Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ JD Vance calls out enemies of free speech in Europe

00:00:00.000 Hello, my friends. Did you hear J.D. Vance's speech in Europe? He was at the Munich Security

00:00:05.660 Conference, which is a big military political NGO gathering. Oh boy, he let him have it. I'm

00:00:11.980 going to take you through the speech clip by clip because it's a momentous matter. Then later,

00:00:18.180 we'll talk to Tom Marazzo. Today is the third anniversary of Trudeau's invocation of the

00:00:24.360 Emergencies Act. That's ahead. But first, let me invite you to become a subscriber to what we call

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00:01:48.260 Tonight, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance goes into the heart of Europe and speaks truth to power.

00:01:57.940 Oh, and they didn't like it. It's February 14th and this is the Ezra LeVance Show.

00:02:01.980 You're fighting for freedom. Shame on you, you censorious bug.

00:02:08.360 Every year around this time is the Munich Security Conference. It's a huge meeting. It's sort of like

00:02:24.480 NATO plus. A little bit like the World Economic Forum. You don't have to be a general or a politician to go

00:02:31.760 there, but there are lots of generals and arms dealers and the like, but it does have a bit of a

00:02:37.960 European WEF feeling to it too. And it's a Soros favorite. Both George Soros and his son Alex Soros

00:02:46.800 love to hang out there, which gives me the creeps. In fact, two years ago, George Soros spoke there.

00:02:53.280 Well, it's on again this year and there's a new sheriff in town. Donald Trump did not attend,

00:02:59.800 but J.D. Vance, his vice president, attended and gave the keynote speech. Now, J.D. Vance and

00:03:07.220 Pete Hegseth, the new Department of the Secretary of Defense, they sort of telegraphed in advance

00:03:15.260 what they were going to say. J.D. Vance in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. And here's

00:03:19.620 Pete Hegseth talking a little bit about Ukraine and the peace deal Trump was after.

00:03:25.260 We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognizing that

00:03:34.080 returning to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective. The United States does

00:03:43.300 not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.

00:03:49.960 Instead, any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops.

00:03:58.660 So Europe, I think, knew that there was a change afoot. And J.D. Vance came and spoke to them right

00:04:06.280 in the heart of their conference. And I'd like to share about half his speech with you.

00:04:11.640 I won't play at all, even though it was all very good. First of all, J.D. Vance said that the enemy,

00:04:17.580 and remember, he's talking to soldiers here, he said the enemy was within. And he talked about

00:04:25.100 Romania and how its democratic vote was sort of blocked by righteous people and Germany's attempt 0.80

00:04:31.980 to block a right-of-center party called the AFD, Alternative for Deutschland. Take a look.

00:04:36.460 We gather at this conference, of course, to discuss security. And normally, we mean threats to our

00:04:44.860 external security. I see many great military leaders gathered here today. But while the Trump

00:04:50.460 administration is very concerned with European security and believes that we can come to a

00:04:57.500 reasonable settlement between Russia and Ukraine, and we also believe that it's important in the

00:05:02.620 coming years for Europe to step up in a big way to provide for its own defense, the threat that I 0.54

00:05:08.700 worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, it's not China, it's not any other external actor.

00:05:16.220 And what I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most

00:05:23.580 fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America. Now, I was struck that a former

00:05:29.740 European commissioner went on television recently and sounded delighted that the Romanian government had

00:05:36.940 just annulled an entire election. He warned that if things don't go to plan, the very same thing

00:05:44.300 could happen in Germany, too. He talked about digital censorship and democratic values, and he

00:05:51.980 wove in Ukraine there. He didn't quite say it, but I think he's concerned about the fact that Ukraine has 0.93

00:05:59.180 suspended some civil liberties, including independent newspapers, independent political parties, and even

00:06:05.340 some churches. Now, these cavalier statements are shocking to American ears. For years, we've been

00:06:11.900 told that everything we fund and support is in the name of our shared democratic values. Everything from our

00:06:19.900 Ukraine policy to digital censorship is billed as a defense of democracy. But when we see European

00:06:28.780 courts canceling elections and senior officials threatening to cancel others, we ought to ask

00:06:35.260 whether we're holding ourselves to an appropriately high standard. And I say ourselves because I

00:06:40.700 fundamentally believe that we are on the same team. We must do more than talk about democratic values. We

00:06:47.180 must live them. You know, a lot of Europeans love free speech. I think everyone loves free speech for

00:06:52.460 themselves. But half of Europe's politicians want to get Elon Musk because the free speech he uses

00:07:00.140 and allows others to use criticizes the European Union. Here, take a listen.

00:07:04.860 I look to Brussels, where EU commissars warn citizens that they intend to shut down social media during times

00:07:12.380 of civil unrest the moment they spot what they've judged to be, quote, hateful content. Or to this very

00:07:20.620 country where police have carried out raids against citizens suspected of posting anti-feminist comments

00:07:27.100 online as part of, quote, combating misogyny on the internet, a day of action.

