Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Almost alone amongst world leaders, Trudeau says inflation is good, and you should expect more of it

00:00:00.100 Hello, my Rebels. I want to talk to you about two things. First of all, I want to talk about TikTok

00:00:03.760 and why it is the digital crack cocaine of the app industry. But more importantly,

00:00:09.480 I want to talk to you about inflation and how, bizarrely, Justin Trudeau thinks it's a good

00:00:13.760 thing. What are you talking about? A good thing? Yes, I'll prove it to you. I'll show you the video.

00:00:18.240 That's in today's show. But first, let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus.

00:00:21.600 That's the video version of these podcasts. I want to show you these video clips of Trudeau

00:00:25.340 saying it. I want to show you a few other vids along the way. I mean, you can pick up most of

00:00:30.060 it on the audio. I grant you that. But the video experience is better. We put a lot of effort into

00:00:34.100 it. And we actually, in Rebel News Plus, we call it, you get access to my daily video show as well

00:00:40.900 as weekly shows by Sheila Gunn-Reed, David Menzies, Andrew Chapin-O's, Annette and Kat.

00:00:45.620 So please think of going to rebelnewsplus.com and clicking subscribe. Eight bucks a month.

00:00:50.360 And remember, that eight bucks a month is what we live off because we don't take any money from Trudeau.

00:00:54.980 All right. Here's today's podcast.

00:01:11.540 Tonight, almost alone amongst world leaders, Trudeau says inflation is good and you should

00:01:17.280 expect more of it. It's March 30th and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.

00:01:20.820 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?

00:01:26.780 There's 8,500 customers here and you won't give them an answer.

00:01:30.840 The only thing I have to say to the government about why I publish it is because it's my bloody

00:01:35.720 right to do so.

00:01:36.700 I'm back on that app called TikTok, which is a terrible thing. It really is such good artificial

00:01:48.840 intelligence. It sometimes feels like it's actually reading my mind. Here's what the artificial

00:01:54.300 intelligence boss at Tesla had to say about TikTok. TikTok is scary good. It's digital crack.

00:02:02.900 First time I feel attacked by AI in the brain. To which his boss, Elon Musk replied, saying,

00:02:11.820 TikTok feels like such an obvious AI artificial intelligence attack that it's annoying. I prefer

00:02:18.320 to be attacked by AI with subtlety. Maybe a rose, some candles, wine, Barry White, Woody Banter,

00:02:24.480 that sort of thing. Do you know what they're talking about? It's the supercomputer figuring you

00:02:31.240 out. What you watch, how long you watch it, what you skip over, what you click on. I don't know all

00:02:40.480 the inputs they use. I don't trust TikTok because it's a Chinese app, a Chinese company, and the data 1.00

00:02:47.820 they receive, it has to be disclosed to the Chinese government. That's the law in China.

00:02:53.080 So when you're watching a TikTok video on your phone, does the phone watch you? Does the camera

00:02:58.740 look at your eyes, for example, to see where you're looking on the screen? That would be powerful

00:03:04.060 information. Does the app use the camera on the back of your phone to take an inventory of your

00:03:10.420 house, your car? Does it use a GPS to find out where you are, what people you're with? Does it use the

00:03:17.280 microphone to hear you talking? I don't know the answer. And it's not just TikTok, of course, they all do

00:03:23.180 it. When you sign up for any app, really, the photo app Instagram, you usually just click agree

00:03:29.920 when it asks you to read their terms of service, probably without even reading a line of it. I think

00:03:35.920 we all do that. There's a contract you're agreeing to when you click agree, and all of them include

00:03:40.540 the right to gather and share your information. That's how they make it work. When something is free,

00:03:46.840 you're the product being bought and sold. I've done a show on this before, how Instagram's terms of

00:03:52.020 service, and it's the same with all of them, mean that they have the right, you're giving them a

00:03:56.720 license, to use your photos for any of their own purposes, including to sell them. Do you doubt that

00:04:03.680 includes selling them to the FBI or the RCMP? Or do you doubt that everything you've said and done

00:04:10.260 and photographed hasn't been shared with the police and, frankly, China's police, either selling it to

00:04:16.820 them or them just stealing it? What do you think powers all the facial recognition cameras that are

00:04:23.560 popping up out there? It's photos, videos scraped from all the world's social media sites. I saw it

00:04:29.460 deployed against the truckers, by the way. I saw it a lot in the UK when I used to go over there to

00:04:34.440 attend court for Tommy Robinson. The police took a facial scan of every person in the crowd. They had

00:04:41.160 handheld cameras. They had trucks to do them. Here's a couple minutes from a UK civil liberties

00:04:46.580 group. This is from 2020. Things are obviously much worse since then. Take a look at this.

00:04:53.160 Police and private companies in the UK have been quietly rolling out facial recognition

00:04:57.940 surveillance cameras, taking face prints of millions of people, often without you knowing

00:05:02.780 about it. That's biometric data as sensitive as a fingerprint. This dangerously authoritarian

00:05:08.320 surveillance is a threat to our privacy and freedoms and it needs to be stopped. But what

00:05:13.320 is facial recognition surveillance anyway? Facial recognition surveillance cameras scan all the

00:05:18.320 faces they can see in a crowd to check people's identity against a database in real time. This

00:05:23.820 works by rapidly creating a biometric face print of your face, sensitive data that uniquely identifies

00:05:29.740 you, much like a fingerprint, and comparing this for similar matches on a database. Now, these databases

00:05:35.320 have been built from different sources, including CCTV images, the police's enormous database of 19

00:05:42.320 million custody images, which includes many thousands of photos of innocent people, police

00:05:47.320 intelligence databases, including innocent people with suspected mental health problems and political

00:05:52.320 campaigners. But the possibilities are endless. Some facial recognition companies even claim to check faces

00:05:58.320 against internet data in real time, scanning social media sites like Facebook and Instagram to identify any

00:06:05.320 profiles associated with you. Facial recognition cameras often look like normal CCTV cameras. They're

00:06:11.320 anything but. Without your consent and often without your knowledge, they subject everyone within view to a biometric 0.66

00:06:17.320 identity check. Live facial recognition in public spaces is a mass surveillance method and a huge expansion of the

00:06:21.320 surveillance state. It inverts the vital democratic principle of suspicion preceding surveillance, treating entire

00:06:32.320 populations like suspects.

00:06:34.320 Yeah, imagine tying that into your vaccine status. And then maybe a bit of bank freezing for people who aren't where

00:06:44.320 they should be or are where they shouldn't be. Very dystopian. I mean, TikTok is super fun, especially

00:06:51.320 for kids.

00:06:53.320 Let me check my chest, my breath quite quick.

00:06:56.320 There's no denying Charlie D'Amelio is an internet icon. Very crazy.

00:07:01.320 In March, Charlie became the most followed person on TikTok with over 50 million followers.

00:07:07.320 All the kids are hooked on it. So the Chinese app is building up an unforgettable file of every American teen,

00:07:17.320 everything they say, everything they do, everything they film, every drunk party they go to, every offensive word or private

00:07:24.320 private joke, everything that is private on your app. Well, it's not private.

00:07:29.320 Imagine recording what a 14 year old says and does privately amongst his or her friends on the app.

00:07:36.320 And that's all recorded. And you have the matrix of his or her friends.

00:07:42.320 And in 10 years, they're not 14 anymore. They're grown up. They're done college and at work.

00:07:48.320 And you're the Chinese intelligence service with all that info.

00:07:54.320 Who's an alcoholic, who's a drug addict, who had an illicit affair, who said racist things and can be canceled.

00:08:01.320 Imagine the extortion and blackmail or just knowing who's friends with whom, mapping it all.

00:08:08.320 That's AI. That's artificial intelligence. That's big data.

00:08:12.320 And I think it's considered conventional wisdom that China is further ahead on artificial intelligence than the West is on that stuff.

00:08:19.320 And I tell you that because I'm embarrassed about being back on TikTok.

00:08:24.320 But it is really like that digital crack that that Tesla guy says.

00:08:28.320 It's like it's reading your mind because their AI is so good.

00:08:32.320 So I get things served up to me on TikTok that I don't even know that I want, but I realize I do want it.

00:08:41.320 That's a very long and sobering introduction to a short comedy video that just popped up for me on TikTok.

00:08:47.320 I want to show it to you. Every word I just said was, frankly, completely unnecessary to my story today, which is about inflation.

00:08:54.320 But I've been thinking a lot about the dystopian world of tech.

