Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Fight for free speech intensifies as U.K. considers banning X

00:00:00.000 Hello, my friends. Very exciting news on the fight for free speech. We took it to the streets

00:00:04.000 of York University on Friday, and today we went to the streets of downtown Toronto with

00:00:08.880 our newest reporter, Tamara Leach. It was pretty fun. We had the free speech truck with us.

00:00:14.660 We'll talk to her about her first day on the job. That and more ahead on Rebel News. But first,

00:00:20.480 let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus. It's the video version of this podcast.

00:00:24.880 Just go to rebelnewsplus.com, click subscribe, and eight bucks a month, which may not sound

00:00:29.680 like a lot to you, but boy, it adds up for us. Please do.

00:00:36.580 You're listening to Rebel News Podcast.

00:00:47.840 Tonight, is Canada going to ban the social media app Twitter? It's January 12th,

00:00:53.240 and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.

00:00:54.520 Oh, hi, everybody. Great to see you. Over the weekend, the prestigious Telegraph newspaper out

00:01:15.020 of London, England, wrote a story about 10 Downing Street, that's their prime minister's office,

00:01:20.480 looking to ban X, or Twitter, as it used to be called. Not just that, but the story suggested

00:01:27.920 that 10 Downing Street, which means the prime minister's staff, if not the prime minister himself,

00:01:32.560 had conversations with other governments in the world about doing the same thing, including

00:01:37.600 Australia and Canada. According to the Telegraph of London, there were conversations between 10 Downing

00:01:45.380 Street, and I presume, 24 Sussex Drive, as they would say, about banning, censoring, regulating

00:01:52.040 the internet. The particular reason referred to by 10 Downing Street, I keep saying that, but that's

00:01:59.360 how the newspaper described it, is a trend using AI. There's an AI affiliated with X or Twitter called

00:02:08.460 XAI, and if you ask that artificial intelligence app to put a photo of anybody in a bikini, it'll do

00:02:19.700 that. It'll guess what their skin looks like underneath, and it'll put them in a bikini, which 1.00

00:02:24.580 it hasn't been done to me yet, but I would imagine it's a little bit unnerving. It would be a little bit

00:02:30.860 violating, even though it's not an actual picture of you in a bikini. It's a computer doing a pretty

00:02:36.660 good guess at what you'd look like in a bikini. I understand why it's uncomfortable. This, however,

00:02:43.140 was not just uncomfortable or perhaps even unethical, but it was grounds to ban the entire company.

00:02:51.940 It's interesting to me what wasn't enough to ban the entire company, not actual pornography or actual

00:02:58.720 obscenity or other things in the United Kingdom, like 100,000 girls being raped by rape gangs over the

00:03:05.060 last generation. These are the same people, I should remind you, who want to let women, sorry, men into 0.96

00:03:12.340 women's change rooms. So there's a lot of privacy and obscenity they're fine with, just not this on X. 0.83

00:03:21.300 Now, I understand the problem, but it's a problem that's been around since, I don't know if you heard

00:03:25.220 of Photoshop, where you can take photos and shop them and edit them. That's been around for really 30

00:03:31.760 years. And it's not just Elon Musk's XAI or Grok. It's all of the AIs. You could ask ChatGPT, you could

00:03:40.280 ask Gemini. These are different names of different artificial intelligence apps. All of them will do

00:03:46.840 that for you if you ask them to. So why are they even talking about banning X when it's Grok or XAI

00:03:55.680 doing it? It's clear they're just hunting for some reason to go after Elon Musk, who they desperately

00:04:01.000 hate. Now, after this story in the very prestigious Telegraph, Evan Solomon took to Twitter and said,

00:04:07.680 there will be no Twitter ban in Canada. He was pretty conclusive about it. But there's a bit of a

00:04:14.840 lawyerly trickery there. Because banning X, banning Twitter, although that was the phraseology in the

00:04:24.540 Telegraph store, I don't think it would happen with an outright ban. I don't think that would be

00:04:29.240 legally permissible in either Canada or the United Kingdom. I think what would be much more likely to

00:04:36.560 happen is an extreme censorship, regulation, limits, rules be putting on X. I think that is much more

00:04:43.760 likely to happen. And the United Kingdom's own censorship board called Ofcom is busy looking at

00:04:49.520 it right now. Canada, I don't think would outright ban X or Twitter. I just don't think it would. And I

