A rare win for fans in the battle over ticket prices

This week on two blocks from the White House. The Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on Trade officially comes up for review on Canada Day. So we're asking, what happens after that July 1st deadline? Join me, Willie Lowry, and my fellow Washington correspondence, Paul Hunter and Peter Armstrong as we break down U.S. politics from a Canadian perspective. Find and follow two blocks from the White House wherever you get your podcasts. And watch us on YouTube. New episodes drop every Wednesday.

This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Neil Kerksell. Good evening. I'm Chris Howden. This is as it happens.

Tonight. The Empire strikes out, a frustrated ticket buyer who testified at the Live Nation antitrust trial says she was genuinely shocked. A jury found the company does have a harmful monopoly on concert venues, but it is music to her. years. An unholy mess. There's tension between the Vatican and the White House after Pope Leo comes out as pro-peace and anti-tirant, and U.S. President Donald Trump says the Pope should get his act together. Sending back their regrets, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations says her members need more than contrition from the RCMP for surveilling indigenous people. Something's afoot. A 91-year-old peace activist walks across Ireland to protest the American

military's use of an airport in Shannon, which she says is a a direct violation of Irish neutrality. Paying a steeple price, a church in a small British village that rivals the leaning tower of Pisa for its slanted spire also has crooked floors and the congregation is inclined to do something about it. And the Grand Finn Alley. Millions of years ago, the state of Maryland was teeming with megalodons and now lawmakers there have designated that gigantic, terrifying, fortunately extinct creature, the official

state shark. As it happens, the Thursday edition, Radio that really hopes it doesn't come back to bite them. Concert Industry Giant Live Nation has been acting as an illegal monopoly. That is the conclusion the company will have to contend with after a jury in New York reached a verdict in its antitrust trial. Alongside its subsidiary ticket master, Live Nation brokered the sales. of 86% of concert ticket sales at large venues in the U.S. That's according to the lawyer for dozens of state-level attorneys general who brought the suit, he argued that Live Nation's control of the market led to higher prices for fans,

pressure on venues to accept exclusive contracts, and fewer options for touring artists. The U.S. Justice Department had initially joined the suit but withdrew after reaching an undisclosed settlement with the promoter. Callie Brennan is one of two music fans who testified about Live Nation's ticket prices. at the trial. We reached here in Philadelphia. Kelly, ultimately, what do you think was harder? Testifying in front of this jury or trying to get relatively affordable tickets to a show you want to see? Absolutely trying to get affordable tickets is harder.

So when you got the call about the jury's verdict, what were you thinking that they were going to say? Honestly, I was a little bit surprised that every single. went through and they won it all. In the current state here, things are pretty much run by greed, in my opinion. So I, with the DOJ settlement and everything, like there's always these backdoor deals going on. So I figured they would try everything to get it thrown away if they could. And so I was just happy to see that it didn't work and it all went through. You were asked to testify because you complained to Pennsylvania's Attorney General about ticket prices long before this trial began. What was happening that made you decide, you know, I'm not just

going to write about it online or complain to my friends. I'm going to make a complaint to the AG. Growing up, I've always been told, like, you don't really have a right to complain about things unless you're trying all the avenues to correct it. After COVID, like, all the ticket prices were sky high, obviously, and never came back down. I figured I need to voice that and let people know. if I expect them to do anything about it. So I submitted the complaint. And what was your concert going life like before you saw this shift in prices? I was at concerts almost every weekend.

I went to festivals all the time. I was constantly seeing live music, seeing everyone from Ariana Grande to Black Sabbath. And so then you are called on to testify. Pretty huge, huge trial. What was it like on the stand facing questions from the lawyers for Live Nation? Honestly, it very much felt like they did not want to talk to me. They wanted me off the stand as quickly as possible. Didn't really look at me much.

So it was very quick with their side. It felt like they really just wanted me away and away from the jury. And it was only you and another music fan that testified, The majority were executives and experts. Two important voices, you and that other fans, certainly. What were you hoping they would take away the judge and jury? I was just hoping, like, with the jury, it's like you're sitting there all day listening to executives, talk big business and everything.

And like once you get into that day after day, I feel like you can definitely disconnect from the consumer after a certain point. So just like reminding them that like despite all this business, at the end of the day, it's affecting the consumers. So, like, I would hope they would see themselves in me a little bit and, like, how this is affecting everyone. Some of the interesting information that came out were internal messages that showed Live Nation executives calling ticket buyers, quote, stupid

and bragging about, quote, robbing them blind, baby, unquote. What did you think, as a ticket buyer, as a concert fan, as a music fan? What did you think of what they said? Just kind of validating. It's not that consumers are stupid or anything. We're backed into a corner. We have no choice. If we want to see live music, we have to pay these high prices.

So then just talking that way in private messages, it's like you guys are acting as the villain in multiple ways. I spoke to a former Ticketmaster, CEO. a couple of years ago. And, you know, he said this is just, this is supply and demand. This is capitalism. What do you make of that argument? So, like, just saying that, oh, supply and demand is capitalism. So is competition.

So I would hope that, like, we can at least get some competition back into this so that prices will lower due to competing factors. It's not just one company saying, nope, this is the price. Here you go. Live Nation Entertainment put out a statement yesterday saying, quote, the jury's verdict is not the last word on this matter, unquote. What do you think this will mean for you and other music fans who want to see more live music? What will change, do you think?

