Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Beth Kowitt discusses how the inequality and exclusion deliberately exacerbated by the wealthiest few are only ensuring that CEOs have no idea how angry the public is with them. David Higginbottom writes about the capital class' increasingly sophisticated and thorough extraction of labour and value from the rest of us. And Nora Loreto discusses how the Libs have always been on the side of capital rather than the environment. 

- Madison Mills notes that the businesses who have poured the most faith and funding into AI are starting to realize that they're not getting anything close to the value promised by its purveyors. And Patrick Galey delves into the lies which have been used to lure them in. 

- Raphael Satter reports that the U.S. government's neglect of personal privacy and data protection has reached the point where its own troops are being targeted thanks to information handed to unscrupulous data brokers.  

- Jonathan Liew rightly questions why anybody who considers themselves progressive would want to contribute content and eyeballs to a Nazi recruitment tool like X.  

- Finally, James Goldston and Natasha Arnpriester write that the Trump regime's dehumanization of refugees and asylum claimants is utterly intolerable - and needless to say the same should go for any other country's willingness to pretend that the U.S. is a safe landing place for immigrants. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Anne Applebaum weighs in on the inevitable recognition by any remotely rational actor that it's pointless to offer Donald Trump any respect or trustworthiness that he's fundamentally incapable of reciprocating, while Andrew Egger rightly highlights how Trump has lost friends and alienated people. But Pooja Misra reports that Pierre Poilievre is determinated to be the sucker who bets Canada's future on the preposterous theory that Trump can be trusted both to bargain in good faith, and hold up his end of any deal. 

- Jake Grumbach discusses the longstanding awareness that extreme inequality is incompatible with a functional political system and constitutional order. And Roberta Lexier writes about the feedback loop between capitalist accumulation and fascist politics - along with the need to fight back against both. 

- Jen Deerinwater and Jesse Deer In Water discuss the Indigenous pushback against the environmental damage and cultural theft wrought by gigantic data centres. Brian Merchant explores how AI is undermining post-secondary education in the U.S. And Emily Tate Sullivan examines how AI slop is particularly harmful to children's brains which are still developing. 

- Finally, Nora Loreto examines the connections between military culture and white supremacism in Quebec City. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Scott Stinson writes that there's no reasonable explanation for Donald Trump's constantly-shifting position on tariffs, while Greg Sargent discusses the growing body of evidence that the tariffs are primarily an attempt to shake down Canada for its sovereignty. And Michael Byers argues that the U.S.' hostility to Canada represents a decisive reason to cancel the outstanding order for F-35 fighter jets which would further their control over our national defence - particularly since the U.S. is making clear that longstanding alliances and promises can't be counted on. 

- Lawrence Douglas discusses how the Trump regime is turning the corporate media into a propaganda machine for his government. And Anthony Nadler and Reece Peck set out how to build a reality-based ecosystem to amplify the voice of the working class. 

- Nora Loreto rightly argues that we shouldn't allow Canadian-branded corporate raiders to profiteer off of the U.S.' threats, while Justina Ray notes that a long-term perspective needs to include recognition of the importance of a healthy environment. And Matthew Mendelsohn and Jon Shell discuss some of the options to keep our own economy in Canadian hands, while Craig Lord reports on the first step in that process as the federal government makes a long-needed move to include economic security as a basis for reviewing takeovers.  

- Jared Wesley points out how the shift in public priorities from individualism to collective action is anathema to the plans of the Cons and their right-wing cousins. 

- Finally, Tanya Lewis talks to public health experts about some of the lessons learned after five years of COVID-19. And Lore Kelley interviews Katherine Wu about how a growing measles outbreak precipitated by vaccine rejection is starting to cause its own cataclysmic effects for American children. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Paul Krugman discusses how one of the top priorities of the second Donald Trump administration is to trash public health in the U.S. And CBC News reports that the Libs are cutting public health staffing even as COVID continues to circulate and new threats emerge while the U.S. vacuum undermines any international response.

- Hamilton Nolan writes that Trump's ascent makes for a painful political application of the Greater Fool Theory in action - and that the only path to reversing it is to engage in opposition rather than attempts to foist costs onto others. Thor Benson interviews David de Jong about the history of corporate oligarchs making common cause with fascists in order to entrench their wealth and power. And Nora Loreto writes that the rise of fascism can be traced to the displacement of democratic power by neoliberal capitalism.  

