First, statues： Now a Halifax councillor wants “offensive” names changed on lakes, streets and a mall
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Summary
Why should others go to jail when you don't have the right to protest in public without fear of going to jail? Ezra Levenant explains why the First Amendment protects the right of the people to protest peacefully, but not rioting.
Transcript
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Hello, Rebels. I heard terrible news out of Halifax.
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They're going to rename everything, everything that has a bad historical connotation.
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I've got to tell you, that includes everything from, well, Edward Cornwallis to Halifax itself
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to the name of the alderman who is leading this charge.
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I'll take you through the bloody naming history of that whole place.
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Before I do, let me invite you to become a Rebel News Plus subscriber.
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Just go to rebelnews.com, sign up for $8 a month or $80 for the whole year,
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and you get the video version of this podcast plus other goodies.
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Tonight, how big a step is it from tearing down statues to burning books?
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It's June 23rd, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.
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Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?
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There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
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The only thing I have to say to the government, the wire publisher, is because it's my bloody right to do so.
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They were trying to pull down statues in Lafayette Park, which is the lovely and lively park right across the street from the White House.
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There's always peaceful protesters there, both from the left and the right, and a lot of tourists too.
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It's the best vantage point to get a photo of the iconic White House.
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You can't get as close as you used to do before 9-11, but it's still pretty exciting.
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You know, the U.S. First Amendment is a wonderful law. I'll read it to you.
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That's pretty amazing. It's the First Amendment because it's the most important.
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And as they say in the States, the Second Amendment, the right to have firearms, is what protects the First Amendment.
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Here's the video I showed yesterday of black businessmen in Minneapolis using their Second Amendment to stop looters and rioters from burning down their stores.
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But even more important than that is the right to even speak and protest.
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And our little company, Rebel News, has been one of the perpetual targets of government censorship.
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We're in court right now fighting Trudeau in two separate lawsuits to fight back against his media censorship.
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And I note that other than our friends at True North, not a single other media company is in court with us.
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Anyways, I point out that one key word in the First Amendment.
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It's a form of violence, violence against property.
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It's not a protest when you're actually committing a crime.
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The First Amendment says, chant and holler and shout all you like, but not riots.
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Trouble is, these rioters are doing the bidding of the hard left, and so the parties of the left abide it.
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And the parties of the right are too terrified, too terrified of being called racist, mainly,
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if they oppose the riots, as if rioting is an essential component of being black.
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I showed you yesterday how the Jewish chair of the Board of Governors of UBC was fired
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for simply liking a tweet by Donald Trump condemning violence.
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I note that Trump is exceedingly careful never to criticize anything black.
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I don't think I've ever heard him even say the words, black lives matter.
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It was the racist mind of the woke mob who assumed that criticizing riots was being racist.
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In fact, thinking that riots are black, and thus thinking that being against riots is being against blacks,
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Oh well, there's no reasoning with the mob, which is why it's called a mob.
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People lose their own minds and their own judgments to the mob, and they get lost in the mob.
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Here's some street videos of the 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riots.
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Vancouver lost the finals to Boston, and fans rioted.
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So it was one of the first riots that was just filmed.
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For some reason, she ran into a men's tuxedo store and just stole something.
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She just grabbed something because in that moment, the madness took over.
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She didn't have deep enough morals and a deep enough sense of herself and what she believed
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If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you.
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And if you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, that's the kind of thing he's talking
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Can you remember who you are when everyone else forgets who they are or who they're supposed
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That's what's happening everywhere now because no one is asserting our common values and
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rules, the social contract that Thomas Hobbes wrote about in his book, Leviathan, where
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we all agree together to give up madness and violence, to give a monopoly on violence to
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a tightly controlled system of police with civilian oversight and a legal system based
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So we don't all have to be armed police for ourselves all the time.
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We don't have to rely on local warlords or gangsters to keep us safe as they do in, say,
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Somalia or, you know, the Chaz Autonomous Zone in Seattle, a lawless zone in the heart
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of the city of Seattle where police are banned and the mayor has given up and mobs of Antifa
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In anarchy, as Hobbes said, life in such a world is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and
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It's a version of James Q. Wilson's broken windows theory.
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You know, the experiment he talked about, if you park a fancy car in a sketchy neighborhood,
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But if you smash one window in the car and then leave it unfixed, well, the whole car will
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They may be the odd policeman wandering through, but he doesn't actually do anything.
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And the population itself abides the lawlessness.
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You can get away with things here, in a mob for sure, but even on your own in such a neighborhood.
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That's why Rudy Giuliani cracked down on jaywalking and graffiti and people jumping subway turnstiles
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without paying, not just because each of those things were, in fact, little crimes, but because
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And so letting them fester was proof to the public that New York was a place where you
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could do what you want, even small crimes, and the community abided it.
