The Ben Mulroney Show - Canada sticks to its legal guns / An Unbiased look at US politics

Episode Date: June 16, 2026

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We don't necessarily talk about the sports themselves. We talk about the athletes and we talk about behavior, we talk about the implications for society, all the fun stuff about sport, really. Or we're talking about how I was able to sit at a Blue Jay game and enjoy the VIP treatment like nobody else a few days ago. That's sports for us. And last week there was a wave of indignation across this country

when America refused to let a... Where's the guy from? The guy the ref last week. R10? Oh, from Somalia, right? And a wave of progressive indignation in this country. How dare they not let him into the states? He'd be welcome here.

Well, you know, he was sympathetic to... al-Shabaab and al-Shabaab was sympathetic to him. And Al-Shabaab is as they are referenced in Canada, the most well-funded terrorist group in Somalia. And so, yes, so there was that last week. So that's the point that we begin from. Now we tell you the story of Thomas Parte. And I hope I'm pronouncing his name.

Actually, I don't care if I'm mispronouncing his name. And he is a Ghanaian football player. And he was denied entry to Canada. to which the Ghanaian government and the Ghanaian people were miffed by that. And so they asked for the Canadian government to reconsider. Well, he is now, we did reconsider. Well, we considered it again and realized we had no problem with keeping him out. And the reason for that is because he is, at this point,

credibly accused of serious indictable crimes. They would be indictedable crimes in Canada. And because of that, he triggered the criminal inadmissibility provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. And some of the things he's accused of violent rape of... He is indicted. He's indicted for rape of multiple women. Yeah. Seven counts.

with four different women. Four different women. Okay, so look. So it's very, it's serious stuff. So I want you to ask yourself what you, you know, how you feel about this? I think good. Keep them out. If he's accused of these things,

yes, he has not been found guilty yet. And he's- His trial is next year. He's innocent until proven guilty. But that doesn't mean he has the right to travel around the world and through borders that means. something. And I want you to ask yourself how you feel about this and then compare it to how

you felt about the London hockey players, London-Ontario hockey players who were on trial for sexual assault. Team Canada guys. Yeah. And you'll remember, they were dropped by their teams immediately. Immediately. This guy's still playing for the Ghanaian national team. He's still playing for his club team in Europe. Yeah. And these hockey players, some of them, haven't played hockey since. One of them played on Las Vegas. Yeah, the goalie. The goalie. Yeah. And then look at

Michael Vick, the football player, who was accused and charged with and convicted of running a dog fighting ring. And he got dropped, he went to prison, and only after that did he play again. And then you got major league pitcher Trevor Bauer, who was accused and never charged of sexual assault, never played baseball again. And the woman who accused him, she went to jail, right? Well, yeah, she was charged with extortion. Extortion. So she says he

made it up. She made it up. He never played again. In other words, anytime one of these things happens, we sort of make up the punishment sort of on the fly. It's dependent on a lot of stuff. It's not consistent. But can we just agree, just as a level set, that if you are accused of violently raping women, you don't have the right to travel internationally. And in other words, Canada has the right to, I don't know, protect the women of Canada against somebody who might rape them.

And Ghana, the Ghana government, which called the decision extremely unfair, which is a little bit, it's a little rich. To which I would say. They're trying to take the high road, claiming the high road. Except, except,

Ghana just recently criminalized homosexuality. So I don't believe you have the high road here, Ghana. There's no road. There's no road. I'm sorry, you don't get to claim that. Canada and the West, I will say it again, we are the best system of government.

We are the best cultures. We are the best societies. It's not, it's a hierarchy. And we're, at the top. I know that because people move here. And if you are a society that has deemed that it is a criminal offense to be trans or to be gay,

you're not as good as we are. And I will absolutely die on that hill. And so also thank you for putting this in here. Intrepid did some research. Women in terms of, they have rights in Ghana. That's nice. However, here's some cultural norms in Ghana.

traditional expectations frequently relegate women to submissive roles at home, restricting their economic independence, and leaving them vulnerable to gender-based violence. I want you to imagine... The laws are there. It's just in practice, it's not quite there. It's still very much a patriarchal society. And look, I mean, if they've banned homosexuality there

and made it punishable for up to three years in jail, then... You do not have a like to stand up. But I want you to imagine... I want you to imagine being either one of these women or being a Canadian woman who has, who has, is living with the fact that she was raped at some point. And I want you to imagine she goes into a sports bar with her friends and she looks at the TV and she sees this player who's been accused of and he's been charged with rape being celebrated and lauded.

