Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Your toughest end-of-the-year questions for Ezra!

00:00:00.000 Hello, my friends, my favorite show of the year in many ways. 100% your letters to me. So it's

00:00:05.560 just a letter section. Ask me anything about our business, about politics, about my personal life

00:00:11.540 even. We'll get some of those. Before I get to that, I want to invite you to get the video version

00:00:16.860 of this podcast because I want you to see me dressed up as Santa or at least wearing the

00:00:20.820 Santa hat, which I am doing in today's episode. Please go to rebelnewsplus.com and click subscribe.

00:00:26.020 Do you ever feel like you need a translator just to understand your financial plan?

00:00:31.320 Rocklink Investment Partners cuts through the noise. No more confusing buzzwords and endless charts.

00:00:37.900 Just clear, straightforward advice that puts you in the driver's seat of your financial future. Don't

00:00:42.840 believe me. Give them a call for a free consultation to learn more about how Rocklink can protect and

00:00:49.320 grow your wealth using the time-tested principles of wealth creation. You can call them at 905-

00:00:56.000 631-5462 or email them at info at rocklink.com. That's Rocklink with a C. Info at rocklink.com.

00:01:04.840 Tonight, Merry Christmas, everybody. It's me, Hanukkah Harry. I'm going to read your letters

00:01:25.400 to Santa, or to me. It's December 25th, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.

00:01:31.280 Shame on you, you censorious bug.

00:01:45.120 Well, it's that time of year again, that cozy digital fire. And, you know, I like to read letters

00:01:52.320 from fans and even from foes at the end of every show. But today, we're going to make

00:01:57.640 that the entire show. We put out a call by email and on the website to ask people to send

00:02:04.300 in a question literally and ask me anything. I can't think of any question that I would

00:02:08.980 reject. Now, there might be some things that are private that I wouldn't answer, but really

00:02:13.640 no holds barred. A chance for you to put your toughest or bestest questions to me, even

00:02:18.580 of a personal nature. So, without further ado, let me read your letters to me. And I have

00:02:23.640 not seen these before. These have not been vetted in any way. Our team has just literally

00:02:28.660 printed them out, put them in this big Santa's bag, and I'm just going to read them and then

00:02:32.720 chuck the ones I'm done with on the floor. So, here we go. The first is by Pauline Gauthier.

00:02:39.720 Bonjour, Ezra. People are so entrenched in their magical thinking, and many are so unable to admit

00:02:44.860 what they see with their own eyes, listen to both sides, and think critically. Considering

00:02:49.440 this, do you ever feel like just throwing your hands up and calling it a day? If not,

00:02:54.460 how do you keep going in a country where our destructive PM is doing absolutely everything

00:02:59.020 he can to block and discredit you? Thanks for all you do to bring us the truth. Blessings.

00:03:03.200 Well, Pauline, first of all, thanks for your very friendly words. I appreciate your compliments

00:03:07.620 in there. Yeah, it's frustrating. And sometimes it even feels lonely. And sometimes we know

00:03:15.760 we're going to lose a battle. Like, we're always battling Trudeau in court. I haven't counted

00:03:20.820 recently, but last I checked, we had seven lawsuits against them. And I got to tell you,

00:03:26.700 that's an uphill battle. We'll probably lose five out of those seven. But I feel like we have

00:03:31.620 to do it anyways. And I know that just because the odds are long doesn't mean you can't win.

00:03:38.060 I feel like there were really dark days, for example, during the Emergencies Act, when the

00:03:42.480 government cracked down on the convoy, when they were seizing bank accounts. We didn't know if it

00:03:46.520 would get worse. But I think you have to keep doing what's right. And I think you can find hope and

00:03:52.180 inspiration in certain places. I mean, for me, when Donald Trump won, I mean, put aside his flaws and

00:03:58.760 things like that. To me, I was really worried that the rules would be rigged, that there would be

00:04:03.880 cheating, and that that would cause a great strife in America. When he survived his assassination

00:04:08.500 attempt, my heart was pounding how close America came to a civil war. And now I'm sort of relieved

00:04:15.220 of what didn't happen, and I'm elated at what could happen. And I want to keep that positive hope going.

00:04:21.620 In my own case, I consider myself extremely lucky that I get to do this for a living

00:04:26.820 and get to work with like-minded people. I know a lot of people, including people I went to school

00:04:32.660 with, who were interested in politics, but they got a, quote, real job. And they liked the job for

00:04:39.320 sure, but I regard it as a privilege and almost a luxury that I get to deal with ideas and political

00:04:45.080 battles every day for a living. That's pretty fun. I mean, it almost feels like I'm not working when I

00:04:51.660 get to do these things. And of course, I'm only one person. There's only 24 hours in a day.

