0:06 - Introduction to Dystopian Realities
14:09 - The Trade War Erupts
38:30 - Canada's Perspective on Tariffs
41:58 - Impacts on U.S.-Canada Relations
47:49 - Personal Stories and Family Dynamics
54:58 - The Importance of Action Over Words
In this episode, I delve into the current political landscape surrounding the escalating trade tensions between the United States and Canada, particularly in the context of the ongoing fentanyl crisis. I share insights on the gravity of the situation, with stark numbers highlighting the devastating impact of fentanyl on American lives. Over the past few years, fentanyl has become the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45, with tens of thousands succumbing to its effects annually.
The discussion stems from President Trump's recent declaration of a national emergency in response to the relentless influx of illicit drugs, implicating Canada directly in the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. I dissect this policy shift, noting how it manifests as a 25% tariff on Canadian imports, aimed at pressuring the Canadian government into taking more robust actions against drug trafficking organizations. My commentary explores the political maneuvering at play and the broader implications for U.S.-Canada relations, emphasizing that such drastic measures come in light of the severe consequences on American families affected by addiction and overdose deaths.
Further, I highlight how the American response to this crisis starkly contrasts with perceptions in Canada, where many citizens remain oblivious to the near-crisis level of drug-related deaths in their southern neighbor. This episode challenges the complacency that I observe, urging listeners to consider the personal toll of the opioid epidemic, which many in the U.S. have experienced directly. I also critique the notion that economic ramifications—such as increased prices on everyday goods—should take precedence over combating this existential threat to public health.
As I unpack the reactions from the Canadian government, I express skepticism regarding their commitment to addressing the problem, questioning how a country can feign allyship while allowing a crisis to fester without meaningful intervention. I urge a reevaluation of the dialogue from a compassionate standpoint, recognizing that for many in America, issues of drug trafficking and public safety have transcended economic concern—they affect lives and relationships at their core.
I turn the discussion towards practical solutions and the importance of addressing the root of drug trafficking head-on while acknowledging the potential backlash from those who oppose tariffs based solely on economic grounds. Throughout, I emphasize that we cannot ignore the human cost of inaction, and that family structures, mental health, and the well-being of communities stand to benefit far more from courageous policy decisions than from complacency or half-measures.
Finally, I open the floor to listeners for comments and questions, encouraging them to engage critically with these ideas and share their own perspectives on how to address this multifaceted crisis.
[0:00] Good morning, everybody. It is the 2nd of February 2024, 2025. That's it. Done it.
[0:07] And a listener says, I've got through the first half of your novel, The Future. It's amazing, with many hypotheticals packed into, packed all into just one book. Thank you. Hello from dystopian communist UK. Hmm.
[0:22] This happened once, to me once, because some debris got into my eye and I couldn't get it out. Yeah, my mother used to lick my eyeballs to get things out. It was quite intimate in its own weird way, but I'm sure quite effective. But yeah, the glued shut eyes are horrible. I swear I've had a cold since October. Yeah, this is, drink lots of fluids. Yeah, appreciate that. I'm on a lot of zinc, a lot of vitamin C and some bed rest. And I also find, believe it or not, cardio, like sweating it out helps quite a bit. So cardio and some weights helps a lot. But yeah, it's a nasty bug. Like, and I haven't had, I haven't been sick like this. Oh gosh, I honestly can't remember. I remember shortly after my daughter was born, I got a bad bug, but that was like 16 years ago. And, uh, I have half of my friends have the same thing and it just kind of comes and goes. Like, it's weird. Normally you get sick, it gets bad, it gets better and you're done. But this is like, you're on the couch. No, you're okay. Couple of days. Oh, no, no. Now you've got a brain fog. Uh oh now brain fog has lifted a bit but now you have a sore throat oh sore throat's backed away a little bit now you've got a cough and it's just uh weird.
[1:38] Maybe it's to do with that fog but it's something man it's a strange, it's a strange kind of illness because I have not it's like a sine wave rather than a general arc which is the way these things go but I haven't had a flu I honestly it's been probably 30 years since I've had a flu so, oh well that's what you have when you have kids, I caught a nasty cold around New Year's and the cough lingered for about a month yeah that's right that's right.
[2:12] Yeah it was an odd it's an odd bunch of symptoms and the brain fog is tough man uh i i don't particularly mind what happens to my body just leave my brain alone but the brain fog is tough i hope you feel better soon thank you i appreciate that i went on a second date with a girl yesterday i asked her what healthy masculinity was she went silent and never answered the question, Sorry, I'm not sure I understand. You asked a very deep and complicated philosophical question on the second date. All right, well, that's an approach. I suppose that's an approach.
[3:02] So, hit me with a why if you would be interested in the trade war that is erupting between China, America, Mexico, and Canada. Hit me with a Y if you'd be interested in understanding that trade war better. How soon do I text a girl after I get her number? I would say certainly the next day. Yes, you would be, uh, you would be interested. All right. Well, we'll go over some facts and then we will go over some philosophy, kind of the usual, right?
