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Cartographic Brain Rot: Why Rebranding Waterways is Cheap Political Theatre · Kvetch & Release

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Native land, true patriot love, in all of us love.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: I can't handle it. Make it stop, Alex. That was
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: just awful. And you are responding, Elizabeth in Fort Erie,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: one word, shameful. From the 905 area code, bare naked ladies, awful.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: From Peace Lady here in St. Catharines, It didn't sound
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: right because the sound system wasn't correctly balanced with their acapella.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: It'll be interesting to hear what Barenaked Ladies will say
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: about this. Well, I don't know if you're a sound expert,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and neither am I, but that just sounded terrible. I
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: don't know, what's your take? Did they butcher it? 905-688-2582.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: After the bottom of the hour, it's Friday. That means
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: media guru Dave Charles will be here for another edition
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: of Artificial Intelligence Now. And artificial intelligence is out of control.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: We will address that this morning. Right now, though, Friday,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: second segment. That means it's time for Litkey's Got a Take.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Good morning, John Litkey.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Gene.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Did you hear the Barenaked Ladies singing Old Canada?
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I just heard it there, and I had to
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: listen in after I heard you on the first show there. Wow,
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: that was not great. If we're in a trade war,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: you know, and escalating relations right now with the United States,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: we should be sending our best.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Hey, well, listen, translate the craziness happening across the border
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: for us. We've got a border crisis, but it's not
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: in trade or tariffs. It's cartography, John. Pennsylvania wants to
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: rename Lake Erie, and now Cleveland is stepping in. What
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: on earth is going on over there?
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: Pure political brain rot, Gene. I mean, American politicians have
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: apparently solved all of the real problems that they're dealing with.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: The Iran war is over. Inflation is gone. Oil is down.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Oh, no.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: No, it's not. But they're trying to treat the Great
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Lakes like it's a minor league baseball stadium, and they're
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: stealing naming rights to it like it's second base. I mean,
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: this is cartographic manifest destiny. They can't pass a federal budget,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: but they're going to pass a non-binding resolution to slap
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: their name on international waters. It's just pure political theater.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Okay, I've been reading about this. Let's start off with Pennsylvania.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Republican Congressman David rhymes with baloney, maloney. Now, he wants
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: to call it like Pennsylvania, but... You know, it is
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: their only Great Lakes, so I'll give them that. But
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: if you look at the map, they barely even touch
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: the water. So how does a state with 51 miles
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: of shoreline justify trying to rename the entire lake?
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: By bold-faced lying to the audience. I mean, this map
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: is hysterical. Yeah, you said it, 51 miles of shoreline
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: in Pennsylvania, and so they want to call it Lake
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Pennsylvania to get a jab in after Trump did Lake America.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Ohio has now come out and said, Cleveland says they
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: want to name it the Gulf of Cleveland. And, you know,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: it's just the whole thing is like both parties showing
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: up to a potluck with no food and saying, hey,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: it's our party. Thanks for coming. This is great. I mean,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: this is just ultimate little brother energy. And it's really
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: sad to be coming from, you know, what was once
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: such a great nation.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Well, Cleveland City Council, as you mentioned, passed a resolution
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: to call it the Gulf of Cleveland, just to block
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Pennsylvania claiming it's their lake. So as a political watcher,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: you know, you do have to respect this level of trolling,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: don't you?
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Yes and no. I mean, I'll give Cleveland full marks.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: This is municipal pettiness at its absolute finest, sure. When
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: a council member says we can't let the Pennsylvanians get
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: a jump on us, it's our lake. This is prime
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Rust Belt swagger. And if Pennsylvania wants to play stupid
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: map games, Cleveland's going to join them and they'll probably win. But,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: I mean, Gene, if we're reclassifying water based on municipal
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: or state egos, what's to stop them from, I don't know,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: renaming the parliament buildings to the Northern White House? It's just,
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: it's all so very silly. So I think that if
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: we weren't in a trade war that was harming our
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: people on a regular basis right now ongoing... this would
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: be a lot funnier. You know, if this was like
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: the Olympics and we were having a little bit of
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: a trolling thing during a sport event, that's one thing.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: But this is a very real trade war that is
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: costing lots of Canadians their resources, their jobs, and quite frankly,
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: a lot of people are sanity. Yeah.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Well, this all started after President Trump renamed Lake Ontario,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: at least the American portion, to Lake America and the
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Are we
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: really at the point where politicians are using atlases as
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: bargaining chips?
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: That's good. I mean, it's real estate developer brain applied
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: to international geography. I mean, this is Trump slapping his
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: name on buildings. It's just changing things for the sake
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: of being a troll and taking away the news cycle.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: He says, if you don't give me what I want
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: on tariffs... I'm going to take your lake away. First,
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: the Gulf of America, then Lake America, now Lake Erie.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is getting carved up like it's Thanksgiving turkey.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: It's absurd. It highlights the state of modern diplomacy, unfortunately.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: And in this political climate, if you stand still long enough,
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: a U.S. congressman will try to rename you.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: The Gulf of Cleveland. I still can't get over that one. Well, listen,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: our prime minister firmly rejected these name changes. Good for him.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Also pointing out that Erie comes from the So when
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: politicians pitch things like Lake Pennsylvania and the Gulf of Cleveland,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: is it just out of complete ignorance of local history?
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Or is this a deliberate erasure for a cheap headline?
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it is deliberate erasure, and it is
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: ignorance as well. It's a bit of both. I mean,
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Erie isn't just a random word. As you said, it
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: comes from the Errol Honan indigenous people who lived here
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: centuries before Pennsylvania or Ohio even existed. And Prime Minister
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Carney was spot on, which is not something I say
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: all the time. I mean, these names do have deep
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: historical roots, quite frankly, on both sides of the border.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: And erasing Indigenous history just so a congressman can get
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: a 10-second hit on local news, that's worse than silly.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: It's completely reckless for a number of reasons.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Okay, if the Americans are officially rebranding their half of
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the Great Lakes, what, oh, I can't wait to hear
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: your answer to this, what is a Canadian counterattack? What
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: should our next move be?
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Well, if we're playing risk right now, Gene, we need
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: to play to win. I propose that we officially rebrand
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: our half of the water to Lake Universal Healthcare. Every
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: time they look at it, they'll be reminded of what
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: they're missing out on. Or we could rename the Detroit
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: River Lake Gordie Howe Bridge, just to remind them who
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: actually built the newest connection. If they want a map board, Gene,
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: we're ready to go.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Oh, a great take this Friday morning. Thank you, John Litke.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Gene.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: All right. Bare Naked Ladies. Let's check them out again
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: from the Bills game from last night. Oh, this is
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: just absolute madness. Oh, they just butchered it. Oh!