If Travelling To The United States, Be Very Afraid

Last month, I wrote about the terrifying saga of Jasmine Mooney. A couple of recent videos remind us, through her story, of the perils travelling to the United States entails.

If you need further convincing, you may want to watch a longer interview with Jasmine Mooney.

Then there was the horrifying detention of Rebecca Burke.

She was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) for 19 days in what her father described as “horrendous conditions”. Now, to be fair, Burke had the wrong paperwork: she hadn’t realised that she needed a working visa instead of a tourist visa in order to exchange domestic chores for accommodation with a host family. But getting imprisoned for almost three weeks over a mix-up and then being led on to a deportation flight – in chains! – back to a country that is supposedly a close ally, is obviously extreme.

Moore and Burke's stories are but two of many.  They are undoubtedly part of the reason behind Canada's travel warning for those considering going to the formerly friendly nation.

Canada has updated its advice to those travelling to the United States, warning travellers they may face “scrutiny” from border guards and the possibility of detention if denied entry.

 The updated advisory notes that if denied entry to the U.S., citizens could be detained while awaiting deportation if they fail to meet entry exit requirements.

“Individual border agents often have significant discretion in making those determinations,” the advisory said. “Expect scrutiny at ports of entry, including of electronic devices. Comply and be forthcoming in all interactions with border authorities.”

The warnings seem to be having an effect.

At least one institution — the Universite de Montreal — put out a memorandum to staff and students about what to expect at the U.S. border and to take precautions including leaving sensitive research data at home and to register with the school on a voluntary basis before travel.

The CBC offers this warning:

U.S. Border Patrol officers can look through a mobile phone, check comments made on social media and examine a laptop without a warrant. They can also take devices or download all of their contents.

Border guards are supposed to be scanning for evidence that a traveller might commit a crime in the U.S. or violate the terms of their entry visa, but negative statements about the country or its president might make them look harder.

From the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Adam Schwartz says finding something 'damning' on a person's phone could be as simple as someone writing,

'I am angry at the president of the United States' or 'I'm proud to be Canadian and it makes me mad that the United States has just imposed tariffs on us or whatever it is".

Given the current climate south of the border and the fact that they are embracing protocols one normally associates with authoritarian regimes, the prudent choice for all Canadians is to avoid any unnecessary travel there until further notice. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Propagandist's Dream

It is said that nature abhors a vacuum, meaning that empty spaces are quickly filled. It appears that in the world of international politics, the same is true. 

Given the grievous tariff wound the United States has inflicted, the world is quickly turning its back on that once-proud nation. And that world is looking for replacements for the once-reliable trading partner. China is trying to take full advantage of the current vacuum.

Watching the video in a knowledge vacuum, one might be tempted to think China, one of the countries hardest hit by American tariffs, is the answer to all the world's problems. The problem, of course, is that the video is propaganda, pure and simple.

Allan Woods writers:

The clip lasts less than a minute, but encompasses a broad spectrum of world events that have been, and continue to be, shaped by America’s vast and deep global footprint. The disastrous conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the rekindling of Israel’s war in Gaza. Disputes over borders and crime and security. The troubling recent cases of intimidation and suppression of political opponents and dissidents.

These past and present realities are illustrated with distinctly American images and trigger words like “violence,” “exploitation,” “backstabbing,” “greed,” and, of course, “tariffs.”

The China depicted in the propaganda bears little resemblance to reality.

 It’s a world that celebrates pro-Palestinian protesters and invests in African aid projects. It prioritizes international co-operation as well as economic development. And its population reaps the ultimate reward — wealth. It’s a world defined using words like “justice,” “equality,” “opportunity,” and “security.”

“Together,” the clip concludes, “we can make the world a better place.”

 It’s a truly creative feat that a country which has been repeatedly accused of espionage, foreign interference, human rights violations and which, last month, executed four Canadian citizens convicted on drug charges, is casting itself as the bright alternative to a darkening United States.

It brushes aside China’s continued co-operation with Russia despite the invasion of Ukraine. It completely glosses over this week’s live-fire military exercises that are training for a blockade of Taiwan. 

 But the U.S.has only itself to blame for such an egregiously outrageous turn of events. 

... there is a kernel of truth to China’s criticisms of the United States — particularly now, under its current leadership. And thanks to Donald Trump, there is now a vast and growing global audience searching for an alternative to America.

One can hardly blame China for trying to take full advantage of the trading chaos Trump has inflicted on the world.

In February, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, made a broad pitch to world leaders at the Munich Security Conference .... [arguing]China’s case for “an equal and orderly multipolar world” and pledged that his country would be “a factor of certainty” fighting against the potential “chaos, conflict and confrontation” left by a retreating United States.