[3:47] So the president has expanded an existing national emergency declaration, the U.S. President, of course, to include the threat posed by the influx of illicit drugs, particularly fentanyl from Canada. This action underscores the perceived inadequacy of previous measures to address this public health crisis. So, Canada legalized a bunch of the ingredients for fentanyl, and there's a bunch of other stuff to do with the TD Bank that is a little bit separate, but we'll get to that in a bit. But it's pretty wild. So, an additional 25% ad valorem rate of duty is imposed on all products from Canada, effective 1201 February 4th, 2025. This tariff aims to pressure Canada into taking more aggressive actions against drug trafficking organizations and to curb the flow of illicit drugs across the US-Canada border.
[4:40] So, and it's 25%, and then the government of Canada has responded to all kinds of tough talk. Well, their income is not threatened, but other people's will be. And so they've said, you know, basically we're gearing up for a trade war, we're going to go to the mattresses, but don't worry, we'll give you COVID-style relief. So that's the new thing, right? Ever since COVID, if the government does stuff that costs you money, they can just throw borrowed or printed money at you, and apparently it's totally fine. But America said 25% with Canada, Canada's responded with 25%, and then I think Trump has threatened to go to 50% and so on, right?
[5:23] So, the order cites a public health crisis due to drug overdoses, particularly from synthetic opioids like fentanyl, which are being smuggled from Canada. It also references increased domestic production in Canada, especially in British Columbia, contributing to international drug distribution. The link to terrorism is primarily related to the designation of cartels and other organizations as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists. That's part of an executive order on January 20th, 2025. So, this is a policy shift from Biden to Trump. They're using trade policy as a tool to combat drug trafficking. So, Trump posted on social media today, I've implemented a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada, 10% on Canadian energy, and a 10% additional tariff on China. This was done through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act because of the major threat of illegal aliens and deadly drugs killing our citizens, including fentanyl. We need to protect Americans, and it is my duty as president to ensure the safety of all. I made a promise on my campaign to stop the flood of illegal aliens and drugs from pouring across our borders, and Americans overwhelmingly voted in favor of it.
[6:44] So, what is known about the production and distribution of fentanyl in relation to this order? So, over 90% of the precursor chemicals used to manufacture fentanyl are produced in China. These chemicals are not fentanyl itself, but are critical for its synthesis. While China has taken steps to regulate some fentanyl-related substances following U.S. Requests, manufacturers often modify compounds to evade these regulations, leading to new forms of fentanyl analogues. In Mexico, Mexican cartels have become significant producers of fentanyl using precursor chemicals imported from China to manufacture the drug in clandestine labs within.
[7:30] Mexico. The majority of fentanyl enters the U.S. through the U.S.-Mexico border. It's often smuggled in by American citizens who are involved in more than 86% of fentanyl trafficking cases between 2017 and 2021. There's a growing concern about fentanyl and other synthetic opioids being smuggled from Canada, especially from BC, where there's heightened domestic production. So fentanyl can be disguised as legitimate mail or products, making it challenging to detect, especially through postal and courier services. Fentanyl, of course, is smuggled in both through official ports of entry, less monitored water areas often concealed in vehicles or on individuals. So that is a very big deal. Now, of course, there's stuff to do with terrorism, which is important as well. But the idea that you want to sort of figure out how the fentanyl is getting in and try to get to respond to it, is pretty important, right? Let me just... I want to get this... Last I heard, it was about 100,000 a year.
[8:59] Okay, so in 2022, around 73,838 people in the United States died from a drug overdose that involved fentanyl. Because it's crazy, man. It's absolutely crazy. It really is kind of a war, right? In 2021 that's a number I was thinking of over 107,000 Americans died of overdoses the highest total ever recorded, 71,000 of these 2021 overdose deaths involved synthetic opioids primarily fentanyl, so fentanyl of course is a powerful synthetic opioid 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin or morphine, Every day, over 150 people die from overdoses involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Now, of course, this is not people who are necessarily addicted to fentanyl. This can be people who just, they take a pill at a party, which of course is unwise. But they don't necessarily know that they're taking fentanyl because it's such a tiny dose that can kill you.
[10:13] In 2022 alone fentanyl caused about 200 deaths per day over a quarter million americans have died from fentanyl overdoses since 2018 fentanyl overdoses more than doubled between 2019 and 2022, with over 73,000 deaths in 2022.
[10:35] So, that is a Vietnam a year, right?
[10:46] That is a Vietnam a year. I'm just going to double-check this number. Oh, Vietnam War. No, it's worse than that. The Vietnam War was 58,220 U.S. military. So it is, give or take, a Vietnam and a third Vietnam and a half. So if you are an America first if you are interested in protecting, your citizens then this has to be sorted out, the slaughter this is a form of bioweapon warfare, almost.
[11:57] So, and this is why when people get upset about this, like there was a, I can't remember, some American politician was like, well, but tomatoes are going to get more expensive and this and that and the other. I mean, it is tone deaf in the extreme. It is tone deaf in the extreme because most Americans now exist within a social and family structure where somebody has been grievously harmed or killed by these drugs.
[12:36] So if you have of course lived in a family structure or you're in a family structure where someone has been harmed or killed by these drugs i'm not sure you're fucking concerned about the price of tomatoes this is the disconnect you know there was some woman who was like oh well without the illegal immigrants, when white women can't get blueberries for their smoothies, like it's completely bizarre to me. It's a very bizarre kind of mindset for me to even think about that people are like, yes, but the price of tomatoes and blueberries might be a little tougher to get. It's like, so a Vietnam and a half a year from this evil shit. And people are like, oh but the price of gas might go up a little bit or like I'm sort of missing I'm missing a context here if you guys can help me out like how could anyone think that this is something, that is going to be compelling to people.