00:08:58.320 It really is as bad as the sci-fi movies Minority Report or The Matrix said it would be.

00:09:03.320 And in some ways it's worse, especially the numbing effect.

00:09:07.320 And that way it's like Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

00:09:10.320 But here's a video that TikTok's AI served up just to me because they know what I'm thinking about.

00:09:16.320 How is any young person ever going to own a home? It's maybe hate old people. 1.00

00:09:21.320 I see a few of you in here tonight. I hate you. 1.00

00:09:24.320 Because every old person in a city like LA or New York or London is the same. 0.99

00:09:28.320 They're like, my house is worth $2 million.

00:09:30.320 But when I bought it in 1981, I paid 11 raspberries for it.

00:09:35.320 And every young person is like, I have nine roommates!

00:09:49.320 We each pay $11,000 a month.

00:09:53.320 Although I missed a payment last month. He took a tow. I walk in a circle now.

00:09:57.320 Every single one of us is a lawyer except for Ted. 0.99

00:10:00.320 He's a dog with rabies. And we love to get him out, but his name is on the lease.

00:10:05.320 And every single old person is like, I'm a librarian with a home at the beach. 1.00

00:10:09.320 Go f*** yourself! 1.00

00:10:11.320 Now, if you're a senior citizen, maybe you're offended by the joke. 1.00

00:10:16.320 I don't think it was meant as an attack on seniors.

00:10:19.320 I think it was meant as an attack on housing prices and how much worse things are now than previous generations had it.

00:10:25.320 I mean, in 1950, you could turn 18, get a job at a factory, probably keep that job for life,

00:10:32.320 use that job to get a mortgage, to buy a house, get married, have kids, etc.

00:10:38.320 What that comedian says is absolutely true.

00:10:41.320 Who could possibly afford to buy a home and move out and get married right after school? 0.99

00:10:47.320 Many young people stay at home with their parents long into their 20s, even later.

00:10:52.320 How are you going to get married? How are you going to start a family of your own if you have to do that just to live?

00:10:57.320 But how can you buy a home when the average house in Canada is now $816,000?

00:11:05.320 That's just the average. That's up 21% in one year.

00:11:10.320 It was $677,000 last year. Now it's $816,000.

00:11:15.320 In the big cities, it is much worse.

00:11:18.320 This is all from the Canadian Real Estate Association's website.

00:11:21.320 You can go there and poke around yourself. Take Vancouver.

00:11:23.320 A year ago, the average house in the greater Vancouver area was over a million bucks, $1.1 million.

00:11:28.320 Now it's up 21% to $1.3 million. Try Toronto. It's worse.

00:11:35.320 Last year, the average house was just under a million dollars.

00:11:39.320 $986,000, something like that, $966,000.

00:11:42.320 It has gone up a whopping 36% in one year, $1.34 million.

00:11:48.320 There was a house on my own street that just sold for half a million dollars above asking price.

00:11:54.320 That's some panicked family who knows that if they miss out on this house now, it's going to go up thousands of dollars next week.

00:12:02.320 It's just going to get worse.

00:12:04.320 And that, in turn, has now surely panicked other families.

00:12:07.320 This is a desperation time.

00:12:09.320 If you're not in a house, how do you ever get in a house?

00:12:12.320 You're falling further behind every day.

00:12:14.320 Why are prices so high?

00:12:16.320 There's a lot of reasons.

00:12:18.320 Some are long-term reasons.

00:12:20.320 There are some environmental reasons, such as building massive green belts that stop the construction of new housing in vast swaths of areas.

00:12:27.320 Like the green belt around Toronto.

00:12:29.320 Zoning rules do the same thing, in Vancouver in particular.

00:12:34.320 Supply and demand is obviously the explanation for prices.

00:12:37.320 If you bring in 350,000 new people to Canada every year through immigration, that's obviously adding a lot of demand to housing.

00:12:45.320 And most of those folks go to the big cities, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal to a lesser extent.

00:12:50.320 Here's a study prepared for Trudeau's Immigration Department obtained through an Access to Information request.

00:12:57.320 On page three it says, and I quote,

00:13:01.320 Over the period 2001 to 2011, immigration accounted for more than $86,000 increase in the house price, 54.6% share of the total growth in the greater Toronto area.

00:13:16.320 So nearly half the price increase during the decade they studied was because of immigration.

00:13:23.320 Makes sense.

00:13:25.320 But it's sort of a laugh to think that in those 10 years, housing prices only went up by about $160,000.

00:13:32.320 And immigration was responsible for half of that. 0.78

00:13:34.320 Because that was over a decade.

00:13:36.320 It's gone up that much in the last year.

00:13:38.320 We're a dozen years later than that study.

00:13:40.320 I wonder if that study is being done again.

00:13:42.320 I wonder what the stats are now.

00:13:44.320 That's just plain supply and demand.

00:13:47.320 If you bring in 350,000 newcomers every year, then the same next year, and then the same next year,

00:13:53.320 a million people in three years, you're going to drive up housing prices, supply and demand.

00:13:58.320 And by the way, you're going to drive down wages too because of supply and demand.

00:14:03.320 It's just facts.

00:14:04.320 This is just part of it.

00:14:06.320 Housing, obviously a big part of it.

00:14:09.320 But what about gas prices?

00:14:11.320 What about food prices?

00:14:13.320 Try filling up your gas tank for less than 100 bucks.

00:14:16.320 Prices of everything are going up.

00:14:18.320 Inflation hasn't been this bad since Trudeau's dad was prime minister.

00:14:22.320 There's a coincidence.

00:14:24.320 Same thing in the United States.

00:14:26.320 It's reminiscent of the bad old days under Jimmy Carter in the 70s.

00:14:30.320 Lots of similarities, actually.

00:14:32.320 Under Carter, Russia invaded Afghanistan and saw America was weak.

00:14:35.320 America was humiliated around the world, including in Iran.

00:14:39.320 By the way, OPEC and the oil shocks.

00:14:41.320 Jimmy Carter was a signal to the world to take advantage.

00:14:44.320 America losing its courage.

00:14:46.320 It's being repeated now.

00:14:48.320 Joe Biden, well, he's blaming all this inflation on Russia, even though it began long before the war.

00:14:55.320 And now second big reason for inflation is Vladimir Putin and gas prices.

00:15:01.320 Not a joke.

00:15:03.320 Nice try.

00:15:04.320 Gas prices were going up and in part because of supply and demand.

00:15:08.320 Biden shutting down oil and gas in America.

00:15:10.320 But at least by blaming Putin, Biden implicitly agrees that high prices are a bad thing.

00:15:17.320 He's trying to blame it on someone other than himself.

00:15:19.320 High prices of all sorts are problems.

00:15:22.320 So high you might go without food.

00:15:25.320 With regard to food shortage.

00:15:26.320 Yes, we did.

00:15:27.320 We talked about food shortages and it's going to be real.

00:15:32.320 The price of these sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia.

00:15:37.320 It's imposed upon an awful lot of countries as well, including European countries and our country as well.

00:15:43.320 That's nuts.

00:15:45.320 Trudeau is saying that, too.

00:15:47.320 You acknowledged earlier today Canadians facing higher food prices, energy prices amid global uncertainty right now.

00:15:53.320 We're seeing lockdowns in Shanghai.

00:15:55.320 We know that means more supply chain disruptions.

00:15:57.320 What are average Canadians supposed to do right now?

00:16:00.320 And inflation is not abetting a lot of uncertainty.

00:16:03.320 We've seen from the global pandemic to the war in Ukraine, significant disruptions of supply chains around the world,

00:16:14.320 which is resulting in higher prices for consumers and democracies like ours,

00:16:19.320 and resulting in significant shortages and projected shortages of food, of energy in places around the world.

00:16:27.320 This is going to be a difficult time because of the war, because of the recovery from the pandemic.

00:16:34.320 And Canadians will do what we always do.

00:16:36.320 We'll be there for each other.

00:16:38.320 We will continue to be there for the world, even as we support each other through these difficult times.

00:16:44.320 Which is extra weird, given that Bill Gates has bought up more farmland than any other person in the world.

00:16:51.320 While he's promoting the idea that we eat bugs or synthetic meat.

00:16:57.320 Hmm.

00:16:58.320 It's that old World Economic Forum saying you'll own nothing and you'll be happy.

00:17:04.320 But I want to talk to you today about Canada, because unlike Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau is not blaming Russia for inflation.

00:17:13.320 Higher prices, the price of gas.

00:17:15.320 He's not blaming anyone.

