Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Henry Miller calls out the Trump regime's sabotage against American science and research. Matthew Yglesias writes that the return of screwworm to the U.S. is just another predictable consequence of the wanton destruction of state capacity. And Jason Sattler rightly argues that Elon Musk's reward for mass murder shouldn't be adding yet another zero to the most obscene fortune ever hoarded. 

- Meanwhile, DPA reports onMusk's role in promoting and fueling anti-immigrant pogroms in Belfast and elsewhere.Bryce Covert writes that the immigrant and minority populations who have been terrorized by the Trump regime's police state are now facing the economic fallout from being forced into hiding. And Rachel Gilmore calls out the Canadian wing of the elite-funded white supremacist formation that's trying to impose racism around the globe.  

- Jonathan Watts reports on unprecedented heat in Antarctica as another indicator of a climate spinning wildly out of control.

- Finally, Amber Rolt points out that electric vehicle owners are already seeing massive cost savings from having shifted away from combustion engines, while Kana Iganaki reports on BYD's planned buildout of ultrarapid charging infrastructure in Europe. Fiona Harvey reports on the UK government's plan to rein in power prices by reducing reliance on fossil gas both as a fuel and as a pricing indicator. And Emily Forgash reports that even in the U.S., solar power has passed coal for the first time as an energy source. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

This and that for your weekend reading.

- Genevieve Guenther and Michael Mann offer a reminder that climate denial - from Donald Trump or anybody else - won't avert the consequences we're already seeing as a result of carbon pollution. And Marta Serafinko reports on the threat climate change poses to biodiversity as natural habitats are eliminated. 

- Meanwhile, Gaye Taylor discusses how clean energy is replacing dirty diesel in remote Canadian communities. And Susanna Twidale reports on new data showing that wind and solar power contributed more to global power supply than fossil gas in April, showing that a transition is well underway even as we're told we have no option but a choice between fossil fuels. 

- Ken Collier discusses how Mark Carney's choice to wind down pharmacare threatens Canada's wider public health care system. And Bruce Campbell writes about the risks to the public interest posed by deregulation and privatization. 

- Thor Benson talks to Chris Hayes about the dangers of artificial intelligence - with the erosion of human intellectual development looming as an inescapable result no matter how many of the logistical problems are waved away. Don't Surveil Me is encouraging Canadians to take action to protect privacy online in the face of yet another "lawful access" bill intended to eliminate anything of the sort. And Mike Benson discusses how public opinion is turning against mass surveillance once its presence is identified. 

- Finally, Justin Briley writes about the need to defend and promote fair taxes as the price of community and civilization, rather than echoing anti-social talking points in pursuit of the false hope of temporary political gain. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Samantha Hancox-Li discusses the need to ensure the rampant violence and corruption of the second Trump term is met with prosecutions, rather than another round of calls to sweep criminality under the rug yet again as long as it's being committed from sufficiently powerful positions. Alan Elrod points out the need for the Democratic Party to lead that effort (no matter how much more comfortable its legislative leaders are trying to pretend that Republican fascists are their friends). 

- Jonathan Watts discusses the dangers of trying to keep countries addicted to fossil fuels by force even as cleaner and more affordable options become readily available. And Carl Meyer examines the similarities between the anti-regulation, pro-dirty energy structures put in place by the Trump regime and the Carney government. 

- Sophie Hurwitz weighs in on the reality that opposition to data centres is one of the few truly unifying issues across party lines in the U.S. And Tom Chivers points out that young voters are particularly skeptical of artificial intelligence.

- Joseph Cox reports on the FBI's plans to buy U.S.-wide license plate reading technology to effectively allow for total surveillance of anybody with their own vehicle. And Michael Geist writes about the Carney Libs' continued push to impose absolute online surveillance on Canadians. 

- Finally, Luke Savage calls out the small-c conservative demand that the plebes work until they drop (toward the purpose of further enriching the ruling class). 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Carl Meyer explains how the Carney Libs are looking to push resource extraction at the expense of social and environmental realities to an extent beyond even the Harper Cons. And Corporate Europe Observatory criticizes the European Commission for likewise trashing needed regulations and subsidizing fossil fuels. 

