Trump signs executive order temporarily suspending work visas
President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order suspending access to H1-B, H-4 and visas as well as H2-B and J visas through the end of the year 

AMERIKA APARTHEID STATE 
TRUMP RESTRICTS ALL IMMIGRATION LEGAL OR NOT
USING CORONAVIRUS AS AN EXCUSE
ONCE COMPLETED WILL ONLY ALLOW WHITE MIGRATION

June 22 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday halting access to various temporary work visas through the end of the year.

The order cites the COVID-19 pandemic in implementing a freeze new H1-B, H-4, L and most J visas as well as some H2-B visas with an exception for food processing workers, extending a prior 60-day limit on immigration signed in April that was set to expire.

A hold on the issuance of new green cards issued in response to the coronavirus will also remain in place through the end of the year.

"Under ordinary circumstances, properly administered temporary worker programs can provide benefits to the economy," Trump said in the order. "But under the extraordinary circumstances of the economic contraction resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak, certain nonimmigrant visa programs authorizing such employment pose an unusual threat to the employment of American workers."

RELATED Trump says he'll push forward with plans to end DACA

H-1B visas grant temporary work authorizations to people with highly specialized knowledge and are commonly utilized in the tech industry, while H-4 visas are issued to immediate family members of people who hold H-1B visas. Issuances of H-1B visas are currently capped to 85,000 annually.

H-2 visas provide temporary work for agriculture, construction, forestry and other industries, L visas are for temporary intracompany transfers who serve in management positions or have specialized knowledge and J visas are provided for study-based exchange visitor programs.

RJ Hauman, government relations director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, praised the order as a "big win for American workers" while expressing some worry about the implementation.

RELATED Trump administration proposes more restrictions on asylum

"We have some concern over potential abuse of broadly written exceptions, but there is still time for that to be addressed, both now and during implementation," Hauman told NPR.

Leon Fresco, a former deputy assistant attorney general during the Obama administration who currently represents H-1B workers condemned the decision by the White House.

"The ban on H-1B visas, which are often used to fill very niche positions that are not easily found in the American workforce, will ultimately prove to be counterproductive and is an example of using a nuclear bomb to address a bar fight," said Fresco.

Trump threatens arrest, prison for activists who target statues

"ANARCHISTS AND WORSE" SAID TRUMP

THEY WENT AFTER HIS FAVORITE RACIST INDIAN KILLER ANDREW JACKSON 

Members of the National Park Service cover graffiti on a statue of former President Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Park, near the White House, in Washington, D.C., on June 15. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo
June 23 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump said Tuesday he's "authorized" police to arrest and prosecute anyone who vandalizes statues or monuments on federal property, some of which have recently become targets for protesters opposed to historical figures with ties to racism.

The president didn't specify what action he took to empower police to make arrests, but threatened arrest and prison for protesters like those who attempted to topple a monument to former President Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Park near the White House on Monday.


"I have authorized the federal government to arrest anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other such federal property in the U.S. with up to 10 years in prison," Trump tweeted, and cited the Veteran's Memorial Preservation Act "or such other laws that may be pertinent."

"This action is taken effective immediately, but may also be used retroactively for destruction or vandalism already caused," he added. "There will be no exceptions!"

RELATED NYC museum to remove 'problematic' Roosevelt statue

Trump later told reporters at the White House he will issue an executive order on the issue "very shortly."

"We have a very specific monuments act, and we are looking at long-term jail sentences for these vandals and these hoodlums and these anarchists and agitators," he added. "They are not taking down our monuments. I just want to make that clear."

Police intervened on Monday before the statue of Jackson was damaged.

RELATED Protesters topple several Confederate statues nationwide overnight

"We were working very closely with the White House Secret Service and some of our executives," Trump said. "They stopped it cold."

