Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Linda McQuaig writes about the need for international solidarity in responding to the corruption and aggression of Donald Trump. Stephen Maher notes that there are important lessons for Canada in Trump's Venezualan coup. And the Economist points out that Canada's military is necessarily planning to respond to U.S. hostility - even as the two largest parties in Parliament treat it as something to be minimized or welcomed. 

- Virginia Heffernan argues that the most important reality of the Epstein scandal is the culture of elite impunity which continues to mutate and spread. And Roger Hallam discusses how the capital class is choosing a death project over any sustainable alternative which might reduce its control over the general public. 

- Faine Greenwood discusses the increasing number of people who see reality itself as irrelevant compared to online slop and propaganda. And Peter Smith comments on the dangers of social isolation to health, well-being and community. 

- Finally, a new McGill study finds that any spin about crime being caused by supervised consumption sites is a myth - meaning that the attack against harm reduction has no effect other than to exacerbate the human toll of the drug crisis.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Connie Loizos warns that the growth of "buy now, pay later" financing for the essentials of life parallels the wider use of unsustainable debt as a substitute for improvements in standards of living. And Umair Irfan discusses how the Trump regime's hostility to electric vehicles is making all kinds of car ownership even more expensive. 

- Carole Cadwalladr weighs in on the glaringly obvious artificial intelligence bubble, while Ketan Joshi discusses how Meta is polluting our physical and information environments alike with its AI garbage. And Laura Rodriguez Salamanca points out how Microsoft and Google data centre projects (which normally proceed only due to massive public subsidies) predictably produce far fewer jobs than promised.  

- Geoffrey Johnston highlights the urgent need to rein in a worsening climate crisis, while Donna Lu reports on a new simulation suggesting that the damage carbon pollution has already done to our planet  in the form of extreme heat waves will be felt for a millenium. Anupreeta Das reports on the devastating general effects of heat stress on women in India, while Anuradha Nagaraj tells the story of one worker in particular about the realities of living in temperatures up to 50 degrees Celsius. Andn John Harris discusses how the UK is building large amounts of new housing in areas which will soon be flooded due to the climate breakdown. 

- Harrison Samphir discusses how Canada's civil service is bracing for the effects of a Carney austerity budget, while Nancy Wilson points out that one of the anticipated effects of slashing public jobs is to prevent women from receiving pay equity payments. And Aaron Wherry notes that Carney's choices can plausibly be seen as those of a small-c progressive conservative. 

- Finally, Charles Rusnell examines how Alberta's obsession with privatized surgery continues to enrich donors while underming the public health care system and its patients. And Eva Uguen-Csenge, Shelley Ayres and Steven D'Souza report on Health Canada's rejection of expert advice about the effectiveness of safe supply programs (and the carnage which is resulting from their elimination). 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your election day reading.

- David Moscrop discusses the dangers of allowing the Libs to claim the mantle of "left" while under corporate control. Martin Lukacs warns that the Poilievre Cons and their disinformation machine will have managed to push Canadian politics rightward even if voters reject them. And Jared Wesley writes about the need to approach any results with care, rather than knee-jerk anger or smugness. 

- Dustin Godfrey notes that both the Libs and Cons are pushing for drug policy based on puritanical punishment rather than harm reduction (in stark contrast to the NDP). And Katherine Scott discusses how young people facing a grim future with few supports have been largely ignored by the two largest parties, while Renee Sylvestre Williams offers a reminder that boutique tax baubles don't do anything to make life affordable for the working class. 

- Paul Kahnert writes about the red flags which confirm Poilievre is every bit as destructive and reality-averse as Donald Trump. And Guy Lawson comments on the absurdity of the Cons seeking to take power based on a campaign of absolute isolation - including but not limited to a complete failure to respond to the connections between them and the Republicans. 

