Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- David Slater and Charles Rusnell write about the unconscionable lack of any meaningful discussion of the climate breakdown in Alberta's provincial election even as much of the province has been ablaze and/or facing extreme air quality warnings. Brad Plumer reports on a new study showing how temperatures are likely to soar even further in the next 5 years even as emission targets are pushed far past that point. And Nicole Kearney and Hannah Blair discuss the health impacts of fossil gas as its pushers try to avoid any discussion of either its harms or the obvious alternatives. 

- Meanwhile, Deonie Allen, Melanie Bergmann and Steve Allen examine how microplastics have collected in shockingly large quantities in Arctic ice algae, offering a reminder that there's nowhere on the planet that's escaping the effects of the reckless disposal of waste without regard for its impact on the environment. 

- Sam Pizzigati points out that the wealthy haven't always run roughshod over workers in the U.S.' class war - and that in fact the country isn't far removed from an era where the working class made massive gains (until the full weight of the rich was focused on taking those off the table). But Gillian Petit and Lindsay Tedds note that the UCP is planning to distort Alberta's tax system to further favour wealthy males over everybody else. 

- Corin Faife reports on the dystopian prospect of AI-driven debt collection, simultaneously reducing the cost of constant harassment to near zero and taking any hint of humanity out of the drive to squeeze money from people already lacking it. 

- Finally, Linda McQuaig highlights how the Ford PCs' health care privatization schemes - like those in other provinces - are making care both more expensive for the public and worse for patients. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Linda McQuaig discusses how the Biden administration is providing the Trudeau Libs with an example to follow in ensuring that the ultra-wealthy contribute something closer to their fair share of the cost of a functional society. And Alexandria Nassopoulos highlights the realities facing Canadians trying to survive on grossly insufficient social supports, while Steve Paikin writes about the absurdity of the Ford PCs pouring more money into subsidizing electricity use than major public priorities including long-term care. 

- Kelly Crowe exposes how Statistics Canada took funding from big pharma to produce a propaganda piece under the control of industry representatives.  

- Rebecca Solnit discusses the urgent need to start reducing fossil fuel use immediately, rather than kicking the can down the road based on implausible and self-serving claims about geoengineering and carbon capture as an excuse to keep burning oil and gas. Ayesha Tandon reports on new research showing a surge in methane emissions from wetlands as yet another feedback loop which is leading to an even faster breakdown than anticipated. And Paul Abela warns about the disastrous consequences of approaching the climate crisis with an optimism bias.    

- Finally, Andrew Nikiforuk reports on the Alberta's belated recognition - following a previous denial - of the reality that the province's largest earthquake ever was likely caused by tar sands wastewater disposal. And Charles Rusnell reports that Laurie Pushor is giving his previous high-water mark for villainy of "ripping off nuns" a run for its money by covering up a toxic leak into drinking water at the behest of the UCP's fossil fuel paymasters. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Chris Stanford responds to the alt-right's demonization of liveable communities by pointing out what a 15-minute city actually means. And Monika Korzun and Farzaneh Barak discuss how to ensure more equitable and sustainable access to food. 

- Tyler Buchana points out the long history of train derailments around East Palestine prior to last month's catastrophic chemical spill and fire - as well as the pleas for safety measures which were dismissed in order to cater to corporate owners. And Cory Doctorow discusses how corporate recycling programs can be found on the plausibility scale between greenwashing and outright fraud. 

- Andrew Nikiforuk calls out the use of plastic words to gloss over the government infrastructure devoted to promoting oil and gas - a point which is all the more clear when petrostates are deliberately leaving anybody outside of the fossil fuel sector from "energy" advising. 

- Ian Bailey reports on the Calgary Petroleum Club's belated and mealy-mouthed expression of regret for providing a venue to Christine Anderson and her convoy reunion. And Luke LeBrun highlights a few details from the Emergency Act inquiry which have otherwise been largely overlooked - including how #FluTruxKlan drivers were handed cash-stuffed envelopes from as-yet-undisclosed sources as they occupied Ottawa.

- Finally, Charles Rusnell follows up on Calgary's funneling of money to a con man to deliver quack PTSD services - and the ensuing "investigation" which seems to have been little more than a coverup even after the swindle has become public knowledge.  

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Anne Sosin and Martha Lincoln discuss the war on empathy embodied by the flurry of media attacks against anybody with the temerity to point out we're still in the middle of a pandemic where a lack of care for others is directly responsible for widespread illness and disability. And Pam Belluck reports on the large numbers of people whose affliction with long COVID has kept them from working for extended periods of time. 

- Damian Carrington reports on Mark Jacobson's work showing how a world fully powered by renewable energy is well within reach if we make it a priority, while Angele Alook, Emily Eaton, David Gray-Donald, Joël Laforest, Crystal Lameman and Bronwen Tucker note that Canada isn't lacking for viable options to fund a just transition. Marc Lee calls out the Trudeau Libs for instead throwing billions of federal dollars into pipeline expansion with the effect of gratuitously subsidizing pollution from the oil sector at the expense of Canadian society at large. And Carla Delgado discusses how corporations are greenwashing their plastic pollution. 

- Katelyn Burns reports on the influx of legislative attacks against trans people in the U.S., as the first approaches based on participation in sports have given way to full denial of health care and dehumanization. 

- Finally, Charles Rusnell reports on the Calgary Police Service's willingness to pay a con man for easy but wrong answers in dealing with PTSD even in the face of direct warnings. 

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Wency Leung asks how much more of a human toll we're willing to accept in order to operate in denial of a continuing pandemic. And Phil Tank discusses how the Moe government has chosen to frame the constant stream of preventable disease and death as merely a monthly report beneath any direct comment or action.

- Zak Vescera has been digging into the shady history of the Sask Party-boosted churches and private which have been caught in a child abuse scandal - including their exploitation of donors, and their links to longstanding reporting of violence against children. 

- Andrew Longhurst points out the dangerous rise of corporate health care in British Columbia. And Frances Bula reports that the building of social housing alone hasn't been enough to help people who can't realistically be expected to avoid the myriad of pitfalls which can be used to throw them back out on the streets. 

- Sarah Jones writes that the real story behind "quiet quitting" is the near-universal expectation on the part of employers that workers will willingly suffer to the point of burnout. And Greg Jericho discusses how Australia is among the many countries where workers have been seeing little if any benefit from consistent productivity increases.

- Finally, Charles Rusnell reports on the right-wing rage farming behind the increasingly violent attacks on any political figure even faintly tethered to reality. And David Sirota offers a reminder how the U.S. is subsidizing the massive dark money network drowning out any meaningful political discussion with fascist propaganda.