Rebel Roundup： Guests Sheila Gunn Reid, Ezra Levant & Ben Davies
Summary
Justin Trudeau has a slush fund for private sector journalists. And the latest Fantastic Beasts movie is a progressive panacea. Plus, Ben Davies weighs in on this latest unintentional comedy. And we get your letters every minute of every day.
Transcript
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Welcome to Rebel Roundup, ladies and gentlemen, and the rest of you, in which we look back at
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some of the very best commentaries of the week by your favourite rebels. I'm your host, David Menzies.
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Hey, guess which party has the biggest war chest for next year's federal election?
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Well, it's the media party, of course, thanks to more than half a billion dollars in liberal
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welfare. Ezra Levent will serve up all the gruesome details. And when it comes to crossing
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the Canadian-US border, there's apparently an unofficial new rule in 2018. The makers are
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inconvenienced, but the takers, i.e. the irregulars, receive 24-7 concierge service. Sheila Gunn-Reed
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shall explain all. And the latest Fantastic Beasts movie is a progressive panacea. So why are the
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progressives panning this flick? Well, it's not progressive enough. Ben Davies weighs in on this
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latest unintentional comedy. And finally, we get your letters every minute of every day, and I'll
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share some of the letters we received regarding my report on the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
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that was protesting something last weekend. Those are your rebels. Now let's round them up.
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Hey guys, I really need your help because Justin Trudeau is doing something terrible to the news
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media in Canada, and I want you to hear about it from me because most of the rest of the news media
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themselves are compromised. Here's the basic facts. With less than a year to go until the next federal
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election, Trudeau has set up a massive $595 million slush fund for private sector journalists. He
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already controls most news reporters in the country because they work for the CBC government
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broadcaster. But that's not enough for Trudeau. Now he wants to compromise the rest of them. And get this,
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Trudeau will only give the money to what he calls trusted news organizations. But he doesn't mean
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journalists that the public trusts. He means journalists that he trusts. Well, that's not a
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real journalist at all. A politician should live in some degree of fear about journalists, fear that
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they'll ask him a tough question or find out about a scandal. It's unnatural for journalists to agree
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to be tamed like this, but it's already happening. A couple of weeks ago, the big left-wing journalists
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union declared their support for Trudeau and announced a campaign paid for by those journalists'
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own union dues to fight for Trudeau in the next election. That's a terrible conflict of interest
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for reporters to be spending their own money campaigning for or against the politicians they
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cover. But it was a quid pro quo. In return, Trudeau will give them $595 million. So they sold out
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their journalistic ethics. But it's not just left-wing journalists. Look at how the National Post is
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cheering this news. They used to be conservative critics of Trudeau. Now read what they have to
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say. Here's their CEO. I tip my hat to the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister. They deserve a
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lot of credit, said Godfrey. Everyone in journalism should be doing a victory lap around their building
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right now. Yeah, so much for the National Post. And as they say in Vegas, folks, the fix is in.
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From a leftist state broadcaster that annually receives about $1.5 billion to a union-representing
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journalist that plans to serve as a cheerleading squad for the Liberals to a nearly $600 million
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bailout for approved media outlets, it's official. The most well-funded political party going into next
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year's federal election is the media party. And joining me now with more on this story is
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Rebel Commander Ezra Levent. Welcome to Rebel Roundup, Ezra.
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Well, it's a pleasure. It's amazing. You know, all the kerfuffle in the United States about
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meddling in the election was over a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of Facebook ads
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that, if you look at them, were confusing. They were pointless. To think that $100,000 would have
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swayed the mighty United States election where $2 billion were spent. It's a laugh.
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And here we have Justin Trudeau, less than a year before the re-election, giving $595 million
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in a country one-tenth the size. And what's clear is he said he will only give that money
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to media he can trust. That was the word, trust. Well, what does that mean?