00:04:58.660 don't think even our courts would support that. But the liberals for really almost 10 years now have

00:05:05.700 been beavering away at different censorship bills, including one called C63, which would have become law

00:05:11.740 because it had supported the liberals, the NDP and the Bloc, but it just ran out of time when Justin Trudeau

00:05:17.480 suddenly resigned last year, causing an election. All the bills that were working their way through

00:05:22.380 parliament were, you know, cancelled. C63 has lots of regulations and fines and limitations. For example, a

00:05:32.080 requirement that social media companies take down a complaint about material within 24 hours. And if they don't,

00:05:39.140 facing enormous fines. There's a specific line in C63 that contemplates a fine of a social media company

00:05:47.320 like Twitter or Facebook or Instagram of 6% of global revenues for the company or a $10 million fine,

00:05:57.100 whichever is larger. Think about that. If something happens in Canada or one of these other countries

00:06:03.260 looking to heavily regulate X, not only would they punish their Canadian operations, they would accrete

00:06:10.580 unto themselves the right to take 6% of all of Twitter's revenues in America, in Spain, in Mexico,

00:06:18.920 in Italy. Imagine the audacity. So yeah, you're not going to ban X. I don't think anyone truly took

00:06:25.540 that literally. That was probably just a short form in the telegraph, but heavily regulate it, tax it,

00:06:31.760 fine it, shut it down. Absolutely. In fact, I took to Twitter after Evan Solomon said that and I asked him,

00:06:37.860 you're not going to ban it. Are you going to do these other things? Will you rule them out?

00:06:42.020 He wouldn't say so. Because it's obvious. The liberals absolutely would do that censorship.

00:06:49.580 They're as obsessed with it as the UK's Keir Starmer is. They accurately see that X or Twitter

00:06:55.140 has empowered iconoclasts, that is people who smash bulls in a china shop, people who tear down walls.

00:07:02.500 It's being used in places like Twitter. That's why the regime has shut down the internet and Elon Musk

00:07:09.200 has turned on Starlink. X has circumvented other forms of censorship. You know, the regime media,

00:07:19.320 Facebook and others may ban certain messages, but under Elon Musk, X has not done so. And whether it's

00:07:26.020 the story of what's happening in Minnesota with welfare fraud or people trying to run down ICE agents

00:07:31.660 or a revolution in Iran, social media has allowed ordinary people to get information

00:07:37.360 that they normally wouldn't be able to. And I think that deeply upsets rulers like Keir Starmer

00:07:42.220 and Mark Carney. I mentioned the CRTC, sorry, the UK has something called Ofcom. That's their version

00:07:48.880 the CRTC. And I've seen it said that if Ofcom says a ban of X should happen, that the cabinet minister

00:07:57.340 in charge is ready to implement that ban. I don't know if I believe it, but I can't think of anything

00:08:04.380 that would sour British American relations faster than trying to take on America's most successful

00:08:11.720 industrialist businessman, America's wealthiest man. And sure, someone who has sparred with Trump in the

00:08:17.620 past, but he's back in the Trump good books. And even if he wasn't, Trump seems to be big enough

00:08:22.700 to defend American industry. Even if he doesn't particularly get along with this CEO or that CEO,

00:08:28.680 if the United Kingdom were to ban X because of this bikini move that all other AI companies were to do, 0.85

00:08:38.600 I think it would cause a deep, deep rift between the United States and the United Kingdom. And I don't

00:08:44.220 know what that would manifest itself as. I'm not an expert in their relationship. Let me put it this

00:08:48.920 way, though. If Canada were to be foolish enough to go along with it, well, I think that would deeply 0.99

00:08:54.420 damage our trade and our national security relations with the United States too. Will Keir Starmer actually 0.96

00:09:02.280 fight Trump on this? I don't know. He seems quite adamant. Keir Starmer is so low in the polls, I don't

00:09:07.400 really think he has a chance of winning. So he's lashing out at the people he blames for his loss.

00:09:12.100 How many fronts can you fight Trump on? As they would say, you and what army?

