Bruce Dowbiggin
How Retirement Money Now Funds The Radical Movement

The middle class has reportedly never been so educated, so informed. At the same time, the same middle class has never been so blissfully ignorant. Case in point: Much of this adult cohort have their retirement savings invested in IRAs, Registered Retirement Savings Plans, mutual funds and other institutional vehicles.
Where, as shareholders, they earn a consistent return from, among other things, dividends, stock increases and share splits. The Rule of 70Ā says that a few decades of growth will double your money and will render enough money upon which to retire.
This process is all overseen by benevolent CEOs, boards of directors and investment experts boosting shareholder value. So why should anyone lose sleep or attend shareholder meetings? After all, Bank of Montreal has only missed issuing a dividend twice since its founding in 1817.
Actually there is real cause for urgency. Shareholder value, the bedrock of these investments, is now a piggy bank being robbed by outside players who use ESG, DEI and other nefarious acronyms to intimidate said CEOs, boards of directors and investment experts into doing their bidding.
That bidding is portraying the traditional shareholder model as evil capitalism despoiling society. So now we see corporations such as Disney, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Alphabet (among many) diverting funds from shareholders to causes obsessed by racism, sexism, climate change and a host of other grievance issues.
For many in the middle-class this all seems like a corporate bun fight, a diversion for the Scrooge McDucks of Wall Street and Bay Streets. Even as the Left bleed shareholder value from the RRSPs and IRAs of citizens, deluded citizens cheer on the progressives who are impoverishing themā as if this were an episode of The West Wing instead of The Big Short burning through their savings.
They see hedge fund BlackRock as Robin Hood, redistributing the unseemly wealth of elites to the poor and downtrodden. Little understanding that they are funding this klepto-progressivism. If it wasnāt so sad it might be funny. But the wine moms and the Boy Scout liberals seem clued out on the real agenda.
Whatās ironic is that corporate wealth has long resisted the impatient demands of bad actors. It was their resistance in the 1960s that ultimately stopped the revolutionary fervour of the Left from toppling the system. Well, those fanatical forces are back again, but this time theyāve found the keys to the vault.
Hereās how: Liberals and their far-left allies have always been thwarted in their glorious dreams of class revolution by the inconvenience of the electorate. Voters consistently have denied radicals such as AOC or Bernie Sanders the levers of power to activate their pet grievance issues. So they aligned with media and culture industries who portrayed the cruelty of them being denied ultimate power. Class warfare became a Hollywood stapleā even as Tinseltown became a blank cheque for radicals.
In Canada and the U.S. the social-credit gambit also meant working the game through sympathetic Supreme Courts whoāve sought to make whole what the citizens want no part of. But the transformation of SCOTUS under Donald Trump scuttled this game. Suddenly the door to legitimizing unlimited abortion, admission quotas, election changes and student-loan forgiveness was slammed shut.
What to do? The solution for the politicians on the Left was to employ large money fund managers such as BlackRock, Vanguard and others to do what the electorate refuses to allow them. Going around the democratic process, these companies created social-credit scores such as ESG and DEI, ranking corporations on their wokeness. The rankings are used to judge their response on every progressive grievance aired by NPR, MSNBC, the Washington Post, CBC and the Toronto Star.
A bad social-credit score from Larry Fink at BlackRock has become a death sentence for executives or boards who balked. Employing their trillions in investments to buy up shares, the hedge funds then used shareholder meetings to whip boards and CEOs into line on the proper mix of social-media expenditures and political propriety. Next thing we saw CEOs saying that maybe shareholder value wasnāt the prime purpose of corporations.
Thus, Disney Corporation, once a bedrock of capitalist certainty under its founder and his family, transformed into trashing its history and brands to satisfy far-left agitators. See: the current iteration of Snow White in which the heroine is brown, the dwarfs look like car jackers and the prince is a ponce.
There is hope that some of these middle-class people have awoken from their coma and are using the market to slow this trend. Anheuser Buschās disastrous foray into trans politics, celebrating a flamboyant influencer on 365 days as a trans woman, collapsed the mighty Bud Light brandĀ and sunk the stock price. Target, too, blundered in its cloying response to pressure for progressives. Its brand and share price are in free-fall.
Meanwhile, Disney has admitted that tangling with Florida governor Ron DeSantis over DisneyworldĀ was a losing proposition. It has replaced its CEO and fired a number of Woke executives responsible for Snow White. This may also have produced an unintentional outcome. Comedian Dave Chappelleās prediction last November that Donald Trump was far from dead is suddenly looking prescient, as #orangemanbad leads the GOP polling by 30 points.
For now, however, the middle class snoozes along, content in its self-image as a caring, enabling society. While the investment managers drain their savings to fund windmills in the sky. Politicians are silent, reluctant to challenge the giant.Ā And the media divert attention to shiny objects like Clarence Thomasā friends. Itās go along to get along. And say bye to your savings.
Sign up today for Not The Public Broadcaster newsletters. Hot takes/ cool slants on sports and current affairs. Have the latest columns delivered to your mail box. Tell your friends to join, too. Always provocative, always independent.Ā https://share.hsforms.com/16edbhhC3TTKg6jAaRyP7rActsj5Ā
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public BroadcasterĀ A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, heās a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx
Bruce Dowbiggin
Are the Jays Signing Or Declining? Only Vladdy & Bo Know For Sure