00:17:16.320 I mean, he is a little bit, but he's he's not saying it's a bad thing.

00:17:20.320 That's the difference, I guess.

00:17:22.320 He loves it.

00:17:24.320 This is what he always wanted.

00:17:26.320 So he he calls this pricing pollution.

00:17:28.320 He he wants the price of oil and gas and everything that needs a tractor on a farm or combine to grow and a truck to ship it to market.

00:17:38.320 He wants all of that to become more expensive.

00:17:41.320 So you live less and you're happy about it.

00:17:44.320 I mean, take a look at this.

00:17:46.320 Hey, everyone.

00:17:47.320 We've just released Canada's emissions reduction plan.

00:17:50.320 It's about clean air.

00:17:52.320 It's about good jobs.

00:17:53.320 It's about a strong economy.

00:17:55.320 It's about a better future.

00:17:57.320 With this concrete and ambitious plan, we're going to help people make the switch to electric vehicles.

00:18:03.320 We're going to help industries switch towards clean tech.

00:18:06.320 We're going to help you green your home.

00:18:08.320 We're going to help the oil and gas industry reduce its emissions.

00:18:12.320 We're going to use nature to fight climate change.

00:18:16.320 All of this and more.

00:18:18.320 It's an ambitious and responsible plan that is good news for all of us.

00:18:24.320 Good news as we look into a future, better jobs and a stronger economy while we protect our environment for future generations.

00:18:33.320 This is what we've always done.

00:18:35.320 And with this plan, we get to step up to do even more together.

00:18:39.320 So, you see, he's not against high prices for gasoline.

00:18:43.320 He likes them to force you off of gas and into electric vehicles that are twice the price of regular cars.

00:18:51.320 You would never make that decision on your own unless gasoline was extremely expensive.

00:18:55.320 You would never choose to pay twice as much for a car.

00:18:58.320 Unreliable electric vehicles.

00:19:00.320 You can't go long distances in an electric vehicle.

00:19:03.320 They don't work well in the cold.

00:19:05.320 It's an elite luxury thing.

00:19:07.320 Trudeau is giving you that choice in a harsh way.

00:19:12.320 He's saying, I'm going to make you pay so much more for gas.

00:19:15.320 Or you could buy a rich Tesla.

00:19:17.320 Canada, by the way, is sitting on the third largest oil reserves in the world.

00:19:21.320 Oil and gas, that's what's actually giving Russia its power over Europe, by the way.

00:19:26.320 It's giving it its cash.

00:19:28.320 Trudeau won't pump more oil, though.

00:19:30.320 He won't restart those pipelines he killed, though.

00:19:32.320 He thinks the crisis isn't too much Russian oil.

00:19:36.320 He thinks the crisis is too much Canadian oil.

00:19:39.320 Take a listen to this.

00:19:41.320 I know some people will say a war is no time for climate action,

00:19:46.320 for looking to clean solutions to build a competitive economy.

00:19:50.320 Well, the same people said the pandemic was no time for climate action.

00:19:55.320 We didn't let them stop us then, either.

00:20:00.320 Responsible leadership demanded that we tackle the crisis at hand and build for the future.

00:20:08.320 So, to those people, I say this.

00:20:11.320 This is no time for excuses.

00:20:15.320 It is the time for even bolder climate action.

00:20:20.320 Because it is always the right time to face a crisis head-on.

00:20:25.320 It is always the right time to have workers' backs.

00:20:30.320 And it is always the right time to build a good future for all Canadians.

00:20:37.320 So, what's this about?

00:20:39.320 This is about Trudeau signing a deal with Jagmeet Singh and the extremist wing of the NDP.

00:20:46.320 The NDP used to be for working people.

00:20:48.320 Now it's not.

00:20:49.320 This was the payoff to the NDP.

00:20:51.320 And frankly, to every green energy lobbyist and scammer,

00:20:56.320 who's going to get massive subsidies from Trudeau now.

00:20:59.320 Just got to follow the money.

00:21:01.320 But the money has to come from somewhere.

00:21:03.320 They're printing a lot of it.

00:21:04.320 That's a cause of inflation.

00:21:06.320 But it's also coming from you.

00:21:08.320 Through your taxes, carbon taxes.

00:21:10.320 They're going up next week.

00:21:12.320 To support this scheme.

00:21:14.320 And you pay more at the pump.

00:21:16.320 Because do you really think you're going to be getting into a Tesla this year?

00:21:21.320 You can't even afford to live in a house.

00:21:24.320 Justin Trudeau thinks this is all good news.

00:21:28.320 You'll have a smaller carbon footprint.

00:21:32.320 While he juts around the world, hobnobbing with the rich and famous.

00:21:35.320 Trudeau has taken away so many of your civil rights.

00:21:39.320 Now he's taking away what's left of your prosperity.

00:21:42.320 You will be poor.

00:21:43.320 You will not be free. 0.97

00:21:45.320 And you will be miserable.

00:21:47.320 But hey, at least you can watch some funny videos on TikTok, right?

00:21:52.320 Stay with us for more with Ben Weingarten.

00:21:54.320 Well, Joe Biden has been saying a lot of very interesting things about the Russia-Ukraine war.

00:22:11.320 I think they're a little too interesting, a little too flavorful.

00:22:14.320 Let me show you three recent examples.

00:22:17.320 Here he is talking to U.S. troops who are not in Ukraine.

00:22:21.320 But it very much sounds like they either have been or he's about to send them into Ukraine,

00:22:27.320 which might entangle the United States in a world war.

00:22:30.320 Take a listen.

00:22:31.320 What do you think he means?

00:22:32.320 Now, with the Ukrainian people, Ukrainian people have a lot of backbone.

00:22:37.320 They have a lot of guts.

00:22:38.320 And I'm sure you're observing it.

00:22:40.320 And I don't mean just the military, which is, we've been training since back when they,

00:22:46.320 Russia moved into, in the Southeast Ukraine.

00:22:53.320 But also the average citizen.

00:22:55.320 Look at how they're stepping up.

00:22:57.320 Look at how they're stepping up.

00:22:59.320 And you're going to see when you're there.

00:23:01.320 And some of you have been there.

00:23:03.320 You're going to see.

00:23:04.320 You're going to see women, young people, standing, standing in the middle of the front 0.99

00:23:08.320 of a damn tank, just saying, I'm not leaving. 0.99

00:23:12.320 I'm holding my ground. 1.00

00:23:14.320 They're incredible.

00:23:15.320 But they take a lot of inspiration from us.

00:23:18.320 And, you know, a woman who just died, the Secretary of State used to have an expression.

00:23:23.320 She said, we are the essential nation.

00:23:25.320 It sounds like a bit of a hyperbole, but the truth of the matter is, you are the organizing

00:23:30.320 principle around which the rest of the world is, the free world is moving.

00:23:34.320 It was a little bit vague, but it certainly implied that Americans are going to Ukraine.

00:23:38.320 Here's another thing that Biden said.

00:23:40.320 If Russia uses chemical weapons, America will respond in kind.

00:23:44.320 That implies that America would use chemical weapons. 0.82

00:23:48.320 And my misunderstanding here, listen to the man himself.

00:23:51.320 Sir, you've made it very clear in this conflict that you do not want to see World War III.

00:23:56.320 But is it possible that in expressing that so early that you were too quick to rule out direct military

00:24:03.320 intervention in this war, could Putin have been emboldened knowing that you are not going

00:24:08.320 to get involved directly in this conflict?

00:24:11.320 No one knows.

00:24:13.320 You cannot believe that.

00:24:15.320 And to clarify on chemical weapons.

00:24:17.320 Could, if chemical weapons were used in Ukraine, would that trigger a military response from NATO?

00:24:23.320 It would be, it would trigger a response in kind, whether or not you're asking whether

00:24:30.320 NATO would cross, we'd make that decision at the time.

00:24:33.320 Here's another thing that Biden said, and this sure sounds like he's talking about regime

00:24:38.320 change.

00:24:39.320 For example, like when the United States went into Libya and deposed Muammar Gaddafi.

00:24:44.320 Is Joe Biden saying the same thing about the president of Russia?

00:24:50.320 Here, you be the judge.

00:24:51.320 For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power.

00:24:56.320 God bless you all.

00:24:58.320 And may God defend our freedom.

00:25:00.320 And may God protect our troops.

00:25:02.320 Thank you for your patience.

00:25:04.320 Thank you.

00:25:05.320 Thank you.

00:25:06.320 Well, those certainly don't sound like words that will de-escalate the war.