00:07:32.620 Then J.D. Vance got very specific. He talked about particular cases. He talked about the case of the

00:07:38.220 Swede who was murdered recently for burning the Koran. Now, it's not a good idea to burn the Koran, but

00:07:45.260 it is lawful in a free country. And then his friend got arrested for complaining about it. Take a listen.

00:07:52.460 I look to Sweden, where two weeks ago the government convicted a Christian activist

00:07:57.420 for participating in Koran burnings that resulted in his friend's murder. And as the judge in his case

00:08:04.940 chillingly noted, Sweden's laws to supposedly protect free expression do not, in fact, grant,

00:08:12.220 and I'm quoting, a free pass to do or say anything without risking offending the group that holds that

00:08:20.300 belief. And then Vance talked about the United Kingdom. Remember just the other day, we interviewed

00:08:25.500 a woman who was arrested, I think several times now, for quietly praying in her own mind. Well,

00:08:33.100 J.D. Vance didn't talk about her case, but another one about quiet prayer. J.D. Vance didn't talk about

00:08:39.740 Tommy Robinson, but I felt like he was coming close to the subject. Here, take a look.

00:08:43.900 And perhaps most concerningly, I look to our very dear friends, the United Kingdom,

00:08:49.180 where the backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons,

00:08:53.820 in particular, in the crosshairs. A little over two years ago, the British government charged Adam

00:08:59.980 Smith Connor, a 51-year-old physiotherapist and an army veteran with the heinous crime of standing

00:09:08.460 50 meters from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes. Not obstructing anyone,

00:09:16.220 not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own. Oh, he had a big list. He next talked about

00:09:22.460 Scotland and how they were arresting people for private prayer also. This last October,

00:09:28.940 just a few months ago, the Scottish government began distributing letters to citizens whose houses

00:09:33.820 lay within so-called safe access zones, warning them that even private prayer within their own homes

00:09:41.420 may amount to breaking the law. Naturally, the government urged readers to report any fellow

00:09:47.660 citizens suspected guilty of thought crime. In Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear,

00:09:55.260 is in retreat. Now, J.D. Vance did say America has its share of the blame. He confessed to Joe Biden-era

00:10:03.500 censorship, for example, over COVID disinformation. I will admit that sometimes the loudest voices for

00:10:11.260 censorship have come not from within Europe, but from within my own country, where the prior administration

00:10:18.060 threatened and bullied social media companies to censor so-called misinformation. Misinformation like,

00:10:24.700 for example, the idea that coronavirus had likely leaked from a laboratory in China. Our own government

00:10:32.780 encouraged private companies to silence people who dared to utter what turned out to be an obvious truth.

00:10:39.820 Vance talked about Romania again, and I get it. Imagine a country voting to have a conservative

00:10:47.100 populist party and the poobahs just say, yeah, no, we're not going to recognize that election because 1.00

00:10:54.060 it went the wrong way. And under Donald Trump's leadership, we may disagree with your views,

00:10:59.020 but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square, agree or disagree.

00:11:10.700 Now we're at the point, of course, that the situation has gotten so bad that this December,

00:11:16.780 Romania straight up canceled the results of a presidential election based on the flimsy suspicions

00:11:23.260 of an intelligence agency and enormous pressure from its continental neighbors. And then I think the most

00:11:28.940 terrifying part of the conversation was when J.D. Vance talked about mass immigration to Europe.

00:11:36.940 And of all the pressings, challenges that the nations represented here face,

00:11:41.420 I believe there is nothing more urgent than mass migration.

00:11:47.340 Today, almost one in five people living in this country moved here from abroad. That is,

00:11:52.620 of course, an all-time high. It's a similar number, by the way, in the United States,

00:11:56.460 also an all-time high. The number of immigrants who entered the EU from non-EU countries doubled

00:12:02.940 between 2021 and 2022 alone. And of course, it's gotten much higher since.

00:12:07.980 By the way, right before the Munich Security Conference started,

00:12:11.580 an Islamic terrorist rammed his car into people on the streets. J.D. Vance talked about it. I don't

00:12:17.020 think he said the word Islamic, although the terrorists did apparently holler Allah Akbar.

00:12:22.220 An asylum seeker, often a young man in his mid-twenties, already known to police, rams a car 1.00

00:12:29.100 into a crowd and shatters a community. How many times must we suffer these appalling setbacks

00:12:36.620 before we change course and take our shared civilization in a new direction?

00:12:42.060 No voter on this continent went to the ballot box to open the floodgates to millions of unvetted 1.00

00:12:50.060 immigrants. But you know what they did vote for? In England, they voted for Brexit. And agree or 0.98

00:12:56.380 disagree, they voted for it. And more and more all over Europe, they're voting for political leaders

00:13:01.740 who promised to put an end to out-of-control migration.

00:13:05.020 There's a lighthearted moment. J.D. Vance was making a joke. I don't know if the joke

00:13:11.100 didn't translate well or if everyone there was so sour because of what Vance had been saying.

