The Ben Mulroney Show - Best of the Week Part 5 - Warren Kinsella, Chris Chapin, Brad Smith

Episode Date: June 15, 2025

Best of the Week Part 5 - Warren Kinsella, Chris Chapin, Brad Smith Guests: Warren Kinsella, Chris Chapin, Brad Smith, Terry Glavin, Dave Bradley If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! https://globalnews.ca/national/program/the-ben-mulroney-show Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No Frills delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express. Shop online and get $15 in PC Optimum Points on your first five orders. Shop now at nofrills.ca. This is the Ben Mulrooney Show, but I'm nothing if not generous. I love sharing this platform with our listeners and of course with the great guests that we have. And on Fridays, we pull together a terrific panel for This week in politics. Please welcome to the show Brad Smith, chorus radio contributor, longtime TV host, all around Bon Vivant. Ben. Chris Chapin, political commentator, managing principal of Upstream Strategy and Warren Kinsella, former special advisor to Jean Chrétien and CEO of the Daisy Group. To all three of you, say happy Friday. Happy Friday.

Glad to be here. Warren, I want to start with you first because the news of the surgical strike by Israel to force the hand of Iran to take a step back and really ask themselves, do we really want to pursue a nuclear weapon? It's quite masterful in what they did. They're playing 4D chess and it looks like they really struck at the heart

of the beast and accomplished at least initially what they wanted to do, which was set them back in their ambitions of being able to build a nuke. But I wanted to focus on the tweet by our foreign minister, Anita Anand, who said the first thing in her tweet was that she was, they're watching the escalation closely, but the priority here is further action risks

triggering a broader regional conflict with devastating consequences. De-escalation must be the priority. We urge all parties to refrain from actions that further destabilize the region. The protection of civilians must be paramount. And then the next line, Canada remains deeply concerned by the threat posed by Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile program. It seems to me that yet again we've got a government that's, they want to both sides every single thing. In certain circumstances, Warren, there is a white hat and there is a black hat. There is a good guy and there is a bad guy. And I don't understand this moral equivalency that dominates the Liberal Party of Canada these days. Well, it's the Pearson

building, you know, the where foreign affairs or global affairs is headquartered in this reflects their approach to the world. Her tweet was idiotic. It was stupid in the extreme. On Thursday, you know, the International Atomic Energy Agency, for the first time in 20 years censured Iran saying that they were moving towards the production of a nuclear bomb. Iran responded to that by saying, you know what, we're going to build a third uranium enrichment site and we're going to get better centrifuges so that we can purify our uranium faster and get a bomb.

At around the same time, Donald Trump's negotiations with the Iranians for a deal, and basically the deal he was ready to settle for was the one that Barack Obama had that he tore up, his negotiations failed. So at that point, especially when the IAEA said what they said, Iran was getting ready and by some reports was days away from producing a nuclear bomb, which they have the ability to drop on Israel or any nation in that part of the world.

So I don't think Israel had any choice whatsoever, and they had to move. And, you know, I think anybody who's sensible has to support them. So Chris, with the context that Warren just provided, and thank you for that primer, Warren, with that context, what does it say about the seriousness of the people in charge that they can't see that this action taken by Israel constitutes deescalation? I mean, you know, but I'm I think of the Hamilton quote, you know, you stand for nothing, you fall for anything. I think that pretty much just epitomizes the Liberal government over the last 10 years approach to foreign affairs. I mean, I don't

think Anita Anand's new to it. I think Warren's onto something on the Pearson building and what runs through the water when it comes to global affairs in this country these days. But we saw the same what aboutism with Melanie Jolie when she was the Minister of Foreign Affairs previously. It's the, I don't know what the Liberal Party of Canada stands for when it comes to foreign affairs anymore. You know, it's like it's, it pains them to say the words that Israel has its right to defend itself, but you know, not just reactively, but proactively to make sure that they feel safe in the Middle East. And you know, to Warren's point about the, you know, the nuclear

