Rebel News Podcast - January 10, 2023


EZRA LEVANT ｜ 2023 is the year of censorship and they're coming for Rebel News


Episode Stats


Length

38 minutes

Words per minute

156.8689

Word count

6,004

Sentence count

525

Harmful content

Hate speech

11

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Yankee Pollack is facing 15 charges and tickets for reporting on the Canadian government's brutal curfews during the protests in the streets of Quebec City on the night of January 8th, 2019. This is the latest in a growing list of cases against journalists who dared to report on the events of the day.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.140 Hello, my friends. Great to be back in the saddle here at our world headquarters.
00:00:04.080 Today, I'll talk to you about a prosecution of our Montreal reporter, Yankee Pollack.
00:00:10.300 Fifteen charges and tickets against him for reporting during the lockdown.
00:00:14.240 I'll tell you more about that, but first, let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus.
00:00:18.980 That's the video version of this show.
00:00:21.640 We put a lot of effort into the video side. I think it really helps tell the story.
00:00:25.020 I'm going to show you some documents today.
00:00:26.420 Just go to rebelnewsplus.com. Click subscribe. It's eight bucks a month.
00:00:31.560 Not only do you get the video content, but that eight bucks a month, it adds up.
00:00:34.780 That is how we pay the bills around here, people. I'd be so grateful if you would help.
00:00:38.780 Thanks for letting me ask. Here's today's show.
00:00:56.420 Tonight, the province of Quebec prosecutes our journalist, Yankee Pollack, for daring to report on their brutal curfews.
00:01:04.600 It's January 9th, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.
00:01:08.000 You're fighting for freedom!
00:01:10.880 Shame on you, you censorious thug!
00:01:14.040 2022 was the year of the lockdown and the year of martial law, but it was also the year that Canadians fought back.
00:01:31.000 God bless the truckers and their courage who helped set us free.
00:01:34.540 Over Christmas, I told you that I predict 2023 will be the year of censorship, in part because it was social media, not the mainstream corporate media, that finally spoke truth to power and helped free us from the lockdowns.
00:01:48.340 It was social media, citizen journalists, who told the true story about the truckers, not Trudeau's official smears.
00:01:54.540 And remember when Trudeau invoked martial law and deployed police on riot horses and started seizing bank accounts of his political opponents, the mainstream corporate media called for him to go harder and made up the most insane propaganda for him, like this bizarre claim.
00:02:11.760 I do ask that because, you know, given Canada's support of Ukraine in this current crisis with Russia, I don't know if it's far-fetched to ask, but there is concern that Russian actors could be continuing to fuel things as this protest grows, but perhaps even instigating it from the outset.
00:02:33.020 By the way, that weird government journalist wasn't fired.
00:02:36.740 If you can believe it, she actually got a promotion.
00:02:39.660 Of course she did.
00:02:40.800 So, 2023 will be the year of censorship.
00:02:44.520 There are a lot of ways that will happen.
00:02:46.780 Some of it's happening already.
00:02:48.820 I mean, it's nuts.
00:02:49.700 They're coming for Dr. Jordan Peterson now.
00:02:51.920 They're threatening to take away his psychology license.
00:02:55.360 Not for anything he's done to patients, but because some people don't like his political comments or his tweets.
00:03:02.240 I don't know if they'll succeed, but the point is, they're showing they can silence anyone, even Canada's best-selling author and most prominent public intellectual.
00:03:10.780 If they can go after Jordan Peterson, they can surely go after you.
00:03:14.940 That's their message.
00:03:15.860 I don't know if they'll beat Jordan Peterson.
00:03:19.020 Even psychologists are allowed to have political opinions, but the censors are changing the rules in other ways so that they rig the game in advance so that freedom of speech faces an uphill battle in the future.
00:03:30.100 I don't know if you saw my video that I published over Christmas where I showed you an obscure section of Bill C-11, Trudeau's Online Streaming Act, as it's called, that's making its way through Parliament right now.
00:03:43.780 It's section 9.11e of that law.
00:03:49.440 It will give Trudeau the power to order Internet companies like YouTube, Google, Instagram, Facebook, to either boost or hide whatever news sources Trudeau likes.
00:03:59.820 And so here's the exact wording of the law.
00:04:02.800 Trudeau can, quote, make orders respecting the presentation of programs and programming services for selection by the public, including the showcasing and the discoverability of Canadian programs and programming services.
00:04:17.440 By the way, the Internet companies already do this to an extent.
00:04:20.680 YouTube shadow bans conservative sites and they demonetized our channel years ago.
00:04:26.360 But if Trudeau gets his way, YouTube will be ordered by the Canadian government to promote every corporate mainstream media channel over ours to push our site down in the rankings so you can't even find us.
00:04:39.200 I mean, when you do a Google search or a YouTube search, how often do you click past the first page or two of results?
00:04:45.760 Have you ever clicked past, say, the first 10 pages of results?
00:04:50.740 I bet you very seldom have.
00:04:53.060 But that's exactly what section 9.11e will do.
00:04:56.800 That's what discoverability means.
00:04:59.040 Even if you type in Rebel News, you'll get 10 pages of CBC, CTB, Global News, and the Toronto Star.
00:05:05.800 That's coming.
00:05:06.600 That's written right there in the law.
00:05:09.400 So it's just barely the new year.
00:05:11.280 It's still first couple weeks of January and they're going after Jordan Peterson already.
00:05:15.760 But let me tell you what happened today in a courtroom in Montreal and will continue for several more days.
00:05:22.260 Our friend, our journalist, Yankee Pollack, is on trial in Quebec right now for reporting on their lockdowns and especially on their curfew.
00:05:30.500 It's hard to even believe, but for months, Quebecers were literally banned from leaving their homes.
00:05:38.220 Whether you were sick or healthy, whether you were vaccinated or unvaccinated, everyone was sentenced to a form of house arrest.
00:05:46.380 For a while there, they even banned people from leaving their homes to walk their dogs, which if you have a dog, you know is code for letting the dog go outside to go to the bathroom.
00:05:54.800 Imagine if in the name of public health, you ordered people to have their dogs do their business in your house.
00:06:02.700 So gross.
00:06:03.640 And yet the corporate mainstream media in Quebec was completely supportive.
00:06:07.220 I mean, 100% supportive, just absolutely obedient.
00:06:12.520 Except for Yankee Pollack.
00:06:13.860 You know, we hired Yankee a few years ago to help us with our social media, not to be an on-camera reporter.
00:06:19.900 He just happened to be based in Montreal.
00:06:22.580 So when he was done his real job with us, he would go out at night, take his cell phone and just step outside his house and document what the curfew was doing to people in Montreal.
00:06:32.540 And it was actually riveting.
00:06:34.540 And no one else was doing it.
00:06:36.840 You'd think it would be a worldwide story that every journalist would want to do.
00:06:39.860 Indeed, it was a worldwide story, but the Quebec media was not only submissive, they were supportive.
00:06:45.820 They loved the lockdowns.
00:06:47.380 They cheered for them, just like they cheered Trudeau's invocation of martial law later.
00:06:52.620 And the police kept harassing and ticketing Yankee and being, sorry to say it, being assholes about it, to be frank.
00:07:00.420 I mean, here's a clip.
00:07:01.780 Yeah, what's going on here?
00:07:07.320 Oh, come on, the light is bright.
00:07:09.860 What's going on here?
00:07:12.260 Sir, what are you doing here?
00:07:13.360 I'm filming.
00:07:14.440 Okay, sir, do you have a piece of idea with you?
00:07:16.860 Yes?
00:07:17.480 Do you have a piece of idea with you?
00:07:18.260 Yeah, I'm in media.
00:07:20.140 Yeah, we'll take a piece of idea with you, sir.
00:07:21.660 Sure.
00:07:22.100 Yeah, okay.
00:07:23.060 You go on the sidewalk.
00:07:23.740 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:07:24.440 You cannot be on the street.
00:07:25.820 Yeah, yeah.
00:07:26.320 I'm in the middle of moving, you're talking to me.
00:07:28.340 Can you not shine at it?
00:07:30.240 I don't know who you are.
00:07:31.280 I also don't know who you are.
00:07:33.340 I'm Constable Robert, 6473.
00:07:35.900 Okay.
00:07:36.980 And who are you?
00:07:38.360 I'm giving you my papers.
00:07:39.880 No problem.
00:07:40.600 Just...
00:07:41.180 Okay.
00:07:41.940 Who are the media jueif, sir?
00:07:44.180 What?
00:07:45.160 Who are you, sir?
00:07:46.360 I'm with Rebel News.
00:07:47.900 I'm not media jueif.
00:07:49.500 Who are you?
00:07:50.460 What's your name?
00:07:51.900 And badge number.
00:07:53.860 Can you give me your name and badge number?
00:07:56.800 Can you give me your name and badge number?
00:07:58.500 You're supposed to give it to me.
00:08:01.000 Media jueif?
00:08:02.120 You know that means Jew media, right? 1.00
00:08:03.940 I mean, Yankee happens to be a Jew, and I'm a Jew too, by the way.
00:08:07.160 But I don't think any other Rebel News reporters in Canada are Jewish.
00:08:10.900 I'm trying to think.
00:08:12.740 We're of different races and religions.
00:08:14.860 What we have in common is a belief in freedom.
00:08:17.680 Yankee wasn't Jew media. 0.76
00:08:19.140 Rebel News isn't Jew media. 0.51
00:08:20.400 We talk about things that we all have in common, like our civil rights.
00:08:23.840 It was a bizarre thing for police to say, though, wasn't it?
00:08:27.040 And to say repeatedly, by the way, what a weird, gross thing to say, completely irrelevant, while harassing Yankee, who's Jewish. 0.70
00:08:36.380 I'm slow to accuse people of being anti-Semitic, by the way.
00:08:39.240 I'm not woke.
00:08:40.240 I'm not always accusing people of racism for nothing.
00:08:42.560 But really, what is up with that?
00:08:44.960 And again and again, by the way.
00:08:47.540 Of course, the religious slur was just words.
00:08:49.740 What truly bothered me was that they kept arresting him, or at least detaining him, while ticketing him.
00:08:55.740 And yet he did absolutely nothing wrong.
00:08:58.680 I talked to Yankee just this morning.
00:09:00.620 He faces 15 different tickets and charges, totaling $15,000 in fines and penalties if he's convicted.
00:09:09.920 Now, there's no way he could possibly afford that.
00:09:12.000 No one could afford that.
00:09:13.520 There's no way he could even afford the lawyers to fight that.
00:09:16.780 Obviously, we're going to cover the cost for him.
00:09:18.580 But here's my point.
00:09:20.220 Yankee didn't break the law.
00:09:22.720 Because the curfew had specific exemptions.
00:09:26.180 Obviously, police and firemen and ambulance drivers could go out at night.
00:09:29.840 And obviously, people who had a night shift at the factory or whatever had night jobs.
00:09:34.780 I mean, you could think of obvious exemptions.
00:09:36.440 There were exemptions in the law.
00:09:37.860 And one of the exemptions, believe it or not, was for the news media, for journalists.
00:09:42.780 I say believe it or not, because no journalist did.
00:09:46.360 None that I saw, at least.
00:09:47.440 They stayed at home.
00:09:48.280 They loved the lockdowns.
00:09:49.820 They supported them.
00:09:50.520 They didn't want to go expose them.
00:09:52.520 But it was absolutely a legal, official exemption to be a journalist.
00:09:58.560 Now, I know this because we asked.
00:10:01.660 Yankee himself asked.
00:10:03.160 He asked the police.
00:10:05.340 And they wrote back to him explaining the process.
00:10:08.540 You just have to have your ID, have a letter from your publisher.
00:10:11.480 That's me.
00:10:11.940 And fill out a form that you could find online from the government there.
00:10:15.980 And we did all those things.
00:10:17.520 We also had our lawyers write to the police chief in Montreal in advance, letting him know what we were up to so that the police would not be surprised that we were actually going to be doing journalism.
00:10:29.700 And we let them, we wrote several times.
00:10:34.340 We complied with the law 100%.
00:10:38.880 In fact, more than 100%.
00:10:40.420 The rules didn't require you to literally write to the police chief telling him who you were sending to report in the streets and asking them to respect your rights.
00:10:49.320 We did that just out of an abundance of caution.
00:10:52.860 Like I say, 100% legal, 100% by the book, 100% in compliance with the police instructions to us.
00:10:59.680 And yet, not only did the cops on the street harass and detain Yankee and call him Jew media, but they charged him and ticketed him 15 times with $15,000 in punishments on the line.
00:11:12.600 It's outrageous, but maybe that's just the police, right?
00:11:15.420 In the moment, right?
00:11:16.560 Not having all the info at their fingertips, right?
00:11:18.940 Just using their discretion, but using it poorly.
00:11:21.940 Now, I don't buy that.
00:11:22.860 They knew who Yankee was after the first few times. 0.51
00:11:25.320 They called him by name.
00:11:26.500 They called him Jew media.
00:11:27.520 They knew who he was.
00:11:29.740 But even so, police are police.
00:11:31.360 They have that one tool, charge you with an offense.
00:11:33.360 So that's what they did.
00:11:35.280 But as you know, it's not up to police to, I mean, it's up to police to lay charges, but it's not up to police to prosecute.
00:11:41.400 That's a different person.
00:11:43.000 That's the province's crown attorneys, the prosecutors.
00:11:46.620 They decide whether or not it's in the public interest to actually follow through on a charge and go to court.
00:11:53.880 If there's a reasonable likelihood of conviction, if it's in the public interest.
00:11:57.480 And that's the gross part here.
00:11:59.260 The police bullying Yankee and our other reporters who went to Quebec.
00:12:03.040 That was atrocious, of course.
00:12:04.980 Here's a reminder of some of the other bullying.
00:12:06.720 So why are we getting such a tough time?
00:12:31.860 And we've been through this so many times with you guys.
00:12:33.740 I'll arrest you.
00:12:34.480 Okay, but that's the cops.
00:12:39.280 And Montreal has a notoriously corrupt bullying police force.
00:12:43.220 We know that.
00:12:43.720 It's one of the worst in the country.
00:12:45.040 Everyone knows that.
00:12:47.240 But who has prosecuted Yankee in court today and this week and next week?
00:12:52.300 Not the cops.
00:12:54.860 Prosecutors.
00:12:55.260 Prosecutors from the attorney general who have calmly reviewed the files for nearly two years now.
00:13:01.860 Who have decided that this is a justice priority for Quebec.
00:13:06.640 But again, Yankee was not breaking the law.
00:13:08.560 He was following the law.
00:13:10.800 He was clearly in an exempt class.
00:13:12.660 The police told him so in writing.
00:13:16.120 So they're prosecuting him, not for anything he did, obviously.
00:13:19.340 They're prosecuting him for who he is.
00:13:24.620 An independent journalist who dared to shine a light of public scrutiny on their abusive curfew and the brutal enforcement of it.
00:13:31.800 This isn't like a normal charge against someone who didn't wear a mask or who didn't keep six feet away from someone.
00:13:38.280 Those are absurd and mean-spirited.
00:13:40.240 You bet they are.
00:13:41.180 They're awful.
00:13:41.920 But that's not what's happening to Yankee.
00:13:44.860 Those are just the outward appearances of what they're doing to him.
00:13:49.340 What they're really doing to him is censoring him.
00:13:51.300 They're punishing him for being the one journalist in Montreal who went out at night to document the bullying of his fellow citizens night after night.
00:14:02.060 They want to punish Yankee by putting him on these show trials.
00:14:06.040 Fifteen charges spread out over days and days.
00:14:09.000 Fifteen thousand in fines.
00:14:11.000 It's lose-lose.
00:14:11.800 If the prosecutors win, that's a huge fine.
00:14:14.700 But even if we win, we have days and days of trial to pay for.
00:14:20.640 That'll surely be a $15,000 legal bill, too.
00:14:24.720 Like I say, 2023 is the year of censorship.
00:14:29.420 Of course the government of Quebec is coming for Rebel News, or as they call us, Jew Media.
00:14:36.160 It's only the second week of January.
00:14:37.860 Expect a lot more of this to come.
00:14:39.700 P.S., if you want to see Yankee's updates from court and our reporter Alexa Lavoie's coverage of this story, you can go to LockdownReports.com.
00:14:49.200 Yankee's got a video of his own up there.
00:14:50.920 And if you want to chip in to help us pay for Yankee's lawyers, you can do that online, too.
00:14:55.380 Same website, LockdownReports.com.
00:14:57.200 Thanks.
00:15:09.720 Well, this weekend was the third anniversary of an atrocity, a massacre.
00:15:15.380 Iran's IRGC, that is a terrorist group formerly known as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, shot down a civilian airliner from Ukraine, killing all those aboard.
00:15:31.500 And, of course, the repercussions against Iran have been slim to none.
00:15:36.400 In fact, had that been another country, there would have been massive sanctions, and the IRGC would have been declared a terrorist entity and had sanctions put against it.
00:15:47.580 But, alas, with Iran, that is not the case.
00:15:49.820 But there are freedom fighters, especially in the larger centers of North America, where there are many Persians, such as Los Angeles, Vancouver, and here in Toronto, that have not forgotten the atrocity of three years ago. 0.97
00:16:02.560 And one of those freedom fighters is our friend Salman Sima, who is a freedom fighter who was at this protest and has been at many others.
00:16:11.780 He himself has been tortured by the IRGC.
00:16:16.040 They broke his ribs and knocked out a tooth and broke his legs.
00:16:20.100 But that has only made him more resolved.
00:16:21.940 Joining us now via Skype is Salman Sima.
00:16:24.700 Salman, nice to see you again.
00:16:25.800 And did I properly recall the atrocity committed by the IRGC against that Ukrainian civilian airliner three years ago?
00:16:35.360 Yes.
00:16:36.260 Thank you, Ezra, for having me in your show.
00:16:39.220 And, yes, the IRGC shoot down intentionally two missiles to the civilian airplane.
00:16:49.300 And it shows that how bulletproof they are.
00:16:53.260 Now, what could possibly be the motivation of Iran shooting down a commercial civilian airline?
00:17:02.380 I mean, I could understand them shooting down a military aircraft that was doing an incursion.
00:17:07.120 But what was their strategy or what was the payoff?
00:17:11.520 Why were they doing it in your mind?
00:17:14.580 So, first of all, you should know the root of the Islamic regime in Iran.
00:17:20.940 So, they don't need any reason or any excuse to show their brutality.
00:17:30.460 They are brutal.
00:17:31.860 They are cruel.
00:17:33.120 They are brutal.
00:17:34.380 And they have a root on the blood.
00:17:38.040 And, second, you should see what happened at that time between U.S. and Iran.
00:17:46.840 And in Iraq, the neighbor country, militia backed by IRGC, militia backed by ayatollahs in Iran.
00:17:57.860 They attacked the U.S. embassy.
00:18:00.620 And President Donald Trump removed Qasem Soleimani, number one terrorist on the earth.
00:18:09.540 So, thank you, Trump, for killing Qasem Soleimani.
00:18:14.320 And so, after that, Qasem Soleimani was the second man of the country after the leader.
00:18:22.200 And he was involved in lots of crime in Syria, in Yemen.
00:18:26.740 And he has killed many Iranians as well.
00:18:29.980 And he was responsible for the death of many American soldiers in Iraq.
00:18:36.740 So, after that, the Islamic regime started to threaten U.S. interests. 0.89
00:18:45.060 And President Trump said that if you're going to attack the U.S. interests in the region, you're going to pay a huge cost.
00:18:52.500 And there were some tension between Iran and U.S. at that time.
00:19:00.340 And they think that they can shoot onto the airplane and blame it on President Trump.
00:19:08.860 But the fact comes out that this attack was intentional.
00:19:14.800 It was a missile which was shoot by IRGC.
00:19:18.680 And just if they couldn't do anything against the U.S. and they couldn't blame it on the U.S., it was because U.S. satellites show that there's a fact that IRGC shoot those missiles.
00:19:39.380 And they couldn't blame it on Trump.
00:19:41.640 Hmm. Well, like I say, it was the anniversary of that.
00:19:44.560 And so, the Persian community and its local allies had protests against that.
00:19:50.360 Now, Salman, you are a freedom fighter.
00:19:52.400 And we know that not just from Iran issues, but also during the lockdowns, you love freedom in all its forms.
00:19:58.800 You brought with you two videos.
00:20:01.340 And I think they're both very interesting.
00:20:03.200 The first is this large Persian crowd.
00:20:06.100 These are Iranian Canadians.
00:20:07.320 And one of the MPs from the liberal government who went to this rally is a Persian Canadian himself, Majid Johari.
00:20:17.920 Our friend David Menzies has reported on him a lot in the past.
00:20:22.040 You would think that Persian Canadians, Iranian Canadians, who would be visited by a Persian Canadian MP would be happy to see him.
00:20:31.280 But actually, he was roundly booed and driven away.
00:20:36.960 Let's play the clip, and then I'll ask you to explain to our viewers why that happened.
00:20:41.460 Here is Majid Johari being booed.
00:20:44.580 Take a look.
00:20:45.560 I am joined today by many colleagues who many of you have gotten to know well over the past three years.
00:20:53.020 My friend and yours, High Commissioner Ralph Goodale, Ministers Jolie, Al-Khabra, Ian, and others.
00:21:03.720 Many members of the caucus are here as well.
00:21:06.740 I want to make special mention of Ali Asassi, who is a strong voice in Parliament for the Iranian Canadian community and whose riding we are currently in.
00:21:15.980 And Majid Johari, who is also a strong advocate for the community.
00:21:27.520 We are all working together at this federal level to hold the Iranian regime accountable. 0.88
00:21:34.720 Well, Salman, you can hear the difference between Ali Asassi being generally welcomed and the booing when Justin Trudeau, who was at the rally, I give him credit for attending the rally.
00:21:46.480 But other than speaking in his hushed tones, which he does when he's being very, very serious, has Justin Trudeau done anything within his power?
00:21:55.780 For example, declaring the IRGC a terrorist entity?
00:21:59.600 I don't think he has put it on the list of, you know, the public safety ministry has a list of terrorist entities.
00:22:08.120 They put the Proud Boys on there.
00:22:10.040 I don't think the Proud Boys have done anything in Canada ever, but they're on the terrorist list.
00:22:15.280 But is the IRGC on the Canadian list of terrorist entity?
00:22:20.000 Unfortunately, Justin Trudeau refused to designate IRGC as an FTO under Criminal Code of Canada.
00:22:27.920 Now, Ezra, we should just come back a bit more in his story.
00:22:32.280 In June 2018, Garnet Genius, the Conservative MP, he introduced the motion to designate IRGC under Criminal Code of Canada immediately.
00:22:45.480 Even Justin Trudeau voted in favor of that motion in June 2018.
00:22:52.480 Two years later, the Revolutionary Guard Corps, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, shoot done intentionally the civilian airplanes.
00:23:03.240 Okay.
00:23:03.880 Still, we are in 2020, 30.
00:23:06.500 Almost four years and a half passed.
00:23:09.140 And even Justin Trudeau couldn't keep his promise, his word.
00:23:13.620 And shamelessly, he failed to answer the question of Pierre Paulyver in the parliament.
00:23:21.880 Pierre four times asked that, is the IRGC a terrorist group?
00:23:27.220 Yes or no?
00:23:28.560 And what was the answer of Justin Trudeau?
00:23:31.340 Just playing with the word and refusing to say yes or no.
00:23:35.440 And now just they are playing game with the community and each two weeks, each week, they sanction two, three individuals who were involved in human rights violation in Iran, which is good, but it's not the really biggest step.
00:23:56.680 And it's so funny that Justin Trudeau can go after $20 that a single mom, a hardworking Canadian, can donate it to the trucker, but they cannot stop the huge money laundering by the IRGC in Canada and especially in Toronto.
00:24:15.240 Wow, that's a great contrast.
00:24:17.000 That's a great point.
00:24:17.700 I just want to play a short clip of Pierre Paulyver going back and forth with Justin Trudeau over whether or not the IRGC is a terrorist group.
00:24:24.860 Here's a clip of that.
00:24:26.180 It's a simple yes or no question.
00:24:32.760 The prime minister has as his primary job to protect our citizens.
00:24:39.100 Fifty-five of them were murdered by this terrorist group, which shot their plane out of the sky, a civilian aircraft.
00:24:48.580 Does the prime minister believe that the group that fired that missile and killed our people is a terrorist group, yes or no?
00:25:00.500 Mr. Speaker, we have recognized that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism. 0.77
00:25:13.660 We have seen listed the IRGC cuts force.
00:25:17.580 We have just recently moved forward with strengthened sanctions against IRGC leadership to ensure that they cannot find safe haven in Canada.
00:25:26.040 But I will also say, having sat with families of the PS752 victims, it was not just 55 Canadian citizens.
00:25:33.240 There was close to 150 or more people on their way to Canada, permanent residents, students, who we also grieve for every single day and who we stand with as we hold this Iranian government to account.
00:25:44.960 And we'll continue to the Honourable Leader of the Opposition.
00:25:48.880 Well, that's, you know what, that clip we played of Trudeau sounding very concerned, as he always does.
00:25:57.760 I mean, you know when he starts talking like that, that he's fibbing.
00:26:01.600 And the fact that five years later he hasn't declared them a terrorist group is telling.
00:26:06.300 Now, there was another Persian-Canadian MP from the Liberal Party there who got applause.
00:26:11.220 We heard it.
00:26:12.580 Ali Esasi is his name.
00:26:14.500 He's an MP from the Toronto area riding of Willowdale.
00:26:17.060 Now, I understand that you had a back and forth with him about this subject.
00:26:21.040 Let's play that tape, and then you can tell us a little bit more about what we just saw.
00:26:25.120 Let's take a look now.
00:26:26.580 And shut up for in the first time.
00:26:28.160 Absolutely.
00:26:28.940 How many people, how many should order to kill, that you put Khamenei's name under the terror?
00:26:36.620 Can I film him?
00:26:38.020 You see?
00:26:39.360 No.
00:26:40.440 It's a free will.
00:26:42.140 Okay.
00:26:43.380 Okay.
00:26:43.620 Okay.
00:26:43.740 So, how many young political prisoners should be executed that you put the name of Judge Sarawati under that?
00:27:06.980 There's a question you'd like to put to every member of parliament in every country in the world.
00:27:12.040 Yeah.
00:27:12.280 Do you know of any country that's actually going on?
00:27:14.300 No, no, no.
00:27:14.880 Answer my question.
00:27:15.840 So, why do you think that I am...
00:27:16.900 I am not yelling at you.
00:27:17.940 I'm respectful and talking.
00:27:19.460 No, but I am saying, have you asked yourself whether right or wrong?
00:27:23.080 And I'm not saying you're wrong in your assessment.
00:27:25.320 I'm not saying that.
00:27:25.980 Okay.
00:27:26.220 But as you know, that has not regrettably been the case in any parliament, in any country in the world.
00:27:33.960 I am not talking about the other countries.
00:27:38.240 I am talking about...
00:27:39.220 But it is.
00:27:39.700 It's a reality.
00:27:40.460 I am talking about Canadian parliament, which is situated in the Wellington Street in Ottawa.
00:27:47.420 I'm trying to make a point.
00:27:48.020 As a chair of the committee, why...
00:27:50.700 Let one question.
00:27:52.100 Yeah.
00:27:52.360 Answer the question.
00:27:53.820 Why you don't put Khamenei?
00:27:56.300 Judge Sarawati.
00:27:57.180 I'm just one member of 330 members.
00:27:59.560 Why you don't...
00:28:00.340 Yes.
00:28:00.840 Why you don't introduce the personal bill?
00:28:03.840 That's the first thing I would say to you.
00:28:03.860 That's the first thing, if I may, I'd like to say to you.
00:28:06.580 Okay.
00:28:07.160 Why you don't introduce personal bill?
00:28:09.320 Excuse me.
00:28:09.340 Can I finish what I'm about to say?
00:28:10.980 Are you going to keep interrupting me?
00:28:12.780 Yes.
00:28:12.880 Because this is really not productive.
00:28:14.760 You ask me a question.
00:28:16.340 Allow me to answer it.
00:28:18.020 Answer it, please.
00:28:19.660 No, seriously.
00:28:20.760 Seriously, answer it.
00:28:21.540 How many times do I have to ask you to allow me to answer your goddamn question?
00:28:27.460 I wish you had this anger against...
00:28:30.820 No, you're always like this.
00:28:32.200 He certainly lost his temper and started shouting at you.
00:28:35.400 The Magnitsky sanctions are named after a style of sanction, if I'm not mistaken, against some Russian oligarchs.
00:28:42.840 And that's basically personally targeting political and commercial leaders of a country.
00:28:49.080 Is that an accurate description of Magnitsky sanctions?
00:28:51.160 Yes.
00:28:52.120 The Magnitsky sanctions targeted human rights violators in all over the world, and it passed anonymously in Canadian Parliament by James Bezan in October 2017.
00:29:05.680 It's incredible that they're willing to talk a good game at these rallies.
00:29:11.080 But when you press them on when they will actually put sanctions or declare groups terrorists, they won't have an answer.
00:29:17.460 In fact, he lost his temper pretty quick and flipped out on you.
00:29:20.560 Well, listen, Salman, it's great to see you again.
00:29:22.640 Of course, we follow you closely on Twitter.
00:29:24.340 You were a stalwart and a regular at the freedom marches in the Toronto area during the lockdowns.
00:29:30.060 It's no surprise to me you fight for freedom in Canada, and you fight for freedom back in your home country, your original country of Iran.
00:29:38.020 And I'm glad you're doing both.
00:29:39.280 And thanks for joining us today.
00:29:41.260 Thank you, Ezra.
00:29:42.660 And as always, I said that in the fight for freedom, we are all together.
00:29:48.300 Right on.
00:29:48.920 Well, and we are with you.
00:29:50.440 There you have it. Salman Seema, a freedom fighter, taking on the Iranian terrorists.
00:29:56.440 Stay with us. More ahead.
00:30:09.720 Hey, welcome back.
00:30:10.680 It is great to be back.
00:30:12.040 You know, I was away for a bit, took the family on a vacation.
00:30:14.740 First time we went on a vacation outside Canada in three years.
00:30:19.040 And, you know, we're still banned from the United States.
00:30:22.120 I'm not allowed to fly there because they still ban unjabbed people. 1.00
00:30:25.360 But it's great to be back in the office and to see everybody.
00:30:28.180 And all the best to you in 2023.
00:30:30.540 I'll read some letters.
00:30:31.580 Phil Dick says, hi, Ezra.
00:30:33.100 In vain, I've been scouring the Rebel News website, specifically your show, all the way back to June 2022,
00:30:38.500 to understand your position on Canada's support for Ukraine.
00:30:41.480 You have studiously avoided the issue.
00:30:43.660 Why?
00:30:43.960 I agree with Tucker Carlson and Stephen Bannon's position that the Russia-Ukraine war is a European war.
00:30:49.280 It's not our fight.
00:30:50.620 How do we justify supporting an oligarchy that is regarded as one of the most corrupt nations on Earth?
00:30:55.280 Because we like that oligarchy more than the Russian oligarchy.
00:30:58.900 Why are Europeans largely staying out of the fray, in particular, and money with money and supplies?
00:31:04.660 Why are Canadian taxpayers footing a massive bill for aid and supplies to Ukraine?
00:31:09.140 Why is this not being debated in Parliament?
00:31:10.860 You may think that sending Jeremy Lafredo to Russia is covering the issue.
00:31:14.180 It's not.
00:31:15.120 You're a principled, outspoken guy, but not on this issue.
00:31:17.820 Has the salt lost its flavor?
00:31:19.740 Regards.
00:31:20.480 I love that phrase, the salt that loses its saltiness.
00:31:23.600 It's from the Bible.
00:31:26.060 You say you've gone back to June.
00:31:28.500 Of course, the invasion, if I recall, was February or March.
00:31:32.060 And I did talk about it.
00:31:34.320 Talked about it on several shows.
00:31:35.860 And, yeah, I tweet about it, too.
00:31:40.400 And I know that's not the same as doing it on a show.
00:31:42.760 And I'll tell you my view on it.
00:31:45.020 I don't believe in countries invading each other.
00:31:48.060 I think that's a failure of diplomacy.
00:31:49.740 And obviously it's violent and it violates the territorial integrity of other countries.
00:31:53.760 And I also know that Vladimir Putin is an authoritarian ruler, a former KGB agent.
00:31:59.820 As you noted, Russia is run by oligarchs, as is Ukraine.
00:32:07.220 But that said, I do not believe that Russia should have invaded.
00:32:10.580 And I don't know my history in that part of the world that well.
00:32:13.020 But I think that Russia, I'm trying to remember the date, I think would be in the 1990s, ceded those territories in the Donbass and the eastern part of Ukraine to Ukraine.
00:32:24.640 So to invade, to take back what they granted in a treaty, I think is unprincipled, let alone violent and violating of territorial integrity.
00:32:35.780 That said, I believe that the president of Ukraine is not only corrupt like Russian leaders are corrupt, but I think that he has shown a shocking illiberalism.
00:32:52.200 He has banned opposition political parties, banned opposition media, and has even brought censorship and regulation to churches in Ukraine that don't share his views.
00:33:04.060 So I'm deeply uneasy with that.
00:33:06.620 The one thing I would disagree with you on is I don't think that Canada has been as extreme in its financial funding of Ukraine as the United States has.
00:33:16.360 They're coming up on $100 billion.
00:33:19.080 I don't think Canada is anywhere near that.
00:33:22.560 And I think that some of Canada's talk is just for show.
00:33:26.740 You'll recall that Trudeau specifically amended our Canadian sanctions on Russia.
00:33:31.920 So turbines from their gas pipeline could be moved from Russia to Montreal to undergo maintenance.
00:33:41.020 Trudeau literally modified our sanctions so we Canadians could work on their natural gas pipeline, which is the whole hostage situation.
00:33:51.920 That's why the West is a hostage to Putin, because Europe depends on Russian energy.
00:33:56.040 So I think I've summed up my position.
00:34:00.480 I am extremely skeptical of Vladimir Putin.
00:34:03.040 I think he's an authoritarian ruler.
00:34:05.040 And I know he's a former KGB.
00:34:07.260 I'm skeptical of Vladimir Zelensky.
00:34:12.020 I don't believe in invasions.
00:34:14.420 I think there should be a diplomatic solution.
00:34:15.800 And frankly, Henry Kissinger and other senior diplomats say this must end diplomatically.
00:34:22.060 It would be dangerous to have an escalation of war against a country that still has a large nuclear arsenal.
00:34:29.440 I mean, Russia's conventional military forces may be beatable by Western military equipment, although there's a lot of Ukrainians dying in the battlefield.
00:34:36.660 But I don't think you want to corner Russia. 0.97
00:34:41.280 They still have nukes and they occasionally talk about using them.
00:34:44.860 I think it's a very dangerous situation that should have a diplomatic ending.
00:34:48.860 I don't always agree with Henry Kissinger, but I'm with him on this one.
00:34:52.260 So there you go.
00:34:54.120 I think one of the reasons I don't talk about this as often as the mainstream media does is because they're obsessed with it.
00:34:59.280 And I sort of agree with your point that it is not a high priority issue for Canada.
00:35:04.500 So I think that's my take.
00:35:07.400 I'm against the war.
00:35:08.620 I'm against corrupt oligarchs in both countries.
00:35:11.960 I think it's a dangerous war that should have a diplomatic ending.
00:35:15.660 I am glad that Canada has not sluiced tens of billions of dollars to that country because we can't afford it and it's not our business.
00:35:24.240 That's my take.
00:35:26.360 Karina Bloom says, I am so glad to have a humble premier to replace Kenny, who once was just like Danielle Smith at one time.
00:35:33.560 I agree with her agenda of self-reliance, like the Quebec premier, and wish more would follow in listening to their people's concerns to keep independent from federal influences instead of the people who know what they want from their government and not the other way around.
00:35:48.040 Out influences are not needed to lead province's economy.
00:35:53.100 Thanks for asking the right questions.
00:35:54.600 For people to know this premier's agenda and platform is for we, the people, first and foremost, to invoke unity.
00:36:00.380 Got to tell you, I don't understand everything you put in your letter, but you sound positive about my interview with Danielle Smith.
00:36:07.920 And although you do note that Jason Kenney had some similar sounds.
00:36:11.680 You know, Danielle Smith's motto, it's on her staff's business card, is Alberta first.
00:36:16.120 And I see that as sort of the nameplate on her podium.
00:36:19.120 And I don't think Jason Kenney ever used that phraseology.
00:36:23.940 And I think it's telling because Jason Kenney, I believe, always had an eye on the main chance, which is going back to Ottawa as the future leader of the Conservative Party of Canada in his mind.
00:36:33.260 And so he didn't want to say anything that could be interpreted as small or provincial or too pro-Alberta or too niche.
00:36:40.600 I think he was always thinking, well, how will this sound when I run for Parliament as the leader of the Conservatives in five or ten years?
00:36:47.020 So he was always pulling his punches and he would never go to bat for Alberta against Ottawa, which is essential if you're the premier of Alberta.
00:36:54.820 If you're the premier of, I don't know, Prince Edward Island, you depend on freebies from Ottawa.
00:37:00.420 It's a major source of revenue for you.
00:37:02.080 So you never really fight with Ottawa and you're too small anyways.
00:37:06.240 If you're the premier of Ontario, you're so big, you sort of are the federal government.
00:37:10.180 You've got more than 100 seats in Parliament.
00:37:12.840 But if you're the premier of Alberta, sort of like the premier of Quebec, you must be at war with the prime minister of Canada to properly defend your province's interests.
00:37:23.560 Jason Kenney did not do that.
00:37:25.380 And he was also brutal on the lockdowns.
00:37:27.600 I'm hoping that Daniel Smith will, first of all, have a lighter touch with civil liberties.
00:37:31.780 And second of all, we'll have a tougher touch with Trudeau.
00:37:34.080 Two things I wish Kenney had done.
00:37:36.700 That's the show for today.
00:37:38.300 What do you think of Yankee Pollock's case, eh?
00:37:39.900 I think it's outrageous that they're suing them.
00:37:42.800 Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters to you at home, good night.
00:37:47.900 And keep fighting for freedom.
00:37:48.880 We'll talk a little more.
00:38:02.300 We'll be right back.
00:38:02.880 We'll be right back.
00:38:03.780 We'll be right back.
00:38:04.020 We'll be right back.
00:38:04.040 We'll be right back.
00:38:04.780 We'll be right back.
00:38:05.580 Look at that.
00:38:06.260 We'll be right back then.
00:38:07.120 Make sure you don't go through.
00:38:07.500 We'll be right back.
00:38:08.180 We'll be right back.
00:38:08.940 We'll be right back.
00:38:09.520 We'll be right back.
00:38:10.520 We'll be right back.
00:38:11.680 We're right back.
00:38:13.340 We'll be right back.
00:38:14.320 We're right back.
00:38:15.360 We'll be right back.