00:13:17.260 He talked about Greta Thunberg and Elon Musk and how having points of view, even if you find them

00:13:23.500 irritating, that's not interference. It's just free speech. Take a look.

00:13:27.740 I believe that dismissing people, dismissing their concerns, or worse yet, shutting down media,

00:13:34.300 shutting down elections, or shutting people out of the political process protects nothing.

00:13:41.820 In fact, it is the most surefire way to destroy democracy. And speaking up and expressing opinions

00:13:49.660 isn't election interference. Even when people express views outside your own country,

00:13:55.660 and even when those people are very influential. And trust me, I say this with all humor,

00:14:01.820 if American democracy can survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg's scolding,

00:14:06.940 you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk.

00:14:11.420 But what German democracy, what no democracy, American, German, or European will survive,

00:14:18.540 is telling millions of voters that their thoughts and concerns, their aspirations,

00:14:23.100 their pleas for relief are invalid or unworthy of even being considered.

00:14:29.020 Anyways, it was quite a speech. I've shown you probably about a third of it.

00:14:34.940 Oh, the reaction was immediate and exactly what you would expect. That loser who had, 0.98

00:14:41.900 I think he used to be the president of the European Union or something, some big poobah, 1.00

00:14:46.300 he was sacked because a few months ago, he threatened Elon Musk. He said, you're going to

00:14:54.060 interview Donald Trump on Twitter. You have to do this and this. And then if you're going to interview

00:14:58.860 AFD, like he, like this European bureaucrat was barking orders at Elon Musk about how he was allowed

00:15:06.460 to talk to Donald Trump or the AFD, only if he followed certain rules, it was a lot of chutzpah.

00:15:13.340 And it actually cost that bureaucrat his job, but not his Twitter account. So here's how this bureaucrat,

00:15:19.340 I think his name was Thierry Breton. So he hates Twitter, but he can't get enough of Twitter. He said,

00:15:25.580 Welcome to Europe, VP J.D. Vance. With all due respect, in Europe, freedom of speech is a core value

00:15:31.820 of our democracy. It is non-negotiable. Never was and never will be proof. Even fake news are allowed,

00:15:38.620 sadly, sometimes echoed by top U.S. officials. He goes on and on and on. It is absurd to say that

00:15:44.860 free speech is non-negotiable in Europe. Free speech is constantly under attack in Europe. People are terrified

00:15:51.180 by it. Even in the United Kingdom, there are thousands of arrests every year for Facebook

00:15:57.580 posts. Anyways, if you think that was something, the German defense minister is some left-wing kook.

00:16:07.660 His response to J.D. Vance saying that free speech is under attack is to say,

00:16:14.460 That is not acceptable! Take a look.

00:16:16.700 This is why I cannot just ignore what we heard before. I cannot not comment on the speech we

00:16:24.300 heard by the U.S. Vice President. We fight for your right to be against us. That is the motto,

00:16:34.300 one of the mottos of the Bundeswehr, and it stands for our democracy. This democracy that was just

00:16:42.620 called into question by the U.S. Vice President, not just the German democracy, but Europe as a whole.

00:16:49.340 He spoke of the annulment of democracy, and if I understood him correctly, he compares the condition

00:16:56.700 of Europe with the condition that prevails in some authoritarian regimes. Ladies and gentlemen,

00:17:03.420 this is not acceptable. I think you're sort of proving the point by saying it's unacceptable to

00:17:10.940 say certain things. You have just sort of proved that free speech is under attack. And remember,

00:17:15.420 the German chancellor himself said that the American point of view on Ukraine is a national emergency.

00:17:22.940 You know what? I think that Donald Trump was sending a message to Europe, and I think most people

00:17:29.180 got it, not these two, and Lobos and a few others. But let me give you a few facts. Did you know that

00:17:34.700 there are still 50,000 U.S. troops in Germany? Still 40 U.S. bases in Germany. They never left in 1945.

00:17:47.500 They never left Korea in 1953. They never left Japan. There are hundreds of bases around the world, but

00:17:54.380 the German presence of the U.S. military is, I think it's the largest in the world, actually.

00:17:59.340 It's a huge boost to the German economy, of course, having 50,000 people and all their

00:18:04.860 material and equipment. But more to the point, it subsidizes their security while they

00:18:10.860 beak off in America. And here's America, the one that pays the bill, saying, we'd like you to respect

00:18:16.780 democracy a little more. We'd like you to respect free speech a little more. After all, we are the ones

00:18:22.700 not guaranteeing it. And the freak out by the left is quite something to see. I think Europe,

00:18:30.140 I mean, I love it, of course, historically, culturally, linguistically. I think it's changing.

00:18:36.060 Italy is losing its Italy-ness. Ireland is losing its Irishness. France is losing its Frenchness. This

00:18:44.780 is all true. But it's also losing its energy. It's economically stagnating. It's de-industrializing

00:18:52.700 itself in the name of Greta Thunberg's green theories. I think that J.D. Vance came to Europe

00:19:02.140 to say, we're done with that, or at least anything that touches us. If you expect our support financially

00:19:09.100 or militarily, you better stop, you know, crushing democracy or free speech. And you better not lay a

00:19:16.300 hand on American companies, including social media companies. I think it was the opposite message

00:19:23.740 that Joe Biden has given for the last four years. I think you could call it America first. It'll be

00:19:30.140 interesting to see if Europe embraces Europe first. Stay with us more ahead.

