Other talks include “Build-a-Cult,” moderated by the founder of the Christian networking site Pray(dot)com

They're so straight-forward with their Peers. It's almost refreshing.

Ethiopia generates more than 96% of its electricity from renewable hydropower...

TIL

For many in Ethiopia, where salaries are often less than €1000 a year, the starting price of a new electric car — €17,000 ($19,700/3.2 million Ethiopian birr) — is steep. But taxi driver Abdurahman Ali is happy he made the switch. [...] "Before switching [...] every month I would spend 40,000-50,000 birr on fuel. Since switching to electric and charging at home, my monthly costs have dropped to about 5,000 birr, at most. That's a huge difference."

That's massive! Roughly, from €250 to €25 a month? Fuck, that's some fabulous news right there. Go on, Mr. Ali!

“Don’t go – not with Trump in charge. It’s totally out of control over there. There’s no accountability. They don’t seem to need a reason for detaining you. [...] I worry about young people going out there for the World Cup – I really do. I imagine a group of young guys getting drunk at a game, getting arrested. I could see them easily ending up in the same place as I did. They’d find some reason to detain them. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anybody.” - Mrs. Newton, 65, was on holiday in the USA w a British passport and a tourist visa

"Florida is no longer a safe destination for international tourists. With the FIFA World Cup 2026 coming to Miami, travelers may face unprecedented risks of racial profiling, wrongful detention in inhumane conditions without consular access, and heinous human rights violations—regardless of legal travel status." - https://floridaimmigrant.org/...

"... constant lying is not aimed at making people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore. A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong... With such a people, you can do whatever you want." - Hannah Arendt, 1906-1975, German historian and philosopher

Skippy pretending to care about worker's rights. That'll be... fun. I imagine the Manning Centre's PR machine working overtime on another makeover right now. Brainstorming, "what do workers look like" and next time he steps out it'll be in overalls and a big straw hat, or an old school rail porter's uniform. It'll be up there with Harper's weird cowboy leather daddy moment.

It is depressing. Thinking about Carney's Davos speech where he referenced Havel's Power of the Powerless, taking the "workers of the world unite" sign out of the window. I didn't think he meant it literally.

A Palestinian-Canadian owned chain.

Jack Rabba, the founder of Rabba [...] described moving to Canada as winning the “lottery of life,” and referred to Canadians as the “greatest people in the world.”

In 2021, Canada Convenience Store News reported, “[Rabba president Rick Rabba’s] family were Palestinian immigrants who came to Canada in 1966 with little money. His mother worked at the University of Toronto library and his father [Jack Rabba] got a job at a restaurant, then a hotel and a convenience store.”

Over 1 batch of grapefruit in 1 store (and rumours of tangerines), this journalist confronted floor staff, the location manager, the head office, Jack, the Palestinian BDS National Committee and the Canadian BDS Coalition. Just to ask questions, of course.

Dude could use his platform to go after Pattison, a Weston, Metro or Empire for the same. Instead we get this misleading headline.

tl;dr - Davide found some grapefruit from Israel-Palestine in one (1) store. He went searching for more Israeli produce in other Rabba locations and couldn't find any. No one would return his JAQ phone calls. Useful info here.

I hope so too.

In other news:

The Ontario government is welcoming a multi-billion-dollar investment from Microsoft, as part of the company’s previously announced $19 billion commitment to Canada. Through this investment, Microsoft is expanding its cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure across Ontario, significantly scaling up the province’s computing capability while reinforcing Ontario’s position as a leader in the tech and digital economy. [...]

This expansion in Ontario will further bolster the reliability of its data infrastructure to strengthen the province’s domestic data capacity as more businesses begin to adopt and scale AI technologies. Through the company’s Community-First approach, Microsoft will also prioritize alignment with regional economic priorities, including advancing Ontario’s investment readiness and competitiveness, fostering the conditions for job creation and apprenticeships and laying the foundation for advanced AI innovation. (Apr 7, '26)

There are 8.3 Billion people on the planet and there were 7.5 ten years ago. We have enough people. We have enough resources for everyone to live comfortably and be well in their communities. We have more than enough money and other valuable things to trade.

The main thing getting in our way isn't a low birth rate.

Anyone genuinely concerned with the depopulation of humans in 2026 is probably some flavour of breeder cult weirdo, and the only ones constantly banging on about it in politics, academia, the news, etc are imperialists, industrialists and racist patriarchs. IME.

And when the Freedom City brainiacs suck up the last drop of fresh water during fire season to power a monstrosity nobody wants and only makes more work and less security for people, at least Interim Reeve Ray Orb will have the comfort of knowing it wasn't wasted on some useless plant or person.

The R.M. arranged a livestream of the meeting but audio was unavailable until just before council voted unanimously

I want to live in a world where people go to jail for doing shit like this.

[edit to remove ranting about techbros]

My conspiracy theory is Corey Comperatore was a blood sacrifice for Project 2025 ghouls. He was also proof that the gun was loaded with real bullets.

Leading up to the election, Christian fundie social media spaces were stuffed with bible verses (Leviticus and Revelations) and commentary about whether earblood was A Sign. So now they're shifting the narrative from Trump's being annointed by god to being the outright antichrist? Even when his supporters seem to be distancing themselves, you can see he's still the most important person in the world to them. It's so frigging weird.

tl;dr highlights (516 words):

• Last week, the Cuban Center for Molecular Immunology (CIM) announced a major health breakthrough with VAXIRA, a vaccine treatment for lung cancer. This is a remarkable achievement, made only more impressive by the fact this is Cuba’s second lung cancer vaccine.

• In 1962, the polio campaign launched through mobilizing 100,000 members of newly founded revolutionary committees to conduct a population census and vaccinate all children. Within months, polio was eradicated in Cuba making it one of the first countries in the world to do so.

• Its vaccination programs have eradicated diseases that continue to cause death and suffering around the world including diphtheria in 1979, measles in 1993, whooping cough in 1994, and rubella in 1995.

• In 1981, Cuba opened the Biological Research Center, despite the blockade stopping entry of equipment, materials, access to research journals, and medicines. [...] Cuba produced the world’s first human vaccine to contain a synthetic antigen, for Haemophilus influenzae type B.

• In 1989, Cuba produced the world’s first Meningitis B vaccine during a severe breakout of the disease in the country. This was the first ever vaccine produced to protect against Meningitis B and was exported to protect people in countries across Latin America.

• As the US blockade made it virtually impossible and far too expensive to import the [Hepatitis B] vaccine [in 1990], Cuba produced their own and eliminated Hepatitis B under 15.

• In 2006, Cuba developed Heberprot-P, the only medicine in the world to reduce the amputation rate of patients with diabetic foot ulcers by 75%. Within 10 years, it was used in 23 countries. It has treated more than 400,000 people with foot ulcers.

• In 2011, Cuba developed CIMAvax, which remains the world’s only approved lung cancer vaccine. This vaccine works to induce the immune system to stop the growth of cancer cells to slow the progression of a tumors. This vaccine has already treated more than 5,000 people across the world and many more thousands in Cuba itself.

• By 2015, Cuba became the first country in the world to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis. [...] This world historical achievement came as a result of Cuba’s universal health system that integrated maternal and child health programs with HIV and STI treatment.

• During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuba produced five vaccines: Ablada, Soberana 01, Soberana 02, Soberana Plus, and Mambisa. Cuba had one of the lowest COVID deaths in the Western Hemisphere - and by 2021, Cuba’s fatality rate was just 0.59% compared to the 2.2% worldwide average. [...] By 2023, Cuba had the third highest rate of vaccinations per 100,000 people.

• Cuba has restored the eyesight for more than four million people with its joint program with Venezuela, Operation Miracle.

• They have sent more than 600,000 health workers on medical missions to 160 countries in response to pandemics, epidemics, natural disasters, and other crises where no other country would act.

• They have and continue to train doctors from the Global South for free so they go back to their home countries to practice medicine.

Yay for more generic meds to treat Type 2 Diabetes!

On the downside, doctors all over Canada are already being inundated by people with eating disorders who've been seeing ads for Ozempic/Wegovy/etc for a decade now, but couldn't justify the expense. To all my fellow 1990s "nothing feels as good as skinny tastes!" extreme dieting survivors - wishing you mental clarity and self care in these crazy days.

In the first 24 hours of generics coming online, Felix Health, a Canadian virtual care platform, had 14 times the number of people requesting a weight-loss visit with a doctor

Eating disorders and substance abuse are already very good buddies, and then there's the nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and constipation side effects both Ozempic users and extreme dieters are already so familiar with. So many diabetes researchers have given the heads-up about the self-image problems, drug dependency and mental side effects (like depression and suicidal ideation) prediabetes drug treatments seemed to exacerbate. But even in the early 2000s the topic was so dominated by lobbying and hyperbole their concerns couldn’t make a dent.

Today it’s a gazillion times worse. We've all seen posts about these drugs get smothered by all those culty ED buzzwords (like "food noise"), evangelical testimonials and thousands of updoots within hours. Then mainstream media reports What People Are Saying along with whatever the latest pharma-funded study says the new wonder drug can do, and it snowballs.

