"It does look intentional. It’s like Joe Biden wants to punish the people who didn’t vote for him and opening up the floodgates to the border is one way to do it."
Said J.D. Vance, quoted in "J.D. Vance’s claim that Biden is targeting ‘MAGA voters’ with fentanyl," a WaPo Fact Checker piece by Glenn Kessler.
I know this is a "4 Pinocchios" review, but I haven't read it yet. I just want to make some observations of my own before seeing how Kessler frames this.
1. Vance did not say what the headline attributes to him. The Yale Law School graduate has careful weasel words: "If you wanted.. how better ... ? ... It does look intentional. It’s like Joe Biden wants to punish... and opening up the floodgates... is one way." He's speculating. What Biden is doing makes it look as though he has the intent to do what is the predictable effect of his actions.
2. Vance's reason is the same kind of reasoning that Critical Race Theory analysts and radical feminists use to find systemic racism and sexism. You hypothesize that those in power achieve nefarious goals by adopting policies that are superficially neutral but have a disparate impact that is intentional. That's something else you learn at Yale Law School.
3. If that kind of reasoning is used against conservatives, conservatives ought to dish it back. It's interesting. Thought provoking. Why unilaterally disarm? If the left does it, why not the right? And I would like people to be more sober and rational. But the call for Vance to set aside his fiery rhetoric is what I call "civility bullshit."
So... I give at least 3 Pinocchios to the headline writer, and now I'll read Kessler.
Kessler looks at whether more fetanyl is coming into the country under Biden. More is getting seized, but that doesn't tell us how much is getting through. He also looks at the number of deaths, which have gone up under Biden but also went up under Trump — and the rate of increase was higher under Trump than under Biden (63% compared to 8.5%). Moreover, fetanyl deaths among black men have spiked more than among white men.
So Kessler didn't get into the problem of attributing intent based on outward facts. He stuck to saying that Vance got the outward facts wrong.
It’s bad enough to suggest that the president is deliberately trying to kill off Trump voters with illicit drugs. But it’s especially appalling to make such hyperbolic claims based on zero facts.
Vance needs to defend himself, but I checked Twitter and I don't see anything yet. Kessler's piece went up at 3:00 a.m. EDT. That's 5 hours with no push back. Is J.D. a late riser? I presume his answer will hinge on "opening up the floodgates to the border."
Posts
92 comments:
I'm more concerned with Vance's suggestion that MAGA voters use fentanyl.
I remember when Ted Koppel had his big Nightline show, and was one of these broadcasters who acquired a reputation for wisdom or something. He had some kind of townhall meeting about drugs in the inner city. Many black people in the audience, a genuine exchange of views. Quite late in the session, someone said something like: we all know the distribution of crack cocaine, which is very cheap, is an attempt at genocide. There were approving murmurs from the crowd. The thing that white people don't want to hear had been said. Koppel was obviously completely stunned. You think what?
Vance can't defend himself. "I was just wondering " shouldn't allow someone who is outright lying to not be called out on it.
It's like saying "And ask yourself, NYT, if a pro-abortion group were firebombed and graffiti'd with an equivalent threat, would you not easily and comfortably go to the strong word "terrorism"?", when such a person could easily check to see if the NYT did so, as it has indeed reported on numerous bombings, vandalism, arson and murder by anti-abortion groups and individuals.
You know what would put a dent in fentanyl traffic? A border wall with Mexico. No it's not intent, it's criminal indifference.
It’s not really Biden- it’s China, w/Biden aiding and abetting.
Narcan is a lifesaver. Putting Narcan into the correct hands doesn’t stop the ODs- it brings the mostly dead back to life. Did Narcan become more accessible during the Trump years?
Politics is a shit-flinging show.
W/no benefit of the flung shit in new growth.
Just the lingering smell.
Cool rhetoric but I'm afraid the drugs are coming across the border packed methodically in vehicles, planes and boats, not in some migrant's backpack.
And God knows how many of those labs are in Mexico now. We need to bribe the federales to let us take them out with drone strikes
"Your hypothesis is that those in power achieve nefarious goals by adopting policies that are superficially neutral but have a disparate impact that is intentional."
"Superficially neutral"
Yeah but their not superficially neutral in most cases. Superficially negative. Superficially evil. Superficially deliberate. Many such cases!
Oh and another way to take out MAGA voters is to make them feel terribly smart about not getting vaxxed.
Worked like a charm!
We are just spitballing here, aren't we?
Sorta like Biden bragging about what a success his Afghan withdrawal was. Someone MIGHT believe it.
Biden et al clearly don't give a shit about the negative impacts of the open border policy. And they have done nothing to cut back on the incoming fentanyl. Is he deliberately trying to kill Trump supporters? He isn't - but it wouldn't be shocking if some in the admin are. But more importantly, they are doing nothing to fix bad policies that have a disproportionate impact on the heartland. So they may as well be doing it deliberately.