- Steven Beschloss discusses how the Trump regime has made the U.S. a pariah rather than a magnet for international activity. Edward Harrison highlights the reality that American exceptionalism can't be salavaged in the wake of an irrational war against everybody. And Alan Elrod writes that the road toward anything positive depends on reversing the practice of politics based on vice. 

- Finally, Ben Smith offers a glimpse at the elite group chats which shaped the current U.S. conventional wisdom in the image of alt-right saboteurs. Philip Bump notes that one of the few consistent elements of the Trump regime is its refusal to listen to any message other than its own propaganda, while Eileen Sullivan reports on the elimination of a non-partisan civil service to allow only for Trump boosterism. And Ian Bogost and Charlie Warzel warn that the corporate information scraping and surveillance being put in place by Elon Musk may have repercussion for the general public long past Trump's stay in power. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way chart the likely road ahead in the U.S.' journey from democracy to authoritarianism, while Hamilton Nolan's interview with Stephanie Kelton includes the warning that it may be too late to salvage anything if a resistance movement limits its focus to electoral politics and timelines. Sam Freedman discusses how Elon Musk's influence - and the associated use of technology to seize unfettered power - is the main difference between Donald Trump's first term and his second. David Zipper notes that consumers have plenty of power to protest Musk's absues by making the choice to boycott Tesla as the main source of his current wealth. And Ed Zitron juxtaposes the promise of technology which could help improve people's lives against the reality that tech giants are exploiting us. 

- Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Bretty Murphy discuss the illegality of the immediate trashing of USAID. And Greg Sargent discusses how Pope Francis' response to the invocation of theology to excuse Trump's hatred has placed a spotlight on his administration's moral rot, while Sarah Newey reports on the first deaths directly traceable to the shutdown of its operations. 

- Paul Krugman writes that Trump and Musk have made it open season for scammers to steal money from the American public. And Liz Dye discusses how the destruction of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau represents a combination of spite and opportunism. 

- Dave Jamieson reports that large numbers of U.S. workers are joining unions in an effort to build collective strength against Trump. And Jon Milton notes that there's plenty Canadian governments can and should do in response to corporate union-busting, including Amazon's shuttering of its Quebec warehouse in response to an organizing campaign. 

- Steve Smethurst discusses new research about the threat of PFAs and other dangerous chemicals in sewage sludge which is used for agricultural purposes. And Andrew Gregory reports on a study showing that air pollution is responsible for upwards of a thousand annual cases of a single form of lung cancer in the UK, while Denise Balkissoon writes about the data gaps which limit our ability to identify similar threats in Canada. 

- Finally, Kim Pate discusses how Pierre Poilievre's draconian attacks on drug users would only exacerbate poverty and addiction. And Brett McKay reports on the 19-year difference in life expectancy between Indigenous people and other Albertans as a grim example of how discrimination and bigotry lead to severe health consequences. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Whizy Kim writes about the rise of the overt use of wealth and associated fame to overwhelm the U.S.' political system. Jason Sattler discusses the need for a new declaration of independence focused on decoupling from billionaires. And Robert Reich notes that Democrats' refusal to meaningfully challenge corporate greed and bullying resulted in their political defeat by a demagogue claiming (however implausibly) to stand up for the working class. 

- Meanwhile, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage has released its report on the intimidation and subversion tactics of tech giants. And Seamas O'Reilly discusses the comparative joys of Bluesky in contrast to the social media platforms that have gone through full enshittification. 

- Helena Horton, Lucy Swan, Ana Lucía González Paz and Harvey Symons highlight new data showing the acceleration of the climate breakdown - even as the wealthy countries who bear the most blame continue to dodge any responsibility for reparations or mitigation. And Karen McVeigh reports on the scientific recognition that we're generating an unmanageable quantity of plastic waste - with the same bad actors blocking any solutions on that front as well. 

- Nadine Yousif reports on the success of Halifax' choice to integrate tent encampments rather than meeting them with violent displacement. And Jonathan Brooke and Jennifer Hulme discuss how anybody in need of medical assistance is made worse off by a punitive response to addictions. 

- Finally, Jim Stanford studies (PDF) the benefits of expanded child care availability in Canada - including in averting both recessions and inflation. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- The University of California, Irvine examines the connection between air pollution and spontaneous preterm births. And Attracta Mooney and Jana Tauschinski discuss how the fossil fuel sector is far more interested in concealing its dangerous methane emissions than reducing them. 

- Hannah Brown interviews Faith Birol about the value of renewable energy in limiting our dependence on bad actors and vulnerability to crises - though it's well worth noting that the oil and gas sector which has amassed obscene amounts of wealth by preventing us from escaping won't be eager to see us take advantage. And Megan Gordon discusses the latest IEA report confirming that anybody focused on jobs should be supporting clean energy over fossil fuels. 

- Stéphane Leman-Langlois, Aurélie Campana and Samuel Tanner examine how the far right is expanding its reach in Canada. And Rachel Ward, Steven D'Souza, Andrew Culbert and Daysha Loppie report on the RCMP's video evidence showing the extremist ideology behind the armed insurrection at Coutts, AB. 

- Nick Falvo lists some of the gains made in homelessness and poverty policy in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic - though it's worth lamenting how those have been reversed (or worse) since. And Emmanuelle Bernheim writes about the flawed theory that involuntary treatment is a viable solution to homelessness. 

- Finally, Christopher Cheung talks to Rachel Bok about the self-serving corporate "solutions" being peddled to cities as a substitute for community-building. And Ian Welsh discusses how any nominal savings from Elon Musk's government destruction project are bound to be illusory as the corporate sector moves in to provide the same services at a marked-up price. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Will Hutton discusses how the growing gap between the rich and everybody else is eating away at Britain's collective well-being, while Phillip Inman warns the new Labour government of the problems with serving the business sector at the expense of the general public. And 350.org responds to the Cons' sloganeering with a campaign to stop allowing wealthy oil companies from dictating Canadian public policy. 

- Euan Thomson warns that a punitive approach to addictions and mental health is now being treated as received wisdom by right-wing parties across Canada - though there's some reason for optimism that voters are rejecting it along with other elements of the conservative culture war. Nik Barry-Shaw notes that Pierre Poilievre is parroting the talking points of big pharma in seeking to deny people access to affordable medication through pharmacare. Adam King points out how more and more health resources are being diverted to for-profit nursing agencies. And Kristina Olson, G.F. Raber and Natalie Gallagher study the results of gender-affirming medical care and find overwhelmingly positive outcomes. 

- Lora Kelley interviews Elaine Godfrey about the conditions which have facilitated the spread of election conspiracy theories. And Dave Karpf writes that Elon Musk's strategy as the outsourced voter turnout director for Donald Trump is to blatantly commit crimes such as making cash payments to voters - with what seems to be an entirely correct expectation that he'll never face any consequences. 

- Finally, David Angus Ness makes the case to build based on the principle of sufficiency which ensures that people have enough of what they need.

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Paul Abela writes that the continual concentration of wealth is patently unsustainable. Alex Himelfarb discusses how neoliberalism has laid the groundwork for the violent authoritarianism of Donald Trump and his fascist fellow travelers. And Karen Landmand examines how private equity's takeover of health care in the U.S. is endangering patients' lives while driving health care workers out of their professions. 

- Josh Pringle reports on a new survey showing Canadian workers see substantial benefits from remote work (even as many employers have sought to put an end to it). And Cory Doctorow juxtaposes the impetus toward in-person control and extensive supervision with Wells Fargo's complete neglect of well-being to the point of leaving a dead employee rot for days. 

- Katia Lo Innes and Tannara Yelland take a look at the double-dipped donations from the corporate elite which are funding the Saskatchewan Party's election campaign. And Ricardo Acuna discusses how the UCP is determine to avoid anything resembling fair taxation. 

