This topic is a departure from our usual focus on politics, tech and China but we thought it made an excellent point in a funny way you would like. As a… lets go with ‘gruff’ person myself, I sadly see tiny parts of Coleman Sweeney in me (pun intended!) and I have signed up for organ donation too. Be an asshole and sign up! In most countries you just have to fill our an organ donor card or sign the…
The numbers of oil tanker rail cars being shipped in 2019 and projected for 2020 and beyond are truly staggering. That got us to thinking about how long a train would they make and the results were quite interesting. If all the rail cars carrying crude oil just in 2019, largely from Western Canada, were connected in a single train they would be over 1400 kilometers. That is 50% longer than the distance from Calgary to Vancouver: a crude oil…
There are many that think Huawei is just a puppet of the Chinese government and an equal number that think the Huawei bans and bad talk are nothing more than hype designed to stifle a non-Western competitor. We recently wrote two articles explaining some of Huawei’s background: 10 Short Answers To Why Huawei is so Scary To Western Countries Who Owns Huawei? A Fascinating Story but neither our previous articles nor the political hype have clearly explained why countries should…
Here are the numbers supporting what you likely already knew. George W Bush was not well liked or respected in the international community, largely because he polarized world leaders into “…those who are with (the US), or with the terrorists” Obama softened the US stance on international issues. He had been called the Consoler In Chief. Trump’s lack of foreign policy planning and his penchant for grandstanding has lead him to take hard line on almost everything. Thus far, he…
It is understandable that people often prefer to associate with people of their own groups. It is just easier to converse, live with and do business with people that share a similar background. Personally, I find that boring, but understandable. The Great Browning is the notion that over the next few hundred years the concepts of White, Black, Asian, … will all be relegated to the history books as nearly everyone’s skin will be some light shade of brown. The…
When we watch the TV or read the newspaper we often see something like “OIL IS UP TODAY” but we really don’t know what that means because there are so many different types of crude oil, each with its own price. Below we briefly explore the 6 oil products that are common to Canadians and Americans and at the bottom of this article we show 60 crude oil types and their prices from around the globe. You can see that…
This short clip from the author of “Prius or Pickup?” Jonathan Weiler, explains that political parties on the left and the right have stopped defining themselves by the size of government and instead focused in emotional responses to identity politics. The discussion uses the US system of Democrat vs Republican but it applies to nearly all parties globally. Political parties now energize there voters by vilifying the other side based on their identity: immigrant vs multi-generation citizen rural vs urban…
The recent Trans Mountain court case has groups on both sides fired up and stretching the implications. This video from BNN Bloomberg calmly explains that Federal Court ruled against the Trans Mountain pipeline on just two grounds: 1: TRANS MOUNTAIN CONSULTATION: The consultation with a small number of indigenous communities was not sufficiently responded to. There was not change in plan based on the previous consultation and the court found that that was not enough. It is worth noting, as we…
In an era of apparently undeniable Russian state sponsored interference in American and UK Elections social media companies like Facebook, Twitter & Google have been called to account for their part in the ‘attacks’. This begs the question, how much responsibility do internet and social media companies really have for blocking misinformation by primarily foreign entities? In this video Bloomberg explores Keith Rabois’, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and PayPal Vice President, opinion that social media is just another form…
In yet another unintended consequence of US President Donald Trump’s (and his minions) lack of control, his nasty comments towards Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after the G7 summit in Quebec resulted in a major political boost for both Trudeau and Canada. “There’s a special place in Hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door,” Peter Navaro on…
After World War 2 the US (and West in general) supported its former enemies. Rebuilding cities, legal systems, and economies on a massive scale. Germany and Japan were the primary beneficiaries of that financial aid and guidance and today those two countries are large stable entities that improve the West’s standard of living by providing both solid trading partners and political allies. Some argue that those countries now take “our” jobs when in fact the evidence is clear that those…
Today Bloomberg’s Michael Bellusci wrote an article explaining that Canadian oil and gas companies are in deep trouble. Here is an excerpt: Canada’s Energy Industry Faces ‘Extinction’ Without M&A, BMO Says Investors have bailed on the Canadian energy sector, although mergers & acquisitions north of the border could provide a much needed catalyst, barring pipeline and political developments… Source: bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-05/forget-permian-canada-s-energy-needs-m-a-to-avoid-extinction On the same day, Global News reported: Feds to spend $280k to study why Canada’s oil and gas sector is falling behind The federal…
Let me start with the obligatory, I do not particularly like Donald Trump, believe much of what he says or think his campaign was shinny clean. That being said I do like to listen to both facts and common sense, so let’s go: How We Know Trump’s Campaign Did Not Collude With the Russian Government: There are a few key points to consider when thinking about the claims that the Trump Campaign for President of the United States in 2016…
Do you want to understand Global Warming without the political hype? Dr. David Maenz has written and important book for 2018 explaining the science of global warming, it’s impacts and viable solutions. The Price of Carbon is an easy read. You don’t have to be a climate scientist to understand his clear explanations and simple charts. The book includes a brief history of the earth, where we are today, future climate scenarios and how to fix the problems. It also…