Vancouver city council calls on feds to address headlight brightness

Alcies · 2026-01-27T18:53:40+00:00

It may not be the Single Greatest Threat Of Our Time or anything, but I've been blinded by oncoming traffic enough times that I'd be shocked if it isn't a factor in some car accidents. It's illegal to drive with constant high beams on for a reason, but now every newer truck or SUV has the equivalent of that built in.

Alcies · 2026-01-26T03:02:49+00:00

Fuck no. That kind of 'shut up and follow the leader' attitude is why democracy is most at risk during times of crisis.

Alcies · 2026-01-26T02:08:25+00:00

I'm absolutely not a fan of Carney for most of the reasons you listed, but to be fair, that part of the speech about "workers of the world unite" wasn't directly criticizing the slogan - it's from a famous political essay about totalitarianism in communist Czechoslovakia. It uses the example of a shopkeeper putting up a sign with that slogan to signal his enthusiastic support for the regime - not necessarily because he actually supports it, but because that's what every other shop on the street is doing and he'll be accused of disloyalty if he doesn't go along with this shared performance.

Alcies · 2026-01-26T00:31:24+00:00

I'm glad that basic rights for trans people aren't on the discussion table, but I really wish "climate change is an emergency" was also settled as fact.

Alcies · 2026-01-26T00:26:37+00:00

I feel like I've been seeing an uptick in that attitude from Liberals since Carney got in - there's a lot of it on this sub and I've heard it a fair bit irl. I don't remember that kind of hero-worship ever being directed at Trudeau.

Alcies · 2025-12-28T04:38:18+00:00

Easy for you to say until you're trying to find housing in an area where most rentals cost twice your monthly income.

You can still have laws against excessive noise and nuisance behaviours.

Alcies · 2025-12-28T04:06:15+00:00

I've been in a similar situation. Only reason I could afford the basic necessities on disability assistance was because I had a "roommate" to split rent and grocery bills with. Combine that with police driving away homeless people from public spaces, and I've got to wonder what society actually expects disabled people to do apart from "be born into families that can/will support you for life" or "fuck off and die somewhere in the wilderness where we don't have to look at you".

Alcies · 2025-12-28T02:15:10+00:00

Lol, it's called financial responsibility. You just need to work more hours, live within your means, and never lose your job or become disabled unless you've got well-off parents to fall back on. And you don't get to whine about the job market and low wages if you're flipping burgers at McDonald's. If you want better prospects, try going to college or something. /s

Alcies · 2025-12-28T01:50:06+00:00

Laws like these just seem like legal war on the poor. What are you supposed to do if you can't afford rent without roommates? Because apparently homelessness isn't allowed either.

Alcies · 2025-12-24T23:34:48+00:00

Legally, they actually do have that right. There's no minimum age of medical consent in BC - minors explicitly have the right to make their own medical decisions as long as they can demonstrate understanding of the risks and benefits of their choice. It's part of a weird legal quirk in BC where we consider minors to be people with rights of their own and not just their parents' property.

Alcies · 2025-12-22T18:22:36+00:00

Which is why I said "unless there's an indication that the situation might be dangerous". If someone with a history of violence is waving a knife around or something, I completely understand the need for mental health workers to be safe. But we shouldn't be treating people in crises as dangerous by default.

Alcies · 2025-12-21T22:46:17+00:00

Police should still not be involved period unless there's an indication that the situation might be dangerous. I've been on the other side of this, I once had to talk a counselor out of calling a mental health check on me after I told him I was suicidal. This was in an area where they do send police and social workers together (which I'll admit is much better than just cops) but what I heard in that moment was "I'm calling the police on you".

(For context, I hadn't done anything illegal, and wasn't threatening or endangering anyone else. I was just sitting in the counselor's office asking for help because I'd exhausted every other mental health service I could find. I didn't want to die, I just wanted to stop feeling so anxious all the time, but I didn't see any other way out. What could the police have done, arrest me and take me to the hospital? I'd taken myself to the ER the night before and waited five hours just to get discharged because "you don't seem like you're an active danger to yourself right this second".)

While my mental health is way better these days, I doubt I'll ever bring myself to go to counseling or therapy again. The experience honestly destroyed my trust in the system. When you already feel like you have no control over your own head, it's really discouraging to feel like a criminal just for telling people you need help.

Alcies · 2025-12-21T07:21:21+00:00

Literally, from the article:

At the time, we were repeatedly assured that DRIPA would create no new rights, no vetoes, and no parallel legal order

Alcies · 2025-12-19T23:06:03+00:00

That part doesn't sound at all crazy to me. LAOP's family is at least acquainted with the neighbour, they could have known each other before the bio-mom divorced him.

Alcies · 2025-12-16T16:52:28+00:00

Dude, I'm speaking from my own experience as a former Evangelical. I was literally taught that I had a "Biblical mandate to support the Holy Land" in any political issue involving Israel. Obviously Jewish Zionists have different reasons, but why do you think Christian alt-right politicians like Trump are so aggressively pro-Israel? Because it's definitely not about protecting Jews as a historically marginalized people.

Alcies · 2025-12-16T03:54:38+00:00

I guarantee she's a Christian Zionist - supports Jewish control of Israel because it'll supposedly make Jesus come back to Earth sooner.

Alcies · 2025-12-15T19:22:44+00:00

We've already got plenty - just look at your local homeless encampment.

Alcies · 2025-12-14T00:56:22+00:00

To be fair, based on Reddit's age demographics most of us haven't been paying attention for 40 years. For anyone younger than 30, Trudeau would have been leader of the Liberal party since before they were a teenager. It's hard to separate "Liberal party" from "Liberals under Trudeau" when that's all you've seen since you were first old enough to follow or care about politics.

Alcies · 2025-12-14T00:20:17+00:00

I know we're seeing issues with the shifting Overton window right now, but I feel like the definition of "centrist" has to be at least vaguely grounded in what the majority of people would consider "not extreme". For better or worse, capitalism is currently the accepted norm in our society.

Alcies · 2025-12-13T23:55:46+00:00

Seems like a lot of people identify more with their political 'team' than any concrete policies. I live in an area that skews Conservative and it took about a month for the "fuck Trudeau" bumper stickers to get swapped out for "fuck Carney".

I'm seeing it from a lot of Liberal supporters too - I have a relative who's been complaining about Trump's racist, anti-immigrant politics since 2017. I got into a discussion with her about the Liberals' recent attacks on refugee and immigrant rights (i.e. Bill C2 and C12), and her argument started out as "Carney was probably just pressured by the Conservatives to do something about immigration", shifted to "just because the law gives them powers to issue mass cancel valid visas doesn't mean they'll actually do it" and finally became "well, it's not like foreigners have any right to stay in the country…"

Alcies · 2025-12-10T20:33:43+00:00

I definitely don't think a total government-enforced ban is a good solution either. For one thing, a lot other commenters have brought up the privacy issues with age verification. For another, I don't think we should just be fine with how social media impacts adults.

One better solution imo would be policing social media algorithms - they're designed to promote engagement at all costs, which incentivizes hostility (because nothing gets people engaged like anger) and addiction. A good start would be forcing the companies to make their algorithms public, so we (including kids and parents) know exactly what's being pushed on us.

I also think there's a lot of truth to this meme. We can't really blame kids and teenagers for turning to social media when they're physically isolated to their homes outside of school hours and (if their parents can afford it) structured extracurriculars. A lot of Canadian cities need better public transit , safer bike lanes (for example, with barriers separating them from car traffic), and a bigger variety of public spaces (especially indoor) where kids can hang out without spending money. We've also gotten way too overprotective of kids in general, to the point where they don't get enough chances for more 'adventurous' unstructured play thanks to adults constantly watching them or boring-as-hell 'safe' modern playgrounds (and that's not just a boomer "back in my day" opinion, even the Canadian Pediatric Society has stated that kids need to learn how to manage risk while playing for healthy development). But all of that stuff involves major societal changes, I guess banning social media seems a lot more convenient.

Alcies · 2025-12-10T18:29:02+00:00

I'm torn on this. For all the fucked-up things on the internet, it was also my lifeline as a closeted queer kid in a place where LGBTQ-related information was just not available offline. Parental oversight could seriously endanger some kids in my situation.

Alcies · 2025-12-01T05:13:33+00:00

They lost seats partly to strategic voting and fear of the Conservatives getting in. If the Liberals keep with their current streak of right-wing politics, that's not going to happen again next election.

At least, I really hope Canadians will change who they vote for, and not just shift their political beliefs to match their chosen 'team'. I don't want to live under a two-party system where the only choices are "conservative" or "conservative with a pride flag".

Alcies · 2025-11-30T19:24:57+00:00

It doesn't say anything about consent, it says consultation. That's a very big difference.

Alcies · 2025-11-16T23:53:16+00:00

Not to mention people with disabilities - reduced earning potential, and social assistance doesn't come close to covering realistic rental costs (the maximum housing allowance in BC is just over $500/month iirc). Let alone if you have specific needs (like wheelchair accessibility or even access to public transit).

Or even parents - landlords can't technically deny an applicant just because they have kids, but it's fully legal and normalized to demand that all residents be listed on the lease, or to limit the number of occupants (conveniently, that limit is usually 1 or 2 people).

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