Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Uday Rana reports on new polling showing that a supermajority of Canadians will never trust the U.S. the same way again. And John Paul Tasker examines the ways the break from reliance on the U.S. is playing out in practice. 

- But Desmond Cole and Martin Lukacs discuss how Pierre Poilievre is trying to import as much of the Trump regime's anti-immigrant violence as people can be forced to consume. And Muhad Hemmadi reports on Mark Carney's echoing of the U.S.' blind faith in AI as a substitute for real development, while Dale Smith discusses how the Libs' online surveillance legislation reads as little more than a gift to a Trump-style militarized state. 

- Linda McQuaig writes that any forward-looking plan for national projects should be starting with a massive commitment to clean energy. And Darius Snieckus and Natasha Bulowski report on the Canadian Climate Institute's estimate showing that Alberta's oil and gas sector alone is blocking any prospect of reaching our climate commitments in both the short and medium term. 

- Kevin Crowley, David Wethe and Dave Merrill report on the groundwater pollution and resulting geological instability being inflicted by the oil industry in Texas (with the full support of petropoliticians). Olivia Lee reports that a project in Brighton is showing how toxic runoff can be cleaned up - while highlighting the absolute failure to make that a priority elsewhere. And Gary Fuller reports on new research showing that air pollution affects people's sleep among other profound effects. 

- Finally, Emily Atkin discusses how Charlie Kirk's hate (like much of the fascist right's noise machine) has been funded by fossil fuel tycoons. Adam Serwer notes that the definition of free speech in the U.S. is now limited to parroting administration talking points, while Moira Donegan wonders who's next to be silenced after even the most mainstream of comedians are being yanked off the air for daring to incorporate the U.S.' president in their material. And David Moscrop writes about the need for universal condemnation of political censorship. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Linda McQuaig writes about Catherine McKenna's rare (if belated) honesty about the extent to which Canadian policy is dictated by fossil fuel tycoons. And Susanne Rust and Ian James report on the corporate sector's plans to gut health and safety regulations in the U.S. 

- Grant Robertson and Kathryn Blaze Baum report on the combination of reliance on algorithms and self-regulation that led to a large and preventable outbreak of deadly listeria. William Gavin reports on a U.S. Senate committee report documenting Amazon's alarming propensity for work injuries (and deliberate executive choices to prevent workers from protecting themselves), while Hannah Critchfield and Juan Carlos Chavez investigate Florida's wave of heat deaths which employers have concealed from authorities. Jeremy Fuster reports on Disneyland's $233 million wage theft settlement. And Yuye Ding et al. study the effects of mandatory return-to-office policies, which produce a predictable brain drain which employers seem happy to accept in order to temporary slash costs. 

- Jon Queally reports on Donald Trump's plans to privatize the U.S. Postal Service - and the growing movement to save it. And Dru Oja Jay discusses how the same fight is playing out in Canada, with the Libs choosing to strip away the bargaining power of workers using collective action to argue for enhanced public service rather than dysfunction and precarity. 

- Emily Bell highlights why there's no reason to trust the self-serving propaganda of corporate media owners. Steven Beschloss calls out the wealthy and privileged Americans who are bowing before a Donald Trump dictatorship rather than using their resources to fight for a functional society, while Scott Dworkin examines a few of the forms of press complianc. And Greg Sargent interviews Anne Applebaum about the potential domino effect of ABC's failure to fight a strong defamation case on principle, while Jonathan Last notes that the extraction of protection money looks like one of the central pursuits of het second Trump administration. 

- Finally, Dale Smith discusses how 2024 can only be seen as a year of creeping (following by sprinting) authoritarianism. And Laura Barron-Lopez and Cynthia MIller-Idriss discuss the surge of public misogyny following the U.S.' election, while Taj Ali writes about the recruitment of young men into the toxic "manosphere".

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Melissa Hanson writes about life as a climate refugee from what was billed as a relatively safe area - making for a particularly painful position in the midst of an election where a major contender denies both the reality of climate change and the humanity of refugees generally. Andrea Thompson points out that a natural disaster such as Hurricane Helene will have continuing impacts on victims for years to come. Jonathan Watts reports on new research showing that wildfires are rapidly burning through humanity's carbon budget, while Benjamin Shingler charts how Canada's 2024 wildfire season was severe by any standard other than the unheard-of fires of the previous year. And Marko Hyvarinen et al. study how our climate is breaking down faster than many species can possibly adapt. 

