Sunday, May 31, 2020

George Floyd, the hero that broke the camel's back

The U.S. has reached the breaking point and where they go next is dependent on it's citizens. They're going to need to either go all the way, or give up now, the police response tells you everything you need to know about what the system in the U.S. thinks about their citizens' complaints and the bare minimal in charges laid against Derek Chauvin as well as the refusal to arrest and charge any of the other officers even though it's clear they were also involved and complicit tells you everything you need to know about what the system thinks of George Floyd's murder vs the sanctity of the police force despite whatever the talking heads on T.V. are saying.
The true irony is George Floyd was murdered for allegedly using counterfeit money to buy some cigarettes.
Floyd, a Houston native who had worked security for a nightclub, was arrested for allegedly using counterfeit money at a store to buy cigarettes on Monday evening.
Using counter-counterfeit money; well it's no wonder the banker's police were so angry! Counterfeiting money is a privilege held by the owning elite and only theirs shall be used. They're mostly all white people and expect the black man to earn his keep via one of the CIA's many convenient illegal narcotic distributors.


I've decided to wait and see how things play out before writing any commentary on these protests. Information about them is still quite fluid, there is clearly a lot of dynamics and opposing forces. One thing is certain this is way beyond George Floyd now.

Perhaps if they had arrested and charged Chauvin when the video went viral they might have pacified Americans with a third degree murder charge. Perhaps if they'd arrested and charged all 4 officers after waiting 4 days they may have been able to avoid the chaos.

But the U.S. empire doesn't want to avoid the chaos, the U.S. empire needs the chaos.
What I am observing is that the American public has lost it's faith and respect for the justice system and police. This is much bigger than George Floyd, he is simply the hero that broke the camel's back and now a symbol of something more.

It goes beyond police murders of P.O.C. as well. Take for instance Jeffrey Epstein and every other fucking rich dickhead. The cameras cutting out prior to his "suicide", the questions about the autopsy. There's a Netflix documentary now about what a piece of shit he was rolling in his riches. Justice?

The utter failure and racist criminal stink of the U.S. justice system, the country with the largest prison population on the planet, has finally discredited itself to the point that the police are no longer considered police in the eyes of the public, nor should they be, and enough so that despite the destructiveness of the riots the protests seem to be maintaining a level of support.

Back in 2014 my late friend Michael C. Ruppert did a feature with Vice, his last before his suicide. In it he described what the police in the U.S. had become: a paramilitary force that had declared Americans the enemy. He discussed how they had been taken over via the Patriot Act at a Federal level.


You want to know why the actions of the police and the words of the government officials that supposedly operate them seem to differ? Take for instance the governor of Minnesota apologizing for the obviously deliberate arrest of a CNN news team, only for police nationally to deliberately target reporters everywhere tonight.
The police in these instances now are operated by Homeland Security, and they're simply a shell of the banks and the CIA.








Back in 2014 I found a video of crowd control training. I found it so important I posted it to my blog but sadly the video has been removed (I'm not sure when that happened, and I've been unable to find it again). I can only describe what I saw in it for you now: what it showed was police learning how to attack unarmed protesters. None of the training shown in it had any sort of aggression on the protesters part aside from words. And the response they were being trained in? Unhinged aggression.

Our police are trained for this in Canada too. While the U.S. was outfit over multiple protests and Homeland Security other nations have been preparing too. The G20 as it toured the globe provided excuses for numerous western nations to outfit their police force with excessive crowd control hardware. Police forces from all across Canada went to Toronto to participate and were likewise armed from it.

The G20 provided excellent cover to arm and test the equipment, as well as the systems, the capacity for officers to attack citizens and journalists, and the response from the citizens for when the real shit finally hit the fan from all of the building inequality and the ponzi-conomy. Something eventually inevitably was going to give.
The G20, being Canada's only large scale training exercise provides a textbook example of the tactics that will be deployed and have been deployed now with the George Floyd protests.

Press for Truth put a documentary together on the G20, watch it to see the tactics in action.



How to unleash a police state in 4 easy steps!

