Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Amanda Marcotte examines the abusive father complex that somehow forms the basis for a large part of Donald Trump's support. Erica Green calls out Trump's highly selective view of criminal justice which includes absolute impunity for his cronies and arbitrary cruelty for everybody else. And Oliver Willis highlights how the right-wing information ecosystem has been trained to view cities as hellscapes (among other false and harmful assumptions). 

- Meanwhile, Don Slater warns that Alberta is the canary in the coal mine when it comes to the spread of the same disinformation and associated bigotry in Canada. And Prem Sikka discusses the need for the UK to fight back against the self-serving undermining of democracy by the corporate elite.

- Samantha Gross notes that Massachusetts' wealth tax proved even more lucrative than expected, showing that policies aimed at equality work. And Max Fawcett writes that an appeal to intergenerational fairness could make for a huge step in setting Canada up for the future.

- Jim Stanford offers a factbook on how Canada can build a soverign and sustainable economy if it focuses on the public interest rather than immediate corporate profits. And Arno Kopecky writes that the Trump regime's regressive energy policy offers a particularly promising opening to lead the way toward a clean economy. 

- But while it would be ideal to see Carney value the general public and the future over his own corporate buddies, his government's handling of Air Canada's labour dispute bodes poorly on that front - as Eric Wilkinson points out how it represents yet another attack on the concept of collective bargaining, while David Coletto notes that public opinion is very much on the side of the workers being ordered back to work. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Leana Hosea and Sarij Pathirana report on new data showing that tens of thousands of oil slicks every year are going unreported and doing immense damage to the oceans. And Abrahm Lustgarten discusses new research showing how the climate breakdown and poorly-regulated resource extraction are destroying vital groundwater reserves. 

- Fiona Harvey reports on Antonio Gutierres' pointed observation that renewable energy is vastly (and increasingly) more affordable than fossil fuel energy even without accounting for the environmental harms of the latter. Adrienne Tanner weighs in on China's leading role in transitioning to clean energy - and the choice facing Canada and other countries as to whether to cling to the past or build for the future. 

- Meanwhile, Natasha Bulowski reports on new research showing that electric vehicles have substantial public health benefits even beyond their reduction of carbon pollution compared to dirty energy alternatives. Bill McKibben examines how the Trump regime is trying to stifle the development of renewable energy, while also discussing the options to counter that thumb on the scale. Drew Anderson compiles a thorough list of the subsidies currently keeping Canada addicted to fossil fuels both for our own energy use, and for export purposes. And Mitch Anderson points out that production increases in the Alberta tar sands haven't done anything to help either workers or the province's finances. 

- Greg Sargent talks to Paul Krugman about the reality that the Trump regime's trade deal announcements bear very little resemblance to the reality - as they make everybody worse off, but particularly his own base. And Nathaniel Denaro calls for Canada to approach any negotiations of its own based on the reality that the U.S. is an entirely unreliable trading partner. 

- Andrew Coyne discusses how the Cons' tough-on-crime posturing has given way to advocating for crime without punishment in the case of the Flu Trux Klan. Betsy Powell reports on the response of the Ontario Crown Attorneys Association calling out the demand that prosecutorial discretion in the public interest give way to naked political bias. And Fakiha Baig reports that the UCP is fueling violent racism with its attacks on immigrants.  

- Finally, Kelly Hayes writes that the long-overdue revelations about Donald Trump's close connections to Jeffrey Epstein are crucial in examining the U.S.' culture of elite impunity. And Kate Manne points out the implausibility that dozens of similar but distinct reports of sexual abuse are somehow all to be disbelieved as compared to Trump's ever-changing and farcical denials and evasions.

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Julia Steinberg writes about Donald Trump's attempt to impose cataclysm capitalism on the U.S. - and the need for strategic organizing to stop it. And David Dayen discusses how Trump's new precedent of pardons for corporate criminals will only foster more (and more extractive) monopolies. 

- Charles Pierce writes about the numerous and deep ties between Pierre Poilievre and the radical corporatists at the centre of the Trump regime. Martin Lukacs reports on Poilievre's plans to eviscerate public services, while Desmond Cole takes note of his obsession with cruelty in punishment as a substitute for public safety. And Max Fawcett observes that there's a massive gender gap among Canadian voters - with women rightly having little interest in what Poilievre is peddling. 