My heart is a-flutter awaiting the Tweet that you seem to think JD Vance must issue in riposte to Kessler. The moment is fully as fraught as that when Code Duello calls for the gauntlet to be thrown and seconds named.
Living history, right here!
How can you fact check a question? I learned in fifth grade the difference between a statement and a question. By definition a question is not asserting anything.
Moreover, fetanyl deaths among black men have spiked more than among white men.
This is called collateral damage...
a target you didn't care about (black men) gets taken out while hitting your objective (Trump supporters)
For this to be a problem, would imply that Democrats cared even a little bit, about black men
[Assumes facts, not in evidence]
It's one way to get the majority of the nation, including those in Washington DC, to start actually looking at what has been coming across our border for about 15 years now, but has increased measurably since Joe Biden took office. The flood of illegal immigrants, the flood of drugs- notably fentanyl- has spiked during Joe's short time in office. Sure, it's possible the spike may have first jumped up during Trump, but that would be the timeline that the cartels turned their focus on this drug as a money machine with a waiting audience. It no longer had to just be produce it to be used in opioid prescriptions. They found they could just send it up north mixed with heroin, or better yet- just straight. Trump took action that slowed things up. Joe Biden also took action, on Day 1, except that Biden's action was to open things up (he doesn't want college kids to call him 'racist' you know).
This goes on daily. Virtually no one in Washington on either side seems intent on even talking about the border except in talking points. Joe Biden has not even visited the border. Not that he'd know what his eyes were seeing. He wouldn't. Nor does his DHS Secretary, or any of his Cabinet. Nor have any of these people visited the smaller Midwestern cities that have been ravaged by fentanyl outside of possibly running through to eat an ice cream and scare a baby while on a campaign swing.
Our open border is the most pressing issue in America and it affects everyone and everything. Education, health care, housing, crime, labor market, security and terrorism. It's actually much more a pressing problem than getting people to use alternate prounouns, though the staff at WaPo may disagree with me. If JD Vance gets the goofy people at WaPo to even look at this problem, that's a start. Though I doubt a 'fact checker' is the person who will notice much more than Joe Biden does. Pinocchios all around.
Wait. There’s a Fentanyl flood AND a shortage of baby formula? Back in the day my spouse was a huge cocaine importer and it sounds crazy at first but with China being a main supplier of both the drugs and the “best substance” to cut it with, she might be correct about these two stories converging. As usual our neighbor Mexico is involved.
malign neglect is one way of putting it ... otherwise known as turning eyes away; etc.
Democrats openly joked about Covid wiping out elderly Whites and rural Whites too dumb to wear masks and get vaccinated. Once it became obvious that Black Americans were disproportionately impacted, the Democrats shifted to social and racial injustice and health inequity. The shift in rhetoric was jarring.
Has anyone mentioned how the Democrats used to be super racist? We know (and don't care) about how Southern Democrats supported progressive economic policies alongside Jim Crow segregation. Woodrow Wilson!
Don't you love it. The crack epidemic is just another sign of how blacks are weak and unable to control their desires. Now that a drug epidemic is affecting rural whites it's a tragedy of epic proportion and of course it's not their fault because there are victimized by the chi-coms and critical race theory and the libs forcing them into a situation that the only solution is to consume massive amounts of opioids. Finally now you people recognize that drug addiction is a disease and it is not a moral failing.
White Privilege
"That's 5 hours with no push back. Is J.D. a late riser? "
Maybe he starts his day with higher pursuits, and gets to Twitter much later.
Though his campaign might benefit from having a social media staffer screen for tweets about him, and check in with him at the start of the day.
Let me see if I understand correctly the timeline as it relates to fetanyl.
As president, Obama invited in any illegal immigrants who showed up at the border.
At the same time, fetanyl smuggling increased dramatically from 2014 (8 pounds seized by border agents) to 2015 (200 pounds seized by border agents - a 2,400% increase).
Trump is elected.
Fetanyl deaths increase during Trump years at a rate of 63%.
Trump develops numerous policies to reduce illegal immigration and drug smuggling across the border.
Biden is elected and orders the border opened to all.
Fetanyl deaths stay at the previously high rate and even continue to increase at 8% rate.
This proves Biden is better at battling fetanyl than Trump?
Brilliant analysis, Kessler. Your reputation for honesty is legendary.
So Kessler didn't get into the problem of attributing intent based on outward facts. He stuck to saying that Vance got the outward facts wrong.
What facts did Vance get wrong? That the outcome hasn't yet turn out exactly how Biden intended? That hardly refutes Biden's intent.
