Previous month:
September 2018
Next month:
November 2018

Aussies tumble

The Australians are having trouble scoring in the first innings:

Since the first Test of the series in Durban, Australia's first-innings tallies have been 351 in 110.4 overs, 243 in 71.3 in Port Elizabeth, 255 in 69.5 in Cape Town, 221 in 70 in Johannesburg, 202 in 83.3 in Dubai, and now 145 in 50.4 in Abu Dhabi.

After their stunning, record-breaking second innings a few days ago, this 145 all out is so bizarre. The Pakistanis slowly managed almost the same number of runs with a loss of only two wickets. If Asad and Babar click tomorrow and take the lead to 500 runs, then, again, Australia will have to fight like mad to save the Test. A draw is even more unlikely since the Aussies will have to survive for two days.


Canadian History

The first legal recreational cannabis has officially been sold in Canada at a shop in downtown St. John's.

In Newfoundland and parts of Labrador, which has a separate timezone from the rest of Canada, midnight comes earlier, and people were ready and waiting for marijuana to be sold to them over the counter.

The first sales went to Ian Power and Nikki Rose, who lined up outside awaiting the opening of the Tweed retail location on Water Street in downtown St. John's.

The first person to sell recreational marijuana in Canada was Bruce Linton, the co-CEO of Canopy Growth Corporation.


Totally glueless

The cannabis cultivators in Canada do not have enough supply for the recreational legalization which starts tomorrow. On top of that they have to glue a dumb government stamp on every SKU which will cause a further supply crunch:

At a warehouse in Smiths Falls, Ont., a row of sleek-looking machines are in full function, carefully pasting colourful stamps onto packaged cans and packets filled with dried cannabis.

It’s an efficient process that belies what has been a near-universal annoyance for licensed producers in the runup to legalization: the need to paste government-issued excise stamps onto hundreds of thousands of cannabis packages prior to sale.

Linton isn't amused:

“So you gotta put — appropriately so — different excise tax stamps for each province, but then the company that makes the excise tax stamp doesn’t put glue on the back. So now you have to find somebody to attach glue to stick on to the product.… Who would have thought that’s a thing?” lamented Bruce Linton, whose company, Canopy Growth Corp., ultimately decided to source machines that would just get the job done as quickly as possible.

It's funny that many talking heads are yapping about the looming shortage of marijuana and yet the government couldn't even manage to deliver a small piece of paper on time:

Among the issues were that the stamps arrived late, that they didn’t fit certain producers’ package sizes and that they had to be manually glued on to ensure that they fully comply with specifications listed in the Excise Act.


Fake Pocahontas

Trump will win bigly in 2020.

Why would Elizabeth Warren fight Trump on his terms by performing a dumb DNA test? Not only is she an idiot but she also has terrible political instincts. Now, even more people are going to call her fake.


Brutally battered

Fiona Simpson, 23, was driving on the highway with her four-month-old daughter Clara and her 78-year-old grandmother when the group was caught in the powerful storm.

Simpson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation she pulled over and thought to wait out the storm. But the car was not up to the task of the sheltering the family, and large hail began smashing the windows, spurring Simpson to leap to the backseat and try to shield her daughter from harm.

The photos are unbelievable. It's shocking to note that she was in her car the whole time while the hail did that much damage to her body.


Saudi Barbaria feels the heat

The government of Saudi Arabia on Sunday vowed to retaliate with "greater action" if the Trump administration punishes the country for the apparently preplanned murder of a dissident earlier this month inside its Turkish Embassy.

Jamal Khashoggi, who wrote columns in the Washington Post critical of the Saudi government, entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul October 2 and disappeared. Trump has said the U.S. would be “very upset and angry” if the Saudi government was behind it and, in an interview with "60 Minutes," he clarified that there would be "severe punishment."

"The Kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by waving economic sanctions, using political pressure, or repeating false accusations," the country said in a statement released by the Saudi Press Agency.

This whole event is surreal for two reasons:

1. Saudi Arabia has been ruled by a family of ruthless thugs for over 85 years. A few years ago, they executed a Shia cleric and his supporters. Also, these Arabs literally behead people in public for the horrible crime of possessing an alcoholic beverage. Where the fuck was the global media outrage over this barbaric regime for the past century

2. Why did the dumb Saudis murder the guy in such an obvious manner? They basically dropped a piano where a shiv would have been sufficient. Just how inbred are they that they can't even pull off a simple, low-key assassination of an unarmed man?

Anyway, it's cute that the Saudi family is threatening the whole world. The global opinion on Muslims is already in the gutter thanks to the 24/7 evil of Muslims. Surely, this menacing attack on the pocket books of every single economy on Earth from the heart of Islam is going to help their cause.

It wouldn't be surprising to see the wicked Saud family crash and burn before they make it to a 100 years.


