Juno News - The Media Still Doesn’t Get It

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Canada's most irreverent talk show.

00:00:06.700 This is the Andrew Lawton Show, brought to you by True North.

00:00:12.740 Coming up, the media still doesn't understand Trump's support,

00:00:16.200 the never-ending lockdown continues, and a bizarre coalition for press freedom.

00:00:22.280 The Andrew Lawton Show starts right now.

00:00:25.840 Hello and welcome to Canada's most irreverent talk show.

00:00:32.100 You're tuned in to the Andrew Lawton Show here on True North.

00:00:35.160 It is great to have you aboard the show.

00:00:37.960 Going to talk a little bit more about U.S. politics than we normally would on this show,

00:00:43.780 given this is the last edition of the program prior to the 2020 United States election.

00:00:49.700 I will say, though, that people who follow me on Twitter and have heard me talk about this in the past on the program

00:00:55.200 will no doubt be aware that I tend to point at Canadian media outlets

00:01:00.220 for being a fair bit more obsessed with U.S. election coverage and Trump than they should be.

00:01:06.360 And in particular, CBC.

00:01:07.960 And the reason for that is very clear.

00:01:09.620 CBC is given $1.3 billion a year,

00:01:13.340 with which they are supposed to be providing essential Canadian journalism,

00:01:18.300 the kind that commercial media are not doing.

00:01:20.880 And if you looked at CBC's front page of its website on the morning before the election,

00:01:26.780 Monday morning, you see it's Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Biden, Biden, Biden,

00:01:30.580 all U.S. stories.

00:01:31.760 The one connection to Canada is actually just a Canadian angle on an American story.

00:01:38.060 You look at a couple of weeks ago, the same sort of thing happened.

00:01:41.580 So the day before the election, people might be a bit more forgiving of it.

00:01:44.580 But this has been going on for weeks, where the only stories CBC wants to cover are American stories.

00:01:50.480 I remember earlier on in the coronavirus pandemic,

00:01:53.460 Andrew Scheer, who was at the time the conservative leader, would be speaking.

00:01:57.140 And I'd be like, OK, yeah, yeah, I want to figure out what's happening.

00:01:59.620 What's Andrew Scheer saying?

00:02:00.540 I turn on CBC.

00:02:01.880 And instead, they're carrying, you know, at the time, the White House press secretary,

00:02:05.400 I think it was Sarah Sanders, press briefing.

00:02:07.760 And I'm like, well, hang on.

00:02:08.580 That doesn't seem to be as relevant to Canadians

00:02:10.680 as what the leader of Her Majesty's loyal opposition is saying.

00:02:14.820 So CBC, $1.3 billion a year.

00:02:18.960 And they are more interested in immersing themselves in the world of U.S. politics

00:02:23.580 than covering the stories that are happening in Canada.

00:02:27.460 And yes, the U.S. election is relevant to Canadians,

00:02:29.880 which is why I'm going to be talking about it.

00:02:32.020 But I do think that Canadian media, generally speaking,

00:02:35.100 needs to stop being as obsessed with it.

00:02:37.260 And the big part of this is because they're typically wrong on it.

00:02:41.080 You know, if they were making arguments that were sound and offering something unique,

00:02:45.540 and if they were actually tapped in to what was happening in U.S. politics,

00:02:49.460 it might be a little bit easier to deal with.

00:02:52.100 But they just missed the mark entirely because Canadian media, like so many Canadians,

00:02:58.200 doesn't actually understand the Trump appeal.

00:03:02.720 They don't understand why Trump won in 2016.

00:03:05.000 They don't understand why he has a chance at victory in 2020.

00:03:09.280 I'm not going to go down this road of saying that,

00:03:11.580 oh yeah, it's definitely going to be Trump.

00:03:12.820 There's no way Biden's going to win.

00:03:14.380 But I'm also not going to say there's no way Trump will lose.

00:03:18.060 I think that if you look at the numbers,

00:03:19.560 I could see a lot of different things happening.

00:03:22.100 And the fact that the ballots are not going to be counted for weeks and weeks to come,

00:03:26.980 generally speaking, never works out in favor of Republicans.

00:03:29.760 But the reason I want to talk about it now is because everyone needs to start thinking of

00:03:34.900 what's going to happen next.

00:03:37.720 And next is a bit of a difficult thing to find right now,

00:03:40.880 because it may not be, as I said, that the election is over for,

00:03:44.440 you know, several days or weeks to come,

00:03:46.560 which is why I do think the country would benefit from a very decisive victory,

00:03:51.400 not a 2000 and probably not a 2016 either.

00:03:55.200 But you look at what's happening across the country right now,

00:03:58.480 businesses, especially in D.C., are boarding up their windows.

00:04:02.080 People are expecting mass unrest.

00:04:04.460 And I assure you, the rioting and looting is not going to come from Republicans if Joe Biden wins.

00:04:11.260 The rioting and looting is going to be coming from the left should Trump win re-election.

00:04:17.460 It's going to be an extension or a revival, whatever you want to call it,

00:04:20.980 of what was happening throughout much of the lockdown after the Black Lives Matter protests started,

00:04:25.660 where you get these activists that decide they can make their point

00:04:28.820 by deciding to loot and riot and burn things.

00:04:32.520 And all of those events that CNN said were mostly peaceful, you may recall.

00:04:37.020 That's going to be what happens.

00:04:38.440 So the big unrest is not going to be coming if conservatives don't concede victory.

00:04:43.580 The unrest is going to be coming if Trump wins.

00:04:46.660 And people on the left who still didn't actually realize that Trump won

00:04:50.580 and still haven't accepted that Trump won four years ago if they start to decide

00:04:54.740 they're not going to accept this particular election result.

00:04:58.840 But you look at the, not just the unrest, the Antifa violence and that sort of stuff,

00:05:03.460 look at the effect of U.S. politics right now on individual people's families.

