David Menzies examines the USDA’s $300,000 fine against Pennsylvania farmer Amos Miller—accused of unapproved beef processing despite 30 years of safe, organic operations—while critics argue the raid targets his religious, independent practices. Meanwhile, Canada persists with COVID-19 boosters for children aged 5–11, ignoring waning efficacy and myocarditis risks, especially after Moderna doses, amid opaque contracts securing millions in vaccines. Sophia Ruchas, a 72-year-old senior, faced $7,500 fines and denied medication at Toronto Pearson Airport after refusing to share medical records, sparking outrage over privacy violations and systemic coercion. These cases reveal how regulatory overreach and corporate-funded policies prioritize control over health, eroding public trust in institutions. [Automatically generated summary]
Welcome to Rebel Roundup ladies and gentlemen and the rest of you in which we look back at some of the very best commentaries of the week by your favorite Rebels.
I'm your host David Menzies.
Good grief, not again.
The war on farmers continues.
This time it is the U.S. government going up against an Amish farmer in Pennsylvania for, well, for reasons that defy logic.
Our New York-based reporter, Jeremy Lafredo, has all the egregious details.
And while other countries have suspended the COVID-19 injection program for young people, not so here in the great white north, I'm afraid.
Oh no, Dr. Teresa Tam is all in when it comes to getting kids jabbed for the coronavirus.
So how is it that the COVID-19 science is somehow different in Canada compared to other nations?
Tamara Ugolini shall try to make sense of it all.
And letters, we get your letters, we get your letters every minute of every day.
And I'll share some of your responses about a senior citizen who was actually deprived of life-sustaining medicine by the CBSA and Peel police who were on duty at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.
Her crime?
Not sharing her personal medical information.
And had it not been for the intervention of paramedics, this senior might have endured a heart attack thanks to the stress she had endured.
Bottom line, these goons have proven yet again why Pearson is truly the worst airport in the world.
Those are your rebels now.
Let's round them up.
I'm Jeremy LaFritto for Rebel News in Burdenham, Pennsylvania.
It's here in this old Amish community where armed federal agents recently raided Miller's organic meat and dairy farm.
The government is arguing that the farm isn't adhering to federal regulatory requirements concerning food, while the farm argues that this is just the latest attack on independent farmers giving their communities healthy food.
If you believe the federal government has no place in telling the Amish how they can prepare their healthy, nutritious food for their communities, then go to leavethemalone.com and defend the Amish.
Sign our petition.
Thank you.
The Miller Organic Farm in Birdingham, Pennsylvania, a remote Amish village, has been around for almost 30 years.
The farm supplies everything from grass-fed beef and cheese to raw milk and organic eggs to dairy from grass-fed on-site water buffalo and all types of produce to roughly 4,000 private food club members who pay top dollar for high-quality whole food.
The private food club members cherish their ability to get food from an independent farmer who isn't processing his meat and dairy at United States Department of Agriculture facilities, which mandates food be prepared in ways that Miller believes make it less nutritious.
Miller contends that he's preparing food the way God intended.
The U.S. government doesn't see it that way.
They recently sent armed federal agents to the farm and demanded he cease operations.
The government is also looking for more than $300,000 in fines, a request so steep it would put the farm out of business.
This is an attack on Amish religious freedoms just 150 miles outside of Washington, D.C.
It also speaks to the gross corruption at the USDA.
As is available on the USDA site, the agency is funded mostly by the federal government, but it also receives hundreds of millions of dollars from the agricultural industry.
Companies like Bear, Syngenta, and Cargo stand to lose millions, even billions of dollars worth of market share if more American farmers opted for holistic farming practices like Miller's Farm instead of chemical-heavy, technology-heavy, industry-friendly practices.
Making it even more independent, Miller's farm doesn't use any gasoline or fertilizer, and therefore the war between Ukraine and Russia isn't affecting his bottom line.
