Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- The University of California, Irvine examines the connection between air pollution and spontaneous preterm births. And Attracta Mooney and Jana Tauschinski discuss how the fossil fuel sector is far more interested in concealing its dangerous methane emissions than reducing them. 

- Hannah Brown interviews Faith Birol about the value of renewable energy in limiting our dependence on bad actors and vulnerability to crises - though it's well worth noting that the oil and gas sector which has amassed obscene amounts of wealth by preventing us from escaping won't be eager to see us take advantage. And Megan Gordon discusses the latest IEA report confirming that anybody focused on jobs should be supporting clean energy over fossil fuels. 

- Stéphane Leman-Langlois, Aurélie Campana and Samuel Tanner examine how the far right is expanding its reach in Canada. And Rachel Ward, Steven D'Souza, Andrew Culbert and Daysha Loppie report on the RCMP's video evidence showing the extremist ideology behind the armed insurrection at Coutts, AB. 

- Nick Falvo lists some of the gains made in homelessness and poverty policy in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic - though it's worth lamenting how those have been reversed (or worse) since. And Emmanuelle Bernheim writes about the flawed theory that involuntary treatment is a viable solution to homelessness. 

- Finally, Christopher Cheung talks to Rachel Bok about the self-serving corporate "solutions" being peddled to cities as a substitute for community-building. And Ian Welsh discusses how any nominal savings from Elon Musk's government destruction project are bound to be illusory as the corporate sector moves in to provide the same services at a marked-up price. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Michael Kempa discusses Justice Paul Rouleau's findings on federalism in his report on the use of the Emergencies Act - though the hope for province to provide better governance within their jurisdiction seems rather empty when so many of them are focused on stoking alt-right hate rather than caring for the well-being of their citizens. And on that front, Peter Prebble and Glenn Wright highlight how the Moe government's talking points about federalism and sovereignty are primarily oriented at stifling any effective climate policy. 

- Barry Saxifrage examines how electric vehicles reduce carbon pollution compared to gasoline cars - though he also rightly notes that an upswing in sales of the former hasn't done anything to stop an overall increase in vehicular emissions. And Catherine McKenna discusses the need for corporations to stop favouring greenwashing over actual steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

- Julia Conley reports on the entirely justified public perception that the East Palestine train toxic train crash is the fault of the rapacious corporate operator profiting from the erosion of safety standards. 

- Henry Grabar points out how the shredding of the civil service and consequent outsourcing of project decision-making to self-interested consultants has made it more costly and difficult to build major transit projects. 

- Finally, Naomi Fowler discusses how financial secrecy serves to enable both what's already recognized as organized financial crime, and the general ethic of greed and entitlement which results in "legitimate" businesses profiting from it as well. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Eric Anderson writes that capitalism has been developed to exploit psychological vulnerability for profit. And Ludvig Weir and Gabriel Zucman highlight how the corporate profits shifted between countries for the purpose of tax avoidance approached a trillion dollars in 2019 (and likely soared past that milestone since). 

- Bill Curry reports on the PBO's findings that the Libs are spending a record $21.4 billion to outsource public service functions. And Jennifer Carr discusses how the outsourcing of public sector capacity results in both high costs and severe consequences for government's ability to make decisions in the public interest. 

- Maximilian Alvarez talks to railroad workers who have long been warning of the potential for derailments and associated risks to public health and safety as regulatory standards have been slashed in the name of profits. And Chris Isidore reports on Norfolk Southern's continued plan to hand over a thousand times as much money to shareholders in buybacks than to victims of the East Palestine chemical spill and fire. 

- Lindsay Ellis discusses how noncompete clauses have been turned into a systematic attack on worker wages - and how the U.S.' plan to ban them can help. And Leland Glenna writes about the right-to-repair laws being developed to ensure purchasers aren't helpless in the face of arbitrary corporate controls on the use and repair of consumer goods.  

- Alex Hemingway and Simon Pek discuss the problem with housing land use hearings which tend to include only objectors rather than the people who would benefit from approvals. 

- Finally, Sarah Gordon points out how drug decriminalization will improve the well-being and treatment options for people who use them - while also noting that there's still far to go from the standpoint of harm reduction. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- David Moscrop discusses how the Trudeau Libs have chosen to funnel money to cutthroat corporate consultants rather than building a functional public service. Alex Kerner follows up by pointing out how that choice reflects the class politics of a neoliberal state. And Kenan Malik writes that a focus on diversity in elite roles alone misses the deliberate effort to exacerbate inequality and stratify people by class. 

- Lawrence Scanlan comments on the glaring indifference toward the harm caused by avoidable poverty. And Pratyush Dayal reports on the rising homelessness in Saskatoon as the Moe government goes out of its way to avoid providing for the needs of the people stranded in the cold. 

- Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood examines the first version of the Libs' Sustainable Jobs Plan (aka just transition plan) and finds very little of substance in transitioning to a clean economy.  

- Henry Grabar traces the coordinated rise of the alt-right crusade against walkable cities. And Yves Engler points out that the ultimate complaint is the prospect that the needs of people might be prioritized over obeisance to combustion-based car culture. 

- Meanwhile, Marc Fawcett-Atkinson both offers a primer on climate disinformation, and reports on Trans Mountain's purchase of carbon credits from a non-operational seaweed-additive supplier as a supposed offset against real carbon pollution. 

- Fred Lewsey discusses new research from the showing that a four-day work week results in immense benefits for workers at no real cost to employers. 

- Finally, Jack Mirkinson writes that the New York Times (among other media outlets) is repeating the horrific mistakes in its coverage of the gay rights movement and the AIDS crisis by choosing to platform and promote anti-trans messages. 

Tuesday Evening Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Henry Mance talks to Mariana Mazzucato about the big con by private consultants who have been treated as a substitute for a knowledgeable civil service without having any expertise in actually serving the public. And Cathy Taylor writes about the need to invest in non-profit rather than corporatized supports for people living in poverty. 

- Moira Welsh and Clare Pasieka each report on AdvantAge's report on exploitative practices by temp agencies who poach staff from the public sector, then charge exorbitant rates to now-desperate care homes. Joel Lexchin discusses how the pharmaceutical and insurance industries are standing in the way of universal prescription drug coverage in order to preserve their own profits off of people's need for medicine. And Sarah Rieger interviews Arshy Mann about Canada's grim status as three monopolies in a trenchcoat. 

- Meanwhile, Tim Redmond reports on draft plans indicating that San Francisco could afford to set up a public bank with as little as $20 million in startup capital - ensuring that all citizens have access to the financial services they need without being at the mercy of the corporate sector. 

- Finally, Madeleine de Trenquayle interviews Naomi Klein about the inextricable connection between economic inequality and climate injustice. Naveena Savidasam discusses how the East Palestine rail calamity underscores the needless dangers arising from our reliance on petrochemicals and plastics. And Carl Meyer highlights how the tar sands sector is engaged in another exercise in greenwashing - this time at the expense of tens of billions of public dollars - in order to run decades off the clock while avoiding any plan to build out cleaner energy alternatives. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Courtney Shea interviews Colin Furness about the combination of immunity theft and negligent public health messaging that's resulting in widespread avoidable illness, while Ashleigh McMillan reports on new research suggesting one in ten people infected with COVID-19 will end up with chronic health issues as a result. And Alexander Quon talks to Cory Neudorf and others about the causes of Saskatchewan's record COVID death toll in the year our government proclaimed the pandemic to be over. 

- Anam Khan reports on Nova Scotia's move to push newborn babies toward mobile clinics due to a lack of family doctors. And Mitchell Thompson reports on Doug Ford's plans to turn surgery into a corporate profit center - based specifically on his hostility toward publicly-administered health care. 

- Meanwhile, Bill Curry reports on the escalating amount of money being handed to McKinsey by the federal government (now over $100 million since the Libs took office) as a substitute for building the civil service. 

- David Farenthold and Talmon Smith report on how American food service workers have been conscripted to fund corporate lobbying against their own wages and working conditions. 

- Finally, Nicole Goodkind reports on the record levels of debt which have been accumulated globally - and the dangers of systemic collapse as interest rate hikes increase the cost associated with a larger amount borrowed.