Canadian Broadcasting In Crisis

Does saying "Jeeeezus" and "oh my God" over and over as I scroll through the news count as praying? 

It's not just all the bizarre appointments in the US that will chase out any competent people leaving an empty husk as a gift for Russia - or something like that - but the CBC feels compromised. It's been a bit of a problem here and there for decades, but this latest mess of a "balanced" call-in show on Canada becoming the 51st state with flippin' Kevin O'Leary and David Frum hosting, feels like it's no longer Canadian at all. People are calling them, and the producers Quislings, and I think that word will become more and more commonplace. CBC News reported on the backlash and asks that we pretty please watch the show to make up our own mind. No thanks.

The cartoon above is from a few weeks ago. How much is Musk/Trump already involved in the CBC directly or through PP or Ford? We NEED trusted Canada-wide media now more than ever. Take control of the media to control the country. I'm heartened by the anger this has roused in the public, but the left is now calling to defund the CBC! It feels like this was the plan all along, and we're falling for it. We need a way in to reclaim the CBC, or, alternatively, we need our own grassroots version of The MeidasTouch to take its place. This is vital to keeping our country our own.

Tim Ford spells out problems with the show here, in case it's not obvious:

I will attempt to flesh out why the CBC's broadcast of Cross Country Checkup was so toxic today, since there are some people still expressing confusion or dismay at the criticisms, including my own, leveled at it. 

First and foremost: framing. The question: "What do you think of Trump's comments about Canada becoming the 51st state?" A slavish adherence to so-called "neutrality" is at play here. For starters, these are not "comments." These are threats. This is not an opinion. It is a fact. ANY country's unilateral declaration of annexation is, by its very nature, a threat. The other country's autonomy is dismissed, so it can't be read any other way. This applies anywhere. If S. Korea threatens to annex N. Korea. If India threatens to annex Iran. "Good guys" and "bad guys" alike. By portraying this threat as mere "comments" and leaving this as an open-ended "thought experiment," the CBC shirked its journalistic duty to objective truth. Objectively, Trump is threatening Canada. Period. This would be like asking "what do we think of Putin's comments on annexing Ukraine?"

The second major failure: informing the audience. This is a problem of format; a free-for-all call-in by its very nature is problematic. There is little-to-no vetting and it functions as a soapbox for the terminally online, instead of, as it claims to be, a bellwether of public feelings. A vibes-based discussion is toxic, platforming uninformed opinions on a national scale, including fringes. The CBC defends it on the basis that they allow "all sides to be heard." However, all sides are not equal. A surgeon is more qualified to discuss the cardiovascular system than a barber.This also goes back to an over-adherence to neutrality. If, for instance, we said "Flat earthers think the Earth is flat. What do you think, callers?" We would not present this as a discussion of equals. There is objective truth, and expertise. 

Which leads to the last point of criticism. A lack of expert rebuttal and fact-checking. If there was to be a discussion on Trump's threats, why in the world would we want to hear from snake oil salesmen like Kevin O'Leary, rather than actual foreign policy and constitutional law experts? Journalists have a responsibility to seek expert and informed sources for their stories. Kevin O'Leary has no qualifications to discuss the legal, foreign policy, or historical contexts of this situation. This is not a matter of opinion. It is a fact. He does not know any of these issues. By instead allowing shysters like O'Leary to present unchecked misinformation, and placing the onus on listeners to "do their own research," the broadcast effectively shirked its journalistic responsibility. It offered about as much value as a Reddit Thread. 

And on that last point, I also have to address the contempt which Hanomansing and Hobson tossed at their critics. Multiple times, they laughed off critics, mainly on BlueSky, which they mentioned by name. Here's my obvious rebuttal: why are people here worth less than people on your show? The answer, of course, is that this is about ego. Hanomansing and Hobson felt slighted that people had the audacity to point out the flaws in their program, and rather than address these issues, they opted to portray the same public they claim to represent as fringe or crazy. It is this final hypocrisy which I think conclusively shows the lie of the program's promise of being a productive discussion. If, indeed, we can agree that it carries no better informative value than an internet message board, how is it worthy to take up air time of our national broadcaster? 

I'm going to wrap it up here, and direct people to this succinct point by Steve Boots. There is no such thing as absolute neutrality in news. Discussions which pretend there is no moral or factual core to issues are without value, literally and metaphorically. The CBC failed here.