00:09:18.940 Trump has reinvigorated the United States militarily and economically. And how it so

00:09:27.720 effortlessly seized the dictator of Venezuela, I think, has stunned the world. And you can imagine

00:09:33.480 everyone from Vladimir Putin to the Ayatollahs of Iran have daydreamed, could that be me? I mean,

00:09:40.240 China had its most up-to-date radar and anti-missile system operating in Caracas, didn't take down a

00:09:47.080 single U.S. plane. In the end, more than 100 security guards, including 32 Cubans, were killed

00:09:54.340 by the U.S. army going in to snatch Maduro. Not a single American. How is that even possible to not

00:10:01.280 even take one casualty while dispatching 100 bodyguards? It's so overwhelming. And I think

00:10:09.160 the rest of the world knows that and sees that, and they're still adjusting to that. For example,

00:10:13.400 when Donald Trump said on Air Force One yesterday that he's going to take Greenland one way or another

00:10:17.920 because if he doesn't, China and Russia will. I think that has a new urgency because people are

00:10:22.920 saying Trump is toppling countries. And he certainly looks to be shaking Cuba to see what comes next.

00:10:30.160 So many countries around the world are trying to figure out what to do. I think that America is

00:10:36.160 simply operating in fast forward. I think that Donald Trump is trying to do things in his remaining

00:10:42.700 three years and eight days that he's not going to wait around for polite company, whether it's what

00:10:48.800 he's done in Israel by supporting them against Hamas, what he's doing in Iran by encouraging the 0.92

00:10:54.280 uprising, what he did in Venezuela. Mark Stein wrote a whole book called America Alone. It's almost

00:11:00.140 alone, but it's got new allies. Israel is on the right team, and so are many Latinos.

00:11:06.600 They look forward to the continent being liberated. And don't forget other European countries too,

00:11:13.560 from Poland to Hungary, who are resisting this woke drift that the UK has succumbed to.

00:11:20.580 And by the way, don't give up on the United Kingdom just yet. Nigel Farage is on the right track in so

00:11:26.100 many ways. And although he doesn't get along with Tommy Robinson personally, so what? One's a politician

00:11:32.300 running for office. The other is leader of a movement. You know, we're dear friends with Tommy

00:11:36.240 Robinson. He is back big time, and it is because of Twitter, frankly. When Elon Musk reanimated Tommy

00:11:45.220 Robinson's Twitter account, it gave him his voice back. And from there, he's been able to fight for

00:11:49.520 so many things. That's right. We have to do our bit to fight for freedom too, like we did when we sent

00:11:55.820 two reporters and a whole team of six to York University. Remember last week when Garnet Genuos,

00:12:02.060 the member of parliament from Northern Alberta, was banned from York University and he did a Twitter

00:12:06.620 post about it saying, oh, well, what can I do? Well, you can go anyways. And what was so interesting,

00:12:12.020 but when we sent our truck, two reporters, two cameramen and a campaign manager and a truck driver,

00:12:17.040 we had six people in a truck, spent about two hours at York University and nothing.

00:12:21.980 No problem. No physical threats, no legal threats, no campus security, no police.

00:12:29.260 Sometimes you can just do things. I think that's what we have to do. It's like a muscle. Freedom of

00:12:34.340 speech is a muscle that gets stronger and stronger the more you use it. That's what we did today in

00:12:39.360 downtown Toronto with Tamara Leach. As you know, Tamara Leach has been hired as one of the newest 1.00

00:12:43.840 rebels. And we're being very careful to respect the terms of her house arrest, which allow her out of 0.70

00:12:48.820 the house to do work. Well, we have work around the country for her to do. And today she was with 0.98

00:12:53.560 our team in downtown Toronto in a very liberal area called Young Dundas Square. In fact, it's being

00:12:59.240 renamed the woke name Sankalpa Square, talking to people about freedom of speech. Well, it went great

00:13:05.140 and we'll have the full report from Tamara Leach tomorrow on Rebel News, but it was great to spend

00:13:10.500 some time with her even in frosty Toronto, strengthening our bona fides on freedom of

00:13:15.940 speech. I think that that story in the Telegraph was sort of right. I think it was technically wrong

00:13:23.040 when they said ban Twitter, but I think it was completely right when it said that the United

00:13:27.920 Kingdom and Canada were talking about censoring X. What Evan Solomon did not say was, who was it on the

00:13:35.160 phone with 10 Downing Street? Who on the Canada side was talking to the Brits about censoring X?

