Monday Morning Links

Assorted content to start your week.

- Marc Elias explores what it means to worry that "we're on our own" in the face of a fascist government and crumbling institutions - while noting that one of the most important tasks in building resistance is to ensure people don't give up the fight for democracy and solidarity. Brian Beutler makes the case to work on pro-social activity - particularly in contrast to engaging with the social media outlets which have been turned into propaganda mills by techbros. And Josh Marshall rightly notes that there's a massive opportunity to tap into existing public sentiment in opposing government by billionaires for billionaires. 

- A.R. Moxon writes that an economic system built on the principle of unconstrained growth and ruthless efficiency in extracting wealth regardless of the cost to human life can hardly expected to do anything but grind through the population without any compunction. Angel Munarriz writes about the "nationalist international" seeking to impose discriminatory authoritarianism on a country-by-country basis. David Howarth implores UK Labour to limit plutocratic domination of media and politics before it's too late. And Dale Smith warns about the need to beware of Pierre Poilievre's own plan to turn public policy over to the broligarchy. 

- Jon Ungoed-Thomas reports on the multinationals who are exercising discretion to let the value of UK  employees' pensions erode even while raking in massive profits. And David Climenhaga notes that  the UCP is looking to dismiss a readily-foreseeable report from the chief actuary of Canada saying that Alberta can't steal over half of the value of the Canada Pension Plan to funnel into dirty energy. 

- Jim Stanford writes about the high cost of not striking - as the failure of workers to stand up for each other produces a far worse outcome for the entire working class. And Adam King points out the Trudeau Libs' contempt for collective action - with its squelching of the Canada Post strike representing just the latest of many choices to prioritize management control over the interest of workers and the public. 

- Ashley Wan-Tzu Lo and Suman Kumar Mitra study the effect of urban design, and find that denser and more accessible environments improve mobility and social activity. And Ron Johnson discusses new research showing how biking to work is associated with a bevy of health benefits (including lower cancer rates). But Trevor Potts discusses how Doug Ford is determined to pour public money into highways while deliberately destroying bike and pedestrian infrastructure. 

- Finally, Paul Krugman writes about the U.S.' choice to cultivate gambling and other addictions in order to create profit centers at the expense of far greater social harms. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Sarah Johnson reports on Unicef's warning that children will face far more extreme heatwaves and other dangerous weather events in the decades to come. And George Monbiot writes that the "solutions" being relied upon to respond to the climate crisis are rarely any more plausible than the spin of the most stubborn head-in-the-sand denialists. 

- Ben Stockton and Hajar Medah expose how McKinsey & Company has been working on keeping people hooked on fossil fuels. Amy Westervelt and Royce Kurmelovs examine how fossil fuel giants have always been preventing COP conferences from achieving any meaningful progress - even if they're far more brazen about controlling the agenda now. 

- Graham Thomson discusses the obvious dangers of putting a partisan operative and fossil fuel zealot in charge of Albertans' retirement savings. But Angela Amato reports on the gap between the CPP's net-zero promises and its choice to invest in dirty energy. 

- Jon Milton examines the background to the CUPW postal strike - and particularly the difference in goals between workers committed to public service, and an employer determined to do less in order to claim false economies.  

- Finally, The Disabled Ginger points out how a refusal to mask in health-care settings further endangers vulnerable patients. Heidi Ledford examines the rise of bird-flu infections in humans which are being largely ignored as a matter of public policy. And Lisa Schnirring reports that anti-vaxxers have managed to cause an outbreak of polio in Warsaw. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- The Guardian's This is Climate Breakdown series offers first-hand accounts of the current catastrophes arising out of the climate crisis. And Michael Mann writes that it's possible to avoid the worst anticipated effects of climate change - but only if we stop spewing carbon pollution in a hurry. 