00:05:08.160 And the media is stoking this, but there's a very significant story that's happening right now.

00:05:13.460 This is a piece that was on ctvnews.ca, although it was an American piece by CNN.

00:05:18.120 Again, wives of the deplorables discuss life with husbands who support Trump. 0.99

00:05:23.220 Now, politics is pretty important in my life.

00:05:25.680 So I would accept that there has to be, in a healthy marriage of people that care about politics,

00:05:30.640 at least a fundamental shared understanding.

00:05:33.820 Not necessarily agreement, but a shared basis of understanding.

00:05:37.780 But you get people here that are saying, for example, as Carol Catherine did,

00:05:42.560 she didn't know her husband was a Trump supporter until the day after the election.

00:05:45.700 She called him the next morning crying, the article says.

00:05:50.120 And he was like, yeah, of course she lost.

00:05:52.020 She's an awful human being. 1.00

00:05:53.700 And then Ms. Catherine says, it was like a light went off for me.

00:05:56.540 And I thought, oh boy, we're going to have trouble.

00:05:59.500 And for the next three years, she felt like she was living an alternate reality.

00:06:03.860 Despite the fact that her husband was her high school sweetheart,

00:06:06.780 a rekindled love after a first marriage, children and divorce,

00:06:09.580 they barely fought, and now they have ideological differences.

00:06:13.740 And the clincher, I didn't know that he's anti-abortion.

00:06:17.500 I didn't know that he is so emotional about immigration.

00:06:20.520 Both of us never really fleshed out these issues.

00:06:23.640 If you are so passionate about politics and passionate about these issues

00:06:28.040 that you are going to call your husband and sob on the phone the day after the election,

00:06:32.620 perhaps in the 11 years you've been married,

00:06:34.940 you should have talked about politics at one point.

00:06:37.080 Again, if it matters to you so much that you're going to cry,

00:06:40.240 you should probably have that conversation about it with a loved one.

00:06:44.260 And other people in this group as well are saying very similar things,

00:06:47.620 that they don't want to just survive their marriage.

00:06:50.020 They can't stick it out with a person who can't empathize with others.

00:06:53.240 But by being married to a Republican, you're missing out on an intimate part of marriage.

00:06:57.480 That's what one post says.

00:06:59.180 And I'm like, do you people have no joy in your life,

00:07:03.300 no humanity that you can't see another person that you've had no marital issues with

00:07:08.400 the same way you have always seen them just because you find out they are a Trump voter.

00:07:13.280 And it's not just in couples.

00:07:14.900 This story in Reuters was heartbreaking.

00:07:17.340 When lifelong Democrat Myra Gomez told her 21-year-old son five months ago

00:07:22.340 she was voting for Donald Trump, he cut her out of his life.

00:07:26.360 He specifically told me, you are no longer my mother because you are voting for Trump.

00:07:33.280 And this is not from some, you know, wealthy oil baron father.

00:07:37.320 This is from a woman whose last name is Gomez,

00:07:39.880 who is a personal care worker in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

00:07:43.360 And she said their last conversation was so bitter that she's not sure they can reconcile,

00:07:48.460 even if Trump loses his re-election bid.

00:07:50.960 And all of these are anecdotal examples.

00:07:53.440 But these aren't uncommon.

00:07:54.460 These stories of people that refuse to have even a dialogue

00:07:59.580 with someone who disagrees with them on politics, on Trump, on anything like that.

00:08:05.020 And just remember what happened to Ellen DeGeneres.

00:08:07.480 Now, I realize Ellen DeGeneres has been dragged through the ringer 1.00

00:08:10.520 for supposed misconduct on the set of her TV show.

00:08:14.000 But before that, she was hammered for daring to share a laugh

00:08:19.080 with former President George W. Bush.

00:08:21.580 There was that photo that went around of Ellen and President Bush just laughing it up,

00:08:26.260 having a grand old time.

00:08:27.580 And then this was something that got people attacking her for how could she be 0.98

00:08:31.460 in cahoots with a war criminal or some such.

00:08:34.480 And she had said, listen, I think we all need to have conversations with people.

00:08:38.200 And we are going to bridge these great divides in America by having dialogues with people with whom we disagree.

00:08:44.240 And there was actually a concerted effort to cancel Ellen DeGeneres

00:08:48.960 because she dared to, again, break bread with someone that she was at odds with politically.

00:08:55.360 And this stuff is happening more and more often.

00:08:57.480 I've seen memes that have gone around in various forms that have been like,

00:09:01.180 you know, be like Dave.

00:09:02.680 Dave is willing to talk to his neighbor even though they are voting for different people.

00:09:06.620 And if you look at the comments of these, the comments that people post on these sorts of memes,

00:09:11.200 they're always like, well, hang on.

00:09:12.620 But, you know, it's not like that because the neighbor, if they vote for Trump,

00:09:15.820 is not recognizing the basic humanity of this group or that group or this group.

00:09:20.320 And you have this dehumanizing that is taking place about Trump supporters

00:09:25.360 in a way that it hasn't with other political supporters in the last 30 years,

00:09:31.520 even when politics has been very tense.

00:09:33.720 Bush supporters were never as maligned as Trump supporters are.

00:09:38.200 Reagan supporters were never as maligned as Trump supporters.

00:09:40.720 Romney supporters and all of that.

00:09:42.820 Now, there is a, generally speaking, a dehumanizing effect to the candidates themselves,

00:09:48.940 which is why Bush derangement syndrome was such a thing

00:09:51.740 and Palin derangement syndrome, Romney derangement syndrome.

00:09:55.660 But perhaps none of those are as potent as Trump derangement,

00:09:59.980 which has extended far beyond Donald Trump.

00:10:02.280 But now anyone who supports him is supposedly evil.

