Shares of the Week: Black Gold Edition
Lost in the Backcountry
A missing teen snowmobiler built a snow cave to survive until rescuers arrived - This was a remarkable lesson in the value of education for survival in extreme conditions. If I ever find myself in a similar situation, I hope all those snow fort building skills I gained as a child can come in handy.
The Spy Who Poisoned My Underpants
Navalny escalates battle with Putin as EU officials demand his release - From his jail cell, Alexei Navalny continues his fight to expose the corruption of Vladimir Putin, this time by releasing a fully-featured exposé of a lavish palace the dictator is building with the riches he has stolen from the people of Russia. Meanwhile, Navalny is calling for the West to pursue sanctions on Putin’s inner circle, who are allegedly helping him launder Russian money in Western countries, including the oligarch Roman Abramovich, the largest individual shareholder of major Regina employer Evraz.
Bonus: Putin's Palace. History of world's largest bribe - The free, English-subtitled documentary mentioned above.
Remembering a Legend
Rob Vanstone: Woodsy held court in Regina sports landscape for 33 years - You probably need to be from Saskatchewan to know who Warren Woods was but when I found out he passed away due to complications from Covid-19 last week, it felt like I lost a family member. This despite never actually meeting the man who was a fixture in the Regina sports broadcasting scene for decades. I remember as a young child in the 90s watching him and Craig Adam on their 11pm sports show on STV (now Global TV). I’m not sure why my mom let me stay up that late but I’m glad she did. I will miss his stories and his optimistic passion for sports. Rest in power, Woodsy. And for everyone else, please stay safe and take Covid-19 seriously.
Oh, Canada
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole defends decision to back, then oust, Sloan - Can we really trust someone who supported Sloan when he was criticized for his racist or homophobic remarks, while accusing mainstream media of making something out of nothing, but now has sacrificed Sloan due to pressure from... mainstream media? Erin O’Toole is nothing but a weathervane. People with no values of their own should not be trusted.
Pretending that energy jobs will come back is only making things worse - Canadians need jobs. But not jobs that are being made irrelevant by both market forces and moral necessity. Canada is in a good position to be a leader in green energy and technology but we cannot get there until disingenuous politicians stop promising people their old jobs that are never coming back.
Hidden camera reveals 'appalling' conditions in overseas PPE factory supplying Canadian hospitals, expert says - Canada outlaws forced labour at home but yet we stick our heads in the sand when it comes to things we import. It doesn’t get much worse than having indentured servants in unsafe work conditions making the PPE that is supposed to keep ourselves safe. This is the epitome of the cruel hypocrisy of neoliberalism that we must rid our society of. We have a long way to go before we can say this country is truly for human rights.
The City that Rhymes with Fun
Regina councillor says premier should 'stay in his lane' after fossil fuel sponsorship debate - The city of Regina's democratically-elected council should not let anyone, including our incompetent and incoherent premier, bully them out of representing their constituents. The city needs to do what's right for our future including both helping displaced workers in all hard-hit industries and moving forward in a positive direction with the rest of the world. This is what leadership and courage looks like. If only premier Moe expressed the same amount of disgust over the growing number of Covid-19 deaths than he did over what would be a mostly symbolic gesture anyways...
The Texas of Canada
OPINION | Hey Alberta, how is it going so far? - In 2019, Albertans elected a party that promised to bring their province back to its former glory of being Canada’s economic powerhouse. It’s been almost two years and Alberta is in even worse shape now with Canada’s second highest unemployment rate and mounting debt. How long can Kenney and the UCP blame everyone else for Alberta’s problems before people realize that they are not the knights in shining armor they said they were?
If Biden cancels Keystone XL, Alberta becomes the world's laughing stock - Alberta will be a laughing stock not because of Joe Biden, but because of Alberta premier Jason Kenney and his government's refusal to portray any sort of leadership and foresight, resulting in the sad state their province is currently in. The incompetent Kenney government has abandoned the people of Alberta to become the spokespeople for a waning industry. Albertans deserve better.
The Second-Best Country in North America
Bernie Sanders Vows to Reduce Military Spending, Raise Corporate Taxes Amid GOP 'Socialist' Fears - America’s federal government budget committee is now headed by a person who wanted to do such "crazy" things as give every American free healthcare and free public college. Some are concerned that Bernie Sanders will make more Americans dependent on government for their prosperity, particularly the corporations and the rich who would prefer to be the only ones to get handouts.
Antisocial Media
Capitol Attack Was Months in the Making on Facebook - I have been saying for years that social media is destroying democracies around the world. We almost saw the culmination of it a couple weeks ago in the self-professed greatest democracy in the history of the world. How much more evidence do we need to show that unfettered, for-profit, attention-targeting algorithms brings out the worst in us?