Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Dean Blundell discusses how the U.S. has been downgraded to an "obstructed" state in terms of civic freedoms by CIVICUS due to its use of arbitrary power both to suppress dissent and to generally terrorize vulnerable populations. Lawrence Freedman offers his take on how Europe should respond to the explicit adoption of white nationalism as the basis for the Trump regime's foreign policy, while Wesley Wark comments on the U.S.' concurrent treatment of Canada as a target. And Jillian Kestler-D'Amours writes about the necessary pushback against Mark Carney's choice to arm U.S.-allied perpetrators of genocide.  

- Zeke Hausfather examines the causes of the acceleration in global warming. And Tom Harris points out how melting permafrost looks likely to exacerbate the problem, while Kira Taylor warns that the takeover of EU environmental policy by climate denialists risks adding yet another blast of carbon pollution. And Inayat Singh discusses how petrostates are falling behind China and developing countries in adopting the energy sources of the future. 

- Andy Boneau laments the dedication of increasing amounts of land and resources to asphalt based on the unquestioned dominance of car culture. Timothy Fraser et al. find (PDF) that even the mild shift away from vehicular supremacy arising from New York City's congestion pricing is producing broad environmental and health benefits. 

- Finally, Rebecca Burns and Thomas Burningham report that the positive impact of tenant organizing is now being met with a predictable union-busting response by landlords. And the Council of Canadians calls out the corporate lobbying offensive which has stopped any progress on pharmacare in Canada. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Oliver Milman and Damian Carrington report on Climate Action Tracker's recognition that we're headed toward 2.6 degrees of global warming without major policy changes - and that dirty fossil fuel emissions are continuing to increase. Nina Lakhani reports on a study showing that fossil fuel lobbyists outnumber every non-host delegation at the COP30 conference. And Ian Urquhart notes that the Mark Carney Libs are are among far too many governments serving as fossil fuel lobbyists rather than good faith actors - meaning that there's little reason for hope that Carney will take up the mantle of climate leadership as pitched by Shawn McCarthy. 

- Meanwhile, Jillian Ambrose and Fiona Harvey report on the IEA's recognition that a clean energy transition is inevitable - meaning that the people shilling for fossil fuel interests are only exacerbating both the climate breakdown, and the severity of an eventual economic crash. And Jameson Dow discusses how a corporate media narrative of electric vehicle denialism bears no relationship to reality. 

- George Monbiot discusses how the control of media by the ultra-rich is fueling an epistemic crisis. Timothy Caulfield notes that the normalizing of anti-vaccine ideology (which is resulting in the reemergence of diseases like measles which had previously been contained) is a direct result of political calculation by right-wing actors looking to undermine the concept of the public good at every turn. Jon Cohen examines how the Trump regime is actively destroying humanity's capacity to respond to the next pandemic. And Grey Moran exposes how Tyson Foods used Palantir surveillance to develop plans for the known results of the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 - but not to actually lift a finger to keep its workers healthy. 

- Cora Lewis writes about the spread of online sports betting, as well as the obvious risks which have been foisted on the people least capable of managing them. And John Herrman points out how both gambling and resulting patterns of media coverage are spreading into the political sphere.

- John Stapleton points out the absurdity of the Libs trying to claim "inefficiency" as a reason for ending taxes on the wealthy while it pursues grossly disproportionate litigation to recover tiny amounts of social benefits. 

- Finally, David Moscrop joins the group of voices recognizing that it's absolutely futile for Canada to pursue a trade deal with a U.S. which is utterly incapable of being trusted either to accurately portray what's being negotiated, or to honour any deal which might be announced. And Dan Gardner writes that it's long past time for Canada to move past the "safe" position of deferring to the U.S., and instead take a leadership role in shaping the world we want. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Donal Gill and Isaac Peltz discuss the need to strengthen Canada's democracy against a descent into nihilistic populism like the one looming in the UK. And Kelly Hayes emphasizes the particular need to maintain - and act on - a sense of decency when institutional forces are actively looking to destroy anything of the sort. 

