Close Reading

Come into the West, a lot of white people give you shit, *no matter what you do* . Obviously not all of them. But in this modern era , enough of them to fund an entire media ecosystem just for that perspective. You think your immigrants weren't going to notice? Assimilate into _what_ ? The loudest mouths telling you they hate you and you're responsible for all their problems despite being a minority, because you're not a white Christian? And then you're going to scapegoat _them_ for the problems your government and system created, refuse to adapt, and complain that someone did. And _also_ , just like here in NYC.. the reason why a place gets taken over by a bunch of colored immigrants.. is usually because white people start _running_ . And again, the few that are left, complain about _their own_ fleeing, before doing so themselves. Hilarious. I'm in NYC, my neighborhood is literally every kind of immigrant, Filipino, Jamaican, West Indian, Indian, Haitian... all low to middle class, with some who really _saved_ up working for their 30-50 years here. Kids born or here since little kids, educated and making good money with few exceptions. And so of course the neighborhood.. looks just like any neighborhood in America (albeit denser and more traffic). Must be all that 'wokeness' in NYC. This has nothing to do with white or black or brown, of course. This dynamic plays out anywhere with people that are unwilling to challenge themselves and their ego just finding an easy scapegoat...

I worked since I was 14, (A lot of times evenings and weekends, several times, two jobs)! I am now 63, I got hurt at work! First I had to fight compensation for a year, ZERO $$$! Then I had to apply to get Disability Canada Pension because I can't physically work anymore.. (damaged back, head injury, I have to use a cane and knee braces to walk)! I spent my savings just surviving while being forced to fight for MY money from my own government for 5 years just to get a measly $300. a month! THAT'S IT! Luckily my spouse works , we paid off our house ten years ago! But, we still barely get by! Every person I speak to about my case with the government on the phone, can barely speak English and yell at me or are VERY impatient with me, because I can't understand THEM, they usually hang up! When I ask to please speak to someone IN Canada, they hang up, then I have to wait another hour to talk to someone else! (I went to 4 government funded agencies to see if I could possibly get a job working from home, because I have trouble getting out! All sent me somewhere else! One agency who is supposed to help disabled people in WPG, REES, the agent refused to talk to me or look me in the eye, * he got a supervisor to talk to me! Because he's Muslim and I'm Gay! They were continuously hostile/aggressive towards me without reason??? I volunteer at 2 different food banks , I've met TONS of people who have never worked a day in their lives, their family, parents, grandparents have never worked... EVER! Yet they have brand new trucks??? Still go to food banks? AND, several new Canadians who I've met, have never worked a day in Canada... Some with new cars??? Yet everyone else receives 10 times what I receive to live on??? I PAID TAXES ALL OF MY LIFE! We can't afford a car! Yet... I don't blame them! I would take it they offered! I blame our government (NDP, Libs, AND CONservatives) who don't give a crap about disabled and seniors in Canada! Or if you paid taxes all of your life , into a system that's supposed to help when you need it! ALL politicians in Canada just whore out their votes! I've volunteered for almost 40 years, also holding down jobs, helping others, I've never seen so may seniors and disabled people forced to access food banks and soup kitchens than the last few years! EVER! Disabled people have to constantly prove they are disabled enough to get kitchen scraps from sociopathic politicians who are over paid and under worked! Fees go up, taxes go up, housing goes up, property taxes go up, bus fairs go up, etc.. Services go WAY down! We can afford trillion$ in corporate welfare, but not help our own? Seniors can't afford to live in their homes anymore! YOU'RE WELCOME for paying for YOUR golden pensions pig politicians, and NOT helping us when we need it! POS!

