WEBVTT - It Could Happen Here Weekly 22 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:02.720 Hey, everybody, Robert Evans here, and I wanted to let 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:06.400 you know. This is a compilation episode. So every episode 0:00:06.519 --> 0:00:09.600 of the week that just happened is here in one 0:00:09.720 --> 0:00:13.440 convenient and with somewhat less ads packaged for you to 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:15.960 listen to in a long stretch if you want. If 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:17.919 you've been listening to the episodes every day this week, 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:20.159 there's gonna be nothing new here for you. But you 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:27.680 can make your own decisions. It's Oregon. You don't get 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:32.440 to consent. That's how you open up the podcast. That's right, baby, 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:39.479 look up one party consent laws for recording recording. Um, 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:42.800 this is it could happen here a podcast about when 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:47.320 you can legally record people without their consent. Hint always 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:50.920 in the state of Oregon. Um, I'm Robert Evans. We're 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:54.760 talking about bad things, good things, things that are good 0:00:54.800 --> 0:01:01.400 and bad, all that stuff. Who what do we you 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:02.920 know what? You know what we should talk about? You 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:05.959 know what no one has talked about ever on the 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:13.679 internet lately. Josephine Robinette Rogan. Oh, I've never heard of him. 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:16.280 What does he do well? He has a podcast? If 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:19.640 you heard a podcast, Garrison, I'm unfamiliar, but just I'll 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.400 just go with it. Yeah. Well, it's like the radio, 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:29.039 but easier to spread disinformation, um and also sexier for 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:33.119 reasons that are hard to explain. Uh. And Joe Rogan 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:36.039 gets on his podcast and he says a lot of 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:38.479 stuff that people think is bad, and then everybody gets 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.680 angry at him, and then he makes more money. And 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:43.959 today we're going to talk about how maybe we could 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:47.039 handle this problem differently, maybe we could not do the 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:50.760 same thing over and over and there's quite a different result. Yeah, 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:54.000 and upfront, obviously we're talking about him. We're trying to 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:56.800 talk less about specifically what he said and more about 0:01:57.120 --> 0:01:59.080 kind of the problem he represents in the ways in 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:02.640 which there was sponses people have aren't having the results 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:05.240 they desire. We're gonna avoid using his name in the 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:07.800 title of the episode or the description because that doesn't 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:10.200 feed into the algorithm kind of in the same way. 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:13.280 But yeah, Garrison, you want to kick us off here. Yeah, 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:16.320 I've been watching the Rogan thing online and be getting 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:19.359 kind of frustrated because of the way the discourse is going, 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:21.919 and it's just repeating the same loops that we see 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:26.400 every few months and nothing really changes. And Regan just 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:29.760 gets more popular, so earlier this month or like a 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:33.560 middle of I guess it was closer to like January. UM, 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:35.880 there was like a group of like two dred seventy doctors, 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:39.600 healthcare workers, UM and scientists who are campaigning for Spotify 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:43.760 to adopt a missuformation policy. UM. This was prompted by 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:46.480 a few episodes of the Joe Rogan podcast that we've 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:50.360 already actually talked about, UM about Dr Robert Malone and 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:57.720 someone else who said some stupid things about the pandemic. UM. 0:02:57.760 --> 0:02:59.799 So I write when when I when we talked about 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:01.960 these eisodes this last time, I tried to actually talk 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:05.160 about what these doctors were doing and let not focus 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:07.960 on Rogan himself, but specifically what these doctors were doing 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:11.080 and their ideology, because I didn't want to add to 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:14.840 the whole Rogan side of the discourse. UM. And you know, 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:18.000 for for this, for this, like a letter that that 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.799 these doctors sent to Spotify, if they were not really 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:24.480 advocating for Rogan to be removed from the platform, UM 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:27.320 or even for episodes to be removed, just to have 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:32.560 Spotify clarify their guidelines regarding medical misinformation, because you know, 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.440 and it's important to note that Joe Rogan has a 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:39.560 exclusivity contract with Spotify. He does not work for them, 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:42.200 but Rogan gets paid a lot of money to get 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:45.960 his podcast only published on Spotify's feed. So it's it's 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:47.880 not it's it's it's it's like a it's a it's 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:50.400 a weird kind of set up, and it can give 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:53.480 a lot of like gray area for like, does Spotify 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:55.880 count that's as publisher or not. You're like, well, not really, 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:59.600 because they could he could also just end that contract 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:02.400 and post to this podcast everywhere. Um, I mean I 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:04.360 think it would take there. There's probably some sort of 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:09.000 exclusive time limit on the exclusivity agreement, etcetera. Um, because 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:11.200 it it is, it is mixed because they did recently 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:14.000 when it came out that he said the inn word 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:16.600 a whole bunch of times, Spotify removed those episodes. So 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:18.920 there's a degree to which they they have acted as 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:21.920 a publisher. Yeah, there's a whole lot of stuff to 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:24.839 kind of talk about this on the So the letter 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:27.440 gwent kind of viral and it prompted this whole kind 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:30.479 of thing in the middle of January, but like deleting 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:34.920 your Spotify subscription and then we had musicians, most uh, 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:38.920 most popularly, Neil Young decides to remove all their music 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:42.640 from the Spotify platform, um as like a performative thing, 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:44.839 being like, Okay, if Spotify is gonna host all this 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:48.120 medical misinformation, we're going to remove this as protest. Now. 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:50.680 Of course, Neil Young then just signed an exclusivity deal 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:56.440 with Amazon, so oh great, cool. We yes, episode the 0:04:56.880 --> 0:04:59.640 Bastion of moral purity. Yeah, and they're not. I mean, 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:02.560 I think they are probably pay a better rate because 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:05.000 Spotify is pretty much at the bottom to musicians, but 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:08.760 I don't think it's good. Um, I think Napster actually 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:11.640 has the best rate, doesn't the best rate, which I 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:14.080 mean also, if you want to be actually moral, just 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:16.680 just just use band camp. But I mean I use 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:19.520 Spotify because it's really easy, and that's why Spotify works. 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:21.719 It's because it's super it is. It is a well 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:24.080 made product. That does not mean it's an ethical product, 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:26.120 but it does. It does the thing that it's supposed 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.159 to do quite well. So so yeah, it basically We've 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:33.440 had endless discourse since then about Joe Rogan about Spotify 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:35.920 is the platform, talking about how bad Spotify is, which yes, 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:38.800 it is bad, talking about how you know how bad 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:41.039 Joe Rogan is. And you know the thing is, Joe 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:43.400 Rogan already had the most popular podcast in the world 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:47.080 his exclusivity deal with Spotify, and he's currently estimated to 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:50.720 bring in eleven million listeners per episode of his podcast. Yeah, 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:55.039 for for some reference, UM, Behind the Bastards is one 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:58.039 of the largest podcasts out there. Um, and he's on 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:01.479 average something like ten times our traffic. Uh. Like it's 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:03.560 and it's not, He's not. He's not just the most 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:07.880 popular podcast. He helped invent what podcasting podcast? He was 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:10.840 one of the first, and like he had a foundational 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:14.880 role in how the entire industry works. Since this letter 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:16.440 and since he's episodes, there's been a whole lot of 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:20.960 discourse around if Spotify should remove Joe Rogan from the platform, Um, 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:22.359 if they should cancel his deal. You know, a lot 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:23.880 of people calling on Spotify to do that. A lot 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:26.000 of people are calling on Spotify to remove certain episodes, 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:29.320 and Spotify has not been teen too so like, but 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:32.600 let's and I know, Joe Rogan himself did actually authorize 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:34.640 the removal of a certain amount of episodes, which for 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:37.919 reasons we'll talk about later. Um, but what's all this 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.320 discourse and outrage and articles and tweets actually doing to 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:44.800 Spotify into Rogan? Okay? In my opinion, kind of the 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:47.279 end result is actually very similar to all of the 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:50.599 free advertising that companies get whenever they make awoke statement 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:54.560 that infuriate, that infuriates the actionary right, you know, resulting 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:57.320 in throwing your kel out your window, flushing your Gillette 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:00.360 blade down the toilet, and burning your nikes. And it's 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:02.760 even widely speculated and kind of like a known fact 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:06.640 that companies will use progressive statements and policies to drum 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:10.000 up this outrage um to give their company and product 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:12.360 tons of free advertising and just to get the brand 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:15.720 name itself in the side consumers heads. And this is 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:18.760 definitely happening. Was was Rogan and Spotify in terms of 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:23.440 outrage being used as advertising. It may not be intentional, 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:27.240 but that is what the result is. Yeah, And I 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:31.920 mean it's very uh. It's it's both sides like to 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:34.280 make fun of the other for doing this, like folks 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:35.560 on the left like to make fun of their right 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:38.720 when they're when they're breaking their carriggs or whatever. Um, 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:42.760 But you know, it happens. It's equally profitable for both sides. 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:44.560 You just do the opposite, you know, you have someone 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:46.640 come on and talk about how they're a truth teller 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:49.920 being canceled, and they get a bunch of attention money 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:54.400 and and it works equally well both ways, pretty much. Yeah, 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:57.440 So with Spotify and Rogan in the news every day 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:01.000 for the past like three weeks, the the the end 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:04.080 is that like the fact that it's just that people 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.160 are hearing these names in their head more often, and 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:10.640 they're probably subconsciously gonna use Spotify more often because you know, 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:13.520 despite a few people that might cancel their subscriptions, the 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:15.920 net effect will be more listeners who seem to Spotify 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:18.920 because there because the name is in my subconscious it's 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:21.240 it's it's in there. And all the effect it's gonna 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:23.520 have on Rogan is giving him a way more publicity 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:26.600 to attract new listeners, and and it's listeners who themselves 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:29.920 are like attracted to unconventional ideas outside the mainstream, and 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:32.480 his more passive listeners are gonna like double down on 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:35.200 him because there's gonna be like the backfire effect, so 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:37.760 they will like feel defensive and then become more of 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:40.920 a fan of his. Because he's seen as a cultural outsider, 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:43.319 even though he's not an outsider. He is the mainstream, 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:45.760 he's the biggest podcaster in the world, but he's seen 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:48.480 as a cultural outsider. So you know, he like brings 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:51.120 on guests who say things that they're not supposed to say. 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:53.920 You know, so, who's actually going to be convinced by 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:57.000 all this outrage to not listen to Rogan via pointing 0:08:57.000 --> 0:08:58.800 out all the wrong things he's said and all the 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:01.679 slurs he's used, Like, is that really going to stop 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:04.439 fans from listening to Joe Rogan. It's the same thing 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:08.479 really pointing out that Donald Trump illegally took classified documents. 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:10.920 It's like, yeah, I mean that's fucked up and ship, 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:12.959 but like he's never going to get charged with crimes 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:15.679 and none of his supporters care. You're the only people 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:18.400 who are angry about this, and it doesn't matter because 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:20.320 the people you vote for aren't going to punish him, 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:23.760 So like, just you know, chill out a little bit. 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:27.400 It's like all of the outrage is simply inflating the 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:30.640 importance of jo Rogan on like an entire cultural level. 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:34.400 It's that he's becoming he's becoming more important to his fans, 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.120 more important to his haters, and more important to himself 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:40.520 and Spotify as an asset because he generates a lot 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:43.000 of exclusive listeners and news coverage and buzz around the 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:47.000 Spotify brand. And it's important to talk about like so 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:52.200 you have broadly speaking within the field of entertainment, like 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:55.120 digital entertainment in particular, you have like two ways that 0:09:55.160 --> 0:09:58.880 you can grow your audience. One of them is organic growth, 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:03.000 which is know, I listened to Garrison's podcast, I like it. 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:05.960 I tell a friend about Garrison's podcast. They like it. 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:08.200 They tell a friend about Garrett that that's like organic, 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:10.760 you know, it's very natural. That's purely the kind of 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:14.439 quality of the content UM reaching people. And then there 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:16.480 is in organic growth, which is can be the result 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:19.840 of like ad campaigns can be the result of UM 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:22.640 an algorithm. Often in today we're talking about like oh, 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:26.360 Twitter or Facebook prioritizes this kind of content. So like 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:29.000 something article on bright Barred about black on white crime 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:31.680 that would have been read ten thousand times ten years 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:33.920 ago gets read a million times because it spreads well 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:38.480 on this platform for reasons that aren't organic UM. And 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:42.679 with Joe Rogan, one of the reasons why because we 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:44.599 can talk about like d platforming, if you want to 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:47.440 talk about like Alex Jones for example, or Meloianopolis, good 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:50.320 case that d platforming really reduced both of their reaches. Now, 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:54.240 Milo uh pretty much wiped out as a person who 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:57.840 mattered in terms of the dispoce thank christ. Alex Jones 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:00.360 less so. Um, it definitely hurt his busines this and 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:03.319 it reduced his reach. But by the time Facebook and 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.040 Twitter and whatnot started throttling him, he he had already 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:09.520 inorganically increased his reach enough that like he's able to, 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.199 he had he had a large a large enough audience 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.040 to stay somewhat relevant and keep going. The thing about 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:18.880 Joe Rogan is he did not get famous and popular 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:21.000 in organically. I'm sure there was some degree of that 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:24.640 on like social media, but most of his growth before that. 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:27.400 Like people like him, Like whatever you think of him, 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:29.839 he's a good broadcaster. That's That's the thing. Even though, 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:32.679 like you know, for all this research, I don't like him. 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:34.920 He says horrible things, But you know, I was watching 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:37.640 I watched all of like Rogan's like um, like uh 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:40.400 Instagram videos he made like a few ten minute things 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:43.600 talking about the outrage, and it's it sucks because when 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:45.640 you listen to him, he's like a really good talker. 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:48.120 He's very good at what he does. Yeah, he's very 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:51.880 good at like generating sympathy and generating like good card 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:54.160 Like It's it sucks because yeah, I wanted to like 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:56.120 hate this person, but I'm like listening to him talking 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:58.840 about this issue like oh wow, yeah, like you actually 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:01.600 have a decent grasp of what's going on here. UM, 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:05.120 And that's he is, not he part of he gets 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:08.240 some of his money from playing like a dumb, chill 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.760 stoner dude, but he's not dumb. He's definitely a stoner. 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:14.000 He's not a dumb man. He's very intell. He's very 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:16.360 good at what he does. UM. One of the things 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:18.040 we don't kind of talk about enough when we talk 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:20.360 about media that I think is important to note is 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:26.600 that UM being likable in a professional sense is a skill. 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:29.920 And it's a skill like any technical skill. It's like 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:33.000 knowing how to how to how to farm or weld. UM. 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:35.400 It is a thing that you build on over time. 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:38.400 It is a thing that UM takes a lot of 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:42.600 trial and error and a lot of education to get right. Uh, 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:44.520 it is a thing that Joe Rogan has been doing 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:47.520 for longer than a significant chunk of the people on 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:50.720 this show, including Garrison, have been alive. Uh. It's like 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:52.679 like I've been like this is this is more or 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:54.760 less been my job for like thirteen or fourteen years, 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:57.559 and it is like a skill that you build and 0:12:57.600 --> 0:12:59.720 the thing that he is really good at is making 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:02.160 but want to listen to him. And so if you 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:05.760 were to say, kick him out of Spotify tomorrow, yeah, 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:09.480 it's it's entirely possible that his that that would increase 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:12.640 the number of people who when there's there's a case 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:15.760 to be made that Spotify has limited his maximum audience, 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:18.600 limiting him to Spotify as opposed to if he was 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:20.920 just any app he wanted to be on, maybe it'd 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.240 be twenty million, you know, listening to every exactly. Yes, 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:26.520 Like even if did even a Spotify did drop him 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:28.679 because of all these you know, outrage you know, and 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:31.440 all the tweets and all of the petitions, even if 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:33.680 they did drop him, he would probably not only gain 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:36.280 more listeners due to the outrage porn and and free 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:40.560 speech advocates, but also with his exclusivity ending help his 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:43.280 podcast will just be available and more platforms and more 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:45.920 people who will to listen to him, like really easily. 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:49.000 So yeah, he's only going to grow if people get 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:52.280 what they want. And like that makes you think, like this, 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:56.000 this outrage isn't actually meant to get the Joe Rogan 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:58.760 Joe Rogan problem taking care of, Like it's this, This 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:01.960 actually isn't about stop being misinformation. It's this, This isn't 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:05.559 actually about having they're being less fans of Joe Rogan. 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:09.440 All those outrages about making you feel better because you 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.680 feel like you're doing something right, Like bad thing is 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:16.120 happening in the world, and it's easier to pretend like 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:18.600 your actions are hurting it than it is to accept that, 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:21.960 like maybe there's nothing I can do about this right now. Yeah, 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:24.000 it would be a really nice world if the Cho 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:27.720 Rogan problem could be solved so easily by Spotify dropping 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:30.680 his exclusivity deal, right, that would that would be great, 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.000 But that's not the world we live in. And tricking 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:36.360 yourself into thinking that is just kind of delusional. Um, 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:38.160 And like yeah, it makes you feel better, but like 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:41.000 that's not actually helping because like, yeah, we can obviously 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.680 compare this to other like D platforming campaigns with people 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:46.000 for like Alex Jones. But you know, Jones was way 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:48.480 more niche and way more extreme around the time of 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:52.480 his like D platforming campaign, and his campaign wasn't about 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:55.400 ending exclusivity deals. It was about getting him off of 0:14:55.840 --> 0:14:59.280 popular platforms altogether. And that's not happening with Joe Rogan 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:01.600 because Joe Logan isn't saying the things that are going 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:04.120 to get him booted from platforms. He's smart, he knows 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:06.840 what he can and cannot say. He's not He's not 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:10.200 dumb enough to get banned from these platforms, right and also, 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:12.400 you know he's a giant financial asset, so they wouldn't 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:15.320 bend him anyway. But like he's he's what he's doing 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:19.360 is bringing on people who say horrible things to continue 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:22.440 a cultural conversation, which gets him in the headlines and 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:24.560 gives a platform like Spotify a whole bunch of room 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:26.920 to cry free speech and get away with it. Removing 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:28.960 Alex Jones could be seen as like a monetary decision 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:32.200 in and of itself, because it is actually removing liability. 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:36.200 But this is this isn't really the case for Rogan. Yeah, 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:40.280 and he's um, yeah, it's just not. One of the 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:43.440 problems is that this kind of does fly in the 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:47.480 face of a lot of what people want to think. 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:49.160 And I don't want to be making the case that 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:50.960 it's as black and white it is, because, for example, 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:53.280 I'm not saying that it was bad for someone to 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:55.440 go through the effort of finding and pointing out, Hey, 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:58.080 there's like seventy episodes where Joe Rogan drops the inn word, 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:00.720 um and getting those polls. I don't think that I 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:06.000 think that that was broadly speaking, a productive thing. But 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:09.840 keeping Joe Rogan at the forefront of the outrage cycle 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:12.440 is doing nothing but printing money for the guy. And 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:14.840 that's that's not an easy thing to deal with because 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:16.720 it's like, do you want me to just like stay 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:19.840 quiet in the face of injustice? And it's like, no, 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:21.680 that's not what I want you to do. But I 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.520 do want you to recognize that there are times in 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:27.920 ways of speaking up that are just yes, putting putting 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:31.320 gasoline on an injustice fire. It's it's important to remember 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:34.480 that d platform ng is just a tactic, and and 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:38.040 single tactics aren't always effective in every situation. That's what 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:40.240 makes them a tactic, right, Like, in order for a 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:43.200 tactic to work, you need to understand the scenario that's 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:45.920 are applying the tactic to and seeing if that tactic 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:48.320 achieves the goal. And if it doesn't, great, But if 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:50.720 it doesn't, you need to choose other tactic and stop 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:53.040 doing the same thing over and over again and expecting 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:55.640 a new result. And this is one of those situations 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:58.400 where like when you bring up, hey, maybe nothing might 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:00.560 be the best thing, at least for for most people 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:03.320 specifically to do. Like the thing that gets brought up 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:06.640 is like, well do you not want me to uh? 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:09.080 Or like, well, what do you suggest I do? Like 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:11.080 you know, you're saying I shouldn't do this, but you're 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:12.560 not telling me what to do. And it's like, well, 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:15.719 it's like if somebody gets shot in the leg and 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:18.239 one person has a tourniquet and the other person has 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:19.920 a bunch of razor blades that they want to throw 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:22.399 in their eyes, and it's like, well, what do you 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:24.280 want me to do? All I have is these razor blades. 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:26.000 This is the only other thing I can do? Then 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:27.640 just stand by and do nothing. And it's like, well, 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:30.120 in this case, doing nothing is the best thing to do, 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.480 because it's it's not that's not going to help the problems. 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:37.400 Boycotts of this scale kind of only tend to benefit 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.439 brands and businesses, right like, because if if if the 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:42.919 brand of business is a person is smaller in more 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:45.359 niche like and say like Alex Jones or Richard Spencer, 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:49.560 right then yes, these tactics about boycotts can really work 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:52.399 to push things out of the cultural like market and 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:54.240 also in some cases in terms of businesses like the 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:57.840 literal market. But when you're dealing with things like Target, Nike, 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:01.119 and Joe Rogan, that's not the case because those brands 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:03.800 are way too big. Any any you know, any conservative 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:06.520 boycott against Target isn't going to have that effect. It 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:09.400 will probably make weird liberals be like, oh, I'm gonna 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:12.639 go to Target now because the conservatives don't want me to. 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:17.399 It's so like it's I don't It's not it's it's like, 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:19.680 it's the problem is It's like Joe Rogan himself isn't 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:21.600 really the problem either. You know, a lot of the 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:24.320 problem can be seen more as like content algorithms that 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:28.560 boost and reward misinformation and disinformation and conspiracism, and that's 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:30.880 more of like an actual issue at hand here. Joe 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:33.120 Rogan is just a business. That's how he hears about 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.960 a lot of these people. Yeah, I go viral somewhere else. 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.360 And in a lot of cases it's an inorganic thing 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:40.240 that brings them in front of them. It's some fucking 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:42.280 algorithm that and and that is a case where you 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:44.280 can target and work on deep exact form and it 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:46.840 can be more productive that that. That was, That was 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:48.320 what that was what I was getting again, It's like 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:51.560 Joe Joe Rogan himself was just a visible outgrowth of 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:54.399 the core problem. And the core problem is these things 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:57.040 getting onto his show in the first place. So yeah, 0:18:57.119 --> 0:18:59.000 we can't stop his show, but maybe we should do 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:01.879 more work to prevent to like figure out ways to 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:05.159 do you know, start using these tactics to prevent algorithms 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:07.640 from boosting these things so that Jojo can sees them 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:10.640 and then and then invites them on. And yeah, that's 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:13.840 a lot more work than just being angry at Spotify. 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:16.000 And yet maybe it will actually do something. And one 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:18.480 thing that can do something is with spot and it 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:22.159 won't work if it's just Spotify. But I am one 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:24.560 of those people who thinks that maybe it's not the 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:28.000 worst thing if things like Spotify are seen as publishers 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:31.640 and thus when they spread misinformation that leads to disastrous 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:35.880 health consequences, UM, they can be held liable. Right. Uh, 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:38.439 that's not the worst possible change, although it is a 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:40.600 problematic one. I don't want to like boil that down 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:43.760 to a simple question, but I think that's an avenue 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:47.120 that should be explored, because I don't see that there's 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:50.359 a lot of difference in Spotify choosing to let something 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:54.920 go to air or The New York Times printing misinformation. UM. 0:19:55.000 --> 0:19:57.080 And in fact, Spotify is going to reach more people 0:19:57.080 --> 0:20:00.280 because nobody cares what The New York Times says anymore. Yeah, 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:04.320 so Spotify. The Spotify CEO did kind of address the 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:09.440 ongoing controversy around the you know, internal publishing stuff and 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:12.800 how they view medical misinformation. UM. They did adopt a 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:16.760 clarified policy that prohibits content that promotes dangerous, false, or 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:21.440 dangerous deceptive medical information which may cause offline harm or 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:24.760 pose a direct threat to public health. UM. And then 0:20:24.800 --> 0:20:27.320 the post also announced that a Spotify would add content 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:30.959 advisories to any content related to COVID on the platform, 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:34.879 Twitter and Instagram have Um No, it's not, it's not. 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:38.399 It's not. Actually it's not. But if you have the operation, 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:41.320 if you can again, if there is like an actual 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:47.480 dollar consequence to companies that aired massive disinformation, um, then 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:50.600 you're not without sort of making Joe Rogan the focus. 