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A journalist should never be able to trust the media. A journalist should always be a little
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bit afraid of the media. If you are trustworthy media in the eyes of a politician, that means
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you're never going to ask him tough questions. You're never going to embarrass him. You're never
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going to do investigations into him. You'll give him the benefit of doubt every time. You'll carry his
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water on issues from open borders, mass immigration, to carbon tax, to whatever. You'll ignore his sexual
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assault of Rose Knight in Creston, BC. You'll paper over his gaffes, like Peoplekind, or his dancing
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in costumes in India. When he says he will give $595 million to media, but only those that he can trust,
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he's basically saying, I expect every journalist in this country to be on my team. The laugh is
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most of them were anyway. And Ezra, here's the deal. When it comes to the approved publications
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and the approved journalists, the liberals don't have to go out and have like a checklist saying,
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here's what you can and cannot cover. The implication, it will already be there. By that, I mean,
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if I'm a journalist in the print media industry, that's a sunset industry. It is withering away,
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less subscribers, less advertisers. I'm a journalist. I got to provide for my family.
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I come across a tip, something juicy about the liberal government or Trudeau. This is a real good
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investigative story. But wait a minute, do I bite the hand that feeds? So I'm going to probably bury
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that. Yeah. You know, I've been watching a couple of my friends in the mainstream media react.
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And let me just name two of them. Paul Godfrey, who's the CEO of Post Media. And I got to confess,
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I like Paul. Because he's so candid. He's not a liar. He says he's in the business to get a return
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for shareholders, or actually with Post Media, it's the debt holders. He's not in this. Like,
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Conrad Black was an ideological warrior. Paul Godfrey has never said that's him. So when this
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announcement came out a couple of days ago, Paul Godfrey said, massive credit to Trudeau and
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Morneau. This is saving the industry. Every journalist should take a victory lap around
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the building. So in case any one of Post Media's journalists was wondering what the official
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Oh, and I just kind of interject, because you are talking about the National Post.
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Here's another conflicting part of this bailout. When you look at, say, the financial post section,
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the National Post, which has long, and I've been a day one subscriber of the National Post until
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recently, since October 98, when it started publishing. When you see the likes of the columnist
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in the op-ed page and the financial post decrying bailouts to Bombardier, Chrysler, General Motors,
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Well, and that's the thing. It's not just the quid pro quo. I'll give you 595 million,
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you go easy on me. That's sort of the bargain. That's a trade. It's very clearly what Jerry Diaz
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of the Unifor Media Union has done. But just as bad, or worse in some ways, is there are some
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honorable, idealistic, conservative, or right of center journalists in this country.
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It's not that I'm worried that the Financial Post, which has some of the good ones,
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the Toronto Sun has a lot of good ones. It's not that I'm worried that all of a sudden they're going
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to say, well, Justin Trudeau phoned me up and said, cancel this story. It's that when you take
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money that you have railed against for decades, when you take a handout, how can you in good conscience
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criticize a bombardier, criticize overspending, criticize corporate welfare? It's not even that
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you made a deal with Justin Trudeau, quid pro quo. It's that you are yourself in on it.
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And so how can you... And this is a tactic that in the former Soviet Union and the Soviet bloc,
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how do you deal with a dissident? And I know this is a dramatic difference because, of course,
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I'm not comparing Justin Trudeau to the Soviets, and I'm not comparing a conservative journalist
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to a refusenik in the Soviet Union. But the principle is the same, and it's this.
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How do you take out a dissident? In the Soviet Union, you could kill them,
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but that's messy and it might create a martyr. But if you can corrupt them, if you can make them,
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and in the case of the Stasi and the KGB, can you make them turn in one of their own to get
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themselves off the hook, to buy themselves a nice house, to get a family member out of trouble?
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If you can make a dissident destroy his own morals, violate his own code, you haven't killed him,
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you haven't done anything objectionable in the public eye, you've caused that dissident to destroy
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the one, the little flame inside him, you've snuffed it out. So once a dissident would turn
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in a friend or a family member or a colleague or an ally to the KGB or the Stasi, they, it was like
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you snuffed out their own dissident nature because they could know, because the great strength that
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the dissident had in the Soviet Union was their moral purity. They had nothing else, but they had
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that left. And you can't take that away from a guy, but if you make a guy throw it away for a few
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moments of comfort, you've snuffed out the flame. And that's the thing, when post media takes the
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money, when the sun takes the money, they can never again have that righteous indignation that we need.