In more concrete terms, that could look something like the agreement earlier this week by Japan and South Korea, which are facing steep American tariffs on automobiles, to commit to deeper free-trade ties with China.

Donald Trump lives in a world of fantasy, a world where manufacturers across the world will flock to the United States to set up shop. The greater likelihood is that, in very short order, he will come to see (if not understand) that there are forces over which the U.S. has no control, effectively relegating the notions of American exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny to a mythical past.

Say It By Its Proper Name: Genocide

Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by means such as "the disintegration of [its] political and social institutions, of [its] culture, language, national feelings, religion, and [its] economic existence".

Wikepedia

I wasn't planning to write a blog entry today, but I came across a story that so egregiously outrageous that for the sake of my own health, I had to put it down in words.

If you have read some of my recent posts, you will see I am always quick to hold to account the atmosphere of fear and censorship that is becoming increasingly common in the U.S., especially with regard to students demonstrating support for Palestinians. Today's post, however, hits closer to home. To understand the obscene nature of what has happened, here is a bit of context about Tareq Hadhad. a Syrian refugee who settled in Nova Scotia and became a Canadian success story as well as a Canadian citizen in 2020.

Hadhad’s family had made chocolates in Syria for more than 20 years, but their factory was destroyed in a bombing that forced them to leave the country in 2012.

Peace by Chocolate opened for business in 2016 and now ships its confections around the world. The company employs locals in Antigonish and newcomers to Canada.

Hadhad said Canadians are respected around the world for “values that stand for peace, for love, for kindness, for inclusion, for welcome, for friendliness, for social justice.

In addition to employing a significant number of people, Hadhad donates a percentage of the profits to peace initiatives.

Upon becoming a citizen, he said,

“I feel that I’m Canadian. I feel that I’m free. I feel that I belong. And I feel that I am so proud to be part of this big family of 37 million Canadians from coast to coast to coast.”

Hadhad may have to revisit that assessment, given the contempt a Canadian legal association has shown him.

The Advocates’ Society informed its members in an email last week that it would be uninviting Tareq Hadhad, a Syrian refugee turned Canadian entrepreneur, as the keynote speaker at the prominent legal group’s annual “End of Term Dinner,” at the Metro Convention Centre in June.

The decision comes after some members expressed concern about Hadhad’s public social media posts touching on the Middle East, the email explained. “While it was never our intention for Mr. Hadhad to speak about the conflict, with regret, we concluded that this is not the right time or event for Mr. Hadhad to address our members,” it read, adding: “We also recognize that many of our members will be harmed and feel unwelcome because of our decision not to proceed with Mr. Hadhad.”

Exactly what was the 'offence' that prompted this anti-Arab racism? Well, it seems that certain members of the society poured through Hadhad's social media posts, and, spoiler alert, Toronto lawyer Jonathan Lisus found nothing.

He said he saw an absence of commentary on the [October 7 2023] kidnappings, murder and other atrocities committed [against Israelis] by Hamas; nor, he said, could he find Hadhad calling on Hamas to release hostages or renounce its call for the destruction of Israel.

Also, Lisus found that Hadhad had used the G word: 

In May 2024, Hadhad wrote: “Just looking at this and thinking of all the children that we failed everywhere and continue to fail in Rafah and all of Gaza. This genocide must be stopped. Children should wake up to the sounds of birds not the sounds of bombs.”

“Sadly, Mr. Hadhad’s record of public statements makes a strong case that while expressing understandable concern for civilian deaths in Gaza he is unsympathetic, and certainly indifferent, to the harm and suffering of Jewish people and the Jewish state,” Lisus wrote in his email to the Advocates’ Society.

Compounding this cowardly injustice, Hadhad made it clear that his was to be a non-political address:

“My intended remarks focused solely on the values that unite,” the statement said. “There is a lot of division already in our world — I don’t want to contribute to it further. My role is to bring people together, not further divide them, and I remain proud of my story and the message I share across Canada and internationally.”

Night after night the news shows us the dire injury, death and devastation Israel is inflicting on Gaza. Yet somehow our sympathies are supposed to be reside solely with the Jewish state. Somewhere, George Orwell must be nodding ruefully and knowingly. 

 

Their Loss, Our Gain

 

Canada had a well-earned reputation as a safe haven for those fleeing the U.S. during the Vietnam War. It now appears that reputation is enjoying a resurgence, but for slightly different reasons.

I wrote previously about the chill that has descended over American universities for hosting protests that offend some. Expulsions, recindments of degrees and censorship of thought and speech are becoming commonplace at institutions that were formerly bastions of free thought and expression. That is more than some can take.

Three Yale professors – all of them vocal critics of President Donald Trump – have recently taken up roles at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

Earlier this week, philosophy professor Jason Stanley, who has written about fascism and propaganda, announced that he would leave Yale for U of T.

He joins professors Marci Shore and Timothy Snyder, who specialize in Eastern European history. The two academics are married and arrived in Canada last August, on a sabbatical from Yale. Mr. Trump’s re-election in November factored heavily into the decision to stay in Canada, according to Prof. Shore.

“There’s a state of dazed horror following the election. After we calmed down and started to think it through, I clearly didn’t want to go back,” said Prof. Shore, who expressed guilt about leaving the United States, but decided she didn’t want to take their children back there.

Prof. Snyder has written extensively on tyranny. In January, U.S. Vice-President JD Vance tweeted that he was an “embarrassment” to Yale after the professor criticized the nomination of Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense.

Professor Shore, Snyder's wife, knows of what she speaks.

 “As a historian of the 1930s, of totalitarianism … of this unhinging from empirical reality that happened in Russia, I was able to see certain things sooner in my own country than I would have otherwise been able to see,” she said.

“With Trump on the rise, you could feel the potential for civil war, for more mass scale violence, for the brutal deportations you’re seeing now, the idea that there’s an enemies list. I’m a historian of totalitarianism. I know where an enemies list could go.”

That increasingly oppressive, McCarthy-era-like atmosphere has also prompted a noted Canadian heart surgeon, who was planning to leave, to stay right here.

Renowned Ottawa heart surgeon Marc Ruel was planning a move to the United States last year, with the University of California, San Francisco "thrilled to announce" that he would be leading a heart division in their surgery department.

But Donald Trump's threats toward Canada were such that Ruel has now decided to remain in Canada. 

"Canada is under duress right now," he told CBC. "I felt my role and duty at this point was to directly serve my country from within."

Ruel says he considers his skills a product of Canada, abilities that he was ready to share globally when he accepted the position at UCSF last year. 

But Trump's imposition of tariffs and threats to annex the country that's historically been its closest ally has made geopolitics an unavoidable issue.

And those issues could, in fact, lead to a reverse brain drain.

Concerns over the political climate in the U.S. has opened a "floodgate" of inquiries about moving to Canada, according to recruiter Michelle Flynn. 

To deal with the influx of inquiries from American physicians wanting to come to Canada, Flynn said she is now conducting interviews five days a week, up from three days a week previously. 

"We're getting 60-plus physicians coming to and registering on our website a month," she said. 

Ontario's College of Physicians and Surgeons has also noted increases in American interest.

After introducing [a] new licensing pathway, the CPSO registered 351 U.S. physicians between 2023 and the end of 2024, a spokesperson said. 

So far this year, CPSO has received registration applications from 240 physicians who are U.S. educated. Most of them are currently practicing in the U.S., the spokesperson said. 

No one likes the economic uncertainty and fear that are consequences of crazed American policy. Nonetheless, if one is looking for bright spots in all of the gloom, this retention and acquisition of intellectual capital is surely one of them. 

A Headlong Rush To A Dark Past

It seems more than passing strange that here we are, in the 21st century, but all signs are that Amerika is nostalgic for earlier times, when faith in God's intervention (see Paula White) was strong, and science was regarded with deep suspicion. 

With measles cases burgeoning and vaccine rates plunging, perhaps that benighted country is expecting some sort of divine intervention to keep them healthy. Consider the latest developments at the FDA, which is under the aegis of Robert Kennedy, Secretary of Heath and Human Services and a notorious vaccine skeptic:

Especially chilling was the dismissive and Orwellian tone of HHS about Marks's departure:

“If Peter Marks does not want to get behind restoring science to its golden standard and promoting radical transparency, then he has no place at FDA under the strong leadership of Secretary Kennedy,” a spokesperson at HHS said.

Undoubtedly, as it embraces theocracy, the Benighted States of America believes it has a secret weapon in God. Consider Paula White, the head of Trump's White House Faith Office. In a recent 'sermon' at a Florida megachurch, White offered 

that Trump has been anointed by God, to help Christians shape American culture and change the world.

“Thank you for being there for the president,” she says.

“You have nations to reach. You have territory to take.”

“Here is where the fight begins.”

This 'religion' amplifies a malignancy that is bred in the American bone: U.S. exceptionalism:  

This ministry’s followers are some of the 30 per cent of Americans who are said to sympathize with Christian nationalism, an ideology that’s rooted in the belief that the United States enjoys special favour by God, and that seeks to bring religion into every aspect of civil life. Podcaster Bradley Onishi, a noted critic, says the movement favours a specific brand of Christianity worshipping what he calls a “straight white American Jesus.”

Critics say that Christian nationalism is a fervent and dangerous movement that twists the religion to promote authoritarianism. “It’s all about hatred ... a front for racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, misogynist feelings,” Rev. Laurie Hafner, a leader of Mosaic Miami, an interfaith community that advocates for social justice, told the Star.

For non-Americans, this is a particularly threatening mindset.

 John Faragher, an emeritus professor of history and American Studies at Yale University .... said the idea that “the Lord Almighty is on our side” is a theme that goes back to the beginning of the idea of America.

For Canada and other countries in the region, the long-standing idea that it is America’s right and “Manifest Destiny” to expand across all of North America is particularly troubling, Faragher said.

Nineteenth-century leaders used Manifest Destiny as a rationale to expand westward, adding Oregon and Texas in 1846 and purchasing Alaska in 1867. U.S. politicians and citizens also used it to call for America to claim control of Canada. Manifest Destiny is an ideology taught uncritically to Florida’s seventh-grade civics students as part of history, in a new textbook issued by Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, and reviewed by the Star.

Politics and religion have always been a dangerous combination, and it is the theme of this entire post. For RFK, it is the religious fervour with which he embraces opposition to vaccines and other medical developments that have saved countless millions. For White, it is a potent weapon to wield against all those who oppose groupthink, collective conformity, and American imperialism.

None of this can end well for anyone. 

 

UPDATED: The Enemy Within

Especially given the Trump-led attacks on our sovereignty, I find my heart is open to almost all of my fellow Canadians. Across the nation, people are banding together with a renewed sense of purpose and unity as we confront our greatest political threat of the 21st century. It is all to the good.

Unfortunately, that sense of unity, for me,  does not include Alberta, given that the good citizens there elected a government apparently quite happy to collaborate with the enemy. For a good examination of Danielle Smith's perfidy (which she frames as defending her province), check out David Climenhaga's newest post.

But there is yet more Albertan mischief afoot. A former Medicine Hat MP wants to explore closer ties with the U.S.

LaVar Payne is listed among the attendees of a press conference set for [March 27] in Calgary to launch the “Delegation to Washington” project. It hopes to determine the level support in Washington, D.C. toward an economic union or statehood for an independent Alberta, according to a release.

It states that a list of nine issues recently outlined by Premier Danielle Smith following a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney last week “has all but guaranteed an independence referendum to be held in Alberta this calendar year.”

Albertans are outliers in their reaction to Trump's stated intention of annexing Canada. While only nine per cent of Canadians hold with such talk, an enthusiatic fifteen per cent of Albertans would happily be absorbed. And there is an organization called the Alberta Prosperity Project, which is unhappy with Alberta's current status within Confederation. One of its founding members is lawyer Jeffrey Rath.

Rath made news after appearing on U.S.-based Fox News on March 6, stating he would push for direct talks with the U.S. officials about Canadian support for becoming part of the U.S.

“(It is) a steering committee of people looking to come to Washington on an exploratory basis and meet with a representative appointed by President Trump to explore the benefits of either Alberta becoming an independent sovereign nation with economic union with the United States, becoming a U.S. territory or pursuing full statehood,” he told the interviewer. “Those are our goals.”

And Danielle Smith seems to be right on board with those goals. 

Smith said after her meeting with Carney on March 20 that a “specific list of demands” needed to be addressed by the next prime minister within six months to avoid an “unprecedented national unity crisis.”

They include guaranteeing pipeline access, repealing the federal emissions cap, clean electricity plan, electric vehicle and single-use plastic targets, and pipeline legislation, along with leaving industrial carbon prices to provinces.

“I made it clear that Albertans will no longer tolerate the way we’ve been treated by the federal Liberals over the past 10 years,” she wrote on social media at the time. 

“I encourage all Albertans to get involved in what is likely one of the most pivotal and important elections in our nation’s history, and to support the party and candidates that have consistently advocated for freeing Alberta from federal overreach and the repeated economic attacks.”

I, and I am sure, most other Canadians, are disgusted by Alberta's selfishness. During a time when the rest of us seem united and resolved to resist American attacks on our country, that province is acting like the fifth columnist of Confederation, happily treading the path of absorption by that noxious 'neighbour' to the south. 

UPDATE: If you still have any doubts about where Danielle Smith's loyalties lie, I would invite you to judge her by the company she keeps.

 

UPDATED: Nothing To See Here, Eh?

The Trump administration insists nothing was classified. Others beg to differ.

UPDATE: To put into proper perspective something the right-wing is collectively dismissing as a tempest in a teapot, there is the Daily Show's take: