Ezra Levant argues for "sanctuary cities" defying COVID-19 lockdowns, citing Atwater, California’s business exemptions and New Jersey gyms operating without penalties while criticizing Canada’s disproportionate restrictions—82% of deaths in senior homes—against low-risk policies. He contrasts Trump’s WHO accusations with Canada’s perceived compliance, highlighting China’s "wolf warrior diplomacy," including arrests of 15 Hong Kong pro-democracy figures, nuclear threats via Global Times, and debt-trap schemes in Africa. UBC’s $250M annual Chinese funding and Trudeau’s ties to pro-Beijing donors like Huawei fuel his claim of Western appeasement, despite plummeting global trust in China (11% in Canada per Angus Reid). Levant suggests a Cold War-style push for internal dissent, framing resistance as the only path to counter Beijing’s erosion of autonomy. [Automatically generated summary]
It's usually used by the left to say they're just not going to obey immigration laws.
Well, how about a sanctuary city for the right?
A place where conservatives said, you know, I'm just not going to stay home anymore.
I'm not going to fall your house arrest anymore.
Well, I've got a story of a town that has declared itself a get-out-of-your-house sanctuary city.
You'll be interested to hear about that.
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Okay, here's today's podcast.
Tonight, you've heard of sanctuary cities where they don't apply immigration laws?
How about a sanctuary city that ignored lockdown laws?
It's May 19th, and this is the Ezra Levant Show.
Why should others go to jail when you're the biggest carbon consumer I know?
There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
The only thing I have to say is government.
But why publish it?
It's because it's my bloody right to do so.
Sanctuary cities, what a crafty, cunning name.
Sanctuary comes from the Latin word for holy, as if there's anything holy or moral about allowing criminals to break the law with impunity.
You know, I've done some reading about the biblical concept of a city of refuge.
Those were the original sanctuary cities 2,000 plus years ago.
And they were not for murderers.
They were for people who accidentally committed manslaughter, accidentally.
They had to confess what they did.
They had to go through a trial of sorts to make sure they weren't truly immoral murderers.
And they had to atone.
It wasn't a get-out-of-jail free card.
And it wasn't for morally guilty people.
It was for mercy and repentance.
How different from today's sanctuary cities.
I hate even saying that word to describe them, sanctuary cities.
Here's a typical case.
A beautiful young, law-abiding, innocent citizen, Kate Steinley, murdered with an illegal gun by an illegal immigrant to California, a serial criminal who had been deported five times before.
He was literally playing some weird game of Russian rule out, firing his gun randomly, seeing who he'd kill.
But because it was a sanctuary city, an official policy, they didn't warn the public about his release.
They didn't hand him over to immigration officials to deport him.
And incredibly, he was acquitted of the murder of Kate Steinley, even though he committed the ultimate liberal sin of using an unregistered gun.
But he was an illegal immigrant, so it's fine you see, sanctuary city.
Sorry, that is not holy.
It's not what the Bible said to do.
Look at this buffoon, the mayor of Philadelphia.
A sanctuary city.
I'm so angry with that, but it's not only an American phenomenon, it's in Canada too.
Really, the chief proponent is Justin Trudeau.
It was his homemade tweet sent to the world back in 2017 that invited the world to illegally walk across the border at Wroxham Road between New York State and Quebec and just stay.
There's a great big sign that says illegal at the border, but hey, no fence and the police won't arrest you.
In fact, they'll carry your luggage for you, even during the time of the coronavirus.
Remember what Kian Bextie found when he went there last month?
Do you guys realize you're jeopardizing the health and safety of every Canadian by not screening these illegal immigrants for coronavirus?
Do you even care?
The police have become bellhops, I kid you not.
So yeah, when the prime minister of a country tells you you don't have to follow the law of the country, it's not honorable.
It's not what the Bible said a sanctuary city was.
It's lawlessness.
It's a form of immorality.
Either the law is valid or it's not.
Either the law is moral, if it's not, either it ought to be enforced or it should be changed.
That's the greatest problem with any sanctuary city, not the particular harm it overlooks, but the general harm, that it sends the message that laws are only for certain people to follow, not others, that it depends on who you are, depends on who you know, depends on the politicians of the day.
So for example, when the RCMP just stood by and let environmental extremists try to derail trains just a few months ago, that's immoral.
It's dangerous.
It's a war on business and jobs, but it shows that the law doesn't mean anything if you're the right political stripe in Trudeau's eyes.
We see a lot of that typically in left-wing big cities when they set up hard drug zones, no enforcing of drug laws, actually supplying criminals with hard drugs.
So yeah, sanctuary cities, they're awful.
