bomb a marked NYPD vehicle. To think, these Americans are protesting the murder of Floyd whom nobody knows. Yet those Americans didn’t show any care that a hundred thousand Americans have already died due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other photos revealed a pretty young girl clutching clothes that she stole inside a looted store and a young man holding expensive shoes stolen from a nearby store. That gives you an idea who the looters are. They are not hungry Americans looking for bread but middle class Americans stealing expensive branded clothes and shoes as their way to honor Floyd.

Apparently Americans do not realize that the biggest threat to America today is not only the pandemic, but that Communist China is happily looking at what is happening in America to cast a dark cloud at what it has done to the people of Hong Kong which signed a deal with the United Kingdom (UK) to honor its commitment to freedom and democracy for another 27 years. Apparently the CPP doesn’t care to honor this agreement with the UK. Now the world must wake up to the real trouble that this world is having with COVID-19.

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