Google makes Kimmel look simple, beer as a sponsor, Trump for peace and Dhanraj out at CBC...

It's a really full day at CBC as things change at the state broadcaster.

Before we get into the news of the day, please consider clicking on and checking out my other posts on this website that are not part of the newsletter such as TC Energy investing billions in the US instead of Canada, the Full Comment Podcast on the first week of Carney and Poilievre, why Toronto is not alright and the holes in the gun “buyback” program.

My goal here is to give you as much content as possible, I hope you enjoy.

Today’s newsletter is sponsored by our friends at Beer Canada and their Hereforbeer.ca campaign.

And really, who doesn’t like or have an opinion on beer, my post to social media last Friday night generated no end of comments on X, Facebook and Instagram.

Yes, 50 is a great beer, a fine ale.

Now, onto to the news of the day.

Compared to the Google news, Jimmy Kimmel being pulled off the air is a joke. You likely know all about Jimmy Kimmel being suspended briefly by ABC over his comments about Charlie Kirk, but you are less likely to know about Google admitting to censoring accounts at the behest of the Biden administration.

A letter from lawyers for Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, addressed to Jim Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee admits how much the company censored content at the request of the government.

”Senior Biden Administration officials, including White House officials, conducted repeated and sustained outreach to Alphabet and pressed the Company regarding certain user-generated content related to the COVID-19 pandemic that did not violate its policies,” the letter states.

The company states that they tried to have their own policies on issues of concern like COVID-19 and election integrity but that Biden administration officials continued to try and remove content that did not violate company policy but was uncomfortable for the government.

We’ve already heard similar statements from Twitter, now X, after Elon Musk released the Twitter files. We heard similar claims from Mark Zuckerberg about the pressure on Facebook when he appeared on Joe Rogan podcast earlier this year.

Now we are hearing from Alphabet/Google/YouTube.

“As online platforms, including Alphabet, grappled with these decisions, the Administration’s officials, including President Biden, created a political atmosphere that sought to influence the actions of platforms based on their concerns regarding misinformation,” the letter states.

“It is unacceptable and wrong when any government, including the Biden administration, attempts to dictate how the Company moderates content.”

As much as I disagree with the FCC’s decision to get involved in the Jimmy Kimel affair, this simply doesn’t compare to the censorship Biden pushed. The Biden administration had a sustained attack on free speech over several years, Jimmy Kimmel had a suspension of a few days over a fight with his boss over what he would say on air.

That has happened to me in Canada, this is how the business works whether we like it or not.

A word from our sponsor…

Every April 1st, the Federal government automatically hikes beer taxes. No debate, no vote, no accountability. Since 2017, taxes on beer have gone up eight times, making life more expensive for Canadians who simply want to enjoy a cold beer with friends. This “tax on autopilot” is unfair and undemocratic. Hardworking Canadians deserve transparency and a say before their taxes go up. It’s time to put an end to this sneaky tax hike. Visit HereForBeer.ca today to email your MP and demand that Parliament take back control of beer taxes and stop these automatic, Trudeau-era tax hikes.

So, about that sponsor...

We have a new sponsor this week for the newsletter, perhaps longer if you react well and it’s on an issue that I have written about many times. The idea is that we should not have an automatic and annual tax increase on beer, wine and spirits.

Call me old fashioned, but I think tax hikes should always be passed by Parliament, and I think that every tax hike should be voted on but since 2017, that isn’t the case. We have an automatic escalator tax on beer, wine and spirits.

In 1215, as part of the Magna Carta or the Great Charter, King John agreed to a series of changes including the following.

“No scutage or aid is to be levied in our kingdom, save by the common counsel of our kingdom,” it read.

That line is the genesis of the phrase, “no taxation without representation.” That is as much a Canadian ideal, via our British legal heritage, as it is an American ideal for the same reason.

The escalator tax is an afront to this ideal and that is why it is so insidious and should be done away with. I’ve written against this tax many times over the years, I’m not pushing this because they are sponsoring the newsletter, I believe they are sponsoring the newsletter because they see what I have said before.

So please, contact your local MP by clicking this link and sending your views on this issue.

Minister Gary’s untenable position...

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree still has his job and I don’t know why. This is a man who has had to recuse himself from decisions on certain terrorist groups – like the Tamil Tigers – who had his phone number show up in an RCMP terrorism investigation and who now has bad mouthed the government’s gun “buyback” program. That should be enough to get any minister, in any government, regardless of party fired.

I reported the other day about the secretly recorded conversation where he talked down the government’s gun plan. Then I reported on the actual policy announcement which is shot full of holes.

Anandasangaree is a disaster, but Mark Carney hanging onto him.

He may last a few months, but he won’t last the next year. At a certain point when the gun “buyback” program becomes a problem, he will be gone.

The thing that I tell all my friends and acquaintances who get government appointments or cabinet positions is the same, “Don’t make me write about you.” That advice, which has gone across party lines, is essentially saying, don’t do anything stupid that makes me write bad things about you.

For Anandasangaree, who I don’t know, that moment has passed. He has done dumb things, said dumb things, he needs to go.

Trump for peace...

This won’t be a popular opinion, at least not among the smart set, but Donald Trump has done more for peace since being elected than the United Nations.

In his wide ranging, and at times rambling speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Trump went off on tangents about marble floors and his disappointment at not getting the contract to refurbish the U.N. years ago. He also spoke truth to power and explained that the U.N. does next to nothing for peace.

As I explained in my column in the Toronto Sun, Donald Trump has done more for peace since coming to office than the entire U.N apparatus.

Watch the full speech here.

Final thoughts on CBC and Travis Dhanraj…

I’ve written a column or two about Travis Dhanraj trying to leave CBC. People who know me will know that I am not a fan of the state broadcaster.

That said, for all the crazy things that I’ve heard about over the years, the stories that Dhanraj has to say about being in CBC is crazy. You can read my column on the issue here or watch the video below.