- But Sehoon Kim discusses how the corporate sector is buying cheap and meaningless credits rather than taking steps to reduce its own environmental harm. Fatima Syed reports on Enbridge's laughable attempt to avoid any regulation of emissions by claiming that greenwashing is more than enough. And Angela Amato and Carly Penrose examine Alberta's plans for fossil fuel propaganda in schools - even as Breene Murphy notes that oil and gas aren't viable long-term investments.  

- John Clarke writes about the importance of cultivating truth and understanding against the entrenched interests seeking to drown out anything that might threaten their accumulation of wealth and power. But Charlie Warzel points out the immense resources being used to try to push people away from reality-based media, while Carole Cadwalladr discusses the especially dangerous combination of media and government power currently coalescing under the impending Trump regime. And Zak Vescera reports on Stockwell Day's role in building an alt-right echo chamber to try to install the BC Cons in government. 

- Finally, David Climenhaga reports on Danielle Smith's summary termination of the pension board it wants to put in charge of all Albertans' retirement income - while Paula Sambo, Layan Odeh and Dawn Lim confirm the UCP's plans for AIMCo are so political that they're planning to hand it over to Stephen Harper.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Jeremy Hsu discusses how people massively underestimate the disproportionate climate damage done by the uber-wealthy. Mark Fawcett-Atkinson notes that the dirty energy industry is targeting women for a new round of disinformation and greenwashing. And Rebecca Hersher points out the consequences that flow from the climate breakdown - including severe mental health challenges caused as people lose their homes and valuables to extreme weather. 

- But Patrick Greenfield reports on a new analysis showing that governments are continuing to increase their handouts to the cause of environmental destruction. And David Climenhaga notes that after failing to distribute one federal handout that it demanded to put the public on the hook for the oil industry's messes, the UCP is now trying to seize Canadians' pensions to be funneled to its fossil fuel donors. 

- Cory Doctorow points out that the principle of "shareholder supremacy" is both meaningless on its face, and promulgated solely as a matter of self-serving supposition by those seeking to prioritize capital over well-being. 

- Jacky Wong interviews andrea bennett about how food can be made healthier both in terms of nutrition and lifestyle. And Nina Massey discusses how the replacement of ultra-processed foods can help reduce the risk of diabetes and other illnesses, while Sandee LaMotte reports on research showing how toxic chemicals in food preparation can cause substantial harm. 

- Finally, Abraham Fuks, John Bergeron and Stanley Kutcher lament the stagnation of funding for health research in Canada.

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Oshan Jarow discusses Sapien Labs' work measuring mental health levels around the globe - and the resulting conclusion that "conveniences" including smartphones and ultra-processed foods may contribute to a lower level of mental wellness. And Michelle Gamage writes about the plummeting life expectancy of Indigenous people in British Columbia, along with the solutions based in ethics of care and community. 

- Julia-Simone Rutgers writes about the damage global warming is causing to the ice roads which have historically served as vital lifelines for Canada's North. And Arthur Zhang and Anna Kanduth discuss the readily-available options to shift Canada to a cleaner electrical grid and reduce our ongoing carbon pollution. 

- Meanwhile, Charles Rusnell reports on the lengths the UCP is going to to prevent Alberta from knowing how little support their is for their plan to hijack CPP funds to be handed to dirty energy operators. 

- Brittany Trang discusses a new study showing how nursing home operators are able to hide the majority of their profits in order to paper over higher prices and deteriorating care. And Cory Doctorow calls out the NHS' choice to pay massive amounts of money to corporate operators - and share of sensitive personal health information with them - rather than setting up secure open-source research databases. 

- David Moscrop offers a warning about Pierre Poilievre's intention to impose "ordered liberty", with the primary intention and effect of ensuring the freedom of those with more wealth and power to control and exploit anybody with less privilege. 

- Finally, Linda McQuaig makes the case for Canada to support and sign onto the G20's plan to ensure billionaires can't avoid paying taxes. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Bryan Harris, Steve Bernard and Chris Campbell discuss the danger that a drying Amazon rain forest will accelerate the climate breakdown. 

