Juno News - January 19, 2026Carney considers SENDING TROOPS to GREENLAND？!
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Summary
In this episode, we discuss the possibility of Canadian troops being deployed to Greenland to counter a U.S. attempt to seize control of the island. We also hear from David Creighton, a former public affairs officer with the Canadian Armed Forces.
Transcript
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Well, Canada may send troops to Greenland, apparently to try and discourage a U.S. takeover
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of the island. The Globe and Mail is reporting the Canadian Armed Forces have drawn up plans
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to send a small contingent of soldiers to Greenland for military exercises with NATO
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allies. They're just waiting for Prime Minister Carney to give the go-ahead.
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Carney says he's concerned about President Trump's escalating pursuit of Greenland.
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I'd like to know what Canada is doing to protect the integrity of Greenland.
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The future of Greenland is a decision for Greenland and for the Kingdom of Denmark. We are NATO partners
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with Denmark and so our full partnership stands. Our obligations on Article 5, Article 2 of NATO
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stand and we stand fuller square behind those. Now the U.S. of course is also a NATO partner but
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is currently at odds with fellow members over Greenland's possible future as a U.S. territory.
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As a result, Trump has imposed new tariffs on eight of its allies over their opposition to the plan.
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As far as Canada goes, the move could further hurt Canada's already shaky relations with
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the United States. NBC News with this headline, Trump's latest Western Hemisphere fixation, Canada.
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The network reports that President Trump is becoming increasingly irritated with Canada over its
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inability to defend its borders against encroachment from China or Russia.
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Meantime, Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat and Chinese detainee, says there are huge risks
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for Canada in becoming too economically dependent on China.
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As our canola farmers know all too well, they were in some ways my fellow hostages the last time
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Canada had a dispute with China. And so the risk in managing business with China is to make sure
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that no particular sector or company becomes so dependent on the Chinese market that the Chinese
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government can then use that and target that sector or company to apply political pressure to
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try to change Canadian policies. That's the danger. It's that the Chinese Communist Party routinely
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weaponizes trade and interdependence to exert geopolitical influence.
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Now, Kovrig spent more than three years in a Chinese prison in retaliation for the arrest in
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Canada by Huawei executive back in 2018. Our guest today is David Creighton, who did public affairs
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with the Canadian Armed Forces for 14 years. Welcome, David.
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Great to be with you as well. All right, let's talk a little bit about the possibility of sending
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some soldiers, Canadian soldiers, to Greenland. Do you think it's a good idea?
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I don't think any of this is a good idea. I don't think Donald Trump went into a next Greenland's
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a good idea. I don't think NATO doing exercises on Greenland right now is a good idea. But Canada
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cannot help but be involved in this. Greenland is right on our doorstep. And Canada obviously has
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to show the flag in this exercise. And I don't know where this is going to go. I don't think
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anybody does. I'm not sure Donald Trump knows where this is going to go. I don't think Mark Carney
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knows where this is going to go. But in terms of us being there, if NATO is doing an exercise
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on Greenland to show that Denmark does not really agree with Donald Trump's proposal,
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then I think Canada has to be there. There's no question about that.
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Now, do I think NATO is still a viable organization? No, I don't. But we can possibly get into that.
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Yeah, the armed forces have drawn up plans to send a small contingent of soldiers to Greenland. We
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don't know how small. Have you heard how many soldiers might be heading for Greenland, assuming
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Which, of course, is not going to be any great impediment to the U.S. But I don't really believe
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the United States is going to physically invade Greenland with an amphibious force. Where is
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it going to come from? And certainly, I don't think they're going to use Labrador as a launching
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post or in Nova Scotia. So I really find this whole thing to be so bizarre. It's like science
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fiction right now in terms of what is going on here. And I'm almost tempted to laugh at
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it, except this is quite serious. This is an international altercation about a country that
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most people, let's face it, probably didn't know was still under the auspices of Denmark.
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It's still basically a colony. It's a self-governing colony of Denmark. But what strikes me as passing
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stranger, Mark, is the United States has had bases in Greenland since the Second World War.
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So why do they suddenly need to occupy the entire country, which is just a block of ice?
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You know, Iceland and Greenland really were misnomered because Greenland really should be
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called Iceland. It is a nation of ice. So why the United States wants to occupy this block of ice,
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I don't know. When it already strategically has controlled Greenland for decades. Denmark doesn't
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strategically control anything. It's a member of NATO, a minor member of NATO. The days of the Vikings
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are long past. So it's been essentially a United States sphere of influence and the United States
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sphere of influence for 85 years. So I don't know why there's, you know, the urgency.
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Tom says he wants Greenland because of the Golden Dome. And so if he's going to be bringing about this,
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I guess, Star Wars program, you know, to shoot down enemy missiles, assuming they come over the
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Arctic, the Golden Dome strategically needs Greenland in order to happen. And that's my understanding
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of why, at least that's what he's talking about. And so he wants to turn Greenland into possibly a U.S.
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territory. I mean, but should Canada impede in that in any way? Does it make sense for us?
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I mean, the U.S. is still our ally and our relationship with that country has already
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strained to say the least. Economically speaking, we've got apparently still trade talks coming up
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with the United States in the spring regarding the USMCA slash CUSMA. I mean, do we really want to,
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you know, risk that being upended because of Greenland? It doesn't make any sense to me.
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Well, if we were there as part of a NATO force that was going to repulse a U.S. invasion,
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I would say, yeah, that's probably a bad idea. If we're merely there because, and once again,
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I'm giving, I'm being very generous to Prime Minister Mark Carney here and the Liberal government
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when I say this. If they're there to show the flag that Canada is still a viable member of NATO,
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that's what Canada is going to do. There's no two bones about that. Do I think NATO is a viable
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organization? No. And I used to write the talking points for NATO when I was in Bosnia. Yeah, that
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was a NATO exercise. Probably the last NATO exercise that made any sense. Right now, it's an organization
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way past its due date. It should have died with the end of the Cold War. There's no question about
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that. It's doing nothing except destabilizing Europe, encouraging a war with Russia, encouraging
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destabilization of Eastern Europe. It does nothing positive anymore. So do I personally think there's
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anything for Canada to gain in the long run here or even the short term? No. But I think if Canada
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pretends to be a loyal member of NATO, and it still does, that it is going to take part in any force
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that's there. Now, if that force was going to actually engage with US invasion forces, no, we
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wouldn't be there. And I'll tell you this, NATO wouldn't be there either. This is a huge charade. The
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whole thing is a huge show. It's an exercise in theater and nothing more. This, whatever, if it's 100,
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200 or 300 NATO troops show up on Denmark, they will be there doing an exercise, pretending they're
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really there to defend Greenland from the United States. This is only because NATO, Denmark, Canada,
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all of the European community can literally not just roll over and let Donald Trump take over
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Greenland without at least pretending that they object to it. And this is all this amounts to,
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is pretense. They are pretending to issue a warning to Donald Trump, which of course he's laughing at,
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because without NATO, without the United States, there is no NATO anyway. And clearly, I believe
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this is Donald Trump's way of exiting NATO from the back door. He has wanted to do this for quite
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some time. And I have to say, I'm in full agreement with that. He wants to exit NATO, and he wants to
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look for an excuse to do so. I think this is the perfect opportunity for him. And that's really what
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this is all about. And if NATO thinks it's going to stop the United States, of course, it's not.
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The United States is NATO. NATO is the United States. Without the United States, NATO is virtually
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nothing, because European countries do not really contribute anything near what the United States
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has been contributing for the past, what, 70 years, ever since this organization came into existence in
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1949. So I don't think you're going to see anything here except posturing. And Canada will be a part of
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that posturing. Well, it seems to be already, you know, part of it. And if the United States does leave
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NATO, and say NATO manages to lurch forward under some kind of agreement, say, with the remaining members,
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and there is still this stipulation, is it the Section 5 of NATO? It's, you know, if one of the members is
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attack on one country is attack on all. Yes. And an attack on Greenland, presumably is an attack on Denmark,
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which is NATO member. I mean, is there some kind of scenario that you could see is in a conflict with the United States?
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Anything is possible right now. We're living in a fairy tale world of international politics,
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geopolitical politics. So anything is possible. But is it likely that NATO is going to engage with
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the United States over this? Very, very, very unlikely. But I think the possibility exists. As long as we
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keep pushing the envelope in these areas around the world, something's bound to happen. And this is
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my chief criticism today of defense and security thinking and policy is that it doesn't seem to
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think about the consequences of its actions, whether it's the third world war in Europe over Ukraine,
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or whether it's whether China is going to look at what happened in Venezuela and say, well, why can't
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we take Taiwan? It's the same thing. We'll just do a regime change operation. Because all of these things
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have consequences. And I don't think the United States is thinking of the consequences any more
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than Europe is. But without the United States and NATO, I'll say it again, there is no NATO because
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the European community already has its own defense force. That's who should be defending Europe,
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by the way, not Canadians and Americans. Will Canada remain a member of NATO? Well, there won't be a NATO.
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But I predict Canada will become increasingly close to its own detriment to the European
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community, where its interests are not. Our interests are inextricably bound to those of the
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United States. They are our chief trading partner, our chief military partner, and we are geographically
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connected to the United States, not to Europe. There is no such thing as the old empire anymore
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with the United Kingdom, although Mark Carney loves to think we are closer to the UK than we are
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United States. Absolute nonsense. Europe is in a hellhole of trouble right now. All of the
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governments on the verge of economic collapse. And so the closer we become aligned to that catastrophe
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in Europe, the closer we are to becoming part of that catastrophe. Canada must focus its eyes on the
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United States, which is why I say, if this action by NATO is anything more than theater, Canada should
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be as far away as possible from it. But in the meantime, I predict Canada will play act along with
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the rest of NATO. And I don't think there's going to be an altercation. I think Donald Trump will just
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say Greenland is the next as of today. And NATO, Denmark, or the chief players in NATO will have
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nothing to say about it. It will be over. It'll be a done deal. That's where we're going in geopolitics
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So that might be what finishes off NATO then, is the takeover of Greenland. Did I hear you correctly?
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That's exactly what I'm saying. And I think this is planned. I don't think... Donald Trump has been
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all over the map since becoming president a year ago. A year ago tomorrow, you know, we were celebrating...
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Oh, I'm celebrating one year anniversary of Trump's inauguration. Although there are times
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he frustrates the hell out of me. But here we are one year into it. Donald Trump has been
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all over the map on NATO. Is NATO good? Is NATO bad? Is the United States spending too much money
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on NATO? Is the United States not spending enough? Clearly, Donald Trump and the MAGA base want the
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United States out of NATO, out of European entanglements. Focus on the Western Hemisphere.
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Focus on America first. Rebuild the infrastructure in America, not anywhere else. Stop spending money
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on Europeans. Let them take care of their own defense. US wants out of NATO. Trump wants out
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of NATO. This is the perfect opportunity. It's like it was handed to him as a gift.
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And I can tell you, J.D. Vance and the other people in the administration who despise NATO
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are saying, Donald, Mr. President, take the opportunity right now. This has been handed
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to you on a silver platter. Get out of NATO and say, we had no choice. We had to because
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the organization has ceased to function as it should. David, you've got a terrific YouTube
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channel. How do people find your content online? You can find me. Creighton's right. My show is
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Stand on Guard. We're on YouTube. We're on Rumble. We're on all of the platforms. And we will be
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there every day, seven days a week, 10 o'clock Eastern time. Invite you to see me. Creighton's
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right news. You can see everything, all of my sub stack, all of my newspaper articles that I write
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for the media outlets I work for. David Creighton, thank you, sir. Appreciate you having time to come
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on the show. Well, it's a pleasure, my friend. We'll see you soon.
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And that is it for this edition of Straight Up. Appreciate you tuning in, my friends. Let's do