Saturday, October 15, 2022

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Umair Irfan discusses the importance of getting COVID-19 booster shots - particularly the bivalent versions better targeted toward newer strains - in order to help limit the damage from a pandemic which is otherwise being allowed to wreak havoc with little restraint. And Keeanga Yahmatta-Taylor points out how parents and teachers bear the brunt of politically-oriented refusals to allow schools to close where necessary to protect public health.

- Simon Enoch discusses how the oil industry's propaganda and rage farming birthed the Flu Trux Klan. And Christopher Bonasia notes that while the fertilizer lobby is trying to disavow its connections to the convoy which laid siege to Ottawa, it's still planting its messaging firmly in the realm of denialist disinformation.

- Justin Ling examines some of Danielle Smith's more appalling public positions which were either overlooked or accepted as she ascended to power in Alberta. And Tyler Kingkade, Ben Goggin, Ben Collins and Brandy Zadrozny report on the roots of the Republicans' talking point about litter boxes in classrooms - though it's especially telling that to the extent there's even a hint of reality to the claim, it flows directly from the Republicans' own fanaticism in pushing a gun culture where the prevalence of school shootings requires classrooms to be provisioned for what should be unthinkable. 

- Finally, Sisonke Mismanga discusses how the combination of tax giveaways to the rich and shrinking opportunities for the working class is exacerbating Australia's class divide. And Katie Verigin points out how Canadian consumers stand to be further squeezed by a settlement which will allow businesses to charge fees for credit card use (without any expectation that they'll lower base prices accordingly).

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