- Meanwhile, Keith Brooks calls Mark Carney out for managing to turn even an electrification strategy into a means of prolonging fossil fuel dependency. And Alex Ballingall reports that after scrapping nearly every other means of limiting carbon pollution other than the industrial carbon price, Carney is now allowing Danielle Smith to undermine that.

- And in case anybody was under the illusion that there aren't superior alternatives to fossil fuels already available, Ben Feshbach, Ellie Garland and Julia Meisel highlight how the U.S. (like Canada) has immense geothermal power potential which is going unused due to the policy choice to favour dirty energy. 

- Elizabeth Elder and Neal O'Brien study the polarization of health outcomes in the U.S., as the anti-science ideology of Republicans is systematically resulting in shorter and sicker lives. And Joe Vipond, Dick Zoutman and Kashif Pirzada warn that the scattered response to the ongoing hantavirus outbreak signals that we've utterly failed to learn necessary lessons from previous contagions. 

- Finally, Maximillian Alvarez discusses how the wealthiest few are using their riches to try to untether us from reality. And Atrios rightly notes that in the case of Donald Trump and his ilk, the only responsible media response is to preface any coverage with a warning about their history of lying. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Blayne Haggart and Eric Duchesne point out that Mark Carney's idea of nation-building reflects little more than barely warmed-over 1980s neoliberalism - making for a particularly inapt response to a reality in which the corporations who stand to dominate us are themselves under the thumb of the Trump regime. Jim Stanford discusses how Canada is far better off avoiding a new trade deal with the U.S. rather than signing over our sovereignty to a bad-faith actor who will never respect any theoretical gains. 

- Janelle Lapointe writes that the "fast-track" laws pushed by Carney and conservative premiers are designed primarily to bulldoze Indigenous rights for corporate benefit. Abigail Jackson, Rachel Samson, and Ricardo Chejfec note that rural and remote communities and local workers stand to lose out if the push for major projects doesn't include a plan to build a local workforce. And Angella MacEwen discusses how workers stand to lose out from Carney's austerity. 

- Carol Schwartz writes that there's no excuse not to be setting - and reaching - net-zero carbon emission targets. Kate Aronoff discusses how climate neglect is driving up grocery prices among other costs of living. 

- Meanwhile, Saul Griffith highlights the ready availability of affordable electricity - particular if we focus on cheap solar and improved storage and distribution rather than allowing fossil fuel interests to dictate that we keep lining their pockets. And Arthur Zhang discusses how a zero-emission vehicle target is still well within reach (and worth pursuing). 

- Finally, Cathy Bussewitz reports on the Trump regime's declaration that protections for workers are obsolete, with Trump's supposed concern for the masses now resulting in attacks on minimum wages, overtime pay and protection from hazardous substances. And George Monbiot rightly calls out the Starmer government for facilitating the importation and use of toxic chemicals without meaningful controls or assessments based solely on the say-so of a single other jurisdiction. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Edward Zitron writes about the idiotic results of purging all considerations from business decision-making other than goosing short-term share prices. And EuropeanPowell examines the connection between deregulated "free zones" (of the type the Cons are actively seeking to impose in Canada) and the broader hijacking of public resources and services by greedy corporations.  

- Simon Kuper reports on the push for a global wealth tax in order to ensure the richest few can't hide their obscene wealth offshore. Dean Baker makes the case for a financial transactions tax to disincentivize shell games as a substitute for productivity. And Rick Szostak discusses the need for everybody to be willing to contribute to the common good. 

- Noah Berlatsky writes about the dangers of the Trump administration's attacks on vaccines, while Reuters reports on Moderna's decision not to seek approval of a more effective hybrid COVID/flu vaccine under an anti-science regime. Susan Mashiyam highlights a new study into vaccine disinformation as expressed at public meetings. And Bingyu Zhang et al. find that the consequences of COVID-19 include severe cardiovascular outcomes in children.

