Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Simon Tisdall discusses the fallout from the Trump regime's choice to launch a war in Iran - with its culture of denial doing nothing to mitigate the harm. And Anthony Fisher writes about the invariable stupidity and malignancy of the people chosen to surround Trump (for the sole purpose of insulating him from inconvenient realities). 

- Meanwhile, Kyla Scanlon highlights how Zohran Mamdani's inspiring victory in the New York mayoral primary offers an example of how progressive values can win out in the current information environment. And both Hamilton Nolan and Lex McMenamin are optimistic that Mamdani's campaign can be the start of a movement to replace a captured Democratic establishment with a new organization structure that is both answerable and appealing to the general public. 

- Tiffany Hsu discusses how countries around the world are stepping into the gap left by the U.S.' abandonment of international cooperation. But Doug Saunders' analysis of Mark Carney's strategy serves mostly to confirm that the Libs are wasting an immense amount of capacity (and pursuing counterproductive policies) trying to placate Trump rather than looking forward. 

- Cindy Cho points out the case for treating dirty energy purveyors as responsible for unnatural heat waves. And Kendra Jewell, Rowan Burdge and Liv Yoon offer a reminder that the people who suffer most in extreme heat are those already living in poverty or otherwise vulnerable. 

- Ian Urquhart discusses how Alberta is continuing to lie about its contribution to the climate breakdown while consistently increasing its carbon pollution. And Adrienne Tanner rightly questions how the oil industry and its fully-owned government subsidiaries consider themselves entitled to have the public fund the immense cost of carbon capture schemes. 

- Finally, Paris Marx discusses the dangers of allowing the U.S. to dictate both which technology will be used, and which countries have access to it. And Matthew Hughes writes about the tech industry's assumption over complete control of basic infrastructure with no regard for people's needs. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Kat Kerlin writes about new research showing that the true social cost of carbon pollution is over $280 per ton - far higher than the prices currently attached to it, even as our policy debates center on whether to subsidize the climate crisis even further. And Nina Lakhan reports on the growing list of countries pushing for a just transition away from fossil fuels to avert a climate breakdown. 

- Martha Bebinger reports on the prescriptions for rooftop solar power which are helping to ensure people with specific medical needs aren't vulnerable to being cut off by private utilities. And Julian Fell, Tim Leslie, Alex Lim and Ashley Kyd discuss the global spread of solar power - and its ability to meet humanity's energy needs with far less disruption than fossil fuel alternatives. But Kate Aronoff warns that the fas of AI data centers risks keeping dirty energy onstream far longer than can reasonably be accepted. 

- Michelle Goldberg calls out the tech industry elites who have chosen fealty to Donald Trump over any other interest. And Andrew Egger warns that the silent surrenders of media organizations offer a dangerous precedent for the prospect of Trump's future wrongdoing being the subject of investigation and reporting. 

- Finally, Ron Filipkowski discusses the need for U.S. Democrats to build means of communicating with people in the face of a loud and closed conservative media ecosystem. And Ettingermentum examines the U.S. Democrats' retreat from substantive policy positions - which is now being used as an excuse to demand further drift toward the right. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Heidi Ledford discusses new research which is helping to identify genetic risk factors for long COVID - though the fact that new COVID-19 variants are being allowed to run wild while that work is in its infancy means that people will be exposed to readily-avoidable suffering. Jennifer La Grassa and Lauren Pelley reports on the National Advisory Committee on Immunization's recommendation that Canadians continue to be vaccinated. But the announcement that university-based wastewater monitoring is being abandoned - leaving any continued reporting to politically-controlled bodies which have shown they're more interested in normalizing transmission than protecting public health - makes it all too likely that Saskatchewan residents will fail to do what they can and should to protect their communities. 

- Patrick Rail interviews Armine Yalnizyan about the grim reality that the Bank of Canada is looking to raise interest rates for the sole purpose of causing pain to the general public. 

- Arielle Samuelson and Emily Atkin write about the oil companies laughing all the way to the bank while the world burns due to the use of their products. Melissa Rossi discusses the eminently-desirable principle underlying 15-minute cities which has been subjected to ritual denunciation as a fossil fuel propaganda point. And Rosa Saba reports on the work being done to turn the availability of outdoor patio space into a normal expectation rather than a perceived aberration. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow discusses how U.S. Democrats shut off their greatest grassroots operation in modern history in favour of governance by triangulating establishmentarians - and how the result has been predictably disastrous both in terms of electoral outcomes and policy effects. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Zak Vescera reports on the combination of high rates of hospitalization and virtually nonexistent vaccination that's resulted from Scott Moe's surrender to COVID-19. And Nicholas Larsen et al. add autonomic dysfunction to the list of post-COVID symptoms which are common even among people fortunate enough to avoid a severe case. 