00:13:40.800 What did they say? And what will the Canadian position be? Evan Solomon was probably not lying

00:13:46.800 when he said he's not going to ban X, but he was probably hiding the truth when he didn't disclose

00:13:51.680 what they are going to do to X. Rebel News is a user of X and as someone who uses X to get through

00:13:57.940 to our viewers. It's going to do our best to fight, to maintain that freedom. X or Twitter, as it's also

00:14:03.960 called, was the one app that didn't throttle us, didn't try and stop us over the years. YouTube

00:14:09.540 demonetized us for almost 10 years. Twitter has been the freedom app. We intend to keep using it.

00:14:17.260 And if we have to go to court to fight against any Evan Solomon scheme to censor it, I promise you,

00:14:22.540 we will. Stay with us. More ahead.

00:14:33.960 Hey, I mentioned that Tamara Leach was starting her on-the-ground journalism, and we did that 0.98

00:14:39.340 today. Together we went down to Sankofa Square, or what I still refer to as Young Dundas Square in

00:14:45.700 Toronto. Sort of a mini Times Square like they have in New York City, but without the verve or the

00:14:51.320 freedom to talk about free speech. Tamara, congratulations. It was fun to watch your work.

00:14:54.900 Thank you. Yeah, I had a great time. It was a lot of fun. I think we had a lot of really great

00:14:59.380 interactions. I was pleasantly surprised that nobody recognized me. And yeah, there was a great

00:15:06.400 conversation. The truck is a great conversation starter. Yeah, we had the free speech truck,

00:15:10.940 and we'll have the full video out tomorrow, but it just basically blazes. What was the question on

00:15:16.860 the side? Something like, do you support free speech? It's just a good question to start it off.

00:15:20.880 Yeah, it was. And we had a lot of really great comments, actually, from people who feel like

00:15:25.540 Canada is fine, that there is no problem with free speech in Canada, to those that felt like it was

00:15:32.120 going sort of down the wrong path. And we're concerned about the bills that are coming out. Yes.

00:15:37.120 Now, you said that people didn't recognize you. That was partly true. There were some tourists,

00:15:41.500 and just sort of a young Torontonian probably wasn't following the trucker convoy. But there were

00:15:46.540 people who did. Some were a little bit shy. Some sort of came and watched the whole thing. So you

00:15:51.580 did have some fans. Now, I just want to tell our viewers, I want to put them at ease, because some

00:15:56.340 of our viewers, when they heard we were hiring you, I got some stern messages, people saying,

00:16:00.640 Ezra, don't get Tamara Leach in trouble by violating her house arrest. You cannot do that,

00:16:06.520 because there was that one instance about a year ago, when you were in a photo with someone,

00:16:10.280 and they scooped you. So I promised you, and I promised our viewers, that we would be extremely

00:16:16.960 careful not to do anything that would jeopardize your freedom, wherein you are in constant touch

00:16:23.300 with your probation officer, clearing in advance all your travels, even to the degree of what

00:16:28.520 restaurant you go to, what hotel you go to. It's actually pretty strict, but we are complying.

00:16:35.160 Mm-hmm. Even so much so, like, at the end of the day, when I return to my hotel, I have to email

00:16:40.600 her to let her know that I'm back in my hotel. So, I mean, it is a bit of a challenge, for sure,

00:16:45.880 but it really just comes down to scheduling, proper scheduling, and having a bit of a plan,

00:16:50.320 which, as we've already found out in journalism, is a little bit tricky, because it's very time

00:16:54.700 sensitive. But we just do our due diligence, and keep her as informed as we can.

00:17:02.280 Yeah. I mean, there's no doubt that checking every single move with a probation officer,

00:17:07.920 it's going to take a little bit of time. Now, we've got a new producer to help you out with

00:17:11.320 things like this. So my goal is to take some of these groundwork, administrative things off your

00:17:16.080 desk. But you know what? If it takes us even half an hour a day to deal with the legals, so what?

00:17:22.400 Yeah.

00:17:22.640 That gives us 23 and a half hours. You're here in Toronto. You're moving around. You're in a way,

00:17:29.420 I mean, this is all legal, because it's work, which is an exemption.

00:17:33.340 Exactly.

00:17:33.780 But you are, I think, doing more for the community, and doing more for your message than if you were

00:17:39.700 under house arrest at all.

00:17:41.380 Well, I mean, I always enjoy, as you've seen over the years, I love getting out and talking to people.

