STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS: THE POLITICS OF HOPE VS FEAR

January 13 2016: Obama has his critics on the Republican side of the aisle but never in his two terms in office has he nailed the State of the Union address like he did last nite Tuesday January 12th 2016. 

Without the diplomacy of Obama Administration the situation of the US Navy personnel being detained by the Iranians after mistakenly entering Iranian waters?  A quick resolution would never have taken place.

We live in different times in a fast changing world. One can ignore change and even deny it. But regardless change will and does occur and you either accept change and roll with it?  

Or change to be certain will roll over whoever is in its path regardless.

Donald Trump spews rhetoric that is  racist, xenophobic, islamophobic, isolationist, divisive in content and tone and alarmist in its negative rhetoric bias. 

Offering only insult to policy and bluster to review, his criticism of Fox Journalist Megan Kelly let alone Senator and POW John McCain should IMO disqualify any Presidential Candidate considerations.

 His glaring ineptitude of understanding the nuclear equation as in the nuclear “triad” as evidenced in the last Republican debate when taken to task on the subject by Marco Rubio was not just concerning but utterly alarming.

Where are the next JFK’s and MLK’s of the USA-the once beacon of hope for the rest of the world to aspire to when you need them.

Fear mongering never trumps (pardon the pun) the vision of hope and the path to the White House in 2017 will not be paved thru the generation of constant and baseless  Trump generated insults. 

Hope and fear are two very powerful human emotions that often get played in the world of politics

One conveys the premise of a Republican Nightmare that the world is going to hell in a handbasket; the other the Democratic promise of the  pursuit of the American Dream.

May the US citizen wake up before its to late….because the old adage of the ancient sages certainly comes to mind.

That being “….be careful of what you wish for because it might just come true…”

Needless to say the creation of hope “trumps” the language of fear all the time.

Just don’t ask Donald because very soon in Iowa he’ll find himself  “fired”.

SS

Update: Trump lost the Feb 2 2015 Iowa Primary to Ted Cruz.

REPORT

Obama Pushes Back Against Republican Rhetoric in State of the Union

Obama took on Trump and other GOP presidential candidates but conspicuously

• BY DAN DE LUCE
• JANUARY 13, 2016
• 

While the raucous and often bizarre Republican race for the White House has played out in recent months, President Barack Obama has largely stayed above the fray in the Oval Office. But in his final State of the Union address, Obama waded into the campaign Tuesday, firing back at heated rhetoric from Donald Trump and other candidates who have labeled him a weak leader unable to take on Islamist extremists or other threats to America.

Defending his foreign policy without calling out his critics by name, Obama argued he chose a wise course of limited military action against the Islamic State, instead of a debilitating “quagmire” that would require a massive ground force. Although the Islamic State poses a “direct threat” to the United States, Obama said the group does not “threaten our national existence” and the danger needed to be kept in perspective.

And in the most emotionally charged moment of the speech, Obama warned against scapegoating Muslim immigrants, issuing an impassioned appeal for tolerance and civility.

In a clear rebuke to Trump and some other candidates who have called for denying American asylum for Muslim refugees to prevent potential terrorist attacks, the president said “we need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion.”

On the campaign trail, Trump has won cheers when expressing disgust with “political correctness,” but Obama said: “This isn’t a matter of political correctness. This is a matter of understanding what makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal; it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith.”

Trump responded, dismissively, about 90 minutes after the speech ended.

“The State of the Union speech was one of the most boring, rambling, and non-substantive I have heard in a long time,” the GOP front-runner tweeted.

But while he sought to counter his Republican critics, Obama either glossed over or outright omitted some uncomfortable subjects that have plagued his national security team in his second term.

Perhaps the most glaring omission was the president’s failure to mention the war in Afghanistan — the longest in the country’s history and where 9,800 U.S. troops remain on the ground. Obama last year reneged on his pledge to bring all American forces home from Afghanistan, due to the resurgence of the Taliban and al Qaeda. And yet he gave no indication in his speech of his assessment of the war effort in Afghanistan, or whether the U.S. military mission should continue.

As expected, Obama cited the nuclear agreement with Iran and the restoration of ties with Cuba as successes that illustrated the value of persistent, multilateral diplomacy. But he made only a cursory mention of the brutal war in Syria and the latest bid to try to launch peace negotiations, without addressing criticism from allies and opposition activists that Washington needs to directly confront the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

He argued the U.S.-led air campaign against the Islamic State was steadily weakening militants in Iraq and Syria, and rejected calls from some Republicans for a broader military strategy involving more boots on the ground.

“We also can’t try to take over and rebuild every country that falls into crisis,” Obama said. “That’s not leadership; that’s a recipe for quagmire, spilling American blood and treasure that ultimately weakens us. It’s the lesson of Vietnam, of Iraq — and we should have learned it by now.”

But in citing the previous mission in Iraq, Obama failed to acknowledge that he chose to send back more than 3,000 troops to the country over the last 18 months to help fight the Islamic State in another open-ended war.

In rebuking the Republicans, Obama portrayed his leadership as measured and sober, suggesting his critics were engaging in irresponsible bluster. Without mentioning GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, Obama hit back at the Texas lawmaker’s vow to “carpet bomb” enemies in the Middle East.

The world expects the United States to show leadership, Obama said, “and our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians.”

The president added: “That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesn’t pass muster on the world stage.”

Cruz called Obama’s speech “more of the same,” in a series of scathing tweets. “The American people are tired of having a president who will not even acknowledge the evil we’re facing much less do anything to stop it,” he wrote.

In contrast to traditional State of the Union speeches, Obama did not propose a laundry list of initiatives to be passed by Congress, or attempt to outline his foreign policy priorities region by region. As such, Obama’s address did not delve into Washington’s disapproval of Russia’s moves in Syria or Ukraine, or reiterate U.S. displeasure with China’s expansionist claims in the South China Sea.