Lately I've noticed an uptick in online doctors Creating Content about how Ozempic MIGHT BE a great treatment for all your other addictions and bad thoughts too. Which makes the Ozempic user's story in the linked cbc article even more chilling imo:

[When she quit taking Ozempic] it was like a tap had been turned on in her head. Suddenly, all her thoughts the drug had suppressed about food and eating came flooding back. "It's relentless and it's constant," said the 50-year-old Powell River, B.C., resident.

Literally just mocking democracy at this point.

I found more details about when those resignations happened from a link in OP's link:

Feb 9 - council approves a zoning change "to allow the AI data centre to proceed to a design stage"

March 16 - another closed meeting, this time something about ethics complaints

March 18 - 4 of the 7 council members resign and they're all mum about it. Maybe an NDA?

With the four resignations, Sherwood’s council no longer has quorum to conduct any meetings to address regular business. [...] In the meantime, per The Municipalities Act, the Minister of Government Relations will appoint “one or more persons to act as members of council” to meet quorum requirements until the fall.

Also Middle of March, the Bell Canada President and Scott Moe came out and said "the data centre would be moving ahead in this spring."

Now, April 20, another closed-door meeting. "We get so many emails tho." "Oops, our audio was off until the vote part! Our bad!" "Don't worry - they did a self-assessment." It's so blatant, it's almost funny.

The lack of empathy is nauseating. Imagine making it your business to harass and hobble a children's hospital for 40-odd years.

2021, we're all in the depths of the covid crisis, hospital staff are already beyond overworked, and you're gonna moan that they haven't provided documentation to justify last month's emergencies to a frigging community council group?

Rotten little over-entitled hoarders. Good on the people keeping this filthy business in the public eye.

Absentee councillor Brad-Brad campaigning for mayor again. This is our reminder he doesn't give a single, solitary fuck about wasting the city's money (or the World Cup). Tedious little puffed-up douche.

When asked about Bradford's claim that Toronto is the only city to resell its tickets — which runs contrary to what the City of Vancouver told CBC News — Isha Chaudhuri, his spokesperson, said the practice is "wrong anywhere."

translation: we got our "Chow's a scalper" talking point out there; dgaf about facts

https://www.progresstoronto.ca/...

As concerned Beaches–East York residents, we urge Torontonians to reject Brad Bradford. It is important to note that, when given the chance to vote for Brad for Mayor in 2023, he came in 8th place in our riding.

Yes! All that civility and decorum training. I'll add to yours "Don't speak ill of the dead."

Stops people from learning about intergenerational trauma and fascists/terrorists in the family. Sure, my grandad was wildly abusive to his daughters and disgustingly racist about black people in Nova Scotia, Canada (the ones in Jamaica are fine btw). But he's dead now so "we don't talk about that." Totes cool to mention his army medals tho.

To anyone scrolling by wanting to take an intro to Indigenous history crash course, Indigenous Canada is offered free through coursera and the University of Alberta. 12 modules over 2 weeks (flexible). Can recommend.

I was thinking the same thing, but from a PR perspective, getting caught helps normalize the obscenity.

30 million gallons and it's a "mistake." Next time it'll be 25 million and hey, at least that's not as bad. After that it'll be 40 million and it's "sure that's a lot but not too much more than usual. Besides you took a shower this morning so Both Sides amirite? Now let me explain in little words how condensation works..."

there were no consequences for exceeding peak limits

imo, that's the lesson. I mean you're probably right, but our Lords and Masters are super performative about their resource extraction grabs.

Not even that. I'm seeing nothing about any fines in the linked article.

For being nice about being investigated and promising to do better next time, they get to continue trawling and stealing whatever the fuck they want (if I'm reading this right). Same shit when the parasite class rolled out Uber, AirB&B, PayPal, etc. "Yes, this breaks every applicable labour and privacy law we have to protect people, but it's here so what are you gonna do about it."

Thanks for the link, OP. Very worth the read.

These moments of hostility are more than personal insults; they represent a fracturing of the Canadian sanctuary I once knew, signaling a shift from a culture of mutual support to tribalism that now threatens, at various levels, the very multicultural fabric of our nation. In this delicate moment for both Canada and the world, it is time to confront the rise of these harmful ideologies and make a better country for all who live here. [...]

This situation demands that we look beyond immigration laws and address the social sickness spreading within our communities, where everyone identifies as “Canadian” only to label the next person as the “alien.”

This reality is agonizing because when I first arrived in Canada, I felt I had reached the safest place in the world for social rights and harmony. Now, I feel that arguments are no longer arguments; they are one-dimensional screams. No one is looking for a calm, shared logic to solve our communal responsibilities. Instead, we are following egos and deceptive rhetoric that only seek an audience. This is the breeding ground for extremist ideological demagoguery.