Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Lane Brown examines how key elements of cognitive ability may be degrading - including due to constant exposure to personalities selected for their vociferous ignorance. Bruce Bartlett writes about his experience at the Heritage Foundation as it learned to exploit the news cycle to plant conservative propaganda in opposition to actual research. Nicholas Hune-Brown investigates how AI is being used to generate scam articles for major publications. And Carl Meyer reports on the Carney Libs' plans to facilitate misinformation from fossil fuel purveyors. 

- Shannon Gibson discusses how past "climate finance" commitments have ranged from the frivolous to the thoroughly counterproductive - making it all the more worrisome that the apparent reality is that the COP30 climate summit is operating with wording that allows petrostates to provide equally toothless commitments in exchange for a lack of any agreement to transition away from fossil fuels. 

- Kathryn Harrison and Simon Donner highlight how Mark Carney's plans for increased reliance on dirty energy are as senseless economically as they are environmentally. And Gerald Butts, Peter Nicholson and Rick Smith warn against locking ourselves into a dying fossil fuel economy, while Sam Butler-Sloss and Kingsmill Bond discuss how solar power in particular is set to dominate global energy production over fossil gas. 

- Cara Buckley reports on the massive success of Iowa City's decision to make public transit free. And Jake Thomas reports on the drastic decline in homelessness (and ultimate cost savings) from an Oregon pilot program to give unhoused youths a small secure income. 

- Finally, Julian Richer discusses how we'd all be better off if people with privilege acknowledged our own good fortune, rather than presuming any advantages to be the result of merit (and demanding all the more special treatment as a result). 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Max Fawcett discusses how renewable energy will power the future despite the attempts of oil tycoons and their pet politicians to keep us addicted to dirty fossil fuels.

- Ned Resnikoff writes about the reality that contests within centre-left parties and structures are limited to fights to "rule the void", with the lack of any connection to mass membership limiting the prospect of achieving any real change. And Matt Huber, Leigh Phillips and Fred Stafford's review of Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's Abundance highlights the need for democratic control both to achieve actual abundance, and ensure that its benefits aren't captured by the wealthy.

- Meanwhile, Damian Carrington writes about Luke Kemp's new book on societal collapse as regularly reflecting the imposition of hierarchy. And Jason Sattler notes that the second Trump regime can be summarized as engaging in the controlled demolition of every advantage the U.S. once held in order to enable a speed-run of looting.

- Finally, Shameka Parrish-Wright points out the cruelty and futility of using incarceration as the only tool to deal with homelessness. And Kelsey Rolfe discusses the Canadian federal government's focus on prefabricated housing as a means to ensure that needed homes are built and made available at affordable cost levels.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Andrew Nikiforuk writes that Canada is currently failing to carry out any energy transition, as any expanded use of renewables is only being added to rising fossil fuel extraction and consumption. Natasha Bulowski writes about a new Senate committee report showing how our transportation infrastructure is ill equipped to deal with the climate breakdown. And Dan Hendry discusses how free transit for youth represents one of the most promising ways to create healthy transportation habits. 

- But Alex Steffen notes that the oligarchs at the centre of the Trump administration have plans to make massive profits off of the climate breakdown. And Michelle Cyca discusses how politicians in Canada (like elsewhere) are choosing to amplify conspiracy theories and disinformation in order to avoid having to engage with the climate crisis. 

- Owen Jones comments on the collapse of any "centre" element to right-wing parties across the western world - and the concurrent rise of increasingly extreme and antisocial figures. Karl Bode worries that the pollution of the U.S.' media ecosystem with disinformation may be terminal, while Michael Harris warns about Donald Trump's plans to destroy the news media (and how that may spill over into Canada). And Matt Pearce points out how two corporate outlets are looking to undermine the Associated Press as one of the last credible sources of news standing. 

- Ned Resnikoff points out how the success of a Housing First policy for U.S. veterans makes clear that there's a readily-available option to help homeless people generally. Ehsan Noroozinejad Farsangi and T.Y. Yang discuss the need for federal leadership in treating housing as a right - not merely funding new technologies and hoping other jurisdictions will fix the lack of avaiable homes. Phil Tank notes that the Moe government is choosing to utterly neglect the soaring homelessness counts in Saskatchewan's major cities. And Neil Howard discusses how strings attached to basic social supports serve primarily to divert resources away from people who need it toward bureaucratic controls. 