Meme of the Year

The NPC meme — a humanoid graphic which substitutes a blank ASCII face for expressiveness, to which is attached standard neolib boilerplate — is the sort of soulkilling reminder that the SJW hordes don’t think for themselves and lean on digestible anti-White pabulum to help them feel unique. It’s a clever repurposing of the autism slur to apply to social media consumed leftoids who mouth late night talk show shibboleths thinking it makes them renegades.

I laughed so hard at the core truth of this glorious meme.

NPC meme


The Religion of Peace

HUNDREDS of Islamist extremists have rallied in Pakistan to demand the death sentence for a Christian woman convicted of insulting the Prophet Mohammed.

Asia Bibi was put on death row in 2010 after she was accused of blasphemy during a row over a water container by fellow farmworkers in the capital of Lahore.

Chanting "Hang infidel Asia," activists from the Tehreek-e-Labbaik party also rallied in other cities on Friday, threatening nationwide protests if authorities free the woman.

What is her crime?

The charge against Bibi dates back to a hot day in 2009 when she went to get water for her and her fellow farmworkers.

Two Muslim women refused to take a drink from a container used by a Christian.

A few days later, a mob accused her of blasphemy and she was convicted and sentenced to death.

And you thought the Kavanaugh hearing was bad. Here, two Muslim bitches complained about a Christian woman who had the audacity to drink water from the same container as them. Now, Pakistanis want her head.

The two Muslim women who levelled the charges against Bibi denied they were quarrelling with her, saying her outbursts against Islam were unprovoked.

Yet several independent witnesses who gave statements recounted a cantankerous exchange between the women.

This is the evil that the West has imported within its borders over the past few decades. There is no reasoning with these people. They'll eagerly murder a Christian woman even if she's found to be innocent of the wicked charges.

Joseph Francis, an activist for Pakistan's Christians, said France, Spain and Germany have all offered to welcome Bibi should she be acquitted.

But Khadim Hussein Rizvi, the leader of a radical Islamist party, warned after the postponement that "no blasphemer will be able to escape punishment".

Twitter is full of Muslims who are demanding her immediate death. For example:

Translation of the Urdu text in the image: Hang Asia Malauna. Islam doesn't give the right to life to those who insult the prophet.


So close to carnage

A mere one second delay would have resulted in the deaths of hundreds:

Air Canada’s near miss at the San Francisco International Airport last year could have resulted in a catastrophic outcome, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). [...]

Air Canada flight 759, an Airbus A-320, was cleared to land on a runway, but the plane lined up on a parallel taxiway, which had four airplanes on it awaiting takeoff clearance.

Here's the video:

The Air Canada flight almost ripped off the vertical stabilizer of one of the planes. I can't imagine the horror of the pilots on the ground.


The Culture War

Just got a few emails:

Your transaction to ALT-HERO:Q on Indiegogo has been refunded!

Indiegogo’s Trust and Safety Team determined this campaign didn’t comply with our Terms of Use. You’ll no longer receive any perks associated with this transaction. Please visit our help center for further information on how Indiegogo protects users.

Vox Day:

Needless to say, we're looking into this. We've got everyone's email addresses and so forth, so if we have to set up our own crowdfunding platform, we will do so. However, in light of the fact that Indiegogo has done this retroactively, we are already looking into the legal aspects of their actions.


The Religion of Hygiene

Saudi Arabia does not allow non-Muslims entry into their holiest city which means that the passengers on a flight to Makkah are all Muslims.

WARNING: The following content might cause you to vomit. Viewer discretion is advised.

One of the replies reminds us of another disgusting video:


Too Much Intelligence

According to a new report today from Reuters, the Seattle tech giant was forced to scrap an AI recruiting engine after the company came to realize that the algorithm was excluding women.

It gets so much better:

Using data from a decade's worth of resumes, the engine was designed to scan employment and academic histories using recognized patterns from other high achievers, and some 50,000 keywords. But because the vast majority of the CVs came from men, it taught itself that male candidates were preferable, rejecting words like "women's" as well as graduates from all-female colleges.

(Laughs.) The AI was too good at detecting bullshit degrees. Of course, Amazon stopped it. The future version will totally respect wahmen!


Never a dull day for Canopy

So much has changed in the world of cannabis since 2013:

From the moment the federal government set out new rules in 2013 to encourage the industrial production of medical marijuana, the race was on.

But there was no reason to think Tweed Marijuana, created by Ottawa entrepreneurs Chuck Rifici and Bruce Linton, would be the one to win it.

On June 6, 2013, the day the new marijuana regime was established, the two had little money to invest, no production facility ready, and their firm had no licence from Health Canada to either grow or transport cannabis products.