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And you know, I can already hear from the usual suspects, criticism, oh, listen to Ezra,
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listen to this speculation. It's not speculation. Ezra, there is proof in the pudding. Look what's
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happened to McLean's magazine that gets almost $2 million a year in government bailout. I don't know
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how. It's owned by Rogers, one of the huge multi-billion corporations. But you've got journalists that are
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basically writing public relations for Mr. Drill. You've got Scott Gilmore, one of the editors at
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large, the house husband for Ms. McKenna, and even writing columns that Canada is not a real country,
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but we will take that government of Canada check that comes in. This McLean's magazine is not the
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McLean's magazine when Barbara Meal was the editor, certainly. We have seen the corruption process
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play out. Yeah. I mean, McLean's magazine has been a liberal PR magazine for three years, really. So
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this $595 million is just the, I mean, it won't even make them, they can't be any more pro-Trudeau.
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But for, I mean, Andrew Coyne, Paul Wells, Chantali Baer, David Aiken, Matt Gurney, Chris Selle. These are
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the names of some of the journalists who work, who have publicly in the last week claimed to object
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to this money. But every single one of them will take the money. Every single one of them will. And so
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Trudeau, they can either say, oh, I'm against this. I'm against this. And maybe that's useful
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to Trudeau. So he could say, look, look how independent these journalists are. They're really
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mad at me. But it's a controlled opposition. But really, I don't think that shtick works. I mean,
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David Aiken, who's an old colleague of ours from the Sunday's Network,
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oh, I'm really, really, really mad about this. Well, I tweeted to him. I said, well, David,
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you're a member of the Uniform Union M1 and Media 1. And here's your bylaws. And if one quarter of your
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members request a meeting on this, the union has to have a meeting within 60 days and you can pass
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a motion against this. Have you made the request? Oh, Ezra, these things take time. You know that.
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Well, yeah, it takes 60 days. I've read the bylaws. Have you taken steps? No answer from him. And my
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point is, I mean, I like David and I like some of the other names I've mentioned more, some more than
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others. They have all made the choice that that Soviet dissident would make. Do I go to the gulag
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or do I name someone else and he goes and I have some comfort and I've given up my more, I mean,
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Andrew Coyne and Paul Wells in particular, I'm not picking on them. I'm just saying that they're
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journalists who have squawked against this. You should never believe them in the first place
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because they were happy to take those fat, fat checks from the CBC. They've both been CBC pundits
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forever. I think Coyne makes either 500 or 1,000 bucks in appearance. It's an enormous amount of
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money. So don't tell me that you're against government money while you're pocketing government
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money. You have to live it. And they're hypocrites. And the Sun News Network tried to be conservative.
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It was shut down by the CRTC. National Post tried to be conservative. It's taking the bribe.
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I really think, David, that the rebel is really the last independent media outfit in the whole
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country. We set up a little webpage called youcantbuyus.com where we're inviting people
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to chip in voluntarily because the 595 million bucks, that's being taken out of the pockets of
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every Canadian whether they like it or not. So what I'm saying to Canadians is you were forced to
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subsidize your enemies, maybe voluntarily help your friends.
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Ezra, we have to wrap it here. There's so many angles. And folks, if you do want to support the
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cause, please go to youcantbuyus.com and chip in a few bucks for really the last independent
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non-Trudeau liberal media outlet. And for all you newspapers that are going to take this kind of
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prostitution money from the Trudeau liberals, I've got your headline written for your next edition.
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When it comes to credibility, going, going, gone. Keep it here. More Rebel Roundup to come right after this.
