by Colin Hyde

Thanks to Ms. Aria posting Channel 7’s Monday morning Beef on her Facebook page, I got to listen to it on Monday night. Boy, 7’s host went on a tirade against the proposed 13th amendment, and the PD (preventative detention) that had been proposed a decade and a half ago too. My, my, he is not alone; he is one of legion. And they’re all impractical.

I say, if the state can’t contain violence when it erupts in the streets, and it will not be able to if its most effective tool is taken away, then it will be in the hands of citizens to do so. If we are open about things, we will accept that we devolved to street justice when our courts couldn’t get convictions—the thanks there going to the brilliance of our defense lawyers, or if you believe them, the ineptitude of our police.

They would tie the state’s hands. The PM has expressed his aversion for guns. Presently, only the gangs, the police and BDF, the ranchers, and a few Rambo dreamers have guns. Take away the SOE and every citizen will have to put in their application to own a weapon that fires bullets. The drain on our foreign exchange would be immense. We don’t make guns and we don’t make ammunition. This is a path that only goes downhill, a path that makes us a paradise for people who own gun factories.

But, the 13th amendment detractors are right about the SOE being a horrible thing. The police have to come under a different understanding to handle this tool. We need a special Board to guide the SOE. It can’t be a stocking full of ex-police top brass and political cronies. The Board must be comprised of retired school principals, public servants who excelled in the service, coaches, musicians, farmers, and fisher folk.

Our SOE must be as civilized as it can be. We’re taking away people’s freedom based on “reasonable” suspicion. Don’t compound it by dumping people in a hell hole. We’ve got the materials in the forest to construct “hotels” at Kolbe for SOE use. There should be one individual to a room with internet, and they are to get meals on time, di works. We’re taking away freedom on “reasonable” suspicion because we believe it is good for the society. Don’t compound the felony by putting people in a hell hole.

I say, SOE there must be. Too much laxness will make criminals of all of us.

Hmm, black people will “forever” complain if they don’t win

I saw a comment on social media from a brother named Williams, in which disappointment was expressed that some black Belizeans noh happy with the results of the Miss Universe Belize pageant, which was won by a girl with very light skin. Mr. Williams and a number of others said we need to appreciate that we are a multi-ethnic country, that in our affairs we need to look past our racial differences.

Well, I have come to accept that black Belizeans will, ehm, “always” complain when they don’t win. Our black brothers and sisters know the full pain of being cheated, like for 500 sakkin years. After such a long time, it gets in the DNA.

Want to hear something, ehm, amusing? We are not alone in the tribalism. No, it’s not only black people who think “teef” when they are not with the results. White people have no right, they having dominated things for 500 years, but many of those bohgaz also think teef when things don’t go for their tribe. But they, they only whisper it … except for their President Trump. Can you believe that bali accuses South Africa of racism against European stock?

I didn’t get to sleep until well past midnight because of that pageant, so I have license fu taak. I don’t mind spouting off about race. The commentators, one of them our Paul Lopez – that brother is from Camalote, Virginia Neal’s grandson – they all kept saying how glad they were that they weren’t in the judges’ shoes. Even if the girls were all of one hue from head to toe, it is difficult to judge beauty contests. The girls, usually they are not of one hue, and we are not too. We are a nation of many races, and we all have our biases, our physical preferences. There are some, probably too many, who are influenced, warped by the European ancestors’ idea of beauty. But let’s leave that maze for another time.

I said on Tuesday the judges are supposed to know what that international contest in Thailand is after. As the commentators said, over and over again, we had some fine girls contesting for the crown. But it came down to two. Based on the little I saw, I think the judges chose speech polish over luks. The first runner up, I want to know who out there would have beaten her in the swimsuit competition. It is to be seen how well the winner will do in the eloquence department. She handled herself really well in our show. I wasn’t surprised when I learned she has been living in Florida. Belizeans in America have a big advantage in English taak.

Camalote has new female chairman

Congratulations, Ms. Shandi Orellano, on her and her team’s victory in Camalote on June 29. Sixty plus years ago, Waltrine Banner Casey responded to, ehm, shoddy treatment by the leadership in Roaring Creek, re: the distribution of relief supplies after Hurricane Hattie, by demanding that Camalote secede from that jurisdiction. Until last Sunday, Camalote, a veritable “woman town”, has been under male leadership ever since Waltrine handed over the chairmanship to her husband, Alonzo.

Hey, I look forward to hearing the report of Councilor Ilya Rosado on the legalize it initiative on Caye Caulker.

US seems to, ehm, lack the maturity to accept being second dog

The US hasn’t been acting like a good neighbor to its neighbors, and I’m thinking the root cause for that might be stress. It is a truth that the mightiest, they’re losing big on the economic scene to Mao’s people. This BBC story by Annabelle Liang & Nick Marsh, “How China made electric vehicles mainstream”, lays out the realities for baseball, hot dogs, apple pies, and Chevrolet.  

Liang and Marsh say: “At the beginning of the century, China’s leadership laid out plans to dominate the technologies of the future. Once a nation of bicycles, China is now the world’s leader in EVs. For Guangzhou’s more than 18 million people, the roar of the rush hour has become a hum. “When it comes to EVs, China is 10 years ahead and 10 times better than any other country,” says auto sector analyst Michael Dunne.

“China’s BYD [Build Your Dreams] now leads the global EV market, after overtaking US rival Tesla earlier this year. BYD’s sales have been helped by a vast domestic market of more than 1.4 billion people, and it is now looking to sell more cars overseas. So too are a raft of other Chinese start-ups that make affordable EVs for the mass market.”

The story says, “Almost half of all cars sold in China last year were electric.” What a contrast with the US. An AI Overview says 7.6% of new vehicles sold in the US last year were electric. Uy, it is clear as day that the US’s big dog days on the economic front are under heavy challenge. It’s happening all over for them. The best baseball player and the best basketball player, their sports, aren’t American. And we know they have never been able to play football.

Put the brake there; I’m not gloating. And by the way, those Americans aren’t starving. Per capita wise, they will always be richer than the Chinese. I, I am not lost that a lot of the Belizeans I kwaaril with live over there. Hmm, maybe since they can’t be the greatest economic power on earth anymore, they could devote themselves to be the best humans. They can start by easing the pressure on Cuba. And they could tell Israel to end its terrible genocide and go do penance.