- Finally, Sam Freedman points out the inherent fragility of hard-right political alignments which rely on uniting the corporate sector and conspiracy theorists against professionals. Matthew Hays notes that Pierre Poilievre's attempts to send different messages to different sides of the conspiracist divide resulted in nobody having any basis to trust him. Crawford Kilian writes that the Trumpists and separatists being boosted by Danielle Smith's UCP are likely to make the Cons even less electable. And Don Braid notes that the immediate purpose of Smith's promotion of separatism is to undermine national values and standards, while Taylor Noakes offers a reminder that the separatist push is being bankrolled and directed by and for the dirty energy sector. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Kenneth Vogel and Shane Goldmacher discuss how the Trump regime is using the power of the state to attack any opposition voices and actors. Madeline Sherratt reports that the Republicans' shredding of the U.S. constitution includes trying to keep Trump in power past the maximum of two terms. Josh Marshall reports on DOGE's use of federal contracting power to coerce a private security firm into helping it break into the U.S. Institute of Peace. And Paris Marx highlights how techbros are seeking to unleash DOGE-style assaults on public services in Canada and around the globe - even as the U.S. experiences the grim consequences of a government being in the hands of vandals determined to destroy it beyond repair. 

- Meanwhile, Mike Konczal reviews two books touching on the ability of progressive parties and leaders to get things done. 

- Evan Dyer discusses how Canada and Europe can help meet each others' defence needs as the U.S. turns into a hostile actor. 

- Matt Bruenig examines how to measure the number of people who live paycheque to paycheque in the U.S., finding that an estimate of up to 60% referenced by Bernie Sanders is entirely plausible. And Jason Linkins discusses the strong public response to Sanders' anti-oligarchy tour. 

- Finally, John Calvert discusses why we shouldn't accept a race to the bottom when it comes to regulating in the public interest - particularly as a supposed response to the corporatism of the Trump administration. And Michael Gorman reports on the rapid backtrack after Nova Scotia's Cons passed legislation which would have effectively eliminated professional regulation. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Alec Connon discusses how anger is an entirely appropriate response to the capitalist imperative to impose constant costs and burdens on people and the planet. And Alexandra Digby, Dollie Davis and Robson Hiroshi Hatsukami Morgan write that the collapse of First Republic Bank and other financial institutions can be traced directly to an incentive structure which rewards reckless risk-taking rather than responsible management and long-term planning. 

- Alex Lawson reports on yet another quarter of obscene windfall profits for BP, while Reuters reports on similar results for ExxonMobil and Chevron. And Geoff Dembicki exposes an Alberta group - known for shilling for the oil industry with false accusations against pipeline activists - is itself funded with hundreds of thousands of dollars of secret contributions from CNRL. 

- Lisa Young writes about the choice facing Alberta voters in the election campaign which began this week - with the oil-funded good ol' boy network being challenged in its assertion of perpetual dominance by a coalition seeking to at least expand the range of voices involved in shaping the province's future.  

- Finally, Cory Doctorow writes about the bondage fees used to keep workers from pursuing anything better than exploitative current jobs. And Bob Egelko reports on a court's determination that a single Marriott hotel stole over $9 million in tips from its banquet workers - with the typical consequence being nothing more than a belated requirement to pay it back. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- The John Snow Project calls out the dangers of labeling COVID-19 infection as an immune-boosting mechanism, rather than an unequivocal harm to individual health. Jake Miller discusses new research on the groups at particular risk of long COVID. And Remember Rebuild SK has developed an online memorial to ensure we recognize the lives lost to the preventable spread of disease, rather than focusing only on numbers. 

- UNITE examines how profiteering has been soaring in Britain (as it has elsewhere) as corporations use the excuse of inflation to extract more profits from the public. And David Dayen writes that the bailouts handed out to Silicon Valley Bank and other failed financial institutions are the direct result of deregulation premised on the claim that public oversight wouldn't be needed to prevent exactly that consequence.  

- Timothy Noah writes about Mark Robert Rank and Matthew Desmond's recognition that poverty is the result of policy choices and imbalances of power - including the ability of landlords to wring higher profits out of poorer neighbourhoods. And Brittany Freeman reports on the plight of residents who are blocked from making payments demanded by homeowners' associations, then forced to fund obstructionist litigation against themselves in order to resist foreclosure. 

