Lifelong academic allegedly quits cushy McGill tenure after failed anti-fossil fuel campaign
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Summary
A professor resigns because he wants everyone to stop using fossil fuels. It's cold in Canada, but it's not so cold in the US. I guess he's not putting the weather and his ideology together.
Transcript
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Hello, my rebels. It is cold out there if you're in Canada and even parts of the States.
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You know, I was in Houston a month ago and it was so cold, they brought out the de-icing machine
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in Houston. I don't know if they ever did that before. I don't know. I'm going to talk about
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the weather, but I'm going to talk about a professor in McGill who resigned because they're
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not divesting from fossil fuels. I guess he's not putting the weather together with his ideology.
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Anyways, I'll go through it and it's a little bit funny, I think, a little bit odd.
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Before I do, let me invite you to become a premium subscriber. That gives you the video version of
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this. There's this one scene where I show you a band. I'd like you to see that on video and I show
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a few other things from his resume on video. I know you're probably watching and listening to this in
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a subway or a bus or in a car so you can't watch a video. But I would encourage you to become a
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It's eight bucks a month. You get the video version of this podcast. All right, here it is.
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Tonight, it's freezing across Canada, but a McGill professor wants everyone to stop using fossil fuels.
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The weird thing is, he claims he's quit over it. It's January 16th 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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Oh my God, it is cold out. Minus 30, minus 40 in the prairies. And if you count windchill,
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there are places it is colder than minus 50, if that's even possible. I was studying the temperature
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on the planet Mars. You know, what am I going to do? I'm just surfing around. Of course, Mars is
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much farther away from the sun than our planet Earth is. And so it's colder there. There are
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different temperatures on different parts of Mars, just like on Earth. But we are absolutely colder in
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Canada now than the warmer parts of Mars. That's a fact. And that's crazy.
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They can't even handle zero degree weather in BC. Looks pretty fun out there. Snow day.
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Here are two videos I like. Look at this video taken yesterday of Vancouver's police horses just
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frolicking a bit in the snow. Doesn't that look nice out there? That's lovely. Now this next video,
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I have no idea where it's from. I don't think it's from Canada, but that is pretty cool. I thought that
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was a jet engine at first. Someone told me it's like some hydraulic blower. I don't even know what
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that means. Let's just call it a super blower. And look at that clear the snow off those cars. That's
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pretty cool. Yeah. Fossil fuels. I mean, I guess you could ride a horse, but pretty much anything
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that's moving these days is moving because of fossil fuels. You wouldn't want to take a horse
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out in minus 40. You don't see a lot of Teslas out there when it's minus 40. If you've ever been
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outside with even a cell phone in minus 20, minus 30, you know what that cold does to the batteries.
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They last minutes, not hours. No one is driving a Tesla in minus 40 weather. In fact, to state the
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obvious, no one is living in Canada at all without the benefit of fossil fuels. Solar panels, they
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don't work when they're covered with snow. Good luck to this guy. I hope he doesn't slip.
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And even if someone does clear them off, you can see it's not very bright out there. In the wintertime
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in the northern climes, the sun is only out for a few hours a day, especially the further you go to
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the north. Wind turbines are irregular, intermittent, unreliable in the best of times, and depends on
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the location. But sometimes cold weather comes with lack of wind. So they're useless too. It's good old
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coal or natural gas or nuclear or in some places, hydroelectric dams. That's what does it for
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electricity in your homes? Natural gas for furnaces. Some homes still take heating oil. All the fossil
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fuels, unless you're getting nuclear. And vehicles, well, gasoline and diesel, that's it. That's all you
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can really rely on. And when it's minus 40, you need something to rely on. Would you want an electric
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car-style ambulance in minus 40? Or ever, really? Or a fire truck that goes on electric batteries only?