00:04:57.040 So to be able to work with 30 colleagues, there's 30 of us. That's pretty cool, too. So I don't know

00:05:01.840 if that answers your question, but those are some of my thoughts. Thanks for your kind wishes. Okay,

00:05:05.320 let's keep going. We got a whole bunch in here, and maybe I might have to be a little more succinct

00:05:10.120 in some of my answers. This is from Caitlin Pigeon. Merry Christmas, Ezra. Straight to the point.

00:05:17.120 I was wondering if you had any advice for anyone who would like to start journalism.

00:05:21.540 What is a good way to start? I've had so much hope since I first heard about and watched

00:05:25.540 Rebel News. The way you report on what's real and true in Canada and all that you do are beyond an

00:05:30.520 inspiration. Thanks very much, especially during the convoy. Thank you. Thank you for your heroic

00:05:35.880 actions towards making a better future for not just Canada, but also Australia and thus the world.

00:05:41.340 Wishing your team all the best in the new year. Sincerely, Kate. Well, that's so nice of you.

00:05:45.800 Thank you. And I'm glad you gave a shout out implicitly to our Australian team,

00:05:50.400 Avi Yamini, and he's got two colleagues he works with down there. They do a great job.

00:05:56.720 You might not expect my answer about how to start journalism, but maybe you do. These days,

00:06:04.060 you're a journalist if you have a smartphone and a Twitter account. And I know that sounds like I'm

00:06:10.020 not answering, but actually, I really am answering. I don't know if you remember,

00:06:13.680 but when you mentioned the convoying here, I went down to the convoy for a couple of days in Ottawa.

00:06:18.540 I spent most of it here in Toronto sort of quarterbacking things, but I did go to see with

00:06:22.680 my own eyes Ottawa. And I was invited to give a couple of brief remarks by the folks who were

00:06:28.140 running the PA system there. They recognized me and they invited me up. And my message to people

00:06:32.320 there was, you are the media, be the media. If you've got a cell phone, these days, every cell

00:06:40.200 phone has a camera in it, right? Guess what? You're a videographer. If you have a Twitter account and

00:06:46.720 they're free, guess what? You can write a story. And these days you can write quite long. So I would

00:06:53.620 suggest starting in that way as a citizen journalist using the tools of citizen journalism. And you might

00:07:02.000 say, well, I want to be a bigger big shot than that. I want to have a studio. I want to do something

00:07:07.200 fancier. Walk before you run. Can you do something interesting to say? Can you build it up from scratch

00:07:15.140 without hurting yourself financially? Because, I mean, you didn't explicitly say you want to make

00:07:22.080 a living in journalism because it's hard to make a living in journalism. I mean, most people are

00:07:26.080 failing at that, right? The only reason CBC continues on is because of the subsidies.

00:07:32.440 I think starting journalism and doing journalism for a living are two different things. So my advice

00:07:37.560 to you would be start small. Tweet about things in your own neighborhood. Photo or video things in your

00:07:44.380 own realm. If you're a student, there's lots of crazy things going on on campuses. If you're not a

00:07:49.340 student, you know, these days in Canada, I'll just give you an example. There's lots of homeless

00:07:53.700 encampments. That's a very sad thing. We're all used to them in big cities, big city slums, but

00:07:59.540 they're even in small towns now. So with the tools you have, a cell phone, a Twitter account, wherever you

00:08:05.960 are, there is news where you are. And if you can film it and tweet it and write a little story,

00:08:11.700 that's journalism. And I would start doing it as sort of a hobby before trying to make it a full-time

00:08:17.580 enterprise. See if you like it. See if you get a reaction. See if you get a response. All right. I better

00:08:22.600 speed up if I'm going to get through these letters. I'll keep going. And thank you for that. This is from

00:08:26.920 Rick. Hi, I just bought your new book on the crime sinister. Oh, that's funny. Can't wait to read it. I have to

00:08:33.460 get your first one as well. Another year of total corruption. They went after David Menzies with false

00:08:38.120 arrests and now they came after you. It conclusively shows how corrupt the entire system here is in

00:08:44.260 Canada. They all should hang from a rope. Well, I mean, hang from a rope I know is a colorful metaphor. 1.00

00:08:52.720 And sometimes people talk about, you know, prosecuting the prime minister. And I always just tap the brakes

00:08:59.160 a little bit on that talk because of two reasons. First of all, I know you're speaking metaphorically and