He's not dependent, and he's providing healthy food to his community the way he believes God intended, and the government is trying to intimidate and shut it down.
Rebel News will be here in Amish country at the end of the week when the farm explains to the community their next move in their fight against the federal government.
Well, folks, it's crystal clear that the federal authorities have declared war on Miller's organic farm, located in the remote Amish village of Burden Hand, Pennsylvania.
What isn't so apparent, however, is exactly why the U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to fine this farm right out of existence.
And with more on this egregious story is our New York-based reporter, Jeremy Lafredo.
Welcome to Rebel Roundup, Jeremy.
Thank you for having me.
Yeah, pleasure.
Jeremy, I am no skin in the game when it comes to Pennsylvanian farmers, but this story has my blood boiling.
This farm has been in existence for almost three decades, as you reported.
There's been no outbreaks of foodborne diseases or anything of that sort.
So what is the unspoken reason for the USDA going to war against what appears to be such a beautiful and wonderful farm?
Sure.
So the federal authorities here, they say that Amos Miller's farm is not following federal regulatory requirements concerning meat processing and dairy processing.
But Amos argues not only is he farming in accordance to his religious beliefs, which are supposed to be protected by our Constitution here, but they're also saying that he's farming, he's only selling his food to a private food club of about 4,000 people.
So this is not the open market.
The open market is what is supposed to be regulated.
And so he's giving his food to a private food club.
And they're getting in the middle of this, saying, you know, it still needs to be regulated.
It still needs to go through federal regulatory processes, which are super, super expensive, especially for a small independent farm.
And this is what they're going back and forth about.
You have the giant federal government on one side, and you have this tiny little farm in Burdenhand, Pennsylvania on the other.
And what I don't get, Jeremy, here is this farm, and it looks like they're raising wonderful products there.
And they're selling to that food club, as you mentioned, and there's been no complaints there.
How did this ball get rolling?
What I'm saying is, was there some curious Karen out there that called in an anonymous complaint?
Or was it some snooping USDA employee that went, hmm, things don't look quite right to me.
How did this thing become a thing in the first place?
Of course.
So if you go back three or four years ago, there was a woman died in Florida.
And it was later reported that she died of listeria, which is a foodborne bacteria.
And then you had the CDC saying, okay, it was Listeria, where'd it come from?
And they happened to be a customer of Amos' farm.
And so it was widely reported.
Mainstream media jumped on the story, any reason to attack any independent businessman who's not tied to the government or big industry.
And so they came after him starting then.
But then it came out that this woman died of cancer.
She had late-stage cancer.
She was on chemotherapy.
And the family said, we don't appreciate you using our mother to attack Amos' farm, who we still order from and we still respect and we still love this farm.
Our family member died of cancer, not Listeria.
It's very similar to how they count, you know, COVID deaths.
You know, she died with Listeria, but she didn't die from Listeria.
And so that's when it all got started, got the ball rolling.
And they'd never even said that the Listeria was from Amos' farm.
They said it was biologically similar, which is a funny quote to use because we're biologically similar to monkeys.
So it was biologically similar.
And that's what started the war on Amos.
And funny enough, they're not even coming after him for milk right now.
They're really coming after him for beef.
They say where he's processing his beef is not a USDA-approved facility.
But I went there myself and I saw that his facilities are very, very, very clean and very sanitized.
And you've seen pictures and videos that come out of these factory industry slaughterhouses and facilities.
They're disgusting.
There's mold growing on the animals.
Their milk sometimes is discolored.
So the fact that they're saying it's not, we need to send this to a federally approved facility is very funny when his facility is small, cleaned every day.
You don't have thousands of animals going through there being processed.
He processes maybe one cattle per month.
So it's a really interesting story.
Oh, yeah.
And it's night and day.
And you know what I find, Jeremy, that's perversely ironic about this story?
You mentioned your report.
He's not using gas-powered vehicles.
He's not using fertilizer.