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:52.720 You can make it so that the people that he 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:56.240 actually is accountable to, which is the people who make 0:20:56.320 --> 0:21:00.399 him give him the money that he gets, how a 0:21:00.480 --> 0:21:03.560 vested interest in tamping down on the worst excesses that 0:21:03.600 --> 0:21:07.600 he's responsible for, Like that might have an impact. I 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:09.719 don't know, Like part of the problem is that. And 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:11.480 one thing we should acknowledge here when we're talking about 0:21:11.520 --> 0:21:14.320 like what would work better than what's being done, This 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:18.600 is a pretty new problem. Versions of it have existed before, 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:22.400 but without the Internet and without podcasts being what they are, 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:24.760 this is a pretty new thing to be dealing with. 0:21:25.200 --> 0:21:27.479 And I'm not I don't I'm not saying like this 0:21:27.560 --> 0:21:30.000 is here's the obvious solution to this, But I think 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:31.960 we are trying to point out, like what folks are 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:35.399 doing doesn't work. The tactics being applied are not effective, 0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:39.480 and we should be exploring other opportunities to mitigate this harm. 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:42.600 That are not well, I guess it's time to delete 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:46.359 another app and post about it on Twitter. Yeah. I 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:48.159 think I think this is especially a thing with like 0:21:48.160 --> 0:21:49.880 because like one of the other things that that's been 0:21:50.400 --> 0:21:55.280 popping up as broken's like weapons great transphobia. So yeah, jeesus, 0:21:55.760 --> 0:21:59.639 and that's that stuff us is horrifying. Like the racism 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:02.520 is also like really bad. He's extremely sexist. But it's 0:22:02.520 --> 0:22:07.679 like I think misogynists racist all there's a lot of 0:22:07.680 --> 0:22:10.720 money and being that dude. Yeah, well, and I think 0:22:10.760 --> 0:22:15.000 this is sort of you know, this, this is you know, 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:19.080 this is an inherent problem for the left because fighting 0:22:19.119 --> 0:22:22.480 it like this this kind of sort of like shock 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:26.040 truck information stuff works better like that that rage economy 0:22:26.080 --> 0:22:27.600 works better for the right thing does for the left. 0:22:28.320 --> 0:22:30.240 And I think in some ways that means like you 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:32.960 have to fight them in other spaces, like you know, 0:22:33.040 --> 0:22:35.679 you you can't just like keep throwing yourself. It's the 0:22:35.760 --> 0:22:38.320 same thing with like so why why why you don't 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:40.960 have just like one line where you just run into 0:22:40.960 --> 0:22:43.479 a bunch of cops over and overget in one spot, right, like, 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:48.119 but we have certainly try. Yeah. Yeah, it's like some 0:22:48.200 --> 0:22:51.360 folks gave the old college, the old college. Yeah, like 0:22:51.760 --> 0:22:54.160 you know, it's like in some in some sense, yeah, 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:56.120 like it's it's it's it's it's hard to be too 0:22:56.119 --> 0:22:57.920 hard on these on people who doing this, and it's 0:22:57.920 --> 0:22:59.640 like I think they're doing the right thing. But it's 0:22:59.640 --> 0:23:03.600 like you have to you have to pick your battles. 0:23:04.200 --> 0:23:07.040 And you know, if if you're taking a fight that's fair, 0:23:07.680 --> 0:23:09.320 like that's a that's a bad fight, that is a 0:23:09.359 --> 0:23:11.719 bad fight for you. You you you need you need 0:23:11.760 --> 0:23:14.679 to be fighting them in different spheres. You need to 0:23:14.720 --> 0:23:16.879 be you know, I mean, working for example, on stuff 0:23:16.920 --> 0:23:20.080 like tech regulation, like you like working on you know, 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:25.119 unionizing these places, right like fighting purely finding them in 0:23:25.160 --> 0:23:28.760 information space, we will lose every time. The advantage that 0:23:28.840 --> 0:23:31.320 we have is that we also do other things. And 0:23:31.359 --> 0:23:34.480 it's it's you know, we're we're going to keep losing 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:36.320 hearing if you know, if we keep fighting them in 0:23:36.320 --> 0:23:38.240 exactly the same way here, we're going to keep losing. 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:40.120 So we have to you know, like we we we 0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:42.960 we we have to fight in other places. And that's 0:23:43.000 --> 0:23:46.880 hard and it sucks because you know, this is such 0:23:46.920 --> 0:23:51.840 a misspart of just what reality is now is you know, 0:23:51.960 --> 0:23:56.240 yelling people online, but like, you have to stop doing 0:23:56.280 --> 0:24:00.080 that because it's not not not. The problem is that 0:24:00.840 --> 0:24:03.879 we've all gotten fucking caught for quite some time in 0:24:03.880 --> 0:24:07.800 this escalating culture war, and it's not. It's not a 0:24:07.880 --> 0:24:12.480 battleground that can be entirely ignored because when you kind 0:24:12.480 --> 0:24:16.240 of seed ground them, they create conspiracy theories about trans 0:24:16.280 --> 0:24:19.159 people attacking kids that lead to them murdering people in 0:24:19.200 --> 0:24:21.840 the streets, or they spread conspiracy theories about masks that 0:24:21.920 --> 0:24:24.840 lead to them occupying Ottawa. Um. So it can't. The 0:24:24.840 --> 0:24:28.040 culture war battleground cannot be ignored. But at the end 0:24:28.080 --> 0:24:30.159 of the day, what we should rather than just like 0:24:30.359 --> 0:24:32.840 seeking new ways to engage with it, because the more 0:24:32.880 --> 0:24:35.760 you engage with it, and it is sometime necessary to 0:24:35.800 --> 0:24:37.760 engage with but the more you engage with it, the 0:24:37.840 --> 0:24:41.040 stronger you make this whole thing and the heavier it 0:24:41.160 --> 0:24:44.040 lies on all of us like a cloud. And in 0:24:44.560 --> 0:24:47.439 the only real way to actually win in the long 0:24:47.560 --> 0:24:50.040 run is to find a way to get off of that, 0:24:50.320 --> 0:24:54.159 to get out of this like this fucking treadmill of 0:24:54.760 --> 0:24:59.240 bullshit that has become everything all consuming, and it's it's 0:24:59.240 --> 0:25:00.879 in a lot of people best interest for it to 0:25:00.920 --> 0:25:05.520 stay all consuming um and I there's a there's a 0:25:05.560 --> 0:25:08.520 lot that's going on here, because it's not I think 0:25:08.520 --> 0:25:11.120 sometimes when you criticize people for the actions they take 0:25:11.240 --> 0:25:15.400 in situations like this, they kind of interpreted as you saying, well, 0:25:15.440 --> 0:25:18.359 like you're stupid and you fucked up and never should 0:25:18.400 --> 0:25:21.160 have liked done this, and and the way I think 0:25:21.160 --> 0:25:24.000 of it as more like this is a we have 0:25:24.040 --> 0:25:27.520 found ourselves trapped in a really messy situation and no 0:25:27.600 --> 0:25:29.520 one has figured out how to get out. So it's 0:25:29.560 --> 0:25:32.119 not a situation of like people are are dumb for 0:25:32.200 --> 0:25:35.720 having done something that's not effective. It's a situation of 0:25:36.000 --> 0:25:39.159 we are all trying to figure out what works in 0:25:39.200 --> 0:25:42.840 this new world we have kind of somewhat accidentally somewhat 0:25:42.880 --> 0:25:46.280 purposefully built for ourselves, and it is important to have 0:25:46.920 --> 0:25:49.240 humility and be willing to accept it, like, you know what, 0:25:49.400 --> 0:25:51.760 that's not working and we have to stop doing the 0:25:51.760 --> 0:25:55.560 thing that's not working, rather than you know, treat it 0:25:55.600 --> 0:25:58.080 as if it's sort of a moral failing that something 0:25:58.359 --> 0:26:02.200 we we we tried was not effective. The last thing 0:26:02.280 --> 0:26:04.520 is it's like, really, it's it's not just the non effectiveness, 0:26:04.560 --> 0:26:08.440 but also the the idea that the fact that this 0:26:08.520 --> 0:26:11.600 outrage is said, just a constant is just a constant 0:26:11.720 --> 0:26:16.880 free bannerad for Spotify every everywhere online is like also 0:26:16.920 --> 0:26:18.399 not great. So it's not it's not even not not 0:26:18.480 --> 0:26:21.800 even just not effective. But you're just giving a corporation 0:26:21.880 --> 0:26:25.440 tons of free press. And maybe we can reframe the 0:26:25.480 --> 0:26:28.000 way we approach these things so that we don't do that, 0:26:28.520 --> 0:26:30.520 because in the end, that's just kind of adding to 0:26:30.560 --> 0:26:33.159 promoting the misinformation. That's kind of that's all that's kind 0:26:33.200 --> 0:26:36.440 of really doing. And it's not, that's not nearly as 0:26:36.480 --> 0:26:39.720 you know, impactful as you know, just Rogan doing it himself, 0:26:39.880 --> 0:26:41.800 but it's still is it still is a contributing factor 0:26:41.800 --> 0:26:44.760 and and and it it does contribute to the backfire 0:26:44.760 --> 0:26:47.520 effect of people who listen to his podcast. Maybe people 0:26:47.520 --> 0:26:49.840 who like don't even but they're still gonna get defensive 0:26:49.880 --> 0:26:52.800 over him because they're seeing this attack on him. And 0:26:52.960 --> 0:26:54.879 even though he's even though he is a huge figure, 0:26:55.040 --> 0:26:58.160 he's seen as an outsider. So that that really does 0:26:58.200 --> 0:27:01.679 contribute to that back backfire fact thing of getting people 0:27:01.760 --> 0:27:04.719 more and more vested in him as a content creator. 0:27:05.160 --> 0:27:07.840 But yeah, it's really dumb, But the thing we need 0:27:07.880 --> 0:27:09.480 to deal with it it's it's a version of the 0:27:09.560 --> 0:27:12.960 lesson people still didn't learn with Trump, which is that like, 0:27:14.640 --> 0:27:18.120 you can't you can't beat these people by dunking on them. 0:27:18.160 --> 0:27:20.720 It doesn't matter that Joe Rogan said something dumb. It 0:27:20.720 --> 0:27:23.600 doesn't matter that Joe Rogan is inconsistent, it doesn't matter 0:27:23.680 --> 0:27:28.400 that like Joe Rogan has tells lies or whatever. That's 0:27:28.400 --> 0:27:31.240 not going to change anybody's mind about the dude, because 0:27:31.240 --> 0:27:34.520 it's not about Joe Rogan. They don't support him because 0:27:34.560 --> 0:27:37.600 they love They support him as much as anything. The 0:27:37.640 --> 0:27:40.359 people who are at least engaging, primarily online about it, 0:27:40.560 --> 0:27:43.120 Most of his fans are just don't think about any 0:27:43.160 --> 0:27:44.840 of this because they're not as online as the rest 0:27:44.880 --> 0:27:47.560 of us. But the people who are kind of engaging 0:27:47.560 --> 0:27:49.800 with this and helping to fuel the culture war side 0:27:49.800 --> 0:27:53.639 of this thing, they don't care there this This isn't 0:27:53.640 --> 0:27:57.359 about his inherent characteristics. This is about it's a chance 0:27:57.400 --> 0:28:00.600 to dunk on the enemy. Um, So you're not going 0:28:00.640 --> 0:28:04.560 to convince them of anything ever. That's all I had 0:28:04.600 --> 0:28:08.159 to say on this. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, because again, 0:28:08.240 --> 0:28:11.280 I really I really resisted writing this episode for a 0:28:11.320 --> 0:28:13.840 long time because I didn't want to add to the 0:28:13.920 --> 0:28:17.760 Rogan discourse. But after a while, the Rogan discourse itself 0:28:17.800 --> 0:28:22.080 became worth talking about. How we talk so because it 0:28:22.160 --> 0:28:24.159 is more of a meta angle, like, okay, that is 0:28:24.160 --> 0:28:27.520 actually worth talking about. But yeah, I am so tired 0:28:27.640 --> 0:28:32.280 of hearing, watching, and seeing the words still Rogan. Yeah, 0:28:32.400 --> 0:28:36.359 I'm exhausted by it. I hate that. Like it's a 0:28:36.359 --> 0:28:39.880 bigger story in the United States than the gigantic war 0:28:39.960 --> 0:28:43.400 that might break out in Eastern Europe. Um, it's it's 0:28:44.120 --> 0:28:47.240 just just a very frustrating time and the only way 0:28:47.240 --> 0:28:51.320 to win this particular game is not to play. Um. 0:28:51.400 --> 0:28:53.560 So that's that's why we're doing this. We're not going 0:28:53.600 --> 0:28:56.040 to stick his name in the description or the episode title. 0:28:56.840 --> 0:29:02.240 Um yeah it is. You know. The title we were 0:29:02.240 --> 0:29:04.040 working with this under that we're not going to use 0:29:04.200 --> 0:29:06.120 so as to not feed into the algorithm was Joe 0:29:06.160 --> 0:29:09.120 Rogan the Egregor And that is really how I think 0:29:09.160 --> 0:29:11.000 about it. If you if you haven't listened to our 0:29:11.040 --> 0:29:14.120 episode on the book about the Flat Earth, book on 0:29:14.200 --> 0:29:18.520 Behind the Bastards that talks about as Um and eggs, 0:29:18.560 --> 0:29:22.240 it's basically a god that is made up by the 0:29:22.320 --> 0:29:25.520 kind of directed thoughts of a population of people. Yeah, 0:29:25.800 --> 0:29:29.040 it's like a costalt deity that exists, like this thought 0:29:29.160 --> 0:29:33.080 form that if people put energy into it, it almost 0:29:33.160 --> 0:29:38.160 gains its own it's it's own like um um independence 0:29:38.280 --> 0:29:40.600 from the people that that like burst it, even though 0:29:40.600 --> 0:29:42.040 it is just like a thought form and it because 0:29:42.120 --> 0:29:44.560 it was just an idea or presence, and now it 0:29:44.600 --> 0:29:47.240 basically is its own god that's self sustaining and it 0:29:47.240 --> 0:29:50.480 can impact the world. Yeah, global capital is an egregor 0:29:50.680 --> 0:29:53.640 And and the more that people kind of feed into 0:29:53.680 --> 0:29:58.200 the discourse around Joe Rogan, the more he turns into 0:29:58.200 --> 0:30:02.440 one kind of outside of his own actions, he this 0:30:02.520 --> 0:30:06.120 idea of him has an influence on everything around us. 0:30:06.240 --> 0:30:10.160 And boy, we don't need that, do we certainly did not. 0:30:10.600 --> 0:30:12.840 Just said we just put that one down, right, try 0:30:12.920 --> 0:30:18.280 something else. Yeah, let's throw a brick at your sheriff instead. 0:30:18.840 --> 0:30:25.880 This will go better for you. I mean sure, sure, Chris, Yeah, Chris, 0:30:26.040 --> 0:30:28.280 Chris said it, not me. Yeah, I mean obviously in 0:30:28.400 --> 0:30:32.120 Minecraft he said bricks. It's fine. Robert Robert, Robert Robert. 0:30:32.160 --> 0:30:35.479 It's not Minecraft anymore. It's the roadblocks the Feds cracked 0:30:35.480 --> 0:30:37.800 in Minecraft. Yeah, you're right, it's going to take weeks 0:30:37.880 --> 0:30:40.480 for them, for them to their computers to realize what 0:30:40.600 --> 0:30:45.120 roadblocks is. The look was a story I think I 0:30:45.120 --> 0:30:47.800 saw on Twitter about like like some yeah, so some 0:30:47.800 --> 0:30:50.760 some kids who actually legitimately got arrested in Brushford, like 0:30:50.840 --> 0:30:54.280 blowing up a building in Minecraft, so like like literally 0:30:54.760 --> 0:31:00.600 so we live in h yeah and instead again it's 0:31:00.640 --> 0:31:04.200 roadblocks where nothing bad happens. Nothing bad happens, all right, 0:31:04.240 --> 0:31:09.120 everybody get on roadblocks, um and don't talk about Joe Royan, 0:31:09.280 --> 0:31:26.240 and don't talk about Joe Rogan. Hundreds of truckers continue 0:31:26.320 --> 0:31:28.840 to rule least and with wards joining the movement. With 0:31:28.880 --> 0:31:34.000 each passing city, feelings towards vaccine mandates have heightened. Advocate 0:31:34.120 --> 0:31:37.400 civil war. If people don't want to stand up, we 0:31:37.640 --> 0:31:40.000 got guns. We'll stand up and we'll bring them off. 0:31:40.040 --> 0:31:42.160 Sucking a guys, let's get pumped for this. Let's go 0:31:42.200 --> 0:31:44.560 to fucking Ottawa. Let's I want to see one of 0:31:44.600 --> 0:31:48.080 those truckers. I wouldn't probably not not known our guys obviously, 0:31:48.120 --> 0:31:50.760 but I would like to see our own January six event. 0:31:51.080 --> 0:31:53.480 See some of those truckers plow right through that sixteen 0:31:53.520 --> 0:32:05.920 football ye, welcome to It could happen here or in 0:32:06.000 --> 0:32:10.440 this case, it did happen here, slashes still happening here, 0:32:11.200 --> 0:32:14.120 and uh the here in this case being Canada in 0:32:14.240 --> 0:32:18.480 recent weeks. The idea of only a few thousand people 0:32:18.640 --> 0:32:22.479 totally choking a major city, holding it hostage to bargain 0:32:22.560 --> 0:32:25.840 for political demands, while overwhelming and getting a foot up 0:32:25.840 --> 0:32:29.040 on law enforcement, taking over and shutting down a sizeable 0:32:29.040 --> 0:32:33.840 portion of a popular metropolitan area and simultaneously blocking off 0:32:33.840 --> 0:32:37.680 supply lines, trade routes, and multiple international border crossings is 0:32:37.680 --> 0:32:39.840 exactly the kind of thing this podcast has been talking 0:32:39.880 --> 0:32:43.520 about for years as a potential anti government resistance tactic 0:32:43.760 --> 0:32:47.080 that could become more common as political tensions rise in 0:32:47.160 --> 0:32:51.600 North America. Specifically, a few weeks ago, when the so 0:32:51.680 --> 0:32:55.360 called Trucker Convoy was still its planning stages, I wasn't 0:32:55.400 --> 0:32:57.880 super eager to cover it on the pod. Actually, I 0:32:58.160 --> 0:33:00.640 assumed it would be a flop and just another dumb 0:33:00.720 --> 0:33:03.760 anti COVID protest in a long line of anti COVID 0:33:03.800 --> 0:33:07.160 protests happening in Canada. Flash forward to me at the 0:33:07.240 --> 0:33:10.360 end of January, and it became apparent that I was 0:33:10.400 --> 0:33:12.920 sorely mistaken and this thing was shaping up to be 0:33:13.000 --> 0:33:18.640 a significant factor in Canada's political ecosystem going forward. In 0:33:18.680 --> 0:33:21.160 my haste to catch up to the moment, I recorded 0:33:21.160 --> 0:33:24.720 two episodes with the wonderful journalist Dan Cullen, explaining the 0:33:24.760 --> 0:33:28.280 situation as it was at the prospective times of recording. 0:33:28.880 --> 0:33:31.920 But as the tensions in Ottawa and all across Canada 0:33:31.960 --> 0:33:35.640 arose and the situation gained more and more complexity, I 0:33:35.720 --> 0:33:39.120 decided that the convoy and subsequent blockades required a more 0:33:39.800 --> 0:33:43.520 researched and scripted deep dive. The more I dug into 0:33:43.520 --> 0:33:46.320 the situation, the more it seems to embody the exact 0:33:46.400 --> 0:33:49.080 thing I was warning about in my two previous scripted 0:33:49.080 --> 0:33:53.680 episodes about Canada and the far right, titled Canadian Fascism A. 0:33:54.480 --> 0:33:56.960 The apologies for the title, but you can find those 0:33:56.960 --> 0:33:59.040 if you scroll through the could Happen Here feed. Don't 0:33:59.040 --> 0:34:03.400 think they came out around November ish. What I wanted 0:34:03.440 --> 0:34:06.160 to get across in those episodes is that Canada is 0:34:06.200 --> 0:34:10.040 often seen as an escape from the more divisive, violent, 0:34:10.120 --> 0:34:14.719 and fascist elements of US politics and culture. But just 0:34:14.760 --> 0:34:19.680 like climate change, capitalism, or any other enveloping force cough cough, 0:34:19.760 --> 0:34:24.080 hyper objects cough cough, fascism and the slide towards it 0:34:24.200 --> 0:34:28.240 can never be truly escaped right. There is no other, 0:34:28.360 --> 0:34:31.959 there is no away, and it's especially hard to see 0:34:31.960 --> 0:34:34.800 it when it's growing on the back of your own head, 0:34:35.640 --> 0:34:40.200 primarily through Islamophobia. Far right ethno nationalist tendencies have been 0:34:40.200 --> 0:34:43.120 bubbling under the surface of Canada for a long while, 0:34:43.840 --> 0:34:46.920 and since Trudeau has taken office in twenty fifteen, there 0:34:46.920 --> 0:34:50.680 has been a perfect politically allowed boogeyman to blame every 0:34:50.719 --> 0:34:55.040 problem onto That can include everything from Trudeau was taking 0:34:55.080 --> 0:34:58.240 away our oil and gas jobs, or Trudeau is bringing 0:34:58.280 --> 0:35:02.280 in Muslim terrorists to Canada, uh, or Trudeau is starving 0:35:02.320 --> 0:35:06.879 your children through health mandates. Canadian right wing protests has 0:35:06.880 --> 0:35:10.280 been steadily growing the past five years. There's been multiple 0:35:10.320 --> 0:35:13.320 flare ups of far right rhetoric with the Canadian Yellow Vests, 0:35:13.400 --> 0:35:17.160 the Westerns that protesced we Exit or Western Exit movement, 0:35:17.719 --> 0:35:22.879 and the pseudo fascist People's Party of Canada. The incorporation 0:35:23.000 --> 0:35:27.399 of pandemic conspiracies and anti vaccine sentiments into the already 0:35:27.400 --> 0:35:32.120 disaffected rural Canadian right wingers starting and continuing to the present, 0:35:32.520 --> 0:35:36.040 has accelerated not only the conspiratorial fall right rhetoric among 0:35:36.080 --> 0:35:39.400 conservative voters, but also what is seen as a valid 0:35:39.440 --> 0:35:43.399 political action in those people's eyes. But before we get 0:35:43.440 --> 0:35:47.480 into how the convoy started with anger concerning COVID nineteen 0:35:47.520 --> 0:35:51.799 health man dates and misinformation concerning empty store shelves, we 0:35:51.880 --> 0:35:53.920 have to first go back in time to even before 0:35:54.000 --> 0:35:56.960 the COVID nineteen virus was a blip on anyone's radar. 0:35:58.040 --> 0:36:03.080 In February, the Canadian Yellow Vests organized something called the 0:36:03.200 --> 0:36:07.360 United We Roll Convoy. The result was around a hundred 0:36:07.480 --> 0:36:11.000 seventy trucks driving cross country through the more liberal East 0:36:11.120 --> 0:36:14.880 to Ottawa. The result was around a hundred seventy trucks 0:36:15.239 --> 0:36:17.960 driving from the West cross country to the more liberal 0:36:18.040 --> 0:36:21.280 East and eventually to Ottawa. The goal was to represent 0:36:21.360 --> 0:36:24.640 the concerns of disenfranchised oil and gas workers in the 0:36:24.640 --> 0:36:29.040 Western provinces and their opposition to propose environmental and new 0:36:29.160 --> 0:36:34.080 energy policies. Yellow Vests Canada was largely founded by individuals 0:36:34.160 --> 0:36:37.719 already associated with Canada's far right, which at the time 0:36:37.800 --> 0:36:42.040 was primarily united through anti Muslim racism and m phobia. 0:36:42.280 --> 0:36:45.560 Inspired by the French Heelovest movement, they copied their aesthetics 0:36:45.560 --> 0:36:48.839 and adopted new grievances and reactionary matoric and we get 0:36:48.880 --> 0:36:52.360 them a much larger audience. By the time United We 0:36:52.520 --> 0:36:55.200 Roll arrived in Ottawa, the media started to catch on 0:36:55.239 --> 0:36:59.000 to the more problematic elements about their organization, Neo Nazi 0:36:59.080 --> 0:37:02.120 faith goal each spoke on a stage, many members of 0:37:02.160 --> 0:37:05.479 hate groups responded in attendance, and with the numbers so low, 0:37:05.880 --> 0:37:09.840 it made their more extreme participants stick out. Instead of 0:37:09.840 --> 0:37:12.680 focusing the message on oil and gas as they claim 0:37:12.719 --> 0:37:16.480 to represent Western alienation from a distant liberal Ottawa, some 0:37:16.600 --> 0:37:20.640 of its participants seemed more interested in protesting Ottawa's immigration 0:37:20.760 --> 0:37:26.200 policies than arguing for specific fixes for Alberta's oil patch. Plus, 0:37:26.239 --> 0:37:29.439 if you peeked inside any Canadian yellow vest Facebook group, 0:37:29.840 --> 0:37:32.520 you would be flooded with hundreds of examples of explicit 0:37:32.600 --> 0:37:35.680 anti Muslim racism and calls for a Prime Minister Justin 0:37:35.719 --> 0:37:40.560 Trudeau's arrest and execution, a theme that remains common among 0:37:40.920 --> 0:37:45.440 COVID conspiracy demonstrations today. But at the end of it, 0:37:45.680 --> 0:37:48.799 United We Roll was widely considered a bust, with only 0:37:48.800 --> 0:37:51.800 a few hundred participants in Ottawa and despite raising almost 0:37:51.800 --> 0:37:54.680 a hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the organizers failed to 0:37:54.719 --> 0:37:57.440 exclose how much of that money was actually spent on 0:37:57.560 --> 0:38:01.600 convoy expenses like gas and food. Afterwards, the Yellowest Canada 0:38:01.640 --> 0:38:04.480 movement started to kind and die out, though some holdouts 0:38:04.520 --> 0:38:08.440 kept smaller demonstrations going for months, particularly in the conservative 0:38:08.520 --> 0:38:12.480 oil province of Alberta. But to us now United we 0:38:12.600 --> 0:38:14.640 Rule can be seen as a small test run for 0:38:14.680 --> 0:38:18.719 the current situation. In fact, it shares many of the 0:38:18.760 --> 0:38:22.560 same organizers and even the same promotional materials, except this 0:38:22.640 --> 0:38:25.840 time they have the added weight of many more people 0:38:25.960 --> 0:38:30.320 radicalized into conspiracism throughout the pandemic, and much more funding. 0:38:30.920 --> 0:38:33.440 So with that in mind, let's dive into the components 0:38:33.480 --> 0:38:39.200 of the initial organizing effort. On January two, go fund 0:38:39.200 --> 0:38:41.880 me account was set up for a so called trucker 0:38:42.040 --> 0:38:45.920 convoy ahead of the January fifteenth adoption of the mandate 0:38:45.960 --> 0:38:49.880 requiring all cross border transportation drivers to be fully vaccinated 0:38:49.920 --> 0:38:54.080 against COVID nineteen. Vaccine mandates in Canada have been in 0:38:54.120 --> 0:38:59.360 effect since October for ship crews, railways, and airline workers, 0:38:59.360 --> 0:39:03.040 but effective January, the federal government expanded the requirement to 0:39:03.120 --> 0:39:05.920 truck drivers returning from the States and those who will 0:39:05.920 --> 0:39:09.239 remain unvaccinated will not be able to enter Canada without quarantine. 0:39:09.719 --> 0:39:12.239 One week later, a reciprocal policy went into effect in 0:39:12.280 --> 0:39:15.200 the United States for Canadian truckers crossing into their border, 0:39:15.600 --> 0:39:17.960 which means going forward you cannot really cross the border 0:39:18.000 --> 0:39:22.480 at all, well remaining unvaccinated. At this point in mid January, 0:39:22.640 --> 0:39:25.640 a majority of Canadians still broadly supported health mandates aimed 0:39:25.640 --> 0:39:28.279 at limiting the spread of COVID, but a big part 0:39:28.320 --> 0:39:31.280 of the early propaganda push for the convoy was photos 0:39:31.280 --> 0:39:34.120 alleged to have been from current Canadian grocery stores which 0:39:34.160 --> 0:39:37.520 they were not, with barren empty shelves. The idea was 0:39:37.600 --> 0:39:41.399 that COVID restrictions were already severely impacting the supply line, 0:39:41.640 --> 0:39:44.040 and any additional mandates would begin to start with the 0:39:44.040 --> 0:39:48.359 population and effectively shut down international trade. Put a note 0:39:48.360 --> 0:39:50.759 in this idea, by the way, it will come up later. 0:39:52.200 --> 0:39:55.040 Ideas for another truck convoy like United Wi Roll have 0:39:55.160 --> 0:39:58.520 been tossed around for a while online, and with this 0:39:58.600 --> 0:40:02.160 new mandate on truckers andvaccines, a time presented itself to 0:40:02.200 --> 0:40:06.880 give the convoy idea another go. In the early convoy 0:40:07.000 --> 0:40:11.200 organizing they were primarily four familiar far right faces who 0:40:11.280 --> 0:40:13.960 working together to set things up, none of whom are 0:40:14.040 --> 0:40:18.120 truck drivers. By the way, the originally listed organizers on 0:40:18.160 --> 0:40:21.760 the go fund me page were Tomorrow Lich and b. J. Ditcher, 0:40:22.280 --> 0:40:26.640 Both have notable experience with far right organizing. Tamaraw Litch 0:40:26.920 --> 0:40:30.040 was born in my home province of Saskatchewan, but now 0:40:30.120 --> 0:40:32.960 hails from the town of Medicine Hat, Alberta, where she 0:40:33.080 --> 0:40:36.760 served as an organizer for Yellow Vests Canada, a regional 0:40:36.800 --> 0:40:41.480 coordinator for the separatist Western Exit or Wexit movement in Alberta, 0:40:41.920 --> 0:40:44.920 and now the secretary for the Maverick Party, another far 0:40:45.000 --> 0:40:48.800 right extreme acceparatist movement and fringe political party. Litch started 0:40:48.840 --> 0:40:52.560 attending and boosting yellow Vest events starting in and her 0:40:52.600 --> 0:40:54.879 social media posts from around the time show in one 0:40:54.920 --> 0:40:57.680 moment calling out some hateful rhetoric from within the movement, 0:40:58.080 --> 0:41:02.239 while also posting islamophobe articles of her own and conspiracies 0:41:02.280 --> 0:41:06.680 about the Muslim Brotherhood operating in Canada. A few days 0:41:06.760 --> 0:41:10.400 after the go fund me was created, Benjamin B. J. Ditcher, 0:41:10.600 --> 0:41:14.239 one time Conservative Party of Canada candidate, People's Party of 0:41:14.280 --> 0:41:17.600 Canada booster and co founder of a Canadian far right 0:41:17.719 --> 0:41:21.440 podcast network, appeared as a cool organizer on the go 0:41:21.560 --> 0:41:26.560 fund me page twenty nineteen, he claimed that Islamist entryism 0:41:26.600 --> 0:41:30.799 is rotting away our society like syphilis. Benjamin Ditcher was 0:41:30.800 --> 0:41:33.080 also one of the first people to give a speech 0:41:33.160 --> 0:41:36.360 at the first proto Fascist People's Party of Canada conference 0:41:36.400 --> 0:41:39.680 in Quebec, saying that the Conservative Party of Canada is 0:41:39.719 --> 0:41:43.120 suffering from the stench of cultural relativism and political Islam 0:41:43.400 --> 0:41:45.040 and a whole bunch of stuff you know in that 0:41:45.120 --> 0:41:48.600 general vein. James Botter was another one of the four 0:41:48.719 --> 0:41:52.480 key organizers of the Trucker convoy to Ottawa. Botter is 0:41:52.560 --> 0:41:55.000 an admitted conspiracy theorist who has endorsed Q and on 0:41:55.440 --> 0:41:59.120 and called COVID the biggest political scam in history. He's 0:41:59.120 --> 0:42:01.960 also a former activist with the Yellow Vests Canada and 0:42:02.160 --> 0:42:05.840 United we Roll. Barter's main project, however, is running the 0:42:06.000 --> 0:42:09.200 Canada Unity website, which is one of the original nexus 0:42:09.239 --> 0:42:13.040 points for organizing and spreading word about this convoy. The 0:42:13.080 --> 0:42:16.959 group contends that vaccine mandates and passports are illegal under 0:42:17.040 --> 0:42:20.719 Canada's constitution, the Nuremberg Code, and a host of other 0:42:20.800 --> 0:42:25.640 international conventions. Boter has long been a fringe figure, but 0:42:25.800 --> 0:42:29.359 his movements started picking up steam and support as announcements 0:42:29.360 --> 0:42:33.400 and continuations of restrictions aimed at curbing COVID nineteen spread 0:42:33.520 --> 0:42:37.440 have continued. The supposed plight of the truckers proved to 0:42:37.440 --> 0:42:41.000 be a sympathetic cause on Facebook and attracted an array 0:42:41.080 --> 0:42:46.080 of fellow travelers. The last big major player is Patrick King, 0:42:46.239 --> 0:42:49.759 another former Yellow vestor one time major figure in the 0:42:49.800 --> 0:42:54.920 Wexit movement as well as United we Roll. On January two, 0:42:55.200 --> 0:42:58.279 pet King hosted a live stream for James Botter to 0:42:58.400 --> 0:43:02.000 promote the Canada Unity website and to announce it as 0:43:02.000 --> 0:43:05.719 the official page for the Freedom Trucker Convoy, or as 0:43:05.760 --> 0:43:10.279 they called it, Operation Bear. Hug King is a conspiracy 0:43:10.280 --> 0:43:14.440 theorist and popular streamer that attracts the audience farther right 0:43:14.480 --> 0:43:18.759 than Canada's usual conservatives. Kings made headlines for drumming up 0:43:18.880 --> 0:43:22.360 fear and then following through with his supporters with violence 0:43:22.480 --> 0:43:26.480 at rally's put on by BLM and Antifa. King is 0:43:26.480 --> 0:43:29.640 also known for spreading what are basically neo Nazi talking points. 0:43:29.719 --> 0:43:31.600 And I'm just going to quote from an article by 0:43:31.600 --> 0:43:33.960 the Canadian Anti Hate Network here because they did a 0:43:34.160 --> 0:43:38.120 great job tracking his past extremism quote. In the past, 0:43:38.280 --> 0:43:40.719 King has gone on record about his feelings on the 0:43:41.000 --> 0:43:45.239 Anglo Saxon replacement that plans to quote flood Canada with 0:43:45.320 --> 0:43:49.399 refugees and subvert the education system, which is a thin 0:43:49.560 --> 0:43:53.279 rebranding of the Great Replacement theory touted by Ethno nationalists. 0:43:54.080 --> 0:43:57.120 At other points, King is expressed overtly racist and anti 0:43:57.120 --> 0:44:00.399 Semitic statements. In the twenty nineteen stream about the then 0:44:00.520 --> 0:44:03.560 upcoming federal election, King complained that he had to leave 0:44:03.560 --> 0:44:05.880 the movement due to their lack of success, saying, quote 0:44:05.920 --> 0:44:07.839 the election a wo't matter unless you want to change 0:44:07.840 --> 0:44:12.160 your national language to Chinese or Mandarin or Hebrew. He 0:44:12.239 --> 0:44:14.640 then went on to compare Chinese names to the sound 0:44:14.640 --> 0:44:19.040 of change falling downstairs. He has publicly distorted facts, but 0:44:19.120 --> 0:44:22.440 the Holocaust of form of Holocaust denial, saying I do 0:44:22.560 --> 0:44:25.080 know that the Holocaust was reduced to one point five 0:44:25.120 --> 0:44:27.279 million and not the six million that it was said 0:44:27.280 --> 0:44:30.719 to be. He then invoked the anti Semitic conspiracy theory 0:44:30.760 --> 0:44:34.240 that Jewish people are secretly in control of world governance, media, 0:44:34.400 --> 0:44:38.680 and finances, saying, quote the questions that have been asked 0:44:38.760 --> 0:44:40.960 several times to the a d L and to the 0:44:41.040 --> 0:44:44.799 Jewish government and communities. We have Jewish world bankers who 0:44:44.840 --> 0:44:49.759 are dictating our government policies and controlling our politicians unquote. 0:44:50.960 --> 0:44:56.040 So yeah. Considering King's history of saying blatantly fascist things, 0:44:56.080 --> 0:44:59.719 some organizers and convoy supporters tried to distance King from 0:44:59.760 --> 0:45:04.520 the Freedom Convoy movement to not damage the initial fundraising effort. 0:45:05.600 --> 0:45:08.720 The controversy around King resulted in a statement being released 0:45:08.760 --> 0:45:11.680 onto the fundraising page saying King is not and has 0:45:11.719 --> 0:45:13.920 never been affiliate with our movement, nor has he been 0:45:13.960 --> 0:45:17.240 a part of our great team of volunteers. The update 0:45:17.719 --> 0:45:21.200 was afterwards deleted, and then King claimed in a video 0:45:21.320 --> 0:45:23.799 that the statement was a public relations move because he 0:45:23.840 --> 0:45:26.719 was being attacked online. For a while, King was still 0:45:26.800 --> 0:45:31.160 listed as the Northern Alberta contact for the Western portion 0:45:31.239 --> 0:45:34.600 of the convoy. So those are the four people that 0:45:34.719 --> 0:45:38.560 laid the organizing groundwork, that spawned this entire thing and 0:45:38.600 --> 0:45:41.480 put it into motion. But what made this convoy different 0:45:41.480 --> 0:45:44.120 from United We Roll One point, oh, is the almost 0:45:44.120 --> 0:45:47.280 two years of COVID isolation, which has given ample time 0:45:47.320 --> 0:45:49.680 for groups like the Yellow Vests and extreme Far right 0:45:49.719 --> 0:45:53.640 groups to completely fold into the rapidly growing anti vax 0:45:53.680 --> 0:45:56.960 and COVID conspiracy movement in Canada, and along with that, 0:45:57.160 --> 0:46:00.960 using people's seething hatred of Justin Trudeau to radicalize thousands 0:46:00.960 --> 0:46:04.239 of thousands of people online to getting them more comfortable 0:46:04.320 --> 0:46:09.279 with the idea of participating in political protest. It's really 0:46:09.280 --> 0:46:11.680 important to mention that the protests are not organized by 0:46:11.680 --> 0:46:16.200 Canadian trucking unions or really Canadian truckers. The largest trucking 0:46:16.280 --> 0:46:18.640 unions have come out against the protests and they do 0:46:18.680 --> 0:46:21.239 not appear to reflect the values of most Canadians or 0:46:21.320 --> 0:46:25.440 most Canadian truckers. More than of the Canadian public is vaccinated, 0:46:25.440 --> 0:46:29.440 including almost of truckers, according to Canada's Minister of Transport. 0:46:30.360 --> 0:46:33.200 The Canadian Trucking Alliance issued a statement saying it does 0:46:33.239 --> 0:46:36.959 not support and strongly disapproves of any protests on public roads, 0:46:37.040 --> 0:46:40.800 highways or bridges. The Canadian Trucking Alliance president said in 0:46:40.840 --> 0:46:43.400 a joint statement with the Ministers of Labor and Transport 0:46:43.480 --> 0:46:46.400 that the Government of Canada and the Canadian Trucking Alliance 0:46:46.480 --> 0:46:50.719 both agree that vaccination, used in combination with preventative health measures, 0:46:51.120 --> 0:46:53.080 is the most effective tool to reduce the risk of 0:46:53.080 --> 0:46:57.040 COVID nineteen for Canadians and to protect public health. According 0:46:57.040 --> 0:47:00.360 to the Canadian Trucking Alliance, the mandate could impact around 0:47:00.360 --> 0:47:04.480 twelve to sixteen thousand Canadian commercial drivers, which is just 0:47:04.600 --> 0:47:08.560 about ten to fifteen percent of the industry's cross border 0:47:08.640 --> 0:47:12.400 drivers during the pandemic. Repeated polls have shown that a 0:47:12.440 --> 0:47:16.160 majority of Canadians support public health measures to contain the pandemic, 0:47:16.480 --> 0:47:18.719 but the number of Canadians who would like to see 0:47:18.840 --> 0:47:22.759 restrictions end has risen in recent weeks. With owner crown 0:47:22.840 --> 0:47:25.960 cases on the decline, some provinces are starting to remove 0:47:26.000 --> 0:47:30.160 restrictions and requirements. The public sentiment appears to be moving 0:47:30.200 --> 0:47:33.920 in the direction of opening up communities. Throughout the last 0:47:33.960 --> 0:47:36.799 two weeks of January, the number of Canadians saying that 0:47:36.800 --> 0:47:39.480 they would like to see restrictions end has risen by 0:47:39.600 --> 0:47:44.719 fifteen percentage points to a majority of fifty percent. Demonstrations 0:47:44.800 --> 0:47:47.640 have found a way to tap into pandemic fatigue among 0:47:47.680 --> 0:47:51.640 conservatives across the country. After months of lockdown, more than 0:47:51.719 --> 0:47:53.799 two thirds of Canadians have said they have very little 0:47:53.840 --> 0:47:56.920 in common with how the Autaowa protesters see things, but 0:47:57.880 --> 0:47:59.640 say that they have a lot in common, according to 0:47:59.680 --> 0:48:03.239 a recent survey connected by a Canadian research firm. Though 0:48:03.280 --> 0:48:06.400 the idea of vaccine mandates for Canadian truckers kind of 0:48:06.440 --> 0:48:10.480 prompted what turned into this convoy, very quickly became a 0:48:10.520 --> 0:48:14.040 general battle cry against pandemic restrictions as a whole and 0:48:14.080 --> 0:48:18.160 the leadership of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Unlike twenty nineteen 0:48:18.320 --> 0:48:21.239 United we Roll, the Freedom Convoy against health mandates was 0:48:21.280 --> 0:48:24.560 able to successfully capitalize on Western feelings of neglect and 0:48:24.640 --> 0:48:27.799 isolation from the ruling liberal elite in the East and 0:48:27.840 --> 0:48:30.840 in the capital of Ottawa. The right ingredients at the 0:48:30.920 --> 0:48:35.520 right time flung the Trucker Freedom Convoy into the conservative zeitgeist. 0:48:35.840 --> 0:48:37.560 The original and go fund me page, set up on 0:48:37.640 --> 0:48:41.960 January fourteenth to financially support convoy participants, was able to 0:48:42.080 --> 0:48:46.040 raise ten million dollars in just under three weeks. As 0:48:46.080 --> 0:48:49.520 the truck convoy idea picked up steam, The first expected 0:48:49.560 --> 0:48:53.120 wave of attendees were planned to arrive in Ottawa on Saturday, 0:48:53.280 --> 0:48:57.800 January twenty ninth. Vehicles started rolling in a few days prior, 0:48:57.880 --> 0:49:00.640 throughout Thursday and the Friday night before the big day. 0:49:00.640 --> 0:49:03.600 On the twenty nine, and as Saturday the twenty nine came, 0:49:03.840 --> 0:49:07.040 the numbers of trucks and protest participants greatly exceeded the 0:49:07.080 --> 0:49:10.440 initial expected numbers that I and many other people had figured, 0:49:10.719 --> 0:49:14.160 while obviously falling short of the heavily marked fifty thousand 0:49:14.200 --> 0:49:19.200 truckers prediction made by some convoy supporters. While writing these episodes, 0:49:19.280 --> 0:49:21.719 I talked with Paul, a citizen of Ovadawa who's been 0:49:21.760 --> 0:49:25.880 living inside the occupied zone since the twenty ninth of January, 0:49:26.120 --> 0:49:28.360 and this is what he had to say about expectations 0:49:28.440 --> 0:49:31.680 leading up to the convoys arrival. There was at least 0:49:31.680 --> 0:49:34.319 a week of lead up where we it was about 0:49:34.360 --> 0:49:36.880 all we heard about. So from when they sort of 0:49:36.880 --> 0:49:39.200 declared their intention to come down to when they started 0:49:39.280 --> 0:49:41.719 rallying in BC and you know, in the west and 0:49:41.800 --> 0:49:46.759 coming across Um, there was an anticipation that something was 0:49:46.760 --> 0:49:50.360 going to happen. And you know, people around here because 0:49:50.520 --> 0:49:53.520 like where I'm sitting right now is less than a 0:49:53.600 --> 0:49:57.440 kilometer from Parliament Hill and directly in between two of 0:49:57.440 --> 0:49:59.319 the streets that they've blocked off sort of on the 0:49:59.320 --> 0:50:03.040 way into town. You know, we were nervous, but we 0:50:03.200 --> 0:50:05.160 kind of were just sort of assuming it was gonna 0:50:05.160 --> 0:50:06.919 be a one day affair. It was gonna be small 0:50:06.960 --> 0:50:10.880 at first, but then you heard I mean, nobody believed 0:50:10.920 --> 0:50:16.239 the fifty trucks and that like that was it. I mean, 0:50:16.280 --> 0:50:18.360 to put in perspective, the numbers that they were claiming 0:50:18.360 --> 0:50:21.440 were on their way here, UM are larger than the 0:50:21.560 --> 0:50:24.320 entire population of the city by like a couple hundred 0:50:24.320 --> 0:50:29.120 thousand people, so that that didn't seem likely. But you know, 0:50:29.239 --> 0:50:31.440 when we were hearing the thirty to forty thousand, when 0:50:31.440 --> 0:50:34.760 we heard about multiple convoys with you know, a hundred 0:50:34.760 --> 0:50:37.160 to two hundred trucks like that was when it was like, Okay, 0:50:37.200 --> 0:50:43.959 this isn't gonna be great. So people started arriving on 0:50:44.000 --> 0:50:47.880 what Friday, Saturday. The first group started rolling to town 0:50:48.040 --> 0:50:51.000 on Thursday night. UM. They were they were small in numbers. 0:50:51.000 --> 0:50:52.960 They didn't really start blocking anything off because they just 0:50:53.040 --> 0:50:54.719 weren't enough of them. So, but you could hear the 0:50:54.800 --> 0:50:58.480 horns starting on Thursday night, UM, and I think a 0:50:58.520 --> 0:51:01.200 lot of some of them were going into hotels. UM. 0:51:01.320 --> 0:51:06.920 They were smaller groups too, mostly from sort of local groups. UM. 0:51:06.960 --> 0:51:12.000 And then around ten or eleven in the morning on Friday, UM, 0:51:12.160 --> 0:51:14.520 we started hearing reports at Kingston, which is about an 0:51:14.520 --> 0:51:17.400 hour issue away, an hour and a half um that 0:51:17.480 --> 0:51:19.760 there was a group moving out of there. So around 0:51:19.840 --> 0:51:22.280 one o'clock in the afternoon Friday, the first group started 0:51:22.280 --> 0:51:26.080 to arrive and started to congregate downtown. And one of 0:51:26.080 --> 0:51:29.040 the things about Ottawa is um it's a lot, like 0:51:29.080 --> 0:51:30.600 a lot of big downtowns, it's a lot of one 0:51:30.600 --> 0:51:33.800 way streets. So the moment you get the trucks starting 0:51:33.840 --> 0:51:36.240 to get into the intersections or near intersections, you're blocking 0:51:36.239 --> 0:51:40.520 off all passage in certain directions. So they started blocking 0:51:40.560 --> 0:51:43.000 off the northbound really quickly, just because that's where how 0:51:43.000 --> 0:51:45.919 they were coming in UM. And there's only like three 0:51:45.960 --> 0:51:48.400 gas stations downtown as well, which is it kind of 0:51:48.400 --> 0:51:50.399 plays a big factor in the route that they took. 0:51:50.520 --> 0:51:53.440 So they all passed by, especially the passenger cars that 0:51:53.440 --> 0:51:56.080 were running mow Um passed by and through that way. 0:51:56.239 --> 0:51:58.760 And yeah, by about two or three o'clock in the afternoon, 0:51:59.760 --> 0:52:03.400 every anything south of Summerset, which is about a kilometer 0:52:03.440 --> 0:52:07.120 and a half from Parliament, was pretty much jammed at 0:52:07.160 --> 0:52:10.600 that point. As Saturday night came, much of the group, 0:52:10.719 --> 0:52:14.239 supporters and truckers alike spent that time partying late into 0:52:14.280 --> 0:52:17.400 the night as heavily backed up traffic continued to effectively 0:52:17.400 --> 0:52:20.520 shut down roads and large areas of the city around 0:52:20.560 --> 0:52:24.520 Parliament Throughout the weekend. Businesses in the surrounding areas that 0:52:24.560 --> 0:52:27.680 did not close ahead of the protest were swarmed by customers, 0:52:27.960 --> 0:52:31.840 many refusing to wear masks. A local Homa shelter and 0:52:31.840 --> 0:52:34.759 soup kitchen was harassed by Convoy participants who were turned 0:52:34.760 --> 0:52:38.040 away from restaurants after refusing to wear a mask. A 0:52:38.120 --> 0:52:41.240 large number of the convoy attendees surrounded the shelter, demanding 0:52:41.280 --> 0:52:44.040 to be fed by the facility staff. According to the 0:52:44.120 --> 0:52:47.480 shelters president, convoy participants assaulted a client of the shelter 0:52:47.840 --> 0:52:50.040 and her old racial slurs at a security guard who 0:52:50.040 --> 0:52:53.800 attempted to intervene. Workers and volunteers at the shelter noted 0:52:53.800 --> 0:52:56.480 that parked vehicles blocked the shelter, making it difficult for 0:52:56.520 --> 0:52:59.840 aliences to reach the facility and for staff to assist 0:53:00.080 --> 0:53:03.600 munity members in need. A home in the downtown area 0:53:03.640 --> 0:53:06.120 was pelted with rocks and snow, as well as vandalized 0:53:06.120 --> 0:53:08.759 with human feces, all for showing a Pride flag in 0:53:08.800 --> 0:53:12.800 their window. The operations commander for the Ottawa Paramedic Service 0:53:12.880 --> 0:53:15.600 said that an ambulance was pelted with rocks and paramedics 0:53:15.719 --> 0:53:18.719 checking the damage were called racial slurs by convoy participants. 