- Finally, Zhu Li et al. study how poverty is a distinct cause of diabetes (among other dangers to health and well-being). Nick Tsergas talks to Dr. Joss Reimer about the state of Canada's health care system - including the need to ensure that fixable issues of process and capacity aren't used as excuses to allow the spread of pay-to-play medicine. And Maya Miller and Duaa Eldeib point out the perverse incentives from the U.S.' for-profit insurance system, as people receiving mental health care see their coverage cut off because their treatment is too successful. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that to end your year.

- Matthew Rosza examines how humanity as a whole is falling far short of its professed climate change commitments even though we have the technology to decarbonize rapidly. Tom Parkin and The Energy Mix each point out that the Trudeau Libs have both chosen to set weaker emission reduction targets than recommended by their own experts, and failed to produce a plan capable of even meeting those. David Vetter reports on the increased use of fossil carbon in infrastructure and consumer goods, creating yet another time bomb which will be released into the atmosphere. And Daryl Fairweather et al. find that homebuyers are eager to avoid floods and other climate-related risks - if they actually have information available to understand them. 

- Sammy Hudes discusses the need for a housing strategy to include more accessible accommodations. Larissa Kurz talks to frontline workers about the government choices which have exacerbated the homelessness crisis. And Andrew Boozary points out that homelessness comes at a steep economic cost in addition to its obvious damage to people's health and well-being. 

- Benjamin Mateus interviews Arijit Charkavarty about our failure to limit the foreseeable effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. And Shrabasta Bhattacharya points out new research showing that COVID substantially harms kidney function, while Aisulu Karkabayeva et al. discuss how it has given rise to widespread autoimmune diseases. 

- Meanwhile, Caitlin Rivers discusses the lessons we should be learning in advance of the next large pandemic. 

- Finally, AL Kennedy offers a year-end message on the need to maintain hope - and to act like citizens of the world we want to see.

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. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Ajit Niranjan reports on Climate Action Tracker's latest assessment that we're making minimal progress toward any climate commitments, while Damian Carrington reports on new data showing that even the use of dirty fuels like coal, oil and gas continues to increase. 

- Bonny Ibhawoh writes about the need to address climate inequality if we're going to make any headway. Peipei Tian et al. study the relative share of responsibility for the overuse of natural resources - finding that the vast majority of environmental damage is caused by between 10-20% of people. And Phoebe Weston discusses how rapacious corporate conglomerates have taken over the COP biodiversity conference to an even more extreme degree than the fossil fuel-dominated climate version.

- Christina Pagel discusses new research showing that while COVID-19 still remains a problem for the general population, it leads to a particularly large increase in hospital admissions for babies (along with the elderly). Lian Duan et al. study the link between maternal infection and neurodevelopmental disorders. Katie Kerwin McCrimmon writes about the potential that COVID may increase the risk of cancer. Andn Josh Robertson reports that COVID-19 deaths are continuing to drive down general life expectancies in Australia.

- Ruth Patrick points out the unfairness and futility of demonizing people receiving social benefits as lazy - noting that conditionality and restrictions on benefits cause substantial harm to recipients while doing nothing to increase their rates of employment. 

- Finally, Diana Chan McNally offers a perspective on the real needs of people who have had to resort to tent communities - and the importance of treating them as human beings rather than as objects to be stripped of all rights in the name of denial.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

-  Pep Canadell and Gustaf Hegelius examine the carbon emissions from melting Arctic permafrost - finding that the near-term effects based on the release of methane figure to exacerbate the climate crisis. Mari Yamaguchi reports on the first time in 130 years that Mount Fuji has lacked a snow cap in November. And Monique Keiran reports on new research showing that exported fossil gas is even worse for the climate than coal.

- Rodielon Putol discusses a new study showing how microplastics are becoming increasingly concentrated in fresh water. And Elizabeth Whitten reports on the less-than-surprising news that previously-unidentified blobs on the east coast of Newfoundland appear to be an industrial adhesive dumped in the ocean.