00:10:07.900 And this is a key part of the story of why Trump won in 2016,

00:10:12.720 despite the media being so convinced that it was not even within the realm of possibility.

00:10:17.920 I think it was Newsweek that had printed off however many copies of President Hillary Clinton covers,

00:10:23.220 and that ended up being, well, not what happened.

00:10:25.940 Well, what we see happening now is very similar.

00:10:30.560 And even if the polling is looking a little bit differently,

00:10:33.240 I try not to pay too much attention to the horse race stuff because, well, there are two reasons.

00:10:38.880 Number one, Trump voters are underrepresented in polls.

00:10:41.740 We learned that in 2016.

00:10:43.280 We've learned that throughout the Trump presidency.

00:10:45.560 And it's true now.

00:10:46.740 They're less likely to be captured.

00:10:48.420 And that's precisely why.

00:10:49.920 And more importantly, the story.

00:10:53.040 The reason that poll results are interpreted the way they are

00:10:56.380 is because the media feels that it is looking at Trump supporters

00:11:01.460 the way that Trump supporters themselves are actually thinking.

00:11:06.180 And that isn't the case.

00:11:07.960 They're looking at people and assuming,

00:11:09.640 OK, that means this person to vote for Trump must have to be OK with this comment that Trump said

00:11:15.000 and this tweet from Trump and whatever, when that's not what's happening.

00:11:18.200 The people who are voting for Trump, by and large,

00:11:20.220 are people who are seeing that the economy is doing better

00:11:23.000 and they are experiencing it or want to be experiencing it.

00:11:26.580 People that are seeing illegal immigration rampant across the borders.

00:11:30.940 And the Democrats, not just not having solutions,

00:11:33.400 but Democrats actually mocking and vilifying those who say they're concerned about illegal immigration.

00:11:41.200 People in Pennsylvania who are seeing Joe Biden flip-flop on whether he wants to ban fracking.

00:11:46.800 People in Michigan, Wisconsin, to some extent Minnesota,

00:11:50.120 who feel like, hey, you know what?

00:11:51.720 I don't like all my factory jobs going overseas.

00:11:54.840 And this kind of spirals into a story of the forgotten man.

00:11:59.720 Or as Hillary Clinton would say, the deplorable.

00:12:02.000 Or as Barack Obama would say, the bitter clinger.

00:12:04.840 And these people, I think, are still going to be supporting Trump.

00:12:09.240 And that's going to be the election.

00:12:11.080 The election is not going to be just won or lost with Pennsylvania

00:12:13.940 to get back into that horse race thing.

00:12:16.140 The election is going to be won or lost based on whether the people who voted for Trump

00:12:20.660 because they felt that every other politician had turned their back on them,

00:12:24.500 whether they are still going to stick with Trump.

00:12:27.160 And I think they are.

00:12:29.180 So I have a couple of bets with some friends on this.

00:12:31.880 I'm betting on a Trump win.

00:12:33.400 I'm not going to be so arrogant as to say that there are not other possibilities.

00:12:37.260 I could see a lot change even in the next 24 hours.

00:12:41.020 But I'm betting on a Trump win because the media still doesn't understand

00:12:45.180 how and why he won in 2016.

00:12:48.620 And you see stories about how the media is saying,

00:12:50.500 oh, no, no, no.

00:12:51.020 We know we got the polls wrong in 2016.

00:12:53.100 Here's how we fixed it.

00:12:54.280 Well, if they didn't know that the polls were wrong in 2016,

00:12:58.000 I don't believe that their supposed magic fixes of them in 2020

00:13:01.880 are going to amount to that much of a difference.

00:13:04.360 Because again, if you don't understand the people,

00:13:06.600 the numbers aren't going to tell you the story.

00:13:08.920 We'll be back in a moment with more of The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:13:11.540 Stay tuned.

00:13:12.080 You're tuned in to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:13:22.460 Welcome back to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:13:24.620 Let's talk about these things that we've all been through,

00:13:26.800 we've all experienced at some point in our lives,

00:13:29.020 so we can't really judge other people for doing so.

00:13:31.700 A doctor in India was duped into buying a wish-granting

00:13:35.980 Aladdin's magic lamp for over a quarter of a million dollars.

00:13:41.180 As I hear you judging, I see it.

00:13:43.200 Don't judge until you've walked a mile in his Aladdin-style shoes, I guess.

00:13:48.460 No, we've all been there.

00:13:49.780 A desire to get all his wishes filled with a magic lamp a la Aladdin

00:13:53.340 has landed a doctor in trouble.

00:13:55.760 The doctor just got back to India from London

00:13:58.000 and was tweeted, not tweeted, that's equally terrible in your life,

00:14:02.540 cheated by two men who claim to be tantrics or sorcerers

00:14:06.520 who sold him Aladdin Kacharag,

00:14:09.960 Aladdin's magical lamp, for a whopping $300,000,

00:14:14.480 which I presume is U.S., because I'm reading this in Vice,

00:14:17.440 promising it will fulfill all his wishes

00:14:19.160 without the much-needed hard work to translate them into reality

00:14:22.000 and that it will make him a billionaire.

00:14:24.920 The incident took place in the North Indian city of Mirat,

00:14:28.000 in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

00:14:29.820 The victim, Dr. Laik Khan, approached the police

00:14:32.920 when he realized he'd been duped

00:14:34.500 and filed a complaint against the cheats.

00:14:36.900 The doctor said that apparently they were doing

00:14:39.780 some sort of a magic trick of sorts

00:14:41.300 to convince him the lamp was real,

00:14:43.320 but, well, now $300,000 later, here we are.

00:14:47.620 So I'm of the mindset on this

00:14:48.940 that if you had the $300,000 to spend on the magic lamp,

00:14:52.860 you probably have enough money

00:14:54.380 that you could just not tell anyone about this,

00:14:56.440 because, again, like, I would be just more concerned

00:14:58.720 with anyone knowing.