What is astonishing is that you would think, especially for a left-leaning administration that's all about climate change and going green, this kind of farm would be put on a pedestal.
You see, you don't need an excess of carbon or nitrogen, however you want to phrase it.
You can go green and have a wonderful farm, but no, it's quite the opposite.
This guy is a threat to public safety for some perverse reason.
What's your take on this?
Yeah, so he uses, you know, he's Amish.
He uses no gasoline and no fertilizer.
And, you know, as I've said before, these commodities have become very, very, very expensive because of Biden's policies towards the war in Ukraine and Russia.
So he's totally, you know, isolated himself from any, you know, financial aspects that the administration's foreign policy or domestic policy might have on his farm.
You know, he's super independent.
And, you know, I think it's that independence that they're after, not so much the fact that he's, you know, yeah, he's raising his animals.
You know, he's not emitting carbon.
But, you know, that's not really where their heads are at.
Their heads are at the fact that he's independent.
And while farms are having trouble getting into business this year because of the rising prices of gasoline and fertilizer, Amos is having no trouble at all.
Unbelievable.
And Jeremy, you have really struck a nerve, I think, with this particular story.
You were a guest recently on Tucker Carlson.
It was a superb interview.
And I believe the views on the Fox website, more than a million the last time I took a look.
And I've always said that when government picks a fight with the farmers, that's kind of like a third rail issue.
You don't want to mess with the farmers, much like you don't want to mess with veterans, war veterans.
And I'm just wondering what you think the final outcome of this will be.
I can't imagine if you polled people, regardless of political affiliation, whose side they weigh in on, it must be Amos that's getting the vast majority of support.
What say you, my friend?
Yeah, well, it is interesting you say that.
It struck a nerve with the public in more ways than one.
You have people who support farmers, people who don't like government intervening in the private lives of businesses or citizens.
And then you also have the people who are very concerned with organic food and health food.
And all of his food is organic and no GMOs, no added hormones to any of the milk or the beef.
So it's really an issue that both the left and the right and the alt-left and the alt-right can gather around Amos and say, you know what, the government's overstepping here.
The outcome really depends on what Amos decides to do.
He can decide to, you know, fight the government and not pay these fines and and, you know, kind of bend his knee and say, OK, I'll send my cows to these government facilities, even though that's not what his customers want.
His customers like the fact that the cows are from the farm and are getting processed on the farm.
So he'll probably lose business if he does bend a knee to the government and say, I will process my meat exactly how you tell me to.
But he is Amish and he's, you know, I'm sure they're very pacifist type people.
So I don't know if he's going to fight the government or he's going to bend his knee to the government.
I think that's Amos' decision.
And you know, Jeremy, I think that leads to the big question about this story.
And what does the future entail?
In other words, does Amos have some champion in this corner, some high-profile lawyer maybe that will take this case on pro bono because it is so outrageous and egregious?
Or like you said, you know, there is a passive nature to the Amish.
They don't fight these kind of fights, I suppose.
If you were a betting man, how do you think this is going to play out in the days and weeks ahead?
Well, David, his lawyer, there was actually a Reuters article a couple years back about how Amos doesn't want this man to represent him anymore because he doesn't think he's doing his case any justice.
And the lawyer himself doesn't want to represent Amos because he doesn't believe in Amos' case, essentially.
And the court, through the bureaucracy that the federal courts are, are forcing these two to continue working with each other.
They're making Amos be represented by this guy, and they're making this guy represent Amos because Amos wants to actually represent himself deep down.
He believes that he knows his case better than anyone, better than any lawyer, especially a lawyer that he doesn't like.
So that's what's happening right now in terms of the legal, you know, the legal snafu that's happening.
And another thing I might add is we've garnered a lot of attention because people understand that they want to get farmers off the land.
They think cows and they think livestock are causing climate change.
So they want to get these cows and these farmers off the land.
And it's healthy and they're helping fertilize the farm with their own feces.