Instead, Obama posed questions that he said political leaders — and Americans — would need to answer, including: “How do we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its policeman?”

Obama also reiterated many of his familiar tropes on climate change, mocking Republican skepticism about the science while boasting of U.S. progress in cleaning up its energy system and curbing emissions of greenhouse gases. Hailing the international accord reached in December in Paris as the world’s most ambitious climate agreement, the president again ticked off the economic benefits to be derived from a transition away from dirty fossil fuels and toward clean energy.

Yet he also betrayed the bipolar approach to energy and climate that has bedeviled his administration and many others. He applauded lower gasoline prices — “and gas under $2 a gallon ain’t bad, either,” he said — even though many administration policies are designed to rein in energy consumption by raising the price of fossil fuels. At the same time, the driver of that cheap gasoline — a historic plunge in the global price of crude oil — is wreaking havoc across America’s own oil patch.

Although he sidestepped a discussion of his foreign policy disappointments, Obama did offer a candid verdict on his shortcomings as a political leader. The president noted that too many Americans feel “their voice doesn’t matter,” and lamented that the partisan divide had worsened during his tenure.

“It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency — that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better,” Obama said.

“I have no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I’ll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office.”

FP‘s Keith Johnson contributed to this report.

Overpaid vs Underperforming?

 

 

Winnipeg Jets Contracts

 

PLAYER (25)	POS.	AGE	EXP.	CONTRACT TERMS	AVG. SALARY	EXPIRES
Tyler Myers	D	25	6	7 yr$38,500,000	$5,500,000	2019
Blake Wheeler	RW	29	7	6 yr$33,600,000	$5,600,000	2019
Tobias Enstrom	D	31	8	5 yr$28,750,000	$5,750,000	2018
Dustin Byfuglien	D	30	10	5 yr$26,000,000	$5,200,000	2016
Bryan Little	C	28	8	5 yr$23,500,000	$4,700,000	2018
Andrew Ladd	LW	30	10	5 yr$22,000,000	$4,400,000	2016
Ondrej Pavelec	G	28	8	5 yr$19,500,000	$3,900,000	2017
Mark Stuart	D	31	10	4 yr$10,500,000	$2,625,000	2018
Mathieu Perreault	LW	28	6	3 yr$9,000,000	$3,000,000	2017
Drew Stafford	LW	30	9	2 yr$8,700,000	$4,350,000	2017
Grant Clitsome	D	30	6	3 yr$6,200,000	$2,066,667	2016
Jacob Trouba	D	21	2	3 yr$5,575,000	$1,858,333	2016
Mark Scheifele	C	22	4	3 yr$4,875,000	$1,625,000	2016
Nikolaj Ehlers	LW	19		3 yr$4,875,000	$1,625,000	2018
Chris Thorburn	RW	32	10	3 yr$3,600,000	$1,200,000	2017
Alexander Burmistrov	C	24		2 yr$3,100,000	$1,550,000	2017
Joel Armia	RW	23		3 yr$2,775,000	$925,000	2016
Adam Lowry	C	22	1	3 yr$2,775,000	$925,000	2016
Connor Hellebuyck	G	22		3 yr$2,775,000	$925,000	2017
Andrew Copp	C	21	1	3 yr$2,775,000	$925,000	2017
Paul Postma	D	26	5	2 yr$1,775,000	$887,500	2017
Ben Chiarot	D	24	2	2 yr$1,700,000	$850,000	2017
Anthony Peluso	RW	26	3	2 yr$1,350,000	$675,000	2017
Michael Hutchinson	G	25	2	2 yr$1,150,000	$575,000	2016
Adam Pardy	D	31	7	1 yr$1,000,000	$1,000,000	2016

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO WORK ETHIC?

 

 

THE SAD CASE OF GENERATIONAL SOCIAL ASSISTANCE MOTIVATION

I am all for supporting those in need vs those taking advantage of the system and finding it all to easy to add another kid to their welfare monthly allowance  borne by the taxpayer than to seek and secure gainful employment. Social assistance was to help the disadvantaged, not to be taken advantage by those who become complacent and comfortable living off the blood sweat and toil of others and loose the incentive to better themselves because doing so would mean their guaranteed subsidized way of life void of the self responsibility to provide for themselves and their families would be removed.

If one wants to see how fast someone will consider an entry level position paying $30,000 a year salary vs staying home on the couch watching sitcoms all day picking navel fluff out of their bellybuttons with no aspirations to get off the dole?

Take away the safety net if after a certain period of time of receiving social assistance whereby no retraining program with free day care provided had been embarked upon, no employment interviews undertaken and no courses registered to attend for retraining or apprenticeship considerations; no goals no ambition or projected date for finally being self sufficient?

Cut these individuals monthly GOC assistance cheques in half -IN HALF-and into living accommodations that fit the actual “low rental” description instead of in some case a residence that rivals a mid entry level 2-3 bedroom 1200 sq ft condominium; and ensure a counsellor is appointed to each case much like a probation officer; not to help an individual apply for welfare but as a mentor and coach in keeping them inline and towing the line to stay off of it.

In the case of true mental or physical or learning disability or medical issues including addiction? Those types of situations obviously require special consideration and exemptions as these are not elective situations but matters of true unfortunate circumstance. 

I would also fully fund child daycare because parents willing to take on the task and effort required for vocational and skill training should not have to deal with the stress of caring for the child while focusing on bettering their families lives..and few would argue.

I would also include free birth control and family counselling for both wed and unwed mothers.

If a new graduate or immigrant to this country and land of opportunity are willing to accept an entry level job in a profession or take on menial work in the service industry to make ends meet till higher income and job opportunity is found?

Then so to should we as a nation and as a society expect those receiving something for nothing eventually to do the same.