- Michael Le Page reports on new modeling showing a real danger that global warming could reach 7 degrees Celsius by 2200 even if carbon pollution is merely "moderate". Saidrasul Ashrafkhanov discusses how fossil fuel executives are incentivized to do as much damage to our living environment as possible for as long as possible in order to goose short-term profits. And Umair Irfan discusses how the effects of the climate crisis include worse allergy seasons. 

- Finally, the Missing Middle Initiative examines how southern Ontario's housing affordability crisis is worse than ever. And Verity Stevenson discusses the possibility of a wartime-style investment in affordable housing - while recognizing that tax breaks on expensive new homes and subsidies to developers will do little to solve any problem compared to investing in the homes needed by the working class. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Julia Doubleday offers a reminder that any remotely responsible definition of "living with COVID" would include doing everything reasonably possible to upgrade air quality. And Dylan Matthews discusses the prospect that UV light may help to reduce the spread of viruses generally - along with the need for more work to ensure that can be done without unintended consequences. 

- Gordon McBean writes that Canada saw some of the most extreme effects of climate change in the world in 2023, while Mitchell Beer reports on the connection between the climate crisis and an exceptionally warm December in particular. And CGTN reports on new research showing that ocean temperatures have been hitting record highs for several years in a row. 

- But Rachel Ramirez discusses the rise of new forms of climate denialism which are propagating on YouTube (as well as anywhere else the fossil fuel industry is propagandizing). 

- Emily Fagan reports on a new study showing no consistent correlation between police spending and crime rates. And Denis Campbell reports that the UK - like most Canadian jurisdictions - is spending massive amounts of money on temporary health care staffing which result in profits for well-connected labour brokers while doing nothing to contribute to sustainable patient care. 

- Finally, Robert Reich comments on the long-term destruction of the middle class by an oligopoly determined to extract everything possible from it. And David Moscrop highlights how Ed Broadbent's life's work consisted largely of organizing the working class to push back against the concentration of corporate wealth and power. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Ewen Callaway writes about the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic - with both a high baseline of cases, and frequent "wavelets" in comparison to seasonal diseases as new variants develop and spread with little resistance. 

- Tina Yazdani and Meredith Bond report on the unsurprising revelation that privatized surgery costs far more than public-sector health care - while also recognizing the Ford PCs' determination to keep enriching private operators rather than funding care. And Raisa Patel reports on the Libs' refusal to act on the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board's work to reduce drug prices. 

- Meanwhile, Mike de Souza discusses how the UCP has coordinated efforts to enrich fossil fuel operators while concealing the government meetings used to discuss them. And Cory Doctorow writes about the problems with the breakdown of strong institutions, particularly in transferring effective power to weak institutions which can easily be taken over by corrupt or extreme actors.  

- Paul Hannon discusses how inflation is "sticky" due to its connection to corporate price-fixing rather than other factors - representing a noteworthy step toward recognition of the obvious on the pages of the Wall Street Journal. 

- Finally, Michael Spratt calls out Pierre Poilievre's reality-deficient attempts to stoke fear over crime as an excuse to make nonsensical policy demands. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Umair Haque writes about the implications of facing a deliberate decline in both environmental and economic well-being for the sole purpose of facilitating the short-term extraction of profits. Daniel Gilbert, Todd Frankel and Joseph Menn report on Silicon Valley Bank's choice to discard any risk modeling that accurately pointed out the dangers of its lending strategy before its collapse. Bryce Covert weighs in on how the Federal Reserve's determination to squelch economic and wage growth (but not the profiteering which is the actual cause of inflation) represents little more than class war against workers. And Peter Hannam reports on a study showing how Australia's tax system has been set up to make taxpayers fund inheritances for the super-wealthy at the expense of social programs and benefits. 

- Zia Weise and Federica Di Sario report on Antonio Gutteres' call for wealthy countries to accelerate their commitments to stop emitting carbon pollution. Geoff Dembicki's Senate testimony highlights the need to investigate the fraud of the fossil fuel sector in sowing doubt about science that it knew to be accurate. Yves Smith discusses why market fundamentalism is utterly incompatible with averting climate breakdown. And Stephanie Roe offers a reminder of the ways to help at the individual level - even if they need to be paired with major systemic progress. 

- Euan Thomson and Petra Schulz comment on Pierre Poilievre's rage farming in the face of any empirical reality when it comes to harm reduction - though of course the principle applies to all kinds of policy areas. 