- Katharine Hayhoe discusses how China is far ahead of the rest of the world in developing clean and cheap renewable energy. But Richard Murphy laments that UK Labour is joining far too many Western governments in throwing massive amounts of free money at the fossil fuel sector even while telling citizens they'll have to fend for themselves in an environment of austerity. And Karin Larsen reports on Burnaby's agreement not to criticize Trans Mountain after its pipeline was forced through the city at pblic expense. 

- Jon Milton interviews Nora Loreto about the decline of public services in Canada in the name of neoliberalism. And Linda McQuaig discusses how the Ford PCs - like their ideological cousins elsewhere - are undermining public health care in order to ensure donors can profit from needed health services. 

- Meanwhile, Angela Amato reports on the UCP's decision to facilitate corporate influence and control in municipal politics.

- Colin Lecher and Tomas Apodaca expose how Facebook profits from the environment of violent extremism which it promotes. And Alex Kierstein reports on Ford's patent filing seeking to eavesdrop on car users in order to foist ads on the occupants of vehicles.

- Finally, Fair Vote Canada fact checks Justin Trudeau's excuses for breaking his promise of a fair electoral system - while highlighting that its members and others who support a more proportional system were specifically targeted for misleading promises which Trudeau never planned to fulfil. 

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. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Ian Urquhart writes that while it's well and good to insist that the oil and gas industry stop attempting to greenwash its contribution to climate destruction, Canada also needs to reckon with its own unsupported claims to climate progress. Alienor Rougeot and Stephen Thomas discuss how Canada is falling behind the rest of the world in building clean energy capacity (while subsidizing continued fossil fuel emissions). And Marc Lee offers a reminder that British Columbia's carbon tax system is set up to favour polluting businesses over the public.  

- Gabriel Zucman writes that it's both feasible and necessary to make sure the rich pay their fair share. And Linda McQuaig calls out how the Fraser Institute and the Cons are teaming up to misrepresent how Canada's tax system works to ensure that never happens.  

- Gaby Hinsliff discusses how shrunken public services only end up imposing ever-more-unmanageable burdens on people to provide health and social care for relatives and loved ones. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow points out that when private equity sets out to extract wealth from an existing business, its marks include the people who invest their money based on the false promise that there's any plan to operate more efficiently (or at all) in the long term. Danyaal Raza and Karen Palmer write about the particular dangers of letting private equity take over health care services. And Audrey Guay highlights just a few examples of how privatization has undermined the public health care system while doing nothing to sustainably reduce waiting lists. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Jonathan Watts discusses the strong argument to treat climate hypocrites primarily as destructive petrostates rather than honest actors in trying to address the climate crisis. Leyland Cecco points out how Canada in particular fits that description in subsidizing and promoting dirty energy while pretending to be a climate leader, while Amanda Follett Hosgood notes that British Columbia is in the same situation due to its insistence on pushing fossil gas. And Tim Rauf calls out the unambiguous denialism of Danielle Smith and the UCP, while Annie Hylton writes about Scott Moe's deliberate attack on the concept of reality-based policy in Saskatchewan. 

- Markham Hislop writes that the track record of climate policy shows that a green industrial strategy is far more effective than price signals which depend on private actors to make systemic change. And Susan Price writes about the need to go further and stop pretending the climate crisis can be solved with the same capitalist logic that precipitated it. 

- Liam Keenan, Dariusz Wojcik and Timothy Monteath discuss how an increasingly monopolized food system is harmful to our health and our planet. 

- Linda McQuaig discusses how Ontarians are paying a massive short-term price for Doug Ford's liquor privatization. And John Quiggin points out the longer-term costs as new governments try to pick up the pieces and rebuild public services after decades of corporatist selloffs in the UK and Australia. 

- Finally, Sara Moniszuko examines the causes this summer's COVID surge, while Adam Hunter reports on the Moe government's decision to end vaccine availability even as the latest wave is crushing Saskatchewan's population. Runar Solberg et al. study the continued importance and effectiveness of masks in protecting against COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases. And Maria Fernanda Ziegler writes about research showing that even mild COVID infections can lead to long-term cognitive losses. 

Thursday Evening Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Bill Weir writes a poignant letter of apology to his son about the state of the planet being left to future generations. 

- Cory Doctorow is optimistic that we have the means to avert the worst dangers of the climate crisis - subject to the immense "if" that capitalist avarice can't be allowed to get in the way. And Mitchell Beer and Christopher Bonasia report on the Canadian Climate Institute's warning that expanded fossil gas infrastructure will be stranded under any scenario that involves meeting even our existing emission targets.

- Meanwhile, new research from the University of Bristol shows how the global effort to protect and rebuild the ozone layer has succeeded.

- Jennifer Collins examines how return-to-office mandates drive away employees. And Manuela Vega reports on new Statistics Canada data showing that remote work produces immense benefits for personal well-being.

- Keldon Bester examines how Canada's big banks are using their privileged position to extract billions of dollars out of Canadians every year.

- Finally, Linda McQuaig offers a reminder that Pierre Poilievre's plans for systematic cruelty and austerity bear no relationship to what Canadian voters (including those who are justifiably dissatisfied with the Libs) actually want.

Sunday Morning Links

Assorted content for your long weekend reading.

- Max Fawcett laments that anti-vaxxers and science denialists have managed to control public policy choices in the midst of a pandemic with many more public health threats looming. And Jessica Wildfire writes about the collective amnesia that's served to eliminate attention to an ongoing threat - while noting that the same steps which still serve as important personal precautions also offer a needed reminder.

- The Star Tribune's editorial board notes that regular air quality warnings are an important alarm signaling the need to rein in the climate crisis. And Drew Anderson and Matt Simmons write that western Canada is once again the site of some of the most severe and widespread wildfires.

- Linda McQuaig calls out Canadian governments for subsidizing both dirty energy and short-sighted shareholder service as much of the country burns. And Ellen Ormesher and Rebecca Jean report on documents showing how the oil industry pays off the establishment media to secure social license to keep polluting.

- Accountable.us points out that the housing sector is just one more area where the affordability crisis can by traced directly to corporate profiteering.

- Finally, Sarah MacMillan reports on a Shoppers Drug Mart owner's attempt to replace paid staff with volunteers in order further goose its profits.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Markham Hislop offers up his apologies for cheerleading for the TransMountain pipeline - both due to its immensely increased price tag, and for its imminent obsolescence if we even remotely approach a workable response to the climate crisis. John Woodside calls out Chrystia Freeland for refusing to take even the baby step of acknowledging that dirty energy development shouldn't be eligible to be treated as clean investments, while Environment Defence responds to the failure of yet another much-ballyhooed carbon capture project which was supposed to counter the emissions from fossil fuel production and use. And Geoffrey Deihl wonders whether the oil industry's insistence on allowing climate change to worsen unchecked will force us to subject the Earth to a reckless experiment in atmosphere manipulation. 

- Meanwhile, Leana Hosea and Rachel Salvidge report on the rapidly-rising levels of "forever chemicals" in human bodies. And Sharon Lerner reports on the EPA's sudden reversal in dealing with acephate - as ProPublica's revelation that it planned to use sketchy data on non-living subjects to allow for increased use seems to have pushed it to instead implement a ban. 

- Pat Van Horne surveys some of the health experts who are pushing for a Canadian pharmacare program that ensures the availability of all essential medicines. 

- Talia Barnes explores how consumer products are increasingly designed to subject people to the control of corporations.  

- Marc Lee and DT Cochrane examine how Canada's tax system has remained regressive over the past two decades - including with decreased contributions by the wealthiest 5%. 

- Finally, Linda McQuaig points out how much of Canada's media has been working overtime to either conceal or normalize Pierre Poilievre's cultivation of ties to the far right. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Oshan Jarow discusses Sapien Labs' work measuring mental health levels around the globe - and the resulting conclusion that "conveniences" including smartphones and ultra-processed foods may contribute to a lower level of mental wellness. And Michelle Gamage writes about the plummeting life expectancy of Indigenous people in British Columbia, along with the solutions based in ethics of care and community. 

- Julia-Simone Rutgers writes about the damage global warming is causing to the ice roads which have historically served as vital lifelines for Canada's North. And Arthur Zhang and Anna Kanduth discuss the readily-available options to shift Canada to a cleaner electrical grid and reduce our ongoing carbon pollution. 

- Meanwhile, Charles Rusnell reports on the lengths the UCP is going to to prevent Alberta from knowing how little support their is for their plan to hijack CPP funds to be handed to dirty energy operators. 