And it's a great little ecosystem they have going on.
But what's even more greener to the elite is rolling beautiful hills of solar panels and wind turbines.
And so once that happens and once we have a lot of these farmers out of here and we have green energy in place of them, we'll have to drastically change our diets.
We'll have to consume less meat.
And the World Economic Forum says their progressive goal for 2050 is that developed countries will consume zero kilograms of red meat per year.
So they want to do away with red meat.
Attacking the Ecosystem00:02:14
And it's really obvious when you see them attacking the farmers in the Netherlands and when you see them attacking the farmers here at home in the United States.
So this whole thing is a big snafu, David.
And Jeremy, you raise a great point.
And here's some more perverse irony for you.
Yes, we know what the agenda is for the World Economic Forum, cheating your hamburger for a cricket sandwich, give up your car as in forever.
And yet Bill Gates, who's all in on WEF policies, he is right now, I understand, the largest owner of American farmland.
So again, it's kind of one law for thee and one law for me, isn't it?
That's exactly right.
And what is Gates doing with that farmland?
We don't even know what's happening right now.
Are those farmers who he owns their land, are they going to be pressured by their essentially their landlord, Bill Gates, to farm a different way, to farm different things?
In a lot of places, we will see farmers get pushed off the land.
And what happens after?
After we have green factories that will make these alternative proteins, which are not green at all.
These are factories, and they're saying it's greener than an actual, beautiful, living farm.
Yeah, you know, it sounds like you're going down the road of Soylent Green, which of course was set in 2022, even though it was filmed in 1973.
And wow, did they get a lot of things right?
It's downright prescient, but we're living that reality now.
Silent Green is people.
We've got to stop them somehow.
Jeremy, I want to say a wonderful report truly struck a nerve.
And I know you're going to do a follow-up on this.
This is, I mean, I can't even get it around my head that the government agents that went there were fully armed as if the Amish of all people were going to put up some kind of armed resistance.
I mean, how ignorant and how insulting of them.
Jeremy, I hope in the future you'll give us an update.
And I hope it's going to be good news, my friend.
I hope sanity is going to prevail when it comes to this particular farm.
Booster Doses and Young Canadians00:15:24
Thank you.
And just one last thing.
We're actually gathering names for a petition that I'm going to deliver to the United States District Court of Pennsylvania, where Amos' case is being held right now.
And we have about 30,000 names right now.
And I'm going to deliver this to the courts.
And hopefully it could help Amos out a little bit.
Fantastic.
And where can our viewers, Jeremy?
Oh, sorry, what was that?
Sorry?
It's leavethemalone.com.
You can sign the petition.
Wow.
What a great name because everybody wants to be left alone.
The Amish farmers who produce this product, the people buying this product.
But for some reason, like I said, the USDA thinks this is a problem that needs fixing when there is indeed nothing wrong with this system out there.
Unbelievable.
Jeremy, I want to thank you again.
You have a good weekend, my friend.
Thank you.
And that was Jeremy LaFredo in New York.
Keep it here, folks.
More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.
Tamara Ugolini here for Rebel News informing you that as of August 19th, Health Canada has authorized the first COVID-19 booster shot, the third dose of this injection, for children aged 5 to 11.
Citing that a booster dose restores protection that has waned over time, the agency asserts that the Pfizer BioNTech Commerity COVID vaccine is safe and provides good protection against severe illness, hospitalization, and death due to COVID-19.
As other countries suspend this injection program for youth, like in Denmark, as of July 1st, it is no longer possible for youth to get COVID injections except in very rare situations where a child is at increased risk of severe infection.
Likewise, in Uruguay, a judge has ordered an injunction against the program for those under the age of 13 after the government failed to disclose the pharmaceutical contracts between themselves and Pfizer.
And the chemical composition of the injection was not provided.
But here in Canada, our chief public health officer, Teresa Tam, announces the extended emergency use authorization that prioritizes children with an underlying condition.