- Ruth Talbot, Asia Fields, Nicole Santa Cruz and Maya Miller highlight how "sweeps" against homeless people are nothing but destructive and punitive toward the people who already have the least. Which means that it's especially cruel for right-wing politicians to be lining up to use the notwithstanding clause to trample homeless people's rights. 

- Oliver Heath and Laura Serra write that the main class divide in British politics isn't so much between party supporters as between voters and non-voters.

- Finally, Andrew Nikiforuk attempts to answer the question of how to define fascism - on a day when the world is holding its breath as to the danger the U.S. will become a laboratory for it.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your Saskatchewan election day reading. And if you haven't voted yet, now's the time! (Update: Also, ReginaPosterBoy's summary of the Sask Party's track record (via Cathie) is well worth a look.)

- Alex Birrell and Sophie Jin report on the children who have died in Regina's underresourced shelter system. And Peter Zimonjic reports on Scott Moe's refusal to even reply to the federal government about any plan to provide people with needed housing over the winter. 

- Alex Ballos, Bashir Bello and Jared Wesley call out the UCP for importing the U.S. Republican playbook to Alberta (after providing no warning whatsoever in the province's election campaign). And Ben Quinn discusses how the UK's National Trust has fought back against anti-environmental disinformation. 

- Wes Davis and Richard Lawler report on the attempt by cable, home security and advertising lobby groups to block any attempt to make it easy for consumers to unsubscribe from services. And Freddy Brewster reports on the business groups pushing to eliminate any liability for the nondisclosure of business failures - and in the process confirming that any rhetoric about shareholder interests is secondary to the presumed supremacy of unaccountable corporate insiders. 

- Meanwhile, both Will Bunch and Noah Berlatsky offer scathing criticisms of the billionaire media owners who have chosen to bow down preemptively in the face Donald Trump's plans to misuse public power to punish his enemies, rather than allowing for editorial decisions to support democracy and the rule of law. 

- Finally, John Cartwright writes that the answer to destructive right-wing populism and atomization is to work on building a society that focused on public well-being. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Geoffrey Diehl wonders when we'll see a revolution - while noting that even as some of the challenges we already face demand systemic change which is being put off through corporate demurral, some of the plausible sources include people determined to impose even less plausible versions of reality. And Kalena Thomhave points out that corporate profiteering in the pricing of the necessities of life has been paired with similar exploitation by banks in cashing in on the price of credit to enable people to purchase them. 

- Jonathan Watts reports on a new study discussing how big banks are greenwashing their continued funneling of money to climate-destroying projects. Karine Péloffy and Leah Temper write that there's an obvious reason why the fossil fuel sector is demanding the right to lie to Canadians, as its entire business model is built on a foundation of deflection and deception. And John Woodside reminds us that manipulative petropolitics are the main obstacle to a rapid shift to clean, affordable renewable energy. 

- Hamilton Nolan writes that a lack of available and affordable housing is at the root of economic insecurity even when nominal numbers are going up. Jennifer Brown reports on Colorado's success providing homes to unhoused people (with resulting social benefits exceeding the up-front cost). And Leilani Farha and Julieta Perucca lament that Canada's National Housing Council has decided primarily to serve landlords rather than to recognize and give effect to the right to housing. 

- Meanwhile, Paul Willcocks examines the deceptive and overwrought campaign against even a modest step toward tax fairness which would merely reduce the artificial preference granted to rich people's capital gains over workers' wages. 

- Finally, Basema Al-Alami asks whether a few arrests of neo-Nazis are a sign of any meaningful commitment on the part of Canada's law enforcement apparatus to start taking far-right hate and violence seriously. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Sueellen Campbell highlights how record-breaking temperatures are being covered around the globe, while Sarah Collins discusses new research showing that the northern hemisphere's summer of 2023 was the hottest in millenia. And Qi Zhao et al. examine the growing death toll from heatwaves around the world even before the unprecedented warming of the last few years. 

