Shaun Newman Podcast - #453 - Leah Maier & Sarah Palin

Episode Date: June 22, 2023

This episode is in 2 parts. The first part I sat down with Leah an educational assistant in Saskatchewan who was recently terminated for a Facebook group post to a story promoting parents keeping their kids home on June 1 in protest of Pride Month in the school system.  The second part I sat down with Sarah while she was speaking at a Canadians for Truth event in Calgary. She is an American politician and author who served as the ninth governor of Alaska and was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee. Let me know what you think Text me 587-217-8500 Substack:https://open.substack.com/pub/shaunnewmanpodcast

This is Nicole Murphy. This is Rachel Emanuel. Hi, this is John Cohen. Hey, everyone, this is Glenn Jung from Bright Light News. This is Drew Weatherhead. This is Terrick-Kin-Legger. This is Ed Dowd, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks.

Happy Thursday. We got a little two-for, two-for, to-for. Geez, I can't even spit it out. We got a little tufer for you today. Interesting day on the podcast. I thought both two short little interviews, I thought, why not just stick them together? and hear a couple different ladies talk about their perspectives, of course. The first is Liam Meyer, and she was just let go recently from Esther Hasey,

an EA in Esther Hasey, for sharing a post in a private Facebook group, so we'll hear her story. And in the second half, we'll have Sarah Palin. Of course, she was the ninth governor of Alaska and was in the 2008 presidential election alongside John McCain for the Republicans. So you got a couple different looks. I got to give a shout out when it comes to Sarah Palin, the group at the Miracle Network.

Andrew did all the video shoot for me, and we were in at the Canadian for Truth event. So showed up to Canadians for Truth for hooking it up. We were down there and we were given like 20 minutes between the two of us. And I just said, well, you guys are all set up with all your cameras. You mind just filming me too. And, you know, I got a couple of strange stares, but they were troopers about it and stayed around to just film me with Sarah Palin as well.

And so I appreciate them doing the filming. And of course, Canadians for Truth, they brought in Sarah Palin and offered me some time to sit down with her. So I can't thank them enough as well. Because as I'll say in the short interview, I didn't know a whole lot about Sarah Palin other than what I, you know, briefly remember back in 2008, you know, and I think I've said this lots, that, you know, she, like, they came up against Obama, and Obama has been one of the best orators out of a

president that I think maybe I've ever seen, you know, like he could really command a crowd. So, you know, it's funny what you remember from all the way back then. Either way, we got two episodes up for a day, or two short interviews, I should say one episode, two short interviews, and I'll look forward to hearing all your thoughts on the text line about either one. So let's get on to it and we'll catch up to you afterwards. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Today I'm joined by Leah Myers.

So first off, Leah, thanks for hopping on. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Now, you've got to give us a little bit of your backstory. I mean, I was just saying to you before we started that I've had the article shared with me, you know, I don't know, a half dozen times at least. And then certainly Nadine Ness, retweeting it on, on Twitter and it's just come across my table a lot.

So but before that, I have no idea who Leah is. So if you wouldn't mind, could you give us a little bit of your backstory and where you're from and what part of Saskatchewan you come from? For sure. Sounds good. So I'm from Esterhawesi, Saskatchewan. I am a mother of three. I have a daughter in grade three in Esther Hasey, B.J. Gillen School where I was working.

I have two kids in the high school, one in grade 10 and one in grade 11. I lived here my whole life. Lots of people in the community know me. I'm very well liked. And yeah. You sound like a real extreme woman. Maybe. I don't know.

Just for my own small town brain, like, I don't know if I've ever been through Esther Hasey. I've certainly heard about Esther Hasey, but what is Esther Hasey known for? Is it known for anything? Yeah, it's the potash mines. The potash minds, of course. Of course. Okay. Fair enough. Well, it's like, you know, a small town Saskatchewan, you're like, of course they're going to have something there, and it's the potash mines. What's the, you know, as kids growing up, potash minds, would you, I don't know, is there trouble to get into the potash minds, or are they just like, they kind of those weird looking hells and that's what it is. Yeah, I think just weird looking hills. I don't know. We never got into trouble in them.