We were watching the Los Angeles Dodgers home opener on Thursday. The defending World Series champs came from behind to beat Detroit 5-4. The big hit was a three-run homer from a player named Teoscar Hernandez off AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal

If that name sounds familiar, Teoscar was a Toronto Blue Jay from 2018-2022. He pounded 121 homers in the span as part of the Jaysā order. But when Toronto decided it needed bullpen help he was traded to Seattle in 2022 for pitchers Erik Swanson and Adam Macko. While Swanson has battled injuries and Macko is no-go, Hernandez keeps pounding the ball.
In his one year in Seattle he had strikeout problems but did hit 26 homers with 93 RBIs. In the winter of 2023-24 he signed as a free agent with the aforementioned Dodgers. Batting behind Shohei Ohtani he launched 33 homers and 99 RBIs. He won the All Star Home Run Derby. His key hit in Game 5 of the World Series propelled L.A. to the title. The stacked Dodgers liked him enough to give him a three-year, $66 million contract.
Why are we telling you this? Because the Blue Jays also started their 2025 season at home, matched against the Baltimore Orioles. And while there are reasons to believe the Jays will not replicate their 74-win disaster of 2024, there remain the old bugaboos of injuries and pitching. In the four games against the division rivals they need to beat, Jaysā pitching gave up 24 runs while scoring 18ānine of them in one game.
The splashy acquisition of 40 year old HOF pitcher Max Scherzer has already gone sideways as a bad thumb has put him on the IL. The new stopper, Jeff Hoffman, was rejected on medical grounds by two other teams before Torontoās money made him healthy. The rest of the bullpenā a disaster in 2024ā got off to a rocky start with Orioles hitters playing BP against them. Theyāve already DFAād one pitcher and called up two more from the minors. The re-made pen performed well in Game 4, but how it holds up in their next 158 games is a mystery.
On offence, while their rivals in Boston and New York added sexy pieces to their rosters the Jays were only able to acquire veteran switch-hitting Baltimore slugger Anthony Santander. More typical of their other signees is ex-Cleveland 2B infielder Andres Giminez who in 2023 had the lowest average exit velocity of all AL batters (84.8Ā mph), and led the AL in percentage of balls that were softly hit (21.7%). He does play a slick second base.
The winter story line for the Jays offence was what to do about Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, the erstwhile star-dust twins who wereā along with Cavan Biggioā supposed to guarantee titles when they emerged in 2019. Biggio is gone, so the other two carry the credibility of the management team of Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins. From the outside the Jays seem paralyzed to act.

While the Jays dithered, the price for players like Guerrero and Bichette soared. Using Juan Sotoās Mets $765 M deal as a yardstick Guerrero turned down a Jays offer of just under $600 M, saying he was done talking during the season. If Shapiro/ Atkins had anticipated the market Guerrero would have cost a lot less in 2023-24. If there is no progress by the trading deadline the Jays will be forced to get what they can in a trade.
Shortstop Bichetteā a gifted player who battled injuries in 2024āis likewise up for a new deal. He has started strong in 2025 and would command a handsome return in a trade. He says the Jays are waiting to see what happens with Guerrero first.Ā Having sold the pair for years to their loyal fans, having to trade them will be a massive PR blow. And while Jaysā national audience can be an advantage, having a whole country pissed with you is devastating.
The rest of the secret sauce for a Toronto comeback revolves around one of their hitting prospects taking a step forward. Any/ all of Will Wagner, Alan Roden, Addison Barger or Leo Jimenez can have a job if they show their bats are for real. Otherwise Shapiro and Atkins will hope that Dalton Varsho, George Springer and Alejandro Kirk can find a little magic in their aging bats.
A failure to retain talent may prompt fans to recall that Rogers decided that Shapiro and Atkins, who dumped Teoscar, were worthy replacements for the previous GM whoād walked away. The man Schneider and Atkins were hired to improve uponā Canadian Alex Anthopoulosā has made the Atlanta Braves a dominant team. Since AA moved to Atlanta theyāve won 90, 97, 38 (Covid year), 88, 101, 104, 109, 89 games. Theyāve won a World Series and two other playoff series.Ā They won six straight NL East titles before injuries sank them last year.
The Braves have developed young everyday superstars like Ronald AcuÅa Jr. who donāt get picked off second base. They have built a pitching staff largely from within, not splashy FA signings. They have swagger without cockiness. They are set for years to come.
The Blue Jays? Since AA left theyāve won 73, 67, 32 (Covid), 91, 92, 89, 74 games. Theyāve won zero postseason games while missing the playoffs in four seasons. The players they traded are starring for other teams in the postseason. They are again employing an inexperienced company guy as manager.
While itās true that the sun canāt shine on the same team every day, Jays fans believe it would be nice if the great orb would find their club as it did back in the 1992/93 World Series days. Instead of the reflected glory of past stars winning for other teams.Ā Patience is thin. And time is ticking.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public BroadcasterĀ A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
Bruce Dowbiggin
From Heel To Hero: George Foreman’s Uniquely American Story