Step 1) Wait for or plan a protest that directly challenges the state's legitimacy. Most protests don't really challenge the power of those in control as they focus on policy as opposed to the system's structural violence. Occupy, Black Lives Matter, and G20 however fit the bill.

And at this point it isn't just Black Lives Matter either, wake up whitey, the police aren't exactly your friend right now either are they?

Step 2) Allow the protest to develop into something that gains attention. With the G20 this was easy, the media was even "predicting" the "trouble" that was going to come later. While with something spontaneous like George Floyd it may take a few days for traction.

Step 3) Unleash the agitators. During this phase the protest will be infiltrated by paramilitary undercover cops.
This happened at the G20 as well. The riot will be allowed to run un-opposed by the police presence they have waiting for the unsuspecting public. The destruction is used to try and turn popular opinion against the protests. They may leave cars abandoned to be burned, and encourage looting and rioting via their agitators. It's not to say that all the rioters are police, but typically they are trained in how to lead crowds into action.
The police will also act out to anger the people.


Questions raised over masked white man with umbrella seen calmly smashing windows before Minneapolis riots

Step 4) Once the public justification is made it's time to unleash the police.
The police do not oppose those actually rioting, the police oppose the peaceful. The old. The fragile. The young. The journalists. The people.

Because it's the American people that have been declared the enemy.




And the future is now.


Please take 9 minutes of silence in honor of hero George Floyd.




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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.

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Monday, May 25, 2020

The ethical province that couldn't

Once upon a time during the Alberta Advantage when the petrosexuals roamed the land freely sticking their drills into wells without protection and residential schools dotted the pastures where the First Nation play the oil companies were happy, and ethical, and enjoyed a symbiosis with their native consumerist populations.

But that was before the dark times, before the ecopire. Unbeknownst to the innocent oil companies an evil dark power was rising. The oil companies called this dark power "Environmentalism" for it seemed to revolve around a deity they were not familiar with named ambiguously "The Environment".

Before they could realize what was happening, new unholy regulations were popping up separating the oil companies and their ethical touch from the land their exploits depended on! Every facet of the free consumerist democracy was being weaponized, even Her Majesty's Ethical Court System was being used. Can you believe it?

Meanwhile in lands far away not interested in ethicalness these same oil companies enjoyed an unhindered life of luxury, soaking in all that glorious non-ethical goodness. It's not like they could change it, after all, the G(old)O(il)D(rugs) of The Markets had proclaimed from the highest mountain in the deepest valley of the largest mall that they must pursue all market opportunities for their shareholders and maximize return. Who are they to question the word of GOD? hence forth that was exactly what they did.

The oil companies that did not have the capital to move to less ethical jurisdictions wished and lobbied, and lobbied and wished, but still they could not match the pocket change of the dark forces opposing them at home via completely legal, but obviously quite ethically challenged, means.

As a result the great non-ethical oil producers rose to takeover the world and invest in places like Canada which because we're a little bitch to market pressures we just take the funny money and smile and nod, or something like that. I dunno I'm bored with this story, here you can listen to this story yourself told by Mark Milke, the Executive Director of Googling at the Canadian Propaganda Centre (personally, I think I tell it better). Just skip the first 6 minutes if you don't want to hear Danielle yapping about everything under the sun.
(SPOILER ALERT: DEFINITELY NOT THE ONE THING YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO)

Yes, folks, the Canadian Propaganda Centre is still at it! Apparently a supposed temporary 90% slashing of it's budget doesn't slow these keyboard warriors down. In fact there has been no discernible change in their content at all which leads me to believe that either the budget cut wasn't real or they never really needed that other 90% in the first place. Do you know of any other operation that can take a 90% hit to it's budget and carry on like nothing has happened?

To Danielle Smith's credit she asks a good number of counter-point questions, enough so that he falls all over his non-answers especially when it comes to Saudi Arabia's recent investment in Alberta's oilsands. So let's rip this motherfucker apart shall we?

First of all, gotta love the introduction. "he's with the Canadian Energy Centre which is the government centre for trying to get positive fact based information out on our oilsands". The title just keeps getting longer eh? From the simple self descriptive "war room" to now the "centre for trying to get positive fact based information out on our oilsands". Doesn't quite have the same ring as "WAR ROOM" does it? But alas, yes, this is what we have dear taxpayers the 1984 equivalent of the 'Zoolander Centre for kids who can't read good'.


