Robert P. J. Day
?@rpjday
1/ Let us now consider the spectacular stupidity of one Andrew Scheer and his intellectual idols at the Fraser Institute as they both try to work out Grade Four arithmetic and fail stupendously. I refer, of course, to this idiocy.

2/ Begin by imagining a hypothetical Canadian making, say, $100,000 per year, and being taxed at, say, 10%. The numbers are arbitrary, any other values would do just as well. In any event, onward.
3/ In our hypothetical case, our hypothetical Canadian would, of course, be taking home 90% of his income, or a grand total of $90,000. As Don Henley once asked, are you with me so far? Make sure you're with me because more arithmetic is on its way.
4/ Imagine now that our Canadian gets a 10% raise, while simultaneously has an increase in her tax bill of the very same 10%. According to the towering intellect that is Andrew Scheer, the increase in the tax rate would fully and completely cancel all that extra income:

5/ As I'm sure you've figured out by now, it doesn't work that way. Given a 10% raise, our subject would have a gross income of $110,000, while a 10% increase in the tax rate would drive the tax rate up to ... 11%. Again, if you increase 10% tax by 10%, you get 11% tax.
6/ So, to recap, before these exciting developments, our subject got to keep 90% of $100,000, producing a take-home pay of $90,000. This is not difficult ... the ape creatures of the Indus have mastered this.
7/ After the aforementioned increases in base salary and tax rate, our lucky citizen would now be taking home 89% of $110,000, or $97,900, a noticeable increase from the previous $90,000, and not a tragic cancellation of the entire raise as Andy Doody would have you believe.
8/ And that, kids, is why Justin Trudeau made a perfectly competent math, French and drama teacher, while Andrew Scheer should never, ever, ever be allowed to teach a class of any kind to six-year-olds.

The end.
9/ BONUS TRACK: Reader @claudegohier points out that the Fraser Institute's own report contradicts Scheer's embarrassing innumeracy, https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/tax-freedom-day-2018.pdf …, showing that a 3.3% increase in income *more* than makes up for the 3.1% increase in taxes. So what's going on here?

10/ What's going on here is that, stunningly, Andrew Scheer couldn't even be bothered to read the actual Fraser Institute report, opting instead to get his figures from an idiotic column by the Sun's Lorne Gunter, https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/gunter-the-canadian-economy-is-hurting-thanks-to-poor-government-decisions

11/ This is truly the Trumpification of the Conservative Party of Canada -- when its leader is too lazy to read original sources, but instead plans on crafting policy based on the spectacularly innumerate droolings of Postmedia propagandists.
P.S. I should point out Andrew's utter dishonesty in writing, "According to @FraserInstitute..." when it's painfully obvious he never consulted their actual report; rather, he uncritically plagiarized Lorne Gunter's idiocy. That is not a promising quality in a PM.

The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it is amending federal law to expand the definition of machine guns to say bump stocks fall under that term, making them likewise illegal. The department plans to submit paperwork by the end of the week, and the rule banning bump stocks will go into effect 90 days from that point. That means bump stocks will be illegal by the spring of 2019.

"The rule will take effect in 90 days from publication in the federal register," a senior Justice Department official told reporters on a conference call Tuesday morning. "At that point it will essentially become unlawful to posses a bump stock type device, they will be considered machine guns under both the National Firearms Act and the GCA — the Gun Control Act."

Mr. Trump announced last year that he intended to review bump stocks — something that came as a surprise to some. He announced that he had directed the DOJ to craft rules banning the devices earlier this year. The president hasn't taken further steps on gun control, to the dismay of gun control advocates.

One reporter on the conference call pointed out that the National Rifle Association may challenge the new rule. The senior DOJ official said that, no matter who files a lawsuit, the DOJ will defend its stance.

.@SonicFox5000 is officially the Best Esports Player presented by @OMENbyHP! #TheGameAwards

Lets talk about @SonicFox5000 award speech last night. He was excited, nervous and proud of who he is as a person, not just a gamer.

Of course now there is a large group of people asking why does it matter that he's gay, & black? How does a person's identity impact competition?

Gamers have this idea that society and the real world has no impact on competitive gaming, and that gaming is this meritocracy (definition below).

That idea could not be farther from the truth.



Black people have been systematically oppressed for centuries in America.

"Civil rights act was like 54 years ago!" My living parents and grandparents were alive then. Everything didnt magically fix itself after the law was created either. But thats another talk.

Black people have not had the same financial opportunities as their white counter parts, until recently. Many black people been systemically oppressed into poverty. Thats a fact, yeah there are many of us who have begun to cultivate wealth but many haven't.

So imagine growing up your parents didn't have the money to get you a PC or a Nintendo 64. The skills I learned playing goldeneye I now use in Overwatch. I have decades of experience in first person shooters. The same can be said about fighting games etc.

Sure you may now be able to afford games, consoles and PCs, but how much of a learning gap does the person whose been poor most of their life have compared to me? A lot. That already isn't a meritocracy because I'm entering the competition with skills the poor person may not.

How many LGBTQIA+ people have been thrown out of their homes for coming out to loved ones? 40% of Homeless Youth are LGBTQIA+, do you think they have the opportunity to grind out laddder wins in Street fighter when they may not have a place to sleep tomorrow? They don't.

This even extends to anyone living in a rural area. Internet access in America is mediocre at best if you're not in a major metropolitan area.

You can't get better at a game if you're lagging online every 30 seconds or getting constantly disconnected.

Competitive gaming isn't a meritocracy. If you want to go hard at fighting games, you'll need the income to travel constantly, and that shit adds up.

If you're a girl and want to go hard at any FPS or MoBA good luck finding a group who won't treat you like shit the entire time.

We have so much more work to do, in terms of accessibility for competitive gaming.

Sonicfox's declaration of being gay, black and a furry is important, because you cannot erase history or the way society has treated minorities.

Every one who is into competitive gaming should absolutely read, "The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games" by @real_chris_paul

I promise its worth the read and I'm only 60% done it.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-toxic-meritocracy-of-video-games-christopher-a-paul/1127291925;jsessionid=F01079F367D558E62EC8695BD32571DD.prodny_store01-atgap06?ean=9781452956206