00:17:47.120 I love hearing their perspective. And I love listening to their stories. And, you know,

00:17:52.220 one of the beautiful things that happened today for me was, yes, we did go out there to talk about

00:17:56.940 free speech. And we did go out with the free speech truck. But there was probably five or six

00:18:02.460 Iranians that came up to me. And they all had the same message. They all said, please give a voice

00:18:09.640 to Iran. And so I got to talk to them and listen to their stories. And in some cases, you know,

00:18:13.940 their families and their children are still over there.

00:18:16.840 And they know that Rebel News tells the stories of the people of Iran.

00:18:21.960 Yes, that's right.

00:18:22.800 In fact, there was some fans.

00:18:24.320 There was some fans there. Yeah, that's right.

00:18:26.280 Now, I want to mention one more thing. And again, listen, the journalism will speak for itself.

00:18:30.380 Your journalism will be out tomorrow, and it'll be normal journalism. But I want to just say about

00:18:35.100 how the process, how we do it. The number one thing is we make sure we're in compliance with

00:18:40.660 the law. Yes. The number two thing is we have security. And today, I think we had three or

00:18:47.340 four, three security. And one guy is sort of looking at the truck and a couple other guys.

00:18:52.040 I forget how many. It was a good one. And they were big guys.

00:18:54.860 Yeah, they were big guys.

00:18:55.580 And they were scanning and they had body cam. Like, it was a serious security.

00:18:58.800 There was no problem other than there's like a safe use drug den.

00:19:03.880 Yes, yeah.

00:19:04.300 So there were some drugged out guys from there, but they weren't coming after you because you're

00:19:08.360 Tamera Leach. Right.

00:19:09.120 They're just, that's Toronto. You have zombie drug users around, I'm sorry to say. 0.65

00:19:14.020 But that's another thing. And you and I have talked about this. We've got to keep you safe

00:19:18.200 because even if it's only one in a thousand people who wants to take a run at you, we've got to

00:19:23.880 cover off that process. And we did today, and we'll keep doing that. We'll protect you,

00:19:28.360 especially on campus. We'll protect you.

00:19:29.700 Yeah, exactly. And it is important. And I mean, I think we've seen, especially in the last few years,

00:19:33.580 there's an escalation towards right-leaning influencers, I'll say, or whatever. And so it is

00:19:42.820 definitely a concern. And like I alluded to, Charlie's assassination, especially since then.

00:19:48.400 And then, of course, when we see what's happening even down in Minnesota right now.

00:19:51.820 So when you get to the point in your society where you actually have politicians and people in places

00:19:57.920 of leadership and power advocating for violence against people that they don't agree with, it's

00:20:03.140 very concerning. And it can be unsettling sometimes. I get threats all the time.

00:20:08.040 Wow. Yeah. And my DMs, I get threats all the time.

00:20:11.560 Okay, I didn't know that. Yeah. Well, we can have a talk that's not on TV about if they're

00:20:16.800 true and serious. Like, I mean, people throw mean words all the time, but if it's an actual threat,

00:20:21.460 let's have a huddle about that afterwards because of actual threats we should take seriously.

00:20:27.140 We should, and we, and you know, that's something, like I said, we've got, we've hired this producer

00:20:31.440 to assist you with things. And maybe one of the things they do is if there's a DM,

00:20:36.640 a direct message that is genuinely threatening.

00:20:39.600 Right. Yes, exactly. Exactly. Because some, a lot of it, a lot of them are, are just keyboard

00:20:44.020 warriors, but yeah, there's.

00:20:45.240 But if there's something that looks real, I think we should report them to police and

00:20:49.580 we'll find the right, whether it's minutes and a half police or the RCMP or whatever,

00:20:53.700 because I don't believe that's kosher.

00:20:55.560 Mm-hmm. But it happens. And so, I mean, security is definitely, definitely a factor.

00:21:01.160 Yeah. It's my hope that, I mean, anyway, we went down there with you today because we

00:21:04.500 had, um, Lincoln Jay as a videographer. He's done streeters a hundred times.

00:21:09.380 So just having him sort of give you some ideas and some tips and Tasha, yeah. And Tasha, who's

00:21:14.240 your producer, was there. So it was just basically, here's the rebel way.

00:21:18.300 Right.

00:21:18.820 Let's do it in the toughest turf in the country, downtown Toronto, tourist area. So after, uh,

00:21:26.360 Young Dundas Square, everywhere is going to seem easier.

