"The team injected antibodies from the Long COVID patients into mice to see if the antibodies could cause Long COVID symptoms. They found that the test mice were more sensitive to pain if they received antibodies from Long COVID patients with chronic pain. Those mice also showed signs of nerve damage linked to chronic pain. Most of the mice that developed balance instability had received antibodies from patients with dizziness."

#LongCovid
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/immune-system-may-attack-nervous-system-some-long-covid-patients

Its great that Albertans voted overwhelmingly to remain in Canada. But disturbing how much the anti-immigrant and antidemocratic punching down has held sway.

Q1: decrease immigration: yes 599k vs 424k votes
Q2: kick unauthorized immigrants off healthcare, school and other social services: yes 517k vs 387k
Q4: charge a fee to non-perm resident use of health & education: yes 439k vs 330k votes
Q5: Proof of citizenship to vote: yes 436k vs 255k votes

https://results.elections.ab.ca/8400

#ABPoli #CanPoli

Whats best when sick? Rice porridge? Ginger tea?

Neither! It's sick days. All workers should have PAID sick days. All restaurant staff. Bartenders. Personal support workers. Pharmacists. Shop clerks. Construction workers. Daycare workers. Temporary staff.

Everyone gets sick. Societally we are better if people aren't forced to work when sick.

This is me, sub-tooting in annoyance.

I'm also thinking about the other ways Olivia Chow differs from both John Tory and Doug Ford. Tory and Ford are both large white men with inherited wealth. She's a petite Asian first generation immigrant woman from humble means. Goodness gracious, those differences have to have some effect in how they each view the world, and get things done.

Interesting profile of mayor Olivia Chow by Jonathan Goldsbie in The Local. He points to her long history in advocacy as being her defining quality, in contrast to politicians from a business background who are more used to just giving orders.

https://thelocal.to/olivia-chow-election-profile/

He notes her exercise playlist includes "On the Nature of Daylight", providing a link to the very #Toronto music video featuring Elizabeth Moss. Holy fuck, what a stunning piece:
https://www.deccapublishing.com/max-richter-nature-daylight-video-feat-elisabeth-moss/

#ToPoli #OliviaChow

One year ago today (Oct 16th), the city of Toronto evicted the remaining residents of the encampment in front of St Stephen's church, at Kensington market.

Most accepted the city's offer of temporary shelter. To my knowledge, only 1 has secured permanent housing. All others who have survived still live on the street. Just less visible to the comfortably housed.

The yard continues to be cordoned off, though the city-posted 24-hour security guards have left.

#Homelessness #ToPoli #Toronto

In response to Desmond Cole's video for The Breach, which points out that Doug Ford's war on Toronto bike lanes is part of a global right wing fossil fuel led push back against climate actions, Zac Trolley makes an interesting comparison to First Nations pushing back against pipelines:

https://breachmedia.ca/doug-ford-bike-lanes-removal/

#TheWarOnCars #BikeTO #Toronto #OnPoli #ClimateChange #FossilFuels #Fridays4Future

There are 3 million more disabled workers in the US since the start of the pandemic.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1ZDZY

#CovidIsNotOver #Covid

Also... I'm always surprised when people say they don't want to talk to the candidate because they're supporting someone else. I always talk to a candidate that comes to my door. Even if our views don't align. I want them to know what's important to me.

I did some election canvassing today, in a Toronto neighbourhood which has had bikelanes installed within the past couple of years.

When asked about the issues people cared about the most, it was a very consistent divide:

- Old men: "You can't drive here anymore! Traffic is crazy! Someone needs to knock sense into council."

- Young parents: "I have kids, so of course I'm really concerned about road safety."

#CarsRuinCities #TheWarOnCars #Bikestodon #ToPoli

Stolen to provide alt text

#UniversalBasicIncome #UBI #DavidGraeber

This story isn't so different from Toronto, where homeless shelters run continuously at 100% occupancy, and hundreds of people are turned away every day.

At one point, City of Toronto shelter staff were occasionally directing people to stay at the St Stephens encampment. Which the city has since razed.

RE: https://newsie.social/@ProPublica/117399867788331984

"With the help of volunteers, he hosts a nightly meal for homeless people at a suburban Phoenix park. This has drawn the ire of Tempe officials and led to 35 citations against him for trespassing and holding picnics without permits... In 2025, Davis and two other advocates for homeless people filed a lawsuit against Tempe, alleging it had violated their free speech protections by citing them for feeding people in parks. The city revised its permit ordinance, and Davis withdrew the lawsuit."

4. Affordability: Bradford's pitch for how he will make the city more affordable is: (1) abolish the land transfer tax, (2) return the charge for capital repairs for water, which he estimates will be $300/yr per household.

LTT is about $30k on a $1 million home, of which $15k is municipal.

Chow pointed to free school meals and TTC weekly discount.

Bradford's promises seem like a joke. Chow's seem not ambitious enough.

TO debate (2)
3. Taxes: Chow didn't challenge Bradford's assertion that taxes increased 20%. That figure surprised me. But it looks like the 3 year increase was 18.7%. So, close enough? Inflation rose 8.4% in the same period. Chow made the point that this pays for the services that make the city great. I agree. I'd further add that Toronto has the lowest taxes in the region, has been strangled by low tax regime for decades, and the folk who pay the price for tax cuts are low and mid income.

Impressions from last night's #ToPoli mayor debate:
1. Gridlock: Both Chow and Bradford talk of the importance of moving people. I really miss Gil Penalosa's 2022 campaign, where he stressed the importance of creating cities people want to *be* in, not just move through.
2. Personality: I've heard Chow is fabulous one-on-one. From her record, I believe she's an exceptionally skilled negotiator. None of that shines in debate format. Bradford did a good job of not acting like a jerk.

In my downtown Toronto riding, it's a tough choice as to who to vote for, as there are multiple very good candidates.

I asked my parents who they're voting for in their suburban riding. They don't know, and haven't paid attention to anything but the mayoral race. So I looked at the candidates websites. Ugh. UGH!

There's really no one there I would feel happy about voting for. Looking at this slate, I can understand why people might simply not vote.

#TOPoli

RE: https://dair-community.social/@emilymbender/117384417485142688

Oh yay! I've been wanting to watch Ghost in the Machine for a while now. I've now rented it on Kinema (in Canada) from the link below.

RE: https://flipboard.com/@ctvnews/toronto-eeqmkds1z/-/a-C_BtHiYQRKSSEZ4CholRfw%3Aa%3A2823982346-%2F0

I’m still furious about how my grandmother died of a heart attack 35 years ago. Her complaint was indigestion so bad she couldn’t sleep lying down. Her family doctor took her blood pressure on 2 different machines, concluded both machines were broken, and sent her home with an antacid. She died alone that night.

How can “women’s heart attacks are different” still be a headline decades later?

"Vaughan campaign volunteer detained by armed York police — video shows tense encounter"

A Vaughan resident called the police (who responded with guns drawn) on a canvasser for mayoral candidate Shelly Cerrelli, stating a man was at her front door armed with a gun.

The canvasser was holding pamphlets, wore a T-shirt and lanyard that identified him as a campaign worker. At midday.

What the article doesn't call out is the #AntiBlackRacism.

#Vaughan

https://www.thestar.com/gift-redeem?t=5caae916-950d-41c3-a45d-66cc99b2eb28