Western Standard - A Year Like No Other： 2025 Year-Ender

00:00:00.000 Good day and welcome to the Corey Morgan Show.

00:00:29.920 this will be our last one of 2025 we're doing a christmas special right now as you can see we're

00:00:37.620 looking all festive like with the snowflakes on the glass wall and a christmas tree back behind me

00:00:43.060 and we're just gonna wrap up the year going over some of the stuff with the year and boy it's been

00:00:48.380 a hell of a year i mean think about it trudeau was still our prime minister only a year ago

00:00:53.360 it seems like forever ago but look how much has happened we've got a general federal election

00:00:57.800 that, well, was a catastrophe for the Conservative Party.

00:01:01.840 We've had a municipal election in Alberta.

00:01:04.180 We've had all sorts of events in between and going on,

00:01:07.700 and we're heading into another year that looks like it's going to be

00:01:09.960 no less crazy than the last one.

00:01:11.900 So to wrap it up this year, we're going to speak to some of our reporters

00:01:16.280 and through our news editor and just kind of do a recap of those top stories

00:01:21.240 and the ones that stood out the most this year,

00:01:23.140 just to look back one more time before we start looking forward.

00:01:26.540 I'll start by turning to our trusty news editor, Dave Naylor, who's in studio.

00:01:30.840 And hey, Merry Christmas.

00:01:32.660 Merry Christmas to you and Jane.

00:01:34.360 Hope the season goes well for you and your water doesn't shut off again.

00:01:38.380 Oh, God, I hope not.

00:01:39.640 It'll be a stinky Christmas if we can't get consistent.

00:01:43.280 So if I had to come to you in January of this year and I said,

00:01:49.280 I'll bet you $10 Trudeau will be out of office and dating Katy Perry, 0.85

00:01:55.340 Would you have taken that bet?

00:01:56.880 Probably.

00:01:57.440 You would have been $10 richer.

00:01:58.960 Yeah.

00:01:59.800 And I would have been confident. 0.99

00:02:01.200 Say, how you lunatic. 1.00

00:02:02.580 Exactly. 0.99

00:02:03.460 So what a year, eh?

00:02:04.300 Holy cow. 0.89

00:02:05.280 Yeah.

00:02:06.880 The Katy Perry ending is just kind of a bizarre icing on the cake.

00:02:10.160 You know, we just can't lose him from the new Skrull.

00:02:12.840 No.

00:02:13.300 And unfortunately, people seem to want to read about him.

00:02:16.440 And, you know.

00:02:18.340 I'd rather him on the gossip pages in pop culture than sitting in any position of authority anymore.

00:02:23.340 he said. Exactly.

00:02:25.480 And have the deep conversations I'm certain

00:02:27.340 they must have. So yeah, the federal

00:02:29.400 election was one of the top stories of

00:02:31.380 the year. A disappointing result

00:02:33.540 for Alberta

00:02:34.680 with Mark Carney being elected.

00:02:38.460 Well, he's got

00:02:39.420 a one-seat minority now, I

00:02:41.460 guess. I guess one more floor crosser 1.00

00:02:43.560 he'll have a majority.

00:02:45.580 So we could be stuck with him

00:02:47.420 for five

00:02:49.620 years, four more years, I guess.

00:02:52.240 And

00:02:52.500 And Pierre Polyev, how close a battle for his political life do you think it's going to be?

00:02:58.580 A lot of people talk about the upcoming review, but those things, I mean, we always hear people

00:03:03.000 try to ramp it up. Well, we have seen reviews go badly for leaders before. I think he's going to

00:03:08.280 do okay, a little lower than other times. His bigger risk is, as it usually is, it's in caucus.

00:03:13.440 So if he loses too many crossing within there, it doesn't matter if the tens of thousands of

00:03:17.680 members support, if you start losing dozens in your own caucus, well, let's ask John Rustad how

00:03:22.000 that ends for you, or Alison Redford or Stockwell Day or the long list of

00:03:26.640 conservative leaders who get torn down by their own.

00:03:29.300 He's got a tough spot though.

00:03:30.740 He's got to start showing some progress.

00:03:32.760 Yeah, he does.

00:03:33.500 The review is in just next month in Calgary.

00:03:37.000 So that'll be fun.

00:03:39.280 I'm like you.

00:03:40.140 I don't think he's in any serious danger.

00:03:42.000 I would bet he garners 75% to 80% support, which I would think would be

00:03:48.160 enough for him to stay.

00:03:50.100 Yeah, give them a mandate and then just hope

00:03:52.360 that there aren't too many more opportunists.

00:03:54.440 I mean, again, he'll make predictions for 2026.

00:03:56.520 I'm pretty confident there's going to be at least a couple more go over

00:03:58.980 and they're going to get that majority for Kearney.

00:04:02.340 How damaging that knife to the party will be, I guess,

00:04:05.300 is going to be where Paulie Hebb is going to have to hold together.

00:04:08.580 It's not just that review then.

00:04:10.000 How are you going to maintain confidence in people?

00:04:12.520 We'll see.

00:04:13.320 Yeah.

00:04:13.600 I mean, I think, you know, the economy is not going to grow

00:04:18.300 grow in leaps and bounds anymore. It's sputtering. The trade war is hurting. Plants are closing.

00:04:25.080 Mills are closing. Jobs are being lost. So that may sway some things and get the support up for

00:04:33.060 the Conservatives again. You'd think. I mean, some of the questions people get to ask is,

00:04:36.260 you know, how bad is it going to get? I mean, it looks bleak for those of us who watch these

00:04:40.900 sorts of things. As you said, the manufacturing, you know, the export market, Central Canada's

00:04:44.360 industries are in terrible trouble and meanwhile we're neutering our western canadian industries

00:04:49.720 because we've well we we just can't get anything done we talk and talk and talk and we won't

00:04:54.980 develop our resources so no but uh we did get a memorandum of understanding oh yeah that's exciting

00:05:01.460 between uh prime minister carney and premier smith uh they're going to take small steps towards

00:05:08.320 building a pipeline i'm not sure it'll ever get built in my life no small steps indeed i mean the

00:05:13.720 flux capacitor will be invented by then and we'll all be traveling to the future and you won't need

00:05:18.220 oil by the time these guys get one in the ground. There's this posturing, you know, frustrates me.