00:21:28.780 Right.

00:21:28.960 You know, cause everywhere, I mean, let's be honest. I mean, there's, there's some things

00:21:32.700 that are nice about Toronto, but it's not the friendliest place in the world. So now

00:21:36.940 that you've done streeters in Toronto, you can do them anywhere.

00:21:38.920 Right. Yeah, that's right. Yes.

00:21:40.660 And you're going to be doing some, and streeters is a form of journalism. You talk to people

00:21:44.000 on the street, but there's other kinds of journalism too. You're coming with us to the

00:21:47.540 Conservative Party conference, uh, coming up pretty quick, aren't you?

00:21:51.120 Yeah. At the end of the month. Yeah. That's going to be really exciting. I'm very excited

00:21:54.460 to be a part of that.

00:21:55.180 Yeah. And so we're going to, I really think that you are a kind of journalist. Uh, you

00:22:01.520 have a mission, you have a story, you have a history, you're a fighter. And I think that

00:22:07.160 is the kind of journalist that the Canada could use in 2026. And I look forward to you being

00:22:12.660 at that Conservative conference to remind Conservative MPs about their commitment into freedom.

00:22:17.700 Yeah. Yes. Good point.

00:22:19.480 And I don't want to pick on Garnet Genoves, uh, the MP from Northern Alberta, cause I've talked

00:22:23.100 to him, I talked about him a fair bit, but I don't like the fact that he gave up on York

00:22:27.280 University and I'm, I'll stop being mean to him. But part of your job, if I may, is to

00:22:33.180 remind Conservative MPs and MPs of any party to live up to the freedom that was bequeathed

00:22:40.300 to us. People who came before us paid a mightier price than we'll ever know to give us the country

00:22:45.140 we have. And I think your mere presence at that upcoming conference will remind them of

00:22:50.820 the promise of freedom. Right. Good point. Yes. Yeah. Good point. And even if the MPs

00:22:55.240 are a little bit shy about you, I think grassroots Conservative party members are going to be

00:22:59.160 thrilled to see. I really think so. I have been really blessed, you know, anytime I've,

00:23:04.320 well, obviously before my house arrest, I've gone to any of these events for the support

00:23:07.780 that I've had for sure. So, um, it'll be, it'll be interesting. It'll be my first time going

00:23:13.080 to a convention and yeah, we'll see, we'll see what happens. So in the year ahead, we're going

00:23:18.380 to do streeters. That's the journalism on the street. We're going to do events like this

00:23:23.880 Conservative party conference. We're going to do a book and then a book tour. We're going

00:23:30.080 to do a campus tour. I'm at five things already. And I think on the scene journalism, like I

00:23:36.300 was just, we were just talking the, uh, an hour ago, um, when Venezuela, when Trump arrested

00:23:43.300 the Dictator of Venezuela, we sent a couple of folks down right away to little Havana,

00:23:47.100 the little Caracas to talk about freedom. And it was beautiful to see. I'd like to get

00:23:53.020 to the point where you are able to move that quickly. And you're with the permission of

00:23:57.980 your probation officer that if we keep following the rules, which we are that your probation

00:24:02.720 officer would say, okay, you're going down to little Caracas to talk to the Venezolanos.

00:24:07.780 I just love saying that. No, they were such beautiful people. I was really moved by the,

00:24:12.580 and, and the strength there was our people spoke a little Spanish, so it helped, but I

00:24:16.280 would love to see you go on location to freedom moments around the world, even. I mean, you've

00:24:24.540 been to the UK for a Tommy Robinson event, so you understand. And you know, our heart is

00:24:30.300 here at home. So we have to focus on home and Alberta and around the country, but occasionally

00:24:36.360 it behooves us to go to other parts of the world to cover the fight for freedom there.