Specifically, NACI recommends that children 5 to 11 years of age who have an underlying medical condition that places them at high risk of severe illness due to COVID-19, including children who are immunocompromised, should be offered a first booster dose of the 10 microgram Pfizer Bientech Common AT COVID-19 vaccine at least six months after completion of a primary series.
This comes despite the filibustering of my access to information requests that sought the risk versus benefit calculation, that's it, used to justify this injection in adolescents aged 17 and under.
It's an authorization that continues to be rubber stamped and filtered down to our youngest and most unable to advocate for themselves demographics.
As reported by BlackLocks, there is hybrid immunity in elementary school children due to natural COVID infection.
The report sources an advisory committee statement from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, that's NACI, on the recommendations of the booster doses in children aged 5 to 11.
In the report, NACI has provided recommendations on planning considerations for a fall 2022 COVID-19 vaccine booster program in Canada and confirms that as of July 17th, 2022, 42% of the population aged 5 to 11 in Canada is vaccinated with a primary series, that's two doses.
Hybrid immunity, which they call protection due to a combination of both infection and appropriate vaccination, has increased as many Canadians, particularly young Canadians, have now been infected with SARS-CoV-2.
NACI makes these recommendations to minimize serious illness and death while minimizing societal disruption as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and to transition away from the crisis phase toward a more sustainable approach to long-term management of COVID-19.
All of this comes as real world data continues to contradict the shifting goalpost narrative that these injections prevent serious illness and death.
Well, there you have it, folks.
While other countries have suspended the COVID-19 injection program for young people, not so here in the great white north, our federal medical health necromancer is all in when it comes to getting children jabbed as many times as possible.
And yet, statistically speaking, healthy children are the least affected by the coronavirus.
So what, pray tell, is going on?
Well, without further ado, hopefully my guest, Tamara Ugolini, can answer this very question.
Hey there, Tamara, how are you doing today?
Hey, David, doing well.
Thank you.
And you?
Oh, doing great, my friend.
Now, I know, if I know you like I think I know you, I'm betting you're not happy whatsoever with this news.
But the question arises, Tamara, why are so many countries around the globe pumping the brakes when it comes to jabbing children with the COVID-19 vaccines?
Yet, Dr. Tam, well, she has her pedal to the metal when it comes to her jabbing jihad.
Yeah, well, Tam and Trudeau alike, they, you know, they get this idea in their heads, and then there's no changing course when they're presented with more evidence and actual science.
So I think that certain countries who are following the evidence and that are following the science and making these evidence-based decisions are seeing that these injections did not come as advertised.
So they aren't preventing infection.
They're not stopping the spread.
And it's questionable at best whether or not they actually prevent hospitalizations and severe outcomes and death, because the real world data is painting a picture that that might not actually be the case.
And so these countries who decided to stop the injections, like Denmark and Uruguay, are obviously following the science, which is in stark contrast to whatever we're doing here in Canada and specifically Health Canada, who just continues to rubber stamp these injections as per the status quo of basically, from what I gather, whatever the FDA will do.
So, Tamara, what I'm trying to understand is what is the explanation for the differences in other countries.
I mean, if it's all about following the science, let's put it this way: gravity is a thing.
If I jump off a 20-story building in Toronto, I'm going to fall to my death the same if I did so in Ecuador.
Gravity is gravity.
We've been told repeatedly when it comes to the coronavirus, follow the science, follow the science.
But it seems that this science has some sort of jurisdictional footnotes to it.
How is it explained?
Well, it seems more like political science than actual science, if you ask me.
And the reasoning, the justification was put out in the report by the advisory committee statement from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization.
So that's NACI.
And they were the ones who recommend this booster dose for children.
Again, children aged 5 to 11, those who are not at all at risk of severe COVID infection.
I've featured an interview with Dr. Paul Elias Alexander, who has a lengthy resume, very qualified expert on the subject of immunity and epidemiology, who very early on said children have robust natural immunity.