- Brittany Trang discusses a new study showing how nursing home operators are able to hide the majority of their profits in order to paper over higher prices and deteriorating care. And Cory Doctorow calls out the NHS' choice to pay massive amounts of money to corporate operators - and share of sensitive personal health information with them - rather than setting up secure open-source research databases. 

- David Moscrop offers a warning about Pierre Poilievre's intention to impose "ordered liberty", with the primary intention and effect of ensuring the freedom of those with more wealth and power to control and exploit anybody with less privilege. 

- Finally, Linda McQuaig makes the case for Canada to support and sign onto the G20's plan to ensure billionaires can't avoid paying taxes. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Susan Riley points out the glaring gap between the urgency of the climate crisis, and the Canadian political response which (Charlie Angus aside) ranges from mealy-mouthed corporatism to outright sabotage. And Gillian Steward calls out the UCP's continued climate denial which is preventing Alberta from responding to fires, droughts and other disasters caused by the climate breakdown. 

- Meanwhile, Andrew Nikiforuk discusses the UCP's insistence on barging ahead with a coal mine repeatedly rejected by the courts as a painful example of how petropoliticians will never accept any environmental regulation on fossil fuel extraction, while Amanda Stephenson reports on the continued escalation of the up-front cost of the Trans Mountain pipeline which the Libs insist on funding at public expense.

- Max Fawcett discusses why a federal wealth tax would represent both good politics and good policy. 

- Linda McQuaig highlights how the Cons' claims to care about responsible public spending and affordability are utterly irreconcilable with their determination to shovel public money into the military-industrial complex as a sop to Donald Trump. And Rhianna Schmunk, Angelina King and Lori Ward report on the exploitation of Doug Ford's corporatist health care plans by systematically billing for unnecessary medication reviews (at rates far higher than doctors receive for prescribing). 

- Finally, Luke LeBrun exposes how Ottawa's police once again allowed right-wing extremists the run of the city - and are only now reviewing their lies about that course of action after they've been exposed in the media. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Tim Murphy discusses the many similarities between Russia's oligarchs and the U.S.' - including how both take advantage of deliberate policy choices to facilitate the concentration of wealth in secret. And Kevin Kharas' interview with Bertrand Monnet includes the recognition that their shared addiction to accumulation is also at the root of Mexico's drug cartels. 

- Linda McQuaig points out the similarities between Pierre Poilievre, Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro as strongmen determined to foment hate and rage to distract from the fact they have no plans to improve anybody's well-being (other than that of their cronies). 

- Jeremy Appel reports on the complete contempt for the law shown by Take Back Alberta in its refusal to cooperate with an investigation into its shady donors. And David Climenhaga notes that the most extreme and corrupt branch of the UCP is now trying to make a mockery of any form of democracy by attempting to take over the NDP.  

- Abdul Matin Sarfraz reports on Ian Burton's work to move us toward climate adaptation. But John Woodside highlights how Enbridge is trying to stop any transition to cleaner energy.

- Finally, Anne Rumberger interviews Anne Larson about the corporate media's systematic erasure of workers. And Matthew Stanley et al. find that workers' loyalty to bosses tends to turn into an invitation to increased exploitation. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Sara Moniuzsko reports on the World Health Organization's recognition that COVID-19 is still causing nearly 10,000 reported deaths per month (to say nothing of unreported deaths and disabilities). And Michelle Ghoussoub reports on research confirming that access to prescribed opioids results in dramatic reductions in overdoses and deaths. 

- Tim Bousquet discusses the normalization of a lack of housing which has led to the building of "temporary" pallet shelters being treated as progress rather than a sign of desperate need for change. And Drew Anderson highlights how Danielle Smith and the UCP have pushed to set a baseline expectation of increased pollution, sprawls and energy inefficiency just over the holidays.  

- Andrew Coyne writes that surrender to premiers who thumb their nose at the rule of law only encourages them. And Linda McQuaig points out how the Libs have chosen to serve big oil at the expense of any responsible climate policy (with a similar effect of emboldening its climate sabotage). 

- Karin Kirk notes that even at a time of relatively low oil prices, consumers are better served charging an electric vehicle than buying fuel at the pumps. 

- Finally, Jon Stone reports on Sadiq Khan's efforts to break the UK's culture of silence about the immense real costs of succumbing to the implausible promises of Brexit. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Peter Borg discusses how the climate breakdown is compressing planetary changes which would normally take millions of years into individual lifetimes - even as petropoliticians seek to increase the damage we're doing to our living environment. And Edna Mohamed writes that climate refugees are already a major factor in global migration patterns. 