00:09:04.220 poetically and hang from a rope as a metaphor. But they really want to label our side violence,

00:09:09.780 right? Violent. That's what they wanted to do with the truckers. They wanted to graft the U.S. 0.94

00:09:15.160 narrative of the January 6th insurrection onto the peaceful Canadian truckers. That was what Trudeau

00:09:21.200 explicitly wanted to do. And he was foiled because of the bouncy castles and, you know, the hot tubs and

00:09:28.540 the positive spirit that was published by citizen journalists. So the first thing is don't let them

00:09:35.640 hand you a script that you are violent. We're not. In fact, it's the other side that is. Look at Antifa

00:09:41.080 or a lot of these pro-Hamas rallies. And the second thing about criminalization, I agree that a lot of

00:09:47.640 crimes are being committed by the government, mainly in the form of fraud. Fraud, corruption. Trudeau himself

00:09:53.520 has been convicted multiple times under the Conflict of Interest Act. And I think that there

00:09:59.140 are a lot of crimes that have happened that have been covered up. I think the RCMP is being politicized.

00:10:05.080 I think that Elections Canada looked the other way with massive foreign interference. So there are crimes

00:10:11.440 and those crimes absolutely should be prosecuted. But again, just if you would accept my counterpoint,

00:10:18.920 it would be don't label mere disagreement a crime. You know why? Because you'll be the one

00:10:24.580 they prosecute. If having the wrong opinions or the wrong politics becomes a crime, you know that

00:10:30.160 they will wield that law against people like you and me. So absolutely prosecute the real crimes.

00:10:36.800 And I bet you this is the most corrupt government in history, all combined. But don't criminalize

00:10:43.160 political difference. Do you understand the differentiation there? All right, let's keep

00:10:47.980 going. From Scott Blumenthal, Ezra, I love everything that you do. I'm an American married

00:10:52.720 to a Yemenite Israeli. So I have three Avianinis of my own. Well, that's terrifying. One is quite 0.77

00:10:59.860 enough for the world. I'm kidding. I read Libranos when it came out. We read Avi's book when it came

00:11:05.060 out. I donate what I can to Rebel News. I want a copy of Trudeau's secret plan, but I refuse to give

00:11:09.660 even one cent of my money to the communists at Amazon.com. How can I get a copy of this book

00:11:15.040 without Amazon? I'm willing to pay double. Wow. Okay. Well, Scott, first of all, thank you for all

00:11:20.380 the interesting things you've said there. We do have some copies right here at the office. So if you

00:11:28.080 send an email to info at rebelnews.com and just refer to this, we'll take care of you. And I understand

00:11:36.960 your skepticism of amazon.com. There's a lot of things about them I do not like. That said,

00:11:43.480 they are the number one way to sell books, which is our goal here. So info at rebelnews.com and just

00:11:51.300 sort of describe things and mention that I said this and then we'll take care of you that way.

00:11:56.020 Thank you. All right, let's keep going here. We've got a lot more letters. Ivan Hamlin says,

00:12:00.340 Hi, Ezra. I just wanted to know if you or any of your journalists are going to be at Trump's

00:12:04.960 inauguration. Keep up the great work. Well, the answer to that is yes. I think David Menzies is

00:12:12.480 going down with Ephraim Monsanto, if I'm not mistaken. And I have been invited to the Rumble

00:12:20.220 Truth Social Inaugural Ball. And we publish on Rumble. As you know, that's a competitor to YouTube.

00:12:28.340 It's a free speech competitor to YouTube. And the president of Rumble has invited me and I've

00:12:34.960 accepted the invitation. I've never been to an inauguration before. I don't have, I don't know

00:12:41.040 what to wear to an inaugural ball. I just put on a proper suit, I guess. I should tell you,

00:12:47.860 as soon as that ball is over, I'm getting on a plane and going, how ironic is this, to the

00:12:54.340 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland? Because that starts on the 20th of January.

00:12:59.820 So the inaugural ball, inauguration days of January 20th. It's also when the World Economic Forum

00:13:06.120 meeting in Davos starts. So I thought, well, you know, it's a real tradition of Rebel News to go

00:13:11.480 to Davos and cover it. And I don't want to miss that. It's very important to our viewers. However,

00:13:16.380 Avi Yemini and Sheila Gunn-Reed will both be at Davos from the very first minute. In fact,

00:13:21.960 I think they're arriving the day earlier. So I will miss a day and a half in Davos. But I'll be

00:13:28.520 there, like literally the next flight I can take. I will. And I just feel like to be invited to an

00:13:35.960 inaugural ball by True Social and Rumble, given our relationship with Rumble, I feel I should accept

00:13:42.380 that invitation, mainly because Sheila and Avi are going to cover off the World Economic Forum. I believe

00:13:47.780 that our annual trip to the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos is the most important journalism

00:13:53.740 we do. You might recall that's when I scrummed Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer with Avi Yemini.