The only way to break the generational welfare cycle is by making those that lack the motivation and resolve to become self sufficient is to cut the free ride entitlement programs to where a hungry belly and crying mouth to feed takes priority over a pack of cigarettes; to where a kids lunch for school takes priority over the slot machine at the local casino or a case of beer; where pride and self respect starts to become a desired character trait again over feeling no shame attending the local food bank because its became a way of life over a stop gap measure to bridge needy individuals and families thru an unfortunate phase.

Teach individuals not to be willing “victims of circumstance” by giving them the tools to over come them; provide the field and the plough but they need to be willing to bridle the horse to do the work.

For the blue collar parent on an average salary with mouths to feed its a constant act of compromise and financial struggle; where nothing is guaranteed and two weeks into the future means they were successful in making it thru till next payday.

Its time those using the social safety nets of assistance in Canada as a lifestyle started realizing their sense of entitlement is not only disabling to their own empowerment; but the price for their willingness to accept their situation vs challenge it is paid for by every working family and individual who when faced with the same set of circumstances?

Didn’t hold their hands out for help but put their work gloves on and earned a living vs having one provided for them.

Responsibility is made of the two words “response” and “able”.

Its time those responsible for this generational welfare cycle from both the enabler (GOC) perspective to those being enabled (welfare recipients) understood nothing will ever change till those receiving benefits are given a “hand up” to self reliance thru employment vs all to willing to accept the social assistance equivalent of a “handout” where the only difference between them and the beggar in the street?  

Is the former will be holding a sign begging for money….and the latter will receive it in the mailbox instead.

We all should be so lucky.

SS

 

WORKING JOE vs. WELFARE JOE

 

You have two families: “WORKING JOE ” vs “WELFARE JOE “. Both families have two parents, two children, and lives in Canada.

WORKING Joe works in construction, has a Social Insurance Number and makes $25.00 per hour with taxes deducted.

Welfare Joe does not work, has a Social Insurance Number, and gets paid $15.00 per hour “without leaving the house”.

Ready?

Now pay attention…

Working Joe : $25.00 per hour x 40 hours = $1000.00 per week, or $52,000.00 per year.
Now take 30% away for provincial and federal taxes.
Working Joe now has $31,231.00 net.

Welfare Joe : $15.00 per hour x 40 hours = $600.00 per week, or $31,200.00 per
year. Welfare Jose pays no taxes. Welfare Joe now has $31,200.00 net.

Working Joe pays medical and dental insurance with limited coverage for his family at $600.00 per month, or $7,200.00 per year. Working Joe now has $24,031.00 net.

Welfare Joe has full medical and dental coverage through the Provincial and local clinics at a cost of $0.00 per year. Welfare Joe still has $31,200.00 net.

Working Joe makes too much money and is not eligible for welfare. Working Joe pays $500.00 per month for food, or $6,000.00 per year. Working Joe now has $18,031 net.

Welfare Joe has no documented income and is eligible for welfare. Welfare Joe still has $31,200.00 net.

Working Joe pays rent of $1,200.00 per month, or $14,400.00 per year. Working Joe now has $9,631.00 net.

Welfare Joe receives a $500.00 per month federal rent subsidy. Welfare Joe pays out that $500.00 per month, or $6,000.00 per year. Welfare Joe still has $31,200.00 net.

Working Joe pays $200.00 per month, or $2,400.00 for auto insurance. Working Joe now has $7,231.00 net.

Welfare Joe says, “We don’t need no stinkin’ insurance!” and still has $31,200.00 net.

Working Joe has to make his $7,231.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, etc.

Welfare Joe has to make his $31,200.00 stretch to pay utilities, buy gas, prepaid cell phone card, (alcohol/cigarettes) and play at the Casino.

Working Joe now works overtime on Saturdays or gets a part time job after work.

Welfare Joe has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family & friends.

Working Joe and Welfare Joe’s children attend the same school.

Working Joe pays for his children’s lunches while Welfare Joe’s children get a government sponsored lunch.

Working Joe’s children go home after school, while Welfare Joe’s children have an after school ESL program provided free.

Working Joe and Welfare Joe both enjoy the same police and fire services, but
working Joe paid for them with his taxes and Welfare Joe did not.

Do you get it, now?

If you support any politician that supports our welfare system, you are part of the problem!

It’s way PAST time to take a stand for Canada and Canadians!!

source: http://wildwestfarm.blogspot.ca/

Shawshank Chronicles Model Portfolio Update

 

The SS Chronicles Portfolio YE Update and  Go4Wd Discussion

During the week of Dec 7th to Dec 15th the model portfolio added aggressively to its existing exposure to Magor Corp (TSX MCC) between .015 and .025 per share representing a current return on investment of appx 225% as of Fridays Dec 18th close of .095 per share.

 Due to managements historic record of great success in past business practices (TSE listed NewBridge Networks sale to  Telecom Alcatel for $7.1billion) and the geopolitical environment being supportive AND advantageous to Magor’s Video Collaboration Interoperability Technology in both the security and non security sectors the outlook for Magor Corp and its Aerus Cloud/Windows app is cautiously optimistic.

The portfolio culled its exposure selling out of KEEK (TSX KEK) due to management changes and what we believed to be the company not announcing in a timely manner the departure of key development and marketing personnel  VP Jamie King (TakeTwoInteractive and Guitar Hero founder/creator) placing the proceeds from the sale of Keek in Eurocontrol Technics (TSX EUO). 

The portfolios average price in  Eurocontrol was .055 per share secured in May 2015.

The stock price as of .185 Dec 18th 2015 close represents an appx 250% ROI for those who entered the stock at .05 to .06 per share in spring 2015.

Graham Holding Company (NYSE GHC) model portfolio  adding in  $560-$585 USD range. 

The model  added to Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B-NYSE  in the $128 USD range during the NYSE short pullback periods.  Berkshire is Warren Buffet’ holding company and should be considered a core holding for anyone looking at holding individual company stocks.

Mood Media (TSE MM) positions were closed.