- Finally, Fiona Harvey reports on the IPCC's latest report - including its "final warning" that we need to act now in order to limit the damage to 1.5 degrees. Laura Thomas-Walters argues that climate activism needs to focus on challenging the power structures which have entrenched the fossil fuel economy, rather than appeals to the general public. Emma Shemko writes about the deep connections between the climate crisis and environmental racism. And June Sekera highlights how carbon capture and storage represents a delay and distraction tactic rather than an antidote to a climate breakdown. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Kenyon Wallace reports on new modelling showing a real risk of yet another wave of COVID spread in Ontario - even as widespread immunity just a few months of remotely responsible government away. Julie Steenhuysen and Kate Kelland point out how an increasing number of variants is complicating the fight against COVID-19. And Marieke Walsh and Greg McArthur discuss how Canada's vaccination process has been set back due to our reliance on global supply chains.

- Chris Hedges writes about the multiple prominent examples of social murder in progress - with COVID-19 serving only as a particularly immediate and vivid example of the phenomenon which also defines the climate crisis and other avoidable crises of public health and welfare. And John Calvert discusses the people killed by Texas' reckless deregulation of vital infrastructure - along with the propensity of Canadian conservatives to push us in the same direction.  

- Meanwhile, the Globe and Mail's editorial board calls out Doug Ford for choosing to try to renormalize cash-for-access politics. And Darren Bernhardt reports on the Manitoba PCs' unprecedented power grab in seeking to ram a large number of dubious bills through the legislative process while keeping their contents secret from opposition parties and the public.

- Emmanuel Fulgence Drabo, Grace Eckel, Samuel Ross, Michael Brozic et al. are the latest to demonstrate that a Housing First system which provides residents with a secure home produces a substantial return on investment in social and economic terms.

- Finally, Richard Denniss writes that Australia's regulation of tech giants - which was met with an initial attempt at resistance followed by ultimate acceptance - demonstrates that we're not helpless in the face of the power of large corporations. And Adam Smith discusses the EU's latest move to empower the public by ensuring that consumer electronics are reasonably durable and can be repaired - rather than being part of a cycle of rapid planned obsolescence.

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Melissa Healy reports on yet another dangerous variant of COVID-19 which is spreading in California. Nicky Phillips writes about the likelihood that the coronavirus will become endemic even once full vaccinations have been carried out. Jessica Elgot, Noel Sample and Nicola Davis report on new modelling showing how relaxed rules in the UK could cause tens of thousands of deaths. And the Canadian Press reports on a new survey showing the popularity of public health measures in Quebec even as far too many provinces stall or even backslide in protecting against community transmission.

- Meanwhile, Heather Scoffield asks whether the federal government's COVID relief will address some of the inequality arising out of the pandemic - though she's too generous in presuming there had been progress made before coronavirus hit. 

- Madlen Davies, Ivan Ruiz, Jill Langois and Rosa Furneaux expose how Pfizer and other drug manufacturers have used COVID vaccines to hold Latin American countries for ransom.

- Andre Picard rightly wonders when we'll start acting to remediate the well-known problems with our long-term care system, rather than falling into perpetual cycles of study and inaction.

- Finally, Murray Mandryk writes that Texas' disastrous confirm both the value of Crown corporations, and the need to ensure they have adequate resources to plan for disaster scenarios in ways that private operators won't bother with. And Roque Planas takes a look at some of the frivolous nonsense pushed by Texas Republicans as they've neglected their state's basic infrastructure.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Marieke Walsh reports on the new modeling from the Public Health Agency of Canada which shows how COVID's variants will foreseeably result in massive numbers of cases if we don't act to clamp down on viral spread. Andrew Nikiforuk highlights how the emergence of those variants makes it all the more urgent that we pursue a COVID-zero strategy. And Scott Schmidt uses a Jaws analogy to point out how much needless danger is created when governments not only fail to take obvious steps to avoid further spread, but encourage people to put themselves in positions likely to contribute to further transmission.