I'm not really sure. I'm hopeful that the court stays strong on this and everything continues to go through. I'm hoping for a more competitive environment at least. I know as consumers, it will take us years to see, like, any trickle down. But I know that Life Nation will try to fight this from every angle they can, and I just really hope that everyone stays strong and focuses on how these things are affecting consumers. What concerts are you going to go to next? I currently have tickets to go see Billy Strings,

and I'm hoping to eventually get the chance to see Haley Williams and turn some. style and Fred again a little all over the place. Fred again's definitely EDM turn style and Haley Williams are a little more punk pop punk. I think you are a true music fan, Kelly. What is your advice to those who are just silently complaining? Polk. Always submit the complaints. I know we're all kind of in a state of like not trusting that things.

will go through. You're sending a complaint into the abyss, but just try it because I did, all of a sudden I'm testifying in something and the jury came out with on the consumer side. So even if you don't think it's going anywhere and you don't trust that like any system is going to correct these things, just submit the complaints, just tell your representatives how you're feeling so that you can know that you did your due diligence and you've got the right to say it's a broken system if it is. Great to speak with you, Callie. Thank you. Enjoy those shows. Thank you so much.

Music fan, Callie Brennan, testified in the antitrust case against Live Nation. We reached her in Philadelphia. had a straightforward message for the RCMP and the federal government today. Words aren't enough. Representatives from the Assembly of First Nations and the Assembly of Manitoba chiefs were in Winnipeg calling for a public inquiry into RCMP surveillance of indigenous leaders in Canada. The calls come after a CBC investigation found that the RCMP spied on indigenous organizers for years through what it called its native extremism program. The demands from current leadership are echoed by some of those whose names turn up in the files, like former national

Chief Ovid Mercurdy. Now I want to know, because I don't have the documentation, when did the surveillance of me begin? And all I have right now is a picture that was sent by CBC, a picture of me as a very young man, but I don't have any other details to it than that it occurred in Grand Rapids. When did they start surveilling myself? And when did they stop? Former Assembly of First Nations National Chief Ovid Mercurdy speaking at a news conference today.

Cindy Woodhouse-Nepinac is the current National Chief. We reached her in Winnipeg. National Chief Woodhouse-Nepinag, when you hear testimony like that, what does that do to you? Well, it makes me wonder, is it still happening? We don't know. And, you know, it was kind of, you know, it's like, like I think many other First Nations leaders across the country at Anger View because, you know, I can't imagine what leadership went through in the 70s and the 80s and the 90s and even more recent. And we were not surprised, unfortunately. We knew that it was happening.

And, you know, I think that we have to be really open and honest with each other. in this country, First Nations are not enemies. You know, we've fought for this country. And to be treated as such is so unacceptable and so disheartening. And as you look at these declassified surveillance files, there are so many people that you know personally. Oh, absolutely. And the problem is a lot of these files are redacted,

and we want unredacted. You know, I want to look through them wholeheartedly, not black scribbles through names and places and communities. As you've had conversations with other First Nations leaders across the country since this investigation was published by our colleagues, how would you assess how this is rippling through the country and how people are feeling? Well, I think, you know, there was some communities

that I know some leadership. I talked to, you know, some members, the other day in northern BC. And they kind of knew all along. I mean, they would speculate it, right? On just different, you know, at one point in the north, they found, you know, a listening device. And, you know, it's disheartening.

And I think that First Nations knew they were being, you know, maybe under surveillance, probably didn't have the, you know, the evidence to back that, I guess. But now we do. and why were they being, you know, what was their surveillance? And we'd like to see the records fully so that we can make a full, wholesome, you know, statement on that. In response to the CBC News investigation,

the RCNB Commissioner, Mike DuM, issued a statement of regret, writing in part, quote, while we cannot change the past, we can and must acknowledge that these actions and their impact continue to be felt today, unquote. Prime Minister Mark Carney has called this program, where I'm a quote, reprehensible practice, unquote. What do those words mean to you?

Are they giving you, are they reassuring you that this is being taken seriously? Well, I talked to the minister this morning and he wants to have a further dialogue on May 11th. I think as it stands right now, I think some of his thoughts on this are very differing from, you know, our thoughts as First Nations on this issue. and, you know, we do look forward to further dialogue, but it was, you know, we've got a lot of victims across the country and First Nations communities from coast to coast, but the RC&P owes an apology to afford this. And we don't want it to continue to ripple, particularly as we're talking about major projects across this country that, you know, there are going to be some people that are maybe for projects, but there are going to be some people that are not for projects. You don't want them to be surveilled for any potential activism. And the minister you're speaking of is public safety minister, Gary and Nandisangery.

