by Sean Orr | Not the “real change” we were looking for: ‘Sunni ways’: Trudeau green-lights Saudi arms deal as human rights abuses continue apace. I also would have accepted “It’s Always Sunni in Ottawa”, “Saudi, not Saudi”, and “Don’t Lose Your Head, It’s Just an Arms Deal!”

They’re just jeeps! How the ‘light-armoured vehicles’ Canada is selling to Saudi Arabia compare to what Canadian Forces use.

I refuse to participate in a recession: Canadian Dollar’s Worst Rout Ever Raises Petro-State Worries. We should have created our own oil bourse and only sold oil in Canadian dollars. Lol.

The. Absolute. Worst: Syrian refugees pepper sprayed outside Vancouver welcome event. And don’t give me the ‘one bad apple’ excuse because you know what one bad apple does? It spoils the whole bunch. Then the farmer throws it away. We’re trash, as evidenced by the replies to this tweet by Mayor Robertson:

Last night’s pepper spray incident was a disgusting display of hate – and Vancouver won’t stand for it. #VanWelcomesRefugees and always will

— Gregor Robertson (@MayorGregor) January 9, 2016

Homeless migrating to the Downtown Eastside face tragic statistics. “Their research suggests that interventions and services for the at-risk population should be located further away from the places where street homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse are most common…” You needed a fucking study to tell you that? Try telling this to Burnaby, West Vancouver, Marpole, Shaugnessy, Dunbar, Coal Harbour, Yaletown, and anywhere else the NIMBY’s cry foul at any attempt to decentralize social services.

While at one time in their lifespan Vancity Buzz would have thrown in a cheap, smug editorializiation of the report, today we leave that to good ol’ Pete “festering sore in the heart of Vancouver” McMartin: The high cost of misery in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Not mentioned: the high cost of the drug war in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Because human beings shouldn’t be viewed as a line item in a budget.

Raise the god damned rates: Downtown Eastside activists fear 2016 will see a spike in Vancouver homeless.

According to a December 2015 city staff report, hotel rooms renting at the welfare-shelter rate of $375 per month have disappeared at a rapid pace. Those units are almost exclusively located in the Downtown Eastside. The report states that in 2011, the portion of SRO units renting at $375 a month was already as low as 35 percent, and by 2013, that number had dwindled down to 24 percent.

100 Ways to Die in Vancouver: Vancouver seawall death result of a “bizarre incident” say VPD. Yup, death by binner.

A good article on how the post-modern idea of ‘blending in with the surrounding community’ fails spectacularly almost all of the time: Good Intent & Design Fail in Chinatown. “Good intent? The intent is just abiding by design rules for private profit” – Lindsay Brown.

Is our coat of arms culturally inappropriate? (Spoiler: yes it is). Well done, Bob.

Related: Bieber continues to rebrand with 700-page treatise on postcolonial theory.

Bonus: Searching for Brother XII: The story of Nanaimo’s infamous cult leader. The first band I ever sang in was called Brother 12. Their singer was arrested for punching a cop and I was a judge at Shindig. They asked if anyone wanted to sing so I got up and screamed. They were members of a band called Tea and Two Slices.