A week earlier, the Jackson statue had been vandalized with graffiti.Demonstrators nationwide have focused on a number of monuments and symbols with histories of race. Some of the statues have been removed by local officials while others were taken down by protester

LGBTQ groups sue Trump administration over transgender health rollbacks

A group of LGBTQ advocates and clinics sued Monday to try to stop the Trump administration's rollbacks of healthcare sex discrimination for transgender patients. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

June 22 (UPI) -- A group of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocates and clinics filed suit Monday to stop the Trump administration's rollback of federal healthcare discrimination protections for transgender people.

A coalition of clinics filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the Department of Health and Human Services announced June 12 that the government would take a narrower interpretation of sexual discrimination under the Affordable Care Act

"Everyone deserves easy access to healthcare and healthcare that is respectful of who we are," Bamby Salcedo, president and CEO of the TransLatin@ Coalition, told NPR in a statement. "This rule will hurt marginalized communities who already experience barriers to care."

TransLatin@ Coalition is listed as a plaintiff in the suit, along with the American Association of Physicians for Human Rights, the Philadelphia-based Association of LGBTQ Psychiatrists, as well as clinics and doctors in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Pennsylvania.

RELATED Supreme Court rules civil rights law protects LGBT workers

In 2016, the HHS ruled that patients under the Affordable Care Act were protected from sexual discrimination based on gender identity, which included "male, female, neither, or a combination of male and female." But a new Trump administration rule limited that language to only apply to the word "sex."

HHS said the change would save hospitals and insurers $2.9 billion in "unnecessary regulatory burdens" over five years. The new rule means those regulated entities won't have to send patients and customers notices about non-discrimination practices, the agency said.

The Human Rights Campaign also said it planned to sue the Trump administration for the rule change.

RELATED Trump administration rolls back LGBTQ health protections

"LGBTQ people get sick. LGBTQ people need healthcare. LGBTQ people should not live in fear that they cannot get the care they need simply because of who they are," the organization's president Alphonso David said. "It is clear that this administration does not believe that LGBTQ people, or other marginalized communities, deserve equality under the law."

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that LGBTQ employees were protected under civil rights law from being fired from their jobs based on their sexual orientation.

The Green Pastures (1936)

ALL BLACK MUSICAL ABOUT BIBLE STORIES, INCLUDING AN ALL BLACK HEAVEN

THE TRAILER IS ALL WHITE, NOT A BLACK IN IT, NOR ANY REFERENCE TO THE CAST, ITS ALL WHITE CREWS BUILDING, CONSTRUCTING SETS FOR HEAVEN AND EARTH.

3:48 | Trailer
Approved | 1h 33min | Drama | 1 August 1936 (USA)

1 VIDEO | 12 IMAGES

God, heaven, and several Old Testament stories, including the Creation and Noah's Ark, are described supposedly using the perspective of rural, black Americans.

Directors: Marc Connelly, William Keighley

Writers: Roark Bradford (suggested by: Southern Sketches "Ol' Man Adam and His Chillun'"), Marc Connelly (a fable by)

Stars: Rex Ingram, Oscar Polk, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson | See full cast & crew »

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027700/

https://www.imdb.com/video/vi1801979161?playlistId=tt0027700

Preview Clip: The Green Pastures (1936, Rex Ingram, Edna Mae Harris, James Fuller)
•Feb 15, 2018

Department of Afro-American Research Arts Culture

https://www.daaracarchive.org

A preacher in a small African-American church in Louisiana tells his Sunday school class stories from the Bible as if the characters were part of a local fish fry. He starts with the creation of the world by God, known as "De Lawd" (Rex Ingram), and tells how God went on to create heaven, which is just like their farmland, and then created man and woman, followed by their fall and finally the coming of Jesus Christ. The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play. **

The Department of Afro American Research, Arts, and Culture is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the preservation of Afro American films. We intend to spread awareness of Afro American culture and provide researchers, scholars, enthusiasts, and fans a platform to explore. If you are the copyright holder of any of the content we've posted and you would like your content removed, please do not hesitate to contact me at admin@daarac.org.

In 1936 director Marc Connelly adapted his Pulitzer prize-winning play The Green Pastures from the stage to the screen with an all-black cast that included the talents of Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Oscar Polk, Edna Mae Harris, and Rex Ingram as De Lawd... The New York World Telegram called it "a beautiful film," while other publications like The Nation were quick to note its rather awkward stage-bound origins. In recent years, the film has come under fire for perpetuating the negative stereotypes surrounding African-American culture." (Turner Classic Movies)

NOAH AND DE LAWD 






Author and historian Damon L. Fordham speaks on the inspirations behind the 1936 motion picture on Black Folklore and religion "The Green Pastures," which include the writings of Roark Bradford, and the sermons of a black minister named Rev. John Wesley Henning. Filmed in Mt. Pleasant, SC, June 1, 2017.



The second half of the 1959 production of The Green Pastures. It was broadcast in color, but B&W kinescope seem to be the only preserved copies . To my best knowledge, it was not recorded on Color Videotape (NBC began recording shows in color in 1958. This was done for CBS). This is incomplete, transferred from 16mm film elements. I don't know if there are any copies of the full show in existence. This footage is very rare. Another gem from the Out of The Woods Collection. ----- Credited cast: William Warfield William Warfield ... De Lawd Rest of cast listed alphabetically: Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson ... Noah Vinnette Carroll Vinnette Carroll ... Angel Terry Carter Terry Carter ... Gabriel Bill Dillard Bill Dillard ... King of Babylon (as William Dillard) Sheila Guyse Sheila Guyse ... Zeba Hilda Haynes Hilda Haynes ... Angel Estelle Hemsley Estelle Hemsley ... Mrs. Deshee Earle Hyman Earle Hyman ... Adam The Leonard De Paur Chorus The Leonard De Paur Chorus ... Themselves Avon Long Avon Long ... First Gambler Mantan Moreland Mantan Moreland Frederick O'Neal Frederick O'Neal ""The Hallmark Hall of Fame, for the first time in its distinguished history, will repeat a show next Monday, March 23. The play is Marc Connelly's adaptation of his stage play "The Green Pastures." Mildred Freed Alberg, Hall-mark's executive producer, ex-plained the reason for the repeat. "The number of phone calls, wires and letters after the first show was overwhelming. Also, a lot of people didn't see the show. You may recall that the first time we did it (Oct. 17, 1957) we were in the same time period as the Mike Todd party from Madison Square Garden. Mike outdrew us almost two to one. We thought it especially ap-propriate to offer this drama again during the Easter season." Most of the show's all-Negro cast assembled for the first TV production will be in the repeat showing. William Warfield again will play De Lawd, and Eddie (Rochester) Anderson will be back as Noah. Connelly's play opened in New York Feb. 26, 1930, winning the Pulitzer Prize that year. It ran for 640 performances before going on the road for five years, when it was reportedly seen in 112 cities. Abroad, the play ran into dif-ficulty. It was banned from Eng-land by virtue of an old law for-bidding portrayal of God by an actor. In Stockholm the actors were pelted with garbage for what an irate Swedish press called "religious lampoonery." The play has been revived on Broadway twice and was made into a movie in 1936. Eddie Anderson played Noah in the film too. This second time on TV will be a duplicate of the first as far as cast size (80), expensive sets and production staff are concerned. Miss Alberg expects one change: a tremendously increased audience. " - TV Guide March 21, 1959 Shared for historical purposes. I do not own the rights. ##### Reelblack's mission is to educate, elevate, entertain, enlighten, and empower through Black film. If there is content shared on this platform that you feel infringes on your intellectual property, please email me at Reelblack@mail.com and info@reelblack.com with details and it will be promptly removed.