00:14:00.860 And you never know who you're going to get there. I mean, last year, I bumped into the president of

00:14:05.500 the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I don't know if you saw that one. A couple of years ago,

00:14:09.820 it was Greta Thunberg. So I think that's a very important place for our citizen journalism.

00:14:17.880 I'm going to take a detour through the inaugural. I've never been to one before. I'm sort of excited

00:14:22.740 about it. And, you know, what's happening? There's a lot happening in the world at the same time,

00:14:28.620 isn't there? All right, next letter. Ronald Redland. Hi, Ezra. My question is regarding the House

00:14:33.600 question period regulations. I've been hearing lots about the online harms bill. That's C-63.

00:14:40.560 And the liberal talking points regarding children and their safety, I also know about the devastating

00:14:44.160 portions of the bill which destroys free speech. I've been waiting patiently to hear from the

00:14:48.160 opposition party some quotes from the bill which will show the viewers what's being as a Trojan horse.

00:14:55.060 Have I missed something or are members not permitted to quote sections of the bill?

00:14:58.880 Why is anti-freedom of speech Trojan horse not all over the news? Thanks for considering my

00:15:03.340 question. All the best to you. The bill is moving through Parliament, but you might recall that

00:15:09.680 about two weeks ago, the Justice Minister, Arif Arani, announced he was going to split the bill

00:15:15.160 into two parts, which I don't know how that works. I think that I'm just guessing he has to reintroduce it.

00:15:24.180 So there really are two distinct parts to the law, to the bill, which is a proposed law. The first is

00:15:30.440 dealing with child pornography, revenge porn, sexual predators, human trafficking, stuff like that.

00:15:36.360 First of all, everyone agrees with cracking down on that stuff. Second of all, a lot of that stuff

00:15:41.800 already is in law. I think it was Stephen Harper who 10 years ago banned so-called revenge porn with a

00:15:48.100 very serious prison term. So to put those in the bill, again, in my view, was a distraction,

00:15:54.440 misdirection, a misdirection from what, like you said, Trojan horse, the actual internet censorship

00:16:01.860 provisions. No one could disagree with banning child porn. But then they put in this political

00:16:08.760 censorship stuff. So if you dared speak out against the bill, they would falsely say you were against

00:16:15.780 cracking down on child porn. Looks like the bill is going to be split in two. If that's the case,

00:16:20.460 I think, to my relief, it is unlikely that that will pass before the next election.

00:16:26.080 As far as quoting a bill, absolutely you can quote from a bill when you're debating it in the House.

00:16:33.020 Calvin Arndt says,

00:16:34.320 Hey Ezra, my wife always asks me, how does his wife put up with the crazy life he leads? 0.99

00:16:39.080 Referring to you, she must be a superwoman. So yeah, is your wife polar opposite to you? 1.00

00:16:44.360 How does she cope with all that you and Rebel go through?

00:16:47.200 Well, that's a very friendly question. And yeah, I mean, can you imagine how tolerant she must be?

00:16:53.960 And she doesn't even roll her eyes, which I'm glad. I remember asking her once,

00:17:01.260 I said, so how come you're not watching my shows? And she said, Ezra, I get it. 24 hours a day,

00:17:08.820 I could recite your monologues for you. I don't need, you know, after listening to you all day to sit

00:17:15.360 down, to relax by listening to you some more. She didn't quite use that language, but it was sort

00:17:19.960 of funny. When I asked her why she doesn't watch it, she says, I hear it all day. No, she's,

00:17:26.580 I do try, I try and get home. I travel a lot, as you may detect, but I always try and get home

00:17:33.000 as fast as I can, which sometimes truncates the trips. For example, sometimes I go, when I go to

00:17:40.360 cover a place like Amsterdam, where I went when there was riots about a month ago, or Ireland,

00:17:46.460 sometimes I'm only on the ground for 24 hours. And, and I think, well, boy, I could sure use an extra

00:17:53.280 day here. But I do try and get home because I like to see the wife and kids. And they're not very

00:17:59.660 political people, which I think is excellent. I mean, being political is a certain path in life

00:18:06.520 and, and not every, and, and we're not just political, we're, we're sort of conflict oriented

00:18:10.740 rebel in a way that we rush to the controversy and we try and fight it. And not everyone is built that

00:18:16.360 way. I am. And so I'm lucky I've a home life situation that can abide what I do. And, and they're

00:18:24.740 great. They're great. They really are. I couldn't do it without their support and patience.

