United Nations calls on United States to act against hate groups – in the United States 

Here’s something you don’t see every day. Usually, such United Nations committees are preoccupied with violent hate in remote corners of the world. This is the first time in more than a decade that the United Nations has issued such a warning to the United States – and the first time it has ever done so about the possibility that the President of the United States is encouraging the growth in hate group activity here in the US. Incredible. 


X: Recipe for Hate gets five out of five stars!

My publisher Dundurn has (smartly) arranged for teachers to read the book, since it’s (partly) aimed at a YA audience. Here’s what one teacher in the U.S. had to say:

I really enjoyed this book and I know I have students who would as well. I think the characterization is nicely done and the characters feel genuine. The pacing seems to really keep a nice pace too, I think it could have veered off into wasted pages, but the author really managed to keep a building pace until a pretty wild crescendo. The book is very action packed and has some rather graphic and violent parts, and also contains more than a few choice words. These could be a problem for some people, but the curse words are used for effect and not dropped every sentence and the violence, while graphic was not gratuitous. I would definitely recommend this book to some of my students, I have already told some of my junior and senior boys about it and that I think they would enjoy it.

Nice. you can pre-order multiple copies right here!

  


About that Hamilton PC “criminal” investigation, and credibility 

On August 8, I linked to a QP Briefing story that claimed that police had launched a criminal investigation into the Ontario PC’s candidate selection in Hamilton, here.

Two days later, CBC reported that – contrary to what QP Briefing had reported, there was no criminal investigation, here. I apologized for passing along what looked like erroneous information. 

I subsequently heard from very senior Ontario Liberals, and QP Briefing, who insisted CBC had it wrong and QP Briefing had it right. Here’s what the reporter said to me:

In the interest of accurate, accountable journalism — and for your readers’ sake and mine — I’d appreciate if you offered a correction that the criminal investigation is ongoing and QP Briefing reported the story correctly. 

Um, no. 

I told them that I was a lawyer and a former cop reporter and I would be happy to help out, if they promised to pay for my resulting legal bills. I said so.

Now, this week, QP Briefing quietly appended this at the end of a story on their web site:

“This story has been updated to remove the phrase “criminal probe.” Hamilton Police spokesman Claus Wagner told QP Briefing on Aug. 22 there’s an open investigation into a complaint concerning the nomination, which concerns whether or not a criminal offence has taken place. However, police have not yet determined yet if an offence has occurred, or not, so police do not consider the probe a “criminal” investigation, said Wagner.”

Among other things, I am not impressed. (And I’ve yet to hear from the reporter who insisted I publish a “correction.”) 

So, two things. 

You don’t win elections by promoting falsehoods, Ontario Libs. 

And you don’t help your journalistic reputation by getting things this wrong, QP Briefing – and also by chastising writers (like, say, me) who are interested in being accurate. And not getting, you know, sued. 

A bit of partisan spin is fine. But insisting others echo what is false, and getting irritated when they don’t? 

That’s a good way to lose all credibility. 


This week’s column: feeling superior after Charlottesville? Don’t.

Pop quiz time. 

1. At an election rally, Ku Klux Klan member J. F. Bryant is joined onstage by a confident young lawyer, who rails against those who speak other languages. Who was the young lawyer?

2. A politician travels abroad to meet a murderous, anti-Semitic fascist boss. The politician rhapsodizes about the fascist leader, calling him “eminently wise,” a “mystic,” and “deliverer of his people from tyranny.” Who were they?

3. A leading, prominent member of the clergy – one called “the spiritual father of a modern nation,” who was subsequently beloved by politicians of all stripes – writes that Jews are “traitors in our midst,” that his people are the true “chosen,” and that blacks, indigenous people and other minorities are “inferior elements” and “cancerous growths.” Who was the clergyman? Who were his powerful admirers?

4. A writer of many acclaimed books gives a sold-out speech at the most exclusive hotel in the land. Security at his event is provided by neo-Nazi skinheads – and he tells his audience, which includes local school trustees – that he is a “hardcore disbeliever” in the gas chambers at Auschwitz that killed 1.1 million Jews, Roma, Poles, dissidents and gays. Who was the writer? Where did he give his speech?

5. A revered founder of a political party calls for forced sterilization and segregation of people with “sub-normal” intelligence and morality. In his thesis, this man even says poverty is caused by “any[one] from high-grade moron to mentally defective” – that is, those of low moral character who are a burden on the public purse. Who was he?

6. In a 28-page booklet, the future leader of a Western nation – and a future political party leader – demand that immigration not be permitted to “radically alter the ethnic makeup” of that nation, opposed gay rights, and (later) described a decision to permit Sikhs to wear turbans while serving their country a “needless concession to a Canadian minority.” Who wrote the booklet?

7. Which political party leader declared that “homosexuality is destructive to the individual, and in the long run, society”? What was the party affiliation of an elected legislator who said non-whites should be fired if their presence offends a customer? The partisanship of a candidate who said: “You know, we are letting in too many people from the Third World, the low blacks, the low Hispanics. They’re going to take over…”? 

8. A leader’s former top advisor says he doesn’t want his kids going to school with Jews. He approves of campaigns to deny the vote to blacks. Who does The New Yorker say is now one of his closest friends?

9. Which party leader’s top advisor started a media firm that publishes articles about why they “hate Jews,” and whose correspondents seemingly agree with anti-Semites about “the Jewish question,” and who approvingly quote neo-Nazi leaders?

I could go on, but I’m limited to a set word count. Here are the answers. 

The young lawyer in number one? John Diefenbaker, railing against the French. The leaders in number two? Prime Minister Mackenzie King, talking about Adolf Hitler. (Oh, and King’s Liberal government kept Jews fleeing the Holocaust out of Canada.) In example number three: that was Catholic priest Lionel Groulx, after whom subway stations and streets are named in Quebec – and Liberal leader Claude Ryan and PQ Premier Rene Levesque, who worshipped him.

The acclaimed writer in number four? That was British “historian” David Irving, speaking at the Chateau Laurier in 1989. This writer was there, as a reporter for the Ottawa Citizen. I asked the Chateau Laurier’s management whether they cared about renting their famed facilities to neo-Nazis. They told me they didn’t.

In number five, the identity of the leader who favoured Nazi-style eugenics and sterilization of what he saw as his inferiors? Well, that was Tommy Douglas, founder of today’s New Democratic Party.

The authors of that little racist booklet referred to in example six? Well, that was Stephen Harper, future Prime Minister, and Preston Manning, future Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. They were the ones who wrote the racist Blue Book, which became the basis for Reform Party policy.

And number seven? That’s an easy one. Those racists were all Reform Party candidates or MPs, some of whom went on to be MPs for the Canadian Alliance or the modern Conservative Party. And the advisor in number eight? That’s Donald Trump’s formerly most senior, longest-serving advisor, Steve Bannon – who The New Yorker says is a close friend, and “talks regularly” with Gerald Butts, Justin Trudeau’s principal secretary.

That last one? That’s a more recent example. The media organization is called Rebel, and it was partly founded by Hamish Marshall in 2015 – and Rebel Media are the ones who have giddily published racist and anti-Semitic material for quite a while, now. And Marshall, of course, was the guy who led the leadership campaign of none other than Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer.

Final question in our little pop quiz: as we observe the tragedy unfolding in the United States of America, before and after Charlottesville – as we conclude, as we must, that Donald Trump is a white supremacist – do we really think that we Canadians are superior to our American neighbours? Do we really think we Canadians, of all political stripes, are somehow less racist?

Answer:

We’re not better. We’re not less racist.