streetfestival

The "luxury belief" framing matters. Rob Henderson coined the term to describe beliefs that function as status symbols—conveying social class, identity, and tribal belonging without directly affecting the people who hold them. In this case, rejecting vaccines while trusting your child will never be exposed to a disease that requires one.

We imagine disinformation as a symptom of ignorance. But more often, it’s a symptom of insulation. If you live in a community with 98% vaccination rates, you can afford to be the 2%. You can post wellness memes about "natural immunity" and still get herd immunity as a side effect. Your child is statistically safe, not because of your parenting, but in spite of it.

In lower-income communities, vaccine skepticism exists too, but it often stems from different roots: mistrust of institutions, historical medical abuses, or practical barriers like access and transportation. What makes affluent anti-vaxxers distinct is their belief that they are the ones questioning the system, when in fact they’re coasting on its success.

This is the tragedy of the commons, redrawn in immunological terms. Each person who chooses not to vaccinate imposes a small, cumulative burden on the group. Alone, it’s negligible. In aggregate, it’s disaster.

What makes it all so brittle is how unequal the burden becomes. Not everyone gets the same leeway to make these choices. An affluent parent who skips a vaccine because of "gut instinct" faces few consequences when the community uptake is high. But a child in a poor neighborhood with poor access to healthcare and low community coverage? Their odds are worse - through no fault of their own.

So the luxury belief isn’t just a personal delusion. It’s a redistribution of risk. It transfers danger from those with options to those without. From the people choosing to free-ride to the people holding the line.

Their economy produces more GDP per worker than any other. The economic pie they bake is bigger than ever. But the average Albertan’s standard of living is lower than a decade ago.

It wasn’t Ottawa that laid them off, cut their pay, froze the minimum wage, drove up electricity and insurance costs, and put their health care at risk. It was the enemy within.

Alberta’s oligarchs aren’t speaking for the province, they are speaking for themselves.

And the sooner the rest of the population can get past the phoney Alberta versus Canada narrative, the sooner they’ll start toward a genuine solution to their woes: namely, winning a fairer share of the abundant wealth they already produce.

China is poised to be the next big donor to the World Health Organization after Trump abruptly withdrew the US from the United Nations health agency on his first day in office, leaving a critical funding gap and leadership void.

Although the US has cut all ties with the WHO—and reportedly still owes the agency $260 million in 2024–2025 dues—US health secretary and anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made an unexpected appearance at the WHA via a six-minute video. Isolated

In the abrasive, pre-recorded speech, Kennedy described the WHO as "moribund" and "mired in bureaucratic bloat [and] entrenched paradigms."

"WHO's priorities have increasingly reflected the biases and interests of corporate medicine," Kennedy said, alluding to his anti-vaccine and germ-theory denialist views. He chastised the health organization for allegedly capitulating to China and working with the country to "promote the fiction that COVID originated in bats."

Kennedy ended the short speech by touting his Make America Healthy Again agenda. He also urged the WHO to undergo a radical overhaul similar to what the Trump administration is currently doing to the US government—presumably including dismantling and withholding funding from critical health agencies and programs. Last, he pitched other countries to join the US in abandoning the WHO.

"I would like to take this opportunity to invite my fellow health ministers around the world into a new era of cooperation.... we're ready to work with you," Kennedy said.

Canada Pension Plan Investments has dropped a net-zero by 2050 target for carbon emissions, according to an annual report released on Wednesday, following several Canadian financial institutions that have backtracked on climate commitments.

Several major Canadian banks, including BMO, TD Bank and CIBC, have also backtracked on climate commitments this year, announcing they were leaving a Net-Zero Banking Alliance backed by the United Nations.

Welcome all to another year of CFL football!!!

Friendly reminder: if you don't want to see these weekly threads in your local Lemmy view - please block the community :)

Last week, there was one preseason game. The Stamps beat the Lions 26-16.

Feel free to use this thread to discuss this week’s games or anything else going on in Canadian Football! Also, feel free to introduce yourself (e.g., what team do you support, what kind of fan are you) or make any predictions for this season.