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While they live in Canada every day, many of them cross the border to go to work in the United
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States at Polaris Industries or Marvin Windows or any number of the other local businesses in
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Rosso, Minnesota. Piney is a perfect example of how closely linked us Canadians are to our
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friends along the other side of the longest undefended border in the world. But it's also a
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perfect example of how the liberals favor people who cross that very same border illegally over people
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like those in Piney who have been doing it legally for generations. You see, on November 26,
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the Canadian Border Services Agency is reducing the hours at the points of entry at South Junction,
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Piney and Tolstoy, Manitoba. The Piney border crossing, which right now operates from 9 a.m. to 10
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p.m., will be reduced by five hours. So the new hours of service will be between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
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What this means is that people who live in Piney only have an eight-hour window to get to work in the
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United States. And that doesn't include their commute time. Likewise, with medical appointments
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and medical emergencies, still just an eight-hour window. And kids who played sports on teams across
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the border, well, they can pretty well forget about playing sports this year. According to local
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conservative MP Ted Falk, this will result in huge detours to other border crossings for people just
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to get home from work. The next closest border crossing is a half an hour east, resulting in a
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full hour added on to everyday commutes. Well, welcome to the new normal when it comes to crossing
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the border thanks to the Trudeau Liberals. If you're an irregular member of people kind, well,
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the Royal Canadian Bellhop Police will gladly carry your luggage to the nearest processing centre to ensure
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those benefits start rolling in. But if you're a law-abiding, hard-working Canadian taxpayer,
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well, sorry, loser, the Trudeau Liberals are suddenly fiscal conservatives as they embrace
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cost-cutting measures that will make life a whole lot more inconvenient for you. Yes, ironically,
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those very people who are paying taxes to ensure that the irregulars get full benefits,
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well, they are the ones that are now being inconvenienced. Lovely. And with more on this
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egregious story, I'm joined now by Sheila Gunn-Reed, host of The Gunn Show. Welcome to Rebel Roundup,
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my friend. Hey, David. Thanks for having me back on. It's always a pleasure. Now, Sheila,
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I don't have any skin in this game, given that I'm not a resident of Piney, Manitoba. But wow,
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my blood is boiling over this, nevertheless. For starters, what is the ostensible policy reason
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for the cutback on operating hours at the Manitoba-Minnesota border crossing in the first
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place? Well, it's cost-cutting measures. All of a sudden, all of a sudden, the Liberals
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are fiscal conservatives when it comes to law-abiding rural folks just trying to get across
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the border to see their families, for their kids to play hockey, to have their babies, go to the
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doctor, have life-saving medical interventions, or go to work. These people are literally just
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trying to go to work so that they can pay taxes to fund infrastructure like border facilities.
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Yeah, indeed. I mean, this isn't about inconveniencing Canadians who want to cross the border to take
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advantage of Black Friday sales once in a blue moon. This is about people in Piney, as you said,
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they work at Polaris Industries, Marvin Windows on the Minnesota side. They're trying to earn a living,
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and those hours are really going to be a huge inconvenience for them.
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Yeah, they're only keeping the border open for eight hours. So how do you work your eight,
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10, or 12-hour shift at the window plant when the border is only open for eight hours?
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This is going to add, I did the math, I plugged it all into Google Maps, it's going to add at least
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an hour of commute every single day for these people to get to work, at least an hour. In some
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instances, it could be even as high as two hours, and that's if the border isn't busy. But when you're
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closing one border crossing and limiting those hours, of course, it causes a backup at other border
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crossings. And there's something also, you know, a little more troubling at play. These people,
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many of them are dual citizens, because they were born in Minnesota, because that's this community's
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closest hospital is over in Roseau, Manitoba. So, or Roseau, Minnesota, excuse me. So, I mean,
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this isn't something that's new. This isn't a new problem. This is a way of life in Piney. They rely
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on Minnesota just to survive, and Trudeau's cutting them off, while at the same time building
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permanent infrastructure at illegal border crossings to make it more comfortable for
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people to cross from upstate New York into Quebec.
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Yeah, absolutely amazing. And Sheila, I'm going to take this argument in a different direction.
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Where is climate Barbie on this file? Because all this extra commuting, all this waiting in line
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as you idle, and idling emissions are the worst kind of emissions that come out of a tailpipe.
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Isn't this increasing, you know, the carbon footprint of the people of Piney, Manitoba?
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Isn't this hastening the death of mother planet Earth?
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Of course it is. But you know what? There's all those people who are walking across the border.
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So that's saving on carbon emissions. It's like carbon offsets, David. You just have to learn
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But tell me, I've never been to this border crossing, Sheila. Can you paint a picture of
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what it's like? Like, if it's closed, is there a way to cross it anyways, if there's no staff there?
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Or, I mean, you know, I'm thinking, what's the worst that could happen to somebody crossing
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irregularly? Getting free dental benefits, perhaps?
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Getting $50,000 from the government for the year? Is that what you mean?