Steve Boots said:

It's past time to stop this both sides nonsense. Balance is a myth. We're always making decisions in what we show and what we don't It's why you don't hear communist perspectives on the new. "Balance" excludes them for some reason. We don't need to engage with both sides of an obviously awful claim. I have no more right to his house than the US does to Canada, so why is one easy to dismiss as a ridiculous claim, and one is not? Obviously I'm being sarcastic about the house, but the real question is, is public comment on EVERY idea a good thing? One of the roles of a broadcaster is to make careful decisions about how you frame discussions. The framing is very concerning.

Absolutely. 

Why Is Everyone Suddenly Sick??

Some people are working hard to believe this level of illness, getting sick several times each year, has always been the case. The latest bizarre reason I've heard for all the illness recently is microplastics. It's definitely a problem that there's so much plastic in our world, and has been for decades (mainly from car tires), BUT that's not why so many people are sick now. T. Ryan Gregory explains a more likely reason below:

I'm sure infectious disease minimizers are attributing the record-shattering surge of severe flu this year to "immunity debt". Let's think this through, shall we?

1. Serious mitigations ended more than 4 years ago. Why would immunity debt only kick in now? And why wasn't four flu seasons without mitigations enough to repay whatever "debt" there was? We wrote this more than two years ago.And yet we had to reiterate the same point this year because the "debt" is somehow still not repaid. 

Improving Indoor Air Quality

Literally years ago, as a trustee around February of 2023, I noticed that the CO2 monitor testing proposal that was ratified had a sneaky line about not beginning the test until after we're back to pre-Covid ventilation levels (i.e. no longer bringing in more fresh air), which might never happen. I was the one to push the issue, but I was told that I shouldn't be the one to put the motion forward because I had just proposed encouraging people to mask, so I was the seconder on that motion to re-write that motion. 

Shop Canadian here!

The motion was just to try out having CO2 monitors in three schools as a test case. The monitors wouldn't be visible to people, but hidden in the vents, remotely monitored by board staff, and that's a line they wouldn't budge on. If they were visible, then teachers could use them to decide if windows should be opened for a bit to air out the room or the HEPA filter actually plugged in! Maybe they were worried about it causing a panic. Who knows! Before I left, which was before that motion was going to be argued about and voted on, I pleaded with the chair to try to add in a line that the reporting of the monitors must report per classroom or at least a range, not just give an average per school. She didn't seem to think it was important. 

It's so clearly important. The school average could show 700 ppm, which is pretty good, and miss that some rooms are at 500, and others at 2,000. As a teacher with my own monitor, I was in a classroom that regularly hit over 2,000 - every day - while other rooms were much better. My room also barely got any heat in the winter. It was an ongoing problem for decades that never really got fully addressed. 

What a Failing Democracy Looks Like

Rachel Gilmore lived in Tunisia just before the fall of their democracy, and has important markers for us to notice: 

"The canary in the coal mine for a failing democracy are society's most vulnerable members. If people who are low income or are members of vulnerable groups are sounding the alarm, you should listen. ... Democracy is not something you have, it's something you do." 

Timothy Snyder explains that what Musk is being sanctioned to do is definitely attempting a coup. It doesn't feel like it because it's all digital instead of physical, but that's the world we live in: 

"The individuals seizing power have no right to it. ... It is all illegal. It is also a coup in its intended effects: to undo democratic practice and violate human rights. ... The possession of that data enable blackmail and further crimes. ... Musk would also make democracy meaningless ... he can make laws meaningless. Which means, in turn, that Congress is meaningless, adn our votes are meaningless, as is our citizenship. ... Each hour this goes unrecognized makes the success of the coup more likely."

Meanwhile, in Ontario, Doug has a huge contract with Musk worth $100 million. He said he'd rip it up, but now it's back on, and he was caught on a hot mic saying about Trump, 

"On election day was I happy this guy won? 100% I was. Then the guy pulled out the knife and fucking yanked it into us."

Andrew Wilkin writes,

"Ford, like Trump, has a similar political economic worldview where policies support easy money, debt forgiveness and socialism for the mega-rich, while the rest of us get neo-liberal austerity. Ford and Trump both favour government deregulation, privatizing public good and not properly funding public education and health-care systems in order to enable their privatization. ... could pose a threat to unionized public education jobs ... emergency rooms are overflowing, private clinics are expanding over public options, and health-care workers are burning out ... has questionable views about the equality of women and uses sexist rhetoric ... scapegoats immigrants ... falsely blamed immigrants for crimes, urban sprawl and dismantling environmental protections ... has questionable sympathies to violent far-right extremists ... willing to use secrecy and heavy-handed government power to stifle democracy and take away average working people's rights. ... Any vote for Ford is probably a vote for Trump-style politics."

If we don't want to follow the states, we HAVE to vote Ford out!! If ever there was a time the Libs and NDP should join forces, this would be it. But clearly that will never happen. Seriously, could you imagine, the day before the election, if one of them said to vote for the other in order to save our province!?! Nah, me either. No miracle on Wellesley Street for us! We ALL have to get out there this time, in the snow. You can vote NOW at your local elections office, or in advanced polls February 20-22 just in case there's a storm on the 27th. This is a vital moment for Ontario. All hand on deck!

Like Al Capone in a Syphilitic Period Trying to Do a Shakedown

A couple videos not to be missed:

Charlie Angus on Trump - full transcript below:

Angus: "What President Trump also said is that the tariffs will not come off until we give up our birthright and our sovereignty to a convicted predator. That is never, ever, ever going to happen. So what Donald Trump has done is unify Canadians in a manner I've never seen before. And while Americans may be waking up to the tariffs, we've already started the pushback. People in Kentucky, did you know that your biggest export market for spirits is Canada? We just took everything off the shelf. California, did you know that the largest purchaser of wines in the world is the liquor agency in Ontario? You don't get any more California wines in Ontario. Elon Musk, our premier just canceled a $100 million deal today. Canada is getting ready for this fight because we know that he's erratic, may be this week, may be next week, but there's a huge actual boycott going on. Grocery stores, ordinary people, people stopping on the streets. Nobody is buying anything that comes out of the United States right now, because we understand this is a threat to who we are as a nation." 

Interviewer question: "There are also Republicans here in farm states concerned about ingredients for fertilizers that come from Canada as well. There are a myriad of products that we are just learning about as Americans. Fascinating, although perhaps not under duress to learn about them. He's obviously looking for some kind of concession. You hear him. He talks about Colombia. He's talking about Mexico and the 10,000 Mexican troops, and I know you view him as unreasonable, to say the least here. But do you think that ultimately Canada might end up conceding, or is that not even a possibility?" 

Angus: "Well, I think the issue is, is that Donald Trump is claiming Canada is a narco state. The man's a liar. So would we put some more money on the border? Sure. I'd love to put more money on the border to keep American guns from shooting our people on the streets. We would do that to avoid a trade war. We're reasonable as Canadians. But when you have somebody threatening our sovereignty, well, we're hunkering down for a fight here. So, yes, for people in the grain growing belt, potash from Canada is essential. For the tech people, critical minerals; we've already had our B.C. Premier talk about shutting off the critical mineral flow. Would you need that? But the big issue, and I think it was raised by some of your previous panelists: auto. The auto sector is so integrated that within a week, even without the retaliatory trade, pressure from Canada, you'll start to see Lansing, Toledo, Bowling Green start to sputter and go down because this is just-in-time delivery. Our whole North American economy is based on this. So Donald Trump thinks that Canada is his biggest enemy? The guy wouldn't stand up to Putin; he gives a feather to China, but he's going to pick a fight with us? Well, if that's the way it's going to be, we will be there, pound for pound. It's going to hurt us a lot. But the American people are much more divided than we are right now, and we are unified. So, we wait to see what comes next." 

Interviewer Question: "We're going to see this call or hope to see soon what comes of it. It's supposed to take place in about 45 minutes. Would you say then that Canada is going to call his bluff, or is already calling his bluff?" 

Angus: "Well, we've already announced, I think $125 billion in retaliatory tariffs. We will give 21 days pause so that our companies can start to retool before we launched the next level. We've already started pulling off a lot of American products off the shelves prior to this. I'm hoping that our prime minister will cut a deal. I think with Donald, it's so important that he looks like he's won something. I mean, this isn't gunboat diplomacy. This is really, I don't know, like Al Capone in a syphilitic period trying to do a shakedown. So, yeah, we'll make concessions on something that, you know, he can write a press release about. But on key areas, Canadians would, I think, would hunt our leaders down if they bowed and kiss the ring to the man from Mar Lago. It's not going to happen. So we shall see. I'm hoping that we can get through this and get back to work with our American cousins."

Time will tell if placating Trump by adding troops to the border was Trudeau's Neville Chamberlain move or the best possible strategy. Angus isn't running for leadership, and we have no Churchill in the wings.

AND check out how much Poilievre is copying Trump directly. We really have to keep him out of power. 

 

It's like that lovely father and son scene from Jaws, except these guys are going to destroy life for anyone remotely marginalized. 

ETA: Bruce Arnold, in The Star, wrote:

"Trump truly, wrongly believes tariffs will enrich the United States. He is an incompetent blusterer, and even though Canada got Trump to back off his tariff threats, the idea of annexation is planted. That threat won’t vanish. This is economic wartime. We are not dealing with a logical opponent; we are dealing with a mad, foolish predator surrounded by fanatics. Canada fights together now, or Canada falls apart. 

Some people, fattened and cosseted by the relative safety and sleepiness of this country, or blinded by the post-pandemic problems — and really, by Canada’s general post-Cold War austerity in health care, housing, education, long-term care, infrastructure, the military — have demanded a reason to fight for the country. What binds us together? Hockey? Less than ever. Medicare has been badly bruised, despite the professionals holding it together. Housing is a nightmare, and the pandemic expanded society’s cracks. So many of the common cultural values we once held have largely atomized in the age of the internet: we don’t have “The Beachcombers” to watch anymore. But there’s still something here. You’re damned right Canadians are booing “The Star Spangled Banner” at hockey and basketball games; you’re damned right Canadians are taking U.S. liquor off the shelves. You’re damned right we’re furious. I’m furious at the fascists and criminals ransacking the American government, and furious at the quislings and Vichy Canadians who have decided patriotism might be optional. If you feel that way, you were never very patriotic at all....

No other nation is as threatened by Trump, and the world will watch how we respond: whether we fortify ourselves against the madman and his fanatics, or whether we splinter. So what are we fighting for? What did Canada do for you? It allowed you to live in a country that welcomes people who share the value of collective individuality, and that has been largely sheltered from the harshest currents of the world. You got to be a part of this thing. Well, the world is arriving in a rush, now. Time to be Canadian, for everything it’s worth."

Here's a Made in Canada Guide that might be a start.

Staying Informed and Sane

 Who I'm reading to get through this mess (among many others):

#1 - Timothy Snyder

Yesterday's piece, "The Logic of Destruction," should be read in full, but here are some important bits:

"The parts of the government that work to implement laws have been maligned for decades. Americans have been told that the people who provide the with services are conspirators within a 'deep state.' We have been instructed that the billionaires are the heroes. All of this work was preparatory to the coup that is going on now. ... The oligarchs have no plan to govern. They will take what they can, and disable the rest. ...They will have bet against the stock market in advance of Trump's deliberately destructive tariffs, adn will be ready to tell everyone to buy the crypto they already own. ... The economic collapse they plan is more like a reverse flood from the Book of Genesis, in which the righteous will all be submerged while the very worst ride Satan's ark. ... 

Trump's tariffs (which are also likely illegal) are there to make us poor. Trump's attacks on America's closet friends, countries such as Canada and Denmark, are there to make enemies of countries where constitutionalism works and people are prosperous. As their country is destroyed, Americans must be denied the idea that anything else is possible. ... [These oligarchs] are possessed, like millennia of tyrants before them, of fantastic dreams: they will live forever, they will go to Mars. None of that will happen; they will die here on Earth, with the rest of us, their only legacy, if we let it happen, one of ruins. They are god-level brainrotted." 

So, yikes! It doesn't look good for us here no matter how you slice it. As long as Trump is in power, Canada is in danger. Snyder calls for Trump and Vance to be impeached, but so far I don't see many standing up to him beyond Sanders and AOC. That's not enough. Beyond that, he calls for government workers to keep working until officially fired to slow the process down. Muddle up the works as long as possible. 

#2 Heather Cox Richardson