00:05:24.920 We know that with liberal governments, any government, if they really want to get something

00:05:27.820 done, they get it done. If he wanted to see that pipe, he'd be saying, we're going to make that

00:05:31.560 thing go. But he's just feeding us. Yeah. And Premier Smith this week saying,

00:05:38.540 uh uh you know if we can't go west we'll go uh south yeah and uh you know get it out onto the

00:05:45.940 pacific northwest coast and for export to asia so there are more than one way to skin a cap oh yeah

00:05:52.520 and she's had quite a year too and has another one uh to look forward to uh the agm was pretty

00:05:59.160 lively this year in edmonton for the ucp yeah well why don't we uh delve into independence that

00:06:05.180 was a big issue in Alberta for the year. We were both at the UCP convention when Jeff

00:06:12.680 Rath stood up and rallied his troops and got a very large standing ovation, probably 80

00:06:18.940 to 90% of the people there. So you're the expert on this file. You're a published best

00:06:25.960 selling author on this file. Momentum seems to be building and there's no doubt there's

00:06:30.820 going to be a vote yes uh and you know if we're going to take one of those ten dollar bets or

00:06:35.840 something like i i think it's showing that the premier smith's committed to having a referendum

00:06:41.480 held i don't i don't get the feeling she's on the side of wanting to see yes vote necessarily

00:06:45.300 understands that referendum has to be held it's just too much pressure there's got to be a choice

00:06:50.860 given to albertans and it gives her a lot of political leverage to play with i think it's 0.99

00:06:55.360 going to be in fall but it looks the way the scheduling is starting to go with this and

00:06:58.680 petitioning and so on. If nothing changes dramatically, I can't see it winning. But

00:07:05.620 that's a long campaign period of time and a lot of events that could happen to change that

00:07:10.300 altogether. It's stronger than I've ever seen in my life and solid. It's not just, you know,

00:07:15.220 I'm outraged this week, but I calm down next week. This has been holding steady and growing

00:07:20.280 since the last federal election. I mean, there was already a base of it before the last federal

00:07:25.660 election. That just really drove it home to some people. So it's striking. As you know,

00:07:30.920 we're talking before, I've been doing public speaking, you know, meetings as a guest speaker

00:07:35.260 for the Alberta Prosperity Project. And these meetings are getting bigger and bigger, even bad

00:07:40.040 weather, nasty highways, dark nights. People are getting up and coming out to these meetings and

00:07:45.180 they're new people. It's not just the same old faces. So something's building up here and it

00:07:50.860 can't be ignored uh so yeah i would still make that bet that i don't think there's going to be

00:07:56.460 a positive vote by the fall of uh 2026 i hope there is that's where i sit on things uh but i

00:08:03.100 wouldn't rule it out either i just uh things are different than we've ever seen before yeah i think

00:08:07.920 there's probably a solid 35 percent that would vote for independence and they're they're they're

00:08:14.360 solid you know yeah but you know there's 10 percent there that may be leading one way and

00:08:19.220 maybe leading the other way. But when you get in that ballot box and you're choosing, there's a

00:08:25.160 lot of unknowns, a lot of things that have to be explained, how things are going to run in

00:08:30.860 the independent Alberta. But yeah, I think it'll top out maximum at 40%.

00:08:36.680 We'll see. I mean, it depends on how things go in this next nine months and what kind of

00:08:42.680 campaign is there, filling those questions, filling that void. The Alberta Prosperity

00:08:47.300 Project's done some great ground organization and everything, but I think they're almost maxing out

00:08:52.320 to try and reach new people. They got to change a little of their messaging, perhaps coming from

00:08:57.500 some of their older people in there. I won't mention any particular names, but if you want to

00:09:02.920 appeal though to the urban voters that you must appeal to, to win a referendum and the younger

00:09:08.320 voters, you've got to change a little more of that messaging now. Just rampaging around in an

00:09:13.480 mill-filling suit and cowboy hat in small-town meetings isn't going to get them over the line.

00:09:17.660 I think another one of the big issues this year from all parts of the country has been regarding Indigenous people

00:09:26.860 and everything from the Kamloops grave hoax, as you call it, the Cowichan decision in B.C.,

00:09:37.260 throwing land ownership, home ownership up in the air.

00:09:43.080 You know, the closing of parks in British Columbia

00:09:46.940 and saying, you know, only Aboriginal or Indigenous people can go in it.

00:09:52.160 I think it's creating a bit of a backlash.

00:09:54.960 And I think we've got some parents in Ontario

00:09:58.060 who are suing school boards over these endless land acknowledgement,

00:10:03.760 uh uh you know whatever you want to call them tributes or but i think it's it's going to be a

00:10:11.540 continuing indigenous affairs is going to be a continuing issue in 2026 yeah that's for sure

00:10:17.420 it's really coming to a head i mean we're talking now about large tracts of populated private

00:10:22.600 property david evey has taken a bad situation and made it so much worse uh i mean the way they're

00:10:30.140 saying the mixed messaging they're throwing out to say, don't worry, there's nothing to worry

00:10:33.780 about. This is just, you know, it'll be settled. Well, now banks won't finance houses or businesses

00:10:38.000 out there anymore. So then the government says, don't worry, we'll bail you out. Well, wait a

00:10:42.700 minute, if this isn't really happening, why are you dedicating $150 million to buy out these people?

00:10:47.580 And we know when you give away just a little like that, that the claims that are already there are

00:10:53.180 going to explode hot and heavy. And there's a claim over every inch of BC in one place or another.

00:10:58.040 Uh, and it's going to get bad, you know, when you start taking an area and some idiot judge 1.00

00:11:03.660 and I, I'm sick of idiot judges and there's a lot of them, uh, gives away a portion of 1.00

00:11:07.480 an urban area. 1.00

00:11:08.200 It says, that's it.

00:11:08.960 There's going to be people are going to say, I'm not leaving my house.

00:11:11.080 You know, it's going to be from those cold dead fingers, sort of, uh, approaches to things

00:11:15.320 that they've, we've, this country has got to sort out that, that, you know, you, you 0.99

00:11:20.680 talk about idiot judges, all it takes is one smart judge, you know, to set a precedent 0.99

00:11:25.580 ruling or a one or a Supreme court, you know, but you're right, coming to a head 1.00

00:11:30.460 and it's got to be dealt with sooner than later.

00:11:32.540 Yeah.

00:11:33.040 Can't keep waiting.

00:11:33.920 It's festered.

00:11:34.980 And, uh, it's certain them, you know, our own Jared Yeager is great for getting out

00:11:38.600 to those conferences and that with that renaming of a bridge to some weird,

00:11:42.240 incomprehensible thing there with that, that it was really striking when that,

00:11:45.920 uh, you know, somebody had asked a valid question about the Chinese steel used in

00:11:49.220 the bridge and the, the indigenous leader for the area came up and shoved the 0.99

00:11:52.400 minister aside and then lectured with a temper tantrum, the reporter and said,

00:11:56.540 we're only here to talk about nice stuff and celebrate stuff about us.

00:11:59.540 You can talk to him another time.

00:12:01.640 Really did highlight the infantilization of the people we've managed to, because

00:12:06.960 she acted like a six year old child having a tantrum, the entitlement and just how 0.91

00:12:12.640 these are the people we're supposed to negotiate and reason with.

