sbv

As always, the Fraser Institute is shitting on ideas that could help the 99%, and saying government should rEmOvE ReD tApE.

I really want this to work. But the announcements I've seen for the building plan only address the supply side and ignore the problems on the demand side: people who own houses are able to pump up the cost of new houses; tax law encourages Canadians to treat their primary residence as an investment; real estate is used for money laundering (at least in some jurisdictions); mortgage fraud is a thing (at least in some jurisdictions); renovictions are used to pump the cost of rentals; and rent caps aren't available in many jurisdictions.

Anyhow, here's hoping the investing in modular housing succeeds, rezoning somehow lowers prices, and the feds are able to push housing starts to the moon.

I'm looking for feedback for generic opposition.

Problem

My players have gotten to the point where gangers and bodyguards don't really threaten unless they show up in force (like 2x the number of players). The Solo has made great choices about equipment and IP assignment, so they're dancing around most mooks I throw their way.

I'm trying to create a general corporate "Rapid Response Team" (borrowing from Shadowrun) that can pose a serious threat to the PCs. I plan to use them as reason why the players try to avoid triggering alarms or waltzing into corporate areas guns blazing.

Solution

Rapid Response Teams are deployed when an alarm goes off, or there's a confirmed threat in an area a corp wants to keep safe. They're deployed in groups of 1.5x the party size (6 in my case). One group is deployed at each exit, to a maximum of 3.

Loadout:

• +14 on weapons and brawling skills. They are "Elite" according to the 3 Goon Method.
• MOV 5 or 6.
• Melee
  • Nightstick (heavy melee: ROF 2, 3d6)
  • Karate: hit with nightstick, then hit with Martial Arts attack, then break armour. (4d6 due to linear frame's BODY stat)
• Range
  • Nearish range: <6 squares, Shotgun (ROF 1, 5d6), AP ammo
  • Longer range: 6+ squares, Assault rifle (ROF 1, 5d6), AP ammo
• Grenades
  • Indoors: smoke
  • Outdoors: AP
• Cyberware
  • Thermal optics
  • Linear frame Sigma (Body 12)

Tactics:

• Goal: overwhelming force to flatten opposition
• Move in groups. Take extra turns to stay together. Move silently.
• Cluster at the end of hallways, on their turn, step out to fire then back under cover.
• When entering rooms: cluster at doorway, throw a smoke grenade, then rush in.
• Focus targets - aim for whoever they think they can pick off.
• Fill space with smoke grenades to blind opposition, then use their thermal optics.

Some alternatives

• Flashbangs rather than smoke grenades - they trigger 20 rounds of Damaged Eye/Ear critical injuries. I think I'd rather save those for the next level of operatives tho.
• A ROF 1 heavy melee weapon. I'd prefer to stick with ROF 2 so they can use martial arts attacks when in melee range.
• Give them four arms and shields. Again, I'd prefer to save that for the heavier hitters.
• Other martial arts. I haven't looked at the new Interface, but I'd prefer to avoid choking, since that means a player is just rolling against a DV for 3 rounds.

So, any suggestions or improvements?

London-based Shell owns 40 per cent of LNG Canada. Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas acquired its 25-per-cent stake in 2018. The other participants in the venture are PetroChina and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. (each with a 15-per-cent stake) and South Korea’s Kogas (5 per cent).

If everything goes according to plan, we're gonna see a lot more disputes like this in the next few years. Sure, some of the development will be infill, but a bunch won't.

"How can you claim to defend farmland, then turn around and pave over it?" he asked. "How do you justify reducing P.E.I.'s agricultural land base at a time when the loss of farmland is one of the biggest concerns facing Island farmers?"

...

"What is the total projected cost of the Sleepy Hollow development, including infrastructure, maintenance and services, and how has that been communicated with the public?"

...

"The issue isn't about building more houses; it's about sprawling as opposed to density, which is protecting our land," he said.

...

"Sleepy Hollow Road already has safety concerns and we know that. To the premier: Will you commit to upgrading the road, including paving and shoulders, before this development goes ahead, and have residents been given any assurances this is going to be happening?"

the plight of young people has faded into the background, as the trade war with the U.S. takes centre stage in Canada’s federal election. Meanwhile, political parties have said more about protecting seniors’ retirements than helping young Canadians get a head start.

...

New polling conducted by Nanos Research for The Globe and Mail and CTV News suggests that while the trade war is the top issue for Canadians 55 years and older, the cost of living is the priority for younger Canadians. Only one in 10 Canadians polled under the age of 35 said the trade was their main issue.

Canadians under the age of 35 are also more likely to trust Mr. Poilievre (38 per cent) – who has made the cost of living a central focus of his campaign – than Mr. Carney (26 per cent) to help young people.

The trade war has “taken the oxygen out of the room,” said Mike Moffatt, founding director of the Missing Middle Initiative, a project housed in the University of Ottawa’s Institute for the Environment with the stated goal of reviving Canada’s urban middle class.

“Other than housing, there has been a real absence of any policy to help struggling young people.”

From: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/federal-election/article-federal-election-2025-young-voters-housing-affordability-economy/

Most Canadians do not want a housing market "comeback". We need a crash, with the federal and provincial governments lowering costs by building. And tax changes to decommidify housing.

“It feels like the best case for housing is five or 10 years where price growth tracks sideways and you get the relief coming through income growth,” Mr. Doyle said.

“But the risk is things spiral with this trade war and we’re into a stagnation environment where it’s not a sideways movement any more, it’s a sharp downturn.”

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canadas-housing-market-was-poised-for-a-comeback-then-a-trade-war/

Instance featured posts appear at the top of the new feed. That breaks the lil bot's mind because it expects a chronologically ordered list. That's fixed. We missed ~4 days of posts because of that. Whoops.

And there was a breaking schema change to include the publish date.

For now, I've also scoped the bot to just read the local feed and raised an issue to make scoping configurable.

Mr. Poilievre has promised a personal income tax cut that would cost the federal treasury $7-billion in the first year and $14-billion a year by the time it is fully implemented in the third year. His proposal to defer capital gains taxes for investors who reinvest their money in Canada would cost $5.5-billion a year for two years. With all the other tax cuts and spending promises, it could easily add $15-billion or more to the deficit.

Now the Conservatives have to say what they would cut to avoid a ballooning deficit.

Mr. Carney also proposes a tax cut that would cost $6-billion a year – along with other targeted tax cuts and a series of spending promises. With all that, the operating budget will not balance itself in three years.

The Liberal Leader has made it clear that he is willing to run a deficit for capital spending, so increased expenditures on military equipment and infrastructure can mostly be placed in that column.

...

And, of course, that’s the main reason they have waited this long before revealing the costs – because it means talking about cuts or deficits. That’s the last thing they want to tell voters.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/opinion/article-time-to-tell-us-how-election-promises-add-up/

this is a repost

this is not a repost