[13:48] I don't, I don't understand. I mean, if I had a family member who died of overdoses and somebody said, well, but, you know, the short-term cost of tackling some of these overdoses is that the price of tomatoes, tomatoes might go up a little, be like, it's, it's, it's completely bizarre to me.
[14:09] I don't, I don't fundamentally understand this processing, other than I just, it's supremely cold hearted people I don't want to over explain this but I don't I don't understand how this is considered to be compelling at all.
[14:36] But let's let's talk about it a guy named Brian Tyler Cohen, said Trump just launched a trade war against Canada over fentanyl. The U.S. Seized, wait for it, 43 pounds at the U.S.-Canada border last year. 43 pounds. And according to Bennett's phylactery, that's 10 million lethal doses. Would you be happy with cousins dropping like flies, foaming at the mouth and stroking out and having heart attacks and dying if it meant that you could save 10% on the price of your tomatoes. Like, I don't, I don't understand. And I don't mean to sound all kinds of precious like, oh, like I genuinely don't understand how that is considered to be a compelling argument.
[15:41] It's absolutely bizarre to me. I mean, people are dying by the stadium load and dying in the most horrible kinds of ways. And even if they don't die, they can be injured, they can be crippled, they can be brain dead. And so, I mean, the people who die is just part of the equation. Or they can become addicts, and it destroys the family structure. It's wild to me that all of this misery and agony would somehow be countered by, ah, yes, but the price of tomatoes might go up a little bit. I don't understand that.
[16:40] And wouldn't there be just a kind of empathy thing as well? I mean, I don't often think about what it was like. I don't really think about what it's like to run a country, because it's a pretty appalling situation. But if I was running a country, and my country was being used as a conduit to bring drugs that slaughtered people by the stadium fall into another country, I would feel terrible, for this other country and I would do whatever it took to solve that problem.
[17:20] I mean Canada and the US have the largest undefended border they're allies they're trade partners and it's like then why, is it so hard for the Canadian government to do something about all of these drugs flowing in or the criminals else.
[17:43] Now, one of the things, uh, sorry, let's see here. Most people in Canada would disagree that Canada is complicit in the problem. I feel like muggle Canadians have their mindset locked in 1990s Canada, peacekeeper, freedom supporting progressive. Yeah, I mean, who cares what the average person thinks? Average person doesn't think. The average person regurgitates propaganda. I would no more take the average person's quote thoughts than I would eat vomit that they threw up on the sidewalk. It would be repulsive. I'm not going to let that shit in my head. So yes, what normies quote think is beyond irrelevant to anybody with half a brain, right? I'm not including you in that, but yeah. So what most Canadians think is It's absolutely beyond irrelevant. So weak people don't balance risk and reward. Weak people fight no matter what, especially when it's other people who are going to suffer from the conflict or from the combat. So the countries like Mexico and Canada, they cannot win this trade war. Right they cannot win this straight war so Mexican exports to the US as a percentage of GDP 35%.
[19:11] So over a third of their GDP is Mexico exporting to the US 35% US exports to Mexico as a percentage of GDP 1.2%, 1.2 percent what can you say right canada exports to the u.s as a percentage of gdp 22 percent u.s exports to canada as a percentage of gdp 1.5 percent so 10 to 15 times size differential, and they think they can win.
[19:55] That's crazy. You can't. You can't win.
[20:07] So, in the Norwegian news, I know we're dipping over to Norway a bit, in Norwegian news, they say, well, Trump has these sky-high tariffs. Norway is saying, Trump has these sky-high tariffs. Here are just a few of Norway's import tariffs. People are going to get a good education on economics if they want over the next month or two. So the import tariffs on cheese coming into Norway is 277%. Beef, 344%. Lamb, 429%. Milk, 443%. Potatoes, 191%. Beets, ah, yes. What, uh, what Beyonce wants you to bring. Beets, 158%. Roses, 249%. Bakers yeast, 21%. Cassine-based glue, 21.2%. Women's tops, 10.7%. Ah, lovely. Yeah, so they have almost a 500% tariff on certain goods. So they're like, oh, but Trump. Oh my God. It's crazy. All right, let's get a little bit more.
[21:36] So Trump imposes a 25% tariff on Canadian goods. Apparently he's being a real bully, but it wasn't too long ago that Canada imposed a 250% to 300% tariff on American dairy. So, I mean, it's all kind of boring, but, you know, these kinds of... He's just terrible for doing 10% of what we did.
[22:07] Fentanyl is now the number one. This is according to Rapid Response 47. Fentanyl is now the number one killer of Americans aged 18 to 45. Its ingredients are produced in China. Mexico and Canada aren't stopping its flow across our borders until they cooperate to stop the flow of poison into our country, they will all pay a tariff. It's a little hard to argue. Now, of course, with China, there's the continual problem with intellectual property as well, like the copy-paste stuff that goes on. So, that's a big issue. Canada's GDP, 2.14 trillion, U.S. GDP, 27.36 trillion. If Canada were an American state, it would be number four in GDP. So when you're faced with an overwhelming foe, standing and fighting, especially when it's other people, like it's like the generals, generals sat and the lines on the map moved from side to side, it's an old Pink Floyd song. And so the generals are like, we're going to stand. It's like, well, you're not going to stand, right? But other people are going to suffer.
