Al (they/them)🍉

I am proud to be queer, not bc rainbows are pretty and there’s cool gay merch now, but bc of our history of resistance; of being anti-cop, of our refusal to fuck off and die when everyone wanted us gone. I’m proud of the community we formed to keep ourselves alive

While #toronto city council debates the expanded a/c program for vulnerable people (it’s a no-brainer) it remains shocking to me there will only be one 24/7 cooling centre for unhoused. And I doubt this house has enough ‘beds’ to sleep the capacity that is needed.

Toru Miyazaki gave 11 cats with advanced kidney disease an experimental injection. 15 others didn’t get it. A year later, 9 of the 11 treated cats were alive. Only 3 of the 15 untreated cats survived. He just filed for approval, and the drug fixes a defect only cats have. Most cats die from one thing: their kidneys fail. By age 10, 4 in 10 cats already have chronic kidney disease, and by age 15, the rate doubles to 8 in 10. Once diagnosed, a cat has about 2 years left. The reason kidney disease hits cats so hard is a broken protein in their blood. All mammals carry a protein that helps the kidneys clean out waste. In humans and dogs, the protein floats freely and goes to work when the kidneys are in trouble. In cats, it stays stuck to another protein and can’t get loose. So the waste piles up, and the kidneys eventually give out. Miyazaki originally found the protein in 1999, back when he was at the University of Tokyo. He figured out the cat-specific glitch in 2015. The paper he published in the Veterinary Journal in February laid out the trial. The injection is a working version of the missing protein. His company, the Institute for AIM Medicine, filed the approval paperwork with Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture on April 24, 2026. If the review clears, the drug goes on sale in spring 2027. The 30-year lifespan figure in the tweet is Miyazaki’s own projection of what cats could reach without kidney disease. The trial only ran a year, and the average cat today lives 15. Most die from the same disease this injection treats. The research almost died in 2020. After running out of funding during COVID, Miyazaki went public. Cat owners across Japan responded by sending in 300 million yen, around 2 million dollars total. He resigned from the University of Tokyo and worked on the drug full time. The treatment in front of regulators today exists because cat lovers refused to let the research die.

On to member motions now. A motion from Councillor Paul AInslie to ask the province to allow homeless people to collect the shelter portion of the ODSP benefit CARRIES 22-1. secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda…

I need everyone in Toronto to agree to NOT SHOP ON MONDAY. Stand up for worker’s rights. The more they come after worker’s rights for the people in retail, the more emboldened they will be to go after yours. Do not shop on Monday. I’m begging.

just also gonna add that i didn’t see Moise or any other city councillor speak up when Chrissy froze to death this winter across the park he wants to close at night. what then, you say, about violence and safety?

Imagine politicizing stuff. As a politician.

allegory for earth day in here somewhere - melting ice blocks with fresh water in a parking lot of a country warming at twice the global average

80% of people in an Ontario jail haven't been convicted of a crime. “This lays waste to the principle of the presumption of innocence. It also lays waste to the argument we have a catch and release system and that our bail is too lenient.” globalnews.ca/news/11774018/…

@MadelynCarys @DianaCMcNally @Gruesomebrat @fordnation For the last godforsaken time: supervised consumption sites don’t provide drugs

@DianaCMcNally @Gruesomebrat @fordnation We do NOT need supervised consumption sites (no such things as safe sites because drugs are TOXIC). We need detox and actual supervision of tapering off of drugs, not free drugs given to addicts with no end in sight. Ppl like YOU are complicit in every addict’s death.

It's never been an either/or proposition: we need safe consumption sites and we need more accessible, evidence-based drug treatment. One keeps people alive, the other helps people who feel ready. With @fordnation, we're getting neither — just death. globalnews.ca/news/11753971/…

“we’re not angry enough” is off. it’s more that we aren’t organized enough. what is anger with nowhere to go? nothing to do? we won’t spontaneously combust our way out of what’s to come. what’s already here. take the fact of yesterday on the chin. build today, for tomorrow.

Kathleen Wynne did this a decade ago. The Ford Government paused it. You've been paying more for your tickets since 2018 because of Doug Ford.

Toronto News: a person was found dead and frozen stuck to ground near 519 Church today I know the man who discovered body well There are already games being played to keep this from being major media, but it’s likely that @oliviachow’s horrid homeless policy played big role

@SHJNetwork @Gruesomebrat HOW on earth do we get TO residents to give a sh$t about neighbours sleeping outside, or to gain any understanding of how degrading and harmful that is for them when Councillors like @LilyChengTO ignore the homeless people living just metres from her Willowdale office?

As Olivia Chow cheers them on, Toronto Police continue their crackdown on protests. Arresting legal observers for criminal harassment after they asked for their badge number. Charges dropped - but the point was made. They can do whatever they want. Hear it firsthand 👇

Wikipedia says about 215 fare enforcement officers. Google says $60-67k salary for those. Salaries alone, then, cost the TTC $13-14 million... to recoup $14 million in evaded fares. At best, break-even.

Sigh… @MikeColleTo do you not know data or are you just choosing to ignore it? Time and again, studies have shown that there is no correlation between crime rate and police budget. theconversation.com/paying-more-fo…

And today, the Toronto City budget is CUTTING funding for shelters, closing a warming centre early for FIFA, and closing two more shelters this year. What the fuck are we doing here?

The gravy train is the mfing cops. It ain’t rocket science

If you want to break up gangs in Toronto, start with this outfit.