In fact, that lack of efficacy between intent and outcome exists in just about every policy area under Biden's purview. Unless you assume Biden's intent has been to hurt all Americans.
Which is why at some point people -- like Vance -- start asking: is it intentional?
I have simialar argument about places like San Fran. How to get rid of homeless people if you are a progressive (1) decriminalize shoplifting so that homeless and addicts can easily grab goods and sell on street, (2) allow open drug markets (including fentanyl) to thrive, (3) after homeless/addicts OD, remove their bodies so you can bring in more homeless, (4) rinse and repeat. It's like soylent green except we don't eat the bodies after they're put in the garbage trucks.
If policies progressives adopt inevitably lead to these outcomes, which they do, then the outcomes must be intended.
The on-the-take left would love to mow down all who stand in the way of their wealth and power.
whatever means is at their disposal. Be it a chi com lab virus... or drugs pouring in.
fact check: true.
In Colorado - where fentanyl deaths are skyrocketing... the democrats in charge refuse.. REFUSE to make any possession or trafficking of the drug a felony.
hmmmm.
Shorter version: It’s white people’s turn to be the Sacred Victim.
A reasonable assumption. What do think the point of free crack pipes is? The best way to get rid of those burdensome addicts is to enable them. They’ll be gone in a matter of months.
You know what would put a dent in fentanyl traffic? A border wall with Mexico. No it's not intent, it's criminal indifference.
Lefties: we must mandate booster shots to keep you safe from COVID
Trumpies: we must build a border wall to keep you safe from drugs
Me: 🤦♂️
Count me among those who assumes Vance will ignore Kessler, as all intelligent people do.
(OK, most intelligent people.)
So the MAGA crowd is on drugs. Noted.
Rural whites do meth, Howard. It's about economics. Something you and your Biden voting friends don't know much about.
Open borders obviously punish the country. Fentanyl deaths obviously result from open borders and flyover country is not exempt. It is unnecessary and foolish to suggest that MAGA voters are the target. Everybody is a potential target.
Biden's dangerous policies need no embellishment. Vance needn't speak like a hyperbolic Democrat.
As for responding, why should he care what Kessler or the Post say?
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/buena-park-drug-bust-fentanyl-cocaine/2864315/
Two Buena Park men have been arrested and charged with multiple felonies after authorities confiscated over 800 pounds of methamphetamines and nearly 190 pounds of cocaine, according to the Orange County District Attorney.
Authorities also recovered "enough fentanyl to kill 4.7 million people," according to the statement. A lethal dose is considered to be as little as 2 milligrams, and officers found 20.5 pounds.
They say this is Orange County's largest drug bust in 16 years.
I am under the impression that fentanyl mostly comes from China? Thus the ChiComs win twice: more revenue from their hard-working opioid factories, plus further destruction of the Round Eye Empire. The extra special bonus is, it's payback for the Opium Wars, where the Brits hooked the Chinese on opium, took payment in silver, and used it to buy tea (until they figured out how to steal and grow the tea plants themselves).
If correct, the Chinese move here --to ship it via Mexican cartels-- is a bank shot in the same way that Chinese steel dodged US tariffs by being sent via Mexican "fabricators."
An honest foreign policy would reflect this.
“If that kind of reasoning is used against conservatives, conservatives ought to dish it back”. Tucker Carlson makes this kind of argument frequently, and Carlson is more economical with weasel words than Vance. His willingness to use this approach is one reason for the popularity of his show, I suppose. Most of the time, I’d rather he didn’t.
Personally, I think the indifference to importation of drugs by the Administration is just a side effect of their general as much as we can get away with approach to immigration.
MAGA voters have a lot of pill junkies and meth heads in their midst is an interesting baseline assumption to start from.
One I notice no one is pushing back on. Interesting.
Don't take the fentanyl problem personally. It's just business.
they are now spiking cannabis products with fentanyl.. Which allows them to save on production costs
Instead of making edibles with straight pot, they throw a little fentanyl into the mix
Makes the edibles Really potent, without having to spend so much on pot
Makes the user develop a Real Craving for more of those edibles. Soon eating edibles becomes a Real Habit
Of course, every now and then, they mess up a batch, and some customers die..
But Who The HELL Cares? There's LOTS More customers
EDIBLES ARE COOL!! EDIBLES ARE GREAT!! EVERYONE COOL AT MY HIGHSCHOOL EATS EDIBLES ALL THE TIME!
{This message brought to you, by DCA* the Drug Corporation of America}
DCA* DCA is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party
Vance is an apostate. Like Musk. The faithful hate apostates the most.
Oh and another way to take out MAGA voters is to make them feel terribly smart about not getting vaxxed.
Worked like a charm!