Rare 1920s Footage: All-Black Towns Living the American Dream | National Geographic

POST TULSA MASSACRE

•Oct 2, 2016
National Geographic
By the 1920s, Oklahoma was home to some 50 African-American towns, in addition to a large and prosperous black community living in the city of Tulsa. These towns and their self-reliant middle class and affluent residents are documented by the home movies of Reverend S. S. Jones, an itinerant minister and businessman. Known and respected by the citizens of the towns whose lives he captured on film, Rev. Jones’s work offers revealing glimpses of these communities as a haven for African Americans who very often faced discrimination elsewhere in America. The subjects are everyday life: a family on the front porch of their bungalow, shop workers at a storefront, farmers plowing their fields, children playing on seesaws in a schoolyard. Much of the material documents the economic life of the towns, from business districts filled with prosperous merchants to the homes of successful professionals, with an abundant countryside beyond. As Rhea Combs, curator of film and photography for the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, points out in her commentary, here we even find a married couple who were oil barons, proof of the extraordinary progress made in the relatively short time since the end of slavery. The fashions and hairstyles, automobiles and horses, and even such details as a man manually pumping gasoline at a filling station make the films a fascinating record of the lives of Americans, and African Americans in particular, in the early 20th century. ➡ 

Subscribe: http://bit.ly/NatGeoSubscribe About National Geographic: National Geographic is the world's premium destination for science, exploration, and adventure. Through their world-class scientists, photographers, journalists, and filmmakers, Nat Geo gets you closer to the stories that matter and past the edge of what's possible.

Confederate Flag-Waving Trump Supporter Praises KKK, Vows To Teach Hate

Ed Mazza June 22, 2020

A woman decked out in one of President Donald Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again” caps waved a Confederate flag at a Black Lives Matter protest in Branson, Missouri, on Sunday while she praised the Ku Klux Klan and vowed to teach hate to her grandchildren. 

“I’m teaching them to fuckin’ hate all of you people,” the woman, identified by the Springfield News-Leader as Kathy Bennett, said Sunday evening. “I will teach my grandkids to hate you all.”
She spoke from the bed of a pickup, then climbed up into it to wave the flag, raise a fist and call out, “KKK belief!” 

Actor and musician Ice T was among the many to share footage of the woman:
Racist of the Day... https://t.co/0FOhifur8L
— ICE T (@FINALLEVEL) June 22, 2020

Branson Mayor Edd Akers said on Facebook that the city “does not condone any type of hate speech.”

The protesters were demonstrating outside a store called Dixie Outfitters that sells Confederate-themed merchandise. 

The Kansas City Star said the store is owned by Anna and Nathan Robb. Nathan Robb, the newspaper said, is the son of KKK leader Thomas Robb.

The News-Leader said in 2015 that Nathan Robb had once tried to adopt a highway in the name of the KKK. Anna Robb told the newspaper at the time that she herself had attended Klan events “years ago” but that it’s “not even something that comes up anymore.”
She said they hadn’t spoken to the elder Robb in years.

WAIT TILL SHE GETS TO HEAVEN AND DISCOVERS.....

Northeast Calgary communities ask province to declare $1B hailstorm a natural disaster

NORTHEAST CALGARY TO CHANGE NAME TO FORT MCMURRAY

Earlier this year, flooding caused $228 million in insured damages in the Fort McMurray area and the province launched multiple financial support programs for affected residents.

CBC Jun. 22, 2020, 

Nine community groups in northeast Calgary have signed a letter to Alberta's premier, asking the government to declare the hailstorm that battered their neighbourhoods a natural disaster so they can access relief money.

The June 13 storm caused an estimated $1 billion in damages, shredding the siding of homes and smashing car windows. The Insurance Bureau of Canada has said 20,000 claims have been filed so far and many more claims are expected.
Khalil Karbani, who was tasked with writing the letter, said $15,000 of damage was done to his roof, and hailstones smashed through two panes of glass windows and into his home.

"There was glass everywhere, there was water everywhere, hailstones the size of tennis balls," he said.

Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press

He said his insurance company will only cover 20 per cent of the damage after deductible.

Karbani said many in the neighbourhood are already facing financial hardships tied to the pandemic and oil price crash. He pointed to one neighbour who had recently cancelled his car insurance to save money, as he's working from home now and not driving. After the hailstorm, the neighbour's car is now a writeoff.

"What we need right now is financial assistance, that's what we need and we're not getting it," Karbani said.
"It's going to affect people's mental health when this financial stress is on them and on their families."