00:24:40.180 I think he would be a great ambassador. And that's where I hope this goes. So if we, if

00:24:45.480 we color within the lines, if we follow the rules, I think we're, I think it's going to

00:24:51.300 be a great year. I think so too. It's going to be a very exciting year. Well, I'm really

00:24:54.840 excited about your second book. Your first book was the bestselling book we ever published

00:24:58.380 at Rebel News. Wow. I did not know that. I think so. The Libranos, I think would either tie,

00:25:04.080 I'd have to check, which was. So we're running, we're close. You know what? I shouldn't have

00:25:08.820 said that without double checking. They're either one, two or two, one, but I'll get that

00:25:13.520 info, but it was a big hit. Sorry. I don't, I wasn't prepared with that stat today. Great

00:25:17.880 to see you. Thanks for coming out to Toronto. We've got you a producer now. We're getting

00:25:23.980 you set up on things and thanks for wearing that hoodie. I like the Rebel hoodie. It's so

00:25:28.860 much fun. Yeah, I do too. Yeah. Well, you told me that someone at the airport saw

00:25:32.860 you and they bought you a bite to eat or something. Yeah. They recognized me in the airport in Calgary

00:25:38.440 and, uh, and the hoodie of course too. And so came and bought me. I'm giving away all

00:25:43.840 your stories. But the reason I mentioned that on TV is because sometimes on social

00:25:47.960 media, it's a wall of negativity, but in real life, I mean, I get a little, I get a

00:25:52.400 fraction of that in my life and I find it enormously rewarding. And the fact that just even on your

00:25:56.680 journey here, get to the airport, meal paid for on the plane, people in front say we like

00:26:00.820 you. And even on the street today, people, you know, I think that that is a sign that

00:26:05.240 you're on the right side of things. And I promise you, we're going to do everything we can to keep

00:26:09.640 you legally safe, physically safe, and, and give you a megaphone. That's our symbol. The

00:26:15.380 megaphone is our symbol. Isn't that funny? If you want to help us out, I do need help on

00:26:19.140 one thing. Um, and that one thing is security. I don't know what the guys today charge because

00:26:25.700 we have some security, uh, teams that are love you so much. They give us a nice discount and

00:26:30.700 they're wonderful, but sometimes we just got to pay. These, these are professional guys and we

00:26:35.240 got to protect the truck also. And that's just going downtown for a couple hours. When we do our

00:26:40.320 campus tour, that's where we got, there's no way that you can have less than four security at a

00:26:46.200 place like U of T or McGill. In fact, McGill, I, I, I would think you would need more than four

00:26:50.980 security guards. That's when the costs are going to add up. And I just, I just need some help with

00:26:55.940 that. And if folks want to go to the Tamara project.com, the Tamara project.com, that money

00:27:01.300 goes to security today was a trifle compared to what that tour will require, but it's going to be

00:27:07.880 great. I think, I think a ton of young people will be attracted to your authenticity and your

00:27:13.100 sacrifice. When was the last time they saw a leader who was authentic and personally sacrificed

00:27:19.100 for the community? I can't even think of one. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think that's going to be,

00:27:25.400 I'm, and I'm really curious, um, what that demographic kind of, you know, where they'll

00:27:31.320 sit. I mean, I've, um, lots of young people, uh, recognize me too and come up to me. And to me,

00:27:37.200 that is, I mean, I love all of it. It's really, like you said, it's very rewarding. Um, but to know

00:27:42.800 that your message is getting out to the youth, you know, like you and me are kind of preaching to the

00:27:47.280 choir in some cases, but when you know that you're reaching, uh, younger generations and expressing

00:27:53.000 the importance of free speech or standing up for your rights or, you know, being willing to make

00:27:57.860 a sacrifice, um, that message is getting through and it's important. Wow. Wow. I just, I'm so glad

00:28:04.400 you said that and getting you on as many Canadian campuses as possible is a very high goal of ours.

00:28:12.060 And that's what the producer we've just hired for you will assist with. We've got a whole team,

00:28:16.980 you've met a lot of the team, the behind the scenes team. So, you know, there's a journalist

00:28:20.800 of everybody to see, but there's people behind the scenes doing the planning and, and, and I really

00:28:25.880 feel like we can give you the infrastructure and it's your time to shine. 2026 is your year. I'm

00:28:31.380 really excited. Thanks for coming on here. There you have it. Wow. You know what? It really is a

00:28:36.260 blessing to have Tamara Leach on the Rebel News team and I will do my best to unlock the power that she 0.98

00:28:42.920 brings, the message. And, you know, her last comments there about students really isn't that

00:28:47.700 the, that, I mean, that's what Charlie Kirk did. He focused on the young people with great results.

00:28:53.060 All right. Stay with us. Your letters to me next.

00:28:55.100 Hey, welcome back. Your letters. Speaking of Elon Musk, he just invested 20 billion U.S. dollars in

00:29:10.640 Mississippi. Boy, I wish we could have that kind of dough up here in Canada, but alas,

00:29:15.640 only government grants are funded up here. Let me read to you some letters. Jake Jimstone says,

00:29:20.380 20 billion dollars investing into Canada would offset the 20 billion dollars we gave the First

00:29:24.780 Nations last year to produce nothing. You know, I'm really worried about the spending on First

00:29:29.160 Nations because I, I think it's very, like a funnel. A lot of money goes into it at the top, but

00:29:34.920 by the time it gets to actual Indigenous people, it's just drips and drops. Tom Flanagan and Francis

00:29:41.380 Whittowson sometimes use the word the Indian industry or the Indigenous industry. Consultants,

00:29:47.440 lawyers, bureaucrats, not actual people on the reserve who take up the bulk of the spending.

00:29:52.700 But I agree with you completely is that it's, it's like so many other welfare oriented industries.

00:29:58.320 They don't actually want to solve the problem. If you had an Indian band that was self-sufficient 0.83

00:30:03.100 economically, that had its health and water and all its systems working fine, there wouldn't be a

00:30:09.360 perpetual job for the bureaucrats, many of whom are white, by the way. Jabba says, Canada is anti-business.

00:30:17.440 Just like California. I think you're right. I mean, uh, just the other day, California brought in

00:30:23.000 a new tax on the assets of billionaires, including assets that are illiquid. What I mean by that is

00:30:30.240 let's say you invent, uh, start a company and it's worth on paper $5 billion. Um, but that's just

00:30:40.700 based on, uh, you know, a small fundraising round that you've done. You don't actually have $5 billion

00:30:47.640 cash. Um, it's more aspirational than anything. California, and I haven't read the details of this,

00:30:53.980 will tax you on that full amount as if you own the full amount, even though you can't get access to

00:31:01.240 the full amount because it's not liquid. It's not like sitting in cash. I didn't properly explain it

00:31:06.240 there, but you get the picture. It puts you on the hook for the whole amount of money. Even if you

00:31:11.480 haven't realized it yet, that would bankrupt any founders. So before the new year, a variety of CEOs

00:31:19.920 of tech companies whose value is over a trillion dollars left California, moved their homestead

00:31:27.460 address to outside California. Um, they just sort of said, no, I'm not letting California bankrupt.

00:31:34.300 It's really going to hasten the exodus of the wealth creating class. Um, California has always,

00:31:42.220 I'd say for the last generation has been on the side of the takers, not the makers, which is a shame

00:31:47.660 because California for 50 years really was such a home to creativity and industry, whether it was the

00:31:54.260 entertainment industry of Hollywood or the aerospace industry. I don't know if that's true these days.

00:32:00.460 Bonzo the poodle says Trump just stated that he's going to limit credit card interest to 10%

00:32:05.780 for one year. I don't know how easily he can simply order that to happen because, um, I think interest,

00:32:13.220 I mean, it's true that a lot of interest rates have enormous, a lot of credit cards have enormous

00:32:17.260 interest rates that are to the point of usury, I think. But, um, I think that for some people,

00:32:24.580 the only loans they can get are at extreme rates of interest. And I'm not supporting it. I'm just

00:32:30.220 saying there are some people who are such a credit risk, no one's going to give them a loan at 10%

00:32:35.980 or 5%. And so if you mandate a credit card to give a loan, which is really what a credit card money

00:32:43.800 is to someone with terrible credit, with no credit, with bad credit, they're just not going to give

00:32:50.020 that money at all. And so if there are a lot of people out there who I don't think are a credit

00:32:55.400 risk worth 10% interest. So if you ban them from getting a Visa card or a MasterCard, they're going

00:33:01.740 to have to borrow from some loan shark. I'm just not sure. I mean, I understand the spirit behind

00:33:06.980 that decision and I hate credit card interest of 30 or even 36%. I'm just not sure if banning it is

00:33:14.820 going to solve the problem. It might create some new problems. I don't know. I'd be interested in your

00:33:19.880 thoughts on that. I haven't fully thought that one through, but thanks for the great question.

00:33:24.220 That's the show for the day. Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World

00:33:28.100 Headquarters, to you at home, good night and keep fighting for freedom.

Rebel News Podcast - January 13, 2026

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Fight for free speech intensifies as U.K. considers banning X

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