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No. No, these people are, they're law-abiding folks. They are absolutely going to go out of
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their way and inconvenience themselves and cost themselves more in fuel to do things the right
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way. But on the flip side, we are rewarding people who break the laws of the country to
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get into the country with free hotel accommodations in Toronto. That's a story that just came out
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today. In the National Post, they're reporting that just in Toronto alone, from August to October,
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so three months, it cost $2.3 million to house illegal border crossers in hotels. If we roll that
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out for the year, it's anywhere from $9 to $10 million. So we're not exactly concerned about
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cost-cutting measures when it comes to cross-border issues, except when it affects the law-abiding rural
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Well, I'm sorry, Sheila, but quoting the National Post these days, now that it's about to become
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an unofficial government organ thanks to taxpayer subsidies, I don't think they have any street
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cred to go after any kind of fiscal handouts anymore. But you know, to me, Sheila, this is
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disturbing. And it's part of the bigger narrative that we've seen with the Trudeau liberals in the
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last three years. And it's this, if you're a maker, if you're a law-abiding Canadian taxpayer,
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you're at the bottom of the totem pole, if I can use that metaphor these days. But if you're a taker,
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Oh, yeah, I know. But if you're a taker, you are at the front of the line. We want you. We will
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accommodate you. We'll have RCMP constables carry your bloody Gucci luggage even. I mean,
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to me, as a law-abiding Canadian as well, as you are, as I'm assuming most of our audiences,
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Well, and you know, there's also something that maybe you don't feel in Ontario quite as much as
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we do out here on the prairies. But it's this disdain for people who live on the prairies,
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these hardworking salt of the earth folks. I think it's sort of the same thing that they
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have in the United States, where they talk about flyover country being ignored by the elites.
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In Canada, in the West, and on the prairies, we're the flyover people. We have these elitist people
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in sort of Toronto to Montreal, making the rules for the rest of us and how we have to live with
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no consideration for our lifestyle and our, you know, I would suggest probably a distinct culture
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we have here on the prairies. And this is just another instance of that, whether it's, you know,
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Trudeau's attacks on law-abiding gun owners or cross-border working folks on the prairies.
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It's just a symptom of that sort of Laurentian elite mentality.
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Unbelievable. Well, Sheila, we're going to have to wrap it here. Hopefully, you'll button up your
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sweater there because I think you're wearing one of your pro-life t-shirts. I don't want one of the
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soy boys out there to give you a roundhouse kick to the shoulder, right? So, although I think you
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could take those guys, don't get me wrong. But Sheila, thank you so much again for weighing in
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on this issue. Thanks for having me on, David. You got it. And that was Sheila Gunn-Reed in Alberta.
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Folks, keep it here. More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.
00:24:59.080
JK thought she had it made. More money than a Middle Eastern sheik. More praise than a president.
00:25:03.640
And millions of loyal fans. But what's more important than all those trivial things,
00:25:07.680
JK Rowling wore her progressive badge proudly. Starting Twitter wars with Trump supporters.
00:25:12.620
Slamming Brexit organizers as racist and bigots. Being an open LGBTIQ activist. And generally
00:25:18.620
just mocking Trump on the reg. I mean, what could go wrong? Well, when you legitimize the beliefs
00:25:22.800
and values of the unappeasable, they come for you. Well, the newest movie in the series,
00:25:26.840
The Crimes of Grindelwald, opened with the lowest opening in the history of the franchise.
00:25:31.120
Many point to the critical complaints levied at the film as the problem. Not by conservative critics,
00:25:35.960
but left-wing critics. So let's just go through a few, shall we?
00:25:39.400
One, Johnny Depp, the man who had already been eaten by the left, was cast as one of the leads. And the
00:25:44.200
internet went wild. That a man who had sexual assault allegations from his estranged ex-wife that have
00:25:48.380
not been substantiated, was allowed to be on screen again. And let me emphasize, we still don't know
00:25:52.800
what happened. But him being allowed on screen threatened the very safety of leftists. The Twitter
00:25:57.120
world saying thanks to JK Rowling like, quote, remember that letter you wrote me when I was 15,
00:26:00.720
explicitly saying that the Harry Potter world would always be a safe haven from abuse, would always be
00:26:05.320
there to protect and comfort me? Well, shove it, JK. Another complaint that derailed this film was
00:26:10.340
that the movie wasn't gay enough. JK Rowling talked openly about one of the main characters,
00:26:15.740
Dumbledore, being gay. But since this children's movie only hinted at the fact that he was homosexual,
00:26:20.880
Vanity Fair put it, quote, the worst part is that this film tries to have its cake and eat it too.
00:26:25.320
It throws a few bones alluding to Dumbledore and Grindelwald's relationship, unquote. Because,
00:26:30.180
you know, kids don't want to see magic on screen. They want to see two dudes playing Tongue Twister.
00:26:34.380
Holy abracadabra, looks like the latest installment in the Fantastic Beasts franchise is not so fantastic
00:26:42.520
after all. Well, at least not when it comes to the perpetually offended progressives. Apparently,
00:26:49.220
there's just not enough social justice warriorism on screen. From the casting of Johnny Depp to the
00:26:56.660
fact that the movie was too much sorcery and not enough Brokeback Mountain. Yikes. And with more
00:27:05.040
on this feel-good flop is our Tinseltown rebel, Ben Davies. Welcome to Rebel Roundup, Ben.
00:27:11.460
Oh, just thank you so much for having me. This is just Christmas. It came early to talk about this movie.
00:27:15.660
Well, you know, the funny thing is, Ben, it looks like J.K. Rowley is learning the hard way. And that
00:27:23.320
is when it comes to appeasing the loony left, their appetite is insatiable. And if you don't
00:27:30.160
coddle them enough, then you're not an ally anymore. You're an aggressor. Does one laugh or weep, Ben?
00:27:37.680
I have to laugh. I think this is absolutely insane. When you try to appease people that live
00:27:43.480
off that rage, getting frustrated, getting offended at stuff, there is no limit to what they will get
00:27:48.500
offended by. And you give them a foot and they'll still complain about the other foot they didn't
00:27:53.060
get. And that's just exactly what happened with this movie. And J.K. is learning this the hard way
00:27:57.020
while completely sacrificing her stories and narrative to try to appease that.
00:28:01.340
And Ben, let's take this movie apart in terms of the problems with it,
00:28:06.160
according to the progressive left, which it's meant to appease. For example, you alluded to
00:28:12.360
it's not gay enough. I mean, what were these people looking for, especially in a movie that I would
00:28:20.840
imagine skews to a younger demographic? Yeah, I mean, that's exactly what it was. It just wasn't
00:28:27.420
quite gay enough, which is always what you think when you go into a movie. It's like, it was a good movie,
00:28:32.060
but if it could be a little more gay, that's, that's what I want. And that's what happened with
00:28:35.580
this movie that J.K. Rowling came out and said, Dumbledore, who, you know, is the guiding force
00:28:39.840
of the movie. There's always that character that mentors the younger people in any hero journey story.
00:28:44.140
And Dumbledore was that character. And she came out saying that, yes, he is homosexual. And in this
00:28:48.060
movie, you explore his younger years. And this is alluded through throughout the movie about his
00:28:52.300
special friend, this incredible bond he had with this guy with Grindelwald. And it's explicitly shown
00:28:57.660
out, especially explicitly told, but it's never shown to come to fruition on camera.
00:29:02.420
So it was Variety magazine, Variety magazine even came out and said, these people were just trying
00:29:08.720
to have their cake and eat it. They wanted to elude at homosexuality, but not offend people that
00:29:13.420
didn't want to bring their kids to a movie to see two dudes playing tongue twister. Like that was their
00:29:17.640
whole problem. It was just insane. And they tried, but they couldn't appease, obviously.
00:29:22.320
Well, you know, Ben, maybe in the director's cut DVD, they can have a scene where Dumbledore and his
00:29:28.260
special friend are driving in a convertible Saab or something. But the other thing now is Snake
00:29:34.920
Girl is played by Claudia Kim, who is a Korean actress, of course. And this is offensive because
00:29:42.220
this is a bad character. And I guess we can only have white males play bad guys or something.
00:29:52.880
Dave, this is 2018. They're obviously trying to perpetuate women of color being submissive and
00:29:58.600
dominated by white men. I don't know how you didn't see this when she was cast. Yeah, that's
00:30:02.740
literally what they're saying. And I feel so bad for Claudia Kim. As any actress that works to try to book
00:30:07.200
one of these major roles, to have people on the left try to say that you are a part of perpetuating
00:30:12.780
this harmful stereotype, are you taking this role? That annoys me to literally no end. And then it
00:30:18.140
also just shows the insanity of the left, begging for diversity, but only in the roles that they deem
00:30:22.080
are worthy for these people to take. It's just absolutely ridiculous. And it's just the same
00:30:26.380
just horrible disease that's popping up in all these movies. And it's damaging people on all sides.
00:30:31.860
And Ben, let's take this argument to the extreme. As you said, it's 2018. So the new rules are if
00:30:38.460
there was a movie that required a Latino character, it has to be a Latino actor and nobody else playing
00:30:45.260
that character. So in this movie, I see a whole bunch of witches out there. Are these people members
00:30:53.560
of the Wiccan faith? Because if not, I think that's a major fail.
00:30:57.320
Yeah, it's Wiccan appropriation. It's just, it's gross what's happening in 2018. I can't believe
00:31:02.380
we're not woken up to see this. It's just so stupid when this happens. And they're even trying
00:31:06.960
to bring more diversity to the original script and story because it's taking place, you know,
00:31:10.560
back in the day in a different period in London. But they wanted to include an Asian character and
00:31:13.980
they get in trouble because it was the wrong character to make Asian. It's just,
00:31:18.280
oh, I just can't handle it. It's just so stupid. But I love that it's happening to someone that is so
00:31:23.800
fighting for progressive, you know, progressive roles and making movies that are more correct,
00:31:27.880
progressive, and then her being absolutely eaten in the process. JK is taking a lot of heat
00:31:31.740
for these choices. Well, you know what? Progressive Hollywood and the actors that populate it,
00:31:37.440
I think Ben should be careful what they wish for. And by that, I mean, you know, you can duplicate
00:31:43.780
anything, including actors by CGI. I mean, so I'm wondering if in the future, because the creators of
00:31:53.480
these films don't want this kind of social media hate on, maybe they'll just go the Polar Express
00:32:00.100
route and everybody will be like an animated form of an actual human being. And it's not a real person.
00:32:07.360
It's just a character played by computer bits and bytes. And we're home free. Is that a possibility,
00:32:13.700
Ben? Well, I think that's very dehumanizing of you to even suggest. It's offensive to people who,
00:32:20.620
you know, are proud of who they are and their organic skin and not the digital form.
00:32:25.060
So I don't know how you would possibly get that through one of the studios. No, I mean,
00:32:29.320
you still would have people that would have to play those roles. But I hope it doesn't get to that
00:32:33.340
point. Hopefully we go back to, you know, people just not being crazy. And the left just learns
00:32:38.020
that this is an absolutely stupid thing, which you're seeing that it's starting to eat itself a
00:32:41.720
little bit. I covered this in the Bill Maher story, where now people are like, wait, this has actually
00:32:45.260
gone too far. We're allowing people and reinforcing the idea that when you're offended,
00:32:48.660
we will change the world to fit however you feel instead of being like, get up, grow up and get
00:32:53.560
over it like that. We're going to start to get back to that once the left continues to eat itself
00:32:57.320
like we're seeing. And Ben, on that note, last question, as you mentioned in your commentary,
00:33:02.440
this had the lowest opening in terms of a weekend box office and the whole Harry Potter universe
00:33:09.140
franchise. I'm wondering. And so I interpret that as, you know, people out there aren't buying what
00:33:14.960
they're selling. So when there's the next Fantastic Beasts movie, what I'm wondering is,
00:33:21.460
do the producers double down on the whole progressive social justice narrative and become
00:33:27.540
even more uber politically correct? Or did they just say, you know what the hell with this? Let's
00:33:31.780
just make a good story driven, character driven movie and not get into all this political rubbish
00:33:39.260
because we can't win. You cannot appease these people.
00:33:44.580
I think if I was going to bet on if the progressive types would come back to reality,
00:33:49.040
I would say no. And then they're going to completely double down. I think other stories
00:33:52.500
are going to pop up that are great. They're going to get a chance to get into the limelight. I think
00:33:56.260
this is already sold. It's sold to the devil here. And I think so has the Star Wars franchise.
00:34:00.720
Now they signed Kathleen Kennedy on for three more movies. They didn't learn from the massive outrage
00:34:04.860
of the last two movies, basically. So I don't see that happening. I see other franchises popping up.
00:34:09.080
I am worried when they are going to reboot Lord of the Rings at some point, they're going to be
00:34:12.420
like, you know what? This was a very white cast. This is not a very diverse sexually cast. We're
00:34:16.140
going to change all these classic characters in who they are and how they behave, who they sleep
00:34:22.900
with and the color of their skin. I think they might try to do that with movies they're rebooting.
00:34:26.420
But I think these are going to continue to tank. And then new movies that are great stories will get
00:34:29.600
opportunities to come up and be made. Wow. What a tragedy. Anyways, Ben,
00:34:34.700
listen, I appreciate your insight. I don't know how you survive day-to-day living in Hollywood,
00:34:41.340
the ground zero for progressive thinking. But thank you once again for your insight.
