The Hatchet

• What the mainstream media won't tell you about Jeffrey Epstein

  I’ve had a hard time knowing what to make of the still-unfolding saga around Jeffrey Epstein.Like basically everyone else in the world, I’ve been following the story with interest for years.Even before the Miami Herald’s explosive 2018 investigation into the extend of his sexual abuse and how he had been able to get away with it, I had a vague understanding of a man named Jeffrey Epstein who abused girls and hobnobbed with powerful men like Bill Clinton and Bill Gates.And since then we’ve learned so much more. There have been so many journalistic investigations into Epstein’s connections with the elite, into his finances and into the circumstances around his death.Of course, we’re still left with more questions than answers. Which has allowed Epstein to become this sort of Ur-conspiracy theory that people online obsess over. Was he a CIA asset or a Mossad agent? Was he collecting blackmail on the rich and powerful? Did he really kill himself?But somehow, there was a part of me that felt like these were the wrong questions to ask. That they didn’t explain exactly who this guy was and why he was able to get away with what he did for so long. And didn’t really get at the heart of why this story has global importance.And then just the other week, I read a piece by Canadian journalist Jeet Heer in The Nation that made it all make sense to me.Heer argues that the Epstein was — alongside many other things — a warlord.He was basing this assessment on a number of articles that have been coming out of publications like Drop Site News and Reason that examine troves of email correspondence that Epstein had that the mainstream media is so far refusing to report on.And the case he makes is compelling. So I decided to give Jeet a call and ask him all about it.Featured in this episode: Jeet HeerTo learn more"Jeffrey Epstein Was a Warlord. We Have to Talk About It." by Jeet Heer in The Nation"Jeffrey Epstein and the Mossad: How The Sex-Trafficker Helped Israel Build a Backchannel to Russia Amid Syrian Civil War" by Murtaza Hussain & Ryan Grim in Drop Site News"Inside Jeffrey Epstein's Spy Industry Connections" by Matthew Petti in ReasonSupport us at hatchetmedia.substack.comThe Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. We deliver important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works.Music: I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hatchetmedia.substack.com/subscribe

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• Guns and Splutter: Breaking Down the Budget

  This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit hatchetmedia.substack.comThe much anticipated budget is finally here and it promises to make "Canada Strong."Between the eye-popping promise to enable $1 trillion dollars in investments over the next five years and the $78.3 billion deficit, there’s a lot to take in.And that’s before we get into the really critical stuff… like maybe Canada will try to join Eurovision for some reason? (We don't talk about Eurovision at all).Today on The Hatchet, Jordan sits down with Arshy to break down the budget and try to make sense of what this all means for Canada.Support us at hatchetmedia.substack.comThe Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. We deliver important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works.Music: I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque

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• Wild, Wild (Rose) Country

  So last week, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith used the notwithstanding clause to force Alberta teachers back to work.It’s the first time the notwithstanding clause has ever been used in this kind of a manner to end a labour action. And that’s led to some softening of support for Danielle Smith.But here’s the truth. The latest polls show that if an election were held today, Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party would still easily come out on top.Why is that? How is Smith’s appeal so resilient? And why the hell can’t Naheed Nenshi and the Alberta NDP get their s**t together?Well, luckily for us, Jeremy Appel from The Orchard is here to answer those questions and many more.A few months ago we had a great discussion with Jen Gerson about the unique political figure that is Danielle Smith and her relationship with Alberta’s nascent sovereignty movement. You can think of this conversation with Jeremy as a bit of a sequel to that one.We talk about some of the underlying reasons behind the teacher’s strike, Smith’s continued flirtation with separatism, how she holds her coalition together with culture wars, the return of pipeline politics and of course, the many failures of Alberta’s NDP.Now just for context, this was recorded before Smith invoked the notwithstanding clause, but the discussion is still just as relevant today.Support us at hatchetmedia.substack.comThe Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. We deliver important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works.Music: I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hatchetmedia.substack.com/subscribe

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• Killing Canada Post

  In 1965, Canada’s postal workers did something so radical, so unprecedented, that it shook our country’s political establishment to the core.They went on strike.It was radical and unprecedented because up until then public employees had no right to walk off the job. But for two weeks, postal workers conducted an illegal wildcat action which, by the end of it, saw them winning the right to strike for almost all government workers.Over the next few decades, you’d see the same pattern time and time again. In the 1970s, union leaders were jailed for defying back-to-work legislation. And in 1981, the union won the right for paid-maternity leave, a first for the public sector, and a right that would gradually expand to many other workers.In other words, you can attribute many of our labour rights, and even key planks of the welfare state, to the resolve of posties past.But the age of the noble postal worker appears to be coming to an end. The Liberal government announced major cuts to Canada Post’s core services last months.And I know what you’re thinking.This was all inevitable, wasn’t it?After all, who sends letters nowadays? Maybe once-upon-a-time Canada needed a public mail service, but those days are long behind us. And sure, we’re all sad for the thousands of those people at Canada Post who will be laid off, but that’s just the way of the world.That’s the narrative that you’re hearing regurgitated in comment sections across the internet and in quotes from business professors to the mainstream press.But the ongoing labour dispute between Canada Post and its workers is far more complicated, and far more important, than that simplistic story.Instead this is a story about the hollowing out of the Canadian state. About the gigification of work. About how the managerial class places their need to control workers over the viability of the actual businesses that they run.So to talk about it all, we’re bringing on Adam D.K. King, a labour studies professor at the University of Manitoba and a labour columnist for The Maple, who has been following this story for years.Featured in this episode: Adam D.K. KingTo learn more"Canada Post’s Moment Of Reckoning May Finally Be Here" by Adam D.K. King in The Maple"Return to Sender: As Canada Post evades bankruptcy, workers push back on a future where efficiency trumps the collective" by Stephan Boissonneault in Maisonneuve"Liberal government instructs Canada Post to end home delivery, close some post offices" Peter Zimonjic in CBC NewsSupport us at hatchetmedia.substack.comThe Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. We deliver important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works.Music: I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hatchetmedia.substack.com/subscribe

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• Election Shock on the Rock

  I think it’s kind of funny how we talk about election campaigns while they’re in progress. Between the polling and the poll aggregators, there’s often a feeling of inevitability to the result.But it also makes those times when the result is unexpected, when the actual will of the voters turns out to be very different from what the polls and the pundits predicted, to stand out in stark relief.We got one of those last week.The polls that were conducted in Newfoundland and Labrador’s provincial election campaign showed that the incumbent Liberals were set to handily win another majority, which would have been their fourth victory in a row. The only question seemed to be how big their victory would be.But it was not to be.The Progressive Conservatives, led by the mild-mannered Tony Wakeham, prevailed, rendering John Hogan a half-year premier.But really, all of this has just been a capper to an incredibly strange year in Newfoundland and Labrador politics.It started when Premier Andrew Furey announced that he and Quebec premier François Legault had created a framework for a new deal around Churchill Falls. Since 1969, Newfoundland and Labrador has provided unbelievably cheap energy to Quebec from Churchill Falls. The lopsided arrangement has been a thorn-in-the-side for the province ever since.We talked about this all in-depth earlier this year in an episode about Churchill Falls.But not long after announcing this new deal, Furey resigned. With no explanation.The PC’s election victory has put the Churchill Falls deal, which was the centrepiece of the Liberal campaign, into question.So what does all of this mean for Newfoundland and Labrador, for Churchill Falls and for the country during a testy time for Confederation?I decided to call up friend of The Hatchet Ed Hollett, one of the keenest political observers on the Rock, to talk about it all.Featured in this episode: Edward Hollett (Bond Papers)To learn moreThe Hundred Years' War between Newfoundland and Quebec from The Hatchet"Easy grift and hard graft" by Edward Hollet in Bond Papers"Red Team. Blue Team." by Edward Hollet in Bond PapersSupport us at hatchetmedia.substack.comThe Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. We deliver important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works.Music: I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hatchetmedia.substack.com/subscribe

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