Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- A.R. Moxon writes about the need to restore the capacity for shame as a precondition to reversing the decline of the U.S. Noah Berlatsky notes that it's particularly damning when both major parties are willing to agree to kick down at marginalized people. And Kyla Scanlon writes about the massive number of losing bets at the heart of Trump's economy, while Justin Ling points out that the only guaranteed winners from the Trump regime are the insiders being allowed to loot the public purse. 

- Meanwhile, Tatiana Homonoff, Min Lee and Katherine Mechel study the effects of Trump's theft of SNAP benefits, finding that process-related loss of benefits leads to even more precarious financial situations among other harms. 

- Peter Foster, Attracta Mooney and Kaye Wiggins report on the Trump regime's hostage-taking tactics to prevent even a first step toward establishing emission rules on global shipping. And while each of Rick Smith and Rachel Doran, Vittoria Bellissimo and Peter McArthur make compelling cases for viable clean economy transition strategies, it's worth noting that a willingness to push back against Trump and his Canadian puppets is a necessary precondition to the development of any alternative.  

- On that front, Christopher Holcroft is rightly concerned by Mark Carney's willingness to give the techbros behind the Trump regime everything they want rather than standing up for Canadians' privacy and security. And Linda McQuaig highlights how the U.S.' "golden dome" provides nothing but an illusion of safety - both in terms of its dubious prospects of ever functioning as promised, and in the dangers of being more closely tied to an impetuous regime even if it does. 

- Finally, Andrew Nikiforuk writes about Yaneer Bar-Yam's warning that we're falling far short of taking the continuing risks of COVID-19 seriously. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Tim Loh discusses how Europe's premature end to public health measures is resulting in another COVID wave. Lei Lei Wu notes that nearly two-thirds of U.S. children hospitalized with the Omicron variant had no other underlying condition, while Natalie Huet reports on the substantial proportion of children whose symptoms lead to long COVID. Juliet Pulliam et al. study the growing risk of re-infection by the new variants, while Gili Regev-Yonchay et al. find that a fourth dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine is both safe and effective in protecting against symptoms. And Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz discusses why any "focused protection" theory (i.e. letting the pandemic run rampant other than seeking to protect only the most vulnerable) has always been doomed to fail. 

- Anna Bawden reports on new research showing the connection between air pollution and auto-immune diseases.  

- Anne Applebaum discusses how the U.S.' coddling of kleptocratic governments in Russia and elsewhere has undermined any goal of promoting democracy around the globe. 

- Meanwhile, Thomas Piketty writes that we would have little trouble identifying and seizing the assets of Russia's oligarchs through an international financial registry if the wealthiest few weren't determined to avoid having their own riches known (and potentially taxed). Transparency International Canada examines (PDF) how secrecy is at the core of Canadian "snow-washing" of offshore wealth. And Rita Trichur discusses how transparency is the only way to avoid being a haven for financial crime. 

- Adam Johnson calls out the U.S. media's eagerness to cheerlead for war - thereby serving the interests of the military-industrial complex in the name of holding politicians to account. 

- Finally, Anne Helen Pedersen examines how to marshal collective strength in response to the U.S.' seemingly relentless stream of individual-level stress and social regression.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Armine Yalnizyan comments on the need for a widespread and sustained challenge to the corporate powers which currently dominate political and economic decision-making:

(P)ublic and private investments are the twin engines that propel shared prosperity. But where will the money come from for the public role? Labour is taxed more heavily than capital, but labour’s share of GDP is falling in most places, and within labour’s share inequality is rising. Meanwhile, as fewer companies dominate more markets, globe-straddling corporations are becoming larger and more difficult to regulate and tax. In a period that begs for more international coordination, the backlash against globalization and rise of nationalism may hobble rather than strengthen protections of the weak against the strong.

The antidote — people more involved in the decisions that affect them, more diversity at the table — has challenges too. Social dialogue is the secret sauce of better, more durable decision-making; yet tripartite processes (labour, business, government) have limits.

Business interests are consistent and well-organized. Newly elected governments may be determined to undo the work of their predecessors. Labour does not speak with one voice, and the most exploited workers are rarely represented by a union or covered by basic social protections. In local or global processes, shared problem-solving is often dominated by corporate interests, bringing us back to the beginning: popular rejection of business-as-usual.

Still, history is laden with examples of the weak wresting power from the powerful, creating more bountiful futures for all. A century ago millions of women seeking equality, workers without protections, and a tsunami of immigrants collided with the interests of a handful of corporate titans and politicians.

Shift happened. It’s happening again. Women, workers and migrants don’t wield much power, but, as a new generation of leaders are showing the world, they are the people who change the power dynamics of societies that are stuck in a rut. Buckle up. It’s always a bumpy ride when the status quo is faced with a renewed vision of power and purpose.

- Franklin Foer discusses how kleptocracy has become the primary economic model in the U.S. and around the globe. And Marie-Danielle Smith reports that the OECD is understandably monitoring any preferential treatment of SNC-Lavalin as an indicator of the tolerance of corruption in Canada.

- Sarah Cox reports on British Columbia's massive liabilities attached to orphaned fracking sites - signalling that the problem already identified in Alberta is more widespread than previously publicized.

- Jim Stanford offers some observations on the renewed push for a living wage. And Robert Booth and Matthew Holmes report on the promising move toward a four-day work week among an increasing number of UK businesses.

- Finally, Raizel Robin discusses the case to treat secure access to food as a human right, rather than a market commodity which is out of reach for far too many.

[Update: Corrected day. It's Thursday somewhere, right?]