00:18:29.660 Keeley Park says, what about Tommy Robinson? I make a monthly subscription for his legal fees.

00:18:35.540 Why is he still in solitary confinement? Keeley, thank you very much for this letter. I think

00:18:40.660 about Tommy, uh, all the time and I am in fairly constant touch with a members of his family and

00:18:49.920 be members of his little team. As you know, he still has a news outlet called urban scoop. Um,

00:18:56.260 I'm about to send an email out that gives an update on his legal case. Um, I'm recording this a

00:19:05.140 little bit before Christmas day. So by the time you see this, you'll have an email from me, uh,

00:19:10.960 giving you an, a very specific update on the two legal files I have been working on for Tommy. What

00:19:17.840 do I mean by that? Um, I have been working with, uh, two law firms in the UK, one of which is fighting

00:19:26.960 against the bogus terrorism act charge against him. Remember under the terrorism act, they can seize you

00:19:33.520 without a warrant question you. You have no right to remain silent and demand to get into your cell

00:19:38.960 phone. You have to give the password. Tommy's not a terrorist. They just use that law to get into his

00:19:43.280 phone. He refused to give his phone password. So they're prosecuting him for that. It's crazy,

00:19:49.600 but you got to defend it. So I I'm working with the law firm in that case, it's called Carson K and, um,

00:19:56.400 um, it sounds ridiculous, but we have to hire not only that law firm, but, uh, a barrister in the UK.

00:20:04.880 Those are separate lawyers. They have the solicitor and the barrister, two different people, which sort

00:20:09.600 of doubles the cost, but we have an excellent team going to fight on the terrorism act. And your

00:20:15.120 question is about the second part of what I'm helping him with, which is his prison situation.

00:20:19.120 As you know, I visited him, uh, in Woodhill prison and I suppose he's doing okay in that he's in no

00:20:28.640 danger other than the danger of mental psychological decay of being by yourself. He's getting all the

00:20:35.600 food he needs. He's getting lots of visitors. The prison itself is not too far away from his kids,

00:20:41.680 so they can visit him. He's allowed to wear his civilian clothes because he's a civil prisoner.

00:20:47.600 The main problem though, is he is in a segregation unit meant for hard criminals. And we have a law

00:20:55.840 firm and, um, by this time, by the time you're watching this video, you should receive a letter

00:21:03.760 from me outlining the steps we're going to take. Um, this prison law firm has written to the prison,

00:21:10.000 the prison has written back, and I'm going to show that letter, um, in an email to Tommy supporters.

00:21:16.080 So anyway, so I'm sorry for the very lengthy argument, I'm sorry, answer, but just to tell you,

00:21:21.280 I am very much, uh, focused on that. I'd say I work on that two or three days a week, not for the whole

00:21:29.520 day, but I'm dealing with things two or three times a week. Um, because Tommy's not very law oriented.

00:21:36.160 Obviously the lawyers are consulting him. He's the client, but I've agreed to help work with the lawyers to help

00:21:41.680 plan budget. What's the strategy just to oversee things a little bit, including on the pricing side.

00:21:49.920 Um, cause I'm a former lawyer myself and I'm a little more familiar. I think Tommy doesn't really

00:21:53.840 like dealing with lawyers and it shows. Um, and that's a long answer, but, uh, by the time you see

00:21:59.440 this video, you should have a more detailed update from me. Noreen Proctor says, hi Ezra. I ran up to

00:22:06.000 hug you at Tamara Leach's book signing in Calgary. Ezra, you never give up no matter what. I have

00:22:11.040 watched non mainstream news and rebel news for the last almost five years. And you're my number one

00:22:16.000 all time Canadian hero. God bless you. And every single rebel reporter, you are all Canadian heroes.

00:22:20.800 Well, thank you. And thank you for the hug. And I am a big fan of Tamara Leach as well. And working 0.73

00:22:26.800 with her has been a great privilege. Um, not only doing stories about her, but publishing her book.

00:22:33.600 And as you know, we're crowdfunding her legal fees. And I just recently learned that she was paying for

00:22:40.400 her own physical security and she didn't tell anyone. Whenever I would see her out in Ottawa,

00:22:46.640 she would have this bodyguard who was a great bodyguard, by the way, I mean, really professional.