00:25:14.320 Sure.

00:25:15.320 But when Peter Ducey of Fox News asked Joe Biden about those very things, Biden denied even

00:25:21.320 saying them here.

00:25:22.320 Look at this very interesting exchange between Ducey and Biden.

00:25:25.320 Are you worried that other leaders in the world are going to start to doubt that America

00:25:30.320 is back if some of these big things that you say on the world stage keep getting walked

00:25:37.320 back?

00:25:38.320 What's getting walked back?

00:25:39.320 It made it sound like just in the last couple days, it sounded like you told U.S. troops

00:25:44.320 they were going to Ukraine.

00:25:46.320 It sounded like you said it was possible the U.S. would use a chemical weapon.

00:25:49.320 And it sounded like you were calling for regime change in Russia.

00:25:54.320 And we know.

00:25:55.320 None of the three occurred.

00:25:57.320 None of the three occurred?

00:25:58.320 None of the three.

00:25:59.320 Mr. President.

00:26:00.320 You interpret the language that way.

00:26:02.320 I was talking to the troops.

00:26:03.320 We're talking about helping train the troops in that are the Ukrainian troops that are in

00:26:10.320 Poland.

00:26:11.320 That's with the context.

00:26:12.320 I sat there with those guys for a couple hours.

00:26:14.320 That's what we talked about.

00:26:16.320 So when you said you're going to see when you're there.

00:26:19.320 You were not intending.

00:26:20.320 I was referring to with being with and talking with the Ukrainian troops are in

00:26:26.320 Poland.

00:26:27.320 And when you said a chemical weapon used by Russia would trigger a response in

00:26:31.320 kind.

00:26:32.320 It will trigger a significant response.

00:26:34.320 What does that mean?

00:26:35.320 I'm not going to tell you.

00:26:37.320 Why would I tell you? 1.00

00:26:38.320 You got to be silly. 1.00

00:26:39.320 The world wants to know. 0.98

00:26:41.320 The world wants to know a lot of things.

00:26:42.320 I'm not telling them what the response would be.

00:26:44.320 Then Russia knows the response. 0.75

00:26:47.320 You know, Donald Trump, they said about him, don't take him literally, but take him seriously.

00:26:53.320 That when he would tweet, he might use florid language.

00:26:56.320 But there was a true meaning underneath.

00:26:58.320 What's interesting is that when Biden is out riffing on his own, the White House is saying

00:27:03.320 a very different message.

00:27:04.320 And you can see someone snapped a picture of the talking points, the corrections that Biden

00:27:10.320 was given.

00:27:11.320 We don't know by whom to walk back his earlier bellicose statements.

00:27:16.320 Very destabilizing.

00:27:18.320 You know, it's tough to know who to believe on Russia, Ukraine.

00:27:22.320 I mean, let's take it as granted that Vladimir Putin is a former KGB agent.

00:27:27.320 He's bloody minded. 0.97

00:27:28.320 He's likely a killer, at least historically. 0.92

00:27:31.320 The invasion of Ukraine is an illegal violation of a foreign sovereign country.

00:27:38.320 We can say all these things.

00:27:39.320 We can agree on it.

00:27:40.320 He's an imperialist. 0.98

00:27:41.320 He's a bad guy.

00:27:42.320 But what is the proper response of the West?

00:27:45.320 What is the West's interest in Ukraine and how far should we go?

00:27:49.320 Luckily, the smartest man that Joe Biden knows is a bit of an expert in Ukraine.

00:27:56.320 I'm talking about Hunter Biden, who Joe Biden says is the smartest man he knows.

00:28:02.320 And in fact, Hunter Biden was so smart and knowledgeable about Ukraine.

00:28:06.320 He was paid, I think, 80 grand a month by various Ukrainian oil companies because he's a real expert.

00:28:13.320 We learned a lot of this from Hunter Biden's own laptop that The New York Times now admits is completely real.

00:28:19.320 Joining us now via Skype from the United States is our friend Ben Weingarten,

00:28:23.320 contributor to Newsweek magazine and author of the book American Ingrate about Ilhan Omar.

00:28:30.320 Ben, I was having a little bit of fun there.

00:28:31.320 Look, no one likes Vladimir Putin.

00:28:33.320 No one thinks he's a liberal.

00:28:35.320 No one thinks he's a Democrat or a friend of the West. 0.98

00:28:37.320 I agree that he's evil.

00:28:39.320 The question is what to do about it.

00:28:41.320 I'm not sure if Joe Biden's in control or if others in the White House are.

00:28:46.320 They seem to have different messages.

00:28:47.320 What do you think?

00:28:49.320 Well, it's funny that you talk about Vladimir Putin being no liberal and no one that the West would want to do business with.

00:28:56.320 You go back and you look at the profiles of Vladimir Putin some, I guess, two decades almost on now, and they were fawning over him as the great hope for Russia.

00:29:05.320 The very same people who today call Vladimir Putin the equivalent of Hitler and seem willing to risk a World War three by imposing a U.S. governed no fly zone, which could lead to a shooting war with the nuclear arms Russia.

00:29:20.320 And let's let's point out a couple other things.

00:29:23.320 You talk about the fact that the White House has had to walk back the commander in chief statements on issues which could lead to potentially a nuclear exchange at the end of the day.

00:29:34.320 We have had a policy regarding certain issues like China, Taiwan, for example, of strategic ambiguity historically.

00:29:41.320 This is not strategic ambiguity.

00:29:44.320 This is a total lack of clarity, apparently, in terms of what the commander in chief actually believes and seeks, what those who are his handlers actually believe and seek.

00:29:56.320 And it leads to a question of who actually is in power is sometimes unpredictability.

00:30:02.320 It can be a useful and positive thing in context of issues of matters of war and peace.

00:30:08.320 But in this case, it's really disturbing.

00:30:10.320 It's incredibly disturbing when the president's comments have to repeatedly be walked back.

00:30:15.320 And then the last point I'll make, and I say this sort of sheepishly, but sort of seriously as well, because it is a deathly serious issue.

00:30:22.320 Does Joe Biden want Vladimir Putin to go before or after his regime helps negotiate an Iran deal 2.0 on the Biden administration's behalf?

00:30:32.320 That alone speaks to the total strategic incomprehensibility on its face of what the policy is.

00:30:41.320 But ultimately, the policy results in a stronger Russia, a stronger China and a stronger Iran. 0.57

00:30:48.320 And the American people, by the way, and others around the world, of course, suffering under the sanctions that have been imposed today.

00:30:55.320 Yeah, you're so right about the difference between a certain unpredictability in style versus a confusion.

00:31:03.320 I think it's different to be unpredictable, to be confusing.

00:31:06.320 Joe Biden is confusing.

00:31:08.320 He sends two contradictory messages at the same time.

00:31:12.320 Believe it or not, Trevor Noah, and I played this clip the other day when we had Joel Pollock on.

00:31:16.320 Trevor Noah, who is quite a liberal comedian, actually, seems to have sobered up a bit watching Joe Biden in office.

00:31:25.320 And here's a little clip he did the other night, and I showed this once before, but it's so on point.

00:31:29.320 Whatever you thought of Trump, you didn't mess with him because you didn't know exactly, you knew what his interests were.

00:31:34.320 No one denied he was sort of an American firster. 0.96

00:31:38.320 He didn't suffer fools. He was undiplomatic, but in that he would say things clearly rather than in vague Gazi language. 0.76

00:31:48.320 But he wasn't herky-jerky. He wasn't hot and cold, yes and no.

00:31:53.320 He was Trevor Noah doing quite a good job of summing up the difference between Biden and Trump.

00:31:59.320 There is no denying that Saudi Arabia isn't playing ball with Joe Biden.

00:32:03.320 And you know what? You can say what you want, but this would have never happened to Donald Trump.

00:32:09.320 Never.

00:32:11.320 No one was ever ignoring Donald Trump's calls.

00:32:14.320 Yeah, because if you ignored Donald Trump's calls, you didn't know how he would respond.

00:32:18.320 Maybe he'd send an angry tweet, or maybe he'd just, like, ban your country from everything.

00:32:23.320 You don't know.

00:32:24.320 That's why I bet in these situations, Biden actually wishes that he could hire Trump to step in as President Wildcard.

00:32:30.320 You know, just keep everyone on their toes.

00:32:33.320 Because if Trump was calling, you best believe the UAE, they'd be racing to pick up the phone.