Though in our case instead of a centre for ants, we have a centre for peasants as Mark Milke will happily tell you as he points out in describing their first "research brief" regarding First Nations in the interview: "the point of that was very simply to say to the rest of the country 'if oil & gas goes away then here are the people first and foremost you are going to hurt'.".

Notice how he says "you"? You fucking asshole! how dare you hurt these people by not supporting the oil & gas industry! Dont you know it's the only jobs made available to them?

Huh. But but but but, I thought this War Room, err sorry, 'Centre for Industries Who Can't Communicate Good' was targeted at foreign funded eco-terrorist worshipers of the deity Environment? Now it's to tell "the country", why? Is the country investing in them? I thought social license was a myth?

Of course, yes, that is exactly the point of this thing as I've been discussing on my blog over the last few months regarding it. This ridiculous propaganda centre was never equipped, nor intended to take on our international foes or even the domestic ones, no it's purpose is to publish justifications for public investment and comfort the frustrated petrosexuals angry at the world for having cheaper to produce oil  than we do.


Uncle Sam I Want You - Poster

I WANT YOU TO SAVE THE WORLD FROM DESPOTIC REGIMES HELL BENT ON DESTROYING ALL ETHICAL OILS FROM THE MARKET AND IGNORE ANY PESKY "INFORMATION" THAT MIGHT MAKE YOU THINK IT'S A "BAD INVESTMENT" AND NOT A GOOD USE OF "PUBLIC DOLLARS"!


As I wrote back when the Russians initiated the next phase of the oil war against the United States: Kenney's agenda effectively fell apart then as he now had a real price war that instantly made the "foreign funded" Krause conspiracy irrelevant. Kenney now seems to have double downed on the old ethical oil argument as a rallying cry and supposed position in the war, with the propaganda centre saying some outright ridiculous things lately like
Yea, ok, sure Jan.

Speaking of Asia, which friends are they referring to exactly? Is it our friends like the Communist Chinese Party that have major stakes in our oil production? But according to other UCP reps like recent overpaid import Blaise Boehmer (lol, can you imagine walking around having that as your name?) they're not our friends at all:
As anyone involved in good storyboarding will tell you it's not easy writing consistent fiction. Building a whole world with backstory and lore and consistency and logic takes time, and that time is clearly lacking with the UCP's latest narrative and angle in their fake offensive as an irrelevant player in the global oil price war.

This inconsistency was shown even further when China slapped Kenney around a bit regarding his comments on China and COVID-19. Yes, Kenney is pissing off China - one of the few countries sticking with our nonviable resource - but they're also our friends. They're our friendemies.

The true irony in Mark Milke's interview is that as he goes on to say how we have to promote our freedumb oil to defeat the market takeover of the evil autocracies he goes on to talk about how shitty it is living in a democracy. The opposition is a part of that freedom he apparently admires. And oh how the UCP and their "arms-length" propaganda centre admire that cherished democracy:
I'm sorry to have to break it to the Albertan petrosexual community but you can't both love despotic autocratic dictator money, and hate it at the same time. It just doesn't work like that. You look pretty stupid, frankly. Even the Krause conspiracy made more sense and had more consistency. There really is no low to the stories Albertans will believe to justify continued oil production thinking that one day somehow the good ole days of the Alberta Advantage will return as each justification used goes out the window.

Jobs? Well.. erm, not really anymore right? That's why they started whining.
Profitability? Well, erm, not really now either. That's why they want bailouts and well cleanup.
Environmental record? We suspended that.
Now we need to fund them and keep them around and put up with their constant whining to save the world from autocratic dictators.

Because as we all know those dictators certainly don't have power now because the US has either allied and armed them, or systemically went around installing them as puppets in all the oil producing countries, right?

Right. So say it with me...



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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.

