“The measure of a society — a just society — is not whether we stand up for people’s rights when it is easy or popular to do so, but whether we recognize rights when it is difficult, when it is unpopular.”.— Justin Trudeau, justifying the $10 million paid to Omar KhadrThey were the best Beatles band in Bangkok.In fact, maybe the best Beatles cover band anywhere.They had the suits, the haircuts, the exact same guitars, and man oh man, could they ever play the Beatles.All you had to do was write down a request, attach a few baht to it, and drop it into a glass. They would play the song remarkably well, to the joy of the ex-pat crowd.I particularly liked their version of Tomorrow Never Knows ... a song that, to this day, still invokes wonder in me. It is so damn brilliant.I didn't get there every weekend, but the times I did attend this Irish pub on a Friday night in BK, was lots of fun.Sometimes, I would walk out of there with a 1,600 baht bill, plus tip! ... buying drinks for anyone and everyone ... people I just met. Maybe they padded it, I don't know.Anyway, every Friday night, when the Beatles band was playing, the biggest drug lord in Bangkok would show up, with his entourage.Usually, two beautiful Thai women and a few extras.They always had a table reserved for him. Sometimes they sat next to my table and I gradually got to know some members of the entourage. We would chat and share stories of the day. Just normal day to day stuff.The druglord, to my shock, was a great dancer! He would drag one of the Thai babes on the dance-floor, and dance like a demon.He would tire her out, then grab the hand of another Thai babe. Again, dancing the night away.Only when both girls were spent, would he finally sit down, or throw a bunch of Thai baht into the band's cup.He may have been the biggest cartel boss in Thailand, but man, he liked the Beatles.But you did not ... repeat, did not ... want to look him in the eye. He had a deathly stare, and you just didn't want to go there.This was a guy who could have you disappeared. Fed to the crocs. Pushed off a high-rise.No wonder the Thai Beatles band would play a straight set for an hour and a half — they were too afraid to stop! LOL!Be that the case, man I had some good times in there. I would ride home on the back of a motorcycle taxi, sans helmet, and feeling as free as I could be, my hair floating in the cool evening wind as we plied the mighty Bang Na expressway, on the way home to my humble apartment.Probably the most free feeling I ever had, to be honest. And I always tipped big. Always.Anybody who brought you home alive in BK deserved that.But little did I know then, that two big pythons were living right next to my apartment — one living in the tree overhanging my balcony, and another in the bathroom of the parking garage, which was just metres away.And I hate snakes ... I really, really hate snakes. Good thing I kept my balcony door shut.And speaking of snakes ... federal government snakes ... I just read Linda Slobodian's excellent piece on the victimization and demonization of Canada's Tamara Lich. Dear God in heaven. What is happening to our great country, and the freedoms we once had?Even the illustrious Pierre Elliott Trudeau, must be spinning in his grave, at what is transpiring in good ol' Canuckistan.Folks, I was born in this country. In small-town Manitoba. I grew up in southern Ontario. I went to a Catholic school. I graduated from Grade 13 at FJ Brennan High School, and got my comms degree at the University of Windsor.I have nearly 40 years, of media experience, in Canada and Asia.To borrow a quote, from the great Sean Connery, "I've been to the barbecue, before."But never, ever, did I ever think, that our country ... our great country ... would establish a despicable kangaroo court, to destroy a woman, a Canadian, who supported something called the Freedom Convoy.I have just one word, just one, to say to those, who would pursue this inexplicable injustice: Cowards.A bunch of bloody cowards. Every goddam one of them. Absolutely shameful.Not only that, but cowards of the worst kind. This action, not only insults all the brave young men who died at Juno Beach in Normandy in 1944, to give us our rights and freedoms, it goes against the very soul of everything that is good, righteous and true.Of course, I am biased.My dad's cousin, Mike Makichuk, spilled his blood on Juno Beach, on D-day. In the first wave. He never made it off the beach.He died for you, for me, and even Assistant Crown Attorney Moiz Karimjee, who argued that Lich violated a bail condition by agreeing to accept the 2022 George Jonas Freedom Award.This despite her lawyer, Lawrence Greenspan, noting that the poster for the event didn’t even indicate Lich would be there. Furthermore, bail conditions do not even permit her to enter Ontario, where the event is being held.But I'm not going to go into the legal details — I really don't give a damn. It's a flimsy, petty argument, which is why Karimjee is laying on the dramatics. He doth protest too much, as Will Shakespeare would say.Let these snakes in suits argue, for big dollars. That's what they do. They don't care about you and me, or Canada, or anyone else, they just pull in big bucks saying fancy legal stuff that judges have to listen to.Stuff that has absolutely no value to anyone, in the real world you and I live in. They're platinum pretenders — all of them.And just remember this. These federal jackals, will not be happy, destroying the life of Tamara Lich. No God, no.This is just the beginning. They will go after others. Other Canadians. Absolutely anyone, who doesn't fall in line, with our delusional Jack in Office, Justin Trudeau, the hypocritical defender of "the just" society.No ... they are not done. Not even close. Felix Dzershinsky, the architect of the Red Terror, would be jealous.The fun is just beginning, folks, and coming to your doorstep in ways you cannot even imagine.If it's happening to her, it can happen to you. Welcome to the new world.