They're dangerous.
They are in no way the cities of repentance contemplated in the cities of refuge in biblical times, but they exist.
How about now?
Normally it's left-wing cities that want to scoff at laws, especially enforcing immigration, but how about now in the pandemic, I mean?
What about places now that want to, you know, go back to work?
So sort of the opposite from left-wing cities.
I'm talking about probably more conservative people that realized the pandemic panic was overblown and it's okay and safe to go back to work, even though all the professional scolds and worriers had just got comfortable in their positions of power.
This is the official curve, as they say.
This is not a model.
This is actually what has happened over the last few months.
So it's done.
It was a wave.
It came and it went.
Lucky for us, it didn't capsize any Canadian hospitals.
I think everyone was worried.
We were told to stay at home for two weeks while the wave crested.
Well, it's been two months and it's pretty much over.
I saw this just last night, Saskatchewan.
You know how bad the virus is there?
Well, it's not bad, not at all.
There are literally five people in the entire province who were sick enough to go to the hospital.
Five!
Now, it's a province of nearly 1.2 million people, but a grand total of six people, total total, have died over the past two months.
I'm sorry to hear about those six people who have passed away.
I'm sure they were loved and are missed.
Six people passed away, five in hospital.
You know, by contrast, on any given year, you might have 100 people in Saskatchewan dying on the roads and highways from accidents.
It's not a perfect comparison.
An accident in a car isn't viral or infectious.
But then again, the Wuhan virus hasn't been particularly infectious in Saskatchewan either.
And of course, a bad driver can kill you.
So why are they on lockdown?
Five people in the hospital?
Five people in the whole province.
That means literally 99.9995% of Saskatchewanians are fine.
So why are they locked up?
As it so happens, a number of industries are being allowed to open today in Saskatchewan.
Some retail stores, some shopping malls, some barbers.
Boy, I'd like a barber.
They're open today, so that's good.
But other things remain closed and there are no dates for opening them.
Gyms, for example.
Not that I would ever darken a doorstep.
Now, I'm not picking on Saskatchewan, the opposite.
It's actually one of the fastest reopeners.
I can just tell that Ontario is going to be the slowest.
Just today, they announced that they're not opening schools for the rest of the year.
Oh, thanks.
For the rest of the school year.
But back to the sanctuary city idea.
Let's say you have an out-of-control public health elite, unelected.
Just loves the fact that they're famous now.
They're on TV now.
They're calling the shops now, even though they didn't have to win an election.
And of course, they're all getting paid.
Show me someone who supports the lockdown today in mid-May, and I'll show you someone who is getting paid no matter what.
Whereas gym owners, aestheticians, tattoo parlors, these are the kind of thing that are still banned in Saskatchewan.
And of course, restaurants are severely limited too.
Well, they're not deemed essential, you see, unlike politicians and bureaucrats.
Except, of course, to the people who want to go there or the people who work there for a living, pretty essential to them.
I would take a barber right now over any given bureaucrat.
Look at this.
Look at this, though.
Isn't this interesting?
Atwater declares itself sanctuary city for business, allows owners to open.
Nonprofit organizations such as churches are also allowed to reopen under the new resolution.
Let me read a bit.
Atwater, California.
The city of Atwater has declared itself a sanctuary city for all businesses, allowing owners to open despite the state of California's stay-at-home order amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Atwater City Council voted on the resolution on Friday afternoon, saying it, quote, affirms the city's commitment to fundamental constitutional rights.
Atwater Declares Sanctuary00:03:57
This is America.
You have the choice.
It's time for the government to stop dictating another month, another three months, six months, said Atwater Mayor Paul Creighton.
When's it going to end?
When everyone is bankrupt?
Nonprofit organizations such as churches are also allowed to reopen under the new resolution.
That's how you do it.
Remember, we were all told just flatten the curve and we're good.
Just two weeks.
Well, the curve is flat.
Don't change the rules on us.
So that's California, one town rebelling against a power-mad governor.
Across the country in New Jersey, a local gym just decided they're done.
They're done waiting.
They're done watching their business die and done watching their customers go unserved.
So they just declared they're going to open up, no matter what the governor says.
And look at what happened.
Big crowd and the police showed up and then look.
We are and we're only here for everybody's safety today.
We plan for the worst, hope for the best, and it seems like that's what we have out here today.
Carboys, you are all in violation of the executive order.
On that note.
On that note, have a good day.
Everybody be safe.
Isn't that interesting?
It'll be interesting to see what happens in Canada.
Are we passive or will we stand up too?
You've got to love those Americans chanting.
USA, USA.
Would anyone here chant Canada, Canada, if we had a moment of freedom resisting a politician like that?
I regret to say that's just not us.
We're much more submissive.
And if we did something free or freeing, I don't think that the word Canada would be the natural cry since we're not as closely allied with freedom as our American friends.
I say that with great sorrow.
But I know this.
There are traffic jams in Toronto again.
Not big ones, but irritating ones nonetheless.
People are going out and about again.
I see some people with masks, but plenty without them.
Kids are having play dates again.
People are getting tired of being prisoners in their own home.
Not that politicians ever followed those rules themselves.
They're not even hiding it anymore.
They're going out.
I like the idea of a sanctuary city for people who want to work, who realize that there is very modest danger and that we know where the danger is.
And it isn't if you're under 40.
You just aren't in danger if you're under 40.
Full stop.
If you're over 70, you have some risk.
If you're over 80, you have more risk.
But it's not even your age that puts you at risk.
It's whether or not you're trapped in an institutional senior's home.
That's where 82% of Canadian deaths have happened, whether it's super spreaders who work there or bad hygiene or a nursing home policy favoring euthanasia and non-resuscitation.
Quebec is especially, they're the worst about assisted suicide.
They're very pro-euthanasia.
I wouldn't be surprised if we one day found out that's why their numbers are so disproportionately large, larger even than Ontario's.
But for the rest of us who don't live in old folks' homes, who are under 70, we choose life.
We want to live.
Maybe we could have some sanctuary for that.
Stay with us for more.
China's Political Maneuvering00:14:51
Welcome back.
Well, last night, a stunning, scorching, four-page letter from U.S. President Donald Trump to the World Health Organization laying out in meticulous detail the case against the WHO, especially how it seems to have covered up and run errands for the Chinese Communist Party.
Just a devastating blow and so contrary to Canada's obedient submissiveness to the WHO.
Well, while diplomats and bureaucrats across the West discuss that document, China has taken the opportunity to do what looks a little bit like an old-fashioned banana republic coup.
Take a look at this footage the other day from Hong Kong's Legislative Council.
This is where the roots of democracy in Hong Kong are.
Looks like a coup to me.
a look.
Well, that looks like something you would see in a South American banana republic coup by some generalissimo, if I understand it correctly.
The pro-Beijing legislators demanded to chair the committee, and they had a ring of guards around them, Banana Republic style, hauling out democracy candidates.
just incredible to behold, but there's one man who can help us make sense of this, a man who has been tweeted about directly by Donald Trump.
I'm talking about our friend Gordon G. Cheng.
You can follow him on Twitter at Gordon G. Cheng.
Gordon, great to see you again.
What do you make of what we saw from the Legislative Council in Hong Kong?
Am I accurate to describe it as a coup, or is it something more or less than that?
Well, it certainly looks like a coup.
This was the House Committee meeting.
House Committee is important because it sets the rules for the Legislative Council, which is the legislature for Hong Kong.
And essentially what Beijing authorities were doing was ejecting pro-democracy legislators.
This has been part of a two-month or so effort on the part of Beijing to take direct control of Hong Kong.
So for instance, Chinese authorities have attacked the legal justification for the one country, two systems formula, which provides autonomy.
They've tried to reduce the power of the district councils, which are firmly in the hands of pro-democracy leaders.
They've arrested 15 senior pro-democracy figures.
The police have been engaging in more thuggish tactics.
And it appears that they actually may try to enact Article 23 or security legislation in Beijing at the National People's Congress meeting, which is upcoming in the next few days.
So this is a real broad-based attack on Hong Kong autonomy.
And the world needs to stand with the people of Hong Kong at this moment.
Yeah.
Well, it's very interesting, the war of words between Washington and Beijing.
Of course, what we saw there from the Legislative Council itself was much more than words.
I see, for example, Secretary Pompeo in the last 24 hours has sent greetings to the president of Taiwan on her inauguration, using the word Taiwan, not Chinese Taipei, as the Chinese like to do.
And I saw Secretary Pompeo also refer to Tibet in the form of the Tibetan pension lama, a religious figure who was kidnapped, really, by the Chinese government 25 years ago.
These are sensitive subjects to Beijing.
Help us understand what Secretary Pompeo is doing by speaking so strongly about these symbolic human rights issues.
Well, the Secretary of State knows that China is extraordinarily sensitive about human rights violations.
And they're especially sensitive when American officials speak directly to the Chinese people, which is, you know, we heard last week Deputy National Security Advisor Matt Pottinger talk in Mandarin about the May 4th movement.
So, you know, these are important moves on the part of the U.S. to tell China, look, we're just no longer buying it.
And, you know, the pension lama is a particularly disgusting event where China kidnapped a six-year-old who was, of course, then called the youngest political prisoner in the world for good reason.
So what we're seeing is a brand new attitude on the part of the United States, and it's come none too soon.
Now, I follow a lot of Chinese propaganda channels, not because I'm persuaded by it, but because I want to know what China is saying.
And I think you can sort of work backwards to get to what they're thinking.
And one of the English language propaganda arms I follow is called Global Times, which has a real foreign policy flair to it, as you can imagine.
In recent days, they've been talking about China beefing up its nuclear arsenal.
They've been talking about invading the island of Taiwan.
Like it's such extreme language, so bellicose.
I never, I mean, I was just young during the Cold War, but I never recalled anything so belligerent from Pravda or Izvestia.
Is this just local propagandists trying to impress Beijing or blowing off steam?
Or is this trying to send a real message to the West that China will go to war if it wants to?
I think this is message sending to the outside world.
Because Global Times, especially when it writes in English, is trying to propagate narratives around the world.
You know, Global Times is used to signal what Chinese leaders are thinking.
And, you know, what you've talked about, Ezra, this is just symptoms of what in Beijing they call wolf warrior diplomacy.
China, especially since the middle of February, has gone on a bender.
We've seen boat bumping and other incidents in the East China Sea and South China Sea against Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia.
We have seen China's ambassador to Kazakhstan saying that Kazakhstan should be a part of China.
The China's ambassador to Paris talked inappropriately about domestic French matters.
This is really a new phase of aggression, belligerence, provocation.
And we've got to be really concerned that something is really wrong inside of Beijing because they could trigger history's next war.
Wow.
You know, it's been some years since I visited Taiwan, and it was so evident to me that the risk to Taiwan, and I'm speaking as a layman and an amateur, Gordon, so you correct me if I'm wrong.
The risk was not the stick.
It was the carrot.
It was saying, hey, Taiwan, you're 23 million people.
Here's 1.4 billion customers.
You speak the language.
Get rich off China.
And like the NBA and like Hollywood are doing, just stop talking about human rights and democracy and get rich.
So that was the carrot.
And it seemed that the carrot was really working.
This stick approach, part of me thinks it's going to backfire that China can get more with influence and cash and markets than through this kind of gnarl, you know, growling and teeth bearing.
What do you think?
Do you think that China's new wolf warrior diplomacy is winning converts abroad, or is it just, I mean, I can't imagine people are saying, oh, I like this new bellicose China, or maybe people are.
No, you're absolutely right.
China's losing friends around the world and it's losing them fast.
And a lot of people inside of Beijing know that.
But I think this is being directed from the very top from Xi Jinping.
And so nobody, at least at this moment, is really complaining about this in public.
And this is a real indication that China has gone really on a counterproductive bender.
So we've got to be concerned because when countries act against their own interests, it means something is wrong inside the political system.
And that's exactly what's occurring right now from all we can tell.
You know, here in Canada, a major pollster named Angus Reid did a very deep study on Canadian opinions about China.
And it is the lowest ever.
I mean, depending on what question is asked, like Huawei and 5G networks, or should we increase trade with China?
The numbers are as low as 11%, depending on how the question is phrased.
And that's despite our Canadian government, in the form of Trudeau and his cabinet, being very obsequious to China.
Are you aware of any opinion data in America or around the world that shows grassroots citizens turning against China, especially places like Africa, where China has tried to sort of dominate in the great game?
Do you know how the, do you have any data?
I mean, in Canada, it was a real eye-opener.
I haven't seen other polls like that.
Have you?
Well, the Pew Research does this polling yearly, and their most recent results, which came out, oh, I'd like to say about three weeks ago, showed significant drop in support for China in the United States.
And that was mirrored around the world.
And that's largely because of coronavirus, but also because of this new, very hostile diplomacy on the part of Beijing.
And in Africa, I think that what's happening is there's a feeling that corrupt elites there took on debt that these countries couldn't pay.
And over the next 12 months, we're going to see China have to renegotiate many of these built-in road loans.
So this debt trap diplomacy is not working out for Beijing in a number of these countries.
So, you know, China is really suffering setbacks around the world in its image and its standing.
Let me ask you one last question.
I'm so grateful for your time, and I don't want to keep you.
And by the way, folks, if you're not following Gordon on Twitter, you really must.
I mean, look at this tweet from President Trump, who was watching Gordon on TV during the height of the crisis.
So obviously, we're not the only people who take advice from Gordon Cheng.
Even the president does.
Follow him at Gordon G. Cheng on Twitter.
He's one of the people I absolutely don't miss because I've got to know what's going on.
Let me ask you a question, Gordon, and then we'll let you go because I know you've got other things.
During the 1980s, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II not only spoke out against the Soviet Union, but they actually quietly helped reform movements on the ground like Poland's Solidarnosk trade union.
They gave verbal support, but they gave some technical support too.
Is there anything the West could or should or even is doing to support alternative voices, especially amongst Chinese people, not white folks, not foreign folks, but is there anyone like a Lech Walenza that the West could help to have a better future for China, more democratic, less belligerent?
Do you have any ideas on that?
Well, right now, the world has much less of visibility into China than it once did, and certainly less than Reagan and Thatcher had into Eastern Europe.
The one thing the U.S. has been doing hasn't been putting that much in the way of resources, but is trying to puncture through the Great Firewall, which is the most sophisticated and strictest set of internet controls.
The U.S. could do a lot more about that, and especially once it gets through the Great Firewall, it can then talk to the Chinese people in a much more robust way than we do now.
But right now, you know, there's a lot on our list of things to do, and talking to the Chinese people should be much higher than it is.
Yeah.
You know, I know some people who came to the West from Poland, and they talked about how those broadcasts of freedom that they would sometimes get in Warsaw when they could find the right frequency gave them tremendous hope.
Even prisoners in Siberia, like Anatoly Sharansky, when he read Ronald Reagan in Pravda denouncing the Soviet Union as the evil empire, even though it was surrounded by all sorts of communist denunciations, he said that gave him great hope, even in prison, because he saw, ah, someone in the West understands the nature of the Soviet Union.
I hope that Donald Trump and America and other pro-democracy allies around the world take your advice, Gordon.
And we need to find allies in Chinese culture, in the Chinese language, in China itself.
That's my view at least.
It's great to see you, my friend.
I hate to let you go because I have so many other questions for you, but I know you're in high demand.
Thanks for spending some time with us, my friend.
Oh, thank you so much, Ezra.
And just by the way, this evil empire comment: people in the Soviet Union said, Yeah, of course we knew that the Soviet system was evil.
It just was a revelation that other people thought so as well.
So when Ronald Reagan said evil empire, it really shook the Soviet Union.
Yeah, yeah, you're so right.
Just simply speaking truth to power.
I think you're right.
All right, take care.
There you have it.
Gordon G. Chang, great to see you as always.
Thanks, Ezra.
All right.
Stay with us.
More ahead on The Rebel.
Hey, welcome back on my monologue yesterday about the state of rebel news during the coronavirus pandemic.
Paul writes, Great to see things are going well.
We need rebel news.
We absolutely do not want a Chinese-style government here.
I wonder how long the U.S. will sit back while the Chinese colony is being set up on their border.
Well, as Gordon Chang said today, public opinion around the world is tanking for China.
I have shown you Pew research numbers on China in the past.
Pew Research Numbers Tanking00:01:58
I didn't know they had new numbers out.
That's news to me from Gordon G. Chang, so I'll check that out.
And I'll probably do a show on that.
Barry writes, raise your subscription rate.
I would pay $12 a month.
Well, thank you very much.
I don't know what the optimal rate is because, of course, I want a lot of people to see it.
And maybe $4 a month difference is not a big deal to you.
It might be for someone else.
We have to think of what competitors are.
I mean, how much does it cost to get Netflix or Disney Plus or any of the streaming services a month?
Eight bucks a month, I feel okay with.
I mean, I don't really want to increase the rate.
I'd rather increase the number of viewers.
You know what I mean?
On my interview with Manny Montenegrino, Liu writes, it's worth considering that Trudeau's liberal government is uncritical of the Chinese Communist Party because they have bought influence by funding the Trudeau Foundation.
Well, I mean, that's not even in dispute.
We know that a lot of liberal-affiliated organizations, Canada 2020, the Trudeau Foundation, take big bucks from Chinese billionaires, Chinese politicians, Huawei.
Huawei even sponsors Hockey Night in Canada.
So Don Cherry is not acceptable, but Huawei is, apparently.
Yeah, I mean, it goes really deep.
I mean, I was just looking at some math today.
The University of British Columbia alone, one institution, gets about a quarter billion dollars a year from China in various ways, including through Chinese nationals as foreign students.
A quarter billion dollars a year for UBC.
Of course, they're going to be in the tank for Beijing.
That's not an ethnic comment.
That's a political comment.
If you had, during the height of the Cold War, you know, 6,000 Soviet students at U of T, you wouldn't be surprised if the U of T was a hotbed for communism.
Well, that's our show for today.
Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters to you at home, good night.