Tea & Two Slices is a long-running news round-up by NEEDS frontman and veteran restaurant dishwasher Sean Orr, who lives and works in Gastown. He is very aware of his privilege, so there’s really no need to remind him of it.

We are winning: Motion to protect Vancouverites from ‘renoviction’ sparks warning from developers. Ah yes, developers – the same people who manipulate the politics of a basic human right by muddying it with greed and speculation – they want us to believe that even though they can set new building rents as astronomically as they want, this hard fought victory for the people is somehow dangerous. Why? Because it puts less money in their pockets. Nobody is really buying this bullshit, are they?

Related: Vancouver’s Booster Class, Greed and the Real Estate ‘Play of the Century’.

Reading John MacLachlan Gray’s great novel The White Angel, which delves into the intrigues of Vancouver after the First World War, I was struck by how similar the Vancouver depicted in the book resembles the city of today.

The mainstream media was a tool of the moneyed class.

Check.

Decisions were made to benefit those who already had most of the benefits.

Check.

And classes, parts of the city and ethnic groups seldom overlapped.

Check, check and check.

Also related: All the ways that Canadian journalists serve the ruling class. “Over the last few months and years, we’ve seen an ever-growing list of examples in which ostensibly neutral Canadian journalists accidentally expose themselves as propagandists for the ruling class – and face next to no repercussions.”

Indeed: Danielle Smith: UN Migration Pact part of the plan to extinguish Canadian identity. White fragility is real. White genocide is not. The thing about “old stock” Canadians is, well…they’re old.

Related satire: Are Millennials killing the Hooded White Robe industry?

No. Our 12 year olds are just as racist: Peewee hockey game in Neepawa turns ugly as fans hurl racist taunts at First Nations team. And so are boomers. I’m sitting in Mexico right now and the guy across from me is still outraged that the City of Victoria took down a statue of John A. MacDonald. “Why can’t we just learn from it?” Because we haven’t and we don’t and we continue to perpetuate the settler-colonial attitudes that our country was founded on.

Poor old Macleans: Canada is a tinderbox for populism. The 2019 election could spark it. I’ll just let this meme take care of this one:

Using Death Penalty for Fentanyl Dealers Would Have ‘Incredible’ Results, Trump Says. And by “fentanyl dealers” he’s talking about Purdue Pharma, right?

This is a thing now: Multiple vials of naloxone now required to resuscitate Metro Vancouver opioid users.

The Star: Jordan Peterson’s superfans say they’re not who you think they are.

“Shows pic of young white dude in a my little pony shirt: nope thats exactly who i think they are” – Zander Heart.

Wow, the media is really on a roll today: There’s no shame in looking after your family’s interests. Wherein Barbara Kay stoops to world class lazy journalism vis a vis some grade-school level plagiarism (shout out to Ryan Longoz for sending this one along.):

Cannabis use for fun is ‘sinful behaviour,’ B.C. bishops tell Catholics. Oh yeah? What about raping children? What about your old colleague, Hubert O’Connor, who was allowed to keep his “Most Reverend” and “Bishop Emeritus” titles after being found guilty of committing rape and indecent assault? The nerve…

Baby, It’s Cold Outside won’t be played on some radio stations, including CBC. It’s about time. The Tyee wrote about this back in 2014.

Bonus: The Tumblr Porn Ban Punishes Sex Workers for No Reason.