It's been an incredible run and we've read some truly terrible columns, but the time has come to say goodbye. After five years of covering the worst opinions Canadian media has to offer, Eric, Marino and Jeremy are moving on to greener pastures – hopefully there aren't any copies of the National Post lying around. Thanks to all of our guests, listeners and supporters. You made this show so much fun to do over the years. We're not going to read a column this episode, which makes t...

Are Canada's universities being feminized? It's a topic that's been consuming Leigh Revers – so much so that he wrote about it at length in the bad takes newspaper of record, the National Post Men are foregoing higher education and instead chopping wood in the forest and spending all their money on beard oil. This leads to an imbalance in education levels, which fuels the ongoing birth rate epidemic. Or something like that.Edmonton-based writer and educator Dani Paradis (@DaniParadis) joins u...

At this time of increased antisemitism, who better to give Jews free advice than Dr. Order and Chaos himself, Jordan Peterson?The problem is his piece, published in the Spectator (London), is riddled with antisemitic tropes and basic misunderstandings of Jewish liturgy.Polite Conversations host Eiynah (@nicemangos) joins us to talk about why Peterson might want to sit this one out.Plugs and RecsPolite Conversations - “The Gaza Ghetto Uprising w/Rev and Reve”Polite Conversations ...

Jews are under attack on campuses! Actually, Zionism is, but that's good enough for Michael Geist to write about an apparent scourge of antisemitism at Canada's universities. We're joined by University of Alberta English and film professor Mike Litwack (@mikeylitwack) to take a look at a piece that purports that nobody who supports Israel can feel bad about things, ever.Plugs and RecsRifqa by Mohammed El-KurdGet Ghassan Kanafani: Selected political writings, OUT NOW!Keep an eye out for Muna S...

Fancying himself some sort of Judge Dredd of protecting Canadian culture, Christopher Dummitt writes in a special to the National Post how such actions as land acknowledgments or taking a plaque down in an art gallery are giving China an edge. Canadian patriot Nora Loreto joins us to explain why having a deep-seated sense of national pride probably doesn't matter that much.Plugs and RecsNora Loreto | SubstackA political podcast. Just Listen. | Sandy & Nora Talk Politics (sandyandnora.com)...

"Are all these bisexuals for real? Or is this 'el gee bee tee cue' stuff just a fashionable trend? I'm just asking questions." That is about the extent of the analysis in this week's column from the Phoebe Maltz Bovy in Globe and Mail. Nevertheless, we torture ourselves and writer/pal Sarah Rieger by unpacking it. Join us for yet another incoherent boomer moment.Plugs and RecsListen to Expats & Allies | A Podcast on Nazi RefugeesThe Hoser | Taking On a Grocery Empire: Understanding the Lo...

Oakville Town Hall is under siege from a red scourge and Sun journalist Joe Warmington is on the case after a hot tip. Can the People's Champion make sense of the situation? Will anyone talk some sense into these misguided youngsters? Freelance journalist Scott Martin (@YouCaughtScott) helps us unpack what really went on that day, since Joe failed to notice that he was actually just at the Fightback table at a pro-Palestine rally. Plugs and RecsScott Martin - The Catch (readthecatch.ca)Read R...

Stop being mean to grocer oligarchs. Stop it! We're warning you. You should be thanking them, they stock your treats and only gouge you a to a moderate degree. Everybody's gotta make a living, and besides, they're probably creating your job anyway.Toronto-based writer Luke Savage (@LukewSavage) joins us to take in the view from the National Post and be properly tut-tutted as we learn about the success story that is Galen Weston being born at the right time.Plugs & Recs (The Rinse)Buy The ...

American icon Noah Kulwin (@nkulw) joins the pod to talk about one of the most obnoxious Twitter personalities of the past several months, Joe Roberts. Roberts, co-founder of the Democratic Socialists of America - Canada and former co-host of New Left Radio, has gone full neocon since Oct. 7. So much so that he wrote a column for the National Post, where he's now a regular contributor, waxing nostalgic about George W. Bush, the guy everyone famously loves. Oh, and Sarah Palin too, because he'...

We love whinging about the fertility rate, don't we folks? The implications are grave, lowered birth rates could mean fewer DoorDash employees to bring columnists treats. BST Institute fellow Stephen @Magusiak of @pressprogress returns to pick apart a Globe and Mail opinion piece by John Ibbitson. According to Ibby, the ever-dwindling number of babies Canada produces threatens to tear the country apart. Scary stuff!Plugs & Recs (The Rinse)Get news coverage from PressProgress: Sign up for ...