00:22:51.280 And I don't know why, but I assumed someone else was paying for that. I just never asked until

00:22:56.320 recently. And she said she paid tens of thousands of dollars for her own protection. And I, I'll be

00:23:02.480 honest with you. My first reaction was I was mad, mad that she'd kept that a secret. I mean, it just goes

00:23:09.200 to show you how humble she is and she didn't ask for help. Yeah, we're going to help her with that,

00:23:14.400 as you know. Bobby Meyer says, New Zealand, because of its anti-Semitic government, it's experiencing

00:23:21.280 high levels of anti-Semitism. Will Rebel News be employing a reporter to cover the issue's

00:23:26.400 actions there? I've been to New Zealand, uh, with Avi and, um, I didn't know that it had an

00:23:35.120 anti-Semitic government in New Zealand. Um, I know that Jacinda Ardern, the socialist leader

00:23:41.200 is gone and that the party that succeeded her was more conservative or freedom oriented.

00:23:47.840 I have not heard that it's anti-Semitic and, and I just, maybe I haven't been following it.

00:23:52.240 I know there are some countries like Ireland, the government is really pro-Hamas, so much so 1.00

00:23:58.080 that Israel withdrew its embassy. I just haven't heard this about New Zealand. And I, I pretty much

00:24:03.920 rely on Avi Yamini for news about New Zealand. I mean, it's further away than you would guess. In my,

00:24:10.720 when I was a kid, I thought New Zealand and Australia were right close to each other. It's

00:24:14.480 like hours away by plane, just looks close because there's nothing else down there on the map. But

00:24:20.880 if something's happening in New Zealand, I'm going to rely on, on Avi to tell me because I,

00:24:24.960 I just wouldn't have the contacts. Crystal Dowie says,

00:24:29.360 you appear to be a very private person and I want to respect that, but I am curious about

00:24:33.200 your family. Do you have children? What can you tell me about your wife and kids? Do your wife and

00:24:37.520 children agree with you politically? I am sort of private, not because I'm not proud of my, uh,

00:24:44.160 personal life, but because they would face some, um, retaliation and danger for being associated with me.

00:24:52.480 Um, I myself, uh, you know, I'm, I'm up for the cut and thrust of it. I can dish it out so I can take

00:25:00.400 it most of the time. Um, and I'm not under someone else's power. Like I remember when I was a student

00:25:08.880 activist, I was always cognizant of the fact that the professors had the ultimate power over you.

00:25:13.680 They could give you a failing grade, for example. Um, it wouldn't give you a recommendation letter or

00:25:19.360 something. And even when I worked for other companies, I used to work for the national post.

00:25:24.720 I used to work for the sun and sun news network, things like that. Whenever you have a boss,

00:25:29.360 you are at some risk, but I've, I've been independent for almost 10 years, but my wife and kids, um,

00:25:36.720 first of all, they're not activists like me. So they have, they're not public people. And, um,

00:25:43.040 the problem with being more open about them would be the people who want to get to me might choose to

00:25:50.640 get at me through them. And, and they haven't signed up for that. I mean, uh, obviously they,

00:25:59.280 they respect my, my politics. I mean, when, when I met my wife, I was already fairly well known for

00:26:05.920 having certain strong opinions. And, uh, I don't think she would have spent any time with me had she

00:26:11.280 been opposed to them because it's not like I sneaked up on her with these opinions. She knew,

00:26:16.560 um, she knew about, about me before, before we met on a personal level. Um,

00:26:22.800 and the kids are, are, are young enough that they're not really politically active. Um,

00:26:29.680 you know, what's sort of fun though, is the, the older kids, their peers at high school, um,

00:26:36.240 um, follow Rebel News, not all of them, but it sort of went from, oh, you know,

00:26:42.240 I don't know if you have kids, but your kids love you and, uh, idolize you, uh, until a certain age.

00:26:48.880 And then, you know, they say, oh, dad's not cool. Oh, dad, come on. You're embarrassing. Oh,

00:26:54.880 that's dad's music. Oh, that's dad's slang. I don't know if you know, I mean, kids go from absolutely,

00:27:00.480 uh, holding you up on a pedestal, sort of laughing at how ghost you are, but I've had sort of a

00:27:06.160 renaissance in my own family because, uh, other kids in high school think Rebel News is cool.

00:27:12.000 Anyways. Um, so thank you for that letter, Crystal. Susan Burns. Hi, Ezra. I would like to know more

00:27:18.640 about Theresa Tam. I haven't ever seen anything about her background and current involvement with the WHO.