- Finally, Stephen Magusiak exposes the hasty scrubbing of the BC Cons' platform, while Andrew MacLeod points out a few questions which should be directed at John Rustad if he deigned to interact with actual journalists. And Rumneek Johal notes that even the sanitized version of the party's plans includes using the notwithstanding clause to lock up people dealing with substance addiction. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Robert Rohde surveys yet another month of record-high temperatures from July 2024. And Richard Heinberg examines what a real energy transition would look like - including a meaningful effort to stop using energy unnecessarily as well as a shit to clean energy sources. 

- Jim Stanford points out that price controls can be one mechanism to ensure that corporate profiteering doesn't cut into the affordability of basic necessities. 

- But Jason Hickel writes about the main barrier to that effort, as our key economic decisions are made by capitalists acting unilaterally to keep up their resource profits rather than by any government or other structure with any meaningful capacity to determine and act in the public interest. And Prem Sikka likewise discusses how wealthy individuals and corporations have hijacked any democracy. 

- Linda McQuaig notes that Doug Ford is going far out of his way to ensure Ontarians don't know how factory farms are abusing animals. Jake Johnson discusses how the meat industry is yet another sector where corporate collusion and price-fixing are increasing the cost of living for consumers. And Sara Moniuszko and Meg Oliver report on new research showing that the majority of baby food sold in the U.S. falls short of WHO health standard. 

- Scott Martin discusses how Ford (and other premiers focused on harm maximization as policy) can only be seen as choosing a legacy of social murder. And David Climenhaga notes that Danielle Smith is adding gross cronyism to the mix, as anybody seeking addiction services in Alberta is required to disclose sensitive personal health information to a politically-connected provider. 

- Finally, Matt Motta and Kathryn Haglin find that the benefits of Alaska's basic income include greater use of primary and preventative health services. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Emilia Belliveau makes the case for the fossil fuel sector to start paying for the harm it causes through carbon pollution, rather than being subsidized to lock us into dirty energy for decades to come. And Glenn Scherer reports on Johan Rockström's work to have planetary boundaries treated as the viral security issues that they are - though as Natasha Walter notes, the powers that be are more interested in using the power of the state to silence anybody who dares to mention the climate crisis. 

- Max Fawcett writes that many Albertans stand to pay the price for Danielle Smith's choice to focus primarily on stopping absolutely anything the federal government does, rather than allowing for anybody to work toward the well-being of citizens. 

- Jim Stanford discusses the drain on productivity in the gig economy where workers are regularly paid nothing to do nothing. 

- Finally, Andre Picard points out the absurdity of trying to blame a myriad of social woes (most with far more obvious policy-related sources) on the single issue of drug decriminalization. And Kenyon Wallace reports on an immense death toll among young Canadians as one of the harms caused by both drug toxicity and unpredictability of dosages where people are forced to seek out illicit supplies. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Joan Westenberg discusses how to fight back in the war against knowledge, while Julia Doubleday calls out the lengths to which the New York Times and other outlets are going in avoiding any acknowledgment of the continuing effects of COVID-19. And in case there were any doubt as to the costs of know-nothingism and contrived skepticism, Beth Mole reports on the CDC's warning that the U.S. is in imminent danger of seeing measles become endemic again after having been eradicated. 

- Meanwhile, Blake Murdoch points out that a concerted effort to clean indoor air can help protect against a myriad of diseases, while Joey Fox notes that improved ventilation helps to lessen short-range spread as well as long-range transmission. 

- Georgina Rannard reports on the finding of the European Court of Human Rights that a failure to comply with climate commitments constitutes a human rights violation. And Steve Lorteau highlights how the right-wing fixation on carbon pricing serves only to distract from the real distortion and harm caused by ongoing subsidies for dirty energy. 

- Andrew Nikiforuk discusses how human activity is rapidly draining crucial fresh water resources. 