- Shawn Micallef points out John Tory's grim legacy as the mayor of Toronto bent on impeding any social progress in the name of austerity while still harming the city's finances in the process. And Mario Canseco discusses new polling showing that a strong majority of Canadians favour 15-minute cities and the underlying principle of accessible communities (even in the face of the petro-right's rage machine). 

- Finally, John Sewell writes that anybody actually wanting to reduce crime (rather than stoking an environment of fear) should be working on ensuring people have the necessities of life, rather than pouring money into arming police forces. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Jessica Corsetti reports on Greta Thunberg's message that the wealthiest few value their own short-term profit-taking over the future of humanity. Paul Kahnert discusses how the privatization of health care is just the latest example of conservative heists from the public. And Sophia Harris reports on the lack of progress in the Competition Bureau's investigation into bread price fixing even in the face of Loblaws' confession.  

- Jordan Uhl reports on a fossil fuel tycoon's attempt to silence Beto O'Rourke from even talking about the connection between massive donations and preferential treatment from a Republican governor. And Lisa Song examines the current state of knowledge as to the dangers of gas stoves (even as the oil and gas sector tries to shout down any inquiry into their effects). 

- The Red Deer Advocate reports on a new study showing the cost of starting up new, politically-controlled police services is far higher than assumed by the UCP (as well as the Sask Party). And Ryan Little, Adam Willis and Ben Conarck report on the impact of group violence reduction strategies in reducing the homicide rate in West Baltimore. 

- Gregory Beatty writes about the attempt by private religious schools to undermine the public education system in Saskatchewan.

- Finally, Carolyn Harper talks to Eric Topol about the lack of resources being put into preventing and treating long COVID at a point when a large proportion of the population is being set up to suffer from it. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Tisse Wijeratne et al. discuss what we know - and have yet to discover - about long COVID's effects on our brains three years into a pandemic which is being allowed to run rampant. And Mary Van Beusekom writes about the lengthening list of organs affected (and harms possible) when children get infected.

- Thara Kumar warns about Danielle Smith's plans to put health care behind a paywall. And Julia Rock offers a reminder of big pharma's example as to how corporatized health care profits will be used, with far more of its massive revenue from exclusive control over necessary medications going to shareholder payouts and lobbying than to research and development.

- Justin Ling discusses how McKinsey and Company is operating as a richly-compensated shadow government (thanks in no small part to decades of cutbacks and "efficiencies" which have left the public sector with challenges in trying to plan and strategize for itself). 

- Gabrielle Fonrouge reports on Walgreens' belated admission that its complaints about inventory theft were overblown - which comes far too late (and too quietly) to make up for the disproportionate effect the initial spin had in buttressing tough-on-crime messages in key elections.

- Finally, Trish Hennessy discusses what we can do to avoid being duped by misinformation. An Dan Dunsky reviews two books addressing the deliberate falsehoods spread by the populist right (and the damage they've done to democracy).

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Helen Branswell examines what experts were and weren't able to anticipate about the COVID-19 pandemic - with the voluntary panic-neglect cycle looking to be one of the most damaging lasting impacts. And Andre Picard discusses what we have and haven't learned from this year's multiple viral outbreaks.

- John Stapleton, Sid Frankel and Leila Sarangi point out that Canada briefly met its stated goal of substantially reducing poverty through pandemic supports - only to snap back to a default setting of accepting systematic deprivation. And Lynn Ward writes about the importance of keeping remote options to ensure people with disabilities and preexisting health conditions aren't excluded from participating in work and public life.  

- Robert Reich discusses how the growing concentration of wealth is the result of the extraction of value in zero-sum interactions, not the generation of anything useful or valuable for the general public. And Alvin Chang highlights how even a nominally level playing field would tend toward extreme inequality over time.

- Dylan Sullivan and Jason Hickel find that tens of millions of people have died of avoidable malnutrition over the past 50 years. And Clare Carlile exposes how big agriculture is likewise lobbying to avoid any transition to sustainable farming.

- Finally, Olayemi Olurin discusses how mass incarceration is utterly useless for keeping people safe, but instead serves mostly to preserve inequality.

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your long weekend reading.

- Umair Haque theorizes that the relatively benign outcome of the U.S.' recent election reflects a public that's finally rejecting Trumpism. But Krystal Ball notes that some of the most important Democratic success stories (notably including John Fetterman) included a message based on the recognition that government can use its power to help people, rather than a weary position that elections can't accomplish more than minimizing the damage inflicted by the other side.