Pfizer, one of his earliest publications was Dear Pfizer, Leave the Children Alone.
And so NACI, however, our National Immunization Committee has recommended these shots for children basically in preparation of a fall 2022 immunization strategy.
So this is just part of like a larger booster strategy for Canada and presumably to avoid further restrictions and lockdowns, which, you know, a lot of Canadians and other people in various other countries speculate will see a resurgence in the fall when, of course, you know, seasonality with respiratory illnesses comes back into play.
Yeah, they're already playing that hand, Tamara.
The leaves haven't even turned color and they're already talking about the impending wave.
And I wonder if they're getting confused with another COVID wave or just the do regurg flu season.
But here's the thing.
They never talk.
And when I say they, I'm talking about everybody from governments to the healthcare bureaucracy to the mainstream media, of course, and shame on them for ignoring this elephant in the room.
And what I'm getting at is when you look at young, healthy people, and I'm talking really healthy, as in athletes getting the jab and then later dying of myocarditis, for example.
Why is there so little attention paid to this?
Because I think this is a shocking story that has been overlooked and underreported.
Yeah, I completely agree.
And not underreported by myself, might add, because I've featured data analyst Kelly Brown multiple times on the Rebel platform who dissects and looks into Public Health Ontario's own reporting data.
And what he has found is a really alarming trend of myocarditis.
And it is largely dependent on the manufacturer.
So for instance, at the time back in the spring when he was dissecting this data, he found that the incidence rate post-Moderna was much higher than that of post-Pfizer injection.
And then what he's found and been finding more recently is that this has a compounding effect.
So with each injection, your risk of myocarditis, especially in otherwise young, healthy males, goes up with each subsequent dose.
So as we start to mandate these boosters, that is something to keep in mind here that, you know, even our chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, when he mentioned that it's a one in 5,000 incident rate, well, he didn't necessarily age stratify that data.
So he didn't break it up by age and or by sex and or by the fact that with each booster dose, that rate actually increases.
And what that is, well, we don't know because this is all still a massive experiment.
And, you know, I agree with you, Tamara.
And I almost feel like I'm being victimized by a con job.
I mean, a few months ago, Dr. Carolyn Bennett, who is a longtime liberal MP, announced on Twitter that she had COVID-19.
And she turned into a positive, basically saying, thank goodness, I've had all my four shots.
Well, wait a minute, if you've had four shots, why do you have the coronavirus?
I know what they'll say is, well, it would have been far more severe if I hadn't been jabbed, but there's no way to prove that.
So is there something else at play here, Tamara?
You know, they say in this business, follow the money.
And we know that this pandemic has been so fantastic for the bottom lines of the Pfizers of the world.
We know that there's been hundreds of new multi-millionaires coined overnight and dozens of new billionaires thanks to this pandemic.
Is this really what it's all about?
Well, I'm glad that you mentioned that because actually that same data analyst, Kelly Brown, he's actually a financial guru.
So he's a financial data analyst.
And so what he has found, and I haven't reported specifically on this, but for anyone who wants to go and look a little bit further into this for yourself on his Twitter, he goes into all of the contracts that Canada and some other countries have signed on to with the likes of Pfizer and Moderna and these pharmaceutical oligarchs and just how many doses our government,
the Justin Trudeau Liberals, have secured for Canadians for the later part of 2022 and I believe even going into 2023.
And so naturally, the government is on the hook for these contracts, these million-dollar contracts for millions of doses of these COVID injections.
And so when they aren't being used, then that falls back on the government for their shortfallings.
So naturally, they have to increase and push the uptake of the injections as we've seen a slowing, especially of them in the booster doses for all Canadians, but especially the younger demographics.
And so they have all of these orders on firm, all of these orders are on firm supply.
And what are we going to do with them if that booster uptake continues to slow?
They have to push them and get them into the arms of Canadians.