- Finally, David Climenhaga writes that the UCP is putting ideology over evidence and care in its puritanical drug policy. And Dave Cournoyer notes that Danielle Smith has decided she isn't satisfied with refusing to do anything to help meet public needs, resulting in her now using the power of the province to stifle any attempts by the federal government and municipalities to do anything of the sort. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Rachel Fairbank discusses how a patient-led research collaborative is filling in the gaps in long COVID research and treatment. 

- Re.Climate examines (PDF) the state of Canadian public opinion on the climate crisis - which sadly features a stark and growing gap between recognition of the need for action, and support for meaningful policy. David Stanway reports on a new study showing that renewable energy deployment is lagging far behind what's needed to allow for a clean energy transition. Anand Ram and Benjamin Shingler report that Canada's wildfires more than counterbalanced any gains made in global tree cover in 2023. And Max Fawcett notes that the Cons' current excuse for a climate plan is an unfunny joke, while Doug Cuthand points out that the Saskatchewan Party and UCP are determined to make matters worse. 

- The Basic Income Earth Network and other signatories discuss how the security provided by a basic income is necessary to achieve climate justice. 

- Rupert Neate reports on new research showing that not a single one of the world's young billionaires obtained that status other than through gigantic inheritances. 

- Finally, David Climenhaga offers a warning about the UCP's plans to turn massive amounts of health care funding over to the cause of drug harm exacerbation. And Armine Yalnizyan points out that the Ford PCs are going out of their way to throw money at the same corporate care operators who caused mass illness and suffering at the start of the COVID pandemic. 

On harm exacerbation

Ryan Meili offers an important values-based critique of the Sask Party's "do more harm" policy on addictions treatment. But it's worth taking a closer look at who stands to benefit from the pursuit of harm maximization and treatment-for-profit.

A single private business, ROSC Solutions Group, has been trotted out by the Moe government at various points as an adviser and author of a report, an "expert" validator and a source of rebuttals against the people calling to continue work on harm reduction. 

Presumably that combination of consulting and PR work hasn't been carried out for free. And it's telling that the primary party apparently willing to say anything supporting the Sask Party's position is the one which has been hand-selected and paid to support the government's line. 

Meanwhile, it's abundantly clear who stands to receive ongoing public funding as a result of the plan.

As part of the incomplete list of spaces to date, EHN Canada is listed as being funded for both virtual and in-treatment care. (The inclusion of virtual programs as part of the government's promised number of spaces is left as a degradation of health services for another day.)

And in case there's any doubt about its goal of using public funds to build a private care system, EHN's own intake page for online services lists Saskatchewan's funding alongside a general assumption of patient-paid treatment:

Worried About Paying For Treatment? 

We know not everyone has the same financial situation. There are options when it comes to covering the cost of treatment, give us a call to discuss the possibilities. 

We are proud to have partnered with the Saskatchewan Health Authority to provide funded treatment for our online substance use disorder program to residents of Saskatchewan. Click here to learn more.

Not surprisingly, both of those actors seeking to profit from attacking harm reduction and emphasizing unregulated, for-profit "recovery" are tied into similar movements in B.C. and Alberta - as documented by Rumneek Johal last year. (ROSC is listed as having done similar work for Alberta, while EHN has a dubious and controversial history of work in both B.C. and Alberta.)

To be sure, there's also a moralistic "war on some people using some drugs" at play as well. But while the cruelty may be the point for parts of the Sask Party's base, the overarching purpose again looks to be the funneling of public money into connected businesses - no matter how much harm is done as a result.  

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Nathalie Grandvaux writes about the causes and impacts of a triple epidemic of respiratory viruses. And Erin Goerlich et al. study the cardiovascular effects of COVID-19, while Beth Mole reports on research showing that COVID vaccinations help protect against strokes and heart attacks which would otherwise be predictable results of infection. 