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Like a child trying to find its limits, these Antifa crowds and their copycats are looking
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It's spreading around the world as the same cowardly globalist leaders from London to New
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York to Toronto all have the same permissive reaction to the violence.
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That's why Michael Kornberg was sacked in Vancouver for merely liking a Trump tweet.
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That's why our own David Menzies was physically attacked in Kingston on the weekend by a lame
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mob of people who went there to pelt the Johnny McDonald statue with eggs.
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They lack the industriousness to actually tear it down for now.
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So it's madness, but it's not just a momentary anonymous madness of the sort that made an otherwise
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sweet girl like Camille Cacneos steal some men's clothing in the middle of the evening.
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It's madness that a generous community builder like Michael Kornberg caves into to the mob
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and incredibly joins in the mob against himself.
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It's exactly what went on in the Cultural Revolution in China.
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I'll go much deeper into that for you another day.
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If you tear down a statue today, you will burn a book tomorrow because what's the difference?
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A book actually contains ideas, not just symbols of ideas.
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If you tear down a statue of a man, surely you would want to tear down all the words of
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And as we learn from Adolf Hitler, who loved burning books, where books burn, soon men will
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Which brings me to the foolish city of Halifax and their foolish city councillor named Richard
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And if I can quote Richard Zorosky about Richard Zorosky, he says about Richard Zorosky,
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councillor Zorosky is an active promoter of evidence-based, conscientious decision-making.
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He's not like those other guys who go off half-cocked.
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Richard Zorosky is conscientious and he really thinks.
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Zorosky wants city staff to examine possibility of changing offensive names.
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He said the research will dovetail well with the work of a task force on the commemoration
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A Halifax council member wants city hall staff to examine the possibility of name changes
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affecting municipal things due to the offensive nature of the names.
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Councillor Richard Zorosky, Timberley Beetsville Clayton Park Wedgwood, said Monday he plans
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to present a notice of motion into his council session regarding a proposed staff report.
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There are a lot of offensive names, not only to our First Nations people, but also to Blacks
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Now, as you can see, Richard Zorosky is neither Black nor First Nations himself.
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He's the King of the Blacks and King of the First Nations.
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I missed the votes, but he's speaking for them.
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He's whitesplaining to them that they ought to be offended.
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But he's enjoying this moment of anarchy where he gets to tear things down.
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He wants not only to be in the mob, he wants to lead it.
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Halifax itself was named after the Earl of Halifax, George Montagu Dunk.
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A great man in terms of his impact on the world.
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His courage and resourcefulness he helped build Nova Scotia.
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But do you really think all of his conduct could withstand the scrutiny of a woke faculty
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I mean, for one thing, Halifax didn't even believe in gay marriage.
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And then again, neither did Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama until about five minutes ago.
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But still, I mean, who better to sit in judgment of historical figures like Halifax himself
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or Edward Cornwallis, the founder of the city that bears Halifax's name?
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Edward Cornwallis came from a leading British family.
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I think it was his nephew, Charles Cornwallis, who led the unsuccessful British soldiers against
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But look, action in those days was more than not.
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Cornwallis fought against the Indians in Nova Scotia, and he fought in a brutal way.
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Some would say as brutally as the Indians fought him.
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But he passed this proclamation that a reward of 10 guineas be granted for every Indian Mi'kmaq
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So he paid a bounty, not a rare thing in war back then.
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But I can understand why this rankles people in 2020 and why Cornwallis' statue is dishonored
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by some people in light of our sentiments and beliefs in 2020.
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But if you're going to do that, if you're going to go back 200 or 250 years and knock down
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people who don't meet your woke standard of manners and customs in 2020, you are not going
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I mean, I guess we'll have to knock down the pyramids themselves.
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Better empty out the great museums and destroy the hieroglyphics, some of which show slaves.
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Guys, I just want to tell you now, if we're going to get rid of anyone who was cruel, who
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fought wars brutally, and especially anyone who had slaves, I've got to whisper this next
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Mohammed, as in the founder of Islam, he had slaves.
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And if you're into book burnings these days, well, be careful, friends, because nothing
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Here's the Koran, Surah 4, verse 24 of the Koran, just one of the ton of passages outlining
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And also prohibited to you are all married women, except those your right hands possess.
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That means you can't have sex with a married woman, other than your wife, unless you take
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That's what those your right hand possesses means.
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It's why the Islamic State renewed the practice of wartime rape slaves and had slave markets
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Hey, let me know when the Koran is deplatformed.
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But seriously, is all of history to be deleted because it doesn't meet our fashion?
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Of course, it's contrary to all our modern beliefs, because that's how we define our
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But those who want to build a new utopia must first destroy everything in the old way.
