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. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Andre Picard highlights the dangers of treating the return of measles (and other threats to health exacerbated by anti-science zealotry) as something to be mocked rather than taken seriously. And John Paul Tasker discusses the widespread frustration Canadians are experiencing trying to get access to primary health care in an overwhelmed and undersupported system.

- Markham Hislop highlights how China's long-term plans to ramp down the use of fossil fuels makes the UCP's plan to entrench dirty energy (including by stifling the development of renewables) into a fool's errand. But David Climenhaga notes that Danielle Smith's priority isn't so much to develop a sustainable economy so much as to ensure the public pays the long-term price for the oil industry's extraction of profits. 

- Roland Berger examines how the most carbon-intensive industrial activities on the planet can be converted to less harmful alternatives.

- Adam Cseresznye et al. study the ubiquity of persistent organic pollutants in electronic waste even in Europe where disposal of electronics is subject to some regulation. 

- Finally, Joan Westenberg asks how politicians who are determined to shut down any reliable income supports (including basic income programs) can claim to have any interest in affordability and economic security. And Crawford Kilian discusses Ingrid Robeyns' Limitarianism as providing a model to rein in income and wealth inequality while also ensuring the resources are available to meet people's needs. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- The Canadian Press reports on Statistics Canada's findings that Canadian life spans have fallen for three years in a row - with Saskatchewan continuing to face the most extreme decline. And Codi Wilson reports on Toronto's closure of its remaining COVID-19 vaccination clinics due to the Ford government's decision to stop funding prevention of avoidable transmission and illness. 

- Norm Farrell discusses how the push to expand liquid gas production may be the most dangerous fossil fuel plan in the world, while Oliver Milman writes about the U.S.' expansion of fossil fuel extraction while the world tries to work on a phaseout. Markham Hislop calls out Danielle Smith's enshittification of energy policy as a means of stalling any transition to clean energy. And Cory Doctorow points out that insurance companies are exacerbating the climate breakdown by funding oil and gas extraction while constraining public mitigation and remediation efforts. 

- Chip Colwell offers a reminder that individual-level behaviour can only accomplish so much in a system designed to encourage consumerism and waste. But David Danelski notes that one all-too-familiar form of corporate manipulation appears to be backfiring, as payment for "sponsored" product positioning in search results produces a justified aversion among users.  

- Meanwhile, Merissa Daborn writes that we should be ensuring that people have access to the necessities of life including food, rather than focusing on policing and punishing people who lack them. 

- Finally, Amanda Marcotte discusses why it's entirely healthy that so many U.S. women expect more for themselves than to settle for a MAGA reactionary in order to get married. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Stephanie Soucheray examines how COVID-19 can cause lasting damage to the brain even without causing severe initial symptoms, while the British Heart Foundation points out the soaring rates of cardiovascular disease during the course of the ongoing pandemic. And Lisa Lundberg-Morris et al. find that vaccination helps to prevent long COVID. 

- But while there has been (and remains) ample room for public policy to reduce the spread of COVID, Alanna Smith reports on the complete lack of return on the UCP's $80 million investment in giving Ottawa the middle finger. 

- Jason Markusoff highlights how Preston Manning's publicly-funded COVID inquiry report is a work of fiction. And Bob Hepburn rightly asks why the Canadian media is largely giving Pierre Poilievre a pass on his refusal to engage with the real world of policy development. 

- Markham Hislop talks to Janet Annesley about the culture of secrecy in Alberta's oil sector which precludes any honest discussion of the dangers of fossil fuel extraction and dependency. And Marco Chown Oved points out the folly of building new carbon pollution infrastructure (including fossil gas electricity generation) and pretending it's somehow a climate solution. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow discusses how the dominant tech giants have succumbed to long-foreseen enshittification - and points out how institutions can be set up and managed to avoid that outcome. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- John Woodside weighs in on the UN's recognition of the need to stop our dependence on dirty energy. And Jillian Ambrose reports on the International Energy Agency's projections which foresee the beginning of the end of fossil fuel use. 

- Leo Collis points out how steps to disincentivize combustion commuter vehicles produce safer communities on multiple levels. And Kevin Krizek writes that ever-larger vehicles are creating readily-avoidable safety hazards for pedestrians and road users. 

-  Lauren Kirschman interviews Allison Russell about the connection between the climate crisis and the information crisis - and Markham Hislop discusses how the UCP is directing tens of millions more public dollars toward polluting minds in order to enable further carbon pollution. Amanda Follett Hosgood exposes how the RCMP is burning millions of dollars protecting pipelines at the expense of people. And Natalie Alcoba reports on the massive amounts of money being poured into expanding greenhouse gas emissions compared to the pittance going to mitigation and transition measures. 

- Meanwhile, Nick Gottlieb discusses how the mining industry generally is exploiting legal loopholes in order to avoid cleaning up its toxic messes. 

- Finally, Andre Picard highlights how the poisoning of hundreds of Calgary children due to corporatized food supplies reflects the breakdown of public health as a priority in Canada. And Martin Lukacs notes that the takeover of the Cons' internal party apparatus by corporate lobbyists signals the intention to exploit the public and disregard people's well-being even more. 

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.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Joseph Puthussery et al. study the feasibility of real-time, location-based air sampling to identify the presence of COVID-19, while Jennifer La Grassa reports on the efforts of scientists to ensure the powers that be don't scrap what few remaining monitoring efforts are still in progress. And The Japan News' editorial implores that country's government not to stop preventative measures after a ninth wave - which is striking particularly due to our abandonment of any pretense of identifying waves as they keep happening. 

- Meanwhile, Patrick Heuveline discusses how the COVID pandemic has only exacerbated the U.S.' disproportionate number of excess deaths compared to other similarly wealthy countries. And Harold Meyerson writes about the recent increase in lower-income earnings which the corporate sector is determined to squelch.

- Hayatullah Amanat reports on a new survey showing the large number of Canadians losing sleep and suffering adverse health effects from financial worries. And Vanessa Balintec highlights why more needs to be done to ensure that people aren't trapped in precarious work without rights or recourse against abusive corporations. 

- Finally, Bill McKibben argues that a wave of unprecedented heat should confirm that we can't afford to put off urgent climate policy. But while Natasha Bulowski reports on research showing that the same oil industry which is determined to keep spewing carbon pollution could afford to clean up its messes, Markham Hislop calls out its unconscionable refusal to do anything but force the public to pick up the tab. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Scott Dance reports on the scientific recognition that the Earth's oceans are warming far faster than previously feared, while Sid Perkins discusses the particularly large temperature increases in parts of the north Atlantic. And the American Geophysical Union points out that humanity's unanticipated effects on the planet include pumping so much groundwater as to have altered the Earth's rotational axis. 

- Damian Carrington reports on the World Bank's recognition that massive fossil fuel and agricultural subsidies are major contributors to environmental damage. And George Monbiot writes about the connection between fascist politics and climate change denial.

- But lest anybody think the problem lies solely in right-wing parties, Alex Ballingall reports on how the Trudeau Libs have failed to spend billions in promised climate funding. And Markham Hislop laments the state of Alberta's climate politics on all sides, while Martin Lukacs points out how fossil fuel lobbyists are largely dictating the direction of the provincial NDP in multiple provinces. 

- David Moscrop discusses how the Ford government is using glaringly inaccurate budget estimates to justify a failure to fund public services. 

- Lauren Weber, Caitlin Gilbert and Taylor Lorenz report on the systematic development of astroturf groups intended to establish naked reactionary bigotry as the basis for health policy. 

- Finally, Anand Giridharadas' commencement speech to Sidwell Friends School offers a compelling call to young people to work on fixing the institutions which are so profoundly broken. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Beth Blauer writes about the continuing need for accurate and timely data about COVID-19 as it represent an ongoing threat. And Rachel Bergmans et al. examine the impact of long COVID on Black Americans in particular, while pointing out a few ways to make treatment more effective. 

