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.

‘Un-freaking-believable’ as city lists suite for ‘low-income families’ on Craigslist at $2,850 a month. Oh, it’s totally believable, Dan. This type of scorn for the working class is the rule. I mean, look at the comments defending this, saying that $2,850 a month is cheap in the West End without even acknowledging that this is on city land. Sure, that it was on Craigslist was a bit of a slip-up, but at this point we can only assume this is par for the course. Any councillor that pays lip service to affordability is either lying or totally incompetent.

“A monthly rent of $2,850 would only be affordable for a household earning more than $110,000 a year” which is “more than double the median household income for Vancouver renters, according to the city’s own stats…” Oops.

Reminder: Low-Income Workers Can’t Afford Rent in 91% of Canadian Cities. Again, the system isn’t broken. It’s working perfectly. You’re not supposed to get ahead. Only the elite are. You’re supposed to be too exhausted to flood the streets en masse. You’re supposed to numb the pain of existence with Netflix and IPA. Right? Please tell me I’m right…

Meme time:

Imagine how much money we would be earning if wages went up the same percentage as property values? Imagine if we had tied welfare rates to inflation? $150 over two years after a decade-long BC Liberal freeze just isn’t enough: B.C.’s minister of poverty reduction responds to criticism of worsening conditions in Vancouver’s downtown eastside.

Opinion: Kennedy Stewart has simply not stepped up to lead as Mayor of Vancouver. I mean, it’s true, just not in the way the NPA’s George Affleck says, especially since his idea of leadership just means he would have cleared out the campers from Oppenheimer Park sooner.

Hey tech bros! Here’s an opportunity to show us that you’re not the deluded parasites I said you were back in May: Vancouver Tenants Union wants to build an eviction database.

Welcome to Vancouver, where even are gangs are a bunch of spoiled brats: The unusual suspects: How B.C.’s middle-class gangs are unlike any other in North America.

Many young members come from middle- to upper-class homes. They aren’t driven by poverty, but instead by their desire to belong, to be protected or to emulate the gangster lifestyle flashed by other teens on social media.

Of course they blame social media and not the desire to emulate a system that operates in the exact same way gangs do. They’ve been told that money is king and that working hard is for chumps. I don’t blame them. Toiling away at minimum wage sucks.

Solidarity: Workers vote to give union reps a strike mandate at three more downtown Vancouver hotels. “While Vancouver’s hospitality industry enjoys record profits, the hotels have failed to bargain a contract for staff with livable wages and enough hours to create jobs that can sustain a family in Vancouver, Richmond, Coquitlam or Surrey,”

Speaking of Richmond: Police investigate racist rant in Richmond, B.C., parking lot captured on video. “I don’t care what they’re calling me. I am not a racist person.” My god. She actually believes this. Forget about the structural racism that she benefits from everyday, she says “Chinky, chinky China lady” in a faux-Chinese accent. Middle-aged, middle-class white women are the most dangerous people in the world. I mean, the Karen memes are funny and everything, but their sense of entitlement is terrifying and it has everything to do with losing their place within the white patriarchy.

Speaking of the patriarchy: Canada occupies unique space in ‘manosphere’ of extremist violence.

Bonus:

Someone vandalized the Bernier sign last night. #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/cJHn41V6L5

— Sleepy Rob (@sleepyrobanders) August 25, 2019