- Jonathan Josephs reports that the deliberate decisions of corporate vaccine manufacturers have resulted in a more severe pandemic due to a choice not to make supplies available more equitably. And Joel Lexchin discusses how the Libs have caved to big pharma in failing to keep their promise to rein in prescription drug prices. 

- Ed Yong writes that the systemic consequences of climate change include increasing the frequency and severity of infectious diseases. Oliver Milman reports that we're approaching a cataclysmic extinction of marine life. Shirin Ali reports on a new study finding that half of the U.S.' water is too polluted to be used for swimming, fishing or drinking. 

- Anders Fremstad and Mark Paul discuss how neoliberal ideology has been used to stifle meaningful action to protect our climate and planetary environment. And Jessica Scott-Reid reports on the obstruction by the meat industry seeking to stop the development of plant-based products. 

- Umair Haque discusses how the right in the U.S. has managed not only to shatter the Overton window with shifts not just off the political spectrum but outside objective reality, but also to convince itself that the exact opposite has happened. And David Sirota warns that an ineffectual and captured Democratic administration is only reinforcing that nihilistic sentiment. 

- Finally, Alex Himelfarb offers a message of hope and solidarity for collective action in a time which demands it. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Matt Gurney questions how it is that Ontario (like other provinces) is continuing to avoid any meaningful planning in its pandemic response, with the problem now being a lack of guidance or direction in distributing second doses of vaccines.

- Stephanie Taylor reports on a new study from the International Institute for Sustainable Development showing how demand for oil is set to decline in the decades to come. Aaron Saad writes that instead of continuing to look to exploit fossil fuel reserves and spew as much carbon pollution as possible as the industry dies out, Canada should be discussing how to make up for our disproportionate harm to the global environment. And Max Fawcett points out that any honest message to oil sector workers would include recognition that a transition is necessary - not a refusal to allow anybody to find sustainable work.

- Katherine Long and Will Evans report on Washington's investigation into Amazon's disregard for worker health and safety. 

- Oliver Wainwright discusses the work being done to reverse decades of systems architecture based on the preferences of a tall, white male.

- Finally, Sarath Peiris recognizes that it's the Saskatchewan Party which has chosen to become a permanent campaign machine with no interest in providing responsive or competent government once elected. Janai Nelson highlights the risks of allowing authoritarian governments to silence opposition and stifle protest. And Andrew Marantz discusses the work being done in the U.S. to ensure people aren't limited to a choice between establishmentarianism and fascism.

On asymmetrical warfare

In the wake of this week's U.S. elections - featuring a closer-than-expected contest for the presidency, and down-ballot results which look to disappointingly leave substantial power in Republican hands - there's been an outpouring of commentary criticizing the money that was put into campaigns which ultimately lost.

If there's a lesson we can draw from a broader set of political results, though, it's about the need for all-of-the-above politics - rather than an assumption that a single form of winning support can be counted on to make up for a lack of others.

In the U.S., the division between the air war and the ground war was stark. In the presidential race as well as major congressional battles, Democrats were able to pour loads of money into ads. 

But Biden's initial reluctance to pursue door-knocking at all, combined with a lack of effort to reach communities where it appears particularly important to win and turn out support, looks to have been a major factor behind some of the most disappointing results. And the assumption that text alerts and phoning would make up for a lack of in-person contact looks to have been thoroughly flawed.

That's particularly so since the Democrats' greatest successes look to have come in areas where ad blitzes from above (boosting voters' motivation) were paired with grassroots canvassing (which converted that motivation into turnout).

It appears that a similar dynamic also may have applied in Saskatchewan's provincial election - though the problem for the NDP arose on the former front.

Here, the prospect of an opportunistic snap spring election call in the midst of a pandemic always seemed particularly egregious given the Saskatchewan Party's reserves of corporate donations. The prospect of the government locking everybody indoors, then using its cash reserves to drown out all competing voices through electronic media, looked like about the most unfair and self-serving starting point one could imagine.

The election eventually took place on schedule, and COVID receded somewhat over the summer. As a result, the opposition parties were eventually able to get out door-knocking - albeit with some restrictions which did make communication more difficult. And on election day, the NDP was in its familiar situation of being able to reach target voters with a thorough ground game in priority ridings. 

But by that point, the party was fishing in a depleted and uninterested pool. Large numbers of mail-in ballots and advance voters proved to be more the result of a shift in turnout rather than an increase. For citizens who had seen far more government messaging than contrasting perspectives in the course of the campaign (particularly with what should have been major news going unreported through mainstream outlets in that time), it figures to have been relatively easy to decide that the pandemic offered a valid excuse to stay home. And the result was that the NDP's support on election day fell well short of what the polls suggested.