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Friday, May 15, 2020

COVID-19 both exposes and provides cover for the precarious nature of western economies

Inside the wall, apartment buildings similar to the one they observed earlier line the streets and there are people everywhere. Sisko explains that the place is a Sanctuary District, but Bashir concedes that 21st century history is not one of his strong points, as it is too depressing. While Sisko admits that the citizens of Earth made some ugly mistakes, he says they also paved the way for many things he and the doctor take for granted in their century. The Sanctuary Districts are one of the worst mistakes; as he explains the situation to Bashir, they see that trash is everywhere and dirty people fill the streets, with an older couple sitting in a tent and a family of three literally living in a cardboard box. By the early 2020s, Sisko says that there was a Sanctuary District like this one in every major city throughout the United States of America, but Bashir fails to understand the purpose and asks what the people did to deserve such treatment. Sisko tells him that people with criminal records are not allowed in the sanctuaries and those who live here are simply people without jobs or places to live. Vin instructs Bashir and Sisko to stop and tells Bernardo to go home to his wife and kids, out of both compassion for his partner and visible annoyance at the ramblings of the two new arrivals. Bernardo thanks Vin and takes off. Gesturing forward, Vin sarcastically asks Bashir and Sisko, "Shall we?" 
-- From Act I, Star Trek Deep Space 9: Past Tense
The rush to re-open is real, and likely to end in disaster. If there is one thing that COVID-19 has exposed it is that western economies are designed to operate only under optimal circumstances. This has resulted in a renewed push globally for a UBI (universal basic income).

Even the Alberta Liberals think it should be implemented, temporarily of course.

I'm going to be a contrarian here and say something that may not be too popular with the left: COVID-19 is the last reason a UBI should be implemented and in fact may be incredibly detrimental in gaining critical mass in effective opposition.

So why do I say this?

A UBI under the right circumstances is a good first step towards freeing ourselves of the system's currency ponzi-conomy by freeing people from mundane tasks that could be easily automated and allowing them to focus on more productive ventures. This could in theory lead to a conscious awakening that the UBI is actually unnecessary and redundant. But as I said... right circumstances.

COVID-19 is not those circumstances. A UBI so you can continue to pay your bills and loans because the system is broken and can't handle one of the oldest disasters mankind has encountered is not that circumstance. In the circumstance of COVID-19 the UBI can't help free people from the system, in fact the implementation of a UBI frees the system of taking responsibility.

Instead of asking for UBI now is the time to point out that our house of cards financial system and infinite-growth economy is flawed. Here is an example:

The irony of Krause, that is constantly fighting on behalf of those privatizing our resources such as petroleum which the right is fond of pointing out is using for masks, wanting the government to hand them out like Hong Kong is not lost on me.

The capacity of China to rapidly build hospitals (even if they just ended up being prisons) is another example in contrary to our own lackluster response. Not that I'm saying we needed to, but if they can build hospitals without a second thought surely we can give out some free masks?

So what is the difference between a place like Hong Kong, or China? Most will probably point to the totalitarian nature of their government, which is true to a point. It certainly allows them to deploy resources without opposition but that's not why they're able or willing to deploy those resources in the first place.

The real reason other nations have been able to deploy a response in a coordinated and resourceful way is that money and the economy isn't their primary concern: sustaining the nation is. There's a big difference in the way these other nations and western economies see "money" and "economic return". This was perhaps exposed around a year ago in an article describing China's troubles getting oil out of the oilsands.

Unlike our oil companies, and American oil companies that are turning tail to run the Chinese are sticking it out despite taking losses. This isn't because the Chinese are rich (which they are), it's because the Chinese understand that money is a tool, not the endgame. China wants to secure resources for their future sustainability, they don't care how much useless paper virtual USD they have to spend in the process, their citizens don't eat USD and they don't fly around on magic dollar carpets.

The same thing goes with their response to the pandemic. They're in this for the long haul, they don't want to shutdown again and therefore they're not in a hurry. The government, however totalitarian it is, is there to protect the sanctity of the country. Compare this to western nations that have their attention split between trying to respond to the pandemic and how to still make money because if they don't they can't pay their loans or bills, which is someone elses loans and bills and so on and so on. That's our concern.