0:53:19.239 --> 0:53:23.040 Ottawa Paramedics have since requested police escorts, citing safety concerns. 0:53:23.760 --> 0:53:26.839 More public backlash was prompted after reports surface of a 0:53:26.840 --> 0:53:30.160 monument dedicated to commemorating Terry Fox being covered in protest 0:53:30.239 --> 0:53:33.560 signs and being staged to hold an upside down Canadian flag. 0:53:34.280 --> 0:53:37.600 No restroom made Saturday night related to the convoy, but 0:53:37.880 --> 0:53:41.200 as the convoy stuck around even past the weekend, there 0:53:41.239 --> 0:53:43.799 was this growing feeling of downtown residents that they've been 0:53:43.840 --> 0:53:47.000 abandoned by the city and law enforcement, with the whole 0:53:47.040 --> 0:53:49.800 situation and response to the situation making them afraid to 0:53:49.880 --> 0:53:53.520 leave their homes. I asked Paul what his experience on 0:53:53.560 --> 0:53:56.640 the first weekend of the occupation was and the general 0:53:56.719 --> 0:54:00.160 feeling in the area of downtown Ottawa. And you were 0:54:00.160 --> 0:54:02.000 living like right in the middle of this. How much 0:54:02.000 --> 0:54:04.400 has this affected like your day to day life and all, 0:54:04.480 --> 0:54:06.560 like your neighbors and stuff, like what what what are 0:54:06.560 --> 0:54:10.240 you able to do and not do? At this point? Well, 0:54:10.400 --> 0:54:13.600 it's the weekend was it was especially bad, and we're 0:54:13.640 --> 0:54:15.279 all kind of bracing for what this weekend is going 0:54:15.320 --> 0:54:17.440 to be because that's when you had just you know, 0:54:17.920 --> 0:54:22.120 there were between somewhere between ten and fifteen eighteen thousand 0:54:22.120 --> 0:54:25.040 people as the estimates I've heard, um all crowding downtown 0:54:25.160 --> 0:54:28.160 in the streets. So at that point, I mean that 0:54:28.200 --> 0:54:29.920 was when the police we're telling people not to wear 0:54:29.920 --> 0:54:33.400 a mask out, um because you know, you're kind of 0:54:33.400 --> 0:54:38.200 putting yourself at risk, uh, because it'll be targeted for violence. Yeah. 0:54:38.239 --> 0:54:41.600 So I mean I was like basically anytime I've left 0:54:41.640 --> 0:54:43.759 the house. So we have a mask mandate still in 0:54:43.800 --> 0:54:46.080 effect in Ottawa, so you have to wear them indoors 0:54:46.080 --> 0:54:48.560 pretty much everywhere. Um. So I have to wear at 0:54:48.560 --> 0:54:50.239 my building, I have to wear at the convenience store. 0:54:50.280 --> 0:54:52.319 If I'm gonna go go buy say, you know, pack 0:54:52.360 --> 0:54:54.080 of cigarettes, I'm not going to take it off. It's 0:54:54.080 --> 0:54:57.080 a thirty second walk. And so that was that. The 0:54:57.120 --> 0:55:00.160 harassment around that started on Friday, UM, and and it 0:55:00.239 --> 0:55:03.960 just became anyone who was going about that didn't look 0:55:04.000 --> 0:55:08.840 like they were part of it, UM started getting hassled. UM. 0:55:08.960 --> 0:55:11.320 Other people I know who live in the area, especially women, 0:55:11.600 --> 0:55:15.200 UM have been targeted a great deal. Um, anyone who's 0:55:15.280 --> 0:55:20.600 part of, you know, the LGBTQ community has been it's 0:55:21.360 --> 0:55:23.080 it's not really just it's just not safe to be 0:55:23.080 --> 0:55:24.560 out on the streets and it's not really safe to 0:55:24.560 --> 0:55:27.319 show that you don't support what they're doing. At points 0:55:27.360 --> 0:55:30.760 since the convoy started arriving in Ottawa, the extreme elements 0:55:30.760 --> 0:55:33.680 of the protest have been pretty visible. Among the thousands 0:55:33.719 --> 0:55:36.760 of attendees were recognizable members of white nationalists, hate groups 0:55:37.280 --> 0:55:40.319 you know, not seeing Confederate flags were seen flying. Two 0:55:40.360 --> 0:55:43.320 and on logos were emblazoned on trucks and sides, and 0:55:43.360 --> 0:55:46.120 stickers were pasted on telephone pools around the occupied area 0:55:46.200 --> 0:55:50.719 baring Trudeau's face reading wanted for crimes against humanity, the 0:55:50.719 --> 0:55:56.160 official line from original convoy organizers minus Pat King, of course, however, 0:55:56.320 --> 0:55:59.480 has tried to remain focused. In a Facebook live broadcast, 0:55:59.600 --> 0:56:03.160 James Under of Canada Unity instructed his supporters to stop 0:56:03.200 --> 0:56:06.799 talking about the vaccine and instead stick the messages of freedom. 0:56:06.880 --> 0:56:09.480 The goal of adopting a more restricted and relatable protest 0:56:09.520 --> 0:56:13.840 cause is to hopefully jump up more widespread support and validity, 0:56:14.040 --> 0:56:16.960 and it initially worked in some ways and not in others. 0:56:17.520 --> 0:56:20.360 Numerous members of the Conservative Party have come out to 0:56:20.400 --> 0:56:23.960 meet protesters, especially throughout the first few days now. Former 0:56:24.000 --> 0:56:27.800 Conservative Party leader Eron O'Toole met with convoy participants, albeit 0:56:27.840 --> 0:56:31.319 away from the main protest site. Both People's Party of 0:56:31.360 --> 0:56:35.200 Canada leader Maxie and Bernair and Ontario Member of Provincial 0:56:35.239 --> 0:56:38.600 Parliament and leader of the de facto Ontario arm of 0:56:38.600 --> 0:56:41.759 the PPC, Randy Healer, who has made many recent and 0:56:41.920 --> 0:56:45.399 semitic comments, both gave speeches on Saturday the twenty nine 0:56:45.480 --> 0:56:48.279 in front of the Parliament building. People like Elon Musk 0:56:48.320 --> 0:56:51.360 and Donald Trump have both endorsed the convoy, and Fox 0:56:51.440 --> 0:56:54.920 News has been endlessly broadcasting glowing updates of the convoy 0:56:55.040 --> 0:56:59.279 since its arrival in Ottawa. According to the convoy participants 0:56:59.360 --> 0:57:02.400 and organizers, they are vowing to camp out in front 0:57:02.440 --> 0:57:05.200 of the Parliament until their demands of dropping all COVID 0:57:05.280 --> 0:57:09.239 nineteen health measures are met. While stated grievances can be 0:57:09.360 --> 0:57:12.480 broader and more vast on the ground, the current memorandum 0:57:12.520 --> 0:57:15.960 of understanding posted on the Canada Unity website, which collected 0:57:15.960 --> 0:57:19.840 over thirty signatures, served as a sort of bargaining pitch 0:57:19.960 --> 0:57:25.240 between the convoy and the Canadian government. The Memorandum of Understanding, 0:57:25.360 --> 0:57:28.960 or the m o U, calls on Canada's appointing senators 0:57:29.040 --> 0:57:32.800 and Canada's Governor General, the representative of Queen Elizabeth, the 0:57:32.880 --> 0:57:37.040 second in Canada's constitutional monarchy, to abolish all COVID nineteen 0:57:37.040 --> 0:57:41.040 related restrictions and to allow all unvaccinated workers whose employment 0:57:41.080 --> 0:57:44.480 was terminated because of vaccine mandates to get their jobs back. 0:57:45.000 --> 0:57:47.760 James Potter, the guy who runs Canada Unity, insisted to 0:57:47.840 --> 0:57:50.000 his followers that the m o U would force the 0:57:50.000 --> 0:57:54.000 government's hand and possibly even trigger fresh elections if enough 0:57:54.000 --> 0:57:58.600 people signed. Another Canada Unity organizer went further, saying it 0:57:58.600 --> 0:58:01.440 would require the Senate to after the Prime Minister for 0:58:01.520 --> 0:58:05.200 corruption and fascism, which, of course there's no legal basis 0:58:05.240 --> 0:58:07.080 for any of these claims around the m o you, 0:58:07.520 --> 0:58:09.480 but you know that doesn't really matter in the end, 0:58:10.000 --> 0:58:12.040 because people still believe it, so it's going to have 0:58:12.120 --> 0:58:15.360 an impact on what they do. The more controversial Pat 0:58:15.440 --> 0:58:18.760 King laid out an alternative, however, a more direct plan 0:58:18.840 --> 0:58:22.960 of action to the occupiers. In a January Facebook livestream, 0:58:23.120 --> 0:58:25.520 King said that what we want to focus on is 0:58:25.560 --> 0:58:30.479 our politicians, their houses, their locations. If political pressure doesn't work, 0:58:30.600 --> 0:58:34.160 blocking major supply chains will be later on. So more 0:58:34.440 --> 0:58:37.920 more on that idea later. After the first weekend of 0:58:37.960 --> 0:58:41.360 protests kind of turned occupations, go fund me released a 0:58:41.400 --> 0:58:44.600 reported one million dollars of the total ten million raised 0:58:44.680 --> 0:58:47.880 for the convoy. As the end of the weekend approached, 0:58:48.080 --> 0:58:51.640 many convoy participants who rolled into the nation's capital began 0:58:51.720 --> 0:58:53.920 heading home and the highways on Sunday night saw no 0:58:54.000 --> 0:58:57.520 shortage of vehicles heading away from Ottawa with their approtest 0:58:57.600 --> 0:59:01.840 signs and flags still in tow, but plenty of people 0:59:01.880 --> 0:59:05.360 stuck around to continue the fight. Thousands and thousands of 0:59:05.360 --> 0:59:08.320 people and hundreds of vehicles, including a fleet of semitrucks, 0:59:08.320 --> 0:59:12.200 commercial vehicles, r V campers, and regular cars were more 0:59:12.240 --> 0:59:14.439 than enough to keep the roads in a large portion 0:59:14.480 --> 0:59:18.439 of Ottawa around Parliament effectively shut down. I can't help 0:59:18.440 --> 0:59:21.960 but draw comparisons to the fear mongering narrative of bus 0:59:22.000 --> 0:59:25.440 fulls of Antifa, you know, protesters coming from out of 0:59:25.440 --> 0:59:29.720 town into places they don't live, terrorizing locals, shutting down cities. 0:59:30.160 --> 0:59:32.120 You know. The other comparison is to like the chop 0:59:32.160 --> 0:59:34.560 where the chas in Seattle was taking over a large 0:59:34.600 --> 0:59:38.400 portion of the city, and how that was so vilified. Except, 0:59:38.480 --> 0:59:41.880 you know, this is so much bigger and impactful than 0:59:42.000 --> 0:59:45.240 anything so called Antifa or the Black Lives Matter protests 0:59:45.320 --> 0:59:49.160 have ever done, especially in Canada, in terms of actually 0:59:49.280 --> 0:59:53.400 impacting the functionality of a city and restricting the local, national, 0:59:53.680 --> 0:59:58.640 and international capitalist trade. The Freedom Convoy has done everything 0:59:58.760 --> 1:00:01.520 and more its proponents warned that Antifa was going to 1:00:01.560 --> 1:00:05.000 do to Canada. Obviously, part of the reason the Convoy 1:00:05.040 --> 1:00:07.720 protest was able to get to this point is not 1:00:07.880 --> 1:00:10.920 just because of its large size, but also the initial 1:00:11.120 --> 1:00:15.000 hands off approach by police that allowed the Convoy participants 1:00:15.040 --> 1:00:18.240 the opportunity to get a strong foothold within the city. 1:00:19.160 --> 1:00:22.320 The difference in initial law enforcement reaction to the protest 1:00:22.320 --> 1:00:25.640 Convoy made up of largely you know, conservative, middle class 1:00:25.640 --> 1:00:28.440 white Canadians, compared to other protests like you know, the 1:00:28.440 --> 1:00:32.240 Black Lives Better protests, or say the RCMPS typical response 1:00:32.280 --> 1:00:36.160 to First Nations protests and blockings defending their land. The 1:00:36.200 --> 1:00:40.520 comparisons cannot be over analyzed. You know, the latter two 1:00:40.600 --> 1:00:44.240 forms of protest I mentioned actually do challenge societal power 1:00:44.240 --> 1:00:47.800 structures that prop up White Canada, while as this Convoy 1:00:47.800 --> 1:00:51.360 protest does not and instead plays into those very power structures. 1:00:52.240 --> 1:00:54.800 That dynamic played a major role into how the police 1:00:54.840 --> 1:00:58.280 handled or didn't handle the first few days of the protest, 1:00:58.440 --> 1:01:01.840 in which during those early days the convoy attendees were 1:01:01.840 --> 1:01:05.480 free to build infrastructure that resulted in the protest escalating 1:01:05.520 --> 1:01:09.120 into a full scale occupation. The Monday after the first 1:01:09.160 --> 1:01:12.439 initial weekend, the city's mayor, Jim Watson, declared a state 1:01:12.440 --> 1:01:15.200 of emergency, but at that point Attawa Police thought it 1:01:15.240 --> 1:01:18.080 was already too late for the protest to be ended 1:01:18.080 --> 1:01:22.160 by sheer force without vastly increasing the likelihood of severe 1:01:22.240 --> 1:01:26.320 damage and life threatening outcomes to the convoy participants, police officers, 1:01:26.440 --> 1:01:30.480 and regular citizens of Ottawa. On February twod Ottawa Police 1:01:30.520 --> 1:01:34.000 Chief Peter Slowly explicitly said that there may not be 1:01:34.080 --> 1:01:38.160 a police solution to ending the convoy and occupation. There 1:01:38.200 --> 1:01:41.560 are similar demonstrations taking place in many other parts of 1:01:41.600 --> 1:01:44.720 this country, indeed many other parts around this continent in 1:01:44.800 --> 1:01:49.800 the world. What happens here effects there, What happens there 1:01:50.200 --> 1:01:53.840 affects here. We have seen in the last twenty four 1:01:53.840 --> 1:01:57.720 hours attempts by other police and other jurisdictions to do 1:01:57.840 --> 1:02:01.720 just what you have suggested. They were not effective and 1:02:01.760 --> 1:02:06.600 they created additional safety issues, potential life threatening safety issues. 1:02:07.520 --> 1:02:11.160 I have great compassion for those that have been significantly affected, 1:02:11.200 --> 1:02:16.720 if not traumatized, and we know criminally victimized. We will 1:02:16.760 --> 1:02:18.520 do everything we can to hold those who have done 1:02:18.520 --> 1:02:22.040 that to account. Will continue arresting and charging people as 1:02:22.040 --> 1:02:28.200 we have been. But any action taken without understanding the 1:02:28.240 --> 1:02:32.280 totality of the context, the totality of the risk, would 1:02:32.280 --> 1:02:38.960 be irresponsible. You're trying to be responsible, lawful, ethical, and measured. 1:02:40.720 --> 1:02:43.439 My last comment when I wrapped up, I'll share again now. 1:02:44.480 --> 1:02:47.560 The longer this goes on, the more I am convinced 1:02:47.800 --> 1:02:52.040 there may not be a police solution to this demonstration. 1:02:53.520 --> 1:02:57.640 There are police chiefs commissioners across this country that are 1:02:57.640 --> 1:03:02.640 dealing with demonstrations that are starting underway and significantly advanced. 1:03:03.520 --> 1:03:07.680 This is a national issue, not an Autawa issue from 1:03:07.720 --> 1:03:10.400 the start. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been playing down 1:03:10.440 --> 1:03:13.640 the notion of a military response to the ongoing Ottawa protest. 1:03:14.120 --> 1:03:16.840 During the first week, he said that sending in troops 1:03:16.920 --> 1:03:19.880 is not in the cards. Right now. On the February two, 1:03:20.000 --> 1:03:22.040 the Automa police chiefs said that all options are on 1:03:22.080 --> 1:03:25.560 the table, including eventually calling in the military, but one 1:03:25.640 --> 1:03:28.280 must be very very cautious about deploying troops in Canadian 1:03:28.320 --> 1:03:31.720 soil in such cases. Trudeau said that a news conference 1:03:31.760 --> 1:03:33.880 in in the February that it's not something that anyone 1:03:33.880 --> 1:03:38.440 should enter into lightly, with police basically leaving the Ottawa 1:03:38.520 --> 1:03:41.680 residents who live near and within the Convoy occupation to 1:03:41.840 --> 1:03:44.760 fend for themselves. I was curious what sorts of things 1:03:44.800 --> 1:03:48.200 the local community might be doing to live around this massive, 1:03:48.240 --> 1:03:52.480 conspiracy filled group of reactionary out of town campers. What 1:03:52.600 --> 1:03:54.800 sort of things have the has the community been doing 1:03:54.840 --> 1:03:59.560 to kind of help survive this this Like has there 1:03:59.600 --> 1:04:02.040 been like talide projects in the neighborhood to help support 1:04:02.080 --> 1:04:04.880 other neighbors, you know that that sort of thing there 1:04:04.920 --> 1:04:07.000 have Um it's actually been kind of wonderful the way 1:04:07.000 --> 1:04:09.440 the community has been coming together, especially after two years 1:04:09.440 --> 1:04:11.920 of pandemic, where we've all been kind of like Ottawa 1:04:12.000 --> 1:04:15.800 and Ontario have been one of the more restricted jurisdictions 1:04:15.800 --> 1:04:18.680 in North America. UM. I mean, and I say this 1:04:18.720 --> 1:04:21.080 as a restaurant manager, like in my opinion rightly, so, 1:04:21.160 --> 1:04:23.080 like it's about keeping people safe, and we've done a 1:04:23.120 --> 1:04:25.920 fairly good job of that by and large. But the 1:04:26.000 --> 1:04:28.880 thing is that, you know, our community hasn't felt a 1:04:28.920 --> 1:04:31.560 lot like a community in a while, and this week, 1:04:31.920 --> 1:04:35.240 I mean one of the few positives has been UM 1:04:35.280 --> 1:04:38.400 both individuals and organizations. So I mean, Rose and some 1:04:38.440 --> 1:04:40.240 of the other organizations that we mentioned on Friday have 1:04:40.280 --> 1:04:42.840 done a great job. There's also been some really really 1:04:42.840 --> 1:04:46.080 great organic organizing coming out of UM some activists as 1:04:46.080 --> 1:04:48.040 well as just people in the community. So there's a 1:04:49.120 --> 1:04:51.800 a few discord servers set up right now. So there's 1:04:51.800 --> 1:04:54.200 been a huge issue with people, people with disabilities and 1:04:54.200 --> 1:04:58.000 the elderly getting groceries because deliveries aren't possible downtown UM. 1:04:58.200 --> 1:05:01.200 So it started on Twitter, UM, but there's been an 1:05:01.280 --> 1:05:04.280 organization set up to help people get those groceries. Whether 1:05:04.320 --> 1:05:07.160 it's a cost issue or just a physical delivery issue. 1:05:07.200 --> 1:05:10.479 We're ensured people are ensuring that that's happening UM as 1:05:10.520 --> 1:05:14.320 of today. UM there's gonna be a safe Walks program. UM. 1:05:14.360 --> 1:05:16.480 There's well there's two. There's one on discord where it's 1:05:16.480 --> 1:05:18.160 people offering to you know, make sure that you can 1:05:18.160 --> 1:05:22.560 get through the space safe. Today though, um, in a 1:05:22.600 --> 1:05:25.000 positive and more passive sense, we kind of started taking 1:05:25.000 --> 1:05:28.640 the streets back. So um, we had about four or 1:05:28.680 --> 1:05:31.240 five groups of people ranging from ten to fifty just 1:05:31.240 --> 1:05:34.480 just walking the streets and not not confronting anybody, not 1:05:34.560 --> 1:05:37.560 getting getting into any direct engagement, just going out to 1:05:37.600 --> 1:05:39.840 show that we can still walk on our streets and 1:05:40.120 --> 1:05:43.520 letting our you know, our our neighbors know that we 1:05:43.560 --> 1:05:46.560 can actually be together and you know, stand up just 1:05:46.920 --> 1:05:49.400 to be together, which is something that I think a 1:05:49.440 --> 1:05:51.640 lot of people have lost over the last week. I mean, 1:05:51.720 --> 1:05:54.320 like the fact that that's even a big step is 1:05:54.520 --> 1:05:59.360 showing how tired the situation is. The fact that just 1:05:59.680 --> 1:06:02.280 get to that point were walking around in a group 1:06:02.280 --> 1:06:06.000 where you feel safe is like a big thing that Yeah, 1:06:06.040 --> 1:06:10.040 that's like a really interesting and horrible indicator of what 1:06:10.200 --> 1:06:12.880 the mood has been like there for people like living 1:06:13.000 --> 1:06:16.080 in this area. That is. Yeah, that is a big 1:06:16.080 --> 1:06:17.680 part of it. And it's something that was actually talked 1:06:17.680 --> 1:06:20.000 about a lot today, which was how refreshing it was 1:06:20.040 --> 1:06:21.760 to be able to do it, but also that it 1:06:21.760 --> 1:06:25.040 shouldn't feel radical to take a safe walk in your community, 1:06:25.080 --> 1:06:29.240 but it somehow did um and it speaks a lot 1:06:29.280 --> 1:06:32.959 to the feelings the lack of safety or the loss 1:06:33.000 --> 1:06:36.280 of you know, safety in this community and has been 1:06:36.480 --> 1:06:40.160 pretty immense. I should mention that another community led efforts 1:06:40.240 --> 1:06:44.040 to deal with the occupation is the ram Ranch Resistance, 1:06:44.280 --> 1:06:47.360 a loosely organized counter movement to the Chuck Our Convoy 1:06:47.400 --> 1:06:50.960 that started with people joining the convoys online communications channels 1:06:51.200 --> 1:06:55.560 and blasting the homo erotic country song ram Ranch. The 1:06:55.640 --> 1:06:58.800 song is by a Canadian artist and features some flawless 1:06:58.880 --> 1:07:03.480 lyrics like eighteen naked cowboys wanting to be fucked, cowboys 1:07:03.520 --> 1:07:06.560 in the showers at ram Ranch on their knees wanting 1:07:06.600 --> 1:07:11.400 to suck cowboy cox. Ram Ranch really rocks. The result 1:07:11.560 --> 1:07:16.120 is not only making the Convoy folks uncomfortable because gay, 1:07:16.640 --> 1:07:19.880 but also it is hijacking and making their online communications 1:07:19.960 --> 1:07:23.320 channels kind of useless for any non cowboy cock sucking 1:07:23.320 --> 1:07:28.800 political organizing efforts. Disruptive resistance to the Convoys online communications 1:07:28.880 --> 1:07:31.320 is not just limited to the ram Ranch song, however, 1:07:31.800 --> 1:07:34.720 other vulgar songs have also been introduced into the chats 1:07:34.760 --> 1:07:37.440 as well. I'm gonna just kind of give you a 1:07:37.520 --> 1:07:41.720 brief look at what it's like inside these chats, right, Yeah, 1:07:41.800 --> 1:07:44.200 I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna role play it. The 1:07:44.320 --> 1:07:46.960 ram Ranch guys are finally gone. It's about freaking time. 1:07:47.040 --> 1:07:49.120 I've had to shut that stuff off. One person has 1:07:49.240 --> 1:07:52.160 heard saying and a clip from a chat, immediately followed 1:07:52.160 --> 1:07:55.400 by a robotic voice saying, welcome to the come zone. 1:07:55.520 --> 1:07:59.200 Only come inside anime girls, quivering clip, double jointed pussy 1:07:59.280 --> 1:08:02.600 fresh balls. Since then, the movement has taken on as 1:08:02.600 --> 1:08:04.400 something of a life of its own. The ram Ranch 1:08:04.440 --> 1:08:07.280 Resistance hashtag has been used as a way for people 1:08:07.320 --> 1:08:11.320 to share information regarding the convoy, and Welcome to the 1:08:11.400 --> 1:08:13.920 ram Ranch signs have been popping up at convoy counter 1:08:13.960 --> 1:08:18.120 protests around the country. Another ram rancher created the website 1:08:18.200 --> 1:08:21.400 ram Ranch dot c a linking to downtown organizations that 1:08:21.439 --> 1:08:24.160 have been impacted by the trucker convoy, as well as 1:08:24.240 --> 1:08:28.960 charities aiding indigenous people's As the convoy settled in, it 1:08:29.000 --> 1:08:31.600 appeared at the demonstrators and the government had reached a 1:08:31.680 --> 1:08:35.080 sort of stalemate. Currently, there are more than four hundred 1:08:35.080 --> 1:08:38.479 trucks parked downtown and Ottawa Police say that they can't 1:08:38.560 --> 1:08:41.880 move them because the too operators with city contracts are 1:08:41.920 --> 1:08:45.639 refusing to help, making matters only more difficult. Police say 1:08:45.680 --> 1:08:48.400 that families with children are sleeping in approximately a quarter 1:08:48.520 --> 1:08:51.720 of those trucks. To get an idea of what some 1:08:51.920 --> 1:08:55.880 Attawa residents who live within the occupied zone see in 1:08:56.000 --> 1:08:59.040 terms of a potential end in sight, I posed Paul 1:08:59.240 --> 1:09:02.799 this question, how do you even see the situation resolving 1:09:02.840 --> 1:09:04.880 at this point? Like, do do you think they're like 1:09:04.920 --> 1:09:06.960 the truckers and the people who are in the city 1:09:07.120 --> 1:09:10.080 are gonna are gonna back down and leave eventually or 1:09:10.360 --> 1:09:12.519 like or do you think they have to be forced out? 1:09:12.560 --> 1:09:14.479 Like what do you see kind of an end to 1:09:14.560 --> 1:09:19.120 this at this point? Well, it's at this point. Probably 1:09:19.160 --> 1:09:22.240 one of the hardest things to admit is that I don't. Um, 1:09:22.360 --> 1:09:24.519 the hardest core that are here are committed, and they 1:09:24.520 --> 1:09:27.880 have a significant amount of funding behind them. And the 1:09:27.960 --> 1:09:32.600 thing is that you know, with an occupation protests, they 1:09:32.720 --> 1:09:34.800 if you don't nip it in the bud, it's snowballs 1:09:34.800 --> 1:09:37.760 and gathers momentum for a while. Um, And I mean 1:09:37.840 --> 1:09:40.280 eventually they either peter out or they have to be removed. 1:09:40.520 --> 1:09:44.080 And this one is still snowballing. Um, We've seen some 1:09:44.120 --> 1:09:47.479 more extreme elements come into the city this week. Um 1:09:47.560 --> 1:09:53.799 yesterday Romana did Dulo, the human on Queen of Canada 1:09:53.880 --> 1:09:57.240 arrived in birthday Brent the Canadian flag on Parliament Hill, 1:09:57.280 --> 1:09:59.479 which whatever you think about the Canadian flag, and it's 1:09:59.600 --> 1:10:02.960 simple us a similar propression. Um you know, that's not 1:10:03.040 --> 1:10:05.519 a great look for them. But the other side of 1:10:05.520 --> 1:10:07.040 it is is that this is a woman with seventy 1:10:07.360 --> 1:10:10.520 followers who you know, has called for the mass execution 1:10:10.560 --> 1:10:14.640 of her enemies, and you know, is currently parked in 1:10:14.720 --> 1:10:17.360 or Winnebago two and a half blocks from my house 1:10:17.439 --> 1:10:21.120 right now, um so, and with a bunch of her 1:10:21.120 --> 1:10:25.840 followers down with her. And so they're committed. They know. 1:10:26.560 --> 1:10:30.760 They don't know that I did occupy a lot of 1:10:30.800 --> 1:10:33.840 years ago, and the question that people asked us, and 1:10:33.920 --> 1:10:36.599 sometimes it was the police, was what gets you out 1:10:36.600 --> 1:10:39.519 of the park. And in a weird way, there's a 1:10:39.520 --> 1:10:42.639 parallel here, which is that the hardest answer with occupy 1:10:42.760 --> 1:10:45.400 was always kind of like everything is kind of fucked, 1:10:45.520 --> 1:10:48.640 So how do we fix everything? That's the discussion we 1:10:48.640 --> 1:10:51.559 should be having. So in this case, to these people, 1:10:52.320 --> 1:10:56.559 in their worldview, everything is kind of fucked, and there's 1:10:56.600 --> 1:10:58.439 no answer that you can give those kind of people 1:10:58.439 --> 1:11:02.559 in negotiations. The police right now are not looking at 1:11:02.600 --> 1:11:04.960 removal as a serious option, I don't think, or if 1:11:04.960 --> 1:11:07.720 they are, they haven't figured out how to get to 1:11:07.760 --> 1:11:10.280 that place yet. And one of the weird things about 1:11:10.280 --> 1:11:15.080 Ottawa is is that technically in various spaces because the 1:11:15.120 --> 1:11:19.040 way it's designated, there's a whole mishmash of jurisdictions between 1:11:19.040 --> 1:11:23.000 the various police agencies. So like again with occupy that 1:11:23.040 --> 1:11:25.280 we picked the park, like the park that was occupied 1:11:25.320 --> 1:11:29.120 was partially picked because it was on like this weird 1:11:29.240 --> 1:11:32.040 jurisdictional black hole where it was hard to figure out 1:11:32.080 --> 1:11:34.000 who the cops were at, who should police it were, 1:11:34.880 --> 1:11:37.280 um so, And they've ended up in the same park 1:11:37.320 --> 1:11:42.080 where they now have like fifty five cylinders appropane sitting 1:11:42.080 --> 1:11:45.760 about five yards from the Department of National Defense. So it's, uh, 1:11:47.080 --> 1:11:49.120 it's tricky to figure out how you how you get 1:11:49.160 --> 1:11:50.479 get out of that because all it's going to take 1:11:50.520 --> 1:11:51.840 is one of them with something in their cab and 1:11:51.880 --> 1:11:56.160 it's done. Yep, ye. Well, do you have any hope 1:11:56.160 --> 1:11:58.760 for anything? Do you have any indicators for how it 1:11:58.920 --> 1:12:03.680 can turn out? Well? I mean in terms of the occupation. 1:12:03.720 --> 1:12:06.720 I mean, we'll see how it goes. Um maybe there 1:12:06.760 --> 1:12:10.160 can become some kind of modus vivendi between them and 1:12:10.240 --> 1:12:12.040 the rest of the city. I don't know how that happens, 1:12:12.080 --> 1:12:14.760 but maybe there can be, but I don't know. It's 1:12:15.880 --> 1:12:18.840 the only silver lining I see right now is you know, 1:12:19.400 --> 1:12:21.600 the walk that I was on earlier today and the 1:12:21.720 --> 1:12:23.160 chat that I was having with other people in the 1:12:23.160 --> 1:12:27.880 community and the discord server and everywhere else, like, this 1:12:27.960 --> 1:12:30.360 is a really strong community that cares a great deal 1:12:30.400 --> 1:12:32.320 about itself and sometimes needed to be needs to be 1:12:32.360 --> 1:12:34.840 reminded of that. And uh, I think this is an 1:12:34.880 --> 1:12:38.160 opportunity for that to happen. Then I think that that's 1:12:38.160 --> 1:12:39.720 the positive that can come out, is that we will 1:12:39.760 --> 1:12:41.760 take care of ourselves and we'll take care of each other. 1:12:42.400 --> 1:12:44.599 And that's you know what, what more can you ask 1:12:44.640 --> 1:12:47.360 where I guess out of this. Reports of assaults perpetrated 1:12:47.400 --> 1:12:50.679 by members of the Convoy protest have been steadily ruling 1:12:50.720 --> 1:12:53.599 in the past few weeks, not to mention the seemingly 1:12:53.680 --> 1:12:56.720 constant presence of honking in the downtown area that's been 1:12:56.760 --> 1:13:00.280 affecting residents every day and even into the night. I 1:13:00.280 --> 1:13:03.280 will offer you this short sample to help complete the 1:13:03.280 --> 1:13:06.160 picture of what it's like both indoors and outdoors in 1:13:06.240 --> 1:13:25.120 downtown Ottawa. So apologies about that. Yeah, that was pretty 1:13:25.160 --> 1:13:27.840 bad and as annoying and frustrating as it may be. 1:13:28.479 --> 1:13:30.519 Before I close out part one, I'm going to play 1:13:30.560 --> 1:13:32.439 some audio from one of the truckers or you know, 1:13:32.600 --> 1:13:37.240 just convoy participants as he addresses fellow convoy ors on 1:13:37.360 --> 1:13:41.080 why it's good and in fact revolutionary to hunk horns 1:13:41.160 --> 1:13:44.200 late into the night. I think it gives you some 1:13:44.280 --> 1:13:47.280 valuable insight into how these people frame their actions in 1:13:47.320 --> 1:13:49.600 their own heads. And you know, it will give you 1:13:49.600 --> 1:13:52.879 an opportunity to hear some of these convoy people directly. 1:13:53.080 --> 1:13:57.120 So here we go. Yeah, let's go on. There's quiet 1:13:57.120 --> 1:13:59.200 when I got here, but now they're starting to bring 1:13:59.320 --> 1:14:02.679 this tournament some noise. Now, I get it. I saw 1:14:02.760 --> 1:14:04.760 some comments saying that you want to go from nine 1:14:04.800 --> 1:14:06.720 to five and you want to turn your horns off, 1:14:06.760 --> 1:14:08.880 and you want to you know, be respectful and play 1:14:08.960 --> 1:14:11.880 the optics war. And you've done You've done all the map, man, 1:14:11.960 --> 1:14:15.320 I get it. I we've done everything. Every piece of 1:14:15.320 --> 1:14:18.080 garbage has been picked up. Statistically, there is no crime. 1:14:18.320 --> 1:14:20.479 And when I mean statistically, if you have some drunk 1:14:20.520 --> 1:14:23.960 guy acted, you know, silly on one street quickly gets 1:14:24.000 --> 1:14:26.519 you know, talk to and then the Patriots taken back 1:14:26.520 --> 1:14:28.679 to his car and maybe there was some incident of mission. 1:14:28.880 --> 1:14:31.360 I've heard reports of anti for throwing rocks and trucks, 1:14:31.400 --> 1:14:33.680 tag and stuff. They're the ones committing the crime. But 1:14:33.720 --> 1:14:35.600 other than that, this has been the most well to 1:14:35.640 --> 1:14:39.160 have revolution on earth. And now the big complaint is 1:14:39.439 --> 1:14:42.080 can you get them to only blow their horns between 1:14:42.200 --> 1:14:46.080 nine and five? I'm sorry, what has compliant got you 1:14:46.120 --> 1:14:48.960 guys so far? What is just little by little? Oh? 1:14:49.080 --> 1:14:51.639 Just do this? Yeah, just just don't peep your horns 1:14:51.680 --> 1:14:54.280 between nine and five. That's all we're gonna ask. Then 1:14:54.280 --> 1:14:57.840 were two masks, then just go right back to square one. 1:14:58.200 --> 1:15:00.879 How about you put your blame right where it belongs, 1:15:01.320 --> 1:15:04.600 right in the eye of Sauron And that's who we 1:15:04.680 --> 1:15:07.720 handle this with and every mandate. We're not allowed to 1:15:07.720 --> 1:15:10.000 exist in society. I'm not allowed to go to a movie, 1:15:10.000 --> 1:15:11.479 I'm not allowed to go to a restaurant. I'm not 1:15:11.479 --> 1:15:15.320 allowed to leave the country. You can't even leave you 1:15:15.360 --> 1:15:19.200 can't travel on planes, you can't do anything that Trudeau 1:15:19.280 --> 1:15:23.080 can get his fingers on to discriminate against us in society. Meanwhile, 1:15:23.600 --> 1:15:26.880 he'll blame us for side effects of his guinea pigs. 1:15:27.720 --> 1:15:30.599 It's an insane world, and you've complied long enough, guys, 1:15:31.040 --> 1:15:33.439 and the madness in the horn stop. But I am 1:15:33.439 --> 1:15:35.840 in no place to go tell these guys, oh excuse me? 1:15:36.080 --> 1:15:38.200 Can you turn your horn off? Can you get used 1:15:38.240 --> 1:15:41.439 to complying again? We want freedom. We're not asking for 1:15:41.479 --> 1:15:44.120 anything unreasonable, and we're doing it on your behalf. The 1:15:44.200 --> 1:15:46.280 least you can do is turn off your televisions and 1:15:46.400 --> 1:15:50.000 stop letting their horrible objections to this revolution, and they're 1:15:50.000 --> 1:15:53.200 horrible false flags and whatever else they bring. I'm sorry 1:15:53.200 --> 1:15:56.439 about the noise complaints. Now, are you sorry about banishing 1:15:56.439 --> 1:15:59.160 me from society and treating me like I'm some sort 1:15:59.160 --> 1:16:04.360 of letter because I want to keep my immune system intach. Sorry, guys, 1:16:04.800 --> 1:16:08.320 the horns stand. Stuff it up your ass. Anyone that 1:16:08.360 --> 1:16:11.000 has a problem with loud noises, we have a problem 1:16:11.040 --> 1:16:15.599 be advanished from society. Apologies for that, But now I 1:16:15.640 --> 1:16:18.200 hope you have a better understanding of the type of 1:16:18.240 --> 1:16:22.200 conspiratorial thinking among the people in this convoy and the 1:16:22.240 --> 1:16:26.519 importance this whole thing means to them. So with this, 1:16:26.720 --> 1:16:29.360 that wraps up my part one of my deep dive 1:16:29.400 --> 1:16:33.439 into the Canadian Freedom Convoy. In the next episode, we'll 1:16:33.479 --> 1:16:36.800 get into the border blockades both in Alberta and the 1:16:36.840 --> 1:16:40.599 Ambassador Bridge which is preventing some international trade. We'll get 1:16:40.600 --> 1:16:43.160 into some of the smaller protests and attempted occupations in 1:16:43.320 --> 1:16:46.759 other cities across Canada, and how the situation is evolving 1:16:46.800 --> 1:16:50.160 in Ottawa and what types of long term political ramifications 1:16:50.240 --> 1:16:53.080 this protest and any attempt to suppress it will have. 1:16:54.040 --> 1:17:12.200 So with that, see you on the other side, welcome 1:17:12.280 --> 1:17:15.519 to it could happen here, And the second part of 1:17:15.560 --> 1:17:20.800 my little mini series going into the occupation and blockade 1:17:20.840 --> 1:17:25.680 protests all across Canada that's been happening the past three weeks. 1:17:26.439 --> 1:17:29.080 For part two, we'll be starting off with a change 1:17:29.120 --> 1:17:33.040 of scenery. Instead of the loud, cramped streets of Data 1:17:33.080 --> 1:17:36.439 and Ottawa and the castle like Parliament building, will be 1:17:36.479 --> 1:17:40.599 taking a detour to the snow covered prairies and oil 1:17:40.680 --> 1:17:45.800 fields of rural Alberta. As the convoy officially arrived in 1:17:45.840 --> 1:17:50.639 Ottawa on January, smaller protests against health mandates were also 1:17:50.720 --> 1:17:54.640 happening across the entire country. One of these mini protests 1:17:54.680 --> 1:17:58.200 was happening in the small city of Lethbridge in southern Alberta, 1:17:59.040 --> 1:18:03.720 but unlike a majority of other non Ottawa protests, the 1:18:03.760 --> 1:18:06.640 one based around left Bridge didn't turn out to be 1:18:06.680 --> 1:18:10.519 a simple weekend of fair. With hundreds of vehicles, including 1:18:10.560 --> 1:18:14.400 some semi trucks, RVs and farm tractors all gathered together. 1:18:14.960 --> 1:18:17.559 It was decided to take part in a little mini 1:18:17.680 --> 1:18:21.040 convoy of their own, but instead of going to a 1:18:21.200 --> 1:18:25.599 capital building, they rolled towards the international border crossing used 1:18:25.600 --> 1:18:29.160 by truckers in the area. I was able to interview 1:18:29.360 --> 1:18:32.519 gen a left Bridge local who also happens to work 1:18:32.640 --> 1:18:36.400 near the area of the Alberta border blockade, and they 1:18:36.439 --> 1:18:38.639 kind of gathered in left Bridge here and took off 1:18:38.680 --> 1:18:41.679 about four thirty in the morning, and so they made 1:18:41.680 --> 1:18:44.800 it down to the village of coots Um, which is 1:18:45.760 --> 1:18:49.479 essentially right on the border, is the last stop before 1:18:49.520 --> 1:18:53.719 you hit the border at Coots Alberta, sweet Grass, Montana. 1:18:54.520 --> 1:19:00.800 And they blocked off the highway completely heading both northbound 1:19:00.840 --> 1:19:05.120 and southbound, and they've been camped out since. So it's 1:19:05.160 --> 1:19:09.280 my understanding that at that point in time throughout you know, 1:19:09.360 --> 1:19:14.040 day one, two and three of their protest, UM, there 1:19:14.160 --> 1:19:17.040 was no getting in or out out of the village 1:19:17.040 --> 1:19:20.240 of Coops, which is it is a small village about 1:19:20.280 --> 1:19:23.639 two d and fifty residents UM. And it was so 1:19:23.720 --> 1:19:27.960 bad that not even emergency services could get through, UM 1:19:28.080 --> 1:19:31.519 again blocking both lanes of the highway in either direction 1:19:31.800 --> 1:19:36.280 in the ditches UM and just weren't letting up. And 1:19:36.320 --> 1:19:39.599 so are they even driving anywhere? Or is it are 1:19:39.640 --> 1:19:43.879 they just like camped there, just camped out there, parked UM. 1:19:44.000 --> 1:19:46.599 And of course you know there's people that will drive 1:19:46.680 --> 1:19:49.960 down to the border and participate for a couple hours 1:19:50.000 --> 1:19:52.240 and you know, turn around and go home kind of thing. 1:19:52.280 --> 1:19:56.680 But there is that core group UM, the majority of 1:19:56.680 --> 1:20:00.120 which are actually farmers bringing down like their tractors, and 1:20:00.120 --> 1:20:04.240 of course there is UM some semitruck drivers who are 1:20:04.280 --> 1:20:07.479 all a part of it and just not allowing anyone 1:20:07.520 --> 1:20:10.559 to get through on either side, so you know, holding 1:20:10.680 --> 1:20:14.160 up a lot of a lot of our supplies, a 1:20:14.160 --> 1:20:18.679 lot of our UM food and things like that. At first, 1:20:18.800 --> 1:20:22.960 local police and RCMP just waited out the blockade, I guess, 1:20:23.040 --> 1:20:25.280 hoping to see if the people would just get tired 1:20:25.560 --> 1:20:27.600 of camping out in the cold and then you know, 1:20:27.800 --> 1:20:32.479 go home. But after a few days that possibility seemed 1:20:32.560 --> 1:20:37.000 less and less likely. Then when the RCMP did start 1:20:37.040 --> 1:20:40.520 to get more actively involved with kind of managing the blockade, 1:20:40.760 --> 1:20:43.839 albeit you know, with a very gentle hand and extremely 1:20:43.920 --> 1:20:46.760 start contrast to how our CMP handles blockades, you know, 1:20:46.840 --> 1:20:49.960 defending indigenous land. But at that point it was already 1:20:50.040 --> 1:20:53.559 kind of too late, and the pacified police action only 1:20:53.680 --> 1:20:58.320 spread the protests efforts. On day four of the blockade 1:20:58.360 --> 1:21:02.160 at the border um, the RCMP had kind of moved 1:21:02.200 --> 1:21:04.040 in a little bit to try to break it up. 1:21:04.680 --> 1:21:08.120 So some of the the protesters had kind of broken 1:21:08.160 --> 1:21:10.880 off and decided to blockade's mother areas. So there was 1:21:10.920 --> 1:21:15.120 a blockade that happened on Highway three just outside of 1:21:15.720 --> 1:21:18.680 the town of Fort McLeod, on the way to the 1:21:18.680 --> 1:21:21.400 town of Brockett, which would be on the Blood Reserve 1:21:21.439 --> 1:21:24.920 here in Alberta. UM. They blockaded the highway and wouldn't 1:21:25.000 --> 1:21:28.960 let anyone through, and then they set up another blockade 1:21:29.760 --> 1:21:32.800 um on Highway twenty three, which of course would be 1:21:32.840 --> 1:21:36.120 the the next north south route. Given that Highway three 1:21:36.160 --> 1:21:40.000 was now blocked off, the Highway three going to Highway two. Um. 1:21:40.080 --> 1:21:44.160 So they've blocked off Highway twenty three. Um at there's 1:21:44.160 --> 1:21:47.080 a traffic circle or a roundabout kind of in the 1:21:47.080 --> 1:21:50.960 middle of nowhere in the highway at the village of Nobleford, sorry, 1:21:51.040 --> 1:21:54.600 town of Nobleford, and they set up a blockade at 1:21:54.600 --> 1:21:56.960 the roundabout as well. Wouldn't let anyone come in north 1:21:57.000 --> 1:22:02.599 south east west, didn't matter. Uh So that was Tuesday. Tuesday, 1:22:03.560 --> 1:22:10.559 highways to UH four and three. Yeah, effectively shutting down, 1:22:10.920 --> 1:22:12.560 and they kind of like travel for like food and 1:22:12.600 --> 1:22:17.600 supplies for like all four directions pretty much exactly. Yeah. Like, 1:22:17.640 --> 1:22:22.160 there was a lot of chatter on social media. Um, 1:22:22.280 --> 1:22:25.160 we have a local Facebook group for road conditions, and 1:22:25.160 --> 1:22:27.320 there was a lot of chatter, you know, where do 1:22:27.400 --> 1:22:29.920 we go, how do we get around this? What back roads? 1:22:29.960 --> 1:22:33.719 Should I take? Secondary highways? That sort of thing. And thankfully, 1:22:33.840 --> 1:22:36.519 you know, there was still I suppose some ways to 1:22:36.560 --> 1:22:38.960 get around it. The RCMP we're kind of setting up 1:22:39.120 --> 1:22:44.360 detours and things like that, but those main routes were blockaded, 1:22:44.840 --> 1:22:48.400 um on Tuesday, which would have been I guess what 1:22:48.479 --> 1:22:52.960 days that February one. The static highway blockades preventing traffic 1:22:52.960 --> 1:22:55.879 in all four directions were mostly a one day affair. 1:22:56.640 --> 1:22:59.960 The next Wednesday morning, more effort was put back into 1:23:00.120 --> 1:23:03.160 the main blockade at the border near Coots, with some 1:23:03.200 --> 1:23:06.640 folks still participating in the rolling blockades of sorts you know, 1:23:07.040 --> 1:23:10.040 on the surrounding highways. So instead of just blocking the 1:23:10.120 --> 1:23:13.800 roads by staying parked people in vehicles kept a slow 1:23:13.960 --> 1:23:17.240 loop of traffic moving through the highway system to clog 1:23:17.320 --> 1:23:20.240 up travel. And then like the contingent at closer to 1:23:20.439 --> 1:23:24.360 the border has been more consistent, you would say, yeah, definitely, 1:23:24.360 --> 1:23:28.360 the contingent at the border on highway for like I said, 1:23:28.400 --> 1:23:31.559 at Coots, Alberta, they've been set up all the way 1:23:31.560 --> 1:23:35.360 through since the twenty nine UM. There has been days 1:23:35.400 --> 1:23:39.960 where the tensions are definitely very high where those protesters 1:23:39.960 --> 1:23:43.880 are saying we will not leave until UM or we 1:23:43.920 --> 1:23:47.760 won't even come to the negotiating table until these restrictions 1:23:47.880 --> 1:23:52.920 are gone, like we won't even attempt and so the 1:23:53.040 --> 1:23:57.559 RCMP have been kind of in negotiations with them over 1:23:57.600 --> 1:23:59.479 the last few days. There's been a couple of times 1:23:59.479 --> 1:24:02.680 where they they had resolution to open up lanes of 1:24:02.800 --> 1:24:05.639 travel to get some of these trucks with goods through 1:24:06.520 --> 1:24:08.880 Um and of course there's been people stuck in their 1:24:08.920 --> 1:24:11.519 cars as well for quite a few days without food. 1:24:11.560 --> 1:24:14.960 At that point, UM the protesters originally had come to 1:24:15.000 --> 1:24:17.599 an agreement with the RCNP to let some people through 1:24:18.160 --> 1:24:20.800 and then turn around and decided, well, we don't really 1:24:20.800 --> 1:24:25.640 want to. So that was kind of ongoing from I'm 1:24:25.640 --> 1:24:30.760 going to suggest up until about second UM. On the 1:24:30.800 --> 1:24:34.640 second the RCMP had set up a roadblock at the 1:24:34.680 --> 1:24:40.360 town of Milk River to uh, I guess, dissuade the 1:24:40.360 --> 1:24:43.720 the locals from coming out and adding to the congestion 1:24:43.800 --> 1:24:47.200 and adding to the problems. And at one point UM 1:24:47.240 --> 1:24:51.200 there was a group of people and videos are on TikTok, 1:24:51.200 --> 1:24:57.000 they're on Facebook, they're on Twitter, where people are blasting 1:24:57.040 --> 1:24:59.839 through the barricades, going through the ditch, going through the median, 1:25:00.160 --> 1:25:06.480 just bypassing it completely to get down to the convoy protest. 