Yep. Did he give you any reassurances? What did he say to you that you could share with us? Just that, that we met today. B, I told him that I wanted unredacted, you know, the unredacted documents. So I know that they had said, well, you know, those are a thesis. Well, then bring, get us those documents. Like make a decision and give, give us.

them, unredacted so that we can see the implications and how far. I mean, we know it's big, how big. That's part of getting accountability. I can imagine you've also, today in your news conference we're talking about a public inquiry being necessary in your review. What do you hope that an inquiry like that might reveal that an investigation or seeing those documents might not? Well, absolutely. I mean, like we're pushing today for that. I don't have an answer from the Canadian government yet if they'll give me the unredacted documents. That's number one. Of course, number two, the inquiry. But the inquiry, because it's always been, why is it that there's, you know, we've got First Nations own police forces in this country. They've never killed our own people. They've been policing First Nations communities. But then you have these other police forces.

and I know that they're hard conversations to have, but we have to make them to make sure that we're not making the mistakes of the past. And I think by doing a public inquiry, looking through these documents, what had happened, why did they happen, and to make sure that they never happen again, it's to correct,

it's to make sure that they don't happen in the future. And, you know, I'm just hoping that we continue to try and find ground on this in our way forward together in a better way. this erodes the trust between Canada and First Nations. You also made it clear today that this is not for you just about the past. It's about the present and the future. What would you need to hear from Canadian officials to believe that this kind of surveillance is not happening now and will not happen again?

Well, like I said, an inquiry would help that, right? How long are they still doing it? We don't know. And, you know, are they, you know, recent leaders and recent issues? You know, are they surveilling people? We don't know that. We don't know the answer to that. National Chief Woodhouse-Nepernak.

I appreciate your time. Thank you for coming back on the show. Thank you. Cindy Woodhouse-Nepenac is the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. We reached her in Winnipeg.

Renovations are expensive, especially when you're renovating a 14th century stone church in a small English village. Just ask the congregation at St. James Church in Dry-Doddington, Lincolnshire. 11 years ago, they had to come up with 100,000 pounds to prevent their famously leaning tower from collapsing altogether.

I didn't say it was the famous est leaning tower, but this one is kind of famous. You can see it from the A-1, if you're driving north from London. Well, now that same church is looking for another 100,000 pounds to fix its floors, which, as you can imagine, are also wonky. Richard Loins is the church warden at Drydottington.

That's where we reached him. Richard, what kind of shape is the church floor in today? The church floor at this very moment is uneven to say the least. There are parts of it which are sinking. There are parts of it which are rotten. But luckily, with care, we can still use the church floor and we can still therefore use the church. So you can walk on it?

I mean, how do you navigate that kind of situation? Yes. Yeah, you can walk on it, all right. if you are of a certain age and maybe a little bit infirm, then you have to be very careful. And we do have the occasional wheelchair that can still come in, but there are very many humps and hollas in the floor. And you have to be very careful in certain places

that you don't actually go through the wooden floor. If you do, then the next day I have to come along and soar in a piece of wood to make sure it's safe again. And how many times have you had to patch it up? I've only been church warden for three years now, but I've had to patch it up at least three times a year. As our listeners heard, there is another very well-known feature at the church. Yes, there is.

It's a leaning tower. I think, though many people, you know, they know about the leaning tower. He said they don't know necessarily about your tower. How long has it been in that condition? Well, the church was built. It sort of dates back to the 12th century, and we believe that a major sort of building work took in the 14th century, and the tower then began over a period of time to lean,

and it was eventually underpinned in 1900, 1,900, so that it would not lean anymore. But it's been leaning for as long as anybody here can remember. And its angle is... Well, that's an interesting one. It beats Pisa, right? Yeah, it certainly does. the actual theodalite wonderful word don't ask me to spell it but the actual measurement of the

lean i'll have to look now to give you the accurate figure is 4.8 degrees although we do have some local scientists who think it's 5.1 degrees which as you say is more than pisa yeah which is 3.97 from from the research we've seen i imagine it's already a local attraction but but could you make it more of an attraction to try to help raise money to fix the floor? It would be wonderful if we could. Sadly, we can only open the church when it's supervised, i.e. when either myself or members of our parochial church council are in there,

we aren't having casual visitors. So the only way in which we can raise money is we raise money locally ourselves, we have at least three social occasions to raise money for the church in the year. And the other way, of course, is through appeals, which at the moment we're making because we desperately want to replace the whole, floor and that's going to cost us a lot of money. And you've got other repairs too, right? Yes, we do.

Although the tower is stable, we have had some movements on one of the corners because the church is built on clay, which your listeners may well know is either very wet or very dry. And if it gets dry, then things on top of it move. And as the church isn't built on any foundations at all, when the clay dried specifically last year, we've had a little bit of movement on one of the corners. So there are a few patches where plaster has come off in the church which we need to address. And also, much to everyone's amusement, we only have one plug in the church, an electric plug. So that makes life a bit

difficult for organs and people wanting to do things in the church. So we're going to upgrade the electrics as well. So that's all part of the package that we're, we have put to the church officials and we have been granted permission a faculty it is called to actually do the work. So you're hoping to raise 100,000 pounds. You've got the online fundraisers going. Where are you at in terms of reaching that goal? Well, we've, as an individual church, because we're obviously looking for grant aid as well from the grant aid organizations. So we've already, we have raised nearly 20,000 pounds ourselves, so we have that in the bank. And the recent appeal, which we're now part of, we're up to a thousand pounds so far. So we're doing really well. You've been with the

church for three years, as you said. What about the space, its history, in your view, makes it worth this kind of investment? Do you know, that's a very, very good question. I am a practicing Christian and I've lived in the village for 20 years odd and have worshipped in the church. My daughter was married in the church. Sorry, our daughter was married in the church. It's a very, very, very picturesque church. And couples want to marry and we, you know, we have a number of marriages in the church each year, not necessarily from people from the parish either. But I took on the job as church warden because I desperately don't want the church to close. It's part of village life. It's part of our community.

