Attention to the Unseen

If Donald Trump truly cared about the fentanyl crisis, he would focus on where the drug is being consumed rather than where it originates. Where sadness is endemic, there is hunger for relief, but instead of addressing the root causes of societal pain, Trump is implementing policies that will produce even more pain. In Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography (2014), Richard Rodriguez wrote: If you would understand the tension between Mexico and the United States that is playing out along our…

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CBC reports: Ontario Premier Doug Ford has ordered the Liquor Control Board of Ontario to strip its shelves of American products in response to the U.S. imposing 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian imports starting Tuesday. “Every year, LCBO sells nearly $1 billion worth of American wine, beer, spirits and seltzers. Not anymore,” said Ford in a statement Sunday morning. Ford says American liquor will be removed from LCBO shelves “starting Tuesday.” The premier said the LCBO, as the…

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By Matt Fitzpatrick, Flinders University With only a few weeks until Germany’s election, Elon Musk has unambiguously thrown his support behind the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. In a video address to a party rally last week, he appeared to urge Germans to “move on” from any “past guilt” related to the Holocaust. It’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything. Troublingly, the AfD…

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  The Guardian reports: Mark Carney, the favourite to replace Justin Trudeau as the Canadian prime minister, has vowed that his country is “going to stand up to a bully” after Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on goods coming in from Canada. There are now 25% tariffs on goods coming into the US from Canada and Mexico, while China is being hit with tariffs of 10% on imported goods, leading some economists to fear the outbreak of a full-on, tit-for-tat…

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Rachael Bade writes: For all his bluster about “government efficiency” these days, President Donald Trump has never been comfortable as a scissor-happy, cost-cutting deficit warrior. He barreled into a Republican Party a decade ago that was dominated at the time by the debt-minded politics of Paul Ryan and the tea party movement and single-handedly shut down talk of slashing Social Security and Medicare. This week, his aversion to austerity showed its face again — and it portends strife ahead for…

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The New York Times reports: The most challenging day in decades for air traffic controllers, safety inspectors and other Federal Aviation Administration employees started with profound questions about a deadly crash the night before — and ended with an email urging them to resign from their jobs. The email, sent from President Trump’s Office of Personnel and Management to employees across the sprawling federal government, arrived just before 8:30 p.m. Thursday — almost exactly 24 hours after an air crash…

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