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00:20:31.660 our independent journalism.

00:20:42.140 So much has happened in the United States and Canada in the last six months politically

00:20:47.100 that thinking back to the pandemic and the lockdowns and the trucker convoy almost feels like a different

00:20:54.220 age, a different era. And indeed, I think it was. It's my view that the invocation of the Emergencies

00:21:02.140 Act marks the beginning of the downfall of Justin Trudeau in two ways. First of all, I think it revealed

00:21:08.620 his tyrannical side. And second of all, those same events caused the defenestration

00:21:14.220 of Erin O'Toole as the Conservative Party leader, replacing him with a much more vigorous

00:21:20.140 Pierre Polyev. If you can believe it, it was three years ago today that Justin Trudeau panicked.

00:21:28.620 Panicked not for security reasons, but for political reasons. Panicked because the world was watching

00:21:34.540 how ordinary truckers, grassroots people of all backgrounds, genuinely authentic and organic,

00:21:40.060 caused the government of Canada to blink. It was an amazing and terrifying time,

00:21:47.820 a terrible decision that was later found to be illegal and unconstitutional by the Federal

00:21:53.180 Court of Canada. But as you'll recall, living through it, it was unknown how deep Canada would go

00:21:59.900 down the road to a police state. And indeed, it was for several days a police state,

00:22:06.060 seizing hundreds of people's bank accounts, arresting people willy-nilly. It was a return

00:22:12.140 to the bad old days. At least, Pierre Trudeau, when he invoked the War Measures Act, he could point to

00:22:18.780 a bona fide terrorist group, the FLQ, which was blowing up mailboxes with bombs, kidnapping people,

00:22:25.900 and in fact, murdered one. Justin Trudeau, he was just embarrassed on Twitter. Joining us now to talk

00:22:32.620 about that fateful time, the Trucker Convoy, the Emergencies Act, and the resilience of the Canadian

00:22:38.940 people who helped throw off the government that it is in its final days, I'm joined now by Tom

00:22:44.220 Marazzo, whose latest project is the president of the Ontario Party. Tom, how are you doing? Nice to

00:22:50.620 see you again. We talked more back in the day during the lockdowns, during the convoy. It's nice to see you

00:22:55.660 again. Yeah, thanks for having me on the show, especially on the third anniversary of the EA.

00:23:01.260 Yeah, it's amazing how time flies. That matter is still working its way through the courts. Of

00:23:06.780 course, the federal government lost the constitutional challenge, and they're appealing that. And as you

00:23:12.860 know, there are some people, including Tamara Leach, who you know well, who are still working through

00:23:19.420 the courts, being prosecuted for pandemic lockdowns three-plus years later. Are you under any

00:23:26.780 prosecution or any legal or political intervention based on what happened three years ago?

00:23:35.340 Yeah, I was never charged criminally. There was no warrants or anything like that. But I am one of

00:23:40.860 the 40 or so that are named on, I don't know what it's at by now, a $300 million lawsuit

00:23:47.100 that was filed with the attorney in Ottawa, Paul Champ, Zexy Lee, and the Happy Goat something coffee

00:23:56.620 company. So that's the only legal action against me. I have filed in court, I am suing the federal

00:24:04.380 government for freezing my bank accounts without any form of due process whatsoever. And I'm

00:24:10.860 represented by Brennan Miller, Eva Chipiuk, and Keith Wilson on that lawsuit. But in terms of

00:24:18.300 my own personal charges, I've never had a warrant for my arrest. I was never charged, I was never

00:24:23.340 convicted of anything. And it's a mystery to anybody why I even ended up on Tamara Leach's

00:24:29.340 no contact list. But that's the liberal control over the court system right now in Ottawa.

00:24:37.020 Well, we learned through the Public Order Inquiry Commission, it was a largely stage-managed

00:24:43.980 affair with a hand-picked judge with a handwritten mandate from Trudeau. But I think we did learn

00:24:49.420 a lot from it nonetheless, including how disorganized the police were. It was a comedy of errors.

00:24:56.220 I mean, it really felt like a Benny Hill sketch or Keystone Cops. And that was part of it. It was

00:25:04.140 so capricious, so whimsical. And you had sort of blowhard police chiefs who were just sort of making

00:25:10.860 it up as they went along. I'm frankly surprised they didn't make a move on Rebel News. Because

00:25:15.580 although we didn't give money to truckers directly, we were journalists on the ground supporting the

00:25:21.980 truckers. And we crowdfunded lawyers for the truckers. I was really worried that with one

00:25:27.580 phone call, someone from Chrystia Freeland's office would shut down our bank account, which would have

00:25:33.260 put us out of business immediately. Our staff can't work without paying. Tell me what your

00:25:38.220 memories were. Were you on the ground in Ottawa when the Emergencies Act came in?