- Meanwhile, German Lopez discusses how trying to return to a pre-COVID (or pre-Trump) "normal" falls far short of addressing desperate social crises. And Doug Cuthand notes that one of the most devastating of those - the opioid crisis - can best be met with harm reduction and decriminalization.

- Galen Herz writes that the construction of social housing is becoming an increasingly viable policy option in the U.S. But that only makes it all the more pathetic that we've seen only pittances put toward the same goal in Canada - as Nick Falvo notes in his primer on supportive housing. And Mira Miller reports that Toronto is using its resources to take away shelters from people with nowhere else to go, rather than to ensure people actually have the homes they need.

- James Galbraith discusses the role deregulation and laissez-faire economics have played in Texas' collapsing power infrastructure. And Eric Wolff, Debra Kahn and Zack Colman point out that for all the differences between California and Texas, they (like every other jurisdiction on the planet) share an acute vulnerability to the effects of a climate breakdown.

- Finally, Luke Savage notes that even in Texas there's far more appetite for a shift to clean energy than the fossil fuel-funded political establishment is willing to acknowledge. And Rick Smith writes that U.S.'. long-overdue climate policy ambition under the Biden administration offers an opportunity for Canada to stop being a laggard.

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Damian Carrington reports on Antonio Gutierres' needed message that we can't afford to keep waging war on our natural environment. And Bruce Campbell examines how Norway is far exceeding Canada's track record when it comes to climate change policy. 

- Molly Taft reports on the fossil fuel funding behind the Republicans trying to turn the damage wrought by their own deregulation and neglect into an excuse to bash clean energy. And Joshua Taft and Blake Shaffer discuss the lessons Canadian provinces can and should learn from Texas' tragedy.

- Meanwhile, Eric Holthaus writes about the growing harm Bitcoin is doing to our planet by consuming massive amounts of dirty energy for no social benefit. 

- Sarath Peiris points out Saskatchewan's glaring lack of protection for provincial wetlands - reflecting yet another example of policy catering to a single, self-serving industry rather than the public good.

- Rita Trichur discusses the need for Canada to get serious about financial crime, including by ending our policy of granting secrecy to corporations looking to avoid having their beneficial ownership known.

- Finally, Robert Bronk discusses new research by the Institute for Work and Health showing that unionized construction sites are safer for workers.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Allison Hanes reminds us that there is no escaping the reality of COVID-19 - and any attempt to take a vacation from the measures needed to keep people safe will only ensure that it does more damage. John Michael McGrath argues that Ontario (like other provinces) should be prioritizing education over the reopening of bars. And Katherine Scott examines how any recovery so far has been distinctly weighted against women.

- Meanwhile, Ailsa Chang interviews Monica Gandhi about new research showing that masks protect their wearers as well as the people around them - making them as important from the standpoint of naked self-interest as from a more altruistic point of view. And Marc Frank reports that Cuba's focus on public health has allowed it to stop the local transmission of COVID-19.

- Karen McVeigh reports on António Guterres' call to remediate the gross inequalities exposed by the coronavirus pandemic. And Jason Hickel warns against accepting that we're making meaningful progress in alleviating global poverty based on arbitrary definitions which leave billions short of the necessities of life.

- Liette Gilbert and Anna Zalik discuss why oil spills and train derailments are continuing to happen - with a focus on regulations aimed only at financial risks rather than environmental ones. And Megan Evans writes that corporate forces will never produce just environmental outcomes without governments taking the lead role in regulating and shaping economic development.

- Finally, Emma McIntosh reports on the finding of Ontario's Auditor General that the Ontario PCs have broken the law in granting themselves unilateral authority to gut environmental regulations without consultation or review. And Dan Bloom reports that having plunged their country into both a chaotic Brexit and a public health nightmare, the UK Cons have now voted to allow their public health system to be put on the auction block in trying to salvage trade deals.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Duncan Cameron makes the case for a transition to a more fair and democratic economy. And Paris Marx proposes the development of publicly-owned options - including the increased use of passenger trains along with more accessible transit - as part of an improved transportation network.

