Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Overview of UCP's 'Provincial Administrative Penalties Act'

Good overview of the UCP's underhanded kangaroo court law.



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Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Richard Gordon interviews Richard Fantin on Albertastan

Part two of our discussion on The Great Reset.


Podcast:

Click here to recommend this post on progressivebloggers.ca and help other people find this information.

Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Sunday, November 29, 2020

Richard Gordon interviews Richard Fantin on Albertastan

Episode 69! Part one of our discussion on The Great Reset.


Podcast:

Click here to recommend this post on progressivebloggers.ca and help other people find this information.

Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Thursday, November 19, 2020

The Great Reset and the Post-Post-Truth era

Ugh.

With my blog being one of few places legitimately exploring The Great Reset there has been an unexpected consequence, traffic has exploded. To give you an idea my post 'George Floyd, the hero that broke the camel's back' after Candace Owens created the controversy around George Floyd being regarded a hero ended up attracting roughly 3x the traffic I normally would. My two posts on The Great Reset have doubled those numbers in about 10% of the time.

For the (many) new readers my blog is intended for a small audience... not that you're not welcome, but to have so many Canadians using my blog as a reference was never my intent in publishing these posts. Be that as it may, what's done is done, isn't it?

I've been observing the various discussions and reading the "debunkings" of The Great Reset with interest. The reactions to Spencer Fernando and the CPC's poorly explained and partisan campaign (especially given the CPC is an IDU member which is just another front group for the folks pulling the strings) is a mix of confusion and dismissal among the left with a small fraction of support (mostly based on the elite's promises of utopia for all). The right has mostly united in opposition to it though with no alternative plan put forward. Don't be fooled, those leading this campaign are in on it and want to control and limit the message keeping it inside it's partisan box.

If the Trump era is the post-truth era, then I'd call the period leading up to it the truth era. This era saw both the rise of Occupy, and the rise of the (real) Tea Party. Both of these forces were quite similar in their complaints even though ideologically at odds.

Then again, maybe it is surprising. As more than a few observers have noted, the Occupy Wall Street chant, “We Are the 99 Percent” — a shot across the bow of the wealthiest 1 percent of the country, which includes the financial predators and confidence gamers who crashed the global economy with impunity — seems synonymous with the Tea Party’s “Take Back America” ethos.

Those similarities, though, mask profound differences. The two movements both loathe the elite, but their goals, and the passions that drive them forward, could not be more at odds.
For a time people were identifying and targeting the real enemy, the bankers. Alternative medias were flourishing and the establishment's forth estate had lost the monopoly on truth. The system's response to this was to create the post-truth era.

Supposedly non-partisan actors that are likely compromised such as Alex Jones began to attach themselves to Trump and elevate what would become the "alt-right". After so many years of delivering somewhat dependable alternative news Jones had gained a significant following and trust, along with others in their same circle of thought such as Stefan Molyneux and this trust and support was leveraged into support for Trump.

As I've pointed out in 'Building bridges when the cause has been hijacked' the message coming from these outlets began to change, as did the tactics the style and the amplification. In effect the system flooded every channel they could find with "fake news" which by association tarnished a lot of the hard work and ground claimed by the people against the elite.

Overloaded with junk information and partisan babble I find the people now have largely been caught in one layer of the propaganda onion or another.

The Great Reset and the responses to it (particularly from the left) are perhaps the best evidence to show we have now entered into what I would deem the post-post-truth era. If the post-truth era was a crisis of people falling for fake news, the post-post-truth era is a crisis of people not believing that which is right in front of their faces. The capacity for critical thought has been attacked to the point that simply the act now of debating a public heavily funded initiative draws the ire of true believers and accusations of "conspiracy theorist".

Wow, well that settles it then. It's a "debunked conspiracy theory". Given I had been writing about this for years I was very curious to see the New York Time's investigation into it and all of the debunking they would do. So let us take a gander, shall we?

A baseless conspiracy theory about the coronavirus has found new life as cases surge once again.

Observe how they start the article, A "baseless conspiracy theory". This is to set the tone and framing in your mind. Regardless what you read from this point further investigation is not needed because it's all "baseless" anyway. Should you feel inclined to think wrongly you'd be believing in baseless nonsense, and nobody wants to do that. This forms a wall in your brain and I would bet most people who have no opinion on the matter after reading this first line have had their objectivity nudged just enough that despite the lack of evidence provided it's sufficient to satisfy their curiosity and not attract scorn.

Let's continue.

On Monday morning, the phrase “The Great Reset” trended with nearly 80,000 tweets, with most of the posts coming from familiar far-right internet personalities. The conspiracy alleges that a cabal of elites has long planned for the pandemic so that they could use it to impose their global economic control on the masses. In some versions of the unfounded rumor, it is only President Trump who is thwarting this plan and keeping the scheme at bay.

Again, notice the strong language. It's not just a baseless conspiracy theory but it's also an unfounded rumor. Also notice now the mention of Trump which adds an additional layer of doubt to the credibility. Nobody wants to be associated to Trump...

We are now two paragraphs in, with numerous generic statements against but not even the slightest explanation of what it actually is or any evidence offered or counterpoint from those actually talking about it. This is the same tactic outlets like Rebel Media take in their presentations.

The first argument presented by the New York Times comes in the form of a tweet and it's an inaccurate strawman. This is the world's billionaire's and mega-corporations coordinating this agenda the talking head politicians are just there to help you take your medicine. It's a weak point that doesn't address the evidence but even still I will offer this counterpoint: Always love it when the same crowd who tells us billionaires shouldn't exist simultaneously believe they all came together to brilliantly save the planet.

The narrative first took root in late May, when Prince Charles and Klaus Schwab, the executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, announced plans to convene world leaders and discuss climate change and how to rebuild an economy damaged by the pandemic. The meeting was branded as a “Great Reset,” and the false rumors about the tight-knit group of elites manipulating the global economy took off.
So here we can see the shitty research of the NYT really shining through. Is that when "the narrative" first took root? Are you sure it wasn't back in 2016 when the World Economic Forum released their first Great Reset slide-show? Of course they don't make mention of that 2016 slideshow at all in this post instead making the claim.