- Meanwhile, Zak Vescera writes about the woefully inadequate housing being endured by migrant farmworkers in British Columbia. 

- Christopher Matthews and Collin Eaton offer an inside look at Exxon's misinformation campaign to keep carbon pollution spewing. And CBC News talks to Peter Hotez about the harm being done to even the most basic public health protections by the anti-science forces built up to cast doubt about climate change. 

- Penny Daflos reports on the massive amounts of money being siphoned out of public health care in B.C. (and elsewhere) by temp agencies.

- Finally, Linda McQuaig discusses why Canada needs an online ecosystem which isn't controlled by big tech - while noting that the fight over payments for corporate media content is just a small part of the picture. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Qiulu Ding and HanJun Zhao study the long-term effects of COVID-19 on the brain, including lasting effects on function and memory. Ida Mogensen et al. find that the younger people who were so frequently declared to be "low-risk" are entirely vulnerable to long COVID. And Thomas Graham, Amrit Dhillon and Caroline Kimeu discuss the devastating effects of COVID-19 on the global South which have been almost entirely neglected by wealthier countries. 

- Aarhus University studies the accumulation of "forever chemicals" even in some of the most remote populations in Europe. 

- Tony Keller points out that Canada is one of the worst climate offenders in the world in terms of both inefficient personal vehicles, and a transportation system designed to require their use. And Markham Hislop highlights how the demand of fossil fuel tycoons and their puppet governments to the public on the hook for site remediation reflects an attempt to break a decades-old deal to have the oil industry clean up at least one aspect of its own mess. 

- Linda McQuaig contrasts Doug Ford's endless supply of free money for developers and donors against his brutal austerity when it comes to social needs. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow points out the selective security in the U.S.' welfare system which makes strict demands of recipients, while providing no security against fraud and abuse aimed at them.

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- David Slater and Charles Rusnell write about the unconscionable lack of any meaningful discussion of the climate breakdown in Alberta's provincial election even as much of the province has been ablaze and/or facing extreme air quality warnings. Brad Plumer reports on a new study showing how temperatures are likely to soar even further in the next 5 years even as emission targets are pushed far past that point. And Nicole Kearney and Hannah Blair discuss the health impacts of fossil gas as its pushers try to avoid any discussion of either its harms or the obvious alternatives. 

- Meanwhile, Deonie Allen, Melanie Bergmann and Steve Allen examine how microplastics have collected in shockingly large quantities in Arctic ice algae, offering a reminder that there's nowhere on the planet that's escaping the effects of the reckless disposal of waste without regard for its impact on the environment. 

- Sam Pizzigati points out that the wealthy haven't always run roughshod over workers in the U.S.' class war - and that in fact the country isn't far removed from an era where the working class made massive gains (until the full weight of the rich was focused on taking those off the table). But Gillian Petit and Lindsay Tedds note that the UCP is planning to distort Alberta's tax system to further favour wealthy males over everybody else. 

- Corin Faife reports on the dystopian prospect of AI-driven debt collection, simultaneously reducing the cost of constant harassment to near zero and taking any hint of humanity out of the drive to squeeze money from people already lacking it. 

- Finally, Linda McQuaig highlights how the Ford PCs' health care privatization schemes - like those in other provinces - are making care both more expensive for the public and worse for patients. 

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Will Stone writes about the role viral reservoirs may be playing in both prolonging individual long COVID symptoms, and allowing for the development of new variants. Simran Purewal, Kaylee Byers, Kayli Jamieson and Neda Zolfaghari highlight the need for people talking about the effects of long COVID to be believed rather than dismissed. But Apoorva Mandavilli reports on the CDC's choice to simply stop observing the effects of an ongoing pandemic.

- Meanwhile, Pete Evans reports on the latest push by employers to take away the benefits of remote work in order to force daily commutes and constant control on workers. David Macdonald discusses how public sector strikes have represented primarily an attempt to defend real wages from the effects of inflation, while Mitchell Thompson reminds us that Danielle Smith has made clear that the infliction of pain is the point in dealing with education and health care workers. And Paige Oamek talks to some of the younger workers organizing to ensure they're not at the mercy of callous employers.

- Eva Wiseman writes about the folly of trying to match even the most banal forms of consumption by the obscenely wealthy. And Paul Waldman discusses why the right to repair movement may be the unifying point for all kinds of people with a healthy skepticism of corporate control over our lives.