- Justin Wiltshire examines how higher minimum wages produce massive benefits in increasing pay and reducing inequality, while actually increasing employment levels as well contrary to the corporate spin which is typically taken as gospel. And Andrew Perez, Matthew Cunningham-Cook and David Sirota call out how corporate talking points have been applied in preference to all evidence in explaining inflation, with the result that the policy response has locked in windfall profits at the expense of workers. 

- David Roberts writes that none of the world's largest industries would be profitable if they properly accounted for the natural capital destroyed by their operations. Markham Hislop reports on Alberta's comical level of corporate capture as the regulator theoretically responsible for environmental issues in the resource sector has been ordered to cheerlead and cover up for the companies it's supposed to be regulating, while Robert Ascah warns that the public is being left on the hook for massive cleanup costs while operators ship their profits out of the province. And Paige Parsons reports on the federal investigation which is just starting to address the oilsands tailing leaks hidden from public view by the UCP.  

- Michelle Cyca discusses how residential school denialism is being propagated to excuse the ongoing structural disdvantages imposed on Indigenous peoples. And Dennis Ward reports on the Neskantaga First Nation's multi-decade boil-water advisory as having corroded public trust. 

- Finally, Tim Requarth writes about the growing scientific recognition that alcohol creates a clear detriment to health - and the difficulty spreading that message when a large industry is dedicated to maximizing its sales regardless of the social cost. And Sally Wadyka discusses the connection between ultraprocessed foods and risks to mental health. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- E. Wesley Ely discusses the developing - and worrisome - body of knowledge of how COVID-19 affects the brain, while Korin Miller reports on the link between COVID and diabetes. William Brangham and Dorothy Hastings talk to people living with long COVID about the devastation it's caused with little public attention. And Brianne Foley reports on the latest after-the-fact data dump showing that the Moe government's consistent minimization of an ongoing pandemic has pushed people to stop taking the most basic precautions including getting updated vaccines.

- Megan Ogilvie and Kate Allen survey experts as to the most immediate priorities for investments in health care. And Armine Yalnizyan and Pat Armstrong write about the dangers of the profitization of care - and the need for protections against the level of corporate ownership that's permitted as Canada's health care system is currently structured.

- Eugene Robinson writes that the East Palestine toxic release shows the dangers of prioritizing a quick buck over people's health and well-being.

- Arielle Samuelson and Emily Atkin call out some of the propaganda tactics being used by the fossil gas industry to try to lock us into decades of carbon pollution. And Markham Hislop points out how Danielle Smith is predictably treating fossil fuels as her only priority by setting up a panel with zero representatives connected to any other energy source.

- Finally, Justin Ling and Catherine Tunney each report on the findings of the Public Order Emergency Commission that a declaration of emergency was warranted to respond to the threat of the #FluTruxKlan (due particularly to the combination of fecklessness and outright sedition from right-wing forces). And Robert Libman discusses how Pierre Poilievre's rhetoric about freedom is absolutely hollow given his eagerness to support prejudice-based crackdowns on the rights which are actually under threat.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Katherine Wu warns that another U.S. COVID wave may severely test what's already proven to be an alarming willingness to accept injury and death. Sophia Stocklein et al. find that the effects of COVID-19 include impeding prenatal lung development. Amanda Follett Hosgood reports on B.C.'s failure to track spread in and from work camps. Jessica Wong reports on polling showing that over two thirds of parents recognize that governments have overlooked children's health and wellness, while Alicia Abelson and Sarah Jacobson report on a court's conclusion that the political blocking of masking measures is discrimination against immunocompromised students. And May Warren discusses the options for individual "risk budgeting" - though it's pathetic that our political leaders have refused to engage in the task at the social level. 

- Dylan Short reports on the exodus of doctors from Jason Kenney's Alberta already - and the prospect of far more following suit if the UCP isn't replaced by a government with some interest in a functional medical system. 

- Markham Hislop writes about the International Energy Agency's plan to quickly slash fossil fuel use - with the twin benefits of both facilitating a clean energy transition, and making people less vulnerable to oil sector price gouging. And both Alex Chapman and the Guardian's editorial board point out the comparative folly of cutting gas taxes, which redistributes wealth upward, incentivizes continued pollution and enables the fossil fuel sector to seize even more windfall profits. 

- Finally, Amanda Schepak discusses Mary Annaïse Heglar's work trying to break the oil industry's stranglehold on public policy decisions. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Kit Yates discusses how the lifting of COVID-19 public health protections in the UK has predictably precipitated another wave of infections. Natalie Grover writes about the two-year-long battle to get decision-makers to accept that COVID-19 is transmitted through the air. And Catherine Pearson examines the factors which have allowed people to avoid becoming infected through the pandemic so far - with the effectiveness of public health measures (even when they haven't been recommended or required by governments) serving as the most important factor. 

- Meanwhile, Annie Lennon writes about research showing how COVID-19 can cause lasting nerve damage. And Adnan Qureshi et al. find that it can be responsible for new onset dementia. 

- Josh Rubin reports that far too many business are following cues from governments eager to declare the pandemic over in the face of any scientific evidence. Charlie Smith reports on research showing how racialized people suffer disproportionately from the elimination of public health protections, while the Canadian Press reports on the impossible situation facing parents of children under 5 who lack the protection from vaccination that the rest of the population is relying on to avoid the worst effects of COVID-19. And Adam Miller discusses how our mental health care system is in crisis while lacking any new resources to deal with new cases and issues arising out of the pandemic. 

- Finally, Markham Hislop contrasts Canada's largely empty words about transitioning to a clean economy against Europe's developing plan to make the shift over a decade or less. And Max Fawcett points out that Canada's oil industry is beholden to exactly the same Russian interests which its political puppets are claiming to be able to replace.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Reuters reports on research showing that public health measures implemented in response to COVID-19 also saved hundreds of thousands of lives by limiting the spread of dengue fever. Nadia A. Sam-Agudu, Boghuma Kabisen Titanji, Fredros Okumu, and Madhukar Pai discuss how wealthier countries are "moving on" from COVID with no regard for people or countries who can't escape its effects, while the World Health Organization highlights how the harm from the ongoing pandemic is falling disproportionately on women. And Bartley Kives reports on the recognition by public health experts that the premature elimination of even basic protections like self-isolation is foolish in Manitoba and other Canadian provinces. 

- Gina Miller discusses how Russian money has corrupted the UK's political system - and the need for concerted action to re-empower citizens over oligarchs. And the International Energy Agency offers a ten-point plan to reduce Europe's reliance on Russian fossil fuels - with alternative sources of natural gas representing only a small part of the overall picture. 

- Markham Hislop writes about that based on its contribution to carbon pollution and environmental destruction, Alberta's oil is anything but ethical by any reasonable measure. And Natasha Bulowski reports on Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux' recognition that the Trans Mountain pipeline is a money loser for the federal government rather than an investment to fund any transition to clean energy. 

- Finally, Omayra Issa discusses how Saskatchewan's social support system falls far short of providing people with a reasonable standard of living - and is falling behind all the more as the Moe government refuses to index or update income levels. 

#Elxn44 Roundup

The latest from Canada's federal election campaign.

- Khalden Dhatsenpa and Gavin Armitage-Ackerman write about the need to treat housing as a human right rather than a commodity. 

- PressProgress reports on an internal Health Canada report showing how the NDP's plan for dental coverage would remove crucial barriers to access to dental care while also reducing health costs.  

- Andrea Perrella and Brian Tanguay make the case to follow through on ending the first-past-the-post electoral system in favour of a proportional system. 

- Markham Hislop highlights the parties' positions on a just transition to a clean economy - with particular attention paid to the failure of either the Libs or the Cons to make anything of the sort a priority at what may be the best possible time to plan the transition. And David Climenhaga reports on the Alberta Oil War Room's apparent breaches of election financing requirements in demanding indefinite fossil fuel production and data mining for Conservative-connected groups. 

- The Care Economy offers a fact sheet on care issues in the election, as well as questions worth raising with candidates. 

- Finally, Leyland Cecco writes about Jagmeet Singh's growing appeal - along with the NDP's ability to influence policy in another likely minority Parliament. And Nick Taylor-Vaisey examines where the parties stand after last week's debate - with Singh emerging as the victor in public perceptions.