If the NYT is to be believed how do they explain this article from 2016? The second portion is how the NYT explains it away, and as you all have seen from the information posted here and here it is a blatant lie. It can not be denied this has been prepared and planned years in the making. The meeting was named after the plan that has existed long before, so why would the NYT want you to think differently?
Then, over the weekend and into Monday morning, a video of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada speaking from a United Nations meeting in September gained millions of views online. In the video, Mr. Trudeau referred to a “great reset” and also happened to utter the words “build back better,” which conspiracists saw as a tie-in to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. — who had used the phrase as a campaign slogan.
(Actually, he just said "reset" but as you know from my post 'Alberta in the context of the Great Reset' it is clearly in reference to The Great Reset Initiative. The fucking NYT can't even get his quote right.)
Soon, far-right internet commentators with records of spreading misinformation posted about the conspiracy, collecting tens of thousands of likes and shares on Facebook and Twitter. The posters included Paul Joseph Watson, a former contributor to Infowars, and Steven Crowder, who has falsely asserted that coronavirus death tolls are inflated.

The New York Times continues with "baseless by association" as an argument. Still not a single reference to an actual argument made against the source or the source itself.

Joan Donovan, the research director at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center, said it is “maddening” to see the same networks of influencers traffic in recycled conspiracies and get in the way of delivering accurate information to the public. “What is true is that Covid is on the rise in the U.S. because of poor leadership and the lack of a nationally coordinated response,” Ms. Donovan said.

Twitter said the tweets about the conspiracy did not violate its rules, and that “The Great Reset” was no longer trending.

Facebook did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Hilarious eh? Here you have the NYT that can't get basic facts, dates, sources, or quotes correct being referenced as proof that The Great Reset is a conspiracy. That is the post-post-truth era in a nutshell.

Nothing presented here debunks anything. They don't link to anything that debunks anything. They just repeat, over and over again how debunked it is and lie to you about the purpose and intent. The system has an invested interest in people genuinely believing this Great Reset has come about due to the pandemic. Guess what? that was planned too. Do you really want to go for a ride? read this and this.

The other pieces I've read "debunking" The Great Reset have been similar to the NYT a large pile of nonsense aiming to make you feel like an idiot for being concerned without presenting even one shred of evidence despite the content available everywhere. Hell, here's an Australian Senator opposing it

Here's me talking about it in March in relation to a peer-reviewed report on peak oil that said a reset would be needed:

 And on

And on.

Welcome to the post-post-truth era.


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Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Monday, November 16, 2020

Cognitive dissonance is a trans-partisan trait

I've never been afraid of taking a controversial position. It comes with the territory of forecasting future trends. Years ago at the tail end of Alberta's boom I'd tell folks the oilsands were on their last legs. I was called crazy, this was when Max Fawcett blocked me. Standing up for what you know to be true before it's time has come is difficult. I feel I'm constantly swimming upstream and by the time the crazy things I'm discussing become self evident there are never any reparations made or mistakes acknowledged. Those who fight so vehemently against different ideas never seem to remember they were once opposed and even act as though they knew the whole time. Cowards.

As a privileged white male in a safe industry I have the luxury to be able to speak my mind and as such I feel it is my obligation to really speak it regardless what's on it. Sometimes what I'm saying resonates with "the left", and sometimes with "the right". That's because this blog is non-partisan, I don't care about your political leanings only to provide the best information I can and sometimes that information is what is being discussed in left-wing circles, and sometimes in right-wing circles.

Despite the fact I have been writing about the great reset for years while most Canadians just started talking about it yesterday I've already had numerous left-wing folks block and write me off as a "nutter". Ah, home sweet home.

Much like when I debate those on the right, those on the left when confronted with information they automatically oppose often resort to the same tactics as those on the right. Attacking the messenger, making strawman arguments, there really isn't much difference between the left and the right.

It becomes even more frustrating for me because the left apparently doesn't remember due to the age of Trump that they used to oppose the banks. That they used to doubt the honesty of the intelligence agencies. The left has gone from occupying wall street to believing "Joe Biden saved democracy". Joe 'Patriot Act' Biden himself. In my final post in 2017 before my hiatus I wrote about how the system was using Trump to re-legitimize the banking system and the elites that infest it. Mission accomplished, I'd say.

Here is an example thread of what happens when "the left" is confronted, notice how closely it mirrors the knee-jerk #DefundTheCBC style reactions you might see from the right:

I chalk this type of reaction up to cognitive dissonance. Folks see the elites getting together, they see the initiative, they know the global economy has been looted, they know if those who had looted it now had a plan to "fix it" which primarily benefits themselves and of which not many people will like that they're not going to be upfront about it. I'm not sure exactly what sort of source these folks are looking for for an in-depth analysis but you're not going to get it from the MSM funded by the very billionaires operating the initiative.

I don't mind talking about it because at this point its a done deal. It's happening, its now being publicly discussed which means the plans are already set and in motion. This will become self-evident in time.

As always this blog aims to inform those with critical thinking skills that can take this information, and act on it. For those that doubt the great reset, that is your prerogative, I have no interest in attempting to convince anyone and frankly if at this stage you still need convincing there's not a hell of a lot of actions left for you to take anyway.


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Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Alberta in the context of the Great Reset

The Great Reset should be of no surprise to long time readers of my blog. I've been discussing the various facets of the coming new-feudalist system for years now, such as in 'Frugal or Feudal? Taper terrors and the costs that bind us' or more recently 'The emperor's new cloak', I also discussed portions of it on my interview with Richard Gordon on Albertastan and in many many other posts. In fact Michael Ruppert discusses the concepts of it in his video 'The Truth and Lies of 9/11' waaaay back in November of 2001.

I discussed how Canada was preparing a digital currency for this new system in 'Russia moves for N.A. production and banking death blow while Kenney's agenda disintegrates over-night'. Max Fawcett even blocked me on Twitter ages ago back when he was still cheering for the oilsands because I told him this would happen, oil wouldn't return above $60, and Saudi's (the world) would move away from the USD.

Suck it, Max.

I have been holding on to a lot of my analysis these past months. Sometimes you just have to read the room regarding when and how information is distributed. I aim to provide you dear reader the best information I have, that can be relied upon, and as such many of my "works in progress" I will not discuss until the proper time.

If you think the Great Reset is a joke, think again. For instance here is a news release from back in June 2020 directly from gc.ca.

Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and the Commonwealth group of Permanent Representatives to the United Nations regarding financing for development and the Great Reset initiative. The Prime Minister thanked His Royal Highness for initiating the discussion at such a critical time and for championing the Great Reset initiative to build a better and more sustainable future for all.

With Justin Trudeau now publicly calling for this reset I believe it is time to start putting the things I've been discussing into perspective.

First, if you don't know what the Great Reset is Chris Martenson has put out a comprehensive video covering the WEF's material which I have recently reposted here. I implore you really take the time to absorb the information if you have not heard of this before, don't just write it off. I'm aware the Great Reset is now circulating in right wing circles mostly and while based on my observations few (including Spencer Fernando) really understand it and the players and motives involved this does not mean it doesn't exist. As I have discussed many times on here.. the cause has been hijacked.