And I want you to imagine him playing in Canada. I want you to imagine this woman knows that he was let into Canada. What if he scored a goal and people cheered? How does that woman feel? How does that woman feel? And so how does any woman that has been a victim of sexual violence? Yeah. I think that Canadian-

How would they feel about that? Canada did the right thing here. And I would want them to do it every single time, every time because our borders matter and our values matter. And this is not about projecting them outward. This is about saying that at this line, at this border, we believe in what we believe in. And you, sir, at this point, represent an affront to it.

We're not calling you a criminal. We're just calling you someone we can't trust in our streets. So you don't get to come here. I'm glad the Canadian government did that. And now we move on. Now we move on to a very good story in sport. You will remember the demonstration of a violent celebration in the streets of New York when the New York Knicks won their first championship in 53.

years. And there's one image that's seared into the minds and hearts of so many people, this poor cab driver who watched the investment that he put into his cab go to hell as celebrants jumped onto it and destroyed

it in real time. And he could do nothing but sit there and watch as this thing that he has paid for, that pays for his life was being destroyed. He was helpless. Enter. Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks.

After we won the fourth game, our fans rushed onto the streets, surrounded an innocent taxi, and even jumped on it, breaking its windshield, while the driver could do nothing but stay inside. As a member of the team, I felt it was necessary for me to take action. First, I will personally contact the taxi driver, not only covering the losses he suffered during the downtime, but also buying him a new taxi, ensuring that this incident does not jeopardize his family's income. Second, I will track down the fans who jumped on the taxi, and and permanently ban them from attending any Knicks home games. Fans support is incredibly important to us,

but anyone who builds their happiness on someone else's suffering does not deserve to be called a Knicks fan. I'm not a Knicks fan, but I'm a fan of Jalen Brunson today. Good on you, sir. Good on you. And I like the fact that you're not just helping this man, but you are sending a message to anybody who would celebrate like this in the future that they will be banned from ever attending.

a game of a team that they supposedly love. You love it so much that you would destroy the livelihood of a fellow New Yorker. Thank you, Jalen Brunson. You are a leader, sir. You are a leader. And you got a fan in me, man. You got a fan. Thank you very much.

All right, we're going to take a break when we come back. We're going to introduce you to a new friend of the show, somebody who has been podcasting and breaking down U.S. news in the most unbiased way possible. She's the host of unbiased. Jordan Berman joins us next on the Ben Mulroney Show. Well, the Ben Mulroney Show is wherever you are. So if you find us on social media, we want to be on social media. If you're on a platform that for podcasts, that's where we are.

We're on YouTube as well. We're also on the good old-fashioned radio and on the I-Heart Radio streaming app because that's where you are and we are very, very pleased to join you there. We're also very pleased to be joined by our next guest, a new guest of the show. hopefully it's not the last time. Welcome to the show, Jordan Berman. How are you? Thank you. I'm doing well. I'm very excited to be here chatting with you. Excited for the conversation.

So you are, we'll let people know, you're a former practicing attorney. I went to law school. I realized very early I would have been a terrible lawyer. What drew you to the law? What did you practice? I went to law school for all the wrong reasons. I was led to believe that if you go to law school, you will make a killing. when you get out, you will just be ultra successful. And I was like, yeah, that's the lifestyle I want to live. Let's go to law school. And then I got out and I realized that is not true. So anyway, I really hated the job. I mean, lawyer life just isn't fun. Any of the lawyers listening right now would probably

agree, I would think. So I got out. And now I host unbiased politics. I absolutely love it. And yeah, I just feel really lucky that I found what I love to do. Current events. illegal and political current events, fact-based non-partisan, that's what you promise. That's got to be really... And you believe it? It's tough to deliver it. Talk to me about the challenges of doing that. A, keeping your own biases out, but B, you know, the people listening, I find, I always

say if I upset the left and the right, I've done something right. But people see my bias coming a mile away. I shout it from the rooftop so they know what they're getting from me. Talk to me about the challenges of putting this together and staying true to the mission. Yeah. So I think it all comes back to the fact that I am so dedicated to the mission of just educating people. I think a huge part of it, too, is I don't care where people stand. I know that there's going to be people on the left.

There's going to be people on the right. It's not my job to tell them where to stand because there's merit to both sides, right? Like both sides have their points. Both sides are valid in certain things. I don't care where people stand. My whole thing is I just want you to be educated. I think there's a serious lack of information happening right now. I mean, you're obviously in Canada, but I think it's global, really.

I see it obviously mostly in the United States, but I think it's a global lack of information. And it all comes back to the fact that I'm just so passionate about educating people and making sure people are informed. So when that's your goal, like it's easy, you know? I mean, I don't want to say it's easy. Yeah. It feels easy. But like you said, you get called out on people. you get called out by people on both sides all the time.

That's just the way it works. One thing that we haven't talked about on this show, so I'm glad that you're the first person we can broach this with, because I'd love for us to have a fact-based conversation about the potential of a U.S.-Iran peace deal. It's been in the offing for a while. And the framework is it's a little confusing. It's not a peace deal so much as the groundwork for what, normalization of relations.

Yeah, exactly. So I think what people are maybe not seeing here is that this is actually a deal to start a negotiation period, right? So whatever is going to be signed on Friday, assuming something is signed, it opens up a 60-day window of negotiations. We already had a 60-day window of negotiations with Iran back when all of this started or shortly before it started shortly after President Trump took office. And nothing came of those negotiations. that's actually what led to the United States striking the nuclear facilities. The Iranian leader had said that, you know, Trump's wish to control Iran's nuclear activity is a fantasy. So it's going to be interesting to see what they come to here.

Because, again, this is a 60-day window for negotiations. It's not a total end to what's happening over there. So we don't really know what it's going to look like. Yeah, we don't know what's going to look like. But one thing that I feel has been absent from these conversations, I haven't heard word one, especially from the United States, is, you know, the role that the people of Iran are playing in this. I think I didn't expect these attacks, this war to start, but I said, if this is going to happen, and when I heard the president say, help is on the way to the people of Iran, we're going to expect you to rise. We're going to put you in a position to rise up and take over your country. That, to me, I said, it'll be worth it because.

the people of Iran deserve to live outside of the yoke of oppression of this of this terrible tyrannical regime and I'm not hearing anything about the people of Iran and that to me is concerning well I believe it was today that president Trump came out and said this wasn't about regime change which is obviously a different tune than what we were hearing before so I don't know at this point and I want to be careful with what I say here because we don't have the deal terms at this point Vice President Evans and President Trump said they're coming within the next day or two. So once we have, you know, the terms of the deal, I think it'll be easier to speak on this. But as far as regime change, it seems as if that looks a little bit different, at least right now.

Like I said, President Trump, I think it was today, said that that was never really the goal. So, yeah, it's hard to say right now. And this is an example of how you got to check your bias with almost every word. that you report with because I've heard very well-read, well-documented people who are, they've been judging this war from day one. It was either a success on day one or it was a failure on day one

and everything that happened after that confirmed their bias in their reporting or in their opinions. And so this is one of those that you've got to walk a tightrope on. You do have to walk a tightrope, and that's why I stay focused on just telling people what what's being said and what's happening, right? It's not my job to tell you what I think the goal is here. It's not my job to tell you what I, whether I think this was a worthy conflict or not.

That's not my job. I just, I'm just here to tell you what's happening. Okay, well, I'm going to see if your bias comes out on this one because the G7 summit is happening right now. And look, I believe that I try to take a motion out of things. And so even though I have my bias, I'm not. governed by anger or a joy or anything like that. So when I hear Donald Trump say, speak the way he typically does about the people he's now around the G7 table with, it doesn't bug me if he's been insulting to my prime minister. But I wonder what you think his end game is when when Donald

Trump behaves in a Donald Trump way. I don't know that he's calculated in that way. He may be, I don't know that it's, you know, if there's one thing everyone knows about Trump, it's that he he can say good things about someone. He can say bad things about someone a week later. It kind of just depends where that person. I think it really falls back on where that person falls within his policy changes or what he wants to see policy wise. Right. So if someone, if there's a leader agreeing with him on one policy, he's going to say great things about that. Like your prime minister, for example, He's called your prime minister a very strong, great leader. So he throws insults, but he also compliments the very same leaders that he insults. So I'm not sure that there's necessarily an end game as much as it's just what he's feeling on that given day. Yeah. Yeah, well, yeah, I take him for what he is. And frankly, I've seen his behavior that some view is borish and some view as playing five-dimensional chess.

I view it as there are certain things that he's done that have elicited changes in my country that I've been very happy for. Our prime minister has recommitted to the military in a way that we haven't seen in about 30 years. And that, I believe, is a direct result of the challenge thrown down by the president to NATO members to live up to their commitment of at least 2% of GDP being directed towards military spending. So to me, sometimes Donald Trump behaving as Donald Trump does, can. be a net benefit. I just think there are a lot of people in my country that can't see past their emotion. Well, I mean, look, with any leader, we've seen it with every president that we've had here in the United States, there's going to be people that have issues with the way they think and the way they do things. There's going to be people that support it. You know, when we're talking about

specifically Trump meeting the leaders at the G7 summit, Trump has relatively good relationships with these people despite things that he's said about them. And I can't speak to why. I don't know. I don't know why. I don't know if it's just because, you know, the United States is a superpower and they, you know, have to maintain that relationship. I don't know why it is. But yeah, I think it's fair to say everyone is aware that Trump kind of, he talks how he wants. That's how he's always been. And some people hate that. Some people love it. It just, it depends where you fall on it. Well, we are going to continue this conversation with Jordan Berman, the host of Unbiased when we come back. And we're going to talk a little bit more about critical thinking.

Is it dead? And what does that mean for these sorts of conversations moving forward? Don't go anywhere. This is The Ben Mulroney Show. We are continuing our conversation with Jordan Berman, the host of unbiased politics. Jordan, if I don't have the time at the end of this segment, tell our listeners, tell our viewers on YouTube, how they can find you. Yeah, thank you. So you can find me on, I think, my handle everywhere.

is unbiased Jordan. That's where you can find me. And then obviously the podcast is anywhere you listen to podcasts. And on YouTube, it's called unbiased politics. And correct me if I'm wrong, but we're finding it. You're in Florida, right? I am in Florida, yes. The reason I bring it up is because Florida to me feels like the sort of the upside down

version of California. And it's politically temperament-wise, like the tax system, everything about it is the opposite of California. And California is being viewed through a very critical lens right now in terms of its politics and it's a direction. How do you cover what's going on in California? Because it's inherently political and inherently biased. Yeah. But again, like if you stick to the facts, if you stick to what, you know, when I say reports, I don't mean news reports.

I mean like report, whether it's financial reports or whatever it might be. When you stick to the numbers, when you stick to the facts, when you stick to whatever, a law says it's that's it right it's not like my content is so different than what anyone else does including your show i don't offer commentary it's just the facts but so what do the facts tell you about california well i mean in what regard there's a ton going on in california well in terms of i don't the the the the economic health of that and the um uh the the the political conversation there Well, I mean, okay, so there's a lot of different facets of the political conversation. The budget in California is a bit upside down at the moment.

I don't know how they plan. This is actually something I think Spencer Pratt was talking about when he was running for L.A. or he was talking a lot about the budget. And he was being asked what he was going to do about it. And he was just transparent. He was like, I'm not going to do anything about it. I'm going to bring in people that will do something. So, you know, the budget is a little bit.

wonky in California. But, you know, when it comes to other political angles, like laws and things like this and social matters, I mean, that's not really for me to say. Like, people, some people love the laws, other people don't like the law. It really just, it depends who you ask. And I'm not going to be the one to tell you whether I like, you know, whether I like what they're doing or not. And then you've got, you've got the Carmelo Anthony trial, which I was struck by how, and you and I were chatting about this beforehand, the sort of the people's unwillingness to engage in the debate through the lens of critical thinking. You know, sometimes, sometimes you have to acknowledge something that you don't like. Sometimes you have to, you have to be willing to,

to look at something critically, even if it means it challenges your own views. Definitely 100%. I stand by that very much. I encourage my, as you know, I encourage my audience to critically think every single day. I post a pretty easy question. I mean, it's the basics here. I just want you to think, you know, on the most basic level about something. But when I cover the Carmelo Anthony trial, I actually asked my listeners, and I have it written down here, I end each episode with a critical thinking question for everyone. And the Carmelo Anthony was a big case in this episode. So I asked him, I said, let's assume two things can be true at once. The verdict might be factually supported, but there's still maybe legitimate questions about the jury selection process.

Those two things can be true. And I think a lot of people have a hard time sitting with different ideas, right? Like they just want to think one thing and then they're blind to everything else. But so many things could be going on here. And it doesn't mean your perspective's right or wrong. It just means like you have to look at the totality of everything. What do you attribute sort of this diminishing of willingness to engage in conversation by way of critical thinking because I'll tell you, I can't tell you how many times

on this show. And I've only been on radio for a few years now. I'm shocked at how I will say something. I'll take a position on something. And people will listen to what I say. And then from that extrapolate a whole bunch of things that I did not say and then ascribe it to me. And I say time and time again, I will not be responsible for words I didn't say. I pick my words as carefully as I can. And I'm not going to engage in a conversation with somebody who made up an entirely fantastical conversation with me that I never had. And I think that speaks to people's lack of critical thinking. So it's funny. I can kind of see, people do this to me too. Okay. So I can kind of see this two ways. On one hand, it is, you could make the argument that is critical thinking,

right? Because they're trying to, they're thinking about other things you could have meant when you said what you said. But I think that ties more to confirmation bias. Like people just want to feel like you're saying what they think you're saying or they just want their own beliefs affirmed. And, you know, what I think that's that's separate. The critical thinking issue, I think has a lot to do, one, with what, what the news has become. The news is entertainment. I mean, let's be real. The news is not, it's not factual news. It's just opinions for, you know, you have these hour, long shows the whole time. It's just people giving opinions. So that's a major part. But then social media is a huge part of it. I just watched. And if you go look at my Instagram story, you can watch

this video. I shared it. It's so interesting. This girl says she went on a hike with her mom and they saw a bear. And she said how the bear was so cute and cuddly looking and she just wanted to go give it a hug. The mom said, no, like definitely don't do that. A bear will kill you. And they went home that night on her phone. She was fed videos on her algorithm about cuddly cute, bears that, you know, you could just like, they're tamed bears, basically. Her mom, that same night, was fed videos about aggressive bears that will kill you. And so, like, she makes this video just saying, this is what politics has become. We're fed different narratives, depending on what our algorithm feeds us. And it just makes us even more divided. And I think that also contributes to

the lack of critical thinking. I saw something similar a few months ago where a couple was fighting about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey. So something innocuous, right? And their marriage. And they were both looking at the exact same post on the exact same platform. But the comments that they both had access to were completely different.

So the same post, but one was being fed that Taylor Swift was going to ruin Travis Kelsey and the other one was how this was a story, a fairy tale story. And I didn't even know it got to that level, right? But it's... That is interesting. Yeah, I hadn't heard of that, but honestly, it doesn't surprise me. I saw a lot of comments on that video. I was just telling you about that said something like, did you forget about the movie, The Social Dilemma? It's been so long since I

watch it. I want to go back and rewatch it because I think it'll tell it, like, remind me how these platforms are actually designed. But yeah, I think, I think that's a big contributor. People just hear what they want to hear. They're fed evidence that supports their position. And that's it for them. They're done thinking about it from there. What is your position as you know, you're a content creator, I'm assuming, you know, as the face of it and you're probably doing all your research yourself, you're probably a one woman machine. Where does folding in the comments go into your workflow? Is it something that you pay attention to? Is it something that you incorporate into your own plans on how you're going to discuss stories or do you tune them out? When you say folding in the comments, you mean like the criticisms I see in the comments? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah, I tune those out.

Look, you're going to have haters no matter what you do. You can't give them any energy. And as long as I know I'm showing up every day putting my absolute best foot forward, that's all that matters. I'm actually, I consider myself pretty fortunate to be one of those people that just doesn't care what people say. Every so often, there will be a comment that that might get to me a little bit. But for the most part, I tune it out. I put my blinders on. I don't care. Have you covered at all? The last question, probably my most important.

Have you covered at all our former prime minister and his intense love affair with Katie Perry? If I was a pop culture podcast, I probably would. In fact, some of the pop culture podcasts I listen to have in recent days and weeks and months. But no, I have stayed away from that. We do our best. but as as the expression goes in Canada, he haunts us still. Jordan Berman, thank you very much for joining us, the host of unbiased politics. Please come back soon. We really appreciate it.

Thank you for having me. Since the dawn of time, humanity has been at war. It has shaped the world around us. And if it somehow feels like we've been here before, it's because we have. I'm David Boris. I'm a military historian. And on my new podcast, hostile history, I take us inside history's most defining wars and rebellions. From Genghis Khan to the war in Iran, find out how the past can explain the present. Search for and follow hostile history on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever

you find your favorite podcasts.