Canopy Growth Corporation will be an engrossing case study for many business students in the future. I've followed it since it started trading on the stock exchange in April of 2014. It is the most ambitious cannabis firm in the world. If all goes well, then it'll be getting $5 billion in cash from Constellation Brands by the end of this month. 

There doesn't seem to be any middle ground. Either, Canopy dominates with the highest top-line for years to come or they waste the money and end up as an epic failure.


Astute Amazon

Amazon’s recent decision to raise the minimum wage it pays its workers to $15 an hour was greeted with enthusiasm and praise, with no one more pleased than independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who tweeted: “This is what the political revolution is all about.”

Bernie is a socialist clown who got hoodwinked by the Goliath.

A week after Amazon’s announcement, The New York Times published a piece headlined Why some Amazon workers are fuming about their raise.” It turns out a lot of Amazon employees say they are mad about the wage hike because they’re now losing other compensation and bonuses that they valued more than a higher hourly rate.

No more financial rewards for good attendance and productivity. No more granting of Amazon stock.

Just one share of Amazon per year would be roughly $2,000 for a worker. That's a massive cut for a low-wage employee.

Notably, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is also advocating for the U.S. federal government to increase the legal minimum wage, which is music to progressives’ ears, but is also very good for Amazon.

It’s easy for a company of Amazon’s size and with Amazon’s revenue to sacrifice a tiny percentage of their profits for a higher hourly pay rate, but for a lot of employers, even a modest wage hike would represent a significant percentage of what they take in.

Will Bernie tweet his support again? It's funny that bleeding heart leftists are happy and supportive when a beast like Amazon advocates for the destruction of its competitors.


Test no. 2030

When I woke up today, Australia was at 87/0. I read a few news stories and checked the score again and it was 87/3. The Marsh Ducks were to blame.

I thought that Pakistan would push for a 500-run lead for the psychological edge but they declared with a 462-run target for Australia. It's still too much. The only question now is: for how long will Australia survive on the fifth day? Under 30 overs would be my bet.


Pakistan vs. Australia

142/1: a respectable start in a Test match. 202 all out is an excellent score ... for a T20 game.

60 Runs for which Australia lost all their ten wickets after the openers had put on 142. The collapse is the third-worst for any side after a century opening stand. The two worst such collapses were India's 10 for 46 against England at Old Trafford in 1946, and New Zealand's 10 for 51 runs against Australia at Auckland in 1974.

42 Runs by Australia's last nine wickets are the fewest in their first innings in the last 50 years. After the openers, the highest individual score was Mitchell Marsh's 12, and only two others got into double-digits.

What's really shocking is that the main architect of this destruction has never played a Test match before! On the flip side, these two Aussies had the worst start to their Test career:

6 Instances of two debutants in the top-six batting positions making ducks in the same innings. Australia's Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne got out for ducks to the debutant Bilal Asif in the same over. It was only the third instance when debutants at No. 5 and 6 got out for ducks.

Brutal. The Aussie batsmen will likely face the refreshed Paki bowlers at the end of day 4. If their openers don't survive, then it's game over for Australia.


He fights!

The Democrats thought that they would win because Trump would throw Kavanaugh under the bus but that's not how the God Emperor rolls.


The slow end to cannabis prohibition

CBD oil will be medically available in the UK soon:

Cannabis oil will be available on prescription to people with chronic pain across the UK within a month, it has been reported.

Currently cannabis-derived medicines are only prescribed in exceptional circumstances, when permission is granted by a panel of medical experts, but the Home Office is set to relax the rules.

Later in the article, we get this gem:

Cannabis oil and other medicinal cannabis treatments do not produce a high as they do not include the active THD which recreational marijuana contains.

THD? It's True High Definition!


Won't you feel sorry for this colored Muslim woman?

This is the most stunningly narcissistic take on the Kavanaugh confirmation:

An American donates $0.50 and comments:

Use this to go back to your own country and stop bitching about ours. MAGA

(Laughs.)

She replies by saying that she works. Then we get this:

Another forked-tongue Muslim. The best reply:


SCOTUS has a new judge

The God Emperor gets his second Supreme Court judge in just two years!

The Senate has confirmed Brett Kavanaugh as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, putting a second nominee from President Donald Trump on the highest court in the land.

Kavanaugh was confirmed 50-48 Saturday during a historic roll call vote in the Senate chamber. The two-vote margin is one of the narrowest ever for a Supreme Court nominee. The vote unfolded with protesters shouting from the gallery.


The poison spreads

Yup.

When a husband beats his wife, it's assault. Correct.

When a husband has sex with his not super enthusiastic wife, it's assault. Wait ...

When a husband slaps his wife's ass without her notarized consent, it's assault. WTF!

A lot of men are going to get the Kavanaugh treatment in the US.


Won't you feel sorry for wahmen!?