It's a beautiful church. It's unique in that it's set on the village green. I desperately want it to stay for the village for the future of my children and grandchildren. All those weddings and visitors, how many people take the picture of them pretending to hold up the tower? Do you charge for that? That would help raise money, right? I think we ought to. I think we ought to put a sign on the sign of the church which says, do not take a picture unless you send us 10 pounds. It would be a good idea, wouldn't it? And I'll give you. credit for it. Thank you, Richard. I appreciate this.

I'm glad we could speak. Thank you. Richard Loins is the church warden at Drye Dottington, and that is where we reached him. Incidentally, just so you can orient yourself, you would have to line up 3,029.59-9 towers of Pisa in a slightly northeasterly direction to reach Dry-Doddington from Reading.

Jonas, we've got nothing left. Almost nothing. How are you going to kill it? Evolution. I'm going to make this thing bleed. See, and when you said before you were right, it's not about the people you lose. It's about the people you're safe.

Jason Statham, in the 2018 film The Meg. And I note, telling you the blood of the Meg is like telling you what Rosebud means in Citizen Kane. And you know already. But just in case, a bunch of scientists are exploring the Mariana Trench when they're attacked by a gargantuan shark. They realize that it is a long, extinct, prehistoric creature known as the Megalodon, which is like a normal laudon, but much bigger. Ultimately, of course, it's Jason Statham's movie.

He glowered harder than ever before. But in a supporting role, the Megalodon really shines. And now the state of Maryland is belatedly celebrating that performance and much more belatedly celebrating it's long ago. existence. On Monday, on the last day of the state legislative session, lawmakers agreed to designate the megalodon as the official state shark of Maryland. Apparently, megalodon fossils, mostly their teeth, which are the size of your hand, unless your hand is really small, have been discovered across the state for 15 million years that truly gargantuan shark thrived in what is now the Atlantic coastal plain because who was going to stop it from thriving?

I mean, it could reach 25 meters or 82 feet in length that way up to 30,000 kilograms or 66,000 pounds. It ate whales. Even the prehistoric version of Jason Statham couldn't have stopped it. But now I think about it. The Megalodon was the prehistoric version of Jason Statham. But I digress. Congratulations to Megalodon. For millions of years, it seemed like you would never be named Maryland's official state shark.

And those were dark times. But of course, it's always darkest before. the megalodon.

We are going to take a short break now. When we return, I'll speak with a journalist who recently found out his grandfather joined the party of Hitler just days after it became legal in Austria. Thanks to a new online search tool that lets anyone search through millions of Nazi party membership records. And where the lefties don't get left, a longstanding bond spiel is taking place once again this weekend in Ontario, but it's not right, by which I mean, everyone must play with their left hand. Stay tuned. I'm Chris Howden. And I'm Neil Cokesall.

Mexico, Agreement on Trade officially comes up for review on Canada Day. So we're asking what happens after that July 1st deadline? Join me, Willie Lowry, and my fellow Washington correspondence, Paul Hunter and Peter Armstrong as we break down U.S. politics from a Canadian perspective. Find and follow two blocks from the White House wherever you get your podcasts. And watch us on YouTube. New episodes drop every Wednesday.

says Israel and Lebanon will begin a 10-day-long ceasefire tonight. And even though Israel says it has no intention of withdrawing its troops from southern Lebanon and Hezbollah says it won't respect any agreement that permits those troops to stay, it's a small glimmer of hope in a conflict that has destabilized the region and the world. It's also the kind of detent that Pope Leo has called for repeatedly, as he has implored world leaders and Mr. Trump in particular to pursue peace. The masters of war pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy. Yet often a lifetime is often not enough to rebuild.

They turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing, on devastation. The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants. Pope Leo speaking in Cameroon today, after the U.S. president accused him of being, quote, weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy, unquote. Father James Martin is a Jesuit priest and author. We reached him in Boston. Father James Martin, who specifically do you think Pope Leo is referring to there? Well, he's speaking to an audience in Cameroon at a mass,

and so he's obviously speaking about the situation in Cameroon. But, you know, I would imagine that, you know, he's also speaking about tyrants in general, and, you know, dictators and various kinds of politicians in general. He knows that his words are going to be interpreted, you know, more broadly, but he's speaking to the Cameroonians first. Do you think he's also speaking directly to or about the U.S. President? I have no idea what was in his mind. I don't think directly, but I think when the Pope speaks, he speaks in general terms, right,

so that everybody can understand that it applies to all themselves. So that when he talks about war and peace and tyrants and things like that, he's talking about everyone in all countries. And he tries not to be partisan or too focused specifically on one politician or leader unless he's asked directly. The U.S. president and vice president have been speaking directly to and about the Pope, as you well know, to remind our listeners or let them know, the U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who identifies as a Catholic, said Pope Leo should quote, Be careful when he talks about matters of theology, unquote. Today, Donald Trump, the U.S. President, addressed all of this once again, and we'll listen to what he said. The Pope has to understand that it's very simple.