00:12:16.200 And instead with all this pandering, this is what's been created.

00:12:19.820 So seeing a solution out of this, we're going to, we're in for a heck of a year,

00:12:23.120 I think, cause even EB doesn't know what to do now.

00:12:25.040 He's created this monster and he can't manage it.

00:12:28.580 Talking about things that we would never have predicted at the beginning of the

00:12:32.060 year, how about a nationwide effort to save a flock of ostriches?

00:12:37.520 Oh yes.

00:12:38.200 Is it a flock of ostriches or herd, a gathering?

00:12:41.480 I don't know what the term for ostriches would be.

00:12:44.100 That's a good question.

00:12:44.840 You know, with that much, being in the news that long, we should have,

00:12:47.420 I should have figured that one out.

00:12:48.940 I got that one.

00:12:49.640 You get a murder of crows and so on, but I never really thought of ostriches.

00:12:53.280 I mean, that garnered international attention for about a month when the Canadian government, the Food Inspection Agency,

00:13:01.140 discerned they would have to slaughter all these poor creatures because one of them had avian flu last year.

00:13:08.020 And even though none of the frog, I guess they got a herd immunity.

00:13:12.740 So we'll call them a herd of ostriches. 0.98

00:13:14.700 I guess.

00:13:15.500 That was, you know, nobody was burying their head in the sand on that one.

00:13:19.740 Oh, man.

00:13:21.220 End the year with one like that.

00:13:22.920 Yeah, saving that one up all year.

00:13:24.700 Yeah, well, it was a good example of the government being ham-fisted.

00:13:27.340 Again, you know, with their regulatory agencies, their bureaucratic agencies, so clumsy.

00:13:33.900 I mean, they could have come into this.

00:13:35.420 I understand there's a reason for that.

00:13:36.920 There's a need for it.

00:13:37.680 I mean, if there really was a virulent virus going through there that's going to harm poultry

00:13:42.300 production or other neighboring areas, we do have to manage that.

00:13:45.900 But they just came in guns blazing, it seemed to be fair to those owners

00:13:50.220 seem that they were a little, they weren't your run of the mill ranchers.

00:13:52.460 They were a little different as well, which makes it difficult to manage,

00:13:56.780 but I just think they did very, made it much worse than they had to.

00:14:00.700 Not much like their COVID response.

00:14:02.300 They can't come in with reason.

00:14:03.340 They come in with the truncheons instead. 1.00

00:14:04.940 Exactly.

00:14:05.980 And one of our highlights, I always speak for myself and I'm sure I'm speaking

00:14:09.820 for you is uh we both got to travel to one of the world's hot spots israel this year yeah very

00:14:14.700 eye-opening it was i mean yeah quite a year to go you know during the i guess not the worst of the

00:14:20.700 conflict but still an active one and and really get to get an eyes on the ground see the people

00:14:27.820 uh you know it's it's it's different to as you know when you get there yourself versus what

00:14:33.020 we're reading or seeing on tv but it's the first thing that strikes you is everybody's walking

00:14:38.220 around with a machine gun right even in civilian clothes it's okay if an army person's carrying one

00:14:43.820 but it's very striking to see uh you know a man walking along the beachfront in tel aviv with his

00:14:48.940 family and he's got a you know an m16 strapped to his back well it's it's a sad necessity but

00:14:57.020 it's comforting in the sense too i mean the horrific situation we saw on the beach in australia

00:15:02.220 if there'd have been uh you know 50 people around with their own firearms at that time

00:15:06.780 those sick shooters probably would have only gotten three or four shots off before they were 0.99

00:15:12.060 neutralized as opposed to managing to kill 15 people and wound 35 others. 0.94

00:15:19.580 We both got to go to the site of the Nova music festival massacre where hundreds of

00:15:26.140 hundreds of people died and it's really quite a moving thing. It just crosses with everybody's

00:15:32.380 photo on it and yeah you know they're all young people to be there and see those pictures and it

00:15:37.500 still struck me you know because you could see these were just kids they were just partying they

00:15:41.900 were really truly in the wrong place at the wrong time they could have been anybody's daughters or

00:15:45.900 sons or cousins not harming anybody and and to be mercilessly slaughtered and abused as they were

00:15:53.820 by these these monsters and that's what they were they were monsters um i'm glad for the exigent

00:15:59.900 Foundation for bringing media members out to have a look. They weren't telling us what to write or

00:16:04.700 what to think, but here have a look for yourself because there's been so much misinformation or

00:16:09.020 uh you know trying to uh let's say whitewash even or just under you know

00:16:16.220 try and set aside how horrific the actions of October 7th were. We can't let people forget

00:16:21.580 what those guys did to start this whole mess. Even if you're critical of what Israel's doing now, 0.77

00:16:25.740 gotta understand how this began and uh we sure saw yeah i got to travel to uh the near oz kibbutz

00:16:35.100 that's where the bill bass family was was kidnapped from and there was an old guy there

00:16:40.220 called shlomo believe it or not and he was taking us around to all the burned out houses and and

00:16:47.580 we're probably about two kilometers from gaza and you could see the smoke from the bombings

00:16:52.780 uh, you know, still rising and, uh, uh, blood still on the walls of the houses and stuff like

00:17:00.220 that. What happened that day is, is just beyond description beyond what, what, what one human can

00:17:08.860 do to another is just, just gross. It drives home that, that hard reality. You know, we like to

00:17:15.040 imagine maybe it's only in the movies, maybe it's only, you know, in history books, but to realize

00:17:18.280 that we, people really are, you know, we've lived a nice shelter life in Canada.

00:17:22.420 It was much of a complaint about the politics and everything else.

00:17:24.680 Comparatively, the safety and the lack of seeing anything like that happen here

00:17:29.400 has allowed us to be complacent, but to go firsthand and see,

00:17:32.520 realize that this can still happen today in this modern world.

00:17:35.860 In fact, it is happening.

00:17:38.680 It just drives a hard lesson.

00:17:40.980 Yeah.

00:17:41.400 I remember traveling in Germany and going to the Dachau concentration camp.

00:17:45.540 And it was, I thought it was kind of similar, except that Dachau was 80 years ago.

00:17:51.180 Yeah.

00:17:51.620 And this was two years ago, right?

00:17:54.440 And it was just a really, really no strike home.

00:17:58.260 Yeah.

00:17:58.880 Well, hopefully next year bodes a little better somehow for what's going on.

00:18:02.160 I mean, that was kind of the final part of it too, is just learning how complicated that

00:18:05.240 whole area is.

00:18:06.540 And there's no, there's no simple solution to what's happening.

00:18:09.720 No, no, it's, it's, it's a mess.

00:18:11.460 I was surprised at how cosmopolitan Tel Aviv was.

00:18:18.180 The building going on there is just crazy.