- Tom Perkins reports on research showing that toxic "forever chemicals" are included in the pesticides sprayed on crops.

- Charlie Angus writes that the push toward a clean energy economy has passed the point of theoretical transition to reach the development of large-scale employment. And Brian Potter discusses how nuclear power has done nothing but become more costly with time - making it absolutely useless in the context of plummeting prices for renewables and storage. 

- Finaly, Linda McQuaig writes that Doug Ford's to turn the public Ontario Place into a for-profit spa may eclipse the Highway 407 debacle as the most appalling handover of public assets for private profit in Ontario's history.

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Linda McQuaig calls out the Ford PCs for making it even more difficult to hold corporate health care operators to account for sub-par service. And Emma McIntosh, Fatima Syed and Denise Balkissoon discuss Ford's latest sketchy step to turn farmland and industrial areas into new suburban sprawl, 

- Guido Lorenzi and Ivan Werning theorize (PDF) that inflation is best seen as conflict-based, representing the accumulation of price increases by parties with the perceived market power to impose them. And Duncan Kinney offers a reminder that the largest set of money stolen is that pilfered from workers by employers. 

- Colin Woodard discusses how car payments are taking up an increasingly large share of already-strained U.S. incomes. And Paul Kiel examines how the ultrarich are able to claim private jets and yachts as tax deductions while most people have to pay for transportation from after-tax incomes. 

- Finally, J.W. Mason discusses why socialists should be eager to see industrial policy as a tool to ensure that productive capacity is used to meet human needs and develop desirable economic activity (including the tools for a just transition). And Kevin Anderson offers an overview of what an effective plan to limit warming to 1.5 degrees will require - while noting that what's needed far exceeds what any major actors currently have on the table. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Linda McQuaig discusses how the Biden administration is providing the Trudeau Libs with an example to follow in ensuring that the ultra-wealthy contribute something closer to their fair share of the cost of a functional society. And Alexandria Nassopoulos highlights the realities facing Canadians trying to survive on grossly insufficient social supports, while Steve Paikin writes about the absurdity of the Ford PCs pouring more money into subsidizing electricity use than major public priorities including long-term care. 

- Kelly Crowe exposes how Statistics Canada took funding from big pharma to produce a propaganda piece under the control of industry representatives.  

- Rebecca Solnit discusses the urgent need to start reducing fossil fuel use immediately, rather than kicking the can down the road based on implausible and self-serving claims about geoengineering and carbon capture as an excuse to keep burning oil and gas. Ayesha Tandon reports on new research showing a surge in methane emissions from wetlands as yet another feedback loop which is leading to an even faster breakdown than anticipated. And Paul Abela warns about the disastrous consequences of approaching the climate crisis with an optimism bias.    

- Finally, Andrew Nikiforuk reports on the Alberta's belated recognition - following a previous denial - of the reality that the province's largest earthquake ever was likely caused by tar sands wastewater disposal. And Charles Rusnell reports that Laurie Pushor is giving his previous high-water mark for villainy of "ripping off nuns" a run for its money by covering up a toxic leak into drinking water at the behest of the UCP's fossil fuel paymasters. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Camille Bains reports on Dr. Mona Nemer's warning that long COVID represents a mass disabling event with potentially devastating social and economic consequences. And Zeynep Tufecki examines the evidence showing the importance of masking in reducing the spread and severity of COVID-19. 

- Natasha Bulowski reports on DT Cochrane's rightful concerns that the spin from grocery magnates summoned to testify before Parliament didn't accurately reflect the reality of how prices have been inflated to generate windfall profits. And Linda McQuaig calls out the Libs for meekly letting big pharma dictate that needed medicines will continue to be subject to inflated prices as well. 

- Carl Meyer reports on the anticipated effects if banks actually comply with the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions ' plan to include the cost of a climate breakdown in disclosures about their lending portfolios. Alex Panetta interviews Drew Anderson about the fallout from Alberta and Imperial Oil's joint cover-up of massive tailings ponds leaks. And Helena Horton reports on the BBC's decision to squelch David Attenborough's show on the destruction of nature based on the fear of retaliation from a fossil-backed government. 

- Finally, Andy Kroll, Andrea Bernstein and Nick Surgey examine the billions of dollars being funneled into smashing solidarity and entrenched corporate control over the U.S.