I have nothing against the Pope. His brother's MAGA all the way. I like his brother, Lewis. I'm not fighting with it. The Pope can say what he wants, and I want him to say what he wants, but I can disagree. What do you make of how the U.S. president is disagreeing? Well, I think the comments today that we just heard are a little calmer and a little less ad hominem and a little less insane than his post on truth social was a couple

There have been disagreements historically or differences of opinion, but this is just even to a casual observer. It certainly feels and sounds quite different. How would you compare, you know, what we've seen with other popes and other U.S. administrations? Oh, completely unprecedented. uh... you know ever since the united states you know established uh... relations with the holy see uh... there has been an an effort on the part of you as presidents of both democrat and republican to treat

uh... the pope with dignity just out of a sense of courtesy personal courtesy uh... but then out of a sense of uh... respect for catholicism and then also from a political point of view you don't want to offend american catholics you know just from a practical point of view so it's unprecedented and i thought you know pope The attack that Donald Trump leveled against Pope Leo was, again, really personal and pretty mean-spirited the other night. So it's unprecedented.

And I think American Catholics were, you know, in terms of progressive to traditional, were pretty appalled. I wanted to ask you more about that kind of reaction. What have you been hearing from Catholics across America? They're united in their disgust for what the president said. couple of days ago. And there's a lot of goodwill towards Pope Leo, right? I think there's something, he is something like an 84% approval rating among Catholics, and that includes more conservative Catholics and more liberal Catholics,

not only because he's an American, but because he's trying to unite the church. And so to, you know, wake up one morning and find out that President Trump called him these names and that J.D. Van said he basically doesn't know theology. is really offensive to a lot of Catholics. What is Trump risking, do you think, by continuing to speak in this way about this Pope? From a practical point of view, the Catholic vote for Republicans in the midterms. I would say also his standing worldwide, which I think is diminishing. but you know, you saw already the Prime Minister of Italy has broken with him and has stood with the Pope.

And I just think in terms of people's respect for him, a sense of, you know, diminishment there as well. I don't think when you're going to attack someone who is not only the leader of one billion Catholics, but also a good person and a moral person, you come out poorer in the comparison. How do you expect this relationship to continue or this lack of a relationship? What do you think might happen next? Well, my sense is that now that this taboo has been broken, that Donald Trump and JD Vance will continue to attack him when they feel the need to. But on the Pope's, from the Pope's point of view, nothing's going to change in the sense he's going to continue to preach the gospel. He's going to continue to treat them with respect.

and he'll continue to do what the Pope is supposed to do, which is proclaim the gospel and talk about love and mercy and compassion and care for the poor. Father James Martin, thank you for this. My pleasure. Father James Martin is a Jesuit priest and author, his new memoir is called Work in Progress. We reached him in Boston.

The distance between the Shannon Airport and the Irish Parliament is approximately 220 kilometers. That's about a two and a half hour drive, give or take, or if you're on the cusp of your 92nd birthday and you decide to walk it, two weeks. Now, you might be wondering why a 91-year-old would walk across Ireland. For Lelia Doolin, the reason was to protest against war. Specifically, the peace activist just finished her walk to protest against the U.S. military using Shannon Airport as a stopover, violating Irish neutrality. She covered most of the journey on foot. Here's what she said yesterday outside the Irish Parliament. Honestly, this is what this is.

It's about equality. It's about kindness. It's about goodness. It's about decency. And it's about being honorable and telling your friends the truth. Now, we love the American people. Now, things may be going very awry at the moment. Indeed, they are.

But one of the things that needs to be remembered is you tell your friends the truth. And we've got to tell American military the truth. Shannon is not a place for refueling, for bringing military personnel, for bringing cargo, for bringing prisoners to. far from places. And frankly, one of the great events had for the last couple months for me has been to meet all the brilliant people of Ireland who are so funny, so eccentric, so av like me, so troublesome, hopefully, that they are capable of getting out of their beds early in the morning and walking miles. people standing in their gardens yesterday as we walked in from Rathcuhl. You know, it's just amazing.

If Mihal, oh, here's Mihal, thanks, Mihal. If Mihal only knew how beautiful the people of Ireland are, how engaged they are in honesty and decency and telling the truth, they might get a bit of a boost to his life. The people inside this damn building might get him a bit of an insight into a lot. but they're therefore paid by us to do the job that we are not able ourselves to do. 91-year-old Irish peace activist Lelia Dooland speaking outside the Irish Parliament yesterday after finishing her 220-kilometer protest walk.

Between 1925 and 1945 membership in Germany's Nazi party exploded. Each of those millions of new members was given a membership card, and the membership records were kept at Nazi headquarters in Munich. In the last days of the war, they were ordered to be destroyed, but were saved by the director of a nearby paper mill. For decades afterwards, you could only access those records by making a formal request through the German archives. But they've now been made available online for anyone to search by the German newspaper Ditsite, as part of an initiative that allows people to investigate with the click of a button whether members of their own families were also members of the Nazi party.

Christian Reiner is a journalist who's uncovered details about his ancestors in the records. We reached him in Vienna. Christian, was it an easy or a difficult decision to search this database for you? It was a very easy decision. I've searched my family past and the past of Austria for a long time. And when I saw there is the opportunity, that's just what I did. And I got the result within a few seconds, minutes. And what did those results tell you?

It told me that my grandfather, born in 1886, was not only a member of the NSDAP party, but he joined the party just a few days after it was possible in Austria. So Austria was, quotation mark, invaded by the Nazis in April 1938. And just five days later, he asked to be a member. And five days later, he was a member. So it was very quick. On the other hand, I was very happy not to find my father born 1922 as a member of the party. Hadn't really suspected it, and he wasn't.