[23:30] The taxes economy is larger than canada's canada's also planning to target republican states in retaliation for trump's tariffs which is wild and i'm i don't really follow politics anymore but justin trudeau resigned after being ousted by his own caucus he has no legitimacy to speak or act for canada but nonetheless uh and of course john flynn on x points out why are people getting so freaked out about a 25 tariff our own government has already been charging us about 100 on many things and it's true if you buy a beer it's 20 bucks and change in the duty free but if you buy it from a government liquor store it's 42 bucks.
[24:22] So Jeff Park wrote you simply have not yet grasped how amazing a sustained tariff war is going to be for Bitcoin in the long run yeah BC Premier David Eby, Eby says he directed BC liquor sales to immediately stop buying American liquor from red states and remove the highest selling brands from those states from the shelves of the province's liquor stores, it's of course terrible for the reputation of Canada, that Canada would rather have a trade war than stop Poisson from entering its supposed ally to the South, right?
[25:06] Trump has said that if Canada retaliates on the 25% tariffs, he's going to double them. And Pierre Poilievre also is a luck stop. There's this sort of younger sibling hyper-aggression with other people paying the cost is really kind of sad, right? Anthony Pompliano, that's a great account on X, wrote, the second bill that George Washington signed as the first American president was to establish tariffs on all imported goods. The Coast Guard was literally created to enforce the tariffs. Tariffs are one of the most American traditions we have.
[25:51] Maxime Bernier says, it's important to understand that the 25% tariffs announced by President Trump today are not imposed on Canada, they will be paid by American consumers and businesses who buy goods imported from Canada. Tariffs are a tax, and Americans who will have to pay more or go without our products will be the first to suffer. So this sort of, I understand the argument, and I, you know, I remember a friend of mine talking about, thank you, David. Oh, yeah, for freedom dot com slash donate or to tip would be very much appreciated. Did quite a lot of work with James on tariffs this morning and last night. So if you could help out, I would really appreciate it.
[26:32] So I understand. So there's this old argument that says if you get Japan and America, right? America comes up with a cure for cancer and Japan comes up with a cure for AIDS. But then Japan says to America, we're not going to take your cure for cancer because we're going to put a tariff on it or block it or ban it, would that make sense then for America to not take the cure for AIDS? Well, no, of course it would make sense. Even if Japan doesn't want America's cure for cancer, America should get a hold of Japan's cure for AIDS. I understand all of that, but the problem is this is just back to the one variable situation. This is just the one variable situation, like that's the only variable. Americans probably don't particularly like their citizens being poisoned at a massive industrial scale and slaughtered by the stadium full every year.
[27:30] And of course there are massive economic issues as well, so it costs depending on how you count it depending on where you are a couple hundred thousand dollars to raise a child if that child dies of fentanyl all of that investment is for nothing. It's worse than for nothing, because then you also have heartache, depression, you know, parents who have to bury their children are not exactly the most motivated and enthusiastic participants in the economy, so.
[27:58] It's just absolutely catastrophic. Even if you just look at it from the economy, it is absolutely catastrophic for the economy for people to die, particularly young people to die, before they even really pay any taxes, before they get their life started, and there's a lot of young people.
[28:17] Even if you take the human element out of it, which would be completely bizarre. But the idea that, well, you know, there are these tariffs and they're going to be costly. Well, first of all, they're not, right? They're not. So people make this sort of fundamental mistake as if there's only one variable to change, right? So they say, oh, well, they put a 25. So this is the trade from the US to Canada. And you put a 25% extra tariff on it. And the price of all of that goes up 25% and that's deducted from the US economy. It's like, nope, nope, that's actually not what happens because people change their behavior based upon the tariffs. They stop buying from Canada and they start buying domestically. Now, from a domestic government standpoint, and I'm sorry, this is like basic 101 public choice stuff, but from a domestic government, having jobs created locally rather than buying things from overseas is vastly better. Now, in a pure free market, you could make the case either way. But for governments, you absolutely want to get people off welfare. You want to get people off unemployment insurance or employment insurance. You want to get people off disability if there's any way that they can work. And the way you want to do that is to raise wage, to have raises wage, to have raises, to have wages raised. Sorry about that. I will, I will be more coherent after the cold.
[29:47] So how do you raise wages? Well, you increase demand. How do you increase demand? Well, one of the ways that you can increase demand is to stimulate the domestic productions of goods and services rather than buying from overseas. Now, I get, you buy from overseas, if it's cheaper, more efficient, that's more money that you can use to build things in your domestic country, but that's very convoluted. But for sure, if you put tariffs on, about goods coming into the country, then it will simulate domestic production. So, it is, uh, all the behavior is going to change. Somebody wrote, uh, banning American beer is more of a public service than a retaliation. What is it? There's an old joke in Canada. What's the, uh, what is the same between sex in a canoe and American beer? Well, they're both effing close to water.
[30:57] I like this that the uh the world bank according to carter hughes the world bank quote misplaced 41 billion dollars in climate change funds and no public records dealing detailing where the money is has been found by investigators in october, so tom quiggan wrote about this understanding the trump tariffs remember i said we're going talked about the TD Bank. So there's this fellow named Barat Masrani, born in Uganda. He is the overall head of TD Bank of Canada and its foreign holdings. Under his quote leadership, TD Bank ran a massive money laundering operation that was working for Mexican cartels who were moving Chinese fentanyl. TD Bank was now pay a $3 billion fine put in place by the United States department of justice nothing has happened to this fellow other than he has to bail out the bank early with a bunch of money canada has done nothing to him nor any of the other risk financial office involved uh officers involved so if this is true if this is true uh then uh that would be one reason why.
[32:10] Alright let's get to some other questions and comments, now I mean I guess and I don't mean to be overly insulting but the libertarian purists are autistically screeching about tariffs being bad yep I absolutely get that I absolutely get that, but tariffs are less bad than, a hundred thousand people dying a year, right? You understand that, right? You know, sometimes in life, a purist is someone who says we never have to choose between two bad options, right? That's what a purist says, that there's a perfect, wonderful option with no downside, which never exists in politics or economics. So, I'm fine with people making the case against tariffs, but if they're not talking about the fentanyl deaths, then it doesn't matter, right?
[33:26] So, if you look at, this is Saigara and Jetty wrote, trade-weighted average tariff rate via Claude. U.S. 2%, Mexico 4.3%, Canada 3.1%, EU 3%, China 4.4%, India 6.9%, Japan 2.5%. So that's quite different. Charles Benoit wrote, it's so much worse than that. Trade weighted lets countries off the hook from their protective tariffs that exclude imports. and also the use of tariff water. Apparently that's an important term. And I won't... WTO-bound tariff rates. USA 3.4%, Japan 4.5%, European Union 4.9%, United Kingdom 6%, Canada 6.6%, and it goes all the way up to India at 48.5%, Mexico 36.2%, and Pakistan 60.9%. So again, the US is the lowest. The U.S. is the lowest. So the fact that it's doing what other countries have done much more for decades is people without context. They don't do the research. They don't understand things.
[34:47] All right, but here's the thing, man. Understanding. Understanding how big the U.S. Economy is, is hard to process. Again, this is from Sagar Anjedi. He wrote, the U.S. Is 4% of the world's population, but roughly 30% of global consumption. Tariffs work for us precisely because we have the most desirable consumer market on earth and can force concessions in a way no other country can so with global consumption at approximately 53 to 55 trillion and u.s consumption at roughly 14 sorry 15 to 16 trillion we can calculate the 15.5 trillion u.s divided by the 54 trillion global u.s is 28 to 29 percent of global consumption. This high percentage reflects several factors. High per capita income, well-developed consumer credit markets, strong retail infrastructure, cultural emphasis on consumption, large middle and upper middle class, high discretionary spending levels. So, the fact that the U.S. has by far the largest economy that people are desperate to gain access to.
[36:12] And that it should not throw its weight around to stop poison from entering across its borders, is incomprehensible.
[36:29] I mean, if you're going to say, well, America and Canada are best friends and allies and so on, then you should stop the flow of fentanyl and other poisons into America, right? I mean, if your landlord says, oh, yeah, we're best buddies, and then he allows for fungus to get blown into your apartment through the vents, making you sick because it makes him money, would that be believable? I do not think so.
[37:07] All right, so let's get to our... Yeah, so people are like, well, trade wars are bad. It's like, okay, so just tell me that you don't care about people dying from fentanyl. Okay. It's not a variable. And if that's not a variable, in your equation I mean I've done call in shows listen I'm not trying to say that I'm some deep knowledgeable person about this but I certainly have done call in shows with people who've lost children to drugs and it is, absolutely brutal on the family, that there is really almost nothing worse, there's really almost nothing worse that can happen to a human being, so if the only thing that people are talking about is the trade war and they're not talking about i don't know the terrorism and the fentanyl then they're just telling me that they are, you know to me at least just mouth-breathing sociopaths who only look at one variable and don't care about, children dying from fentanyl?
[38:24] All right, let's get to your comments.
[38:31] The Canadian government's theory is that America implementing tariffs will hurt Americans, and yet they fail to mention that Canada implementing retaliation tariffs will hurt Canadians.
[38:55] All right, let's look it up. I mean, what is Canada's angle here? No, we don't want to stop the drug influx. Never mind the fact that they look ridiculous and are obviously going to lose.
[39:08] Well, the special relationship, I know that's generally referred to with regards to England, But I think England and America, like the fact that England is threatening to arrest Americans for social media posts, is the whole Anglo-American alliance stuff, the whole English-speaking alliance stuff is all falling apart. Because this is a near permanent destruction of U.S.-Canada relationships, right? of the U.S.-Canada relationship, which has been an incredibly productive relationship through most of its history. So this is the destruction of it. Because if America, I assume that Donald Trump has been begging Canada to do something about this fentanyl and this terrorism for quite some time. I'm sure he talked about it in the first term and so on, but he didn't have quite the same mandate as he has in this term. So I assume that Trump has been trying to talk about this with Canadians and Mexicans, and I'm sure he's going to talk about it And Scheingold, I think, is the new leader of Mexico. And so if you say to someone, I'm desperate for you to stop all of this poison coming into my country and killing my people, and they're like, yeah, we'll get to it. And they don't. That is.
[40:34] That is not coming back. so Jack Posobiec when Bernier was talking about the tariffs Jack Posobiec said why don't you talk about the fentanyl at all.