And, you know, Tamara, you're so right.
And isn't it so perversely ironic that it is our taxpayer dollars funding this?
Because when you say government, you mean us in terms of the ones cutting the checks.
Well, Tamara, it was a great report.
I want to say your reporting on this file has been absolutely exceptional for these past two years.
I wish there was somebody like you in mainstream media doing this kind of reporting.
But then again, if there was, he or she would be canceled because this is a sacred cow we dare not jab for lack of better words.
Last word goes to you, my friend.
Yeah, absolutely.
I would love to see some more coverage from the mainstream media and get this out to the general Canadian public who are starting.
You know, a lot of people have been questioning, but even more so, as this doesn't make sense anymore.
You know, we're two and a half years into this.
These were supposed to be the miraculous medicine and injections to get us out of the pandemic and get life back to normal.
It was sold to Canadians as that miracle thing to steer us out of these restrictions and these mandates.
And now we're two and a half years in.
That's still on the table.
Nothing has really changed.
We're looking toward another fall, you know, more fall lockdowns and mandates and this revolving door of boosters.
So Canadians are starting to see that something doesn't make sense here.
They're still getting infected and hospitalized and having severe outcomes with COVID, despite third, fourth, and in some cases, even fifth doses being administered.
So it would definitely be helpful to have mainstream media coverage.
But as you said, that's, you know, it's not the status quo here.
You can't question or criticize the government when you're funded by them.
Why Sophia Had to Choose00:09:27
It's so true.
And if you think Tamara's exaggerating, folks, go on to Google, type in the words brought to you by Pfizer, and you will see it's about a seven-minute highlight reel of basically every mainstream media show in the U.S.
And by that, I mean news as well as entertainment.
And before things kick off, brought to you by Pfizer.
They spend like crazy.
And I guess in many respects, you just don't bite the hand that feeds to you.
Tamara, excellent piece.
You have a great weekend, my friend.
Thank you, David.
You as well.
And that was Tamara Ugolini in Coburg, Ontario.
Folks, keep it here.
More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.
Well, let's be frank, folks.
Flying into and out of so many Canadian airports these days is a downright hellacious experience.
Indeed, recently, Toronto's Pearson International Airport was ranked as the number one worst airport in the world from outrageous lineups to lost luggage to dealing with that intrusive, albeit useless apt, otherwise known as Arrive Can.
Airline travel is no longer a matter of flying the friendly skies.
Rather, getting on an airplane these days resembles the title of one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes, namely Nightmare at 20,000 feet.
But what recently happened to 72-year-old Sophia Ruchas is almost beyond belief.
You see, Sophia flew into Toronto Pearson from Iceland several days ago, only to be treated like a criminal by Canada Border Service Agency staff and even members of the Peel Regional Police Force.
Indeed, she was detained for hours and then served up with hefty fines.
As for Sophia's crime, well, she believed that the Pearson goon squad did not have a right to see her personal medical records.
I know, what a concept.
But Sophia, take us back to that day when you touched down at Pearson International.
What exactly happened?
I came through and I was not asked to complete that form.
They give you usually on the phone for purposes of where you went, what you bought, how much money you expect.
And I was surprised, but I went in and I went and I put my passport on the computer.
And this time they took a photo ID and he printed out a paper.
So I gave it to an officer who was standing there.
And he drew three pink lines with marker on it.
And he asked me to go.
So I went towards my suitcases.
And another officer stopped me.
I don't know who he was, but he stopped me.
And he said I had to go to that lineup.
And he indicated another room with a large lineup to see a health official.
And I said, thank you very much.
I'm going to decline.
And he said, no, you have to do it.
It is mandatory.
And I said, am I detained then?
And he said, no.
So I said goodbye.
And I started walking towards my suitcases.
And he started screaming, you cannot go, you cannot go.
And four or five policemen surrounded me and pushed me into a side room.
And it was like a passage, really.