Understanding that this was coming down the pipes has really helped guide my understanding of the UCP and their motives. As I've said many times they are here to loot the province, place private risk on the public and clear the way for the big money to leave. Alberta is a dead horse in this new paradigm and Jason Kenney is here to facilitate the departures.

If you think this is all "Justin Trudeau's" doing think again, this is far beyond Justin Trudeau and "the left", it is global and coordinated. This is not a battle of ideology, it is a battle of class and I hope that the right does not aid the globalists cause by believing this has anything to do with the left vs right political football and instead allow this issue to unify the sides in a true fight against the elite. You know, those folks that broke and looted the global economy in the first place.

Much like Chris Martenson, I am sympathetic to the reasoning but not the methods. This is not being done for the good of the planet, it's being done so that the ruling elite can cement their place as the global systems fall apart and keep the peasants from revolting and much like Chris Martenson I understand that the infinite exponential growth economy is dead.

In Alberta this has been particularly difficult because we're not just battling the elite's implementation of The Great Reset but we are also battling the pouty Albertan rich boys who didn't make it into the club looting everything they can before it happens. It's a double whammy and I still maintain the best thing you can do if you can do it is leave Alberta, it's not going to be easy digging out of the hole these assholes have dug for us.

My only advice at this time is to be cautious, prepare, and have an open mind because one way or another, it's coming.


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Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Friday, November 13, 2020

Chris Martenson lays out 'The Great Reset'


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Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Thursday, November 12, 2020

The partisan nature of no-position non-partisanship

There's a new group of non-partisan ideaers 'TheNext30' that have published their debut idea: 'The last thing we need for progress is a polarized Alberta'. As a follow-up here is a Twitter thread where one of the group's founders discuss what non-partisan means for them. Of particular interest is this statement:

The article, much like this statement, sounds great on the surface but only by avoiding the elephant in the room: Alberta's corrupt purposely divisive government.

In fact even avoiding the elephant in the room they cross into the bounds of unAlbertan heresy, take this paragraph for instance:
How can we reduce our economy’s and provincial budget’s exposure to the volatility of oil and gas prices? How can we build an inclusive social fabric so that every Albertan feels like they belong? How can we ensure that Alberta’s energy sector thrives in a low-carbon emissions future? How can we walk the path of genuine reconciliation in a way that honours Indigenous knowledge and culture and creates new opportunity?

Go ahead, ask a UCP minister any of these questions, what is the response going to be?

For the first question, in recent months, you'll likely be pulled into a debate about how oil demand will be here for years to come and that thus must mean Alberta's bottom of the barrel bitumen will be in demand and to say anything otherwise is anti-Albertan. It was a year ago they'd tell you there is no need to diversify at all in fact it's only due to COVID and the Saudi price war that diversification has even entered into the UCP lexicon and it much like any other word they speak has been redefined to fit their narrative.

Sorry TheNext30 but you're going to need to exclude the UCP types from your partisan premise.

It's hard to discuss ideas when the problems are the subject of dispute and used for political purposes and it's even harder when the problems are deliberately obfuscated for corrupt purposes.

How about the next one? Making every Albertan feel like they belong? Sounds like partisan socialist claptrap to me. The Alberta government has made it clear every Albertan doesn't belong. Letter after letter, concern after concern, many from non-partisan groups who may have even majority voted UCP have expressed concern over what the Alberta government is doing and what is the response? They're somehow aligned with "the socialists". The UCP routinely claim they "will not be lectured", that their mandate to do whatever they want whenever extends from that one election they won, and they even put earplugs in. 

As I stated in 'Alberta's Great Panderer' war is the only language the UCP knows and their entire legitimacy as a government among their remaining supporters rests on the idea Alberta must be at war with everything and anyone who opposes Alberta's core identity of oil & gas or is against the government routinely giving them breaks at the expense of everyone else. They're not just a partisan, but an enemy.

Well how about the next question? surely this one will be non-partisan...

How can we ensure Alberta's energy sector thrives in a low carbon emissions future?

Oh Geez.

Sounds like a question "those who say they're concerned" might ask, but not one the Alberta government chooses to ask. Instead the government has chosen to go after critics with their joke of an extended inquiry. You should be careful TheNext30 as asking such unAlbertan questions will surely get you branded as a partisan or at the very least as "those who say they are concerned".

I could go on but I think my point is clear.

I suggest TheNext30 go tell those on AISH the government fucked over so they could try to cook the books to cover for their criminal giveaways that they just need to try not being so damn partisan. Maybe the government wouldn't have torn up doctor's contracts if doctors didn't stick up for themselves and let Tyler Shandro camp out on their driveways. Maybe the election commissioner wouldn't have been fired if he took a more non-partisan approach and didn't bother to investigate anything.

Now I'm not saying anything is wrong with wanting to have a discussion about these things or that they are in fact partisan but to ignore Alberta's climate is likewise a partisan position. Let me explain.

Let's look at their closing paragraphs:

Exploring these and other big questions in an environment of mutual respect can help people to find their voices. It can also shine the light on the many inspiring leaders throughout the province whose ideas and character can serve as examples for us as we struggle to find our way in a changing world.

Above all, it can help illuminate the fact that we are going to have to come together to face the future with confidence and hope — and that doing so will be necessary if Alberta is going to thrive over the next 30 years and beyond.

This is how our path can differ from the one that’s been taken by our American neighbours and why it can lead to a better future. But it has to start now, with all of us. We had best get to it.

There's that elephant again. It goes unmentioned but is also implicitly present. "Coming together to face the future with confidence and hope [because the current government is ignoring it]", "doing so will be necessary if Alberta is going to thrive over the next 30 years and beyond [especially since the current government rejects the very premise of the problems]", "This is how our path can differ from the one that's been taken by our American neighbors [who much like us were (and still are) rejecting reality in favour of staunch American exceptionalism]".

For a long time now folks in Alberta have been trying to have these conversations and for a long time now those who have have found themselves under perpetual demonization by a province that has been captured by corporate interests but when it comes to the UCP, this isn't partisanship, it's all out class warfare. Albertans of every political stripe are under attack. Albertans' wealth is being looted. Concerns are met with highly paid issue manager propagandists. Any objective non-partisan, left or right winger, should be able to see this. If you can't then perhaps you are too partisan or too obsessed with the perception of being non-partisan to the point that the rules and taboos of non-partisan-ville themselves become a partisan position.

Canadian Trends has been a non-partisan blog for nearly 10 years and was also one of the first publications to correctly identify the UCP's motives and I'm sad to say that so far my forecasts have been quite accurate regarding them. Partisanship is not firm opposition to a sitting government, partisanship is not taking a position on an issue, partisanship is blind support for a political party. I can say the Alberta NDP had good policy and that I supported the NDP government without supporting everything NDP and I can likewise vehemently oppose the UCP government due to their corrupt criminal lying fuckwad policies and attitudes without being against "Conservatives". Hell conservatives can be against the UCP and still be conservatives.

The non-partisan discussions TheNext30 wants to have have already been had, and were deemed partisan. That ship has sailed. Alberta's situation now is that it is under siege by a criminal cabal that has weaponized division and is hell bent on looting this province for every last penny and asset it has and that is the only discussion that needs to be had now if we want any future at all in this shithole and any true non-partisan that isn't so partisan to their belief in non-partisanship should recognize it.

Some might say we've lost our way but I would say we've not gone far enough.


Click here to recommend this post on progressivebloggers.ca and help other people find this information.

Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Monday, October 19, 2020

HOLIDAAAAAAAAAY

 Did ya hear Albertans? It's time for a fuckin' holiday! A tax holiday that is. For the rest of the duration of the UCP's grift oil & gas companies will no longer have to pay any tax on new wells! They're going to really work hard in the meantime though on that whole "oil companies not paying their taxes" thing. I mean there's no assurances, or collateral, or anything it's just a big giveaway but this rest assured is a "compromise". Eventually the oil companies will pay taxes again, they promise.

 Yep, as you can see it's a real challenge to get our golden egg oil industry to apparently pay taxes. It's a real challenge. They say they're not going to pay them and the province says "ok" I mean what more really would you expect them to do? Use the CRA? Audit them? Seize their assets? Charge them interest? Yea right! Crazy talk, those sort of measures only work on the peasants walkin' around eating their cheezies. They've got money to spare unlike the poor poor rich golden egg "future of Alberta", "economic engine" oil companies. They just can't get ahead!

I mean, imagine for just a second here that you're an oil CEO with a measly compensation of $10 million per year. Now I know it's really hard to put yourself mentally in such a situation of despair so removed from the average life but try none-the-less. So you're sitting there in your average boardroom which is a bit smaller than your competitors' boardroom thinking to yourself "Bob doesn't pay taxes, why should I?".

As we all know taxes are for the peasants; with their "health care" and "education". Taxes, pft, important executives want choice! Like the choice to push private tier health care for them, the choice for private schools for them, and the choice for them to increase their well earned salaries. I mean really, how the fuck do these peasants expect them to create jobs, pay taxes, and purchase stock buybacks? It's ridiculous.

You see when big fancy executives talk about how they deserve their compensation because of the huge responsibility of risk management what they actually mean is that they are willing to pay lobbyists to stand next to the government to tell you how you ("the peasant") will take on their risk! It's really no big deal, once they're earning enough profit that their profit starts having little profit babies they will pay it all back and if their profit doesn't? Well the peasants don't need to be eating so many damn cheezies, now do they?



Click here to recommend this post on progressivebloggers.ca and help other people find this information.

Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Rock Bottom

I was happy in 2015 when the NDP won the election. Being 31 years old it was the first time in my entire lifetime I had seen a different government elected into office in the province. I had long grown tired of the constant pandering to the oil industry at the expense of everyone else. "Finally", I thought, "some of the people that had been crushed under Alberta's runaway economy will get some attention".

Deep down though I was pretty worried. I've long been of the mind that Alberta has a gambling addiction in fact here is a bit I wrote from such a post back in 2012:

Faced with deficit, Alberta Premier banks on rebounding oil prices

What gets a gambler hooked? Is it a constant wave of losses? or that one big win? Most addicted to gambling will probably tell you that it's the one big win which makes you believe another big win is around the corner. People then chase this big win until they are bankrupt.

Revenue at this point will never be rebounding, and Alberta is going to chase the big win they seek all the way down the drain.
Sound familiar? Remember this was 2012, 3 years before the dreaded NDP "ruined" the province.

I was worried because while in 2015 Alberta was well on it's way to Rock Bottom we hadn't quite reached it yet. For those who don't know rock bottom is when an addict reaches such a low point in their life due to their addiction the reality of the situation finally kicks in and a reversal can potentially begin.

Having lived in Alberta for my entire life I was all too aware of the tendency towards revisionist history embedded deeply in Alberta's culture to it's core. The idea, for instance, that it was in fact because of Alberta's conservative mindset that it became so prosperous while the reality is that it was the amount of black gold under the soil that kept Alberta rich in spite of it's conservative mindset. When you consider the amount of wealth Alberta had and blew without any thought or management for the future it's really astounding that the myth of Alberta conservatives financial expertise persists.

No Alberta had not yet reached rock bottom. The anger was palpable at the time but still just a fraction of where it really should have been given the complete financial disaster the PCAA had turned Alberta into despite having all the resources and time to prepare a provincial government could ever hope for. But it was enough to elect a change in government. It was enough for Albertans to say that enough was enough, but not enough for Albertans to remember that fact.

The inevitable problem I saw coming on the horizon was that the situation the NDP was taking over effectively tied their hands. There was little they'd be able to solve and I wrote a post prior to their election warning of this fact.

The NDP never had a hope in hell of "fixing" the province, of saving the oil jobs, of doing anything they are criticized for doing. All of these events were already in motion before they even had any idea they'd become popular enough to govern in 2015. Thus, what would happen after their term was pretty obvious: they would be blamed for Alberta's situation when in fact it was the PCAA that set the stage for Alberta's inevitable decline.

The NDP saved Alberta from reaching rock bottom, and as a result Alberta didn't kick the addiction. Instead we found new scapegoats in the NDP, and in the federal government (despite the Harper conservatives ruling for a decade prior) as to why our gambling addiction wasn't working out for us, as addicts often do.

We've gone right back to our old ways Alberta, rock bottom is assured.

Day after day I see more and more Albertans realizing we are heading there. As I wrote in my last post the stark reality is slowly dawning. The AFL is kicking their opposition up a notch and there may be a general strike on the horizon again according to Gil McGowen in an interview on the Forgotten Corner Podcast. It's becoming more and more obvious to more and more people that the UCP is not here to govern.
But will it be enough?

I am sad to report that the UCP's pivot in their messaging has taken some of the wind out of 'operation fuckwad UCP', the WEXIT faction is not turning out to be as useful as I was hoping and their leadership's moves continue to bleed credibility. The UCP has turned away from WEXIT which has angered their supporters as I had been anticipating but this does not appear to have been able to move the UCP MLAs as much as I had hoped. Phase 2 continues, it's the coldest sun I could find.


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Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Learn To Code Episode 3: Project 1: MineSweeper, Part 2

In this video we continue with the MineSweeper project. We construct some new unlit materials and create our MineSweeper tile actor prototype.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egkq4oHIU7I



Click here to recommend this post on progressivebloggers.ca and help other people find this information.

Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Slowly, But Surely, Alberta's Stark Reality Dawns

In January I wrote a post titled "The Stark Reality Albertans Face", in which I tried to briefly describe the true reality facing us. Since then as the UCP's efforts to liquidate Alberta have accelerated and the impacts have been felt across the population more and more groups are starting to take action.

I've been interacting with a lot of first time politics followers, there is the rise of the MD war room and the newer Wall of Moms and Dads, inspired I assume by Portland's Walls of Moms and Dads standing against the police which is itself ironically mired in some leadership drama at the moment which somewhat mirrors an issue they encountered today.

Mistakes like this kill movements and are seized upon by the system which has no such moral qualms in its organization or execution. It happened to Occupy. It's happened to Black Lives Matter. To Indigenous protests, and it can happen to the movement against the UCP too. The more people opposed, the more people united, the more chance for conflict.

Those in the system operates in small groups and don't care if their agendas completely align so long as some of their objectives do. Accomplish the objective and deal with the fallout after. You can't fight every war at once.

Political movements, and the partisan left in particular however often fall in to a trap of trying to fight every battle at once expecting perfection and nothing else. This doesn't exist as much on the political right where those of opposing internal factions, find it easy to unite under a common banner even if it doesn't align with their agenda completely. They take a "it's better than nothing" approach.

They also fall in to the trap of trying to get everyone to rally under unified banners rather than individuals pushing a unified message. It's the classic "democratic" way but always runs on the assumption the other team is playing democracy.

What if they aren't? What if they're just holding out until you make your inevitable mistake?

Political movements require momentum, and it's not infinite. Sooner or later if a movement runs up against a stonewall the momentum will slowly die out as the lack of progress puts more emphasis on differences. People start looking for explanations why such and such isn't working. The system simply has to hold out until self-doubt reigns and the internal conflict (which they will likely covertly amplify) tears the movement apart.

It happens time and time again.

Momentum comes in a wave and the movement is it's most powerful at the peak of this wave but it can be challenging to identify before it passes. It is in this window of time that change can be demanded and voices may be really heard.

Obtaining critical mass is really only half the battle and I find very little thought is ever really given to how to deploy it once it's obtained. Yes you can have rallies, make signs, and hope the government "listens" but that's usually where political action ends. A hard reality to face is that even if a government is actively undertaking efforts to attack your quality of life and effectively your future few want to sacrifice their remaining quality of life to get it back. 

This of course results in a situation where movements don't go far enough to address the true situation opting instead of superficial corrections and token reparations that don't actually change anything of importance. The unfortunate reality I have found is that by the time you figure out how bad it is, it's actually worse. Only a fraction of the criminality is ever visible at any given time most of it is hidden, potentially to be discovered in the future, and potentially not. But there is always more than you know. Always. In effect the people are always fighting the last battle they already have lost they just don't know they've lost it yet. By the time they discover they have they've already lost several more. A steady decline.

When a government is pushing through "record amounts" of legislation fighting 1 or 2 policies doesn't cut it. The UCP has lots of legal battles on the go and it's not stopping them from passing more. It's death by 1000 paper cuts, even if you prevent a few the rest will get ya and it will never be as good as what was. It keeps people on the defensive, rather than offensive.

Instead of fighting bad policy, you should be fighting the fact you have to fight bad policy in the first place. That's the real root of the corruption. Who is writing these policies? Who are they working for? Would you have to be on the defensive all the time if the government had any intention of good faith? Look at all of the effort the AMA has put into trying to negotiate with a government that never had any intention of negotiating with them. Look at all of the leverage they've lost and actions they can no longer take they once could because they wasted their time being lead around naively thinking that if they just played ball, and even agree to *everything* the government wanted in the first place, that the true reality would not take hold.


The government had already won and they didn't even know it, and that was a failing on their part. They discovered they had lost the battle and the next day the government launched a website that would have taken months to develop and polish all ready to go. Now the true agenda is coming out and I'm certain more waits behind the curtain, will that be underestimated too?

While the rising numbers are great, a recognition I'm still waiting for in the Alberta political landscape is that the fuckwad UCP are in fact listening. They're listening intently. They're just not responding how you want them to respond. Their own actions, and now their internal correspondence show they are listening. But what are they doing in response? Devising propaganda tactics to counter it.

They know their policies are going to be unpopular and they really don't give a fuck what you have to say about it. They hire people using your tax dollars to convince you you're wrong. That's it, that is the extent of how much you can ever expect them to listen.

If the momentum peaks, and the anger becomes unbearable, they will throw you a bone or some hand sanitizer to quell the anger but don't mistake that for "listening". They heard you the first time, and the second, and after all of the energy expended they did the bare minimum possible just enough that some of the anger subsides. You don't see them re-hiring those 25,000 EAs who could really help with all this though, do you? Death by 1000 paper cuts, congrats on getting some crumbs.

They're listening, rest assured, given their entire presentation is public relations that must be designed and broadcast. Countering the UCP must be done with the assumption this is the case. They are not a government, they are hostile. No government working for the people would want their future decision making to be "prohibitively expensive" to escape.

However bad you think it is, it's already worse.


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Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Thursday, July 23, 2020

"Near Normal"

Well Alberta Wars was fun eh? I quite enjoyed writing that. The series will continue again as we near the events I anticipate are coming and have mapped out for the remaining 4 episodes. But for now I need to refocus my efforts.

I have been writing about Alberta's deteriorating situation for nearly a decade. This insight has allowed me to isolate myself from changes I knew were coming and realities i knew would soon be here and I hope those from Alberta that were reading my blog were able to act similarly.

However, you can't isolate yourself from everything. Items like insurance premiums, attacks on health care, and the complete lack of effort regarding the safety of our children returning to school is unavoidable. Maddening even.

I've been seeing a lot of chatter on Twitter of people convinced that the fuckwad UCP government's lack of effort regarding return to school is a deliberate, calculated attempt to defund education and push private schools and/or home schooling.
Now, it is totally true that their lack of concern or empathy is definitely making a lot of parents consider home school. There is no doubt there. But despite this fact I do not think that is the direct intention of their lack of effort. Or the direct purpose. Allow me to explain why.