- David Climenhaga discusses Steve Verheul's recognition that Danielle Smith is looking to sell out Canada to benefit Trump, while Stephen Magusiak notes that Scott Moe and other right-wing politicians are joining the anti-Canada coalition. And James Magnus-Johnston writes that we can't take for granted that a US takeover is impossible when a substantial base of institutional power is perfectly willing to collaborate with it. 

- Noah Berlatsky writes about the need to support the people who dare to speak out against the abuses of the Trump regime, even as Parker Molloy points out the rage machine seeking to impose intolerable costs on anybody who does so. Grace Blakely discusses how only collective action will offer a viable alternative to the descent into authoritarianism, while Sam Pressler points out the dangers of thinking we can make progress without engaging people directly. And David Zipper notes that car-centric urban design has made it needlessly difficult for people to interact socially. 

- Finally, Jake Landau comments on the importance of providing refuge for trans people and others fleeing the U.S. But Emma Weller reports that the Libs are instead slashing our immigration resources while holding to the claim that there's no concern about anybody's safety. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Kathy Sheridan discusses why it's well past time to ensure billionaires pay their fair share of taxes, while Graeme Wearden and Heather Stewart report on a new poll showing that even a majority of millionaires view extreme wealth concentration as a threat to democracy. And Andrew Perez and Asawin Suebsaeng highlight how the U.S.' oligarchy is past putting even a facade of caring about anything other than its own concentration of wealth and power, while Filipe Campante and Raymond Fisman note that crony capitalism invariably produces worse results for everybody other than the few members of the regime's inner circle.  

- Meanwhile, Tom Parkin points out the stark difference between anti-tax rhetoric in theory and practice, as workers earning up to $150,000 pay less tax in British Columbia than Alberta while only the richest pay less under a right-wing government. 

- Nora Loreto discusses how our political and economic system has been designed to squeeze workers and remove supports in order to ensure people are easily exploited by the rich. And Emma Paling notes that the U.S. has been dictating the terms of Canadian politics for decades at the expense of our sovereignty and well-being. 

- Mihai Andrei writes about new research showing the connection between hard-right ideology and systemic misinformation even before the social media takeover by regressive forces. 

- Finally, Gordon Brown offers a warning to Donald Trump about the dangers of abandoning the World Health Organization when countries' interests in fighting disease are so closely aligned. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your mid-week reading.

- Jeremy Corbyn writes about the denialism involved in refusing to deal with the climate crisis with language and action proportionate to its dangers. Zoe Schlanger discusses how the breakdown we're experiencing goes far beyond what was projected even by the models which have told us we should be doing far more. Bill McKibben points out the stark difference between Jimmy Carter's leadership and forward thinking as to the value of renewable energy, and the oil-fueled anti-science of Ronald Reagan which shut down any prospect of cleaner energy which wouldn't serve to enrich a small set of oil tycoons. David Roberts discusses the work of Greenlight America in seeking to organize people to support renewable projects. And Andrew Lam reports on new research showing a correlation between proximity to Alberta oil and gas infrastructure and respiratory and cardiovascular difficulties - while noting that the province has gone far out of its way to avoid accurately assessing the harms of fossil fuels.

- Peter Bloom examines the growing body of evidence showing that neoliberal "saviors" can't protect against the spread of authoritarianism - particularly as they seek to exacerbate the concentration of wealth and power. And Matthew Green and Joseph Gubbels discuss how Justin Trudeau's abandonment of electoral reform reflects his blinkered view of democracy as entitling people only to select which representatives of the elite will control them, while Christo Aivilis rightly argues that the NDP should be loudly committing to follow through where Trudeau broke his promise. 

- Nora Loreto writes about the concerted effort to infantilize younger adults in order to prevent the exercise of collective action. Miles Klee highlights how slurs which had long been treated as unacceptable are being revived as part of the alt-right's assault on human decency. And Rafael Behr writes that Kemi Badenoch is continuing the UK Cons' descent into conspiracy theory and fascist rhetoric.

- Finally, Katie Surma and Nicholas Kusnetz discuss Bolivia's long road to extricating itself from ISDS  corporate control agreements. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Jo Lauder, Tyne Logan, Fran Rimrod, Alex Lim and Stacy Gougoulis discuss how a largely-forgotten 2009 heat wave is the deadliest natural disaster in Australia's recent history - and how the climate breakdown is threatening to undermine the work done since then to protect people from extreme heat. 

- Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood points out that Donald Trump's plans to push increased American fossil fuel extraction may make Canadian production into a money-loser even faster than anticipated. Mitch Anderson reports on CAPP president Lisa Baiton's abandonment of any pretense that Canada's oil sector will ever contribute to even net-zero emissions. But Robert Tuttle reports that an abject refusal to be part of any solution isn't stopping Imperial Oil from demanding tens of billions of public dollars for a carbon capture scheme. 

- Oliver Milman reports on the U.S. climate scientists facing the reality of a denialist federal government. Ned Resnikoff writes that there's no reason to pretend the Republicans' plans to trash the any trace of a functional state will be anything but destructive to the general public. And Denny Carter discusses how people have been trained to think of any regulation as undesirable - while being open to recognizing the protectie function that regulations are intended to serve. 

- Nora Loreto points out that the austerity pushed by parties who rely largely on rural voters is responsible for the erosion of smaller communites. 

- Zoe Williams writes about the realities of life in the midst of a "quad-demic" even as most people operate in utter denial. Devi Sridhar discusses the particularly acute danger of a bird flu pandemic based on the foreseeable mutation of strains which have already been detected. And C. Alfaro et al. examine how it's possible to detect aerosolized COVID-19 - and how care homes and healthcare settings have the most dangerous concentrations. 

- Finally, Edward Zitron discusses the corporate enshittification of everything, as the software systems underlying an increasingly large proportion of human activity become perpetually more focused on extracting profits at the expense of people.  

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. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- David Climenhaga writes that nobody should be surprised by Danielle Smith's determination to privatize Alberta's health system - though her explicit declaration that she wants providers to be motivated by an ethic of fear rather than care lays bare what the UCP has in store. Alexander Quon reports on the patient-pays system for doctor access set up by one Regina medical clinic on the Moe government's watch. And Gretchen Morgenson reports on research showing how private equity involvement in health facilities results in asset stripping and worse service. 

- Nora Loreto calls out the right-wing push to maximize harm and deaths from public health challenges. And Jon Woodward reports on the large number of additional deaths anticipated from Doug Ford's shuttering of safe consumption sites alone. 

- Todd Feathers reports on the illegal denial of hundreds of millions of dollars of medical benefits by a malfunctioning AI system. And Michael Joel-Hansen reports on the known issues with the Saskatchewan Party's new payment processing system which is leaving workers unpaid and supplies unordered. 

- Suzanne Blake reports on the admission by one Kroger executive that it engaged in price gouging (while using inflation as an excuse for profit-taking).

- Finally, Emily Peck discusses how the U.S.' public perception of labour unions is at a multi-decade high.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Liam Mannix examines how the scientists with the deepest knowledge of the risks of COVID-19 are protecting themselves from the ongoing pandemic. And Robson Fletcher writes about the attempts of Calgary parents to gather data on how to keep schools safe (in the face of school board choices to prohibit either filters or any measurement of the effect of their absence). 

- Christina Frangou discusses how for-profit online providers are looking to cash in on the underfunding of primary care, while Mike Crawley reports on the use of nurse practitioners as a loophole to allow for pay-for-play access to medical care. Nora Loreto highlights how public-sector wage freezes are designed to push workers into privatized systems. And Gregg Gonsalves writes about the battle for even worse standards of health care in the U.S. - offering an obvious reply to the attempt to privatizers to claim that the development of profit-based systems has nothing to do with the decay of access to public health care. 

- Meanwhile, Mary Catt writes about the increased level of strike activity in the U.S. as workers stand up for themselves - particularly in the food and hospitality industry. And Stephanie Vozza discusses how people are more productive in "non-linear" work structures - rather than the heavily-monitored, employer-driven schedules which seek to control every second of a worker's day. 

- Alex Nurse, Alessia Calafiore and Richard Dunning contrast the anti-fact right's contrived panic over 15-minutes cities against the reality of navigable communities. And Jonathan Green interviews Brent Toderian about how basic liveability was turned into a conspiracy theory. 

- Finally, Rachel Aiello points out a few conclusions of the Public Order Emergency Commission's report which deserve more attention - including the #FluTruxKlan's connection to right-wing petropolitics, and the massive amounts of money which were dumped into its coffers based on that link. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Philip Aldrick reports on the UK's belated recognition that long COVID likely bears responsibility for a massive and sustained spike in inactive workers. And Nora Loreto discusses how provinces have stopped reporting on COVID-19 deaths in institutional settings, meaning that we have less information now than two years ago about the risks and harm caused by the ongoing pandemic. 