Except it didn't. Most Covid deaths are among the vaccinated and we don't yet know how many complications are coming late. 1200 deaths in the trial phase of Pfizer. From the vaccine, not Covid.
China has not forgotten the Opium war that the British waged against them and they see the US as just an avatar of the British Empire.
I think Vance is wrong.
It's just the ChiComs wreaking havoc via the open southern border.
They saw an opportunity and took it.
Besides, how can anyone determine that only kids from MAGA families will be affected?
And no, he does not have to explain himself in any way.
Lefties throw bombs all day every day and nobody gives a fuck.
Somebody wanted to bomb the cartels in Mexico making that stuff.
Who was it again?
'White Privilege'
It is kind of awesome.
But as I've said here before, if I could be reincarnated in America today as anyone, it would be as a black man.
With my IQ and initiative, I'd be running a Fortune 500 company by the time I was 40.
If you're a white guy you just get lost in all the noise...
Vance is wrong right their in his premises- it isn't conservatives in the heartland dying of drug overdoses. Unless the young and/or impoverished are suddenly voting for Republicans, it is Democrats who are dying of overdoses in the heartland, and in the cities. The open border is a problem, and a more secure one is certainly possible and desirable, so Biden and the Democrats (and a lot of Republicans in Congress) are criminally negligent in this regard, thus Vance gets some credit for bringing up the issue that can be dealt with and will have some benefit in stopping the deaths, but it would probably be a minor one.
I am a trained organic chemist- fentanyl is easy to synthesize from multiple routes and from easily obtained materials. If it didn't come across the border, it would be made right here at home by someone. Drug interdiction is a difficult thing to do well enough to stop usage.
The rhetoric may be over the top, but the lack of attention paid by the Democratic Party to opioid deaths does call out for some sort of explanation. During the Obama administration, the rise of deaths of despair, being deaths due to alcohol, suicide and opioids, continued to rise, such that the life expectancy of white men who did not have college degress declined, an extremely unusual trend. Yet the Obama administration seemed to prioritize the ebola outbreak, which posed no threat to the US, except for a threat to a vanishingly small number of college-educated middle and uper class persons who traveled to Africa. In the meantime, 100s of thousands of men were dying in the US. See Deaths of Despair by Anne Case and Angus Deaton. I think if you did a search of Obama's public statements, you will find the word ebola many more times than the word opioid.
A quick search turns up nothing, but I'm sure that Kessler also gave 4 Pinocchios for "They're going to put y'all back in chains."
"As president, Obama invited in any illegal immigrants who showed up at the border."
Hmmm...not likely, given that Obama deported more illegal immigrants than Trump ever did.
A Hatlo Hat-tip: Do not make false claims if you want anything you say to be taken seriously.
MAGA supporters are not more druggies than the rest of the dead and dying Americans using pharmacological trips to avoid living real life. They both need Christianity and education in reality to face the roller coaster of life. But it would be nice to have a government that is not dedicated to our destruction…Hmmm, I wonder where that might come from?
"the rate of increase was higher under Trump than under Biden (63% compared to 8.5%)"
This is a measurement best made by comparison of actual case numbers rather than rates of increase.
65,571 people died in the United States of drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending January 2017
94,738 in the 12 months ending January 2021
107,622 drug overdose deaths took place in 2021
I would argue that the number of drug deaths from a novel drug of abuse will of course rise rapidly upon first introduction of the drug, as drug users start taking it without knowledge or precautions of OD issues. Then the number of deaths should level out or even decrease as the drug becomes popular, well known and understood, even testable by street level users (as fentanyl content of heroin now can be tested) - and the most abusive users are weeded out of the population by their own actions.
What the vast number of deaths means is that there is a huge amount of fentanyl being distributed in the US, and that what started under Bush or Obama, grew under Trump, and continues to be a plague under Biden. There is no success of any kind shown in these numbers at all.
"the rate of increase was higher under Trump than under Biden (63% compared to 8.5%)"
This is a measurement best made by comparison of actual case numbers rather than rates of increase.
65,571 people died in the United States of drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending January 2017
94,738 in the 12 months ending January 2021
107,622 drug overdose deaths took place in 2021
I would argue that the number of drug deaths from a novel drug of abuse will of course rise rapidly upon first introduction of the drug, as drug users start taking it without knowledge or precautions of OD issues. Then the number of deaths should level out or even decrease as the drug becomes popular, well known and understood, even testable by street level users (as fentanyl content of heroin now can be tested) - and the most abusive users are weeded out of the population by their own actions.
What the vast number of deaths means is that there is a huge amount of fentanyl being distributed in the US, and that what started under Bush or Obama, grew under Trump, and continues to be a plague under Biden. There is no success of any kind shown in these numbers at all.
Law enforcement has always figured that increased seizures of illicit drugs at the border means more is also making it through, undetected.