00:34:46.800
Oh, no problem, man. Thanks for having me. You got it. And that was Ben Davies in Hollywood,
00:34:51.340
folks. Keep it here. More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.
00:34:54.600
Well, I'm standing in front of Deco Labels. This is Doug Ford's business. And it's going
00:35:07.420
to be the site of a protest by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty. They're upset about
00:35:13.340
things such as the minimum wage not increasing by a dollar and the reduction of sick days. And
00:35:19.740
of course, this is being interpreted as a war on the poor. They don't mention the tax cuts that the
00:35:25.360
Ford government gave to low-income individuals recently. But a couple of things strike me about
00:35:31.820
this protest. First of all, as you can see, folks, it's a Saturday. The business is closed. There's
00:35:38.040
no one here for the protesters to interact with. And secondly, the primary target of their protest,
00:35:46.600
Doug Ford. He's just about three kilometers away at the Toronto Congress Centre as part of the
00:35:53.660
Ontario PC Convention. So I'm not sure these guys have their coordinates quite where they should be.
00:36:01.820
What is your point, though? You want an alternative to oil?
00:36:24.360
Hi, ma'am. What does your sign mean, Canadian Pussy Power?
00:36:28.060
What's it mean? Well, it initially was my personal response to the,
00:36:33.900
the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States.
00:36:41.040
Oh, okay. So, like you're recycling your sign, I guess, or?
00:36:44.620
No, I think Mr. Ford is just taking all his steps from Mr. Trump.
00:36:50.120
Oh, okay. Then, um, some would say that might be a good thing, though.
00:36:56.180
Try to figure out what Canadian pussy power has to do with minimum wage.
00:37:11.520
Well, the rank and file of OCAP and other assorted nuts were protesting something.
00:37:16.640
As you saw, they had a very hard time articulating exactly why they had gathered
00:37:26.020
In any event, here's what some of you had to say about all this sound and fury signifying nothing.
00:37:34.720
They forgot that when wages go up, so does everything else.
00:37:38.400
I'm now in the position of closing my store due to the higher costs.
00:37:44.520
Sorry to hear about your situation, Snarly, but this is indeed why the marketplace, not the government,
00:37:51.680
should determine what the so-called minimum wage should be.
00:37:55.300
And even those that remain in business will cope by reducing staff and hours
00:38:01.420
and even switching to automation, such as self-checkout kiosks.
00:38:06.760
Does it sound like a win for the rank and file to me?
00:38:12.600
And yet they didn't protest against the last government that basically bankrupted the province.
00:38:20.580
But then again, speaking of liberals, maybe they all thought the budget was going to balance itself.
00:38:29.340
I wonder why some of these alt-left Marxist hashtag blue lunatics can't simply be polite.
00:38:37.520
Just because you disagree with a person's political views, you don't have to treat them as though they are the enemy.
00:38:44.880
Indeed, but I regret to inform you, Hope, that civility is on its deathbed these days.
00:38:54.520
if you have nothing of substance to say, then shout it.
00:39:00.640
I think David Menzies has accidentally encountered the cast from The Walking Dead.
00:39:06.120
They don't have to pretend to be mindless zombies because they already are.
00:39:11.640
If the producers of that AMC franchise want to do a Canuck version set in Toronto,
00:39:16.540
well, we've already completed the casting call for them.
00:39:27.600
For the Mother Corp, this is the sort of wacky Marxism that isn't to be mocked, but championed.
00:39:34.660
I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that some of these protesters were actually retired CBC staffers.
00:39:43.120
I've actually come across such individuals at other protests over the years.
00:39:48.180
Well, you know, Vive M, welcome to the new left, which hates the makers and embraces the takers.
00:40:16.360
This channel is a step away from the Proud Boys.
00:40:28.780
There are indeed plenty of other socialist countries out there, like Cuba and North Korea.
00:40:35.540
Yet, if you are indeed such a fan of Venezuela and you think Fox News is a propaganda mill,
00:40:41.360
why don't you fly down to Caracas and check it out for yourself?
00:40:45.040
Well, that wraps up another edition of Rebel Roundup.
00:40:51.040
And hey, folks, never forget, without risk, there can be no glory.