00:18:21.880 So skyscrapers and cranes every corner.

00:18:25.040 And I left with a good impression of Israel, but yeah, there's no easy answers.

00:18:33.100 No, I mean, that's it.

00:18:33.980 You've got Tel Aviv and it's beautiful and the restaurants and the cafes

00:18:36.700 and the strikingly beautiful people all over the place.

00:18:39.700 But it's such a small area.

00:18:41.140 I mean, you go 40 miles in one direction or another, and suddenly you're into Palestinian territory, and it's a war zone.

00:18:48.240 Well, why don't we bring in Jeremy Borg and see what stories he wants to talk about this year.

00:18:54.400 You bet.

00:18:54.980 Editing magic, Jeremy Borg is here with us, a newer member of the Western Standard family here,

00:19:01.000 very prolific with lots of stories covered, some big stuff in the relatively short time here already.

00:19:06.560 So welcome back to the show.

00:19:09.380 I've had you on before, haven't I?

00:19:10.660 No, you haven't.

00:19:11.340 Oh, snub.

00:19:12.640 Geez.

00:19:13.660 Yeah.

00:19:14.120 Well, if I had, it wasn't memorable.

00:19:16.420 Sorry about that.

00:19:17.160 Well, it's about time you got on here then.

00:19:19.180 Yeah.

00:19:19.520 Glad to be here.

00:19:21.240 And well, tell us, you know, what stood out for you in your year this year with the Western

00:19:26.680 Standard?

00:19:28.880 So starting chronologically, I think the first thing we're going to have to talk about is

00:19:33.820 the Jessica Yaniv story. 0.97

00:19:35.880 Oh, well, you got some balls. 1.00

00:19:37.680 Oh, man. 1.00

00:19:38.860 Oh, man.

00:19:39.300 so uh it was a harassment case that was brought against yaniv by donald smith uh who was then

00:19:46.580 later possibly arrested in bc i haven't checked up on that and uh i think that's probably my most

00:19:52.980 viral story today getting like two million views on twitter for those who don't know

00:19:58.980 jessica yanov is a very well-known troublemaker in british columbia yeah sort of the ball waxing 1.00

00:20:06.420 Yeah, she sued, like, beauty pageants for not letting her in 0.99

00:20:11.540 and sued spas for refusing to wax her in the halls.

00:20:20.620 She's special.

00:20:21.800 She's special.

00:20:22.960 I remember one story I did was she kept laying in the bathtub

00:20:27.500 and calling for the fire department to come and help her out. 0.98

00:20:29.920 Yeah, it was poor fire, but, man, it's a tough job.

00:20:33.140 It's to see.

00:20:33.700 yeah when that story came across

00:20:36.460 my guess I knew it was going to be a gooder

00:20:38.320 and Jeremy did a good job

00:20:40.140 yeah that story led to

00:20:42.540 an in-depth piece that I

00:20:44.440 quite enjoyed writing where I just detailed

00:20:46.340 everything Yaneva's

00:20:48.560 done that put them in the public spotlight

00:20:50.760 highlights

00:20:52.760 being calling Drea Humphrey

00:20:54.600 the n-word repeatedly

00:20:55.640 assaulting Kian Bexty

00:20:58.220 allegations

00:21:00.440 allegations of

00:21:02.760 grooming minors although that hasn't been substantiated there's there's a lot there

00:21:07.260 in the end of it she whatever is a very troubled person i mean it's clearly somebody with some

00:21:13.780 some mental health issues but i mean it's just so comical that you we can't help but report on that

00:21:20.340 dumpster fire yeah what an introduction to the western standard family in my first month

00:21:24.460 after uh being at each drive politics no no let's talk about yeah yeah no i was i was uh i walked

00:21:31.100 into work and I didn't even know who Yanov was

00:21:33.160 that day. I learned a lot.

00:21:35.820 Well, you'll never forget now.

00:21:37.140 No. No, especially not

00:21:39.220 if someone keeps sending me

00:21:41.260 emails about them.

00:21:43.980 So, moving on to

00:21:45.160 number two.

00:21:47.060 This was a recent story

00:21:48.720 that strikes close to home as an

00:21:51.020 Ontarian. There were these

00:21:53.360 indigenous chiefs

00:21:55.740 that came to Ottawa to do a press conference

00:21:57.280 and one of the northern

00:21:58.960 Ontario chiefs

00:22:01.080 said that the ring of fire development just wasn't going to happen until his community was

00:22:05.160 thriving with perfect water, you know. And that kind of stood out to me because the mainstream

00:22:12.160 media wasn't reporting on it like that. They were saying indigenous communities, complaining about

00:22:16.960 lack of water, lack of resources, but just randomly claiming that a huge industrial project isn't

00:22:24.680 going to happen is just wild to me. And I never saw that before. We see a lot of those, Dave and

00:22:30.720 I were kind of talking about that, just this whole sense of whether they hold the power

00:22:35.540 to veto projects or not, it's got to be resolved, or we're never going to get anything done

00:22:39.940 in this country.

00:22:41.040 No, it really is.

00:22:42.680 If you can just destroy huge infrastructure projects that are going to help people make

00:22:49.420 money and help this struggling Canadian economy, I think then we have to have a real conversation

00:22:56.120 about what the actual role is of Indigenous people in our infrastructure projects.

00:23:00.440 they can't just claim to shut things down when they don't

00:23:02.440 like things. Glad you sniffed it out

00:23:04.520 in Ontario, because we'll hear a lot more out in the

00:23:05.980 prairies in BC and so on. We can't forget, there's

00:23:08.300 a large indigenous population in northern Quebec,

00:23:10.680 Ontario, and it's the same problems.

00:23:12.980 Yeah. What's next

00:23:14.600 on your list? What's next on my list?

00:23:16.940 Yes, Jeremy's list.

00:23:19.160 Okay.

00:23:20.180 Going a little further, this is sort of a two-parter.

00:23:22.340 We got the, sort of my

00:23:24.440 federal politics coverage, we've got the

00:23:26.160 Don Tremont and Ma Sagas.

00:23:28.140 didn't think there were a lot of floor crossers

00:23:31.580 the fact that it happened twice in two months is a little bit crazy

00:23:35.460 especially learning about the Nova Scotia

00:23:39.800 conservative movement which is borderline a liberal movement

00:23:43.820 just hearing about that drama in federal politics

00:23:47.660 was quite entertaining it made my days interesting

00:23:51.440 Dave I know you did a little bit more on Don Tremont than Ma but

00:23:55.460 what were your thoughts on that whole thing? 0.87

00:23:58.140 Well, they're traitorous turncoats, aren't they? 0.95

00:24:01.780 Yeah. 0.99

00:24:01.960 They were elected as a conservative.

00:24:04.300 They weren't elected as a liberal.

00:24:05.960 If their constituents really wanted a liberal, they would have elected the liberal guy.