bomb, like if they're days away, then they did the right thing. And I don't understand why it's become so complicated for us to understand that Israel, our ally in the region, would do something to protect themselves. I mean, maybe it speaks volumes to why it was so difficult for us to invest 2% of our GDP and having a national defense system that could protect ourselves here in Canada. And Brad, you know, I was not necessarily a fan of a lot of Warren's former boss, Jean-Claude Kretzschia, but God do I miss his moral clarity. I would take that any day of the week over this hedging and wanting to have their cake and eating it too. Well, you talk about liberal foreign policy. It's appease everyone's side with no one.

And you're talking about this might destabilize the region. Let's just put this into context. Iran itself destabilizes the region. They're funding terror through seven different terror organizations. And when they get access to $16 billion when it was released by Biden, what do you think they're going to do with the money?

This is not preemptive or deflective. This was the right thing to do. When you look at Netanyahu saying that they are a year away, maybe less than a year away from nuclear action, we don't have the moral compass to understand that that region specifically, if they're willing to fund terror organization on a daily basis, what do you think they're going to do with a nuclear weapon? Oh no, we'll just sit on it. It'll be our ace in the hole. No, this is what needs to be done and this should be coming out and you should side with Israel because there is no other way to look at this.

I know, it doesn't make any sense to me. All right, let's move on to the G7. I think a lot of us are, it's hotly anticipated. There's a lot of guest stars that are popping up. MBS is gonna be there. Modi from India has been invited. And already the invitation of Narendra Modi to the G7, it was causing a lot of friction

and a lot of upset people specifically in the Sikh community here in Canada. But yesterday, Mercedes Stevenson of Global News had a scoop about how the Indian government was keeping tabs on Jagmeet Singh during the election campaign to the point they had a tracker on his car and that he was under not just a little bit of security,

but under like tactical security, tactical military level security. That was how great the threat was to his life by agents acting at the behest of the Indian government. And Chris, I got to ask you with this sort of, I know we've got to negotiate with bad actors, but inviting Modi at this point with this information to the most exclusive club in the world, it feels like we're rewarding bad behavior.

I couldn't agree more, Ben. I, you know, and I, it's crazy how quickly things can change. I, I think I spoke earlier this week saying, you know, it's probably the right thing to do to invite both Modi and the crown prince to the G7 as we look to diversifying our economy and what that actually means, right? Becoming less reliant on the United States. But then you see the global story that came out yesterday. And if there is truth to it, and I know it's unverified, but if there is truth to the reporting that global had, I don't know how we allow Modi to step, you know, step foot on a plane, get a little land in the country and then be invited

to the G7 that we're hosting in Alberta. The reports of the assassination in British Columbia and their unwillingness to work with Canadian authorities in and of itself was a problem. But the idea that they may have been doing this and tracking Jagmeet Singh to the point that he needed the security protection that it's reported he had. I think it's absolutely absurd. And I think it's completely verified and right

to cut ties with them and say, listen, you're not coming until we get to the bottom of this and we work something out. Warren, if you were working with the liberal government right now, would you be able to spin this to the media explaining why bringing Modi in at this point under these circumstances is a good thing? And I'm gonna ask you to do it in about 45 seconds. I wouldn't be able to look the widow

of Hardeep Nijarin in the face, killed less than two years ago in Surrey, in Canadian soil. I don't know how you do that. Like for sure, I've talked to the Prime Minister, Prime Minister Kretschmeyer about this. You have to, you know, occasionally have interactions with unsavory characters like in China. But in this case, they sent a team to kill a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil. We should not be rolling out the red carpet for that regime.