Yeah, I've never heard of it. Leah never got into any trouble as a kid, I'm sure. Let's, well, walk me through this, because I mean, like, there's been a ton of people talking about different things going on inside the schools. Certainly, what kids are privy to when it comes to, you know, pretty much, first and foremost, LGBTQ2SL plus community. But in general, as a parent, more just like, what are we exposing children to and how young and, like, how confusing of a subject and et cetera, et cetera. So you've got to walk me through the story because I guess I'm looking at it. I read the Western Standard. I went, okay. How does this come to be?

Okay, sounds good. I will tell my story. So I was at work on Thursday. Thursday it was, I don't remember the date. Let me look back here. Thursday, June 8th. So I was at work and my boss text me and says, I would like to see you for a few. few minutes, just pop into my office. So stopped in her office and she shows me the screenshot that I had apparently

posted on, well, I did post on SAS Unified Neighbors. It's a group that I created, I guess, quite a while ago, just for informative information. And it's a closed private group. So there's select few on that that group that I know and a few of my others know there is a couple admins and yeah so I shared an article with no comments at all to simply share it to see what the people in the group would think and it was a Christian article from light site life site news and it was about the Ontario protest where parents were keeping their kids home on June 1st so she asks did you make this post and I I said, yes, I did. Then she asked if I was an admin on that page.

And I said, yes, I am. So she says, OK, well, I've got to tell you that Jason Troast, our superintendent from GSD in Yorkton, has asked for you to work at home starting tomorrow, so Friday. And I was like, OK, totally caught off guard. I'm thinking, what did I do wrong? Right? There is no comment on there.

I just simply shared this article. And yeah, so I was to work at home. She said he'll get into contact with you, sorry. Monday, there should be an investigation meeting. So all right, wait around for an email. Later that day, I had received one, stating that I had broken, apparently broken, the Court of Conduct for social media, discrimination, and so on.

So we'll have a meeting Monday the 12th of June at 2 o'clock. Okay, that's all the information I know then. So Monday at 2 o'clock rolls around. I join this meeting and they just simply say you're terminated. So it's hard. It's really hard. It's really stressful because I love my job. I was passionate about it.

The kids and I had a great relationship. I worked really well with the staff. Some of my best friends were the teachers there. Yeah. So, and then it was 2.15-ish, and they tell me that I have till 3.30 to gather my stuff and turn my keys in. So it was immediate, so I didn't have two weeks notice. It was get off the property, basically. And that was it.

Okay. So let's go back to the start. Sure. Private group, how many people in this thing? Like, is this? It was about 800. Okay. It's a fairly large group, but closed.

Private group, you have to answer questions and get approved to be in the group. When you post the article, is there any like, hey, we should really support this? We should, is there like, hey, I'm really for this? Is there, or it's just, you just shared an article? Yeah, shared, simply shared. There was no writing commented on it. You know, did you ever think that you'd be at a position where, you know, like 800 people on my side, it's like, I don't know, in the signal group chats of like 10, I'm like a little bit nervous. Did you think at any point just like sharing it, oh, this might ruffle feathers or you hadn't seen anything like this before?

I wouldn't, no. I didn't think that anybody would be upset about this post. It was just a general post to see what people thought of it. There was no opinions based on it. Did I notice in the Western Standard article, did you keep your kids home on June 1st? I did not. No, they went to school. I went to work that day.

So did you try explaining this in the meeting? Like, guys, like literally, I mean, it's just an article being shared, being talked about. Are we not allowed to talk about anything anymore? And the response was just Stonewall? Basically, yeah. No, I did. I tried to explain that. I just simply shared it. It was no opinions, nothing. But they stated, as soon as you share something on social media, it's like you agree to what you're sharing. And I said, I strongly disagree. I can share something that I disagree with. And they didn't see it that way.

So what now? Like as you sit there, you know, like I go like, okay, well, that seems pretty, cutting dry, there's no like digging into this one. It's like straightforward. So what do you do now? You know, it's as we sit here recording this, it's the 21st. So it's nine days later. You know, where does Leah go now? I sent an agreement letter yesterday at 5 p.m. So now we have seven days to wait and see what HR's response to that is. My end goal is to obviously get my job back. I tremendously miss the staff and the students. So I'm hoping for my job back. But after that, if it's not granted, I really don't know what I'm going to do. Have you, I assume you've been getting some support. Like I don't see people going, even if they disagree with the article,

I don't see many people going, wow, you're a really bad human being here for doing this. it's like, we're getting to this crazy point now where if you share anything, you know, like, I mean, you might as well not, you might as just not go on social media then. And even if it's in a private group and and and, this is getting to pretty, I don't know, I keep saying it strange times, but we're in strange times. That's very true. I'm very lucky. I feel that I'm very supported in the community and outside the community as well.

I've had a lot of people reach out to me, offer any kind of support. It's truly amazing how many people stand behind me. I'm so thankful. My family and my close friends are wonderful. Have you, in your time as an EA, while you've been working there, have you ever been like in a similar situation to this? Like, or is this like a one-off? No, actually this, this is this,

kind of happened about a year ago. I had another investigation meeting. So what happened there was I was off on a stress leave. My son was experiencing some mental health issues. So I was off looking after him, helping him through that. And I was scrolling Facebook one day and I had seen an article of a graduate. This really hits home. It hurts to even talk about it. She had committed suicide. She'd taken our own life due to all the restrictions mandates during COVID times. So as I sit there and read this article thinking of her poor family, I'm dealing with mental health issues with my son. And I shared this on my Facebook wall. And I did, I did have a harsh comment, actually quite a few opinions that was attached to it. So I get a call.

I'm in trouble. I've got a slap on the wrist because I shared this. I had opinions based to it. It makes GSSD look bad. Hald in for an investigation meeting where it was just, I think the end result was a written warning that I'm not allowed to do this again. I'm not allowed to have opinions based on my beliefs on Facebook so that the community and other people can see because it is damaging to good.

Spirit School Division at our schools. Have they since maybe offered an apology with all the stuff coming out? They have not. It seems interesting on this side because I know, I mean, if people listen to this show, we went through a whole rigmarole through the middle of those times and certainly I'm not one to dodge a few different opinions and everything like that. So it's, at the time, I'm not saying that. that I give him a pass because I don't.

But at the same time, you can understand the pressure that was probably on the school division when, but now it's like, well, now we're so far past it and everybody can see what went on. And then the wake of everything, all the damage that was done, you'd think maybe they would offer a little bit of, anyways, I digress. Was that one in the private group as well? Or was that on your personal? That's okay. It was on my personal page.

So then the first time you're like, okay, personal, you don't have to agree with me, you can tell me this is not what you thought, but you're kind of like, okay, that was dumb. I should have been, you know, like whatever, shouldn't have not put it on publicly and whatever else? So the next time it's in a private group, a private group, I'm going to say that one more time, a private group, and you're like, yeah, there's 800 people, but it's a private group. And I mean, it's like literally, that's what it's there for. It's there to throw out different things so that it's, you have to answer certain questions and criteria to get in. Is that, so you're in a logistical area, the questions kind of thing? Yes, yeah. When you, I guess you have to be approved or whatever.

So when you click to join the group, you have to answer their questions. Like I can't remember off the top of my head what they are. But like to be respectful of people's opinions, et cetera. And then an admin will approve you. Right. Yes. Okay. Well, I don't even know what to say after this.

You know, it's like, okay. That's pretty cut and dry. I mean, I get the first one that you get in trouble, even though I don't agree with it. It's like, okay, fair enough. You come full circle and now this, I don't even know what to say. And honestly, I've been sent today at Lumsden. I was actually talking to a buddy at a Lumsden, you know, with the planned parenthood. Planed, am I saying, am I right on that?

Yes. With the different A to Z. Yes, I seen this. And I can make an opinion on this because that way I'm the one in trouble and nobody else. Here, folks can wait one second. So the, it's using, so the story reads in Lumsden Grade 9 class that essentially they had a presentation, planned parenthood, nothing too crazy. But then on the side table, they had some secondary like, I don't know, articles, et cetera. And one of them was sex cards, using sex cards.

using sex cards, using sex from A to Z cards. And I was reading through these and I'm like, this is the most ridiculous thing. I laugh a little bit because I'm like, this makes me blush, you know? It's like a for autoflatio, bisexual, cathedilia, dingleberry, erection, felching, glory hole, half and half, I can keep going, but you get the point.

And right, and you're like, this was in a grade nine, like this was sitting on the side table of a grade nine class. This is insane. Like I don't, nobody has to make a comment on this. Sean's just going to be like, this is insane. This shouldn't be anywhere near that. I mean, it sounds like a really bad game that you'd buy at the adult gift shop, actually, right? Like that's kind of where it sounds like.

So this, sorry, Leah, I'm kind of taking the side note here. I just, it seems like, you know, it felt like, oh, yeah, it's not that big a deal. And once again, just slowly it's creeping in. And now you're getting removed because you share it. a post in a private group with no comment. And now, you know, you see in Lumsden, this is on the side table, and on and on and on it goes. That's great.

Is there anything else before I let you off here? I don't, you know, I assume you're careful of your words because you don't want to, you know, incriminate yourself or whatever, I don't mean to incriminate yourself. I just mean that like sometimes less is more, especially in a situation like this when you're trying to get your job. back. But for the people listening, is there anything else that you want to make sure they know or, I don't know, you got the floor? Sure, absolutely. I would like to add that just so everybody

knows that I am accepting of all people. I am one of the kindest people you would ever meet. I would never judge anyone for what they choose. That's completely up to them. So I hope that people watching don't judge me for any of this. I'm just doing this for the for the kids and for myself. I miss them. So I would love to have my job back. Yeah, I don't think you're going to have a problem with this audience, but I could be wrong, you know, my, I don't see a, well, I don't know. We got to a point here where it's like I'm, I'm not trying to be like anything, you know, that they're telling you that I am. I'm not any of that, right? And it's, it's, I don't think you're having an issue with my audience. I could be wrong on that. But the text.

line is open. I'll let them decide. And either way, appreciate you hopping on, Leah, and, yeah, and doing this. I know it's a quick one for the listener, but I thought when I read it, I'm like, man, we should really have you on because I'd love to hear it in your own words. Just nice, like, what the heck is going on, you know? A short article kind of explains it, but at the same time to have the person on who's in the middle of the, you know, the hurricane, the storm. It's good to hear from you. Thank you. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Today I'm joined by Sarah Palin. So this is pretty cool. Thanks for giving me a couple moments of your time. Thank you. It's pretty cool for me. Thank you. You know, I listened to you last night and as I was telling you, I'm new to this. I'm new to media.

I'm new to how media kind of construes things and everything else. And you got talking last night, and I was in the States when you were running with McCain and I remember Obama and everything. And what I remembered walking into last night was S&L and actually a lady named Lisa Ann who played you in porn. And I bring those two up because I was like, wow, that's what I remember. Just the jokes, the everything. And then you get on stage last night and you talk about family values, you talk about God, and you talk about getting government out of your life. And that's all my values.

And I went, holy man, she's been facing this for 15 years. How do you stay resilient to that? Like knowing the beast that you're facing doesn't agree with all those, which I'm like, all of those are so important. But, you know. Right. What it is that we stand for is like the antithesis of what they want to hear. Right.

And so, yeah, that, you know, makes it an extra challenge out there trying to get your message across. That's interesting, though, that that's what your perception was. I think that you nailed it. What the vast majority's perception is. I feel like I'm always in a position of being on defense, right? Like having to defend what my reputation should be, what my record has been in administration in elected office. And yet I know that what people, at least at first glance when we meet and when we chat,

what they're probably thinking. And a lot of that is what the mainstream media was able to hijack and create a narrative So, you know, you just plug away and keep doing what you know is the right thing to do and you fight for what's right. And you know that you're not going to die by their criticism because you're not going to live by their praise. So, you know, there's an even kill there. It still had to be a bit shocking. You know, when you're sitting there going, I had 86% approval rate in Alaska. And you're going like, I did all these things.

And they just, when you talk about hijacking a narrative, it's like, they literally focused on. on your looks and a couple of comments and that's what they ran a thing and the entire society ate it up like hook line and sinker i mean i wasn't engaged in politics american politics certainly being a canadian being down there i was kind of foreign to me and you know just kind of like whatever that almost had to have been depressing to have worked that hard to get there to be handpicked and then for them to just like okay this is how we're going to do it like well i know a lot of other people have gone through a lot worse and i keep that perspective too but um yeah yeah yeah Early on, especially it got frustrating because you so wanted to correct the record.

You wanted to correct what it is. Then why can't you? I know. People would ask me that all the time. Why don't you get out there and defend yourself? Why don't you correct yourself? But it's like, there's just this barrage, though, of overwhelming criticism and the negativity that's just drowning you.

And when you're, in my case, a busy mom, a busy governor, a busy businesswoman who's expected to get out there and help the cause and help other people running for office and all that, you have to pick your battles. And there's probably a lot of battles that perhaps I should have picked and fought in order to erase some of the misconceptions and misperceptions. Do you think now with like the rise of, you know, like I do a podcast? And I mean, Joe Rogan just had Robert Kennedy on, right? With that independent, the growth of it, are you like, oh man, I wish this was around back in my day because we could have set the record straight immediately. Yes, we were before our time. And President Trump, he and I have talked about this even personally. He's like, hey, thanks for kind of paving the way, you know.

Too bad you didn't have that defense. You know, get not doing a podcast or even being able to be out there freely tweeting. something to correct the record. Yeah, we were just a little bit ahead of our time when it comes to they being able to create a caricature of who you really are. Yeah. So does that give you, like, I don't know. Once again, I'm new to this, Sarah. Like, you've lived it out. For 15 years, I'm like, I'm sitting there and going like, how does she still resilient? How do you come in, smiling and everything else? Over 15 years are you like optimistic that things are actually going to get better and things are moving in the right direction and things like,

like the family unit isn't this, you know, wild idea to hold to near and dear, you know. Like I think a lot of people are like, yeah, that's, that's wire. But for so long, it was kind of like the media focused on something and nobody got to talk about it. Now with all these independent channels starting up and Rogan and certainly on and on and on, like I guess do you find lots of hope in that? Yes, I do. It's a blessing and a curse.

This whole social media rise. Yes, you know, we know that we get too consumed in social media and we don't like to see our kids, especially teenagers, live for social media and lose their own identity because there's this false identity that's created about everybody who's involved. But on the other hand, as we're saying, if it weren't for social media, just think what the left, the uniparty, the global government that does want to take over and they do control the mainstream of media. Just think what they would crush us. They would crush those who just have a true intention. Did you talk this openly back in 2008? You know, in the campaign, the vice presidential campaign that I was on,

where I had that international platform, you'd think I could have talked about this. But the people who were running the John McCain, Sarah Palin campaign, who ultimately didn't even vote for us, the ticket, Nicole Wallace, Steve Schmidt, They're like the MSNBC darlings now. They screwed John McCain. They screwed me too, but that doesn't matter. John McCain was, you know, he didn't deserve it the way that that campaign was right.

I used to have to sneak phone calls to conservative outlets like Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly. I would. We'd be back on the bus and there was just a couple of us and we'd be like, somebody find out what Fox News number is and let me call. And I call and I'd do a quick interview and oh my gosh, I'd get chewed out, you know, by the headshed. Because they wanted me to be on Katie Couric show. They wanted me to be on Good Morning America. It was a farce. It was, and it wasn't fair to America.

It wasn't fair to the voters. Well, I'm trying to remember. I'm really trying to remember. Well, you were 12, so we couldn't have remembered, no. I was 22, I believe, back then. I'm thinking back and I'm like, man, did I just get Sarah Palin all wrong? Or did I see none of that talked about?

And nobody's asked me that question before. It's like, well, what you're suggesting is, well, why weren't you out there then setting the record straight? It's like, we were trying, we were sneaking, we were doing as much as we could, because we know it was the right thing to do to set the record straight. Because it was in fairness to the voters so that they would have the most accurate information in front of them to know who it was that they wanted to vote for. But we weren't given that ability.

We went rogue. In fact, I was criticized for going rogue too often. Like, I'd go off script. Yeah, I went off script. Because, you know, I knew what a just common sense, constitutional conservative and independent that I was. I knew what I believed in and what my record represented. And I wanted to talk about that.

So I'd go off script. You know, I wouldn't read the teleprompter. And that's why to this day, those folks, Steve Schmidt, Nicole, they hate me. But, you know, I know that as much as I could do, Going Rogue is what they called it. Then I wrote a New York Times bestseller called Going Rogue, kind of an in-your-face thing.

I won. You mentioned something really cool last night that I've been waiting for a politician to talk about. And it was opium. And I was like, I was like, opium. Like, where is she going with this? And then you're like other people's money. Yeah.

And how, you know, like government. Shouldn't be basically gathering as much of it because they know best. It's like, no, actually the people know best. I was wondering, I don't know. I just thought that was really cool. And then like, once again, eye opening to sit there and listening and talk and be like, ha, I got everything wrong. Like, not everything around.

Obviously coming in and shouted Canadians for Truth for bringing you in, Theo and Jamie and Joseph, and allowing me to sit here with you. I knew there was a reason you were coming. I was just like, well, Tina Fey. I'm like, we all chuckled at that. I mean, the one they do. The one they do at Donald Trump is great. It's like it's that's entertaining.

Right. And yet, you know, like seeing you talk last night and have an 86% approval rating, me and Mike the guy brought, we both look at each other. I'm like, I don't know if a single politician's got that in Canada right now. No, that was the highest approval rating in the nation in the US and it was because I was doing what the people expected me to do. I had campaigned on fiscal conservatism, letting people keep the fruits of their labor. I trusted them to spend their money better.

then politicians could spend it. So what I focused on, I didn't have a real exciting, glamorous term in office, either as a mayor or a city manager, as a governor, as an oil and gas regulator. I just stuck to the basics. And the basics, to me, I loved working on budgets. Loved it. I loved having the red veto pin and just vetoing out

the special interest projects that I just kept thinking, man, if the public knew what we were spending, money there and there and there. Well, I had a position now finally where I could veto it out and ultimately save people money that it was theirs anyway. So I loved working on budgets then. So as I campaigned around the nation for congressmen and senators wanting to serve in D.C., I was made sure that they at least promised this fiscal conservatism, that they would be cognizant of that they were spending other people's money, man, that's sacred. You better be conservative with it.

And yet, godgone it. I was so disappointed in too many of them, to this day even, because too many of them don't govern as they campaign. They get sucked in. They want a title. They want a position on a committee. They want a chairmanship. They want a gavel.

And so they go along to get along. There's still some really good, truly, servants heart there in DC serving and I so appreciate them but man we've got to make sure that we get more elected who will not bend who will stay strong and just simply adhere to what the people's will is and their expectations and it's really cool for a politician or former politician like to me like I look for that in politics well it's really cool and maybe that's why I'm not in office right now maybe yeah well I appreciate you giving me some time I

I know I got people poking their hands in, they're waving at me, and they're going, you're going over time. It's like, well, we're a podcast. We kind of do what we like. Thank you. Sarah does what she likes. I do. And, you know, hearing more about your background and knowing that you're such a competitor

and, you know, from that hockey blood in you, I'm sure. But you fighting hard for truth, too. And fighting for your three little kids and your family and their future, it's very admirable. Well, thank you very much. And thanks for giving me some time. and doing this and making some time for all of us and getting a million questions and everything else it's pretty cool what what you're doing and i don't know i look forward to to kind of following along now sarah because i'm like well once again before this weekend i had

no clue right it's just yep so thank you uh very much thank you appreciate you appreciate it