In sum, neither an air-war approach without a well-thought-out plan to engage with voters in their communities, nor a strong ground game in the face of a massive advertising disadvantage, is likely to represent a recipe for victory. But by the same token, the answer isn't to criticize the people who have built up one or the other, but to ensure the causes we support have enough of both to succeed.

[Edit: fixed & added wording.]

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading.

- Steven Greenhouse discusses how the U.S.' economy is rigged against workers. And Eric Levitz writes that Donald Trump's giveaway to the rich worked only as a scam against the rest of the country.

- Matthew Townsend and Scott Lanman point out that minimum wage increases - both through legislation and through public pressure on large employers - have resulted in some meaningful improvement in retail worker pay. But Sask Mojtehedzadeh reports on the continued delay in any federal report on precarious work in Canada.

- Ryan Cooper writes that Democrats are beginning to recognize the dangers of pursuing trade agreements designed to enrich businesses at the expense of the public - though sadly we can't say the same for Justin Trudeau and his corporate Libs.

- Canadians for Tax Fairness presents (PDF) a set of proposals for Canada's leaders and voters to discuss as the federal election approaches:

We have proposals in four different areas, with details provided below.

A. Ensure corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share by closing regressive tax loopholes and making taxes more progressive
B. Tackle international tax evasion, avoidance and tax havens
C. Improve corporate transparency
D. Combat climate change and support sustainable development

The fair tax plan...could generate over $40 billion annually in additional revenues for the federal government (as well as additional revenues for provincial governments where they would benefit from a broader federal tax base with fewer loopholes).

These additional revenues could, for example, easily fund:

• Affordable child care for all plan, with a $1 billion investment in 2020 and an additional $1 billion each year for ten years to 2030.
• A national universal pharmacare for all plan, estimated to cost $10 billion more than what federal and provincial governments now pay, providing average savings of $600 per household.
• Free university and college tuition for all Canadians. Total tuition fees amount to about $9 billion (including foreign students, net costs would be lower without the tuition tax credit).
• Elements of a “green new deal”, such as energy retrofitting of buildings and 40%of Canada’s homes, reducing homeowner energy use and bills by an average of 30% each, and improving the efficiency of other buildings by 50% at an estimated cost of $6 billion annually(and generating over 80,000 jobs annually).

- The Beaverton offers this year's definitive response to the Fraser Institute's ludicrous spin on public revenue.

- Finally, Tom Scocca discusses the violence which has resulted from the U.S.' acceptance of the spread of racism and bigotry. And Jonathan Montpetit calls out Francois Legault for endorsing attacks against minorities.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Shawn Gude comments on the choice Democratic primary voters will have between candidates seeking to regulate the economic system as it stands, and those pushing to fundamentally changing it. Ian Welsh points out the importance of supporting candidates such as Bernie Sanders with a genuine commitment to the more progressive policies on offer from many corners.

- John Horgan discusses the backlash against the extreme concentration of wealth amidst increased precarity in the U.S., while Ben Casselman and Jim Tankersley report on new polling again showing strong support for higher tax rates on the extremely wealthy. And Jordan Weissmann highlights how Elizabeth Warren's child care plan would boost both the economy generally, and the cause of shared and equitable development in particular.

- Larry Elliott reports on a new study showing how austerity has devastated families in the UK. And James Sillars notes that the result is a country set to reach record levels of child poverty even before it shoots itself in the foot through an attempt to distance itself from the world.

- Mat Hope exposes the disinformation campaigns used jointly by big tobacco and the oil lobby to attack any action to promote public health where it might affect short-term profits. And the Canadian Press reports on the CRTC's findings of misleading and aggressive sales tactics by the telecoms who are already overcharging Canadian customers.

- Finally, the CP also reports on new research showing that Canadian governments need to do far more to try to reduce the harm resulting from alcohol abuse - rather than promoting that harm through deregulation and downward pressure on prices as so many right-wing governments have chosen to do in the name of populist appeal.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Both Eric Levitz and Brian Beutler write that U.S. Democrats need to highlight and fight the class war being waged by the rich, rather than shying away from the real and justified anger it provokes among insecure workers. And Robert Benzie reports on the latest research from the Financial Accountability Office showing that low-income Ontarians are facing income stagnation.

- Karl-Petter Thorwaldson explains how inequality is contributing to both a climate breakdown, and an inability to address it through politics as usual. And Jessica Clogg responds to the attempt by foreign-funded corporate oil lobbyists to demonize Canadian environmentalists.

- The Pembina Institute responds to yesterday's decision of the Supreme Court of Canada upholding the effectiveness of provincial environmental law by pointing out the need to make effective use of that constitutional jurisdiction. And John Paul Tasker's report on the Libs' overpayment for the Trans Mountain pipeline reminds us how many public resources are still being wasted catering to the fossil fuel industry.