The last word to you, Brad Smith. Yeah, exactly right, Warren. But this, Ben, you said it right, the PR behind this. And this is a carny thing. Just the same way you bring the king in to level yourself up as a world leader. What he's doing is not thinking about if this is going to stay in the 24-hour news cycle, because it won't. It'll be gone within a week after the G7. But the fact of the matter is, is by being around these people, that he constantly claims the fifth biggest economy in the world,

they should be invited just for economic and political prowess. But this is a thing where Mark wants to align himself as one of those top leaders. So he's got to bring in people that level him up as well. And so the other people see him on that level. It's just not a good look. Not a good look. All right, guys, thank you so much to stick around. We've got more with our political panel after the break and we're going to be talking Is there a role for military parades in Western democracy? We're going to drill down on that next when we come back on the Ben Mulroney show. The Ben Mulroney show marches on on June 13th, 2025 and I'm not doing it alone. Along on the ride is Brad Smith, Chris Chapin, and

Warren Kinsella for this week in politics. All right, we're going to talk about something now that I really don't have a strong opinion on, which is rare if you're a regular listener of the show. We're talking about military parades. There is a parade scheduled for tomorrow in the United States, organized by Donald Trump. And look, I can see the positives there. I can see it's the 250th anniversary of the US Army. And it is not the exclusive domain of despots. I was at the Bastille Day military parade in 1989, celebrating the bicentennial of the French Revolution. But on the other side, you've got someone like Gavin Newsom.

Let's listen to what he had to say. It's the kind of thing you see Kim Jong-un, you see it Putin, you see what dictators around the world that are weak, and just want to demonstrate strength, weakness, masquerading as strength, to fit the dear leader on his birthday. What an embarrassment. All right, so look, I can see both sides. Warren, I suspect you probably have a more pointed opinion than I. My opinion is that of President Dwight D. Eisenhower years ago. It was suggested to him that he have such a parade to show off the strength of the United States of America.

And this is what he said. this is a quote, absolutely not. We are the preeminent power on earth for us to try and imitate what the Soviets are doing in Red Square would make us look weak. They look weak. They look pathetic. They look like they're being hauled out. The military, who have other jobs, have other more important things to do, being hauled out for the birthday of this felon. But anyway, it's representative of the madness that's gripped the United States over the past

few months. Nothing surprises me anymore. But Chris, maybe I'm missing something in Warren's laser focus on this. And I take his point. But look, if after years of mistreating our military, if all of a sudden we did get it to the point where it is the fullest expression of what Mark Carney says he wants it to be, I don't know, I kind of want to see what we paid for. I kind of want to say I kind of want our military to walk down the streets in Ottawa with pride and beaming and we could all get there and show, tell them how much we appreciate them. Am I missing

something here? Well, you and I both know Ben that the residents of Ottawa would have a meltdown if the military paraded down Rideau street, they'd they'd clinch their fist and be terrified of what was happening. No, I think I think Warren's spot on it's it's not about, you know, the parade itself. It's just, it's the president. It's because of who he is. If this actually was any sort of a tradition that the United States would typically do, roll out the military to honor, you know, very important anniversaries or historic moments

in the United States history, it would be something different, but it's not. It's his birthday and we all know when it comes to the president, we know his fixation on China. We know his fixation on Russia and, and his respect and his belief of Vladimir Putin. And so for him to do this with everything that's going on, and it just so happens to be his birthday, I wonder how hard they had to look to figure out and find an anniversary and just have to go inside with his birthday because I, some intern in the white house eventually found out, Hey guys, it's the 200th anniversary of the military. Yeah, like it's just not, it had nothing to do with anything other than the president

himself. And that's what makes it look weak. And look, I'm not naive. Of course. Of course. I know that they sort of shoehorn this in on his birthday. Of course I get that. Ben, it's my birthday. I need someone to celebrate me. But if this were a different president doing it, I wonder if we would be feeling the same thing. And I get it. I know that we're doing it because Donald Trump wants to do it for himself. But the act itself, take him out of it.

Take the fact that it's happening tomorrow. It has never happened before. Is there something intrinsically wrong with a Western democracy doing something like this? I wanna kinda key on to what you said earlier with the way that they've been treated for the last specifically four years, or the numbers of recruitment going down

year after year after year. I see this as more of a, yes, twofold we have to say. There's no coincidence that it's happening on his birthday, but at the same time, having lived in Los Angeles, right around the war museum, seeing the veterans, how mistreated they are, this is something that can re-inspire. Let's take a good point.

I'm gonna counterpoint this one. This can re-inspire, it can help your enlistment. We're going through a time where escalation in the world is actually happening. And for us specifically as the partner and partner to the Americans who protect us and our sovereignty, much as we like we hate saying that it's it's it's important for them to have a strong presence have a strong military and yes this is a pomp and circumstance thing yeah but I don't see there being a detriment and I

would love to hear from a US soldier and how they feel but I would be surprised if they weren't on board with this because they are not seen in as good of a light as they used to be in the past and they are very, very important. All right, Chris Chapin, let's turn our eyes to domestic policy as it relates to the electric vehicle market. Studies are showing that the appetite

by Canadians just isn't there. Sales have sunk like a stone. Very similar drop in the United States. Donald Trump made his pronouncement that he's getting rid of all mandates. Up here on our side of the border, despite the CEOs of GM Canada and Ford Canada saying, you gotta get rid of the mandate,

our minister, Melanie Jolie, a minister of innovation, said not only are they keeping the mandate, but they're probably gonna reinstitute some sort of incentive. So what, what am I missing here? The market is spoken, the consumers are speaking and the government is saying, we're going to go in the opposite direction. Yeah. Yeah. I, you're not missing anything, Ben. It's just, it's the, it is this liberal government just doing what they do best. They, you know, when you, when the, when the public tells them they're wrong, they double down and say, no, we're right.

And it is a real challenge. I mean, it's, it's something that I think is going to be a massive challenge for Canadian economies, especially here in Ontario with the investments, both the province and the federal government have made when it comes to electric vehicles is what happens if we get this wrong? What happens if that demand isn't there? And unfortunately we're seeing that demand not meet the expectations we all thought there might be.

And maybe we should use we generously in this sense, but there's always been a hesitancy. You don't look out on the streets, people haven't adopted electric vehicles like I think people thought they were. I think there's concerns about the technology. I think there's concerns about the fact we live in Canada and we have winters and the battery strengths do weaken when the temperatures drop. And we have to drive far distances where the charging stations just aren't

there in the capacity that they need to be. So I don't think it's a surprise that the demand isn't there yet. It's just how do we balance that with the, you know, incredible massive investments that the province and the federal government have made into electric vehicle, you know, manufacturing here in the country? Yeah. And, and, and Warren, I can see that a lot of governments are in a tight spot. They bet really heavy on this, this new economy, but don't forget, we also tariffed Chinese EVs heavy on this this new economy. But don't forget, we also tariffed Chinese EVs to keep them out of the market as a way to protect this burgeoning EV market that we just don't have. That suffered a massive force, a massive setback to our canola industry because that got tariffed 100% by the Chinese and retaliation. So like, are we just throwing good money after bad?

So like, are we just throwing good money after bad? The sales of EVs are dropping across the board. Tesla most dramatically, because, you know, Tesla was designed for liberals. And then the Elon Musk proceeded to piss off liberals everywhere. But, you know, they're ending the consumer rebate programs. A lot of governments, you've got concerns about the cost. They cost more than internal combustion engines. And then for guys like me, you know, I live in Prince Edward County. There's no charging stations near me. Yeah, that infrastructure hasn't been built out the way it

has in the state. A lot of people have range anxiety. It's like, what if I run out of power when I'm in the middle of nowhere? So there's lots of good reasons why consumers have moved away from it. And the industry needs to figure that out. If they're serious, the governments are serious about it, they need to make some changes to get people back into the marketplace. But right now they're leaving in droves.

Brad, the argument is everybody who can afford one already has one. Well, and to follow Warren's point, just the charging alone, if you look at this mandate, the word, and to take a sentence you use all the time, cart before the horse, right? We throw money at things without understanding how to actually fundamentally put them in place. This is, if you look at it, infeasible on any level. The grid structure, the charging

stations, the demand, it just doesn't make sense. And what you're trying to do is saying this is going to be the mandate and we'll figure it out on the way down the road and we haven't spent the money yet, we haven't done it yet, and guess what? Not only can we not drive our cars in the winter to what Chris says, but look when I lived in Los Angeles you had on the radio times where you couldn't charge your car. Please don't because the power grid will come out. Yeah, yeah and let's not forget it's also more expensive to insure those cars. Hey Brad Smith, Chris Chapin, Warren Kinsella, always love having the three of you on the show. I hope you have a great weekend to the three of you. Thank you so much. Thanks, guys. Thanks, man.

Welcome back to the Ben Mulrooney Show. And before we do anything in this next segment, I want to welcome to the show the most important listener that I have in the world. And that is, of course, my mother, Mila Mulrooney. She just texted me to say she's listening. Mom, I love you. I love that I get to spend so much time with you.

And congratulations on your new dog. And he's he looks adorable. She just sent me a picture. Mom, I love you very much and I can't wait to see you soon. OK, let's get to the task at hand, which is, look, being Canadian in the specter in the shadow of America is tricky because over the past few months, we have been doing a the best job we can reminding Americans that we are not like them. We are not American.

We cannot be the 51st state. Too many differences separate us. However, there are ideals, values that bind us together as one North American family. And one thing that may bind us together is how we deal with runaway immigration, with people who are in our country who shouldn't be here. And our next guest is Terry Glavin of the National Post, who warns that what's happening right now with the mass deportations in Los Angeles, something like that could happen here. Let's welcome Terry to the show. Thanks so much for joining us today, Terry. Happy Friday.

Happy Friday. It's good talking to you again, Ben. Yeah. So a lot of people are looking at what's happening down there saying that could never happen here. But in an ironic twist, despite the fact that we view ourselves as very different, we do have similar pressures on our society that are caused at least in part by irresponsible immigration policies. Yeah, I'm not. Yeah, I don't want to mislead people. I don't think that we're going to end up in a kind of a nightmare scenario of truncheons

and tear gas like we've seen in LA. No, but I would suggest that Canadians should not look down their noses at what's happening to the Yanks at the moment. No, because at some point, Terry, at some point, there is going to be a collision between the sort of the reality that we're living here and the remedy required to get out of it. Exactly. I think that that's the point I'm trying to make is

that, you know, the difficulty with the Americans is, it's absolutely dysfunctional. You've got the Democrats and the Republicans standing off against one another on issues of rule of law and due process. Nobody wants to see, you know, Mexican kids torn out of their parents' arms and so on. And those people are entitled to due process. But at the same time, the Democrats with their sanctuary cities and sanctuary states have essentially thumbed their noses at the rule of law and due process in the enforcement

of federal immigration law. Well, and they want to look at it like this is all a product of Donald Trump being Donald Trump. But the fact is Donald Trump would not have this hand to play if for the past 10 years, we hadn't been told that, oh, there's no crisis at the southern border. And anybody who suggests it is a racist and we've got our sanctuary cities and we're going to thumb our nose at anybody who says we've got to get this problem under control. The chickens have come home to roost and Donald Trump has the support of a lot of Americans

because of that behavior over the course of a decade. Yeah, the point, one of the points I make in the piece is that, you know, he's polling badly on tariffs and inflation and all that kind of stuff. But he's actually polling quite well on immigration and lawlessness. And the same is true in Canada. If you look at American public opinion polling, I think it's about 52% of Americans support mass deportations. Yeah. think it's about 52% of Americans support mass deportations. Well, last fall, there was a similar poll conducted in Canada.

I think it was about 48-49% of Canadians were in favor of mass deportations as well. And I think this growth reflects a growing unease and disenchantment with federal, basically dishonesty. If Canadians knew how broken our immigration system was, I think they would have a lot more sympathy with the proposition that we need to actually start deporting people in significant numbers. Already two-thirds of Canadians say that immigration levels are far too high. This is even after the proposed or planned or promised reductions in immigration levels. And that opinion, by the way, is shared by Canadians who are recent

immigrants. Everybody knows the system is broken, and it's really broken badly, and it's tied inextricably into the real estate racket, into the housing crisis. And Terry, what you point out is, I grew up with a father who believed and led with the belief and led a government that believed that responsible immigration was one of the key drivers to a successful Canada. led a government that believed that responsible immigration was one of the key drivers to a successful Canada.

And that consensus had been maintained prior to him becoming prime minister and existed long after he left office. That consensus is broken to the point now that you have people like me who 10 years ago would have beat that drum of the pride that we all felt in immigration building Canada.

I now have a position I never thought I would have. And that's not because I woke up one day and decided to be a regressive right-wing freak. It's because circumstances forced me into this position. Yeah, one of the things that I felt like I've been quite closely associated with the cause of refugees in Canada, and I'm a very strong believer in the proposition that Canada really should be a kind of a sanctuary country for genuinely persecuted people around the world,

and we really should have a healthy, proactive refugee policy. Well, the difficulty is that that too has been completely broken. We have half a million people living in Canada at the moment that are applying for refugee status. Half a million. Half a million. Half a million, yeah. And it takes an average of 44 weeks

for their claims to be processed. 20,000 new claimants last year from the constituency of foreign students. There's three million, just the numbers, right? If you'll bear with me for a minute. Of course, please, the numbers matter. Yeah, really, just the numbers, right? If you'll bear with me. Of course, please. The numbers matter. Yeah, really, by the way, I should say very, very difficult to weed out because Statistics

Canada and immigration refugee and citizenship Canada use different methodologies and people from one category will migrate into another category. That's helpful, isn't it, Terry? That's helpful that we have that one hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing. Yeah, we don't know. We have no idea. One of the things we don't know anything about there may be the official federal guess is that there are 500,000 people in Canada who are working illegally in the country. Okay. Now, in the country. Okay. Now we have increased the number of permanent residents last year by 483,000. We've increased the number of non-permanent residents last year by 580,000. We have at least 3 million non-permanent residents here at the moment. Of course, significant number of those are students.

We don't know how many students are still here and still working. And we don't have the manpower or the no, we don't have the manpower, the wherewithal or the budgets to go find the people who have sort of gone underground. Even if we wanted to find them, we don't know how to do it. Yeah, so, you know, setting aside, you know, the, the, the understanding, the consensus on both sides of the house, by the way, in the House of Commons, there are hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people who are working in Canada. They should not be working in Canada. Apart from that constituency. constituency, you've got about seven or eight percent of the Canadian population

that or the population of people living in Canada who are not Canadian citizens. So you know this can't last and when you look at housing, you know you've got a population between the ages of 18 and 30 and three-quarters of them say that they'll never own a house, they can't afford rent, increasing numbers of people are turning food banks. There, this is, this is going to break. And I think the longer it goes on address and the longer we keep telling Canadians that, Oh, we've got it under control.

You know, our targets for citizenship for next year is going to come down and then come down again following it. As long as we keep lying, the Canadian, you know, like the far up front. Yeah, the numbers are very, we're gonna have to leave it there. But you're right, the longer we do that, the higher the, the higher the appetite is going to be for taking drastic measures to address this. The further we punt the ball, at some point it's going to redline. And we're going to say, all right, like the drastic, drastic measures are required. But I want to thank you for highlighting this story and for joining us today to talk about it.

Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. And we like to have a lot of fun on this show. We have some serious stuff that we talk about, but every now and then you got to turn down the temperature and have a little fun so that you can turn it right back up and be outraged about something. Can't can't can't redline this show every second of the day. If we did, we'd run out of gas right quick. And so this is the time and the show where we like to bring Dave Bradley in for a little bit

of seriousness and gravitas. I tried doing this myself at one point, and it just, I don't take myself seriously. So we had to bring someone in that I respect, and that's Dave Bradley from our newsroom. And this is a segment where we like you to play along at home, but there is some spicy language. And so you've been warned, go walk the dog,

turn the phone down, turn the, but just don't write to us, because I'm giving you the disclaimer right now. If I hear from you saying, why did you swear on the radio, Ben? That's on you. So now time for our segment called, Is This BS or Is This Real?

See now that's some bullshit. This is bullshit. Man, this is some bullshit. You want answers? I think I'm entitled. You want answers? I want the truth. You can't handle the truth.

You are fake news. All right, so the rules are simple. Dave Bradley is going to read a news story, and I have to determine whether it's BS or whether it's real. And we want going to read a news story, and I have to determine whether it's BS or whether it's real, and we want you to play along at home as well. Nine times out of 10, you're going to beat me over the course of a segment. Every now and then, I get a few right,

but most of the time, I talk myself out of a right answer. So Dave Bradley, on that, let's start this up with story number one. Did a man accidentally report himself? A man who is currently on a suspended three-year sentence in Missouri has gotten himself in trouble after he called the cops himself on a gun deal he arranged that went south. On June 3rd, Justin Kimball contacted Howell County Sheriff's deputies claiming he purchased a gun from someone who refused to refund his money after the goods weren't what was expected.

Cops drove out to investigate. They found Kimball in his car driving while intoxicated, so they arrested him. Kimball was charged with a variety of things. He's since said he regrets his action. It's unclear if he meant the illegal actions or calling police on himself. Okay. Well, first off, if you had said that this took place in Florida, I would have automatically said it was true. So that being said, yeah, yeah, criminals are stupid. Criminals are stupid. That's why they're criminal. So I'm going to say it's true. It happened. This one took place. Checkmark one for one. All right. I'm feeling it today, Dave Bradley. All right. All right.

Let's get right into the next one. Did Ron DeSantis give Floridians permission to hit protesters with their cars? Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has said Floridians have a right to hit protesters with their car if they need to flee for your safety. DeSantis was speaking earlier this week when he said, we also have a policy that if you're driving on one of those streets and a mob comes and surrounds your vehicle and threatens you, you have a right to flee for your safety. And so if you drive off and you hit

one of these people, that's their fault. Not yours. Molly Best is a deputy press secretary for the executive office of the governor of Florida told journalists in Florida, violence is not condoned. Residents have the right to defend themselves and their families.

Okay, I'm inclined to believe this. They've got the stand your ground law, which a lot of people don't like, but in Florida, if someone comes into your house to try to steal your car, you can shoot them. And the cops are actually gonna tell you, you're doing us a favor, because we don't have to prosecute them.

So it's a different world down there. And not necessarily whole cloth worse, it's just different. And in this case, I mean, he's not suggesting vehicular manslaughter, he's suggesting if people have decided that they are gonna surround you and swarm your car, you have the right to, they know that you can kill them.

So they need to govern themselves accordingly. You have a motor vehicle and a right to be on the road. They do not. So you know what? This seems like American rationale, rationality. So I'm going to say it's true. It happened. You were correct. It's fact. Yeah. I mean, look, we live in a world, I guarantee you, if somebody did that in Toronto, the person behind the car would be, would be in the car, would be charged with something. Nevermind the person that was blocking an actual street designed for cars. So I've, there's a real part of me, like the lizard brain part of me that loves stuff like this. And so I'm glad I'm two for two. Okay, next one, my friend. Did Pope Leo break dress code and wear a baseball hat at the Vatican's?

Well, sometimes you just have to support your team while you're at work. So it's a good thing that a baseball hat works with pretty much any work attire, even the papal wardrobe. Pope Leo XIV, the world's most famous white socks fan, photographed this week, donning the team's hat during a public appearance at the Vatican

Now we shouldn't be surprised given what we've learned about the new pope in the month Plus he's been on the job The Chicago native has cheered for these outsiders for some time having attended the 2005 World Series I didn't see the picture, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. And look, this is one of those where I want to live in a world where this happens. So even if I'm wrong, I'm not going to be upset about it. I want to live in a world where just because you're the pope doesn't mean you can't be a proud baseball fan.

So I'm going to say it's true. It's fact. Yay. Good on the pope. It's fact. Yay! Good on the Pope! I like that. See? Yes, I mean, I hope he wore it with his whole Pope getup too, with the little Pope slippers too.

That would be awesome. That would be awesome. Oh, listen to that. I'm steamrolling this thing. Okay, let's go to the next one. Did a man sue a newspaper for lack of basketball coverage? A Vermont dad took the Burlington Free Press to court for not covering his son's basketball games, but a judge recently tossed out his lawsuit citing the state's constitution's protection

of press freedom. The Vermont Superior Court dismissed Robert Lafayette's suit against the newspaper and two of its employees after accusing them of failing to cover high school sports, particularly his son's basketball games. Lafayette alleged the Vermont Varsity Insider has focused predominantly on Chittenden County schools, some of which have advertising and commercial interests with the news organization, despite claiming to provide statewide coverage. Now he claims that some performances

were not featured during the 2425 season. According to Lafayette, this hurt his son's college prospects caused him stress and anxiety gastrointestinal distress even and panic attacks that he had to treat with medication. All right, there's a there's a lot to unpack here. First of all, I think we can all agree that Chittenden County is a bunch of bums, right? Bums, I say. There's a lot, I mean, if you wrote this,

then you're an evil genius because it has the ring of truth. It's got Americans suing for stupid reasons, and then it's got the litany of list of the knock on effects of this terrible behavior by the newspaper that's causing gastrointestinal issues for this young boy. But the one thing that stuck in my mind

was the fact that the dad was upset that it hurt his son's, but why would it hurt the son's prospects? That's what social media is for today. I'm gonna say it's BS. Is it possible this story is true? Yes, it is. Oh, see, I thought myself out of it. I'm too smart for my own good. Talk your way out of it. I talked my way out of it. All right. So I'm three for four. That's not bad. I'd like to improve that that ratio a little bit. So let's let's play one more.

All right. Did a woman get booted from Zoom court hearing after making a sandwich? A Zoom court hearing went off the rails after Detroit mom made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich during the session. The sandwich was on full display during the hearing. The judge not too happy about the display in his Zoom courtroom.

The mom says her daughter was sick and that's why she was multitasking. She said she'd waited for hours in the Zoom waiting room after and feels like the judge could have had some mercy on this single mom. All right, so this happens every now and then. I have seen this story, so I'm going to get this right. I think I deserve it too. But the story is even funnier than that because the judge was really upset with her off the jump because she said, I got a piece of mail that said, I didn't have to be here till 1 p.m.

And he said, well, we were expecting you at 9 a.m. And she said, no, I got a piece of mail. And she held up the piece of mail and he said, yeah, that says 9 a.m. And she goes, oh no, I've got another one somewhere around here. And then she put the phone down and started making, um, making her, her, her, her peanut butter jelly sandwich. And she pointed out like, this is court.

Just because you're at home, doesn't mean you get to multitask. And he got very, very angry with her. Now, to her credit, she was being polite. She wasn't belligerent. She wasn't bellicose, but she really wasn't listening to him. And, uh, and I look, I get it. She was in a tight spot. Uh, I get it, she was in a tight spot, but he was unhappy, he was having none of it. And so I know for a fact, it's real. A similar event did take place.

All right, four for five, I'm very pleased. My friend, thank you very much. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. All the best to you. And to you as well. Thanks for listening to the Ben Mulroney Show podcast. We're live every day nationwide on the Chorus Radio Network, and you can listen online through the Radio Canada player and the iHeart Radio Canada apps.

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