Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- The Guardian's This is Climate Breakdown series offers first-hand accounts of the current catastrophes arising out of the climate crisis. And Michael Mann writes that it's possible to avoid the worst anticipated effects of climate change - but only if we stop spewing carbon pollution in a hurry. 

- But Sehoon Kim discusses how the corporate sector is buying cheap and meaningless credits rather than taking steps to reduce its own environmental harm. Fatima Syed reports on Enbridge's laughable attempt to avoid any regulation of emissions by claiming that greenwashing is more than enough. And Angela Amato and Carly Penrose examine Alberta's plans for fossil fuel propaganda in schools - even as Breene Murphy notes that oil and gas aren't viable long-term investments.  

- John Clarke writes about the importance of cultivating truth and understanding against the entrenched interests seeking to drown out anything that might threaten their accumulation of wealth and power. But Charlie Warzel points out the immense resources being used to try to push people away from reality-based media, while Carole Cadwalladr discusses the especially dangerous combination of media and government power currently coalescing under the impending Trump regime. And Zak Vescera reports on Stockwell Day's role in building an alt-right echo chamber to try to install the BC Cons in government. 

- Finally, David Climenhaga reports on Danielle Smith's summary termination of the pension board it wants to put in charge of all Albertans' retirement income - while Paula Sambo, Layan Odeh and Dawn Lim confirm the UCP's plans for AIMCo are so political that they're planning to hand it over to Stephen Harper.

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Melody Schrieber reports on new data showing that more Americans missed work due to illness in 2022 than in any other year on record even as the pandemic causing widespread sickness was declared to be over. And Madison Stoddard et al. study the difficulty individuals have trying to shield from an infectious disease when public policy is stacking the deck against them.

- Jon Schwarz examines the assumptions underlying the use of monetary policy to prevent workers from ever sharing in increased nominal values arising out of their work. And Jim Stanford discusses the need for workers to act collectively - including funding their own unions - in order to push back against having the value of their work extracted by employers.

 - Meanwhile, Umair Haque comments on the connection between advantanges being handed to can't-fail nepo babies and the lack of any meaningful opportunity for nearly anybody else.

- Nesrine Malik laments that it's now standard operating procedure in the UK (and elsewhere) for people to be expected to pay for their own basic services due to wanton cuts to the public sector. And John Clarke discusses how the Libs are using the specter of foreign ownership as an excuse for their own glaring failure to invest in accessible and affordable housing which will never be provided by a capitalist market.

- Finally, Konrad Yakabuski writes that the approval of Rogers' takeover of Shaw Communication represents both a prime example of the oligopoly in telecommunications across most of Canada, and a step toward further entrenching that reality.

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- David Wallace-Wells examines a few of the false narratives which are limiting our response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Sarah Wulf Hanson and Theo Vos write about new research showing that most cases of long COVID have arisen out of seemingly mild initial infections. And Rich Haridy discusses new revelations from autopsies showing pools of the COVID virus in many parts of the body. 

- John Clarke writes about the need for working people to mobilize and stand up for their own interests, rather than accepting class compromise which serves only to further entrench the power of the rich. Kim Siever examines how the UCP's tax giveaway to business produced absolutely nothing for Alberta's workers. And Jeremy Appel and Mitchell Thompson each discuss the CCPA's report on the gap between CEO and worker compensation. 

- Meanwhile, Noam Scheiber reports on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's move to ban noncompete agreements which prevent workers from seeking improved pay and working conditions with a new employer. 

- Rudy Perez offers a reminder that keeping people homeless costs far more public money than providing shelter. 

- Finally, Karl Nerenberg points out that there's still time to implement a fair and proportional electoral system before Canada's next federal election. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Winnie Byanyima discusses the importance of cooperation and coordination in responding to a pandemic. But Michael Lee contrasts the consistent message from doctors against the recalcitrance of governments in refusing to implement any public health measures as COVID and other respiratory illnesses plunge health care systems into crisis. And Martin Regg Cohn calls out Doug Ford for prioritizing cheap gas over vital health care. 

- Peter Zimonjic and Catherine Cullen report on Lana Payne's call for monetary policy that doesn't reflect a thinly veiled class war against workers. And Sara Jabakhanji reports on a new study showing that more and more people with jobs are being forced to rely on food banks. 

- Ruth Michaelson reports on yet another cynical attempt by the fossil fuel lobby to lock in decades of carbon pollution from gas as a "transition". And Maya Menezes rightly questions why so much of Canada's delegation to COP27 consists of oil and gas promoters, rather than people with any interest in averting climate breakdown. 

- Meanwhile, John Clarke contrasts how Canada's security state chose to treat a violent occupation by white nationalists compared to Indigenous defense of unceded land. 

- Finally, David Climenhaga highlights how the UCP sought to tie Alberta into the FTX Ponzi scheme as a low-wage, easy-money alternative to building a care economy. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Fiona Small writes about the hope that one of the responses to COVID-19 will be a shift toward inhaled vaccines. But for those expecting that efforts will be made to address an ongoing pandemic, Melody Schrieber reports on new research showing the U.S.'s case count is off by a multiple of 30 or more. And Bill Kaufman reports on the documents showing how the UCP was fully aware of the effectiveness of mask mandates in preventing school outbreaks when it decreed that nobody in Alberta's public schools would be protected by them. 

- John Loeppky discusses the problem with a system of supports for people with disabilities which fails to take into account the inevitable transition from childhood to adulthood. And John Clarke highlights how our governments currently regulate people living in poverty more than they make any effort to ensure an acceptable standard of living. 

- Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan offer a reminder that the corporate sector is no help whatsoever, as oligopolists have managed to endanger the supply of food for babies by pushing short-term profits over the supply of needed nutrition. And Leilani Farha writes that the right to a home is similarly being unmet due to the financialization of housing. 

- But as Zak Vescera reports, the Saskatchewan Party is looking to push a for-profit health care model which will ensure that public money flows to their cronies (not that people receive the services they need). And Hasan Sheikh and Brandon Doucet discuss the need for dental care to be publicly delivered to ensure access. 

- In case there was any doubt as to the need to build up progressive organizing infrastructure, Alexander Sammon reports on the Republicans' secretive efforts at sophisticated outreach in only the few minority communities which fall within swing districts, while Jonathan Chait exposes Donald Trump's institutionalized efforts to disrupt and overturn elections which don't suit his purposes. 

- Finally, Joan Walsh is right to be concerned about the future of democracy in the U.S. And Cassie Miller discusses how the problem is as much one of public opinion as partisan action, with large number of Americans buying into racist "great replacement" messages. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Mark Armstrong reports on the G20's agreement on a painfully-unambitious vaccination target for poor countries which is still unlikely to be reached. And Tahir Amin draws a connection between the dystopia of Squid Game and the reality of vaccine exclusion. 

- Jennifer Schuessler discusses David Graeber and David Wengrow's The Dawn of Everything as signaling the evolution of social structures far earlier and more broadly than we usually assume. And Wengrow takes that history as a basis for optimism about our current challenges - including the need to join forces to protect our living environment in the face of imminent climate breakdown.  

- David Wallace-Wells makes the compelling case for climate reparations - including the need for wealthier countries to both bear our share of the loan in mitigating the damage we're doing to our planet, and ensure that the people we've exploited along the way have opportunities to adapt and develop. And Laurie Macfarlane writes that we can't address the climate crisis without also addressing economic and social injustices. 

- Umair Haque discusses why the U.S. looks to be just beginning a full-on societal collapse. 

- Adam Lachacz reports on the frustration of Alberta municipalities with the UCP's blinkered devotion to promoting a costly and unnecessary provincial police force, rather than doing anything to actually improve people's lives. And Sheila Wong and Emma McIntosh explore just how corrupt and counterproductive the Ford PCs' push for another major bypass actually is. 

- Finally, John Clarke calls out the absurdity of Justin Trudeau's effort to equate left-wing activism toward equality and justice with right-wing bigotry. 

Tuesday Evening Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Andrew Nikiforuk discusses how a "COVID zero" strategy has been successfully executed elsewhere - and could be achieved in Canada as well. But in case we needed a reminder as to the numerous ways in which our current governments are falling painfully short of that goal, Katie Dangerfield reports on the hospitals which are already bursting at the seams as case loads are soaring; Alicia Bridges discusses the Crown corporation workers being forced to stay at the office even in positions which they performed from home this spring; Jason Warick reports on Scott Moe's arbitrary distinctions between communities in getting even to a mask mandate; Arthur White-Crummey reports on an outbreak at Moose Jaw's Thunder Creek pork plant; and Zak Vescera discusses how Fond du Lac is facing a severe outbreak without potable drinking water. And Andre Picard highlights the prospect that we'll need another full lockdown to get the current wave under control. 

- Carl Meyer notes that Canada stands out along with Saudi Arabia among the world's worst offenders in pouring public resources into dirty fossil fuels. And Alastair Marsh points out that even for people fixated on profits, the only sound investment strategy is to fund the transition to a clean economy.

- Rosa Saba discusses the potential for a national child care strategy - but also the danger that it might fall short of a universal non-profit model which actually ensures access to spaces for everybody who needs it.

- Jonathan Sas writes that any hope for meaningful change in the U.S. will need to be generated by social movements rather than the Biden administration. And John Clarke recognizes that the same principle applies in Canada as well.

- Finally, Paris Marx writes that the ad-based model of the Internet can't be expected to survive much longer.