00:24:11.960 But they didn't.

00:24:12.960 And these guys stabbed their voters in the back.

00:24:16.780 Yeah, I've been...

00:24:17.880 It goes around, comes around.

00:24:19.140 I've been talking to some of the constituents, some of the people who worked for them.

00:24:21.820 And the general consensus is that Ma just absolutely stabbed them in the back without any notice.

00:24:28.140 Including the article I wrote today, I guess would have been a couple days ago when this airs, about Ma saying that he didn't even know he was going to become a liberal until the day of.

00:24:41.240 Which also conflicts with a couple of his prior claims.

00:24:45.600 Yeah, it's been in the works for a little while. He's clearly a self-serving individual. That's just how politics go.

00:24:53.700 And we can clearly see that the Kearney government is engaging in some backroom dealings to manufacture a majority rather than actually getting the votes or calling an election.

00:25:04.260 Absolutely.

00:25:06.400 Don Tremont was the same story, although it seemed like the Conservative Party had a little bit more notice for that one.

00:25:12.680 They had their talking points prepped.

00:25:14.920 They were able to sort of fight back, whereas Matt was just a complete blindsiding, including that whole Christmas party.

00:25:23.700 scandal in the secret santa where jamil javani got snubbed uh which was another funny one i think

00:25:29.800 uh garnet jenis an alberta mp picked up on that story i wrote um that graphic was pretty fun to

00:25:36.580 make yeah well right on well you've been off to a good start for the season as i was saying today

00:25:43.280 of 2026 looks like it's going to be even crazier so uh rest up over the holidays and get ready to

00:25:49.640 cover a bunch more insanity. I think it's

00:25:51.640 going to be landing on your desk and

00:25:53.160 make sure you send a Christmas card

00:25:55.620 to Jessica for kicking off your

00:25:57.260 Western Standard career so long. I asked Michelle

00:25:59.480 for one, so I'll have to find

00:26:01.460 the address. Great. So why don't we

00:26:03.380 bring in David Winnick? Sounds

00:26:05.420 good. All right, now I got both Daves in the room

00:26:07.420 at the same time. Usually I'm just swapping one Dave

00:26:09.460 or another, you know, I've got my

00:26:11.280 substitute Dave when this Dave isn't available

00:26:13.380 but we have both

00:26:15.400 Daves. Daves I know. Surprise, surprise.

00:26:17.620 Do not adjust your set

00:26:19.400 This is... I'm not sure what that is.

00:26:22.080 I think this is perfect for the homorotic Christmas episode of Three's Company, so... 0.99

00:26:25.500 I think I used to have shag carpeting in that.

00:26:28.900 I said I'd go with 70's Uncle with this. I like this.

00:26:31.620 This is our Uncle Rico going on.

00:26:33.760 So what is your favorite story of the year?

00:26:35.480 Well, when you asked us to do this, this was kind of a bit of an odd one.

00:26:38.980 I went with three.

00:26:40.580 I didn't really know what to do exactly, if I should go with the one that got the most views, the one I liked, etc.

00:26:45.300 So I did a couple.

00:26:46.940 I personally liked the one I did about Eva Chipyuk, who is everyone's favorite Freedom Convoy lawyer.

00:26:52.700 And her bank account is getting canceled by the Royal Bank of Canada for no reason, really.

00:26:56.280 They just kind of canceled them.

00:26:57.220 And then after she asked them why, they said that they flagged it because she did a transaction with Bitcoin, which she didn't exactly believe that was the main reason.

00:27:05.300 No, that was a good story.

00:27:06.480 That got a huge number of page views for us.

00:27:10.240 Yeah, it was a lot of interest.

00:27:11.760 Well, I was looking as well, actually, because it was, if I remember correctly, published on July 23rd, which was one month to the day that I started working here.

00:27:18.880 So I guess I peaked early and I've crashed and burned like the Hindenburg ever since. 0.90

00:27:22.180 You've got to find another big one. Come on.

00:27:24.420 I'm working. I'm working.

00:27:25.780 What have you done for me lately is the model of this business.

00:27:29.400 I suppose. I suppose. Yeah.

00:27:33.220 What else you got?

00:27:34.560 Well, I was trying to find one that was a nice one.

00:27:37.940 And there was a story here a while back about a high school football coach known as Taylor Teej Johansson, or Johansson, I believe his name is pronounced, who was in Sylvan Lake.

00:27:48.380 He was coaching football at the local high school, and he got canceled off the football team by the school there because he posted some stuff online about the trans ideology that he didn't agree with.

00:27:59.560 And then our publisher, Derek Fildebrand, did a story on that and broke the story.

00:28:04.380 And then I ran into Tiege a couple months later at the, I think it was the Alberta Municipalities Convention.

00:28:10.300 And he had become a town councillor.

00:28:12.500 And he gave credit to the Western Standard for basically giving him exposure.

00:28:16.440 And he ran as a Christian Conservative candidate.

00:28:18.500 And he won.

00:28:19.260 So that's a feel-good story for the year.

00:28:21.460 Feel-good story, yeah.

00:28:21.860 You got somebody elected.

00:28:23.000 Yeah, exactly.

00:28:23.760 Well, I wouldn't say it was me.

00:28:24.740 I give Derek credit to begin with.

00:28:26.220 Obviously, I have to because, you know, reasons why.

00:28:28.780 He signed your paycheck.

00:28:30.180 That's a good follow-up.

00:28:31.020 I knew he was running, actually, and I hadn't really followed up to see if he'd gotten the spot or not.

00:28:35.340 Well, I didn't even know he was running.

00:28:36.640 I just ran into him at the thing and whatnot and talked to him.

00:28:39.860 And he said, oh, yeah, it's like Western Standard.

00:28:41.440 I love you guys.

00:28:42.180 And he obviously just went on and on and said he was town councillor.

00:28:44.900 Yeah, that's great.

00:28:45.480 He said, who knows, maybe he might run for mayor one day, he said.

00:28:48.040 So wait and see.

00:28:49.160 Mayor of Sylvan Lake?

00:28:50.740 Yeah.

00:28:52.220 I'd vote for him.

00:28:53.580 Oh, I'd definitely vote for him.

00:28:54.540 Sure, why not?

00:28:56.220 And next?

00:28:57.140 Well, I figured I'll go with three because that's usually the top three thing.

00:29:01.020 this one's kind of well this was the amusing one everyone's favorite um public safety minister a

00:29:05.900 gun grab gary now how do we pronounce this manetta sanguri i think yeah this is the one where he um

00:29:13.740 got caught talking to i think one of his tenants in his building he owns in toronto about the whole

00:29:18.460 gun grab program and basically he admitted that it was a lot to do with political ideology not so

00:29:23.820 much actually getting illegal guns and criminals off the streets and he even told the tenant that

00:29:28.540 if he got arrested because he didn't want to turn in his legally

00:29:30.700 owned firearms, that he would bail them out.