00:32:36.320 Oh, Mr. Trump! Mr. Trump, we're here! We're here! Hello?

00:32:39.320 Too late, Ahmed! You made me wait two rings! 1.00

00:32:42.320 We're bombing the UAE and the UFC, just in case.

00:32:46.320 And the thing is, his point about taking the phone calls, I think that's really on point because Biden sent emissaries to Venezuela, to Saudi, to the other OPEC regimes and said, will you replace Russian oil?

00:33:00.320 Some of them didn't even take his phone call.

00:33:02.320 You would never not take a phone call from Donald Trump.

00:33:06.320 I mean, first of all, you would be very interested in what he wanted to say.

00:33:10.320 You knew he was the decider.

00:33:12.320 You knew he was the boss, or at least if he said something, that was the law.

00:33:16.320 And you were, you either respected him or you were afraid of him or something.

00:33:21.320 That's gone.

00:33:22.320 I, if you wanted, if there was someone on the phone from America, I don't even know who you would want on the other line to know you're dealing with the decider, Ben. 0.70

00:33:32.320 Yeah, maybe it's Ron Klain.

00:33:34.320 Maybe it's Susan Rice. 1.00

00:33:35.320 Maybe it's Jake Sullivan.

00:33:36.320 It's hard to tell.

00:33:37.320 And that should really disturb all Americans.

00:33:40.320 And this gets to kind of the, one of the implicit themes that's baked into the walking back of pretty much everything the president says of substance, which is, first of all, who is running things?

00:33:53.320 And then why do you have the question of who is running things?

00:33:55.320 And that gets to the question of the mental acuity, the faculty is the fitness of the commander in chief.

00:34:00.320 And of course, you know, they always attack Trump.

00:34:02.320 Oh, his mental fitness, et cetera. 0.69

00:34:04.320 He's, he's so irascible.

00:34:05.320 He's all over the place.

00:34:06.320 But to your point, you knew exactly where he stood in terms of we are going to defend America's interest.

00:34:12.320 To do so, we are going to try to make ourselves as strong as possible.

00:34:16.320 We are going to try to create partnerships and alliances to reduce America's direct burden and risk in certain situations, as every power who looks at the world realistically tries to do in pursuit of making life better for the American people.

00:34:30.320 And the question with respect to Russia, Ukraine, which the Biden administration has been loathe to answer, and of course, which the press never asks, is what would be in America's national interest in this situation, ultimately?

00:34:42.320 And what steps is the administration taking to fulfill those ambitions, to achieve those ambitions while protecting our interests from the start?

00:34:52.320 And that that that sort of lack of clarity, the incomprehensibility of you're going to you're going to attack and try to essentially cancel Russia from the international financial system.

00:35:03.320 But then you're going to make carve outs with respect to oil, of course, the strategically most significant area.

00:35:08.320 And then, OK, you might backtrack on that. But then in an Iran deal context, you might may have a carve out there for Iranian oil sales to Russia.

00:35:16.320 And then you're going to go to Venezuela, who is an ally, of course, of Iran and Russia and go begging for oil from there.

00:35:24.320 And then also you're going to try to have Russia negotiate an Iran deal 2.0 on your behalf, even though you say that Vladimir Putin has to go.

00:35:31.320 And then you're going to come begging to the Saudis, who you've browbeaten from the start, starting with continuing to perpetuate the narrative about Khashoggi and that governing all of our relations with Saudi Arabia.

00:35:44.260 And of course, Saudi Arabia is not going to take your call. And by the way, is going to hedge by cultivating relations with adversaries to the U.S., including Russia and China.

00:35:53.700 And so at the end of the day, you look at this picture and ultimately, what is the Biden strategy to the extent there is one appear to be?

00:36:01.640 It's to make it look like you really care about what happens in Russia and Ukraine, but actually impose real pain on us without seeking a de-escalation scenario and maybe a neutrality scenario, because maybe that's the best thing you're going to get there.

00:36:15.820 A buffer state that stands equally to the extent it's possible between the U.S. and Russia, to the extent that's the best way you can have a cessation of hostilities there.

00:36:25.560 Instead, you're you're potentially going to lead to an escalation in that situation.

00:36:30.220 And at the same time, you're going to empower Iran and again, try to make it the strong horse in the region like the Obama Biden regime did, of course, to the detriment of U.S. national interest. 0.53

00:36:40.140 And of course, the power that we're not talking about, which benefits most from all of this, is China.

00:36:47.260 You know, it's so crazy how this suddenly became the center of the world's conversation.

00:36:52.200 I mean, I don't deny that the Ukraine has its national interest, has its sovereignty, has its civil rights.

00:36:59.840 And I don't deny this is a terrible thing that's happening to them, but how this became the center of American national energy and NATO and every country.

00:37:11.840 And then the immediate, I don't even want to say McCarthyist, just the insane Russophobia.

00:37:17.860 It's so absurd. And the economic, you know, it's just how did this suddenly become the most important thing in the world?

00:37:27.320 It's almost like, you know, let's shift subjects away from the pandemic, which was fading.

00:37:33.320 We need something else to be riveting. We need another crisis.

00:37:36.600 We need something else to change the large political narrative as we head into November's midterm elections.

00:37:43.740 I'm not saying that that is the rationale here, but that's certainly the effect.

00:37:48.580 I just don't understand the obsession with Ukraine.

00:37:50.960 But earlier in our conversation, I referred to Hunter Biden, the crack addict son, who Joe Biden laughably called the smartest man he knows. 0.71

00:38:01.200 The reason I'm mentioning that is I'm not looking to pick on a family member who screwed up.

00:38:06.140 But Hunter Biden had huge business deals in Ukraine and actually in Russia.

00:38:13.160 He took more than a million dollars from oligarchs, you know, the former wife of the former mayor of Moscow.

00:38:20.000 Like this Hunter Biden is so interwoven in Moscow, Ukraine intrigues.

00:38:26.140 And and there were some revelations from his validated and verified laptop that touch on the current quarrel, weren't there?

00:38:34.540 There was something in there about Hunter Biden facilitating grants to a biological research station in Ukraine.

00:38:40.780 Is that right? The New York Post has well, first of all, let's point out that Russia put out as Russian propaganda, essentially, which, of course, our betters will tell us has to be dismissed rather than looking at looking at it on the merits.

00:38:56.620 And then saying, is there a there there? Is there a kernel of truth? Because usually in all disinformation, the best kind of disinformation and traditional spycraft, there's always a kernel of truth.

00:39:05.460 They basically said, well, look, with these bio labs, the Joe Biden himself is, you know, in some ways tied to these labs.

00:39:11.780 And OK, dismiss it as Russian propaganda. But then you look at what the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop.

00:39:17.780 And as the New York Post has reported, based on the contents of that laptop, one of Hunter Biden's investment vehicles put, I believe, five hundred thousand dollars into an entity that was doing bio research in Ukraine and actually linked up senior officials in this entity that was doing bio research in Ukraine.

00:39:34.940 To Burisma, where he sat on the board and, as you noted, I think, was making something like eighty three thousand three hundred and thirty three dollars.

00:39:41.620 Don't quote me on that a month for his great expertise in global energy markets.

00:39:48.240 And let's also put in this in context of the fact that it was the Obama Biden administration who essentially helped install the replacement to Yanukovych to make Ukraine, of course, a U.S. aligned nation there.

00:40:01.520 And Joe Biden managed the Ukraine portfolio himself. And as we have reported at Real Clear Investigations, Paul Sperry did an extraordinary job putting forth this expose, showing the DNC, senior Democrat Party officials and then people in the intelligence community, the national security apparatus and beyond in the Obama administration,

00:40:21.080 colluded with Ukrainian government officials to work against Donald Trump and ultimately, of course, to help Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

00:40:32.880 There was genuine Ukrainian DNC Obama administration collusion interference in the 2016 election on behalf of Hillary Clinton and to the detriment or the attempted detriment of then candidate Donald Trump.

00:40:47.160 So the ties are extremely deep and extensive between the Democrat Party and Ukraine.

00:40:52.240 That's one point worth making. Hunter Biden himself is a singularly important official individual in this link because of the provenance to his father, who ran the Ukraine portfolio.

00:41:04.160 And then you have, of course, the massive anti-Russian shift that transpired, starting with the fake Russiagate collusion narrative.

00:41:12.240 And it's really been a remarkable political epoch to see this transformation of a Democrat Party who, during the throes of the Cold War, it was those on the left, purported liberals, progressives and beyond, who I think at best we could say were oftentimes apologists or appeasers for the Soviet regime, sometimes far worse.

00:41:32.720 Now, the Democrat Party has become the ultimate anti-Russian hawk party under Vladimir Putin.

00:41:39.120 Was the Soviet Union worse or was Vladimir Putin's Russia worse?

00:41:42.920 We can have a debate about that, but it's fascinating to see the shift on a dime and it seems to align with the political winds.

00:41:49.620 You know, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, the Trump lads, they were still doing business deals.

00:41:58.380 Every single business deal was scrutinized, the obsession with Trump's taxes going back years.

00:42:05.440 Every single business deal was combed through by the media.

00:42:09.620 They went to court.

00:42:10.480 There were, you know, state attorneys general trying to get in there.

00:42:14.900 I compare that with the complete lack of interest, the forceful, willful lack of interest into Hunter Biden, who has no genuine business interest of his own.

00:42:25.040 I mean, the Trump's are into hotels and golf courses and casinos and luxury brands, and you can turn your nose up at that stuff or whatever.

00:42:33.180 But it actually, the business predates his political campaign.

00:42:37.640 Hunter Biden has no special expertise.

00:42:40.440 He has no success in business.

00:42:42.600 Because it was all riding the coattails of his influential dad.

00:42:48.240 And for him to be up to the eyeballs with oligarchs in both countries and with – we're talking about oil and gas.

00:42:56.400 We're talking about biological warfare.

00:42:58.760 And Hunter's in the middle of both of them.

00:43:00.280 I read a stat the other day, and I don't want to get it wrong, but that CNN and the New York Times have not used the word Hunter Biden in a certain number of days, like 100-plus days.

00:43:11.780 It just simply has not appeared in their publications.

00:43:15.340 And, like, I don't think a day went by when Donald Trump Jr. was not in the pages of the New York Times for some, this will get him now.

00:43:24.000 This scandal will finally bring down Donald Trump.

00:43:26.680 None of them ever did, but their obsession with the Trump boys, just because they were – compared to Hunter, whose only business dealings is conflicts of interest involving his dad.

00:43:38.360 I think there's a lot of media malpractice here. 0.82

00:43:41.960 The media is uniquely culpable in corruption against the American public by its unwillingness.

00:43:52.440 It's not an inability.

00:43:54.040 Of course, it's lack of a will to follow these leads, investigate the New York Times laughably 17 months on and 24 paragraphs into a piece that doesn't even bill itself as saying,

00:44:04.880 mea culpa, we're sorry, this actually was authentic, the laptop content.

00:44:10.000 And here's why that's important and why that's important to your point.

00:44:12.580 And it's sort of the inverse of the Trump family is that the entire Biden family business has been monetizing the patriarchs 50 years in Washington, D.C.

00:44:21.880 That's the inverse of the Trump family business.

00:44:25.100 And that monetization of the father has opened America up to substantial compromise, particularly because of Hunter Biden's depravity.

00:44:33.880 Obviously, that opens itself up for blackmail and a whole slew of other national security issues.

00:44:39.060 But more seriously, I think, for U.S. national security, arguably, are these dealings with corrupted Ukrainian entities, corrupted by their nature, Russian individuals, and then, of course, communist China and other nations as well.

00:44:53.880 There's evidence out there.

00:44:55.060 There's been reporting recently on his ties to Kazakhstani oligarchs and really oligarchs all over the world.

00:45:01.440 And this goes back decades with the Biden family.

00:45:03.500 It's not just Hunter Biden.

00:45:05.140 We put together a Hunter Biden reader at Real Career Investigations, and we've chronicled the history of all of the Biden family members' shady business dealings, which, of course, only exists because Joe Biden was a senior member of the Senate for decades and then a vice president and now a president.

00:45:20.140 So it's hugely significant for American national security.

00:45:23.140 The question that has to be asked with every single one of these foreign policy issues is, President Biden, to what extent do your family's dealings impact these policies?

00:45:30.620 That question is never asked.

00:45:33.340 And the last point I'll make briefly is, it's also not just Hunter that's been shielded.

00:45:37.680 Why is the press and why is the DOJ and the FBI pursuing Project Veritas so vigorously over their, by all means, it seems, lawful efforts to obtain and then authenticate Ashley Biden's diary?

00:45:53.160 Why are they trying to destroy Project Veritas over that?

00:45:56.920 So the protection racket is incredible here, the appearance of one.

00:46:01.680 Anyway, and then to your point, every single day it was the walls are closing in.

00:46:05.660 Here's the next bombshell against the Trump family.

00:46:07.460 And that jihad, of course, continues.

00:46:09.440 Yeah.

00:46:09.780 Yeah.

00:46:10.080 Just incredible.

00:46:11.460 I got a question for you.

00:46:12.760 How do you think it's going to end in Ukraine?

00:46:14.980 Again, it's hard for me to tell what's true and what's propaganda on both sides.

00:46:19.540 I really can't tell.

00:46:22.500 I saw in a Russia, I'm not going to say Russia sympathetic, but Russia Fair publication called Zero Hedge, that the ruble has returned to its previous value.

00:46:36.640 That after being battered by the original deplatforming of the Russian financial system, the ruble's back.

00:46:43.700 You point out that Russia, despite America's condemnation of it publicly, is integral to Biden's attempts to negotiate a new Iran deal.

00:46:54.180 I understand that Mariupol, an important city, has fallen to Russia.

00:46:58.800 You correct me if I'm wrong on that.

00:47:00.240 I read every day how the Russian army is overstretched and how so many generals are being killed and it's a total disaster for them.

00:47:08.360 That may well be.

00:47:09.460 I mean, the Red Army is used to throwing men into the meat grinder, whether it's to take Berlin or to take Kabul.

00:47:15.340 But it looks to me like Putin might actually end this thing the way he said he would, which is to destroy some of the Azov Nazi battalions in Ukraine, to pull Ukraine out of the rearmament mode that some of the hawkish Americans wanted it in.

00:47:35.980 And to, I don't know, to force it to become more neutral as opposed to NATO's doorstep, you know, NATO's neighbor.

00:47:45.440 I don't know.

00:47:46.320 I mean, I don't fathom that Putin actually wanted to totally absorb the entire country.

00:47:52.940 I think it wanted to smash it into neutrality and destroy some particularly partisan opponents.

00:47:59.100 I don't know.

00:48:01.160 I think that I think it could possibly end that way with another round of annexations.

00:48:06.600 It's hard for me to even have the facts upon which to make predictions because I can't trust a word I see.

00:48:11.200 What do you think?

00:48:13.200 Well, that last point is a really critical one.

00:48:15.620 It's really tough to separate fact from fiction, from narrative, from spin by very nature of the fact that you're dealing with matters of national security and foreign policy.

00:48:26.880 And then you layer on the fact that the Russians and the Ukrainians are both experts in propaganda. 0.95

00:48:32.780 And then you factor in how much Western intelligence has discredited itself with its hyper politicization.

00:48:39.540 So I struggle like you do to discern fact from fiction.

00:48:43.500 I think it is notable that given our understanding of the strengths of the Russian military, that this was not a cakewalk for them of just rampaging through the country to the extent that that was the strategy.

00:48:56.880 The strategy seemed to be sort of to encircle the strategically significant areas and then start to press forward while not trying while not undermining themselves in the public eye by killing tens of thousands of civilians in the process.

00:49:11.680 I don't think it would be in Vladimir Putin's interest to ultimately occupy and absorb Ukraine.

00:49:18.700 The method that's been employed elsewhere is to try to install a puppet or at least someone who's a very friendly proxy in power.

00:49:28.640 I don't know how this ultimately ends.

00:49:31.820 There is danger to the extent it drags on and to the extent, of course, Vladimir Putin feels that his whole ran is under threat.

00:49:39.280 But that's why I think the absolute best case scenario would be a hopefully near term de-escalation.

00:49:46.400 You've seen Zelensky himself sort of admit that he's willing to talk about a neutral Ukraine or at least a Ukraine that will not be joining NATO, that that's off the table.

00:49:56.280 And I think that's a notable, I guess, sort of concession relative to what Ukraine's position had been before.

00:50:01.880 I think the best case scenario is a truly neutral Ukraine.

00:50:07.640 I don't I don't I wouldn't want to opine about, you know, what demilitarization means.

00:50:11.760 And should Ukraine be willing to put that on the table?

00:50:14.300 Would you trust being having no military with Russia at your doorstep and having engaged in these incursions? 0.71

00:50:20.220 I don't know. But I think the best case scenario would be a situation of a cessation in fighting, de-escalation and not a dragging on which could lead to miscalculation and ultimately ensnaring Western powers in a battle which ultimately will not redound to our interests.

00:50:39.120 And the last point I'll make is, again, about the lack of seriousness of the West.

00:50:42.700 While this has become the pivotal issue in our discourse and beyond, the first response should have been unleashing Western energy.

00:50:52.220 And while European powers have to some extent indicated that they're willing to turn around against the green agenda, haven't seen it there and haven't seen it here yet either.

00:51:01.240 And even though, obviously, that can't be, you know, oil can't be onshored and drilling operations and nuclear operations and the like can't be stood up immediately.

00:51:10.940 It's interesting to see that that was not the immediate first move.

00:51:14.800 And if you were really serious about this, obviously, oil and the money that stems from it is the lifeblood of the Russian regime.

00:51:20.660 That was not the first move. And that, I think, spoke a little bit to the disingenuousness, at least of the initial response and sort of the cost free virtue signaling

00:51:28.880 that we've seen from our betters in the Western rolling class.

00:51:32.260 Yeah. Well, I mean, Canada has even more oil than the United States does, even though we don't produce as much.

00:51:37.040 We have much larger reserves, the third largest in the world in our oil sands.

00:51:41.060 And it's notable that Trudeau, for all his virtue signaling about banning oligarchs, you know, from Scotiabank and the Royal Bank of Canada,

00:51:47.820 I don't think they were actually hiding their money in Canadian banks.

00:51:51.040 So they weren't sailing their yachts up to St. Lawrence and they don't have villas in Inovic. 0.56

00:51:56.260 So I think most of his sanctions were just for show.

00:52:01.620 It's notable that the one thing he could have done, which would have said, to heck with it, we're going to produce oil and gas.

00:52:08.140 We're literally the third largest after Venezuela and Saudi Arabia.

00:52:11.820 Canada is the third largest oil reserve country in the world.

00:52:14.320 And he could have said, I will free Europe from Russian energy and produce it, replace it with Canadian ethical oil, ethical gas. 0.92

00:52:22.200 He held the line and he said, oh, he actually got on the phone with Zelensky and said, we'll share green technology with you.

00:52:30.480 What a laugh.

00:52:31.500 And I think you're right.

00:52:32.380 There's a lot of virtue signaling.

00:52:33.480 I just don't understand how this country, which I have no disrespect for.

00:52:37.840 In fact, 119 years ago, my own family came from Dniepro in central eastern Ukraine.

00:52:45.060 I have no antipathy towards the place whatsoever.

00:52:46.720 I'm sympathetic to them.

00:52:47.900 I just can't believe we're all talking, worrying, threatening to go to war, letting the entire economic system of the world be threatened by this issue, which seems so contrived and concocted.

00:53:01.560 I don't know.

00:53:01.960 I find the whole thing very frustrating, Ben.

00:53:03.920 And hopefully there'll be a peaceful conclusion to this soon.

00:53:07.700 The question that ought to be asked is, who benefits?

00:53:12.660 And if it's not clear that it's not the free people of these sovereign nations in the West, then you have to ask, who is agenda are our leaders serving?

00:53:22.100 And that's not a commentary on the idea that Ukraine should defend itself to the death, that it ought to be a sovereign, free and relatively free and independent country, and that Putin is the aggressor here.

00:53:35.800 And that it would be great to see the Russian army bled and Putin deterred and turned back.

00:53:41.320 But it's the job of our leaders to defend our national interests and our liberty and justice in the process.

00:53:48.500 And I think it's an open question here, at very best, whether those interests are being served by the response to date.

00:53:54.460 Yeah, I think you're right.

00:53:55.400 Ben Mygarden, great to catch up with you.

00:53:56.940 Nice to see you again.

00:53:58.400 And just delighted to see your column in Newsweek.

00:54:01.180 It's such a pleasure to have your voice there and keep it up.

00:54:04.480 Thanks so much.

00:54:05.240 Really appreciate it.

00:54:06.340 Stay with us.

00:54:07.180 We're ahead.

00:54:11.320 Hey, welcome back.

00:54:20.760 Your Letters KJS says, none of the nine charges is for supporting a convoy, but one of the nine charges is for assaulting a cop.

00:54:30.320 Talking about Randy Hilliard.

00:54:32.180 You know, the video of him assaulting the cop is so laughable.

00:54:35.660 And I saw some reports from the bail hearing that no cop was touched, just one cop felt afraid or something, as if so afraid that they waited a month before laying the charges.

00:54:47.180 This is a stitch-up, as they say.

00:54:49.560 It's very interesting.

00:54:51.040 I see that a senior military commander named Vance, who was charged with some criminal conduct in the military setting, he pled guilty.

00:55:01.100 He was convicted, but he's getting a discharge.

00:55:03.880 He will not have a criminal record.

00:55:05.100 The judge says, oh, you're a great guy.

00:55:07.060 No problem.

00:55:07.900 That's the difference between being a friend of the establishment.

00:55:11.040 Oh, you're a great guy.

00:55:12.540 Yeah, no criminal record for you.

00:55:14.780 And being someone the establishment hates.

00:55:17.840 Randy Hilliard, Tamera Litch, Pastor Arthur Pavlovsky.

00:55:21.260 I don't think we have one set of rules for everyone, and that's a big problem.

00:55:25.280 Lisa B. says, next, Trudeau will mandate that vehicle manufacturers must eliminate the installation of horns.

00:55:36.520 I think that's sort of funny.

00:55:40.460 I would certainly mandate the elimination of horns connected to door entry system and car alarms.

00:55:46.840 Oh, I hear what you're saying, because some of those alarms go off.

00:55:50.100 You know what?

00:55:50.540 I think Trudeau has too much regulation over our lives, and I think he's a bit too thin-skinned about horn honking.

00:55:57.280 They're literally saying it's code for Heil Hitler. 0.99

00:55:59.900 These are crazy people.

00:56:02.380 Jean-Yves Prévost says, most of us are still talking about the Oscars. 0.95

00:56:09.500 We are asleep.

00:56:10.740 Yeah, I mean, it was an interesting cultural moment when Will Smith clocked Chris Rock in the face for making a joke about his wife.

00:56:23.000 There's a lot of personal history there.

00:56:25.020 I think it was a welcome change in the conversation from the pandemic from Ukraine. 1.00

00:56:31.420 And although it was goofy and, you know, junk food, so to speak, to talk about it, I think it was a good break from the things.

00:56:40.140 But, yeah, it is a distraction from some heavy news out there.

00:56:43.320 I guess you could think of that as good or bad.

00:56:45.400 I think we can overdose on heavy news sometimes.

00:56:49.500 That's our show for today.

00:56:50.480 Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home, good night.

00:56:56.020 Keep fighting for freedom.

00:56:56.960 And let me leave you with our video of the day from Adam Sose.

00:57:00.620 Pastor Arthur Pavlovsky is going home to his family after 50 days in prison.

00:57:08.840 50 days in prison.

00:57:11.480 What a difference between him and General Vance, eh?

00:57:14.260 All right, see you tomorrow.

00:57:15.300 Adam Sose here for Rebel News.

00:57:16.920 Pastor Arthur Pavlovsky has been incarcerated for coming up on 50 days now for daring to attend the Coutts blockade as a pastor

00:57:25.240 and for daring to preach words of encouragement to the folks down there.

00:57:30.500 For that, apparently, in Alberta, you can be charged under the Critical Infrastructure Defense Act

00:57:35.180 and charged with inciting mischief.

00:57:37.580 Some of the folks down there who are actually blockading the border were not even charged under those same conditions.

00:57:42.880 But apparently, Pastor Arthur Pavlovsky is public enemy number one and any charges that can possibly be applied to him certainly will.

00:57:49.900 So for preaching there, as a result of those two charges, he has been incarcerated for 50 days.

00:57:55.320 He was actually denied bail on those charges earlier this month than last month, in fact.

00:58:00.640 And he was sitting in jail since that time, largely in solitary confinement, having an incredibly difficult time.

00:58:07.080 Like I said, he was denied bail.

00:58:09.280 Violent criminals and serial offenders are often granted bail, but not Pastor Arthur Pavlovsky.

00:58:14.680 Well, Sarah Miller has been working tirelessly on Arthur's legal defense with her team at JSS Barristers,

00:58:20.100 thanks to your donations at SaveArthur.com.

00:58:22.640 And last week on Friday, she successfully appealed that denial of bail.