- Michael Mann and Katharine Hayhoe make the case that the antidote to doom is doing. But Natalie Alcoba reports on the torrent of threats and abuse directed at Charlie Angus for proposing even the most modest limits on climate-destroying propaganda. And Drew Anderson reports that the UCP's reality denialism extends to an outright refusal to accept direct evidence that their ban on renewables was entirely the result of a political order, while Neel Dhanesha takes a look at the "news mirages" being set up by dirty energy operators to substitute fossil fuel PR for any actual reporting which might expose their pollution or corruption. 

- Hazel Sheffield reports on new research showing that UK corporations hiked their prices far beyond the rate of any cost increases to goose their profits at public expense. 

- Finally, Kate Dubinski discusses a study confirming that the costs of homelessness impose an even greater burden on an already-overwhelmed health care sector. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to end your week.

- Amy Peng et al. examine the profound positive impact of mask mandates in reducing the spread of COVID-19 in Ontario. And Sheena Cruickshank warns about the avoidable harm we can expect as so many respond to the political and social signals to abandon all precautions in the midst of an ongoing pandemic. 

- Luis Guanter et al. document an immense methane leak from a single well blowout in Kazakhstan. Michael Barnard offers a reminder that the definition of a carbon capture and storage "success story" is the release of 25 times more carbon pollution than is captured.

- Zoe Yunker reports on the federal government's choice to scrap pipe supply and testing requirements for a particularly treacherous stretch of the Trans Mountain pipeline. Fatima Syed discusses how the Ford government has suppressed a study which shows how the climate crisis endangers numerous facets of life in Ontario. And Raidin Blue and Betsy Again study (PDF) how bottlenecks in labour and material supplies are among the obstacles to making buildings more energy-efficient - making clear that the price of subsidizing dirty energy expansion is to divert the resources needed to transition to a cleaner economy. 

- Matthew Kurtz examines the problems with making educational institutions beholden to capital investments.

- Finally, Erika Shaker writes that trans children deserve far better than to be used as pawns in the right's culture wars. Rob Reiner discusses how hostility toward diversity is behind the willingness of U.S. religious nationalists to support Donald Trump. And Laura Woodward reports on the appalling demand by a Saskatoon church to shut down support services for homeless people - and how it's being echoed in Sask Party policy. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Amy Goodman interviews Peter Kalmus about the need to start treating the climate breakdown as an emergency, while Joelle Gergis points out that the extreme destruction from catastrophic climate-caused events in the summer of 2023 represents just a taste of what we can expect for decades to come. And James MacCarthy et al. discuss their new findings showing that wildfires are getting worse, while Ryan Allen and Stephanie Cleland offer some advice as to how to avoid the worst effects of wildfire smoke. 

- Colin Woodard examines how life expectancy follows distinct geographic patterns in the U.S. - with location by region serving as a more significant factor in life expectancy than income, education, race or other indicators. 

- Emily Fagan discusses warnings from experts about the growing humanitarian crisis of homelessness in Canada. And Jeremy Simes reports on the Saskatchewan Party's contribution to the problem as it allows needed social housing to deteriorate and sit vacant. 

- Brendan Kennedy points out how glaring loopholes allowed the Ford government to keep its meetings with lobbyists off of any registry as it plotted the giveaway of environmentally sensitive public land to rapacious developers. 

- Finally, Scott Martin writes about the coordinated attacks by right-wing provincial governments against trans children. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Michael Klare writes about the growing indications that the climate breakdown is pushing us toward a civilizational collapse. Jeff Renaud discusses new research showing that climate change could cause over a billion deaths over the next century, while William Skipworth reports on research confirming the link between global warming and the deaths of polar bears. And Parker MacKenzie reports on a new study showing that Australia (like most other jurisdictions) is completely unprepared for the impacts of climate change. 

- Meanwhile, Climate & Capital Media offers a list of the false "solutions" which serve only to obfuscate and delay against action which could actually reduce the harm we're inflicting on our living environment. And Emiko Newman and Erin Blondeau make the case for a Youth Climate Corps.

- Alex Hemingway points out how British Columbia could turn soaring property values into revenue to improve human welfare, rather than merely allowing it to collect in the hands of the wealthiest few. And Leyland Cecco reports on new research confirming that money provided to the people who need it most tends to be applied to basic needs. 

- Finally, Jason Stanley writes about the fascist ideology underlying Florida's latest mass shooting - and the lengths much of the U.S. establishment has gone to in normalizing it. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Joseph Choi reports on new research showing that updated COVID-19 vaccines help build immunity against the Eris strain. And Keenan Sorokan reports on both Eris' spread into Saskatchewan, and the strong recommendation from the experts still interested in public health that people get boosted and take steps to avoid spread of the virus.

- Anne Shibata Casselman offers a grim look at what Canada will look like in a few decades if we can't reverse course from the current path toward climate breakdown. Dharna Noor reports on the juxtaposition of dirty energy conglomerates demanding to be let off the hook for the climate crisis in the wake of Maui's lethal wildfires. And Zack Budryk reports on new research showing that U.S. carbon pollution is increasingly caused by the richest households. 

- Phillip Inman reports that the UK is among the many countries seeing corporations rake in record profits while falsely pretending that price increases are the result of unavoidable inflation. 

- David Climenhaga rightly recognizes that the choice to use violence to remove the crises of homelessness and drug poisonings from public view does nothing to ameliorate the underlying problem. And Cory Johnston is duly critical of the City of Regina's refusal to recognize that reality in smashing communal encampments while doing nothing to ensure people have alternative housing. 

- Finally, Jessica Wildfire compares our current sociopolitical reality to a "behavioral sink", where conditions of relative abundance give way to needless waste and competition, and eventually the disintegration of any social cooperation. (And it's particularly worth highlighting her observation that in our case, that's the result of a deliberate choice by people with immense amounts of money and power to use their resources undercutting the very idea that wealth can be shared or community interests considered.) 

[Edit: fixed wording.]

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Mitchell Beer writes about the Canada Energy Regulator's recognition that the future will involve far less fossil fuel use than the oil industry and its spokespuppets want us to believe. And Marc Fawcett-Atkinson discusses how biomethane is just another distraction intended to turn the focus away from actual solutions. 

- Rob Thubron reports on Antonio Guterres' latest warning that continued dependence on fossil fuels is incompatible with a liveable planet, while Fiona Harvey reports on Avinash Persaud's call for far more support for developing countries facing the brunt of the damage of a climate breakdown so far. And Yale Climate Connections points out that there's strong public support for strong action to stop carbon pollution - even as people demanding action wrongly believe they're in the minority due to the cacophony of paid fossil fuel shills dominating any public discussion. 

- Tina Reed discusses how scientists seeking to provide people with accurate information within their disciplines are being harassed off of Twitter (and out of other public spaces) as the violent, anti-knowledge right is being deliberately legitimized by wealthy conservatives. And Cory Doctorow writes about the importance of presenting and defending an alternative to the corporatism and fascism - rather than presuming that the only option is to compromise on everything while satisfying nobody. 

- Omar Mosleh reports on Barrie's appalling proposal to outlaw any assistance to unhoused people. And Clara Pasieka reports on the movement pushing back against that naked cruelty. 

- Finally, Michael Sainato reports on the tens of billions of dollars being stolen from workers by employers every year in the U.S.

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Alex Hemingway offers a reminder of the urgent need for a wealth tax - and the opportunity to fund important social priorities by implementing one. But Cory Doctorow points out how our economic system is structured to favour people seeking to get rich off of avoiding responsibility - including through the same firms being responsible for performing audits as for advising corporations on how to beat them. 

- Gwynne Dyer writes about the threat to our living environment posed by warming oceans, while Isla Myers-Smith notes that the release of greenhouse gases from permafrost stands to accelerate the cycle of warming and extreme weather. 

- But while the world burns, Carl Meyer reports on how the UCP has allowed oil lobbyists to take any discussion of even distant and loophole-riddled net-zero emission targets off of their policy agenda. And Trina Moyles reports on the direct connection between the UCP's cuts to firefighting and the calamitous wildfires which struck last week.

- Meanwhile, Jason Markusoff discusses how the UCP under Danielle Smith is now controlled by Take Back Alberta, which is pushing the limits of anti-science and authoritarianism even compared to both the UCP and the past Wildrose party. 

- Finally, Emma Bowman comments on how the dehumanization of homeless people results in many avoidable deaths - even if few receive as much publicity as Jordan Neely's.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Nina Lakhani reports on the latest data showing greenhouse gas emissions rising at an alarming rate. Bill McKibben discusses the math of climate change - including the vanishing budget for continued carbon pollution if we want to avoid catastrophic outcomes, and the plummeting price of actually making a transition to renewable energy. And Matthew Rosza writes about the foreseeable risks of a world with far less fresh water than we've come to count on. 

- Mitchell Beer writes that pipeline megaprojects invariably result in massive cost overruns, while also pointing out how the plan to offload TMX onto an Indigenous buyer seems designed to result in the transfer of a soon-to-be-stranded asset. 

- Meanwhile, Chris Hatch highlights the latest Conservative carbon tax tantrum. 

- Sharon Lerner reports on the EPA's inexplicable approval of a plastic-based fuel which looks to drastically exacerbate cancer rates among people exposed to it. 

- Finally, Victoria Gibson discusses how Toronto's homelessness crisis only stands to get worse as higher levels of government refuse to contribute - though the city's own focus on policing rather than providing services represents another key part of the problem. But on the bright side, Jason McBride reports on the non-profit Neighbourhood Land Trust's work in ensuring that rental housing is made available based on community need rather than a drive for profit. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- David Moscrop discusses how the Trudeau Libs have chosen to funnel money to cutthroat corporate consultants rather than building a functional public service. Alex Kerner follows up by pointing out how that choice reflects the class politics of a neoliberal state. And Kenan Malik writes that a focus on diversity in elite roles alone misses the deliberate effort to exacerbate inequality and stratify people by class. 

- Lawrence Scanlan comments on the glaring indifference toward the harm caused by avoidable poverty. And Pratyush Dayal reports on the rising homelessness in Saskatoon as the Moe government goes out of its way to avoid providing for the needs of the people stranded in the cold. 

- Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood examines the first version of the Libs' Sustainable Jobs Plan (aka just transition plan) and finds very little of substance in transitioning to a clean economy.  

- Henry Grabar traces the coordinated rise of the alt-right crusade against walkable cities. And Yves Engler points out that the ultimate complaint is the prospect that the needs of people might be prioritized over obeisance to combustion-based car culture. 

- Meanwhile, Marc Fawcett-Atkinson both offers a primer on climate disinformation, and reports on Trans Mountain's purchase of carbon credits from a non-operational seaweed-additive supplier as a supposed offset against real carbon pollution. 

- Fred Lewsey discusses new research from the showing that a four-day work week results in immense benefits for workers at no real cost to employers. 

- Finally, Jack Mirkinson writes that the New York Times (among other media outlets) is repeating the horrific mistakes in its coverage of the gay rights movement and the AIDS crisis by choosing to platform and promote anti-trans messages. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Abinaya Vijayaraghavan and Jennifer Rigby report on the World Health Organization's recognition that COVID-19 remains a global public health emergency even as far too many jurisdictions pretend otherwise. Andrew Nikiforuk examines the dangers of an evolving set of variants, while David Axe points out the risk of a major new threat from widespread new infections in China. The Economist offers its recognition that the fallout from COVID is preventing people from working. And Jessica Wildfire discusses why we have reason to be angry about the avoidable harm that's still being inflicted on everybody. 

- Maia Szalavitz offers a reminder that any evidence-based approach to homelessness will focus on providing housing first. And Nojoud Al Mallees reports that the "Rapid Housing Initiative" intended to spur construction of needed homes is falling far short of its billing (due in large part to conservative provincial governments who couldn't care less about the availability of affordable housing). 

- Meanwhile, Kathryn Blaze Baum and Tu Tranh Ha discuss how Canada's building codes are outdated in accounting for an increase in extreme weather. 

- Trevor Hancock argues that the fossil fuel cheerleading so frequently given a privileged place in corporate media should come with a health warning due to the obvious effects of continued carbon pollution. 

- Finally, Moira Wyton discusses what to expect as British Columbia decriminalizes possession of small amounts of a number of drugs, including the unanswered questions as to whether the permitted quantities themselves will be used as pretexts for arbitrary police action.