00:29:33.180 There was a whole huge controversy around

00:29:34.700 that, and that was before the

00:29:35.940 Cape Breton pilot program happened, which was an absolute

00:29:38.700 disaster. I think they eventually confiscated, what was it,

00:29:41.120 22 out of 200

00:29:42.700 banned firearms that

00:29:44.680 they knew of in Cape Breton.

00:29:46.460 God knows how much money that cost at the end of the day.

00:29:48.540 I think it was something like $741

00:29:50.980 million they had budgeted for the whole

00:29:52.620 program, so that went well.

00:29:55.160 It wasn't really a

00:29:56.440 confiscation. They just said, hey, come on, guys, turn them

00:29:58.480 all in right exactly they weren't kicking down doors to get those guys oh and i mean that that's

00:30:03.320 about as liberal and receptive an area as you're kind of well cape right next they're kind of

00:30:07.600 special that's a special part canada but beautiful though it is beautiful absolutely but uh you know

00:30:13.280 they're they're they're like the next newfies that bunch but uh uh that gets some hate mail

00:30:19.360 from both on that one but it's uh it's just if they can't make it succeed in an area there

00:30:24.840 You know, how on earth when they start hitting the true redneck lands out in the west, are they going to have a hope of getting people, oh, yeah, sure, I'll come right in and turn in my property, you know. 1.00

00:30:33.380 Don't hold your breath, you guys.

00:30:34.720 It's got billion-dollar boondogal written all over it.

00:30:37.640 Oh, they just wanted to outdo Alan Rock and his intents to bring up a name from the past.

00:30:43.300 There you go.

00:30:44.360 No, I don't think, obviously, it's not going to work.

00:30:47.220 I don't know why they continue with it.

00:30:49.400 Maybe, you know, maybe Carney will get smart and just let it go away.

00:30:52.500 I don't know that that ideology and simple solution to complex problems won't go away though on the liberal end. I mean, we saw that in its worst way just recently with, again, the Australian horrible massacre. I mean, the same day, the politicians are coming out saying this means we need more laws against law abiding gun owners. You don't, you just don't get it. And they won't.

00:31:15.800 These guys were not law abiding.

00:31:17.700 No, it's funny. They just, geez, I wonder if they were registered.

00:31:21.300 No.

00:31:23.260 I don't know that.

00:31:24.260 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:31:25.420 I highly doubt it.

00:31:27.200 What's your prediction for 2026?

00:31:29.860 Oh, I usually don't try to do those, Dave, because I'm always wrong.

00:31:32.700 That's why I'm not a betting man.

00:31:34.160 All right.

00:31:34.520 What's your resolution, then?

00:31:36.280 I don't do those either because I tend to fall through with those.

00:31:38.680 I'm a pretty boring guy, Dave.

00:31:39.880 What can I say?

00:31:40.560 I was kind of hoping your resolution would be to get a new sport coat.

00:31:44.000 Hey, this is a new sport coat, Dave, I'll say for the record.

00:31:47.560 It's new.

00:31:48.420 Yeah.

00:31:49.360 I know it looks a bit old, but that's the whole charm of it.

00:31:51.360 Like I said, I like this.

00:31:54.760 What?

00:31:57.280 I wanted to send in the very much more fashionable Liam Musher.

00:32:04.100 Fashionable?

00:32:04.820 I don't know.

00:32:05.220 Okay, maybe.

00:32:06.860 I suppose I will, Dave.

00:32:08.260 Thanks for joining us.

00:32:09.180 No problem.

00:32:09.480 Thank you.

00:32:10.040 Thank you.

00:32:10.420 You've got 364 more days to shop for your outfit for next year's.

00:32:17.160 I already have.

00:32:17.780 Okay, maybe that's one thing I'll have planned.

00:32:19.300 There you go.

00:32:19.900 Right on.

00:32:20.740 All right, thanks, Dave.

00:32:21.480 Thank you, gentlemen.

00:32:22.140 Great.

00:32:22.540 Hello, Leah.

00:32:23.340 Merry Christmas and welcome to the show.

00:32:25.020 Merry Christmas.

00:32:25.820 Thanks for having me.

00:32:26.780 You've been hard at it for some time in the Western Standard office.

00:32:30.060 I know you must have a number of stories under your belt that you want to expand on

00:32:35.580 and what's been happening in this crazy year and what you've been covering.

00:32:38.120 Okay, yeah, for sure.

00:32:39.880 I got one.

00:32:41.280 It was when I did a breakdown of basically the free speech laws in Europe

00:32:46.940 and relating it back to Bill C-9, which is obviously going through the process of being

00:32:52.760 legislated right now, which is the Combating Hate Act. Yeah, well, basically, I learned that,

00:32:59.080 for example, the UK has had free speech. What's the word for it?

00:33:06.840 Restrictions? Restrictions. Yes, restrictions for quite some time. Like there was two. There

00:33:13.400 was one in 1988 and there's one in 2003 that was legislated that basically says you're not allowed

00:33:19.940 to comment and any hateful things to people in general so i don't know i just found that very

00:33:27.000 interesting because i think it kind of shows the future of where canada is going and it's a very

00:33:32.960 slow kind of rule to get there we had a story this week on a guy in england who was sentenced

00:33:40.560 to a year and a half in jail for two tweets slamming immigration

00:33:44.960 that were viewed by a total of 33 people.

00:33:48.540 And he got 18 months in prison. 1.00

00:33:50.800 Again, we were speaking earlier of idiot judges, right? 1.00

00:33:52.880 Like, I mean, how, especially when you look at 33 views, 1.00

00:33:55.160 I mean, you should measure damage at least,

00:33:56.560 even if whatever he said was horrific and hateful.

00:33:59.300 Only 33 people saw it.

00:34:00.960 It's not just this one guy.

00:34:02.220 I mean, they've been emptying prisons out to put tweeters in.

00:34:06.520 It's crazy over there.

00:34:08.140 And, you know, Leah's right.

00:34:09.360 You see it happening over there, and you see what the Liberals are doing, and it's a pretty good comparison as to what may come.

00:34:17.880 Well, and some of us who are a little more outspoken than others on X, I'm probably going to get charged because I won't shut the hell up.

00:34:24.020 I'm only going to get worse.

00:34:24.920 Well, you're going to get charged with residential school denialism.

00:34:28.280 Yeah, well, that's another direction we're going.

00:34:29.820 That NDP private member's bill is going through.

00:34:31.860 to, uh, uh, and I mean, that's another story that hit too, with the ceiling of the, uh,

00:34:37.560 Kamloops residential school files now. So there's been no resolution. They gave them $12 million.

