Uncategorized
Thank U, Next: Grammy snubs and other interesting facts
NEW YORK — Fourteen things worth noting about Friday’s nominations for the 2019 Grammy Awards, from snubs to first-time nominees:
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THANK U, NEXT
It’s another year at the Grammys, and another snub for Ed Sheeran.
Though this singer won two pop
Sheeran had one of the year’s biggest hits with “Perfect” — both the solo version and duet version with Beyonce. But the song didn’t earn any Grammy nods.
Carrie Underwood is in a similar position: She launched the first album where she co-wrote and co-produced each song this year, but the seven-time Grammy winner didn’t pick up a single nomination for the project. Kane Brown, one of the most successful new artists of the year and a dominator on the country charts, was also snubbed.
Young rappers who heavily dominated on streaming services this year were also left out, including the late XXXTentacion, Juice WRLD, Tekashi 6ix9ine, Lil Pump, Lil Baby, Gunna and others.
Seasoned acts who have won Grammys or scored multiple nominations in the past were also dissed, including Lil Wayne, Sam Smith, Nicki Minaj, Migos and Chris Brown.
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NOMINATED BUT STILL SNUBBED
Billboard reported this week that Taylor Swift’s “reputation” was the year’s biggest album, but the Grammys don’t agree.
The album surprisingly only earned Swift one single nomination — for best pop vocal album — and was snubbed in the album of the year category. Her hit song, “Delicate,” was shut out of record and song of the year, and even best pop solo performance. At the Grammys earlier this year, her song “Look What You Made Me Do” qualified for awards but didn’t garner any nominations.
Could it be Taylor fatigue?
Kanye West, whose years focused more on politics than music, has a similar problem: He only received one nomination, too. He’s up for producer of the year, despite releasing an album and producing a number of projects.
Ariana Grande received nominations for best pop solo performance and best pop vocal album, but many felt she should have earn nods for album, song or record of the year.
Maroon 5 had one of the year’s biggest hits with “Girls Like You,” featuring Cardi B, but only earned a nod for best pop duo/group performance.
Luke Combs had the year’s most streamed country album, but he didn’t get any country nods. He’s up for best new artist though.
And Eminem released two albums but only earned one nomination — for best rap song.
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J. COLD
With hip-hop dominating the pop charts and streaming services this year, many wondered who would earn Grammy nominations in the rap categories because of all the competition.
J. Cole seemed like a shoo-in.
He earned two nominations for his collaborations with others, but his impressive and acclaimed “KOD” album was left out of best rap album and album of the year. The album’s songs also didn’t earn nods like best rap song or best rap performance.
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TOTAL REQUEST LIVE
The best pop/duo group performance is looking like MTV’s “TRL” in the late 90’s and early 2000s.
Christina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys and Justin Timberlake are nominated in the category, which has seven nominees.
Aguilera is up for “Fall In Line,” her duet with Demi Lovato; Timberlake and Chris Stapleton are nominated for “Say Something”; and Backstreets Boys’ latest single, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” earned them nomination, their first since the 2002 Grammys.
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LONG LIVE THE DEAD
Mac Miller died in September, a month after releasing the album “Swimming.” Now, it’s competing for best rap album, where he will compete with Cardi B, Travis Scott, Pusha T and Nipsey Hussle.
Chris Cornell died last year and was a posthumous at the 2018 Grammys in best rock performance. He’s nominated in the category again with “When Bad Does Good.”
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BEYONCE VS. HER MENTEES
Has the student become the master? The soulful duo Chloe x Halle, mentored by Beyonce, will compete with Queen Bey at the Grammys.
Chloe x Halle’s full-length debut, “The Kids are Alright,” is nominated for best urban contemporary album, where Beyonce and Jay-Z’s “Everything Is Love” is also a nominee.
The sister duo, co-stars of the “black-ish” spinoff series “grown-ish,” also picked up a nomination for best new artist.
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HOLLLYWOOD’S HOTTEST
While Bradley Cooper earned Golden Globe nominations and is a likely Oscar contender, the Grammys are also part of his awards season.
The actor scored two nominations for his duet with Lady Gaga, “Shallow,” including record of the year and best pop duo/group performance.
Tiffany Haddish, a recent Emmy winner, has a reason to wear the famous white dress she’s sported everywhere one more time: She’s nominated for best spoken word album.
Famous faces also make up the nominees for best comedy album, including Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Fred Armisen, Jim Gaffigan and Patton Oswalt.
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WHAT THE…?
The Grammys just gave Pusha T major bragging rights.
His rival, Drake, may be up for album of the year, but he’s not nominated for best rap album, where Pusha T is nominated.
Janelle Monae also earned an album of the year nomination, but she’s not competing in any R&B categories.
Even the “Black Panther” soundtrack, an album of the year contender, does not appear in the best compilation soundtrack for visual media category, where nominees include “The Greatest Showman” and “Deadpool 2.”
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FINALLY!!!
Florida Georgia Line have launched multiple hits since they released their debut album in 2012, but they never received Grammy love.
Until now.
The country duo earned their first nomination ever this year, for best country duo/group performance for “Meant to Be,” which features Bebe Rexha and is the longest-running No. 1 song on Billboard’s country songs chart.
Shawn Mendes has been a star since he emerged on the music scene, but he’s finally competing for Grammy gold with his third album. He’s nominated for song of the year with “In My Blood” and best pop vocal album for his self-titled third album.
Camila Cabello didn’t earn any nominations when she was in the group Fifth Harmony, but her solo debut earned her two nominations this year.
The country duo Dan + Shay and DJ Mustard, who co-wrote Ella Mai’s hit “Boo’d Up,” are also first-time nominees.
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CHARLIE PUTH, THE ENGINEER, SHINES
Charlie Puth didn’t earn nods like song of the year or best pop vocal album, but his work as an engineer has given him a chance at winning a Grammy.
Puth is nominated for best engineered album (non-classical) for “Voicenotes,” his sophomore album. He’s listed as an engineer on the project and shares the nomination with Manny Marroquin and Dave Kutch.
Puth was previously nominated for three Grammys at the 2016 show for his hit, “See You Again.”
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LADIES’ NIGHT
Almost a year after Neil Portnow told women to “step up” — which he later corrected — female performers are dominating in the major categories at the Grammys.
Five of the eight album of the year nominees are women, including Janelle Monae, Kacey Musgraves, H.E.R., Brandi Carlile and Cardi B.
Six of the eight best new artist nominees are women, including H.E.R., Jorja Smith, Margo Price, Chloe x Halle, Bebe Rexha and Dua Lipa.
Women are also strongly represented in song and record of the year, too, where nominees include Lady Gaga, SZA, Cardi B, Maren Morris, Ella Mai and Carlile.
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WOMEN IN COUNTRY MUSIC
For years women have struggled on the country music charts and country radio, but at the Grammys, they shine brightly.
The country categories, like usual, includes more women nominees than men. Three of the five best country album nominees are women, including Kacey Musgraves, Kelsea Ballerini and Ashley McBryde.
Three of the five best country solo performance nominees are also women, including Musgraves, Loretta Lynn and Maren Morris.
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A SOLDIER’S SONG
Folk singer Mary Gauthier released an album this year exclusively featuring songs co-written with veterans and their family members from sessions with the
Now the album, “Rifles & Rosary Beads,” is nominated for best folk album at the Grammys.
The critically acclaimed 11-song project earned a nomination earlier this year for album of the year at the Americana Music Honors & Awards, but lost to Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s “The Nashville Sound.”
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MOVING GENRES
Tori Kelly, who burst on the music scene as a pop singer, released a gospel album this year and picked up two nods in the gospel category.
Sting, who released a collaborative album with Shaggy this year, earned a best reggae album nomination for the project.
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Online: https://www.grammy.com
Mesfin Fekadu, The Associated Press
Uncategorized
Mortgaging Canada’s energy future — the hidden costs of the Carney-Smith pipeline deal
Much of the commentary on the Carney-Smith pipeline Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has focused on the question of whether or not the proposed pipeline will ever get built.
That’s an important topic, and one that deserves to be examined — whether, as John Robson, of the indispensable Climate Discussion Nexus, predicted, “opposition from the government of British Columbia and aboriginal groups, and the skittishness of the oil industry about investing in a major project in Canada, will kill [the pipeline] dead.”
But I’m going to ask a different question: Would it even be worth building this pipeline on the terms Ottawa is forcing on Alberta? If you squint, the MOU might look like a victory on paper. Ottawa suspends the oil and gas emissions cap, proposes an exemption from the West Coast tanker ban, and lays the groundwork for the construction of one (though only one) million barrels per day pipeline to tidewater.
But in return, Alberta must agree to jack its industrial carbon tax up from $95 to $130 per tonne at a minimum, while committing to tens of billions in carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) spending, including the $16.5 billion Pathways Alliance megaproject.
Here’s the part none of the project’s boosters seem to want to mention: those concessions will make the production of Canadian hydrocarbon energy significantly more expensive.
As economist Jack Mintz has explained, the industrial carbon tax hike alone adds more than $5 USD per barrel of Canadian crude to marginal production costs — the costs that matter when companies decide whether to invest in new production. Layer on the CCUS requirements and you get another $1.20–$3 per barrel for mining projects and $3.60–$4.80 for steam-assisted operations.
