Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Tom Brodbeck writes about the need to treat the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic as human beings, rather than mere statistics to be reported once and never thought of again. 

- Gabriel Favreau discusses how the pandemic (combined with a negligent government response) has left Alberta's public health care system in worse shape than ever. And Chris Hannay reports on the corporate takeover of all kinds of health services - and the predictable result that patient visits are directed toward high-profit options rather than medical needs.

- Henry Fountain notes that another year of record carbon pollution has predictably caused a new peak in CO2 concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere. Damian Carrington reports on research showing the dangers of air pollution caused by tires even in vehicles which limit tailpipe emissions. And Jon Queally reports on an OECD warning that plastic pollution is only projected to increase over the next few decades if radical action isn't taken now.

- Wilfred Chan reports on the failure of the U.S. to extend a school lunch program needed to keep millions of children from going hungry.

- Finally, Dell Cameron reports on the Privacy Commissioner of Canada's findings about Tim Horton's app being used to illegally track customer movements for no legitimate purpose. And Kyle Chayka discusses how corporatized social media has turned people into content machines, serving the purposes of tech giants more than their apps serve users.