[40:52] Why don't you talk about the fentanyl? And that's very interesting. So is it going to... The people who understand this stuff are very clearly seeing not just what, the Canadian government is doing, but also what the Canadians are doing. Because the Canadians, you know, like the boomers can be programmed to do anything, right? The boomers are just, most part, blank NPC receptacles. So now they've been programmed to just dislike Americans, right? Even though they probably have a bunch of homes, second homes in America. But so this is one of the reasons why what your government does matters in a democracy because it reflects on the will of the population. And so if the Americans are seeing that the Canadians are cheering on this trade war without mentioning the fentanyl or terrorism at all, Well, that is very important.
[41:59] And that is not, that goodwill is not coming back anytime soon.
[42:14] Does Trump have specific things he wants to do? Well, the general perception is that the Canadian law enforcement knows where all of these fentanyl production labs are. So just arrest and stop it. All right. All right, let's get to your comments here. Any other questions, I'm happy to chat. You can buy things from other places. You know, I mean, there's some stuff that you can't grow much of in America, but, you know, people, they want their country back. They don't care about the price of bananas and tomatoes.
[43:21] James says, I know, but it's a serious topic and not fair to people in Canada who are frustrated with their government for its policies. But Trudeau called an election and was voted back in. So Canadians are going to be judged in a democracy, right? The Canadians are going to be judged by the government they have. All right. Fentanyl is murderous, yeah, it really is. Good parenting stops children from taking drugs. Maybe we should work on good parenting and stay-at-home mothers, and men not demanding a roommate and instead demanding a wife. I see so many men calling their wives lazy if they stay at home.
[44:26] Well um let me ask you this my friend polaris uh what efforts have you made to spread peaceful parenting what successful efforts have you made to spread peaceful parenting i mean i've made the book free and i've of course been talking about it for 20 years done debates and podcasts and done presentations and all of that and wrote an entire book which i've handed out for free and it has yet to make any even insignificant cultural impact. It's like it never happened. But maybe you're a zillion times better than I am at this. And so if you're saying, well, we should do the promote parenting thing, promote peaceful parenting, I'm fantastic. I'm thrilled. So here, tell me what you have done that has been very successful in promoting peaceful parenting.
[45:19] Because honestly you just sound like a bitter do nothing kind of person to be honest right and you know lecturing me or people here that we should promote peaceful parenting, but you know i'm certainly happy to hear what you've done what have you done that has been really successful if you could give me links uh to to where you've posted about it and where people who you've engaged with people about it i'd be fantastic but if your general argument is we you should promote peaceful parenting and you've done really fuck all to do that. Then, uh, that's just a, a bunch of nonsense noise, right?
[45:58] All right.
[46:13] Somebody says, last year I told my father I don't want to see him for the rest of the year because I'm afraid he'll scream at my 19-month-old son like my grandfather did to me, and he did when I was eight years old. He said he would get therapy, but so far he hasn't been, and, quote, can't formulate the problem in his mind and justifies that he did his best as a parent. I've tried reasoning with him, but with no results, I see less and less of a chance to ever want to see him or my mother again. And listen, I mean, I may not be the best person to talk about with this stuff anymore. I mean, this is so far in the rear view for me, and I'm doing my best to sort of empathize and so on, but I have not talked to my mother in more than a quarter century.
[47:01] My father is dead and I have nothing to do with anyone else in my family. And it's been almost the same amount of time. I mean, listen, I understand you're in the throes of it. You're in the midst of it. And I really sympathize with that, but it was such a great decision for me, such a positive decision for me. It saved my life. It saved my life because there's no way I would have the wife I have or be the father I am or do the work in the world that I do if I hadn't done all of that. So while I deeply sympathize, you probably want to talk with people who are going through it. Because for me, it's just like, well, so your father won't apologize, won't take responsibility, so dump him.
[47:50] Like if he's still abusive and still justifies the abuse that he did and might threaten your son.
[48:05] Did you see that the Colombian president backed down on sending back the deportees after Trump threatened tariffs on Colombian goods? Well, that was more than tariffs, right? Looks like the bargaining chip works. Well, that's the interesting question about tax on remittances, right? So remittances are money sent out of America to other countries. Tax on remittances would be interesting. i mean one of the ways that you would deal with mass immigration is you would tax remittances very highly especially because sometimes the immigrants come they end up on welfare and then they're taking american taxpayer money and sending it to foreign countries which of course is completely, destructive uh so you would simply tax right the the third world countries have a massive incentive to send people to America or other countries so that they get money sometimes through work, sometimes through social programs, and then they send that money back, which is great for the economy, at least in the short run, for the country sending the people, right?
[49:25] So the Colombian president, yeah, I mean, he recognized that he was going up against a Goliath and he is not. And so he backed down. But, you know, a lot of the other people are going to talk tough and thump their chest. And of course, other people have to suffer from that, right? It's pretty crazy that remittances are even allowed.
[49:59] Alright, any other last questions, comments? It's a low-tip day, and I'm not getting any response back from the guy who seemed to be very keen on spreading peaceful parenting. You know, just in general, if you think something needs to be done, just fucking do it.
