The Black Rod

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Remember when free speech was a good thing?

Early in the week we were watching a television news report on an anti-mask protest in Steinbach, when we heard possibly the stupidest comment ever spoken in Manitoba. The reporter (from Global TV if memory serves well) had plucked a young woman out to represent the anti-protest sentiment. She said she recognized that the protest was about "individual rights" but, she continued, 'individual rights were not the mountain you want to die on.' WHAT???? We leaped out of our chairs as one. WHAT???? INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS LIKE THE RIGHT OF FREE SPEECH ARE EXACTLY THE MOUNTAIN YOU WANT TO DIE ON! we shouted. What made the shocking statement even more appalling was that it was made only days after Remembrance Day. You know, the day we set aside to honour the thousands who died fighting a world war to preserve individual rights. And spoken only weeks before we mark the 30th anniversary of the end of Communism in the Soviet Union and the return, after 50 years, of individual rig

Exposing the CBC/WFP double-team smear of a hero cop

Published since 2006 on territory ceded, released, surrendered and yielded up in 1871 to Her Majesty the Queen and successors forever. Exposing the CBC/FP double-team smear of a hero cop Some of the shoddiest journalism in recent times appeared this long August weekend when the CBC and Winnipeg Free Press doubled teamed on a blatant smear of a veteran city police officer. In the latest example of narrative journalism these media outlets spun stories with total disregard for facts that contradicted the central message of the reports which, simplified, is: police are bad and the system is covering up. Let's start with the story on the taxpayer funded CBC by Sarah Petz that can be summed up in the lead. "A February incident where an off-duty Winnipeg officer allegedly knocked a suspect unconscious wasn't reported to the province's police watchdog, and one criminologist says it shows how flawed oversight of law enforcement can be." There you have it. A policeman, not

"We Have Met The Enemy and He is Us. And You."

Now there's something you don't see every day---a major big-city newspaper committing hara-kiri. Buh-bye Winnipeg Free Press. We won't miss the 'new' you. A suicide note of sorts was penned by newspaper editor Paul Samyn and published in the Saturday, July 4, 2020 issue of the Free Press. "An apology for marginalizing people of colour, and a promise to atone for our past." cried the headline. Obviously inspired by the police-hating mobs that are terrorizing cities throughout Canada and the United States, Samyn went full grovel. He prostrated himself begging to kiss their rings, their feet, their behinds. He begged foregiveness and mercy and offered to make amends. He did everything but offer his mother and wife to them as his personal reparations. Samyn wrote that the Winnipeg Free Press was always a racist newspaper. It was founded by racists, he said. Legendary Winnipeg Free Press reporters like John Dafoe were racists. The newspaper was n

Trudeau to the country: 'I Give Up.'

Where ya bin? you ask. In the modern vernacuar, we reply: Later, dude. The Black Rod was jolted back into action by the televised news conference last week with the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin "Buckwheat" Trudeau. Trudeau had been jaunting around the world, basking in accolades, while mobs barricaded railroads across Canada, slowly strangling the economy and forcing layoffs and shortgages of essential goods. Finally, shamed by the Opposition Conservatives in Parliament for ignoring the crisis, he reluctantly cancelled the next destination of his winter world tour---sunny Barbados---and returned to Ottawa. Less than a week of non-action later, he stood in front of television cameras to make an announcement: he had no idea what to do. Yep, that was it. The leader of a country of 35 million people formally announced to the world that the protestors had won. He had nothing. He had tried his best, i.e. begging the "hereditary chiefs" of na

SHOCKING! Justin Trudeau says he's responsible for "plenty" of racist incidents - 3 and counting

In an astonishing comment that's been overlooked (or deliberately ignored) by the Mainstream Media, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confessed Wednesday that there are many other instances of racist behaviour by him yet to be disclosed. Trudeau was speaking at a hastily arranged, tightly scripted news scrum to address the discovery of a photo of him attending a party in 2001 at a private school where he taught showing him with his face and hands painted dark brown to imitate an arab for an Arabian Nights gala. He stuck to the script almost to the end, repeating over and over (and over and over and over) to every question that he regretted his action "deeply" (six times), was "really sorry (twice), "deeply sorry" (twice) and apologizing to Canadians (two times). He also admitted to painting his face black in high school and singing The Banana Boat song (Day-0) popularized by Harry Belafonte. But just before he broke off from reporters,

Winnipeg needs a new police chief - ASAP

When did the magic die? A week ago the Winnipeg police department delivered the bad news---crime in the city is out of control. The picture painted by the numbers (for 2018) was appalling. Robberies up ten percent in a single year. (And that was the good news.) Property crimes were up almost 20 percent. Total crime was 33 percent higher than the five year average. The measure of violent crime in Winnipeg had soared to a rating of 161. Only four years earlier it stood at 116. That's a 38 percent deterioration in safety. How did it happen? How, when in 2015 the police and Winnipeg's police board announced they had discovered the magic solution to crime? "Smart Policing" they called it. A team of crime analysts would pore through data to spot crime hot-spots and as soon as they identified a trend (car thefts, muggings, liquor store robberies) they could call in police resources to descend on the problem and nip it. The police

From The First Report On Scene: The Bloody Saturday Riot Of 1919 Winnipeg General Strike

By now you have read and heard thousands of words about the who, what, where, when and why of the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, as filtered through academics, journalists, performers, unionists, and historians a hundred years removed from the iconic events. The Black Rod is offering something different. We are taking you through Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine to the very streets of downtown Winnipeg on Bloody Saturday to let you experience the sights and sounds of that historical day through the eyes and ears of a contemporary eyewitness , a professional observer and recorder of the proverbial "first rough draft of history". We found this in the Montreal Gazette, June 23, 1919 (Page 9): Winnipeg's Tragic Outbreak Lasted Half Hour Only by J.F.B. Livesay of the Canadian Press Winnipeg, June 21 ----The tragic events of this afternoon covered not more than half an hour. At half past two, perhaps twenty thousand per