00:15:00.320 Now, like, if you're this doctor,

00:15:02.820 you've basically proven to the world

00:15:04.360 that you'll believe absolutely anything and everything.

00:15:07.200 Unless the joke is on everyone

00:15:08.880 and the genie was just, you know,

00:15:10.040 waiting for the chosen one to come out.

00:15:11.720 But the doctor has alleged that this all came about

00:15:15.960 through meeting the so-called tantrics

00:15:18.100 through a patient, I think,

00:15:20.000 and they had promised to make him a billionaire,

00:15:22.840 give him the magical powers,

00:15:24.240 and, again, Disney may have created something terrible.

00:15:27.880 This is the problem with all these Disney remakes of films

00:15:30.320 is that they tend to reinvigorate

00:15:32.760 the folklore surrounding them.

00:15:35.280 What else is happening in the world?

00:15:36.940 Prince William contracted COVID-19 in April,

00:15:40.000 according to a report in the UK Sun.

00:15:42.540 He didn't want to tell anyone, though,

00:15:44.260 because he didn't want to cause alarm.

00:15:45.620 This was around the time that his dad, Prince Charles, had it.

00:15:49.680 And the thing is, for everyone

00:15:51.320 that has basically seen the horror stories of COVID-19,

00:15:55.900 it's amazing that the most high-profile people to get it

00:15:58.680 have had few to no issues whatsoever.

00:16:01.580 Now, in fairness, this source said

00:16:03.280 that Prince William had some troubles breathing,

00:16:05.280 but Prince Charles had no issues,

00:16:07.300 Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Barron Trump, Tom Hanks,

00:16:10.740 The Rock, I think, had COVID at one point,

00:16:12.680 if I'm not mistaken.

00:16:13.420 All of these people that are really well-known examples of it

00:16:17.280 tended to have no issues.

00:16:19.020 And that sort of stuff makes it very difficult

00:16:20.940 for people to follow what the government is saying.

00:16:23.520 On the other hand, which is,

00:16:24.640 this thing's going to kill you, stay inside. 0.97

00:16:26.920 Which brings me to this story

00:16:29.200 about where Canada is headed now.

00:16:31.460 We were told at the very beginning,

00:16:34.440 before we had even flattened the curve,

00:16:36.220 that we had to flatten the curve

00:16:37.380 because otherwise there was going to be a second wave.

00:16:40.160 So that was the whole thing.

00:16:41.060 Flatten the curve to make sure hospitals can get ready

00:16:44.260 and then we'll deal with this thing.

00:16:46.760 And as we know now,

00:16:47.720 being that we are in, what,

00:16:49.000 the eighth month of flattening the curve,

00:16:51.320 that was not actually the goal.

00:16:53.580 But here's what Justin Trudeau said the other day.

00:16:56.360 Second wave will be, quote,

00:16:58.020 weeks and months of limiting contacts.

00:17:01.140 So remember when a few weeks ago,

00:17:03.840 after the speech from the throne,

00:17:05.320 Justin Trudeau gave his address to the nation.

00:17:07.360 And this is what he said.

00:17:08.600 We're on the brink of a fall

00:17:10.420 that could be much worse than the spring.

00:17:13.660 I know this isn't the news

00:17:14.920 that any of us wanted to hear.

00:17:17.120 And we can't change today's numbers

00:17:19.040 or even tomorrow's.

00:17:20.600 Those were already decided

00:17:21.940 by what we did or didn't do two weeks ago.

00:17:25.820 But what we can change

00:17:27.340 is where we are in October

00:17:29.140 and into the winter.

00:17:31.300 It's all too likely

00:17:32.420 we won't be gathering for Thanksgiving,

00:17:34.320 but we still have a shot at Christmas.

00:17:38.160 Okay, so it was at the time

00:17:39.680 that, you know what,

00:17:40.780 Thanksgiving's a write-off,

00:17:42.000 but we got a shot at Christmas.

00:17:43.520 Christmas is the goal.

00:17:44.940 Well, you go a few weeks forward

00:17:46.820 and now all of a sudden it's,

00:17:48.240 no, no, no, no,

00:17:48.540 this is just going to be weeks or months.

00:17:50.340 So I know we're going to be told

00:17:51.900 in about a month's time

00:17:53.060 that there's no Christmas,

00:17:54.220 that it's being canceled too.

00:17:55.760 And then before you know it,

00:17:56.720 we're at Easter 2021

00:17:57.880 and we're still trying

00:17:59.320 to flatten the curve

00:18:00.120 from Easter 2020.

00:18:02.180 So there's a reason

00:18:03.200 that people need

00:18:03.840 to pay attention to these.

00:18:04.920 We know that Britain 0.71

00:18:05.560 is going back into lockdown as well.

00:18:07.740 France has gone into lockdown.

00:18:09.700 Australia has had

00:18:10.760 one of the most Orwellian

00:18:12.560 approaches to this issue.

00:18:14.400 And I think it's actually

00:18:15.420 quite shameful that these areas

00:18:16.960 that were once,

00:18:18.320 you know,

00:18:18.540 the most free societies

00:18:19.920 in the world

00:18:20.520 are now coming down

00:18:22.240 this path of no return,

00:18:24.860 basically,

00:18:25.420 of complete government control

00:18:26.920 over your own movement

00:18:28.400 on your own street

00:18:29.400 for crying out loud.

00:18:30.940 But what Justin Trudeau is saying

00:18:32.320 is that if we maintain

00:18:33.580 our current rate of contact,

00:18:35.640 the Trudeau government's estimates

00:18:37.260 are that we're going to have

00:18:38.080 8,000 cases daily by December.

00:18:40.840 So this idea of having a shot

00:18:42.740 at Christmas

00:18:43.260 has been completely thrown

00:18:44.500 out the window.