00:25:42.620 Yeah, I was actually, for the first time, I had a chance to meet Brian Peckford. And I was sitting

00:25:49.020 with Brian having a coffee. Tamara was there. I think Chris Barber was there. Brian's wife,

00:25:55.180 I think Eva Chipiuk was in the room. We were having a coffee about the sort of best way to get the

00:26:02.220 negotiation going with the city to try to get more trucks on to Wellington out of the downtown core,

00:26:07.660 which is what we had been working towards the entire time. And that's when Keith Wilson walked

00:26:13.580 into the room and said that Justin Trudeau had invoked the Emergencies Act. And so that was pretty

00:26:23.740 very surreal to be in there in the room with the last living member of the government that signed the

00:26:31.260 Charter of Rights and Freedoms as they're actually being stripped away from both of you together.

00:26:34.940 Wow. That's incredible. Now, were you shocked by this? Did you understand what it meant when Keith

00:26:41.820 Wilson said the Emergencies Act? Because I'll be candid, I didn't even really know the word. I knew

00:26:48.140 the War Measures Act because I knew historically, Pierre Trudeau had used it. I honestly, and I think

00:26:53.740 most Canadians didn't know about it because it had never been used before. So I think a lot of people

00:26:59.660 were quickly Googling it. Did you know it might have been coming down? Was there a buzz that this

00:27:07.820 might be coming or were you caught completely by surprise? Yeah. So there was sort of this buzz about

00:27:14.780 it potentially happening to us, but I viewed it as a little bit of, and I know this sounds terrible,

00:27:21.420 but of little consequence and I'll explain why. The city of Ottawa had already declared a state of

00:27:27.020 emergency for the city. Yet they had all the police powers at their disposal to deal with the protest

00:27:35.420 if it had actually broken the law. Right.

00:27:38.140 Then the provincial government under Doug Ford, he had also declared a state of emergency for the

00:27:43.820 province of Ontario. And again, had full weight, you know, force and effect of the criminal code

00:27:50.140 system in Canada to deal with the protest had it been deemed illegal. But we knew on two occasions,

00:27:57.580 Justice McLean, I think on the sixth, sorry, the seventh and the 16th had ruled twice that we had a

00:28:03.660 legal right to be there to do that protest. We weren't breaking the law. All we had to do was not

00:28:08.700 honk horns. Right. We stopped honking the horns on the seventh. Right.

00:28:11.980 So we weren't even in breach of a court order to stop the horns. So it's important for people to

00:28:17.420 understand that not a single Canadian right across the country was arrested under extraordinary powers

00:28:26.540 of the Emergencies Act. It was symbolic, but it gave the perception to those sitting at home that, you know,

00:28:34.700 this is an unruly bunch that the police are going to be justified to go in there and beat, you know,

00:28:40.940 citizens, seniors, veterans with impunity because Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act.

00:28:48.780 So I viewed the Emergencies Act really as a big smokescreen for the things that he already had the

00:28:54.300 power to do. He just wanted to make it look like it was more serious and required the Emergencies Act,

00:29:00.220 when in fact it didn't. Right. And even the smaller boycott in Coutts, Alberta, where truckers and farmers

00:29:07.900 blocked the road, if I recall, that was resolved before the Emergencies Act was brought in. So what

00:29:13.660 you're saying is, and I'm glad for this clarification, maybe I knew this, but I guess I forgot,

00:29:18.220 is that the Emergencies Act did not actually cause arrests? Is that what you're saying? It was,

00:29:25.420 it's what gave the green light for the money seizures, but anyone who was arrested was just

00:29:29.660 arrested by a regular cop under a regular criminal code infraction. I mean, I remain furious to this day

00:29:38.780 that Tamara Leach was charged with inciting mischief, but that's a regular law that's been in the 1.00

00:29:46.140 criminal code and I think common law for centuries. So they didn't need the Emergencies Act to pick her 1.00

00:29:51.100 up. So it was really a shock and awe muscle flexing move, wasn't it? Basically, yeah. I mean, everybody

00:29:57.340 is, you know, they became masters after a couple of years of raising the public's anxiety level through

00:30:04.140 the media. Right. You know, you'd know more than I, like, I was there on the day that Candace Sorrow

00:30:10.540 was run over by the horse. Right. You know, and I was, I remember talking to Lincoln Jay and I remember

00:30:16.780 talking to Alexa Lavoie moments before she was run over by the horse. Right. And, you know, so, you know,

00:30:25.340 your worry, I think, was very justified, given that you guys were the only real recognizable media.

00:30:31.980 There was a lot of independent media, like individuals, but Rebel News was probably the

00:30:37.740 most well-recognized broadcaster that was there during the actual confrontation with the police.

00:30:43.580 And as you know, Alexa got shot in the, the leg by a projectile.

00:30:52.540 Watch out, watch out. Watch out. Watch out. What are you doing? What're you doing? What are you doing?

00:30:59.340 What are you doing? Hold it. Stop it. Stop. Stop. Keep him. Keep him.

