by Sean Orr | Non-combat rock: Canada to send troops to Ukraine in non-combat role. As one commentator on my Facebook feed wrote, “you can’t make an omelet without piling atrocity upon absurdity and so on forever…” Also, it’s an election year, so it’s time to play politics with our troops, Karl Rove-style.

It wasn’t a tanker: Toxic fuel spill in English Bay is wake-up call for port, says marine expert. I’m going to get in a lot of trouble for this, but doesn’t this show how extremely rare these accidents are? There have been 14 cargo ships parked in English Bay every day for the last 3 decades and this is the first major fuel spill there. Of course it doesn’t excuse cutting the Coast Guard, and yes, it’s a possible preview of worse to come, but maybe it’s also a valuable learning experience. Ugh. Don’t tell me I’m turning into some sort of moral relativist/optimist…

St. Appalled: Do these drawings reveal a new St. Paul’s Hospital at False Creek? Isn’t a brand new hospital a block away from the DTES a good thing? Oh right, condos are bad. Never mind.

We are disgusted when we see images of Islamists destroying ancient artifacts, but are we equally disgusted when it happens here? Gitwangak historic totem burns in arson fire. It’s only the 5th most viewed story on the CBC’s website. To put that into perspective, “Law & Order: SVU fake sex allegations lead to teacher lawsuit” is 2nd.

Related: here’s a passage from the most read book of all-time:

Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree: And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.

Deuteronomy 12:2-4

Oh, and if you’ve seen the reformed redneck video talking about racism in ‘Murica and thought it only applied to the USA… Mulcair: NDP Government Would Call Inquiry Into Native Women Murders Within 100 Days.

Related: Urban Outfitters’ smudge kit is insensitive cultural appropriation for the low price of $39.99.

From whitewash to pinkwash: How the Day of Pink sold out trans youth: Having Laureen Harper as a spokesperson.

Meanwhile, over in Nanaimo: Lunney exits early from his own news conference. “He blamed members of the media and online ‘trolls’ for the controversy…” Great, so now no politician ever has to take accountability for their actions again because ‘haters gonna hate’.

Meanwhile, up in Kamloops: Truckers blamed for ‘piss jugs’ littering highway ditches. “With slideshow”? Thanks for that, Kamloops This Week. If it peed it leads…

Not a headline from 10 years ago: Local artists and musicians evicted. Get your shit together, City Hall.

CL of the day via Kurtis Kolt: Free mouse skeleton (north surrey). “Such frail rib bones. Such papery skin.”

RIP: Former CBC Radio host Jurgen Gothe dead.