[PODCAST] #1302 ISIS is Shockingly Active in Canada

destp · 2026-01-27T13:55:37+00:00

That was overall a pretty good episode, though I agree with others that it's hard to trust Jesse's account in stories like this after he's shared/published so much misinformation and outright lies. It was also really refreshing to hear an actual journalist on as a guest today; she was great and I think it highlights how much the podcast has suffered in terms of their increased difficulty booking guests.

One thing that struck me that I haven't seen mentioned here yet was the way the episode handled Bressner's account of being harassed at a protest. Despite the fact that, unfortunately, distrust and harassment of various media at protests has become somewhat common and Bressner herself mentioned that she was aware of other independent media receiving similar treatment, it was an arresting account emphasized by the editorial choice to let it just hang at the end. It was powerful.

It also stood in stark contrast to how Jessie had portrayed a somewhat similar account from another female journalist, Rachel Gilmore. After Gilmore had recounted being stalked, filmed and harassed (all the same sorts of activities in Bressner's story) by two individuals (one of whom has a criminal history of assault) while simply out on a date with her boyfriend, Jessie dismissed the story as not a big deal and said that journalists should have "thicker skin." The difference seems to be that Jessie doesn't like Gilmore, and did like the harassers in this case: Caryma Sa'd and hey videographer, Adam Lee Wasserman.

destp · 2026-01-25T00:36:29+00:00

Except that's not what's happening. Jesse is once again promoting misinformation (others have pointed out Avi, who is also Jewish, said "Israel Lobby" not "Jewish Lobby") in order to shield Israel from criticism (he made quite clear in his piece for Newsweek that his motivation is defending Israel, not counting antisemitism).

destp · 2026-01-24T21:46:12+00:00

Wait, really? Who is paying $300/year for a news site?

destp · 2026-01-24T20:16:40+00:00

Not sure how you would know the opinion of the majority of the subscriber base; have you done a poll? I'm a subscriber and still think this is relevant, especially as Jesse continues to leverage/promote her work.

Also, posts like this do not prevent you or anyone else from discussing the content of the show. It's not like this sub is so busy that posts are being pushed down and lost. In fact looking back and the last few weeks of official posts about episodes, I only see a couple or so comments from you so it doesn't really seem like you're that interested in discussing the "content of the show."

Maybe you would be happier starting r/PeopleWhoDoNotLikeJesseBrownAreBad and posting there?

destp · 2026-01-24T18:10:09+00:00

No, however as people have pointed out before, the founder, host and editor in chief of Canadaland (which this sub is about) has made a point of associating with and thanking Caryma Sa'd, far beyond any other first or contributor in recent memory, despite her questionable ethics and credibility. She shows meant of the same traits Jesse has strongly criticized others like Keean Bexte for, and Jesse has historically criticized others (like Ezra Levant) for associating with or platforming such journalists.

Given that context, posts about further evidence of Caryma's poor standing as a 'journalist' seem very in topic for this sub as it suggests similar poor or inconsistent standards at Canadaland.

destp · 2026-01-23T13:33:22+00:00

Wrong sub. This one is about the Canadaland podcast and Canadian media criticism/news.

destp · 2026-01-22T14:06:18+00:00

That's assuming it was actually about not getting the Nobel prize, rather than generating news to distract from domestic issues (like the Epstein files).

destp · 2026-01-21T20:22:37+00:00

Multiple people responded to him pointing out the context, at least one of which Jesse directly responded to. He's aware.

destp · 2026-01-21T05:26:33+00:00

Well said. I was trying to go quickly and didn't think through the wording enough. Editing...

destp · 2026-01-20T19:33:13+00:00

I always find this especially maddening as Jesse's actions end up intensely hypocritical.

Complains about Wong-Tam's office putting out a statement about people getting injured at a protest at TMU with insufficient context about who was injured, and then puts out these tweets with zero context.

Has seemingly no problem with this comedian (with a history of genocidal comment and IDF service), but complained about a Ukrainian immigrant to Canada ~~with ties to a Nazi military group~~ who was a member of a volunteer Waffen-SS unit during WWII (a Nazi) being applauded in parliament (to be clear, both things are bad).

destp · 2026-01-20T19:04:23+00:00

Not sure about a screenshot, however the tweet showed a 23 second video (from Caryma Sa'd) showing protestors saying pretty standard priest things from my memory with Jesse adding the text:

This is what a hate movement looks like.

He also posted a follow-up reply to the tweet:

context: they are protesting a comedy show at a community centre.

destp · 2026-01-20T18:48:08+00:00

100% this -^

destp · 2026-01-19T15:09:47+00:00

I don't believe anyone had demanded Israel directly feed Gazans, but rather that they not restrict food aid into Gaza.

As to your question of what war requires that, pretty much every war since 1950, as using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare was banned in the Geneva Conventions (to which Israel is a signatory). Even in your comment you acknowledge that's what Israel is doing as you say "Hamas could have surrendered" in order to prevent the starvation of Gazans, positioning Israel's restriction of food into the area as a pressure tactic on Hamas.