“The more you learn, the more you realize how much you don’t know.āā George Foreman
For those who thought Donald Trumpās role progression (in WWE terms) from face to heel to face again was remarkable, George Foreman had already written the media book on going from the Baddest Man in the World to Gentle Giant.
Itās hard for those who saw him as the genial Grill Master or the smiling man withĀ seven sons all named George (he also had seven daughters, each named differently) to conjure up the Foreman of the 1970s. He emerged as a star at the 1968 Olympics, winning the gold medal in heavyweight boxing. His destruction of a veteran Soviet fighter made him a political hero. In an age that already boasted a remarkable heavyweights Foreman was something unique.
Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Ron Lyle and Jimmy Ellis were still bankable household names for boxing fansā but on the downside of famous careers. They each had their niche. Foreman was something altogether different. Violent and pitiless in the ring. Unsmiling as he dismantled the boxers he met on his way to the top. He was the ultimate black hat.
With the inimitable Howard Cosell as his background track , he entered the ringĀ in 1973 against the favoured ex-champ Frazier, coming off his three epic fights with Ali. While everyone gave Foreman a chance it was thought that the indomitable Frazier, possessor of a lethal left hook, would tame the young bull.

Instead, in under two rounds of savagery , Foreman sent Frazier to the canvasĀ six times. Cosell yelled himself horse crying, āDown goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!ā This was a whole new level of brutality as the poker-faced Foreman returned to his corner as the most feared boxer on the planet. For good measure Foreman destroyed Norton in 1974.
Fans of Ali quaked when they heard that he would face Foremanās awesome power in Africa in the summer of 1974. They knew how much the trio of Frazier brawls had taken from him. The prospect of seeing the beloved heavyweight champ lifted off his feet by Foremanās power left them sick to their stomach. Foreman played up his bad-boy image, wearing black leather, snarling at the press and leading a German shepherd on a leash.
Everyone knows what happened next. We were travelling the time in the era before internet/ cell phones. Anticipating the worst we blinked hard at the headline showing the next day that it was a thoroughly exhausted Foreman who crumbled in the seventh round. The brilliant documentary When We Were Kings is the historical record of that night/ morning in Kinshasa. The cultural clash of Ali, the worldās most famous man, and the brute against the background of music and third-world politics made it an Oscar winner.
But itās largely about Ali. It doesnāt do justice to the enormity of Foremanās collapse. Of course the humiliation of that night sent Foreman on a spiritual quest to find himself, a quest that took the prime of his career from him. It wasnāt till 1987 that he re-emerged as a Baptist minister/ boxer. With peace in his soul he climbed the ranks again, defiantly trading blows in the centre of the ring with opponents who finally succumbed to his āold-manā power.
Instead of the dour character who was felled by Ali, this Foreman was transformed in the publicās eye when he captured the heavyweight title in 1994, beating Michael Moore, a man 20 years his junior. He smiled. He teased Cosell and other media types. He fought till he was 48, although he tried to comeback when he was 55 (his wife intervened)

And, yes, for anyone who stayed up late watching TV there was the George Foreman Grill, a pitchmanās delight that earned him more money than his boxing career. HBO boxing commentator Larry Merchant commented that “There was a transformation from a young, hard character who felt a heavyweight champion should carry himself with menace to a very affectionate personality.ā
There was a short-lived TV show called George. There was The Masked Singer as “Venus Fly Trapā. And there were the cameos on Home Improvement, King Of The Hill andĀ Fast āN Loud, delighting audiences whoād once reviled him. He cracked up Johnny Carson.
Foremanās rebound story was uniquely American. Where Canadians are enthusiastically damning Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky for political reasons, Foreman never became a captive of angry radicals or corporate America. He went his own way, thumping the bible and the grill. Rest easy, big man.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public BroadcasterĀ A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
-
2025 Federal Election2 days ago
2025 Federal Election Interference from China! Carney Pressed to Remove Liberal MP Over CCP Bounty Remark
-
2025 Federal Election2 days ago
2025 Election Interference – CCP Bounty on Conservative Candidate – Carney Says Nothing
-
2025 Federal Election1 day ago
Joe Tay Says He Contacted RCMP for Protection, Demands Carney Fire MP Over āBountyā Remark
-
2025 Federal Election2 days ago
Poilievre on 2025 Election Interference – Carney sill hasn’t fired Liberal MP in Chinese election interference scandal
-
2025 Federal Election1 day ago
Hong Kong-Canadian Groups Demand PM Carney Drop Liberal Candidate Over āBountyā Remark Supporting CCP Repression
-
Censorship Industrial Complex2 days ago
Welcome to Britain, Where Critical WhatsApp Messages Are a Police Matter
-
Aristotle Foundation2 days ago
Canada has the world’s MOST relaxed gender policy for minors
-
2025 Federal Election24 hours ago
Alcohol tax and MP pay hike tomorrow (April 1)