1:25:07.200 --> 1:25:10.639 As I record this, the border crossing port of entry 1:25:10.720 --> 1:25:13.720 near the town of Coots has been largely impassable for 1:25:13.880 --> 1:25:18.120 over two weeks. It's a major trade hub where millions 1:25:18.160 --> 1:25:21.519 of dollars worth of agricultural products like meat and feed 1:25:22.040 --> 1:25:25.800 trade hands each day. The first day had hundreds of 1:25:25.840 --> 1:25:29.240 vehicles participating in blocking access to the trade route along 1:25:29.320 --> 1:25:33.160 highway for but after a week of blockading the Alberta, 1:25:33.240 --> 1:25:36.960 Montana border crossing, around eighty big rigs continued to remain 1:25:37.040 --> 1:25:40.280 along the highway for a majority of the time. Since 1:25:40.320 --> 1:25:43.519 the twenty nine of January, vehicle access has been either 1:25:43.560 --> 1:25:46.280 completely stopped to and from the border or at least 1:25:46.360 --> 1:25:50.599 substantially slowed down. The occasional day where vehicles are being 1:25:50.680 --> 1:25:53.560 let through on one lane of traffic has an estimated 1:25:53.800 --> 1:25:56.320 seven hours of stall time order to get through just 1:25:56.400 --> 1:26:00.520 that tiny area of road. The blockade of that International 1:26:00.560 --> 1:26:04.120 report of entry at Coots and the only seven commercial 1:26:04.200 --> 1:26:07.040 land crossing in Alberta is a direct threat to the 1:26:07.080 --> 1:26:11.280 economic well being of growers, producers, manufacturers, and many other 1:26:11.360 --> 1:26:14.800 businesses that rely on the movement of both raw materials 1:26:14.880 --> 1:26:18.720 and finished goods in and out along the can m 1:26:18.960 --> 1:26:24.240 X corridor end quote. Lewington has warned that manufacturing plants 1:26:24.240 --> 1:26:26.680 in the region will be forced to either reduce or 1:26:26.800 --> 1:26:30.160 cancel production as their supplies run out and they're unable 1:26:30.200 --> 1:26:33.599 to get their goods to international markets. This is something 1:26:33.680 --> 1:26:36.519 farmers and food producers are dealing with as well as 1:26:36.560 --> 1:26:40.080 agricultural experts are one of the region's main economic drivers. 1:26:40.920 --> 1:26:45.200 In the left Bridge metropolitan area exported nearly one point 1:26:45.240 --> 1:26:48.559 eight billion dollars worth of goods, around eighty percent of 1:26:48.600 --> 1:26:51.200 which went to the United States. A vast majority of 1:26:51.240 --> 1:26:55.200 these exports went through this Coots border crossing. That means 1:26:55.240 --> 1:26:57.439 for the city of lefth Bridge alone, they're facing a 1:26:57.520 --> 1:27:00.400 roughly three million dollar a day impact on the economic 1:27:00.439 --> 1:27:03.240 damage based on the road and rail travel that must 1:27:03.280 --> 1:27:05.920 move through that port of entry. The impact is of 1:27:05.960 --> 1:27:08.439 course four or five times larger than if you consider 1:27:08.520 --> 1:27:10.960 the movement of other Alberta goods in and out of 1:27:10.960 --> 1:27:15.559 that same North South corridor. It's only more ironic and 1:27:15.600 --> 1:27:20.120 frustrating considering that the idea of shutting down international capitalist trade, 1:27:20.240 --> 1:27:23.360 you know, costing millions dollars in losses each and every day, 1:27:23.880 --> 1:27:26.240 is exactly the sort of thing that these same conservatives 1:27:26.280 --> 1:27:29.920 would complain that BLM or Antifa would do, you know, like, 1:27:29.960 --> 1:27:33.240 in terms of anti capitalist action, this is actually more 1:27:33.280 --> 1:27:36.800 successful in causing damage to capital than really anything I've 1:27:36.800 --> 1:27:40.280 seen the Canadian left do in recent memory. Now, obviously 1:27:40.320 --> 1:27:43.719 police response to a left wing protest, you know, doing 1:27:44.040 --> 1:27:47.160 similar tactics would probably greatly differ, you know, Plus the 1:27:47.200 --> 1:27:50.920 fact that these people are participating in these blockades are 1:27:50.960 --> 1:27:53.799 the same types of people that talk about their desire 1:27:53.880 --> 1:27:57.360 to run down protesters in trucks, you know, whenever there's 1:27:57.400 --> 1:27:59.840 marching in the street or an indigenous road blockade to 1:27:59.880 --> 1:28:04.080 an new oil pipeline. Nevertheless, on top of the police inability, 1:28:04.160 --> 1:28:08.519 whether by choice or imagination, to handle the situation, and 1:28:08.640 --> 1:28:12.160 considering both the conspiracy fueled political issues around masks of 1:28:12.200 --> 1:28:15.639 vaccines and health man dates and the growing economic problems 1:28:15.680 --> 1:28:18.840 the blockade is causing, it's not super surprising that the 1:28:18.840 --> 1:28:22.519 Conservative government of Alberta began the process of removing health 1:28:22.560 --> 1:28:26.559 mandates as the protests striked on. And unfortunately, it seems 1:28:26.600 --> 1:28:29.879 like the province is listening and they're taking it seriously. 1:28:29.920 --> 1:28:33.760 I know. Um last night our premier had gone on 1:28:33.800 --> 1:28:37.680 Facebook Live and had an ounce that come Monday, the 1:28:37.680 --> 1:28:40.200 caucus will vote as to whether or not to scrap 1:28:40.240 --> 1:28:44.160 it um, which would mean that, like I said, now 1:28:44.439 --> 1:28:47.000 there's no longer that requirement to access some of these 1:28:47.560 --> 1:28:51.479 these services from private businesses. And then ultimately that would 1:28:51.520 --> 1:28:55.320 lead us back into our letter rip model that we 1:28:55.439 --> 1:28:58.920 had last summer. The Monday vote came in the next day, 1:28:59.000 --> 1:29:03.080 February eighth. Alberta Premiere and premiers are like the you 1:29:03.080 --> 1:29:06.719 know equivalent of governors for the states, but Alberta Premiere 1:29:06.840 --> 1:29:10.200 Jason Kenny announced that the provinces so called COVID nineteen 1:29:10.640 --> 1:29:15.040 vaccine passport program would end immediately, explaining that the restriction 1:29:15.080 --> 1:29:17.439 program had served its purpose, but it is no longer 1:29:17.520 --> 1:29:20.600 needed since Alberta has passed the peak of omercron infections 1:29:20.640 --> 1:29:23.960 about three weeks ago. Capacity limits were also next Tuesday 1:29:24.080 --> 1:29:27.519 night for venues with capacity limits under five hundred, including 1:29:27.560 --> 1:29:31.560 libraries and places of worship. An effect of this past Sunday, February, 1:29:32.640 --> 1:29:35.639 the province will also no longer require masking for children 1:29:35.680 --> 1:29:39.280 and youth in schools and for any Alberton's aged twelve 1:29:39.320 --> 1:29:42.799 and under in any setting. There is a second phase 1:29:42.840 --> 1:29:46.280 for Alberta's COVID restriction removal plan. On March one. The 1:29:46.320 --> 1:29:49.280 province is set to remove any remaining restrictions, including the 1:29:49.280 --> 1:29:53.680 indoor mask mandate, work from home requirements, any remaining capacity limits, 1:29:53.680 --> 1:29:57.200 and limits on social gatherings and screenings for youth activities. 1:29:57.720 --> 1:30:00.439 Jason Kenny did deny that the move has has anything 1:30:00.479 --> 1:30:02.679 to do with the protests from those you know demanding 1:30:02.720 --> 1:30:06.000 the repeal of vaccine mandates of all types across the country, 1:30:06.280 --> 1:30:09.320 including the blockade that the government had condemned illegal at 1:30:09.439 --> 1:30:13.120 the Coots border crossing, saying, quote, none of that has 1:30:13.160 --> 1:30:15.360 anything to do with a few trucks participating at the 1:30:15.360 --> 1:30:19.160 Coots border crossing. Um, who added that keeping previous rules 1:30:19.200 --> 1:30:22.920 in place would invite widespread non compliance for no purpose, 1:30:23.160 --> 1:30:25.880 saying why keep this going on for a few days 1:30:25.920 --> 1:30:28.240 when we know that in many areas were already having 1:30:28.280 --> 1:30:32.960 non compliance problems. So yeah, Um, of course, the demonstrations 1:30:33.400 --> 1:30:38.080 have continued despite Alberta dropping multiple health measures and agreeing 1:30:38.120 --> 1:30:40.320 to a demand made by a lot of the anti 1:30:40.360 --> 1:30:44.559 mandate protesters, which implies that this protest is about much 1:30:44.600 --> 1:30:48.160 more than simple COVID health measures. Right. It points to 1:30:48.160 --> 1:30:51.839 the movement being more about taking political power and forcing 1:30:51.840 --> 1:30:55.960 everyone to comply with their own conspiratorial and alienated understanding 1:30:56.040 --> 1:30:59.759 of the world. As someone who's like living in Alberta, 1:30:59.800 --> 1:31:01.919 which is, you know, one of the more conservative provinces 1:31:01.960 --> 1:31:06.120 of Canada, Um, how much do you see this kind 1:31:06.160 --> 1:31:10.719 of this kind of you know, spontaneous revolt and resistance 1:31:10.880 --> 1:31:14.240 to be actually tied to the health man dates and 1:31:14.240 --> 1:31:15.640 how much do you see it? It's more like a 1:31:15.680 --> 1:31:19.680 revolt around like Trudeau and Canada's like Canada's like um 1:31:20.000 --> 1:31:23.040 veneer of liberalism like like like how like how much 1:31:23.080 --> 1:31:25.120 do you did you see? It's more like a urban 1:31:25.479 --> 1:31:28.400 rule divide thing that's now just getting pushed into the 1:31:28.439 --> 1:31:31.519 spotlight because of covid um or do you think it 1:31:31.560 --> 1:31:35.840 really is way more about covid itself? Um, I think 1:31:35.960 --> 1:31:38.320 that the pandemic has definitely had a role to play 1:31:38.479 --> 1:31:43.160 in sparking a lot of this this fearer and this uh, 1:31:43.240 --> 1:31:48.880 this disconnect, But the seeds have been sown for many years, 1:31:49.320 --> 1:31:54.960 through many successive provincial governments and and much rhetoric that um, 1:31:55.160 --> 1:31:58.439 the West has always been ignored by the East, by 1:31:58.560 --> 1:32:03.719 our politic institutions in the East, namely Otto our federal government, 1:32:03.880 --> 1:32:08.080 the seat of our federal government in favor of you know, 1:32:08.240 --> 1:32:11.640 Ontario and Quebec and what they want to Alberton's have 1:32:11.720 --> 1:32:15.560 always seen themselves with a bit of a martyr complex 1:32:15.600 --> 1:32:19.360 where we are the economic powerhouse of the country, but 1:32:19.520 --> 1:32:22.920 we are the ugly stepchild and we are ignored in 1:32:23.000 --> 1:32:27.920 favor of the wonderful children in the East. And so 1:32:28.040 --> 1:32:32.040 that that disconnect and that divide has always been there, 1:32:32.520 --> 1:32:35.799 and the pandemic has been the catalyst. Um. And of course, 1:32:36.360 --> 1:32:40.400 you know, whenever there is a federal Liberal party that's 1:32:40.439 --> 1:32:45.879 in in power, the conservatives feel the Conservatives in Alberta 1:32:46.439 --> 1:32:50.479 and in the West they feel even more disenfranchised. They 1:32:50.520 --> 1:32:54.400 feel that this this government doesn't hear them, they don't 1:32:54.439 --> 1:32:57.960 listen to them, they don't you know, follow the whims 1:32:58.040 --> 1:33:02.240 of you know, the died in the world conservatives. And 1:33:02.280 --> 1:33:04.840 so that rhetoric has built and built and built over 1:33:04.880 --> 1:33:07.800 the years, um. And it's all tied into other things 1:33:07.840 --> 1:33:10.200 as well. It's tied into the economic policies and the 1:33:10.320 --> 1:33:15.719 policies of the liberal government with in regards to climate 1:33:15.800 --> 1:33:20.080 change and carbon tax and how how that's been hitting 1:33:20.560 --> 1:33:27.000 um Albertan's you know, they our province is very heavily 1:33:27.040 --> 1:33:30.559 dependent upon the oil and gas sector and it always 1:33:30.600 --> 1:33:34.519 has been for the last I'm gonna suggest fifty six years. 1:33:35.640 --> 1:33:38.920 And so when they see things like in Autumna, where 1:33:38.920 --> 1:33:42.040 they're talking about climate change and they're talking about you know, 1:33:42.160 --> 1:33:45.760 green energy, it makes these conservatives angry because this has 1:33:45.800 --> 1:33:48.679 been our bread and butter for years. This is what's 1:33:48.720 --> 1:33:52.800 fed our families. They don't recognize that, you know, this 1:33:52.920 --> 1:33:55.960 is this is the path forward. All they hear is 1:33:56.600 --> 1:33:59.240 we don't want you, we don't want your jobs, we 1:33:59.280 --> 1:34:03.880 don't want your products. And they're angry and this has 1:34:03.920 --> 1:34:09.120 been the catalyst now where they're just fed up. They're 1:34:09.439 --> 1:34:14.280 up with with not being heard. Unfortunately, all that built 1:34:14.360 --> 1:34:17.160 up anger and resentment towards the government and its leadership 1:34:17.600 --> 1:34:20.719 is ending up being taken out against just any symbol 1:34:20.720 --> 1:34:24.639 of liberalism, not really the government directly. You know. Within 1:34:24.760 --> 1:34:28.679 this worldview, homophobic attacks can be then thought up as 1:34:28.720 --> 1:34:32.400 this weird form of punching up because gainness is associated 1:34:32.520 --> 1:34:36.280 with liberalism, so it's seen as almost this system of power, 1:34:36.880 --> 1:34:40.439 even though it's that's obviously backwards. It's this kind of 1:34:40.479 --> 1:34:44.320 weird backwards thing where you can view like attacking progressive 1:34:44.360 --> 1:34:47.200 things as an attack on the system. So that means 1:34:47.280 --> 1:34:53.600 like being racist or being homophobic, is this rebellion against 1:34:53.720 --> 1:34:56.280 you know, the system itself, even though it just ties 1:34:56.320 --> 1:34:59.519 into all those same systemic issues. Just the other day 1:34:59.520 --> 1:35:03.600 in edmund And there was a business owner, uh, a 1:35:03.640 --> 1:35:08.439 hair salon owner, who's been very outspoken about this Freedom 1:35:08.479 --> 1:35:11.920 Convoy and about how she doesn't agree with their messaging 1:35:12.040 --> 1:35:18.800 and their their ideas, and she was actually hunted down 1:35:18.800 --> 1:35:22.240 on social media, um, hunted down in person. They found her, 1:35:22.360 --> 1:35:26.000 someone found her her business, went to her business and 1:35:26.080 --> 1:35:29.719 confronted her and assaulted her UM at her business, all 1:35:29.800 --> 1:35:34.080 because she uh does not support the convoy, and apparently 1:35:34.120 --> 1:35:38.879 this individual did. UM. You know, we definitely, we definitely 1:35:38.920 --> 1:35:43.040 see here that UM. The feeling is is that if 1:35:43.040 --> 1:35:46.160 you are a liberal in Alberta, this is not the 1:35:46.160 --> 1:35:51.760 place for you. UM. You know, if you if you 1:35:52.120 --> 1:35:56.200 believe in you know, equal rights for everyone, this is 1:35:56.200 --> 1:36:00.360 not the place for you. If you believe in the 1:36:00.479 --> 1:36:05.120 rights of marginalized and minority communities, this is not the 1:36:05.160 --> 1:36:08.920 place for you. And we I've seen that, you know, 1:36:09.160 --> 1:36:12.760 and taking part in various protests I suppose that could 1:36:12.760 --> 1:36:15.719 be branded as liberal protests, like the Black Lives Matter 1:36:15.800 --> 1:36:21.719 protests and um, the protests and rallies that were held 1:36:21.760 --> 1:36:26.240 in support of the indigenous communities last summer upon you know, 1:36:26.360 --> 1:36:30.560 the news that kind of shook the world regarding um 1:36:30.800 --> 1:36:35.080 graves at residential schools, and you know, you see it 1:36:35.120 --> 1:36:40.120 with the indigenous communities that protests pipelines on their traditional 1:36:40.200 --> 1:36:43.559 lands and they block you know, railways, and the same 1:36:43.600 --> 1:36:48.800 people that are screaming for jail time and for violence 1:36:49.040 --> 1:36:54.600 and and police intervention on these various protests are the 1:36:54.640 --> 1:36:57.600 same people that are taking part in a convoy. Protesters 1:36:57.640 --> 1:36:59.840 at the Cootes border crossing will now be charged or 1:37:00.000 --> 1:37:04.160 mind according to the province and the RCMP. R CMP 1:37:04.280 --> 1:37:07.000 Deputy Chief Curtis is A Blocky said in a news 1:37:07.000 --> 1:37:09.320 conference during the start out the second week of the 1:37:09.320 --> 1:37:13.120 Alberta border blockade that police are actively working to diffuse 1:37:13.200 --> 1:37:16.680 situation at the most important border crossing in Alberta, but 1:37:16.760 --> 1:37:19.679 are trying to do so peacefully, saying, make no mistake, 1:37:19.760 --> 1:37:22.679 there are criminal activities taking place at these protest sites 1:37:22.880 --> 1:37:26.400 that violate both criminal code and provincial laws. We've seen 1:37:26.439 --> 1:37:29.360 activities that are both dangerous and reckless and are having 1:37:29.360 --> 1:37:32.200 a very negative effect on Alberton's who live in the area. 1:37:32.800 --> 1:37:35.519 He then pointed to you know, dwindling numbers involving the 1:37:35.520 --> 1:37:38.920 blockade from a high of around two fifty vehicles to 1:37:39.000 --> 1:37:43.400 begin with two around fifty vehicles last Tuesday afternoon. As 1:37:43.400 --> 1:37:46.960 a success of their efforts to this point. But you 1:37:47.000 --> 1:37:50.799 know this isn't convinced everyone, since the blockade is still happening. 1:37:51.160 --> 1:37:56.040 So Acting Justice Minister and Solicitor General Sonia Savage called 1:37:56.120 --> 1:37:58.680 the blockade intolerable and said that those taking part in 1:37:58.680 --> 1:38:02.160 the demonstration can be charged under several different federal and 1:38:02.200 --> 1:38:06.479 provincial laws, including the Federal Criminal Code, the Provincial Traffic 1:38:06.520 --> 1:38:10.599 Safety Act, and the new Critical Infrastructure Defense Act, which 1:38:10.640 --> 1:38:13.840 was enacted right in the middle of during the international 1:38:13.960 --> 1:38:17.959 George Floyd uprising and the certain rail blockades in Canada. 1:38:18.280 --> 1:38:20.040 I'm going to go into many tangent here just because 1:38:20.080 --> 1:38:22.599 of how terrible this bill is. The bill gives law 1:38:22.680 --> 1:38:26.280 enforcement and the judicial system extra power to dish out 1:38:26.320 --> 1:38:30.479 significant monetary fines and extra jail time for actions deemed 1:38:30.520 --> 1:38:35.960 to interfere with so called essential infrastructure quote unquote. The 1:38:36.040 --> 1:38:38.919 stated goal of the bill is harsher penalties and charges 1:38:39.240 --> 1:38:43.760 for quote, damage or interference caused by blockades, protests, or 1:38:43.800 --> 1:38:48.240 similar activities that can cause significant public safety, social, economic, 1:38:48.439 --> 1:38:52.840 and environmental consequences. The Act builds on existing trespassing laws 1:38:52.880 --> 1:38:57.120 to create offenses for trespassing on destroying, damaging, and obstructing 1:38:57.120 --> 1:39:01.160 the use or operation of any essential infrastructure, also under 1:39:01.200 --> 1:39:04.839 the banner of essential infrastructure that includes public and private property. 1:39:04.880 --> 1:39:07.719 By the way, the bill was obviously aimed at left 1:39:07.720 --> 1:39:11.720 wing protest and specifically equal defense and environmental protest and 1:39:11.960 --> 1:39:15.879 or sabotage, as the first two things defined as essential 1:39:15.880 --> 1:39:20.200 infrastructure in the bill are quote, pipelines and related infrastructure 1:39:20.240 --> 1:39:24.559 and oil and gas production and refinery sites. So yeah. 1:39:24.680 --> 1:39:28.160 There's also been pressure from government officials to include forfeiture 1:39:28.280 --> 1:39:32.200 property in the commission of crime through the Civil Forfeiture Act. 1:39:32.680 --> 1:39:35.960 RCMP Deputy chiefs the blockys that charges will be coming 1:39:35.960 --> 1:39:38.200 for those taking part in the protest and could be 1:39:38.240 --> 1:39:40.640 as simple as the way they are illegally parked on 1:39:40.680 --> 1:39:44.200 the highway. He didn't note that the RCMP has attempted 1:39:44.240 --> 1:39:47.040 to hire local towing companies to move the trucks and 1:39:47.080 --> 1:39:49.760 other equipment off the road, but have been unable to 1:39:49.800 --> 1:39:53.400 do so, with the companies citing concerns over damaged their 1:39:53.400 --> 1:39:56.960 business long term or just safety issues in general. This 1:39:57.040 --> 1:39:59.439 has also been a huge factor in attempts to deal 1:39:59.479 --> 1:40:03.760 with the auto occupation. Zablocki said that there are concerns 1:40:03.760 --> 1:40:06.479 over safety and violence in response to the more aggressive 1:40:06.520 --> 1:40:09.160 approaches to breaking up the blockade. So far, the main 1:40:09.200 --> 1:40:12.120 action law enforcement has taken to dissuay people from blocking 1:40:12.160 --> 1:40:15.200 the border is just giving out tickets and fines for 1:40:15.280 --> 1:40:18.759 illegal parking. Premier Jason Kenny said that he is supportive 1:40:18.920 --> 1:40:22.479 of our CMP handling this as they see fit through 1:40:22.520 --> 1:40:25.080 the means that they already have, and has been supportive 1:40:25.200 --> 1:40:29.680 of using the you know, pretty horribly authoritarian Critical Infrastructure 1:40:29.800 --> 1:40:33.799 Defense Act, saying quote, last year we passed the Defense 1:40:33.840 --> 1:40:37.880 of Critical Infrastructure Act, which gives police enormous powers and 1:40:38.000 --> 1:40:41.600 various defines the penalties, including the power of imprisonment. We 1:40:41.640 --> 1:40:43.320 have made it clear to the RCMP, who is our 1:40:43.360 --> 1:40:46.920 provincial policing service, that they can and should use all 1:40:46.960 --> 1:40:49.799 of these powers. They're dealing with a very fluid situation, 1:40:49.880 --> 1:40:53.240 and I have respect for their judgment. Prime Minister Justin 1:40:53.280 --> 1:40:57.000 Trudeau addressed the ongoing blockades and protests across the country 1:40:57.040 --> 1:41:01.439 this past Friday, encouraging demonstrators to leave, while also passing 1:41:01.439 --> 1:41:04.479 the buck on any blame, saying quote, I want to 1:41:04.520 --> 1:41:07.679 remind everybody that politicians don't direct police departments to enforce 1:41:07.720 --> 1:41:12.880 the law. Instead, Trudeau made vague threats around revoking licenses 1:41:12.920 --> 1:41:17.320 and criminal records for those continuing to protest, saying everything 1:41:17.360 --> 1:41:20.280 is on the table because this unlawful blockade has to 1:41:20.439 --> 1:41:24.639 end and will end. The blockade at the Cootes border 1:41:24.680 --> 1:41:28.320 crossing is not the only convoy aligned protest in Alberta. 1:41:28.760 --> 1:41:32.440 There have been many demonstrations in basically every major city 1:41:32.760 --> 1:41:36.720 in Calgary. The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees says that 1:41:36.840 --> 1:41:40.639 frontline healthcare workers, patients and people living around the Sheldon 1:41:40.720 --> 1:41:44.599 Camere Health Center have dealt with protests for weeks, but 1:41:44.920 --> 1:41:47.599 things have only gotten worse since the truck convoy hit 1:41:47.680 --> 1:41:52.000 the news. The vice president of the Alberta Union for 1:41:52.040 --> 1:41:55.920 Provincial Employees said that protesters have blocked the ambulance bain, 1:41:56.000 --> 1:41:58.280 they have harassed workers and patients as they come to 1:41:58.560 --> 1:42:01.160 and from the center. They've banged on the windows of 1:42:01.200 --> 1:42:04.080 the facility and upset people inside, and they have blocked 1:42:04.080 --> 1:42:07.400 the roads around the center. Moving on to the province 1:42:07.400 --> 1:42:11.040 of British Columbia, as the second weekend of protest was 1:42:11.120 --> 1:42:14.280 set to descend on Vancouver the weekend of February five, 1:42:14.920 --> 1:42:17.840 in preparation fearing attacks would be carried out against healthcare 1:42:17.880 --> 1:42:20.760 workers like they have in the past. Vancouver's to health 1:42:20.800 --> 1:42:25.120 authorities issued internal ms telling health workers to hide indoors 1:42:25.120 --> 1:42:27.799 as the convoy pass through the city and to quote 1:42:28.080 --> 1:42:31.759 refrain from wearing scrubs and or your ID badge outside 1:42:31.800 --> 1:42:35.160 the hospital during the demonstration. If you do encounter any protesters, 1:42:35.160 --> 1:42:37.639 please do not engage with them or respond to their questions, 1:42:37.880 --> 1:42:40.200 and please do not ask protesters to put on a 1:42:40.280 --> 1:42:44.720 face mask. Similarly, ahead of a protest in Toronto, the 1:42:44.760 --> 1:42:48.200 Toronto Police sent letters to hospitals advising their workers to 1:42:48.280 --> 1:42:51.280 not wear any clothing or markings that identified them as 1:42:51.360 --> 1:42:56.160 working in healthcare, fearing attacks by protesters. As the second 1:42:56.160 --> 1:42:59.320 wave of the convoy arrived during the second weekend of 1:42:59.400 --> 1:43:02.519 the occupation in Ottawa, some of the on the ground 1:43:02.760 --> 1:43:07.840 organizational structure started to morphin evolves. The police estimated around 1:43:07.840 --> 1:43:10.680 this time that five thousand people were still protesting in 1:43:10.720 --> 1:43:14.839 Ottawa and around one thousand vehicles were clogging the streets 1:43:15.400 --> 1:43:17.720 during the second week of protests. In an effort to 1:43:17.800 --> 1:43:22.280 improve optics, considering the four original organizers explicit connections to 1:43:22.360 --> 1:43:26.280 the far right, a new lead organizational, public relations and 1:43:26.360 --> 1:43:29.240 bargaining team was assembled for the group, calling themselves the 1:43:29.400 --> 1:43:35.240 Freedom Convoy. The new pseudo leadership team consists of Daniel Bulford, 1:43:35.320 --> 1:43:38.759 a former RCMP officer who was on the Prime Minister's 1:43:38.800 --> 1:43:42.200 security detail. He quit last year after refusing to get 1:43:42.240 --> 1:43:45.160 the vaccine and is now the convoy's head of security. 1:43:45.880 --> 1:43:49.640 Tom Quicken, former military intelligence officer who also worked with 1:43:49.640 --> 1:43:52.559 the RCMP and was considered one of the country's top 1:43:52.760 --> 1:43:58.639 counter terrorism experts. And Tom Marazo, an ex military officer who, 1:43:58.640 --> 1:44:02.120 according to his linked in profile, served in the Canadian 1:44:02.360 --> 1:44:05.360 Armed Forces for twenty five years and ours as a 1:44:05.360 --> 1:44:09.160 freelance software developer. And just side note in terms of 1:44:09.240 --> 1:44:13.440 you know, police and former military participating in the protests, 1:44:13.760 --> 1:44:17.240 there was an organization full of retired police that endorsed 1:44:17.240 --> 1:44:19.880 the convoy a few weeks ago and said that they 1:44:19.920 --> 1:44:24.000 have people on the ground there and just got announced 1:44:24.120 --> 1:44:27.400 as as I'm recording this, that two members of Canada's 1:44:27.680 --> 1:44:31.920 military counter terrorism unit is under investigation for allegedly taking 1:44:31.960 --> 1:44:36.360 part in the Ottawa Convoy protests. So yeah, that's fun. 1:44:38.000 --> 1:44:40.519 The occupation has been getting more and more organized on 1:44:40.560 --> 1:44:43.439 the ground the past two weeks and has been able 1:44:43.479 --> 1:44:46.000 to keep one step ahead of any action taken against 1:44:46.040 --> 1:44:51.560 police against the occupation. Even just what the convoy participants 1:44:51.600 --> 1:44:54.840 have physically built is impressive. Less than a week after 1:44:54.880 --> 1:44:57.639 the convoy arrived, you started to see wooden structures being 1:44:57.640 --> 1:45:00.240 built around the roads and a growing stockp all of 1:45:00.280 --> 1:45:04.000 propane and diesel fuel. There is an impressive amount of 1:45:04.000 --> 1:45:07.760 tents and wind structures used for kitchens that local organizers 1:45:07.840 --> 1:45:10.320 have set up, and a whole supply chain has sprung 1:45:10.400 --> 1:45:13.280 up across the city to keep these people fed, working 1:45:13.439 --> 1:45:16.559 and protesting. I'm now going to quote a good article 1:45:16.640 --> 1:45:20.280 in the CBC by Judy Trend quote. The group is 1:45:20.280 --> 1:45:23.240 set up not only near the Parliament in Ottawa, but 1:45:23.280 --> 1:45:26.360 they have also built two encampment areas where they carry 1:45:26.360 --> 1:45:30.040 out logistical and supply work. Recent reporting has painted a 1:45:30.040 --> 1:45:33.840 picture that these areas are far more organized than widely thought. 1:45:34.520 --> 1:45:36.680 The group is also trying out new tactics, such as 1:45:36.720 --> 1:45:40.160 attempting to clog up traffic at the Ottawa Airport. Other 1:45:40.240 --> 1:45:43.799 tactics like swatting have been reported as well. Ottawa Police 1:45:43.880 --> 1:45:46.639 say they're aware of a concerned effort to flood our 1:45:46.840 --> 1:45:50.880 nine one and non emergency police reporting lines, tweeting that 1:45:51.240 --> 1:45:55.160 this endangers lives and is completely unacceptable. Determined to not 1:45:55.240 --> 1:45:59.040 be outdone by their fellow protesters in the West, after 1:45:59.080 --> 1:46:02.400 the second wave arrived, the members of the Ottawa Convoy 1:46:02.560 --> 1:46:06.400 organized away for the Convoy occupation to stay, but also 1:46:06.520 --> 1:46:11.120 put up a border crossing blockade of their own. Starting Sunday, 1:46:11.160 --> 1:46:16.640 February six, scores of truckers blocked the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor, Ontario, 1:46:16.840 --> 1:46:20.120 to Detroit, Michigan, disrupting the flow of auto parts and 1:46:20.160 --> 1:46:24.160 other products between the two countries. While this protest has 1:46:24.200 --> 1:46:27.280 been conducted more by pickup trucks than big rigs, it 1:46:27.320 --> 1:46:30.400 has been holding up the lanes. The bridge is the 1:46:30.439 --> 1:46:34.240 busiest US Canada border crossing and the key cog in 1:46:34.280 --> 1:46:37.439 both the US and Canadian economies, as it carries around 1:46:37.439 --> 1:46:41.040 twenty five percent of trade between the two countries. The 1:46:41.080 --> 1:46:44.160 effects of the blockade there were felt rapidly. The bridge 1:46:44.200 --> 1:46:48.000 regularly carries around three hundred sixty million dollars a day 1:46:48.360 --> 1:46:51.800 in two way cargoes, but traffic is limited by its 1:46:51.920 --> 1:46:55.960 nineteen nine physical footprint. There's just two lanes each way 1:46:56.200 --> 1:47:00.559 with no shoulders and antiquated customs boots, with the northern 1:47:00.600 --> 1:47:04.960 side just emptying out into the city streets. The bumper 1:47:05.000 --> 1:47:08.000 to bumper demonstration forced auto plants on both sides the 1:47:08.040 --> 1:47:11.679 border to shut down or scale back production. The halting 1:47:11.680 --> 1:47:15.320 of trade has bottlenecked automaker Ford's ability to get parts 1:47:15.360 --> 1:47:19.400 from the US to its Canadian plants in Windsor and Oaksville. 1:47:20.040 --> 1:47:22.280 Ford to shut down the doors of its Windsor plan 1:47:22.360 --> 1:47:25.880 and reduced the work schedule in Oakville. Ford set in 1:47:25.880 --> 1:47:32.240 a statement, the interruption on the Detroit Windsor Bridge hurts customers, autoworkers, suppliers, communities, 1:47:32.240 --> 1:47:34.840 and companies on both sides of the border. We hope 1:47:34.840 --> 1:47:38.080 the situation is resolved quickly because it could have widespread 1:47:38.080 --> 1:47:42.640 impact on all automakers in the US and Canada. Automaker 1:47:42.760 --> 1:47:46.200 Toyota said that it's three D plants in Ontario closed 1:47:46.200 --> 1:47:48.840 for the rest of the week because of parts shortages, 1:47:49.080 --> 1:47:53.840 and production has also been curtailed in Georgetown, Kentucky more 1:47:53.920 --> 1:47:56.840 On the U s side of things, GM, Jeep, and 1:47:57.000 --> 1:47:59.960 Honda all had hours cut and assembly lines shut down 1:48:00.000 --> 1:48:04.040 own at their factories across Michigan and Ohio. Michigan Governor 1:48:04.120 --> 1:48:08.000 Gretchen Whittemore urged Canadian authorities to quickly resolve the stand off, 1:48:08.200 --> 1:48:11.760 saying it's hitting paychecks and production lines and that is unacceptable. 1:48:12.520 --> 1:48:14.960 The federal Public Safety Minister has said that the Royal 1:48:15.000 --> 1:48:18.120 Canadian amount of police reinforcements are being sent to Windsor, 1:48:18.360 --> 1:48:21.960 Ottawa and to Coots, Alberta, where the other border blockade 1:48:22.040 --> 1:48:27.000 is happening. With political and economic pressure mounting, Windsor Mayor 1:48:27.160 --> 1:48:29.880 Drew Dilkins announced that the city would seek a court 1:48:29.920 --> 1:48:33.920 injunction to end the occupation, saying that the economic harm 1:48:34.040 --> 1:48:36.960 is just not sustainable and it must come to an end. 1:48:37.640 --> 1:48:41.479 On Thursday, February tenth, the Biden administration urged Prime Minister 1:48:41.560 --> 1:48:45.080 Justin Trudeau's government on Thursday to use its federal powers 1:48:45.120 --> 1:48:47.320 to end the truck blockade at the other side of 1:48:47.320 --> 1:48:50.600 the Detroit border. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of 1:48:50.640 --> 1:48:53.479 products have been held back for days as fifty to 1:48:53.560 --> 1:48:57.400 sixty vehicles and around a hundred anti mandate protesters camp 1:48:57.439 --> 1:48:59.920 out on the main road that leads on and off 1:49:00.000 --> 1:49:03.120 the bridge. And yes, it is ironic that the same 1:49:03.160 --> 1:49:06.160 people who are trying to sell Canadians fake stories about 1:49:06.200 --> 1:49:09.920 failing supply lines and empty shelves are now causing those 1:49:09.920 --> 1:49:12.880 supply lines to fail and causing those shelves to go empty. 1:49:13.080 --> 1:49:15.400 The irony is not lost on me, but it may 1:49:15.439 --> 1:49:19.440 be lost on the convoy participants. Throughout running these episodes, 1:49:19.479 --> 1:49:21.799 I was fortunate enough to get to talk to multiple 1:49:21.800 --> 1:49:24.639 people who have been on the ground in downtown Ottawa. 1:49:25.320 --> 1:49:28.880 One such of these people's is Peter Smith, an investigative 1:49:28.920 --> 1:49:32.599 journalist for the Canadian Anti Hate Network. We recorded our 1:49:32.600 --> 1:49:35.360 conversation and I'm going to include some audio clips throughout 1:49:35.360 --> 1:49:38.200 the rest of the episode. We started off by discussing 1:49:38.240 --> 1:49:41.040 what made this protest movement pop off in this specific 1:49:41.080 --> 1:49:44.559 time and place. I do you think it was maybe 1:49:44.600 --> 1:49:47.360 capitalizing on a moment, but also a fair amount of luck. 1:49:48.120 --> 1:49:51.400 You know, since two thousand nine, the same organizers have 1:49:51.400 --> 1:49:55.040 attempted to put together other convoys, you know, generally never 1:49:55.160 --> 1:49:57.600 rising to the amount of attention that they had in 1:49:57.640 --> 1:50:02.559 two thousand nine. Um. You know, this convoy was also 1:50:02.640 --> 1:50:07.840 planned long before they specifically started focusing on truckers, and 1:50:07.880 --> 1:50:11.640 then it was it was a galvanizing issue. It resonated 1:50:11.680 --> 1:50:17.000 with people who are frustrated with the Trudeau government, um, 1:50:17.040 --> 1:50:20.640 and just they're they're handling of of health measures as 1:50:20.680 --> 1:50:24.719 well as just became a like a vehicle for expressing 1:50:24.760 --> 1:50:27.600 their general dissatisfaction with their own provinises, like most of 1:50:27.640 --> 1:50:31.760 our health mandates are provincial, like the Alberta government is 1:50:31.800 --> 1:50:35.960 handing down what's happening in Alberta. Um, so it's it's 1:50:35.960 --> 1:50:40.960 not just it's not just a federal issue, but coming 1:50:41.000 --> 1:50:43.680 down here and occupying the streets of Ottawa and that 1:50:43.840 --> 1:50:49.120 now we're seeing occupying most of our major cities. Um. 1:50:49.160 --> 1:50:52.280 You know, ones like Winnipeg gets significantly less attention, but 1:50:52.320 --> 1:50:57.080 are incredibly disruptive locally, um and in some cases more 1:50:57.160 --> 1:50:59.320 kind of inceniary than the one that we have out here, 1:51:00.120 --> 1:51:03.240 where you know, participants and organizers are desperately trying to 1:51:03.960 --> 1:51:07.600 clamp down on on any individuals who's engaging and harassment 1:51:07.840 --> 1:51:11.400 or uh well or is more common blaming it on 1:51:11.479 --> 1:51:15.760 liberal plants. Um. Yeah, it just it became this kind 1:51:15.760 --> 1:51:20.280 of expression of all of the frustration and very quickly 1:51:20.360 --> 1:51:22.600 drew attention even from people who've been dismissive of it 1:51:22.680 --> 1:51:26.040 very early on because of some of the organizers. Um. 1:51:26.120 --> 1:51:29.320 Once it really started to galvanate, galvanized attention and of 1:51:29.360 --> 1:51:36.639 course money, Uh, people couldn't couldn't stay away. I mean 1:51:36.640 --> 1:51:40.120 to the point that we even have mainstream conservative politicians 1:51:40.160 --> 1:51:43.240 now getting on board with it, including the man who's 1:51:43.360 --> 1:51:45.640 very likely to be the future leader of the Conservative 1:51:45.680 --> 1:51:49.599 Party here. I mean, we're in a very unique moment um, 1:51:49.640 --> 1:51:51.720 you know, are our far right and kind of conspiracy 1:51:51.760 --> 1:51:55.400 culture in Canada has also been getting better at organizing 1:51:55.400 --> 1:51:58.280 over the course of the pandemic. Wants to get like 1:51:58.400 --> 1:52:02.040 all major cities have and many small towns continue to 1:52:02.080 --> 1:52:06.040 have anti mandate um anti lockdown protests. We usually refer 1:52:06.040 --> 1:52:09.280 to them as the COVID conspiracy movement, just because of 1:52:09.320 --> 1:52:15.480 how and heavily heavily informed it is by conspiratorial thinking. Um. 1:52:15.520 --> 1:52:17.400 So it's it's like you had a large amount of 1:52:17.400 --> 1:52:19.680 people kind of spending the past two years and like 1:52:19.760 --> 1:52:23.519 a on the ground boot camp of how to organize 1:52:23.520 --> 1:52:25.760 within these cities and how to get people's attention. And 1:52:25.800 --> 1:52:27.880 of course, like like a lot of the far right here, 1:52:27.920 --> 1:52:32.240 it fragmented. There was a lot of infighting, um and 1:52:32.280 --> 1:52:34.760 then you know, once there became a central point that 1:52:34.880 --> 1:52:37.559 was was galvanizing a lot of attention, it started receiving 1:52:37.560 --> 1:52:41.240 international attention. You know, there's been some questions about the 1:52:41.240 --> 1:52:44.200 source of some of the money, but certainly the initial 1:52:44.240 --> 1:52:49.200 totals seemed to be organically Canadian. Yeah. Um, it just 1:52:49.600 --> 1:52:52.880 became too big to fall apart essentially, at least at 1:52:52.920 --> 1:52:56.360 this point. Um. There has been some spats of infighting, 1:52:56.439 --> 1:53:00.920 but mostly you know, the most polarized and figures are 1:53:01.520 --> 1:53:03.639 either just keeping their head down or in some cases 1:53:03.680 --> 1:53:06.479 even choosing to stay away from the main events so 1:53:06.560 --> 1:53:10.320 as not to be a distraction. Um. There's a lot. 1:53:10.560 --> 1:53:12.280 One of the lines I see a lot is like, 1:53:12.479 --> 1:53:16.160 this is the moment, this is for all the marvels. Um. 1:53:16.200 --> 1:53:19.280 So there's a huge amount of importance being placed on that. 1:53:20.479 --> 1:53:24.840 What actually happens, like whether they're able to paint what 1:53:24.880 --> 1:53:28.559 we've the like the actual rolling back of banddates that 1:53:28.640 --> 1:53:32.000 we were already starting to see before the convoy began, 1:53:32.680 --> 1:53:36.240 um as some type of victory for them, um, or 1:53:36.280 --> 1:53:39.120 if this leads to further disillusionment. You know, we don't 1:53:39.120 --> 1:53:42.040 really know at this point, but I think this moment 1:53:42.080 --> 1:53:45.680 is going to be a propaganda tool, um, and kind 1:53:45.680 --> 1:53:49.800 of a a point of I think it's gonna be 1:53:49.800 --> 1:53:53.640 a propaganda tool and like a point of motivation for 1:53:53.680 --> 1:53:57.040 a long time from your like both on the ground 1:53:57.080 --> 1:54:00.360 stuff and just from monitoring stuff online. What do you 1:54:00.400 --> 1:54:05.280 think like the actual actionable intention was once they arrived 1:54:05.280 --> 1:54:07.840 in Ottawa, Like, do you think they had a clear 1:54:07.880 --> 1:54:09.680 plan of what to do or was it more like 1:54:10.560 --> 1:54:16.280 let's go here and then we'll figure things out. Well, 1:54:16.320 --> 1:54:19.120 initially there there was a manum. Initially there was a 1:54:19.120 --> 1:54:22.599 memorandum of understanding which laid out kind of the points 1:54:22.640 --> 1:54:26.080 of what the inditial organizers were hoping to accomplish, something 1:54:26.120 --> 1:54:29.400 they call the Operation bay or hug Um, which includes 1:54:29.439 --> 1:54:31.920 having the Governor General and our Senate, both of whom 1:54:31.960 --> 1:54:37.920 are unelected, uh dissolved parliament and reform the government immediately 1:54:37.960 --> 1:54:42.880 after we had a federal election. Um. Since then, the 1:54:42.920 --> 1:54:48.680 message has evolved like they're trying to stay very very 1:54:48.720 --> 1:54:52.680 like on script with this just being about freedom, um, 1:54:52.680 --> 1:54:56.480 this just being about mandates. You know, initially there was 1:54:56.520 --> 1:54:58.720 a lot of attempts to even get people to stop 1:54:58.760 --> 1:55:02.000 mentioning the vaccine. Of those seems to kind of fallen 1:55:02.040 --> 1:55:04.640 by the wayside, especially when you start looking at the speakers. 1:55:06.880 --> 1:55:09.600 It is interesting to kind of wonder what the actual 1:55:09.640 --> 1:55:14.280 goal is there. They've started meeting with public officials, you know, 1:55:14.320 --> 1:55:20.680 there is some type of negotiation going on. Um. Obstensively, 1:55:20.720 --> 1:55:24.000 the goal is just to have these border restrictions lifted 1:55:24.720 --> 1:55:27.960 on people on truckers who are unvaccinated returning from the US. 1:55:29.040 --> 1:55:30.600 You know, the obvious thing is the point out that 1:55:30.640 --> 1:55:32.880 the US still has a very similar policy in reverse 1:55:32.960 --> 1:55:36.440 again here would have no impact um on their ability 1:55:36.480 --> 1:55:40.960 to to avoid this quarantine. But um, it seems like 1:55:40.960 --> 1:55:44.640 the goals are fairly murky, and that's almost deliberate because 1:55:44.720 --> 1:55:49.920 then they can declare victory kind of when it suits them. 1:55:50.080 --> 1:55:54.160 Ambiguity around protest goals, demands, and purpose itself can be 1:55:54.240 --> 1:55:58.000 a useful tactic. The Crime Think zine slash article titled 1:55:58.160 --> 1:56:01.320 why we Don't make Demands makes such a case. I 1:56:01.360 --> 1:56:03.760 don't have time to summarize it here, but I recommend 1:56:03.760 --> 1:56:06.040 you give the article a look if you're interested in 1:56:06.080 --> 1:56:09.240 this train of thought as an intentional tactic. But on 1:56:09.280 --> 1:56:12.200 the flip side, you know, vague and direction list protest 1:56:12.320 --> 1:56:15.320 without much of a focus on a specific goal can 1:56:15.400 --> 1:56:18.440 also cause protests to peter out without having any lasting 1:56:18.480 --> 1:56:22.120 impact on the world. A discussion worth having is how 1:56:22.200 --> 1:56:25.760 the individual people that make up the convay participants have 1:56:25.880 --> 1:56:29.200 been convinced to take part in an occupation protest, and 1:56:29.200 --> 1:56:32.920 how what is considered valid political action has broadened in 1:56:32.960 --> 1:56:36.040 their own heads if they're the ones doing the action, 1:56:36.080 --> 1:56:39.200 of course, because from their point of view, since they 1:56:39.200 --> 1:56:42.480 are doing it, the cause must be valid and therefore 1:56:42.680 --> 1:56:48.240 the action is justified. In we have the wetsuin rail blockades, 1:56:49.080 --> 1:56:51.680 um that was put on by various members of our 1:56:51.680 --> 1:56:55.200 first nations, and then people who supported them, you know, 1:56:55.280 --> 1:57:00.720 the same politicians they're meeting, um when the truckers embracing them, uh, 1:57:00.920 --> 1:57:05.520 saying that our current prime ministers demonizing them um by 1:57:05.560 --> 1:57:09.000 kind of casting them as under desirables. We're we're you know, 1:57:09.000 --> 1:57:12.919 we're actively calling people sitting on train tracks as terrorists 1:57:12.960 --> 1:57:17.400 who are disrupting our economy. Um. Obviously, in the context 1:57:17.440 --> 1:57:20.240 of the pandemic pandemic that's very different because there has 1:57:20.280 --> 1:57:24.720 been kind of mass disruption too to our economy. But 1:57:25.400 --> 1:57:28.040 this kind of picking and choosing, of of suiting the 1:57:28.120 --> 1:57:31.760 narrative to court far eight voters seems to be popular. 