Rebel News Podcast - December 21, 2019


Dutch high court orders politically correct government to cut carbon emissions


Episode Stats


Length

37 minutes

Words per minute

165.76706

Word count

6,265

Sentence count

482

Harmful content

Misogyny

5

sentences flagged

Hate speech

19

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

A court in the Netherlands orders politicians to cut carbon emissions by 25%, and a new Canadian hostage in China. Ezra Levenoran talks about it all on The Ezra LeeVant Show with Ezra Lee ( ) and Greta Thunberg ( ).

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Hello, my rebels. A funny thing happened in the Supreme Court of the Netherlands.
00:00:04.580 The judges ordered the politicians to cut carbon emissions by 25%.
00:00:09.100 They just ordered them. This has been appealed for years.
00:00:12.080 The judges said, look, you signed the treaty, bloody well do it.
00:00:15.800 It is karee zee. I'll take you through some of the legal challenges,
00:00:21.360 but I'll also be a very constructive lad, and I'll give my suggestions
00:00:25.820 for how the Dutch government can comply, because we don't want them to break the law, do we?
00:00:31.660 So that's coming up. Before I get out of the way, let me invite you to become a premium subscriber of Rebel News.
00:00:38.020 Just go to premium.rebelnews.com, and you get the video version of this podcast,
00:00:44.580 plus Sheila Gunn-Reed has a video show, and David Menzies.
00:00:48.980 And the eight bucks a month, not a ton of money, but if enough people do it, it helps us keep the lights on here.
00:00:54.100 So please go to premium.rebelnews.com.
00:00:56.940 All right, here's my show about the fascinating news from the Netherlands.
00:01:01.100 Tonight, a high court in the Netherlands orders politicians to cut carbon emissions.
00:01:21.940 Are they serious?
00:01:23.180 It's December 20th, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.
00:01:25.620 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?
00:01:31.400 There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
00:01:35.460 The only thing I have to say to the government about why I publish it is because it's my bloody right to do so.
00:01:46.680 Here's news out of the Netherlands.
00:01:49.660 Activists cheer victory in landmark Dutch climate case.
00:01:53.020 Let me read a little bit from the story.
00:01:55.740 In a ruling hailed as an immense victory for climate justice,
00:02:00.400 the Netherlands' top court ruled Friday in favor of activists who have for years been seeking legal orders
00:02:05.520 to force the Dutch government into cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
00:02:10.260 Now, I'm going to read a lot more, but let's just stop for one second.
00:02:13.060 So the Dutch government is very politically correct, very liberal, very fashionable.
00:02:17.000 Of course they are.
00:02:18.280 They're sort of like Trudeau and Obama, but like Trudeau and Obama, they're more talk than walk.
00:02:22.720 I mean, nobody is actually serious about cutting back on their industrial lifestyle.
00:02:28.920 Certainly not Trudeau or Obama.
00:02:31.720 I mean, did you know that Justin Trudeau has already left for his extended Christmas vacation?
00:02:37.360 Look at his official itinerary today.
00:02:39.200 Of course he has.
00:02:40.180 Do you see it there?
00:02:41.220 He's off to Costa Rica.
00:02:44.100 I mean, General Motors has just shut down its factory in Oshawa.
00:02:48.220 We've still got two Canadian hostages in China, and I see that we might have a new Canadian hostage in China.
00:02:54.200 Mazel Tov.
00:02:55.140 Did you see this story just last week?
00:02:56.920 China detains Canadian CEO of U.S.-listed company Fincera for a suspected financial crime.
00:03:03.580 So is that three Canadian hostages taken by China?
00:03:06.720 Well, look, Trudeau has to get back to building sandcastles.
00:03:10.900 At least I think that's a sandcastle.
00:03:12.320 I saw someone say that looks more like a mosque with minarets, but I think that's crazy talk.
00:03:16.900 It's just a sandcastle.
00:03:18.080 I mean, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
00:03:21.420 Anywho, Trudeau's back on the beach.
00:03:23.760 But do you see this gem that he said right before he hopped on his private jet to Costa Rica?
00:03:28.660 Because that's what you do if you believe there's a climate emergency.
00:03:32.800 You take a private jet halfway around the world to build sandcastles to get away from the cold.
00:03:38.680 How dare you?
00:03:40.580 I know.
00:03:41.280 Greta's mad again. 0.96
00:03:43.020 But here's what Trudeau said before he jetted.
00:03:46.320 Trudeau says he asked U.S. to stall China trade deal until Canadians released.
00:03:51.860 Let me read from this story.
00:03:52.780 We've said that the United States should not sign a final and complete agreement with China
00:03:57.320 that does not settle the question of Meng Wanzhou and the two Canadians, Trudeau said in translated remarks.
00:04:04.540 Okay, yeah.
00:04:05.580 Hey, Donald Trump, I know I mocked you on TV a couple of weeks ago with my buddies, Macron and Boris Johnson.
00:04:12.060 And I know you and your administration have been working on a China trade deal for two years.
00:04:16.540 And I know it's the biggest trade battle and trade deal potentially in world history.
00:04:22.280 But I've got to say this fast because I've got to go get on that plane to build some sandcastles in Costa Rica.
00:04:29.080 But can you, like, put your entire American national interest aside because I can't get it done?
00:04:35.920 Yeah, I mean, Donald Trump kept busy, busy.
00:05:05.180 Justin Trudeau waiting for 40 minutes.
00:05:08.060 Doesn't he know how busy Trudeau is?
00:05:10.080 I mean, he's got to get down to Costa Rica to build some sandcastles.
00:05:13.920 I mean, do you think Donald Trump would put his entire China plans on hold to do a favor for Justin Trudeau?
00:05:22.400 I don't know.
00:05:23.260 You can always dream.
00:05:24.420 Anyway, sorry for the tangent.
00:05:25.560 I'm just making a point about how unserious Trudeau is.
00:05:28.060 About everything, of course, and certainly about global warming.
00:05:30.900 If you're taking private jets, you just might be a climate hypocrite.
00:05:36.080 Holland is like that.
00:05:37.200 Their carbon dioxide emissions are pretty stable, actually.
00:05:40.620 It's a tiny country, really.
00:05:42.140 Not a lot of jetting around.
00:05:43.520 They're pretty much unchanged.
00:05:44.560 You see that?
00:05:45.460 In a decade, they're down a little bit.
00:05:47.720 Very slight decrease.
00:05:49.320 I'm going to say about, I don't know, 50 megatons.
00:05:52.580 But seriously, who cares?
00:05:54.020 Here is a chart from the University of East Anglia published in The Guardian, the most pro-global warming newspaper in the world.
00:06:03.180 37 billion tons of GHG emissions last year.
00:06:08.540 Look at that graph, how steep it's climbing.
00:06:10.560 Now, again, I don't think that's a problem.
00:06:11.840 Carbon dioxide is a harmless, colorless, odorless gas that is naturally occurring.
00:06:16.360 We breathe it out.
00:06:17.500 So do all mammals.
00:06:18.720 And plants breathe it in as part of photosynthesis.
00:06:22.000 Without CO2, all life on Earth would die.
00:06:23.720 But my quick point here with this graph, look at this graph.
00:06:26.460 The Netherlands has spent billions of dollars trying to get its annual carbon emissions down by 50 megatons.
00:06:32.140 But the world emissions are 37,000 megatons.
00:06:36.440 That's 37 billion megatons.
00:06:41.000 37 billion tons, sorry.
00:06:42.340 So pretty much every week, China adds another 50 megatons.
00:06:47.660 All of Holland, they raise taxes, they give subsidies, they build wind turbines.
00:06:51.420 For a decade, they knock themselves out and China replaces all that. 1.00
00:06:55.240 In a way, China's the red part of the graph here.
00:06:57.420 The gray part there is other developing countries.
00:07:00.600 As you can see, the dark blue at the bottom of America is sort of stable.
00:07:03.840 It's China and India and Brazil, really. 0.61
00:07:06.320 So what's my point?
00:07:09.080 My point is that this high court of the Netherlands thinks it's what?
00:07:15.060 Dictators?
00:07:15.700 Kings, maybe?
00:07:16.760 Who can just order things to be done.
00:07:19.520 Is that how it works?
00:07:20.360 I don't think that's even a political question.
00:07:22.540 It's a science question.
00:07:23.880 It's a technology question.
00:07:25.080 Do you think that they can, just like King Canute, just order the tides to stop?
00:07:28.980 I order the weather to change.
00:07:30.820 Don't you know who I am?
00:07:32.200 Let me read some more from the news story.
00:07:35.060 Activists in a packed chamber of the Supreme Court in The Hague erupted into applause and cheers
00:07:40.760 as presiding Judge Keese Streifkirk rejected the government's appeal against earlier rulings,
00:07:48.180 ordering the government to cut emissions by at least 25% by the end of 2020.
00:07:53.720 From benchmark 1991.
00:07:55.100 Get cracking, boys.
00:07:55.940 The Supreme Court upheld lower court's rulings that protection from the potentially devastating
00:08:02.200 effects of climate change was a human right and that the government has a duty to protect
00:08:07.120 its citizens.
00:08:08.200 Hmm.
00:08:08.660 Yeah.
00:08:09.720 The old Keese Streifkirk.
00:08:11.840 Him again, eh?
00:08:13.180 Keese Streifkirk.
00:08:14.500 The name you know.
00:08:16.200 A lifetime bureaucrat, of course.
00:08:17.780 Just the perfect self-righteous prat who thinks he can simply order the weather to change
00:08:22.300 or something.
00:08:23.220 Keese Streifkirk.
00:08:24.880 I love saying that.
00:08:26.640 He's never run for public office that I know of.
00:08:28.340 He's never run a public company or any company that I know of.
00:08:30.640 He's never actually done anything.
00:08:32.680 That was his biography there.
00:08:33.680 But he's telling the virtue signalers to do something.
00:08:36.500 Now, in a way, that's wonderful.
00:08:39.280 If the courts ordered Justin Trudeau to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 25%, and I mean
00:08:44.000 actually ordered him to do so, like sent police or something, and said, oh, I don't know,
00:08:49.800 we're going to put you in jail if you don't.
00:08:53.960 Now, obviously, that would be outrageous.
00:08:55.060 It would be a kind of coup.
00:08:57.120 It would be bizarre and undemocratic.
00:08:58.740 But hey, that's sort of what the United Nations is, what the European Union is.
00:09:02.940 That's what all these globalists believe in.
00:09:04.960 That's what they say they want.
00:09:06.500 So what would happen if it actually happened?
00:09:08.940 Would they force Trudeau to give up his flight to Costa Rica and vacation in Quebec instead?
00:09:14.940 You know Trudeau has three homes on the taxpayer dime right now, right?
00:09:18.820 He lives in Rideau Hall.
00:09:20.760 He still has 24 Sussex Drive, but that's just for his chef, swear to God.
00:09:26.160 And he has the home in Harrington Lake, Quebec, where his mom sometimes stays.
00:09:30.760 So maybe the court might order him to only have one house.
00:09:36.240 And maybe to cook his own food.
00:09:38.100 He's got two nannies.
00:09:40.180 And maybe stop eating beef, right?
00:09:42.280 I mean, the rest of us have to be vegetarian, according to the UN.
00:09:45.180 Why not start with Trudeau?
00:09:46.160 If a court was really saying you've got to cut back 25 percent, imagine if a court would
00:09:50.280 order all cabinet ministers in Trudeau's government to give up their chauffeured limousines.
00:09:54.880 Oh, the squawking.
00:09:56.860 Now, none of that would come even close to making a dent in our carbon emissions.
00:10:00.620 But if a high court orders a government to do something, wouldn't that be something to do?
00:10:04.940 To start with them.
00:10:06.360 Now, they can't actually change the weather.
00:10:08.600 I think there would be riots if actual citizens were imposed upon in this way.
00:10:12.780 I mean, it's bloody freezing in most of North America right now.
00:10:15.860 You know, it's in Houston briefly this week.
00:10:18.500 It's right on the Gulf of Mexico.
00:10:20.360 It's so far south.
00:10:21.640 And it was so cold there that they had to bring out the de-icing machine for the plane.
00:10:27.140 I don't know if they ever had to do that before in Houston.
00:10:28.920 I was surprised they even had a de-icing machine in Houston.
00:10:32.040 That's how cold it got.
00:10:33.660 In Texas.
00:10:35.760 Imagine ordering Canadians to turn off their heat this winter.
00:10:40.260 And also, we're a big country.
00:10:42.000 Stop driving and flying.
00:10:43.760 Just put on a sweater.
00:10:45.580 Use your bike.
00:10:46.500 I mean, what else exactly would you mean by ordering emissions reductions?
00:10:52.200 Just ordering it.
00:10:53.660 How else are you going to do it?
00:10:54.740 Kill every animal in agriculture?
00:10:56.540 I know that sounds insane, but agriculture is a major source of carbon dioxide emissions and methane emissions.
00:11:01.960 All the breathing of the animals, plus they're farting and burping, especially cows.
00:11:06.660 Do you think Quebec's dairy farmers would go along with that?
00:11:08.920 You know, a large dairy cow emits as much GSGs as a car.
00:11:14.140 I know these sound like insane ideas, which is why no politician, not even Trudeau or Obama or the liberals who run Holland, would do this.
00:11:21.360 It's why Elizabeth May jets around. 1.00
00:11:23.580 It's why David Suzuki has five houses, including one in Australia.
00:11:27.660 Because none of them actually believe this stuff, that the world's going to end in two years.
00:11:31.780 At least, they don't believe it enough to live it.
00:11:34.100 Other than the Unabomber, who went out into the woods, no one actually goes off the grid. 0.77
00:11:40.940 But remember this.
00:11:42.400 If you actually say it louder, we've learned in the House of Commons, if you repeat it, if you say it louder, if that is your talking point, people will totally believe it.
00:11:51.900 Remember that clip?
00:11:53.000 That was a drunk Catherine McKenna at a bar in Newfoundland.
00:11:56.600 Just that little clip there.
00:11:57.820 That little scene there.
00:11:58.660 High energy, high carbon bar she's in, having her favorite scotch flown in from halfway around the world. 0.53
00:12:08.840 Her camera crew that filmed that drunk tweet.
00:12:11.980 Her staff back in Parliament that tweeted that.
00:12:15.020 I remember she jetted to Newfoundland and back.
00:12:17.180 That entire little vignette of drunk Catherine McKenna probably emitted a year's worth of carbon dioxide for a normal person. 1.00
00:12:25.080 She doesn't really mean anything she says.
00:12:29.760 And in a way, this Dutch court, this Kies Strieffkirk, he's just calling their bluff.
00:12:36.740 I mean, if all these politicians actually sign these insane treaties and make these crazy promises and pass laws,
00:12:45.080 I guess maybe Kies Strieffkirk isn't the insane one here.
00:12:49.480 Maybe he's the only one sane, saying, okay, then, big shot, live up to your promises.
00:12:56.840 Here's what the green extremists in the Netherlands said about it.
00:13:01.160 I am extremely happy that the highest court in the Netherlands has confirmed that climate change is a real severe problem
00:13:06.480 and that government should do what they themselves have declared for more than 10 years is necessary,
00:13:11.980 namely between 25% and 40% reduction of CO2.
00:13:14.760 Urgenda director Marian Minesma told the Associated Press outside the court.
00:13:21.500 Yeah.
00:13:22.040 I mean, look, this is all just Allison in Wonderland stuff.
00:13:24.140 It's all a con.
00:13:25.340 It's a joke.
00:13:25.960 It's junk science.
00:13:26.740 It's junk economics.
00:13:27.900 But maybe don't say it if you don't mean it.
00:13:30.800 Maybe don't pass law and sign a treaty if you don't mean it.
00:13:33.000 Here's more.
00:13:34.420 Faiza Ulasen of Greenpeace in the Netherlands called the ruling, quote,
00:13:38.600 an immense victory for climate justice.
00:13:40.400 It is now more than four years since a court in The Hague first ordered the emissions cut
00:13:44.740 in a case brought by Urgenda that spawned similar legal challenges in courts around the world.
00:13:51.160 The Dutch government appealed that verdict, saying that courts shouldn't be able to order the government to take action.
00:13:56.380 The government lost the appeal in October 2018, but appealed again, this time to the Supreme Court.
00:14:01.740 Now, this is the worst.
00:14:02.760 First, extremist NGOs like Greenpeace and Urgenda, that sounds like sort of a, you know, urinary tract infections.
00:14:11.160 Oh, my God, I got Urgenda.
00:14:12.480 I got to take some penicillin.
00:14:14.720 Extremist NGOs and pressure groups like Urgenda and other lobbyists who may well be funded by foreign interests,
00:14:21.200 as they are in Canada.
00:14:22.720 So you got them.
00:14:23.500 You got a case of Urgenda that's really acting up.
00:14:26.540 You got unelected judges.
00:14:28.100 You got lots of junk science.
00:14:29.320 But look, don't say it if you don't mean it.
00:14:34.700 The government appealed.
00:14:36.260 I'm reading more from the case here, this story.
00:14:38.480 The government appealed, arguing that it effectively meant a court was formulating government policy.
00:14:43.260 But appeals judges last year rejected that argument, saying that they must uphold international treaties,
00:14:48.720 such as the European Human Rights Convention, to which the Netherlands is a party.
00:14:52.880 Look, I like the Dutch a lot.
00:14:55.400 Lots of great Dutch Canadians.
00:14:56.660 I like saying, Schokoladehachl and Hachelslach.
00:15:02.940 Canada and Holland have wonderful historic ties.
00:15:06.180 We helped liberate them in the Second World War.
00:15:08.580 Did you know that the Dutch royal family fled the Nazis to Canada?
00:15:11.800 And this woman here, beautiful Princess Marguerite, she was born in Canada.
00:15:16.640 You know, they declared the hospital room where she was born to be Dutch soil for symbolic purposes.
00:15:21.140 I mean, who doesn't love the Dutch?
00:15:22.700 I mean, think of the movie Goldmember.
00:15:26.160 But look, they made this pickle.
00:15:28.840 The Dutch made this pickle. 0.81
00:15:30.060 So let me put aside my mockery and my irritation and let me give my best, genuine, good faith advice
00:15:35.360 to our friends over there who keep losing in court.
00:15:39.800 Look, I love the Dutch.
00:15:40.700 Let's try and help them.
00:15:41.440 If they don't want to quit the Paris Global Warming Treaty, like Donald Trump did, then
00:15:48.720 it sounds like they're going to have to abide by it.
00:15:50.880 They should quit it.
00:15:51.960 My advice, heart to heart, love the Dutch.
00:15:55.260 Like Stephen Harper, quit the Kyoto Protocol.
00:15:57.540 Like Donald Trump quit the Paris Protocol.
00:16:00.020 Quit it.
00:16:01.260 But if you really want to stay in it, well, you've got to follow this court order.
00:16:05.200 So here's how.
00:16:07.900 Just me to you.
00:16:10.300 Step one, turn off all fossil fuels to the courthouse where Keith Streifkirk and the other judges work.
00:16:21.400 What I mean by that is if the courthouse is heated by natural gas, if there's, say, a cafeteria
00:16:26.800 in the courthouse and it uses natural gas in the stove, maybe the air conditioners use natural gas.
00:16:31.640 I don't know.
00:16:32.600 Cut it off.
00:16:33.120 I mean, look, climate action, right?
00:16:35.340 If the courthouse's electricity comes in whole or in part from natural gas or coal-fired power plants,
00:16:41.360 look, you've got to cut that off, too.
00:16:43.220 You're just doing what the court said.
00:16:45.580 This report by Forbes magazine says there are at least five coal-fired power plants in Holland,
00:16:51.280 including one that was just opened a couple years ago.
00:16:53.320 Let me read.
00:16:55.160 Until recently, the Netherlands was still opening new coal plants,
00:17:00.020 which have a minimum lifespan of 40 years.
00:17:02.240 Germany energy company Uniper said they built the MPP3 coal-fired electricity plant in Rotterdam's Maasvlakte port area.
00:17:15.720 My Vlasvlakte area is inflamed as well.
00:17:18.740 So they opened in 2016 at a cost of about 1.6 billion euros at the invitation of the Dutch government.
00:17:26.660 At the time, the government wanted to diversify its energy mix because its reliance on gas meant the Dutch were paying much higher prices for electricity than their neighbors.
00:17:34.700 Well, sorry, dudes.
00:17:37.380 Not only can you not use cheap coal, but you can't even use more expensive natural gas that you were complaining about there.
00:17:46.940 Not if you want to be holy, like Keith Streifkirk says.
00:17:52.620 You've got to cut off the power to the courthouse, my dudes, and shut down the parking lot.
00:18:02.200 Look, I've been to courthouses before.
00:18:03.860 Have you ever seen a judge bicycle to work?
00:18:08.840 They're more the kind of people who drive Lincolns and Mercedes or B-driven.
00:18:14.020 Nice, big, smooth, comfy cars.
00:18:16.080 And they always have underground, private, heated parking.
00:18:20.880 Well, obviously, that's got to go.
00:18:22.800 Look, the judge has said.
00:18:24.900 So you've got to shut down the parking lots.
00:18:27.440 I don't know, turn them into vegan, organic gardens fertilized by, you know, organic fertilizer.
00:18:36.740 I think we need a zero plastics policy, too.
00:18:39.840 And I'm not just talking about, you know, reusable bottles.
00:18:42.680 I mean, zero pretty much rules out computers, cell phones, things like that.
00:18:48.640 Most electronics is a lot of metal and plastic, both of which are problematic.
00:18:53.060 Hey, no problem.
00:18:53.700 Courts existed for centuries before plastic was invented.
00:18:57.600 Just use paper and pens, or I guess not pens, maybe typewriters if they're recycled.
00:19:03.760 So yeah, I think this court ruling, while insane is the least insane thing about global warming,
00:19:10.780 it actually says to politicians, your words mean something when you say them, when you
00:19:15.200 sign a treaty about them.
00:19:16.340 This ruling is obviously impossible.
00:19:17.920 It's arrogant.
00:19:18.500 It's undemocratic.
00:19:19.400 It's impractical.
00:19:20.360 It's like ordering the tides to stop it.
00:19:21.900 Hey, they didn't write the rules, did they?
00:19:24.200 They're just enforcing them.
00:19:25.300 The UN wrote the rules.
00:19:26.620 I say comply.
00:19:30.260 Just start with compliance by shutting off the heat to the courthouse.
00:19:34.660 And maybe to Keith Streifkirk's house.
00:19:40.020 I mean, look, a court order is a court order, right?
00:19:45.040 Stay with us for more.
00:19:46.100 Sheila Gunn-Reed here on Special Assignment this week in Iraqi Kurdistan.
00:20:02.080 I'm here documenting your efforts to save the Christian survivors of an ISIS genocide
00:20:06.540 here in the place that has been the cradle of Christianity for 2,000 years.
00:20:11.120 I'm here to show you how our Save the Christians fundraising is being spent by our partners
00:20:16.960 at the Nazarene Fund and their in-country contractors.
00:20:20.000 Now, in the West, many people see the United Nations as saviors, as a force for good.
00:20:26.360 Here, they are seen as inept and corrupt and infected with bigotry against the Christians
00:20:32.980 who languish in their refugee camps.
00:20:35.660 The camps are not a safe place for Christians.
00:20:37.960 And sometimes they are in the camps with their ISIS persecutors who masquerade as refugees.
00:20:44.880 Because of this, the Nazarene Fund sometimes needs to deliver food and aid to the Christians
00:20:51.980 in the UN IDP camps, even though the UN is supposed to take care of them, even though the West
00:20:58.460 sends money to the UN to take care of them.
00:21:01.640 Christians are often neglected in the camps because they're Christian.
00:21:04.460 They are often the last to eat, the last to get medicine, the last to get clothes, the
00:21:08.960 last to get diapers for their babies, and the last to get out of the camps.
00:21:13.500 It falls on NGOs and charities like the Nazarene Fund, supported by you, to help the Christians
00:21:19.180 when the UN just doesn't seem to care.
00:21:21.600 That's our friend Sheila Gunn-Reed in Iraq, the country, the war zone.
00:21:28.200 We sent her there on the triple top secret down low because we did not want people to
00:21:33.320 know she was there for security reasons.
00:21:34.900 Although ISIS has largely been extirpated from the country, it's still very dangerous.
00:21:40.600 And there are still terrorists lurking about and other militias, including those funded
00:21:46.080 and directed by Iran, Sheila was there with a protective team. 1.00
00:21:51.120 And as you can see, she was there to check up on how Christians are doing in a land from 0.70
00:21:56.080 which they have been ethnically cleansed, or more accurately, genocided.
00:22:01.740 And Sheila, safely back in Alberta now, joins us via Skype.
00:22:06.200 Sheila, how are you doing, my friend?
00:22:08.040 I'm great.
00:22:08.740 And that trip to Iraq was an opportunity that I never thought that I would ever be able
00:22:14.620 to have.
00:22:16.020 So I'm grateful for that, but still deeply sad for what I saw.
00:22:22.780 I saw a lot of hope, but I saw a lot of just sadness and grief still there.
00:22:29.580 Yeah.
00:22:30.000 I went there a couple of days, a couple of years ago, excuse me.
00:22:33.000 And that was when the final battle in Mosul, the big city with about a million people, that
00:22:40.200 was not their technical capital, but that was their main city.
00:22:44.100 And people were scared.
00:22:45.460 Even our armed guards were scared because there's, even if ISIS is officially dispatched, it has
00:22:53.140 sympathizers and supporters everywhere.
00:22:54.940 You heard that ISIS, even though it's technically defeated on the ground, still effectively, or
00:23:02.580 ISIS or other Muslim extremists, still run the show in the UN refugee and displacement 1.00
00:23:07.720 camps.
00:23:08.180 Am I right?
00:23:09.440 Yeah.
00:23:09.720 And that's something that has been testified to before Canadian immigration hearings, back
00:23:18.240 when we were talking about how many Yezidis that we would take as refugees.
00:23:23.020 Samaritan's Purse testified back then, years ago.
00:23:26.940 So it's something the Canadian government is well aware of, that there are ISIS sympathizers
00:23:31.820 either working in the refugee camps or ISIS is hiding in plain sight in the refugee camps
00:23:37.640 so that they can come to Western countries as refugees, thus escaping justice back in Iraq, 0.81
00:23:47.480 the justice they deserve.
00:23:48.960 So it's not a safe place for Christians to be in the refugee camps.
00:23:53.660 And that was one of the things that was one of the more prominent themes when I was there
00:23:58.020 was that the Nazarene Fund, our partners in our Save the Christians project, they worked
00:24:07.440 very hard to get the Christians out of the camps because the Christians who are in the 1.00
00:24:12.460 camps, they will face discrimination.
00:24:14.240 They tend to languish in the camps because the aid workers who work for the UN tend to
00:24:19.700 shuffle their paperwork to the bottom so they can't really get out.
00:24:24.680 And the UN is ineffective on a good day at getting food aid, clothing and shelter to anybody
00:24:34.260 in the camps, but in particular the Christians.
00:24:36.520 So I was really astounded to know that the Nazarene Fund goes into the UN camps.
00:24:45.380 So Canada gives the UN a bunch of money to help these internally displaced people in the
00:24:50.700 UN camps.
00:24:51.800 But somewhere along the line, the UN drops the ball.
00:24:55.740 And so it is left to charities like the Nazarene Fund to go into the refugee camps to deliver food
00:25:02.860 aid to the Christians there.
00:25:04.080 So it's like the Christians need to be rescued from the UN rescuers because the UN rescuers 1.00
00:25:11.520 don't want to rescue the Christians. 0.99
00:25:13.020 Well, we have raised money in the past for Christians in Syria and Iraq, and we have worked
00:25:20.860 quietly with the Nazarene Fund.
00:25:24.240 And we check them out because as viewers will recall from our last adventure to Iraq, it is
00:25:29.940 a low-trust society, and you've got to be extremely careful.
00:25:34.040 And I found it very disheartening.
00:25:36.260 I mean, look, there's no infrastructure.
00:25:38.880 It really is a war zone.
00:25:41.160 You have to be careful.
00:25:42.340 And I believe that the Nazarene Fund, I flew down to Texas.
00:25:46.160 I met their team.
00:25:48.580 I inspected their IRS form.
00:25:51.060 It's called Form 990 that they file with the Internal Revenue Service.
00:25:54.660 I know that Glenn Beck is involved with them, and I think I did my due diligence paper-wise
00:26:02.980 and in North America.
00:26:05.080 And one of the reasons we sent you, and thank you for going to Iraq, was to do the due diligence
00:26:09.900 on the ground.
00:26:11.140 Would you confirm that you believe that the money raised for SaveTheChristians.com is well
00:26:17.560 spent by sending it to the Nazarene Fund?
00:26:19.760 I will confirm that.
00:26:23.080 And one thing I did notice when I was there was just how much on a shoestring budget they
00:26:28.160 operate.
00:26:28.960 They use a lot of volunteer aid workers, and they're doing the work that the United Nations
00:26:36.720 is paid for.
00:26:37.860 So they are doing a lot of the refugee screening.
00:26:40.280 They're doing a lot of the applying for visas and getting in contact with the consulates of
00:26:45.780 the Czech Republic and Australia to find homes for the Christians and the Yazidis, because 1.00
00:26:52.340 that's another thing.
00:26:54.080 While the Nazarene Fund is Christian-focused, the Yazidis know that they can trust the Nazarene
00:27:00.900 Fund.
00:27:01.200 So they go to the Nazarene Fund for help.
00:27:03.180 And of course, the Nazarene Fund doesn't turn them away, because the Yazidis have also
00:27:07.760 faced much of the same discrimination, the same persecution, the same sex slavery and extermination 0.70
00:27:13.800 from their indigenous lands.
00:27:15.580 So the Nazarene Fund on the ground is really overwhelmed.
00:27:19.880 They say that they are capable, because they work largely on volunteers, they say they are
00:27:25.980 capable of helping more Christians get out of the region or rebuild their homes back in 1.00
00:27:33.060 Butnaya.
00:27:33.620 That's the Christian town that was behind enemy lines that was featured in our Save the Christians
00:27:37.500 documentary.
00:27:38.600 They can help them because they do have the manpower.
00:27:41.420 They just don't have the money to do it.
00:27:43.200 They don't have the money to rent the hotel conference centers to process them.
00:27:48.120 Once they get them out of the UN camps, they've got to put the Christians up in housing, local 1.00
00:27:53.240 housing.
00:27:54.320 So if they don't have the funds flowing in, they could help so many more, but they just
00:28:01.040 can't do it.
00:28:01.940 Very interesting.
00:28:03.440 Well, listen, I'm glad you went.
00:28:06.160 I'm glad you say it was a positive experience.
00:28:09.400 Obviously, it was not a comfortable experience physically.
00:28:13.000 It was a risk experience, although I think we were in good hands.
00:28:18.100 And they, I mean, they took care of you from, they even met you at the airport and they arranged
00:28:22.400 everything, which is good, because we don't know our way around there.
00:28:25.280 But I'm glad you went.
00:28:26.380 And I'm glad that you are confirming for us that good work is being done.
00:28:30.700 Now, a few hours ago, we set up the website SaveTheChristians.com.
00:28:36.940 And it points to a special Christmas fund that we're trying to raise $10,000 just for Christmas
00:28:43.940 to help get some refugees out of there to Australia or the Czech Republic countries that still take 0.98
00:28:50.800 them.
00:28:51.420 Now, last I checked, in a few hours, SaveTheChristians.com had already raised $8,800, and we didn't
00:28:58.760 even really announce it yet.
00:29:00.080 So I'm sure we're going to reach our $10,000 goal.
00:29:03.520 All the proceeds from that will go to the NASRI Fund project, and we're going to stretch it
00:29:08.920 to $15,000.
00:29:09.880 If we raise that, let's stretch it to $20,000.
00:29:12.120 I like those guys.
00:29:13.620 I've met them in America.
00:29:15.800 You've met them in Iraq.
00:29:16.960 And I'd like to encourage our viewers, if you want to do something Christmassy, obviously
00:29:21.000 help in your local community, whether it's a food bank or something like that.
00:29:24.640 But I feel like this is a good project because, as Sheila pointed out, the UN doesn't help
00:29:30.420 these people.
00:29:31.300 And I'm not in a position to criticize the church.
00:29:34.280 I'm not Christian. 0.83
00:29:35.000 I don't go to a church.
00:29:36.140 I don't follow the Pope.
00:29:38.120 But part of me feels like the official Christian establishment, with some notable exceptions,
00:29:43.180 doesn't properly prioritize these Christians who have been terrorized and genocided.
00:29:50.960 And it frustrates me that this isn't a higher priority for certain mainstream Christian groups.
00:29:58.520 Instead of just complaining about it, we're going to help out in our own small way.
00:30:02.260 Last word to you, Sheila.
00:30:03.280 I will second your motion as a practicing Catholic that I don't think the Western church is doing 1.00
00:30:09.520 enough to help the Christians on the ground in Iraqi Kurdistan.
00:30:14.920 The church there is very strong.
00:30:17.760 They're very bold.
00:30:19.120 And I met with Father Iman, who is the priest from Batnaya, and he refuses to be purged from
00:30:28.500 the land.
00:30:28.960 And since he came back when Batnaya was liberated, 70 families have gone back.
00:30:36.620 His parish is going to be full for Christmas.
00:30:40.920 But as a Catholic, I don't recall the last time that I heard a prayer of the faithful in
00:30:48.420 my church dedicated to the persecuted Christians in northern Iraq, or for that matter, around
00:30:53.740 the world.
00:30:54.200 So I'm very grateful to have this opportunity to help the Christians there, to fill in the 0.98
00:31:00.180 gaps where the UN is falling flat.
00:31:02.760 And I hope everybody at home, if you can, pitch in to give these people, you know, it's
00:31:08.920 really the gift of freedom for them, and the gift of being able to raise their children
00:31:14.220 in their faith without persecution.
00:31:17.180 You know, I tell you, if every time a church leader replaced some global warming speech
00:31:24.180 with help persecuted Christians speech, I think something could really be done. 1.00
00:31:30.940 But Sheila, I'm so proud of you for going over there at some personal risk, I must say.
00:31:35.860 I mean, I remember we talked about it, and we said, well, just talk to your family and
00:31:40.120 your husband and make sure everything's cool, because it was outside of our power.
00:31:43.760 We sort of had to trust the local bodyguards and whatnot, but there's still a risk, so
00:31:48.180 I'm grateful that you did it.
00:31:50.160 And I'm glad you told the story.
00:31:51.620 I want to tell people we got about 10 videos from Sheila's work.
00:31:55.620 They're going to be rolled out over the next few days.
00:31:57.760 You can see them at savethechristians.com, and you can chip in and make a donation.
00:32:02.700 100% of the proceeds from savethechristians.com will go directly to the Nazarese Fund.
00:32:08.040 We also have a link there if you want to help cover Sheila's costs.
00:32:12.020 We're not taking Sheila's costs from that same pool of money.
00:32:17.160 So we have another button.
00:32:18.820 If you want to chip in, Sheila had to fly Edmonton, Toronto, Vienna, Erbil, and back.
00:32:25.880 If I've got, or maybe Frankfurt was in there.
00:32:27.760 It was a very, very long journey.
00:32:29.280 It was long.
00:32:29.960 Yeah, we paid for that ourselves, obviously, where we're not going to take that from the
00:32:33.500 aid.
00:32:33.740 So if someone wants to help us with that part of the trip, you can see that button on that
00:32:37.940 website too.
00:32:38.620 Thanks, Sheila, and have a Merry Christmas.
00:32:40.400 And I feel like you did a little bit of good, maybe even a lot, like you held up a candle
00:32:45.640 in the darkness for people who need the help.
00:32:48.400 So congratulations to you, Sheila.
00:32:51.420 Well, thank you, Ezra.
00:32:53.120 I'm just very grateful to the families who were willing to tell their stories to me at
00:32:58.960 some great personal cost.
00:33:00.980 So without their bravery, the story cannot be told.
00:33:05.180 Right on.
00:33:06.020 That website, again, is savethechristians.com.
00:33:08.460 You'll see links for all the things we've talked about, and over the course of the next
00:33:12.540 few days, we will upload all 10 videos that Sheila filmed on her own in Iraq, which is
00:33:20.020 a feat in itself.
00:33:21.440 All right.
00:33:21.820 Stay with us.
00:33:22.360 More ahead on the rebel.
00:33:22.940 Hey, welcome back on my interview with Alex Jones yesterday.
00:33:35.260 Jane writes, really enjoyed your interview with Alex Jones.
00:33:38.140 The more I hear from him, the more I admire him for his work in getting the truth out the
00:33:41.640 same way you do.
00:33:42.480 I wish you would connect with him more often.
00:33:44.500 I feel he's basically a good and honest man and a patriot that is concerned about where
00:33:48.240 this world is heading.
00:33:49.360 Well, I don't know.
00:33:50.780 Maybe he was on his absolute best behavior when I was down there, but he seemed pretty
00:33:54.160 normal to me.
00:33:55.220 He seemed like he's revved up about the same sort of issues that we are.
00:33:58.960 I have no doubt that he colors outside the lines a bit more than we do.
00:34:01.980 That's his style.
00:34:02.680 He's more of an entertainer.
00:34:04.000 He's rambunctious.
00:34:05.080 But even if he's wrong, and I think we all have the right to be wrong, why is he utterly
00:34:11.020 banned and unpersoned?
00:34:13.740 He's not a criminal.
00:34:14.720 He's not a murderer.
00:34:15.480 But he's treated worse than any.
00:34:18.760 Robin writes, I used to be a subscriber, and I'm going to resubscribe.
00:34:22.900 I'm just listening to you on Alex Jones, and you are incredible.
00:34:25.740 Thank you.
00:34:26.600 Well, Robin, that's nice of you to say.
00:34:28.640 Listen, we've had our ups and downs, too.
00:34:31.080 I think we generally do a good job here at Rebel.
00:34:33.120 Obviously, I think so.
00:34:34.160 But I think sometimes we pay too much attention to our hysterical critics.
00:34:40.060 And sometimes that doesn't even let us get to know a person.
00:34:42.200 I don't know if I would even, if I had never heard of Tommy Robinson, for example, till
00:34:45.980 today, I don't know if I would be able to get to know who he really is, because there's
00:34:50.100 such a wall, a fog of lies around him, you can't get through it to get to the truth.
00:34:55.460 I don't even know how one would go about getting to know the real Alex Jones, other than going
00:34:59.360 to meet him, because there's just so much hysteria about him, and he can't speak back.
00:35:04.520 On Alex Jones being deplatformed, Jack writes, why can't a right-wing person or company construct
00:35:10.800 a YouTube-type system for all deplatformed people?
00:35:13.640 If Zuckerberg was able to construct Facebook, it seems possible for anyone to construct an
00:35:18.020 online system for the right.
00:35:20.080 Well, Jack, I don't think the problem is technical.
00:35:23.580 It's where's everybody else?
00:35:25.560 And I give this example in my noontime show today.
00:35:29.000 Every Friday, I do a live chat at 12 noon Eastern.
00:35:32.460 And, for example, there's an other medium called Gab.
00:35:37.580 It's like a free speech version of Twitter.
00:35:40.120 I met the president a couple years back, and he said, we have 300,000 users.
00:35:45.840 All right, well, Twitter has 300 million.
00:35:49.220 And all the journalists and politicians and opinion leaders and pollsters and news companies
00:35:54.260 are on Twitter.
00:35:55.220 So you can be on Gab by yourself with 300,000 people.
00:35:59.240 It's not by yourself, but that's literally one-tenth of one percent the size of Twitter.
00:36:03.700 And Twitter is one-tenth the size of Facebook.
00:36:06.180 So someone could invent a new Facebook, but if you're the only one on it, what's the use?
00:36:10.440 The whole value of Facebook is you connect to other people, talk to other people, make
00:36:13.840 groups with other people.
00:36:15.140 It's not even that Facebook is the best system.
00:36:17.580 It's that it's the dominant one.
00:36:19.080 It would be like saying, I don't like the English language.
00:36:21.800 There's too many weird rules.
00:36:22.960 Let's invent a new language like Esperanto.
00:36:26.160 Even if Esperanto is engineered to be a better language, no one's going to use it.
00:36:31.700 That's the problem.
00:36:32.860 Google, YouTube are so far ahead.
00:36:34.900 It's like they literally own the English language.
00:36:38.500 And if you don't like it, what are you going to do?
00:36:40.480 That's the problem.
00:36:41.420 That's the problem.
00:36:42.800 Well, that's our show for today.
00:36:44.320 We will have shows, special programs throughout the holiday season.
00:36:49.800 We've got special long-form interviews.
00:36:52.380 We have special best of the rebel.
00:36:55.280 We have the best of the campaigns, best of our fun foreign trips.
00:36:59.200 I think you're going to enjoy rebel shows throughout the Christmas season.
00:37:02.440 We'll also have, I think we'll have the odd live stream on YouTube, but we're going to
00:37:06.380 gear down a little bit over the Christmas season, but boy, we're coming back strong in 2020.
00:37:10.580 I can hardly wait for all the things we're going to do.
00:37:13.700 I want to thank you for your support this year.
00:37:15.920 So tune in on Monday for a brand new show, and I'll see you live sooner than you think.
00:37:23.020 Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home
00:37:28.060 and around the world, good night, and keep fighting for freedom.
00:37:30.960 We'll see you in the next one.
00:37:46.420 We'll see you in the next one.