Many residents in Calgary's northeast are also immigrants to Canada.

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi's home was damaged in the storm, and Councillor George Chahal organized a neighbourhood cleanup, with the city providing bins to collect debris.

But Karbani said money is what's really needed, and a provincial natural disaster declaration would allow the region to access relief funds.


Jeff McIntosh/Canadian PressMore

Premier Jason Kenney toured the area over the weekend, following a visit from Opposition Leader Rachel Notley.

And Calgary-Falconridge MLA Devinder Toor made a statement about the community's resilience in the legislature on Monday. 

(NO $$$ JUST PLATITUDES)

But the government has yet to say whether it will declare the storm a natural disaster.

Earlier this year, flooding caused $228 million in insured damages in the Fort McMurray area and the province launched multiple financial support programs for affected residents.

KENNEY PISSES OFF OILERS FANS

It’s just insulting, but I guess you don’t care': Albertans tear up Jason Kenney's promo video to make Edmonton an NHL hub city

EVEN THE ONE'S THAT VOTED FOR HIM

Elisabetta Bianchini Yahoo News Canada June 22, 2020Comment


It’s the obvious choice to bring the @NHL to #Edmonton.

We look forward to welcoming the league and players here to Alberta to take in the beautiful province we have to offer. pic.twitter.com/kp0iN86vCP— Jason Kenney (@jkenney) June 22, 2020


While three Canadians cities, Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto, wait to see if they will become one of the NHL’s “hub cities” when the professional hockey league returns, Alberta has taken a unique approaching to campaign for its city to be chosen.

On Monday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney posted a video promoting the province with the caption, “it’s the obvious choice to bring the @NHL to #Edmonton.”

The video begins with the words “playoffs in Edmonton” and the reads “ play in the Rockies,” as it transitions to showing the mountains, and adults and children appearing to enjoy a lovely stay in the province.

But there is one problem, the video doesn’t seem to actually show much of city of Edmonton at all. If does, however, show several images of Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper, all several hours away from the actual city.

This oversight was not missed by Albertans on social media who quickly flooded Twitter with comments on the video:

The worst part is that Edmonton actually has some pretty cool things to offer on its own, you didn’t have use other parts of the province to make it look better. It’s just insulting, but I guess you don’t care about Edmonton anyway since they didn’t vote for you.— Megan (@meganbielby) June 22, 2020

But why isn’t Edmonton in the video though pic.twitter.com/YCvAovV84d— Shauna G (@ShaunaRaeG33) June 22, 2020

They are gonna get to Edmonton and be so dissapointed. Where are the majestic mountains?!— Alicia Mannella (@amannell) June 22, 2020

So you want the NHL to bring hockey to #yeg but you highlight the Rockies. At the best a 4 hour drive from #yeg. I guess it’s too hard for us to expect the Premier to actually know the geography of the province. Even after your “big blue” truck tour.— Paul Andrews (@PaulEAndrews) June 22, 2020

The video also caused some to question whether NHL players, if they were to play in Edmonton, would be able to travel to other parts of the province once they arrived. Last week, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, said when players arrive in the province they would be kept in a cohort together at all times and away from the general population.

So the ice fields are now in Edmonton?! Nothing you showed is even within two hours.
There is a travel ban so what tourists are coming?
How much did this video cost us?— Christy (@TravelEatPlayDo) June 22, 2020

Dear NHL,
This video presents exactly 4 seconds of the actual city of Edmonton, everything else is 2-6 hours drive, and none of the players/team staff will get to see it, because they will be locked up tight in strict quarantine.
Know what you're buying (and this ain't it),
Me— Fancy C. Poitras (@Fancysez) June 22, 2020

If the players are quarantined in Edmonton, how are they going to visit Banff and Jasper? And if they're not quarantined, are we sure we want to bring in people from Arizona or Florida?— Spencer (@sathome14) June 22, 2020

Wait! Whut? You're selling the Rockies as part of the perks of @NHL in Edmonton?? Did you not take geography in school? I thought your pitch was that the arena district wld allow them to stay isolated? Has that changed?? Have you seen the COVID stats south of us?— Shasta Morgen (@ShastaMorgen) June 22, 2020

Matt Wolf, Executive Director of Issues Management for the Premier of Alberta, responded to comments on the video on Twitter, stating families will be “looking for things to do” while in the province.