So that was a relief? That was a real relief, yes. I know you never met your grandfather. What did you know or suspect before doing that search? Yeah, I never met him. I was born in by the end of 1961 and he died early. 1961. I wasn't really surprised because I knew he was leaning to the right and that he probably was a Nazi. He was a member of a dueling student fraternity. I knew the pictures from his funeral

with those very, very strange uniforms, dueling sabers from the fencing. So I knew the surrounding And I knew the past of my family in the south of Austria, and there were all right-wing, probably anti-Semitic, and some of the members still are. So their relatives, not very close. So I was not surprised. There is certainly in Germany and Austria a culture of remembrance. People speak openly about the horrors that the Nazis inflicted of the regime. But research also shows that many Germans do not suspect their own.

own ancestors of being Nazis. What do you make about that? Well, both true, but there's a real difference between Austria and Germany. Austria saw itself as the first victim of Hitler, which it never was, because the Austrians were 90% in favor of Hitler. But after in 1945, we were a victim while the Germans couldn't really get out of it. And it took until 1986 when the ex-U.N. General Kurt Walton became Austrian president, and journalists found out that he was a high, high ranking officer. That's when really we started thinking about our past. I think it's a very important time to have a tool like that, that the German newspaper at the site started, because it's 81 years after the end of the war. The perpetrators are mostly dead. and the victims are mostly dead.

So what was presence or not too far past, when I was young, now is somewhere back as the First World War was for me. And so if anti-Semitism is climbing again, right-wing parties like IFD in Germany or FB in Austria are getting strong, no one can really estimate what they stand for, a lot of people stand for and where the dangers are. So very important. Plus, of course, individually as for me to find out whether there were many lies in the family or neighbors or friends. Othering, scapegoating groups of people, it's certainly present all around the world, as you said.

What would you say to someone who's listening? And they may say a couple of things. They might say, I don't want to know. Or they might say whatever it says, you know, I'm an ancestor of this person. what responsibility do I bear? Why do I need to know? What would you say to those two lines of thinking? Well, if people don't want to look into the past, I can't really probably not convince them. But in general, I see the curiosity, especially now that it is so many decades ago. And I would also, I would say it is certainly not an individual guilt or responsibility now anymore.

We are not talking about the perpetrators, the criminals now, but it's a general responsibility to, especially in countries like Austria or Germany, of course, Japan. And I think it's a general responsibility worldwide to keep those right wing, usually it's right being parties or movements or to keep them away, trying to keep them away from power, because things can change very fast. What responsibility, what action do you feel people who search this and find their relatives' name on it, their relatives' names on this list, what responsibility do they

have to say or do something? What should they do with that information in your view? If you find something and you want to do something in general for society, talk about it, publish it on social media. It's important and it's nothing that really makes you, makes you a perpetrator. This is grandparents, great-grandparents. No one will take you as a perpetrator, just on the, just the opposite people would probably tell you, oh, wow, there's someone speaking openly about what happened back then. And I'm not talking only about people, of course, in Austria and Germany, a lot of Germans, Austrian emigrated during the war,

maybe before the war being vannosis or after the war, to Canada, to the United States. And this is a tool that anyone can use. Christian, I'm glad we could speak. Thank you. Thank you so much. We reached journalist Christian Reiner in Vienna.

An upcoming is giving one particular group of curlers the upper hand, the left-handed ones. This weekend, the curling club in Oakville, Ontario is hosting the 50th World Championship for left-handed curlers. It's a rare opportunity to put the focus on the lefties of the sport. Diane Falcone is the organizer of the Bon Spiel. and a lefty curler herself. Left-handed people are typically the butt of jokes across the world,

or they're considered evil. But at world lefties, everyone is a left-handed curler, even if they might have right inclinations. What makes us difference at the lefties is we must throw with our left hand, whether you are a natural right or left. We remove what we call the hacks or the backstops so that if you are traditionally curling, right hand and you can't use it. So you have to come out of the hack that left-handed curleage use.

We shake with our left hand at the event. It's very, very important because if you do shake with your right hand, you're obligated to purchase a beverage for that person that you've offended by trying to shake with your right hand. And one little thing that I've noticed over the many years that I've been attending this event is that when we sit down to dinner, there's no elbows bumping, which is a really wonderful thing. If you've ever sat beside a left-handed person and you're a right-handed, you know the elbows inevitably bump.

So it's quite a really neat event. I know the Oakville Club started this tournament. Can you tell me a bit about the history? Why did they decide they needed to give lefties their own bonds feel? Well, it was back in 1974, so I, of course, was not there. But from what I understand, the group of men realized, hey, we've got a lot of left-handers at this club. Why don't we have, let's see if we can run a Bonsfield.

So they did, and they sent out notices across the province, maybe even the country, I'm not really sure. But they ended up getting eight teams. So they ran what we call a one-day bonds field or a one-day tournament. And it was such a great success. They decided to keep going with it. You have a recent left-handed gold medalist visiting as well. Yes.

Mark Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be joining us for the weekend. We are very excited. As probably a lot of people know, he's two-time gold medal Olympic champion, multiple world champion, multiple briars. The man is, I met him years ago at an event, and he is just a sweetheart. And he's a left-handed curler.

