Civil liberties under attack! From churches to a raid on the Rebel News Airbnb in Montreal
Episode Stats
Words per minute
155.91217
Harmful content
Misogyny
12
sentences flagged
Hate speech
9
sentences flagged
Summary
A tale of two cities: A church in Alberta and a police raid on a Rebel reporter s Airbnb in Montreal. Both are examples of blatant violations of our civil liberties. In the case of Alberta, a church in Parkland County, Alberta, and a raid on an Airbnb hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Transcript
00:00:05.080
The police cracked down on Grace Life Church in Edmonton,
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including the massive display of armed firepower
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of a police detachment that went out there this Sunday
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and we stayed at an Airbnb to cover the lockdowns there.
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And wouldn't you know it, police found where we were.
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We refused and that turned into a 10-hour standoff.
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This is one where you're really gonna wanna see it
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I mean, you'll hear a lot of interesting things
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to be let into a hotel room without a search warrant
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and to see the violence they perpetrate against our people,
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You can get the full video version of this podcast
00:01:08.840
by going to rebelnews.com and clicking subscribe.
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which by the way, is only about half of what Netflix costs.
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Anyways, please consider subscribing at rebelnews.com.
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will take you from the Parkland Church in Edmonton
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It's April 12th, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.
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which is if you were relying on the legacy media,
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the government media, the bailout media for your news,
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I want to tell you about two big stories this weekend.
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The first, what happened at the Grace Life Church
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just south of Edmonton in Parkland County, Alberta.
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And then I want to talk to you about what happened
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it was deliberately targeting us for our journalism.
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As you know, the church has been praying peacefully
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to go into the church in the middle of the service,
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it's actually a crime to interrupt a church service.
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and take a listen to this cop making an excuse.
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We respect the work that you do in the community.
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people are listening to the word of God be preached.
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And they can't do that with your presence in the building.
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We have seen the arm of law enforcement come against us.
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So under that authority, that's why we're here.
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it's not that we're here to interrupt anything.
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Well, I don't think intent is what it comes down to.
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Well, of course, the church kept on having its services,
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and so they imprisoned the pastor, James Coates.
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In fact, I visited during one of those weekends,
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and they permanently stationed police on the property,
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and transforming it into a paramilitary garrison.
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To me, the gross touch was putting their latrines
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an utter desecration that they surely would not do
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The reason the police turned it into a permanent compound
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If this were to have happened in another country,
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Very interesting, but I think the most compelling image of the day,
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one that has been viewed millions of times around the world,
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is what the police, what the government, what Jason Kenney, the Premier,
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Tyler Shandro, the Health Minister, Casey Madu, the Justice Minister,
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and Justin Trudeau's Alberta RCMP detachment did.
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I've heard reports ranging from 50 to 200 heavily armed RCMP officers,
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including with gas masks, and they deployed them stormtrooper-style
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They have gas masks, so they're getting ready for pepper spray.
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...Comunists and Nazis need to be protected from churches.
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Can you believe that is happening in Canada in 2021?
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Well, what I would say to you is, I bet you don't know that that's happening,
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or at least with those facts, if you were watching the legacy media.
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And at worst, they smear the church as being a super spreader,
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or some sort of armed militant group, when in fact they're so pacifist,
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And the worst any other protestor did was knock down that fence around there.
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Normally, I think we should all be shocked that a massive police force was deployed
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And yet, all the people who should care, don't care.
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That's what was happening in Alberta on Sunday.
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But let me show you where 17 rebels were on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning.
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As you know, for months, we've had our reporter on the ground in Montreal, Yankee Pollock,
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going out at night to show you what the lockdown is like in that province,
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Quebec, a province with adults as well as children,
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Imagine springtime when it's still light out, being told by the state you must stay home
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or you will get an enormous fine and perhaps even a beating.
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Well, our friend Yankee Pollock is exempt because he's part of the media.
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Media are considered essential under Quebec law.
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And Yankee would go out and show what it was like during the curfews.
00:17:03.020
They hated that he was reporting on them at all.
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And they started saying things that, I don't know, got my heckles up calling them Jew media.
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This is why we're documenting what's happening here, guys.
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Well, they were saying these things and doing these things to our Montrealer Yankee Pollock.
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So we started sending other reporters in solidarity with Yankee and also to see what else was going on.
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We sent Efron and Mocha and Lincoln and Sid and David.
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In fact, as you saw, they were calling Yankee Jew media.
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In fact, they're of every different background.
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And yet the police had it in their mind that rebel media was Jew media, were the Jews, and were against them.
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And that was fair game for them to say those things.
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And anyone who simply pointed a camera at them, well, they would be arrested, handcuffed, and fined.
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This is why we're documenting what's happening here, guys.
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We've been through this so many times with you guys.
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Yeah, they just told us you were in the protest.
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Why did you arrest the two members of the media?
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And like everyone else, he was standing outside without a mask.
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But because he was pointing a camera at the police,
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They hate reporters, or at least reporters who report on what they're doing.
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I have a mask that I will wear it when I interact with the crowd.
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You know, we got 600 tickets that we're fighting.
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And if you touch me or assault me or damage my property, we have no problem suing you too.
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And if you refuse to wear a mask after that, go back there.
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And they were abusing our team of four or five reinforcements.
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So, I thought, let's all go out there and reassert our freedom of the press.
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And I realized that for 17 people to go to Montreal, it might be cheaper to stay in a place we can rent in full.
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And Airbnb, which as you know, is basically a modern way of booking bed and breakfasts online.
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It was actually a boat that was turned into a permanent houseboat, permanently docked in the old port of Montreal.
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And it worked out that booking this houseboat, which had been turned into an Airbnb, was actually cheaper and more convenient than staying in a real or regular hotel.
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Plus, it had the benefit of being very private.
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We checked in and were assigned our rooms by the host of the Airbnb.
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Everything was in compliance with the rules and the laws.
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But then on Saturday morning, when we were having breakfast, all of a sudden, police came to the front and tried to get on our boat.
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If nobody is responsible for that boat, I have the right to come in the princesses.
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I need somebody to be responsible for the boat.
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One after another, they grabbed us and wouldn't let us on the boat.
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As you can see, we still had young reporters on the boat and they're smart cookies.
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They kept saying to the cop, come back with a warrant.
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The police demanded to get into our Airbnb and to go through our reporters' stuff.
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Our computers, our rooms where our reporters work.
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I mean, it was an Airbnb, but we had a computer in the main room that we're using to edit.
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The police wanted warrantless access to that and it's obvious why.
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For a month, we've been a thorn in the side of what's become Canada's most notorious police force for corruption.
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Earlier today, we typed into Google those three words, Montreal police corruption.
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And just look at the endless, endless news stories about corruption going all the way to the top.
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Canada's most corrupt, most abusive, most violent police force had finally found some media criticism and they were going to get their revenge.
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Quickly, 30, 40 police came out front in bicycles, in cars, in trucks, and they kept demanding warrantless search and entry into our hotel room.
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And so, since they couldn't find a judge who would give them a warrant, they decided to punish us.
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They turned the entire area into what they called a crime seat.
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They pushed us around, wouldn't let us get back on the boat.
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This is heartbreaking for me because we tend to flash back the glue up.
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But the absolute worst was what they did to David Menzies.
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By the way, we were all standing outside the ribboned off, you know, that yellow police tape, that orange police tape.
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They couldn't find a judge to give them a search warrant.
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So they decided to, I don't know, I know it sounds crazy to say it, but I think they decided to get a hostage.
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Hey, how many guys does it take and hold the guy, huh?
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the guy, huh? This is what you're going to school for. They took David Menzies, arrested him, put
00:28:37.440
him in the police car, and later took him to what he told me was the dirtiest jail cell you can
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imagine. We'll have a full interview with David in a moment. But they took David away, and then they
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pushed the rest of us even further away. Take a look at this, and look at the violence. Look at
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the casual nature they have as they are violent towards women in particular. This is the police
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group of people who come here to observe, and here they come. Here's where we're going.
00:29:09.740
Why are you touching me? Why are you touching me? Why are you touching me? Why are you touching
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me? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why do you need? Hey, hands off her. Hands off her, man.
1.00
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You're pushing me with a bicycle. Are you kidding me? Watch your fucking bike. Watch your fucking
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bike. Watch your fucking bike. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame.
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Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame.
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You're very tough. Good job. You can push a girl. Good job.
1.00
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Good job. Good job. You're so strong, man. Good job.
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What I'm about to tell you is incredible. In fact, it's so incredible, I thought perhaps I
00:30:30.900
misremembered it. So I just checked with our lawyer today. Did I remember this correctly?
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And she said, yes. We had three lawyers working with us that day. As I said, they arrested David
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and they took him away. We had a senior criminal lawyer said, oh, they'll just give him a summons
00:30:48.080
for a court date and let him go immediately. But it turned into one hour, two, three, four, five
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hours. And then the police said to our lawyer who was on the scene, if you let us search the Airbnb
00:31:00.300
without a search warrant, we'll let David go. And if you won't, we won't. They were literally using
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him as a bargaining chip. If David did something wrong, which of course he didn't, that's its own
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thing. But to use that to extort entrance into our Airbnb because no judge would give them a search
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warrant, that is truly outrageous. But that's how you roll in Canada's most corrupt police force.
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So it was 730 at night and we had been in this standoff with the police for around 10 hours when
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suddenly we heard word that they had released David from the police station. And suddenly the police were
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packing up their police tape and just leaving. We were free to go back on the boat. No one was given
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any tickets. It was just done. Here's a little video I recorded from the roof of the boat. I was still
00:32:00.920
It's 742 p.m. Another beautiful night in Montreal. Look how gorgeous it is. But I've spent the last 10 or 11
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hours kicked off this Airbnb houseboat that we paid for because a group of Montreal police demanded
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access to the boat for no probable cause with no search warrant. That's the gate right there. I told
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them to get lost without a search warrant. So they turned the whole place into a crime scene, literally
00:32:28.260
putting up criminal do not pass police tape. They arrested my friend David Menzies and held him in a
00:32:34.240
police station for hours. And they roughed up. Well, they even pushed me around a little bit and
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Kim Bextie too. Trouble is they couldn't find a judge to sign their cockamamie search warrant because
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we did nothing wrong. We rented an Airbnb that had a capacity of 21 and there were only 17 of us here
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and we were just having breakfast. It's really a hotel. That's all. So I'm very happy to say I'm back
00:32:58.820
on the boat. I don't know if you can tell that I'm literally on the boat. There's three cops down there,
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but you know, they're just enjoying the overtime they're making. And, um, you know, we're gonna
00:33:11.000
retake the boat. We're on the high seas. I mean, my nickname at rebel news is the rebel commander. So
00:33:17.560
I guess I'm the commander of a boat again. Anyways, the police disgraced themselves. I'm glad that we
00:33:22.200
didn't knuckle under to their bullying. And I'm sorry that David Menzies was put into custody. So
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illegally, I still love Montreal. In fact, I love it even more because now I know how badly it's been
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victimized by police. It does not deserve this awful police force that it has. And, and they're
00:33:39.160
frankly shameful. And if they think they're going to stop us from reporting on their brutal policing
00:33:45.160
of the lockdown, they're dead wrong. And they're going to have to do a bit better than they did
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today. We still have a lot of legal bills. We're told that massive fines will be coming to us in
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the mail. We're going to have to fight them. And I think we have to go on the offensive too.
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Please help us with that. I can't fight this fight alone. We're massively overspent. You saw
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that I've spent like a hundred to one. You saw what they had going on today. So if you can,
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please go to lockdownreports.com. Thanks very much, everybody. We had a win today. Let's savor it.
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I read in today's La Press that they're going to be mailing us various penalties, fines, and tickets.
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Obviously we'll fight all those. And I understand that David Menzies has a court date in Montreal.
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Obviously we'll fight that like hell too. He wasn't arrested for doing anything wrong.
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He was arrested as a bargaining chip. They couldn't convince a judge to let them search our reporter's
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stuff. So they thought they could take one of our people and bargain his freedom to get in.
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Well, when David arrived, I saw him coming down that ramp where he'd been pushed up.
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And I walked up to him and here's my interview with him. It's about six minutes long.
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Here's what David said happened to him after they snatched him.
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I'm sorry you went through what you went through, but you're a hero for journalism, a hero for free
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speech, a hero for the rule of law, a hero for rebel news, and a hero to me. A hero for the concussion
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industry. You know what, I'm so sorry you went through what you did. It was surreal. But everybody
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saw, the world saw it. I hate the fact that you too often have been the target of police violence.
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And I pledge to you as the Boston Rebel News and as your friend, that we will seek justice for you
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through taking legal proceedings against the police.
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You don't have to make that pledge. You always have our backs here. So thank you.
00:35:45.480
How are you doing? Tell us a little bit about what happened after they put you
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in the back of the vehicle. Well, I was brought to a jail and they took all my belongings,
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I guess as a regular procedure. And then I was brought to a cell and the cell was filthy. I wish
00:36:00.680
I had my cell phone, but they don't allow it there. There were, I don't understand this. There was all
00:36:05.880
kinds of bits and pieces of half eaten food, like muffins and sandwiches, and they were just strewing
00:36:12.040
everywhere. I had to clear a bench for myself. The toilet was unflushed. It stank.
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But the worst part of it is, Ezra, the boredom, especially someone like you. Imagine you being
00:36:25.640
separated from your devices, your books. You have nothing to do but to look at a jail cell.
00:36:32.440
And all I could think of, I thought of a couple of things. The two Michaels that have been there for,
00:36:38.360
all coming up for a thousand days. I experienced a few hours that felt like an eternity. What,
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I don't know if these individuals will ever be the same. And I thought of Chris Guy on the no-fly list.
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And I thought about me in a jail for practicing journalism. And then I thought about Omar Khadar
00:36:54.920
getting a $10.5 million check for practicing terrorism. Like, Ezra, the world's insane.
00:37:02.120
It is insane. And I hate the fact that your personal experiences have to prove it. But I look at today,
00:37:09.560
some might see a failure. Our time was wasted. We've incurred many thousands of dollars in legal fees.
00:37:17.000
It stressed everyone else out. And worst of all, you spent hours in jail. That's a failure to most
00:37:23.640
people. But I believe it's a success in one way. It proved our thesis that the Montreal police is corrupt,
00:37:32.120
that they're brutal. And that other journalists in this city, and indeed this country, don't care about
00:37:38.440
freedom of the press. So, your sacrifices, and thank God you look like, although it was rough,
00:37:50.280
Listen, you've got such a good sense of humor about everything. But my point is,
00:37:57.080
what you personally experienced proves our thesis more than anything about the rotten state of
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affairs. So, let's get you back on the boat. We retook the boat. Let's get your feet up.
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And you know what? We did have a win in the end. And I'm glad you're okay, my friend.
00:38:15.160
Well, thank you. I have to come back to this city that is normally beautiful. In May, I have to get
00:38:20.120
mug shots and fingerprints, and the whole rigmarole. But you know, we've seen bad behavior by policing
00:38:27.800
the world over. Avi Amini getting tackled in Australia. The UK, that's another level. You know,
00:38:33.320
Toronto acting up pretty badly since January. This is another level.
00:38:38.200
Yeah. This is, you know, I'm saying this with a degree of naivety. The only experience I've ever
00:38:44.200
had with the Montreal Police Service is via Just for Laughs Gags, one of my favorite shows. And I
00:38:50.360
thought, what an incredible police service giving their cruisers, their uniforms to the comedians
00:38:55.400
to do these elaborate pranks. I could never see Toronto doing that. And so I always thought they had
00:39:00.040
this kind of like jocularity about them. Yeah, that's a PR exercise. This is the real Montreal
00:39:07.320
point, etc. But I'm glad all's well that ends well. I'm glad you got the boat bagged in my presence.
00:39:13.640
But I can't hardly wait to hear that story. Sure. Well, I mean, we were busy doing what we could
00:39:18.200
while you were in the joint. And we had a lawyer going full tilt. From what I hear, you obviously
00:39:24.920
have been charged and you'll have to come back in a few months. We will obviously cover your legal
00:39:30.360
defence. We have three excellent lawyers in Montreal who we were working with today. We will have a top
00:39:37.480
legal defence for you. But we don't just play defence. You mentioned our friend Avi Amini.
00:39:43.640
We're suing the brutal Victoria Police for him. We're suing two other police forces in Canada right now,
00:39:49.720
York Regional Police and the Toronto Police Service. We will serve this most corrupt police force,
00:39:57.320
the Montreal Police, with a lawsuit for their various offences against us, assault, false imprisonment,
00:40:04.600
false confinement, whatever our lawyers advise. So, David, we've got your back. Don't worry about
00:40:10.200
the legal costs. I know we can rely on our crowdfunding viewers at lockdownreports.com.
00:40:17.720
We will get justice for you, my friend. Ezra, you're the best boss ever. Well, you're nice to say it.
00:40:22.920
You have been through too much. And today, the tide was turned. The day started awfully when they tried
00:40:30.760
to invade our Airbnb with no warrant. But the day ended well with your freedom and our retaking of
00:40:37.240
the boat. And tomorrow, we go on the hunt. Okay. Well, in the meantime, we better get on the boat. We've
00:40:44.120
got an hour and 10 minutes before curfew. All right, my friend. We're so glad you're okay. Thanks for
00:40:49.800
suffering for all of us. Thank you so much, Ezra. All right.
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Just incredible. Obviously, we're going to support David every step of the way. I feel terrible
00:41:08.840
that he happens to be the one who gets the brunt of it so many times. Other police forces, even that
00:41:14.600
one time he was attacked by a dog. I'm tremendously grateful to David for showing his courage and his
00:41:19.560
good humor. Isn't that something? After sitting in a filthy jail cell, he still had his sense of humor
00:41:24.920
about him. And he was still just happy to be on the team of rebels. In fact, the next night, he went back
00:41:31.240
out there with our chief videographer, Mocha, and David. And they went out there for a protest against
00:41:38.040
the curfew. And they noticed something. It was a wonderful, positive protest to people who didn't like
00:41:44.360
masks, didn't like curfews. But amongst them were some black block style Antifa thugs that had a double
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purpose. First, they liked smashing things up anyways. But if they could smash things up and light fires
00:42:00.520
at an anti-lockdown protest, they could have the blame for their riot on the head of the peaceful
00:42:09.160
protesters. It was a double win. Burn stores down, trash capitalism, which they love to do.
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But to defame and discredit peaceful anti-lockdown protesters. Take a look at what Mocha and David
00:44:02.700
Are you as proud of our reporters as I am, whether it's Sheila Gunreed out there in Parkland
00:44:08.600
County at the Grace Life Church every weekend telling the truth in a way that's so compelling
00:44:16.040
Are you proud of David and all our young reporters, Mocha, who's fearless, and all our youngsters
00:44:22.300
who even when I was being detained by police and they had the strength to say to that cop,
00:44:29.120
you will not get on here without a search warrant?
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And I feel like we know our work is important and we have to keep doing it.
00:44:56.180
If the Quebec police are cracking down on us so brutally, that tells us that we're doing
00:45:06.100
We have to pay for the legal defense for David when he's called back to Montreal.
00:45:10.580
We haven't received in the mail what La Presse says is coming.
00:45:13.760
I don't know, tens of thousands of dollars worth of fines.
00:45:19.720
But most of all, we cannot stop doing what we're doing.
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We can't let Canada's most corrupt police force win.
00:45:29.520
We can't let them intimidate us, physically hurt us, storm us out of the news business.
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It looks like they've managed to turn Montreal's local media into lapdogs instead of watchdogs.
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We will continue to shine a light of scrutiny on them.
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I think that city needs it and the whole country needs it.
00:45:50.460
We're going to put all the videos up from our trip to Montreal at lockdownreports.com.
00:45:55.880
17 of us were out there and we were kept off of the boat for a long time.
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The houseboat that we were renting is an Airbnb.
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So we didn't have a time to process all the videos we made.
00:46:06.520
We're still catching them, but probably will be for a few days.
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That said, you can find it all at lockdownreports.com.
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I don't know what the legal bill here is going to be.
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I don't know how hard they're going to try and throw the book at David for.
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I don't know what else they're going to send in the mail.
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I think it's so clearly them just expressing their revenge on us for reporting on them.
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We have a pattern of their abuse against us, including those weird Jewish comments that
00:46:38.420
It's dangerous to take on Canada's most corrupt police force, but if we don't do it,
00:46:45.660
I'd love your thoughts on what happened this weekend, both at the Grace Life Church near
00:46:50.340
Edmonton and in Montreal at a little Airbnb houseboat.
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Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, good night.