Players bring their families with - families that will be looking for things to keep busy during up to 2 months of playoffs. https://t.co/ZsyNwf43s6— Matt Wolf (@MattWolfAB) June 22, 2020


KENNEY'S UCP SAME OLD PARTY OF CALGARY (PC)

CANNABIS CANADA
Toke meets tech: Pot shops take a page from Amazon and Uber EatsJeff Lagerquist Yahoo Finance Canada June 18, 2020

The cannabis sector is tearing pages from the playbooks of technology titans during COVID-19, deploying ideas inspired by Amazon (AMZN) and Uber Eats (UBER) to reshape how consumers buy pot.
The pandemic spurred a flurry of innovation as governments locked down brick-and-mortar cannabis stores in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. In Ontario, private retailers fast-tracked new online sales channels temporarily opened up by the province, allowing them to stay in business after stores were ordered closed between April 5 and the first phase of conditional reopening on May 19.

Many within the industry want the Ford government to make the concessions granted to weather the virus permanent. Prior to COVID-19, legal online sales in Ontario were the exclusive domain of the province-run Ontario Cannabis Store.

While it’s unclear if the window of digital opportunity will remain open for private shops once state of emergency orders are lifted, the cannabis sector is used to forging ahead amid regulatory uncertainty.

Jeremy Potvin had a colourful career before turning his business ambitions towards cannabis. The Toronto-based entrepreneur spent 20 years in apparel, working for Levi’s, Parasuco jeans and Paul Frank (Remember the clothes with the cartoon monkey?). He eventually shifted to startups and app development, creating a workplace scheduling solution called Shifthub. According to his LinkedIn profile, he also founded a lifestyle brand for dogs.

With recreational legalization on the horizon in 2017, he started seeing opportunities in cannabis. Potvin worked with Tokyo Smoke, now a retail arm of Canopy Growth (WEED.TO)(CGC), while launching a cannabis accessories store and lifestyle brand called Weedbox.

When COVID-19 hit Ontario in spring, he found himself stuck on the sidelines, awaiting licences to open up a handful of cannabis retail stores around the province. He saw a way in when Ontario passed an emergency order on April 7 allowing retailers to temporarily sell through click-and-collect and delivery. Two weeks later, Weedbox’s new subsidiary dubbed TokeText was born.

Customers sign up with their phone number, address and credit card to receive curated texts about cannabis products. If they like what they see, they text back how many pre-rolled joints or infused beverages they want. The customer is then matched with a local pot shop with the right inventory to process the transaction, and complete the delivery and ID check. TokeText pockets a 10 per cent fee.

Screenshots of text messages from TokeText. (toketext.com)

The company doesn’t have an app, and avoids legal restrictions on delivery by relying on CannSell accredited pot shop employees to fulfill the orders. It’s not quite the Uber Eats of cannabis, but the comparison isn’t far off.

“I went and talked to a lot of restaurants when I was figuring out what should be charging,” Potvin said. “I asked [which app] treats you guys the best. They said DoorDash. I asked what they charge. They said 10 per cent.”

He admits the concept was also inspired in large part by WineText, a nearly identical U.S.-based website.

TokeText is still in its pilot stage, with subscriber numbers in the “low hundreds.” The service is partnered with a cannabis store in Burlington, Ont. that delivers to Greater Toronto Area customers in a rented car.

Potvin said he’s in talks to sign up 10 additional stores, and expects more will follow as owners discover the platform’s ability to casually introduce consumers to new products for a marginal fee.

“Every store pretty much has access to the same product. So it will be easy to deploy offers across 1,000 stores in multiple provinces,” Potvin said.

Seth Rogen’s Houseplant grapefruit weed drink recently launched by Canopy is a big seller these days, he added, with many customers requesting the five can maximum order when they reply via text.

