Just Right… with Bob Metz and Robert Vaughan

496 – Rapid transit bullShift—When A is not A

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Mar 162017

“Shift” is the name of the City of London Ontario’s plan to spend well over half a billion (federal/provincial/municipal) tax dollars on a “Rapid Transit” system.

Supporters of Shift say the Rapid Transit service is “more than a people mover,” as the headline in the Mar 11 London Free Press expressed it. It is municipal council’s “vision for London’s future” and is fundamentally based on the “build-it-and-they-will-come” theory. A key component of this vision of the future is to get us all to leave our cars in favor of public transit, biking, and walking (as literally expressed in the Shift plan).

“Down Shift” is the name of an association of downtown London merchants who have formed to oppose the city’s “Shift.”

Ironically, these same merchants are also “members” of another “association” called the London Downtown Business Association (LDBA). When they turned to the LDBA for help, they discovered that their “association” is no such thing! Continue reading »

495 – Fake news—The Left vs the truth

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Mar 092017

It’s never been news that “fake news” exists. We used to call it “false news.” It has existed since the very concept of “news” itself first emerged. So why is “fake news” news now so newsworthy?

There is a REAL news story here, and it’s not one you will hear from the establishment media – because the real story is about them. Their “fake” story lines start with Donald Trump. They continue with Donald Trump. And they end with Donald Trump. See the pattern?

A team of “researchers” at Western University in London Ontario is about to launch a web site called “Culling Out The Crud.” They claim to have created a piece of software that can filter out “fake news” with an 85% accuracy rate. All very “scientific,” you see.

And if you believe that one, our understanding is that the bridge in Brooklyn is still for sale; care to make us an offer?

Says political scientist/professor Matt Farrell: “Fake news has reinforced the narrative in the Trump ideology…” Continue reading »

494 – Sanctuary cities | Amir Farahi

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Mar 022017

Armed with the courage of his convictions, Londoner Amir Farahi, Executive Director of The London Institute, has launched an on-line petition, No to London, Ontario becoming a Sanctuary City, which has caused a sea of controversy in the city.

“At some point, we have to stand up to the politically-correct, social-constructivist, post-modernist society that we have today. If you oppose an idea that doesn’t meet the agenda of those who call themselves ‘progressives’ – especially if you are male and white – you are automatically ‘privileged,’ you are automatically a ‘white supremacist’…

“I don’t care how politically risky it is. I will stand firm.”

On today’s Just Right, Amir shares some of his experiences in having become London Ontario’s principal and principled voice against the city’s motion to become a “sanctuary” for those fleeing the United States. Politically precipitated by US president Trump’s travel/immigration restrictions against seven nations (among them, Iran), Amir objects to London’s setting up any kind of “sanctuary” – from just laws.

An Iranian immigrant himself, Amir has found himself opposed by various “Marxist organizations,” including members of the Occupy Movement, Solidarity Across Borders, No One Is Illegal In London, and even a fan of Vladimir Lenin who accused him of being a ‘traitor to this country’ for opposing the sanctuary proposal. And of course, there’s the usual gang of city hall politicians and administrators who regularly seek sanctuary from the opinions of their voters. Continue reading »

493 – Ending the limits on the Uber debate

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Feb 232017

In the city of London Ontario last week, a 7-6 municipal council vote defeating a motion to force cameras into vehicles driven by Uber drivers was seen as a victory for the ride-sharing company. But the conflict between the taxi “industry” and the Uber “ride sharing service” is certainly far from over.

Vowing to “regroup” after the municipal vote setback, Roger Caranci of the London Taxi Association has been single-mindedly pushing a “safety first” justification for continuing the local taxi monopoly and maintaining the limit on the number of taxis permitted to operate in the city. It is a strategy that has remained unchanged since his first live on-air debate with Bob Metz in 2015, through his second live debate with Bob in 2016 and through his live appearance on talk radio following the municipal vote last week.

On today’s broadcast of Just Right, you’ll get to hear their on-going debate in a way that will leave no doubts in your mind about the one huge taboo topic that Mr. Caranci and the taxi industry fear most: any discussion of taxi limits.

Refusing to discuss limits forces the discussion to one of irrelevant distractions employed to keep everyone’s attention away from the limits. Continue reading »

492 – The truth behind the Peterson/Harris debate | Paul McKeever

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Feb 162017

THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH ABOUT PRAGMATISM – and why it matters:

Following his ascent to notoriety when confronted by “gender warriors” at the University of Toronto late last year, Dr Jordan Peterson found himself entangled in a debate with Sam Harris (Waking Up with Sam Harris, January 21/17) that offered a truly rare insight into a fundamental philosophical dilemma. What is the nature of truth?

Having begun their discussion in general agreement on the broader issues, their talk ground to a halt when it became clear that there was an incredible chasm between how each viewed “truth.” For over an hour, their attempt to reconcile the two very different views of truth merely widened the chasm between them. The discussion was halted and a call was put out to their listeners for insight to their dilemma.

Today’s Just Right guest Paul McKeever offered exactly that, and his assessment of “what went wrong” in the Peterson-Harris exchange drew the attention of Peterson himself. At the root of their dilemma, and indeed at the root of Professor Peterson’s problems with “gender warriors,” suggests Paul, was a deep and long held misunderstanding about the nature of pragmatism.
Continue reading »

491 – Neil Gorsuch—Here come the judge / Sanctuary cities

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Feb 092017

GIVE US SANCTUARY – from Virtue Signalers

“By nominating Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, (U.S. president) Trump selected a person who places the idea of limited government and freedom as the number one issue in his legal philosophy,” notes our guest Salim Mansur on today’s broadcast of Just Right.

As a judge who would keep a president in check, Gorsuch’s appointment to the Supreme Court would make completely foolish any claim that Trump is a “fascist” or some other term describing a totalitarian.

Then there was the “so-called judge,” in Trump’s terms, who inappropriately quashed his executive order to temporarily suspend immigration from seven countries identified as sources of Islamist terrorism. Not only was Trump’s executive order perfectly appropriate and within his legitimate authority, the countries cited under the immigration ban were chosen with good reason, explains Salim.

Six of the seven countries (Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and Somalia) that have had their immigration rights suspended are failed states. “In other words,” explains Salim, “they have no institutional governments working.” The seventh country (Iran) has been in a declared state of war with the United States for the past 38 years.

All were identified and well documented as problematic by the previous administration. Trump did not add any new nations to the already established list. The previous administration well knew that it was not possible to verify or identify immigrants from these areas – yet did nothing to prevent them from emigrating to sanctuary jurisdictions. Continue reading »

490 – Climate change crisis: What are the odds? | Dave Plumb

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Feb 022017

When it comes to climate, one theory holds that there’s a fifty-fifty chance that we’ll be unable to adapt to climate change 90% of the time. For the other 10% of the time there’s still a fifty-fifty chance that our odds will remain even. Of course, it depends on which side of the C02 / carbon tax issue you’re on, and on which political party you support.

Sound confusing? Confusing us is the whole point of playing the percentages warns Dave Plumb, who joins us today for a continuing discussion about both the science and politics of climate change.

Here’s a 100% certainty: CO2 production is a natural and healthy occurrence. You could even say that efforts to rid our planet of CO2 are unnatural and unhealthy.

Playing the percentages is just one of the ways politicians justify “fighting climate change” by taxing CO2 production.

Citing man-made CO2 production as a reason for “fighting climate change” – and in turn using the “fight against climate change” as a premise for taxing man-made CO2 – is a circular and fraudulent way to impose a new tax that will neither reduce world CO2 levels nor prevent climate change. Continue reading »