And I was interrogated there for at least three hours.
They brought another lady too for the same crime.
And they wanted us to give our personal information to health officers and refused to do that.
So they were threatening us that I can arrest you and I can take your documents by force.
You're going to end up with a criminal record.
And still we refuse to do it.
But because of circumstances, I was traveling for two days.
I missed my flight to Toronto from Munich and I had to stay in Munich overnight.
And the next day they sent me to Iceland and from Iceland to Toronto.
And I was without my medication for two days.
So I told them my blood pressure is very high.
I need to go to my suitcases.
And over and over, they told me, it is your choice.
You can give us your documents and then you can go get your suitcase.
This is very crucial.
You have medication.
It's for blood pressure, I understand.
And they weren't at first letting you go to your suitcase to get your medication.
Why?
What would justify that?
They said, it is your choice not to have it.
Give us the documents we want and you can have it.
And I said, you cannot blackmail me.
You cannot use my medication as a bargaining chip.
And that's how it went for hours.
We can arrest you.
We can do this to you.
We can do that to you.
And in the end, I felt so, I kept telling them, I need someone to take my blood pressure.
My blood pressure is very high.
In the end, they brought paramedics who confirmed that my blood pressure was very high and I had chest pains and anxiety, but still they wouldn't give me my medication.
Despicable beyond words.
The CBSA and the Peel police actually used Sophia's life-sustaining medication as a bargaining chip to get access to her personal medical records.
And these uniformed thugs almost blew it when Sophia looked as though she was going to go into cardiac arrest.
Thank goodness some paramedics intervened and prevented Sophia from having a heart attack.
Not that the Pearson punks were remorseful, mind you.
In fact, they even issued Sophia with a fine of $7,500.
Again, despicable beyond words.
In any event, you had plenty to say regarding airport law enforcement trying to shake down a senior in a truly grotesque fashion.
Kader 931 writes, this makes me sick to my stomach.
Canada has become a disgusting corrupt country under Trudeau.
Well, a lot of people might say corrupt is too harsh a term, but I'm with you, Kader 931.
When law enforcement uses sustaining medicine, life-sustaining medicine, that is, as a bargaining chip to get a senior citizen with a heart condition to comply with their demands.
Yeah, that's the definition of corrupt, all right.
Oh, and don't expect Justin Trudeau to have any empathy.
He doesn't have to endure any of this airport acrimony whenever he buggers off to Tofino or Costa Rica for one of his surfing safaris.
Phoenix Guy writes, first off, I want to say that how this woman was treated was deplorable and unconstitutional.
The fact that she was not allowed to access her luggage where she had placed her blood pressure medications is egregious.
My question is, why couldn't one of the customs police officers detaining her not access and open her luggage, albeit with her permission, of course, in order to access her needed medications?
Well, Phoenix Guy, you're absolutely correct.
Giving Sophia her medicine would have been the civil thing to do, would have been the right thing to do.
But Sophia was dealing with bullies who were playing hardball that day.
They should be ashamed of themselves.
G. Flood writes, so I really should not take a connecting flight in Vancouver between the U.S. and the Philippines.
Oh, G. Flood, if you can get a direct flight and avoid any Canadian airport, trust me, whatever that upcharge amounts to, it is worth every penny.
And oh, so Suki Suki writes, lawyer up.
Have any of these fines stuck?
Well, funny you should mention that, Suki, because Sophia is our latest Fight the Fines candidate.
Even though this program officially ended several weeks ago, we thought that Sophia's case was just so egregious that we had to make room for one more client.
By the way, folks, our friends at the Democracy Fund are currently representing more than 2,200 people whose rights have been compromised.
If you would like to help cover Sophia's legal fees, please make a donation at fightthefines.com.
It is truly a most worthy cause.
Well, that wraps up another edition of Rebel Roundup.
Thanks so much for joining us.
See you next week.
And hey, folks, never forget, without risk, there can be no glory.