The model  is looking for an exit point in Rainmaker Resources (TSX RMG) as the portfolio’s outlook for the company has changed due to over riding sector outlook and lack of traction in corporate developments.

The model cost  on Transgaming Inc TNG-TSX is .04 per share and the outlook remains the same that the company will be acquired. The breakup value or the acquiring value is greater then what TNG’s current market cap demonstrates and its technology will be attractive to another company in the sector.

The model’ exposure to Kane Biotech (TSX KNE) remains in place. The models cost shows .04 average cost but an exit point for the model is being considered.

Strata Energy  (TSX SXE)has taken a hit with the decline in oil prices. The model lowered the average price to .075 per share. The models position is currently at an appx 40% loss.

Management at Strata-X however are top notch in this sector and have historically proven they can return value to shareholders having sold past small cap petro plays from pennies per share to $Billion acquisitions to larger company interests including PetroChina.

 

New Company Additions to the SS Chronicles Model Portfolio:

 Calyx BioVentures CYX-TSX joined the model at .025 per share. N

Hit Technologies HIT TSX was added to the model  at the same time as Calyx BioVentures at price of .18 to .22.5 per share. This represent an appx. current loss of 40%.

Eurocontrol Technics Inc. EUO-TSX was added to the model  May 2015 with an average cost  at .055 per share.  The stock price as of .185 Dec 18th 2015  represents an appx 250% ROI to those tracking the models holdings.

Intro: Eurocontrol announced Dec 18th 2015 shareholder ratification  on their definitive agreement  with Swiss giant SICPA.

The Definitive Agreement sees Eurocontrol offload its GFI subsidiary to SICPA in exchange for a upfront $16million payment/a 5% royalty stream 6yrs in duration ($1.5 million minimum guarantee per annum)  along with an exclusive hardware supply agreement to SICPA for GFI fuel marking monitor equipment.

The deal represents a baseline (minimum) total acquisition price of $25million over a 6yr period.

SICPA a private Swiss Company in the certification sector; has relationships/contracts established in over 200 countries globally, is expected to provide the necessary access and exposure to government agency contracts for GFI’s  “tag and track” fuel marker technology that Eurocontrol appeared to be experiencing some “headwinds” securing new contracts in 2015  as a standalone entity that having SICPA as the brand with a much larger corporate footprint should be able to address.

http://www.eurocontrol.ca/news/eurocontrol-announces-purchase-agreement-with-sicpa-for-sale-of-subsidiary-global-fluids-international-sa-and-exclusive-long-term-supply-maintenance-and-support-agreement2.aspx

With the SICPA deal behind them Eurocontrol has not yet raised the visibility  related to its commercial rollout of an exciting robust new technology  in the SemiC/Wafer/3D sectors thru their XwinSys subsidiary.

This leads us to believe the company  may have hit some minor  “tweaking”  issues in late beta trials; which coincidentally enough involve  “some of thee largest SemiConductor Companies in the world” participating in their product development and therefore the commercial rollout date for XwinSys which was pigeon holed for early 2016by the company may have been pushed back but is speculation and unverified.

 The stock price as of .185 Dec 18th 2015  represents an appx 250% ROI to those tracking the models holdings.

 NB. As of December 21st 2015 investors and the market are waiting for the company to provide an update regarding XwinSys commercial status/ the go4wd strategy and Eurocontrol valuations have remained somewhat range bound.

 Eurocontrol could very well be a “takeover” candidate in the latter part of 2016 as the XwinSys  Semi C technology moves forward and therefore are of the opinion that the long term investor should/will be rewarded for their patience. 

However if more visibility regarding the XwinSys commercial rollout timelines  is not known sometime within the first quarter of 2016 the position will be re-evaluated as this is a key product line for Eurocontrol and represents another “best of breed  disruptive technology” for the company and investors going 4wd.

Pacific Safety Products Inc. PSP-TSX joined the model inl 2015 at an average cost of .16-.165 per share. Current value of .185 per share as of Dec 18th 2015 represents appx 15% ROI. The outlook is remains bullish given the geo-political climate amidst  terrorism concerns and the company providing wearable ballistic body armor/personal protection to the military and law enforcement sector.

Enpar Technologies ENP-TSX  joined the portfolio in fall 2015 at an average price of .08-.085 per share.  We are monitoring this position and if certain milestones fall behind schedule in 2016 will close the models position.

Street Capital Group SCB-TSE joined the model in  Dec 2015 at $1.30 per share. Should the company be successful in its chartered bank application with an announcement expected soon traction in the valuations should show positive return.

 

Year End 2015 Shawshank Chronicle Model Portfolio Holdings

 

Mutual Funds : TD Epoch US Equity US$ Large Cap Value Fund/ TD US Mid Cap Fund

 

Individual Stock Holdings:

Established Companies:

Berskshire Hathaway (Baby B’s)  NYSE- BRK.B/ Performance Sports Group Ltd  TSE  BAU/  GoldCorp G-TSE/  Power Corp  POW-TSE / FairFax Financial Holdings FFH-TSE/  Grahams Holding Company GHC-NYSE/ Investors Group IGM-TSE/ Street Capital Group SCB-TSE (new)

Turnaround (Value) Situations: 

Pacific Safety Products Inc PSP-TSX (new)

Speculative Growth Stocks:

  Strata-X Energy Corp SXE-TSX /   Magor Corp MCC-TSX/   Rainmaker Resources RMG-TSX/    Transgaming Inc TNG-TSX/  Kane Biotech KNE-TSX / Calyx Bio-Ventures Inc. TSX-CYX (new) / Enpar Technologies ENP TSX (new)/ Pacific Safety Products Inc. PSP-TSX (new)/ Eurocontrol Technics Inc ENP-TSX (new)/ Hit Technologies Inc. HIT-TSX (new)

Tracking Companies:

Patient Home Monitoring PHM-TSX/   Pyrogenesis PYR-TSX  /  Clearwater Water Systems CLI-TSX  (new)  Tinkerine Studios Inc TTD-TSX (new)    

NB. This will be the Chronicles last stock related submission for 2015.

 A Merry Christmas to all and a Prosperous & Happy New Year  to all in 2016!                                                                                         

(Blog Authors Note: Each Company held within the Shawshank Portfolio will be featured in detail (time willing) in future installments of the Shawshank Chronicles site related to investing.

Disclaimer: not intended as investment advice or solicitation for investment purposes. The use of the word “model” is to make it known that this is a model portfolio not  necessarily a personal one and that the author may or may not hold the equities listed within the model itself;  it is prudent for any investor to sell half of their position taken when any company’s stock price doubles from the investors average cost per share, and remove their own monies put up as “risk capital” in the process.

It is also  prudent in our opinion not to overweight/market time/ day trade or involve themselves in the excessive use of margin; and that  Due Diligence before making ANY investment is necessary and that Due Vigilance AFTER taking a position in ANY company is required.

 

 

SS

KEEK UPDATE TSX KEK

Notice: As of May 2015 the portfolio position and exposure to KEEK TSX KEK was sold at a loss. The company Eurocontrol replaced KEEK within the Shawshank Chronicle Portfolio TSX EUO. Average purchase price was .055 per share. Half of the position was sold at a price between .165 and .18 per share in June 2015 to remove all principal and some profit from the investment leaving behind the other half of the original position taken free and clear for the continued expected upside.

In fall of 2015 a second position in Eurocontrol was taken in another account with an average cost basis of .145 per share.

Currently as of Dec 18th 2015 TSX EUO closed at .185 per share.

Eurocontrol will be profiled in the near future.

 

DEVILS ADVOCATE BLOG ARTICLE ON MAGOR CORP TSX MCC

From “The Devils Advocate Blog”obtained at stockhouse.com on a Shawshank Chronicles portfolio company Magor Corp MCC-TSX

 

NEW INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY MAGOR CORP TSX MCC

Dec. 20, 2015

 

New Investment Opportunity: Magor Corp TSX MCC

Rating: Strong Buy

52 week High 0.15

52 week low 0.015

Last Dec 18th 2015 .095

Shares O/S 51.7million

 

MAGOR CORP was originally founded and funded in 2007 by Sir Terry Matthews thru the Wesley Clover Investment Fund.  Mr Matthews formerly of TSE listed Newbridge Networks was the moving force behind the $7.1 Billion sale to Alcatel.

Newbridge was developing a set of high-end Internet-based equipment that combined voice and data traffic–technology that Alcatel didn’t at that time have. Newbridge was also a leader in asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) technology, which sends voice and data signals over networks at high speeds.

So Terry Matthews foray into High Definition Video Collaboration with the creation of Magor Corp should give its retail investors a certain degree of comfort given his history of realizing a large return for early investors that followed his leadership.

Magor’s technology in the video collaboration space is called Aerus.

Matthews viewed the reductions in HD video cameras and monitoring devices and saw the potential up for grabs to exponentially make a positive impact on the better use of video  in enterprise and government markets and the investment opportunity in providing a robbust and technologically superior cost effective service.

In 2010 commercial software began rolling out with the intent in creating better use of video in the enterprise and government markets by advancing the technologies involved.
MCC from the very start had important architectural advantages that allowed the company to become a Visual Collaboration Company, where HD video provides the interaction means for today’s more intensive need for this service.

Description of Magor’s Technology (*obtained from another website)

1. Dynamically Adaptive Scalable Video Coding (SVC). This software codec determines the capability of the network connection between each node and encodes in real-time the best possible HD video performance. As the network conditions change, often as a result of congestion, the algorithm adapts to ensure this video performance is optimized. Standard video codecs then and now are based on H.264 coding (typically a separate hardware component) which requires a minimum network performance to ensure good video, which for full 1080p resolution translates to guaranteed levels of network bandwidth – at a cost that restricts usage.
2. Native Interoperability with existing codecs. As a connection is made to another device, Magor’s software codec ‘handshakes’ with the device and spawns the correct codec for this connection. The alternative is to route each call through a separate gateway function to perform this connection. This routing becomes both a network bottleneck, and a single point of failure as well as adding additional delay in the transmission and of course extra costs.
3. Perhaps the most significant technical achievement was they developed a connection model based on peer-to-peer topology. This can also be called video switching as that is how each sites is connected in the model. This eliminates the need for an external bridge (called a Multipoint Control Unit or MCU). This was not an easy development for them, but the benefits are enormous including:

• elimination of the costs of the MCU (often $100’s of thousands and up for large implementations)
• eliminates the delay, network bottleneck (another one), and single point of failure associated with this device.
• perhaps the most important benefit of video switching is each node connected, whether it is a large boardroom or down at the desktop can now select which site they look at and how they look at it (ie full screen, split screen, etc). The result is an experience most like that of being in the room together, where everyone can decide who to look at whatever (eg collaboration) or whomever they want to. This compares very favourably to an MCU multi-site call where the typical display mode is active speaker. In that mode, the active speaker is displayed, which works ok when only one person is presenting, but quickly becomes untenable in an interactive discussion.

4. There is one additional and fundamental difference between an MCU based call and a Switched Video connection. In the former, the collaboration is treated as a simple screen share, with one PC at a time connected. The screen is captured and sent to all other sites as a secondary lower bandwidth channel. This limits collaboration to simple one-way sharing of one PC at a time. Today’s worker needs to not only share data, they need to work jointly with others on this material and they may need to share several pieces of relevant data at the same time. Finally from what I can see that shared data may be a separate video stream (perhaps from an IPhone) or a high resolution image for medical purposes. In other words, the Magor switched video architecture supports a much more intensive collaborative environment in real time.
5. Aerus cloud service. This provides a robust connection and IMO administrative service for public, private and hybrid services will like this. The cloud allows for network optimization over multiple connections by relaying video signals as needed as opposed to sending multiple videos from each site. The cloud also can support a virtual meeting room environment where multiple callers from different sites (including mobile) can connect to a person’s private virtual meeting room (VMR).

Early customers to Magors Aerus Cloud commercial launch included  Christie Digital, Sony Pictures. Ivey Business School and Discovery Air.

The company has been in the news the past couple of years announcing contracts with the Government of Canada, a large Middle Eastern Country, and on Dec 9th 2015 disclosed contractual status with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

OTTAWA, Dec. 9, 2015 /CNW/ – Magor Corporation (TSX-V:MCC), is pleased to report additional orders in support of the continued nationwide expansion by the RCMP of Magor’s innovative Visual Collaboration software. To-date, the RCMP has deployed Magor’s software in over 100 sites across the country.  The orders received for an additional 29 systems reflects their on-going geographically expansion of deployments, both for meeting rooms and desktop applications.

As an early recipient of the BICP award (Build in Canada Innovation Program) to foster Canadian technology into the Canadian Government, Magor and the RCMP have worked closely together to address RCMP needs for Video and Collaboration. Since that introduction, the RCMP has continued to expand the scope and usage of Magor’s software.

“As would be expected, Magor has had to address the specific needs of the RCMP for this nationwide deployment, with security and network performance fundamental to their needs,” said Ken Davison, EVP Sales and Marketing for Magor Corporation. “We are very pleased with the support from RCMP divisions as they broaden their adoption of Magor’s software. In particular we have worked closely with them to confirm the bandwidth efficiency of multipoint calls including the ability to engage low bandwidth locations such as the far north.”

http://www.magorcorp.com/news-release-Dec-9-2015-RCMP.php

This was a big positive win for the company as GOC and its various agencies are long in duration but hard to secure and many different levels of administrative approval are required before a purchase order is recieved.

The fact that Magor is now embedded with the RCMP should be taken as a definite competitive advantage going forward, as the Magor news release states that the Canadian RCMP continue to “expand the scope and usage of Magor’s software”.

This has broad reaching RCMP deployment possibilities in surveillance and security applications from the desktop PC and mobile to operatives in the field.

Aerus Cloud and Windows applications could also apply to military concerns for real time video collaboration command and control situations both domestically and abroad.

The company announced December 10 2015 of continued Government of Canada (GOC) interest to add to their existing dept by dept implementation of Magor’s Aerus Cloud and Aerus Windows HD video collaboration solution techology.

Tho this adoption by the GOC is gradual we believe with the change to a liberal government and the Trudeau’ adminstrations election promises to small business along with supporting new technology development, that a tipping point will occur and that order demand by the GOC for Aerus product, support and service could increase dramatically.

Ironically Magor was working on interest in the United States and the State of Texas for broad based applicatons of Aerus Cloud at the local and state levels-but was put on the backburner till the Aerus Windows application was developed to meet specific needs in the market place.

We believe this stateside interest will possibly now be re-ignited for the ability of Magors Aerus Video Collaboration technology applies to many deptartments with vertical agency applications.

See Magor May 2014 State of Texas news release.

http://www.magorcorp.com/news-release-May-30-2014-Texas.php

Inparticular with the current american fixation with home grown terrorism Magor may find itself in the sweet spot of product demand, political paranoia, and protectionism with a nation wide focus on national security converging at just the right time.

From the Magor June 17th 2014 news release it is clear that management view the USA Law Enforcement and Home Land Security opportunies to be clearly in their crosshairs.

News release

TransGlobal partners with Magor to enhance their situational awareness offering for US law enforcement agencies

Enhanced solution transforms command and control operations by delivering a unique video-enabled workflow environment with access to real-time emergency response information

http://www.magorcorp.com/news-release-June-17-2014-TransGlobal.php

 

For a greater understanding of the Aerus Technology click here:

http://www.magorcorp.com/aerus-experience.php

 

The Aerus platform

Magor’s mission is, and has always been to inspire users to interact with video in new ways to create improved modes for productivity.

Bringing this goal to life called for a different architectural approach that removes the limitations of traditional single-workflow video conferencing systems – one with the flexibility to adapt to different workflows as users move from one task to another.

The development of a completely new user-centric platform has provided us the freedom to rethink traditional strategies for scalability, interoperability, security and information sharing– resulting in significant technical benefits for deployment and support.

Aerus is a natural evolution of our platform to the cloud in delivering video interactions to the enterprise as a service, with all the capabilities necessary to fulfill the promise of new modes for productivity at lower cost.

Aerus Service Delivery Platform

• Layered service delivery
• Distributed server architecture
• Flexible cloud deployment modes
• Video stream switching

Aerus technology

• High quality visual conversations
• Scalable video coding
• Interoperability library
• Codec-agnostic media processing

 

Management and Magors Board of Directors have an impeccable professional background of success led by Chairman of the board and founder Sir Terry Matthews (NewBridge Networks $7.1 Billion sale to Alcatel) and its CEO Mike Pascoe(NewBridge Networks).

Sir Terry Matthews, Chairman and Director

Sir Terence Matthews is the founder and Chairman of Wesley Clover, an investment vehicle and holding company. Terry has either founded or funded over 80 companies since 1972 including Newbridge Networks, a company he founded in 1986 and which became a leader in the worldwide data networking industry. In 1972, before launching Newbridge, Terry co-founded Mitel, a world leader in the design and manufacture of enterprise communications solutions. Wesley Clover now has interests in a broad range of next-generation technology companies, real estate, hotels and resorts.

In addition to being the Chairman of Wesley Clover, Terry is also Chairman or Director of a number of private and publicly traded companies.