[50:15] Just do it. Right? So if people say to me, well, the important thing is to spread peaceful parenting, I'm like, show me where you've done it. Like, because I don't want to waste time or give honor to people who are just telling other people to do stuff that they consider are important. I mean, if a fat guy tells me it's really essential to maintain a healthy weight, I'm not going to listen to him about anything. Yeah, it's important to spread peaceful parenting. What have you done? I know I've certainly done my part. So what have you done? And if you haven't done much, why would I care about what you think other people should do? If it was important to you, you'd do it yourself. I'm an empiricist. I don't care what you say. I care what you empirically have done. I don't care what you say. I care what you empirically have done. And I don't, you know, this is my year of bluntness, right? So, if you're going to say to me, it's really, really important to spread peaceful parenting, I'll expect you to be able to show me 20 bookmarks of places where you've spread peaceful parenting, and engage with people, and share things, and all of that.
[51:29] Someone says i hear your voice in my head echoing that all the time if you see something that needs to be done just fucking do it yeah i thought the world needed more philosophy did i go and complain to everyone do you think that uh did i just go and complain to other people that that things needed to be done somebody says you are so correct equals no one should state anything on here they should only do. Well, that's passive aggressive bullshit, right? I mean, that's really sad. It's kind of pathetic, honestly. You can state things on here. Of course you can, right? You can say, I really think peaceful parenting is really important. And here's what I've done. Here's what I've found. I've tried these 20 different things. Here's what I have found to be the most effective, right? So here's what I've done. I mean, I know listeners who have decided to print up cards with peacefulparenting.com and leave them around places. Is that ideal? I don't know. Is it something? Yes, it is. So I'll listen to them when they say it's important. You are always passive-aggressive, Stef.
[52:49] I know I am, but what are you? Edward says, I post a book on Twitter when people start threads about how good it is to hit children. That's great. That's great. And again, what sort of response are you getting? Are you talking about it in your personal life? Are you intervening with people as a whole? If you see people being aggressive to their children, do you intervene in public so the children see it? I've certainly done all of that stuff. It's not fun. Posting stuff is fine. There's nothing wrong with that. Stop being a victim. So now you laugh because it's right. Oh my God. That's really funny. That's really funny. All right. Yeah. I mean, if you're doing stuff, but here's the thing. Like I see, I check what's going on in the community, like every day. And I haven't seen any posts and maybe there've been some that I've missed, but I haven't seen any posts in the recent, in recent memory where people have said, here's what I have done to spread peaceful parenting. I've tried this approach. I've tried this approach. It's important to me, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And listen, that's fine. I'm not saying that you have to do it at all. But then don't say it's really important to do.
[54:14] Then don't say that it's really important. If you're not doing it, can you imagine if I was just whining and complaining that people needed to do more to spread philosophy? I mean, I've done the most to spread philosophy, and again, it's mostly the technology, although I certainly do have a certain amount of skill in this area, but I've done more to spread philosophy than any other single philosopher in history. Because I've had like 100 million views and downloads of pretty core and essential philosophy. And again, it's the technology, this is not me in some magic, it is the technology, I'm the right place at the right time. But as far as spreading philosophy, I've done the most.
[54:59] And I say that with due humility and gratitude for the technology and gratitude for you, the supporters who've made all of this possible. But yeah.
[55:21] So, I didn't just say things need to be done. I do them. I do them. All right. Dylan says, a lot of guys I work with, I talk with them about peaceful parenting. They just laugh that I don't agree with hitting and screaming at kids. Smash my head. Right. And I'm sorry about that. But that's an example of something that doesn't work, right? Somebody says I think I've spread peaceful parenting to 20 people at least and what I've learned is what a monumental what a monumental task it is to get people to even listen and consider looks like a near impossible undertaking I get that it's worth it and will be great in the long run but it's an uphill starts for sure that's very true, someone says I talk with my sister about her childhood I use peaceful parenting as a valuable reference that's the most I've done so far so that's not that's not harmful that's not harmful.
[56:14] Oh, is he still, he's still yapping. I was here to listen to something important, yet all you do is say how great you are and then play victim if someone says something you don't like. Yeah, you're kind of a nasty specimen, really. Yeah, that's just nasty. I'm just, I'm just calling you out, right? I'm just calling you out. People call me out. That's fine. You'll survive. Peaceful Parenting has really helped me with my kids and explaining my views to my husband. Thanks for that, Stafford. You're very welcome. And I really do appreciate it. Of course, if you're implementing it in your own life, that's, that's very important as well. So I really do appreciate all of that. It is great, great to see. And I'm not trying to criticize people. I mean, it is not necessarily your job to spread peaceful parenting. I'm just saying for the people who say it's really important to spread, I have every right to ask, what have you done to spread it? I mean, I don't know, maybe you're just used to saying things without people.
[57:07] I'm an empiricist, so it's nice that you have this sentiment, but I want to see how it's actually played out in practice, right? If it hasn't played out in practice, then the good thing is I don't have to listen to the stuff that you were talking about. And, you know, you're just a talker, right? And Lord knows, we all know people who are just talkers, right? They just say stuff, things should happen, this should happen, this should be different, this should be better, and they don't actually get off their ass and do anything about it. So you're just a yapper, as my daughter would say, you're a yapper. And that's fine, it's just that nobody has to take anything you say with any seriousness, right? If you want to be taken seriously about things that you claim to be important, you should do something about them.
[57:50] It's not that complicated. I mean, I measure. I just did this whole show yesterday. It'll be out over the next day or two, I'm sure, which is an examination of the Proverbs. By your fruits shall ye know them, right? How do you know an apple tree is an apple tree? Because it produces apples. And how do you know that someone cares about some moral thing? Well, they've done something about it in a practical, real way. If they haven't done anything about it, then they don't care about it. They're just making noise. They'd rather talk about how important they are and how much they care about virtue, but they don't actually want to go out and do any real difficult work of virtue in the world. I mean, we all know people like that, and I just don't, I'm not supporting that. There's no hate in me for it, but I don't want to support that. And I don't want to, enable people's delusions about their own virtues, that all you have to do is say how you think the world should be and complain that it's not that way without actually doing something about it. If you want to go and do something about it, that's fine. Then I'll start listening after you've done it for a while. But it's like, it's the armchair quarterbacks. It's the people who were like, oh, this and that and the other should happen, with business. And it's like, well, have you ever actually run a business?
[59:15] You know, like all these people who were like, You know, wages are too low. It's like, well, have you ever started a business and bid up the wages by hiring people? Well, no. Well, then why would I care? You're just saying stuff. It's like all the people who were like, we should take in more migrants. It's like, to your house? No. Okay. Well, then you're just making noise. It's just noise. And I know that people can get the drug of virtue by talking about virtue. Okay. But I'm just not going to participate in that. You know, if somebody's 300 pounds, and they refuse to diet and exercise and they're gaining weight and they say, I'm slimmer than I used to be, I'm not going to participate in that. I'm just not going to agree with their self-assessment because that's not nice to people. It's not nice to people to participate in their falsehoods. It's not kind. It's not generous. It is bad for them and it's bad for you. So, if somebody who's 300 pounds goes to 330 pounds and they say, I'm really losing weight, I'm going to say, but you're not. No, you're gaining weight. Like, if you're going to come in my face and tell me that you're losing weight, I'm not going to say, oh, yes, you very much, you've lost a lot of weight. How nice, how good. It's like, I'm not a slave that way. If people say stuff that's false, I'm going to say, that's false.
[1:00:44] Because I'm not a slave. right? And that's what slaves do, is they have to nod and agree.
[1:00:56] With lies, right? So you understand that people saying falsehoods and demanding that you agree with them is a humiliation ritual. It's a humiliation ritual. So people who are aggressive and say x y and z really aggressively they are engaged in generally in a humiliation ritual where you have to agree or they'll get aggressive, i mean and i'm just i'm just not going to participate in that, i'm just not going to participate in that, because i'm not going to treat people like children so when you're when your kids are little when they're pounding away on the piano you say oh that's lovely or whatever right because they're little kids right i'm not going to treat adults like that if somebody plays piano badly and asks me what i think i'm going to say that's not very good right i mean now if you've only been practicing for a couple of weeks maybe that's all right as far as that goes but objectively it's not very good right so if someone says it's really important to spread peaceful parenting then i'm going to ask them what they've done about it and if they haven't then i'm not going to pretend that, that I'm, I'm not going to pretend that, that they believe anything that they're saying or that they would care about it at all. They just want people to, they want people to perceive them as good people. They don't want to actually do the hard work of being good people.
[1:02:25] Somebody says, I saw a vid from the Jolly Heretic. Talks about how virtue signalers are particularly nasty psychopaths. In fact, how is that right? I'm not calling, I'm not saying this listener is that way, but I'm just saying that if, and listen, if you want to do good in the world, I applaud that. I think that's great. If you want to do good in the world, great. But you understand that most people only talk about virtue. They won't do a goddamn thing about spreading it. They just talk about virtue. They won't do because spreading actually spreading virtue is a dangerous game.
[1:02:59] Right actually spreading virtue actually doing good is a dangerous game and people would much rather much would much rather yap about it than do it because yapping about it is safe and doing something about it is risky if you start to talk to people about iq or or peaceful parenting or other sort of controversial or contentious topics they can get mad at you they can be blowback, they can work to get you fired. And I'm not saying you have to do any of that. Again, it's a free will situation. But then don't say that it's super important to do. That's all. Just say, yeah, I'm too scared to spread virtue. And look, I'm not going to come down on you about that. I understand that. I understand that, trust me. So I'm not going to come down on you like a ton of bricks for saying, I'm too nervous to really spread virtue. Like, I don't want to talk about peaceful parenting with the people in my life because they're just going to get mad at me or ostracize me. And okay, that's fine. Whether you want those people in your life is a whole other question, but it's just honesty. That's all that's really I'm looking for. It's just honesty.
[1:04:13] But the people who were like, yeah, super important to spread peaceful parenting, what have you done Stef you're a jerk it's like okay look I don't mean to be the guy who takes away your dopamine of I'm so moral delusion, but it's just talk you're just yapping you're just yapping it's not a real thing.
[1:04:37] So alright well thanks everyone I'm sorry it's just a short show but I'm probably going to go face plant on the couch for a little bit more I really appreciate everyone dropping by today If you are listening later, freedomain.com slash donate to help out the show would be very humbly and deeply and gratefully appreciated. And don't forget all of the great things you get as a subscriber at fdrurl.com slash locals. You get all the AIs, 12 hours on the French Revolution. You get more than 100 spicy, spicy premium podcasts and call-in shows, stuff that was way too volatile for the general stream. Really great stuff up there. You can go to premium.freedomain.com to check that out. get well soon I will certainly do my best and have yourself an absolutely wonderful Sunday my friends lots of love talk to you soon bye.
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