00:18:45.660 And Trudeau is doing

00:18:46.720 his finger wanging

00:18:47.460 at so-called bad behavior,

00:18:50.340 saying we know

00:18:51.000 when people actually do

00:18:52.140 follow instructions

00:18:53.260 and manage to reduce

00:18:54.240 their contacts

00:18:54.820 and do the things that matter.

00:18:56.380 We know that we do see

00:18:58.000 better outcomes, unquote.

00:18:59.920 And listen,

00:19:00.700 I mean,

00:19:00.920 if the whole point

00:19:01.780 of this thing

00:19:02.560 is to wait

00:19:04.300 until we have a vaccine,

00:19:05.420 we are in for

00:19:06.380 a rude awakening.

00:19:07.880 Because I'm certain

00:19:09.480 that a lot of people,

00:19:10.420 and I've actually seen people

00:19:11.560 say something

00:19:12.140 to this effect online before,

00:19:13.900 are probably at the point

00:19:14.920 where they're like,

00:19:15.340 you know what,

00:19:15.940 I'd rather just do

00:19:16.920 the whole chicken pox

00:19:17.820 party thing right now.

00:19:18.780 I'd rather just go

00:19:19.420 to a house party,

00:19:20.520 get COVID,

00:19:21.440 hang out at home

00:19:22.260 for two weeks,

00:19:22.920 and then go out

00:19:23.820 into the world

00:19:24.400 and kind of enjoy

00:19:25.360 my immunity.

00:19:26.380 Well,

00:19:26.640 now this is now

00:19:27.560 being called into question.

00:19:29.480 A Russian professor

00:19:30.580 has infected himself

00:19:31.920 twice with COVID-19,

00:19:33.720 and now he's saying

00:19:34.780 that herd immunity

00:19:35.560 is not going to save us.

00:19:38.100 The professor,

00:19:39.140 Alexander Choprnov,

00:19:40.400 had contracted it

00:19:41.300 on a flight in February

00:19:42.480 for the first time

00:19:43.420 and went back home,

00:19:45.220 recovered,

00:19:45.620 and had no issues.

00:19:46.820 And then he noticed

00:19:48.180 that he had developed

00:19:49.000 the antibodies

00:19:49.740 in his system,

00:19:50.700 but a few months later

00:19:52.240 saw they had gone away.

00:19:53.680 So what did he do?

00:19:55.020 He took one for the team

00:19:56.100 for science.

00:19:56.820 He went and exposed himself

00:19:58.440 deliberately to COVID-19,

00:20:00.260 and this particular case

00:20:01.940 actually had quite

00:20:03.300 significant symptoms,

00:20:04.480 he said,

00:20:05.000 and found that the antibodies

00:20:06.520 had gone away.

00:20:07.420 So this immunity

00:20:08.140 that he had

00:20:08.800 from having the virus

00:20:09.960 had dissipated

00:20:11.260 after just a few months.

00:20:13.000 And he's now

00:20:14.180 taking from this experience

00:20:15.680 that all of the vaccines

00:20:17.460 that are being developed

00:20:18.580 right now

00:20:19.080 are not actually

00:20:20.380 going to work.

00:20:21.260 He said,

00:20:21.540 we need a vaccine

00:20:22.400 that can be used

00:20:23.160 multiple times.

00:20:24.960 A recombinant vaccine

00:20:26.560 will not suit.

00:20:28.360 And what he's arguing

00:20:29.240 is that it's actually

00:20:30.360 an entirely different vaccine

00:20:31.700 that we need

00:20:32.260 than the one

00:20:32.680 that's being developed.

00:20:33.740 So I'm sharing this

00:20:35.200 with you now

00:20:36.180 to tell you

00:20:37.160 that the groundwork

00:20:38.360 is already being laid

00:20:39.420 for the goalpost

00:20:40.260 to move again.

00:20:41.280 And I'm not saying

00:20:42.000 that this doctor

00:20:42.620 is part of a conspiracy

00:20:44.340 of sorts.

00:20:45.060 I mean,

00:20:45.260 any guy that's going

00:20:46.040 to give themselves

00:20:46.540 a virus

00:20:47.140 just so that they can

00:20:48.240 study their response to it,

00:20:49.460 you have to have

00:20:50.140 some respect for.

00:20:51.700 But now there's

00:20:52.660 at least this basis

00:20:54.060 of support

00:20:54.780 for the idea that

00:20:55.640 no, no, no,

00:20:56.480 herd immunity

00:20:57.020 is not going to exist

00:20:58.520 and the vaccines

00:20:59.640 that we're getting

00:21:00.200 are not going to protect us

00:21:01.560 in the long run,

00:21:02.620 which reinforces this idea

00:21:04.380 that this thing

00:21:04.960 is here to stay,

00:21:06.280 which means that

00:21:07.180 government responses

00:21:08.360 to it

00:21:09.000 are here to stay.

00:21:11.080 And that's an incredibly

00:21:12.260 dangerous position

00:21:13.400 to adopt

00:21:14.100 because what's happening

00:21:15.120 now

00:21:15.460 is not sustainable.

00:21:17.280 The idea that,

00:21:18.560 what,

00:21:18.840 10 months,

00:21:19.720 nine months

00:21:20.520 after the first wave

00:21:22.320 of this started

00:21:22.900 to hit Europe,

00:21:23.760 we now see Europe

00:21:24.700 going into major lockdowns

00:21:26.640 that are in many cases

00:21:27.600 more draconian

00:21:29.040 than the ones

00:21:29.660 that existed

00:21:30.160 the first time around.

00:21:31.720 And if the second wave

00:21:32.740 is worse than the first wave,

00:21:33.940 what's to say

00:21:34.380 the third wave

00:21:35.020 won't be worse

00:21:35.580 than the second wave

00:21:36.400 and so on,

00:21:37.300 especially since

00:21:38.200 this vaccine

00:21:39.120 is still not as close

00:21:41.160 to being released

00:21:42.620 as we were told

00:21:43.820 early on.