Executive Director of @Wisdom2Action and @QueerMomentum and unstoppable dynamo @FaeJohnstone joins us to discuss how Sydney Sweeney's breasts fortell the death of wokeness – according to the National Post.In a column that reads like a horny Looney Tunes cartoon, Amy Hamm, who is a nurse apparently, brings the bizarre discourse around the young actress to a crescendo. Plugs & Recs (The Rinse)Read The new generation of gay Conservative sellouts by Fae JohnstoneGo to +972 Magazine for n...

The Big Shiny Takes Institute has returned to read a real stinker of a column by Rick Bell. Rick, a traditional dumb guy with a column, seems a little upset about how mean people are being to Calgary Chief of Police Mark Neufeld. We dig into this column (a glorified vanity piece about how the police are good, homeless people are super-criminals and everyone needs to shut up) with friend of the Institute, Drug Data Decoded's Euan Thomson. Plugs and Recs Kenneyism - Jeremy Appel Unr...

Polite Conversations host and leading Intellectual Dark Web scholar Eiynah, a/k/a @NiceMangos, joins us to scrape the bottom of the IDW barrel. Gad Saad, who is now a National Post columnist, is a marketing professor who fashions himself as an expert in the defence of Western Civilization. He wrote a piece in the Post about how happy conservatives are, in which he informs the reader that he is very much not mad about the woke left.Plugs & Recs (The Rinse)Listen to Jeremy on Polite Convers...

Mount Royal University academic, Al Jazeera columnist and Al Shabaka fellow Muhannad Ayyash joins us to discuss how Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek cancelled Hanukkah. Calgary pundits lost their goddam minds over Gondek's decision to back out of at a totally apolitical menorah lighting ceremony that was billed as an opportunity to demonstrate "SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL." And according to reporting from Aryn Toombs at LiveWire Calgary, it didn't disappoint. Calgary Herald columnist Don Braid, who joined t...

Chuka Ejeckam joins us again, this time to discuss the ongoing horror in Gaza and how Canadian pundits have assumed the role of IDF spokespeople.There’s no better example of this trend than Andrew Coyne, who wrote a column boasting of how little he’s learned since 9/11. Plugs and Recs UN Director for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Resignation LetterThe Hoser Grocery Tracker Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthyTech Won't Save Us - Elon Musk Unmasked, Ep. 1If you enjoyed this ...

The Big Shiny Takes Institute has returned after the editor (Eric) spent the last month traveling the world in search of the shiniest takes. It turns out they were all right here in Canada.This week we return to an old favourite, the people's champion Joe Warmington, for a column about remembering police officers who passed away this year. Before you ask, yes Don Cherry is featured in the column for some reason. This episode was recorded in late September and is a classic example of the Night...

Jeremy and Marino are joined by The Breach co-ordinating editor Emma Paling (@emmapaling) to discuss a column from Carson Jerema, the National Post's comment editor, who in accordance with Post traditions doesn't seem to do much editing. According to Jerema, Pierre Poilievre's shrieking about the globalistsat the World Economic Forum isn't a conspiracy theory at all. In fact, it's exactly like Chrystia Freeland's tepid criticisms of the WEF in her book Plutocrats, which Jerema adds is a Marxi...

Things are so good in Canadian media. There's layoffs nearly every week. There's talk of the Toronto Star merging with Postmedia. The Online News Act was passed and as a result Google and Facebook are pulling Canadian news content from their platforms. (The Act isn't great and doesn't help independent media that much to begin with, but Google and Facebook pulling this move is baaaad). To celebrate the robust and healthy nature of our industry, Marino and Eric are joined by old j-school buddy ...

What do opinion columnists in this country think about strikes? Nothing worth reading on your own. In this episode the Big Shiny Takes Institute takes a look at an awful column on the PSAC strike that took place near the end of April and extended into May. The conventional wisdom of punditry was that the public would not support a public sector strike, but in hindsight (and at the time) we could very clearly see how incorrect that opinion was. Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Coyne had some ch...

The unthinkable has happened in Canada. A public body has offered new health recommendations and people are overreacting. How will society even function on two drinks a week? According to some, not at all. This week we are joined by author James Wilt (Drinking Up the Revolution, Do Androids Dream of Electric Cars) and co-founder of The Hoser Kevin Taghabon to read an abysmal column from Peter Shawn Taylor in the Financial Post. In this column Taylor accuses the Canadian Centre for Substance U...