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Mao Zedong in China destroyed everything from the old system, art, music, words.
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He even contemplated giving people numbers, not names.
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He wanted to raise everything to the ground, to bring it to zero, to start everything again,
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destroy everything, just like the Taliban destroys things.
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If you destroy every other idea, you don't have to convince people your idea is better.
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He's named Richard, surely named after the greatest Richard in history, Richard the Lionheart.
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That's him outside Britain's parliament, so glorious.
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Well, he wasn't that rough, because his Christianity limited his violence.
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That was to repulse Muslim invaders who were more violent than him.
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In one of his wars against the Muslims, he kept 2,700 Muslim soldiers that he captured.
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He kept them as hostages to enforce a treaty against the Muslim warrior Saladin.
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They called him Richard the Lionheart because he fought like a lion.
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Better that Richard the Lionheart win than Saladin.
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You don't want to know what he would do when he took over a town.
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And this wasn't a model parliament or a United Nations talk shop.
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Should we tear down Richard's statue from the British parliament because of all that?
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Maybe Richard Zeroski should change his own name.
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Or at least have Halifax bureaucrats study it, because they've got nothing better to do.
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I mean, why should only Halifax and Cornwallis be shameful names?
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What about Richard Zeroski's own name, soaked in blood?
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He sounds like the perfect 2020 man, though, doesn't he?
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In a thousand years, we went from Richard the Lionheart, who went to Free Jerusalem,
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from invaders to Richard the Mouseheart, who skipped lunch and put out a press release about it for Greta.
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On Tuesday, Zeroski announced on Facebook that he will consume only water and coffee until Election Day on October 21 to force action on climate change.
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But hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on just a minute.
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Richard Zeroski, who still goes by the murderous name, Richard, and still sits on the murderously named Halifax Council in a town by the murderer, Cornwallis.
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Did Richard Zeroski just say what I thought he said?
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I can appreciate Counselor Mason working for this on behalf of his constituents, and I do appreciate that it probably is needed there,
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but I'm going to respectfully ask him to get to the back of the bus while we get our rec center first.
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Did you just tell someone to go to the back of the bus?
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The apartheid style, Deep South style, Jim Crow style rule that black people have to go to the back of the bus.
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Well, look, Richard, you served your moment when you condemned Cornwallis.
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But now you, too, stand condemned, not just of having a terrible first name, but of what you just said, you racist.
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And now you must be deplatformed and canceled, too.
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And as your last act before you leave, will you now please denounce yourself?
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Well, while the world has been focused on so many other things, the Black Lives Matter and Antifa protests and riots across the United States and in the UK,
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and, of course, the coronavirus pandemic, India and China have had a military clash.
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Let me quote to you from CNN, which talks about the clash which left 20 Indian soldiers dead and how that's spiraling into an economic war between the two countries.
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Here's a story in CNN authorities in India are hitting pause on more than 600 million dollars in deals with Chinese companies in the wake of a deadly border clash with India.
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Officials in the Western Indian state of Maharashtra said Monday they were reviewing agreements with three Chinese companies as they seek clarity from the Indian government on how or whether to proceed.
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And I also see that on social media, many Indian celebrities are making little videos telling ordinary Indians to start taking Chinese products out of their life bit by bit.
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Chinese cell phones, Chinese apps to unhook from that country that is now engaged in a kind of war with them.
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And finally, I see China's own propaganda industry shaming India for even quarreling with China.
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And this menacing tweet published by Global Times, an official outlet of the Chinese Communist Party, that implies China could crush India in a war.
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It has more nuclear weapons as well as more conventional weapons.
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This is extremely bellicose talk that has actually turned into a shooting battle, if not a war.
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Joining us now to try to make sense of it is our friend Gordon Chang, an author, a columnist, and I encourage you to follow him on Twitter at Gordon G. Chang.
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I don't think the world has paid enough attention to this battle of the titans.
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No, certainly not, because you had the 20 Indian soldiers killed.
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We don't know how many Chinese were killed, but it could very well be 35.
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And you've got to remember that this is not just a contest between India and China.
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This is very close to Pakistan, so we could have three nuclear-armed neighbors involved in a conflict.
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Can you give us a little bit about the background of the border?
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There are border issues everywhere with China these days.
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We've talked before about the sea disputes for territory in the Scarborough Shoals and places like that.
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Tell us about this boundary between India and China.
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Yeah, this boundary is the line of actual control, but it is not demarked on the ground.
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And so there are these disputes as to where China ends and India begins.
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But we know that this clash took place south of the line of actual control.
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In other words, in Indian-controlled territory.
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And also, over the last weeks, since basically the beginning of May, Chinese troops have moved into areas that are not disputed.
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We had that June 15th clash and could very well have more to come.