00:21:45.500 Remember that

00:21:46.200 we were told months ago

00:21:47.380 that, oh,

00:21:47.700 you know,

00:21:47.920 we're going to have

00:21:48.280 vaccines ready to go

00:21:49.280 any day now.

00:21:50.020 Well,

00:21:50.240 that's not happening.

00:21:51.340 It's still taking

00:21:52.120 a lot longer.

00:21:53.300 Just in Ontario,

00:21:54.260 even flu vaccines,

00:21:55.620 the regular old flu shot,

00:21:57.400 they're finding

00:21:57.960 they can't keep up

00:21:58.720 with demand,

00:21:59.200 so people are actually

00:22:00.160 having their appointments

00:22:01.060 to get the flu shot

00:22:02.660 cancelled.

00:22:03.500 And the reason for this

00:22:04.580 is because there aren't

00:22:05.340 enough flu shots.

00:22:06.120 So the idea

00:22:06.760 that a vaccine

00:22:07.780 that everyone's telling us

00:22:08.920 to take,

00:22:09.640 if a COVID-19 vaccine

00:22:10.920 comes out,

00:22:11.660 is probably not going

00:22:13.260 to be as widely available

00:22:15.020 as people are wanting

00:22:16.700 to say it will be

00:22:17.660 if even the regular

00:22:19.160 old flu shot,

00:22:20.360 which hasn't been promoted

00:22:21.560 as aggressively,

00:22:22.360 is not maintaining

00:22:23.380 a solid or sustainable

00:22:24.980 inventory.

00:22:26.560 So, I mean,

00:22:27.760 what's the takeaway

00:22:28.500 from this?

00:22:29.000 The takeaway from this

00:22:29.800 is that people have

00:22:30.480 to start thinking

00:22:31.100 for themselves

00:22:31.760 and adopting

00:22:32.820 their own risk mitigation

00:22:34.460 measures based on

00:22:35.500 their own comfort level.

00:22:36.820 There was a story

00:22:37.980 in my hometown,

00:22:38.960 I think a week ago

00:22:39.720 or two weeks ago,

00:22:40.500 a woman who's now 1.00

00:22:41.680 been fined by the

00:22:42.860 City of London

00:22:43.500 because she reminded

00:22:45.160 people at her store

00:22:47.040 that they are not

00:22:48.980 or that they are allowed

00:22:50.320 to go in without a mask

00:22:51.800 if they have an exemption.

00:22:52.960 She just said,

00:22:53.440 we're not going to ask

00:22:54.120 you any questions.

00:22:55.060 That is completely

00:22:56.220 compliant with the law.

00:22:57.600 She had the sign up

00:22:58.440 that said,

00:22:58.960 you have to wear a mask

00:23:00.020 if you come here

00:23:00.680 and then beside it

00:23:01.720 she had the sign that said,

00:23:02.900 I'm not going to ask

00:23:03.660 any questions.

00:23:04.820 Maybe it's violating

00:23:05.940 the spirit of the law

00:23:06.980 but it's adhering

00:23:07.860 to the letter of the law

00:23:08.840 and now she's gotten

00:23:10.000 a fine for I believe

00:23:11.220 $880 just because

00:23:13.000 she was reminding people

00:23:14.120 that they have

00:23:15.100 a human right

00:23:15.920 if there's a reason

00:23:16.620 they can't wear a mask

00:23:17.580 to not wear a mask

00:23:18.760 if they go into her store.

00:23:20.780 The Justice Center

00:23:21.520 for Constitutional Freedoms

00:23:22.860 has taken up her case

00:23:24.300 and just in the interest

00:23:25.220 of disclosure,

00:23:26.100 the JCCF is also

00:23:27.820 representing True North

00:23:28.960 and myself in our case

00:23:31.240 against the Leaders

00:23:32.240 Debates Commission

00:23:33.100 but I make no secret

00:23:34.440 that I'm a big supporter

00:23:35.340 of the work they do

00:23:36.780 and they've actually

00:23:37.620 been tremendously valuable

00:23:39.040 on these issues

00:23:39.980 of people getting tickets

00:23:41.000 and fines for violating

00:23:43.000 these lockdown measures

00:23:44.260 that aren't actually

00:23:45.600 really public health measures

00:23:47.300 at all.

00:23:48.400 So people need to develop

00:23:49.660 their own risk aversion.

00:23:51.540 You get travel now.

00:23:53.200 I mean travel is completely

00:23:54.480 blown out of the water

00:23:56.140 and not going to happen

00:23:57.740 with any level of longevity

00:24:00.260 right now

00:24:01.000 and you just take a look

00:24:02.220 at the Canadian government

00:24:03.040 still telling people

00:24:03.800 not to go anywhere.

00:24:04.680 now even domestic travel

00:24:06.960 from one part of a province

00:24:08.440 to another

00:24:09.020 is being told

00:24:10.520 it can't happen.

00:24:11.700 You look at Atlantic Canada

00:24:13.140 where they're enforcing

00:24:14.000 this bubble.

00:24:15.100 Well, how long can you

00:24:16.100 keep people contained

00:24:17.320 to their provinces

00:24:18.520 and keep people

00:24:19.640 out of provinces?

00:24:21.480 Remember,

00:24:22.060 the Constitution of Canada

00:24:23.180 is very clear on this

00:24:24.680 that you have a right

00:24:25.600 to mobility

00:24:26.300 within the country.

00:24:27.560 Well, now,

00:24:28.360 if you want to go to

00:24:29.360 New Brunswick,

00:24:30.360 Nova Scotia,

00:24:31.140 Newfoundland,

00:24:31.800 PEI,

00:24:32.660 enter the Atlantic bubble

00:24:34.120 as it's called,

00:24:34.940 you have to agree

00:24:36.000 to quarantine

00:24:36.640 for two weeks.

00:24:38.580 And this is again

00:24:39.600 decimating,

00:24:40.900 decimating Atlantic Canada's

00:24:42.480 tourism industry

00:24:43.260 which is why Alberta

00:24:44.260 has gone so vastly

00:24:45.680 in the other direction.

00:24:46.840 Jason Kenney

00:24:47.480 said a couple of weeks ago

00:24:49.160 in response to

00:24:49.920 a question from me actually

00:24:51.300 that if people are going

00:24:52.680 to follow the health guidelines

00:24:53.980 and they want to visit Alberta,

00:24:55.240 have at it.

00:24:56.080 Because he realizes

00:24:57.280 that when this is

00:24:58.580 going on

00:24:59.640 as long as it is

00:25:00.480 you cannot just

00:25:01.280 lock down a province

00:25:02.760 and expect that

00:25:03.920 there won't be

00:25:04.500 effects of this

00:25:05.460 and implications of this

00:25:06.640 that are not worse

00:25:09.000 than the thing

00:25:09.620 that they're supposedly

00:25:10.500 trying to remedy.

00:25:12.460 When we come back,

00:25:13.480 more of The Andrew Lawton Show

00:25:14.660 here on True North.

00:25:17.560 You're tuned in

00:25:18.520 to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:25:22.180 Welcome back

00:25:22.980 to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:25:24.400 Last July,

00:25:25.620 back when,

00:25:26.220 as I mentioned earlier,

00:25:27.140 travel was a lot more

00:25:28.380 permissible

00:25:28.800 than it is right now,

00:25:29.820 I had the great privilege

00:25:31.280 of covering

00:25:32.120 the Global Conference

00:25:33.360 for Media Freedom

00:25:34.220 in London, England,

00:25:35.540 a two-day event

00:25:36.420 put on by Canada

00:25:37.880 and the United Kingdom

00:25:38.940 to stand up

00:25:39.760 for press freedom.

00:25:41.340 Now,

00:25:41.600 I tended to enjoy

00:25:43.280 the experience

00:25:44.180 because I got a lot more

00:25:45.260 than I bargained for

00:25:46.160 in terms of understanding

00:25:47.320 the government's

00:25:48.660 actual commitment level

00:25:50.240 or lack thereof

00:25:51.140 to press freedom.

00:25:52.480 You may recall

00:25:53.120 Sheila Gunn-Reed

00:25:53.900 from Rebel and I

00:25:54.800 were the only two

00:25:55.660 journalists excluded

00:25:56.760 from attending

00:25:57.820 a scrum

00:25:58.660 at the Media Freedom

00:25:59.940 Conference

00:26:00.380 with Chrystia Freeland,

00:26:02.160 the Canadian minister

00:26:03.220 that was promoting

00:26:04.100 this idea

00:26:05.140 of media freedom.

00:26:06.480 Now, thankfully,

00:26:07.400 due to the support

00:26:08.740 of the other journalists

00:26:09.760 at the event

00:26:10.880 from Global News,

00:26:12.160 Al Jazeera,

00:26:13.140 English,

00:26:13.700 Globe and Mail,

00:26:14.840 CTV,

00:26:15.580 even CBC,

00:26:16.340 I believe,

00:26:17.000 we were permitted

00:26:17.860 access to this scrum,

00:26:19.540 but it wasn't

00:26:20.680 a guarantee.

00:26:21.940 So press freedom

00:26:22.660 is a very important

00:26:23.580 thing to me

00:26:24.260 and it is

00:26:24.640 to all journalists

00:26:25.340 and all freedom-loving people.

00:26:27.160 The event is back.

00:26:28.340 It was supposed

00:26:28.800 to be held in person

00:26:30.080 but now has been switched

00:26:31.120 to an online format

00:26:33.020 which will be in November.

00:26:34.640 I've still applied

00:26:35.420 for accreditation

00:26:36.600 to cover it.

00:26:37.620 But what's interesting

00:26:38.460 is the event

00:26:39.380 is no longer being co-hosted

00:26:40.780 by Canada

00:26:41.420 and the United Kingdom

00:26:42.440 but instead

00:26:43.440 by Canada

00:26:44.200 and Botswana.

00:26:45.960 Now, I reached out

00:26:46.840 to the United Kingdom

00:26:47.940 government,

00:26:48.540 to the Foreign Commonwealth

00:26:49.600 and Development Office

00:26:50.640 to see what the reason

00:26:51.920 was for the UK

00:26:52.780 no longer co-hosting it

00:26:54.140 and according to the UK

00:26:55.860 it's not for any

00:26:57.040 particular reason.

00:26:58.140 They say media freedom

00:26:59.040 is a priority for the UK

00:27:00.880 and we are committed

00:27:02.160 to working with our partners

00:27:03.320 around the world

00:27:04.140 to promote free media

00:27:05.620 and the safety of journalists.

00:27:07.400 As co-chair

00:27:08.000 of the Media Freedom Conference

00:27:09.380 we continue to support

00:27:10.900 its vital work

00:27:11.720 including the Global Conference

00:27:13.280 on Media Freedom

00:27:14.260 hosted by Canada

00:27:15.560 and Botswana

00:27:16.760 this year.

00:27:17.820 A spokesperson

00:27:18.380 for the Canadian government

00:27:19.960 said on background

00:27:20.800 that they wanted

00:27:21.400 to include a country

00:27:22.480 from the Global South

00:27:24.400 where media freedom

00:27:25.840 is a significant challenge

00:27:27.240 and I think that's

00:27:28.340 entirely valid

00:27:29.420 however

00:27:30.160 I think there are

00:27:31.420 two issues here.

