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| The maple leaf, forever London, ON October 2024 This photo originally shared on Instagram |
NOTE: This entry has been posted in more developed form to my Medium channel. Head here to read it - and feel free to sign up for my newsletter.
Today, one day before the U.S. imposes 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, one thing is absolutely clear: this is what happens when misinformation and disinformation are left unchecked.
Donald Trump has blithely used the excuse that Canada is allowing fentanyl and immigrants to pour into the U.S., yet the data paints a very different story.
Consider this: in Fiscal Year 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol seized 21,148 pounds of fentanyl coming in from Mexico. From Canada? 43 pounds. That’s 0.2% for those keeping score.
Same deal on the people side. over 1.5 million people were detained in FY24 crossing from Mexico into the U.S. On the northern border, 23,721 - less than 1.6% of the total - people crossed illegally.
Yet President Felon repeatedly insists Canada is a leaking cauldron of debauchery as he also claims they’re “subsidizing” us to the tune of inflated figures that have no basis in reality, and change with every rage-post to his failing social media platform.
In reality, trade imbalances are not subsidies, and Trump’s warped reasoning suggests a pathetic lack of basic economic theory.
Yet his base, trained by years of being fed a torrent of lies so intense that every word is now accepted as fact, applauds. Making matters worse, American media, cowed by frivolous lawsuits from a guy who wrote the book on predatory litigation, now pays Trump off as they pressure their own journalists into backing off from critical coverage.
No, the Jim Acosta case was not isolated, and there will be more.
Society does indeed die in darkness, and imagine where we’d be if a society now content to live in darkness had had the wherewithal to recognize the lies for what they were, and push back.
As a higher-tech rerun of the Nazi party’s 1930s playbook, we’d think Americans would know enough to recognize the signs that they’re being lied to.
Sadly, we’d think wrong.
I’m hoping Canadians have what it takes to finally appreciate mis/disinformation for the democracy-killing disease that it is.
I suspect my hope is misplaced. This, ultimately, is how empires end.
#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #forest #red #maple #leaf #autumn #stilllife
Donald Trump has blithely used the excuse that Canada is allowing fentanyl and immigrants to pour into the U.S., yet the data paints a very different story.
Consider this: in Fiscal Year 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol seized 21,148 pounds of fentanyl coming in from Mexico. From Canada? 43 pounds. That’s 0.2% for those keeping score.
Same deal on the people side. over 1.5 million people were detained in FY24 crossing from Mexico into the U.S. On the northern border, 23,721 - less than 1.6% of the total - people crossed illegally.
Yet President Felon repeatedly insists Canada is a leaking cauldron of debauchery as he also claims they’re “subsidizing” us to the tune of inflated figures that have no basis in reality, and change with every rage-post to his failing social media platform.
In reality, trade imbalances are not subsidies, and Trump’s warped reasoning suggests a pathetic lack of basic economic theory.
Yet his base, trained by years of being fed a torrent of lies so intense that every word is now accepted as fact, applauds. Making matters worse, American media, cowed by frivolous lawsuits from a guy who wrote the book on predatory litigation, now pays Trump off as they pressure their own journalists into backing off from critical coverage.
No, the Jim Acosta case was not isolated, and there will be more.
Society does indeed die in darkness, and imagine where we’d be if a society now content to live in darkness had had the wherewithal to recognize the lies for what they were, and push back.
As a higher-tech rerun of the Nazi party’s 1930s playbook, we’d think Americans would know enough to recognize the signs that they’re being lied to.
Sadly, we’d think wrong.
I’m hoping Canadians have what it takes to finally appreciate mis/disinformation for the democracy-killing disease that it is.
I suspect my hope is misplaced. This, ultimately, is how empires end.
#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #forest #red #maple #leaf #autumn #stilllife
Related:
Have some national birthday cake, July 2024
Canada Day for some, July 2023
Celebrating an imperfect nation, July 2022
When countries celebrate birthdays, July 2020
Happy Canada Day, eh? July 2010
My country's birthday, July 2009
Canada Day, Eh? July 2007
Canada Day, Eh? July 2004
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