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Yeah, no, me neither. Now, Montreal doesn't get as bitter cold as some of these other cities I
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mentioned. You know, I always like to check the weather in Tuktuk. I follow it on my phone, believe
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it or not, because it always makes me feel better about weather in Toronto or Calgary or wherever I
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am. I've been up to Tuktuk, and it's very pleasant in June. But it is not June up there now. It's only
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about minus one in Montreal as I'm speaking. But it looks like it's going down to minus 18 tonight,
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even colder tomorrow. Minus 26 is what it feels like. Wind chills. So to sum up, if you haven't got
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the point yet, we would all be freezing in the dark were it not for fossil fuels. But check out this
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weirdness. Of course, in the CBC State Broadcast or where else, tenured McGill prof resigns over
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university's refusal to divest from fossil fuels. Let me read some more. The sub-headline there,
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university says it will become carbon neutral by 2040. But protesters say that's too little too
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late. Now, I'm calling BS here. I just find it hard to believe. A tenured professor? The reason
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the CBC put that in the headline, as you may know, getting tenure, which comes from the Latin word to
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hold, that's what every professor dreams of. It's a level of seniority where basically you have a
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guaranteed job for the rest of your life. Until that point, as a professor, you've got to be very
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careful. You've got to play politics with the other professors and deans. You have to work very
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hard. Publish research, maybe. Keep your nose clean. But once you get tenure, you're set.
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It's a kind of union seniority. Then you can pretty much do whatever. I don't know. Goof off.
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Sleep with your students. Get extremely political. All of it, any of it, not worry about being fired.
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You're in for life. So the CBC said this professor had tenure. That was their way of saying, wow,
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who would quit a guaranteed job for life? Really, it's like being appointed to the Senate. You're in
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there. Actually, the Senate, it's over at age 75. If this professor quit a tenured job on a point of
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principle, he must mean it. I think that's why they put it in the headline, which I've got to tell you is
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exactly why. I just don't believe it. I believe there has to be some parallel reason, a collateral
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reason why he left. Maybe he has a better offer somewhere. Maybe he was going to quit or retire
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anyways or for other reasons. Maybe he's a red professor who actually got into deep trouble and
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was going to be sacked despite his tenure. Maybe he's just tired. I don't know. But it makes no sense
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to me to give up a six-figure salary for a one-day media pop about what a saint you are. Why not stay in
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that position and continue to propagandize generations of McGill students getting a big
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salary for, I don't know, just a few hours of work a day? And of course, universities only teach,
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what, eight months a year? It's a pretty sweet gig. It doesn't make sense. But the CBC lacks the
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curiosity to dig deeper. I sent an email to the professor today asking him precisely these things.
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Very friendly. You can see my email here. Does he drive a car? Does he use plastic? How does he heat
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his home? Were you going to leave for other reasons? I don't know. I'll let you know if
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he replies. So far, he hasn't. But let's take it at face value, okay? This saintly professor
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quit a great gig at McGill for the sole reason that he's really mad that they won't divest their
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university endowment of over a billion dollars from fossil fuel companies. About eight and a half
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percent of their money is invested in oil and gas companies. Now, they're not divesting this year,
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just like they didn't divest last year or the year before. Every year he's been there. I think he's
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been there for almost 20 years. Oh, and they won't shut down their use of fossil fuels either.
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And they won't shut down their parking lots and turn them into, I don't know, hippie garden plots or
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something, composting. Yeah. All of a sudden, he was moved by principle. Let's accept that at face value.
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I'll read some more. Frustrated by McGill University's refusal to divest itself of investments in fossil
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fuels, Gregory Mickelson felt it would be immoral to stay on. What it boiled down to for me was a
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matter of conscience, said Mickelson, who taught at McGill for 18 years. Maybe we have a saint here,
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my friends. Mickelson, who taught the philosophy of biology and environmental ethics, brought forward
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a motion last September requesting that McGill fully divest from fossil fuels. Because of the
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subject matter I research and teach, it became clear that this kind of action is imperative,
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Mickelson told CBC. The motion was approved in a majority vote, but all decisions made at Senate
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must then go through the school's board of governors. After the board's social responsibility committee,
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charged with determining whether divesting from fossil fuels would be a socially responsible
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decision, reached its decision opposing divestment December 5th. Mickelson felt he had no option.
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He handed in his letter of resignation seven days later.
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Let's say the school divested from oil and gas stocks that they had invested in for financial reasons,
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and then they took that money and invested in other stocks for political reasons,
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which obviously means they would get a lower rate of return. That's what political investing means.
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You're choosing other values ahead of profit. Okay, but then you would make less money on your
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investment or lose more on your investment. But the thing is, it's not your money, right?
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It's money that donors have donated for the benefit of the school, for the benefit of the students. So
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the school, if it had less money because of lower returns, it couldn't do certain things. It
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couldn't hire certain teachers. It couldn't pay for certain expenses. Maybe students would have to
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pay higher tuition. So you'd be imposing your own political taste on other people at their cost.
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I wonder what makes this a man, I think what makes this a man bites dog story, you know what I mean?
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Dog bites man, not news. Man bites dog story. I think what makes it a man bites dog story is that
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the professional actually quit his own high paying job, which is so rare and unusual. That's why I'm
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skeptical. I mean, you don't see David Suzuki, Al Gore, Sapporo Berman, not flying, not driving. They
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want other people to pay the price. It's weird that this guy's quitting.
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Maybe he thinks McGill will back down. At the University of British Columbia, they did. Let
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me read this. Earlier this month, the University of British Columbia also promised to fully divest
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its $1.7 billion endowment fund of fossil fuel investments, clarifying its position on the issue
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after students went on a 100-hour hunger strike. I have a friend. He's a pro-oral activist. Maybe
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you know him. He's this guy here. He ran in a provincial election in Alberta. I feel like I helped
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discover him in a way when I was doing a video on the street in Vancouver in support of ethical
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oil. His name is Bernard Hancock, or as he's also known, Bernard the Roughneck. He's spoken
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at a couple of our anti-carbon tax rallies for the rebel. Anyways, he's working in this cold. Look
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at that. He just posted this to Twitter the other day. Look at how cold he is. It's minus 40
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where he is. That's just from the moisture of his breath. Oh my God, I'm cold just looking
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at that. That's ice. That's ice on his face. That's ice. He's outside. He's working, drilling for oil
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and gas to keep the rest of us warm. That is real life. I like to joke so many people, especially young
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people, don't know how things are made or they come from. I mean, I barely do. Power, duh, comes from
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the plug in the wall, you know. Food comes from the grocery store. Actually, these days, I think
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Zoomers might say food. Well, it comes from Uber Eats. It comes from Skip the Dishes, an app
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that delivers my avocado toast to me in my condo for $25. So I think that too many people forget
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that stuff is actually made probably outdoors, probably using fossil fuels, with great industrial
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and human effort like Bernard was doing there. The most opposite world possible from that of
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the McGill professor storming out in a huff because his school's governors won't do what
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he tells them to do, even though it's against the school's fiduciary duty. Imagine the luxury
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where you can quit your job over that. I bet a lot of people would like to have that kind
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of job. Now, I found the professor's biographical website. It wasn't hard. This is who he says
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he is. I went through some of it. Impressive credentials. He's got a PhD, of course, and no, that doesn't
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mean pilot higher and deeper. He's a professor. He's studied and worked in different cities.
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He's always cared. Look at this. He was acting director of the recycling office of the University
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of Chicago in 1990. Seriously, folks, 30 years ago, he was in charge of recycling, and he's
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got that on his resume. Look at this. McGill Association of University Teachers. So that's the labor
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union for professors. He's a union man. I'm not sure what he does could be called labor.
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I think Bernard Hancock does labor. Being the acting director of the recycling office, not
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even the permanent director. I'm just the acting director. I don't think that's quite what Karl
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Marx had in mind when he said, workers of the world unite. You have nothing to lose but your
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chains. Here we go. Staff remuneration committee. I know he was on the committee for salaries and
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whatnot. Got to get paid. Got to get paid. Absolutely. He was on the collegiality committee.
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In fact, he chaired it, and he was a member of it five years. He was on the collegiality committee.
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I don't know what that means. I wonder if the collegiality committee is indeed collegial. I wouldn't
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know. This just jumped out at me. Apparently, he was in a band. I think that's what that means.
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Megalith, lead singer, 2008, 2009. That's pretty impressive. Now, I couldn't find any videos of
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Professor Mickelson singing, but this video purports to be a band called Megalith. I searched
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on YouTube. This band is called Megalith. I don't know. Maybe there's more than one.
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And I should note that this appears to be a year after our professor left the band. But
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let me give you a flavor of Megalith. Take a look.
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Yeah, no thanks. I can only wonder what the Catskill Poetry Workshop participant 2004 was like.
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Maybe it was a little bit sweeter. Now, maybe I'm getting old, but making fun of lifelong academics
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doesn't even feel challenging or amusing to me anymore, because it's not weird or odd anymore.
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There are thousands, there are tens of thousands of academics just like this one. There are whole
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new departments in universities. Peace studies, vegetarian studies, transgender studies.
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Thousands of academics who probably make this guy, Professor Mickelson, look very conservative.
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I mean, after all, he has committed the sin of being a middle-aged white male, so there's that.
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But if the power goes out in Montreal, God forbid, when it's minus 20 tonight, God forbid,
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I know that it'll be men like Bernard Hancock that gets those houses warm again and those lights
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burning brightly again and the cars and the buses moving again. While an army of vegan conflict
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studies students for life on the recycling committee publicly rage against industry, well, they'll secretly
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can't wait to get the fossil fuel heat turned back on. Stay with us for more.
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For decades, American workers, farmers, ranchers, manufacturers and innovators have been hurt by
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the unfair trade with China. Politicians ran for office promising action to remedy these practices
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only to do nothing but allow them to continue. Unlike those who came before me, I kept my promise.
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In June of 2016, in the great state of Pennsylvania, I promised that I would use every lawful presidential
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power to protect Americans from unfair trade and unfair trade practices. With this signing,
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we mark more than just an agreement. We mark a sea change in international trade. The agreement
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tears down major market barriers for U.S. food and agricultural export. Millions of workers and
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farmers and innovators have waited decades for this day. At long last, Americans have a government
00:19:00.760
that puts them first. Well, that's the official short video announcement from the White House Twitter
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feed. Donald Trump declaring victory in his phase one trade deal with China. It was tough talk
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with the Chinese delegate right next to him. It looked pretty strong, especially in contrast
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to the other presidents who were featured in that short video. But was it as strong as Trump has
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suggested, as strong as he had promised in his really three-year trade war against China? Well,
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there's only one man I trust on this subject. And I am delighted that he joins us now via Skype. I'm
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talking about our friend Gordon Chang, who writes for the Daily Beast. And I follow him closely
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on Twitter at Gordon G. Chang. And if you want to know anything about China, you should too. Gordon,
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great to see you again. Thanks for fitting us into your schedule.
00:19:56.900
Oh, well, thank you so much, Ezra. And I'm delighted.
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Well, it's nice you to say. I love it when you say that, because we love following the story of China.
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China. And I like the fact that Trump has been tougher on China than any president in recent
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history. I want to know from you, because I know you'll give us the straight goods,
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did he compromise too much? Are there positives and negatives in this deal? Take us through it.
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Yeah, well, there are positives and negatives. And I think Trump could have gotten a better deal.
00:20:29.680
Yeah, I think if we step back for a moment, the president is right that his predecessors just sort
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of let this whole problem slide. They took actions that sometimes really helped China much more than
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the United States. So this is a welcome departure. The primary feature of this deal, Ezra, is essentially
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China agreeing to buy $200 billion more of U.S. goods and services over a 2017 baseline.
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This is no longer free trade. This is managed trade. And a lot of free traders are upset at this.
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But we've got to remember that Xi Jinping, the Chinese ruler, is increasingly determining economic
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outcomes in China. He's moving away from a system and more towards a command economy. So I think the
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only way you can have really satisfactory trade relations with China is managed trade. So I applaud
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the president for making that important switch. Now, if I understand the news reports correctly,
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China will buy U.S. agricultural products, as well as U.S. natural gas, which will be sent there through
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those LNG tankers, the liquefied natural gas. Those are some pretty big exports. And that's competing in
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the case of LNG, actually against Russia, which signed a big deal with China a while back.
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So I guess that's good news for those two industries. Are there industries that maybe are feeling that they
00:22:09.120
didn't get the deal they were hoping for? Well, you know, you look at this deal line by line and there
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are going to be some industries that didn't do as well as they had lobbied for. And, you know,
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the point here, Ezra, is that we're moving to a very different world, which is one which is not as good
00:22:29.560
as the one that we're coming from. And countries like Canada, for instance, can raise a legitimate
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question. Look, if you've got managed trade with China, you know, why can't we do it? And we got
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to remember that under the World Trade Organization's non-discrimination rule, China can't offer a side
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deal of this sort to the United States. It has to offer it to the other 161 WTO members, including,
00:22:54.740
of course, Canada. So this is going to be a very contentious period going forward because other
00:23:00.880
countries are going to say, what about me? Yeah. Very interesting. Now, the last time we spoke,
00:23:07.560
you and I went through some of the new data and intellectual property regimes that Beijing has put
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into place. There was a new law, I think, that came into effect on January 1st that basically gave
00:23:20.100
China direct access to any data going through that country. I know I'm oversimplifying it, but I'm a bit
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of a techno-peasant when it comes to the details. I know that's been a big concern for Trump and for
00:23:34.980
a lot of the high-tech industries and even Hollywood and movies and things like that. Does this deal
00:23:41.720
address Chinese intellectual property theft, industrial espionage, or just plain counterfeiting?
00:23:49.120
Well, it does address IP theft. But your description was absolutely correct. China has
00:23:57.780
two new cybersecurity rules. They're the Multi-Level Protection Scheme 2.0, which was implemented
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on December 1. And that's according to the 2016 cybersecurity law. Also, on the first day of this
00:24:11.000
year, the Chinese encryption law or cryptology law went into effect. And those two rules, when taken
00:24:19.600
together, mean that China will have complete visibility into the China networks of foreign
00:24:25.660
companies. So that means they'll be able to read all data and have access to all communications
00:24:30.500
because they can no longer encrypt so that the Chinese government and the Communist Party can't read it.
00:24:36.480
That means everything, Ezra. And once China is into the China networks of foreign companies,
00:24:43.860
they'll then have access and better access to get to the non-China portions of those networks.
00:24:51.380
And, you know, Canadians know this better than anybody else because their Nortel networks was
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bankrupted by Chinese spying and hacking. As they say, it was hacked to pieces. And that was something
00:25:04.020
that it's, you know, we Americans and everybody else should remember as well.
00:25:09.220
I think that one of the most amazing things I saw in the last year was Apple computers opening up a
00:25:17.100
manufacturing facility in the United States. I think it was in Texas. And Trump was so excited
00:25:22.560
about this, too, that he went for a tour of it with Tim Cook, the head of Apple. And the idea that
00:25:28.760
computer manufacturing would come home to America from Asia is something that I don't think people
00:25:35.900
would have thought would happen a few years ago. But let me ask you this. Now that Trump has relieved
00:25:42.460
some of the pressure on China, will some of those high-tech companies that were looking to move either
00:25:48.560
back to America or to a less hostile regime than China, will they say, oh, well, no need to leave
00:25:55.340
China anymore. We might have a token factory in America, but let's keep the heart of our work
00:26:00.540
here in China. You put your finger on something which is critical. And that is, before this phase
00:26:08.800
one deal was announced, a lot of companies were decreasing their vulnerability to China by moving
00:26:14.740
their factories offshore. So you had Google, Nintendo, GoPro, Fitbit, RH, which is restoration hardware.
00:26:23.800
These companies were moving factories out of China. That whole process has slowed down recently as it's
00:26:32.480
become clear that there would be some sort of trade agreement between China and the United States.
00:26:38.180
Now, phase one is only a truce. But nonetheless, China has reaped a lot of benefits from this.
00:26:45.360
And the other thing which is similar is that the Chinese economy is in really fragile shape.
00:26:51.040
It's decelerating quickly. And this has instilled a lot of confidence in China. So, for instance,
00:26:59.100
some of the December numbers for China look a lot better because producers there felt that there was
00:27:05.780
going to be a trade deal. I have one more question for you, and it goes to Trump's diplomacy. Now, I think
00:27:12.160
Twitter is very limited in China, if it's available at all, as are other Western social media. But
00:27:21.120
I think the same is true for Iran. There's a lot of crackdowns on social media. But nonetheless,
00:27:28.660
Donald Trump, with his trademark tweets, I mean, it's his blunt style of communicating that seems to
00:27:34.180
cut through all the bluster. He issued at least three tweets in the Persian language, Farsi,
00:27:42.140
that were speaking directly to Persians. And those were very widely circulated, both amongst
00:27:49.020
Iranian expats around the world. And I'm sure people in Iran saw them too.
00:27:53.820
Now that Trump has sort of kissed and made up a little bit with China, what do you think the
00:28:01.700
likelihood is that he'll keep pressing for democracy in Hong Kong and speaking? I mean,
00:28:07.320
I just have this dream, Gordon, and forgive me for indulging in a fantasy for a second,
00:28:12.120
that Donald Trump would tweet in the Chinese language something about freedom and democracy
00:28:17.360
for Hong Kong. But of course, it would echo around China itself. I just, there was this beautiful
00:28:24.540
moment when America was really focused on Hong Kong democracy. And I wonder if that moment has passed.
00:28:30.760
Yeah, we don't know. You know, phase one is just both sides stepping back. And remember that it's the
00:28:38.020
most difficult issues that are in phase two, which are, for instance, these cybersecurity rules we just
00:28:43.680
talked about, because they're not covered in phase one. And also the really tough issues of state
00:28:49.900
subsidies, state industrial policies in China. So, you know, we're going to get to a point where
00:28:55.940
there's going to be a lot of trade friction. But remember, it's not just trade problems we have with
00:29:01.220
China. We've got problems with China across the board. So I think that, you know, we're not going to
00:29:07.500
see Chinese language tweets from President Trump maybe in the next several weeks. But that's not
00:29:13.160
impossible. And by the way, Twitter is not available in China. Now, people have been able to
00:29:20.520
jump the great firewalls, they call it, with virtual private networks. So Donald Trump happens to be
00:29:27.480
extremely popular among Chinese netizens and people in China, because he is direct. He is, he cuts through
00:29:35.780
it, and their leaders don't. But this is going to be an important thing for us to watch,
00:29:40.740
and for us to remind the President of the United States that he needs to speak out for people in
00:29:46.960
Hong Kong and for the Chinese people. I just have one more question I want to jam in. Taiwan
00:29:53.140
has a, I'd say it's one step further outside the orbit of China. China wants to annex it. Taiwan
00:30:02.780
wants to be free. Both have some ambiguity in how they approach the other. But in the recent election
00:30:08.680
there, if I'm not mistaken, the President campaigned on a very strong democracy platform,
00:30:16.080
really to push China away. And there was even some pro-Hong Kong messaging that I understand
00:30:22.020
came in the campaign. I know that some Republicans are very strong for Taiwan, and even some,
00:30:31.080
I think Joe Biden even indicated his support for Taiwan, which made me feel good that it's a
00:30:35.500
bipartisan matter. Jim, any thoughts on the lessons of the Taiwan election? I just thought I'd ask your
00:30:42.480
thoughts on that. Yeah. Tsai Ing-wen won a resounding victory on the 11th of this month. Her margin was
00:30:50.240
more than 18% over the Kuomintang, the opposition party. And Tsai Ing-wen wasn't even going to get the
00:30:58.400
nomination of her Democratic Progressive Party were it not for the protests in Hong Kong. Because
00:31:04.840
China wants, as you say, it wants to annex Taiwan under its one country, two systems formula. That is
00:31:12.000
the formula that Beijing has used for Hong Kong, because it's obviously failed in Hong Kong. The
00:31:17.520
people in Taiwan looked at those protests in Hong Kong and said, OK, we've got to protect ourselves.