- Meanwhile, the UK's chief medical officer's annual report focuses on the importance of reducing air pollution - both outdoors and indoors - if we have any interest in keeping people healthy. 

- Al Jazeera reports on another spill from the Keystone XL pipeline, this time into a creek in Kansas. Natasha Bulowski reports on the federal government's plan to end oil and gas funding overseas - as well as the exceptions and baked into any concept of limiting fossil fuel subsidies. And Marco Chown Oved discusses how the level of industry capture has reached the point where the Libs have chosen to put the natural gas supplier Enbridge in charge of running a home efficiency grant intended to wean people off of its core product. 

- Finally, Daniel Denvir interviews Nancy Fraser about the spread of capitalism into every aspect of our lives. Moya Lothian-McLean highlights her imminent eviction by a "good" landlord as an example of the folly of relying on corporate largesse to meet people's needs rather than fighting for the interests of the population at large. And Adam King writes that the labour movement needs to work on new means of organizing to boost union density and bargaining power. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Erin Prater reports on research showing how long COVID may be traced to excessive pruning of connections in the brain. Faye Flam highlights why anybody who's been infected will need to be on the outlook for stroke symptoms. And Norman Swan warns of the aging effect COVID-19 has on a person's body. 

- Adam Morton reports on a study suggesting that Australia's system of carbon credits managed to reward businesses for "forest regeneration" even as they reduced tree cover. And Nicholas Kusnetz discusses the likelihood that private equity is snapping up unviable fossil fuel properties with the intention of continuing to spew carbon pollution long past the point when any publicly-traded company could justify that course of action to shareholders. 

- Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood and Noah Kathen outline what a green industrial policy could look like if Canada wanted to invest in a liveable future, rather than prolonging the damage done by reliance on oil and gas. And David Macdonald highlights how the federal government (like its provincial counterparts) has plenty of fiscal room for both industrial policy and social supports if it wasn't bent on pushing austerity. 

- John Anderson laments that Canada Post's theoretical nod to postal banking has been set up as a corporate income stream rather than a service for people. And Paul Dechene reports on the City of Regina's farcical attempt to force a series of entertainment projects onto residents rather than paying any attention to its previous consultations and promises. 

- Finally, Nora Loreto points out how authoritarianism has consistently been the establishment response to meaningful labour activism in Canada. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- David Dayen discusses how manufacturing monopolies have produced the U.S.' shortage of baby formula. And Alyssa Rosenberg recognizes that any reasonably-governed country would be moving heaven and earth to ensure infants don't suffer due to corporate greed. 

- Meanwhile, Nina Lakhani exposes how meat packing giants and the Trump administration sacrificed workers' lives rather than allowing any health and safety protections to be applied even in the face of a deadly virus. And Nora Loreto asks why we still don't have anything remotely approaching an accounting of the lives lost to workplace-spread COVID in Canada. 

- thwap points out how anti-inflation rhetoric is being used as yet another excuse for class war against workers. 

- Alexander Furnas et al. study how lobbying leads to changes in policy - finding donations to be less of a direct influence than ideological sorting. 

- On the bright side (and in a prime example of policy we should be looking to emulate) Sam Jones reports on Spain's plans to provide menstrual leave among other additional measures to ensure improved gender equity.

- Finally, Stephen Maher discusses the increasing threats and harassment facing people seeking to run for office - though it's well worth noting the asymmetry based on ideological orientation as fascist groups primed to treat others as subhuman apply that theory to the political sphere. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Zak Vescera exposes how the Saskatchewan Health Authority warned Scott Moe's government that it was extending a COVID wave, endangering lives and exceeding the capacity of the health care system by eliminating public health protections, only to have Moe barge ahead with his plans for mass spread. Linda McQuaig discusses how Doug Ford has chosen to let the denialist convoy dictate his province's COVID-19 policy at the cost of Ontario's health, while Becky Robertson reports on the locations bringing in their own mandatory masking policies to try to make up for the government's neglect. And Nora Loreto highlights the data deficit which has been an issue throughout the pandemic - even as it's been made worse recently due to the deliberate choice to deprive people of the information needed to assess their own risk. 

- Elizabeth Payne reports on a new study confirming that children are in fact substantial sources of spread within households. And Ashley Okwuosa reports on research showing how migrant agricultural workers were - and remain - particularly vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19 in Ontario. 

- Dru Oja Jay interviews Mostafa Heneway about his experience working at Amazon and the first successful certification vote at its Staten Island warehouse. 