1:57:32.280 --> 1:57:36.040 You know how Conservatives typically aren't seen as the protesting type. 1:57:36.160 --> 1:57:38.680 Right Conservatives are supposed to be the type of people 1:57:38.720 --> 1:57:41.200 who drive by the protest and yell, get a job, 1:57:41.760 --> 1:57:44.400 They're not the ones who are out in the streets picketing. 1:57:44.760 --> 1:57:48.080 But first of all, that's not really true. Historically, in 1:57:48.120 --> 1:57:51.720 just the past one years, there's always been conservative protests 1:57:51.760 --> 1:57:56.040 for you know, regressive and reactionary goals. Also, conservatives have 1:57:56.200 --> 1:57:59.440 been much better at organizing off the street for their 1:57:59.480 --> 1:58:05.000 political policies, specifically around like abortion or Christian dominionism, anti 1:58:05.040 --> 1:58:09.040 queer legislation, or recent stuff around anti CRT and just 1:58:09.440 --> 1:58:15.040 the mainstream racism denial that's been propagated through media. But 1:58:15.600 --> 1:58:19.560 even if there is historical precedent for conservative protest, bridging 1:58:19.560 --> 1:58:22.360 the gap of what is seen as valid political action 1:58:22.480 --> 1:58:25.600 in the minds of these convoy attendees did still take 1:58:25.640 --> 1:58:28.800 place over just the past few years, just the past 1:58:28.840 --> 1:58:33.000 two years, specifically, there's been so much conservative protests around COVID. 1:58:33.280 --> 1:58:35.680 A whole bunch of the people at the Ottawa protest 1:58:35.920 --> 1:58:39.000 probably five years ago would have never seen themselves going 1:58:39.040 --> 1:58:42.280 to protest in the Canadian capital, Right Like, if you 1:58:42.360 --> 1:58:45.760 told them a few years ago that you're gonna drive 1:58:45.880 --> 1:58:48.720 all these kilometers to the Parliament to camp out in 1:58:48.760 --> 1:58:51.600 the cold for weeks to protest against the government and 1:58:51.640 --> 1:58:55.080 its rules for helping not spread the deadliest pandemic in 1:58:55.080 --> 1:58:58.120 a century. They would have probably laughed out of the room. 1:58:58.200 --> 1:59:02.080 So what is the logical agression of conservative people who generally, 1:59:02.120 --> 1:59:04.640 you know, look down on any type of protest, especially 1:59:04.680 --> 1:59:08.000 occupy style protests to the point where they are driving 1:59:08.000 --> 1:59:10.280 all the way to the capital to camp outside the building, 1:59:10.520 --> 1:59:13.400 to Hong Korn's day and night. A lot of that 1:59:13.480 --> 1:59:16.800 political change the past few years correlates to the pandemic, 1:59:16.920 --> 1:59:20.040 to the social isolation and the great opportunity for the 1:59:20.120 --> 1:59:24.200 fast spread of conspiratorial politics that it offered. Over the 1:59:24.200 --> 1:59:26.640 course of the pandemic, there's been this huge blending of 1:59:26.720 --> 1:59:31.000 rhetoric online and especially in Canada, this kind of villainization 1:59:31.080 --> 1:59:35.240 of the other side. Increasingly less and less criticism against 1:59:35.240 --> 1:59:38.880 the current government is less based on its policy and 1:59:38.920 --> 1:59:41.959 more based on its figurehead and the image of Trudeau 1:59:42.120 --> 1:59:46.640 as a globalist politics as opposition to whatever Trudeaux and 1:59:46.640 --> 1:59:49.400 the Liberals are doing. The result of that is just 1:59:49.440 --> 1:59:52.160 a whole bunch of escalation, because you have to keep 1:59:52.200 --> 1:59:56.120 always being antagonistic and always being contrarian no matter what 1:59:56.200 --> 1:59:59.760 the opposition actually does. The thing is a lot of 1:59:59.760 --> 2:00:02.480 the people who used to just be kind of more 2:00:02.520 --> 2:00:07.120 general conservatives. As they get radicalized online and get caught 2:00:07.200 --> 2:00:10.080 up with farther right and extremest elements, most of them 2:00:10.120 --> 2:00:13.400 still view themselves as like the norm. They don't think 2:00:13.440 --> 2:00:16.360 they've politically changed the past five years, but if you 2:00:16.400 --> 2:00:19.800 look at their rhetoric and actions, they definitely have kind 2:00:19.840 --> 2:00:23.120 of substantially, But they still view themselves the same way 2:00:23.160 --> 2:00:25.919 they would when they were voting. Forced to even harper, 2:00:26.760 --> 2:00:30.760 Unless you're a self described extremist, you typically view everything 2:00:30.800 --> 2:00:34.440 that you do and say as normal and reasonable. Like you, 2:00:34.440 --> 2:00:37.440 you are the actual normal. Everyone else is shifted either 2:00:37.520 --> 2:00:41.720 way relative to you. During our talk, I asked investigative 2:00:41.760 --> 2:00:45.640 journalist Peter Smith on his opinions about what sorts of 2:00:45.680 --> 2:00:49.720 political and social factors have allowed the occupation and blockades 2:00:50.040 --> 2:00:54.600 to have enough numbers to last and continue on so long. Um. 2:00:54.720 --> 2:00:57.200 Kind of having spent a lot of time on the 2:00:57.200 --> 2:00:59.720 ground at the Ottawa convoy just talking to people as 2:00:59.760 --> 2:01:03.720 like as a normal guy without my press hat on. Um, 2:01:03.760 --> 2:01:06.520 it does seem like when there's a lot of owner 2:01:06.600 --> 2:01:10.840 operators there, like when it comes to the trucks themselves. Um, 2:01:10.880 --> 2:01:15.560 these people are the business owners um or like very close, 2:01:15.640 --> 2:01:19.200 like they're kind of independent contractors exactly. Um. I think 2:01:19.200 --> 2:01:21.520 there was a report that came out showing a survey 2:01:21.560 --> 2:01:24.280 that done that like roughly half of the people there 2:01:25.040 --> 2:01:30.640 were unemployed. UM. So like the financial promise of all 2:01:30.680 --> 2:01:32.520 the money raised may have been a big draw. Like 2:01:32.600 --> 2:01:35.200 not to say that these people don't legitimately believe the 2:01:35.240 --> 2:01:40.680 reasons absolutely, um, but it created an incentive. UM. But 2:01:40.720 --> 2:01:44.080 then having roughly half of them, you know, still having jobs, 2:01:44.680 --> 2:01:46.720 you know, it comes down to a little bit more 2:01:46.760 --> 2:01:51.560 than just money, Like it's about actual belief, actual ideology. UM. 2:01:51.600 --> 2:01:53.720 But it is interesting for a large amount of people 2:01:53.760 --> 2:01:58.640 who are extremely worried about supply lines about people having 2:01:58.720 --> 2:02:02.320 enough food initially um to kind of creating this self 2:02:02.320 --> 2:02:06.280 fulfilling prophecy where where that seems to be the main 2:02:06.360 --> 2:02:08.680 tactic is just to grind as much to a halt 2:02:08.720 --> 2:02:12.640 as they can, using as much as many people as 2:02:12.680 --> 2:02:15.320 they can muster. And then just the kind of general 2:02:16.240 --> 2:02:19.960 hands off approach that law enforcement is taking with them, 2:02:20.160 --> 2:02:23.920 um has allowed them to organize better, to evolve their 2:02:23.960 --> 2:02:27.200 tactics to be more effective. UM. Like I certainly don't 2:02:27.200 --> 2:02:30.400 think a policing solution is is what's going to solve this? 2:02:30.520 --> 2:02:33.200 And you know, there's a lot of calls for that, 2:02:33.320 --> 2:02:34.720 which is I think just going to result in a 2:02:34.720 --> 2:02:39.680 lot of people getting hurt in the street. Um. But 2:02:39.680 --> 2:02:42.920 but yeah, like it is interesting that how it kind 2:02:42.960 --> 2:02:46.360 of it came from the West mostly and then landed 2:02:46.400 --> 2:02:49.160 in Ottawa and then kind of spread out from there 2:02:49.240 --> 2:02:53.880 once people realized it was effective, once people realized, you know, 2:02:53.960 --> 2:02:57.000 there was there was safety in these numbers. Um, it's 2:02:57.520 --> 2:03:02.200 it's drawn, it's drawn so many people to it. It's 2:03:02.320 --> 2:03:05.600 it's honestly shock. It's it has been shocking, truly how 2:03:05.680 --> 2:03:08.440 quickly it is spread and how effective it has been. 2:03:09.080 --> 2:03:11.360 It's not January six in the sense that like people 2:03:11.360 --> 2:03:14.840 are running around Parliament and like trying to find you know, 2:03:14.880 --> 2:03:17.280 every liberal politician, but in the sense that it's a 2:03:17.360 --> 2:03:21.600 large amount of people motivated by conspiracy. Yeah, and that's 2:03:21.640 --> 2:03:24.680 where I view the parallel and because they and honestly, 2:03:24.880 --> 2:03:28.640 the the actual sincerity of it poses more of a 2:03:28.640 --> 2:03:33.000 political threat than the animosity of January six. Um, in 2:03:33.080 --> 2:03:35.840 terms of like long term, like actual social change and 2:03:35.920 --> 2:03:39.440 using this type of like occupation as a tactic, the 2:03:39.480 --> 2:03:41.760 more sincere you are the more of an actual political 2:03:41.760 --> 2:03:43.760 threat you can be in the long term, because yeah, 2:03:43.920 --> 2:03:45.960 if they start, if they storm Parliament, then I'll get 2:03:46.000 --> 2:03:47.760 shut down in a day and then they will be 2:03:47.760 --> 2:03:50.600 demonized and then then the problem is over, um at 2:03:50.640 --> 2:03:53.080 least at least in the short term. Right. Um. But 2:03:53.200 --> 2:03:56.560 if you actually like do this sincerely and actually get 2:03:56.560 --> 2:04:01.120 people to buckle under pressure, then that's like actual successful politics. 2:04:01.240 --> 2:04:05.440 Like that is you're you're actually doing politics objectively. Well, um, 2:04:05.480 --> 2:04:09.240 and that's more interesting to point out. The problem isn't protesting, 2:04:09.680 --> 2:04:13.280 Like protesting as a concept isn't the issue. The problem 2:04:13.360 --> 2:04:16.920 isn't even blockade. No, the problem is not blockades either. Yeah, 2:04:17.000 --> 2:04:20.800 all these things are just tactics, and tactics are value neutral. Um. 2:04:20.920 --> 2:04:23.480 Usually you know, it's until you can take a genocide 2:04:23.480 --> 2:04:26.720 when it's usually that's a kind of kind of kind 2:04:26.760 --> 2:04:30.960 of a downer generally. Um. But in generally I kind 2:04:30.960 --> 2:04:33.960 of you put protest tactics as more value neutral. It's 2:04:33.960 --> 2:04:38.560 about kind of what the underlying cultural motivation is and 2:04:38.720 --> 2:04:42.680 what they want the results to be. And even still, 2:04:42.720 --> 2:04:44.520 you know, some of the some of the points they 2:04:44.600 --> 2:04:48.720 have are not completely invalid um. But once it gets 2:04:48.760 --> 2:04:51.440 caught up in a cultural war kind of mindset. It's 2:04:51.480 --> 2:04:53.600 like you have to oppose it just because they're on 2:04:53.600 --> 2:04:56.240 the other side. Um So I kind of want to 2:04:56.240 --> 2:04:59.960 talk about like the reasons why they are actually kind 2:05:00.080 --> 2:05:02.480 enough bad like like for like on like a very 2:05:02.520 --> 2:05:06.120 sincere way, but then also kind of point out some 2:05:06.160 --> 2:05:07.960 things that are like yeah, maybe the scene, these are 2:05:07.960 --> 2:05:10.760 things we should consider and it shouldn't take this type 2:05:10.760 --> 2:05:13.520 of occupation to have us reconsider some of these rules 2:05:13.520 --> 2:05:18.720 and regulations. Yeah, like completely, Like I think there's no 2:05:18.840 --> 2:05:23.320 issue with having being uncomfortable with mandates, um like, even 2:05:23.400 --> 2:05:25.920 if you feel they're necessary, like being uncomfortable with the 2:05:25.960 --> 2:05:31.640 amount of state power that is being accumulated. Um. You know, 2:05:31.880 --> 2:05:35.240 in Canada, you know there have been sweeping changes to 2:05:35.280 --> 2:05:37.000 the way that we live our lives. Like I know 2:05:37.080 --> 2:05:40.920 that that's been universal. Um but there there is not 2:05:41.000 --> 2:05:44.960 a province that hasn't really suffered, like hasn't really impacted 2:05:45.080 --> 2:05:49.080 people's lives dealing with COVID um. And you know, this 2:05:49.160 --> 2:05:51.520 is this is one of the biggest issues when trying 2:05:51.520 --> 2:05:57.840 to point out disparate responses in policing. Um. Well, it's like, oh, 2:05:57.880 --> 2:06:01.200 it's like so we should treat the convoy participants like 2:06:01.720 --> 2:06:04.560 they treated everybody else, and it's it's like no, like like, 2:06:06.760 --> 2:06:09.880 you know, the the police chief of Ottawa got a 2:06:09.920 --> 2:06:12.120 lot of ship for saying he doesn't think there's a 2:06:12.160 --> 2:06:14.960 policing solution, and it's like, I do agree with the 2:06:14.960 --> 2:06:18.440 criticism of him, because he has attempted to kick responsibility 2:06:18.480 --> 2:06:22.720 to just about every other level of government available. Um, 2:06:22.840 --> 2:06:26.120 but dragging people out, like towing their vehicles and taking 2:06:26.160 --> 2:06:28.680 away their livelihood and dragging a lot of people out 2:06:28.720 --> 2:06:32.160 into the street and then into jail is not gonna 2:06:32.440 --> 2:06:36.400 resolve these issues now, and if anything, it could could 2:06:36.400 --> 2:06:39.800 bring more support. Like again, there was another report today 2:06:39.840 --> 2:06:44.720 that I think it's of people who have camped out 2:06:44.840 --> 2:06:48.720 have children with them, Like, you know, this is gonna 2:06:48.720 --> 2:06:51.840 be an incredibly traumatic experience. It's gonna help radicalize more people, 2:06:51.880 --> 2:06:54.360 and it's gonna lend credence to their cause if they 2:06:54.400 --> 2:06:57.880 just go in and bust heads. And it's like if 2:06:57.920 --> 2:07:01.120 the main focus of this convoy had been ento where 2:07:01.120 --> 2:07:03.680 we have an incredibly aggressive police force when it comes 2:07:03.720 --> 2:07:07.760 to like homeless encampments for instance, Um, you know, I 2:07:07.800 --> 2:07:14.080 think the result could have been very different. Yeah, and 2:07:14.120 --> 2:07:17.600 then because a lot of stuff around the question of 2:07:17.640 --> 2:07:19.920 governments and stuff. Yeah, it's it's the type of things 2:07:19.960 --> 2:07:24.440 I can agree with with like right wing libertarians, is, yeah, 2:07:24.520 --> 2:07:27.760 you do have a lot of points I can simplize 2:07:27.760 --> 2:07:31.680 with around the state and around control, but the way 2:07:31.720 --> 2:07:35.040 you address them don't actually address the underlying power structures 2:07:35.040 --> 2:07:39.040 which give the state legitimacy in the first place. Yeah. Absolutely, 2:07:39.920 --> 2:07:42.240 And the world that you kind of want in the 2:07:42.360 --> 2:07:45.120 end is still a world full of hierarchies, just hierarchies 2:07:45.160 --> 2:07:49.120 that make your life easier and skew and your favor 2:07:49.280 --> 2:07:53.040 just like asking for two unelected bodies to reoplate replace 2:07:53.160 --> 2:07:57.520 your democratically elected government. It's like, yeah, we had ten 2:07:57.600 --> 2:08:01.960 years of Stephen Harper, Like, um, people were unhappy and 2:08:02.040 --> 2:08:04.840 extremely critical of that government from the center and from 2:08:04.840 --> 2:08:07.920 the left, But you know, there wasn't this kind of 2:08:08.080 --> 2:08:11.560 broad support for the idea that that government was illegitimate, 2:08:12.200 --> 2:08:15.000 which is I think what we see mostly today, which 2:08:15.040 --> 2:08:18.560 is the most disturbing and kind of anti democratic part 2:08:18.560 --> 2:08:20.800 of the whole pot. Yeah, and that's the kind of 2:08:20.800 --> 2:08:22.240 on the last thing I want to talk about is like, 2:08:22.320 --> 2:08:25.800 what do you see like eventually people will go home 2:08:26.120 --> 2:08:30.560 either out of exhaustion, it'll maybe fizzle away, like like 2:08:30.600 --> 2:08:34.640 the protests in Portland did. Maybe they'll eventually police will 2:08:34.680 --> 2:08:37.480 kind of clear out small sections of like wh who knows, 2:08:37.480 --> 2:08:42.120 But like, this is not going knock one here, but 2:08:42.200 --> 2:08:44.840 this this isn't gonna last like a year, right, It's not. 2:08:44.880 --> 2:08:47.240 It's not gonna like that. I don't think they're gonna 2:08:47.280 --> 2:08:49.200 have thousands of people came out in front of the 2:08:49.240 --> 2:08:53.320 government forever. Um So what but what are the actual 2:08:53.400 --> 2:08:56.400 lumb term political ramifications of this, because we already saw 2:08:56.440 --> 2:08:59.360 the leader of the Conservative Party step down. Um, So 2:08:59.360 --> 2:09:01.600 like I want to talk but like specifically with the 2:09:01.640 --> 2:09:04.360 guy who's probably more most likely to take his place. 2:09:04.640 --> 2:09:07.160 How this just does kind of play into the more 2:09:07.200 --> 2:09:10.000 negative aspects of the convoy, is like how they're going 2:09:10.040 --> 2:09:12.600 to use this as a political symbol and a political 2:09:12.640 --> 2:09:16.720 tool to push for policies and forms the government and 2:09:16.800 --> 2:09:20.000 actions that will end up hurting a lot of of 2:09:20.440 --> 2:09:23.320 and will uphorting a lot of people. Um in terms 2:09:23.400 --> 2:09:24.880 of you know, how how it's going to be used 2:09:24.880 --> 2:09:29.480 in propaganda and rhetoric. Yeah, well, certainly if we have um, 2:09:29.600 --> 2:09:34.720 you know, strong legal ramifications put in place that make 2:09:34.760 --> 2:09:38.760 it easier for provinces, the federal government whatever to crackdown 2:09:38.880 --> 2:09:43.280 on on protests in general, which I think is something 2:09:43.320 --> 2:09:46.880 that might be very attractive to our card and government. Um. 2:09:47.000 --> 2:09:50.240 You know that's going to have obviously very far reaching effects. 2:09:50.280 --> 2:09:53.360 You know. One of our opposition parties, um, which is 2:09:54.000 --> 2:09:56.800 you know, generally further to the left than than the Liberals, 2:09:56.840 --> 2:09:59.960 the n d P UM, their leader was proposing ways 2:10:00.080 --> 2:10:03.480 to stop foreign funding from coming in to supplied to 2:10:03.520 --> 2:10:07.760 the protests. Um. You know, once again, we we had 2:10:07.800 --> 2:10:11.360 protests a couple of years ago by indigenous people and 2:10:11.360 --> 2:10:16.840 people who support indigenous movements. Um. You know that that 2:10:17.000 --> 2:10:19.640 raised money using the same platforms and the same methods. 2:10:21.000 --> 2:10:22.720 You know. So I worry about like one of the 2:10:22.800 --> 2:10:27.360 legal ramifications like to just this this idea, like if 2:10:27.400 --> 2:10:29.800 the government does crack down very hard, this idea of 2:10:29.880 --> 2:10:32.480 real grievance and alienation that the West has already been 2:10:32.480 --> 2:10:35.920 struggling with. Like we've had a real renewed separatist movement, 2:10:36.440 --> 2:10:39.520 not from Quebec um where it's generally been the most successful, 2:10:39.560 --> 2:10:44.440 but from the Western provinces, you know, not not really 2:10:44.440 --> 2:10:48.560 getting close to obtaining any real political power, but you know, 2:10:48.720 --> 2:10:52.440 kind of steadily gaining support, pulling a showing that, Yeah, 2:10:53.080 --> 2:10:56.200 there is a real feeling of Western alienation, that they 2:10:56.240 --> 2:10:58.480 don't feel represented, and you know a lot of the 2:10:58.480 --> 2:11:05.280 ways our government are set up actually makes that true. Um. Yeah. Ultimately, 2:11:05.280 --> 2:11:08.920 as people I think become more and more disenfranchised, Um, 2:11:09.640 --> 2:11:15.800 when government action begins to kind of justify imagined ideas 2:11:15.800 --> 2:11:19.720 of oppression, um, you're gonna have a real hardening. And 2:11:19.800 --> 2:11:23.240 since the government in power is a progressive one is 2:11:24.080 --> 2:11:27.040 or at least one that espouses you know, tries tries 2:11:27.080 --> 2:11:30.400 to reach for progressive values, you know, there's a good 2:11:30.480 --> 2:11:32.760 chance that those issues are gonna get caught up with 2:11:33.480 --> 2:11:37.280 what is just like a quote unquote leftist agenda, Whereas 2:11:37.360 --> 2:11:40.840 up until probably a decade ago, those things were very 2:11:40.920 --> 2:11:44.320 much seen as kind of inherent Canadian values that were 2:11:44.360 --> 2:11:49.640 embraced by both sides. Um. The current candidate for leadership, 2:11:49.640 --> 2:11:52.640 he hasn't been he hasn't won the seat in the 2:11:52.640 --> 2:11:55.800 the Conservative Party yet, but Pierre Pouliver has kind of 2:11:55.840 --> 2:12:01.400 always flirted to some degree with far right talking points 2:12:01.400 --> 2:12:04.400 like I don't I I specialize in hey groups, I 2:12:04.400 --> 2:12:08.320 don't want to make too many pronouncements about mainstream conservatism. Um. 2:12:08.400 --> 2:12:11.080 But even by kind of members of the very far 2:12:11.200 --> 2:12:14.120 right who often have turned against the Conservative Party over 2:12:14.120 --> 2:12:16.880 the course of the pandemic. He's often referred to as 2:12:16.880 --> 2:12:21.720 the adult in the room. Um. And while still a politician, 2:12:22.520 --> 2:12:25.480 kind of their best bet for getting someone in office 2:12:25.480 --> 2:12:28.600 that they would actually like to see in power. Um, 2:12:28.600 --> 2:12:30.880 which could I mean could be interesting to see how 2:12:30.920 --> 2:12:35.120 they if they will be continued support for the PPC 2:12:35.280 --> 2:12:39.920 and two to four years um. But yeah, I just 2:12:39.960 --> 2:12:42.920 think there there is a real hardening of the right. 2:12:42.960 --> 2:12:46.560 And it's not like the Overton window is shifting. It's 2:12:46.600 --> 2:12:49.360 just like it's getting wider, like more and more is 2:12:49.400 --> 2:12:52.280 being incorporated, as opposed to be just going in one 2:12:52.320 --> 2:12:57.160 direction or another. That disenfranchisement is a driving factor. Like 2:12:57.200 --> 2:13:00.839 they view this populist kind of uprising or up swelling 2:13:01.960 --> 2:13:05.600 um that they're seeing now as a function of democracy 2:13:05.680 --> 2:13:08.879 or like part of how democracy is supposed to function. 2:13:09.560 --> 2:13:11.480 So again, like if if you talk to them, they 2:13:11.520 --> 2:13:14.480 will quite earnestly say many of them anyway, we'll quite 2:13:14.480 --> 2:13:16.760 earnestly say it like this is about freedom, is about 2:13:16.760 --> 2:13:20.920 having my voice heard. Yeah, but without a lot of 2:13:21.600 --> 2:13:26.520 thought about how that will actually functioned in a broader scale. 2:13:27.240 --> 2:13:29.560 I mean that just plays into like alienation as like 2:13:29.560 --> 2:13:33.200 a general concepts, right, Like we're so disconnected from everything 2:13:33.240 --> 2:13:36.240 about our lives, disconnected from you know, the way we work, 2:13:37.080 --> 2:13:40.320 disconnected from our interactions with other people, between, disconnected from 2:13:40.360 --> 2:13:42.840 like you know, money, our food, you know, it's all 2:13:42.840 --> 2:13:45.560 the stuff, and like disconnected from politics. Is that the 2:13:45.600 --> 2:13:48.400 only way that you can actually something that feels real, 2:13:48.840 --> 2:13:51.400 the only thing that actually feels like reality, is going 2:13:51.440 --> 2:13:53.760 to do this thing in person because everything else is 2:13:53.800 --> 2:13:57.920 so disjointed. Um, it's the there is so much of 2:13:58.000 --> 2:14:01.400 that space in between the phenomenon and the actual thing 2:14:02.080 --> 2:14:05.320 that is. It leaves you wanting something which you don't 2:14:05.320 --> 2:14:07.240 know quite what. So yeah, you're going to drive to 2:14:07.240 --> 2:14:09.480 Ottawa because that feels so much more real. That feels 2:14:09.480 --> 2:14:11.800 like actual politics, and it kind of it is like 2:14:12.160 --> 2:14:14.560 that's like that's that's that's always when it feels like 2:14:14.600 --> 2:14:17.080 when you're when you're like when you're when you're protesting, 2:14:17.080 --> 2:14:20.320 it's like, yeah, I'm actually doing politics now, because that's 2:14:20.360 --> 2:14:23.320 how everything gets set up is by that type of 2:14:23.360 --> 2:14:26.400 like you know, getting people on the ground, and it's 2:14:26.480 --> 2:14:29.160 it's such a more personal way to engage than you know, 2:14:29.240 --> 2:14:32.840 putting a no into a box every two to four years, 2:14:32.920 --> 2:14:35.800 like yeah, I I imagine it does feel substantive. And 2:14:35.920 --> 2:14:39.400 then I mean voting power is centered in our urban 2:14:39.440 --> 2:14:42.280 centers as well, so there is there is a real 2:14:42.360 --> 2:14:47.480 disconnect with the representation that that rural people again Western 2:14:47.720 --> 2:14:51.840 the Western provinces received. I now want to specifically talk 2:14:51.840 --> 2:14:55.360 about police response and the way needs this occupation and 2:14:55.440 --> 2:14:59.720 blockades being handled will affect the political organizing in the future. 2:15:00.480 --> 2:15:03.480 I think initially the majority of police concerns and what 2:15:03.560 --> 2:15:07.000 they were actually focused on responding to was fears around 2:15:07.040 --> 2:15:10.600 the convoy storming Parliament or if the convoys were going 2:15:10.680 --> 2:15:14.120 to do something exceedingly violent, which I don't think was 2:15:14.160 --> 2:15:18.440 necessarily the convoy's actionable objective from the beginning, if you 2:15:18.520 --> 2:15:20.720 listen to what they were actually saying, it will it 2:15:20.880 --> 2:15:23.680 was more about choking out the city and applying pressure 2:15:23.680 --> 2:15:27.160 on government officials. But the initial non violence, coupled with 2:15:27.240 --> 2:15:30.400 the shield of being conservative, white and middle class whom 2:15:30.480 --> 2:15:32.360 you know, the police are less likely to react as 2:15:32.400 --> 2:15:36.120 brutally to allowed time for the infrastructure to rise. That 2:15:36.200 --> 2:15:39.240 let the protests turn into a full scale occupation of 2:15:39.240 --> 2:15:43.320 a North American city. The first real action police took 2:15:43.360 --> 2:15:47.440 against the occupation was on the evening of Sunday, February six, 2:15:48.160 --> 2:15:51.840 demonstrators were gathering for dinner than dozens of officers in 2:15:51.960 --> 2:15:56.040 riot gear carrying munitions launchers raided a camp after footage 2:15:56.040 --> 2:16:00.240 of stockpiles and gas cans went viral days previous, in 2:16:00.240 --> 2:16:03.080 an attempt to cut the supply route. Police say they 2:16:03.120 --> 2:16:06.640 seized around three thousand and seven hundred liters of fuel 2:16:07.080 --> 2:16:11.000 and two vehicles, including a diesel tank, but within hours 2:16:11.040 --> 2:16:14.280 of the raid, protesters from the camp broadcast reassurance to 2:16:14.320 --> 2:16:18.760 their supporters and continue to organize just goodalizing smarter tactics. 2:16:19.560 --> 2:16:23.080 The day after the police raid, protesters continued to deliver 2:16:23.120 --> 2:16:26.840 fuel to downtown truckers as they executed a coordinated effort 2:16:26.880 --> 2:16:31.480 to exhaust police resources. Hundreds of demonstrators carried fuel cans, 2:16:31.520 --> 2:16:35.039 some empty, some not, just right past officers who mostly 2:16:35.200 --> 2:16:38.480 stood watched as hundreds of people trolled them with decoy 2:16:38.600 --> 2:16:42.680 cans while others smuggled in more fuel within the safety 2:16:42.720 --> 2:16:45.240 of the large crowd right in the middle of the day. 2:16:45.680 --> 2:16:49.760 Ottawa Police Deputy Chief Steve Bell said the demonstrators were 2:16:49.800 --> 2:16:53.480 filling cast cans with water to distract officers attempting to 2:16:53.520 --> 2:16:56.760 subvert their efforts, and that one officer was swarmed by 2:16:56.800 --> 2:17:00.840 the crowd while trying to confiscate fuel. To date, police 2:17:00.879 --> 2:17:04.240 have made around thirty arrests and issued thousands of tickets, 2:17:04.640 --> 2:17:08.480 launched more than eighty criminal investigations, and four hundred plus 2:17:08.520 --> 2:17:12.680 hate incidents are also being investigated. Earlier this week, Peter 2:17:12.800 --> 2:17:15.400 slowly said that the force would turn up the heat 2:17:15.480 --> 2:17:18.120 as the police started to crack down on anyone bringing 2:17:18.160 --> 2:17:22.320 material aid such as fuel to protesters. Police is mentled 2:17:22.360 --> 2:17:26.120 a protest camp near the Redeau Canal downtown and a 2:17:26.160 --> 2:17:29.280 fuel operation on the Coventry Road east of the Core, 2:17:29.879 --> 2:17:33.760 but some trucks and demonstrators continued to occupy downtown streets 2:17:34.720 --> 2:17:38.760 and the staging area on Coventry. Police say that they 2:17:38.800 --> 2:17:43.160 need an additional eighteen hundred more reinforcements from federal and 2:17:43.200 --> 2:17:47.560 provincial governments to help end the crisis. The entire Ottawa 2:17:47.560 --> 2:17:50.959 Police Force numbers only twelve hundred, but it's been supplemented 2:17:51.040 --> 2:17:54.560 with several hundred officers from the Ontario Provisional Police and 2:17:54.640 --> 2:17:57.880 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as well as local police 2:17:57.879 --> 2:18:02.440 forces elsewhere in Ontario over the past few weeks. Near 2:18:02.480 --> 2:18:05.600 the end of the second week of occupation, dug Ford, 2:18:05.680 --> 2:18:08.920 the Premier of Ontario, declared a state of emergency for 2:18:09.000 --> 2:18:12.760 the entire province, warning protesters demanding an end to pandemic 2:18:12.800 --> 2:18:15.560 restrictions that if they do not disband, there will be 2:18:15.640 --> 2:18:19.120 consequences and they will be severe. He said that those 2:18:19.160 --> 2:18:21.840 who continue to impede the movement of people and goods 2:18:21.920 --> 2:18:25.000 could face fines of up to one hundred thousand Canadian dollars, 2:18:25.160 --> 2:18:28.080 up to a year in prison, and the revocation of 2:18:28.120 --> 2:18:32.279 their driver's license. During the cold morning of Sunday, February, 2:18:33.440 --> 2:18:36.800 police largely cleared the portion of the self styled freedom 2:18:36.760 --> 2:18:40.760 of Convoy blocking the Ambassador Bridge US Canada border crossing 2:18:41.160 --> 2:18:45.680 on the road between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit. The clearing 2:18:45.720 --> 2:18:49.840 marked a week since the border blockade had begun. Police 2:18:50.000 --> 2:18:52.879 made several arrests and towed vehicles in connection to the 2:18:52.920 --> 2:18:56.000 demonstration that had disrupted traffic and the flow of goods. 2:18:56.480 --> 2:18:59.959 After law enforcement enforced the injunction enacted two days prior or, 2:19:00.040 --> 2:19:04.000 ring truckers and our supporters to leave anticketed and towed vehicles. 2:19:04.040 --> 2:19:07.320 A defined core of some two dozen protesters had remained 2:19:07.360 --> 2:19:11.440 on foot as temperatures dropped below freezing, but around nine 2:19:11.480 --> 2:19:14.240 thirty local time, police had mostly cleared the streets to 2:19:14.280 --> 2:19:18.800 the bridge and were deployed around the area. It was unclear, however, 2:19:18.959 --> 2:19:21.800 how large police presidents would remain to prevent vehicles and 2:19:21.840 --> 2:19:25.840 demonstrators from returning there. Meanwhile, in the capital of Ottawa, 2:19:26.000 --> 2:19:29.000 police grappled with an influx of anti government and anti 2:19:29.120 --> 2:19:33.320 vaccine mandate demonstrators for a third straight weekend. Despite both 2:19:33.400 --> 2:19:37.680 local and provincial officials declaring states of emergency, law enforcement 2:19:37.720 --> 2:19:40.720 appeared to be unsuccessful in attempts to get the Freedom 2:19:40.760 --> 2:19:45.080 Convoy protesters to leave by threatening them with fines, prison time, 2:19:45.360 --> 2:19:48.200 and loss of their licenses. Police have not made any 2:19:48.280 --> 2:19:51.200 large effort to asrupt to the convoys in Ottawa, similar 2:19:51.240 --> 2:19:55.400 to what they did on Sunday in Windsor, Ontario. Ottawa 2:19:55.400 --> 2:19:58.400 police say that over four thousand demonstrators were in this 2:19:58.480 --> 2:20:03.680 city throughout the day. However, on Monday, February fourteenth, police 2:20:03.800 --> 2:20:06.880 action was taken against the blockade at the Coots border 2:20:06.920 --> 2:20:10.240 crossing that had shut down cross border travel. For almost 2:20:10.280 --> 2:20:13.400 three weeks. The RCNP said in a press release early 2:20:13.440 --> 2:20:16.040 Monday morning that they became aware of a small organized 2:20:16.040 --> 2:20:19.160 group within the larger protest at Coots, which led to 2:20:19.280 --> 2:20:22.400 eleven arrests. They say that they hit information that the 2:20:22.440 --> 2:20:25.600 group had access to a cash of firearms and ammunition 2:20:25.680 --> 2:20:30.400 in three trailers. During the raid, officers seized long guns, handguns, 2:20:30.480 --> 2:20:33.520 multiple sets of body armor, a machete, and a large 2:20:33.560 --> 2:20:39.039 commantity of ammunition and some high capacity magazines. Later that day, 2:20:39.080 --> 2:20:42.040 to other arrests were made in connection to the blockade. 2:20:42.760 --> 2:20:46.200 Following the police raid and the thirteen arrests, some other 2:20:46.280 --> 2:20:49.519 organizers of the protest said a decision was reached voluntarily 2:20:49.640 --> 2:20:53.800 to leave the Coots area. Around Tuesday morning. The organizers 2:20:53.840 --> 2:20:56.879 made a statement saying, quote, we were infiltrated by an 2:20:56.879 --> 2:21:00.200 extreme element. Our objective was to be here piece really 2:21:00.640 --> 2:21:03.160 to keep that message going. We want to peacefully leave 2:21:03.240 --> 2:21:08.920 Coots and return to our families. As of Tuesday, both 2:21:09.080 --> 2:21:12.160 the border crossing at the Ambassador Bridge to Detroit and 2:21:12.240 --> 2:21:15.440 the Coot Sport of entry to Montana are open once again, 2:21:16.000 --> 2:21:19.680 as the border opened back up in Coots. The previous blockade, 2:21:19.680 --> 2:21:25.920 protesters and police embraced each other with hugs and handshakes. Meanwhile, 2:21:25.959 --> 2:21:30.280 on Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergency's Act 2:21:30.320 --> 2:21:33.080 for the first time in Canadian history to give the 2:21:33.120 --> 2:21:37.439 federal government and police extra powers to handle the ongoing 2:21:37.520 --> 2:21:42.359 blockades and protests against pandemic restrictions. Here's how the measures 2:21:42.480 --> 2:21:46.240 were taking today will help get the situation under control. 2:21:47.400 --> 2:21:51.240 The police will be given more tools to restore order 2:21:51.280 --> 2:21:56.360 in places where public assemblies can constitute illegal and dangerous activities, 2:21:56.600 --> 2:22:00.480 such as blockades and occupations as seen in Ottawa, the 2:22:00.520 --> 2:22:06.879 Ambassador Bridge and elsewhere. These tools include strengthening their ability 2:22:06.959 --> 2:22:13.720 to impose fines or imprisonment. The government will designate secure 2:22:13.840 --> 2:22:17.840 and protect places and infrastructure that are critical to our 2:22:17.879 --> 2:22:24.280 economy and people's jobs, including border crossings and airports. We 2:22:24.440 --> 2:22:31.000 cannot and will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue. 2:22:32.280 --> 2:22:35.840 The Emergencies Act will also allow the government to make 2:22:35.840 --> 2:22:39.760 sure essential services are rendered, for example, in order to 2:22:39.760 --> 2:22:46.640 tow vehicles blocking roads. In addition, financial institutions will be 2:22:46.720 --> 2:22:51.680 authorized or directed to render essential services to help address 2:22:51.760 --> 2:22:56.320 the situation, including by regulating and prohibiting the use of 2:22:56.400 --> 2:23:03.360 property to fund or support illegal blockades. Finally, will enable 2:23:03.520 --> 2:23:08.439 the RCMP to enforce municipal by laws and provincial offenses 2:23:09.120 --> 2:23:15.640 were required. This is what the Emergencies Act does. The 2:23:15.680 --> 2:23:19.200 Emergencies Act, which replaced the War Measures Act in the 2:23:19.320 --> 2:23:23.920 nineteen eighties, defines a national emergency as a temporary, urgent, 2:23:24.040 --> 2:23:28.160 and critical situation that seriously endangers the lives, health, or 2:23:28.240 --> 2:23:31.840 safety of Canadians and is of such proportions or nature 2:23:32.160 --> 2:23:35.800 as to extend the capacity of authority of a province 2:23:35.879 --> 2:23:39.720 to deal with it. The unprecedented deployment of the Emergencies 2:23:39.720 --> 2:23:43.039 Act gives police quote more tools to restore order in 2:23:43.080 --> 2:23:46.600 places where public assembly is constitute illegal and dangerous activities, 2:23:46.760 --> 2:23:51.240 such as blockades and occupations. According to Trudeau, but the 2:23:51.320 --> 2:23:54.760 thing is police already had all the tools they needed. 2:23:55.040 --> 2:23:58.480 The illegal occupations and blockades were already illegal, They just 2:23:58.520 --> 2:24:01.560 didn't want to enforce it. You can look at how 2:24:01.720 --> 2:24:05.080 the coots, protesters and the police are hugging right. This 2:24:05.160 --> 2:24:08.200 isn't a matter of having not enough tools. All this 2:24:08.320 --> 2:24:11.880 does is set a terrible precedent for using this type 2:24:11.879 --> 2:24:14.880 of extra power in the future to respond to protests. 2:24:15.080 --> 2:24:17.680 Because the cops are still going to take a very 2:24:17.720 --> 2:24:20.600 gentle approach if they ever are forced to take physical 2:24:20.640 --> 2:24:24.600 action against the Ottawa occupation while using the extra powers 2:24:24.680 --> 2:24:28.160 of the Emergencies Act. The Finance Minister of Canada also 2:24:28.200 --> 2:24:31.959 announced on Monday a broadening of the laws regarding financing 2:24:32.040 --> 2:24:37.039 of crime and terrorism to now include crowdfunding and also 2:24:37.160 --> 2:24:40.320 extra surveillance measures against people who donate and use crowd 2:24:40.320 --> 2:24:45.280 funds for criminal acts, including legal protests. As part of 2:24:45.320 --> 2:24:52.120 invoking the Emergencies Act, we are announcing the following immediate actions. First, 2:24:52.640 --> 2:24:56.040 we are broadening the scope of Canada's anti money laudering, 2:24:56.200 --> 2:25:01.839 laundering and terrorist financing rules so that they cover crowdfunding 2:25:01.959 --> 2:25:07.640 platforms and the payment service providers they use. These changes 2:25:07.720 --> 2:25:14.920 cover all forms of transactions, including digital assets such as cryptocurrencies. 2:25:16.120 --> 2:25:20.800 The illegal blockades have highlighted the fact that crowdfunding platforms 2:25:21.400 --> 2:25:25.280 and some of the payment service providers they use are 2:25:25.400 --> 2:25:29.480 not fully captured under the Proceeds of Crime and Terrorist 2:25:29.520 --> 2:25:35.240 Financing Act. Our banks and financial institutions are already obligated 2:25:35.360 --> 2:25:39.960 to report to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center 2:25:40.120 --> 2:25:47.039 of Canada or FINTRACK. As of today, all crowdfunding platforms 2:25:47.520 --> 2:25:52.600 and the payment service providers they use must register with fintrack, 2:25:53.360 --> 2:25:59.080 and they must report large and suspicious transactions to fintrack 2:26:00.320 --> 2:26:04.679 h This will help mitigate the risk that these platforms 2:26:04.840 --> 2:26:10.880 receive illicit funds, increase the quality and quantity of intelligence 2:26:10.959 --> 2:26:16.560 received by fintrack, and make more information available to support 2:26:16.640 --> 2:26:22.760 investigations by law enforcement into these illegal blockades. That's kind 2:26:22.800 --> 2:26:25.440 of all the information I have at the time of recording. 2:26:25.680 --> 2:26:28.280 So now I'm going to talk more about the potential 2:26:28.360 --> 2:26:31.720 political effects that this protest could have, not just on Canada, 2:26:32.120 --> 2:26:35.680 but also in how we view protest in general. So 2:26:36.160 --> 2:26:39.440 the actual result of liberal media framing this type of 2:26:39.480 --> 2:26:44.560 protest as scary terrorism is laying the groundwork for brutal 2:26:44.640 --> 2:26:49.360 police actions against massive, mostly non violent, and tactically smart 2:26:49.400 --> 2:26:54.680 protests to be more normalized across Canada, and extremely brutal 2:26:54.720 --> 2:26:58.200 police response and harsh charges are unlikely to be leveled 2:26:58.240 --> 2:27:01.800 against a protest made up of these conservatives, but will 2:27:01.840 --> 2:27:06.279 absolutely happen to any future progressive social justice cause, especially 2:27:06.280 --> 2:27:10.440 if they use occupy style tactics. The more powers police 2:27:10.480 --> 2:27:13.440 obtain and the legal precedents that are set well of 2:27:13.600 --> 2:27:17.360 long lasting implications with legal consequences that will always come 2:27:17.360 --> 2:27:19.840 down harder on the left than they do on the right. 2:27:20.480 --> 2:27:24.120 Police will do a bare minimum to resolve this conservative 2:27:24.240 --> 2:27:27.640 so called freedom protest, but then we'll use it as 2:27:27.640 --> 2:27:31.600 a justification to grab greater resources and power and use 2:27:31.680 --> 2:27:36.640 this movement to justify severe preventative protest suppression in the future. 2:27:37.520 --> 2:27:41.359 If liberals can widely celebrate and thirst for harsh crackdowns 2:27:41.360 --> 2:27:44.920 of a protest made up of white conservatives and their families, 2:27:45.280 --> 2:27:48.800 calling the entire movement a criminal enterprise, and cheering on 2:27:48.840 --> 2:27:52.120 as police steal property of the protesters despite what the 2:27:52.120 --> 2:27:55.039 majority of these protesters are doing, just being kind of 2:27:55.080 --> 2:27:57.640 camping onside of a street. Think of all of the 2:27:57.680 --> 2:28:00.720 ways that consent it can be manufactured to clamped down 2:28:00.720 --> 2:28:04.640 on any future large scale protest, especially when the movement 2:28:05.160 --> 2:28:07.440 isn't made up of a bunch of regular white people 2:28:07.520 --> 2:28:10.720 and their kids, and instead of actually challenges the underlying 2:28:10.760 --> 2:28:13.880 power structures that prop up white Canada, instead of just 2:28:13.959 --> 2:28:17.520 reinforcing it like the Convoy does. I have a similar 2:28:17.560 --> 2:28:20.800 issue around all of the hubbub around the fundraisers right. 2:28:21.360 --> 2:28:25.720 Restricting where crowdfunded resources can come from will only result 2:28:25.800 --> 2:28:30.080 in future political social justice causes to be negatively impacted, 2:28:30.360 --> 2:28:33.760 whether that be bail funds or supporting indigenous blockades from 2:28:33.760 --> 2:28:37.840 out of country. On February ten, the Canadian federal government 2:28:37.840 --> 2:28:42.119 effectively shut down the Freedom Convoys Gives end Go fundraiser, 2:28:42.440 --> 2:28:44.600 making it illegal for the funds to be used in 2:28:44.640 --> 2:28:48.359 any way. Government's setting the precedent for shutting down protest 2:28:48.400 --> 2:28:51.920 crowdfunding is not a good thing now. Any future of 2:28:52.000 --> 2:28:55.279 protest bail funds and crowdfunding for the set In blockade 2:28:55.400 --> 2:28:58.879 will always be in jeopardy, and by no means saying 2:28:58.920 --> 2:29:03.039 that action against a generally hateful, anti democratic, and dangerously 2:29:03.120 --> 2:29:08.280 conspiratorial protest isn't justified, but just when governments start using 2:29:08.280 --> 2:29:12.480 it as reasons for more power and creating new precedents 2:29:12.560 --> 2:29:15.720 for years in jail and hundreds of thousands of dollars 2:29:15.720 --> 2:29:19.440 and fines for an occupation. Protest like that shouldn't be 2:29:19.520 --> 2:29:22.320 cheered on because those things will only come back to 2:29:22.400 --> 2:29:25.320 bite progressive causes a lot harder than they will be 2:29:25.440 --> 2:29:30.240 used against the conservative convoyers. There has increasingly been attempts 2:29:30.240 --> 2:29:34.040 at counter protesting the Ottawa Convoy and the various Convoy 2:29:34.080 --> 2:29:37.520 inspired protests around the country. Many of which faced harsher 2:29:37.520 --> 2:29:40.440 police response than any of the convert protests have up 2:29:40.520 --> 2:29:45.360 until this point, but those community led counterprotesting efforts are vital. 2:29:45.840 --> 2:29:49.959 The ram Ranch resistance actions are still ongoing. On Sunday night, 2:29:50.080 --> 2:29:52.519 the u r L for the Gifts Send Go fundraiser 2:29:52.800 --> 2:29:55.520 was hacked by activists who redirected the page to a 2:29:55.640 --> 2:29:59.039 video of the frozen song let It Go, accompanying a 2:29:59.080 --> 2:30:03.360 manifesto condemning the fundraiser and the Convoy. And that's great, 2:30:03.400 --> 2:30:06.600 and that is wonderful counter protesting. That is very in 2:30:06.680 --> 2:30:09.840 terms of effective ways to shut down fundraising efforts for 2:30:10.360 --> 2:30:15.960 basically pseudo fascist you know, anti anti democratic conspiracy lad movement. 2:30:16.800 --> 2:30:19.720 That's great, right, And this was hours after it was 2:30:19.760 --> 2:30:23.080 officially confirmed to via data leaks that around fifty percent 2:30:23.240 --> 2:30:26.040 of gibsend Go donations for the Convoy came from the 2:30:26.120 --> 2:30:30.279 United States, around came from Canada, and then two percent 2:30:30.400 --> 2:30:33.400 came from the UK. Although I think it's worth mentioning 2:30:33.480 --> 2:30:36.200 that for the initial ten million dollar go fund me, 2:30:36.760 --> 2:30:40.080 we only have confirmation that around thirty three thou dollars 2:30:40.120 --> 2:30:43.680 came from the United States. To understand how the Convoy 2:30:43.720 --> 2:30:47.440 flash blockade is working. It's useful to get away from 2:30:47.560 --> 2:30:52.480 painting all the participants themselves as extremists, because the fact 2:30:52.560 --> 2:30:55.840 that regular Canadian right wingers are what's making this possible 2:30:56.200 --> 2:30:58.879 has a whole bunch of other implications that people aren't 2:30:58.879 --> 2:31:02.160 really talking about. I'm seeing a lot of Canadians who 2:31:02.160 --> 2:31:05.359 are just really upset about how the convoys affecting cities 2:31:05.600 --> 2:31:08.720 and the country as a whole, which, you know, reasonable, 2:31:08.840 --> 2:31:11.280 I am, it is a thing to be upset about. 