February 1 - 15 , 2017 PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY 9
durianrepublic by JJ Atencio
Let me start with a personal experience .
I was in San Francisco just after the US elections . We were along Castro street , when suddenly , a scruffy , young white guy passed us by , and with a smile , showed his four fingers , telling us , “ Four Years ”. It was an obvious reference to Trump ’ s four years as POTUS .
Maybe I ’ ve gotten used to a politically correct America all these years . After all , this is liberal San Francisco . It was totally unexpected , but it got me thinking .
“ Your voice will define American destiny ... You will be never be ignored again ,” said President Trump at his inaugural . To this “ silent majority ”, Trump was the only candidate who seemed to really get it .
I ’ ve often wondered about the silent majority , and realize that their silence was not because they were too dumb to have a political opinion ; they just were not as eloquent nor confident enough to debate with the liberal elite who don ’ t take them seriously , or worse , dismiss them as “ educationally challenged .” Think “ Sex In The City ” meets “ Duck Dynasty ”.
And what they couldn ’ t say in debate , they shouted through the ballot . We ’ re talking about small town USA , or the rural middle class , or the ordinary working American whose lives they felt were going nowhere , and a future for their children without the American Dream .
It just makes matters worse that a lot them are white .
One of the things I noticed is that there seems to be more and more white homeless people each time I visit the US . Which leads me to suspect that America has
Silent No More
RCMP Continues Probe into Disappearance of Filipina and Two Others in B . C .
ceased to be as economically and socially inclusive as one would expect .
And so , the monologue of Jeff Daniels in “ Newsroom ” may not be so fictional after all when he said , America isn ’ t that great anymore . It now lags behind other nations in terms of literacy , math and science , life expectancy , infant mortality , median household income , labor force and exports . And that America leads the world in only three categories : number of citizens in prison , adults who believe angels are real , and defense spending .
That ’ s why I thought President Trump ’ s inaugural address was quite appropriate .
Trump said he ’ ll bring back jobs . The question is : what kind of jobs ?
I recently saw a video of a US Congress hearing on “ guest worker ” arrangements where an employee of the largest amusement conglomerate recounted how they were all being laid off in favor of foreign guest workers and to add further insult , train their replacement in exchange for severance pay . Those kind of jobs .
Trump promised to bring back their borders .
The quota for immigration to the US each year stands at 1 million today in a population of 325 million . Canada allows about 300,000 , which many Canadians think is already too high , based on a population of only 37 million .
Thing is , many Americans feel that the soft immigration policy that kept wages low benefits only the rich and the profitability of corporations . They are bothered by emerging programs like “ chain migration ”, “ sanctuary cities ,” or one that will allow illegal aliens a path to citizenship instead of deportation . I suspect that this was a main reason why , among the Asian voters , the Filipino community had the highest votes for Trump .
At the end of the day , the ordinary Americans I talked to , including Fil-Ams who quietly supported Trump echo the same sentiment : it ’ s less about hate , or race or supremacy , it ’ s more about self-respect . It ’ s really about having a stable job , a thriving business , three square regular meals a day , a decent home and enough money to pay for kid ’ s college tuition . And together with that , maybe , just maybe , a slice of what ’ s left of the American Dream .
And that is why the scruffy white guy ’ s sentiment is so significant in discussing a Trump Presidency . For these Americans , suddenly they can ’ t be dismissed anymore . It felt like they finally won something . They apparently had not felt victorious for a long time .
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The fate of a missing Filipina in B . C . has yet to be known .
In September 2016 , the RCMP in Williams Lake , B . C . sought the publics ’ assistance in locating a missing couple , Mihai Vornicu and his Filipina wife Marie Olarte .
About a month earlier on August 8 that year , Vornicu , 44 years old , and Olarte , 58 years old , were reported missing to the Williams Lake RCMP .
An acquaintance of the couple , Robert Dragoescu , was also reported missing the day police announced Vornicu
and Olarte ’ s disappearance .
Vornicu is Romanian in origin , and Olarte is originally from the Philippines .
The initial investigation determined that Vornicu ’ s 2005 Volvo C50 station wagon bearing BC Plate CH096V was found parked on Mackenzie Avenue North in Williams Lake on July 26 , 2016 . The vehicle was towed and there had been no attempts to retrieve the vehicle from the impound lot , since that date .
The investigation to date has determined that the couple were in the Mission and Maple Ridge area in the weeks before they disappeared , and that they have property in the Williams Lake area as well as links to Vancouver Island .
Olarte has health conditions that may require medical monitoring , which gives rise to further concerns for her wellbeing since their disappearance .
In a report by Global News on February 3 ,
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