Robert De Niro’s statement on Donald is perfect. \n\n “I’ve spent a lot of time studying bad men. I’ve examined their characteristics, their mannerisms, the utter banality of their cruelty. Yet there’s something different about Donald Trump. When I look at him, I don’t see a bad man. Truly. I see an evil one. Over the years, I’ve met gangsters here and there. This guy tries to be one, but he can’t quite pull it off. There’s such a thing as “honor among thieves.” Yes, even criminals usually have a sense of right and wrong. Whether they do the right thing or not is a different story — but — they have a moral code, however warped. Donald Trump does not. He’s a wannabe tough guy with no morals or ethics. No sense of right or wrong. No regard for anyone but himself — not the people he was supposed to lead and protect, not the people he does business with, not the people who follow him, blindly and loyally, not even the people who consider themselves his “friends.” He has contempt for all of them. We New Yorkers got to know him over the years that he poisoned the atmosphere and littered our city with monuments to his ego. We knew first hand that this was someone who should never be considered for leadership. We tried to warn the world in 2016. The repercussions of his turbulent presidency divided America and rattled New York City beyond imagination. Remember how we were jolted by crisis in early 2020, as a virus swept the world. We lived with Donald Trump’s bombastic behavior every day on the national stage, and we suffered as we saw our neighbors piling up in body bags. The man who was supposed to protect this country put it in peril, because of his recklessness and impulsiveness. It was like an abusive father ruling the family by fear and violent behavior. That was the consequence of New York’s warning getting ignored. Next time, we know it will be worse. Make no mistake: the twice-impeached, 4-time indicted Donald Trump is still a fool. But we can’t let our fellow Americans write him off like one. Evil thrives in the shadow of dismissive mockery, which is why we must take the danger of Donald Trump very seriously. So today we issue another warning. From this place where Abraham Lincoln spoke — right here in the beating heart of New York — to the rest of America: This is our last chance. Democracy won’t survive the return of a wannabe dictator. And it won’t overcome evil if we are divided. So what do we do about it? I know I’m preaching to the choir here. What we’re doing today is valuable, but we have to take today into tomorrow – take it outside these walls. We have to reach out to the half of our country who have ignored the hazards of Trump and, for whatever reason, support elevating him back into the White House. They’re not stupid, and we must not condemn them for making a stupid choice. Our future doesn’t just depend on us. It depends on them. Let’s reach out to Trump’s followers with respect. Let’s not talk about “democracy.” “Democracy” may be our holy grail, but to others it is just a word, a concept, and in their embrace of Trump, they’ve already turned their backs on it. Let’s talk about right and wrong. Let’s talk about humanity. Let’s talk about kindness. Security for our world. Safety for our families. Decency. Let’s welcome them back. We won’t get them all, but we can get enough to end the nightmare of Trump, and fulfill the mission of this “Stop Trump Summit.””

I'm usually reasonable enough to realize that while I may disagree with many policy decisions, there's usually a relatively coherent line of thought to back said actions up. The problem here is that there’s no clear logic behind using tariffs as a tool to curb fentanyl trafficking or immigration. I'm not going to speak on the issue of immigration at the Canadian border because there simply is none. Yes, there are illegals from Canada, but almost 100% of them are from overstaying visas rather than crossing the border unlawfully. So let's talk about fentanyl. \n\nMost fentanyl in the US originates from China, often in precursor form, and is then processed in Mexico before being smuggled into the states. But it's typically trafficked in small, high potency quantities, often hidden in legitimate shipments or through mail, and only on very rare occasions is it being brought in by individuals crossing the border. It has _never_ been documented to have shipped in as part of large scale commercial imports, so a 25% tariff on legal trade with Canada and Mexico doesn’t directly target the black market supply chain at all.\n\nIf we take Trump’s reasoning at face value, the argument seems to be that he wants to exert economic pressure on Mexico and Canada as a means of having them crack down harder on drug trafficking networks. But the issue is that fentanyl simply isn’t coming in through mass import channels, so all this looks like is a punitive measure without a clear mechanism to actually achieve its stated goal. And the implications? Drastically higher costs for consumers in the US, Canada, and Mexico, with absolutely nothing to show for it.

Interestingly enough, the clip where the girl is complaining about having the rent increased by $7000 is not Trudeau's fault (Liberal government) but Doug Ford's, who's Conservative and the premier (like a governor in the US) of Ontario. He removed the limits on rent increases on properties occupied for the first time after Nov 15 2018. So now, if you want make a few more bucks or just kick someone out just jack the rent so they can't afford it and have to leave (usually you can't just end a lease agreement because you want to but not anymore as you can just increase it to whatever you want). Limits exist for a reason unless you're at the top and want to make more without any regard to people that are struggling.\n\nWhat I'm trying to say is that I don't think the Conservatives will do better than the Liberals, they're just different flavours of garbage. We do need real change, unfortunately I don't think it will happen.