- Ryan Patrick Jones and Nicole Brockbank list the well-connected landowners who stand to be enriched by Doug Ford's plan to turn protected greenbelt land into developers' profits. And Dale Smith points out that Ford's gratuitous use of the notwithstanding clause to attack workers out of sheer impatience and stubbornness signals that all human rights are at risk.

- Gaby Galvin offers a reminder that publicly-funded stadiums seldom accomplish anything other than to funnel money to a city's best-connected business figures. And Paul Dechene discusses how a push to put an arena downtown is leading Regina into another round of discarding social benefits in favour of corporate playthings. 

- Finally, Yasmine Ghania reports on the John Howard Society's push for the provincial government to invest in the social issues at the root of crime. But Adam Hunter reports that the Moe government is instead bent on establishing more - and more politically-controlled - police and security forces even when all available evidence points to an absence of benefit for the cost.

Saturday Afternoon Links

 Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading.

- Jim Naureckas discusses the absurdity of the New York Times (among other outlets) criticizing the idea of saving millions of lives from COVID rather than choosing to act in denial of it. Paige Ouimet points out the widespread long-term damage long COVID is inflicting on the U.S.' workforce. And Rachel Jobson interviews Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha about the need to recognize both the reality of people with disabilities generally, and the importance of listening to them in caring for those newly disabled by the pandemic.

- Becky Kane writes that an obsession with quantifying worker productivity through constant surveillance is serving mostly to undermine its theoretical purposes. 

- Justin McCurry writes about the popularity of Kohei Saito's Capital in the Anthropocene as a rallying call for degrowth and greater equality. And Owen Schalk offers his own reminder of the dangers of pursuing growth for its own sake.

- Finally, Audrey Nilson discusses new research showing that gratuitously lengthy prison sentences don't lead to community safety.

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Bedir Alihsan et al. examine the effectiveness of face masks in preventing COVID-19 infections in both health care and community settings. And Taiyler Simone Mitchell and Catherine Schuster-Bruce note that the loss of smell may be returning as a signature symptom in the Omicron BA.5 wave.

- Andrew Jackson reviews Stephen McBride's Escaping Dystopia, and writes that while it's not too late to escape the dystopian results of neoliberalism run amok, we need a strong reassertion of the role of the state to serve the public interest in order to get there. And Tom Blackburn calls out Keir Starmer's choice to attack labour rather than ensuring that working people see their voices and interests represented by his party.  

- Penny Daflos reports on the increasing intrusion of private agencies even in staffing British Columbia's public health care system. And Tzeporah Berman makes the case for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty to avoid the familiar refrain of oil and gas interests complaining that no jurisdiction can be any more responsible than the most destructive regimes around the globe, while Antonio Guterres calls out the grotesque greed which is putting humanity at risk in the name of carbon pollution and windfall profits. 

- Yasmine Ghania reports on Saskatchewan's continued ranking as the Canadian province with the highest rate of homicides. And Myrna Dawson writes about the need to recognize and address femicide as a distinct form of violence. 

- Finally, David Moscrop highlights how a safe supply policy would rein in the drug poisoning crisis which continues to run out of control.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Elian Peltier reports that Denmark's message that the COVID pandemic is over has predictably given rise to a new - and particularly dangerous - wave as people abandon even the most elementary care to avoid community transmission. And Brittany Gervais reports on the justified outrage of immunocompromised Albertans who have been told the new normal involves their being unable to participate in society due to uncontrolled viral spread. 

- Cindy Blackstock, Leilani Farha, Monia Mazigh and Alex Neve offer some important questions about how we treat protests generally in the wake of the #FluTruxKlan being allowed to lay siege to Canada's capital. Doug Cuthand discusses how the deference shown to violent extremists shows the operation of white privilege in action. And Justin Ling points out the role of QAnon and other conspiracy theorist groups in driving the convoy. 

- John Anderson discusses what Canada has lost through two decades of corporate tax revenue lost to tax slashing and loopholes. 

- Meanwhile, Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood notes that workers predictably haven't benefited from yet another temporary boom in oil prices. And Marc Lee, Tom Green, Peter McCartney and Anjali Appadurai discuss the need for British Columbia's royalty regime to take into account the transition away from relying on carbon pollution for energy. 

- Alyshah Hasham writes about a new learning hub intended to ensure that people facing criminal charges aren't trapped in a cycle of poverty and recidivism. 