- On that front, Sarah Kendzior discusses how the Republican government shutdown fits perfectly with their view that power exists only for self-dealing and vengeance. Mari Eccles reports on a new European Ombudsman investigation into secret meetings leading to regulatory giveaways to corporate interests. And Christopher White interviews Tzeporah Berman about the fossil fuel industry's hijacking of climate change policymaking. 

- Meanwhile, the newest Lancet Countdown report documents how millions of people are dying each year due to the fossil fuel dependence being forced on us by the people whose obscene wealth is tied to continued carbon pollution. 

- Rebecca Graff-McRae discusses how the Smith UCP has abandoned preventative public health to cater to conspiracy theorists. And Crawford Kilian rightly argues that vaccinations should be free to all Canadians - not restricted by geography, age, profession or other barriers which serve only to facilitate the spread of preventable disease. 

- Finally, Danyaal Raza makes the case for universal pharmacare as a nation-building project.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Katelyn Burns notes that U.S. Republicans have made clear that they're far more aligned with hard-right parties abroad than the balance of their fellow Americans, while Jason Beeferman and Emily Ngo expose the rank bigotry which has been unleashed as the Trump precedent leads racists to think they'll never face consequences for their hatred. Rachel Gilmore and Susan Delacourt each discuss how Pierre Poilievre is acting even more like a mini-Trump as he seeks to ingratiate himself with the extreme right in advance of a leadership review. And Euan Thomson points out that the Moe government is funneling money toward private and puritanical Alberta-based "recovery centres" rather than investing in the well-being of patients. 

- Niall McGee reports on Tim Hodgson's declaration that the Carney Libs are just fine with the U.S. taking over critical mineral supplies in Canada even as the Trump regime threatens to annex us. Xavi Richer Vis reports on the priority access being granted to energy and mining lobbyists while everybody else is kept out of Carney's orbit. And Linda McQuaig writes that Carney's plan to prioritize military spending that ties us even more tightly to the U.S. will do nothing but leave us poorer and more divided.

- Dean Baker writes that the artificial intelligence bubble is only getting more dangerous as the U.S.' economy increasingly consists of little more than a bet on counterfeit value. And Joe Wilkins notes that scientists are finding AI to be less reliable the more they use it. 

- Finally, Bhavini Gohel discusses how wildfires and other climate disasters result in intolerable pressures on health care systems. And Julia Doubleday points out the ongoing risks and costs being imposed by the continued circulation of COVID-19 - even as the smallest mitigation measures are treated as being unacceptable. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- The Associated Press reports on the World Meteorological Organization's latest bulletin finding that atmospheric carbon dioxide has reached a concentration not seen in hundreds of thousands of years. 

- Ketan Joshi discusses the willingness of people to believe - and corporate propaganda mills to provide - disinformation to obstruct climate progress. Aidan Hughes and Martha Pskowski report on a new study tracing the dozens of fossil fuel insiders placed in key positions in the Trump regima. And while Matt Simon discusses a new Redstone Strategy Group report showing the effectiveness of local grassroots organizing in reducing carbon pollution, Amy Green reports on legislation passed by Florida Republicans to prevent communities from implementing responsible environmental choices. 

- Ames Alexander points out that Trump's reality-adverse administration has stopped the U.S. military from planning for existing climate threats. Andrew Freedman reports on the connection between Trump's attacks on the National Weather Service and the damage done by Typhoon Halong in Alaska. And Charlie Angus calls out Mark Carney for joining in Trump's dirty energy derangement. 

- Chris Hatch writes about the reality that renewables can handle all new energy demand and are beginning to cut into fossil fuels' share of the power supply. Sarah Shemkus reports on the shuttering of New Hampshire's last coal plant due purely to its being uneconomic compared to solar power with battery storage. And Ron Johnson discusses why governments should invest in encouraging people to bike to work, while Simon and Sophie Hurwitz examine the particular advantages of e-bikes. 

- Finally, David Sirota and Jared Jacang Maher point out how decades of corporate hostility toward democracy have laid the groundwork for an anti-social media environment. And Alex Harring discusses the glaring differences in mood and substance between high- and low-income Americans - though of course only the former are treated as carrying any weight in the Trump regime's policy choices. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Garrett Graff writes that the U.S. has fully tipped over into authoritarianism, even as far too many media and political voices cling to the pretense of normality. Robert Reich discusses how Donald Trump's invariable promotion of incompetent sycophants fits into the fascist project, while Arthur Delaney reports on a warning from remaining FEMA staff that the U.S. will be unable to respond to disasters as a result of its focus on politics over the public interest. And Paul Krugman writes that Trump's illegal pretense of firing Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook represents a crucial test of one of the few limits on arbitrary and unauthorized presidential power that hasn't been bulldozed by John Roberts. 

- James Pethokoukis notes that Trump's latest gambit of demanding corporate stock in exchange for policy action is one without any natural endpoint. And Oliver Darcy interviews Katie Drummond about the choice of tech giants to tie their future to the manipulation of government regulation and procurement rather than offering any services to the public. 

- But then, Henry Larweh, Rachana Pradhan and Rae Ellen Bichell examine how the red states which have rolled over in the face of Trump's manipulations have ended up worse off than blue states who have fought back. And Nia Law and Lindsay Owens note that there's no reason to buy the threat that wealthy people and corporations will follow through on threats to leave if they have to pay a fair share of taxes. 

- David Moscrop notes that while Canadian people are ready to fight for our identity and sovereignty, those in charge of our capital are still throwing money at the U.S. under Trump. And Tom Parkin points out that Mark Carney is letting Trump get away with violating terms of the CUSMA with auto, steel, aluminum and copper tariffs - even as the result is direct damage to Canada's auto industry. 

- Finally, Emma Graney reports on the fully captured Alberta Energy Regulator's decision to cancel public hearings if they could possibly result in anything but a cheerleading session for dirty coal, while the Energy Mix points out that the oil industry's increasing automation is ensuring that workers don't share in any further fossil fuel development. Andn Ian Verrender writes that Australia too faces a revolving door of fossil fuel lobbyists dictating policy. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Ellen Wald writes that Canadian oil companies would be smart to be prepared to answer for their environmental and human rights abuses. But Carly Penrose reports that they're instead funding petropoliticians and shadowy lobby groups in an effort to undermine climate change policy, while David Climenhaga discusses Danielle Smith's latest scheme to make accurate information about emissions illegal. 

- Hiroko Tabuchi writes about the propaganda campaign being waged by the plastics industry in an effort to avoid answering for massive and easily-avoidable damage to people's health and the environment. And Tom Perkins reports on new research finding that microplastics and "forever chemicals" are particularly dangerous in combination with each other. 

- Jack Hauen discusses how the Ontario PCs' destruction of bike lanes shows the outsized influence of a few wealthy donors. Sarah Elton and Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher write that Doug Ford's diktat forcing the removal of bike lanes doesn't merely reflect hostility to bikes themselves, but a war on data and evidence in policy choices. And David Rider discusses the misinformation being deployed to undermine the development of walkable and people-friendly cities. 

- Silas Xuereb examines the hundreds of billions of dollars per year being diverted into excess profits - and the resulting opportunity to both reduce inequality and fund social needs through a windfall profit tax. 

- Finally, Adam King discusses how the Canada Post strike fits into wider trends around precarious work and the destruction of public services. And Paris Marx points out the contrast between the strength and solidarity of public sector workers in a well-established bargaining unit, and the results of isolate-and-conquer practices imposed Amazon and other corporate giants. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Jake Johnson writes about the growing recognition that we'll never avert a climate breakdown by putting all action at the mercy of petrostates and oil lobbyists. And Carl Meyer discusses how the Libs have spent far more time and political capital doing PR work for the tar sands than to work on developing an international framework to combat the climate crisis. 

- Luke LeBrun notes that Europe is taking steps to work around reliance on the U.S. over the course of another Trump presidency, and writes that Canada should be pursuing the same option.  

- Max Fawcett writes that the importance of the CBC has only been amplified by the spread of disinformation from elsewhere - meaning that the Cons' plans to trash it could have devastating consequences. And Mitchell Anderson warns of the dangers of allowing propaganda to overwhelm any sense of shared objective reality. 