- Rick Smith discusses how COVID-19 has been used as an implausible excuse to eliminate environmental protections. Guy Quenneville, Dave Seglins and Joseph Loiero highlight the continued pattern of rail disasters following . And Graham Thomson writes that Alberta's associate minister responsible for "red tape reduction" has no reasonable explanation for any of the regulatory destruction being imposed by his government.

- Emily Eaton, Andrea Olive and Angela Carter write about Saskatchewan's importance in the fight to avoid climate catastrophe.

- Karen-Marie Elah Perry and Jennifer Whiteside examine the failings of privatized assisted living care in British Columbia. And Marc Lee writes about the need to push back against short-term rental operators who are making needed housing unavailable to residents.

- Finally, Denise Balkisoon writes about her experience trying to call out racism in both staffing and coverage at the Globe and Mail.

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Ethan Cox writes that a large majority of Canadians favours massive public investments funded by more fair taxes on the wealthy as our road to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. And Aaron Wherry points out the folly of fixating on deficits and public-sector debts when there are far more important and urgent problems demanding our attention.

- Dakshana Bascaramurty, Carly Weeks and Eric Andrew-Gee discuss how vulnerable populations are facing a disproportionate share of the harm caused by COVID-19, while Elizabeth Leier highlights that reality in Montreal in particular. And Meenakshi Mannoe notes that selective policing is only making matters worse.

- Bill McKibben examines what it will take to avert catastrophic climate change - noting in particular the importance of not building additional fossil fuel infrastructure which results in continued carbon pollution.

- Emma McIntosh reports on Doug Ford's use of COVID-19 to undermine environmental regulation, as well as Ecojustice's push for him to reverse course. Archie Waquan writes about the effects of Jason Kenney's similar blanket destruction of regulation and consultation in Alberta, including its threat to a World Heritage Site. And Andrew Nikiforuk discusses Alberta's longstanding shell game when it comes to responsibility for oil site cleanup, while highlighting the Alberta Energy Regulator's rare order that Shell can't dump its existing obligations onto a smaller company.

- Finally, Hilistis Pauline Waterfall points out that many of the aspects of the coronavirus pandemic which are resulting in new traumas within settler populations are all too familiar for Indigenous people.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Linda McQuaig warns us not to tolerate yet another around of austerian demagoguery when investment in people's well-being is a positive step toward every end other than the goal of pushing people into additional precarity. And Marilyn Watkins examines how Washington state was left far less resilient by needless austerity following the last corporate crash.

- Jeanne Morefield reviews Jessica Whyte's The Morals of the Market, including by noting that neoliberalism has hijacked the language of human rights to serve the purposes of wealth accumulation. And Rutger Bregman discusses what may come next if the neoliberal era is finally at an end. But Nesmine Malik warns that the wealthy and powerful won't give up their privileged positions without a fight.

- On that front, Matthew Chapman notes that the Trump administration is using the COVID-19 pandemic to enable predatory financial institutions to extract even more from consumers. And John Bennett reports on Trump's more recent plan to use the crisis to utterly demolish regulation in the public interest, while Mark Winfield catches Doug Ford doing the same.

- Kim Kelly discusses how meatpackers' lives have been put at risk by exploitative employers and uncaring governments. And Colin Gordon writes about the role of decades of union-busting in trashing wages and worker protections.

- Finally, John Christensen writes that climate justice and economic justice are both inseparable, and essential to a sustainable future.

[Edit: fixed typo.]

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Norm Farrell examines some of the root causes of a political system which lavishes benefits on the wealthy while neglecting people who actually need help.

- Natalie Kitroeff, David Gelles and Jack Nicas examine the role of deregulation in the multiple crashes of Boeing 737 Maxes. And following up on this week's column on the misuse of regulatory power to help entrenched corporate interests, CBC News reports that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is actively trying to enforce the righthink demanded by the meat and dairy industries even against avowedly "100% vegan" restaurants.

- Henry Mance discusses how Silicon Valley is exacerbating our climate breakdown. And Akshat Rathi points out the dangerous feedback loops which develop when people use ever more dirty energy to avoid the effects of extreme weather.