00:31:07.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:08.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:09.580 Hey! 0.99

00:31:10.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:11.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:12.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:13.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:14.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:15.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:16.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:17.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:18.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:19.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:20.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:21.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:22.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:23.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:24.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:25.580 There you go.

00:31:26.580 You all right?

00:31:27.580 Got trapped.

00:31:28.580 Oh, man.

00:31:29.580 Take care.

00:31:30.580 Bring her out. 1.00

00:31:31.580 Bring her out. 1.00

00:31:32.580 Come on.

00:31:33.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:34.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:35.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:36.580 And so you're right to be concerned about having your bank accounts frozen as an organization.

00:31:47.580 And I'm almost surprised because they did it to Druthers.

00:31:49.580 Right.

00:31:50.580 They seized Druthers bank accounts.

00:31:51.580 Oh! 0.60

00:31:52.580 I did not know that.

00:31:53.580 $300,000.

00:31:54.580 Oh, my gosh.

00:31:55.580 Yeah.

00:31:56.580 I don't know if you know this, but I was so worried about it and I thought two things would

00:32:02.580 happen if our bank account was frozen.

00:32:04.580 First of all, some vendors, like certain things that operate on a monthly payment from a credit

00:32:10.580 card, that would go down and that might put us out of operation, like our web hosting.

00:32:15.580 And then the second thing that I worried about was our staff because I don't, I think there's

00:32:20.580 a huge, huge number of people who could not skip a paycheck.

00:32:24.580 They just can't.

00:32:25.580 No one, no one's in that position.

00:32:27.580 So we prepaid and we paid down all of our accounts payable.

00:32:33.580 So we basically paid every vendor.

00:32:36.580 And I think in some cases we may have prepaid a month.

00:32:39.580 Oh, wow.

00:32:40.580 And we did so for our entire staff.

00:32:42.580 We gave everyone a month's pay in advance.

00:32:45.580 We said, this is not a bonus.

00:32:47.580 You know, this isn't extra.

00:32:49.580 This is in case we're shut down.

00:32:52.580 I, that was how worried I was because we were trucker adjacent.

00:32:57.580 Like you say, we were amongst them.

00:32:59.580 I'm glad you remember Lincoln Jay and Alexa Lavoie.

00:33:01.580 I think they worked 23 days straight without taking a break because they knew they were

00:33:05.580 in the middle of history.

00:33:06.580 And same in Coots.

00:33:07.580 We had guys embedded in the, in the saloon.

00:33:12.580 So, I don't know.

00:33:15.580 I think it was whimsical.

00:33:16.580 And that goes to the hodgepodge disorganized nature of it, I think.

00:33:20.580 I mean, I'm glad they didn't come for us, but I really thought they would.

00:33:24.580 So here we are three years later and you're, you have filed the action against the government.

00:33:31.580 And that's based on the ruling that the Emergencies Act was illegal.

00:33:36.580 That's basically the, the starter pistol for that, isn't it?

00:33:39.580 It really was.

00:33:40.580 And you know, the ruling I believe came out a year ago in January, the Mosley decision.

00:33:47.580 Right.

00:33:48.580 And that's to, thanks to Eddie Cornell and Vince Scorsese who filed the judicial review.

00:33:52.580 We got the ruling from Mosley last week.

00:33:55.580 It was actually the appeal had come up and they were arguing that the appeal, the federal

00:34:00.580 government has since then said there, even if, if they lose the appeal, they're going to

00:34:04.580 go to the Supreme Court.

00:34:06.580 Right.

00:34:07.580 Well, good luck with that.

00:34:08.580 Given the fact that Richard Wagner, the chief justice is going to have to recuse himself

00:34:12.580 from any case whatsoever related to the freedom convoy.

00:34:18.580 Because as you know, he's a judge and he spoke publicly and said a lot of disparaging things

00:34:23.580 about the freedom convoy as the convoy was going on.

00:34:27.580 So I don't know how you can think that going to the Supreme Court of Canada is going to help you

00:34:32.580 when you're down a major member, which is the chief justice.

00:34:35.580 Because I think a first year law student, I hope would know, have enough sense to say,

00:34:40.580 you need to disqualify yourself.

00:34:42.580 You, you've actually publicly biased yourself.

00:34:44.580 So I hope you're right.

00:34:46.580 But I mean, we've seen a lot of crazy things in courts in the last few years.

00:34:50.580 Yeah.

00:34:51.580 So that's chugging along.

00:34:52.580 And I mean, I know things move slowly.

00:34:55.580 How many people are in your position?

00:34:57.580 Would you estimate how many?

00:34:59.580 I think there were several hundred people that had their bank accounts frozen.

00:35:03.580 Are all of them suing?

00:35:04.580 Are most of them suing?

00:35:06.580 Do you know the others who are?

00:35:08.580 Yeah, I know of a handful of other clients that are, that belong to Keith, Brendan and Eva.

00:35:16.580 We are all being treated as individual clients by that, that legal team.