So we're very, very thrilled to have him come and join us. What we're doing is we're going to be auctioning him off. Does he know it? Yes. We've worked this all out with him. So he's bringing his shoes and his groom, and we're really hoping he's bringing his medal. All teams are going to bid,

but only eight teams will have the benefit of him joining them for one end. That's not a bad prize. It's not a bad prize. It's a wonderful prize. Diane Falcone is the organizer of the upcoming world championship for left-handed curlers in Oakville, Ontario. She was talking to Jill Dempsey on Metro Morning. They've been

been in ICE detention for 10 months and now calls for the release of Haim al-Gamal and her five children are getting louder. The Egyptian family has been in detention in Texas since last June when the children's father, Mohamed Soleiman, was charged in a fire attack that killed one person and left more than a dozen injured in Boulder, Colorado. The couple has since divorced and the FBI has determined that Ms. Gamal knew nothing of the attack, but ICE still intends to deport her and her children. They were in the U.S. on expired visas and had pending asylum applications when they were arrested. In the meantime, Ms. Gamal's health has been deteriorating rapidly. This week, she was rushed to the ER in excruciating pain after months of asking for treatment.

Eric Lee says she hasn't been receiving the care she needs, and now her life is at stake. He's the lawyer for Ms. Gamal and her children. We reached him in Detroit. Eric, when was the last time you've been able to speak with Hayam or her children? I heard from the children just a little while ago today, and they informed me that the mom, Hayam, that yesterday she suffered again from substantial pain. She went to ICE for a request for assistance, and she has not received the assistance that she requested to date. What do you tell the children to do under these circumstances? And there's an age range we're talking about here.

Tell our listeners that as well. This is a family of five-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, a nine-year-old daughter, a 16-year-old boy, and an 18-year-old daughter who was separated from her family as a result of her decision to speak to the press about the conditions of confinement. I speak primarily to the two oldest children. What have you said to them after they convey that their mother is ill again? At this point, I can't lie to them. I can't tell them. that there is great reason for hopefulness. The Trump administration has, in a manner, which can only be described as sadistically, created conditions where the children are suicide risks and say that they wish they were dead,

are drawing disturbing images. And it's my obligation as an attorney to tell them the truth. And the truth is that we're doing everything we possibly can. but that the White House and Stephen Miller in particular are doing everything that they can to block this family from receiving medical attention and from being released. Why Stephen Miller in particular? What's been happening? We know in June the White House publicly commented on the case earlier this fall. Her bond request was initially granted, then denied. Why is the administration, and you're saying Stephen Miller in particular,

so involved in this? I don't really know the answer to that. question. They are sending messages to non-citizens that they can be detained indefinitely if their relatives commit a crime, which is what happened here. That's a principle which was applied in Vidalas, Argentina, and Pinochet's Chile, and Hitler's Germany. But that is the present state of affairs in the United States today, unfortunately. What are doctors, medical experts? Because she was initially, Hayam was taken to get checked out. and then was taken back to Dilley.

What are doctors telling you? We submitted declarations from three doctors. One of them said, I regret to say Ms. Elgamal has suffered and continued to suffer at the hands of negligent staff at the Dilley facility. Their inaction places her life at risk in a very tangible way.

That's a quote from one of the declarations which we submitted to the federal court yesterday morning. After that initial hospital visit, the doctors determined she would need additional testing and wanted her to stay. Is that correct? She was told that she needed an ultrasound by the ER doctor, but that she could not receive one because ICE requiring her to go back to the Dilley facility without additional diagnostic work. So we don't know whether the chest growth, the lump in her chest is cancerous. We don't know if it's an ulcer. The ICE and Corsivic won't even

allow us to determine what is the problem. It's expressive of the overall crisis. confronting the United States. In the Washington Post reporting, they talked about a release from ICE, talking about the kind of facility that Dilley is, that there's care for people there. What is your understanding of the conditions? I wouldn't wish any of the leading ICE officials

as children to spend so much as a single day at the Dilley facility. It's nightmarish. They're subject to verbal abuse from guards systematically. When one of my children clients suffered appendicitis last July, he was writhing around on the floor in pain begging for help. They told him, take a Tylenol and come back in a few days. After nearly 24 hours of denial of medical attention, he ultimately received his appendectomy. His appendix could have burst and killed him. He's lucky that that didn't happen.

And this is one of Hayam's children or a different? Correct. Okay. This is her 16-year-old. Yeah. The children's father, Hayam al-Gamal's now ex-husband, Mohamed Soleimand, to remind our listeners, is accused of carrying out the attack at a Jewish event and supporters of the Israeli hostages being held in Gaza. He's facing murder and hate crime charges for that, for that anti-Semitic attack. The FBI determined that Hayam and her children knew nothing about the attack.

What can you tell our listeners about their life living in Colorado Springs before they were detained? Well, this was not a happy family that sat around the dinner table and talked about politics. The father was living in his car six days of the week. He brought this family to the United States without them having any say, really. They thought because he told him that they were here legally on valid visas, as they later learned when they were detained by ICE was no longer the case. And they're suffering as a result of his actions. We've requested comment from the ICE facility where they're being held.

Also, we've requested a response from the Department of Homeland Security, DHS. We've not received any response before the conversation you and I are having now. What's your sense of if and when this family could be released? We've offered ICE daily ICE check-ins for the family and ankle monitors on each and every one of these family members to assuage whatever concerns they have. that the family is going to abscond. ICE has denied that. An immigration judge ordered this family released in September. The government invoked an automatic stay provision, which a federal judge later said was unconstitutional to keep them in detention despite the bond ruling ordering their release. But the same immigration judge under pressure from Washington later reversed his decision.