There is a major flaw in the theory which I think is getting lost among those that have far reaching platforms: home school or private school isn't feasible for the vast majority of people. Myself, my ex, and her husband all work good jobs and share parenting responsibility and even for us though homeschool is a consideration it is extremely logistically difficult. Did I mention I work from home too? It doesn't matter, I'm on conference calls alot of the day, my job despite me being at home simply doesn't allow to divert attention.

We are in a better position than most.

In fact I believe that COVID-19, or no COVID-19, the UCP would be relaunching schools almost identically. I think they would have found another reason to lay off the EAs (my kid's school is down to 2, from 12, and the 2 remaining can only be accessed by special needs kids).

An extension of this theory is that COVID-19 has been used by the fuckwad UCP to accelerate their agenda. I don't agree, if anything I believe that COVID has significantly hampered the fuckwad UCP's agenda. For example: Would there be as much opposition and outrage to the UCP's school re-opening under current funding with no COVID? I doubt it. The rage is driven by the concern of the safety of the children, and this is a concern the UCP is trying very hard via their numerous PR outlets to alleviate.

The UCP doesn't want COVID on your minds, the UCP wants us back to "near normal" because so long as we are all in pandemic mode their actions are blatantly obviously corrupt and not in the service of Albertans. It's been a spotlight on their government, with daily updates, and special measures. With the lack of sports and activities everyone's attention is on what the UCP is doing.

A push for homeschooling now, so early in their term, will be a constant reminder of the pandemic. That is not "near normal".

There is a much simpler explanation: the UCP simply does not care. They have no desire to govern and find this whole pandemic thing quite annoying. They have made virtually no changes to the school relaunch, to be frank if they wanted to encourage home schooling they would place restrictions and simply not provide the funding. Class sizes of 15? Well I guess if you can't find a spot in a school you're homeschooling eh?

Now I am aware that the UCP does want "choice in education", I'm not saying they don't, what I am saying is.. this isn't it. This isn't the grand plan to make it happen. Any side-effect that works towards that goal is simply a convenient side-effect.

Much like Trump's push to get the pandemic behind the US, Kenney is pushing hard to get the pandemic behind us, its extremely difficult for him to move forward with his plan to redirect our public dollars to funding the risk of the companies leaving Alberta when the people are constantly demanding the government spend more to help protect them. Or you know, do the stuff governments are actually supposed to do. Not run war rooms on behalf of the industry and provide taxpayer backed loans to their buddies.

It also doesn't help their case trying to keep people in Alberta. They're walking a fine line and its important people stay here to pay for the liabilities he is offloading. They're already pushing a number of investment schemes like trying to create the Alberta Pension Plan, and trying to make it so Invest Alberta can use "financial tools" (read: stock market gambling) to manage their money.

The UCP is well aware what they are doing to people's pocket books, keeping a child home to school in good times is hard and today incredibly unfeasible. Creating an education market dependent on home school does not make sense, nor align with what I see as their objectives in using public money for private risk. They're obsessive with their propaganda attempting to convince you everything is fine. That is what they are trying to promote.

Stay in Alberta! We know the steak is cold but it's wrapped in plastic...


Click here to recommend this post on progressivebloggers.ca and help other people find this information.

Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Monday, July 20, 2020

Alberta Wars Episode V: Is The Economy Coming Back?

A long time ago
in an economy far far away...

ALBERTA
WARS

Episode V
Is The Economy Coming Back?

For the citizens of Harper's new empire the old Alberta Advantage was a distant memory. The great religion of the Alberta boom became more and more mythic by the day. Parents tell their children stories of the great booms that once roamed the land while counting the holy pipelines on their camping trips and to dare not praise the boom is all but blasphemy.

It was said that the boom rose from the work force and bound everything together. The rock, the tree, the lake. It flowed through the boreal forest. All of these things could be exploited with the boom, nothing was too big, too heavy, or cost too much.

Master job creators from far reaches of the galaxy flocked to Alberta for the boom and the work-force, always balanced in favor of the job-creators for they had mastered the work-force and risen above the fray.. Their Padawans would follow close behind sniffing every whiff of the splendor plopping out of the job creator's think tank.

But all that remained now were the abandoned wells, barely interesting enough for the Empire to count, and a thorn in the side of the Empire that was already working hard to convince Albertans that their pride and joy: the sludge factory, would bring the mythic booms back again.
Emperor Harper, and Darth Kenney knew something the citizens of their empire didn't however. While they had been in office of the Government of the Dominion they had released a secret memo outlining cost concerns and a weakness in their sludge factory: it cost too damn much. It had been estimated that it would cost $650 billion Dominion credits for the project to maintain it's momentum over the next decade and that was equivalent to all of the investment that had come before. In addition to this they faced a galactic trade war, the Health Star crisis, and a collapsing liquidity market. Alberta's sludge factory was fucked.

Instead of making this information public, and warning the work-force, they kept it a secret and continued to lie to the work-force hoping that the balance in favor of the job creators could be kept. But as each day ticked away the reality of the western Dominions situation was becoming more and more apparent. The layoffs mounted, the investment disappeared, just as the memo had foretold.

The true reality that scared the citizens into submission was that the booms may not return. That it in fact may not have been their culture of success, their genius, or their conservative budgets, but simply because they had the right market sludge, at the right market time.

The Twitter Storm Troopers held the threat of no more booms above the heads of the citizens, raining down bombs of despair. A new dogma was unleashed: dare question the sludge and Alberta will never boom again.

Citizens were forced to volunteer for service cuts and cost increases, all for the good of the Empire of course.

Captain Shandro of the Ministry for Virtual Health Insurance repeatedly changed the terms of the agreement with doctors, then tore it up all together. "I am altering the deal," he told them in his deepest reddest voice, "pray I don't alter it any further.". He instructed the Doctor's Order not to allow doctors to leave the new Empire just in case his deep voice didn't work,

Artists rendition of a McHealth facility
The empire hoped their swiftness and blitzkrieg attacks could keep the growing bands of rebels off balance and that the citizens would not notice the McHealth franchises popping up over the land. The Empire hoped to open a few McLearnStuffs too: empire and job-creator approved.

They intimidated and gaslit the concerned citizens. It was a full assault, they deployed their BS-BS talkers, and yet still the opposition persisted.

It was frustrating for the citizens, but with each sacrifice, each tax cut, the empire promised: the booms will be back.

Sooner or later the citizens were going to figure out that the booms were actually extinct, a relic of a time now long past. Emperor Harper and Darth Kenney knew this to be true as they had made the original analysis so working with their partners they doubled their efforts for a new fair deal and an isolated empire: free from critical thought. Only with the work-force completely re-balanced in favor of the job-creators would those job-creators be able to leave unscathed.

The anger felt by the citizens promised booms by the department of false hope was palpable and an unwieldy rancor increasingly difficult for Darth Kenney to control with the power of the work-force. Doubt was in the air. Doubt leads to thought, thought leads to questions, and questions lead to answers, of which Darth Kenney had none.

Time also was not on Darth Kenney's side as the Health Star crisis had greatly accelerated the liquidity issues facing the sludge factory making capital increasingly difficult to come by. He had had a small victory putting the bankrupt job creators well liabilities on citizens of the Dominion but it was small fries compared to the risk he wished they'd take on.

The sun dawned another day, Darth Kenney put on his face, stepped out of the back of his rented RV cruiser and promised the citizens: the boom will be back.


Click here to recommend this post on progressivebloggers.ca and help other people find this information.

Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Alberta Wars Episode IV: A New Fair Deal

A long time ago
in an economy far far away...

ALBERTA
WARS

Episode IV
A New Fair Deal

Following the revenge of the separatists all of the pillars for Emperor Harper and his protege's new empire were in place. They had successfully directed the anger towards Ottawa and the vague conspiracy from the planet Krause. Their phone troopers with the help of the Manning Centre had grown into fully fledged Twitter storm troopers who in classic Star Wars style never seem to be able to hit anything while the growing rebel alliance annihilates them shot after shot. The time had finally come to begin shaping the beaten down western Dominion into Harper's new financial empire.

It had come to Harper's attention that the elder scholars of the Job Creator's "Calgary School" had prophesied of a great re-balancing of the work force back towards the "job creators".
Harper, in January of 2019 B.E. (Before Empire) informed the investor council of the prophecy. Despite the risks, they knew it had to be done.

Unfortunately and unexpectedly for the Empire the Health Star, along with new galactic trade wars blew up the poor planet of Krause, and now only gets a passing mention whenever a good off the cuff excuse is needed.
With Kenney's narratives nearing the point of complete dis-credibility a new narrative was needed.

Kenney, always working with what he knows, pushed ahead with the Fair Deal plan, moving the focus of the anger once again from the foreign funded environmentalists to the Dominion itself. The story being sold: Alberta needed a new fair deal, it was our only hope.

Kenney quickly arranged for some panels of confirmation bias, they got on their speeders and moved quickly fanning out across Alberta to provide legitimacy to the idea the Empire actually gave a shit. Once they returned the empire removed all wrong opinions from the results and then compiled a report with the rest.

"Not one dissenting voice!", Darth Kenney exclaimed.

Next Kenney handed the direction of the financial empire over to the regional corporate board of governors, featuring emperor Harper himself. They provided Kenney the response to the Health star crisis, though in reality - according to the empire - everything suggested was just an election platform promise and thus not actually a response at all.
Kenney wasn't worried, no one had ever accused him of consistency.

Albertans are going to get their new Fair Deal. Kenney is already pushing ahead on the clearly fabricated basis of the results he is choosing to respect. Of course its just a thin excuse for him to do what he was always going to do anyway. All of this has been the plan from day one folks, he needs this whole pandemic thing behind us so he can get on doing what he was parachuted in to do.

I've seen a lot of you from the Rebel Alliance saying Albertans need to fight and stay. No, they don't. I want to make it very clear what staying and fighting means: Alberta is going to be a have not province and from this point forward it is going to be increasingly difficult to survive here and the people that live here are going to be under constant threat of attack and change from their government. That is no way to live.

For those that do stay and fight, your sacrifice is appreciated. May the work force be with you.


Click here to recommend this post on progressivebloggers.ca and help other people find this information.

Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Thursday, July 9, 2020

Alberta Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Separatists

A long time ago
in an economy far far away...

ALBERTA
WARS

Episode III
Revenge of the Separatists

In the strange alternative Star Wars plot Emperor Harper and Darth Kenney have concocted the dark side favors the separatists against the Dominion (our version of the Republic) which speaks to the counter-culture mentioned in Episode II and the narrative of victimization.

Of course "officially" to pander to the federalists and broader base the UCP position itself will never be separation. It's a carrot that is dangled in front of the hard-line WEXIT crowd to keep them in line via their more subversive channels.

Directing the anger of Albertans is at the core of the UCP's strategy to justify change. As I wrote back in Alberta's Great Panderer:
A constant war footing. One war, on to the next, and the next, and the next. There will not be a point in time where the UCP isn't at war with.. something, during their term. Their legitimacy and support depends on it.
War is how Kenney rallies his support through his various overt and covert separatist leaders, like Count Dookie and others that have planted the seed of inevitable separation if Canada doesn't do things our way.

Then on the other side you have the "Fair Deal". An appeal to the Federalists while still targeting Ottawa in an attempt to keep the separatists in check. Both are wars in various forms.

Kenney also has his war against environmentalists, doctors, teachers, unions, really anyone he can go to war with. It's done with a bang, it's done to illicit anger, it's done because the blitzkrieg speed and misdirection is what provides the support. Kenney is also on a tight timeline, with just 3 years now to complete the selloff of Alberta, and protect the rich providing an avenue of escape.

Kenney must also disable Albertans ability to effect any reversal of what he is doing so that Alberta remains obligated to repay the debts that are being illicitly placed on us. This I believe explains the power grabs.

I am still of the opinion Kenney is not here for the long term. He didn't come here to build a mini-empire as I'm seeing the new prevailing theory become (as it becomes more obvious he is not aiming for the role of PM). I maintain that Kenney aims to be out of politics following this term, he did not drop from Federal to Provincial to deal constantly with the problems he is causing. He does not intend to be here to clean them up, or be accountable for them.

In addition, with the fracturing of Alberta's WEXIT believers turning against Kenney I do not believe he would gain popular support federally now. No, he will leave.

However, emperor Harper's network will remain. It is the financial interests that want the power.

The separatist threat of course provides momentum for aspects of Kenney's agenda he does want such as robbing Albertans of their pension money:
As you can see the UCP utilize their typical games, via their typical channels. 81% support for this is astronomically high. It's ridiculous, but so long as the right closes themselves off to any other sources of information at the behest of their "rebel commanders" they'd never know it.

I just discovered Lauren Southern has returned to the political arena. She's done a write-up of her reformation from the "alt-right" and I very much suggest you all read it:
You see the manipulation derives from just a very simple thing: a lot of people are suffering and just want it to end and those types are very easy to lead with easy solutions, external enemies, and strong-man antics when they've got bigger holes to fill.


Click here to recommend this post on progressivebloggers.ca and help other people find this information.

Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Alberta Wars Episode II: Attack of the Phones

A long time ago
in an economy far far away...

ALBERTA
WARS

Episode II
Attack of the Phones

  1. Size, ownership, and profit orientation: The dominant mass-media outlets are large profit-based operations, and therefore they must cater to the financial interests of the owners such as corporations and controlling investors. The size of a media company is a consequence of the investment capital required for the mass-communications technology required to reach a mass audience of viewers, listeners, and readers.
  2. The advertising license to do business: Since the majority of the revenue of major media outlets derives from advertising (not from sales or subscriptions), advertisers have acquired a "de facto licensing authority".[5] Media outlets are not commercially viable without the support of advertisers. News media must therefore cater to the political prejudices and economic desires of their advertisers. This has weakened the working class press, for example, and also helps explain the attrition in the number of newspapers.
  3. Sourcing mass media news: Herman and Chomsky argue that "the large bureaucracies of the powerful subsidize the mass media, and gain special access [to the news], by their contribution to reducing the media's costs of acquiring [...] and producing, news. The large entities that provide this subsidy become 'routine' news sources and have privileged access to the gates. Non-routine sources must struggle for access, and may be ignored by the arbitrary decision of the gatekeepers." Editorial distortion is aggravated by the news media's dependence upon private and governmental news sources. If a given newspaper, television station, magazine, etc., incurs disfavor from the sources, it is subtly excluded from access to information. Consequently, it loses readers or viewers, and ultimately, advertisers. To minimize such financial danger, news media businesses editorially distort their reporting to favor government and corporate policies in order to stay in business.[6]
  4. Flak and the enforcers: "Flak" refers to negative responses to a media statement or program (e.g. letters, complaints, lawsuits, or legislative actions). Flak can be expensive to the media, either due to loss of advertising revenue, or due to the costs of legal defense or defense of the media outlet's public image. Flak can be organized by powerful, private influence groups (e.g. think tanks). The prospect of eliciting flak can be a deterrent to the reporting of certain kinds of facts or opinions.[6]
  5. Anti-communism/war on terror: Anti-communism was included as a filter in the original 1988 edition of the book, but Chomsky argues that since the end of the Cold War (1945–91) anticommunism was replaced by the "war on terror" as the major social control mechanism.[7]

Manufacturing consent in Alberta however requires a much different tone.

Item 1, is not effective in Alberta, as the propaganda narratives rely on manufacturing a consensus that all mass media is liberal biased (when in reality it is monetarily biased). The counter-culture "conservative" aspect of Alberta and it's perspective of victimization make a more subversive information channel more effective. In the end though as the revolving door of personal between Rebel Media (that had a booth at the UCP AGM), the CPC, and other Harper aligned movements shows the influence on these "media" organizations to be the same.

Item 2, isn't as effective in Alberta either for the same reason. You can't have your narrative advocate #DefundTheCBC and also rely on tight licensing restrictions. Thus the need to co-opt the alternative messages as I discussed in 'The real war is the information war and it has very much begun'. Instead Alberta is faced with "alternative sources" like Danielle Smith, and Rebel Media  given additional broadcast boost by the UCP and restricted selective interview access.

Item 3, is where things start to mesh up. Preferred access? Oh ya. You see, Alberta's counter-culture calls for a counter-media. But it's simply a different means to the same ends.

Item 4, Flak. This along with Item 5 (which for the purpose of Alberta is "anti socialist NDP" instead of just communism or war on terror - though communism gets its fair share of mentions too)

And now with the age of social media I would personally add another item: Item 6, the manufacturing of critical mass on social media.

This last one is interesting as we saw recently what can happen when this power is utilized by the people when teens from around the world convinced Donald Trump via pre-ordered ticket sales that far more people were going to be attending his first campaign speech than actually did. It's not a perfect example, as the manufacturing of the perspective he had more support than he did was aided with the help of his pre-ordered tickets but the effect was the same, and very visual for all to see.

The UCP utilizes this tactic as well. During the election a Federal investigation found that there was a coordinated campaign of fake accounts pushing UCP support. The accounts all supposedly originated in Alberta but if you know anything about how botnets work you know the "origin" of something means nothing as there is nothing stopping me from logging in to a server in the United States from here in Canada and then operating as though in the United States. Same thing works for hacked desktops, there are many "botnets for hire" that consist of remotely controlled hacked desktops providing the illusion of numbers from numerous locations. These can be easily filtered to show connections from anywhere one would like if they have enough hacked machines under their control. I highly suspect the IDU had a hand in orchestrating this campaign for reasons I describe in Alberta's Great Panderer.

Fake accounts, even if easily identified, are very effective at giving the illusion that the numbers behind an idea are larger than they appear. This gives confidence to the idea and makes it more likely other people will take it seriously strengthening it's reach. Instead of one voice, you hear a chorus of voices which naturally makes one more susceptible to the message. Indeed the UCP often brags of it's "historic mandate", how "Albertans fired the NDP", etc. They pull out the "numbers" card often.

Their Twitter propagandists are quick to Like/Retweet everything to give it the illusion that what is being said has more popularity than it does.
I see a lot of folks on Twitter mention that Twitter does nothing to propagate change. The UCP often say Twitter doesn't matter. They know it matters.

It's true that the audience on Twitter is small, but it's the audience on Twitter that is engaged. I'm sorry to break it to you folks but the giant chunk of people you're worried about not reaching, are reached via those that are engaged. They're just parroting the opinion someone they trust more on these matters told them. Seriously.

I focus explicitly on Twitter for this reason. I don't want people to parrot my words, or gain a following, or any of that shit. I actively work to suppress my reach and focus on my targets. I have faith in my readers to read between the lines, to absorb every link, to watch every video, because every post I write aims to provide as much pertinent information as possible in as many ways as possible for those able to make decisions with it.

The UCP knows this, too. That is why they focus their propaganda on Twitter yet post their videos to Facebook. They know what audience is where and their strategy is designed for each one. The UCP uses fake accounts and other means to create the illusion there is more support for them and their agenda than there truly is, this can have the effect of convincing the parrots there is critical support when in fact there is none thus in fact creating the support where none existed prior. The UCP then uses this confirmation bias in their arguments to justify why their policy is legitimate and mandated.



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Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.