2:31:11.560 --> 2:31:14.840 But then just jumping to insist that it must be inorganic, 2:31:15.240 --> 2:31:18.840 I think is kind of faulty. Focusing instead on theories 2:31:18.879 --> 2:31:23.080 around foreign influences and ashtarf organizing elements of which have 2:31:23.240 --> 2:31:26.480 been present, sure, but also the impact in which is 2:31:26.520 --> 2:31:29.160 I think kind of been overblown. But even if those 2:31:29.200 --> 2:31:33.600 things are completely true and major factors, that still overlooks 2:31:33.600 --> 2:31:36.840 the fact that there are thousands of real Canadians from 2:31:36.840 --> 2:31:40.560 around the country camped up in Ottawa, and the majority 2:31:40.600 --> 2:31:43.560 of those Canadians sitting in the streets are not Nazis 2:31:43.720 --> 2:31:47.120 right or really even extremists, and most of those people 2:31:47.200 --> 2:31:51.320 are not receiving personal funding from dark money billionaires. They 2:31:51.360 --> 2:31:56.080 consider themselves regular, working class, freedom loving Canadians. It's much 2:31:56.120 --> 2:32:00.120 harder to reconcile a homegrown movement full of participants that 2:32:00.160 --> 2:32:02.039 have slid further to the right over the past two 2:32:02.120 --> 2:32:05.960 years due to rampant online misinformation coupled with ineffectual government 2:32:06.040 --> 2:32:09.560 support during the pandemic. It's easy to point to so 2:32:09.640 --> 2:32:14.040 called organizers who are definitely more fashion, large scale sketchy donations, 2:32:14.280 --> 2:32:16.440 and far right media figures who are trying to jump 2:32:16.560 --> 2:32:20.560 support for the convoy. But those things alone don't get 2:32:20.600 --> 2:32:23.440 many of thousands and thousands of people and their kids 2:32:23.640 --> 2:32:26.279 to drive across country for a cause that they earnestly 2:32:26.320 --> 2:32:30.760 believe in the years of political alienation and disenfrantisement that 2:32:31.000 --> 2:32:33.840 caused that to happen is a lot harder to solve 2:32:33.879 --> 2:32:38.640 than just cracking down on organizers and donations. Watching homegrown 2:32:38.720 --> 2:32:42.200 reactionary street politics that one day can grow into an 2:32:42.240 --> 2:32:45.920 actual far right, populist and fascist movement is a lot 2:32:45.959 --> 2:32:50.600 more frightening than the idea of overseas astroturft organizing. Not 2:32:50.680 --> 2:32:53.080 that those things are mutually exclusive always, but I'm just 2:32:53.080 --> 2:32:56.280 trying to make a good point here. Despite cries to 2:32:56.360 --> 2:33:00.440 make this, Canada's January six in a way, the convoys 2:33:00.480 --> 2:33:03.400 more effective than January six in terms of the evolution 2:33:03.800 --> 2:33:07.400 of valid political action. It's pushed the boundary on what 2:33:07.560 --> 2:33:10.880 is deemed as acceptable and even possible for large scale 2:33:10.920 --> 2:33:15.040 occupations and supply line blockades. In the major North American 2:33:15.280 --> 2:33:19.840 urban setting, people who would never consider themselves militant are 2:33:19.879 --> 2:33:24.320 now involved in multiple border crossing blockades. That's cost hundreds 2:33:24.360 --> 2:33:26.600 of millions of dollars, and to get to this point, 2:33:27.080 --> 2:33:31.160 so many things need to happen. COVID isolation offered fertile 2:33:31.240 --> 2:33:34.120 ground for people's politics to unknowing these slide more to 2:33:34.200 --> 2:33:37.400 the extreme, the many in person connections that help prevent 2:33:37.440 --> 2:33:41.080 people from falling prey to conspiratorial thinking ceased to exist. 2:33:41.760 --> 2:33:45.640 General frustration at Trudeau and the perceived notion of liberalism 2:33:45.640 --> 2:33:49.760 and elitism has been steadily growing since, and all that 2:33:49.840 --> 2:33:53.680 mounted up frustration is now being released, and as a result, 2:33:53.760 --> 2:33:57.879 the invisible Overton window of acceptable political action has shifted 2:33:58.000 --> 2:34:02.000 right in regular conservatives. My means, and a movement like 2:34:02.040 --> 2:34:05.960 this is hard to dissolve. Police actions have the chance 2:34:06.000 --> 2:34:10.240 of escalating the situation and elongating people's willingness to protest, 2:34:10.760 --> 2:34:13.960 and even if more mandates get removed. That doesn't mean 2:34:13.959 --> 2:34:17.360 the protests will stop either. Removing the Alberta mandates didn't 2:34:17.400 --> 2:34:20.560 stop the Coots border blockade, for instance, because you know, 2:34:20.720 --> 2:34:23.680 even if all the mandates in Canada get rescinded, which 2:34:23.680 --> 2:34:26.440 whish they won't and whish they shouldn't, but even if 2:34:26.480 --> 2:34:29.680 they did, that would still leave the US's Vaccine Board 2:34:29.760 --> 2:34:33.240 requirements which are preventing on vaccinated truckers from entering the 2:34:33.240 --> 2:34:37.720 States anyway. Similar tactics and protests inspired by the Canadian 2:34:37.760 --> 2:34:42.240 convoy have broken out overseas in recent weeks. The convoy 2:34:42.280 --> 2:34:45.080 and blocking inspired protests in New Zealand have led to 2:34:45.200 --> 2:34:48.680 frequent clashes with police outside New Zealand's Parliament building. For 2:34:48.680 --> 2:34:52.279 the past two weeks, French protesters formed their own Freedom 2:34:52.320 --> 2:34:56.480 Convoy against the government's vaccine mandates. The convoy converged on 2:34:56.560 --> 2:35:00.560 the Shawn's Aliz in Paris on February second, where protesters 2:35:00.560 --> 2:35:04.320 were met by seven thousand police members and tear gas. 2:35:04.959 --> 2:35:08.119 Unlike Canada, where the government failed to stop a blockade 2:35:08.200 --> 2:35:11.040 at the U S border, French authorities got way ahead 2:35:11.040 --> 2:35:13.879 of this protest by stopping at least five hundred vehicles 2:35:13.879 --> 2:35:16.800 before they even got to Paris. Only a few dissent 2:35:16.840 --> 2:35:19.160 cars made it to the Schanz al Liz and the 2:35:19.160 --> 2:35:22.760 police ticketed three hundred protesters who were present at the demonstration. 2:35:23.440 --> 2:35:27.080 Protests against government coronavirus restrictions have cut on in Europe 2:35:27.120 --> 2:35:29.640 and other parts of the world in recent days, but 2:35:29.720 --> 2:35:33.680 they remained more subdued than the Canadian demonstrations. A convoy 2:35:33.680 --> 2:35:36.320 of about five hundred vehicles, mostly from France, who are 2:35:36.360 --> 2:35:38.800 borrowed from entering Brussels of just a few days ago, 2:35:39.240 --> 2:35:42.280 leaving several hundred protesters to gather on foot at a 2:35:42.360 --> 2:35:46.920 city square instead. Another convoy of several hundred vehicles blocked 2:35:46.959 --> 2:35:49.520 access to the seat of the Netherlands government in the 2:35:49.600 --> 2:35:53.880 Hague on February twelve, And of course many political figures 2:35:53.920 --> 2:35:57.119 in the US are really trying to get a convoy 2:35:57.280 --> 2:36:01.280 esque protest kicked off here. In the United States, Tucker 2:36:01.280 --> 2:36:05.040 Carlson and Fox News in general has covered the convoy NonStop, 2:36:05.200 --> 2:36:08.240 giving it tons and tons of support. Tucker has said 2:36:08.280 --> 2:36:12.160 that the Canadian trucker convoy is the single most successful 2:36:12.440 --> 2:36:16.600 human rights protestant in a generation. Senator Rand Paul So 2:36:16.720 --> 2:36:19.840 that he hopes the truckers come to America and specifically 2:36:19.879 --> 2:36:23.199 two clog up cities. At least nine members of Congress, 2:36:23.240 --> 2:36:26.279 all Republicans, have all publicized their support for the convoy 2:36:26.320 --> 2:36:30.720 participants on Twitter. Self appointed organizers for a US based 2:36:30.760 --> 2:36:35.400 convoy have found quick support from conservative outlets. US convoy 2:36:35.520 --> 2:36:39.000 organizer Brian Brace has been making the rounds on Fox 2:36:39.040 --> 2:36:42.120 News sitting Down with Carlson, as well as the networks 2:36:42.160 --> 2:36:45.480 Fox and Friends Morning Show. Brace says that he hoped 2:36:45.480 --> 2:36:49.480 to organize a cross country convoy from California to Washington, 2:36:49.560 --> 2:36:54.000 d C starting around March fourth. Routes to converge on 2:36:54.080 --> 2:36:56.920 d C from across the country are being planned, while 2:36:56.959 --> 2:37:01.080 the group's telegram channel was actively soliciting volunteers and donations 2:37:01.120 --> 2:37:05.240 of items like tents, generators, and p A systems. I 2:37:05.320 --> 2:37:07.640 kind of hope people on the left can look at 2:37:07.720 --> 2:37:11.000 the tactics being used in Canada, some that have worked 2:37:11.000 --> 2:37:13.760 and some that have faltered. But in terms of like 2:37:13.840 --> 2:37:17.039 anti capitalist action, you can't do much better than causing 2:37:17.120 --> 2:37:20.039 hundreds and millions of dollars and losses to international trade 2:37:20.240 --> 2:37:24.320 between two of the biggest countries in the world. Right now, 2:37:24.600 --> 2:37:28.840 no protest movement can be replicated, But any movement can 2:37:28.879 --> 2:37:32.800 be analyzed and that can inform how folks approach future 2:37:32.840 --> 2:37:36.640 movements as they spontaneously arise, and I, at the very 2:37:36.720 --> 2:37:39.120 least help you have a better idea now of how 2:37:39.160 --> 2:37:41.800 only a few thousand people can totally choke out a 2:37:41.840 --> 2:37:45.360 major city, because we've talked about this possibility before. You know, 2:37:45.840 --> 2:37:48.760 a group of people overwhelming local law enforcement and taking 2:37:48.800 --> 2:37:51.560 over and shutting down a sizeable portion of a popular 2:37:51.560 --> 2:37:55.400 metropolitan area, not to mention simultaneously blocking off supply lines, 2:37:55.640 --> 2:37:59.760 trade routes, and international border crossings. The evolution of these 2:37:59.840 --> 2:38:03.680 medium scale anti government resistance tactics is something we all 2:38:03.720 --> 2:38:07.200 should be paying attention to as the political tensions continue 2:38:07.200 --> 2:38:10.840 to rise right outside our doorstep, because it's always too 2:38:10.879 --> 2:38:14.320 late when you realize the calls coming from inside the house. 2:38:30.240 --> 2:38:39.640 What's incapable of being racist? People joking about Canadians can't 2:38:39.640 --> 2:38:42.240 do it to Canada. Can't do it to Canada? Or 2:38:42.280 --> 2:38:45.080 the Princisi could happen here the French. We can be 2:38:45.160 --> 2:38:50.080 racist against the French. Yeah, speaking of speaking that makes 2:38:50.160 --> 2:38:53.080 Quebec angrier. But like speaking of racism, Chris, what's our 2:38:53.120 --> 2:38:57.400 topic today? Yeah, today's episode is about why I hate 2:38:57.400 --> 2:39:01.680 the cops. Hell. Yeah, specifically it is about is about 2:39:01.760 --> 2:39:05.520 Chicago Police Department and the many, many, many, many many 2:39:05.600 --> 2:39:09.640 crimes they have committed. Uh, we're gonna talk about well, okay. 2:39:09.879 --> 2:39:12.800 To lead us in to explain what we're doing here today, 2:39:12.959 --> 2:39:14.640 I'm going to read a quote from from the late 2:39:14.720 --> 2:39:19.240 anthropologist David Grabery from this book The Democracy Project. For 2:39:19.360 --> 2:39:21.480 my own part. I find what I call the rape 2:39:21.520 --> 2:39:24.960 torture and Murder test very useful. It's quite simple when 2:39:24.959 --> 2:39:27.480 presented with the political entity of some kind or another, 2:39:27.560 --> 2:39:30.560 whether a government, a social movement, a guerilla army, or 2:39:30.600 --> 2:39:33.240 really any other organized group, and trying to decide whether 2:39:33.760 --> 2:39:37.480 they deserve condemnation or support. First ask do they commit 2:39:37.720 --> 2:39:40.360 or do they order others to commit acts of rape, 2:39:40.400 --> 2:39:43.920 torture or murder. It seems a self evident question. But again, 2:39:44.000 --> 2:39:47.880 it's surprising how rarely, or better, how selectively it is applied. 2:39:48.480 --> 2:39:51.400 Or perhaps it might seem surprising until one starts applying 2:39:51.440 --> 2:39:54.040 it and discovers conventional wisdom. When many will political issues 2:39:54.080 --> 2:39:57.600 instantly turned upside down. In two thousand six, for example, 2:39:57.720 --> 2:39:59.680 most people in the United States read about the Mexican 2:39:59.720 --> 2:40:03.560 government sending federal troops to quell a popular revolt initiated 2:40:03.560 --> 2:40:06.160 by a teachers union against notoriously corrupt governor in the 2:40:06.200 --> 2:40:09.200 southern state of Wahaka. In the US media, this was 2:40:09.280 --> 2:40:11.879 universally presented as a good thing, a restoration of order. 2:40:11.959 --> 2:40:15.160 The rebels, after all, were violent, having thrown rocks and 2:40:15.200 --> 2:40:17.720 Molotov cocktails, even if they only threw them at heavily 2:40:17.800 --> 2:40:20.800 armed police, causing no serious injuries. No one, to my knowledge, 2:40:20.800 --> 2:40:24.560 has ever suggested that the rebels raped, tortured, or murdered anyone. Neither, 2:40:24.600 --> 2:40:27.680 as anyone who knows anything about the events in questions 2:40:27.680 --> 2:40:30.080 seriously contested the fact that forces loyal to the Mexican 2:40:30.120 --> 2:40:32.160 government had raped, tortured, and murdered quite a number of 2:40:32.200 --> 2:40:35.760 people in suppressing the rebellion. Yet somehow such acts, unlike 2:40:35.800 --> 2:40:38.720 the rebels stone throwing, cannot be described as violent at all, 2:40:39.080 --> 2:40:41.480 let alone as rape, torture, or murder, but only appear, 2:40:41.560 --> 2:40:45.400 if at all, as accusations of human rights violations, or 2:40:45.400 --> 2:40:51.480 in some similarly bloodless legalistic language. Yeah, and that that's 2:40:51.520 --> 2:40:53.520 the framework that I want to take the Chicago Police 2:40:53.520 --> 2:41:01.240 Department so people can understand why and how and just 2:41:01.240 --> 2:41:03.560 just sort of get people can get a taste of 2:41:03.560 --> 2:41:06.760 of the sheer horror that anti police organizers and just 2:41:06.800 --> 2:41:09.039 like regular people in Chicago are fighting every day because 2:41:09.120 --> 2:41:13.240 Chicago Police Department fails the rape torture murder test again 2:41:13.400 --> 2:41:16.800 and again and again and again. And so we are 2:41:16.879 --> 2:41:19.640 going to tell four stories of torture, rape, and murder 2:41:19.680 --> 2:41:25.119 by the Chicago Police Department. That seems fun. It's gonna 2:41:25.160 --> 2:41:30.120 be great. Happy pants on, kids, go for a cruise, 2:41:30.360 --> 2:41:33.920 you know, take the top down. Um, it's it's time 2:41:34.120 --> 2:41:40.120 for a good old fest. So our our first story 2:41:40.160 --> 2:41:42.120 of torture, rape and murder by the CPD is the 2:41:42.120 --> 2:41:45.640 story of Chicago's infamous torture ring, led by a man 2:41:45.760 --> 2:41:50.360 named John Burch. Yeah. Now, John Bird has been a 2:41:50.360 --> 2:41:53.520 military police sergeant working at a pow camp in Vietnam. 2:41:53.640 --> 2:41:55.760 So so immediately you have a guy who's not only 2:41:55.800 --> 2:41:58.879 a troop cop, but he's he's he's a troop cop 2:41:58.920 --> 2:42:00.840 while he was a troop and then he becomes a 2:42:00.879 --> 2:42:06.960 cop and you know, nothing, nothing good can possibly come 2:42:07.000 --> 2:42:09.800 from that. And the other thing and nothing good can 2:42:09.800 --> 2:42:11.960 possibly come from is the fact that while Burge was 2:42:12.000 --> 2:42:14.640 in Vietnam, the US was doing some just really six 2:42:14.640 --> 2:42:18.000 ships of Viennamese prisoners, including rape, getting rape, rape with 2:42:18.040 --> 2:42:21.600 hard objects, and rape followed by murder. Uh. The electric 2:42:21.680 --> 2:42:25.120 shock called the Bell telephone hour rendered by attaching wires 2:42:25.120 --> 2:42:27.760 to the genitals and keep your keep that one in mind. 2:42:27.800 --> 2:42:29.840 We have not seen the last of that. Uh. And 2:42:29.959 --> 2:42:32.400 rape using eels and snakes, as we have talked about 2:42:32.920 --> 2:42:35.959 on bastards of it before. Um. They're also like they're 2:42:35.959 --> 2:42:38.280 also a huge water boarding fans. So this this is, 2:42:38.320 --> 2:42:40.520 this is the environment that Burge is sort of you know, 2:42:40.560 --> 2:42:42.720 being trained as a copy in right, He's he's one 2:42:42.760 --> 2:42:46.280 of those these these PRW camps and he gets the 2:42:46.280 --> 2:42:48.600 purple heart for his service. Now when when he comes 2:42:48.640 --> 2:42:53.320 back to the US and he becomes a cop, and 2:42:53.440 --> 2:42:56.040 within about three years Burge and his white cop buddy 2:42:56.080 --> 2:43:00.359 start just absolutely beating the crap out of black suspects. UM. 2:43:00.440 --> 2:43:04.920 One of these prisoners, a man named Anthony Holmes, was 2:43:04.959 --> 2:43:07.800 repeatedly tortured with electric shocks and almost suffocated a death 2:43:07.840 --> 2:43:10.600 of a bag put over his head. Holmes was tortured 2:43:10.640 --> 2:43:12.680 so badly he literally thought he was going to die, 2:43:12.959 --> 2:43:14.600 so he confessed to a crime he didn't commit. And 2:43:14.680 --> 2:43:17.760 spent thirty years in prison. Yeah. I actually interviewed one 2:43:17.800 --> 2:43:21.320 of the people tortured by Burge who was had his 2:43:21.360 --> 2:43:25.360 testicles electrocuted. Yeah. Yeah, we're gonna get into that. But yeah, 2:43:25.400 --> 2:43:29.000 it's it's it's horrible. It's it's pretty the worst things 2:43:29.040 --> 2:43:34.840 I've ever read. Uh. Yeah, And Holmes, this case is 2:43:34.879 --> 2:43:38.640 particularly grim because so he tells his lawyers that he's 2:43:38.640 --> 2:43:42.240 been tortured, and his lawyers don't believe him, and so 2:43:42.720 --> 2:43:47.840 you know, he yeah, he he wented to spending thirty 2:43:47.879 --> 2:43:50.720 years in prison that he didn't do Um those shocks. 2:43:51.920 --> 2:43:55.959 Yeah yeah, so okay, So that they have this box, right, 2:43:56.000 --> 2:43:59.720 it's his box as a handcret generator. Burge calls at 2:43:59.720 --> 2:44:04.400 the end word box. Uh. And he just attaches people's 2:44:04.440 --> 2:44:06.320 like it's just attaches it to people. I wonder what, 2:44:07.360 --> 2:44:09.879 Oh yeah, no, it's he's all of these people are 2:44:11.600 --> 2:44:17.920 so indescribably racist. It's like, yeah, he he just like 2:44:17.959 --> 2:44:20.840 he keeps this box like on his desk at at 2:44:20.840 --> 2:44:22.720 the Chicago Police Department. Like it's just on his desk 2:44:22.760 --> 2:44:26.039 at work. Um. Now. The other thing is notable about 2:44:26.080 --> 2:44:27.680 this is that he he and the people around him 2:44:27.680 --> 2:44:30.560 would call just electrocuting people by touching alligator lamps of 2:44:30.640 --> 2:44:32.560 them and putting nine thousand two under vaults into them. 2:44:32.840 --> 2:44:35.039 They called it the Vietnamese treatment because I guess what 2:44:35.120 --> 2:44:38.400 he learned this in Vietnam. Um. Now Burge is so 2:44:38.480 --> 2:44:40.879 called Midnight Crew, had had an incredibly high rate of 2:44:40.920 --> 2:44:42.920 solving crimes, and he has an incredibly high rate of 2:44:42.959 --> 2:44:45.600 quote unquote solving crimes because he's just torturing random black 2:44:45.600 --> 2:44:50.080 people until they confess um. And you know, it's it's 2:44:50.120 --> 2:44:52.200 it's not like people don't know he's doing this. There's 2:44:52.240 --> 2:44:55.080 there's a detective in the seventies who like walks in 2:44:55.240 --> 2:44:58.400 on Burde torturing a guy, and he goes through superiors 2:44:58.400 --> 2:45:00.920 and it's like Burgess, Burgess torturing these people, and that 2:45:00.959 --> 2:45:04.160 detective gets reprimanded and were reprimanded for like reporting the 2:45:04.200 --> 2:45:07.680 torture and transferred to another area. So Burde gets promoted 2:45:07.720 --> 2:45:09.600 to sergeant in nineteen seventy seven and then again to 2:45:09.600 --> 2:45:11.560 lieutenant in nineteen eighty, and he gets he gets put 2:45:11.560 --> 2:45:15.240 in charge of the newly formed violent Crimes unit, and 2:45:15.600 --> 2:45:18.519 from from from this position, his rate of terror intensifies, 2:45:19.760 --> 2:45:24.280 and so so in nineteen eight two, someone shoots two 2:45:24.280 --> 2:45:28.039 white cops. And you know, this is one of one 2:45:28.080 --> 2:45:30.000 of the sort of classic police things. Anytime a cop 2:45:30.120 --> 2:45:34.359 dies the the see the police department just goes fucking ballistic. 2:45:35.640 --> 2:45:39.160 Yeah yeah. And and in this case with with with 2:45:39.240 --> 2:45:42.560 Burge in charge, he basically turns the entire South Side 2:45:42.560 --> 2:45:45.920 into what can only be described as a fascist police state. Um, 2:45:46.000 --> 2:45:49.080 here's this is. This is from the Chicago police torture scandal, 2:45:49.080 --> 2:45:53.760 illegal and political history. In in Cuney's Law Review, police 2:45:53.840 --> 2:45:56.720 kicked down doors and terrorized scores of African Americans. And 2:45:56.760 --> 2:46:01.560 what Jesse Jackson of Operation Push Push and Raynald Robinson 2:46:01.600 --> 2:46:04.640 if the Afro American policely condemned as quote martial law 2:46:04.720 --> 2:46:08.360 that smacked of Nazi Germany. Thirteen witnesses were smothered with 2:46:08.400 --> 2:46:11.240 bags and threatened with bolt cutters and Burgeoness detectives took 2:46:11.240 --> 2:46:13.640 several young men who they wrongly suspected to be the 2:46:13.720 --> 2:46:17.440 killers to police headqure horders and tortured them. And I 2:46:17.440 --> 2:46:19.600 mean they're just like you know that they're buzzing down 2:46:19.600 --> 2:46:21.600 people's doors or dragging people away out in the middle 2:46:21.600 --> 2:46:23.760 of the night. They do this for about five days before, 2:46:23.760 --> 2:46:27.240 they arrest two brothers and who again had nothing to 2:46:27.280 --> 2:46:29.080 do with this. They just decided that these two were 2:46:29.120 --> 2:46:34.040 the guys and tortured just the absolute shit out of him. Um. 2:46:34.160 --> 2:46:36.560 One of the brothers, Andrew Wilson. But before birds even 2:46:36.560 --> 2:46:38.440 gets there, because this is the everything about birds. It's 2:46:38.480 --> 2:46:41.240 not just birds, right, like everyone he's like around him, 2:46:41.280 --> 2:46:44.080 he is also a torturer. It's just birds sort of, 2:46:44.840 --> 2:46:47.400 you know, but birds the guy like directing a lot 2:46:47.400 --> 2:46:50.480 of it. So even before he gets there, yea, like 2:46:50.720 --> 2:46:53.440 Wilson gets like he's burden with a cigarette lighter. He 2:46:53.480 --> 2:46:55.160 gets strangled with the bag over his head again, and 2:46:55.160 --> 2:46:57.560 they just like beat him a bunch of times. And 2:46:57.600 --> 2:47:03.240 then it gets even worse. Um Burgs like, you know, 2:47:03.280 --> 2:47:05.200 but birds, that's the thing where where he likes he 2:47:05.240 --> 2:47:07.400 straps him to the to the electric box, right, but 2:47:07.440 --> 2:47:10.200 he also straps him against the radiator. And you know 2:47:10.240 --> 2:47:12.920 these are like old Chicago steam radiators, right, if you touch, 2:47:13.000 --> 2:47:15.160 if you like touch them even briefly, you get burned. 2:47:15.760 --> 2:47:18.400 And so yeah, he straps into a radiator and every 2:47:18.400 --> 2:47:21.480 time he like gets shocked, he jerks back into the radiator. 2:47:21.520 --> 2:47:23.560 It gets burned. Yeah, I have a friend who get 2:47:23.560 --> 2:47:26.039 a second degree burned dripped from like briefly touching one 2:47:26.040 --> 2:47:29.600 of those things. Yeah, yeah, I mean it's basically it's 2:47:29.640 --> 2:47:32.640 basically tying someone to an oven that's turns. Yeah, I 2:47:32.720 --> 2:47:39.039 mean it's it is breasttaking in humanity on a scale 2:47:39.200 --> 2:47:45.800 that is yeah, um pop esque. Yeah, yeah, it's it's 2:47:45.840 --> 2:47:49.400 it's it's real. It's real. Cops shit. Um, it's for sure, 2:47:49.480 --> 2:47:53.480 real cop shit. Yeah. So here here, here's an interview, 2:47:53.840 --> 2:47:57.600 uh with Wilson. There's an extractive one from from the 2:47:57.600 --> 2:48:00.680 book Writings from the World of Policing. Wilson said that 2:48:00.720 --> 2:48:03.400 Bird cranked the generator, sending nine thousand, two hundred volts 2:48:03.400 --> 2:48:06.279 of electricity into his body. He put it on my fingers, 2:48:06.280 --> 2:48:08.400 Wilson explained, one of the clamps on one finger and 2:48:08.400 --> 2:48:10.400 one of the other finger, and then he kept cranking 2:48:10.400 --> 2:48:12.560 it and cranking it. And I was hollering and screaming. 2:48:12.800 --> 2:48:15.840 I was calling for help. My teeth was grinding, flickering 2:48:15.879 --> 2:48:19.120 in my head. Pain. It hurts, Wilson continued, But it 2:48:19.120 --> 2:48:21.200 stays in your head. Okay, it stays in your head, 2:48:21.200 --> 2:48:25.680 and it grinds your teeth. It grinds constantly, grinds constantly. 2:48:25.800 --> 2:48:28.560 The pain just stays in your head and your teeth 2:48:28.600 --> 2:48:32.360 cut constantly. Grinds and grinds and grinds and grinds and 2:48:32.400 --> 2:48:37.840 grinds and grinds. Now Wilson, They do this to Wilson 2:48:37.879 --> 2:48:40.640 for like a day, and he doesn't confess. He he 2:48:40.680 --> 2:48:43.800 refuses to confess because he didn't do it, and so 2:48:43.920 --> 2:48:47.040 he goes to like they bring him in front of 2:48:47.040 --> 2:48:50.600 a family prosecutor and Wilson tells the prosecutor that he's 2:48:50.600 --> 2:48:53.000 being tortured, and you know, it's incredibly obvious he's being tortured, 2:48:53.040 --> 2:48:56.119 like there's just there's marxal Lover's body, like his his 2:48:56.120 --> 2:48:59.879 face is destroyed. And the prosecutor sends him back to Bird, 2:49:00.160 --> 2:49:04.440 who tortures him more. And but by the time the 2:49:04.520 --> 2:49:07.520 Burge is done with him, Wilson is so visibly fucked 2:49:07.560 --> 2:49:11.560 up that the police lock up keeper like takes a 2:49:11.560 --> 2:49:13.000 look at it, like takes one look at him and goes, 2:49:13.200 --> 2:49:14.280 I'm not going to be a part of this and 2:49:14.320 --> 2:49:17.880 refuses to put him in lock up cook Cook County Jails, 2:49:17.920 --> 2:49:22.000 Like Director of Medical Services UM sends a letter going 2:49:22.040 --> 2:49:24.320 like this man was tortured to the police. We found 2:49:24.320 --> 2:49:26.760 a human being. Yeah, yeah, well you know, and it's 2:49:26.800 --> 2:49:30.360 like every one once every like, I don't know, maybe 2:49:30.400 --> 2:49:33.039 like a hundred pages of reading about this, you find 2:49:33.120 --> 2:49:36.760 one person who is a normal human being. Unfortunately, the 2:49:36.760 --> 2:49:40.640 state's attorney, instead of prosecuting Burge for again attaching attaching 2:49:40.640 --> 2:49:42.760 a man's balls to a hand create generator and then 2:49:42.760 --> 2:49:47.000 electrocuting him. Uh, the state prosecutor and the police superintendent 2:49:47.120 --> 2:49:52.240 both publicly congratulate Birds for his work. Yeah, and Andrew Wilson, 2:49:52.240 --> 2:49:54.600 mean while died in prison in two thousand seven, because 2:49:55.600 --> 2:50:04.879 this world is just the worst. Yeah. Now, you might 2:50:04.920 --> 2:50:07.240 be asking yourself, how does he get away with this? 2:50:07.400 --> 2:50:10.120 And the answer is that the CPD is complicit in 2:50:10.120 --> 2:50:13.520 burges torture at literally every level. Every attempt to stop 2:50:13.520 --> 2:50:16.480 Burge is derailed directly by the departments. And not only 2:50:16.560 --> 2:50:19.440 is he not stopped, he's repeatedly praised and promoted for 2:50:19.480 --> 2:50:26.400 his actions. And yeah, I mean that's how it goes. Yep, 2:50:26.480 --> 2:50:31.800 It's it's great, it's it's it's an institutionalized system of torture, 2:50:31.879 --> 2:50:35.080 rape and murder. That yeah, it's like that we have 2:50:35.160 --> 2:50:39.039 us a little abbo grade right at home, but yeah, 2:50:39.160 --> 2:50:41.400 I don't worry. Well, well, I guess we won't actually 2:50:41.400 --> 2:50:43.760 get to with grades specifically, but I can, I can do, 2:50:43.800 --> 2:50:45.320 I can I can do an upgrade tie in at 2:50:45.320 --> 2:50:50.800 the end of this part. So the CPD has something 2:50:50.800 --> 2:50:52.800 they call the Code of Silence, and we'll talk about 2:50:52.920 --> 2:50:56.360 this more later, but basically, the core of the code 2:50:56.360 --> 2:50:59.400 of Silence is that just no matter what crimes, what atrocities, 2:50:59.440 --> 2:51:01.400 which is in him in Pig Horrors, you see cops 2:51:01.400 --> 2:51:05.440 committing you, stay silent. Now this code you know, it's 2:51:05.480 --> 2:51:07.600 it's it's a code that everyone sort of knows right 2:51:07.600 --> 2:51:12.040 in the police, but it's also directly enforced um and 2:51:12.160 --> 2:51:14.080 and it's enforced by the stuff Burge would you do, 2:51:14.280 --> 2:51:16.680 like just to other cops, Like he would do things 2:51:16.680 --> 2:51:18.640 like if there was a cop who was like unhappy 2:51:18.680 --> 2:51:20.879 with him, he would like walk up behind them when 2:51:20.879 --> 2:51:22.640 they're opening a file cabinet and point a gun at 2:51:22.680 --> 2:51:25.160 their head and then go like bang and then do 2:51:25.240 --> 2:51:27.440 this like a thing that I can really only describe 2:51:27.440 --> 2:51:30.360 as a supervillain monologue about how like the projects are 2:51:30.400 --> 2:51:34.400 a dangerous place, maybe you're gonna turn up dead. It's 2:51:34.879 --> 2:51:37.400 he also he has these street files that he keeps 2:51:37.440 --> 2:51:41.760 on like other cops families so that if another cop 2:51:41.879 --> 2:51:44.000 like goes after him, he can have their family arrested 2:51:44.000 --> 2:51:49.720 and then plant evidence on them. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, 2:51:48.840 --> 2:51:51.640 It's it's like, you know, like in a certain like 2:51:51.680 --> 2:51:55.160 he's doing this to other cops, and it's like, well, okay, 2:51:55.200 --> 2:51:59.040 like you know what, like what what possible? Like system 2:51:59.120 --> 2:52:02.680 of of of accountability quote on court or police reform 2:52:02.879 --> 2:52:04.720 is like ever going to do anything to a guy 2:52:04.760 --> 2:52:09.760 who will just do this two cops like and you know, 2:52:10.000 --> 2:52:12.160 with the CPD actively backing him, there's there's nothing that 2:52:12.160 --> 2:52:14.560 can stop Burge. And I should mention here that there's 2:52:14.600 --> 2:52:18.600 persistent rumors that Burge as a klansmen um I I 2:52:18.640 --> 2:52:21.840 couldn't find like firm confirmation of it. He's he's certainly 2:52:21.920 --> 2:52:23.960 racist enough, but but I think, yeah, but like why 2:52:23.959 --> 2:52:26.640 would he why would he spend like That's that feels 2:52:26.680 --> 2:52:29.039 like almost he would be like why would I waste 2:52:29.040 --> 2:52:32.119 my time doing that like talking about being racist when 2:52:32.120 --> 2:52:34.720 I can go out and torture people because I'm a 2:52:34.800 --> 2:52:38.720 racist every day? Like the clan already got it going on. Yeah, 2:52:38.760 --> 2:52:41.439 And I think it's sometimes like, yeah, the question is immaterial. 2:52:41.480 --> 2:52:43.640 He is a member of the Chicago Police Department and 2:52:43.800 --> 2:52:46.160 organization is systematic racial terror, the likes of which the 2:52:46.200 --> 2:52:50.080 modern clan can only dream of. Yeah that's whatever. Yeah, Yeah, 2:52:50.120 --> 2:52:53.400 it's like who cares he's he's he's jumped burge. Honestly, 2:52:53.400 --> 2:52:55.640 if he were spending time at clan matings at least 2:52:55.640 --> 2:53:01.879 he wouldn't be torturing people during the time. Yeah, it's yeah, 2:53:02.120 --> 2:53:05.600 love love your police. When if he was a klansman 2:53:05.640 --> 2:53:07.920 that might have been slightly better. I mean, that's the 2:53:07.959 --> 2:53:10.680 big thing with like this type of like liberal response 2:53:10.720 --> 2:53:13.560 to the type of extremism. It's like they only view 2:53:13.600 --> 2:53:16.400 it as a problem if you're like explicitly part of this, 2:53:16.879 --> 2:53:20.640 you know, Like it's like very obvious to everyone white 2:53:20.680 --> 2:53:23.600 nationalist group. Right, they can watch a cop do all 2:53:23.640 --> 2:53:25.840 these horrible things. It's fine because that's just a cop. 2:53:26.040 --> 2:53:28.680 But if he's a clan member, then that's a problem. 2:53:29.280 --> 2:53:32.200 Like they can excuse all this horrible torture and not 2:53:32.280 --> 2:53:34.840 really be concerned about it. But if but if he 2:53:34.879 --> 2:53:38.360 had a robots closet, then it's suddenly this big issue. 2:53:38.400 --> 2:53:40.720 It's like, no, like the issue is that he was 2:53:40.760 --> 2:53:43.400 doing all this torture anyway, and he doesn't like this. 2:53:43.840 --> 2:53:47.879 You don't need to focus on like just the like 2:53:48.040 --> 2:53:52.600 just that identity, like that weird identity aspect of it. Yeah, 2:53:52.680 --> 2:53:56.560 the the clan is old enough, and where's a uniform 2:53:56.600 --> 2:53:59.760 that is distinct enough that everybody recognizes is it as racist? 2:54:00.040 --> 2:54:04.360 And though the Chicago Police Department is actually much more 2:54:04.400 --> 2:54:07.800 of a threat in terms of racism than the clan today, 2:54:08.120 --> 2:54:10.560 uh and was at that point in time. But you know, 2:54:10.600 --> 2:54:13.280 they're the cops. And if you're a suburban white liberal, 2:54:13.440 --> 2:54:16.160 they're there too, you know, help help keep your lawn 2:54:16.200 --> 2:54:18.600 safe or whatever. Um, So you don't you don't see 2:54:18.640 --> 2:54:23.039 them as the same inherently racial organization exactly, even though 2:54:23.040 --> 2:54:25.560 they are. Yeah, and even though I mean they're dragging 2:54:25.560 --> 2:54:29.039 people out of their homes and like just electrocuting them, 2:54:29.480 --> 2:54:32.600 like this is you know, this is this something also 2:54:32.680 --> 2:54:34.280 that I was very annoyed about when I was reading 2:54:34.280 --> 2:54:36.400 this was like you read a lot of this stuff 2:54:36.440 --> 2:54:38.200 and then and you'll you'll get descriptions of it that 2:54:38.200 --> 2:54:40.800 are like, ah, this is something that like only happens 2:54:40.800 --> 2:54:42.879 in the pressure regimes like Kazakhstan, and it's like, have 2:54:43.040 --> 2:54:45.920 you read anything about picture of the US like this 2:54:46.200 --> 2:54:49.720 is like yeah, like we we have the officers over 2:54:49.760 --> 2:54:52.600 to other countries that often teach their police how to 2:54:52.640 --> 2:54:55.959 do ship like this that happens. But when you were 2:54:56.000 --> 2:54:58.480 describing a whole bunch of stuff in the past, like 2:54:58.680 --> 2:55:00.959 you know, twenty minutes, I was thinking in my head 2:55:01.000 --> 2:55:03.959 and like, oh, yeah, this is just like stormtrooper ship. 2:55:04.080 --> 2:55:06.400 But the thing is, it isn't like this just is 2:55:06.480 --> 2:55:09.680 cops shit, and like, like the thing like the fact 2:55:09.680 --> 2:55:13.040 that like elevating it in my brain to it being 2:55:13.080 --> 2:55:15.640 like something other than cops is incorrect. You know, like 2:55:15.720 --> 2:55:19.160 this just is police stuff. It's not it's not necessarily 2:55:19.160 --> 2:55:22.080 stormtrooper ship. It's just is police ship. And the fact 2:55:22.120 --> 2:55:24.440 that those things are so synonymous that should be the 2:55:24.440 --> 2:55:27.800 part that's actually like upsetting is that yeah, it's actually 2:55:27.840 --> 2:55:31.560 there is really no difference and you shouldn't necessarily resort 2:55:31.640 --> 2:55:34.440 to calling it stormtrooper stuff because it is just what 2:55:34.480 --> 2:55:37.560 the police do all the time. There's this whole model 2:55:37.600 --> 2:55:39.480 you see people talking about it where they talk about 2:55:39.520 --> 2:55:43.000 like like the police are using unnecessary force and like 2:55:43.040 --> 2:55:45.240 they're there there there's like a certain threshold where if 2:55:45.240 --> 2:55:48.240 you go past it, like you know, sort of like 2:55:48.240 --> 2:55:49.920 like even you know, like I'm Gonna'm gonna read like 2:55:49.920 --> 2:55:52.240 that Birch has a lot of like when he winds 2:55:52.280 --> 2:55:54.920 up in court, like the judges look at this and 2:55:54.920 --> 2:55:56.720 the are like, oh my god, this is unacceptable. How 2:55:56.720 --> 2:55:59.320 could this have happened? And you know, you get some 2:55:59.360 --> 2:56:01.880 good descriptions of it. I'm gonna this is a district 2:56:01.920 --> 2:56:04.160 judge court describing what Burge is doing. In the early eighties, 2:56:04.760 --> 2:56:07.280 there existed, in two in the City of Chicago, a 2:56:07.360 --> 2:56:10.440 de facto policy practice and or customer of Chicago police 2:56:10.440 --> 2:56:15.360 officers exacting unconstitutional revenge and punishment against persons who they 2:56:15.360 --> 2:56:18.359 alleged had killed or injured a fellow officer. This revenge 2:56:18.360 --> 2:56:22.359 and punishment included beating, kicking, torturing, shooting, and or executing 2:56:22.400 --> 2:56:24.440 such a person for the purpose of inflicting pain, to 2:56:24.480 --> 2:56:27.080 injury and punishment on that person, and also for the 2:56:27.120 --> 2:56:30.160 purpose of forcing that person to make it. Coupled tory 2:56:30.240 --> 2:56:38.800 statements exculpatory yeahculptor yeah, inculpatory yeah yeah yeah. You know, 2:56:38.879 --> 2:56:40.879 and you you get stuff like there's there's there's an 2:56:40.879 --> 2:56:43.520 FBI report than from the Chagol Tepem. I'm going to 2:56:43.600 --> 2:56:48.400 read because it's he left one bullet in the center 2:56:48.520 --> 2:56:51.080 and the cylinder and spun it. A report quoted the 2:56:51.120 --> 2:56:54.720 inmate is saying about Burge in the nineteen incident. He 2:56:54.840 --> 2:56:59.800 then said, you talk, will blow your black EXPELTI presumably 2:56:59.800 --> 2:57:03.240 the end word brains out. Bergs then got up from 2:57:03.240 --> 2:57:05.560 his desk, walked over to the inmate, put the muzzle 2:57:05.560 --> 2:57:07.800 of the revolver against the center of the inmate's forehead 2:57:07.840 --> 2:57:11.119 and pulled the trigger. He spun the cylinder and placed 2:57:11.160 --> 2:57:16.440 it back against his forehead and pulled the trigger again. So, yeah, 2:57:16.520 --> 2:57:21.000 he's just playing Russian Roulette with people. Like he's playing it. 2:57:21.120 --> 2:57:26.520 I don't I don't think. Yeah, yeah, well he's pulling 2:57:26.560 --> 2:57:28.480 up one in the sixth chance of murdering them. They 2:57:28.520 --> 2:57:33.920 are in terror. Uh. There's also a lot of like 2:57:34.480 --> 2:57:40.879 he does like you sexually abuses people. He like after testicles. Yeah, 2:57:41.000 --> 2:57:43.280 he he like he electrocuted Like well, I mean he's 2:57:43.280 --> 2:57:48.080 also like is like like basically like raping people. Um, 2:57:48.160 --> 2:57:51.440 he like electrocut is a thirteen year old child. And 2:57:51.480 --> 2:57:56.840 you know this is like it's it's it's just so 2:57:57.000 --> 2:57:59.520 bleak that like, I mean, there's so there's a very 2:57:59.520 --> 2:58:01.680 famous art club about this by Chicago Journalist's called the 2:58:01.720 --> 2:58:05.520 House of Screams. But you know, like like Burge isn't 2:58:05.520 --> 2:58:08.000 the only guy doing this, Like one of his loyalists 2:58:08.000 --> 2:58:11.280 is lieutenant, Like is a guy named Byron. He's like 2:58:11.320 --> 2:58:13.920 in charge of the midnight shift at that the area 2:58:13.959 --> 2:58:17.960 true violent crimes. And they become known internally as burgess 2:58:17.959 --> 2:58:20.640 ask kickers at the A team because this is just 2:58:21.000 --> 2:58:28.600 who these people are culturally, and yeah, sure sure, but yeah, um, 2:58:28.760 --> 2:58:33.360 these guys start uh like putting like guns and prisoners mouths. 