While roughly 62% of the capital cost of carbon capture is to be covered by taxpayers — another problem with the agreement, I might add — the remainder is covered by the industry, and thus, eventually, consumers.
Total damage: somewhere between $6.40 and $10 US per barrel. Perhaps more.
“Ultimately,” the Fraser Institute explains, “this will widen the competitiveness gap between Alberta and many other jurisdictions, such as the United States,” that don’t hamstring their energy producers in this way. Producers in Texas and Oklahoma, not to mention Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, or Russia, aren’t paying a dime in equivalent carbon taxes or mandatory CCUS bills. They’re not so masochistic.
American refiners won’t pay a “low-carbon premium” for Canadian crude. They’ll just buy cheaper oil or ramp up their own production.
In short, a shiny new pipe is worthless if the extra cost makes barrels of our oil so expensive that no one will want them.
And that doesn’t even touch on the problem for the domestic market, where the higher production cost will be passed onto Canadian consumers in the form of higher gas and diesel prices, home heating costs, and an elevated cost of everyday goods, like groceries.
Either way, Canadians lose.
So, concludes Mintz, “The big problem for a new oil pipeline isn’t getting BC or First Nation acceptance. Rather, it’s smothering the industry’s competitiveness by layering on carbon pricing and decarbonization costs that most competing countries don’t charge.” Meanwhile, lurking underneath this whole discussion is the MOU’s ultimate Achilles’ heel: net-zero.
The MOU proudly declares that “Canada and Alberta remain committed to achieving Net-Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.” As Vaclav Smil documented in a recent study of Net-Zero, global fossil-fuel use has risen 55% since the 1997 Kyoto agreement, despite trillions spent on subsidies and regulations. Fossil fuels still supply 82% of the world’s energy.
With these numbers in mind, the idea that Canada can unilaterally decarbonize its largest export industry in 25 years is delusional.
This deal doesn’t secure Canada’s energy future. It mortgages it. We are trading market access for self-inflicted costs that will shrink production, scare off capital, and cut into the profitability of any potential pipeline. Affordable energy, good jobs, and national prosperity shouldn’t require surrendering to net-zero fantasy.If Ottawa were serious about making Canada an energy superpower, it would scrap the anti-resource laws outright, kill the carbon taxes, and let our world-class oil and gas compete on merit. Instead, we’ve been handed a backroom MOU which, for the cost of one pipeline — if that! — guarantees higher costs today and smothers the industry that is the backbone of the Canadian economy.
This MOU isn’t salvation. It’s a prescription for Canadian decline.
The cost of the bureaucracy increased by $6 billion last year, according to newly released numbers in Public Accounts disclosures. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to immediately shrink the bureaucracy.
“The Public Accounts show the cost of the federal bureaucracy is out of control,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Tinkering around the edges won’t cut it, Carney needs to take urgent action to shrink the bloated federal bureaucracy.”
The federal bureaucracy cost taxpayers $71.4 billion in 2024-25, according to the Public Accounts. The cost of the federal bureaucracy increased by $6 billion, or more than nine per cent, over the last year.
The federal bureaucracy cost taxpayers $39.6 billion in 2015-16, according to the Public Accounts. That means the cost of the federal bureaucracy increased 80 per cent over the last 10 years. The government added 99,000 extra bureaucrats between 2015-16 and 2024-25.
Half of Canadians say federal services have gotten worse since 2016, despite the massive increase in the federal bureaucracy, according to a Leger poll.
Not only has the size of the bureaucracy increased, the cost of consultants, contractors and outsourcing has increased as well. The government spent $23.1 billion on “professional and special services” last year, according to the Public Accounts. That’s an 11 per cent increase over the previous year. The government’s spending on professional and special services more than doubled since 2015-16.
“Taxpayers should not be paying way more for in-house government bureaucrats and way more for outside help,” Terrazzano said. “Mere promises to find minor savings in the federal bureaucracy won’t fix Canada’s finances.
“Taxpayers need Carney to take urgent action and significantly cut the number of bureaucrats now.”
Table: Cost of bureaucracy and professional and special services, Public Accounts
| Year | Bureaucracy | Professional and special services |
|
$71,369,677,000 |
$23,145,218,000 |
|
|
$65,326,643,000 |
$20,771,477,000 |
|
|
$56,467,851,000 |
$18,591,373,000 |
|
|
$60,676,243,000 |
$17,511,078,000 |
|
|
$52,984,272,000 |
$14,720,455,000 |
|
|
$46,349,166,000 |
$13,334,341,000 |
|
|
$46,131,628,000 |
$12,940,395,000 |
|
|
$45,262,821,000 |
$12,950,619,000 |
|
|
$38,909,594,000 |
$11,910,257,000 |
|
|
$39,616,656,000 |
$11,082,974,000 |
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