Editorial by Dhiren Shah
Hello Readers,
Over 150 people got shot and over 75 fatally on a deadly July 4th weekend. New York and Chicago top the list. New York had 55 shooting incidents, 78 shooting victims and 16 homicides. In Chicago, 100 people were struck by gunfire resulting in 18 deaths since Friday night. Out of about 450 shootings past weekend, 69 were in Chicago alone.
Even police officers are in danger too. In Chicago, about 33 police officers got shot within the first six months. The law is protecting people, and due to cell phone cameras and other videos, police officers must follow the rules. So, the fear of police power has been reduced amongst notorious people. The new rules in existence are for the protection of people, but at the same time it will be difficult for the officers to perform their duties. If they make a mistake, they will lose their livelihood and hurt their family as well. So sometimes, the politicians who are elected by us, make the rules to get more support from the people, but sometimes, hurt the system.
Now the political game will start. The politicians will announce a gun buyback program and as I’ve heard, people will return outdated and old guns, get the money and buy new guns. Politicians are happy that they have a program to say they are doing something, the police are happy, and of course the people who returned the guns are happy as well. It’s a win-win situation for all, except the people who might get shot in the future.
After a 2020 drought of fireworks due to pandemic, this year people enjoyed the fireworks big time. All over the country, administrations, from small town to large cities, have arranged fireworks. People were tired of staying at home for almost a year and a half. It was expected to be a busy traveling week, and about 43.6 million people traveled on the Fourth of July weekend, a new record. The previous record was in 2019.
A few more bodies were found in the Miami beach condo collapse debris. So far 36 bodies have been found. Last week, when President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden visited the site, they halted the rescue work by showing some kind of excuse and resumed the work when the President left. Some of the family members were not happy for the stoppage of the rescue work. With the risk of further collapse, the rest of the building was knocked down. Still, they search through debris and hope to find more bodies. I don’t think there will be any other survivors, but for the sake of the family members and friends it will be satisfying if they can find the bodies.
Biden pulled troops from Afghanistan. As soon as the troops were back, the Taliban gained momentum and captured some of the province. Is this a failed foreign policy?
India’s best actor, screen name Dilipkumar (original name Yusuf Khan) passed away at the age of 98. For over half a century (1944 – 2001) he ruled Indian film industry as the best actor. People used to call him an acting school. He was known as a tragedy king as far as acting is concerned. At the age of 44, he was married to then the most beautiful actress in the Indian film industry, 22 year old Saira Banu. When he was visiting New Jersey, I had an opportunity to see him personally at Randolph, New Jersey. We (6 of us) had to wait for almost 45 minutes, but when he came, he apologized to all of us, stating that going for shopping with wife and mother-in-law took longer that he thought and shook hands with all of us. What a humble person. God bless his soul and condolences to his family and friends.
Have a wonderful week.
I’ll talk to you next week.
