by Sean Orr | Hyperbole of the day: What the Empty Storefronts in Vancouver, BC Tell Us About the Dangers of Global Capital. Oh, you walked past some empty storefronts on Denman and decided it was because of the Chinese? Please, tell me more.

Speaking of global capital: Vancouver Council says yes to Rodney Graham’s torqued chandelier. Get ready for people complaining about it being a waste of money, not realizing it’s a critique about…wasting money.

Pardon me? How Harper’s Philosophy Transformed Canada for the Better. Unless you’re talking about the reaction to Harper’s blatant, ham-fisted Burkean conservatism birthing us a new glorious age of Trudeaumaniac populism, I jut don’t get it…

Here’s Nicholas Ellan’s take:

Harper’s project failed because he believed the nostrums of market liberalism to be true; he believed that with the state out of the way the economy really would do better; that the poor were lazy and by stripping out the welfare state they would work harder and be better for it. This the fundamental tenet of the Burkean conservative: people are fundamentally weak, and must be conditioned by the ruthless logic of a state of “ordered liberty.” True liberty is dangerous and must be destroyed. The grand irony is that the conservative right, despite all its anti-government rhetoric, believes much more so than the progressive that the subject needs a firm hand to guide it.

If anything, we got this amazing painting out of it: Stephen Harper nude painting sold to Vancouver man for $20K. “I can’t wait to get it out in front of as many people as possible,” said the hero.

It’s nevertheless clear that Harper’s legacy is one of overt racism permeating our cultural fabric. While systemic racism has always been a legacy of our colonial past, it seems that – in the wake of Harper – vocalizations of it are more common, even expected. Take the CBC, for example: CBC closes comment sections on indigenous stories. “The decision comes as a disproportionate number of offensive comments (as defined by the CBC’s guidelines) are being made on stories about indigenous people and issues…”

Won’t someone think of the poor moderators!

Maybe we can project those racist comments on a billboard near their homes.

Craigslist… of the year? Vancouver Gingerbread home for sale by owner (Vancouver West Side). Only $4.5 million!

Related: The Troubling Trendiness Of Poverty Appropriation.

Is that a turtle or are you just happy to see me? Smuggling turtles down his pants could land Ontario student 10 years in prison. Oh, snap!

Honour bound: Small Ritual Coffee Society giving away $100K café in essay contest.

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