- Meanwhile, Alexander Quon reports on the Moe government's continued drug policy of harm maximization - and the expert outcry against the deliberate choice to exacerbate the risks of drug toxicity and unsanitary supplies. And Sandra Smiley, Preet Gandhi and Kathryn Haegedorn point out the social harm caused by "evictions to nowhere" - which of course represents an accurate description of the Sask Party's housing policy. 

- Adam Morton and Graham Redfearn highlight how 2023 was not just the hottest year on record, but the year when the visible signs of climate breakdown stunned even the scientists most familiar with the climate crisis. And Emma Garnett and Charlotte Kukowski discuss how inequality serves as an obstacle to meaningful climate action.

- Finally, Andrew Nikiforuk writes about the need to stop treating the man-made technosphere as somehow more real and important than the natural ecosphere which is necessary to our survival. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Ajit Niranjan reports on the Copernicus Climate Change Service's findings that 2023 is on pace to be the hottest year on record, with October's temperatures at 1.7 degrees above the pre-industrial level. 

- Damian Carrington highlights a UN report warning of the destructive insistence of petrostates on increasing fossil fuel production even in the midst of an ongoing climate breakdown. And while the International Energy Agency's new World Energy Outlook is being spun as good news in projecting a decrease in the share of energy from fossil fuels, it too anticipates that carbon pollution from oil and gas will keep getting worse for the balance of the 2020s. 

- Ecojustice makes the case for Canada to actually live up to its climate commitments, rather than accepting a trajectory toward failure. And John Woodside reports on Quebec's call for the federal government to finally look beyond fossil fuels. 

- Hulya Gilbert and Marco te Brömmelstroet write about the norms of vehicular supremacy that make our communities needlessly dangerous for people in general, and children in particular. 

- Bob Weber reports on an academic assessment which calls out the pseudo-science of the UCP's harm exacerbation approach to drug policy. Which makes it all the more damning that the party is shifting even further away from reality-based policy (as Max Fawcett observes). And Phil Tank notes that the Moe government is going out of its way to impose destructive mandates on Saskatchewan residents. 

- Finally, Dean Bennett reports on the revelation (since confirmed as a matter of policy) that the UCP's plans include the demolition of Alberta's health care system. And Eric Stober reports on a new Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives study which reminds us that health privatization tends to both increase costs and harm service. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- William Ripple et al. offer a new and alarming state of the climate report. And Damian Carrington delves into their findings as to the precarious state of the Earth's living environment, while Becky Ferreira highlights their warning of societal collapse within the next century if we don't reverse the current course toward climate catastrophe. 

- But if there's any doubt whether our corporate overlords care in the slightest about that imminent risk, Jessica Wildfire draws the connection between Thomas Malthus' explicit desire to eradicate the lower classes and the policy choices being pushed by today's political and economic elites. 

- Michelle Gamage discusses how a shortage of health care workers is undermining the well-being of patients and remaining staff alike. And Cory Doctorow weighs in on the need for a well-resourced and effective civil service to protect the public interest. 

- Jon Steinman muses about the prospect that people may become sufficiently fed up with exploitation by corporate grocery chains to revitalize the cooperative model for food supplies. 

- Finally, Rohan Anand and M Eugenia Socias write about the strategies needed to respond to the toxic drug crisis - with a public health lens serving as the first and most important. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Jamey Keaten and Seth Borenstein report on the World Meteorological Association's finding that we've just had the hottest summer in recorded history. And Chelsey Harvey highlights how the combination of extreme heat and other climate calamities looks to be a harbinger of worse to come rather than an outlier. 

- Which naturally means that the UCP is echoing Steve Bannon's talking points in order to promote carbon pollution, while also pouring tens of millions more public dollars into the unaccountable war room for advertising campaigns to peddle dirty energy. 

- Matthew Black reports on Alberta's continued pattern of losing hundreds of residents to drug poisoning deaths every month. 