- Finally, Lee discusses the need for more medium-density not-for-profit housing to ensure that a fundamental right isn't left to the whims of market forces and exclusionary zoning. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Madhukar Pai and Manu Prakash discuss how artificially limited vaccination is allowing COVID variants to get the jump on any attempt to protect public health, while Felicia Ceban et al. find that widespread fatigue and cognitive impairment are among the prices of letting the coronavirus run rampant. An open letter calls out Francois Legault for again using ineffective curfews as a substitute for effective public health measures in workplaces and commercial environments, while Bruce Arthur notes that Ontario's delayed reaction may come too late to have any discernible impact. And David Leonhardt discusses how far too many political leaders have prioritized profit-making and adult convenience and entertainment over children's well-being and development, while Maggie Astor writes about the agonizing choices parents face where governments haven't left any tolerable options. 

- Meanwhile, Kate Pickett et al. study the social determinants of children's health, along with the causes of health inequity. And Jeremy Appel reports on the National Advisory Council on Poverty's latest report showing the path out of poverty for marginalized people in the wake of the pandemic.

- Rebecca Altman highlights how plastic production is both worse for the climate than we're generally led to assume, and mostly avoidable if we don't allow the fossil fuel industry's manufactured demand to dictate our economic choices. 

- Rick Smith is hopeful that we can make a path toward climate progress into a normal and boring aspect of life. Ashley Kulkarni writes about a few of the options for more urban design and planning that better mitigates against the effects of climate change. And Julius Melnitzer highlights how energy workers are transitioning away from fossil fuels on their own.

- Finally, Dyanoosh Youssefi points out the need to stop over-incarcerating Indigenous people. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Patrick Wood and Mary Louise Kelly write that we still need to be managing COVID risk budgets to avoid contributing more to community transmission than necessary. Helen Branswell discusses some lessons learned through the pandemic so far. And Morgan Lowrie reports on the folly of pushing to keep COVID-positive workers on the job, while Don Braid comments on the dubious choice to restrict public health reporting when it's most obviously needed. 

- Katherine Wu highlights that anybody counting on individual-level vaccines to avoid infection is looking at years of changing boosters to try to keep up with a mutating virus. And Texas Children's Hospital announces that it has developed a non-patented vaccine which is being made available for international manufacturing and distribution - providing hope of actually suppressing the virus worldwide.  

- The UN Food and Agriculture Association discusses how land and water resources are already stretched to a breaking point. And Jeff Goodell reports on the prospect that a single collapsing glacier in Antarctica could swamp hundreds of millions of people in a matter of years. 

- Meanwhile, Ketan Joshi writes about the delay and denial being pushed by fossil fuel companies to avoid a transition to a liveable future. 

- Matt Bruenig writes that there's no good reason to refuse to provide income supports to people who need them. And Branko Marcetic highlights the dangers of limiting support for the poor to what's acceptable to the rich. 

- Finally, Colin Dacre reports on the permission granted to CN to engage in private prosecutions to unleash the power of the criminal justice system against protesters even after Crown prosecutors have concluded charges aren't in the public interest. And Matt Stoller calculates that 60% of the inflation being used as an excuse to cut social investment has in fact been siphoned off into corporate coffers through expanding profit margins. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Kelly Grant writes that the toll from COVID-19 includes driving many workers out of the nursing profession. And Kim Siever notes that while the UCP is driving nurses and doctors out of Alberta by shrieking that they're overpaid and working to starve them of resources in the midst of a pandemic, it's also privatizing care including eye surgery.

- David Byrne discusses how avoiding incarcerating people for minor offences leads to an overall reduction in crime. 

- Zak Vescera reports on both the initial response to the Saskatchewan Party's arbitrary decision to cut off access to methadone as therapy for people addicted to opioids, and the personal experience of an individual whose life was saved by the harm reduction measure which is now being taken away.

- Finally, Bianca Mugyenyi weighs in on the choice between dumping billions upon billions of dollars into fighter jets for show, or instead investing in protecting against climate catastrophe (or at least mitigating its effects). And Sask Dispatch highlights how reconciliation and reparations figure as an important part of our long-term climate strategy.

Wednesday Evening Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- The results of Stockton, CA's experiment with a guaranteed income show a predictable improvement in both well-being and economic success for people with income security. Lorne Calvert makes the case to introduce a guaranteed liveable income in Canada. And Will Wilkinson writes about the folly of holding basic supports for children hostage based on the actions of parents.

