Saturday Afternoon Links

 Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Sidney Blumenthal writes that the Trump regime never ceases to spiral downward (no matter how difficult it would seem to get worse than their previous actions). Anne Applebaum discusses the erosion of the U.S.' civil service as people with knowledge and integrity are being displaced in favour of lackeys and useful idiots. And Supriya Dwivedi notes that Donald Trump's impetuousness doesn't mask his oft-stated plans for conquest and exploitation. 

- Donald Gutstein examines how tech giants represent the tip of the spear in the U.S.' threats to Canada. And Matt Seybold discusses the attempt to impose mandatory AI adoption to squeeze profits out of massive promised investments which will never make sense without strongarming governments and citizens. 

- Veronica Riccobene and Freddy Brewster highlight how private prison contractors are raking in massive profits from ICE's indiscriminate detention of anybody who crosses its path. And Luke Farrell points out that private contractors are making a killing off of needless means-testing contracts to deny benefits to members of the public. 

- Finally, Anoosh Chekellan writes about the pathetic excuses for playgrounds which are being foisted on families by UK developers. And Kea Wilson reports on a new survey showing that Americans are broadly open to living car-free if their communities are set up to allow for it. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Maggie O'Neill discusses how new research is confirming the importance of avoiding COVID reinfections. And Edward Keenan asks what it will take for us to take even such basic precautions as masking if overflowing pediatric intensive care units are being seen as an acceptable trade-off for living in denial of an ongoing pandemic and other infectious diseases, while Public Health Ontario confirms (PDF) that masking requirements and other public health measures are the best defence against the spread of new variants.  

- Jon Meddings and Paul Armstrong call out the pandemic of misinformation which is serving to make matters worse in Alberta (and elsewhere). And Kevin Esvelt points out what the feeble-to-destructive reaction to an unintended pandemic might mean if a deliberate one were put in motion. 

- Linda McQuaig discusses how billionaires' disproportionate contribution to the climate crisis and resource exhaustion makes them among the most dangerous people on the planet. And Gloria Novovic calls out the Libs for offering personal moralizing as a distraction from systemic exploitation and inequality.  

-  Matt Bruenig points out how means-testing of benefit programs serves only to increase costs while also making public support far more fragile. 

- Finally, Elizabeth Thompson reports on the evidence of foreign donations to the #FluTruxKlan which has been confirmed through the Emergencies Act commission. And Monia Mazigh discusses how the inquiry has also highlighted the difference in treatment between white, privileged occupiers and minority groups who have quickly been labeled threats to national security. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Elisabeth McClymont et al. study the risks COVID-19 creates for maternal and perinatal outcomes, while Jessica Widdifield et al. find that vaccines are particularly effective at reducing the severity of COVID for people with immune disorders. Jacquie Miller reports on the calls from Ontario public health experts to reinstate masking requirements, while Zak Vescera reports on Haisam Haddad's warning that Saskatoon is far short of having the hospital capacity it needs. And Kristen McEwen highlights new research documenting the effect of the pandemic on mental health among young people. 

- Christopher Holcroft calls out Pierre Poilievre's complete lack of concern for people's suffering in the midst of a pandemic, while Dennis Raphael writes that the destructive response of the Ford PCs (among other governments) shows that social murder remains a gruesome reality. And Umair Haque writes that the record-breaking temperatures devastating India represent an introduction to an age of cataclysm which so many leaders are eager to deny or minimize. 

- Bob Lord and Frank Clemente write about the rise of "dynasty trusts" which are placing more billionaires' assets than ever out of the reach of any U.S. taxation. 

- Meanwhile, David Sirota and Andrew Perez discuss the con of means-testing which makes social benefits more expensive to administer and more vulnerable to political attacks. 

- Max Fawcett argues that Canada needs to call the oil industry's bluff as it demands ever more exorbitant subsidies to faclitate its continued generation of windfall profits and carbon pollution. And Cristen Hemingway Jaynes reports on the case scientists are making to cut down on plastic production rather than relying on ineffective recycling programs as the sole means of reducing plastic waste.

- Finally, Karl Nerenberg writes that the Ontario NDP (unlike its competitors) is offering a needed start in addressing the housing crisis, but that there's plenty more left to be done. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Owen Jones discusses the importance of the labour movement in ensuring that workers can get ahead in life, rather than drowning in debt:

Nights spent staring at the ceiling as worries dance manically around the brain. Taking a deep breath before opening the gas bill. Sacrificing a hot meal so your children don’t need to. Living with personal debt can be draining and emotionally exhausting, and it is the everyday experience of all too many Britons. According to a new TUC report, 3.2m British households face problem debt, meaning they spend more than a quarter of their overall income repaying unsecured borrowings (ie, excluding mortgages). For 1.6m households in extreme debt, the picture is even bleaker: more than 40% of their income goes to creditors.

This is the lived experience of Britain’s working poor, those who keep the country ticking with their hard graft and are rewarded with poverty and insecurity. British workers have suffered the longest fall in wages since Queen Victoria sat on the throne. Between 2007 and 2015, real wages fell by an astonishing 10.4% - the worst fall in any advanced nation other than Greece. Growing personal debt is the price many British workers have paid for the disastrous economic failure of George Osborne and his colleagues – one of whom is now the nation’s prime minister.
...
In Nordic countries, it is the norm for workers to be unionised. Better living standards and more equality than we have in Britain are two of the byproducts. Jeremy Corbyn – near-certain to be re-elected Labour leader next month – has unveiled policies such as compulsory collective bargaining for companies with more than 250 workers. Such an approach would help lift the wages of workers, not only for their own good, but for the good of the British economy, too. But the positive case for trade unionism cannot just be left to politicians: it needs to be made by all of us. It needs to be put in a language that resonates with the millions of non-unionised workers, and particularly for younger people for whom the very notion of trade unionism seems culturally alien. Personal debt is a blight in modern Britain – and trade unionism is one of its cures.

- And PressProgress highlights how Canada's youth are also facing an unprecedented combination of large debt and minimal employment opportunities.

- Tom Parkin notes that under the Trudeau Libs, Canada's real economy isn't keeping up with the "like economy" - and that we need strong government action to improve matters at all. And the New York Times' editorial board highlights the role an affordable child care system can play in improving outcomes for parents and children alike.

- Scott Santens surveys a UK review as to how means-testing can create fatal holes in a social safety net. But Noah Zon raises some important questions as to whether a basic income represents the best way to strengthen our social supports.

- Johnny SanPhillippo points out that poverty and precarity are important factors shaping individual well-being even in the areas (mostly suburbs) which are all too often considered to be immune.

- Finally, Brooke Harrington discusses the utter futility of expecting any positive social or economic outcomes from tax haven status.