It doesn't matter how luxurious life becomes, some women just have to manufacture drama by portraying themselves as eternal victims.


The best bud from BC

TheCannalysts tour Broken Coast, and provide investors with a 'boots on the ground' look at how one of the pre-eminent producers in Canada do what they do.

Broken Coast grows what is widely considered to be the best cannabis flower in Canada. Aphria -- one of the Big Three Canadian marijuana licensed producers -- acquired them early this year. Watch the video:


7th century meets 21st century

A violent man has been jailed after livestreaming himself punching his wife and hitting her with a shoe while saying ‘I’m going to kill her today’.

Uber driver Rahman Ullah, 38, hit his wife Raja, 34, with the heel of his shoe until she was left with two black eyes in the video streamed to relatives in Pakistan.

That's Islam and Muslims in a microcosm. They don't have the IQ bandwidth to build a phone but that doesn't stop them from showcasing their barbarity in real-time to relatives in a different time zone. What's stunning is that after live-streaming the brutal beating, the thug denied it!

Ullah initially told police his wife was the aggressor and attacked him until eventually admitting his guilt.

Give the man a Nobel!


Mad Dog!

This is so Mattis:

During a brief Friday press conference discussing the recent incident in which ricin-laced mail was sent to him at the Pentagon, United States Secretary of Defense James Mattis confirmed that the highly toxic poison was “delicious,” stating “I warmed it up in the microwave, put a little mustard on it and ate it as an afternoon snack.”


Tired of winning

Glenn Reynolds:

Trump knew he’d been vetted enough that there would be no real skeletons, and he no doubt expected that the Democrats would be so desperate they’d invent some. They would have done that with anyone he put up — but, precisely because Kavanaugh was a milquetoasty DC Establishment type, seeing the Democrats go into full batshit assault mode on him galvanized the other milquetoasty DC Establishment types. You could see the lightbulbs go off in their heads: The Democrats don’t hate Trump because he’s Trump. They hate all Republicans and want to ruin them. Even me! And they always will.

The result is that the Kavanaugh affair has welded the Trump and NeverTrump forces (except for a few sad outliers who don’t matter) into a solid force. And it’s simultaneously galvanized GOP voters around the country, closing the “enthusiasm gap,” as the normals become more militant. Plus, it seems that minority voters aren’t as excited about empowering neurotic upper-class white feminists as you might — well, actually, I guess they’re just about exactly as excited about empowering neurotic upper-class white feminists as you might expect, but it seems Dems didn’t give that much thought. So Kavanaugh was, in fact, the perfect pick to trigger this reaction.

Trump is going to win big in 2020.


Those Canadian kulaks

It's stunning when Leftists propose tax increases on the filthy rich in the modern world. Capital is extremely mobile. Wealthy people won't just sit around and let the government steal more of their money; they'll a) move it to another jurisdiction, b) simply work fewer hours, and c) hire accountants for some serious tax planning which, surprise!, results in lower tax revenues for the Leftist idiots.

One of the economics lessons I learned early on is that governments essentially have two choices when it comes to managing a budget: cutting spending or raising taxes. But what if raising taxes actually leads to lower tax revenues? That possibility was not covered in our Grade Ten class but seems to be playing out right here in Canada.

According to a new study out this week from the C.D. Howe Institute, the federal government’s decision to raise taxes on the top one per cent of income-earners likely only yielded about a third of the tax revenues that would have been raised without what’s known as the “behavioural response.” In turn, this also resulted in provincial budgets suffering fiscal losses greater than the federal revenues raised.

The government ignored its own advice from 1966:

[...] the idea of a top rate capping out at 50 per cent can be found in the 1966 Carter Royal Commission Report on Taxation [...]

“We are persuaded that high marginal rates of tax have an adverse effect on the decision to work … (and) on the decision to save.… We think there would be great merit in adopting a top marginal rate no greater than 50 per cent. With such a maximum marginal rate, taxpayers would be assured that at least half of all gains would be theirs after taxes. We think there is a psychological barrier to greater effort … when the state can take more than one half of the potential gain.”

The top marginal tax rate in the largest province of Canada is 53.53%. The Liberals raised the income taxes on the rich and ended up getting lower tax revenues. No wonder they are losing all over Canada in numerous elections.


Ban the niqab

France's most-wanted fugitive Rédoine Faïd was tracked down by police through phone-taps and was discovered using a burqa as a disguise, prosecutors say. Faïd, 46, was detained on Wednesday in the town where he grew up north of Paris. Six others are being held. He broke out of jail on 1 July, escaping in a helicopter flown by a flying instructor who had been taken hostage.

This is why the burqa, more specifically the niqab, is a huge security issue. This guy had broken out of prison. It would have been stupid if he had not used a burqa or a disguise to evade the police.