- Lars Osberg tracks Canada's inequality over the past 75 years. And Ricardo Lamour and Amel Zaazaa examine how taxes and public payments have all too often served to entrench racial disparities.

- Justin Ling takes a look at Canada's profoundly broken system of incarceration. And Brendan Devlin points out how "critical infrastructure" laws are being used to turn legitimate protest into an entry point for the criminal justice system. 

- Daniel Boffey reports on the agreement among EU countries to cooperate in shutting down corporate tax avoidance. And Global Financial Integrity offers its recommendations to embed protections against money laundering into the global economic system.

- Finally, Althia Raj reports on Canada's embarrassing rating at the bottom of the world in protection for whistleblowers.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Vaughn Palmer discusses how British Columbia's Site C megaproject had gone awry long before the coronavirus pandemic hit. And CBC News reports on new research showing that thousands of earthquakes can be traced to the province's push toward fracking with no regard for the environmental consequences.

- Meanwhile, Robert Halliday warns that Scott Moe's multibillion dollar irrigation scheme projects to be a giant white elephant.

- Marc Tyndall and Zoe Dodd examine how puritanism and structural violence have prevented the development of appropriate harm reduction measures in response to the opioid crisis. And Mohy-Dean Tabbara comments on the social determinants of justice - and how racial and economic inequality lead to disproportionately large numbers of Indigenous people and people of colour being trapped in a cycle of incarceration.

- Curtis Fric discusses how fair and proportional electoral systems tend to lead to party relationships based on cooperation rather than combat.

- Luke Savage highlights how the WE scandal represents a perfect metaphor for the Trudeau government. Tyler Glavine explores how WE's PR machine is no longer deflecting from important questions around its organization. And Paul Waldie discusses the understandable response of the partners who hadn't been aware of the problems.

- Finally, Kim Kelly writes about the new forms of union-busting through misdirection with a polished exterior, rather than outright hostility.

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- German Lopez surveys the growing body of research showing how masks help to slow the spread of COVID-19. John Michael McGrath points out the importance of focusing on making school settings safe, rather than prioritizing restaurants and bars. And Hannah Jackson reports on polling showing that Canadians are prepared to accept another shutdown if necessary to stop a second wave - though obviously responsible government now would be preferred over needing to respond to outbreaks later.

- Shelby Prokop-Millar highlights how a wealth tax would be both popular and productive in funding Canada's recovery from COVID-19.

- Meanwhile, Mia Rabson reports on the appalling bias of recovery funding toward boosting dirty fossil fuels rather than clean energy (or any other sustainable form of development). And Barry Saxifrage comments on both the continued rise in global greenhouse gas emissions, and Canada's embarrassing placement as one of the worst per-capita offenders.

- Anna Gross reports on new research showing how man-made emissions have caused Siberia's unprecedented heat wave. And Harry Cockburn discusses the catastrophic effects which could be produced by the melting of a single Antarctic glacier which is currently at risk.

- Finally, Fiona Odlum reports on how conditions in Saskatchewan's jails are even more inhumane than usual due to restrictions arising out of COVID-19. Alyshah Hasham discusses how a single criminal charge can trap a person in a cycle of legal restrictions and barriers. And Michael Spratt argues that we should view mandatory minimum sentences as not just pointless, but downright destructive of community safety.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Ari Rabin-Havt argues that any available means of treating COVID-19 need to be viewed as public goods to be made available to all, rather than windfalls for big pharma based on its ability to control supplies and prices.

- The Guardian's editorial board sounds the alarm about the grossly disproportionate burdens COVID-19 is placing on women.

- Tess Wilkinson-Ryan writes about the psychology of decision-making in the face of reopening - and the difficulty individual will have making good choices when faced with confusion or contradictory messages from governments and businesses. And David Roberts identifies the risk that with COVID-19 - as with climate change - we may be shifting our baseline expectations to accept perpetually worse outcomes as a "new normal" rather than pushing for action to achieve better ones. 

- Andre Mayer highlights the possibility that our efforts at rebuilding could finally put us on a path to averting climate breakdown. And Lori Nikkel discusses how the coronavirus pandemic should spur us to ensure that Canadians no longer face hunger or food insecurity. 

- Finally, Doug Cuthand writes about the need for an overhaul of Saskatchewan's treatment of people who are currently ending up in remand. And Kelly Geraldine Malone reports that Manitoba has followed through on ending discriminatory "birth alerts", even while Scott Moe continues their use in Saskatchewan.