I recall the day in late May when the federal Liberal government bought the Kinder-Morgan pipeline for $4.5-billion. I recall telling a number of folks that the purchase was, essentially, to ensure it never gets built. Since I’m a cynic by nature, many laughed the notion off when I said as much. Well, here we are three months later and the chances of this pipeline being built are slimmer than when the bumbling feds bought it, thanks to an activist judge. You can bet there is no chance the judge who just threw 8000 people out of work doesn’t walk from his home to the courthouse each day. I don’t think he (or she) takes transit either. You can bet he takes an airline flight every once in a while too. I’m thinking he, possibly, heats his home and doesn’t throw on an extra layer of clothing in the winter. He, probably, also buys groceries from a supermarket that accepted food from a semi-truck. The hypocrisy is very real in this matter. Unless you are willing to give up everything that requires oil or gas, then I don’t want to hear your holy take.
Mainstream media fails again as I’ve seen a number of reports the Tides Foundation has paid over $1-million to various groups to ensure they stay opposed to pipeline construction. One northern Alberta First Nations Chief received $55,000 and it was done in a very seedy way. Former Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall has also made it a point to let people know (because media won’t) that 43 First Nation bands were in favor of this project.
A 9-year-old American boy committed suicide on the fourth day of school after being bullied by his classmates for coming out as gay and wearing fake nails to class. There is a lot wrong in this tragedy, not the least of which is the absence of leadership from the parents. I’m not interested in arguing whether or not a 9-year-old is capable of understanding whether he is gay or not. I’m more interested in the parents sitting the child down and explaining that going to school on day one with fake nails may come as a shock to other 9-year-olds. Leftists will tell you the boy was bullied to his death because other 9-year-olds were anti-gay. I’m telling you he was bullied to death because they teased him for being different. The onus was on the parents to teach and lead in a much more effective manner so it could be introduced more gradually. Furthermore, a 9-year-old shouldnt even grasp the finality of suicide. Not what the parents want to hear, but a lot of the blame is at their feet.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are 3-and-0 since they gave Duron Carter his walking papers. Chemistry. The most understated element when building a sports team. It matters so much.
As the Toronto Blue Jays say good-bye to Josh Donaldson in a salary dump style trade and they embark on this ‘rebuild’ for the next three years; I feel it’s important to point out a few things. The first of which is that the Jays will slash their payroll in half but the ticket prices to go watch basement talent will only go up. The second of which is that rebuilds should never need to take place. They are a smokescreen for bad General Managers who call their screw-ups a ‘rebuild’ in an effort to preserve job security. Thirdly, almost all of these ‘rebuilds’ fail. Yes, I know the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs won the World Series the last two years and they both stripped down to nothing before doing so. Do you think the Cubs and Astros were the only teams to try this? Look at the American League Baseball season as it is now. Basically, everyone is rebuilding except Boston, New York, Cleveland, Minnesota (who failed to contend), Anaheim (who failed to contend), Seattle, and Houston. Oakland is in the mix by accident and Tampa Bay has 71 wins through mysterious ways. That means Toronto, Baltimore, Chicago White Sox, Detroit, Kansas City, and Texas are all rebuilding. The Indians, Twins, and Mariners may all do the same next year. There is a good chance none of them will win a World Series in the next five years.
Here’s my favorite rebuild trade ever: the Philadelphia Phillies, in 2015, traded pitcher Cole Hamels to the Texas Rangers because it was assumed Hamels would have no value to the Phillies by the time they were ready to be a contender. So, they got six prospects for him to help them build for the future. None of the six have been meaningful players. Nick Williams is a regular outfielder, but he’s nothing over the top special. Jorge Alfaro was the catcher for the first half of this year, but he was benched for Wilson Ramos because the Phillies needed a veteran catcher to help them contend for this year. The other four haven’t panned out. It’s ridiculous. Meanwhile, the Phillies could now use an ace pitcher like Hamels to help them catch Atlanta for first and don’t have one. Even if they did beat Atlanta without Hamels, they’d likely lose to the Cubs anyway and it would be great to see it happen with Hamels on the mound. Rebuilds are frauds.
Nice people this week: Craig Zamzow, Lynda Parsons, Ken Penner, Clark Stork, and Ryan Kormos.
