Tea & Two Slices is a long-running local news round-up by NEEDS frontman and veteran dishwasher Sean Orr, who lives and works in Gastown, deeply aware of his privilege.
OK, Mr. Wilkinson. Your image has lately been taking a bit of a beating. People are calling you “out of touch” after you said that renting can be fun and that students can get carried away with interest-free loans so we need to do something that will really put you in touch with the people. I know! A yacht club! Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson pans speculation tax at West Van Yacht Club chat. The irony of whining about a $15,000 tax on an empty $3 million dollar second home when the membership to that club costs…wait for it…$15,000.
Sorry Andrew, but most Canadians – you know, the ones that aren’t in yacht clubs – are in favour of taxes like these: 69% of Canadians Support a Wealth Tax on The Super Rich. This isn’t radical stuff here, folks. Reagan had a marginal tax rate of 70%. It’s just that austerity has taken over our brains and we can’t think of how we got here.
How did we get here? Jean Swanson’s Idea for Housing Homeless Campers Shot Down. It’s funny, the new German dishwasher asked me why there are so many homeless people in Vancouver. I don’t think she expected a half-hour long answer.
This is a totally normal thing that is happening: Burnaby council candidate crowdfunds to pay rent as housing insanity continues. This must be just like living in paradise a late-capitalist dystopian hell world.
‘Bout time: Vancouver cuts funding to rape crisis centre over policy excluding transgender women. Remember, someone else’s sex or gender identity takes nothing away from yours. Stand for inclusion.
Gas prices and temperatures both on the rise in Metro Vancouver. Ah yes, it’s that time of year again when everyone gets severe amnesia and forgets that every single spring the gas prices go up and instead blame it on the lack of a new pipeline that doesn’t even deliver oil that gets refined into gas that we use.
Related tweet of the day:
nobody:
vancouverites the second vancouver is sunny and above 12 degrees: pic.twitter.com/Ry7jwohnAT
— lil bb z (@________z_____) March 18, 2019
Canada is not doing enough to combat right-wing terrorism. We literally had an entire election on the niqab. That was Jason Kenney’s idea. His UCP party just had a candidate resign for using white nationalist rhetoric. Scheer showed up at a Yellow Vest rally with Faith Goldy. The Yellow Vests cheered the terrorist attack. Scheer wouldn’t mention white supremacy in his pathetic response. Maxime Bernier has said nothing. A guy showed up to a vigil for mosque attack victims in Toronto wearing a MAGA hat. The terrorist’s gun had a Canadian’s name written on it. A Canadian website reposted his manifesto. Ernst Zündel, Faith Goldy, Lauren Southern, Stefan Molyneux, Gavin McInnes, Jordan Peterson, Soldiers of Odin, Rebel Media, UBC Hate Speech Club… We aren’t doing enough to combat the problem because it seems we are the problem.
And then there’s this guy: Chilliwack school trustee links Islam with violence. Someone fly Egg Boy out to the Fraser Valley!
This is an example of what to do:
After Juno winner Jeremy Dutcher’s acceptance speech for Indigenous album of the year was cut off, the Arkells invited him back on stage to cap the night. His passionate speech on reconciliation was delivered in English and Wolastoqey. https://t.co/zAuXNPrMqT pic.twitter.com/A8aMgc94Al
— CBC News (@CBCNews) March 17, 2019
Related: Read Jeremy Dutcher’s powerful 2019 Junos speeches in full.
Related satire of the day: Nation awakes in horror to discover they’ve missed the Junos again.
RIP: Wing’s Cafe
WATCH: As development continues on #Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, @thordiakow pays one final visit to an iconic family-run diner that's closing its doors for good. pic.twitter.com/ca9GLYtrnx
— NEWS 1130 (@NEWS1130) March 18, 2019
Honour bound: Dakota Wildeman Memorial Fund.
Bullshit; Reagan lowered the top marginal tax rate from 70% to 50%. In 1986 he reduced it to 28%.
ah shit, thanks. Should’ve done my research there my bad. I think my confusion comes from the fact that it was the Democrats who actually introduced that cut. https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2019/02/05/democrats-70-percent-tax-rate-000879
Save your vitriol for the folks at RVYC. WVYC is a more working man’s club populated by older sailboats and Bayliners. They just happen to have a nice location.
Not a member of any yacht clubs myself though.