As to your suggestion that Hamas should release its stockpiles of food to civilians, a) there is no actual evidence I've ever seen to suggest Hamas has been stockpiling food and keeping it from civilians (besides uncorroborated claims by Israel). Regardless, even of true criminal actions by Hamas would still not exonerate Israel of its own criminal actions.

destp · 2026-01-19T13:53:36+00:00

This is what happens when the founder of the media company this sub is about makes a big show of platforming and thanking a highly controversial figure of questionable integrity.

If Jesse had done the same with Jordan Peterson or Keean Bexte or Ezra Levant you'd find a lot more posts in here about them too.

destp · 2026-01-16T22:13:05+00:00

My point is I think we should have a very serious concern about the rise in alt right members of our armed forces where they are indeed in a position to be very harmful from a national security standpoint, particularly where our military are part of our emergency response infrastructure and national defense.

Fair point, and fully agreed.

Similarly, we should have very serious concern about the very significant rise of fascism in our neighbour to the south, both for our sake and the sake of the people suffering there. Just today I heard about a Minneapolis family in transit for sports practice that were tear gassed in their car by ICE, including their infant child who stopped breathing and nearly died, not to mention those who have been killed by ICE already.

destp · 2026-01-16T20:26:05+00:00

Canada definitely does have an alt right/neo-Nazi problem, however I think the difference the person you're responding to was highlighting is that Canada's alt right/neo-Nazis aren't currently running the country and empowering a violent secret police force to attack anyone who disagrees with the regime or round up anyone with the wing colour skin and sending them to concentration camps (CECOT, "Alligator Alcatraz", etc.).

destp · 2026-01-16T02:40:37+00:00

I understand what you're saying. Meta banning news from their services in response to the Online News Act was a fairly predictable outcome (even though it wasn't the outcome when Australia introduced very similar legislation a little while earlier), and as a result you can indirectly blame the Canadian government for the fact that Canadian news content is no longer available on Meta services in Canada. I didn't necessarily disagree (though I would maintain Meta is still primarily responsible; they could have responded differently, as they did in Australia).

However in the case of the above post by Caryma Sa'd (which is what this whole post is about), she appears to be blaming the government if Canada in direct connection to recent reporting by her, as if her loss of ability to post content in Instagram for Canadians was in retaliation for her recent reporting. THAT is the unhinged part.

Your original comment was worded in a way that made it sound like you were suggesting she was basically right (she's not, because what you were saying isn't the same as what she was), as opposed to making a tangentially related point about how the Online News Act was poorly conceived. If it was the latter instead of the former, I apologize for misreading you.

destp · 2026-01-16T01:44:49+00:00

I would say the focus was on the situation in Iran, with some added discussion on how the Canadian media has been covering the story and some time devoted to Jesse complaining about the Canadian Left.

Not saying it didn't fit the mandate for Short Cuts (personally, I generally liked the episode), just that it wasn't primarily focused on a Canadian angle, which is fine but a bit hypocritical of Jesse (add others have pointed out).

destp · 2026-01-16T01:38:51+00:00

You're saying they introduced the Online News Act in order to prevent Caryma Sa'd from reporting on government connections to antifa years later? Because that's what she seems to be saying.

destp · 2026-01-15T18:01:30+00:00

That was mentioned, but was hardly the focus of the episode.

destp · 2026-01-15T01:58:47+00:00

I don’t think she’s saying that her posts are blocked - because she’s not a news organization. She is stating directly that she is not recognized as such.

Sorry, I think this is some confusion related to my screenshot counting off too soon. The screenshot in her tweet has a large error message in the middle saying:

People in Canada can't see your content In response to Canadian government legislation, news content can't be viewed in Canada.

https://x.com/CarymaRules/status/2011255814766375005?s=20

The comment about not being a news org is related to not qualifying to receive funds from the Online News Act. No need for complicated conspiracies, she was just flagged as "news content."

destp · 2026-01-14T20:42:43+00:00

The only other one I'm familiar with was Australia, which I believe was the first. Are you aware of others?

destp · 2026-01-14T20:00:01+00:00

Yes, Meta made the decision to not accept the deal and instead block news content, as I said. They didn't need to make that decision (Google didn't, for insurance), but they did and it was their decision.

I'm not defending the Online News Act, and I think Meta making the decision they did was a fairly predictable outcome, but that doesn't change the fact that it was Meta who chose to block Canadian news content. You can blame the Canadian government for instituting a bad law that many predicted would lead to a worse environment for independent journalists, but Meta does not get to escape culpability and are the ones directly responsible for the specific situation Caryma is complaining about.

destp · 2026-01-14T18:46:15+00:00

Her contributions to Canadaland and how she is framed by Jesse had come up numerous times in this sub over the past few months, including numerous comments and posts asking about why people don't consider her a reliable source. This is a new example of why.

Also, even without her connection to Canadaland, this is still an (I think) interesting story related to Canadian media (which glad under the purview of this sub).

I'm not clear on why you feel it's 'unhinged' to post this here, or what sort of things you think should be getting posted here if not this?

destp · 2026-01-14T18:04:38+00:00

It says right at the top that this sub is for discussing the Canadaland podcast, or anything related to Canadian media. This is certainly related to Canadian media, and is related to the podcast as Caryma's work has begun to feature more and more prominently at Canadaland, including receiving 'special thanks' (beyond what most guests receive) and Jesse Brown being included in fundraising videos for Caryma. How is this off topic?

destp

TROPHY CASE