Kessler tapdancing around the core issue of Biden inviting illegal immigration.
I give Biden and Kessler 4 middle fingers.
Let's look at the numbers used in the WaPo "debunking".
Overdoses are growing at a greater rate under Biden as measured by the number of overdoses though the year on year percentage growth is lower. This doesn't really debunk Vance's assertions.
Overdose rate for blacks is about 22% higher than it is for whites, but there are about 300-400% more whites than blacks in the US, so in absolute terms more whites are OD'ing. Again, this doesn't really debunk Vance's claims.
Hmmm...not likely, given that Obama deported more illegal immigrants than Trump ever did.
Cook, as usual, has forgotten DACA.
"Obama deported more illegal immigrants than Trump ever did."
Just note that simplistic metric doesn't account for total amount of illegal immigration. You can actually signal and implement strategies and policies to discourage attempts. I know..crazy idea for some.
I hope Vance also spends some words on the human trafficking the Cartels have found more profitable under Joementia. Do Dems care about the abuse and death Joementia's green light has enabled?
'Hmmm...not likely, given that Obama deported more illegal immigrants than Trump ever did.'
Illegals should be jailed first and then deported.
I am happy to pay more taxes to make this happen.
Put them to work to help pay off their room and board.
JD "Porky Pigface" Vance should look into how fast food companies conjoined with the medical establishment are milking and murdering MAGAs via metabolic disorder, heart disease, cancer, CPAP machines, joint replacement, bariatric surgery, subscription medications, electric scooters, etc..
Yancey is right. The myth that only poor conservative rural whites are using and dying from fentanyl is just that: a myth. Democratic-voting cities, suburbs, and rural areas are awash with the stuff. Just like it's a myth that serial killers are white, or that whites didn't use crack. By percentage of the population, black men are statistically slightly overrepresented as serial killers; they are wildly overrepresented in gun crime, as both offenders and victims, and they are off the chart overrepresented as both inter- and intra-racial sex offenders with adult victims. It's very hard to get good stats on child molestation, but my informed guess is that Hispanics and blacks are at least slightly overrepresented by population.
We also know now that serial killers and sex offenders are also prolific in committing other crimes, and with the exception of those who exclusively target elderly women (a surprisingly high percentage), most aren't as picky as the Son of Sam in terms of seeking one type of victim by hair color -- or skin color.
So, what did all those "experts" get right? Not much. There's usually a modus operandi but rarely a strict selection process beyond the sex and age of the victims.
We definitely need fact-checkers for FBI profilers. And drug use statisticians. They're still peddling those discredited Nightmare on Drug Street-era statistical studies to naive journalists. It's gateway journalism: get 'em hooked young.
Cook- is it possible that Obama deported more illegal immigrants because Trump (after awhile and despite interference from Democrats) managed to cut down the numbers coming in? Just asking. I don't actually know.
I will say this, per my earlier comment: The leading cause of death among Americans 18- 45 years old is...Fentanyl. Number One. You would think this would get more actual attention from so-called leaders than it does. I'd say this was planned, but watching decades of thousands of black men killing other black people, and no one thinking anything of it leads me to believe that the fentanyl pandemic, like murders in the black neighborhoods, is Just. Not. On. The. Radar.
Which, by itself says all you should know about our 'Leaders'- of all colors, all parties. They have all failed, and continue to fail at their most important role in government. The security of their citizenry.
Why not?? They are okay with targeting the Supreme court for assassinations?? Is there ANYTHING the left will condemn FROM the left?? Or is this okay?? Just read the comments following his tweet. Gird your loins, because this will NOT end well, and
the violence is starting on the LEFT>...
https://twitter.com/Patterico/status/1522956906322698241?
"Has anyone mentioned how the Democrats used to be super racist?"
Used to be?
Most Covid deaths are among the vaccinated
Most auto-crash deaths are among the insured (for the simple reason that far more drivers carry insurance than don’t), but that’s hardly an argument for driving uninsured.
reader said...
Two Buena Park men have been arrested and charged with multiple felonies after authorities confiscated over 800 pounds of methamphetamines and nearly 190 pounds of cocaine, according to the Orange County District Attorney.
===============================================
The two Buena Park men should have been doing their drug dealing business in Los Angeles County instead of Orange County. LA District Attorney would have let them off with a gentle slap on the wrist instead of criminal charges and with parting words of “Don’t do it again!” or something to that effect.
I should clarify my last comment - I forgot to include “George Gascon” after “LA District Attorney”. The rank and file prosecutors in LA County are really pissed at their boss Gascon to the point that their union has sued him to force him to enforce the actual laws on the books that he is ignoring and that they are being prevented by him from prosecuting the offenders. My apologies to the rank and file LA prosecutors as I didn’t mean to lump them in with Gascon.