- David Climenhaga discusses a new Parkland Institute study (PDF) showing that NDP governments are more effective than alternatives in managing public health care, but also indicating that they too need to be more ambitious in providing resources for public health.

- Finally, PressProgress highlights a new CUPE study (PDF) into the corporate takeover of Canada's universities.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Damian Carrington reports on new research showing that it's possible to stop climate change in its tracks - but only by beginning to phase out fossil fuel infrastructure immediately. And Ryan Cooper comments on the problems in responding to an immediate crisis with mushy centrism rather than a determination to act:

America can't afford another eight years of a moderate party fiddling while the climate burns, or even making things worse, which is exactly what happened during the Obama years. Democrats in those days failed to pass a climate bill that wasn't even that great, and it took the administration five years after that to put out an executive order that was just as inadequate. In the meantime, the Obama administration ushered in a massive expansion of American oil and gas drilling that has made the U.S. the biggest producer of both oil and natural gas in the world. Part of the motivation was that natural gas is cleaner fuel than coal climate-wise, but methane (the main component of natural gas) itself is much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and it turns out leaks more than cancel out the relative climate benefit. Whoops!

If they are to take the moral responsibilities of governing the United States seriously, moderates can't just hide behind "better than Trump." The scientists say we have about a decade to cut our emissions by 45 percent. If lefty ideas like a Green New Deal are too radical for moderates, then by God they better come up with something that achieves the same objective.

- George Lakoff discusses the need to counter the language of hate which underlies Donald Trump's demand for a wall (along with so much other right-wing political strategy internationally).

- Meanwhile, Tanya Talaga notes that Justin Trudeau's cabinet shuffle is an ominous sign for Indigenous peoples. And Susan Delacourt points out that it will also likely serve as an excuse to delay any national pharmacare program.

- Finally, Natalie Mehra warns Doug Ford against following through on his apparent plans to privatize Ontario health care.

Monday Evening Links

Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading.

- Chris Hughes discusses how progressive politics, including expanded social programs and more progressive taxes, are proving to be a winner for U.S. Democrats in both primaries and general elections. Jacob Bacharach writes about the myth of the U.S. as a particularly wealthy country in the face of the deprivation it's imposed on so many of its citizens. And Nesrine Malik notes that it's pointless to shoot the messenger in light of reports such as the one by the UN's special rapporteur on poverty and human rights documenting the blight of poverty in the UK.

- Alex Hemingway approves of the Horgan government's replacement of a regressive health premium with a payroll tax aimed at large employers, but points out it would have been far better not to cut overall revenue in the process.

- Luke Savage points out how Doug Ford has exposed the contempt of Canada's right for basic norms such as not gratuitously overriding Charter rights. Edward Keenan comments on his politics of spite. And the Globe and Mail's editorial board criticizes Ford for using his majority power to permit cash-for-access now that he has power to sell.

- The Canadian Press reports on the Canadian Medical Association's pushback against Ford's plan to tie up the health care system with doctor's notes for employers. And Carolyn Ferns compares British Columbia's progress on child care to Ford's regression.

- Finally, David Pugliese exposes the "capability gap" used as an explanation for the purchase of fighter jets as a political talking point with no basis in operational records - and that in fact the Libs were informed there was no need for any purchase before 2032 before giving the thumbs-up to immediate orders.

[Edit: fixed wording.]

New column day

Here, on how the U.S. midterms show the political risks of putting corporations over people - and how Saskatchewan citizens should take a hint as to who deserves to be voted out of office.

For further reading...
- Dana Milbank discussed how the Republicans' tax giveaway to the rich was motivated entirely by a desire to secure campaign funding, particularly to hold the House of Representatives. And we can see how well that plan turned out.
- Meanwhile, Rana Foroohar notes that the Democrats' success can be traced in no small part to their increasing willingness to stand up to corporate interests.
- Libby Belson writes that Sam Brownback's willingness to use Kansas as a guinea pig for extreme austerity and trickle-down economics helped elect a Democratic governor in an otherwise red state. Ann North highlights Gretchen Whitmer's winning Michigan campaign based on having the government start ensuring residents have access to basic services. And David Dayen discusses how Scott Walker's giveaway of public money and policymaking to Foxconn led to his downfall.
- Finally, CBC News reports on the Saskatchewan Party government's awareness that its hand-selected bypass conglomerate isn't particularly interested in responding to vehicle access issues. Adam Hunter reports on Ken Cheveldayoff's declaration that the Saskatchewan Party has no problem further commercializing Wascana Park while pretending that corporations are doing people a favour by capturing public spaces. And David Boles contrasts the NDP's call for public spending to be linked to community benefit agreements against the Saskatchewan Party's insistence on putting corporate profits (including toothless imported labour) ahead of the province.