Terry holds an honours degree in electronics from the University of Wales and is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In 1994, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, and in the 2001 Queen’s Birthday Honours, he was awarded a Knighthood. In 2011, he was appointed Patron of the European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute.

http://www.magorcorp.com/about-board-of-directors.php

 

Leadership team

Mike Pascoe

President and CEO

Mike Pascoe is well known for his strong record of building shareholder value in the telecommunications industry and for his active role on the boards of leading up-and-coming technology companies, such as ANDA Networks. Most recently, Mr. Pascoe was CEO of Meriton Networks and led its private sale to Xtera Communications. Previously, Mr. Pascoe was CEO and President of PairGain Technologies, which ADC acquired in 2000 for $3 billion. Prior to PairGain, Mr. Pascoe was a key member of the executive management team at Newbridge Networks (acquired by Alcatel in 2000 for $7 billion) as the president of the U.S. division, as well as the EVP/GM of the North and South American business regions. Prior to his 14 years with Newbridge, Mr. Pascoe held various engineering and marketing positions with Nortel, Mitel and the telecom division of Rockwell International. Mr. Pascoe holds an electrical engineering degree from the University of Waterlo

http://www.magorcorp.com/about-leadership-team.php

 

The Devils Advocate Investment Opinion?   

 

There are currently 51.7 million shares outstanding with the principals having a good portion of their own “skin in the game” thru ownership of Magor Corp shares. The company may decide to do a capital raise soon as it enters a rapid growth phase and the share price has rebounded strongly on the most recent announced RCMP contract news and expansion of a Government of Canada Dept paid trial.

http://www.magorcorp.com/news-release-Dec-10-2015-Aerus-for-Windows.php

We expect this could “pop” in early 2016 with material results.

Sir Terry Matthews has continued to supply access to liquidity as required but we see this as a stop gap measure as bridge financing.

The company has transitioned itself to more of a recurring revenue software “sale and service” model where Magor receives a monthly servicing fee from its expanding customer base and given recent developments and the breadth and experience and pedigree of Magors management and its Board of Directors that raising capital thru a secondary placement will be successful.

There is no current analyst coverage on Magor which makes it a perfect candidate as a holding within the Devils Advocate Portfolio.

The DA views Magor with tremendous investment upside as the opportunity becomes more broadly recognized but individual investor due diligence is required.

 

YOURS IN PROFIT “…And may you be a half hour in heaven before the devil knows your dead”

Titanimous

 

COMPANY PREVIEW: MAGOR CORP TSX-MCC

Advance Notice. Magor Corp (TSX MCC) a speculative holding will be profiled later this coming month. http://www.magorcorp.com/

Still Waiting for KEEK to KOME KLEAN

About Us

Keek combines the energy of video with the brevity of text to create a new kind of social network. A Keek is a short video (up to 36 seconds) and 111 characters of accompanying text that can be enabled thru the web, IOS, Android and Windows 8 mobile platforms.

April 30th is  upon the markets tomorrow.

KEEK TSX- KEK (last @.40) has not provided a further update related to their earlier announcement about the resignation of 3 board directors, Sheldon Inwentash, Mike Maradino and David Birnbaum.

In the content of that latest NR it is bundled with disclosure that a “strategic investor” is doing due diligence on the company with the consideration of taking a “controlling block” .

The positive implications of a single strong player showing an interest in taking a control block was lost gauging from the market reaction and selloff that occurred on the heels of the announcement.

No doubt the release was poorly worded and vague from a communication end point and retail investors perspective.

No assurances were given that this “strategic investor” will take a position upon the conclusion of their due diligence period- only that a control block position is being evaluated.

Still, having KEEK with a sector savvy strategic investor from either an operational side of the business or from a financial one showing interest?

At this stage of the game can only be considered ‘advantageous”.

Which naturally leads to unbridled investor speculation as to whom the “strategic investor” may be.

KEEK giving up a control block to a strategic investor in essence is selling the company- in so much that the strategic investor with a control block will have the lions say in the ongoing direction that KEEK as a social media micro video player takes going forward.

There is speculation that the strategic investor could be related directly to the social media sector as in being a bellwether.

Facebook has taken runs and bought out would be competitors early in their development life and paid handsomely for other companies they thought would create synergy to their own core competencies.

Facebook itself in 2007 had CEO Mark Zuckerberg agree to sell his then private fledgling to Yahoo Inc! for a mere $1billion- and by mere we mean in comparison to the in excess of $110Billion USD the company is worth today.

Thankfully for Zuckerberg and his co-creators and his principal investors the sale to Yahoo fell thru on Yahoo’s end or as the saying goes “the rest would have been ancient history”.

One Zuckerberg today would probably be looking back on with regret.

Both Inwentash and Maradino collectively would be the two largest single investors via individual shares held in KEEK and the majority open market purchased and would at the current price?  

Be under water.

So if any strategic investor comes in or a unsolicited buyout offer for the company is received, common sense prevailing would indicate the price points would have to be high enough to keep Maradino and Intenwash happy.

Maradino acting as the interim CEO of then privately held KEEK -during the RTO phase with his company Primary Petroleum- did a March 2014 online interview discussing the exit plan for executives-that being a $1billion price tag and a major come looking to acquire what KEEK had to offer vs the expense and time involved of trying to build that same asset value from scratch itself.

Keek may be a long ways from the $1billion price tag Maradino wanted to see in a sale-so the strategic investor may be another player in the social media space like a Meerkat wanting to protect their livestreaming space which KEEK announced earlier in April it was moving into, thru developing its own App-and with both KEEK and Meerkat having the mutual interest of wanting to stay independent as long as they can till the stakes in terms of valuations get raised accordingly-much of their mutual interest may arguably be inline.

With Meerkat being squeezed out by Twitter when its own livestreaming app Periscope went live and without a strategic working relationship with Facebook that KEEK has thru the FB Messenger F8 news released back in late March 2015-and with a user base at 74 million registered and 20% of that number in the category of unique visitors -those are numbers that dwarfs Meerkats and cannot be ignored and both companies are focused on the same demographic user group-so having the two compete against each other in the livestreaming space as separate entities may not make a lot of sense.

Business sense or common sense.