00:34:42.600 It looks like they did nothing but bought new trucks. And, uh, now that people kept asking

00:34:46.020 questions, what are you guys done with the money? The governments decide we're just going to seal

00:34:49.120 the records, no more questions. Okay. And we'll start charging people if you ask questions in the

00:34:54.320 future. That's crazy. So I better get myself a measure for an orange jumpsuit.

00:35:01.860 Okay, also, the next one I got that I found kind of interesting, because I actually had to go and, like, basically witness police, Calgary police cracking down on crime.

00:35:15.280 So I got to, like, walk along with Sergeant Christian Thorpe, that was his name, and they basically were claiming they were going to, I don't know, stop crime.

00:35:28.780 But what I basically saw was people just talking to the homeless people and telling them to leave, but then they would just go, you know, stand, sit somewhere else.

00:35:39.980 It didn't seem like they were doing that much, but yeah, that was my experience.

00:35:45.100 Yeah, the police, you know, all over the country kind of do these media opportunities where they look.

00:35:51.000 I think the police chief had 200 cops down there or something.

00:35:54.660 I think so.

00:35:55.220 large number and it works for about three hours and then the meth heads are back on the corner.

00:36:02.440 As Leah said, I mean, you're only going to move from one spot to another. It's not like you can

00:36:05.560 go tell a homeless man, go home. I mean, all you can say is don't stand on this corner. Okay, well,

00:36:10.100 I guess I'll go stand on that corner or in that alley or that doorway. It's a big problem, but

00:36:17.300 it shows, unfortunately, I'm glad you went down in person to see that the impression of doing

00:36:22.420 something unfortunately is more often important to them than actually doing something but what

00:36:26.980 are they supposed to do arrest them fill the jails for i mean it's yeah especially because

00:36:32.000 we went to the drop-in center as well and i think the drop-in center can only uh the capacity is

00:36:37.880 like a thousand people and i think 2024 stats said homeless uh population in calgary was like

00:36:45.360 three thousand or so so it could be even more now for for all we know so even if everyone is going

00:36:51.680 into the dropping center. There's still not enough. Even with a Salvation Army, I'm pretty

00:36:55.740 sure it's only a few hundred. So yeah. On what we do need, I think, and as I imagine you saw evident,

00:37:01.960 we all, anybody who works downtown, the bulk of the people on the street, you know, they didn't

00:37:06.860 fall through the cracks. It's not for lack of jobs. It's not for lack of affordable housing.

00:37:10.100 They're either addicted to something or they have a mental issue, a mental health issue, or both.

00:37:14.560 I mean, I've gone on enough columns and so on about it, but we need facilities to house

00:37:19.380 addicts and mentally ill people, not homeless shelters, but our government's not ready to face 1.00

00:37:25.960 that yet. Well, they're slowly taking very small steps to that treatment, you know, forcing people

00:37:32.780 into treatment through a court order. And, you know, that's, that's one way we haven't tried

00:37:38.100 it before. So why not give it a go? Yeah. Well, there's something I put out on X that might have

00:37:42.080 been considered hateful by some, but that got a lot of attention the other week when I was driving

00:37:45.160 and there was a guy shuffling up between the vehicle's terrible cold weather. 0.86

00:37:49.060 His pants are hanging down, his butt's hanging out,

00:37:52.120 which you see with lots of it's because those addicts have lost weight so dramatically. 0.93

00:37:56.100 That's where their pants are always falling down.

00:37:57.820 And because his pants had fallen down, it became evident he'd lost body control,

00:38:02.640 so he'd made a mess of himself.

00:38:05.620 And I treated her just to say, you know, and here we have advocates saying,

00:38:08.460 we can't pick a guy who's in a late-stage condition like this off the streets

00:38:11.920 and try to force treatment or at least clean them up, force feet, whatever.

00:38:15.040 you know, because they want to maintain their dignity. Like that ship sailed. This poor man,

00:38:20.560 there's no dignity left in him anymore. I think, you know, I'm glad you got out to see at least,

00:38:25.360 you know, in person and then see what the police, that's the point of media, I think,

00:38:28.000 get out there where not other people will and see on the ground, not just what the activists and

00:38:32.800 advocates are going to say, the hard reality, because then maybe the big people are receptive

00:38:38.000 to the hard solutions, which means, yeah, sometimes we got to force people in because

00:38:41.120 nothing else is going to save them.

00:38:42.920 Yeah, and even the drop-in centers

00:38:45.560 don't allow people who are 1.00

00:38:47.120 obviously high or whatever

00:38:49.000 to go inside of the

00:38:50.920 centers, so there's also that.

00:38:53.480 And also, I think the cops, it's not like

00:38:55.400 they can really do anything as well, because it's

00:38:57.440 like the law, so they just

00:38:59.300 enforce the law.

00:39:00.900 No, their hands are tied, as

00:39:03.720 Corey said, you can't

00:39:05.440 lock everybody up, much

00:39:07.300 as we might like to one day, some does.

00:39:09.320 It's a mess. It's in every city, but I mean, yeah, credit were due as you brought up. I mean,

00:39:14.420 Jason Kinney started that with expanding the treatment facilities and Premier Smith has

00:39:18.880 carried on with that. Talk about that legislation. It'll be interesting to see the numbers come in

00:39:22.820 because some of our overdose numbers were kind of starting to come down a little bit once the

00:39:26.000 treatments facilities expanded. Hopefully that trend has been continuing because Vancouver's,

00:39:32.340 you know, of course, been trying the other way and that hasn't worked.

00:39:35.140 I think we're still getting eight people a day dying from fentanyl.

00:39:42.560 Hopefully, Donald Trump, if he keeps blowing up the boats,

00:39:47.340 we may see a shortage of fentanyl.

00:39:50.620 A shortage of fentanyl.

00:39:51.840 A lot of it's done in China anyways, right?

00:39:56.240 Yeah.

00:39:57.360 I hope for the orange man to accomplish something, 0.52

00:40:00.600 but I won't hold my breath on too much of it.

00:40:02.660 You think he's going to invade Venezuela?

00:40:04.240 wayland just so he could push the first dib of panel i don't know i mean predicting anything

00:40:10.560 donald trump might do i mean boy you want to ask about pulling out a crystal ball the only thing i

00:40:15.960 would give a little bit of credit to him for and i know you know again a conservative is going to

00:40:19.780 i've never been a fan of his though he's not a hawk there's never even in his first administration

00:40:24.760 and in this one he's never been that eager to send american troops into war zones that's not

00:40:29.860 been his thing. Obama actually did a lot more actions when he was in than Donald Trump did.

00:40:34.180 So whatever Trump does, he doesn't like sending soldiers into foreign situations.

00:40:38.580 So I would guess it to be unlikely, he would directly go into Venezuela, pressure them,

00:40:42.420 do other things, you know, maybe blockading, but I don't know about putting people on the ground.