- Jordan Press reports on the Libs' choice to exclude labour from any consultation on an announced skills training program. Clem Nocos examines the federal budget's funding for climate initiatives, while pointing out the folly of making a fossil fuel subsidy its largest payout. Barbara Shecter reports on the modest increases in taxes on the financial sector. But Darren Shore points out how those along with other announcements fall short of both the Libs' promises, and what's needed to ensure that the wealthiest pay their fair share.

- Finally, Mitchell Thompson discusses how what's presented for public consumption as small-government budgeting in fact reflects untrammeled racism. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Lauren Pelley and Adam Miller discuss the reality that Canada has never seen its previous COVID wave fully recede even as a new one looms, while the Ottawa Citizen asks people to exercise the responsibility and judgment that's sorely lacking from their governments in taking precautions to avoid further spread. And Ziyad Al-Ali interviews Stephanie Desmond about the reality that even mild cases can result in prolonged heart issues, while Jessica Wildfire writes about the folly of surrendering to a disease that affects people's cognitive function in all walks of life. 

- Meanwhile, Alison reviews Nora Loreto's Spin Doctors as an essential read on the pandemic and how it's been misdiagnosed in the media even as right-wing governments seize on the harm to our health care system for their own ideological ends. Jake Johnson discusses how a growing takeover by private equity has led to resident neglect in U.S. care homes. And a group of labour federations calls for the public to take action against any move toward U.S.-style profit-driven health services. 

- Karl Nerenberg makes the case for Canada to stop allowing oligarchs to shelter their fortunes in secrecy here. 

- Christine Berry highlights how corporations are making a killing by raising prices while falsely blaming outside economic factors. And Megan Devlin reports on Mark Lee's call for a windfall profit tax to prevent the fossil fuel sector from profiteering in the face of war and a pandemic. 

- Drew Anderson reports on the plight of a Yorkton family which has seen the value of its home and business lost to environmental contamination, while the two corporate giants responsible stonewall and the government tries to relieve them of any liability. 

- Finally, Ian Welsh offers a concise summary of the features which make for good leadership - and which are all too often lacking in the people who do exercise authority. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Nora Loreto discusses the collective trauma which is following from the combination of a pandemic and a determined effort by our ruling class not to limit the harm it causes. And Dan Sinker writes about the impossibility of reaching anything approaching normal when war and disease are the leading factors shaping our lives. 

- Luke Taylor offers a warning to the Americans not to lower their guard against COVID. Brooklyn Neustaedter reports on the recognition that there's no going back to the way things were prior to the pandemic, while Jean Laroche reports on the expert pushback against lifting mask mandates in Nova Scotia. And Maria Godoy writes about the obvious potential for improvement in air quality standards in classrooms and elsewhere.

- Katherine Scott points out how the pandemic has confirmed the need to take profit motives out of long-term care - as the same businesses responsible for tens of thousands of deaths through resident neglect and poor planning managed to keep their profits at entirely typical levels. And Robert Williams reports on the organizing drive to keep Ontario's health care system from being sold off. But the Canadian Press reports that Loblaws is giving effect to the dangers of for-profit care under corporate control by buying up a major provider of uninsured services. 

- Meanwhile, John di Nino writes about the pattern of privatization of public transit, while Natasha Bulowski reports on the Libs' choice to continue that trend for a major VIA Rail corridor. 

- Finally, Jake Johnson observes that a massive majority of Americans wants to see corporations pay windfall taxes based on their jacking up prices and profits in the midst of a crisis. And John Nichols makes the case to apply that principle to the fossil fuel sector in particular. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Abdullah Shihipar discusses why one-way masking is far from an adequate solution to the public health problems posed by even the current variants of COVID-19, while Monica Torres points out how far we are from the point where prudent people can reasonably take the invitation to stop masking in the workplace. And Sarah Trick writes that telling immunocompromised people they can isolate themselves completely while a "new normal" develops without them is far from an acceptable position. 

- Nora Loreto rightly raises the question of why the Trudeau government has applied the Emergencies Act only to protect commercial transit, but not to keep tens of thousands of people from dying as a result of a pandemic. An anonymous Ottawa resident describes how citizen activism was able to do what police failed or refused to do in blocking the #FluTruxKlan, while Vanessa Balintec notes that the occupation of Ottawa has only exacerbated some of the health concerns arising out of the COVID pandemic. And the Angus Reid Institute finds overwhelming public opinion in opposition to the convoy of disease and hate.  

- Henry Giroux writes that the purpose of the convoy is to destroy the ability of democratic governments to act for the common good, while Paul Krugman notes that the only "right" being effectively asserted is the right to destroy. And Tom Cardoso reports on the financial backers - both Canadian and foreign - offering up millions of dollars toward those ends, including fossil fuel interests looking to undermine acceptance of science generally. 

- Finally, Charlotte Grieve reports on the less-than-surprising revelation that the gas industry is just as deceptive in seeking approval for continued carbon pollution as the coal and oil industries have been to put us on the precipice of climate breakdown. And the Associated Press reports on the U.S.' "megadrought", along with its roots traceable directly to climate change. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Mark Lipsitch et al. examine the current state of knowledge about COVID breakthrough infections and the public health measures still needed to avoid them. Kenyon Wallace and Ed Tubb highlight the dangers of new waves of deadly viral spread in long-term care homes which are wrongly assuming that vaccination is the only protection residents need, while Carly Weeks notes that experts are calling for limitations on mass gatherings. 

- Mariana Mazzucato and Ilona Kickbusch discuss the consequences of putting insufficient resources toward public health on a global scale. And Nora Loreto writes that media misdiagnosis has made it far more difficult to encourage people to contribute to the prevention and cure of COVID spread.

- Meanwhile, Steven Lewis writes that even before taking account the looming fifth COVID wave, the Moe government's insistence on throwing money at corporate operators is doomed to failure as a means of addressing surgical waitlists.

- D.T. Cochrane discusses the continued income inequality and wealth concentration which are allowing the rich to exercise ever more control over the rest of us. And Michael Roberts writes about the multiple dimensions and global reach of inequality. 

- David Sirota, Julia Rock and Andrew Perez report on the efforts by Amazon and other employers to ensure they can coerce employees to stay in unsafe work environments under penalty of termination - a power which resulted in the death of six Amazon workers this week.

- Finally, Kristin Annable, Josh Hoffman and Caroline Barghout investigate hundreds of deaths in police custody, and find dozens of examples of people detained while intoxicated"for their own safety" who died as a result. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Bruce Arthur warns that the worst of the COVID pandemic may be just around the corner as the far more transmissible Omicron variant spreads throughout Canada, while Karen-Marie Elah Perry and Shila Avissa discuss the perpetual gaslighting effort aimed at persuading us the pandemic is over no matter how obvious its ongoing damage. Julie Johnson reports on one super-spreader wedding as an example of how the precautions which seemed sufficient are failing miserably against Omicron. And Ivan Semeniuk reports on the urgent effort among scientists to determine how it will affect vulnerable populations in particular.

- Meanwhile, Ian McGillis talks to Nora Loreto about the lethal policy failures we've seen throughout the pandemic. And John Paul Tasker reports on the findings of Auditor General Karen Hogan that the federal government completely failed to apply regulations to protect temporary foreign workers from COVID spread.

- Chris Hall reports on the push by activists to stop precipitating drug poisonings by treating addiction as a crime. And Moira Wyton reports on new research showing the wide-ranging health benefits of overdose prevention sites.

- Henry Grabar writes that the practice of systematically placing apartment buildings only on busy and polluted streets serves only to amplify inequality.

- Finally, Nikolaus Kurmayer reports on the important step taken by Austria's environment and transport minister in determining that a highway megaproject couldn't be justified in light of the need to take climate action. And Andrew Freedman reports that major businesses are beginning to move their operations away from areas which will soon be swamped by a climate breakdown.

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Bruce Arthur writes about the need for governments' responses to COVID to adapt to the increased risk posed by the Omicron variant. And Charles Blow writes that he's understandably lost patience with anti-vaxxers who are endangering us all in the service of ever-more-implausible claims and theories.

- Sarah Krichel interviews Nora Loreto about the failures of Canadian media in covering the pandemic. And Robert Reich discusses the similar pattern in the U.S. of corporate media serving mostly to comfort the already-powerful at the expense of people who need journalism on their side. 

- Mickey Djuric reports on Scott Moe's predictable choice to use the collapse he precipitated in the public health care system as an excuse to funnel money to corporate surgical centres.

- Marcus Baram offers a look inside the world of corporate union-busting, while Kim Moody discusses the power workers vital to logistical industries have if they choose to exercise it. And Ben Ger and Rebecca Kantwerg make the case for tenants to organize and bring collective bargaining to the world of housing.

- Finally, Stefanie Davis reports on Saskatchewan's looking place back at the bottom of list of Canadian provinces in providing anything close to a liveable minimum wage.