2:58:34.120 --> 2:58:35.440 But they have one thing where they they stick a 2:58:35.480 --> 2:58:37.480 shotgun in a guy's mouth and they pull the trigger 2:58:37.520 --> 2:58:39.160 and it's not loaded. But there's like they keep doing 2:58:39.200 --> 2:58:43.080 this thing. Yeah, it's it's that is by the way, 2:58:43.320 --> 2:58:47.000 illegal in international law, like internationally, that is a war 2:58:47.080 --> 2:58:50.880 crime if you're military to specifically, fake executions are a 2:58:51.000 --> 2:58:54.519 type of torture and a a war crime under international 2:58:54.600 --> 2:58:58.520 law based on treaties the United States is signed. Yeah, 2:58:58.600 --> 2:59:01.160 and and Byron also so if he does that a lot, 2:59:01.200 --> 2:59:03.800 and then that same guy, the same guy the shotgun 2:59:03.840 --> 2:59:06.680 thing too, he apparently didn't have the box, so he 2:59:06.760 --> 2:59:08.440 stripped the dude and shocked his balls with a cattle 2:59:08.480 --> 2:59:11.280 prod And this is the guy who Lorry Lightfoot sent 2:59:11.360 --> 2:59:14.160 her number two lawyer to defend in court by arguing 2:59:14.200 --> 2:59:20.280 the torture it never happens. Yeah, that's that's that's that's ability. Yep, 2:59:20.840 --> 2:59:24.840 that's the mayor of my city now life Lightfoot. Light 2:59:24.879 --> 2:59:28.120 Foot is on the record as saying that birds tortured 2:59:28.240 --> 2:59:30.960 over a hundred people. But once it came to you know, 2:59:31.080 --> 2:59:33.400 actually putting up or shutting up, she just goes to 2:59:33.440 --> 2:59:35.600 back for the cops. And if this happens in Chicago, 2:59:36.040 --> 2:59:38.160 just so many times with people who used to be 2:59:38.200 --> 2:59:40.800 like who you know who who in the moment you're like, oh, 2:59:40.840 --> 2:59:43.000 bird did torture. We need to reform the police. And 2:59:43.080 --> 2:59:44.959 it's you know, the when they get into power, they 2:59:45.000 --> 2:59:47.240 do this stuff. I mean there there's there's a bunch 2:59:47.280 --> 2:59:51.600 of like incredibly weird stuff that happens here. Like so 2:59:53.080 --> 2:59:55.680 that the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals at one point 2:59:55.440 --> 2:59:59.800 saul A like they saw a case over whether one 3:00:00.080 --> 3:00:03.039 and dollar settlement with a torture victim was fair and 3:00:03.480 --> 3:00:08.640 christ Yeah, in court it's like you read the transcas 3:00:08.800 --> 3:00:11.240 and it's like it's it's the most brutal demolishing of 3:00:11.280 --> 3:00:16.120 like a state's argument I've ever seen, Like they're they're, 3:00:16.120 --> 3:00:18.400 they're just like in court asking them like okay, like 3:00:18.440 --> 3:00:20.800 we're we're, we're This person's judge is supposed to have 3:00:21.120 --> 3:00:24.240 like known in court that he was also torturing other people, 3:00:24.360 --> 3:00:28.520 and like it's you know, the courts just like you know, 3:00:28.520 --> 3:00:30.800 they're turning them apart. And then when it comes time 3:00:30.840 --> 3:00:33.879 to decide the case, uh, the court tosses the case 3:00:33.920 --> 3:00:39.400 out inside with the state. Wow. Yeah, I don't know 3:00:39.440 --> 3:00:46.280 what's going on there. It's awful. Yep, this topic. I 3:00:46.280 --> 3:00:48.720 mean that that is the thing about the way the 3:00:48.760 --> 3:00:51.400 whole system works, which is that, you know, the police 3:00:51.520 --> 3:00:54.920 do horrific things. In Chicago, they torture, in Los Angeles, 3:00:55.040 --> 3:00:56.960 they have Nazi gangs. You know, there's a bunch of 3:00:57.000 --> 3:00:59.800 different horrible ship the police do. And then at some 3:00:59.800 --> 3:01:02.320 point point the FBI and the Justice Department come in 3:01:02.400 --> 3:01:07.000 and they provide incredibly They send in very talented investigators 3:01:07.000 --> 3:01:09.960 who produced incredibly detailed lists of all of the things 3:01:10.000 --> 3:01:12.400 that are being done. And then the court says, well, 3:01:12.480 --> 3:01:15.240 but nobody's gonna get punished, or maybe this one guy 3:01:15.280 --> 3:01:17.400 will get punished and then we'll go on back to 3:01:17.440 --> 3:01:20.000 doing things and that the system is supposed to work, 3:01:20.160 --> 3:01:22.000 although we're we're going to read a story about the 3:01:22.040 --> 3:01:26.320 FBI not doing that in the next episode. So yeah, yeah, 3:01:26.360 --> 3:01:29.400 I mean they don't know. We don't always get a report. Yeah, 3:01:29.600 --> 3:01:33.199 I just I have become increased, Like it's very frustrating 3:01:33.240 --> 3:01:36.680 because having these FBI reports on police abuses um is 3:01:36.760 --> 3:01:39.160 useful again for talking to liberals because they tend to 3:01:39.160 --> 3:01:42.280 trust the FBI. But it's also like, boy, I've read 3:01:42.320 --> 3:01:44.879 a lot of detailed FBI reports about how bad police 3:01:44.920 --> 3:01:47.199 departments are, and it seems like nothing ever gets done. 3:01:47.520 --> 3:01:49.440 Like it seems like they just write a thing saying yeah, 3:01:49.440 --> 3:01:54.600 it's bad, and then everything continues forever and it's you know, 3:01:55.040 --> 3:01:59.840 this this case, Like so the reason we even know 3:02:00.000 --> 3:02:02.280 any of this is through what I like, what I 3:02:02.280 --> 3:02:06.000 will say, like the a genuinely heroic, decades long campaign 3:02:06.040 --> 3:02:07.960 run by the People's Law Office on behalf of birde 3:02:08.040 --> 3:02:10.959 victims and these people, like they say people's lives like 3:02:11.000 --> 3:02:14.080 that there are people who birdge tortured, who ended up 3:02:14.120 --> 3:02:17.240 on death row for it, and you know, like this 3:02:17.240 --> 3:02:19.160 stuff is so bad that when it comes out, the 3:02:19.160 --> 3:02:21.880 Supreme Court does a ruling on it, and it like 3:02:22.000 --> 3:02:24.480 establishes new precedents for like how people can prove they've 3:02:24.520 --> 3:02:27.600 been tortured. Like you know, it's so bad that like 3:02:27.959 --> 3:02:30.280 Illinois stops running the death pet like we had the 3:02:30.320 --> 3:02:32.080 death penalty and like we still tend to get ethic 3:02:32.120 --> 3:02:33.840 have it, but like we just stopped doing it, Like 3:02:33.879 --> 3:02:38.640 we stopped we stopped executing people because like a Republican governor, 3:02:39.320 --> 3:02:42.560 like on air, gave a giant thing about how this 3:02:42.560 --> 3:02:47.160 system was broken and like this is this is John Ryan, right, 3:02:47.200 --> 3:02:50.320 like this is a man who like he he is 3:02:50.360 --> 3:02:51.920 like this is a man who was corrupted by the 3:02:51.959 --> 3:02:55.440 standards of of of an Illinois politician. And even he 3:02:55.600 --> 3:02:58.680 like on the air, is like yeah, this is like 3:02:58.840 --> 3:03:00.640 you know that this is this is broken. He he 3:03:00.720 --> 3:03:05.280 pardons some Burge victims and in nine three, faced with 3:03:05.360 --> 3:03:08.640 just irrefutable evidence of torture and ruling multiple higher ports 3:03:08.879 --> 3:03:13.240 higher courts, the Police Board finally released a report, although 3:03:13.280 --> 3:03:16.280 the report also doesn't call it torture and is a 3:03:16.320 --> 3:03:19.520 disaster that they finally have Burge fired and some of 3:03:19.560 --> 3:03:21.840 his colleagues who were also torturing people get suspended for 3:03:21.879 --> 3:03:26.400 fifteen months, but Burge isn't prosecuted for, you know, the 3:03:26.440 --> 3:03:29.000 crimes that we have multiple reports of him doing until 3:03:29.040 --> 3:03:33.520 two after the victims literally go to the United Nations 3:03:34.480 --> 3:03:36.760 with a campaign and go in front of the United 3:03:36.840 --> 3:03:38.600 Nations and talk about how they are being systemically tortured 3:03:38.600 --> 3:03:41.480 by the Chicago Police Department. But of course by two ten, 3:03:41.520 --> 3:03:43.520 the statute of limitations on his crimes had run out, 3:03:43.640 --> 3:03:46.039 so uh, he winds up going to jail for three 3:03:46.920 --> 3:03:49.800 stations on torture. Yeah, that's definitely one of the ones 3:03:49.800 --> 3:03:52.240 we should have a cap Yeah, definitely. It's great. It's 3:03:52.280 --> 3:03:54.880 it's it's a great system. Um. And I'm going to 3:03:54.920 --> 3:03:57.160 read something from the Chocolate Tribune that was a description 3:03:57.240 --> 3:04:00.720 of of this. Uh quote. While the jury was out, Burge, 3:04:00.760 --> 3:04:03.840 still unrepentant, allegedly asked the courtroom reserve or whether you 3:04:03.879 --> 3:04:08.360 thought the jury would quote believe a bunch of n words. Wow, dye, 3:04:09.520 --> 3:04:13.920 it's good. Burge Bridge tortured at least a hundred and 3:04:13.920 --> 3:04:16.480 twenty five people. That's almost certainly an under account. Undred 3:04:16.520 --> 3:04:19.000 twenty five is the number of people who we have 3:04:19.040 --> 3:04:21.520 who have come forward. A lot of those people probably 3:04:21.520 --> 3:04:26.080 have like people he tortured have probably died by now. Um, yeah, 3:04:26.120 --> 3:04:28.240 I mean yeah, you'll never will never get an accurate 3:04:28.240 --> 3:04:30.959 account of all the people who were Yeah, and and 3:04:31.240 --> 3:04:33.360 Burge died a freeman and has never served a day 3:04:33.520 --> 3:04:37.039 for his actual crimes. Now, Burge and his crew are 3:04:37.040 --> 3:04:40.000 the most famous of the eighties and seventies and eighties torturers, 3:04:40.000 --> 3:04:42.800 but they're by no means the only one. And we're 3:04:42.800 --> 3:04:45.920 gonna talk about one more in this torture section. Uh 3:04:46.120 --> 3:04:49.920 if you did you know Richard Zuli? Mm hmm okay, 3:04:49.920 --> 3:04:52.600 so yeah, Zuli's Zulie is the one that people tend 3:04:52.640 --> 3:04:55.360 not to know. M Zuli was also a Vietnam War vet. 3:04:55.640 --> 3:04:59.400 He becomes a detective in nine. Um, what's interesting about him? 3:04:59.560 --> 3:05:02.760 Zuli is never part of Burgess Candre Right Burgess Cadres 3:05:02.879 --> 3:05:04.920 working out Verrea too. They're on the south Side. They're 3:05:04.959 --> 3:05:08.040 in an overwhelmingly black part of the south Side. Zuli 3:05:08.080 --> 3:05:10.320 works in areas three and six on the north side. 3:05:11.000 --> 3:05:12.480 You know what what what what I want need to 3:05:12.480 --> 3:05:14.480 mention off the bat is that Zuli is no less 3:05:14.560 --> 3:05:17.000 racist than Burge is. He wants to rested a black 3:05:17.080 --> 3:05:19.560 dude for just like having a car and wearing a 3:05:19.640 --> 3:05:23.519 watch and like like those are both felonies in the 3:05:23.600 --> 3:05:26.240 city of Chicago. Right, well, if you famously never know 3:05:26.280 --> 3:05:29.480 what time it is because you're a law abiding citizen. Yeah, 3:05:29.520 --> 3:05:32.800 well law abidings isn't. And also don't be black while 3:05:32.840 --> 3:05:37.840 doing this because yeah, he throws him in a cell. Yeah, 3:05:38.040 --> 3:05:41.560 well it gets it gets you. Zuli screaming no end 3:05:41.600 --> 3:05:45.199 word is supposed to live like this? Oh boy, oh boy, 3:05:46.360 --> 3:05:50.600 it's you know we we people like talk about cops 3:05:51.000 --> 3:05:53.920 doing stuff for that reason, but it's it's, you know, 3:05:54.480 --> 3:05:57.720 they're so racist. Just get a direct quote. Yeah, Like 3:05:58.520 --> 3:06:03.320 I can't emphasize it, Like they're just they're so racist. 3:06:03.400 --> 3:06:06.600 It's like ingrained into the d like the cop d NA. Yeah, 3:06:06.600 --> 3:06:09.279 they're just saying the loud part loud. Yeah, like they're 3:06:09.320 --> 3:06:11.320 just scribby like that. We're going to do with One 3:06:11.320 --> 3:06:13.040 of the things in the next episode is the cops 3:06:13.040 --> 3:06:15.160 will just drive around like blasting the end. We're out 3:06:15.160 --> 3:06:21.000 of their out of their like cops stereos because Christ. Yeah, now, 3:06:21.320 --> 3:06:23.280 Zuli in a lot of ways is a more modern 3:06:23.320 --> 3:06:25.880 torture than birdges. You know, bird is very big on 3:06:25.959 --> 3:06:28.560 your like overt physical violence, right, you're beating. Your execution 3:06:28.560 --> 3:06:31.400 is suffocation. The problem with these techniques from a torture 3:06:31.400 --> 3:06:34.400 of perspectives that they leave incredibly obvious marks. And you know, 3:06:34.640 --> 3:06:36.800 this is how birde goes down, right, It's it's too 3:06:36.840 --> 3:06:38.720 obvious what he's doing. There are people who can just 3:06:38.760 --> 3:06:40.720 like show up to a court and be like, hey, 3:06:40.800 --> 3:06:43.480 look at my neck, like here are all these burns. 3:06:44.360 --> 3:06:46.640 Zuli is much smarter about it. Um, you know she 3:06:46.680 --> 3:06:48.760 I mean, she does some beatings because cops are literally 3:06:48.800 --> 3:06:50.800 animals and are incapable of resisting the urge to beat 3:06:50.800 --> 3:06:52.640 the living share of anyone who falls into their grasp. 3:06:53.280 --> 3:06:56.360 But you know, mostly what he does is he does 3:06:56.400 --> 3:06:58.080 things like he'll just shackle so much to a wall 3:06:58.120 --> 3:07:01.800 for twenty four hours, and you know, and he'll be like, okay, 3:07:01.800 --> 3:07:03.680 like I'm gonna shock you to this wall and until 3:07:03.680 --> 3:07:05.320 you sign this confession, I won't let you leave. And 3:07:05.320 --> 3:07:06.880 also you can't talk to anyone. You can't talk to 3:07:06.879 --> 3:07:09.760 you lawyer, you can't talk to h like, you can't 3:07:09.760 --> 3:07:12.240 talk to your family. And in the next episode we're 3:07:12.360 --> 3:07:14.480 say this, this this is how modern CPD torture works, except 3:07:14.600 --> 3:07:18.560 Zuli is doing this in the eighties. Now, zuli Is 3:07:18.560 --> 3:07:21.240 is a naval intelligence officer who's he's so he's still 3:07:21.240 --> 3:07:24.080 technically in the reserves when he joins the cops. And 3:07:24.160 --> 3:07:27.000 that meant when the CIA's torture is like Autnomo base 3:07:27.040 --> 3:07:30.320 stalled out, they needed a hero and that hero was 3:07:30.400 --> 3:07:34.800 zuli Um. Zuli Is was the most active. Like that. 3:07:34.920 --> 3:07:37.880 The thing is the most active in is the torture 3:07:38.040 --> 3:07:40.920 of Mohammad o old Sali, who is famously known as 3:07:40.959 --> 3:07:46.440 the most tortured manic autonomo Um. He's yeah, at least 3:07:46.440 --> 3:07:51.959 he gotten a guinness. Yeah, he yeah. They do sleep deprivation. 3:07:52.240 --> 3:07:54.400 I mean they some of it's like the standards sort 3:07:54.440 --> 3:07:57.080 of like get most stuff, which is like they don't 3:07:57.120 --> 3:07:59.440 let you sleep. They blast like sounds until you sell 3:07:59.520 --> 3:08:02.959 all the time him. They like beat you. There's molestations 3:08:03.640 --> 3:08:05.959 and but there's also stuff that's like like you know 3:08:06.000 --> 3:08:07.840 the tharnt of attack by dogs, but like the wh'll 3:08:07.879 --> 3:08:12.680 do things like like he'll like soap people like get 3:08:12.720 --> 3:08:16.480 soaked in ice water or like they stuffed him in 3:08:16.480 --> 3:08:19.200 this like straight jacket thing that didn't let him breathe 3:08:19.200 --> 3:08:24.320 properly and then stuffed full of ice and then Zuli also, yeah, yeah, 3:08:24.360 --> 3:08:26.800 it's it's it's bad. And he also like threatens to 3:08:26.879 --> 3:08:30.000 kidnap his mother and have recent to Guantanamo to be 3:08:30.000 --> 3:08:34.400 braved because these people are again jazz monsters. And yeah, 3:08:34.480 --> 3:08:37.600 Zuli is still alive today and romes the streets as 3:08:37.600 --> 3:08:41.240 a freeman, having received literally no consequences whatsoever for being 3:08:41.280 --> 3:08:43.720 a torturer. So good in the CPD that the CIA 3:08:43.920 --> 3:08:45.760 was like, we're gonna bring this guy into the torture. 3:08:46.240 --> 3:08:52.240 That's great, it's great. It's yep yep ah. And and 3:08:52.280 --> 3:08:57.840 that that that brings us to our first interlude, which 3:08:57.920 --> 3:09:01.000 is every year Chicago Police Office go to the grave 3:09:01.080 --> 3:09:03.560 of the Deputy Chairman of the Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton's, 3:09:03.560 --> 3:09:05.640 who they assassinated in a police rate after drug the 3:09:05.720 --> 3:09:08.240 n um. They go to his grave to shoot his 3:09:08.320 --> 3:09:12.040 fucking tombstone. They do this literally every year. The families 3:09:12.280 --> 3:09:14.640 they keep getting you tombstones, they shoot them every They 3:09:14.640 --> 3:09:17.480 shoot them every year. It just doesn't matter. Uh, the 3:09:17.480 --> 3:09:20.080 CPD just keeps shooting it. And there's a quote from 3:09:20.080 --> 3:09:22.960 the Great Trinity Daddy and marchis historian C. L. R. James, 3:09:23.000 --> 3:09:26.120 And I think about a lot that goes when history 3:09:26.200 --> 3:09:27.879 is written as it ought to be written. It is 3:09:27.879 --> 3:09:30.320 the moderation and long patience of the masses at which 3:09:30.320 --> 3:09:34.680 people will will wonder, not their ferocity. Yep. I really 3:09:34.720 --> 3:09:39.360 hope there's a moment of people doing things to cops 3:09:39.520 --> 3:09:43.400 that makes generations in the future marvel at their ferocity. Yeah. 3:09:43.440 --> 3:09:46.680 I think I can say that without it legally being incitement. Yes. 3:09:47.040 --> 3:09:49.160 I'll make one other fun note, which is that five 3:09:49.240 --> 3:09:52.879 Chicago police officers died last year from COVID. So that's good. Yeah, 3:09:54.360 --> 3:09:57.720 let's make it fifty officer Dad. Look, they're working on it. 3:09:58.080 --> 3:10:01.040 They don't they won't wear masks. Back to critical support 3:10:01.080 --> 3:10:03.960 to the Chicago police who don't wear masks. They're they're 3:10:04.040 --> 3:10:06.680 they're they're they're they're they're having their police Academy exams 3:10:06.680 --> 3:10:10.400 in person. Now, oh that's good, that's good. You know what, 3:10:12.040 --> 3:10:16.800 critical support spend more time indoors together without masks. Guys, 3:10:16.840 --> 3:10:24.920 avoid those vaxes. Yeah, yeah, great, will happen. Okay, So 3:10:25.200 --> 3:10:30.199 story two, which is a shorter one but no less bleak. 3:10:30.360 --> 3:10:36.360 I think. On October fourteen, officer Jason Van Dyke fired 3:10:36.440 --> 3:10:40.040 sixteen shots at Lakwon McDonald, who had turned around and 3:10:40.160 --> 3:10:43.240 was walking away from him. Here's from the people of 3:10:43.280 --> 3:10:47.720 the state of Illinois. Walking away aggressively, Chris, Yeah, oh boy, 3:10:47.879 --> 3:10:54.200 violently exiting. Yeah, I walking away while black, which I 3:10:54.240 --> 3:10:57.160 guess in the minds of like half of the United States. 3:10:57.400 --> 3:11:02.039 Is someone at defended legal right to shoot people in 3:11:02.080 --> 3:11:06.320 the back who are trying to a way. Yeah, it's yeah, 3:11:06.440 --> 3:11:09.800 great country, We're nailing it. From the Chicago Tribune and 3:11:09.879 --> 3:11:12.120 analysis of the video. This is this is from the 3:11:12.480 --> 3:11:15.120 court case, but in the child Tribune. An analysis of 3:11:15.160 --> 3:11:18.640 the video establishes that fourteen to fifteen seconds passed from 3:11:18.640 --> 3:11:22.240 the time the defendant Van Dyke fired his first shot 3:11:22.560 --> 3:11:25.920 to clear visual confirmation of the final shot. For approximately 3:11:25.920 --> 3:11:28.800 thirteen of those seconds, McDonald is lying on the ground, 3:11:29.680 --> 3:11:32.960 so he he fires literally every bullet in he's gone 3:11:32.959 --> 3:11:36.360 at a man who is, by those like second shot, 3:11:36.600 --> 3:11:38.360 lying dead, like well it's not quite dead yet, but 3:11:38.640 --> 3:11:42.720 like lying on the ground. It's just Yeah. From the 3:11:42.760 --> 3:11:46.360 cops perspective, like why not like that? That's like that, 3:11:46.480 --> 3:11:48.760 like like they have the ability to do that. If 3:11:48.800 --> 3:11:50.840 they get the chance, Oh I get to kill a 3:11:50.920 --> 3:11:54.040 black person and it doesn't matter, then why like you know, 3:11:54.280 --> 3:11:56.360 that's like if you if you you have to, you 3:11:56.400 --> 3:12:01.800 have to think through like what they're actually processing this as. 3:12:01.920 --> 3:12:03.760 And they don't see them as like a they don't 3:12:03.760 --> 3:12:06.280 see them as like an equivalent human life. So it 3:12:06.400 --> 3:12:09.560 doesn't like it's it's they don't it doesn't like you 3:12:09.600 --> 3:12:13.480 can't like apply the same rules of civility that like 3:12:13.879 --> 3:12:17.440 we should all kind of agree upon because cops have 3:12:17.480 --> 3:12:21.560 such a higher hierarchical viewpoint that with them at the top, 3:12:21.840 --> 3:12:25.160 that they can never actually exist within any kind of 3:12:25.320 --> 3:12:30.959 humane society. That's why again unspeakable ferocity of the masses 3:12:31.200 --> 3:12:35.920 fingers crossed one day. Yeah, yeah, well you know, and 3:12:36.200 --> 3:12:39.720 I think that the thing, you know, Okay, so look, 3:12:39.760 --> 3:12:42.199 if this is the price of a liberal democracy, right, 3:12:42.240 --> 3:12:43.960 if if you're going to if you're going to live 3:12:44.040 --> 3:12:47.520 in a society that has like you know that that 3:12:47.640 --> 3:12:49.760 where laws are enforced by the police, the police are 3:12:49.760 --> 3:12:51.960 going to murder people like that's that that that's what 3:12:52.000 --> 3:12:54.560 you're signing on for. And I think that I think 3:12:54.560 --> 3:12:57.160 that's an absolutely unacceptable price. And but we shouldn't do this. 3:12:57.959 --> 3:13:01.600 Um Now. The other aspect of this is because you 3:13:01.640 --> 3:13:05.480 have to keep all of these just absolutely like just 3:13:06.000 --> 3:13:10.120 bloodthirsty burderers on the leash. And because also all the 3:13:10.160 --> 3:13:13.879 people who are actually in the governments are just genuinely 3:13:13.879 --> 3:13:17.840 the asplicable human beings. Uh. Immediately after I mean, like 3:13:18.000 --> 3:13:20.640 really before the shots have stopped firing, like, there's a 3:13:20.640 --> 3:13:23.959 coper up that stretches from like includes everyone from the 3:13:24.000 --> 3:13:25.600 officers on the scene all the way up to may 3:13:25.720 --> 3:13:28.800 Raw Emmanuel. So for example, mysteriously none of the multiple 3:13:28.879 --> 3:13:31.640 dashboard cameras on the scene we're recording audio for reasons 3:13:31.640 --> 3:13:36.160 only the discerning listener can guess at yep, Like everyone 3:13:36.200 --> 3:13:38.720 across the entire chain of command again going right up 3:13:38.760 --> 3:13:41.640 to the mayor's office immediately goes we we cannot let 3:13:41.640 --> 3:13:45.280 this video get out because it's it's so bad that 3:13:45.840 --> 3:13:49.840 even the CPD s like this is gonna look bad 3:13:49.879 --> 3:13:52.480 for us. Because the thing gets out, then people will 3:13:52.520 --> 3:13:55.199 want to do bad things to cops and they can't 3:13:55.200 --> 3:14:00.080 have that. And you know, so this this, this is 3:14:00.760 --> 3:14:03.960 this tape is concealed for over a year until the 3:14:04.000 --> 3:14:08.520 journalist Brandon Smith like literally gets a like sues them 3:14:08.520 --> 3:14:11.000 and literally gets the judge to like order the state 3:14:11.040 --> 3:14:13.240 to release it. And while this is going on, that 3:14:13.280 --> 3:14:15.880 the cops are doing this massive pr blitz featuring this 3:14:16.000 --> 3:14:19.480 just like incredible pack of racist lies, including that McDonald 3:14:19.480 --> 3:14:21.560 had lunge for it yet Van Dyke with a knife. No, 3:14:21.640 --> 3:14:23.680 he didn't, He was literally walking away from them. That 3:14:23.800 --> 3:14:26.960 McDonald had a gun, which is initiesting one because not 3:14:27.040 --> 3:14:29.120 only like they didn't even have time to like plant 3:14:29.160 --> 3:14:31.000 like they killed him so fast, they didn't have time 3:14:31.000 --> 3:14:33.480 to plant a gun on him, like there's no gun. 3:14:33.640 --> 3:14:35.879 But the multiple officers will are are like you can 3:14:35.920 --> 3:14:37.520 you can find news things of them talking about how 3:14:37.560 --> 3:14:38.880 this guy, oh, he had a gun. It's like there's 3:14:38.879 --> 3:14:42.840 no gun. Um. Yeah. The classic one is that like 3:14:42.879 --> 3:14:46.240 Van Dyke feared for his life and uh, no he didn't. 3:14:46.320 --> 3:14:50.000 He probably should now, but he does not. Yeah, he 3:14:50.000 --> 3:14:53.280 should never. He should never live awaking or sleeping moments 3:14:53.520 --> 3:14:56.440 where he's not in constant fear of someone cutting his 3:14:56.520 --> 3:14:59.000 head off, just as like in terms of the horror 3:14:59.080 --> 3:15:02.240 that should be viewed inside people who do these things, 3:15:02.440 --> 3:15:04.360 they should never like they shouldn't have been able to 3:15:04.360 --> 3:15:07.720 like sit down and be comfortable. The closest we've ever 3:15:07.760 --> 3:15:10.200 gotten in to justice for one of these guys is 3:15:10.240 --> 3:15:14.880 when that mob surrounded Uh, Derek Chauvin's house. Yeah, and 3:15:15.440 --> 3:15:17.800 it would have been actual justice if they had gotten 3:15:17.800 --> 3:15:23.440 through the door. Yep, yeah, it's yeah, so you know 3:15:23.480 --> 3:15:25.760 all and you ever like so there's all there's there's 3:15:25.760 --> 3:15:28.080 this huge coterie of cops. We're all just lying about this. 3:15:28.560 --> 3:15:30.800 They're lying in the press. They're lying just there lying. 3:15:30.840 --> 3:15:34.599 They they start they lie like on the stand um. 3:15:34.680 --> 3:15:36.880 And you know, the strategy works for a while because 3:15:36.879 --> 3:15:39.080 this country is just the racist tellhole until the court 3:15:39.080 --> 3:15:41.840 forces him to release the video. And when it becomes 3:15:41.879 --> 3:15:43.040 clear of the video is going to come out, the 3:15:43.040 --> 3:15:45.680 state immediately charges him, like they charged him, and then 3:15:45.760 --> 3:15:47.959 later that day they released a video. Now, now keep 3:15:47.959 --> 3:15:50.840 this in mind, they had this video for a fucking year. 3:15:51.840 --> 3:15:55.040 It's what it's all. It's all fake and you know, yeah, 3:15:55.040 --> 3:15:57.320 and they only charged him with the alternative was literally 3:15:57.360 --> 3:15:59.320 being run into the sea by an entire mob of 3:15:59.360 --> 3:16:03.040 the totally the entire population of Chicago. Um. So, Van 3:16:03.080 --> 3:16:05.240 Dyke is suspended without pay, right, but he immediately gets 3:16:05.280 --> 3:16:10.400 hired by the by the police union. Yeah yeah, yeah, 3:16:11.120 --> 3:16:13.680 and and Van Dyke Van Dyke eventually, i mean he 3:16:13.720 --> 3:16:16.120 goes down. Eventually he gets convicted of you know, of 3:16:16.160 --> 3:16:19.840 second green murder and sixteen counts of battery. But you know, 3:16:19.879 --> 3:16:21.880 there's a there's a later report that describes the involvement 3:16:21.920 --> 3:16:24.879 of sixteen other officers in the cover up. Uh. Four 3:16:24.920 --> 3:16:27.840 officers were eventually fired for lying about the case, three 3:16:27.840 --> 3:16:29.840 were tried for the cover up and acquitted, and four 3:16:29.879 --> 3:16:32.840 officers were given a one week suspension for the mysterious 3:16:32.920 --> 3:16:41.080 lack of camera audio. Honestly, more is more than usually happens. Yeah, well, 3:16:41.080 --> 3:16:43.920 I mean this is like this video is so bad 3:16:44.040 --> 3:16:46.199 that like this video is so I mean, Raw Emmanuel 3:16:46.879 --> 3:16:49.440 doesn't really mean he that the consequence he suffers is 3:16:49.480 --> 3:16:51.920 that he decides not to run again because it will 3:16:51.959 --> 3:16:55.920 be bad for him. But Raw Emmanuel is currently now 3:16:56.120 --> 3:16:58.560 that his his consequence is that he's the American ambassador 3:16:58.560 --> 3:17:03.000 of Japan and death. You know, I I will also 3:17:03.000 --> 3:17:05.360 say this, the people of Japan do not deserve Raw Emmanual. 3:17:05.520 --> 3:17:07.840 The Liberal Democratic Party, on the other hand, are maybe 3:17:07.879 --> 3:17:09.920 the only people on earth who actually deserve him. Like, 3:17:09.959 --> 3:17:12.119 if you didn't want us to palm row Mammanuel off 3:17:12.280 --> 3:17:14.080 on you, you shouldn't have taken all that CIA money 3:17:14.120 --> 3:17:15.480 in the fifties and sixties and let them run your 3:17:15.480 --> 3:17:19.440 political campaigns. So Liberal Democratic Party, lie down with dogs, 3:17:19.480 --> 3:17:23.920 get fleas um. But yeah, Jason van Dyke was released 3:17:23.920 --> 3:17:26.080 from prison two weeks ago after serving less than half 3:17:26.080 --> 3:17:33.160 a sentence. Mcwam McDonald's remains dead. Yeah. I mean the 3:17:33.200 --> 3:17:35.800 really depressing part is that that is more consequences than 3:17:35.920 --> 3:17:41.320 usually ever happens, and that that only happened because of, 3:17:41.720 --> 3:17:44.280 you know, like an incredible amount of organization, and like 3:17:44.320 --> 3:17:46.520 I think of all of the times where there is 3:17:46.560 --> 3:17:48.520 no video, Think of all the times where there's nothing 3:17:48.640 --> 3:17:51.879 and things just happened, no one watches it, and then 3:17:52.040 --> 3:17:56.120 dead bodies get kicked into a ditch um. And that's 3:17:56.200 --> 3:17:59.000 way more common than anything where there's a type of 3:17:59.000 --> 3:18:01.200 like recordings or even where there needs to be cover ups. 3:18:01.959 --> 3:18:04.320 You know, you you both are probably too young for 3:18:04.360 --> 3:18:06.720 this movie. But in one of the Transformers movies, after 3:18:06.760 --> 3:18:12.200 they beat all the bad Transformers, okay, you know where 3:18:12.200 --> 3:18:14.400 the navy lifts them all up and drops them into 3:18:14.400 --> 3:18:16.920 the sea. Yes, what if we did that with the 3:18:17.000 --> 3:18:21.840 Chicago Police Department. Just drop him in the sea, big old, 3:18:21.920 --> 3:18:25.840 big them up, drop him in the sea. Yea, Now 3:18:25.879 --> 3:18:28.040 we put them in a bag. There's no swimming Okay, 3:18:28.240 --> 3:18:32.200 that's fair. Look, look they one one, they get one 3:18:32.240 --> 3:18:35.080 bag individual, each individual against one bag for each bag. 3:18:35.120 --> 3:18:37.280 They put over someone's head and strangled them with I 3:18:37.320 --> 3:18:40.320 think that's fair, and then right into the sea and 3:18:41.720 --> 3:18:45.360 solves all problems. The blessing, like I do, I do 3:18:45.480 --> 3:18:48.480 genuinely want to say, is that like if if you 3:18:48.560 --> 3:18:51.560 read this story over and over and over and over again, 3:18:51.600 --> 3:18:53.959 you get people who are like you get the governor 3:18:54.040 --> 3:18:56.400 going like the system is fundamentally broken to must reformat. 3:18:56.400 --> 3:18:58.360 You get the courts saying the system is fundamentally broken 3:18:58.360 --> 3:19:02.720 and blush reformat and it never changes. They just keep 3:19:02.760 --> 3:19:05.480 killing people, they keep inslaving people, they keep doing like, 3:19:05.520 --> 3:19:08.800 they keep troaturing people, they keep murdering people, they keep 3:19:08.840 --> 3:19:12.320 raving people, and this will not end until you abolish 3:19:12.360 --> 3:19:16.080 the police. Like there is no alternative if you if 3:19:16.120 --> 3:19:20.480 your car is fun is broken on a fundamental level, 3:19:20.959 --> 3:19:23.720 you can't you can't reform your car to make it better. 3:19:24.000 --> 3:19:26.480 There's a certain point where it's total and you're like, well, 3:19:26.640 --> 3:19:30.400 I guess that kind It's like Asian block is shattered 3:19:30.400 --> 3:19:33.080 and you're like, we fixes the tires, so it ought 3:19:33.120 --> 3:19:36.280 to go now. No, It's like if it's broken on 3:19:36.320 --> 3:19:39.520 the fundamental level, you can't reform it. Those words like 3:19:39.560 --> 3:19:43.600 those words don't go together, yea, like throw out, throw 3:19:43.640 --> 3:19:47.000 out your car and build a train. That's that's what 3:19:47.040 --> 3:19:55.360 you have to do. Walk to get a bicycle, honestly, Like, yeah, 3:19:55.440 --> 3:19:57.800 I stuck a bottle onto the rail of my A 3:19:57.959 --> 3:20:00.680 R fifteen. So it's not a gun anymore. No, it's 3:20:00.800 --> 3:20:07.280 it's still is gone. Um. Yeah, this is really really 3:20:07.320 --> 3:20:13.000 sad um and it's good stuff. Pretty depressing. Um. Anyway, 3:20:13.040 --> 3:20:15.840 I'm gonna go watch Two Eights The Dark Night and 3:20:15.920 --> 3:20:22.640 feel feel great about myself. Yeah all right, Well that's 3:20:22.640 --> 3:20:24.400 gonna do it for us, and it could happen here 3:20:24.440 --> 3:20:30.840 today until next time. Uh, hope that more Chicago police 3:20:30.879 --> 3:20:34.360 officers get COVID there there is that. There's that fun 3:20:34.440 --> 3:20:37.080 scene in the Dark Knight where the Joker goes into 3:20:37.160 --> 3:20:40.080 the Chicago Police building and blows up the prison block 3:20:40.120 --> 3:20:42.200 with all those cops inside. That is that is a 3:20:42.240 --> 3:21:02.480 fun scene. Yeah anyway, Um, oh my goodness, it's could 3:21:02.560 --> 3:21:06.959 happen here. All right. Well that's the introduction. I'm Robert 3:21:06.959 --> 3:21:11.040 Evans and my work's done for today. Chris, Yeah, it's me. 3:21:11.120 --> 3:21:13.880 It's Christopher. We are We are back with two more 3:21:13.920 --> 3:21:17.000 stories of rape, torture, and murder from the Chicago Police Department. 3:21:18.400 --> 3:21:23.720 Yeah we have Yeah, well you know, okay, this one, this, 3:21:23.760 --> 3:21:26.960 this one will be more fun than last time because okay, 3:21:26.959 --> 3:21:29.320 so basically, since since I started showing up on this show, 3:21:29.400 --> 3:21:31.680 I have made a case. I have been dropping references 3:21:31.680 --> 3:21:34.279 to the fact that Chicago Police Department is literally a cartel, 3:21:34.800 --> 3:21:37.680 and today I am finally telling the story of how 3:21:37.840 --> 3:21:42.240 this is a little unfair. But yeah, also, also I 3:21:42.240 --> 3:21:44.200 didn't mention this before we go win. There's also a 3:21:44.240 --> 3:21:46.400 bonus cartel because while I was doing research on one 3:21:46.400 --> 3:21:48.240 of the cartels, I realized that I couldn't actually talk 3:21:48.280 --> 3:21:51.360 about it without talking about the other cartel. So there's two. 3:21:51.959 --> 3:21:55.560 There are two completely unrelated CPD cartels that are will 3:21:55.560 --> 3:21:59.600 show up in this story. Uh yeah, it's great. So 3:22:00.520 --> 3:22:04.960 all right, this is the story of Ronald Watts. Now, 3:22:05.080 --> 3:22:08.160 Ronard Wats joined the CPD in nine after serving in 3:22:08.200 --> 3:22:10.680 the Army, making him yet another example of the fabled 3:22:10.720 --> 3:22:13.720 troop cop combination that produces the worst people on earth. 3:22:14.480 --> 3:22:18.480 Um what. Wats was assigned to patrol Chicago's old public 3:22:18.520 --> 3:22:24.360 housing like projects now wants is from housing himself. Um, 3:22:24.520 --> 3:22:28.879 there's okay. So some of the people who knew him 3:22:28.920 --> 3:22:32.440 before he went into the police claimed that, like he 3:22:32.560 --> 3:22:34.960 was just always like a drug dealer, and that he 3:22:35.000 --> 3:22:38.080 went into the police too like drug deal more. I 3:22:38.120 --> 3:22:40.840 don't know if that's true, because I mean, he's also 3:22:40.879 --> 3:22:43.840 in the army for a while, so I I don't know. 3:22:43.879 --> 3:22:47.920 It's sort of unclear. But you know, he's for the projects. 3:22:47.920 --> 3:22:49.680 He he knows that terign well, and that's why he 3:22:49.720 --> 3:22:51.960 was an extremely effective agent of terror in a place 3:22:51.959 --> 3:22:54.560 where officers would regularly drive by blasting the N word 3:22:54.600 --> 3:22:56.640 and other racial slurs out of their cop car speakers. 3:22:57.440 --> 3:23:01.080 Uh yeah, here here, here's the intercept describing what like 3:23:01.160 --> 3:23:04.360 Chicago cops are just doing at the projects. They were 3:23:04.360 --> 3:23:06.600 officers who found it amusing to toy with those under 3:23:06.640 --> 3:23:09.400 their power, arranging the foot race of heroin addics determined 3:23:09.400 --> 3:23:11.680 who would go to jail, for example, or forcing a 3:23:11.680 --> 3:23:13.320 woman they had searched on the street to walk home 3:23:13.400 --> 3:23:17.240 naked from the waist down. It's yeah, people who find 3:23:17.320 --> 3:23:19.880 joint exerting their power over other people and they think 3:23:19.879 --> 3:23:24.680 it's funny. Yeah, why they become cops. Yep. Well, and 3:23:24.720 --> 3:23:26.400 you know and the other reason to become a cop 3:23:26.520 --> 3:23:29.560 is is the the second thing that they do constantly, 3:23:29.600 --> 3:23:31.440 which is they just walk into the lobbies of these 3:23:31.440 --> 3:23:34.920 buildings just start taking everyone's money. And like they literally 3:23:34.920 --> 3:23:37.400 call the lobbies of the public housing buildings like quote 3:23:37.400 --> 3:23:41.680 their ATM machine. So they're just doing this constantly. There's 3:23:41.680 --> 3:23:43.680 also cops and this is not every cop that they're 3:23:43.680 --> 3:23:46.120 specific cops you do this who would show up on 3:23:46.480 --> 3:23:48.320 the first and the fifteenth of the month, wait for 3:23:48.320 --> 3:23:51.959 everyone to catch their paychecks and then rob them. And 3:23:52.280 --> 3:23:54.200 you know, and the thing I think is important about 3:23:54.240 --> 3:23:56.800 this is that, Okay, so like WATS and like the 3:23:56.840 --> 3:23:59.120 specific cartels do this, but this isn't just WATS. This 3:23:59.160 --> 3:24:01.080 is like, this is everyone who's working at these projects 3:24:01.160 --> 3:24:04.520 is just walking up like to like the poorest people 3:24:05.000 --> 3:24:10.200 in Chicago and just robbing them constantly. Um yeah, like 3:24:10.240 --> 3:24:11.400 this is this is you know, this this is just 3:24:11.440 --> 3:24:13.920 how regular policing works. And the elite units are even worse. 3:24:14.480 --> 3:24:17.200 So Cartel number one or I guess, I guess you're 3:24:17.200 --> 3:24:19.440 trying about choose since we've introduced WATTS. But so there 3:24:19.520 --> 3:24:22.360 used to be an elite unit in the Chicago Police 3:24:22.360 --> 3:24:25.800 Force called the Special Operations Section or s OS. And 3:24:25.879 --> 3:24:28.160 these guys, these guys are different because they you know, 3:24:28.200 --> 3:24:30.480 they're they're they're not attached to like an area or 3:24:30.520 --> 3:24:32.400 certific you know, they're they're just completely their own thing. 3:24:32.480 --> 3:24:35.640 They're just like they're the Special Response Team. And s 3:24:35.680 --> 3:24:39.720 OS would just go into projects and just ransacked the 3:24:39.840 --> 3:24:42.240 entire building like they would go room by room like 3:24:42.320 --> 3:24:45.200 taking people stuff and just looting it and then just 3:24:45.280 --> 3:24:48.160 like walking out. And you know, it's not even like 3:24:48.200 --> 3:24:50.440 there's not just that they're taking cash, like they're taking TVs. 3:24:51.200 --> 3:24:52.600 And I mean the thing that the thing the thing 3:24:52.600 --> 3:24:54.080 you if when you when you read interview some people 3:24:54.080 --> 3:24:56.440 who lived through this, like they're not just taking like 3:24:56.600 --> 3:24:58.480 stuff that's like you know, let's use that are expensive there. 3:24:58.480 --> 3:25:00.920 They'll take people's like lamps, like they're just walk out 3:25:00.959 --> 3:25:04.760 with anything like literally anything they can sell um. And 3:25:04.800 --> 3:25:06.360 you know, I get like these are these are the 3:25:06.640 --> 3:25:10.320 people living in these projects are like huge, like a 3:25:10.360 --> 3:25:13.240 lot a lot of these postures literally like segregation era, right, 3:25:13.280 --> 3:25:16.880 and so they're they're almost entirely black and they're just 3:25:16.959 --> 3:25:20.480 take like they're just getting robbed, but constantly by both 3:25:20.560 --> 3:25:24.199 regular cops a special operation section, and there's not even 3:25:24.240 --> 3:25:28.160 like you know, like cops nowadays have like they have 3:25:28.240 --> 3:25:30.800 like civil asset forfature where there's this like pseudo legal 3:25:30.840 --> 3:25:32.400 framework and no, no no, no, there's like they're not even 3:25:32.879 --> 3:25:34.360 this is the nights, They're not even doing that. They're 3:25:34.400 --> 3:25:37.640 just literally walking in and robbing these people at gunpoint. Um. 3:25:37.920 --> 3:25:40.240 S OS like they eventually get shut down deals and 3:25:40.280 --> 3:25:44.720 seven after so there's a series of scangles about them. 3:25:44.879 --> 3:25:47.480 They they steal like hundreds of thousands of dollars and people, 3:25:47.480 --> 3:25:52.160 they do shakedowns with drug dealers, they start kidnapping people. Um. 3:25:52.240 --> 3:25:54.120 At one point in s OS, dude like tried to 3:25:54.200 --> 3:25:56.320 hire his coworker to do a hit on someone who 3:25:56.400 --> 3:26:00.520 was like going to report them to the Feds. And yeah, 3:26:00.560 --> 3:26:03.760 but s OS isn't the main story today because Watts 3:26:03.879 --> 3:26:07.920 is writing is running an even larger version of this operation. Um, 3:26:07.959 --> 3:26:10.560 and you know, well I's proways researching this. I had 3:26:10.600 --> 3:26:12.400 the realization that, like, so I've talked to people in 3:26:12.480 --> 3:26:15.960 Chicago about like the CPD Cartel's right, and I had 3:26:15.959 --> 3:26:18.039 the realization that there are conversations that I've had people 3:26:18.080 --> 3:26:20.480 where we've been we've both been talking about different ones, 3:26:20.840 --> 3:26:22.640 and we both we both thought we were talking about this, 3:26:22.640 --> 3:26:24.840 Like I've had people talking backwards like oh, they were 3:26:24.840 --> 3:26:26.480 talking about the West. I was like, no, No No, I 3:26:26.560 --> 3:26:32.199 met the Watts one. It's it's it's great. It's love 3:26:32.400 --> 3:26:40.600 love our institutionalized just robbery system. Yeah. So the other 3:26:40.640 --> 3:26:44.520 thing I want to mention because so the intercepted like 3:26:44.720 --> 3:26:47.880 really good, like four like huge four part series on 3:26:47.879 --> 3:26:52.920 on the Watts. H like cartel. But I think it's 3:26:52.920 --> 3:26:55.080 worth mentioning that, Like even you know that there's like 3:26:55.120 --> 3:26:57.960 two quote unquote good cops who like go after Watts 3:26:58.680 --> 3:27:00.560 and for years and they've met your him down. But 3:27:00.560 --> 3:27:03.360 like even those cops are doing things that are objectively horrifying. 3:27:03.840 --> 3:27:05.920 Like most of the actual cop work in this story 3:27:06.120 --> 3:27:09.480 is done by is literally just the good cops. Like 3:27:09.840 --> 3:27:12.959 they know a homeless guy they called Chewbaka who they 3:27:13.280 --> 3:27:15.800 paid to be an informant in like blankets, sleeping bags 3:27:15.840 --> 3:27:21.840 and food and like it's like it should be fair 3:27:21.920 --> 3:27:25.320 Chebaca like genuinely like likes the two of them, But 3:27:25.560 --> 3:27:27.920 Cheubaca is the guy who does all of the work here, 3:27:27.959 --> 3:27:31.480 Like what Wastz gets like like he's the guy who's 3:27:31.520 --> 3:27:33.600 like wearing the wire. He's the guy who knows everything 3:27:33.600 --> 3:27:36.880 the cops. The cops don't know anything, and Chibaka has 3:27:36.920 --> 3:27:39.359 known that everything that was going on from the beginning. 3:27:40.000 --> 3:27:43.160 They just don't ask him for years. But like in 3:27:43.560 --> 3:27:47.040 Chiubaca like goes to prison at one point because Wats Okay, 3:27:47.040 --> 3:27:49.920 so what Watson Wats is just like a drug dealer, right, 3:27:50.720 --> 3:27:55.440 um so wants and uh so so Cheebaca would like, 3:27:55.640 --> 3:27:56.720 you know, he he was like he was like a 3:27:56.760 --> 3:27:59.080 sort of low level like runner. Right, you'd get a bag, 3:27:59.120 --> 3:28:02.600 he'd like move it sometimes times And one time in 3:28:02.720 --> 3:28:05.400 Watchaws these new for informations. So one time, like Watts 3:28:06.080 --> 3:28:07.680 was like trying to get information on where a drug 3:28:07.720 --> 3:28:10.240 stash was we could rob it and then like well 3:28:10.360 --> 3:28:12.280 time so he could do a police raid on it 3:28:12.280 --> 3:28:14.279 and then take the drugs and sell them. And Chibaka 3:28:14.360 --> 3:28:16.680 just like didn't know. So Wat's just like through be 3:28:16.680 --> 3:28:20.360 in prison for two years and it's just like you know, 3:28:21.280 --> 3:28:23.320 this this stuff this time happens constantly. That there are 3:28:23.320 --> 3:28:26.760 so many people who are just you know, like people 3:28:26.800 --> 3:28:30.200 trying to survive in the city and then oh, hey, 3:28:30.240 --> 3:28:33.080 you don't have the exact specific information that this cop 3:28:33.160 --> 3:28:34.720 wants on this drug thing. So we're just gonna send 3:28:34.760 --> 3:28:37.480 you to prison for two years. And Chivaca, who like 3:28:37.600 --> 3:28:40.000 risks his life wearing a wire and brings down one 3:28:40.040 --> 3:28:41.760 of the biggest cartels in the CPD, as best I 3:28:41.800 --> 3:28:44.120 can tell, is still living on the street because the 3:28:44.160 --> 3:28:48.920 society is just broken in ways that like are difficult 3:28:48.959 --> 3:28:55.800 to comprehend and incredibly bleak. Yeah mm hmm. Yeah. So okay, 3:28:55.800 --> 3:28:58.400 back to Watch this operation. Watts has this thing called 3:28:58.400 --> 3:29:01.200 the Watts Tax, and the Watch tex is if you 3:29:01.280 --> 3:29:03.440 run drugs, you pay the tax to Wats and this 3:29:03.560 --> 3:29:05.560 this tax gives you production from the police. If if if 3:29:05.680 --> 3:29:07.240 you don't pay the Watch tax, the cops show up, 3:29:07.280 --> 3:29:08.960 they put you in prison, they take all your cash, 3:29:08.959 --> 3:29:11.000 they raid your drugs, and then Watch resolves your drugs 3:29:11.000 --> 3:29:13.600 that are profit I mean that is like objectively, that 3:29:13.720 --> 3:29:15.920 is a decent grift, Like in terms of it's pretty 3:29:15.920 --> 3:29:20.080 good logistical plans, like yeah, okay, I can I can 3:29:20.120 --> 3:29:22.360 see how how this would actually be very profitable. Yeah, 3:29:22.360 --> 3:29:25.040 it's genius and like and and the other thing about 3:29:25.080 --> 3:29:27.560 these taxes, like these taxes are enormous amounts of money, 3:29:27.600 --> 3:29:30.640 Like if if so, if if, if you're running a drug, 3:29:30.800 --> 3:29:33.480 that's like, okay, so you have a drug that you 3:29:33.560 --> 3:29:37.440 move and the drugs I've I've ran drugs for thirty years, 3:29:37.480 --> 3:29:41.080 I know. Yeah, so the tax for the for that 3:29:41.200 --> 3:29:43.840 single drug can be as high as fifty dollars a week. 3:29:44.959 --> 3:29:47.040 So he is he is making a lot of money, 3:29:47.200 --> 3:29:50.840 so much money, just an incomprehensible amount of money off 3:29:50.879 --> 3:29:55.440 of this, I guess, I guess you would have to 3:29:55.440 --> 3:29:59.520 become cops. I have an idea for a pivot. Do 3:29:59.560 --> 3:30:02.240 it in the car, tell pivot. This is how we give, 3:30:02.360 --> 3:30:03.480 this is how we get funded by this in a 3:30:03.480 --> 3:30:06.320 lower care And we've always been a cartel, but that's well, 3:30:06.400 --> 3:30:09.560 when we moved from podcasting into drugs, we can partner 3:30:09.600 --> 3:30:11.560 with our friends at the scene, a lower cartel. Yea 3:30:11.600 --> 3:30:15.600 would be great. Eventually, there's a guy named Big Shorty 3:30:15.640 --> 3:30:20.039 who's another like player in the scene. And yeah, all 3:30:20.040 --> 3:30:22.520 the people in this name of this great names. Yeah 3:30:22.520 --> 3:30:26.520 it's great. So Big Shorty is like, I'm not paying 3:30:26.800 --> 3:30:29.560 like fifty k a week per drug to do this anymore. 3:30:29.600 --> 3:30:32.760 I'm gonna go to the Feds and so so be 3:30:32.879 --> 3:30:34.360 short like he threatens to go to the feeds and 3:30:34.360 --> 3:30:35.680 he goes to the d A and then like a 3:30:35.720 --> 3:30:38.000 couple of days later, she's gunned down the street by 3:30:38.120 --> 3:30:42.920 yeah you never yeah no, like yeah, well if you do, 3:30:43.040 --> 3:30:46.520 you have to make sure they like disappear you because uh, 3:30:46.840 --> 3:30:49.320 you never threaten it, like that's the yeah, yeah, yeah 3:30:49.320 --> 3:30:53.560 you don't. These worlds you mentioned like cops and going 3:30:53.640 --> 3:30:56.360 to in any combination, and everyone around you just like, 3:30:56.360 --> 3:30:58.160 all right, well, this person's got to be dead. That's 3:30:58.200 --> 3:31:01.720 just how that's gotta go. Yeah, it's it's not it's 3:31:01.720 --> 3:31:06.400 not the best move I've ever seen. It's yeah, so 3:31:06.800 --> 3:31:08.840 you know, And and this is when this is when 3:31:08.879 --> 3:31:11.560 the cops, the two cops are gonna bring Watch down, 3:31:11.560 --> 3:31:14.199 like actually started to take notice because literally for years, 3:31:14.280 --> 3:31:15.960 I mean they're they're all sorry about this, like people 3:31:15.959 --> 3:31:18.880 they'd be locking people up and people would say things 3:31:18.879 --> 3:31:20.760 like why are you going after me for two bags? 3:31:20.760 --> 3:31:22.480 And Watts is running the dope and just no one 3:31:22.520 --> 3:31:25.560 believes them, Like the cops are being told constantly for 3:31:25.680 --> 3:31:27.480 years like that the cops who aren't in on the 3:31:28.400 --> 3:31:30.560 on the intel I being told literally for years that 3:31:30.720 --> 3:31:33.680 that this whole thing is you know that that oh yeah, 3:31:33.680 --> 3:31:35.959 well why why are you bothering me? Watts is running 3:31:35.959 --> 3:31:40.760 this operation. They don't believe them, and they don't they 3:31:40.760 --> 3:31:44.040 don't believe them basically until Big Shorty gets shot. Because 3:31:45.040 --> 3:31:48.520 when when Big Shorty goes down like another they get 3:31:48.520 --> 3:31:50.000 another guy who's like pretty big in the scene, the 3:31:50.040 --> 3:31:52.080 guy's like, oh, yeah, no, he got shot by Wats, 3:31:52.120 --> 3:31:57.280 and they're like, wait, hold on now, the cops go 3:31:57.360 --> 3:32:00.000 to the FBI, and the FBI, it turns out, of 3:32:00.000 --> 3:32:01.840 has been trying and failing to put again put together 3:32:01.879 --> 3:32:04.120 a case against Watts for so long that like they're 3:32:04.120 --> 3:32:06.320 on there like second like agent who they've had in 3:32:06.440 --> 3:32:08.879 charge of the case because the first guy, like I 3:32:08.879 --> 3:32:10.120 just could do it and laugh. And so they had 3:32:10.120 --> 3:32:15.400 another guy and almost immediately after this, uh there's there's 3:32:15.400 --> 3:32:18.520 another guy. There's another dealer named Fears who he has 3:32:18.560 --> 3:32:21.120 this Fierce has this great grift which is like all 3:32:21.160 --> 3:32:22.920 of his people wear Obama shirts just like just like 3:32:23.000 --> 3:32:26.920 you do eight but he doesn't know, doesn't seven or something? 3:32:27.120 --> 3:32:28.800 But yeah, so like that, all all the people doing 3:32:28.800 --> 3:32:31.080 this thing, they wear Obama shirts and they call the 3:32:31.120 --> 3:32:34.280 drugs like Obama and so what everyone they have their 3:32:34.280 --> 3:32:37.720 lines called Hope. So and like this this this actually 3:32:37.760 --> 3:32:41.000 works on the FBI, Like the FBI doesn't understand that 3:32:41.000 --> 3:32:43.039 they're running drugs because they think that they're that Like 3:32:43.040 --> 3:32:45.000 all the Messa references of Obama are just like they're 3:32:45.000 --> 3:32:49.880 talking about like Obama. It's like there's there's so many, 3:32:50.240 --> 3:32:53.560 there's so many great like FBI weird incompetences to the 3:32:53.600 --> 3:32:56.120 story like that. There's one point where the cops are 3:32:56.160 --> 3:32:57.880 going through the documents and they see the word they 3:32:57.920 --> 3:33:02.040 see Lou, and it's just Lose, a short for lieutenant, right, 3:33:02.040 --> 3:33:04.320 But the FBI thinks that Lou is like a name, 3:33:04.520 --> 3:33:06.600 and so they kind of tracked down this guy named Lou, 3:33:07.120 --> 3:33:15.840 which is just it's it's ah, just baffling, incredible and 3:33:15.879 --> 3:33:21.360 coms never thrilled when they have to investigate cops. Yeah, yeah, 3:33:21.520 --> 3:33:24.959 even though it is literally their job. Yep. But hey, 3:33:25.000 --> 3:33:29.360 I hate doing my job too, so please continue, Chris. So, 3:33:29.360 --> 3:33:31.800 so if that fears guy who choose doing the Obama thing, 3:33:31.920 --> 3:33:34.720 like take seventeen rounds to the chest, and so the 3:33:34.800 --> 3:33:37.360 FBI number rounds to take to the chest, Yeah, that's 3:33:37.360 --> 3:33:40.080 a lot. It's it's it's interesting number two right, because 3:33:40.080 --> 3:33:44.480 like like it does difficult significance. Guess yeah. What would 3:33:44.520 --> 3:33:49.200 also like like is did they like reload, Like do 3:33:49.280 --> 3:33:54.000 they have a gun that has seventeen round man? Yeah? No, no, 3:33:54.080 --> 3:33:56.760 there's yeah, there's that's not that's not it. Is it 3:33:56.840 --> 3:33:59.600 like a handgun or is it a rifle? I think 3:33:59.640 --> 3:34:04.480 it's a gun, yeah, or like Baltimo people with hangdguns 3:34:04.720 --> 3:34:10.080 block seventeens have seventeen round magazines. That makes sense, yeah, yes. 3:34:10.160 --> 3:34:14.160 So so after this, the FBI investigation intensifies, and so 3:34:15.240 --> 3:34:18.000 the FBI goes to the Internal Affairs Division or i 3:34:18.120 --> 3:34:20.480 a D, who are like the most hated cops of 3:34:20.560 --> 3:34:22.600 all cops by other cops, because there're people who are 3:34:22.600 --> 3:34:26.480 supposed investigate the police and you know, so, so they 3:34:26.959 --> 3:34:28.480 tell that you guys who are going after watch, they're 3:34:28.480 --> 3:34:31.480 going to be protected. And this works for like a 3:34:31.600 --> 3:34:33.600 year and then the head of a I D changes 3:34:33.800 --> 3:34:36.280 and it's like a cop cop guy instead of so 3:34:36.320 --> 3:34:38.320 they had this like they brought an FBI guy who 3:34:38.320 --> 3:34:39.640 had been had of a D and that he gets 3:34:39.680 --> 3:34:41.480 kicked out and they bring in like a cop and 3:34:41.560 --> 3:34:45.160 that cop just immediately tells literally everyone that that the 3:34:45.200 --> 3:34:48.360 two cops are running an investigation. It gives Watts, and 3:34:48.440 --> 3:34:52.000 so uh do they die with the next few months 3:34:52.000 --> 3:34:57.640 there studdingly no, I espect. I can tell Watts seemed 3:34:57.640 --> 3:34:59.320 to have thought that like they wouldn't just wouldn't be 3:34:59.360 --> 3:35:02.480 able to get him see too much protection, which worked 3:35:02.480 --> 3:35:05.800 for a while. Um yeah, it's yeah, he has a 3:35:05.840 --> 3:35:07.840 lot of power. Yeah. Well, and also, I mean the 3:35:08.120 --> 3:35:09.960 other thing about this is she just like his stuff, 3:35:09.959 --> 3:35:12.880 starts getting wilder. So he goes after this guy. He 3:35:12.920 --> 3:35:14.959 tries to go after the drugs of this guy named Monk, 3:35:15.200 --> 3:35:16.920 and like Muk is carrying a bunch of drugs, he's 3:35:16.920 --> 3:35:19.039 trying to He's trying to rob bunk Um from the 3:35:19.080 --> 3:35:21.560 intercept a wild car chase and suit on the Dan 3:35:21.680 --> 3:35:24.400 Ryan Expressway like Sure Drive, and ultimately into the Hyde 3:35:24.400 --> 3:35:27.000 Park neighborhood, where Monk lost control of the car and 3:35:27.040 --> 3:35:30.120 crashed in a park. He fled on foot. Watson his 3:35:30.160 --> 3:35:32.520 team seized the dope and cash. They didn't even check 3:35:32.520 --> 3:35:34.959 on the condition of the women and infant who remained 3:35:34.959 --> 3:35:39.439 in the car, which is great. And also that's that's standard. 3:35:39.600 --> 3:35:42.120 That that's that that's like standard CPD procedure. I have 3:35:42.240 --> 3:35:44.800 literally seen this happen like in Hyde Park, like I 3:35:45.160 --> 3:35:47.640 have there. When I was in college, I almost got 3:35:47.680 --> 3:35:49.280 run over in his seat and like the CPD almost 3:35:49.320 --> 3:35:50.840 ran me over in this like car chase that went 3:35:50.879 --> 3:35:54.039 bad and this giant multi car crash and like there's 3:35:54.080 --> 3:35:57.560 like sixteen cops, right, they all just run past the 3:35:57.600 --> 3:35:59.720 car crash after the two guys are chasing and like 3:36:00.080 --> 3:36:02.080 have to go make sure no one died. And I 3:36:02.160 --> 3:36:05.080 was like, I, this is great. You have just almost 3:36:05.160 --> 3:36:07.440 murdered me. And then also you're not checking on all 3:36:07.480 --> 3:36:09.400 of these people in this car even in the wreck. 3:36:09.600 --> 3:36:15.240 I Oh, I hate a CPD. I hate them a lot. 3:36:15.680 --> 3:36:18.520 This took the sound. This sound nice. Yeah, it's great 3:36:18.640 --> 3:36:23.360 there there. Yeah, this just happens like all the time, 3:36:23.680 --> 3:36:26.200 like often enough that like literally in the same place, 3:36:28.360 --> 3:36:31.440 which like all of these big because you've got like 3:36:31.440 --> 3:36:34.360 a few really big, shitty, big city police departments. You've 3:36:34.360 --> 3:36:35.960 got your l A p D, You're n Y p D, 3:36:36.560 --> 3:36:40.000 You've got your Chicago Police Department. By god, you've got St. 3:36:40.040 --> 3:36:44.080 Louis cops. And they're all they're all shitty and simultaneously 3:36:44.160 --> 3:36:47.000 the same in different ways. Like there there, it's the 3:36:47.040 --> 3:36:51.800 same basic idea. It's brutality, it's violence, it's robbery. Um, 3:36:51.840 --> 3:36:55.680 but they they find unique ways to do those shitty things, 3:36:55.760 --> 3:36:59.600 which is fascinating. Yeah, Like I've always like like they 3:37:00.120 --> 3:37:02.320 n y p DS, like they're big thing is if 3:37:02.360 --> 3:37:04.320 you get a large number of people together, the NYPD 3:37:04.400 --> 3:37:06.720 is just going to annihilate you, like l A p 3:37:06.840 --> 3:37:09.840 D has like the Nazi gangs. CPD thing. CPDS thing 3:37:09.920 --> 3:37:15.840 just seems to be crime torture. It's torture and yeah St. 3:37:15.879 --> 3:37:19.120 Louis Police Department will attack you with dogs if you're 3:37:19.240 --> 3:37:22.959 not a white person. Like, yeah, they've all got they've 3:37:23.200 --> 3:37:30.680 they've they've they've chosen their cops subclass. Yeah. Now okay, 3:37:30.680 --> 3:37:33.240 so but back in the investigation, the two cops in 3:37:33.240 --> 3:37:36.840 investigating Watts are like even so basically all the researchers 3:37:36.879 --> 3:37:39.280 get cut off. It's literally just them to watch. Note 3:37:39.360 --> 3:37:42.400 like basically knows that he's they're coming from them, and 3:37:42.440 --> 3:37:46.080 they almost get him anyways, because cops are just not 3:37:46.560 --> 3:37:49.560 very smart. Um, and you know they're about to get 3:37:49.600 --> 3:37:52.840 him on a sting for drug running and then right 3:37:52.879 --> 3:37:54.920 before like look, I think it's like the day of 3:37:54.959 --> 3:37:57.360 that they're running the sting, they suddenly get like transferred 3:37:57.400 --> 3:37:59.920 to the police academy, and they basically just like get 3:38:00.040 --> 3:38:04.760 attained in this police academy for like weeks and it's 3:38:04.800 --> 3:38:07.840 it's purely weird. And eventually, like and you know, this 3:38:07.879 --> 3:38:09.920 is when like everything just completely comes apart with the 3:38:09.959 --> 3:38:13.080 liaison between the CPD and the FBI literally tells them 3:38:13.120 --> 3:38:14.840 they can't move on the case because if they move 3:38:14.840 --> 3:38:16.520 on the case, it's going to reveal that Watts murdered 3:38:16.520 --> 3:38:19.840 a dude, because well they so they don't have good 3:38:19.879 --> 3:38:21.680 evidence some big shorty, but they have they have evidence 3:38:21.720 --> 3:38:24.840 that they have good evidence that he killed Fears and 3:38:25.720 --> 3:38:28.920 h And the head of Internal Affairs basically tells them like, yeah, 3:38:29.000 --> 3:38:31.640 like I won't do anything about Watts because it comes 3:38:31.640 --> 3:38:34.680 out that another CPD unit had gone rogue after s OS, 3:38:34.840 --> 3:38:37.200 I'll be done for so I'm just gonna cover for them. 3:38:37.520 --> 3:38:44.800 The second cartel is too much. Only one cartels It's great, Um, 3:38:44.959 --> 3:38:47.720 I can excuse one cartel, but I try the line 3:38:48.320 --> 3:38:53.040 too but once you hit four cartels back too good, 3:38:53.280 --> 3:38:55.440 which is why I am such a big fan of 3:38:55.480 --> 3:38:59.360 the Los Angeles Police Department. It's great, Look you got it, 3:38:59.360 --> 3:39:01.080 you got you got you just you just gotta get 3:39:01.120 --> 3:39:03.760 over the cartel hump and once you're over, Yeah, you got. 3:39:03.760 --> 3:39:06.360 It's like it's like growing out your your hair. Right, 3:39:06.360 --> 3:39:08.359 there's gonna be that period where it looks really awkward. 3:39:08.400 --> 3:39:11.560 That's when. That's when you've got two cartels, and then 3:39:11.600 --> 3:39:15.640 you get hot at four cartels. Then you're fuckable again. Yeah, 3:39:15.680 --> 3:39:19.480 it's great. So there's an interesting description from one of 3:39:19.480 --> 3:39:20.959 the two cops that don't want to read because it 3:39:20.959 --> 3:39:23.400 gets out how the code of Silence works. Um from 3:39:23.400 --> 3:39:26.080 the intercept he had, she said, this is about the 3:39:26.080 --> 3:39:28.560 the A A D. Guy he had, She said, made 3:39:28.560 --> 3:39:31.240 too many deals, there by neutralizing his ability to act, 3:39:31.640 --> 3:39:34.840 attributing her understanding of this dynamic largely the conversations with 3:39:34.920 --> 3:39:38.800 Rivera himself, conversations she denied ever occurred. She described him 3:39:38.800 --> 3:39:41.160 as ensnared in a web of mutual blackmail at which 3:39:41.200 --> 3:39:43.760 bosses have leverage over one another by virtue of their 3:39:43.800 --> 3:39:47.160 shared knowledge of the deals they've made. She gave an example, 3:39:47.680 --> 3:39:49.800 I'll make the cr get your guy go away if 3:39:49.800 --> 3:39:52.080 you promote my guy within your unit. The code of 3:39:52.120 --> 3:39:56.480 silence and cloud or thus entwined Rivera. She recalled once 3:39:56.520 --> 3:40:00.080 remarked to her that the bosses quote trade crs for 3:40:00.160 --> 3:40:04.039 favors like baseball cards. So yeah, this is this is 3:40:04.040 --> 3:40:05.720 what the code of silence is. It's it's it's an 3:40:05.720 --> 3:40:09.800 informal code sort of. That's also called the thin blue line, 3:40:10.560 --> 3:40:13.959 which is great, uh yeah, but basically it says that costs, 3:40:14.040 --> 3:40:16.080 you know, it's that cops will protect the road. But 3:40:16.080 --> 3:40:18.240 but it's more than that. If if if you if 3:40:18.240 --> 3:40:19.960 you cross the name blue line and you break the 3:40:20.000 --> 3:40:22.880 code of silence, you will be formally retaliated against by 3:40:22.879 --> 3:40:25.440 your commanders. And but when when when I say breaking 3:40:25.480 --> 3:40:28.160 the code of silence, what that means literally is if 3:40:28.200 --> 3:40:31.279 you take any action against another cop, like it literally 3:40:31.280 --> 3:40:33.280 doesn't like they can be torturing people, they could be 3:40:33.360 --> 3:40:36.720 literally running a cartel. It doesn't matter. If you say 3:40:36.760 --> 3:40:39.760 anything about them, you will be like formally retaliated against 3:40:39.800 --> 3:40:42.760 by every other cop. And so the two cops who 3:40:42.760 --> 3:40:45.400 are investigating wats like, they get arrested by internal affairs. 3:40:46.080 --> 3:40:49.520 Internal affairs like tries to like basically make a fake 3:40:49.560 --> 3:40:53.280 case against them, and they eventually get out, but their 3:40:53.480 --> 3:40:55.520 you know, their careers are over right because they you know, 3:40:55.680 --> 3:40:59.480 attempted to like do the thing sort of that cops 3:40:59.480 --> 3:41:06.440 are nominally supposed to do and they just immediately get arrested. Um, 3:41:06.480 --> 3:41:07.600 and you know, and they have a lot of other 3:41:07.600 --> 3:41:09.520 stuff happened to them. Like one of the two cops 3:41:09.520 --> 3:41:11.600 comes home to a bell box literally full of ship, 3:41:11.640 --> 3:41:13.560 with a note that says, since you like ship so much, 3:41:13.600 --> 3:41:17.600 thought you'd enjoy this amazing. Yeah, you know what I mean, 3:41:17.680 --> 3:41:21.400 Like that's fun. That's fun. That should happen more often, 3:41:21.560 --> 3:41:25.760 Just that should happen a lot more off other other scenarios. Yeah, yeah, 3:41:25.840 --> 3:41:29.200 it's it sucks that these are the cops that this 3:41:29.280 --> 3:41:31.120 is happening. Like, of all of the this is like 3:41:31.160 --> 3:41:33.760 the only time I like do not approve of like 3:41:33.840 --> 3:41:37.720 sending cops ship like this is this is the wrong 3:41:37.760 --> 3:41:43.560 reason for the wrong reason to sender. You're gone. That's true. 3:41:43.840 --> 3:41:48.879 They have probably stuff, they have done stuff. I will 3:41:48.879 --> 3:41:52.680 make sure it's better. It can be safer if it's 3:41:52.800 --> 3:41:54.880 If dogshit is used, then d N a K is 3:41:54.959 --> 3:41:58.480 harder to track anyone. You know what the safest ship 3:41:58.600 --> 3:42:05.320 of all to use. No, I don't ship, panther ship. 3:42:05.720 --> 3:42:09.400 Panther ship. See I can Yeah, I think I p 3:42:09.480 --> 3:42:12.320 I is never going to figure that one out. Yeah, 3:42:12.320 --> 3:42:15.600 I get the technology, get right on. I'll get right 3:42:15.640 --> 3:42:18.840 on that. Yeah, we're gonna go to go collect panther ship. 3:42:19.200 --> 3:42:21.760 We'll be gone for a month. It could be their 3:42:21.840 --> 3:42:24.760 unibomber for like fifteen years. They're trying to track down 3:42:24.800 --> 3:42:27.280 what kind of ship is getting put in people's mailboxes 3:42:27.720 --> 3:42:30.800 until your brother sends them a letter saying I know 3:42:31.040 --> 3:42:33.240 someone who has access to a lot of panther Ship 3:42:33.640 --> 3:42:40.960 and grudge tragic tail as time and then you can 3:42:41.000 --> 3:42:44.440 get uh an HBO miniseries where they make you like 3:42:45.440 --> 3:42:49.720 look slightly like you're in a boy band, only slightly. 3:42:50.959 --> 3:42:54.000 It's like you were in a boy band but aged out. Yeah, yeah, 3:42:54.400 --> 3:43:02.080 you were in. So the coat of silence also extends 3:43:02.080 --> 3:43:05.560 their friendly politicians. Here's some the Interset report. Soon after 3:43:05.600 --> 3:43:07.879 he came to the confidential section, he was given the 3:43:07.920 --> 3:43:11.840 assignment of investigating a deputy superintendent. The allegation was at 3:43:11.879 --> 3:43:15.360 the officer. The official lived outside the city. Mills worked 3:43:15.360 --> 3:43:17.800 on the case for months and concluded the allegation was true. 3:43:17.840 --> 3:43:21.320 He produced a thick file. Take months. I'm sorry I 3:43:21.840 --> 3:43:28.199 have to take months. There cops allowances for the caper 3:43:28.240 --> 3:43:35.760 of where does this guy who works here? Yeah? Very funny. 3:43:36.080 --> 3:43:38.240 The next day the file came back to him. It 3:43:38.280 --> 3:43:40.680 was mart There was a yellow post with the handwritten 3:43:40.720 --> 3:43:47.120 message and make it unfounded. So that's fun, awesome, amazing, Yeah, 3:43:50.360 --> 3:43:55.160 make it cops are cops are a breed of their 3:43:55.160 --> 3:44:03.400 own poetry. Poetry. Yeah. So actually, there there's a long 3:44:03.480 --> 3:44:06.360 history of like, yeah, politicians do something cops all the time. 3:44:06.440 --> 3:44:12.240 Like remember the story, right, like rama, Manuel's like nephew 3:44:12.440 --> 3:44:14.760 or something killed the guy in a car crash and 3:44:14.920 --> 3:44:17.840 the CPD he got Manuel got the CPD to just 3:44:17.920 --> 3:44:21.720 like that, never investigated it. They just were like, oh, 3:44:21.920 --> 3:44:23.959 someone died in the car crash and it just went away. 3:44:24.520 --> 3:44:29.119 It's it's real fun. Um. Yeah. So so eventually shortly 3:44:29.120 --> 3:44:31.959 after this sort of those two cops get like detained 3:44:31.959 --> 3:44:34.440 at the police academy. The FBI and the in the 3:44:34.480 --> 3:44:39.680 CPT move on wattson his partner Mohammed and no one else. Interestingly, 3:44:39.800 --> 3:44:42.320 because again, if you think about this for about five seconds, 3:44:42.560 --> 3:44:44.840 they were an enormous number of people who either know 3:44:44.920 --> 3:44:48.400 about this operation or are actively involved in running a 3:44:48.400 --> 3:44:50.800 fucking drug cartel that is one of the biggest players 3:44:50.800 --> 3:44:53.360 on the South Side, who are still just cops. And 3:44:54.080 --> 3:44:57.320 like the CPD goes after exactly two people, there are 3:44:57.360 --> 3:45:00.240 like dozens of people who were actively involved of them 3:45:00.280 --> 3:45:04.680 this who are still cops um and and you know, 3:45:04.680 --> 3:45:07.160 and the only real tradition to this is that the 3:45:07.200 --> 3:45:09.760 FBI and the CPD are complicit, which is that you know, 3:45:09.840 --> 3:45:11.680 I mean, so parts of the CPD want to keep doing, 3:45:11.760 --> 3:45:15.360 keep keep running the cartel. The FBI is like, both 3:45:15.400 --> 3:45:16.960 the FBI and the CBD also have an interest in 3:45:17.000 --> 3:45:19.000 keeping this covered up because they don't want like, you know, 3:45:19.240 --> 3:45:20.680 oh hey, look at the look at the loss of 3:45:20.720 --> 3:45:22.880 trust in in in law enforcement. It comes out that 3:45:22.879 --> 3:45:25.760 there were actually two cartels running in the same place 3:45:25.840 --> 3:45:27.720 at the same time, parallel to each other, and then 3:45:27.760 --> 3:45:32.920 we didn't catch them. Like yeah, but it's great because 3:45:33.240 --> 3:45:35.920 literally nothing happens to these people. They're still out there, 3:45:36.000 --> 3:45:40.080 they're still doing cops shit. Uh yeah, only two people 3:45:40.120 --> 3:45:43.080 went down for that, and yeah, so the cartel is 3:45:43.160 --> 3:45:46.520 just still there. It's that's good, it's still well. It 3:45:46.600 --> 3:45:48.640 proves that if you put in the work, you can 3:45:48.680 --> 3:45:50.920 really build something that lasts. And I think that's a 3:45:51.000 --> 3:45:55.320 lesson we all should be inspired by. Pull yourself up 3:45:55.320 --> 3:46:03.560 by your uh jack bootstraps, and oh yeah, that's good stuff. Okay, 3:46:03.560 --> 3:46:07.720 so so interlude number two. On May four, six, someone 3:46:07.720 --> 3:46:09.800 threw a stick of dynamite at some cops and Haymarket 3:46:09.840 --> 3:46:12.000 Square in Chicago, tree the general strike for the eight 3:46:12.000 --> 3:46:15.480 hour work day they started. The cops fired wildly into 3:46:15.520 --> 3:46:17.240 the crowd, and the state rounded up a bunch of 3:46:17.280 --> 3:46:20.720 completely random anarchists who, by their own admission, had nothing 3:46:20.720 --> 3:46:23.360 to do with it, and had them executed. Now the cops, 3:46:23.360 --> 3:46:27.879 for their part, built a statue for the cops at Haymarket. Now, 3:46:27.959 --> 3:46:30.360 the first of these statues were destroyed on May fourth 3:46:31.800 --> 3:46:36.080 by a guy who just right, so he he had 3:46:36.440 --> 3:46:37.680 he was like, he's a street car driver, right, and 3:46:37.680 --> 3:46:39.560 he had to like every single day he had to 3:46:39.600 --> 3:46:42.039 go past the statue of the Haymarket cop. And one 3:46:42.120 --> 3:46:44.800 day he was just like no, and he he ran 3:46:44.959 --> 3:46:48.480 his street car off of the on rails, right, He 3:46:48.640 --> 3:46:51.880 random off of the rails and rammed it into the statue. 3:46:52.240 --> 3:46:58.119 This guy rules dope. So the cops build another statue, 3:46:58.120 --> 3:46:59.720 and that that second statue was blown up by the 3:46:59.720 --> 3:47:03.160 weather Underground in October nineteen nine. Uh, the costs make 3:47:03.200 --> 3:47:05.959 another statue. The third statue is also blown up by 3:47:05.959 --> 3:47:10.520 the weather Underground in October. It was like that was 3:47:10.640 --> 3:47:14.240 less than a year later. Yep. Yeah, and so the 3:47:14.520 --> 3:47:17.040 continue they originally they rebuilt it again, right, and originally 3:47:17.040 --> 3:47:18.800 they have it under like a twenty four hour armed 3:47:18.840 --> 3:47:22.080 guard Jesus and then and then and then. But you know, 3:47:22.120 --> 3:47:23.879 even then they were like, okay, we can't protect it. 3:47:23.920 --> 3:47:27.080 So they moved it into an enclosed courtyard in the 3:47:27.080 --> 3:47:30.120 middle of the of Chicago Police Academy because they're too 3:47:30.160 --> 3:47:34.080 cowardly to show it in public. Awesome, that's good. That's 3:47:34.080 --> 3:47:38.480 a win. That's a win everyone so much that they 3:47:38.480 --> 3:47:41.600 have to hide the statue to the assholes who got killed. Yeah, 3:47:41.640 --> 3:47:46.600 that's great. One day, one day, that fourth statue will 3:47:46.640 --> 3:47:51.800 follow the first three. One day, one day by the 3:47:51.879 --> 3:47:56.959 mere cosmic forces of the universe, by entropy. The force 3:47:57.040 --> 3:48:01.480 of entropy will one day destroyed the statue. Yes, okay, 3:48:01.560 --> 3:48:04.320 So onto story number four. Story number four is the 3:48:04.360 --> 3:48:08.720 Chicago Police Department's black site. So the Chicago Police Department 3:48:08.760 --> 3:48:11.760 has a black site called Home and Square. Um. So, 3:48:11.760 --> 3:48:14.199 so normally, you know, you go to a police station 3:48:14.320 --> 3:48:17.520 and you get booked, right, they book you, they put 3:48:17.520 --> 3:48:20.039 you into the system, and you know, because you're in 3:48:20.080 --> 3:48:25.360 the system, like you know where Um, like people people 3:48:25.400 --> 3:48:27.039 can find you, right because you can just look someone up. 3:48:27.040 --> 3:48:29.240 You can look someone up in the system. Uh. At 3:48:29.280 --> 3:48:31.320 Home and Square, they don't book people if you just 3:48:31.400 --> 3:48:33.560 if you go there, you just disappear. There's no record 3:48:33.600 --> 3:48:36.000 of you. Uh, there's no there's no way to contact 3:48:36.000 --> 3:48:38.840 a lawyer if you're in there. Uh, your lawyer doesn't 3:48:38.840 --> 3:48:40.680 know where you are because again there's no records of 3:48:40.720 --> 3:48:42.320 where you are. You've just been grabbed off the street 3:48:42.320 --> 3:48:45.879 and taken to a building. Um. Yeah. And and this 3:48:45.959 --> 3:48:50.920 is a so store storage of people there tends to 3:48:50.920 --> 3:48:53.600 be pretty short. They don't tend to hold people longer 3:48:53.640 --> 3:48:56.600 than a couple of days. But what it's therefore is 3:48:56.640 --> 3:48:58.840 this is this is a confession machine. This is the 3:48:58.840 --> 3:49:01.680 way to force confessions have a UM by just you know, 3:49:01.800 --> 3:49:06.000 literally disappearing them uh and denying them access to lawyers 3:49:06.160 --> 3:49:08.240 or literally anyone knowing where they are. And they're just 3:49:08.240 --> 3:49:11.400 holding them until they confess. Uh. And also yeah, so 3:49:11.400 --> 3:49:14.440 so at Home and Square prisoners are routinely shackled for 3:49:14.440 --> 3:49:18.240 for hours, like like tens of hours, sometimes twenty four hours, beaten, 3:49:18.320 --> 3:49:21.440 denied phone calls, and robbed constantly. This is this is 3:49:21.440 --> 3:49:24.720 another fun sepety tradition is Yeah, they'll just take you 3:49:24.800 --> 3:49:26.760 to this black site and then rob you and then 3:49:26.920 --> 3:49:29.200 maybe they'll release you, but you know they've still robbed you. 3:49:30.480 --> 3:49:33.280 And yes, you know they do these beatings, and these 3:49:33.280 --> 3:49:37.320 beatings are incredibly intense, like you know that they're punching people. 3:49:37.360 --> 3:49:39.440 They're doing like knee strikes and doing elbow strikes. You're 3:49:39.480 --> 3:49:43.080 hitting people with batons. Sometimes they're tassering people. Uh. We 3:49:43.080 --> 3:49:45.960 we have a report that that the cops filed of 3:49:46.320 --> 3:49:48.760 listening listened as a cop being assaulted. And the thing 3:49:48.800 --> 3:49:52.600 that they're listening as a non it was like like 3:49:52.720 --> 3:49:56.560 non like fist assault. Was the guy spat blood? Yeah, 3:49:56.640 --> 3:50:01.400 well and they listened to as an assault blood on them. Yeah, 3:50:01.560 --> 3:50:05.040 it's great, it's yeah. They also do things like they 3:50:05.280 --> 3:50:12.400 put like flex cuffs around people's necks. Torture. Yeah yeah 3:50:13.000 --> 3:50:16.920 they Yeah, that's a way for someone to die. But 3:50:16.960 --> 3:50:19.080 it's almost like that's maybe part of the intention is 3:50:19.080 --> 3:50:23.200 that someone will quote accidentally die. Oh we'll get to that. Okay, 3:50:23.360 --> 3:50:26.600 well so not great, Yeah yeah, yeah, it's it's not 3:50:26.720 --> 3:50:29.560 it's it's bad. There's another guy who Okay, so the 3:50:29.600 --> 3:50:34.080 cops are completely convinced this guy who was completely innocent. Well, okay, 3:50:34.160 --> 3:50:35.760 I do want to say, like I'm gonna say a 3:50:35.760 --> 3:50:37.760 lot of people are innocent because they are. But also like, 3:50:37.880 --> 3:50:41.560 even if you're guilty, you no one deserves this, Like 3:50:41.680 --> 3:50:43.760 maybe the cops doing it deserve it. But even then 3:50:44.000 --> 3:50:46.480 it's I don't even think they do, Like yeah, you don't, 3:50:46.600 --> 3:50:50.480 yeah people, yeah, like so this guy, you might knock 3:50:50.520 --> 3:50:52.960 down a statue or three, but yeah, like you know, 3:50:53.160 --> 3:50:57.880 like it's yeah, it's it's really grim like yeah. So 3:50:57.920 --> 3:51:00.440 they hold this guy's mouth open with a pen, right, 3:51:00.920 --> 3:51:03.480 and then they keep elbowing him in the stomach until 3:51:03.480 --> 3:51:06.120 he throws up. Um. And so she tries to get 3:51:06.120 --> 3:51:08.360 medical attention because he keeps throwing up because he has asthma, 3:51:08.400 --> 3:51:10.680 I mean also because she just got elbowed in the 3:51:10.680 --> 3:51:15.440 stomach repeat his mouth yeah um. And instead of giving 3:51:15.480 --> 3:51:18.200 him medical treatment, even though he like easily could have died, 3:51:18.240 --> 3:51:21.680 the cops just beat him up for asking. There's another 3:51:21.720 --> 3:51:25.040 guy who gets uh sexually abused with the barrel of 3:51:25.040 --> 3:51:27.600 a gun, and when he starts screaming, the guard the 3:51:27.640 --> 3:51:29.200 gun goes on a ranch about how he needs to 3:51:29.200 --> 3:51:32.880 be careful or he might accidentally pull the trigger. Oh boy, 3:51:33.400 --> 3:51:36.880 it's it's bad. Um. This this is all within that 3:51:37.000 --> 3:51:38.960 specific yeah, this is this is this is this is 3:51:38.960 --> 3:51:42.440 all just in Homeland square. Um. He claims that like 3:51:42.960 --> 3:51:45.240 the cell he's being held in, he doesn't get any food, 3:51:45.240 --> 3:51:47.240 doesn't get any water. They keep him there for hours 3:51:47.400 --> 3:51:50.400 and the like the cell just smells like blood and 3:51:51.160 --> 3:51:54.200 like feces because yeah, they don't let people go to 3:51:54.240 --> 3:51:58.720 the bathroom to other individuals. Uh. Stephanie Martinez and Calvin 3:51:58.720 --> 3:52:01.440 Cofy described relieving themselves will shackled in a Home and 3:52:01.480 --> 3:52:05.000 Square and interrogation room. Martinez locked up with two thousand 3:52:05.040 --> 3:52:07.000 and six, was told by a guard that she did 3:52:07.080 --> 3:52:08.920 not have the key to Martinez has handcuffs and could 3:52:08.960 --> 3:52:11.560 not take her to the bathroom. Kofi, taken to Home 3:52:11.600 --> 3:52:15.040 and Square on the sixth of February two fifteen on 3:52:15.520 --> 3:52:19.160 suspicion of narcotic activity, defecated on the floor after two hours, 3:52:19.200 --> 3:52:22.920 fruitlessly requesting for the bathroom. A police officer made Calvin 3:52:23.000 --> 3:52:25.400 clean it up with his skull cap. The lawsuit alleges 3:52:28.400 --> 3:52:33.720 it's these people are sick there. It's it's yeah, yeah, yeah, 3:52:33.840 --> 3:52:37.720 they hate that it's like yeah, and you know the 3:52:37.920 --> 3:52:40.760 things they're holding children in here, like they have people 3:52:40.800 --> 3:52:44.800 as young as fifteen who are being literally everything about 3:52:44.800 --> 3:52:47.080 this is that when so sometimes sometimes you get sort 3:52:47.080 --> 3:52:49.560 of like arrested normally, although again I should mention that 3:52:51.080 --> 3:52:54.240 the Constitution does not exist, like it's it's fake, it's 3:52:54.240 --> 3:52:56.600 a lie. No one ever gets read the miranda rights. 3:52:56.640 --> 3:53:01.360 It doesn't matter because the constitution doesn't exist if you're poor. Yeah, 3:53:01.840 --> 3:53:04.200 it sort of exists if you're not, but I will 3:53:04.200 --> 3:53:06.360 guarantee you they're reading their miranda rights to people who 3:53:06.360 --> 3:53:08.360 look like they got yeah, yeah, yeah, no, these people 3:53:08.480 --> 3:53:10.320 there's actually a story of these two point rieking guys 3:53:10.320 --> 3:53:13.200 who got brought in and they like the cops are 3:53:13.200 --> 3:53:14.440 like trying to get them, give us something, and they 3:53:14.480 --> 3:53:16.960 just like they start name dropping like civil rights lawyers, 3:53:16.960 --> 3:53:19.480 and the cops are like, okay, okay, uh, we're good. 3:53:19.640 --> 3:53:21.440 We'll we'll we'll drive you back. If you don't talk, 3:53:21.480 --> 3:53:23.600 we'll we'll drive we'll drive you back to like where 3:53:23.600 --> 3:53:28.040 you came from. Yeah, it's yeah, it's it's extremely grim. Yeah. 3:53:28.080 --> 3:53:30.600 They just want to funk with people who can't defend themselves. Yeah. Yeah, 3:53:30.680 --> 3:53:31.920 and you know and then the way they do this right, 3:53:31.960 --> 3:53:35.520 like they they do these raids where like everyone's they're 3:53:35.520 --> 3:53:38.000 they're they're they're not wearing badges. Everyone's just like wearing 3:53:38.040 --> 3:53:41.600 matt like like black armor and like black masks. And 3:53:41.600 --> 3:53:43.400 so people describe getting like dragged out of their house 3:53:43.400 --> 3:53:44.960 and they don't know if they're getting robbed or like 3:53:45.000 --> 3:53:47.160 if they're being kidnapped. And then they are being kidnapped 3:53:47.200 --> 3:53:49.520 by just being kidnapped like by the cops, and they 3:53:49.520 --> 3:53:51.720 get dragged and then again they're they're dragging like fifteen 3:53:51.800 --> 3:53:55.800 year olds into into this thing. Uh. There there's one 3:53:55.840 --> 3:54:00.640 guy who gets found unresponsive in an interrogation room. Um, now, 3:54:00.720 --> 3:54:03.360 the police say that they died from heroin overdose. But 3:54:04.080 --> 3:54:09.800 this makes literally no sense. So the first reason why 3:54:09.840 --> 3:54:11.640 it doesn't make any sense is that the cops initially 3:54:11.680 --> 3:54:13.600 lie about where he about where he like had the 3:54:13.640 --> 3:54:15.600 overdose and died because they don't want to reveal that 3:54:15.680 --> 3:54:18.400 he uh you know, was in their secret black site, 3:54:18.400 --> 3:54:19.880 so they like lied and that he was another he 3:54:19.920 --> 3:54:24.640 was at another site. Now, the other thing you know 3:54:24.680 --> 3:54:27.480 that that contradicts the claimed that this guy was had 3:54:27.480 --> 3:54:29.720 a heroin overdose is that the hospital when he when 3:54:29.720 --> 3:54:31.760 when the hospital saw him, they wrote that he was sober, 3:54:33.120 --> 3:54:35.080 So I mean he could have he could have had 3:54:35.080 --> 3:54:37.640 a heroin overdose in terms of the cops injecting him 3:54:37.720 --> 3:54:40.760 full of yeah, like yeah, that's the most likely thing, 3:54:41.240 --> 3:54:43.240 Like it does nothing part of this. So so this 3:54:43.280 --> 3:54:46.960 guy was selling cocaine right, um, but again he's selling cocaine, 3:54:47.000 --> 3:54:50.440 not heroin. And the other and you know, his his partner, 3:54:50.560 --> 3:54:52.480 like there was another guy he was he was selling 3:54:52.520 --> 3:54:55.960 cocaine with like his partner, when everyone who knew him 3:54:55.960 --> 3:54:57.480 was completely insistant that you know he does he doesn't 3:54:57.520 --> 3:55:00.200 do drugs, right, he sells them because you know, do 3:55:00.240 --> 3:55:03.920 you sell drugs? But yeah, and and the cops and 3:55:04.040 --> 3:55:05.400 you know, there are things that the cops do. The 3:55:05.400 --> 3:55:07.440 comp thing where they they changed their story twice. So 3:55:07.520 --> 3:55:11.920 originally they said that he like committed suicide by heroin overdosing, 3:55:12.400 --> 3:55:15.960 and then they changed their story too. He died by accidents. Um. 3:55:16.160 --> 3:55:19.800 The The other thing that that indicates that he probably 3:55:19.840 --> 3:55:21.880 did not in fact die from heroin overdose is that 3:55:21.920 --> 3:55:24.400 there's bruises all over his face. He has a busted lip, 3:55:24.800 --> 3:55:26.760 his neck is super red, and none of that shows 3:55:26.840 --> 3:55:30.360 up in the in the police autopsy and yeah, yeah, 3:55:30.360 --> 3:55:33.440 and this all reads just like a standard Burge error interrogation, 3:55:33.520 --> 3:55:34.920 so that like they beat him, they put a bag 3:55:34.960 --> 3:55:36.800 over set to suffocate him, and then you plant heroin 3:55:36.920 --> 3:55:40.680 on him and you know, you you call him. Yeah, 3:55:39.120 --> 3:55:42.680 that's the day's work. Yeah yeah, and you know, and 3:55:42.760 --> 3:55:44.800 there's there's another thing that that that I should mention 3:55:44.840 --> 3:55:47.800 here about the story, which is that, Okay, so this 3:55:47.800 --> 3:55:51.160 guy is in a Chicago Police Department black site, right, 3:55:52.800 --> 3:55:56.040 how did he get heroin in? Like everyone in his 3:55:56.080 --> 3:55:59.680 black site is literally shackled to a wall, Like there's 3:55:59.680 --> 3:56:01.400 no the old, the oldly place the hair we could 3:56:01.400 --> 3:56:03.680 possibly have come from is the cops. So it's like, 3:56:03.760 --> 3:56:07.320 you know, and independent autopsy says he dies of hissphyxiation. 3:56:07.720 --> 3:56:12.000 Uh so yeah, I'm gonna read something from the Guardian 3:56:12.080 --> 3:56:16.760 about the guy who uh, the guy's partner who was 3:56:16.760 --> 3:56:19.800 in the next cell over. The other partner who requested 3:56:19.840 --> 3:56:22.120 to be cited as John Dowell. He rebuilds his life 3:56:22.120 --> 3:56:25.280 post conviction, was in a Home and Square interrogation room 3:56:25.320 --> 3:56:28.480 near Galvin's. While Dobe was unable to see inside, he 3:56:28.520 --> 3:56:31.360 told the Guardian he heard a lot of commotion, then 3:56:31.400 --> 3:56:34.120 booming and banging, and then a gagging sound coming from 3:56:34.120 --> 3:56:38.880 his friend's cell his partner. Yeah, so this this guy, 3:56:39.120 --> 3:56:41.880 uh like his partner, Like he's that guy's also like 3:56:41.960 --> 3:56:45.200 chained to a wall for like twelve hours. Um here 3:56:45.280 --> 3:56:47.480 here's he he's with them today. I heard a holler. 3:56:47.560 --> 3:56:49.600 I heard officers talking to him. After that, I just 3:56:49.680 --> 3:56:52.560 heard a lot of commotion like boom boom boom boom 3:56:52.600 --> 3:56:55.520 and banging boom boom, boom, boom boom, And then I 3:56:55.560 --> 3:56:58.200 didn't hear nothing after that. My door was kind of 3:56:58.240 --> 3:57:00.280 cracked and then they shut it. After that, they shut 3:57:00.360 --> 3:57:03.240 my door all the way before the police shut the 3:57:03.280 --> 3:57:05.560 door dozed, I heard a gagging sound like he makes 3:57:05.560 --> 3:57:08.400 a choking noise, like choking, like somebody was choking after 3:57:08.440 --> 3:57:12.880 the commotion, like choking. Yeah, oh yeah, it's it's very 3:57:12.920 --> 3:57:16.000 it's very obviously from the get go. Yeah. Yeah, like 3:57:16.120 --> 3:57:19.560 they tortured this guy to death and yeah, it's yeah. 3:57:19.640 --> 3:57:21.560 And and the other fun part about Homelod squares Homeles 3:57:21.600 --> 3:57:25.160 Square is also used to torture political prisoners. All right, So, 3:57:25.480 --> 3:57:29.040 Brian Brian Jacob Church is a member of the NATO three, 3:57:29.040 --> 3:57:31.400 which is a group of anti NATO protesters and twelve 3:57:31.440 --> 3:57:34.280 who got set up by an incredibly elaborate government entrapment 3:57:34.320 --> 3:57:37.000 scheme and arrested for it. Um and he was taken 3:57:37.040 --> 3:57:39.600 immediately to Homeland Square. He's never read his branda rights. 3:57:39.760 --> 3:57:42.640 He's cuffed to a bench for seventeen hours, um, and 3:57:42.880 --> 3:57:44.840 he he asked to call his lawyer because like a 3:57:44.880 --> 3:57:47.000 good leftist, he has the National Lawyers Field number written 3:57:47.000 --> 3:57:50.760 on his arm. And you know, this is something that's important. 3:57:50.840 --> 3:57:53.400 So the Guardian talked to like dozens of people who 3:57:53.440 --> 3:57:57.120 were held here right Um. Exactly two of them were 3:57:57.160 --> 3:57:59.000 able to contact a lawyer, and they were both white 3:57:59.280 --> 3:58:01.160 and church Church is one of them. And this is 3:58:01.200 --> 3:58:04.480 actually how uh part of how Home and Score goes 3:58:04.520 --> 3:58:06.920 public because Brian Jacob Church like talks to the press 3:58:06.960 --> 3:58:10.320 about it and Spencer Ackerman it's a great journalist, does 3:58:10.360 --> 3:58:12.640 a bunch of incredible reporting and like brings the black 3:58:12.680 --> 3:58:16.760 site to light. And so there's there's seven thousand and 3:58:16.800 --> 3:58:19.480 eighty five people we can prove we're taken to Home 3:58:19.520 --> 3:58:22.320 and Square. Uh, six thousand of those people are black. 3:58:22.480 --> 3:58:25.560 Less than one percent of those people had their rest logged, 3:58:25.600 --> 3:58:28.560 which means the cops just vanished them. Uh, it's almost 3:58:28.600 --> 3:58:33.280 certainly more people. Now, I'm going to read something about 3:58:33.320 --> 3:58:36.360 this from from the book Writings from the World of Policing. 3:58:37.120 --> 3:58:39.040 This Home and Score revelation seems to me to be 3:58:39.080 --> 3:58:42.440 an institutionalization of practices that date back more than forty years, 3:58:42.880 --> 3:58:45.440 said Flint Taylor, the civil rights lawyer and most associated 3:58:45.480 --> 3:58:49.360 with pursuing area to Commander John Burge. Back when I 3:58:49.440 --> 3:58:52.480 first started working on torture cases started representing criminal defense 3:58:52.560 --> 3:58:56.320 in the early nineteen seventies, Taylor continued. My my clients 3:58:56.360 --> 3:58:58.400 often told me they've been taken from one police station 3:58:58.440 --> 3:59:00.280 to another before ending up an area to where they 3:59:00.320 --> 3:59:03.160 were tortured. That way, the police prevent their families and 3:59:03.200 --> 3:59:05.520 lawyers from seeing them until they could coerci the torture 3:59:05.560 --> 3:59:09.600 or other means confession from them. So, yeah, that that's 3:59:09.600 --> 3:59:12.320 our fucking police reform. Instead of having a instead of 3:59:12.360 --> 3:59:14.120 taking the police station to police station, the police have 3:59:14.160 --> 3:59:17.080 now been reformed so that they have one institutionalized black 3:59:17.120 --> 3:59:20.160 site instead of multiple ones. Home and Square is still 3:59:20.240 --> 3:59:22.440 open to this day. That this came out in FI, 3:59:23.040 --> 3:59:25.360 there have been like over half a decade of protest 3:59:25.400 --> 3:59:30.840 against it. Um, so supposedly the rules have changed and 3:59:30.880 --> 3:59:32.000 if you get a rested they have to put you 3:59:32.080 --> 3:59:35.360 in the system. But square is still open. There's probably 3:59:35.400 --> 3:59:38.680 another one like somewhere that they've just they've they've they've 3:59:38.760 --> 3:59:40.880 they've switched which side they're doing their black sites on. 3:59:42.240 --> 3:59:48.760 And yeah, well, yeah, I have I have a have 3:59:48.840 --> 3:59:53.520 a closing statement. It is it is an inhuman crime 3:59:54.000 --> 3:59:56.080 that a single one of these fucking demons is allowed 3:59:56.120 --> 3:59:58.040 to roam our streets with the badge and the authority 3:59:58.080 --> 4:00:00.360 to rape, torture and murder us and the certainty system 4:00:00.360 --> 4:00:02.360 will beat us into a pulp if we attempt, even 4:00:02.440 --> 4:00:05.440 in the smallest way both symbolic way possible, to resist them. 4:00:06.520 --> 4:00:08.960 The police must be abolished. There is no alternative. For 4:00:09.040 --> 4:00:11.360 the sake of our survival, for the survival of children, 4:00:11.360 --> 4:00:13.000 and for the sake of every generation that is bore 4:00:13.040 --> 4:00:15.520 its horrors before us. We could only abolish the police, 4:00:15.560 --> 4:00:17.400 salt the earth upon which it stands, and drive the 4:00:17.480 --> 4:00:19.800 very concept of policing into a space of such infamy 4:00:19.840 --> 4:00:21.840 and terror that even the worst among us would not 4:00:21.960 --> 4:00:25.120 dare to even propose bringing it back. Also, get rid 4:00:25.120 --> 4:00:29.120 of that last statue. Yeah, that one destroyed. Let's knock 4:00:29.160 --> 4:00:31.400 that one out of there too. Yeah, I mean, I 4:00:31.440 --> 4:00:34.480 feel like everyone who's ever been to that site has 4:00:34.640 --> 4:00:39.400 should have the the the like universal right to take 4:00:39.560 --> 4:00:42.560 a hammer and maybe you know, maybe maybe an RPG 4:00:43.120 --> 4:00:46.800 and just like do whatever they want to that building. Yeah. 4:00:46.880 --> 4:00:49.880 I think the men who continued to like in women 4:00:50.200 --> 4:00:54.120 who continued to work in CPD, like anyone who was 4:00:54.200 --> 4:00:57.720 ever arrested by them or or otherwise brutalize them should 4:00:57.760 --> 4:01:00.120 just forever have the right to just give him like 4:01:00.200 --> 4:01:03.760 a solid shot to the balls, you know, like just 4:01:04.040 --> 4:01:06.120 just like they get to wear a little sign around 4:01:06.160 --> 4:01:07.600 their neck and it's like, oh that guy used to 4:01:07.800 --> 4:01:10.240 that guy was you know, it was one of Burgess dudes. 4:01:10.680 --> 4:01:13.320 So anybody who sees them can just give him, give 4:01:13.360 --> 4:01:15.160 him a little haymaker right in the right in the 4:01:15.200 --> 4:01:20.040 bread basket. That is a proposal, that is I'm running 4:01:20.040 --> 4:01:22.480 from the mayor of Chicago. I mean, I I'd look, 4:01:22.680 --> 4:01:26.320 our bears all suck, so you know, move move over here, 4:01:26.440 --> 4:01:28.120 and we we we we can propose a solution to 4:01:28.160 --> 4:01:32.960 this problem that is so unbelievably not proportionately violence to 4:01:33.080 --> 4:01:36.440 what the police have been doing that it boggles belief, 4:01:37.320 --> 4:01:41.280 and I'm pretty sure I can still manage to be corrupt. Yeah, yeah, 4:01:41.400 --> 4:01:44.200 I mean it's Chicago, you can't not. I mean, I guess. 4:01:45.000 --> 4:01:47.360 I mean life was sort of corrupt. Life's less corrupt 4:01:47.400 --> 4:01:51.160 than normal. She's just bad. But yeah, it's Chicago. You'll 4:01:51.200 --> 4:01:58.440 you'll find corrupt, corruption will be foisted upon you. I'm 4:01:58.760 --> 4:02:07.960 I'm actually fine with that. Well, another another uplifting episode 4:02:08.000 --> 4:02:10.000 of It could happen. Yeah, I will say this, like 4:02:10.640 --> 4:02:14.440 Garrison named it last yet earlier today, Hi, here's a 4:02:14.520 --> 4:02:18.120 problem by you know, and I will say any any time, 4:02:18.200 --> 4:02:20.640 any time someone tells you that, like, no, it's fine, 4:02:20.640 --> 4:02:22.920 we're going to reform the police, just like remind them 4:02:22.960 --> 4:02:25.760 that reforming the Chicago Police Department went was that the 4:02:26.040 --> 4:02:28.160 reform was that we don't have black sites. We do 4:02:28.360 --> 4:02:32.800 have we don't have consulidated the black We were from 4:02:32.880 --> 4:02:35.160 multiple black sites to one black site. And also they 4:02:35.200 --> 4:02:38.680 probably moved it again just you just have to get 4:02:38.800 --> 4:02:45.360 rid of that is the essence of police report. Yeah. Anyway, Yep, 4:02:45.560 --> 4:03:01.040 there's a problem. Okay, bye bye. Hey, We'll be back 4:03:01.120 --> 4:03:04.280 Monday with more episodes every week from now until the 4:03:04.320 --> 4:03:06.840 heat Death of the Universe. It Could Happen Here is 4:03:06.840 --> 4:03:09.520 a production of cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from 4:03:09.560 --> 4:03:12.240 cool Zone Media, visit our website cool zone media dot 4:03:12.320 --> 4:03:14.360 com or check us out on the I Heart Radio app, 4:03:14.400 --> 4:03:17.720 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can 4:03:17.800 --> 4:03:20.440 find sources for it could Happen Here, updated monthly at 4:03:20.480 --> 4:03:23.720 cool zone Media dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.