A no messing around guide to the coolest things to eat, drink and do in Vancouver and beyond. Community. Not clickbait.

On Silver Spoon Imperiousness and Trying Not to Look Like Cheech & Chong

‘I am really, really upset with this’: Trudeau, in leaked video from meeting with FSIN, unhappy with ‘time management’. Alternative headlines: “Spoiled rich white man gaslights First Nations chiefs and whitesplains reconciliation to them, wielding it as a cudgel to get them to fall in line.” Or Nathan Redekop’s: “The silver-spoon imperiousness behind Trudeau’s feel-good rhetoric is exposed as he berates Indigenous leaders for taking too much of his time by allowing too many voices to speak.”

Did he forget about Indian Time? Or that time itself is a colonial construct, a means to exact control over the inconvenient savage?

It’s almost like they have a crystal ball: After major Trans Mountain setback, furious Trudeau threatens First Nations with ‘fiery reconciliation’

Meanwhile, proving that Liberals and Conservatives are basically interchangeable: MP Leona Alleslev Leaves Liberal Caucus, Crosses Floor To Conservatives. Stronach becomes a Liberal: Tories think floor crossing should be against the rules. Alleslev becomes a Conservative: Tories applaud her for standing up for her principles.

Trudeau could be barred from U.S. after he’s PM because he smoked pot: U.S. lawyer. Maybe that’s a good thing. We don’t want him going down there renegotiating NAFTA on Trump’s terms anyway.

But don’t worry, the government has us covered with some handy advice: Don’t Look Like Cheech and Chong at the Border, Government Advises Canadians. Thereby simultaneously reinforcing a classist, racist, and dated cliche about users of cannabis.

This is gonna get messy: With 1 month to legalization, B.C. warns pot shop crackdown coming. “Kamloops will be home to the one and only BC Cannabis Store come Oct. 17, and it is not clear whether the province will have approved retail licences for any private outlets by then”. Yeah, I’ll just stick with my unsanctioned weed instead. (Dear US border guard, this is simply a rhetorical device I am using to connect with my audience. I have never partaken in the consumption of any illicit substance. Yours kindly, Sean).

Speaking of governments pretending to be progressive: West Shore RCMP block entrance to Goldstream Park, expected to evict all campers Thursday morning. It’s a park. They paid to camp there. Jesus. “The NDP pretends to be for the working class, but are liberal scum who throw homeless ppl under the boots of the cops”. – Against Displacement

Austerity is just a fancy word for class war: Eight things the crisis taught us about austerity

Date night: An Evening With Ben Shapiro – LIVE in Vancouver. “We ask that no masks are worn during this lecture”

Related: No, I Will Not Debate You.

As for me, I can’t dictate who should and should not be allowed to speak, and I wouldn’t want to. But I can make my own choice as a free citizen. So I choose not to debate them. I choose not to treat them with deference they don’t deserve. I am not interested in hearing out the ideas of the far right, because there are no new ideas on the far right. There are only new recruits. And every time progressives sacrifice the public good on the altar of personal purity, there will be more.

The UBC Free Speech Club, who are hosting Ben Shapiro, loves flashing this. They are also boasting that this will be the most controversial event in UBC history: Is that an OK sign? A white power symbol? Or just a right-wing troll?.

“Dismissing the spread of the hand signal as a hoax overlooks two hard realities: first, that its increasing use gives open license to actual racist ideologues to operate and recruit under the cover of the “plausible deniability” established by less ideological young trolls; and second, that any kind of wink-and-nudge interaction with the racist right is a direct route to its normalization.”

Palate cleanser: Doug Ford invokes War Measures Act to remove Toronto bike lanes.

On Ken Sim’s So-Called “Swagger” and ABC’S Class War

Sean Orr is back from his hiatus with a rundown of the local headlines that have been running on a ticker tape through his mind over the past six months...

On Post-Election Recuperation, Platform Paradoxes and Refund Communities

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr finds irony in "safety, affordability, and sustainability", and shouts out a bunch of amazing local organizations working on the frontlines.

On Running for City Council, Playing Whack-a-Mole with Homelessness, and the Public Washroom Deficit

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr finds a park ranger with a grudge, a gross misuse of air quotes and Tripadvisor slander.

On Living in a City Preoccupied with Street Cleaning, Chandeliers, and Campaigns Against the Homeless

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr hones in on the recent Langley shootings, and the ongoing criminalizing and dehumanizing of the homeless population.