00:27:23.520 Well, Susan, um, I haven't done a story about Theresa Tam recently, but we did a lot of reports about

00:27:31.920 her, uh, during the pandemic and right in the very early days, we were one of the first to dig up, uh,

00:27:39.280 a footage of her in some national film board documentary about quarantines and like prisons

00:27:50.080 and arresting people who didn't lock themselves up. Um, so, so we were very, very early skeptics

00:27:57.760 of Theresa Tam. We also, I think it was Rebel News that broke the exclusive that she was 0.89

00:28:05.120 an employee, not employee. She was, well, yeah, an employee of the World Health Organization

00:28:10.480 and had a non-disclosure agreement with them and sort of a loyalty pledge to them.

00:28:14.640 And, and she was one of the directors that made some vote about whether or not to, you know,

00:28:21.280 to criticize China or so. I forget the details right now, but we did a ton of journalism about

00:28:27.760 Theresa Tam. I think we had a very large petition too. And again, I'm going from memory here. I think

00:28:32.640 we called it Fire Tam, F-I-R-E-T-A-M.com. Um, I haven't done a story about her recently. Maybe someone else on

00:28:40.960 our team has. I know that, um, Tamara Ugolini and, um, Drea Humphrey continue to do that beat.

00:28:48.720 But if you want to see our stuff on Theresa Tam, just type in FireTam.com. And I think that'll show

00:28:56.320 a lot of our stories. There is a question people ask, which is, is she transgender?

00:29:00.480 And, uh, I've seen pictures and allegations. I haven't done any investigation in that regard.

00:29:07.680 And frankly, that's not my beef with her. My beef with Theresa Tam is she's an authoritarian bully, 1.00

00:29:15.200 junk science, obeys the World Health Organization, um, has dual loyalties. On the one hand, she's loyal 1.00

00:29:21.120 to the World Health Organization. On the other hand, she's loyal to Canada. Which pick a lane? Which one is

00:29:25.520 it? Um, none of that has to do with her own sexuality. I don't know about her sexuality.

00:29:31.760 And it's the reason I find her atrocious is because of what she does, not because of 0.96

00:29:39.120 her sexuality one way or the other. Wayne Curry, is it possible or feasible for Trump to exempt

00:29:44.560 certain provinces from tariffs while imposing them on non-compliant provinces? Also, you've said that the

00:29:50.000 average donation to Rebel News is $58. Is that per month, per year? Merry Christmas. Wayne,

00:29:54.880 the average gift. The average, to answer your question, we don't get any money from the government.

00:30:00.720 We, we don't get money from YouTube. We were demonetized. So we rely overwhelmingly on crowd

00:30:06.000 funding. And the average gift is $58. So that's the average time when someone gives. Sometimes people

00:30:13.040 give once and never again. Sometimes people give every month. Uh, if, if people are giving every month,

00:30:19.840 typically it's less than $58. The reason I mentioned the $58 average donation is to make the point that

00:30:28.400 we have a ton of little supporters. It's not like we have one big oligarch cutting us a check for a 0.84

00:30:34.400 million bucks a year. I've daydreamed about that. Sometimes life would be easier if you just had one

00:30:39.920 giant benefactor, but it would be terrifying because you would have to do exactly what they said. Or with

00:30:44.320 one flick of the tail, you'd be out of business. Um, luckily I've never been tested with such an

00:30:49.920 offer. Um, as to your question about tariffs, I don't see why not. I mean, Trump can do whatever

00:30:56.400 he wants. He could write a tariff in whatever way he wants. In terms of practical terms, he might exempt

00:31:02.720 oil and gas and minerals, but tariff the auto industry that would effectively have a geographic

00:31:08.480 difference too, wouldn't it? Darlene Brown says, I appreciate all the honest reporting your team

00:31:12.960 does for us Canadians when we can't trust any legacy media. I'm not at all happy with the flack you all

00:31:18.400 get, but that is a burden we must bear with telling the truth these days. However, it seems that there

00:31:23.200 are only two provinces in Canada that got most of the coverage and they are Alberta and Ontario.

00:31:27.920 Is it possible there might be something worth reporting in let's say Saskatchewan or Manitoba?

00:31:32.160 Mea culpa, you are correct. And it's a function of where our people are geographically. Drea is in

00:31:41.840 the greater Vancouver area. Sheila is in Alberta. Alexa is in Montreal. I'm here in Toronto with David.