- Jon Milton discusses how the U.S. Democrats' campaign serves as a painful example of how not to combat far-right demogoguery. And Sheima Benembarek discusses how the compulsive blaming of immigrants - which is currently being enabled by the Trudeau Libs - serves as an entry point to fascism.

- Finally, Jeremy Appel calls out Danielle Smith's attacks on trans people in Alberta. And Duncan Kinney reports on the UCP's use of for-profit nurses - coupled with its refusal to provide any information about the scope of the practice. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Ian Welsh discusses how austerity doesn't offer a roadmap to economic development, but instead serves as a means of ensuring that the burden of economic failure is borne by the working class in the form of service and wage reductions, rather than the ownership class through the devaluation of capital. And Tannara Yelland highlights how it's investors rather than immigrants who are responsible for Canada's housing crisis. 

- Alex Himelfarb writes that the only defence against authoritarian demagoguery is a plausible path to ensure our public institutions actually work for people's benefit. 

- Keith Stewart juxtaposes Pierre Poilievre's anti-lobbyist rhetoric with his eagerness to convert oil industry donations into even more extreme forms of petropolitics. And Andrew Nikiforuk notes that British Columbia's election may have produced the only result which doesn't result in a full term of absolute capture by the fossil gas industry.

- Drew Anderson examines the respective platforms of the Saskatchewan NDP and Sask Party on the environment - again with little indication that either is prepared to wrestle with the scope of the climate crisis, but with the former recognizing the need to build clean energy and maintain healthy land and water where the latter offers nothing but destruction. 

- Finally, Saniya Ghaledhar writes about the dangers of bigoted populism focused on punishing minority groups. Aastha Shetty reports on sentencing submissions indicating that a stabbing rampage at the University of Waterloo was based on a deliberate intention to instil fear which right-wing purveyors of "tough on crime" spin seem to have no interest in counteracting. And Peter Smith warns that post-truth conspiracism no longer seems to be even a hindrance - let alone a disqualifying factor - for conservative political leaders in Canada. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- The Australian National University examines how it's possible to ensure a healthy standard of living for all of humanity within the Earth's planetary limits - but only based on a transformation of how we manage and distribute resources. And Rob Jackson and Josie Garthwaite discuss how especially-dangerous methane emissions are continuing to rise, while a belated effort to limit them is only starting to produce any observance results.

- Marc Fawcett-Atkinson reports on the federal government's decision not to regulate harmful PFAs based on heavy lobbying and polluter-funded research. 

- Robert Reich points out how Donald Trump's economic plans combine a toxic mix of corporate impunity, further concentration of wealth, and added costs for consumers. 

- Marcia Dunn discusses how space has become yet another plaything for the uber-wealthy rather than a domain for exploration and discovery. But Giri Nathan writes that there's no realistic basis for the fantasy of colonizing Mars as a substitute for caring for the Earth.

- Finally, Harrison Mooney discusses how John Rustad is looking to bring a Republican-style book purge to British Columbia. David Climenhaga compares Danielle Smith's demand that the federal government squash any form of job action by federally-regulated workers against her support for the Flu Trux Klan's violent takeover of cities and border crossings. And Colin Horgan wonders whether Pierre Poilievre's substitution of shitposting for any substantive communication will carry a price during a federal election campaign.  

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Jonathan Watts reports on the unprecedented number of heat records being set in 2024, while the University of East Anglia examines how climate change has raised the risk of the wildfires we've seen in recent years. And Environmental Defence notes that oil industry lobbying is also reaching new highs. 

- Jonathan Safran Foer and Aaron Gross discuss how factory farming is a major vector for disease - meaning that any work to prevent future pandemics should include healthier food production models. Kevin Jiang reports on the imminent declaration of a global mpox emergency - and the refusal of Canada and other wealthier countries to help stop the spread in regions which have already been hard hit. 

- Anja Karadeglija reports on the findings of UN Special Rapporteur Tomoya Obokata that Canada's temporary foreign worker program is a breeding ground for contemporary slavery. And David Moscrop writes that it's long past time for the Libs to stop allowing their corporate buddies to use temporary foreign workers to make work worse for everybody. 

- Meanwhile, Maya Goodfellow writes that contrary to the bigotry spread by right-wing parties, there's no legitimate basis to blame immigrants themselves for societies designed to exploit them. And Simon Wren-Lewis discusses how the UK Cons' dehumanization of immigrants and minority cultures has served an open invitation to violent repression.  

- Finally, Cory Doctorow notes that the obscene power held by the likes of Wal-Mart and Amazon can be traced back to the Reagan-era decision to allow for monopsony control of purchasing in essential industries. And Larry Elliott reports on a new study showing that inflation disproportionately affect the poorest households who have fewer means to avoid the effects of corporate profiteering. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Christopher Nardi reports on Liam Iliffe's unwitting revelations about how fossil fuel companies regularly thumb their noses at lobbying requirements and other rules while pulling the strings of compliant Canadian governments. Amanda Follett Hosgood discusses the growing push to ban at least blatantly false greenwashing, while John Woodside notes that it's telling that only the oil and gas sector is screaming bloody murder over a standard of accuracy which would apply to all kinds of business.  And Genevieve Guenther examines the new language of climate denial (which will sound painfully familiar in the Canadian political context). 

- Eric Ralls reports on a new study finding that air pollution is responsible for a nine-figure death toll since 1980, while Joao Medeiros laments the reality that such an ubiquitous killer is barely even recognized. And point out that the damage from forest fires includes multiple harms to lakes and waterways.

- Simon Wren-Lewis discusses the importance of highlighting how right-wing attacks on public revenue are the cause of the crisis in public services - and the reality that more and fairer taxes are a must to build the public institutions people want and need. And Kim Siever points out that strong public-sector jobs are good for the economy - meaning that the perpetual right-wing drive to make them privatized or precarious is all about waging class warfare against workers. 

- Finally, Gabriel Zucman offers a proposal (PDF) for a coordinated wealth tax to ensure the global ultra-rich can't evade any responsibility to the social sources of their profits. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Maanvi Singh reports on the corporate purchase of water rights in Arizona which signals the diversion of the necessities of life to the highest bidder once greed and mismanagement have undermined their availability. 

- Drew Anderson writes about the similar water crisis facing Alberta (and the rest of the prairie provinces who rely on the water which originates there). Michael Franklin reports on the new awareness of sulfolane contamination, as a chemical whose primary purpose is to "sweeten" fossil fuel operations risks making water resources unusable. And Margaret McGregor, Ulrike Meyer, Amira Aker and Élyse Caron-Beaudoin discuss the public health harms caused by fracking. 

- Jim Handy rightly argues that our current state of climate negligence will appear absolutely inexplicable from a historical perspective. But John Woodside reports on the swarm of dirty energy lobbyists who pushed to prioritize extraction and short-term returns over people's well-being in advance of the federal budget alone. And Fatima Syed reports on the Ford PCs' decision to make homeowners subsidize a continued flow of profits for Enbridge in the name of housing affordability. 

- Meanwhile, John Clarke discusses how we won't make any progress in making housing more available without making an effort to decommodify it. And Patrick Rail reports on Equifax' latest data showing that half of Canadians are living paycheque to paycheque as corporate profiteers extract every possible nickel from consumers. 

- Finally, Trevor Tombe highlights why higher taxes on capital gains make sense even based on pure economic theory - which of course won't stop the Cons and the anti-tax brigade from pretending that preferential treatment for the wealthy few is somehow an issue of affordability for the general public. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- The World Meteorological Organization's State of the Climate report highlights how higher temperatures and devastating consequences have become the norm around the globe. Anand Ram reports on a new study showing that the effects included a jarring new development, as air quality in Canadian cities was worse than that in the U.S. for the first time ever. And Liza Gross reports on research into the harm caused by petrochemicals beyond the destruction of our environmental habitat. 

- But Jessica Corbett notes that even in the midst of a year of obvious climate breakdown, the corporate media provided less coverage of the climate crisis. And David Suzuki calls out Danielle Smith and the UCP for being determined to make matters worse even as Alberta faces wildfires, droughts and other calamitous climate effects. 