“Forget a Shopify site, forget clicking and adding to a cart. The day you sign up with us is the last time you see a checkout cart. We want to go straight from product discovery on your phone, to delivery.”

If ecommerce is becomes a fixture for private pot retailers in Ontario, Potvin said the thought crossed his mind to abandon his brick-and-mortar ambitions in favour of a lower-cost digital-only model. For now though, he sees value in efficient physical store concepts designed for fast service and social distancing.

Meanwhile, cannabis retail chain Fire & Flower (FAF.TO) is touting its similarities to Amazon as both a retailer and digital service provider rolled into one.

The Edmonton-based company sells a version of its Hifyre retail and analytics platform, in addition to operating 46 stores across five provinces and the Yukon.

“Well before legalization we carefully examined what retailers were succeeding in the age of Amazon,” chief executive officer Trevor Fencott told analysts on a conference call after Fire & Flower reported first quarter financial results on Tuesday.

“Retailers that we observed that tried to bolt on a digital strategy, or sort of pivot digitally, generally didn’t seem to fare well in the Amazon environment.”

Hifyre manages inventory, in-store menu boards and loyalty rewards programs. It also captures customer data to measure product performance in real-time and predict sales trends.

Fire & Flower recently struck a strategic agreement with point-of-sale software provider COVA Software Solutions to sell a white-label version of Hyfire.

Fencott links the data-driven customer insights provided by the suite of tools to higher sales and more in-store visits. He predicts strong demand from the growing number of independent pot shop owners.

“If you aggregated all the [cannabis store] chains in Alberta, you still don’t get to 50 per cent of the total licences out there,” he said. “There are a lot of Mom and Pops that need this kind of functionality to be competitive.”Jeff Lagerquist is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jefflagerquist.

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Aurora Cannabis to lay off 700 staff, expects $60M charge, plans to close 5 facilities

CANNABIS CAPITALISM IS STILL CAPITALISM

Jeff Lagerquist Yahoo Finance Canada June 23, 2020


(THE CANADIAN PRESS)More


Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO)(ACB) plans to close five facilities, lay off roughly 700 workers, and expects a $60 million charge in the coming quarter, the company said Tuesday.

The Edmonton-based cannabis producer said the moves are part of its business transformation plan announced in February, which resulted in the loss of about 500 jobs at the time.  

1200 JOBS LOST IN TOTAL 2020

An Aurora spokesperson confirmed to Yahoo Finance Canada that “approximately 700’ workers will be laid off as a result of Tuesday’s announcement.

“These changes include an approximate 25 per cent reduction in Aurora's (selling, general and administrative staff), most with immediate effect, and an approximate 30 per cent reduction in production staff over the next two quarters,” the company stated in a release.

Aurora said the recent retirement of president Steve Dobler was part of the company’s “corporate headcount rationalization.”

The five facilities slated for closure include Aurora Prairie, Aurora Mountain, Aurora Ridge, Aurora Vie and Aurora Eau.

As a result of the headcount reductions and facility shutdowns, the company expects to take an asset impairment charge of up to $60 million during the fourth quarter of 2020. The company also expects to record a charge of up to $140 million over the value of inventory, predominantly trim, “to align inventory on hand with near-term expectations for demand.”

Trim refers to the excess leaves snipped from the buds of marijuana plants. The by-product is used to make extractions, tinctures, hash and edibles.

“This has not simply been a cost cutting exercise. We have undertaken a strategic realignment of our operations to protect Aurora's position as a leader in key global cannabinoid markets, most notably Canada,” chief executive officer Michael Singer stated in the release.

“Both the Canadian facility rationalization and inventory revaluation are expected to improve gross margins and accelerate our ability to generate positive cash flow. We believe that we now have the right balance for the long-term success of Aurora.”

Symbol                                             Price        Change

ACB.TO Aurora Cannabis Inc.       19.18   +0.63

ACB Aurora Cannabis Inc.               14.02         +0.30

Jeff Lagerquist is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jefflagerquist.