00:27:32.260 Number one

00:27:32.900 doing so

00:27:34.280 with a focus

00:27:35.100 on Africa

00:27:36.080 or South America

00:27:37.420 or Asia

00:27:38.620 as happened last year

00:27:39.800 at the Press Freedom Conference

00:27:40.980 tends to deflect

00:27:42.800 from issues

00:27:44.060 that are existing

00:27:44.900 in Western governments

00:27:46.060 where press freedom

00:27:47.240 is not being respected.

00:27:48.460 By focusing on these countries

00:27:49.720 Canada and the UK

00:27:50.960 don't need to look

00:27:51.700 at their own

00:27:52.300 less than stellar record

00:27:53.820 on press freedom.

00:27:55.140 And then there's also

00:27:55.800 the specific issue

00:27:56.720 of why Botswana.

00:27:58.880 Just to put this

00:27:59.540 into perspective

00:28:00.160 in the April 30th

00:28:02.480 2020 edition

00:28:03.500 of the Daily Maverick

00:28:04.560 which is an African publication

00:28:06.160 Botswana had to be told 1.00

00:28:08.040 that censorship

00:28:08.720 is not the cure

00:28:10.240 for COVID-19.

00:28:12.020 Botswana's president

00:28:12.860 was accused

00:28:13.460 of using the pandemic

00:28:14.580 to crack down

00:28:15.440 on critics

00:28:16.120 and the media.

00:28:17.920 Despite Botswana 0.99

00:28:18.820 being held up

00:28:19.600 as quote

00:28:20.020 the shining example

00:28:21.320 of African democracy

00:28:22.580 unquote

00:28:23.260 there is a trend

00:28:24.820 in the country

00:28:25.340 that the current president

00:28:26.360 is holding on to

00:28:27.980 to actually use

00:28:29.760 emergency powers

00:28:30.880 to fine people

00:28:32.080 for sharing

00:28:32.940 what the government

00:28:33.540 says is misinformation

00:28:34.640 about COVID-19

00:28:36.040 up to $10,000.

00:28:38.440 Critics say

00:28:39.180 the law

00:28:39.600 with its broad

00:28:40.420 and vague definitions

00:28:41.380 is a gift

00:28:42.220 to authoritarian leaders

00:28:43.700 who want to use

00:28:44.640 the public health crisis

00:28:45.640 to grab power

00:28:46.620 and suppress

00:28:47.720 freedom of speech.

00:28:49.540 In June 2020

00:28:50.480 the Committee

00:28:51.540 to Protect Journalists

00:28:52.640 a global body

00:28:53.620 said authorities

00:28:54.320 in Botswana

00:28:54.940 should drop

00:28:55.780 all charges

00:28:56.520 against two journalists

00:28:58.260 that were charged

00:28:59.080 with nuisance

00:29:00.200 for again

00:29:01.080 daring to

00:29:01.940 criticize

00:29:02.480 the government's

00:29:03.420 response

00:29:03.920 to COVID-19.

00:29:05.900 And then you have

00:29:07.160 this article as well

00:29:08.220 in another African publication

00:29:09.860 talking about

00:29:10.860 censorship

00:29:11.500 being the unexpected

00:29:12.940 side effect

00:29:13.860 of COVID-19.

00:29:15.260 So what we have here

00:29:16.900 is Canada now

00:29:17.780 co-hosting a media

00:29:19.000 freedom conference

00:29:19.940 with a country

00:29:20.880 that is charging

00:29:21.960 journalists

00:29:22.820 that is criminalizing

00:29:24.280 journalism

00:29:24.860 because the government

00:29:26.320 doesn't like

00:29:26.960 their particular

00:29:27.680 approach

00:29:28.340 to the issues.

00:29:29.960 So if we're going

00:29:30.940 to learn

00:29:31.500 from countries

00:29:32.420 on press freedom

00:29:33.180 perhaps Botswana

00:29:34.220 is not the greatest

00:29:35.160 example of this.

00:29:36.400 In fact it reminds me

00:29:37.240 last year of when

00:29:38.200 the foreign minister

00:29:39.000 for Pakistan

00:29:39.680 was on a press

00:29:41.060 freedom panel.

00:29:42.040 Ezra Levant

00:29:42.440 decided he wasn't

00:29:43.740 going to have

00:29:44.100 any of that

00:29:44.800 and at another

00:29:45.800 point when

00:29:46.440 Chrystia Freeland

00:29:47.100 honored the

00:29:48.320 Malaysian

00:29:49.200 representative

00:29:50.300 who himself

00:29:51.220 has been a

00:29:52.060 strong supporter

00:29:53.080 of even

00:29:53.960 extraterritorial

00:29:55.220 prosecution

00:29:55.780 for people

00:29:56.500 that dare

00:29:56.900 to criticize

00:29:57.580 the Malaysian

00:29:58.600 government.

00:29:59.060 So these are

00:29:59.420 the people

00:29:59.800 that we are

00:30:00.500 legitimizing

00:30:01.320 in the course

00:30:02.420 of supposedly

00:30:03.340 standing up

00:30:03.980 for press freedom.

00:30:04.900 We've got to

00:30:05.500 wrap things up.

00:30:06.120 My thanks to

00:30:06.560 all of you

00:30:07.040 for tuning

00:30:07.560 into the show.

00:30:08.400 We'll talk to you

00:30:08.880 in a couple of days

00:30:09.540 with more of

00:30:10.160 Canada's most

00:30:11.040 irreverent talk show.

00:30:12.260 Thank you,

00:30:12.720 God bless,

00:30:13.320 and good day

00:30:13.720 to you all.

00:30:14.200 Thanks for

00:30:14.780 listening to

00:30:15.280 The Andrew

00:30:15.660 Lawton Show.

00:30:16.600 Support the

00:30:17.020 program by

00:30:17.540 donating to

00:30:18.120 True North

00:30:18.560 at www.tnc.news.

00:30:21.200 news.

Juno News - November 02, 2020

The Media Still Doesn’t Get It

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript