Rebel News Podcast - January 27, 2021


Doug Ford sends his Justice Department after Rebel News


Episode Stats

Length

45 minutes

Words per Minute

167.94836

Word Count

7,651

Sentence Count

615

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

5


Summary

Ontario Premier Doug Ford wants Rebel News to take down a photo of an OPP officer in uniform. Rebel News has been using the photo for nearly a year, and it's been used millions of times, and then out of the blue, the government wants it taken down.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 I want my friends special podcast today. I was threatened by Doug Ford's Justice Department.
00:00:05.840 They sent me a crazy two-page letter. So I phoned the Justice Department lawyers
00:00:10.840 who wrote the letter. I recorded the call because I'm not dumb. I'll play that for you.
00:00:16.420 It might be a little hard to hear so I'd invite you to watch the subtitled version
00:00:20.600 which is on our show which you can get just by subscribing.
00:00:25.260 Go to rebelnews.com and click subscribe. It's eight bucks a month which isn't bad.
00:00:30.000 And you get the video version of these shows. Plus you get shows every week from
00:00:33.480 Sheila Gunn-Reed, David Manzies and new from Andrew Chapados.
00:00:37.000 All right. Here's today's podcast.
00:00:54.280 Tonight, Ontario Premier Doug Ford
00:00:57.120 sends his Justice Department after Rebel News
00:01:00.340 to stop our Fight the Fines program.
00:01:03.380 It's January 25th and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.
00:01:07.800 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?
00:01:11.500 There's 8,500 customers here and you won't give them an answer.
00:01:15.600 The only thing I have to say to the government about why I publish it
00:01:19.100 is because it's my bloody right to do so.
00:01:21.440 You know our Fight the Fines project, we provide a lawyer for people who get charged
00:01:31.840 under these abusive, unconstitutional lockdown laws.
00:01:35.880 We send a journalist to tell the story of the fine.
00:01:39.340 We then send a lawyer to fight for the person who got fined
00:01:43.660 and we crowdfund that lawyer's fees.
00:01:46.660 We've made almost 100 videos about these cases
00:01:50.340 and we've actually taken several hundred such cases
00:01:54.040 here in Canada but also in Australia and the United Kingdom
00:01:58.000 and we're about to launch a major expansion of this project.
00:02:01.820 We're just putting the final touches on that
00:02:04.060 but I'll tell you as soon as we can.
00:02:07.340 This is the homepage for our project.
00:02:10.000 Just type in fightthefines.com and you'll see it.
00:02:14.240 This is what it looks like on Twitter.
00:02:16.780 The same image we've been using since last April, almost a year now.
00:02:21.740 These images have been seen millions of times.
00:02:25.160 No big deal, right?
00:02:26.000 You're probably wondering what my point is, right?
00:02:29.380 Well, do you see that police vest there?
00:02:31.820 It's just a generic stock photo of a police vest.
00:02:36.920 A few days ago, I received an email from Doug Ford's Justice Department, though,
00:02:42.720 threatening me to take down that photo immediately
00:02:45.720 and if I don't, they would sue me in about four different ways.
00:02:51.320 I'm not even kidding.
00:02:53.420 Take a look at that.
00:02:54.800 That's one use of the photo there
00:02:57.020 and that's another way we use the photo.
00:02:59.800 Same photo.
00:03:00.580 So, we've been using it for almost a year, literally millions of views
00:03:03.540 and out of the blue, we get a threat letter
00:03:06.340 from the Justice Department of Ontario, Doug Ford's lawyers.
00:03:11.200 Here's the email subject line that accompanied this letter to me.
00:03:14.880 Urgent photograph removal request.
00:03:17.560 That's a big business card, isn't it?
00:03:32.100 Ministry of the Attorney General, Civil Law Division, Legal Services Branch, Treasury Board Secretariat.
00:03:38.360 That's a big business card, isn't it?
00:03:40.960 So, twice they said the word urgent.
00:03:42.760 Once they said the word swift.
00:03:44.920 For a photo that's been up for nearly a year,
00:03:47.960 let me show you what they said in the actual letter that was attached.
00:03:51.800 Dear Rebel News Legal Team,
00:03:55.260 Re-unauthorized use of photograph depicting Ontario Provincial Police Officer.
00:04:01.140 I am counsel with the Ministry of the Attorney General,
00:04:04.500 representing the Ontario Provincial Police, OPP,
00:04:07.320 with respect to the above noted issue.
00:04:09.560 This letter is with regards to a photograph that Rebel News published in multiple locations on its website,
00:04:14.660 ostensibly in support of a campaign entitled Fight the Fines Canada,
00:04:18.920 and primarily located at the following URLs.
00:04:22.000 Rebelnews.com slash Fight the Fines Canada.
00:04:24.280 Rebelnews.com slash Help Fight the Fines.
00:04:27.160 Right, that's the photo I was showing you, right?
00:04:30.960 Here's another version of it.
00:04:33.460 Those are the two websites that they mentioned in their letter.
00:04:36.180 Now, let me go on to tell you what they say about those photos.
00:04:39.080 I showed you the photos.
00:04:39.860 It's just a torso of a cop.
00:04:41.620 It says police on it.
00:04:42.540 They say the photograph is also used in various other locations on Rebelnews' website
00:04:47.960 as part of advertisements to raise funds from readers
00:04:50.900 in furtherance of a stated goal to hire a team of lawyers
00:04:53.980 to defend every single Canadian who gets a lockdown ticket.
00:04:57.140 Okay, that's true.
00:04:58.960 The photograph in question is of an OPP officer in their service uniform.
00:05:03.240 Presently, the origin of the photograph is unclear.
00:05:05.760 However, it is being used by Rebelnews without the express authorization
00:05:09.040 of either the OPP or the individual officer.
00:05:12.540 Now, let me stop there.
00:05:14.980 Do you see an officer?
00:05:17.000 I mean, there's the photo they're talking about.
00:05:19.040 I see a torso of an officer with the photo cropped so as not to show his face.
00:05:25.760 It wasn't about a particular officer.
00:05:27.300 It's just the vest that said police.
00:05:28.720 So, did the police officer whose torso we showed, did he really complain?
00:05:38.360 I mean, this threat letter says the OPP complained and that the cop complained,
00:05:43.680 but they say they don't know where the photo came from
00:05:46.920 and they clearly can't see the face on it.
00:05:50.180 Is this a real letter or a shakedown?
00:05:54.900 Well, let me read some more and get a load of this.
00:05:57.980 The officer's first initial and last name clearly appear on their uniform
00:06:02.860 in several of the cropped versions of the photograph across the Rebel News web domain,
00:06:07.580 as well as on the URLs listed above, particularly when viewed from a mobile browser.
00:06:11.760 Now, is that true?
00:06:13.460 It is not true.
00:06:17.020 It is not visible at all here.
00:06:19.580 It's not legible here.
00:06:21.680 Now, here's the mobile image they're talking about.
00:06:23.440 You simply cannot read the name.
00:06:25.700 There is no face.
00:06:27.000 We cropped it out.
00:06:27.960 You cannot read the name.
00:06:29.180 I magnified that to maximum resolution.
00:06:32.560 It is not readable.
00:06:33.840 It's just not.
00:06:36.020 Do you know what that name says?
00:06:38.520 I don't think the Justice Department lawyers do either, actually,
00:06:41.600 because they say they can't even identify the photo.
00:06:45.800 So how do they know who the cop is?
00:06:48.920 But based on the above, a blurry photo of a policeman's vest
00:06:52.880 with an illegible name tag only in a couple of them,
00:06:56.480 face cropped out in all of them,
00:06:58.740 Doug Ford's Justice Department is threatening to sue us.
00:07:04.360 But for what?
00:07:05.980 Sue us for what?
00:07:07.460 Well, you're going to laugh.
00:07:08.580 It appears that the photograph of the officer
00:07:11.300 is being commercially exploited by Rebel News
00:07:13.360 to raise funds for a cause without the express consent
00:07:16.240 of the officer or the OPP.
00:07:18.680 Oh, it gets better.
00:07:20.200 As such, the unauthorized use of this photograph
00:07:22.440 constitutes a tortious misappropriation of personality
00:07:25.860 and invasion of privacy.
00:07:28.000 Depending on the exact origin of the photo,
00:07:29.780 it may also constitute a copyright violation.
00:07:32.760 Oh, really?
00:07:34.220 Oh, it gets better.
00:07:35.680 Further, the unauthorized use of this photograph
00:07:38.540 in a media and fundraising campaign
00:07:40.460 may create a threat
00:07:42.600 to the individual officer's personal safety
00:07:45.200 and is a violation of their right
00:07:46.960 to be free from harassment, really.
00:07:50.240 Just slow down for a second.
00:07:52.740 Do you believe that the officer here in this photo,
00:07:55.760 a photo you don't even really notice
00:07:58.400 because it's just in the background,
00:07:59.960 it's faded, his face isn't shown,
00:08:01.900 you can't read the name tag, I tried.
00:08:03.720 Do you believe that officer has been harassed
00:08:07.500 or even could be harassed?
00:08:11.260 Do you believe his personal safety is in jeopardy?
00:08:16.080 They then say if we don't take the photo down
00:08:18.100 or make it even blurrier,
00:08:20.080 they're going to sue us.
00:08:22.620 We look forward to hearing from you shortly
00:08:24.520 and reserve our rights to pursue any
00:08:26.660 and all illegal proceedings considered advisable
00:08:29.340 should Rebel News decline this request.
00:08:31.260 What do you think?
00:08:34.360 Do you think this cop has been harassed,
00:08:36.760 this faceless, nameless cop?
00:08:39.180 How could he be?
00:08:40.500 We don't show his face.
00:08:42.000 We don't know his name.
00:08:43.200 You can't actually read it.
00:08:44.900 Do you think this is a real complaint?
00:08:47.420 Or do you think this is actually
00:08:49.320 an attempt by that oaf, Doug Ford,
00:08:53.060 and his lockdown bullies
00:08:54.340 to try to intimidate us in some way,
00:08:56.440 specifically for our Fight the Fines project
00:09:00.060 that they hate?
00:09:02.120 Well, before you answer, look at this.
00:09:04.660 It took me about 30 seconds
00:09:06.080 using Google image reverse search,
00:09:09.300 if you know what I'm talking about,
00:09:10.300 literally 30 seconds,
00:09:11.500 to find the photo we were using.
00:09:14.980 It's a giant PR photo
00:09:17.440 handed out by the OPP itself.
00:09:19.400 This is it right on the OPP's website.
00:09:21.980 Now, because I'm trying to make a point here,
00:09:24.180 I have blurred out the face of the cop.
00:09:26.940 But you can go to the OPP's own website
00:09:29.540 and see the cop, very handsome young man,
00:09:32.260 and see his beautiful face for yourself.
00:09:35.060 It was a posed PR photo shoot
00:09:38.840 that the officer involved
00:09:40.500 obviously consented to,
00:09:42.340 got paid to do,
00:09:43.620 was done explicitly to be published to the world.
00:09:46.220 And in case you don't know this,
00:09:47.540 what is published by a government
00:09:50.160 is in the public domain.
00:09:51.280 There's no copyright attached to it.
00:09:53.280 This was an official handout by the OPP.
00:09:58.160 Now, as I've shown you half a dozen times already,
00:10:00.240 we don't actually use the cop's face in our image.
00:10:03.240 We cropped it out because it wasn't relevant.
00:10:05.220 We weren't trying to show that cop.
00:10:07.140 We were trying to show a cop.
00:10:09.400 And you can't read the cop's name,
00:10:11.360 not even on the OPP website version.
00:10:15.360 You just can't.
00:10:16.480 But look at this.
00:10:19.040 Another 30 seconds on Google search,
00:10:21.320 and you can find a whole bunch of other places
00:10:24.000 that have used that exact same photograph,
00:10:26.960 either in the news,
00:10:28.900 where they make money by selling ads,
00:10:30.780 or even selling things.
00:10:32.740 Stores use it.
00:10:34.440 Anyone wanting a royalty-free photo
00:10:36.520 of a generic cop in a tough guy pose,
00:10:39.740 they all use the OPP stock photo.
00:10:41.780 And the OPP is fine with that,
00:10:44.760 even though all those uses have the face of the cop on it,
00:10:48.900 which is obviously fine because it was published in the world
00:10:51.100 by that cop in the OPP.
00:10:54.280 And I don't know if you know this.
00:10:55.840 It's not illegal to show someone's face on TV or in a newspaper.
00:11:00.060 It's not illegal to show even a cop's face or his name.
00:11:03.060 Every single day in newspapers,
00:11:06.220 you see cops, their faces, their name tags every day,
00:11:09.380 because like every other human being in public,
00:11:13.100 they have no reasonable expectation of privacy.
00:11:15.620 You can be photographed on the street.
00:11:18.140 That's just the law.
00:11:19.420 Now, if there was an undercover cop,
00:11:22.760 some sort of special forces or something,
00:11:25.140 and his anonymity was really important,
00:11:27.940 he could understand why he would want to be low-key
00:11:30.520 and not have his face on the website,
00:11:32.760 but then he'd probably not be posing for PR photos
00:11:35.700 for the OPP website.
00:11:37.560 But even if he was super secret,
00:11:39.980 we didn't show his face.
00:11:42.020 I found all of this really weird.
00:11:44.720 Now, I get phone calls from police or ex-cops,
00:11:47.440 I don't know, once a week maybe.
00:11:50.160 And in one instance, here in Toronto,
00:11:52.320 a cop phoned me up and made the case to me
00:11:55.880 why I was wrong to have published certain things on Twitter
00:11:59.480 about that cop.
00:12:01.140 And you know what?
00:12:02.440 I listened to him, and I actually was persuaded by him,
00:12:05.640 and I took down the tweets, no fuss,
00:12:08.300 and I, you know, I'll admit it,
00:12:09.560 I actually said sorry to the cop himself
00:12:11.260 because he was right, I was wrong, he persuaded me.
00:12:14.100 I really actually appreciated the call.
00:12:16.480 Well, I liked the fact that he phoned me up,
00:12:18.900 man-to-man friendly, and he didn't threaten me
00:12:21.520 or try and play tough guy.
00:12:23.620 He appealed to my reason.
00:12:25.940 He just said, look, I think you've got this one wrong,
00:12:28.500 here's why, and you know what?
00:12:29.860 I couldn't have been happy.
00:12:30.720 I feel really great about how that whole thing ended.
00:12:33.320 I'd call that cop an ally now.
00:12:36.580 That did not happen here.
00:12:39.160 Obviously, the cop we use in this ad
00:12:41.320 hasn't been harassed at all.
00:12:43.060 You can't even see his face.
00:12:45.040 The image has been on our website for almost a year.
00:12:47.280 It took the idiots at Doug Ford's Justice Department
00:12:49.880 a year to get moving,
00:12:51.440 and even then they said they couldn't even locate
00:12:53.040 the original photo.
00:12:54.340 I mean, come on, maybe get your kids to internet search it.
00:12:57.300 I found it in 30 seconds,
00:12:58.800 and I'm not even that tech savvy.
00:13:01.240 Presumably, that photo, being on the OPP website,
00:13:04.440 has been in the public eye for years?
00:13:06.520 I don't know, maybe a decade?
00:13:07.580 This whole thing was a stitch-up.
00:13:11.220 So I just got on the phone,
00:13:12.580 and I called the lawyer who threatened me.
00:13:14.300 I mean, wouldn't you?
00:13:16.000 Well, maybe you wouldn't.
00:13:17.320 I mean, the whole point of a threat letter
00:13:19.120 is to threaten someone, right?
00:13:20.520 To scare them.
00:13:21.820 They threatened to sue me in about four different ways.
00:13:24.760 That I violated copyright, I didn't.
00:13:27.520 That I was illegally profiting off the cop's image, I'm not.
00:13:31.100 That I was harassing him, stop lying.
00:13:33.880 And that I somehow breached his privacy,
00:13:36.320 what a joke.
00:13:38.300 So it's a really, really embarrassing letter,
00:13:40.800 really stupid letter,
00:13:42.620 but it was a threat letter
00:13:43.900 written from the Attorney General,
00:13:45.480 urgent, important, we're going to sue you.
00:13:47.900 I think most people, though,
00:13:49.220 would be scared a little bit.
00:13:50.480 I mean, wasn't that the point of the letter,
00:13:53.080 to try to scare us off from criticizing
00:13:55.680 that stupid Premier, Doug Ford?
00:13:59.760 Possibly Ontario's stupidest Premier?
00:14:02.820 I don't know.
00:14:03.420 I just really embarrassed that I ever supported Doug Ford,
00:14:07.100 and this proves I was right.
00:14:09.380 This is a shakedown.
00:14:10.840 They don't like the fact we're criticizing their lockdown,
00:14:13.180 and so they're trying to get us to stop
00:14:14.520 our Fight the Fines campaign,
00:14:16.020 and this is their plan.
00:14:19.660 So I just called up Sean White,
00:14:22.100 the lawyer from the Justice Department,
00:14:24.320 who threatened me on behalf of stupid Doug Ford.
00:14:27.520 And because I'm a journalist,
00:14:29.620 and I'm obviously dealing with an attempt to threaten me,
00:14:33.880 I thought it would be wise to record the phone call
00:14:36.100 just for my own protection.
00:14:39.480 So here's how that call went.
00:14:42.100 I was playing phone tag with Sean White for a while,
00:14:44.420 but I finally got him on the line,
00:14:46.360 and then this was weird.
00:14:48.040 He immediately put me on hold
00:14:49.760 while he rushed around
00:14:51.760 and got his big boss to join the call, too.
00:14:54.700 Her name is Jennifer Richards.
00:14:58.420 Now, that was weird.
00:14:59.320 She didn't sign the letter.
00:15:02.040 Who was she?
00:15:04.020 I looked her up after the call.
00:15:05.660 According to her public LinkedIn page,
00:15:08.680 she is nothing less than the deputy director
00:15:11.620 of her whole branch in the Justice Department.
00:15:15.160 That's a big boss.
00:15:16.800 It was clear that she was the boss,
00:15:18.600 and Sean White was just the guy
00:15:19.900 who had to sign the stupid letter.
00:15:21.600 This whole thing was being dealt with
00:15:23.260 by very senior people in the government.
00:15:25.900 I mean, come on.
00:15:26.940 A deputy director?
00:15:28.160 I think that's a little creepy
00:15:29.420 and a little embarrassing to them.
00:15:31.460 But let me just start playing you the call.
00:15:33.800 Here's how it started off.
00:15:35.960 Hi, Ezra.
00:15:36.440 Can you just hold for one second?
00:15:38.200 Yeah.
00:15:41.020 Hi, Ezra.
00:15:41.740 Are you still there?
00:15:43.060 Yeah.
00:15:43.680 I checked my voice.
00:15:44.640 You didn't leave me a message there, did you?
00:15:46.600 No, I sent you an email.
00:15:47.980 I've just patched in Jennifer Richards from my office.
00:15:50.620 She's going to join us on the call.
00:15:52.260 Hi.
00:15:52.820 Jennifer, hi.
00:15:54.920 Hi, I'm Ezra Levant.
00:15:57.640 Sorry, go ahead.
00:15:58.980 I'm just going to introduce myself.
00:16:00.640 I'm Ezra Levant with Rebel News.
00:16:02.780 And Jennifer, are you with the attorney general as well?
00:16:07.620 Yes, I am.
00:16:08.540 Anyway, so this big boss,
00:16:09.900 the deputy director, joins the call.
00:16:11.440 I don't care.
00:16:12.540 I want to talk about their threat letter.
00:16:15.020 So I just jumped right in and started asking them about it.
00:16:18.400 I started reading the letter.
00:16:20.100 All right.
00:16:20.360 Well, nice to meet you.
00:16:21.000 And are you in the same department?
00:16:22.980 I'm in the same, yeah, the same branch as Sean.
00:16:25.560 All right.
00:16:26.260 So I just got the letter in front of me here.
00:16:28.300 Do you have the letter in front of you guys?
00:16:30.280 Yep.
00:16:31.380 Yeah.
00:16:31.580 Okay.
00:16:32.020 So, okay, I know that you're talking about it.
00:16:38.760 I checked it out when I got your letter.
00:16:41.360 Yeah, we use it a lot of places.
00:16:42.960 We do use it for fight the fines.
00:16:45.680 The photograph in question is of an OPP officer.
00:16:48.520 Yes.
00:16:49.800 The origin of the photograph is unclear.
00:16:51.720 It's from your website, the OPP website.
00:16:54.400 Do you want me to send you a link to it?
00:16:58.120 Sure.
00:16:58.840 Can't hurt.
00:17:00.180 Okay.
00:17:00.580 I mean, you can find it quick.
00:17:02.220 Yeah.
00:17:03.400 I'm pretty sure that's where we took it from.
00:17:05.880 Okay.
00:17:06.120 The OPP officer was, like, was, you know, unaware that he certainly, but it's certainly
00:17:15.580 not information that we received.
00:17:18.160 Okay.
00:17:18.600 I'm sorry.
00:17:18.980 Could you say, unaware of what?
00:17:21.440 That the photo was being used.
00:17:23.280 Yeah.
00:17:24.160 Okay.
00:17:24.500 Was he aware that he posed for the photo?
00:17:26.460 Um, I'm not sure if you, I mean, it was certainly not information.
00:17:34.000 We are not aware that it was on the OPP website, but they may know that.
00:17:37.300 Our clients may have known that.
00:17:38.600 Does that change your point of view at all?
00:17:40.860 I don't think so, no.
00:17:42.260 You don't think so?
00:17:42.920 So, so, in my point of view, it was a PR photo posed on purpose and published to the
00:17:53.200 world from a government website.
00:17:54.640 So, they're claiming that the officer involved didn't know he was in a photo being used, but
00:18:00.100 I asked them if they dispute the fact that it's actually a PR photo that he posed for
00:18:07.900 and that they published and that it is in the public domain.
00:18:11.260 So, obviously, there was no concerns about privacy, and I would naturally take the point
00:18:17.760 of view that if it's published by the government, it's in the public domain.
00:18:21.400 Do you dispute either of those?
00:18:22.900 Do you disagree with me on either of those two points?
00:18:25.540 Well, we'll go back to them.
00:18:26.760 Like, I'm happy to bring it back to them, to the OPP, and to ask them whether or not
00:18:31.480 this changes anything from their perspective.
00:18:33.840 I think what would be helpful, though, if you could confirm whether there's any appetite
00:18:39.140 on your end to even blur his name.
00:18:43.220 Hang on.
00:18:43.800 So, the picture is literally on the OPP website.
00:18:46.240 The name is blurred already.
00:18:47.840 You can't read it.
00:18:48.520 You can try.
00:18:49.060 You won't.
00:18:50.040 But whatever it's showing is showing on their own PR photo, on their own website, and they
00:18:55.680 want me to blur a name that's blurred already or something.
00:18:59.580 Did they even look at the photo?
00:19:01.140 Did they know that we cropped out his face, right?
00:19:06.020 He actually hasn't had any problems at all, has he?
00:19:11.300 This is just a shakedown by Doug Ford's stupider staff, isn't it?
00:19:17.000 Now, can I ask you, no baloney, did he actually complain?
00:19:21.960 Because I don't think his face is there.
00:19:23.620 Now, his initial might be there.
00:19:25.780 Did he actually complain, or was this a political complaint?
00:19:29.400 I don't think we're going to get into that, Ezra.
00:19:34.520 But this is the that.
00:19:38.220 They have two lawyers, including the deputy director, write me a threat letter, claiming
00:19:43.980 this cop is being harassed for a picture that they published that we cropped out the cop's
00:19:48.620 face.
00:19:49.260 And my question, has the cop actually had any problems?
00:19:54.200 And they say they won't get into that.
00:19:56.060 But that's the whole thing here.
00:19:59.400 That's what they claim is why they're writing to me.
00:20:03.820 These Doug Ford lawyers are wicked liars, aren't they?
00:20:08.160 Yeah, listen to this more.
00:20:09.340 Okay.
00:20:09.860 I think that's a pretty clear answer there.
00:20:12.760 Has he received any hassle?
00:20:16.520 Has he actually received any abuse?
00:20:18.420 I think you mentioned something like that.
00:20:21.960 Yeah, here we go.
00:20:22.840 Further, this may, quote, create a threat to the individual officer's personal safety and
00:20:30.040 is a violation of their right to be free from harassment.
00:20:33.060 Can you tell me, has this officer received any threats?
00:20:39.060 Because that's very important to me.
00:20:40.760 I definitely don't want to cause that.
00:20:43.440 Has that happened?
00:20:45.840 I don't think we're aware of that occurring to date.
00:20:48.940 So there hasn't been a problem.
00:20:51.160 The cop hasn't had any harassment.
00:20:53.280 Not sure how he could, given that we cropped out his face and you can't read his name.
00:20:57.960 He's been on the OPP website for years with his face.
00:21:01.860 So there's that.
00:21:03.040 I think that these lawyers at Ontario's Justice Department are just unethical liars.
00:21:07.860 Like Doug Ford.
00:21:10.620 They're telling me the truth here, I think, now that I pressed them.
00:21:15.200 But their threat letter to me was deliberately deceptive, wasn't it?
00:21:19.240 They're just as corrupt as their oafish boss, Doug Ford.
00:21:24.580 I said, have you even talked to the cop?
00:21:29.740 Is he even aware that you're complaining on his behalf?
00:21:34.020 And here's what the liar said.
00:21:36.540 So whether or not...
00:21:37.740 Okay, now you've just represented that.
00:21:40.340 Can you tell me how...
00:21:40.980 Well, you did.
00:21:42.560 Yeah, and I'm glad you tell me that.
00:21:45.080 And how do you know that?
00:21:46.680 Or how would I be assured of that?
00:21:51.320 Well, I mean, I wouldn't misrepresent the position of the government.
00:21:55.380 So I wouldn't...
00:21:55.880 Oh, so they just told you.
00:21:57.460 So they just told you.
00:21:59.660 Oh, sorry.
00:22:00.440 Was it the cop who retained you or was it the OPP?
00:22:04.240 Well, the cop's not our particular client.
00:22:06.540 This is a shakedown.
00:22:08.120 This is a threat.
00:22:09.240 Because we're fighting the fines for hundreds of people.
00:22:12.820 Because we're not bought off like the other media who take the government bailout.
00:22:17.320 We're independent.
00:22:18.440 So I asked them, have you ever threatened anyone else like this?
00:22:23.340 Listen.
00:22:23.540 Now, can I ask you a question?
00:22:25.440 Because I've...
00:22:26.560 Can I tell you why I think you're picking on me politically?
00:22:29.740 You just say it's not political.
00:22:31.420 And I'm sure you're speaking the truth from the information you know.
00:22:35.320 But let me throw something back at you.
00:22:37.180 Every single day, the Toronto Star, the Toronto Sun carry photos of OPP officers with their...
00:22:46.860 Not only their badge visible, but their face visible.
00:22:51.700 Have you ever sent a letter like this to the Toronto Star, the Toronto Sun, or any TV station?
00:22:59.660 I'm not sure.
00:23:01.720 So you're not...
00:23:02.760 So you can't recall one.
00:23:04.880 How about you, Sean?
00:23:05.420 No, no.
00:23:05.640 I'm just not sure.
00:23:06.500 There's a lot of lawyers in government.
00:23:07.960 Okay.
00:23:08.200 So you're unaware of it.
00:23:09.860 That's fair enough.
00:23:10.980 I'm unaware.
00:23:12.220 Sean, are you aware of any other letters?
00:23:14.540 I'm also unaware.
00:23:18.580 There are literally hundreds of lawyers who work for the government as well.
00:23:21.860 You've got the deputy director here and a young lawyer.
00:23:25.800 And neither has ever sent such a threat letter to any journalist before.
00:23:30.840 And neither has ever heard of one being sent to a journalist before.
00:23:35.400 Of course not.
00:23:36.500 It would be crazy writing letters to the media saying,
00:23:40.520 don't show pictures of our police.
00:23:42.360 That's just not a thing.
00:23:43.760 They must really think I'm stupid to believe that's against the law.
00:23:48.460 They must really think I'm scared.
00:23:51.680 I'll let you decide if I'm stupid, but I tell you I am not scared.
00:23:56.160 But I wanted to be 100% sure if this cop really was being picked on
00:24:00.220 because his anonymous torso appeared in a background image,
00:24:06.680 I'd be open to fixing it.
00:24:09.080 I mean, I know that's insane,
00:24:10.680 but we're just playing devil's advocate here.
00:24:13.760 Let me humor them.
00:24:15.980 Did he really complain?
00:24:18.300 Well, actually, they had never even spoken with him.
00:24:22.960 Can you put yourself in my shoes just for a second?
00:24:26.100 I tried to put myself in your shoes.
00:24:27.520 I thought, boy, if that cop is getting picked on, that is extremely bad.
00:24:31.880 And even though that sometimes comes with the turf of being a cop,
00:24:35.340 I don't want to be hard on that.
00:24:36.500 But you say you don't have any info about that.
00:24:38.240 So I put myself in my shoes.
00:24:39.020 I don't know.
00:24:39.620 I don't know.
00:24:40.120 But there's a difference.
00:24:41.000 But in fairness, there is a difference between the particular police officer
00:24:44.820 being subject to harassment and a police officer.
00:24:47.940 Whether or not he's complained is something that we would never disclose
00:24:51.400 because that would be confidential between him and his employer, the OPP.
00:24:54.900 But there's still a concern.
00:24:57.220 There's obviously a difference between him actually being subjected to harassment
00:25:01.300 or to retaliation or him being the target of severities.
00:25:06.740 Now, that image has been in use.
00:25:10.220 Go ahead.
00:25:10.500 And him simply maybe having a concern about that or the OPP as his employer
00:25:17.020 having a concern.
00:25:18.080 There's a difference.
00:25:19.060 So, you know, our job is simply to try to.
00:25:19.880 Now, that photo has been up for nine months.
00:25:22.140 Right.
00:25:22.360 That photo has been up for nine months.
00:25:24.860 It's been seen, I'm going to guess, a million times.
00:25:29.420 And you're saying, as far as you know, there's never been harassment of this officer
00:25:35.700 despite a million views over nine months.
00:25:38.500 It's a fake.
00:25:39.780 It's a scam.
00:25:41.080 The cop didn't complain.
00:25:42.560 They've never actually even spoken to the cop.
00:25:45.840 This whole thing was a false pretext.
00:25:48.480 These lawyers were falling apart in a five-minute phone call with me.
00:25:52.640 So they wanted me to do things.
00:25:54.340 But I turned it around.
00:25:55.660 I asked them to do two things for me.
00:25:57.520 First, I asked them to undertake to do two things, two undertakings.
00:26:02.800 I mean, they work for me, after all.
00:26:04.480 I'm a taxpayer.
00:26:05.140 I don't work for them.
00:26:07.060 Yeah, by Sean and I.
00:26:08.880 So put yourself in my shoes.
00:26:11.060 Right.
00:26:11.460 But you guys are top dogs.
00:26:12.960 You're top guns.
00:26:13.800 You're like the Eagle Eagles.
00:26:15.660 Sure you are.
00:26:16.360 So put yourself in my shoes.
00:26:18.960 Put yourself in my shoes.
00:26:20.080 Do you see why I might think that you guys are trying to roll me?
00:26:24.440 No, I actually don't.
00:26:25.720 And at the end of the day, I mean, I think all that would be helpful is whether or not,
00:26:31.360 you know, if you're going to sit down, if you're going to blur his name, or if you're not.
00:26:35.880 And then we can at least go back to our clients and advise them.
00:26:39.480 I think that's like the most constructive part that can flow from this conversation is instead of debating.
00:26:45.580 I mean, I wasn't aware I had been up for nine months.
00:26:47.900 I think that's helpful context.
00:26:49.420 We're happy to bring that information back to our clients.
00:26:51.860 The fact that Sean and I are not aware of other sort of, let's just call them cease and desist letters, really doesn't mean anything.
00:26:59.020 Our role that we play is very narrow.
00:27:02.480 Right.
00:27:03.120 We deal with labor and employment issues, you know, so our focus is more narrow than perhaps other areas in government.
00:27:11.080 There are, you know, quite literally hundreds and hundreds of lawyers.
00:27:14.020 There's, but I really do not want it to be, you know, misunderstood that somehow because we don't know that means it didn't happen, that it's quite the opposite.
00:27:22.360 Okay.
00:27:22.740 So ultimately, if you want to just confirm your position, that's helpful, and then we can get back to our clients.
00:27:28.360 Can you undertake to me to do a couple of things?
00:27:30.800 Number one, can you undertake to confirm that this officer has not actually, and I think you have said this,
00:27:37.760 but that this officer has not actually had any harassment.
00:27:41.640 Can you undertake to confirm that for me?
00:27:44.520 Well, what I'll undertake is to discuss it with our clients, and we may or may not provide additional information to you.
00:27:52.280 So I will flag that as being a question.
00:27:54.940 The same thing is, can you undertake to see if you or your colleagues in the very large department you work
00:28:03.840 have sent a threat letter like this to any other media in Ontario?
00:28:07.440 Well, but on this very specific ground, like involving this particular officer?
00:28:15.300 Well, of course not.
00:28:16.060 So I'm just saying, it's all facts.
00:28:17.820 It's all facts.
00:28:18.140 Any officer.
00:28:19.240 Have you, like I say, this officer, we don't use his face.
00:28:22.640 So you can imagine, literally every day in the star and the sun and on TV, there's officers with their name and face,
00:28:29.760 which I would imagine would make all these issues more acute.
00:28:32.540 Have you ever, ever, ever, or your colleagues, can you undertake to see if you ever sent a threat letter to other media, or is it just us?
00:28:41.700 Like I said, we'll raise a question with our client, and we may or may not have a threat.
00:28:45.580 So I asked them, is this normal for them to threaten journalists like this?
00:28:50.320 Does it actually work with anyone?
00:28:52.600 Do they think I'm that stupid or cowardly, so easy to roll over?
00:28:56.880 I asked them in sort of a goofy way.
00:28:59.860 I'm goofy once in a while.
00:29:02.180 I said, why are you being so mean?
00:29:07.220 Seriously.
00:29:08.200 If there was a problem, why not have the cop call me up, as some cop probably does once a week?
00:29:13.520 Why not just pick up the phone?
00:29:14.360 They had my phone number.
00:29:15.000 I gave them my phone number.
00:29:16.980 Like, phone me up.
00:29:18.000 Why these legal threats?
00:29:19.780 Why senior staff in Doug Ford's Justice Department?
00:29:22.840 Why put the deputy director on the phone to threaten me with, what, four lawsuits?
00:29:28.560 Why are you being so mean?
00:29:32.920 Is that actually a question that you want to answer?
00:29:35.460 Yeah, sure, you've got two lawyers sending me a threat letter on stationery, threatening to sue me.
00:29:39.900 Why didn't you just pick up the phone?
00:29:41.300 Like, why are you threatening to sue me?
00:29:42.520 Surely you know that I have to defend our freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
00:29:46.760 I mean, like I said, do you want to fight with me or do you want to resolve a real problem?
00:29:51.200 I don't think in any way we were looking for a quote-unquote fight.
00:29:55.200 I think it was important, as we always do, to outline our legal position and to put it in writing so that there's no misunderstanding with respect to the issue.
00:30:03.060 Well, there's a lot of misunderstandings.
00:30:04.620 You didn't even do your research.
00:30:05.980 You didn't even know where the photo was found in, like, a minute just by Googling your site.
00:30:11.080 You, you know, like, you didn't even do your homework on that.
00:30:15.320 You're obviously, you know, you didn't even know it was your own photo.
00:30:19.960 You didn't do any homework here.
00:30:21.460 You ran straight to the threat letter.
00:30:23.700 There's two lawyers on this file.
00:30:26.120 When you could have just picked up the phone and said, hey, Ezra, you know, just, you went straight for the threat letter.
00:30:33.020 And you know what that does to me?
00:30:34.340 That puts me on my back feet.
00:30:35.940 Because now I'm thinking, I'm being threatened.
00:30:37.600 And I'm a journalist, and the only thing a journalist can do who's been threatened by cops is to push back.
00:30:44.880 So you see the pickle you've put me in?
00:30:46.720 This threat letter and your hostile tone of the letter, and you're very friendly on the phone.
00:30:50.940 I'll give you that.
00:30:52.360 But this letter feels like a shakedown.
00:30:56.200 Put yourself in my shoes for a minute.
00:30:58.220 You've never sent this letter to anyone else that you know.
00:31:00.980 You didn't do any of your research.
00:31:02.960 I think you confirmed for me this cop hasn't had any harassment.
00:31:06.200 You didn't even know this photo was being up for nine months.
00:31:09.280 But you spent hours being instructed by clients in writing this letter, and you got two of you on the call.
00:31:15.240 What am I going to take from this other than you're trying to rule me?
00:31:18.320 And you should Google me, and you'll find out that I don't react well to threats.
00:31:24.860 Do you want to start over again on this whole thing?
00:31:28.820 No.
00:31:29.340 I mean, at the end of the day, we have...
00:31:31.620 No?
00:31:32.160 Okay.
00:31:32.780 Message received.
00:31:33.880 Let's rumble.
00:31:34.880 Let's rumble.
00:31:35.440 Let's rumble.
00:31:36.700 Please let me just finish my sentence.
00:31:38.860 No, I can't believe you said no.
00:31:40.760 That was me offering you all the branch, and you said no.
00:31:45.440 I'm mad.
00:31:46.740 If there was a real problem, let me know.
00:31:49.760 But there was no real problem here.
00:31:52.220 There were no complaints by the cop.
00:31:54.200 How could there be?
00:31:55.660 He's anonymous on our website.
00:31:57.100 His picture was cropped to show his...
00:31:58.980 You know, so his face isn't shown.
00:32:00.580 His name tag was blurred on the OPP website, and they admitted they'd never even spoken to the guy.
00:32:06.860 They didn't even know where the photo was from, so they say, I don't know, can they really be that stupid?
00:32:12.500 But they threatened me four ways?
00:32:15.040 Yeah, no, not me.
00:32:17.620 Wrong guy.
00:32:19.040 Here's how the call ended.
00:32:20.220 I told them to have a cop phone me, and I asked these two Doug Ford lawyers for an apology.
00:32:30.340 All right, well, here's what my position is.
00:32:33.740 You go back to your client, and you do what you have to do.
00:32:37.000 I would be grateful if you helped me out on these two undertakings to see if he has been harassed,
00:32:41.720 and to see if you've ever sent a threat letter to other media.
00:32:45.180 And I would like you to come back to me with an apology for this threat letter.
00:32:51.260 And I'd like you to deal with me as a fellow libertarian that is interested in resolving a problem if there's a real problem to resolve.
00:33:00.660 But if this is your attempt to chill my reportage, then my message to you is you're going to have to proceed to litigation.
00:33:15.720 And not only will we be fighting in the court of law, we'll be fighting in the court of public opinion.
00:33:19.760 And I will show what I'm sure I will be able to show, which is that your office has never threatened a journalist like this ever that your legal theories about the copyright of a public domain photo are fake.
00:33:36.620 It's junk law to say that this officer had a reasonable expectation of privacy when he's literally posing for a publicity photo.
00:33:44.740 And that generally, this is you trying to roll me.
00:33:49.760 And you will find out that that is not as easy as perhaps you think.
00:33:55.140 You'll probably win in the end, because you've got the biggest law firm in the province and unlimited resources.
00:34:01.280 But I don't think I'm going to go quietly.
00:34:03.820 So let's start again.
00:34:05.820 I need an apology letter from you guys retracting the tone here.
00:34:09.420 And frankly, if the cop wants to call me out man-to-man and say, hey, Ezra, you know, I'm getting some flack on this.
00:34:18.380 Can you help me out?
00:34:19.580 I would say, of course, mate.
00:34:21.900 Of course.
00:34:22.980 I mean, you'd have to be a tad not to do that.
00:34:25.520 So if there's a real problem, have the cop give me a phone call.
00:34:28.260 You've got my phone number.
00:34:29.040 I'll solve it in five minutes with the cop.
00:34:32.120 And if it's not that, let's have a five-year fight.
00:34:36.340 Let's have a five-year charter fight.
00:34:38.840 And by the way, can you preserve all your internal records on this?
00:34:41.940 Because I think there's going to be a lot of interesting legal procedures.
00:34:46.120 If it's abuse of office, if it's abuse of process, I want to know who the complainant really is.
00:34:55.780 I want to know who gave you the impetus to put two cops on this.
00:35:00.660 So we're going to really get granular here.
00:35:03.600 Or you can just come back with an apology from you, too, and a phone call from the cop.
00:35:07.280 So those are my two points of view.
00:35:09.320 You can take whatever steps you like because it sounds like there's a big strategy behind this letter.
00:35:14.880 But call anytime.
00:35:16.020 Have the cop call me.
00:35:17.100 I'd probably prefer talking to him.
00:35:19.760 Other than that, let's just go from there.
00:35:23.700 Understood.
00:35:24.440 Yeah, we'll pass along the information.
00:35:26.160 Thank you for your time.
00:35:27.460 Thanks.
00:35:27.920 Take care.
00:35:28.800 Bye.
00:35:29.400 Well, after the call, I wrote to them to confirm my two requests for undertakings and to ask for that apology.
00:35:35.600 I told them to write back to me on a deadline by Monday night.
00:35:40.900 That was last night.
00:35:42.480 And to my surprise, they did.
00:35:45.120 And then they wrote back to me again today after an email, exchanged no supplies.
00:35:50.060 They weren't allowed to apologize to me, even though I think they know they were being a bit mean.
00:35:55.580 Also not a surprise, they didn't answer the two questions I asked them to undertake to answer, whether the cop actually was harassed or also whether they had sent a threat letter to anyone else.
00:36:07.060 And the media, which means if you're not going to answer those questions, it's pretty obvious no and no.
00:36:13.020 They tell me they refused to answer my questions.
00:36:16.460 It still sounds like they haven't actually spoken to the cop to this day.
00:36:21.380 I'm skeptical that the cop actually complained or even knows about us using his torso.
00:36:27.040 Remember I told them to have the cop phone me up?
00:36:29.420 Not only did they refuse, but they said he wants to remain anonymous.
00:36:33.900 That's what they wrote to me actually today.
00:36:37.260 Anonymous.
00:36:38.700 But I thought they said he was getting harassed for the use of his torso in a picture.
00:36:42.780 I think they have to pick a lane.
00:36:44.780 Is he anonymous, as they now say, or did we violate his privacy?
00:36:49.640 These Doug Ford Justice Department lawyers can't even keep their own story straight.
00:36:53.780 I guess the A students become judges, the B students go work for the fancy firms, and the C students go work for Doug Ford.
00:37:04.080 Oh my God, the law schools these days.
00:37:06.600 And they ended their emails to me by reiterating their threats to me.
00:37:11.660 You know what, guys?
00:37:13.820 Bring it.
00:37:15.100 Sean, Jennifer, bring it.
00:37:17.820 Come.
00:37:18.660 Come get me.
00:37:19.560 Come, come, come, come, come.
00:37:20.440 You're little thugs, just like your oafish boss, Doug Ford.
00:37:26.180 You're running a political errand for him, and you know it, and you know you don't have a legal case.
00:37:31.320 There is no copyright law here.
00:37:32.880 There's no privacy violation here.
00:37:34.580 This isn't a real thing.
00:37:35.820 Police are photographed every day.
00:37:37.360 Never before has a media company been threatened for simply publishing a photo, let alone a photo of a chest.
00:37:43.400 But there's something much worse and much more gross here.
00:37:46.460 And it should deeply shame Doug Ford, if he had any shame.
00:37:51.260 It's a kind of stolen valor.
00:37:53.540 Do you know what I mean by the phrase stolen valor?
00:37:56.740 Stolen valor is like what that liberal Harjeet Sajjan did, Trudeau's defense minister, when he lied and claimed that he was the architect of the master plan to destroy the Taliban in Afghanistan.
00:38:08.920 But he wasn't.
00:38:11.200 He exaggerated.
00:38:12.640 He lied.
00:38:13.560 He stole the credit for that from the real heroes who did that.
00:38:19.100 Stolen valor.
00:38:20.780 Stolen valor can be simple, like wearing a uniform you're not entitled to wear, or wearing medals that you didn't earn.
00:38:27.720 Because those uniforms mean something.
00:38:29.880 Those medals mean something.
00:38:31.160 And quite often they mean that someone was wounded, or someone who was in great danger but showed courage.
00:38:38.120 They're the mark of heroes.
00:38:39.640 And to fake that isn't just a lie.
00:38:43.580 It's a counterfeit.
00:38:44.920 It's stealing from the honor of the men who really did do those things.
00:38:48.840 If there really was a cop who really was being harassed because of our use of this torso-only picture, I'd be shocked.
00:39:00.040 I'd be skeptical.
00:39:01.840 But if a real cop called me up and said, it really happened, I'd be a man and I'd say, all right, I'll take it down right now.
00:39:08.960 I'd take it down myself.
00:39:11.000 But that's obviously not the case here.
00:39:13.160 This photo has been up for nearly a year on our website, for years on the OPP website.
00:39:19.080 Doug Ford's stupid lawyers only noticed now.
00:39:23.280 It's just their lame, lying way to threaten us.
00:39:27.060 We don't post this cop's face.
00:39:28.860 We don't show his name other than the unreadable, blurred version.
00:39:32.140 The lawyers say he's actually anonymous, which proves the point, doesn't it?
00:39:36.340 And from the phone call and their passive-aggressive letters to me, it's pretty clear they haven't actually ever spoken with him.
00:39:42.180 But they're using his status as a police officer to try to intimidate and threaten us.
00:39:47.860 But it's false.
00:39:48.920 They've never spoken to the guy.
00:39:50.380 They've lied about him.
00:39:51.760 That is a form of stolen valor.
00:39:55.340 Doug Ford had his Justice Department lawyers and his OPP brass have several meetings about how to get us, how to threaten us, how to intimidate us,
00:40:05.860 because he hates the fact that we're standing up to him with our fightthefines.com project.
00:40:10.600 So they cooked up a scheme, and they used an anonymous cop as their weapon.
00:40:15.040 They stole his valor to make the complaint against us in his name falsely, to make it seem real.
00:40:22.640 They stole his valor because Doug Ford has no valor, has no honor of his own.
00:40:31.380 And these two disgraceful Justice Department lawyers went along with the scheme.
00:40:39.120 That is unethical.
00:40:41.040 That is an abuse of process.
00:40:43.160 That is an abuse of office.
00:40:45.060 And so I say to you, Sean White and Jennifer Richards, you bring it on.
00:40:51.660 You deceitful cheaters.
00:40:53.740 You stole this officer's valor to make a false claim where there was none.
00:40:59.500 You threaten me and my company with fake lawsuits because you have no real case.
00:41:05.660 You are wicked people, and I will not bend the knee to you.
00:41:09.620 You come, and you come and get me.
00:41:12.420 And you preserve all your records.
00:41:14.460 Because if you dare to bring your abusive, vexatious lawsuits against me, stealing Officer X's valor because you have no case,
00:41:22.580 if you dare to abuse taxpayers' dollars in the courts to silence our voice as journalists and to stop our public interest civil liberties lawsuits,
00:41:30.900 well, get ready for the fight of your lives.
00:41:34.240 Not just us defending against your nuisance suits, but us suing you.
00:41:39.140 That's right.
00:41:41.140 Suing you for abusing your office.
00:41:43.620 That's right.
00:41:44.580 For violating your professional ethics.
00:41:46.960 That's a real thing, unlike your fake lawsuit.
00:41:49.280 And suing your corrupt bosses, too, you tell the clowns at the OPP brass in the Premier's office,
00:41:56.660 you tell them to preserve their records, too.
00:41:58.840 All of their emails, all of their notes from their meetings.
00:42:01.400 Because if I ever see you around here again, expect a lawsuit that turns the tables on your attempted shakedown of us.
00:42:08.120 You know, Doug Ford is too stupid to know about it.
00:42:10.700 But you, you, Sean and Jennifer, you must have learned in law school,
00:42:14.220 a thuggish premier named Maurice Duplessis, he hated the Jehovah's Witnesses and kept having police arrest them and charge them with crimes.
00:42:23.240 But there was this restaurant owner named Ron Corelli who kept posting their bail.
00:42:28.080 And Duplessis was furious that this guy, when a restaurant was getting in his way.
00:42:32.680 So he ordered the province to cancel Ron Corelli's license for his restaurant.
00:42:39.840 Ron Corelli sued.
00:42:40.780 And it went all the way up to the Supreme Court of Canada.
00:42:44.080 And they ruled that thuggish premiers cannot be thugs.
00:42:49.320 They cannot abuse their power for political reasons.
00:42:52.740 You can't cancel a liquor license because you're a bigot against Jehovah's Witness and some guy's posting bail.
00:42:58.400 You can't do that, especially if a guy's involved in civil liberties law.
00:43:01.540 You can't do that, Doug Ford, you moron.
00:43:03.900 So my message to you, Sean and Jennifer, is to tell Doug Ford and to tell Thomas Carrick of the OPP
00:43:10.900 that if they dare to bring their stolen valor case against us, we will bring a Ron Corelli lawsuit against them.
00:43:21.960 Not just you, against them.
00:43:24.520 And like Ron Corelli, we will not stop until the Supreme Court hears this case.
00:43:33.140 My friends, if you share my fury at this, then do something positive about it.
00:43:38.300 What are you going to do about it?
00:43:39.220 I know what I'm going to do about it.
00:43:41.900 I'm going to fight.
00:43:44.120 What can you do about it?
00:43:45.240 You can go to fightthefines.com.
00:43:46.980 Clearly, Doug Ford hates it.
00:43:48.300 We have helped literally hundreds of people fight back against that bully, Doug Ford.
00:43:55.400 That's why he's trying to set us up.
00:43:57.160 He's trying to silence us, but we're smarter than him.
00:44:00.680 All we need is your help to pay for the lawyers to defend citizens.
00:44:04.520 And God forbid if that bastard comes for us, I'm going to ask for your help to fight him too.
00:44:09.720 Give us the tools, and we'll finish the work.
00:44:12.480 Go to fightthefines.com.
00:44:18.300 That's the whole show today.
00:44:26.740 I can't tell you how mad I am.
00:44:29.620 I don't know if it's because it's unfair or because they think I'm that stupid or they think I'm that cowardly.
00:44:35.260 Each of those three things pricks me in a different place.
00:44:38.360 I think the unfairness is the worst of it.
00:44:40.440 I think those lawyers may just be weak and cowardly themselves.
00:44:46.440 If they're ordered by a boss to send me a threat letter, they probably said, oh, no.
00:44:50.820 But listen, you work for the justice minister.
00:44:52.840 He orders you to do it.
00:44:53.860 I guess you do it or you lose your job.
00:44:55.500 So they're weak and they're cowardly.
00:44:57.980 I can't believe they think they have a legal case here.
00:45:01.400 It's the unfairness, I think, that bothers me.
00:45:04.220 But I swear on the altar of God, I will fight this until I am dead.
00:45:08.720 Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home, good night.
00:45:15.380 And keep fighting for freedom.
00:45:16.320 Thank you.