Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Richard Sima examines how the steps needed to limit the spread of COVID-19 in indoor workplaces would also help address longstanding air quality issues. But Robert Pearl notes that rather than taking systemic steps to protect health from COVID as well as other issues, political leaders are pushing an ethic of immoral disregard for the well-being of others in order to facilitate the continuation of business as usual. 

- Fiona Harvey reports on Katharine Hayhoe's warning that we can't adapt out way out of the climate crisis, while John Fialka discusses how methane spikes are producing particularly rapid warming at the exact point when we need to be pushing in the opposite direction. The Energy Mix points out Deloitte's research estimating a $178 trillion cost of climate inaction over the next 50 years (compared to a positive return on investing in an energy transition). And Natasha Bulowski reports on the problems with the Libs' idea of consultations on a just transition where the witness list is slanted toward fossil fuel interests. 

- Meanwhile, in case there weren't enough reasons to rule out technology which doesn't yet exist and won't even reach the pilot stage for a decade as a substitute for a transition to renewables now, Mark Shwartz reports on new research showing that small modular reactors would create an even worse nuclear waste issue than existing power plants (whose waste of course still hasn't been dealt with after decades of use). 

- Bruce Campbell offers a reminder that Lac-Megantic and other preventable disasters signal the dangers of letting businesses decide how they're going to be regulated. And Anand Giridharadas talks to David Gelles about the need for business media to be far more skeptical about the assumption that the corporate lobby has anybody's best interests at heart. 

- Finally, David Moscrop is frustrated with the apparent malaise reflected in Ontario's election today, while Kaneera Uthayakumaran offers the hope of a young voter excited to exercise a voice in the direction of the province. Lucas Powers and John Rieti highlight how housing looks to be the key issue for may voters - though that should surely militate against support for a government determined to generate profit for developers rather than meeting the right to a home. And Stephen Magusiak and Luke LeBrun's late-campaign bombshell about PC insiders looking to use Doug Ford's government to get around sanctions against Russian oligarchs would seem to confirm that the already-obvious corruption within the current government is just the tip of the iceberg. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Benjamin Mueller and Eleanor Lutz discuss the increased number of deaths among the elderly caused the Omicron COVID-19 variant as compared to previous ones, while WorkSafeBC's updated chart shows how 2022 has seen the largest claim counts for workplace COVID. And Gavin Leech et al. confirm the reality that masking can play a major role in reducing transmission in community settings.  

- But sadly, Kate Grenville writes that the pandemic has revealed how eager governments are to claim - and many people are to accept - that "every man for himself" is the only possible response to a social crisis. And Lauren Pelley reports on the warnings that went unheeded which have led to spread of a new monkeypox virus.  

- Armine Yalnizyan warns that the suppression of wages and workers' rights being imposed in response to inflation is far worse than the supposed problem it's intended to solve. And Grace Blakeley points out that privatized shipping and infrastructure is one of the major contributors to inflation (while also representing an obvious example of profiteering at the expense of both workers and consumers). 

- Sigal Samuel writes about the drastic impact of a modest basic income amount in reducing crime among men at risk of criminal behaviour. Rhonda Castello discusses how Ontario's basic income pilot project - which in again at issue in tomorrow's provincial election - relieved some of the most important stressors for people living in precarious circumstances. And Andrew Russell, Carolyn Jarvis, Michael Wrobel and Kenneth Jackson discuss the distinction between the NDP and Greens who are committed to ensuring that child welfare funding actually supports the people who need it, and the PC/Lib determination to prop up operators of for-profit care. 

- Finally, Lex Harvey reports on Doug Ford's feat in breaking the Star's fact-checking system by building his campaign rhetoric around claims which couldn't be tested for accuracy.  

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Kimberlyn McGrail examines the excess deaths caused by COVID-19 in Canada. Eric Berger discusses the continued lack of progress in diagnosing and treating a growing number of long COVID cases. Joshua Chong reports on the CCPA's study showing that women continue to bear the brunt of an unmanaged pandemic. 

- Meanwhile, Andre Picard writes that our response to a small number of cases of monkeypox may indicate whether we've learned anything at all from COVID. And Kristina Fiore notes that one of the enduring effects of the pandemic is the development of wingnut welfare for a new set of anti-science cranks. 

- Gillian Steward discusses how Alberta's health care system is suffering as a result of Jason Kenney's war on doctors (among other workers). And Zak Vescera reports on the growing recognition among health agencies that Saskatchewan needs to take action to limit the spread of HIV. 

- Marc Fawcett-Atkinson writes about the plea from Ontario's food banks for the province's next government to put them out of business, rather than continuing to make food deprivation into a growth industry. But Jessica McDiarmid warns that Doug Ford is on the verge of taking another majority by pretending to be everything to everyone (while governing only to funnel wealth toward his personal cronies). 

- Finally, Omar Mawji finds (PDF) that even in the midst of soaring prices, oil companies aren't bothering to set aside anywhere near enough money to clean up their existing messes. Geoff Dembicki discusses the reality that Suncor is one of the U.S.' worst climate villains, as it tries to undermine any effort to reduce pollution from refining and burning its products while posturing in Canada based solely on its extraction processes. And John Woodside reports on how Canada's major banks are propping up the TMX pipeline. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Selena Simmons-Duffin writes about the large number of COVID cases going unreported - and thus unaccounted for in risk mitigation - due to the shift toward private, at-home testing.  

- Jessie Anton reports on Saskatchewan's place as the worst jurisdiction in Canada for HIV transmission (among other preventable social maladies). 

- Laura McQullan reports on warnings from scientists that many parts of the Earth are headed toward temperatures that are uninhabitable for humans. 

- The David Suzuki Foundation studies how a shift to 100% renewable power in Canada by 2035 is both feasible and affordable. Matthew Gray charts the relative carbon prices needed to facilitate switches from coal to either gas or renewables - with the most recent data showing a strong advantage to renewables as the more affordable (as well as cleaner) option to phase out the dirtiest past energy sources. And Jake Johnson reports on the reason for cautious optimism from a G7 promise to cut off new public financing for fossil fuels. 

- Bob Murphy and Chiara Padovani discuss the cruelty involve in Ontario's meagre social assistance rates which have decayed for decades under PCs and Libs alike. 

- Finally, Arwa Mahdawi is duly appalled by the Republicans' attempt to blame doors for yet another preventable gun massacre. And Scientific American sets out some of the data showing how gun control measures are the policies which would reduce the number of mass shootings. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Katherine Wu warns about the consequences of the powers that be deciding that people will be subjected to repeated COVID-19 infections. And Saba Qasmieh et al. examine the difference between reported case numbers and actual COVID prevalence, and find that the data now being provided may underestimate case counts by 30 times due to the choice not to conduct systematic testing. 

- The Globe and Mail's editorial board discusses how density - not further publicly-subsidized sprawl - represents a key part of the solution to ensuring people's right to housing is met. 

- Marco Chown Oved, Kenyon Wallace and Ed Tubb call out the Ford PCs' plan to shovel billions more public dollars toward the well-connected private long-term care home operators which saw some of the worst death rates in the course of the COVID pandemic. And Stephen Magusiak and Luke LeBrun report that Doug Ford's shady activities include having inner-circle operatives put one of his own cabinet ministers under surveillance. 

- Duncan Kinney exposes how the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce is exploiting a loophole intended for community groups to avoid property tax on most of a $11 million commercial property - and how the provincial government is allowing the business lobby tax advantages which aren't available for labour organizations. 

- Finally, Umair Haque laments the ongoing - and indeed worsening - carnage in the U.S. most recently exemplified through the mass murders in Buffalo and Uvalde. Elizabeth Bruenig writes about the U.S.' final descent into utter nihilism as yet another preventable  massacre of children produces public outcry but absolutely no policy response. And Sigal Samuel writes about the debate over grossly insufficient estimates of the social cost of carbon in the U.S. - and the reality that any reasonable valuation of human rights and a viable existence for future generations would make any avoidable carbon pollution untenable. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Aekkachai Tuekprakhon et al. study how the Omicron COVID-19 subvariants are evading both previous immunity and existing treatments. And Zak Vescera reports on Dr. Saqib Shahab's recognition that misinformation and apathy are key factors keeping Saskatchewan's vaccination rates low - though both government policy and messaging have played a substantial role in their development. 

- Meanwhile, Dr. Kevin Wasko discusses the five key areas where Saskatchewan's health care system is in the most need of improvement.

- Isaac Callan reports on the Ford PCs' refusal to make any effort to even discuss accessibility improvements for people with disabilities. And as Vanmala Subramaniam reports, that contrasts thoroughly against their choice to grant virtually every item on the wish list of Uber and other exploiters of precarious workers seeking to avoid normal employment responsibilities. Luke Lebrun exposes the PC's approval of a candidate whose background involves scamming students through an unaccredited career college. And Randy Robinson discusses the state of the Ontario election campaign - including the strong demand for change among women.  

- Alex Hemingway highlights how an investment in public housing can be self-financing while meeting people's essential needs. 

- Barry Saxifrage examines how Canada (like other countries) fell far short of its Copenhagen climate change commitments, while AFP reports on InfluenceMap's research showing how the fossil fuel sector is trying to use Russia's attack on Ukraine as an excuse to keep ignoring any climate responsibilities. And Damian Carrington reports on Antonio Gutteres' call for young people to refuse to pursue work with climate wreckers. 

- Finally, Clint Smith rightly opines that nobody should have to live through the losses caused by the U.S.' refusal to avoid readily-preventable mass shootings. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Ed Yong discusses how we may have created a "pandemicine" era by fundamentally changing how viruses are able to mutate and spread. The Globe and Mail's editorial board is rightly aghast that Canadian governments are doing nothing to respond to another approaching wave of COVID-19, while the NZ Herald reports on an International Science Council study warning that we could still be facing regular waves in 2027 if it doesn't start taking the continued pandemic seriously now. And Nicole Lyn Pesce discusses how long COVID has spoiled the career and retirement plans of millions of Americans already. 

- Armine Yalnizyan writes that while a car might have reason to keep Ford in power, any human being should be looking to replace him with somebody more interested in people's well-being. Jessica McDiarmid highlights how the Ford PCs' destruction of climate policies is costing Ontarians billions of dollars (in addition to causing large amounts of needless carbon pollution). DT Cochrane and Toby Sanger examine (PDF) how Ontario's private long-term care operators were able to rake in massive profits with Ford's support while leaving vulnerable residents to die without necessary care. And Mitchell Thompson reports on the PCs' funneling of public money toward anti-union forces, while the Ontario Federation of Labour reminds us that the NDP is working to empower workers instead. 

- Josh Eidelson reports on the U.S. National Labour Relations Board's move toward prosecuting Amazon for intimidating workers. Robert Reich writes about the foreign wealth exerting increasing influence over U.S. politics. Brett Wilkins discusses the activist push for a windfall tax on oil and gas profiteering in addition to the call for an investigation which has already passed in the House of Representatives. 

- Finally, George Monbiot warns that our food system is on the verge of the same type of collapse as the global financial system faced in 2008 - and that it can't be so easily fixed with temporary liquidity. And Tom Perkins reports on Abbott's gigantic payout to shareholders while it failed to ensure that it was capable of production needed baby formula. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Pam Belluck reports on a new study showing that people who weren't initially hospitalized for COVID make up over three-quarters of the U.S.' long COVID cases, while Andrew Romano discusses the likelihood that people will face constant infection absent better vaccine protection than we have now. And Jennifer Rigby reports on the lamentable conclusion of a World Health Organization panel that we're no better equipped to respond to a pandemic than we were before the ongoing one struck.  

- Meanwhile, Emily Leedham exposes the Ford PCs' place among the right-wing governments who went out of their way to hand pandemic supply contracts to people linked into the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church. Mitchell Thompson calls out Doug Ford's responsibility for anti-LGBTQ candidates including Will Bouma. And Environmental Defence examines how the Ford government has destroyed climate policy in Ontario.

- Ricardo Tranjan examines what Ontario's parties have on offer for people who rent homes, while Bailey Martens reports on the story of a family which has spent eight years trying to find a wheelchair-accessible house suitable for their son. And David Shield reports on a projection that Saskatchewan needs to build 100,000 new housing units in only 8 years - when leaving building to the provide sector has resulted in fewer than that over the past 22 years including multiple boom periods. 

- Damian Carrington reports on new research showing that pollution, including toxic air and contaminated soil and water, is responsible for one in six deaths globally. And Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood reminds us that Canadian mining firms are using trade deals to bully governments into allowing them to keep poisoning people and destroying natural environments without consequence.

- Finally, Mark Bou Mansour and Jake Johnson each discuss a new edition of the Tax Justice Network's Financial Secrecy Index that shows the U.S. emerging as the worst offender in allowing wealth to be concealed. And Jemima Kelly points out the moral case against cryptocurrency which is only strengthened by its role in evading taxes and social responsibility. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Sheryl Gay Stoberg discusses how concerns about pharmaceutical profiteering and a lack of access in the developing world are developing for COVID-19 treatments just as they did for vaccines. And Cory Doctorow warns that the single positive-sounding story about stolen Ukrainian farm implements being disabled remotely shouldn't serve to excuse the glaring risks of allowing technology to be so easily disabled from afar.  

- Jeremy Klaszus discusses the inexplicable privatization of sanitation work in Calgary in the absence of even a plausible argument about either cost or service effectiveness. And Nancy Olivieri writes about the dangers of privatizing health care even as Doug Ford and other right-wing premiers push to make that the response to the impossible demands they've put on the public system through their gross negligence in the midst of a pandemic. 

- Mike Crawley notes that the cost of living is becoming the main issue in Ontario's election campaign. And Matt Gurney discusses how the Libs have chosen not to offer any meaningful policy on that or any other issue (though they do seem to be hastily copying the NDP's work in a few areas now). 

- Better Dwelling highlights how the Canadian real estate has become infused with money laundering and fraud. And Mike Hager points out that British Columbia's beneficial ownership registry is providing information useful for far more than real estate enforcement alone. 

- Finally, Jeff Shantz writes about the role of police in suppressing and even killing people living in poverty. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Naomi Grimley, Jack Cornish and Nassos Sylianou report on the World Health Organization's recognition that COVID-19 deaths far exceed official totals, while Sheryl Gay Stoberg reports on the Biden administration's warning that there are more deadly waves to come. Ian Froese reports that Winnipeg is already filling up hallways and staff lounges due to a lack of space for patients in the midst of the current wave, while Karen Bartko reports on the deterioration of emergency care at Edmonton's children's hospital due to the UCP's choice to place the burden of uncontrolled spread on the health care system. And Laura Osman reports that the Public Health Agency of Canada is just beginning to figure out how to track long COVID even as so many governments have decided to make it the expected future for large segments of their population. 

- Linda McQuaig writes that nobody with the intelligence and social awareness of a 5-year-old should be supporting a Ford government which has chosen avoidable death for so many people. And Fred Hahn and Angella MacEwen discuss how Ford is trying to buy voters off with shiny trinkets to get them to ignore the PCs' gross mismanagement. 

- Neel Dhanesha reports on the widespread pollution by plastic beads which is going unregulated even as it causes growing damage to wildlife and people alike. And Katharine Gammon reports on the U.S.' pitiful record in recycling even the plastic waste which it has chosen to document and regulate. 

- Natasha Bulowski reports on ShiftAction's research into the entanglement between fossil fuel companies and pension plans which has offered the industry roasting our planet with massive pools of capital. And Saphora Smith discusses how the UK Cons' political case against a windfall profit tax is indefensible even on the account of the oil companies who are actually taking the profits. 

- Finally, Marc Fawcett-Atkinson discusses the combination of commodity speculators and corporate profiteers who are inflating food costs for the general public.