He then determined that they are a flight risk in order to stay in detention. So that's how the immigration court system works in this country, given how insistent White House leadership has been intimidating, even family members of this family who have been themselves arrested by ICE and asked whether they're providing support for this family, threatened with denaturalization. Where will Hayam and her children go if they are, you know, if the court rulings don't go your way? They will be sent to Egypt where we are informed through sources. They face a high risk of being arrested immediately at the airport upon arrival. Eric, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Eric Lee is the lawyer for Hiam al-Gemal and her five children. We reached him in Detroit. We requested comment from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the ICE detention facility where Ms. Gamal and her children are currently held. but we did not hear back before airtime.

Masoud Masjudi was an Iranian mathematician who was once a professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. He was also an outspoken critic of the Iranian regime and of a campaign to install the son of the former king of Iran as the country's new leader. And it was these very public views that many in the Iranian diaspora believe led to his disappearance and murder earlier this year. A man and a woman have now been charged in his death. Those charges have not been proven in court, but they've drawn new attention to social media posts. Mr. Maschudi made last fall, claiming that the same two Iranian-born activists charged in his death were planning to kill him. Adam Geller is an investigative journalist who's been covering this story for the Associated Press. We reached him in New York.

Adam, what were the political views Masoud Masjuri was sharing and why did they elicit so much anger among some in the Iranian diaspora? So Masjuri was an ardent opponent of the Iranian government. And time and again, he went online and went to court to voice convictions that agents of the Iranian government were present in Canada and needed to be exposed. But over time, his views broadened beyond that. Two people who Mustudi was feuding with publicly have been charged in his murder now. But there's so much that isn't known. Is there any evidence at this? point that he was targeted because of his political views.

Well, as you say, there's a lot we don't know. But in recent years, Masjude's activism, both in court and online, what had gone beyond just the Iranian government to speaking out against the monarchist campaign, which seeks to make the son of the former Shah, the successor to the Iranian government, to take over. He regarded himself as a pro-democracy activist and that he and saw the monarchists as being anti-democracy. And so these two people who were accused of killing him, he contended that they and others were trying to silence him. As you and our own CBC news colleagues have reported, he filed lawsuits quite often, so much so, that a judge here in Canada called him. him a, quote, vexatious litigant. What does that do to these concerns and the kinds of

accusations he was making against the people who are now charged in his murder? So I spoke with a number of people who were several people, at least, who knew him. And, you know, even they recognized that he was given to making some really sweeping, hard to prove accusations, and that in the process he had, you know, driven away many, many people. A lot of his friends were, you know, not comfortable with some of the accusations he was making. And so it's that, that does shadow things, his allegations some. At the same time, the concerns that he shared, the baseline concerns he shared, that the Iranian government is a danger, even in the diaspora,

that there might be agents of the Iranian government overseas and the concern that the monarchist campaign was anti-democratic. Those are all concerns that many other diaspora Iranian share. And so it doesn't make them illegitimate. You've also spoken to other critics who are concerned for their safety, who are receiving threats. These are critics who are concerned about just even the possibility of Reza Pahlavi potentially being Iran's next leader. What kinds of threats are they facing? What did they tell you?

So shortly after Masoud Masudi went missing, that was in early February, someone made an ominous post on X. And it said in Farsi, soon you'll have to find the corpses of many. And 10 people, 10 outspoken Iranian diaspora activists, were tagged in that message. Four of them in the U.S., five in Europe and one in Canada. And several of them knew Masjuti personally. And some of these folks are people who have been through some very trying experiences. One of the gentlemen is somebody who had been jailed in Iran for political activity, another recalled being in Iran and being fearful that government agents would come into his home at night.

So these are people who are not threatened lightly, but they say they were really shaken by this. And they say that at a time when the vitriol online among, or vitriol that appears to be among Iranians in North America and beyond is that it's it's really can be pretty poisonous. So they were really shaken by by this message. And others have have echoed those concerns, others who receive that threat or other threats. How are they dealing with that? Are they continuing to speak out and make their views known? They are continuing to speak out, but personally they've spoke with, oh, I think five different parties who had reported threats. to their local police in the U.S. to the FBI, who told me about how they had changed up their

routine, were avoiding some events, were looking behind them when they went out in public. people who they didn't, they're not, they refuse to be silenced, but, but they're rattled a bit. Whoever people are supporting, they're all feeling the impacts of the war. What did your context tell you about that part of this? Well, the, so one of the, one of the gentleman I spoke to, is an activist, a peace activist who lives in Chicago. And he spoke quite personally. about the fact that his mom is still in Iran and that she had, you know, called him when there was bombing and could feel their apartment shaking. And so it was, you know, it's not an abstract issue by any means for folks. A lot of people have real live connections to Iran.

and so this means a great deal to them. Adam, I'm glad we could speak. Thank you for this. Oh, thanks. I really do appreciate you taking the time for me. Adam Geller is an Associated Press reporter. We reached him in New York.

You've been listening to the As It Happens podcast. Our show can be heard Monday to Friday on CBC Radio 1 after Your World Tonight. And you can, of course, also listen to our show on. online at cbc.ca.ca slash AIH or on the CBC Listen app or of course wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Neil Kokesol. And I'm Chris Howden.

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