"Has anyone mentioned how the Democrats used to be super racist?"
Used to be?
Democrats do it with Diversity [dogma] (i.e. color judgment, class-based bigotry), Inequity, and Exclusion (DIE), perchance rabid.
Half the country usually does vote. I suppose a lot of drug users don't. That doesn't mean overdoses aren't a problem. It's also a problem when people in power write off whole sections of the population, whether it's urban minorities or rural whites. The problem with Biden may be that he writes off most of the country.
He appeared on Gateway Pundit and made an appeal to a particular segment of the voting population based on outrage and conspiracy theory. Good choice of venue.
It is similar to what Hillary would do speaking in front of a Black church.
He won.
Mr. Vance has a plan and it is working.
In my opinion, that plan is wholly centered on the personal advancement of J. D. Vance.
I suppose he is better than some of the alternatives.
Users of hard drugs know that they are volunteering to die. That's the bottom line, and none of the drug OD deaths I have been around took valuable people, heartless as that may sound.
Same-same with urban youth crime. Better early graves than long lives of ignorance, selfishness, and criminality on the streets or as wards of the state.
My guess would be that the people who are likely to consider voting for Vance because of his connecting fentanyl to America's ripped-open belly, and their personal concern with the disasters caused by fentanyl, are mostly unlikely to pay much attention to Kezler or Knozzler or whatever his wretched little WaPo name is.
I couldn't agree with Temujin more. The neighbors on both sides of me were shot to death. Nobody cared. I spent a substantial amount of time trying to work with some of the kids in the neighborhood. They had been so neglected that their brains had outgrown the timeframe to manufacture the building blocks to acquire more sophisticated speech. I actually researched the stories about wolf-children, hoping to find some way to get through to them. The really smart ones grew up to become dangerous criminals; the rest were passive and robotic, unemployable, unloved, and unwanted.
It was the sheer passivity that was hardest to watch. These kids were generally polite, raised by great-grandparents who were far better educated than their offspring, and offspring's offspring. They were advanced through school and high school without ever learning to read. The girls got pregnant as early as possible, and the boys lived with them in subsidized housing, and the cycle started again, only with less guidance from elderly relatives who could read and write.
And this was at a time when parents were sending their sons from Detroit to LIVE in Atlanta because they were less likely to be killed there, despite our crime rates.
Our public policies may as well have been lobotomizing them at birth.
What I find strange is that Vance apparently believes most fentanyl users are Trump supporters. I live in rural AZ, and I've known a good few drug addicts (heroin, fentanyl, meth). Most were too busy getting high to have any political opinions, but if pressed would identify as democrats. The rednecks and good old boys are the republicans, and they are mostly not on dope.
Obama deported more illegal immigrants than Trump
Assuming this is true, consider the fact Trump's strategy all along was for them to remain in Mexico then of course we would not need to pretend to deport (Obama gave them bus tickets!) so many.
Remember when Joe made a big deal out of sending a couple Haitians back, out of the millions he let in? Yeah man. Good times. China has no problem exporting fentanyl, but is falling behind on 40% of our baby formula imports. This is known in economics as prioritization. Winnie the Xi is serious about harming Americans. He is not about to let his investment in Biden Inc. go without a solid return for the CCP.
Howard... Act your age but don't leave a puddle.
Robert Cook said...
not likely, given that Obama deported more illegal immigrants than Trump ever did.
I will concede the point that Obama was more about allowing people to stay under DACA than having open borders like Biden. But, like AOC said, you may be factually correct, but I'm morally right.
Hmmm...not likely, given that Obama deported more illegal immigrants than Trump ever did.
Once again, it's difficult to deport someone if they're not here in the first place.
" Vance's reason is the same kind of reasoning that Critical Race Theory analysts and radical feminists use to find systemic racism and sexism. You hypothesize that those in power achieve nefarious goals by adopting policies that are superficially neutral but have a disparate impact that is intentional. That's something else you learn at Yale Law School."
One of the problems is that we have a history, at least in the case of race, of this being true often enough. For example, it used to be illegal in some states to vote without passing a literacy test... UNLESS your grandfather was allowed to vote, in which case you were (ahem) grandfathered in. Of course, if you know the history you know that this was a measure for preventing black people from voting while ensuring that whites could, and a substantial part of that system was making sure that the people in charge of enforcing it knew to weight the scales in favor of failing blacks and passing whites. Indeed, the reason Condoleeza Rice's father joined the GOP is because he found out there was a local official who would pass anybody who promised to vote Republican.
I didn't have to go to Yale to learn about this; I learned it in grade school in Alabama.