00:35:21.580 Right.

00:35:22.580 And then there's another group altogether, which is Bashiba and Ector

00:35:29.580 that are representing the group with Vince Gerses and Eddie Cornell.

00:35:35.580 But as far as the other, I think there's at least, I could be wrong on this number,

00:35:42.580 but at least 270 people had their accounts frozen.

00:35:45.580 Right.

00:35:46.580 Right.

00:35:47.580 For the most minor things.

00:35:48.580 I mean, everything from $50 donation prior to the convoy.

00:35:52.580 And here's the thing that nobody really talks about.

00:35:56.580 You're a lawyer, so you're familiar with the fruit of the poisonous tree.

00:36:00.580 Right.

00:36:01.580 You know, a lot of people were punished when their accounts with GoFundMe or Give, Send, Go were doxxed.

00:36:09.580 Were hacked.

00:36:10.580 Right.

00:36:11.580 So that was an illegal act.

00:36:13.580 And if you look at the police officer in Windsor, Ontario, he anonymously donated $50 to the convoy.

00:36:20.580 Right.

00:36:21.580 And then he was doxxed.

00:36:22.580 And by the way, he was at home on unpaid leave for COVID mandates.

00:36:26.580 Yeah.

00:36:27.580 We've talked to his lawyer a couple of times.

00:36:29.580 Absolutely outrageous what's going on in that case.

00:36:32.580 Yeah.

00:36:33.580 Well, let me ask you this.

00:36:34.580 I mean, I travel internationally sometimes.

00:36:37.580 We've sent reporters to farmer rebellions in the Netherlands and even just last week in the United Kingdom.

00:36:44.580 And I've been to other protests as well.

00:36:47.580 And all over the world, people talk about the Canadian truckers.

00:36:52.580 I think it was I think most of the time the world sort of forgets about Canada.

00:36:56.580 And I mean, but this was the whole world was riveted, I think, partly because it looks so authentic and organic.

00:37:04.580 It was sort of a leaderless movement, which is what made it powerful and hard to stop.

00:37:10.580 And it was so visually dramatic.

00:37:12.580 And I think people thought, boy, those Canadians must be upset because they never get upset.

00:37:18.580 Like it was just so many wonderful things.

00:37:20.580 And I'd say in Australia, in the United States, in Israel, in the Netherlands, in the UK.

00:37:27.580 I mean, that's almost half a dozen countries right there.

00:37:29.580 I have heard people praise the Canadian truckers.

00:37:33.580 And I think that's it was one of the greatest civil rights movements in Canadian history, is how I'd call it.

00:37:42.580 I was at a book signing with Trish Wood and Ray McGinnis a week and a half ago.

00:37:49.580 And in the audience was a woman from the UK.

00:37:52.580 She's back and forth between Canada and the UK quite often.

00:37:55.580 And she said from the UK, she was just glued to her TV, watching everything that she could about the convoy.

00:38:01.580 And so we knew during the convoy itself that we were actually sort of, for lack of a better term, setting the standard on what you could do to push back against your government.

00:38:14.580 I mean, trucks make wonderful obstacles when you're in a great place to sleep in minus 35.

00:38:22.580 Right, right.

00:38:23.580 Provided the police don't steal your fuel.

00:38:25.580 Right.

00:38:26.580 Well, it was an incredible time.

00:38:28.580 And, you know, we felt that it was a historic moment at Rebel News.

00:38:33.580 And I'm glad you still remember the work done by two of our citizen journalists.

00:38:37.580 So in that month of February 2022, and I've told our viewers this before, we had 400 million views and impressions of Rebel News.

00:38:46.580 400 million.

00:38:47.580 By contrast, the CBC state broadcaster, according to their own information, gets on average 360 million views and impressions in a month.

00:38:57.580 So for that one month, now, obviously, we're not at that level now, but it was the crisis.

00:39:03.580 And in the crisis, people did not trust the state broadcaster.

00:39:06.580 They trusted a handful of citizen journalists just pointing their cell phones and talking to ordinary people.

00:39:12.580 There were some mainstream media journalists.

00:39:15.580 Rupa Subramania was one of them.

00:39:17.580 But really, there were so few.

00:39:19.580 And I think if Trudeau had his way, he would have had the January 6th insurrection narrative.

00:39:27.580 He was so clearly trying to build that case, but he couldn't do it because the truckers didn't even really go anywhere.

00:39:34.580 Parliament was closed for renovations.

00:39:36.580 As you point out, this was not an illegal gathering.

00:39:41.580 There was some traffic infractions, sure.

00:39:43.580 But everyone was so Canadian. 0.96

00:39:46.580 And that's what makes it wonderful.

00:39:47.580 Last word to you, Tom.

00:39:48.580 You look back, would you do anything differently?

00:39:51.580 Or was it, as I look back at it, a historic moment where people rose to the occasion?

00:39:58.580 I think the only thing that I would do again, and I wrote extensively about this book in my book, and a lot of people had mentioned…

00:40:06.580 What's your book called again?

00:40:07.580 The People's Emergency Act.

