Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Adeel Hassan reports on the dominance of the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron strains in the U.S. Phil Tank reminds us of the folly of the Moe government's admonition that people should assess their own risk even while actively suppressing the data which could make that possible, while Wency Leung reports on the push among experts for Canada to reinstate mandatory masking policies to limit the damage from a new wave. And Virginie Ann reports on research showing that the public health measures which Canadian governments seem determined never to use again helped to save tens of thousands of lives. 

- David Shield reports on research linking Saskatchewan's alarming HIV rates to inadequate social assistance. And Noushin Ziafati reports on the recommendation of a coroner's inquest jury that Ontario declare an epidemic of intimate partner violence and focus on eradicating it. 

- Edward Ongweso Jr. writes that we should recognize any current bout of inflation as being caused by corporate greed rather than pandemic stimulus payments to individuals. And David Sirota discusses how John Roberts has been central to the constitutionalization of corruption in then U.S.  

- John Clarke discusses the RCMP's "pipeline police" who have been mandated to violently suppress land defenders. And Natasha Bulowski reports that the Libs' case for TransMountain depends on its use to export dirty fossil fuels for a century.  

- Finally, Ariana Kelland reports on one case showing the continued fallout from the Phoenix pay fiasco, as an employee lost her home and her job after going without pay for months. Shelley Murphy reports on a much-needed award of damages to an employee who was handed on a platter to U.S immigration services in retaliation for reporting a workplace injury. And Chris Brooks discusses the possibility of substantially building strength in organized labour - as long as unions' organizational models are updated for the new reality in the workplace.