- The Canadian Press reports on a joint letter warning that Canadian pharmaceutical supplies could be used up by U.S. patients - though it's worth noting that the question of whether production can be ramped to meet the needs of Canadians and other purchasers is one where there's obvious room for action. And Jennifer Keesmaat writes about the need for our housing policy to include recognition of the value of rental homes, rather than focusing almost entirely on individual ownership.

- Finally, Cam Holmstrom offers a response to Elizabeth May's stunning claim that the water rights and needs of Indigenous peoples can be met by having the federal government hijack the sentencing of SNC Lavalin rather than living up to its own responsibilities.

Saturday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading.

- Chris Dillow discusses the connection between the failure to understand the role of luck in producing unequal outcomes, and the perpetuation of policies which exacerbate inequalities:

As Ed Smith writes in his lovely book, Luck: “randomness is routinely misinterpreted as skill.”

Why do people do this? I suspect it’s not just because of a lack of statistical literacy: many of the subjects in the experiments I’ve cited had taken statistics classes. It’s also because of two reinforcing biases. One is the outcome bias. We judge a performance by its result so if a team wins the game, or if a fund manager beats the market, we infer that they did well rather than got lucky. The other is the narrative fallacy. We are story-telling animals. We seek links between things and detailed explanations even if the truth is only that a bit of good luck happened, then a bit of bad. I suspect that most football punditry is like this.

All this is about how we attribute skill rather than luck to other people. But of course, we also do so to ourselves, and asymmetrically: good results are down to skill and bad to luck. A study of day traders has confirmed what you probably suspected:

Retail day traders in the forex market attribute random success to their own skill and, as a consequence, increase risk taking.

The upshot of all this is that the successful are apt to become bumptious arrogant prats because they attribute their success to their own talents rather than luck. And observers are apt to take them at their inflated self-estimation.

...

This, of course, colours our whole social and political structure. Our tendency to see skill where there is just luck causes the successful to have an exaggerated sense of entitlement and the rest of us to be overly deferential to them. Very few people are luck egalitarians. This is one way – of perhaps many – in which inequality sustains itself.

- Meanwhile, Harry Glasbeek argues that capitalism (as opposed to democracy or liberalism) lies at the core of Canada's political power structure, resulting in the government's willingness to hand out corporate welfare at the drop of a hat while attacking workers and lower-income residents. And Rebecca Jennings examines some of the problems with a culture of CEO worship.

- Kristin Rushoway and Laurie Monsebraaten discuss how Doug Ford's plan to shred the regulatory state in Ontario will endanger children in child care. John Michael McGrath points out that a campaign promise not to do any harm to Ontario's greenbelt has been scrapped in favour of a scheme which will allow for its destruction at the whim of any municipality. And Edward Keenan notes that Ford has relabeled virtually any type of public protection from corporate excess and abuse as "red tape" to be systematically destroyed.

- Finally, Michelle Zilio reports on the consistent message from experts in the field that Andrew Scheer's anti-immigration bleatings about a UN migration compact lack any basis in fact. And Andrew Coyne connects the Cons' message to that of nativist and racist parties internationally.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Andrea Germanos discusses the problems with relying on the charity of the uber-wealthy rather than stable and sustainable public revenues to meet the needs of the people with the least. 

- Dan Fumano reports on the City of Vancouver's call for a shift toward tenant protections and non-profit housing, while Seila Rizvic offers some ideas to alleviate housing crises by focusing on residents rather than developers. And Steve Meaghar notes that Toronto's emergency shelters are already over capacity long before the worst of winter hits, while Elizabeth Fraser reports on the realities of homelessness among university students.

- PressProgress exposes the big-money, anti-worker actors trying to buy Jason Kenney's way into office in Alberta. And Stuart Trew points out how the federal Libs are catering to big business through dangerous deregulation.

- Andrew Nikiforuk notes that Alberta's revenue problems trace back through decades of PC mismanagement of resources. And Robyn Allan discusses yet another concession the Libs appear to have made to Kinder Morgan, as their public bailout of the TransMountain pipeline appears to include taking on what were supposed to be corporate promises to pay for ocean protection measures.

- Finally, Owen Jones points out that the rise of violent racism can be traced in large part to the refusal of right-wing parties to call out fascist tendencies as they've developed.