00:58:26.520 So Pastor Arthur Pavlovsky was granted bail on those terms.

00:58:30.660 Unfortunately, there was other charges pending, contempt of court charges, and a number of health order charges still pending that had yet to be resolved before Pastor Arthur could return home to his family.

00:58:42.420 All of that stemming from Pastor Arthur attending protests, opening his church, and ultimately feeding homeless people on the streets of Calgary in defiance of COVID-19 restrictions.

00:58:52.220 Fortunately, we do have some good news, and I'm going to be joined by Sarah Miller in just a moment to discuss that.

00:58:56.180 But it looks like the Crown and Arthur's defense have come to terms to secure Arthur's bail on those charges as well.

00:59:02.940 So it is very likely that Pastor Arthur will be home with his family this week on Wednesday.

00:59:08.020 So very good news for the Pavlovsky family.

00:59:09.720 I'm going to speak now in just a moment with Sarah Miller to get an update on the successful bail appeal, as well as the plans for Pastor Arthur going home.

00:59:17.440 Yeah, so like you said, it's under a publication ban, so I can't talk a lot about it.

00:59:22.020 But what I can say is that ultimately, Justice Kendall, she made the right decision, and she released Arthur Pavlovsky from prison on the conditions that we proposed.

00:59:32.020 So they are quite strict.

00:59:33.800 This is not the full-blown celebratory type situation that we would hope for because he is under very strict conditions.

00:59:41.980 But certainly being under strict conditions at home with his family is a far better cry than being either at the Calgary Remand Centre or the Edmonton Remand Centre on charges where he's now got, as of tomorrow, 50 days of pretrial custody.

00:59:57.560 And we don't think he's, even if he was found guilty, that any judge would sentence him for that length of period.

01:00:03.960 So it's ultimately a very good thing that he's now released.

01:00:06.840 So that's great. And ultimately, we had that good news come out on Friday.

01:00:11.980 But there was some sort of some loopholes to jump through.

01:00:15.000 There were a series of other charges that basically came about either pre-existing or came about while Pastor Arthur was incarcerated for these 50 days.

01:00:23.180 And those terms had to be discussed.

01:00:25.520 And we had to we had to reach an agreement or you had to reach an agreement with the Crown effectively on how bail could be granted on that.

01:00:31.860 So tell us about that process.

01:00:33.200 Yeah, so the charges that we just dealt with bail on Friday on are the mischief charges arising out of Coutts.

01:00:40.320 Since he was detained on those, the he's received additional charges regarding breach of probation.

01:00:46.640 And the probation, as some people remember, arises from Justice Germain's order and probation related to the civil contempt.

01:00:54.140 So there's allegations of that.

01:00:55.560 They all predate the Coutts matter, but weren't late until after he was detained.

01:00:59.880 So, of course, then once you get released on the mischief, we have to have release hearings on the probation.

01:01:06.040 Now, it happened to work out really well as far as timing goes, because the order that was issued on Friday is now only taken effect this evening, essentially.

01:01:14.380 Like, well, I think it was about 4 p.m. that it actually was signed and filed and all of that.

01:01:19.500 So tomorrow morning, you know, he ends up spending an additional 12 hours in jail, maybe 16, whatever it ends up being.

01:01:26.900 So it ends up not being too bad as far as timing goes.

01:01:29.620 Of course, it would have been lovely if he was out today.

01:01:31.880 But tomorrow, my colleague is going to attend the bail hearing and enter into a consent release with the Crown prosecutor.

01:01:40.160 So it was a brief and quick resolution with the Crown to get him released on those other charges.

01:01:47.300 Well, I'm sure Pastor Archer would have been happy to be out today.

01:01:49.940 It is his birthday.

01:01:50.720 But I'm sure the ruling that he will get to go home and be home with his family, a good birthday present, so to speak, for Pastor Archer Pawlowski.

01:01:58.480 I just wanted to touch base, and I talked to Nathaniel and the family a bit about this, and I know that they've been upset.

01:02:06.960 They felt like they've been targeted, and they were very happy to see what they saw as some sort of common sense from the courts.

01:02:12.600 Like, no, he's not dangerous.

01:02:13.920 He can go home.

01:02:15.820 What's your sentiment?

01:02:16.720 You've been working on this so closely.

01:02:18.540 Obviously, you're close to these matters.

01:02:20.820 But do you feel like there's been maybe a little bit more justice done here with Pastor Archer returning home to his family?

01:02:27.220 Yeah, absolutely.

01:02:28.840 I mean, there is no doubt in my mind that detaining him any further, well, detaining him at first instance, I thought, was not necessary in the circumstances.

01:02:37.060 This is a 49-year-old man who's never had any criminal charges, is expressing his point of view on a new and, you know, unprecedented situation.

01:02:48.280 For him to express his support vehemently, the Crown says, is problematic, and not only problematic, but criminal, that's yet to be seen.

01:02:57.220 And for him to be incarcerated for now 50 days just seems so wrong in law.

01:03:04.820 Obviously, the right decision has finally been made.

01:03:08.080 I'm thrilled for that.

01:03:09.580 And I think that that's really where we need to be, is with him released, with his family.

01:03:16.220 Now, you know, I'm not thrilled about how strict the conditions are, but that's, you know, what has to be done in this current climate, in this current situation, and with the other outstanding criminal charges that remain pending with Mr. Pawlowski.

01:03:30.760 Now, as we kind of mentioned, this isn't, he's free and everything is good to go.

01:03:34.760 For people out there, we want to make clear, Pastor Arthur Pawlowski likely has years of legal battles ahead of him to address these matters.

01:03:42.420 What, Pastor Arthur will return home on Wednesday, he'll get to be with his family under these very strict conditions, largely staying at home, aside from when he's serving as a pastor or doing the odd errand.

01:03:52.800 Very strict measures in place.

01:03:54.180 But what is the legal horizon like for Pastor Arthur Pawlowski?

01:03:57.260 What is ahead of him?

01:03:58.520 He has quite a few criminal trials coming up.

01:04:01.060 So he's got some trials in October and November, and also a trial in June.

01:04:07.000 So the trial in June is for the Public Health Act ticket that ordinarily, for most people, they saw $1,000 fines.

01:04:13.360 The Crown is proceeding against him under the Public Health Act, a different procedure under the Public Health Act.

01:04:19.840 So he's facing up to $100,000 for attending a gathering at the Olympic, near the Olympic Plaza.

01:04:27.820 Sorry, it's actually in front of the community, or City Hall.

01:04:31.360 So we're facing that in June.

01:04:32.960 He's got that ticket trial to do in June.

01:04:35.720 There was no pay option with that.

01:04:37.600 So most people who got ticketed under the Public Health Act for gathering and access had $1,000 fine options presented to them.

01:04:45.560 Mr. Pawlowski did not.

01:04:46.580 So he'll have to deal with that trial in June.

01:04:49.080 Then we have trials in October and November.

01:04:52.440 And then this mischief charge will be scheduled when, hopefully on April 1st, we'll have, this Friday, we'll have a date scheduled for that trial.

01:05:01.260 Well, thanks so much for this update.

01:05:02.760 I know that it's a lot to get through, but I want to thank you so much.

01:05:05.880 You're doing very important work, and it's great to see that Pastor Artur Pawlowski will be home with his family.

01:05:10.400 Thanks again for taking time to give us this update.

01:05:12.500 I know people out there love the legal updates.

01:05:14.720 As you heard, Pastor Artur Pawlowski's battles are far from over.

01:05:18.200 If you want to support his legal efforts and keep Sarah Miller and the team at JSS Barristers working to free Pastor Artur Pawlowski permanently, not just temporarily under strict conditions, you can do so by going to savearcher.com.

01:05:30.880 Any donations you make there go to the Democracy Fund, a registered Canadian charity.

01:05:34.680 So you'll receive a tax receipt for that donation, and those funds will be used to keep Sarah Miller working and to keep Pastor Artur out of jail.

01:05:41.620 I want to thank you guys so much for tuning in.

01:05:43.660 For Rebel News, I'm Adam Sose.

01:05:45.340 For Rebel News, wanderingливо golfers.

01:05:54.300 For Rebel News, I'll be back at you next time.

01:06:06.040 For Rebel News, I'll be back at you next time.

01:06:10.500 Follow me next time.

01:06:11.040 Bye bye bye.

Rebel News Podcast - March 31, 2022

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Almost alone amongst world leaders, Trudeau says inflation is good, and you should expect more of it

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