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There are more talks now between China and India to try to disengage.
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But the Chinese are reinforcing their side of the border.
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You would think that President Xi Jinping has his hands full.
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The coronavirus seems like it's having a second wave in China.
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There's so many things flashing on his dashboard.
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Or is that precisely it, to distract from the other troubles?
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Yeah, this is like one of the most important questions that the world must ask.
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But I do think that this shows fragility in the Chinese system because they are seeing a closing window of opportunity for the reasons you mentioned.
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And the Chinese economy is actually much worse than most people think.
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It's probably not going to recover this quarter.
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That would mean a technical recession because they had a contraction in the first quarter.
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This is something that Chinese people are not used to.
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And it's, I think, having political implications.
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So we see China, with this wolf warrior diplomacy, really lashing out at not just India, but the South China Sea, East China Sea neighbors, also increased tempo of dangerous intercepts of the U.S. Navy and the global commons, threats to take over Kazakhstan.
00:25:05.220
You know, Narendra Modi and Donald Trump seem to have a political rapport.
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I remember when Modi, the leader of India, was in Texas and they had a big Howdy Modi rally.
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And then Modi returned the favor, Namaste Trump.
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The two men seem to be trying very hard to get along.
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I don't think I've heard Trump weigh in on this.
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But you would think he's number one regional ally, big democracy, and there's domestic political reasons.
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Have you seen any statements by Trump or Secretary Pompeo on this matter?
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I think Secretary Pompeo raised this issue in his meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiaxin, in Honolulu.
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Also, it appears that, you know, Trump hasn't said anything, but that the State Department has been working behind the scenes.
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But we need, as you point out, we need to be much more open about this.
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We need to be public in our support for India, because India is moving toward the United States and towards the democracies in the region.
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And so, therefore, you know, China is seeing itself physically being contained.
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I see you on all the leading cable shows and talk shows.
00:26:23.220
So we're always so grateful that you stopped by us at Little Rebel News.
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Let me ask just one question, and it's how I began it, too.
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I see there's three big business deals in India that are now on ice.
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People are just figuring out, OK, well, should we really do a deal with China if we're de facto at war with them?
00:26:38.600
Again, this might be an opportunity for the West.
00:26:40.940
If Western companies, America, but also Canada, UK, Australia, are looking to pull out of China,
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maybe this is the opportunity to go into India, to displace China there, to invest there.
00:26:55.020
Because China and India are so integrated, maybe this is an actual opening for an alliance of democracies.
00:27:04.940
And if you have to have a factory offshore, shouldn't it be in a democracy and an ally versus a dictatorship and an enemy?
00:27:15.000
You know, companies have been moving into India now for several years.
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Part of it triggered by Modi, who has really been friendly toward business and trying to open up the Indian economy.
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But India itself, we see now this movement to boycott Chinese goods, as you point out.
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Also, this idea that they should get the Chinese telecom equipment out of their networks.
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And as you mentioned, there's that CNN story of a number of big Chinese deals really now in jeopardy.
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So there is going to be a delinking of India and China, at least in the economy.
00:27:52.560
Well, I sure hope that Canada, we have a very large Indo-Canadian population in Canada.
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Even if Trudeau still doesn't know which side he's on,
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I hope that a million Indo-Canadian citizens say,
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I recommend again to our viewers who still aren't following to go to Gordon G. Chang on Twitter,
00:28:18.740
and you'll get a constant stream of thoughtful updates.
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Take care, my friend, and thanks for stopping by.
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All right, there you have it, Gordon G. Chang, joining us with the latest on China and India.
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The left believes in the ministry of truth, their truth.
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They want to control what people read and how they think.
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They're pushing their narrative, which is supposed to represent the truth,
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but it's only their truth they want everyone to accept.
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When we bend a knee to their bullying, it only empowers them.
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We should stand up against them, but we don't out of fear.
00:28:58.600
I agree with every word you said, but look, easier said than done.
00:29:04.060
When it's your job or your reputation on the line, will you lean into the hurricane, or will you be blown back?
00:29:14.440
I was very disappointed by Michael Kornberg's apology.
00:29:20.080
You know, I learned after the monologue last night that Kornberg actually helped raise $20 million,
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including for the woman who denounced him and fired him.
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On my interview with Joel Pollack on removing statues, Mike writes,
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When they're done with the statues and monuments, and they come for the people,
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Because there are laws against tearing down statues, vandalism, mischief, trespass to property, etc.
00:29:53.480
We see even in our own country violence against our reporters.
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that girl who just ran into a tuxedo store and stole something just because.
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Except for not just for a mad moment in the Stanley Cup ride.
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You're actually going to do anything, though, mate.
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Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel News World Headquarters,
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to you at home, good night and keep fighting for freedom.