00:31:23.880
So Tsai was the beneficiary of that. This is a really good story of what happened on the 11th.
00:31:30.040
And as we go forward, we are going to see what you talked about. And that is Taiwan carving out its
00:31:36.440
own separate identity and independence. This is going to be important for us because a free Taiwan
00:31:43.760
is also an anchor for the free world. Yeah, well, it's very, that's the one part of the world where I'm
00:31:50.120
encouraged by people taking their democracy and their civil rights very seriously. And I remain inspired
00:31:55.960
by the people of Hong Kong. And I know you do too, Gordon. I'll end it there. I could talk with you for
00:32:00.840
hours about this. It's one of my favorite subjects. And we've sent reporters to Hong Kong twice in the last
00:32:06.040
six months. And I know we'll do so again. I look forward to the next time we talk, Gordon. It's great to see
00:32:11.000
you again. Thank you so much, Ezra. All right. There you have it, Gordon G. Chang. I encourage you to follow
00:32:16.680
Gordon on Twitter. I know they can't do that inside the Great Firewall of China, but we can do so.
00:32:23.240
Gordon G. Chang. Stay with us. More ahead on The Rebel.
00:32:35.240
Hey, welcome back on my interview yesterday with our friend Kean Bextie. Chris writes,
00:32:39.880
ignoring orders from a judge seems like another step towards anarchy, arrest them.
00:32:50.520
Rule of law means no one's above the law, but no one's below the law, right?
00:32:58.600
We saw just a week ago our friend David Menzies try an interview on a public street in a polite but
00:33:05.640
assertive way, Ron McLean, the TV commentator, hockey commentator. So David Menzies said,
00:33:13.080
do you have a question? Asked a question about Don Cherry. And 10 cops literally pushed David down
00:33:21.160
for doing nothing wrong, for asking a journalistic question on a public sidewalk.
00:33:25.240
And then here you have 10 lawbreakers defying a court order, and the police don't touch him. In fact,
00:33:36.120
the police sort of keep journalists away from him. That's not the rule of law. The rule of law means
00:33:42.760
David's allowed to ask questions, and no one is allowed to evade a court order.
00:33:47.320
I find it greatly demoralizing. Glenn writes, the failure of the authorities to arrest and prosecute
00:33:55.480
these thugs only encourages other domestic terrorists to think they can act without consequences.
00:34:01.480
You're right, and at first I was reluctant or hesitant to use the word eco-terrorist or environmental
00:34:07.800
terrorist, because I don't want to throw that word terrorist around lightly. But when you were making
00:34:13.160
things called widow makers and tire bombs, when you're cutting trees so that they could fall down
00:34:19.800
on people and you're planting little, you know, it's like war on the woods, war in the woods type
00:34:25.640
eco-terrorism, I think it meets the test. But look, those are Justin Trudeau's people. He's not going to
00:34:31.880
touch them. Peter writes, roadside bombs like that are considered IEDs. Your government isn't
00:34:38.520
doing anything? Well, that's the thing. I'm worried about the RCMP. They are a federal institution.
00:34:45.000
Justin Trudeau handpicked their commissioner and has had inappropriate conduct towards her,
00:34:52.200
in my view, hugging her at public events. Like, I think he's corrupt. Why would he not corrupt the RCMP
00:35:00.920
as much as we know he tried to corrupt the Justice Department? The only reason we know about it in the
00:35:06.120
Justice Department is there was an extremely ethical woman in charge named Jody Wilson-Raybould.
00:35:12.520
I don't know if Trudeau made the mistake of appointing an extremely ethical woman to run
00:35:17.800
the RCMP. I think the opposite. I think he learned to hire a lackey. And so I think the RCMP,
00:35:25.080
what Kean led me to believe was the RCMP officers on the ground probably want to enforce the law.
00:35:31.080
That's probably why they joined the RCMP in the first place. But the brass are saying,
00:35:34.840
no, no, no, no. Frustrating times. But I'm glad we were there, weren't you?
00:35:40.520
All right, folks, that's our report for today. Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at
00:35:45.080
Rebel World Headquarters, good night, and keep fighting for freedom.