00:40:09.580 The People's Emergency Act.

00:40:10.580 Okay, sorry.

00:40:11.580 Go ahead.

00:40:12.580 And so a lot of people looked at it like it was too harsh of a criticism.

00:40:16.580 But in reality, it wasn't meant to be.

00:40:18.580 It was just meant to be sort of a performance review, let's say.

00:40:22.580 One thing that I would have done differently, and it's probably the only thing I can really put my finger on it, is I would have written down on a piece of paper like what Keith Wilson drafted the final copy of The Roadmap to Freedom.

00:40:36.580 Okay.

00:40:37.580 And it outlined all the conditions that we would like to see happen and what would make us go home by certain dates.

00:40:44.580 So basically, I don't want to use the word list of demands because that sounds ugly, but what we're about and have that in writing before we showed up and give it to the media, give it to the police, give it to all the people and say, look, this is why we're here.

00:41:00.580 This is our declaration of independence, as you will.

00:41:03.580 Right.

00:41:04.580 So this is what we're talking about.

00:41:06.580 This is what we want to see happen.

00:41:07.580 If these things happen, we'll be more than happy to go home.

00:41:10.580 And I think that would have defended us against all the, not entirely, but against all the smearing of the government-sponsored propaganda and the lies being told by the liberals, which they still tell the same lies over and over today.

00:41:25.580 Yeah.

00:41:26.580 Well, some good faith people would have been moved by such a document, but the bad guys would have lied about you no matter what.

00:41:33.580 Absolutely true.

00:41:34.580 And as you put out this line.

00:41:35.580 Well, I think it was an enormous victory.

00:41:36.580 I think it was the greatest peaceful uprising in Canadian history, which was the appropriate remedy for the worst civil liberties bonfire in Canadian history.

00:41:45.580 And Tom Marazzo, it's great to reminisce a little bit and I've learned a few things and you've refreshed my memory on a few things.

00:41:51.580 And I wish you good luck in your lawsuit against the government.

00:41:54.580 Thank you.

00:41:55.580 I hope you're justly compensated.

00:41:56.580 Thank you.

00:41:57.580 Thank you.

00:41:58.580 All right.

00:41:59.580 There he is, Tom Marazzo, who was there on the ground three years ago in Ottawa, and today he's the president of the Ontario Party.

00:42:06.580 Stay with us.

00:42:07.580 More ahead.

00:42:08.580 This podcast is brought to you by Rebel News.

00:42:16.580 That's right.

00:42:17.580 So if you want to support us, why not do it in a win-win fashion by shopping for yourself?

00:42:23.580 One of my favorite things to do, head to rebelnewsstore.com to pick the patriotic gear that pleases your heart.

00:42:31.580 And while you're there, use coupon code DREA10 to save while you do.

00:42:44.580 Hey, welcome back to your letters to me.

00:42:45.580 John says, we need these young guys in Canada to audit Trudeau and liberal corrupt government.

00:42:51.580 You're talking about the people that Trump calls the young geniuses.

00:42:55.580 Those are the DOGE, Department of Government and Efficiency kids, some as young as 19, who are sniffing out the fraud and corruption.

00:43:03.580 Yeah, we do need that in Canada.

00:43:05.580 Some of that is actually public access, open source information.

00:43:09.580 You can go online and do the research yourself.

00:43:12.580 Alexa Lavois of our company has started doing that.

00:43:15.580 You can follow her.

00:43:16.580 I forget what website we have, but we've set up one.

00:43:19.580 Daniele3228 says, was USAID covering all those organizations in Canada also?

00:43:28.580 The answer is yes.

00:43:30.580 Now, I don't have a full list of organizations in Canada, but it is insane how U.S. spending, including on censorship, affected free countries like Canada and the United States.

00:43:43.580 Not just targeting, let's say, Islamic or Soviet countries.

00:43:49.580 I'll give you an example that's personal.

00:43:51.580 A company called NewsGuard got a three-quarter of a million dollar check from the U.S. Air Force, and they audited Rebel News for disinformation and tried to smear us.

00:44:02.580 So we were one of the victims of this wasteful and abusive spending by the U.S. government.

00:44:09.580 AP says, I do not understand why Sam Cooper is not on the national news discussing these points.

00:44:15.580 It seems nuts that he is the only one continually sounding the alarm.

00:44:19.580 Our friend Andy Lee sounds the alarm also.

00:44:22.580 And from time to time, you've got to give credit to Steve Chase and Bob Fyfe of the Globe and Mail.

00:44:27.580 But you're right.

00:44:29.580 I think that the CBC especially is about as pro-Chinese Communist Party as it gets.

00:44:36.580 Well, that's our show for today.

00:44:38.580 Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters to you at home, good night, and keep fighting for freedom.

00:44:45.580 Be all right.

00:44:46.580 Done here at Rebel forward and keep fighting for freedom.

00:44:47.580 сн

Rebel News Podcast - February 15, 2025

EZRA LEVANT ｜ JD Vance calls out enemies of free speech in Europe

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