- Nicholas Keung reports on the Moe government's decision to prioritize primarily-white source countries for immigration as part of the Saskatchewan Party's idea of sovereignty. 

- Finally, Kathleen Hilchey writes about the need for trans students to find care and support rather than  systematic bigotry in schools. And John Ibbitson calls out Scott Moe, Blaine Higgs and other right-wing governments for fomenting hate rather than ensuring children have a safe educational experience. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Beth Mole writes about the work being done to better define, diagnose and treat long COVID - even as different symptoms appear to be the result of different factors arising out of COVID-19 infection. And Markus Eyting et al. study the connection between infectious diseases and the development and dementia - along with the potential that vaccination could help prevent the latter.

- John Vaillant writes about the parallels between the growth of corporations and that of wildfires. Katharina Richter discusses the value of developing our political and economic systems around principles of sustainability and well-being, rather than growth at the expense of those more important measuring sticks. And Pamela Heaven points out how a boom in oil prices and profits has provided virtually no benefit to Alberta as a whole as fossil fuel operators have become ruthlessly efficient at taking any gains (and more) for themselves. 

- Jamie Mortin discusses new research showing that extreme El Nino and La Nina weather patterns have increased as a result of climate change. And Billie Sheridan offers a first-hand account of the experience of fleeing a home and community in the path of a wildfire. 

- Finally, Holly Mathias reports on the plight of rural Albertans dealing with addictions who have effectively been told by the UCP that they can't expect any treatment or support unless they're willing to move to urban, abstinence-based centers. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- The Canadian Health Coalition weighs in on the recent study showing that privatized surgeries in Quebec cost more than twice what public procedures would. And Matt Bruenig discusses the U.S. Democrats' development of a layer of bureaucracy for a child care subsidy program intended to exclude only 1% of applicants as a painful example of prioritizing the limitation of access to benefits over the effectiveness of the benefit itself.  

- Sarah Wakeman discusses by the involuntary treatment requirements being pushed as a draconian alternative to harm reduction are dangerous. And Duncan Kinney reports on the deaths resulting from the UCP's insistence on abstinence-only public policy, including ones caused by facilities' lack of training and supplies to deal with drug poisonings.  

- Meanwhile, David Climenhaga writes about the utter refusal of Alberta's energy regulator to answer even the first questions about its coverup of toxic tailings pond leaks. 

- Martin Regg Cohn calls out the Ford PCs' combination of cuts and neglect which is undermining Ontario colleges and universities. 

- Zak Vescera examines what's at stake in the strike among federal employees. And Cory Doctorow discusses how workplace democracy can serve as the foundation for the broader application of democratic principles.

- Finally, Liana Hwang highlights how the availability of food shouldn't be a matter of charity - even as governments are increasingly leaning on food banks and other charities to provide the necessities of life so they can spend lavishly on luxuries for billionaires. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Stephanie Soucheray discusses new research linking COVID-19 to subsequent sleep disturbances and dyspnea. And Linda Geddes reports on findings showing that a growing number of cases of diabetes can also be traced to COVID. 

- John Bell and Alex MacKenzie argue that Canada should develop its own pharmaceutical research and manufacturing infrastructure to treat rare diseases. And Andre Picard highlights how any effective response to the drug poisoning crisis needs to include harm reduction and social supports, rather than being limited to a demand that people immediately sequester themselves in for-profit treatment centres. 

- Meanwhile, the Canadian Press reports on the Moe government's diktat that health care workers conceal the dire state of Saskatchewan's medical system from the opposition. 

- Kate Aronoff discusses how inflated fossil fuel profits over the past couple of years are the direct result of war profiteering. And Julia Conley points out how corporate landlords are taking over more and more U.S. housing and driving up rents. 

- Finally, Alex Birrell calls out Sandra Masters for using convenient allegations of sexism to impose regressive policy choices and misogynistic themes which hurt women.