Preseason B schedule

• Sat, May 24^th^ - 4:00 PM ET - Redblacks (0-0) @ Allouettes (0-0)
• Sat, May 24^th^ - 4:00 PM ET - Roughriders (0-0) @ Blue Bombers (0-0)
• Sat, May 24^th^ - 7:00 PM ET - Argonauts (0-0) @ Tiger-Cats (0-0)
• Sat, May 24^th^ - 9:30 PM ET - Elks (0-0) @ Stampeders (0-0)

Other notes

• Off-week: Lions
• The Lions are going all-in on their June 7th season kickoff entertainment: Snoop Dogg headlines BC Lions Concert Kickoff on June 7

The Ford government appears to be counting on the federal government to step in if the economy worsens — an assumption Nanji called risky, especially given ongoing trade tensions.

While Nanji welcomed long-term infrastructure investments, he criticized the continued focus on the Highway 401 tunnel, calling it a political project rather than a strategic one. Nanji argued that the gas tax cut and Highway 407 toll removal are poorly targeted and largely benefit higher-income Ontarians, while doing little to help those most in need.

On the environment, Mike Marcolongo, associate director of Ontario programs at Environmental Defence was more blunt. “It’s been called a plan to protect Ontario, but it’s not clear where the government’s plan is when it comes to protecting clean water, healthy communities and natural ecosystems.” Marcolongo also took aim at the government’s continued push to remove bike lanes in major Toronto corridors as part of its budget plans.

When it comes to clean energy, Alienor Rougeot, senior program manager for climate and energy at Environmental Defence, said the government is sending mixed messages. While the budget claims to support affordable energy, she says it largely sidelines the most cost-effective solutions — like wind, solar and battery storage. Rougeot also pointed to Bill 17, which she said undermines local energy efficiency rules, leaving Ontarians with higher energy bills and no clear path to reducing carbon emissions.

“It’s infuriating to watch taxpayer money funneled to insider friends, lobbyists and donors while Ontarians are told to settle for less,”Crombie said in a statement. “This isn’t fiscal responsibility. This is political favouritism.”

One reason the the court has been hamstrung is that it relies heavily on contractors and non-governmental organizations. Those businesses and groups have curtailed work on behalf of the court because they were concerned about being targeted by U.S. authorities, according to current and former ICC staffers.

Microsoft, for example, cancelled Khan’s email address, forcing the prosecutor to move to Proton Mail, a Swiss email provider, ICC staffers said. His bank accounts in his home country of the U.K. have been blocked.

Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.

But in comparison to a physical location, outreach teams are limited in the resources they can offer, says Mia Hershkowitz, a harm reduction worker. For instance: Hershkowitz describes how outreach teams can only carry small amounts of oxygen due to its weight. But as terrifying amounts of veterinary tranquilizer poison the unregulated supply of drugs, Naloxone, the medication commonly used to reverse opioid poisoning, is simply not strong enough. People who are overdosing often need oxygen to help bring their heart rate back up – but outreach teams rarely have access to it.

According to Toronto’s Drug Checking Service, more than half of all fentanyl checked in the first two weeks of April contains some form of toxic tranquilizer.

That situation would become more severe under the Safer Municipalities Act, a new bill proposed by the Ford government. If passed, it would let police ticket and arrest people using illegal drugs in public, slapping them with harsher punishments including a fine of up to $10,000 and being jailed for up to six months.

This isn’t just a problem for environmentalists or scientists — it’s a direct threat to democratic decision-making. Disinformation erodes our ability to have honest, fact-based debates about the future of the country. It undermines trust not only in science and journalism but in government itself. When voters are manipulated by falsehoods, democracy doesn’t function as it should.

During the election, we saw the consequences play out in real time. From misleading ads claiming that climate policies will "bankrupt the middle class," to talking points that dismiss renewable energy as unreliable, Canadians are being bombarded with claims designed to erode support for meaningful climate action. These messages often use emotional appeals and cherry-picked data, wrapped in populist rhetoric, to create the illusion that fighting climate change is at odds with economic prosperity or national sovereignty.