When you see people pointing out that the shutdowns may kill more people than the virus they're not entirely incorrect but then going on to demand everything reopen rather than stepping back and asking why is it our advanced industrial economy can't take a 5 minute break is a fatal mistake.

The UBI in this circumstance simply allows the system to avoid responsibility for the precarious situation we're all in.

But maybe that's the point?

One of the things I'm asked most is "what's in store?", "what does the future look like?" -- and I have to say I don't know because I'm not from the future! I have some ideas what's coming but describing a world that doesn't exist yet with no frame of reference provides little value.

I can say if we allow a UBI to cover for the flaws in our system, without changing the system, the future depicted in Star Trek Deep Space Nine's Past Tense is a possible scenario.

(I've found the episodes on DailyMotion though they've been mirrored likely to avoid algorithmic detection - it doesn't affect the ability to watch though if you can i suggest watching this on Netflix instead, shh don't tell CBS)

(UPDATE: Looks like part 1 has been removed, however ironically one has been left in it's place that shows exactly the part I quoted up top. I'm going to take this as a sign from CBS I'm doing good work lol)





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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.

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Thursday, May 14, 2020

Richard Gordon interviews Richard Fantin on Albertastan


Podcast:

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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.

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Saturday, May 9, 2020

The emperor's new cloak

I haven't written in awhile as I have been waiting for events to stabilize a bit and allow the inevitable new messaging to take hold. As I wrote in 'Russia moves for N.A. production and banking death blow while Kenney's agenda disintegrates over-night':
The fuckwad UCP's social license and benefit of the doubt to do as they please to implement the Kenney agenda just expired. Kenney it would appear is out of time to get the rich off the hook and I suspect the next week is going to be an incoherent mess of announcements as he bides time figuring out what to do regarding the reinvigorated price war.
This hasn't stopped Kenney from continuing apace however with his agenda now out in the open and now backed by a much weakened propaganda message of "don't criticize us because that would be political", and "we're having bad luck".

Now instead of Buffalo declarations of independence, Albertans are "herding like buffalo" towards the federal government providing the outright handouts and well cleanup Kenney has been gunning for all along (and that I believe Trudeau had agreed to back during Kenney's trip to Ottawa but of which the federal government was waiting for an appropriate crisis to cover for the public perception of bailouts of an industry that prides itself on thumbing it's nose at everyone else, as was somewhat hinted at in the quotes from Trudeau and Kenney in 'Is the divisive, coordinated, push (and potential rejection) for Teck Frontiers actually designed to justify a quid-pro-quo?').

Those who think Kenney and Trudeau are actually opposed in any way outside of the need of political theatre don't understand the full picture. Left vs. Right is for you, dear peasant, to give you an ideology to believe in. The reality of Trudeau's oil bailouts as I pointed out in 'Alberta's Great Panderer' isn't about saving Alberta, it's about saving Bay Street, which the federal government very much has a vested interest in protecting. Left, or right. Remember, the Supreme Court Redwater ruling had a negative effect on the banks and it was Bay Street and the appeal of banker investment that Kenney has been concerned primarily about as we discussed in 'Alberta's plan for the $2.4B? Helping defunct oil companies circumvent the Supreme Court'.

Of course Kenney and the oil companies are claiming they are "unhappy" with the huge amount of risk the taxpayer has kindly taken on for them which conveniently makes Canadians feel righteous and ok with "cleaning up the environment". In fact numerous people on Twitter have debated with me and my stance that well remediation produces nothing of tangible value, the argument being that restoring the land has tangible value.

Well sure, yea, not living in a trashpile is nice, but ending up where you started out means you didn't produce anything. If it did, people would be knocking down doors to cleanup each other's messes. It produces nothing more for you to eat. It produces nothing more for you to build with, or drive with. It produces nothing which is why the Supreme Court after decades of deliberate neglect finally ruled that oil companies had to cleanup their wells before paying their creditors. They made the profit, or their creditors did, hence they should pay for the non productive task of cleaning up the damage.