00:31:49.200 Avi Amini's in Melbourne. We used to have a fella in Ottawa. We actually briefly had a young lady,

00:31:54.800 Kelly Lamb, in Saskatchewan. And when we had her, she was doing stories there. It's a little bit harder,

00:32:01.200 although, you know, we do, we do travel around. I acknowledge that we are not doing enough

00:32:06.240 coverage in Saskatchewan or Manitoba and we do very little in the Atlantic. And I think it's

00:32:12.320 because we're small and you don't just need the journalists. You need the cameraman and the editor

00:32:18.320 and things like that. And we, listen, if, if we had the budget, I would love to have someone in the

00:32:24.720 Atlantic and I would love to have someone in the prairies. We just, we just don't. Brian Krause, my question is,

00:32:30.640 can you select a subscriber once a month to shadow you and or one of your reporters for a day in

00:32:35.600 whatever office or region that makes sense that's closest to where they live or work? I'd be

00:32:39.360 fascinated to see how the sausage is made. And I bet many other subscribers feel the same way.

00:32:44.160 I volunteer for the first month you start this program, as long as it's not in April,

00:32:48.160 as I'm a tax accountant. Thank you for considering it. Well, Brian, that sounds like a lot of fun.

00:32:52.880 Um, half the sausage is made. Yeah, well, it is sort of fun behind the scenes. I mean, every

00:32:59.600 morning at 10 a.m. Eastern, which is 8 a.m. in Alberta and 7 a.m. in BC. And I say that because

00:33:05.600 we have teammates in different time zones. We have a Zoom or Skype call where we all sort of talk about

00:33:10.640 stories of the day and who's doing what. And then I'll just take in the example of David Menzies. We have

00:33:16.560 it. But typically he goes somewhere and the cameraman goes with him and there's some interaction. God

00:33:21.520 forbid, sometimes he's even arrested and then to bring that back. And then the cameraman is typically

00:33:26.560 also the video editor. And maybe there's some comments said in the studio. Yeah, it's an interesting

00:33:33.920 process. And then when it's done, it's reviewed by an editor and then it's uploaded to the internet

00:33:38.960 and tweets are written for every story. There's probably six pairs of hands that touch it, maybe even

00:33:45.040 more. And then sometimes if it's interesting, someone writes an email to send that out to the

00:33:49.680 list. So it is how the sausage is made. It's a great phrase in terms of the logistics.

00:33:57.920 You know, why don't you why don't you send an email? I mean, I'm not sure where you're located.

00:34:02.960 It would be a different experience if you're out in the field, like in Vancouver,

00:34:07.040 just to watch Drea report something. Whereas here in Toronto, you would probably see more of the 0.98

00:34:11.600 different stages in the, you know, the assembly line. You know, we wouldn't want you to get

00:34:17.920 underfoot trampled or anything, but it could be fun. It could be fun sort of reality TV style,

00:34:22.160 almost like TMZ brings a camera into the newsroom.

00:34:25.840 All right. Last question. Leanne says, what surprised you most this year, good or bad?

00:34:33.520 I was surprised that Trump won as convincingly as he did.

00:34:37.440 I wasn't surprised that, that he got the votes. I was surprised that there weren't more shenanigans.

00:34:45.120 I was convinced of it. I was, you know, the kids use the phrase red pill and blue pill.

00:34:51.200 And then there's a phrase white pill or black pill. These are, you know, different moods. Red pill is

00:34:56.720 you wake up to reality. Blue pill is you like to still labor in unreality. Black pill is you feel like

00:35:05.120 everything's doomed. White pill is you feel delighted and optimistic. I was blackpilled

00:35:10.880 about the election. I thought they're going to do everything and anything. Trillions of dollars,

00:35:15.920 entire wars will turn on this election. I thought the deep state, whatever, anything, nothing,

00:35:22.960 they will not let Trump win. And look, they tried twice to assassinate him. They came within an inch

00:35:27.360 once. So when he won and won every swing state and won the majority of the popular vote, I was shocked.

00:35:38.160 Not shocked that he had the support, but shocked that he overcame the shenanigans. And I'm still

00:35:46.640 reeling from that. And that gives me hope here in Canada too. Pope John Paul II always used to say,

00:35:54.000 where there's life, there's hope. And isn't that the truth? So never give up. Never give up. Never,

00:36:01.760 never, never. My friends, thanks for your great questions. And Merry Christmas to you all from

00:36:08.560 Hanukkah Harry over here on behalf of all of us at Rebel World Headquarters to you at home.

00:36:14.000 Good night. And keep planning for freedom.

Rebel News Podcast - December 26, 2024

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Your toughest end-of-the-year questions for Ezra!

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript