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Trump used fentanyl to justify tariffs, but the crisis was already easing​

February 2, 20255:19 PM ET

President Trump says illegal street fentanyl is one of the main justifications for sweeping trade tariffs he plans to impose against Canada, China and Mexico on Tuesday. A statement issued by the White House describes the synthetic opioid as fueling a "national emergency" that warranted tough action.

Experts say the reality is far more complex.

President Trump and his team misstate key facts about the fentanyl crisis​

On Inauguration Day, Trump said foreign drug cartels are "killing 250,000 [or] 300,000 American people per year." On Friday, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said tariffs are warranted because fentanyl has "killed tens of millions of Americans."

These claims are false.

While the overdose epidemic is a serious crisis, experts in law enforcement, drug policy research and public health agree street drugs have killed vastly fewer people.
During the most severe period of the opioid crisis, in 2022 and 2023, total overdose deaths — including fentanyl, methamphetamines, heroin, cocaine and all other drugs — peaked at around 114,000 fatalities per year. And while drug overdose deaths have been wrenching for many families, fentanyl deaths haven't come close to killing tens of millions of people.

State and federal data also shows the crisis was improving at an unprecedented pace before these tariffs were announced. Fatal overdoses from fentanyl and all other street drugs have plummeted nationally by more than 21% since June 2023, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, falling below 90,000 deaths in a 12-month period for the first time in roughly half a decade.

What role does Canada play in the U.S. fentanyl supply?​

Almost none. In its fact sheet, the Trump administration says Canada has a "growing footprint" in narcotics distribution with Mexican cartels active in the country. But law enforcement and drug policy experts agree that Canada plays a minimal role in fentanyl smuggling into the U.S.
During remarks Saturday night, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said smuggling from Canada contributes less than 1% of the fentanyl street supply in the U.S. Data from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration supports Trudeau's claim.
 

Trump's antagonism risks pushing U.S. allies closer to China​

Trump has played hardball with Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Mexico and Panama — all countries that have traditionally been strong partners with the U.S.
WASHINGTON — If foreign leaders have learned anything about Donald Trump’s presidency, it may be that they’re better off as America’s foe than its friend. FUKKIN AMAZING!!

Trump's antagonism risks pushing U.S. allies closer to China
 
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Raptors fans boo 'Star-Spangled Banner' in latest anti-American display in Canada after Trump's tariffs​


"The Star-Spangled Banner" was once again booed in Canada ahead of a sporting event.

The latest anti-American display took place at the Scotiabank Arena before the Toronto Raptors took on the Los Angeles Clippers. Fans booed the American national anthem as a 15-year-old female sang it. A mix of boos and cheers were heard before she received a resounding applause for the Canadian national anthem, "O, Canada."
The theme of Canadians booing the American anthem began Saturday night as the Ottawa Senators and the Calgary Flames hosted NHL games.

The boos seemingly occurred as President Donald Trump followed through on his promise to place tariffs of 25% on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% on imports from China. Any energy resources from Canada would be hit at a 10% rate.
In a statement obtained by Fox News Saturday, the Trump administration said the order is in response to an "extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl, (that) constitutes a national emergency."
 

Some migrants arrested in Trump's immigration crackdown have been released back into the U.S.​

Space constraints and court orders have led ICE to release migrants on monitoring programs after they’re arrested.

The Trump administration aggressively publicized the arrests of more than 8,000 immigrants by federal agents since Inauguration Day, with the promise that those detained would be part of a historic mass deportation. But NBC News has learned that some have already been released back into the United States on a monitoring program, according to five sources familiar with the operations.

Since he took office, President Donald Trump and his allies have promoted immigration operations in cities like Chicago and New York, where agents across federal agencies were called in to increase the number of arrests.


But arresting more people inside the United States on allegations of immigration violations means they need to be held somewhere. And significant space constraints in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities — and federal court orders forbidding indefinite detention — have forced the agency to release some of those arrested in the roundups rather than hold them until deportation.

ICE posts arrest figures daily on X, but it does not disclose how many of those arrested are released, remain in detention or have been deported.

In a statement to NBC News, an ICE spokesperson acknowledged federal court cases limit ICE from detaining people indefinitely if their countries refuse to take them back, which can lead ICE to release them.
 
Not a decent one among them.
May be an image of 4 people, the Oval Office and text



https://www.facebook.com/FearAndLoa...KWdbejSVIqYAtT2SJds19A5uWcMIo&__tn__=<<,P-y-R

Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail 2024​

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. walked into his Senate confirmation hearing like a man stepping onto an ice rink wearing banana peels for shoes. He had one job: convince the world that he was not a bug-eyed conspiracy theorist who once hoarded a whale head and left a bear carcass in Central Park. Instead, he walked out as the leading cause of migraines among Democratic senators.
This was supposed to be his moment of redemption, his big I’m-not-actually-insane speech. Instead, it turned into a political demolition derby featuring protesters screaming that he was a liar and a killer, Bernie Sanders interrogating him about baby clothes, Elizabeth Warren asking if he planned to run HHS like a side hustle, and a surreal moment where Kennedy had to confirm that he probably said Lyme disease was a military bioweapon. By the end of the day, Capitol Police had forcibly removed more people from the chamber than a dive bar on St. Patrick’s Day.
Kennedy barely got through his opening statement before a woman exploded from the gallery like a jack-in-the-box filled with rage and science degrees.
“YOU LIE!” she screamed, holding up a sign that read VACCINES SAVE LIVES before being swiftly tackled and dragged out by Capitol Police.
Kennedy blinked rapidly, which is how you know he was hearing the voice of the worm that used to live in his brain whispering, Abort mission, Bobby. Abort mission.
A brief moment of peace settled over the room, and then it happened again.
“YOU'RE KILLING PEOPLE!” another protester howled, launching into a full-body rage spiral before security carried her out, legs kicking, like a screaming suitcase with opinions.
Kennedy took a deep breath and tried to regain his footing, but Senator Ron Wyden had been waiting for this moment like a prosecutor with a personal vendetta.
“Are you lying to us, Mr. Kennedy?” Wyden snapped, staring daggers at him.
Kennedy forced a nervous smile, but it came out looking like he’d just been told he had to fight a horse for a parking spot.
“That claim has been repeatedly debunked,” he said, attempting to sound reasonable despite an entire room full of people who were watching YouTube compilations of him saying the exact opposite.
Wyden wasn’t buying it.
“You signed a petition to restrict access to the COVID vaccine. Did you or did you not?”
Kennedy mumbled something about the petition being “misrepresented” as the air in the room thickened with sweat, bad decisions, and organic supplements.
Wyden was gearing up for a finishing blow when another protester detonated like a landmine.
“YOU’RE A FRAUD!” she shrieked as security dragged her away in a full-body lock.
Even the cops looked exhausted now.
Then came Bernie Sanders, a man who has not been in the mood for nonsense since 1972.
“Are you supportive of these baby onesies?” he demanded.
The room froze.
Kennedy’s brain crashed like a Windows 98 PC.
“Excuse me?”
Sanders lifted a printed-out photo of a baby bodysuit covered in anti-vaccine slogans.
“These are being sold by the Children’s Health Defense, the organization you founded.”
Kennedy looked like he had just accidentally eaten a ghost pepper and was trying to play it cool.
“I—I don’t have oversight over that organization anymore,” he mumbled.
Sanders cracked his knuckles like a man ready to fistfight a CEO and leaned in.
“Are you supportive of these onesies?”
Kennedy started sweating through his suit.
Laughter rippled through the room. A Republican senator actually covered his face.
Kennedy, now looking desperate for a fire alarm to pull, tried to pivot to his real passion: banning corn syrup.
Sanders wasn’t having it.
Then Elizabeth Warren took the mic, radiating pure prosecutorial energy.
“Will you commit to not taking money from pharmaceutical companies while serving as Secretary of Health?” she asked, in the tone of a woman who already knew the answer but was going to enjoy watching him squirm.
Kennedy grinned like a dog that just chewed up your furniture and is hoping you’ll laugh it off.
“I don’t think they’d want to give me money,” he chuckled.
Warren did not chuckle.
“Will you commit to not profiting from lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies while serving as HHS Secretary?”
Kennedy froze.
The color drained from his face.
“You’re asking me not to sue drug companies?” he said, voice rising.
“No, I’m not going to agree to that.”
Warren’s eyes gleamed like a hawk spotting a wounded rabbit.
“So you’ll be suing the same companies you’re supposed to regulate?”
Kennedy looked like he wanted to melt into his chair.
Then came Michael Bennet, a man who had been waiting patiently to drop a grenade into Kennedy’s lap.
"Did you say that Lyme disease was a militarily engineered bioweapon?” Bennet asked, deadpan.
Kennedy hesitated.
“I probably said that.”
The audience gasped.
Bennet cocked an eyebrow.
“Did you say that pesticides turn children transgender?”
Kennedy turned bone white.
“I don’t recall saying that.”
Bennet’s lip twitched.
“But you do recall saying Lyme disease was a bioweapon?”
Kennedy looked like he had been hit by a tranquilizer dart.
Even the Republican senators were staring at their desks, avoiding eye contact.
The hearing finally adjourned, but Kennedy is not in the clear yet.
His next grilling is scheduled for tomorrow, and there’s no telling how much worse it can get.
His opponents smell blood. His supporters are already crafting conspiracy theories about the deep state.
And if the vote ends in a deadlock, Vice President JD Vance will cast the deciding vote.
Yes, JD Vance—the political equivalent of a wet cardboard box—will determine if a man once partially controlled by a brain parasite will run America’s health system.
The nation waits in suspense. Pass the whiskey.
 
www.foxnews.com

USAID closes HQ to staffers Monday as Musk says Trump supports shutting agency down

Elon Musk, who says President Donald Trump agrees USAID should be shut down, described the government agency as "beyond repair." Musk also expressed how much he likes the president.
www.foxnews.com www.foxnews.com

He said that unlike an apple contaminated by a worm, the agency is "a bowl of worms."

"USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die," he tweeted.

"USAID was a viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America," he asserted.

"We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper.
 
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