Instead Canada handed them a blank cheque and a promise that all they have to do is wait until their financials go south and then Canada will rush to the rescue. Of course this has always been the plan anyway. And it is most certainly also the plan regarding tailings ponds which havent had hardly any progress in 40 years, and all of the other damage.

The gift of environmental cleanup isn't enough though apparently, they ultimately actually need "liquidity" according to Kenney:
More liquidity than the $4.7 billion tax cut that went straight into stock buybacks?

The truth is they've been needing "liquidity" for a long time, and the bigger truth here is that Kenney knows full well they are not going to get it, because as the Teck CEO recently admitted, they wouldn't invest in oilsands again and the entire premise of doing so was based on their misreading of.. wait for it.. PEAK OIL!
“If I go back in time to when Teck first went into the oil sands business, at that time we had quite a number of reasons why we thought it was appealing,” Lindsay said, referencing the then-prevailing theory of “peak oil,” barrels trading above US$100, and the emergence of large Calgary-based energy firms.
Effectively, Alberta's entire modern oilsands dominated oil industry exists because a bunch of dumbass fuckwad "Calgary school" greedy idiots figured that a barrel of oil could skyrocket to the moon and somehow the economy would remain stable. That the $100 barrels were all gravy and their costs would never increase to reflect the decreasing EROEI that extraction represented and you can damn well bet this means they never bothered to have any plans to address the damage as the economic premise of operating them was based on this was "the last of the last".

The oilsands don't represent a sustainable future at all, they represent a bet, a cash grab, one that has required a perpetual lie of forever prosperity for Albertans while those in charge knew full well there was an inevitable end to it (as early as 2012, and probably a decade or more before that).


These are the same fucking idiots who are now claiming taxpayers need to bailout the oilsands industry because if they don't people won't have cellphones and all sorts of nonsense even though the world is in a (temporary) glut of real oil (not the far lower quality bitumen Alberta passes as oil). More and more I'm seeing this line of reasoning coming from the increasingly detached pro-oilsands crowd conflating the issue of shutting down oilsands with the world shutting down actual oil production as if Alberta actually matters in the grand scheme of oil production.

Its amusing, because the world is basically shutting down oilsands for us. We've been priced out of the market (much as the US has and other unconventional jurisdictions as well, but their infrastructure can take a lot more hits)

$0 Oil Forces Canada To Shut Down Crude Production

Idle North Sea oil rigs point to fresh crisis

We're about to reach the inevitable next chapter of the oil crisis: The industry shuts down

US Oil Rig Count Collapses As Wave Of Shale Well Closures Begins

Enbridge cuts spending after falling oil demand hits crude flows

This has always been inevitable. The mistake of Alberta's dumbfuck "Calgary School" economic leaders was thinking the good times would last longer than they did. As I covered in Alberta's Great Panderer, even in January of 2019 when Harper was giving his private talk to investors there was still some optimism but that optimism clearly subsided by the time Kenney took office with "cost cutting" becoming the new mantra on Bay Street.

The parade of corporations leaving Alberta hasn't subsided with Murphy Oil the latest to depart. I am happy however to see more Albertans now questioning the very foundation of the UCP: that Kenney is actually trying to "save" the oil industry at all.

This fits with the observation I made in Alberta's Great Panderer, that despite Kenney being in power now, favorable taxes, a propaganda centre dedicated to 24/7 promotion of the industry via tax dollars and misused TIER funds, and their claims that it was all "Notley's fault": they're not leaving under Notley they're leaving under Kenney and with much shinier balance sheets than they would have under Notley. Coincidence? I doubt it.

The anger in Alberta is only increasing and this is of course why Kenney's adoption of the flimsy Krause Conspiracy was so integral to his message and win: it's much better for Albertans to blame the problems the industry always knew were coming on the Great Green Conspiracy, and foreign oil billionaires because every other countries' oil industry is apparently ruthless and corrupt and Canada's just shits roses. Kenney's had to quickly wrap up his corruption and agenda in a new cloak.

Kenney's messaging has been falling apart ever since. Without the great green conspiracy to lean on his outright attacks on Alberta's wealth, public service, and property have become much more obvious. His new "wars" against COVID-19 are not nearly as effective as rallying the useful idiots; they were ready to go to war against the environmentalists and Ottawa, wars the Harper conservatives have been pushing now for years in a carefully crafted propaganda narrative meant to capture liberty minded Albertans.

