Farewell to Canada’s Golden Boy. Plus. . .

It’s Tuesday, January 7. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Coming up: the case for banning masks, the dangers of ignoring Islamist terrorism, and why “queer people” are buying guns.

But first: Trudeau resigns.

I am an American, but I still remember when Justin Trudeau was elected as prime minister in 2015. Young (by politicians’ standards), handsome (by regular ones), cosmopolitan, and liberal (he was a sort of French Canadian Obama), the legacy press adored him. A Washington Post headline from 2016 effused: “How Canada’s Prime Minister Became a Superhero,” and opened with the news that a Marvel comic book would soon feature Trudeau on the cover. “Even in comic-book form, his eyes are a glistening green, his teeth perfectly straight and white,” the piece gushed. “Surrounded by members of the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight, Trudeau wears a red-and-white maple leaf tank that accentuates his chiseled body.”

Of course, this was before 2019, when we found out that Trudeau had donned blackface on at least three different occasions. The media scolded him, but even at the height of social justice culture—even under all that racist makeup—he was still considered a golden boy.

Not anymore. Yesterday, Trudeau announced his resignation as head of Canada’s Liberal Party, and therefore, as his country’s prime minister, a position he has held for nearly a decade.

What happened? And who’s to blame? To hear Trudeau tell it, the issue is squabbling within his own party.

But our own Fearless Leader, Bari Weiss, says that’s not true. In her latest column for The Free Press, she writes that Trudeau’s problem “is bad ideas, strongly held.” That includes bad ideas on the economy, immigration, euthanasia, censorship, and much more. Bari breaks them all down, showing where Trudeau went wrong, and why his brand of progressivism has turned him from a liberal superhero into a villain for everyday Canadians. Read Bari’s piece, “The Comprehensive Failure of Justin Trudeau.”

“The Burning Woman on the Train—and the Future of My City.”

Last week, we learned the name of the homeless woman who was burned to death on the subway by an illegal immigrant three days before Christmas. She was Debrina Kawam, 57. For many Americans, Kawam’s tragic life and death symbolizes everything wrong with contemporary urban life: mass homelessness, antisocial violence, and unchecked immigration, all overseen by an inept Democratic establishment.

But New York City is more than its problems, writes Manhattan Institute president Reihan Salam. He says the Big Apple isn’t just a city of cranks and criminals, but a haven for “strivers, immigrants, and friendly eccentrics who, like 42 percent of Americans, happen to prefer walkable neighborhoods over sprawling suburbs.”

In his piece for The Free Press, Reihan lays out how to restore order and hope to the city he grew up in—and that he refuses to leave. Read Reihan’s plea to his fellow New Yorkers, who love their city and need to say: No more.

It’s Time to Unmask the Agitators and the Criminals

Meanwhile, Ilya Shapiro has another solution to New York City’s lawlessness: Ban masks.

On New Year’s Eve, a man was violently thrown in front of an oncoming subway in Manhattan. The perpetrator was wearing a face covering. So was Luigi Mangione when he allegedly shot dead UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Midtown street. Had he not flashed his face to flirt with a woman at his hostel before he carried out the assassination, he might still be on the lam. The Manhattan district attorney’s office said they were unable to prosecute most of the anti-Israel protesters that took over a Columbia University building last year because the vast majority were wearing—you guessed it—masks.

Did you know that many states have had anti-masking laws on their books for years, mainly to combat the KKK? New York repealed its anti-masking laws during Covid, but Ilya—who is Reihan Salam’s colleague at the Manhattan Institute—argues it’s time to ban masks again. Read his new piece: “Ban Masking Now.”

Why Words Matter

On New Year’s Day, a man with an ISIS flag hanging from his pickup truck plowed into innocent people on Bourbon Street, killing 14. The CEO of Allstate Insurance, Tom Wilson, had an interesting take on the matter: He called on football fans to “overcom[e] an addiction to divisiveness and negativity,” and “accept people’s imperfections and differences.”

This euphemism isn’t harmless. It is dangerous—“especially dangerous when the enemies of this country and the civilization it embodies are so clear about their own motives.” Read our editorial: “ ‘Globalize the Intifada’ Comes to New Orleans.”

A self-driving Waymo cab. (Andrej Sokolow via Getty Images)

• A new report says “queer people” are buying guns to prepare for Trump’s America, joining campily named groups like “Pink Pistols” and “Rainbow Reload.” Paranoia in the gay/trans/Barista American community is completely out of hand, as I wrote last year. But there’s something a bit beautiful about seeing left-wing they/thems stockpiling weapons in a manic political frenzy. It means that despite everything, they’re still Americans at their core, which is kind of endearing!

• Atheism is dead, as Peter Savodnik wrote late last year, and now new Orthodox Christian parishes are being planned across the country to accommodate the hordes of young men who have converted in recent years. According to priests, the surge began during the Covid-19 pandemic, as young men disillusioned with Protestant churches sought a more masculine, disciplined, and traditional form of Christianity.

• There will be “virtual employees” as soon as this year, says OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. OpenAI is planning to launch a system called “Operator,” capable of taking actions on a user’s behalf, like moving a mouse and typing on a keyboard. Consulting firm McKinsey estimates that 30 percent of the hours worked across the U.S. economy could be automated by 2030. Equally troubling is the fact that McKinsey, which once advised opioid companies to target “high abuse-risk patients,” is currently producing its own AI.

• Are we ready for self-driving cars? Mike Johns certainly wasn’t. The Los Angeles tech entrepreneur hitched a ride to the airport last month with a self-operating Waymo taxi, according to a new report. But the vehicle went berserk, spinning around in circles until a frantic Johns called for help. A representative from Waymo was eventually able to remotely take control of the car and free Johns, who just managed to catch his flight. “It felt like a scene in a sci-fi thriller,” he wrote on LinkedIn. Johns later complained that the customer service department was less than sympathetic. But then. . . Waymo customer service is also automated.

• Fierce fighting between Russia and Ukraine is underway in the border region of Kursk, a Russian territory that Ukraine invaded and partly seized last year. The Ukrainians say they caught the Russians off guard, but the Russians claim to have thwarted a breakthrough attempt.

• U.S. Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel sued the Biden administration Monday in an effort to revive their attempted merger, which the president blocked last week. The lawsuit accuses Biden and other senior officials of corrupting the review process for political gain, and harming steel workers and the American steel industry by blocking the deal under false pretenses. Biden says he was acting to ensure the United States maintains a strong domestic steel industry. The two companies have also filed a separate suit against Cleveland-Cliffs, a third steel company, whose efforts to buy U.S. Steel were rebuffed, and David McCall, international president of the United Steelworkers union, alleging that the two colluded to undermine the merger.

• The FBI says that in the months leading up to the New Year’s Day massacre in New Orleans, Shamsud-Din Jabbar scouted out his target area by wearing Meta smart glasses, taking video footage of Bourbon Street. He also traveled to Egypt and Canada in 2023, though it’s less clear if those trips were related to the terror plot. Jabbar killed 14 people and injured at least 35 more when he drove a pickup truck, with an ISIS flag attached, through busy crowds in New Orleans’ French Quarter in the wee hours of January 1. So far, authorities believe that Jabbar, who was shot dead by police after he opened fire on them, acted alone.

• Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White has joined the board of directors of Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. A statement released by Meta touts White’s success in popularizing mixed martial arts, but the real reason for his new gig might be best understood as an olive branch to Trump—who once called Facebook an “enemy of the people.” White is a close friend of the president-elect and publicly supported him in the last election.

• With just 12 days left in his presidency, Joe Biden announced Monday a ban on offshore oil and gas drilling along most of the U.S. coastline. The White House said the order would protect 625 million acres of ocean from “environmental and economic risks and harms.” But given that president-elect Donald Trump has already promised he’ll “unban it immediately,” the move is largely symbolic. A cynic might say Biden is trying to be remembered for something other than his catastrophic bid for reelection. Good luck with that.

• And finally. . . baby, it’s cold outside! The National Weather Service has warned of “considerable disruptions to daily life,” including “dangerous or impossible driving conditions and widespread closures” as a major winter storm moves eastward across the United States, bringing blizzards, snow, sleet, ice, and high force winds. Some parts of Virginia could see up to 12 inches of snow. Meanwhile, the high here in Pensacola, Florida, today was 52. That’s why if I ever leave this state, it’ll be in a body bag!