Don’t know about anyone else living in Quebec, but the referendum in Scotland is not bringing back very good memories. We don’t even have to go back to 1995 to feel that knot in the pit of our stomach. The last provincial election was a kind of referendum. A PQ win ensured a quick referendum at best. At worst, a drawn out affair with a referendum a year away. Either way, our economy would have been decimated. No doubt the results in Scotland will be close. While everyone claims there will not be another referendum for a generation, we have our serious doubts, especially if the no side wins. Let’s hope after the results are announced tonight people waiting around in the pubs (and likely imbibing too much alcohol) will not take to the streets in a destructive manner.
Here’s a little insider tidbit about the referendum results: The Western Isles of Scotland, also known as the Outer Hebrides are described as a paradise of powder white beaches and Atlantic waves, dark moorland and rugged mountains. The capital is Stornoway. It’s also where people are voting for the referendum.
Problem is, there’s a heavy fog and the plane which is supposed to pick up the ballot boxes can’t land. They may have to resort to sending the ballot boxes by sea. Hope they don’t get wet or they may have to do this whole thing all over again. It seems that a few members of the parti quebcois had nothing to do this past week. For sure they thought that being in the National Assembly here while it’s in session was a waste of time. Where are they? Why in Scotland of course. They are so infatuated with the referendum over there that they marched with the yes side yesterday.
The last time we looked, they had no business mixing into another country’s referendum and for sure not marching with either side. Ya think princess pauline gave them this idea? Na, she’s still in gardening mode. Wonder who paid their flight, hotel and restaurant bills?
In the ‘what were they thinking’ category, Urban Outfitters obviously were not thinking when they manufactured a blood-stained sweatshirt. On May 4, 1970 four students were killed on the Kent State University campus while marching against the Vietnam war. Urban outfitters recently manufactured a blood-stained sweatshirt with the Kent State University logo. The company claimed that the red dye ran on the sweatshirt.
That may be so, but it didn’t run where the very dark blood spots were on the sweatshirt, looking very much like someone had been shot.
As with Zara (they had swastikas and other anti-semitic symbols on a purse and clothing), they are pleading ignorance. Sorry, it doesn’t fly. If one Googles Kent State, even to just dig up their logo, the second piece on the page highlights the killings by the National guard on that fateful day. Urban outfitters has taken the clothing off their website, but the damage has been done and they don’t come out of this looking good. If you have a Toyota, you best be checking the latest recall. Even the shmancy Lexus is involved in this one. It’s for 2014 and 2015 cars. Some fuel leak business.
Anyone hear Rob Ford’s recording? Oy, he sounds awful. He managed to tell people to vote for his brother Doug for mayor. We wish him well in what literally sounds like the fight of his life.
Overnight, Australia uncovered a plot by isis to kidnap ordinary citizens and behead them publicly in Sydney and Brisbane. Authorities acted last night because, as they stated, their information was not just suspicion but intent to carry out this horrific act.
The government has said it believes about 100 Australians are actively supporting extremist groups from within Australia, recruiting fighters and grooming suicide bomber candidates as well as providing funds and equipment. We don’t want to alarm you, but this also happening right here and throughout North America. We best hope that our intelligence is able to deal with these people. Nothing more to say.
You may have heard the word Alibaba bandied around the internet and news in the past few days. Here’s what you need to know:
Alibaba is China’s largest retailer founded in 1999 by Jack Ma as Alibaba.com, which connects Chinese suppliers of pretty much anything with buyers. If you put e-bay, google and amazon into one company, you would come up with something like Alibaba.
Alibaba is responsible for 80 percent of all online sales in China – the world’s second biggest economy after the United States – and handles more transactions than eBay and Amazon combined.
Alibaba’s biggest website is now Taobao. It has 760 million product listings from 7 million sellers.
Now for the money part: Alibaba turned over $6.73 billion in 2013.
Here’s the key to whole piece: On Friday (that’s tomorrow), Alibaba is going to release 368 million shares (with a starting price of between $66 and $68 per share) onto the New York Stock Exchange in order to raise around $25 billion in funds that it can then use to expand the company to the US and Europe.
Now we’ll make you feel better about this whole thing: Over 88% of Americans have never heard of Alibaba. Phew, we thought we were outta the loop.
We’ll be sending out a special Blanche Report tomorrow with the results of the referendum in Scotland. Unless of course we’re up in the middle of the night which we usually are listening to Red Eye Radio. We’ll get on the case then.
Good Shabbos, We’ll talk…
PS: Seems they wear a skirt under the kilt:)
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