00:40:46.260 Yeah. Maduro seems in no hurry to go though, does he? I mean, he's completely surrounded by

00:40:51.540 aircraft carriers now with all their guns pointed at him. They could do it through siege,

00:40:56.980 kind of as they happen yeah yeah anything else that's all i got all right what about your

00:41:03.020 prediction for next year prediction something that's going to happen that's what a prediction

00:41:07.460 means yeah okay just clarifying okay what should i predict i don't know maybe trump will invade

00:41:16.220 no i don't yeah sorry i didn't mean to put you on the spotlight

00:41:20.960 this is the room to be put on this spot

00:41:24.000 that's true

00:41:24.820 maybe they'll expand the treatment centers

00:41:27.960 hopefully in the near future

00:41:29.580 it's a positive thing to look forward

00:41:32.000 Leah's done some very good work this year

00:41:34.180 on the maid 0.95

00:41:35.420 medically obsessed that's dying

00:41:37.480 she's done numerous stories

00:41:40.040 on it

00:41:40.420 we kill more people than 0.98

00:41:44.000 most countries

00:41:45.300 and organ

00:41:48.000 harvesting and all sorts of

00:41:50.260 nastiness like that. So I think that's going to be a big issue next year.

00:41:53.740 Oh yeah. In the future.

00:41:54.820 You'll have to stay on top of and follow stories.

00:41:57.340 Especially cause I'm pretty sure, didn't they just pause the legislation for

00:42:01.140 mental health to be included? I think it's for 2027.

00:42:04.100 I think they kicked it down the road. Yeah.

00:42:05.620 It's 2027. So yeah, it's going to be an important story to keep an eye on and

00:42:09.780 Leah will do it.

00:42:10.700 Right on. Thanks for checking in and we'll see what you're on in the new year.

00:42:15.580 Sweet.

00:42:16.180 Happy new year.

00:42:16.900 Happy New Year.

00:42:18.660 All right.

00:42:19.240 Well, and yeah, trying to get through all those reporters, all those stories.

00:42:22.620 We did overlook, and Jeremy was going to mention it.

00:42:24.540 And there was a massive story from last year that really changed the landscape,

00:42:27.660 the whole Charlie Kirk assassination.

00:42:30.120 Boy, that really caught us all off guard.

00:42:33.780 Yeah, and it sort of came out of nowhere, you know,

00:42:36.780 and it started moving across the internets and whatnot.

00:42:41.380 And the thing that will always stay with me is that horrible video, right?

00:42:46.620 And if you haven't seen it, don't go look for it because it's very graphic.

00:42:52.380 But yeah, you know, I think it's all a product of the environment down there, though, isn't it?

00:43:00.100 You've got two sides that are completely polarized, you know, the Democrats and the Republicans.

00:43:07.300 And the visceral hatred was going to lead to something like this.

00:43:11.420 It's unfortunate. When you dehumanize your opponent, when you, you know, bring it beyond the politics and you start calling them evil, you start calling them Nazis, you start calling them, you know, communists, everything, when you get too far out and beyond the pale with somebody unhinged, you know, because it still takes somebody unhinged to ever pick up arms.

00:43:31.940 You know, your average person can get very angry and even extreme, but most won't do that.

00:43:36.360 But that can be that final straw.

00:43:37.860 They think they're doing the world a favor and it's tragic.

00:43:42.500 Yeah.

00:43:43.760 You know, I don't want to say it's going to happen in Canada, not forbid, but, you know, we're a polarized country now too.

00:43:51.320 We've got two sides completely opposite and, you know, both have nothing good to say about the other.

00:43:57.300 um so you know all the leaders when when that stuff happens all the leaders say we got to

00:44:04.960 ratchet it down we got to ratchet it down and then like yesterday trump went on an 18 minute

00:44:10.200 speech just blasting biden right and calling him every name in the book so it didn't uh it hasn't

00:44:18.180 ratcheted down at all um you know so it's it was a tragic uh tragic case and uh

00:44:27.300 You know, his wife and kids were there at the university,

00:44:32.380 and his wife has stepped forward to try and fill his shoes,

00:44:36.560 and she's met with a lot of vitriol already.

00:44:39.460 It's crazy, just crazy.

00:44:44.080 Well, if nothing else, you know, end off, you know,

00:44:47.780 where you talked earlier with learning something,

00:44:49.700 and Israel was never wanting to see where it comes to gunfire

00:44:53.180 because we see how awful and terrible it can really get.

00:44:56.020 So, you know, whatever you think, folks, however bad it gets, it gets, don't, don't go that path.

00:45:01.720 No, no, no, no, it's wins.

00:45:03.520 All right.

00:45:04.020 Well, thanks, Steve.

00:45:05.700 We'll get ready for the new year and a whole pack of new stories.

00:45:08.600 It's been an eventful year and you're, you're off to Arizona in the new year.

00:45:12.860 In January.

00:45:13.400 And I'm going to do a couple of shows from down there out in the desert.

00:45:16.800 And you and Art Bell.

00:45:18.240 Yes.

00:45:18.700 Yeah.

00:45:18.880 Or the memory of Art Bell.

00:45:20.020 Anyway, it's in honor of Art Bell.

00:45:22.480 I'll be a little less conspiratorial perhaps, but.

00:45:24.780 Well, that'll be fun for you.

00:45:26.020 Yeah, it should be.

00:45:26.780 Just get away from the snow.

00:45:27.420 Watch out for snakes.

00:45:28.320 Yeah, those rattlers.

00:45:29.040 I'll try to see if I can bring you one back.

00:45:30.120 No, don't do that.

00:45:31.440 All right.

00:45:32.800 All right, and thank everybody else out there, guys.

00:45:35.800 If you haven't subscribed, I've got to throw that last plug in.

00:45:38.540 Check it out, westernstandard.news slash subscription.

00:45:41.220 Take it out.

00:45:41.680 $10 a month, $100 for a year.

00:45:44.760 And, you know, help support independent media so we can get that messaging to you for another year.

00:45:50.540 Have a great Christmas.

00:45:51.780 Have a good new year.

00:45:52.820 Let's have a peaceful, productive 2026.

00:45:56.020 I don't mind it being crazy.

00:45:57.180 I don't mind it being lively.

00:45:59.300 Let's have some big radical change.

00:46:01.760 Let's just make sure it's always peaceful.

00:46:03.840 It's not worth getting violent.

00:46:05.280 We can yell at each other.

00:46:06.300 We can insult each other, berate each other.

00:46:08.220 Just don't shoot at each other or hit each other.

00:46:10.700 By the way, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays,

00:46:13.520 all the whole works that cover it all.

00:46:15.880 And we will see you in the new year.

00:46:26.020 Thank you.

Western Standard - December 25, 2025

A Year Like No Other： 2025 Year-Ender

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