It shouldn't be all that surprising that people extrapolate. Sometimes people really are trying to sneak something in under the radar. Sometimes people see patterns that aren't really there. It's more obnoxious that people use this kind of thing to shut off their brains instead of activating them.
"That's 5 hours with no push back. Is J.D. a late riser?"
My guess is that he has already written off the Ohio voters who attend to Kessler and company.
I see fentanyl as China's payback for the Opium Wars and policy of 1860 or so. The only difference is that that was the Brits and not us. We were sending missionaries. I do think the Chinese see it as a legitimate tactic to weaken an enemy because it worked on them. It's a plus to them that it specifically weakens the age/demographic here that enlists and does the fighting as well. I don't see the Chinese as wanting to find a way to weaken the journalists in NY and DC- they did that by buying their employers.
Farmgirl- My impression of Narcan is that it does indeed raise the OD'd addict from the dead, sometimes in an extremely violent way, but does nothing to stop addiction so the person just ODs again a day or week later. Not to sound cold, but it seems to just delay the inevitable. At least that's what I heard from people who are closer to the scene than me.
This blog post is talking about JD Vance’s speculation about the motives of the Biden administration having an open border policy. What I want to know and what I haven’t heard from Biden, Harris, DHS Secretary Mayorkas, US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Magnus, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Johnson, or Jen “Little Red Lying Hood” Psaki is this: WHY IN THE HELL ARE YOU NOT ENFORCING US IMMIGRATION LAWS AND TURNING THESE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS BACK???!!! They have NEVER told us why they are not doing a DAMNED THING! They always dance around the subject and deflect. People coming through ports of entry other than the southern border are turned back without a visa and passport or if they are in the system as someone who is a felon from another country or arrested if there is a warrant out for them.
The costs our taxpayers are going to have to pick up for these millions of illegals for housing, food, medical, other welfare monies, language interpreters, and education of minors (who most likely don’t speak English) is mind boggling - money that just isn’t there, especially in this era of Bidenflation. Where are these illegals going to get jobs? According to US law statutes - NOWHERE IN THE UNITED STATES! Employers are required to have new hires fill out DHS’ own USCIS Form I-9 where the new hire states that they are a US citizen or a foreign national with a green card or otherwise being a legal immigrant. Which only leaves the illegals one option, to work off the books, which deprives the US Treasury of tax money on those wages and drives down wages for legal immigrants and US citizens for unskilled AND skilled labor jobs. Plus, this administration probably won’t prosecute employers who knowingly hire illegals off the books or submit fraudulent I-9 paperwork.
Plus, getting back to the Fentanyl issue - how much is this addiction costing the US taxpayer in medical costs to treat overdoses, hospitalizations of those that OD, treatment of addicts to wean them off of the opioids, and the NARCAN doses to revived OD cases. Each dose of NARCAN probably isn’t cheap. The addicts who don’t get treatment to break their addiction have probably consumed numerous doses of NARCAN, either to OD again or eventually OD and die.
By not defending our country’s southern border, our country’s leaders are willfully and criminally violating the oath that they took to defend our country, starting with President Biden, VP and Border Czar Harris, and Biden’s hand picked agency heads. Too bad the Democrats are too idealogical to see this destruction of our country if it came to impeachment proceedings now or if the GOP gets control of Congress in Jan. 2023.
"the rate of increase was higher under Trump than under Biden (63% compared to 8.5%)" -
where are those percentages from? Using the numbers provided, they are very inaccurate. (Of course, in Biden's favor.)
Trump - Increased an average of 7250 per year.
Biden - Increased approx 13000 in one year - approximately 14% increase. (Hard to say for sure based on the way Januaries are handled.)
Those trends are actually significantly worse for Biden than under Trump.
Field Marshall Freder: "Vance can't defend himself. "I was just wondering " shouldn't allow someone who is outright lying to not be called out on it."
Interesting note: to this very day Freder is a die hard russia collusion truther.
Discuss.
Howard, take your meds.
Fentanyl comes from China, not Mexico.
Just because you don't use it, or know anyone that does, doesn't mean it isn't a problem--talking to you, solipsistic, self righteous, pompous idiots.
The numbers speak for themselves:
-O.D. deaths (currently No.1 in one demographic)
-Quantity of fentanyl seized (enough to kill off a major city in one bust)
Chinese chemical warfare. Period.
mikee @ 11:16: "...There is no success of any kind shown in these numbers at all."
Good analysis and, yes, alas, no success in any of these numbers. Combined with Yancey Ward's comment @ 10:33 that fentanyl is easy to synthesize, we really look to be heavily screwed.
Analogy to Covid: super-addictive (= highly infectious virus) plus easy to synthesize (= short incubation, high replication rate) plus easily lethal (= aggressive attack on respiratory system --> ICU/death). What happens? One hopes it burns itself out, taking only a modest number of those exposed.
So one hopes.
Under Biden, border enforcement has declined. Yet, under Biden, fentanyl seizures have continued to rise as Kessler points out. This suggests that so much more fentanyl is pouring in that even lax enforcement is catching more shipments, not that under Biden the flow of fentanyl is slowing down or that the Biden administration is doing anything to stem the flow. And white Americans are disproportionately affected by the opioids which Biden is letting in. 69% percent of opioid over doses are whites; 61% of the country is white and rural Americans are affected as much as urban Americans. In general, Kessler simply isn't engaging with the problem of a huge flow of fentanyl coming across the border and killing even in remote rural areas. Instead, Kessler seeks a way to say something ugly about Trump using twisted statistics. That's accepted as fact-checking in at the WaPo. Democracy dies where the press is stuck on stupid.
But I don't accept JD Vance's argument because I think Biden's circle hates America, not white Americans in particular. Blacks are affected by the opioid epidemic and also by many other problems specific to under-policed blue cities. It's one more burden. And Biden and his crowd and his Wapo minions don't care about that either.
https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/opioid-overdose-deaths-by-raceethnicity/?dataView=1¤tTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Americans
Under Biden, border enforcement has declined. Yet, under Biden, fentanyl seizures have continued to rise as Kessler points out. This suggests that so much more fentanyl is pouring in that even lax enforcement is catching more shipments, not that under Biden the flow of fentanyl is slowing down or that the Biden administration is doing anything to stem the flow. And white Americans are disproportionately affected by the opioids which Biden is letting in. 69% percent of opioid over doses are whites; 61% of the country is white and rural Americans are affected as much as urban Americans. In general, Kessler simply isn't engaging with the problem of a huge flow of fentanyl coming across the border and killing even in remote rural areas. Instead, Kessler seeks a way to say something ugly about Trump using twisted statistics. That's accepted as fact-checking in at the WaPo. Democracy dies where the press is stuck on stupid.
But I don't accept JD Vance's argument because I think Biden's circle hates America, not white Americans in particular. Blacks are affected by the opioid epidemic and also by many other problems specific to under-policed blue cities. It's one more burden. And Hunter's Dad and his crowd and his Wapo minions don't care about that.
https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/opioid-overdose-deaths-by-raceethnicity/?dataView=1¤tTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Americans
Trump was fighting, unsuccessfully, to get funding to build a Wall, to stop the flood of drugs -- which were increasingly killing normal Americans.
Vance's weasel argument is EXACTLY the kind of crap many Dems have been using against Reps since Nixon & Reagan.
Trump's intention was to stop illegal fentanyl, and illegal aliens, and his actions were consistent with his stated intentions.
Biden claims to be against the bad things, but his actions, and results, are contrary - and very bad.
In Ohio, I have a client company that’s in heavy industry.
They do random drug testing. 17+ years ago, there were drug issues. But those were resolved and there hasn’t been a positive drug test in years at the plant.
Until this past 2 years. They’ve lost 5 workers to trace amounts of fentanyl in their systems. But, here’s the thing - in all five cases, these are older men with exceptional work histories and no histories of drug use. All five claim adamantly they have not taken any illegal drugs. In fact, two have letters from their doctors stating they’ve turned down opioid Rx’s in the past for things like sore knees, backs, etc.
I know these men and I believe them. It’s very possible they’ve been accidentally exposed to fentanyl because it’s become so prevalent here in Ohio.
The company has always fired people for failing drug tests, including these five. All five are suing the company to get their jobs back and I think the company hopes they win so they can be rehired without having to go backwards on worker drug testing. I’d give them their jobs back based on the evidence I’ve seen but it’s not up to me.
For that and other reasons, I think there is some merit to what JD Vance is saying. And I don’t think much of JD Vance.
“You can’t fact check a question”
Well, I think you could fact-check a question when the question is used as a rhetorical device to evade a fact check.
“When did you start beating your wife?” Is a question but makes a clear assertion through the query that the person is beating their wife.
Frame this this to make it worse: “Yes or no. Did you begin beating your wife before March 1st?” Without the ability to fact check a question like that and challenge it’s underlying premise, the person answers “no” but also appears to confirm beating their wife.
I’m not suggesting JD Vance did this. I am saying it’s possible to fact check certain kinds of questions that are designed to advance a premise while evading fact check.
think of drug seizures as more like surrendering a batch of drugs as 'insurance payment' for allowing bigger lots through = works for both parties credit.
- a variation on prisoners dilemma - payoff matrix
I never ever saw a population on drug users like Americans frankly. Geez, everyone is on drugs in the US. Everybody smokes weed, people shooting up in the open, filth...You know, I travel a lot for work. Sub-Saharian countries are cleaner.
Post a Comment