- Francesca Fionda and Ainslie Cruickshank report on a new study showing that the estimated cleanup costs from Teck's Elk Valley coal mine are three times what the company has set aside - meaning that the public figures to be on the hook for billions of dollars once the fossil fuel profits have been extracted. 

- Joan Westenberg opines that we shouldn't get caught up in the cult of productivity. Cory Doctorow discusses how "wellness surveillance" in fact increases stress for workers subjected to increased control by exploitative employers. Janine Jackson interviews Alfredo Lopez about the U.S. corporate sector's complete devaluation of elders (and anybody else who isn't readily exploited). And Lisa Kwon reports on the multiple Republican states who are slashing child labour protections so kids can be turned into profit centres sooner. 

- Meanwhile, Martin Lukacs, Katia Lo Innes and Xavier Richer Vis expose how the Cons' fund-raising apparatus is based on providing corporate lobbyists with a system of cash for access. 

- Finally, Adam King discusses the effect of British Columbia's card-check certification as a positive example of what happens when governments choose to empower workers rather than catering solely to profiteers. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Jessica Wildfire examines how employees are being illegally forced to put their health at risk by employers determined to impose policies which facilitate the spread of COVID-19. And Craig Ellingson and Chelan Skulski report on the Alberta Medical Association's warning that the province's health care system is on the verge of collapse, while Timm Bruch reports that the UCP is trying to spin naturopathy and other quackery-for-profit as a substitute for the availability of public health care. 

- Jake Bittle calls out the large number of fossil fuel lobbyists at COP28, while Nina Lakhani reveals that hundreds of the attendees charged with working out a global response to the climate crisis have a history of actively denying its existence. So it's no surprise that the output has been grossly insufficient - according to the International Energy Agency as well as other expert participants. And Oliver Milman reports on the continued establishment focus on magical future technology as a substitute for near-term cuts to carbon pollution. 

- Andrew Nikiforuk points out that Alberta bears the dubious distinction of having the world's single most harmful methane leak. And Bob Weber reports that Saskatchewan too continues to report fictitious figures while spewing far more methane than it's bothering to measure. 

- Ryan Hogg reports on new research by IPPR and Common Wealth showing that large companies predictably capitalized on messaging about inflation by extracting massive windfall profits far exceeding any increase in costs. And Trevor Tombe and Jennifer Winter discuss the Canadian twist on  the exploitation of inflation to further enrich the already-wealthy, as the Cons use a false narrative blaming carbon pricing rather than corporate greed to try to transfer even more wealth to the top. 

- Christopher Cheung examines how the non-profit industrial complex is a poor substitute for public programs with the resources to meaningfully address social needs.

- Finally, Ian Kreitzberg reports on the UAW's ambitions to organize every automaker in the U.S. to spur broad-based gains in wages and working conditions.

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Nandini Gautam discusses the World Health Organization's research showing how COVID-19 damages the human immune system. And Adam Kucharski takes a look at historic accounts of the 1918-19 influenza pandemic as a grim foreshadowing of how history books will look back on the public policy response to COVID. 

- Doug Cuthand calls out the Moe government as falling squarely into the group of obstructionist governments looking to derail COP28 and any other work to avert a climate breakdown, while Jeremy Appel examines the idiocy of Danielle Smith's invocation of a Sovereignty Act to try to avoid any path to reducing emissions from the power sector. Chris Kruszewski and David Ellis point out how the wealthiest and greediest few are the only people who benefit from false solutions and delay. And Arielle Samuelson documents some of the fossil fuel lobbyists who are being allowed to set global climate policy, while Jon Queally points out the particular absurdity of a fossil fuel-sector greenwashing effort based on gradually reducing only the carbon pollution caused by the extracting of fuel intended to release massive amounts of CO2 into atmosphere when it's burned. 

- Clarrie Feinstein reports on the reality that condo construction in Toronto is doing nothing to alleviate the housing crisis when half of the units are being snapped up as investment properties. And Liam Casey reports on the Ford PCs' conclusion that it's far too inconvenient for construction firms to face an investigation into *every single fatality* on their work sites, such that deaths will be lumped together as part of what's apparently expected to be a regular inquest process. 