The new wars are not very effective in garnering Canadians support either after Kenney's initial propaganda messaging and wars relied heavily on Albertans separating themselves from Canada and increasingly isolating from common-sense (as we discussed in 'Albertans' emotionally abusive relationship with the UCP').

The new narratives are not carefully crafted, they do not have the work and the support and the mockingbirds repeating the messaging and planting seeds to later grow. Worse for Kenney, the new messages require re-programming those who believed the old ones and its not going so well. The new narratives don't speak to Alberta's carefully crafted culture and they don't provide sufficient redirection of the anger. Some is splashing back on Kenney:
The main problem for Kenney now is that his messaging isn't appealing to anyone and it's causing the propagandist parade to have to work overtime acting as though there is support for ideas the UCP is putting forward when in reality there is little. His rabid supporters want him to stay the course, separate, stick it to Ottawa, take back all of "Alberta's money", and go after the "foreign attacks on Alberta" that they've been brainwashed into believing exist. It's going to be very difficult now for Kenney to convince them Ottawa's handouts are good without losing his legitimacy in the process.

It should also be obvious now to Albertans given the disaster that the corrupt privateer Tyler Shandro has created for the UCP and that Kenney still "backs", that Kenney doesn't give a fuck if he is re-elected (as we last discussed in 'Buffalo Theatre' - and which frankly I need to pat myself on the back regarding this one and Kenney's subsequent 180, who else called that? Anyone?). Clearly Tyler Shandro is part of Kenney's little agenda and can not afford to be replaced as health minister. I highly doubt very many backbench MLAs are in on Kenney's agenda thus I doubt Kenney has much to choose from regarding a cabinet shuffle. It would be a simple nod to the conservative base to replace Tyler Shandro and avoid further embarrassment for them especially since even prominent conservatives like Licia Corbella think so.

Yet, he doesn't, and that speaks 1000 times louder regarding his intentions and associations. There is a lot of simple dog whistles Kenney could make to revive his falling popularity, it's not like UCP supporters are that smart in the first place it doesn't take much to fool them (remember, these are the folks that thought Kenney getting into power and a corporate socialist propaganda centre would revive Alberta and have been making excuses ever since about why it hasn't).

The pandemic itself isn't partisan at all and plenty of conservatives have also been noticing the blatant bad faith of the government regarding doctors. Remember, conservatives are people too. They have health problems, they have doctors, and I'm sure they don't appreciate receiving letters from their doctor about how shitty the UCP is. They didn't get those about the NDP, and you can bet most of those rural docs vote UCP. Hmm.
I'm sure they also aren't appreciating their "savings" from the "carbon tax" going straight into their increased insurance premiums. I'm sure they're not appreciating the UCP's focus on selling Alberta's parks during a pandemic. You can be sure even their supporters are starting to notice that the UCP seems to do nothing but offload risk on to taxpayers and liquidate Alberta's holdings. Which is exactly what Harper and the IDU helped him steal his leadership, and go on to aid the general election campaign for in the first place. Is there any doubt now?

Even fucking Doug Ford is polling better.

It should be very clear now that Kenney has a specific agenda, that Kenney does not care about being re-elected (because after this term he will probably be accepted into the world of elite banking), and that he is on a time table to have it completed. A time table so tight he's had to piece together new propaganda to cover for it on the fly and hasn't even been able to stop long enough to revive his popularity. This will have lasting repercussions for the UCP as already stories of "regret" from UCP voters have been making the rounds. But the UCP is just a means to the ends for Harper and Kenney anyway, they are a lamb to be sacrificed on the alter of the new feudalism coming at us fast as those in the know already know the fate of the party given the problems that are coming doesn't matter. None of them plan to be in Alberta when that happens, I assure you.

The lack of liquidity for the oil industry is simply a Harbinger of the economic doom to come for Alberta as the other shoe of unfunded environmental liabilities hasn't dropped yet and the rich are running out of time to run for the exits.

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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.

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