#66: BABU'S MAGIC SHOP 🔮

🏥 HEALTHCARE - Canadian TikTok star, 49, receives MAID following Alzheimer’s diagnosis

🔮 MAGIC - Indian man posing as psychic flees country after defrauding Toronto woman of $800K

👨‍❤️‍👨 REPRODUCTION - Health Canada drops restrictions on gay men donating sperm

Good morning.

I would write a cool, cynical, witty blurb introducing today’s stories, but I am simply at a loss for words.

So instead, I will use this space to encourage you to submit photos to be featured in the newsletter.

This week, enjoy a rather artistic shot from longtime subscriber John Wilson after story #1.

Happy Friday.

-Peter

⌛️ Today’s read is 2.5 minutes long.

A Canadian TikTok star is dead after signing up for MAID following her Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

49-year-old Rebecca Luna from Victoria, BC, ended her life on July 25 via doctor-administered euthanasia after being diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s a year earlier.

“I am living in a body that doesn’t feel comfortable, safe, good—nothing,” the mother of two said in a TikTok video posted just days before her death. “It feels terrible.”

Three days before dying, Luna told her 100,000 TikTok followers that she had moved up her MAID date to July 25 because her decline had come faster than expected.

“When my palliative care doctor was over, she kept reminding me that this was my decision,” said Luna. “This whole thing was my decision. This was when I get to prioritize myself, and I haven’t done that my whole life.”

“She said, ‘When would you go if it was your choice?’ And I said, ‘Now.’”

In response to multiple comments on her videos saying, “Jesus loves you,” Luna said:

“I didn’t ask your opinion. I’m a spiritual person and I don’t need to hear about heaven or hell or any of that. The nerve to say that to someone who’s dying in a few days is kind of disgusting.”

“This is not what I wanted. What I want is relief. What I want is a lack of suffering.”

Around 750,000 Canadians live with Alzheimer’s disease or some other form of dementia, according to Stats Canada.

As of November 2025, about 76,000 MAID deaths have been reported in Canada since it was legalized in 2016.

Police are looking for an Indian man after he allegedly defrauded a Toronto woman of $800,000 by posing as a psychic.

Toronto police issued a Canada-wide arrest warrant last week for 29-year-old Gangadhar Babu, who reportedly adopted the persona of a psychic, fortune teller, and spiritual healer known simply as “Babu.” 

Police say Babu exploited a woman’s “belief in the supernatural” to gain her trust, then “manipulated” her into giving him over $800,000.

“[Babu] used elaborate rituals and frightening claims to convince the victim that they and their loved ones would suffer death or serious harm unless they continued giving him money for his spiritual protection,” police said.

Babu reportedly operated a business known as "Indian Psychic and Spiritual Healer."

He faces multiple charges, including fraud over $5,000.

Babu is described as five-foot-six with a slender build, dark curly hair, dark brown eyes, a trimmed beard, and a noticeable gap between his front teeth.

Police suspect he has fled to India.

Health Canada is dropping the last remaining barriers that prevented gay men from donating to sperm banks across the country.

The new policy comes after a prolonged legal battle between a gay man and the federal government that began back in 2023.

Aziz M., whose full name is protected by a publication ban, came out as gay after donating to a sperm bank in Toronto multiple times between 2014 and 2015.

After coming out, Health Canada considered him an “unsuitable” donor and prohibited him from donating any more sperm.

Aziz decided to fight back in court. 

In 2020, the federal government relaxed the restrictions by allowing donations from gay men so long as they abstained from gay sex for three months prior to donating their sperm.

Then, in 2024, Health Canada replaced the outright ban with a behaviour-based screening system.

Now, Health Canada is dropping the last remaining screening questions that asked sperm donors if they had engaged in anal sex within the last three months.

“I’m very happy things turned out this way,” Aziz told CTV News.

As a result of the changes, Aziz was able to donate his sperm to a lesbian couple. They now have a daughter whom Aziz is helping raise.

“For queer people it’s harder to have kids, and so I think more gay men would be inclined to contribute to society in this way,” Aziz said.

“Why I started doing this is really the discrimination.”