- Finally, Dylan Matthews discusses the results of a large-scale basic income experiment in Kenya - with multiple payment structures producing economic benefits, but long-term security in monthly payments also creating gains in well-being and mental health. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Damian Carrington reports on Antonio Guterres' warning to COP28 that we're already in the midst of a climate collapse. Katelyn Reinhart discusses new research showing how existing climate studies underestimate the effects of extreme heat. And Nicholas Beuret writes about the unequal responsibility between countries and people for the emissions that are putting the planet at risk.

-  But Benjamin Shingler reports on the justified concern that a climate conference has been captured by fossil fuel lobbyists bent on long-term destruction in the name of continued windfall profits. And Markham Hislop notes that Danielle Smith is among the attendees determined to keep carbon pollution spewing for decades to come. 

- Crawford Kilian reviews Chris van Tulleken's Ultra-Processed People, while highlighting how much of what's sold to us as food doesn't deserve the name.

- Nabhan Refaie discusses how an increasing number of people are channeling their frustration and anger with an unfair economic system into union activity and other collective action.

- Finally, Cory Doctorow points out how the loudest debates over artificial intelligence are set up to avoid any discussion of how AI is used primarily to reinforce the wealth and power of those who already have the most. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Crawford Kilian discusses what Canada's long-term climate policy needs to look like as it becomes abundantly clear that relying primarily on consumer-based carbon pricing has failed both as a means of reducing carbon pollution, and as a political calculation. Celeste Young and Roger Jones discuss the reality that providing people with accurate information about the climate crisis has done little to spur any systemic change. And Graham Readfearn talks to Lesley Hughes about the importance of maintaining hope even while recognizing the immense work ahead of us to avert a full climate breakdown. 

- John Gibbons highlights the dangers of allowing the imperative of maintaining a survivable environment to be subordinated to the capital class' demand for perpetually growing wealth extraction. And Fiona Harvey discusses Thomas Piketty's ideas which can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and inequality together. 

- Amber Bracken and Drew Anderson offer a reminder of the carnage being wrought in the Alberta tar sands - even as the perpetrators greenwash themselves and their destruction. And Matthew Taylor reports on new estimates showing that even based on its own spin, the fossil fuel sector is centuries away from zeroing out its emissions with carbon capture. 

- Beth Mole reports on big pharma's massive dark money donations being used to try to avoid any steps to make needed medications more affordable in the U.S. 

- And finally, Arman Hamidian discusses the need to tackle our common challenges with a whole-of-society approach, rather than an assumption that individual incentives and choices are our only options. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Crawford Kilian reviews Ryan Meili's A Healthy Future as an important account of the insufficient political response to the COVID-19 pandemic, while David Climenhaga calls out the absurdity of Preston Manning's prescription for disaster in pushing for even to be done to protect public health. And Andrew Nikiforuk discusses what we can learn - and what dangers we face - as COVID continues to circulate in deer and other animal populations. 

- Andrew Dessler writes about the scariest climate plot in the world - though it's all the more alarming for assuming that governments will take enough action to limit warming to a total of 3 degrees Celsius. On that front, A.L. Lee reports on research showing that a majority of the world's largest and richest companies are lobbying against effective climate policy. And Jake Johnson points out how the fossil fuel sector is planning massive expansion which would exacerbate our current course toward destruction.  

- Meanwhile, Martin Olzynski highlights how Danielle Smith and other petropoliticians are using their bully pulpit to goose the profits of the oil sector at public expense. And Oliver Haynes points out that the neoliberal attempt to treat consumer pricing as the only acceptable mechanism to change behaviour has made people vulnerable to that type of message. 

- Maria Farrell examines the tech sector's ideology of "libertarianism for me, feudalism for thee" - though for all of Silicon Valley's claim to innovation, it's hard to see that as representing any distinction from most of the corporate world. 

- Finally, Philip Bump discusses the rise of toxic masculinity and the normalization of political violence. And Amelia Hansford points out how the result of the right-wing project of using a culture of fear and hate to distract from material losses makes for a dangerous environment for trans women and other targeted out-groups. 

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.