nyan

Have fun with your game of whack-a-mole, guys. Eventually, you'll realize that the money you're pumping into it is just wasted.

You don't have to be a company in order to advertise something. Charities, unions, lobbyists, and governments all put out ads for various purposes. (Note that I'm not saying anything about the content of this particular video, or the value of proportional representation, just that an advertisement doesn't necessarily have to be pushing you to exchange money for specific goods or services so that the advertiser can profit.) You're still welcome to claim that the video isn't an advertisement, but you'll need a better reason.

There's a difference between ignorance—even willful ignorance—and active malice.

If the Peruvian government lied about why it wanted the weapons, and our government believed them, then our government is guilty of ignorance and stupidity, but not malice.

If the Peruvian government lied about why it wanted the weapons, and our government knew there was a possible issue but sold them the weapons anyway, that's willful ignorance, but still not malice. Consider the following scenario: Your neighbour borrows a kitchen knife from you, saying he needs to chop some vegetables. Instead, he uses it to kill his wife. You knew that he and his wife had a bad relationship, and you've told him off when you've seen her with suspicious bruises, but you weren't expecting anything like this. Still, you provided the weapon, and you didn't try to step between them. To what degree are you guilty? Should you have interfered in their relationship? That's where I suspect we're at: our government not agreeing with or encouraging the Peruvian government's behaviour, but not shunning the perpetrator or making any real attempt to stop what's going on. Like it or not (and I don't like it), this is really common in international relations. If the original headline had used "ignores" in place of "supports", I would agree with it 100%.

If the Peruvian government told the truth: "We want these weapons to kill and maim our own people," and our government still sold them, then that's malice and would make the headline accurate as it stands. But I doubt that's what actually happened.

I'd translate that as "We're too lazy to do any actual checking, so we're going to dump the responsibility on you in the hope that you'll go away."

"Supports" is stretching things way out of shape. "Ignores" or "does not attempt to prevent" might be accurate, depending on what's actually taking place in Peru (about which I have no idea, nor do most Canadians), but to what degree is it acceptable to interfere in another country's politics? Do they expect Canada to enact a trade embargo with Peru to get mining companies headquartered here to stop investing there? This is not stuff we do casually, nor should we.

So tell me, if the choice is between having the safe consumption site close to your kids' school and having people doing their drugs in the open near your kids' school and leaving their used needles lying on the playground, which are you going to pick? Often, these places are where they are because that's where their clients already are.

You may also want to measure out the radius of 200m from every school or daycare in your town or city on a map and see how many places are left where they can park SCSs. I admit I haven't actually done this, but my bet is that the options will be considerably reduced.

It's just about inevitable that some SCSs are going to end up in someone's backyard. Figuring out where they'll do more good than harm is more important than enforcing arbitrary limits. This is typical right-wing "think of the children" rhetoric. Don't fall for it.

I have often mused on how to remotely demolish billboards along highways.

Rocket launcher? If you're in the US you might even be able to obtain one legally. If you can't, maybe a truck-mounted trebuchet would work.

You would think, but the NDP are seen as "unelectable".

And even then, most people are still choosing to go to the three cities and immediate outlying areas where the most economic influence and possible social connections are - Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal.

This is the real issue. Having grown up in a dot on the map in the middle of the Ontario boreal forest on the arctic watershed side of the Shield, I can tell you that it isn't all that much harder to build infrastructure there than it is further south (sometimes takes a little longer because of longer winters, that's all). It isn't even horrible land agriculturally as long as you take the shorter growing season into account when you're choosing what to plant. So more of the land is usable than you might think. However, people want to go to the places where people already are.

Fewer homes are built -> municipality receives less money -> municipality can't afford to build out infrastructure like water, sewers, and roads because they can barely afford to maintain the existing stuff -> even fewer homes are built. My cat can figure that out, so either PP is dumber than my cat (possible), or his goal isn't what he claims it is (likely).

I've watched 200-odd episodes (plus several movies) of Detective Conan, AKA Case Closed, over the years, because sometimes I just need a mildly entertaining timewaster. So I've seen maybe 20% of that series as it presently stands.

Other than that, some long-running shounen nonsense (Hero Academia, Black Clover, Bleach, Fairy Tail, possibly others I'm forgetting), all of which would have been better if they were shorter. I've also seen most of Sailor Moon at one time or another, and it would have been better if it had ended sooner than it did.

The Slayers (104 eps) and Kyo Kara Maoh! (117? eps) were the longest I can think of that were worth watching a second time. Saiyuki (if you count all the variously-titled bits as a single series it must have passed 100 by now) might also qualify if it ever achieves a decent ending.

(I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting—I've seen a lot of anime.)

The anime is a good twenty years old at this point. In isolation, if you're not familiar with the source material, it's an okay-but-forgettable action series.