 Meerkat has the access to capital with its CEO being quoted as having received emails in terms of financing offers to the tune of some $1/2billion USD if he were to count them all.

Add to that the livestreaming app space has gone viral with the Millennials and Generation Z’s (Zombie Generation) giving Meerkat and Periscope some media spotlight “sexy” right now – the argument could be made some type of KEEK and Meerkat marriage to be somewhat compelling.

But till KEEK itself starts acting like a publicly traded company to its retail investors vs carrying on as tho its not accountable to them and provides timely meaningful updates?

More speculation will continue.

Editor Disclosure:  Author owns a position in KEEK. Article intended not for investment advice or solicitation.

KEEK IN TRANISTION OR BEING PUT INTO PLAY?

About Us

Keek combines the energy of video with the brevity of text to create a new kind of social network. A Keek is a short video (up to 36 seconds) and 111 characters of accompanying text that can be enabled thru the web, IOS, Android and Windows 8 mobile platforms.

KEEK. TSX-KEK a participating stock in the speculative section of the Shawshank Stock Portfolio is in an interesting transition related to a current financing underway for gross proceeds of “up to” $15 million with over allotment provisions for the underwriter Cantor Fitzgerald Canada.  As of April 21st 2015 the company has yet to close the PP and the most current update provided in NR format of this past Monday, the company states they continue to negotiate financing terms and conditions related to their first tranche that was expected to close on our about April 10th 2015 but “market volatility” whereby the strike on the PP would be determined has complicated matters related to agreement being made on what price the strike should proceed. Further to that complication was disclosure that KEEK is currently being considered for investment purposes by a person or party interested in participation in a controlling block of equity being taken and that this entity is currently still going thru their due diligence phase of investment assessment, and that their can be no assurance that upon conclusion of this party or persons interest in taking a controlling block in the company will result in that process moving forward.

Standard wording and cautionary statement being provided by KEEK on the matters at hand.

Personally given the recent market volatility stemming by and large from the perceived retail investor “lack of confidence” in delays the company is experiencing in the closing of this large round of financing, I am not surprised the valuations have taken a hit on the “crisis of confidence” issue created, even if perception  based only.

And if perception is left without being addressed for any length of time duration?

Can become a self full-filling prophecy.

Clearly KEEK is situated in the sweet spot of convergence between social, media and video where from all accounts the social media landscape is evolving and migrating to.  Social Media Video over mobile is quickly becoming “the next big thing” where the amount of advertising dollars predicted to be spent over the next 3-5yrs is expected to be off the hook.

 KEEK is in an enviable position to capitalize on its growing demographic user base and participate in this ongoing tsunami  effect of advertising resources.

Boasting 74million plus registered KEEK users and some 14 million “unique/active users”, with a revenue model rolled out in mid Aug of 2014 and in consideration of the positives that will result to an increase in KEEK traffic from a recent strategic partnership with Facebook Messenger, the KEEK upside could be substantial.should it get its financing house in order.

With the company disclosing it will continue to bring new platform apps to the development forefront and with bold expectations being communicated for KEEK 4.0 (with a projected release fall 2015) the need to secure operational capital till they turn cash flow positive is paramount as the company’s current immediate focus.

Under VP  KEEK Content  Mr Jamie King (TakeTwoInteractive-Guitar Hero) KEEK has dramatically made improvements to the end user experience and significantly increased engagement, time on site and reduced churn accordingly.

Where they have fallen short is on the Investor/Public Relations side of the business case which given the size and growing pains is not unheard of, unacceptable for any common shareholder to tolerate, but not unheard of for companies of this size going thru corporate and structural changes behind closed doors, but not public scrutiny.

However given KEEK is in the social media sector where communication is the value proposition and which attracts its dedicated user base to KEEK in the first place?

Not demonstrating its own strong understanding of the need and necessity to communicate and resonate with its shareholder base ?

May not be fatal; but definetly can only be characterized as foolhardy.

The stock appears at .49  close today and on high volume?

To be in oversold territory with failure perhaps priced in.

As John Tempelton of Franklin Resources would say ” to invest at the maximum point of investor pessimsm.”

And right now if one looks at the one month chart on KEEK  the blood of investors in the street is still clearly running.

Therefore the “risk vs reward” scenario could be in the astute and diligent investors favor.

11million plus shares outstanding.

https://www.keek.com/

Editors Note: KEEK.com currently trading at .49 per share could be considered for an investors aggressive portion of the speculative section of their portfolio. Article is not presented as investment recommendation or solicitation but merely as the editor opinion. SS)

SHAWSHANK CHRONICLES MODEL STOCK PORTFOLIO

This is a MODEL portfolio and not intended for investment advisory.

Blue Chip: Berskshire Hathaway (Baby B’s)  NYSE- BRK.B/ Performance Sports Group Ltd  TSE  BAU/  GoldCorp G-TSE/  Power Corp  POW-TSE / FairFax Financial Holdings FFH-TSE/  Grahams Holding Company GHC-NYSE/ Investors Group IGM-TSE

Turnaround (Value) Situations: Mood Media Corp MM-TSE

Speculative Growth Stocks: KEEK KEK-TSX /  StrataX Energy Corp SXE-TSX /   Magor Corp MCC-TSX/   Rainmaker Resources RMG-TSX/    Transgaming Inc TNG-TSX/  Kane Biotech KNE-TSX  

Tracking Companies: Patient Home Monitoring PHM-TSX/   Pyrogenesis PYR-TSX                                                                                                                      

(Blog Authors Note: Each Company held within the Shawshank  Model Portfolio will be featured in detail (time willing) in future installments of the Shawshank Chronicles site.

 Disclaimer: not intended as investment advice or solicitation for investment purposes. This is a model portfolio only.

NB. Author believes it is prudent for any investor to sell half of their position taken when the company’s stock price doubles from their average cost per share, and remove their own monies put up as “risk capital” in the process.  SS)