This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're going down the rabbit hole. In Canada, and down into the United States, it seems like a lot of people are losing their minds and some of that might be dangerous. We will looking at a quartet arrested in Canada for terrorist activity, and the clash over conspiracies in the MAGAverse, plus, for something a little more normal, we will talk to a city councillor about Guelph stuff (no lie).
This Thursday, July 17, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
G.I. Jerks. Last week, the RCMP arrested four people in Quebec on the pretty serious sounding charges around a plot to commit an act of "ideologically motivated violent extremism," and, as an unexpected bonus, three of them are presently active duty members of the Canadian Forces. It's been a concern for a while that the ranks of our military include members with extremist sympathies, but this is the first time anyone's been taken into custody for them. How concerned should we be?
Working the Jeff. In 2019, financier and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in federal custody. Or did he? The fate of Epstein, and any damaging information he might have had on other alleged sexual predators, has been the subject of much conversation, speculation, and a traunch of conspiracy theories, including ones submitted by several MAGA luminaries. But now Donald Trump has declared that there's bigger fish to fry, which is tearing MAGA apart with internal fractions. Is this the beginning of the end of the red-hatted cult?
Ward Three's Company. Just because it's July, that doesn't mean that things are not busy inside the council chambers at Guelph city hall. This week there were two meetings, and there are two more next week, including the all-important meeting to choose a new representative for Ward 6 out of 26 potential candidates. What will make a good city councillor is a decision that will be left up to all the other city councillors, and this week will be joined by one. Ward 3's Michele Richardson will join us to talk about her thoughts, plus the tricky balance on heritage designations and the local housing crunch.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.