- Jordan Omstead reports on Canada's place of shame as one of the countries looking to increas carbon pollution in the face of the climate emergency. And Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood writes that the current state of politics around carbon pricing is undermining support for any climate action at all. 

- Meanwhile, Marc Fawcett-Atkinson points out that a group of corporate-friendly MPs are pushing eliminate any requirement that pesticides or GMO seeds be assessed by regulators for safety or environmental risks before they're used in Canada. 

- Drew Anderson exposes how Danielle Smith and the UCP lied about their explanation for banning renewable energy development. And David Climenhaga examines the PR apparatus being assembled to paper over the plan to sell off public health care - even as Emanuel Maiberg reports on the reality that privatized providers operate only by abusing workers and neglecting patients in the name of squeezing out profits. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow discusses how the Biden administration is making some effort to root out the most unscrupulous investment advisors - but also notes that the greater problem is an "every man for himself" system of retirement income. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Dave Davies interviews Jason C. Jackson about the widespread damage from long COVID - and the lack of remotely sufficient efforts either to prevent its spread, or respond to its effects. And Crawford Kilian weighs in on what we've failed to learn while normalizing avoidable harm to large numbers of people.  

- Manpreet Gill discusses how hallway medicine dehumanizes patients - and how the UCP has chosen to force health care workers to make it the norm. And the Canadian Press reports on the Ford PCs' legislated push to divert public health care resources toward private surgical providers. 

- Jeff Lagerquist reports on Suncor's plans to slash its workforce no matter how many policy concessions it takes or how much windfall profit it accumulates. Diane Orihel, Chloe Robinson and Chris Elvidge report on the harm caused by Imperial Oil's hidden tailings pond leaks - along with the virtual certainty that there are many more similar incidents that have remained concealed from public view. And Emma Jackson writes about the desperate need for political vision to put an end to the damage caused by dirty energy operators, even as Alberta goes through a provincial election where the spectrum of positions on the wanton destruction of our planet ranges from "friendly acquiescence" to "championing with religious zeal".  

- Finally, Andrew Perez exposes how pension fund money is being used to buy and operate facilities using child labour. And Anjeanette Damon, Byard Duncan and Mollie Simon report on the manipulative and deceptive business model used by home flippers to exploit seniors. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Jia Li et al. study the causal associations between COVID-19 and numerous types of cancer - finding generally that COVID is associated with increased cancer risk. And Erin Prater reports on the spread of the Arcturus variant as the most transmissible version yet.

- Alex Press discusses how deteriorating working conditions in the trucking industry are leading to safety risks for truckers themselves, and for the general public. And Robert Ovetz and Kevin Van Meter offer some advice to marshal the collective strength of labour to stand up to exploitative employers. 

- Brett Christophers writes that contrary to what people might assume in turning the ownership of public infrastructure over to pension funds, the incentives facing the funds' managers tend toward short-term thinking at the expense of the long-term preservation of the underlying asset. And while Graeme Nuttall and James Bonham offer a theory as to how they'd like employee stock ownership to work, their proposed mandate that employees take on debt to pay owners more than market value for businesses seems to represent little more than a systematic upward transfer of wealth.  

- Finally, Ricardo Tranjan writes that the housing crisis is the result of governments catering to private developers' desire for immediate profit, not the presence of newcomers needed to perform essential services in our communities. 

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. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Eric Topol describes how COVID-19's infectiousness has been steadily increasing with time even as so many governments have gone out of their way to declare it to be over, while Reuters reports on new research showing that the Omicron variant is no less severe than its predecessors. Anna Edney writes about the children fighting the long-term effects of long COVID after being falsely reassured that they wouldn't be affected. And Eric Luellen discusses the prospect of a pan-coronavirus vaccine - which, like any other future possibility for prevention and treatment, seems rather hollow in light of current policy to encourage mass infection.  

- Alex Himelfarb writes that austerity is no cure for inflation - and that the proper answer to rising prices is to make sure people can weather them, not to abandon them to the whims of the market. And Heather Scoffield calls out the deliberate policy choice to let the corporate sector gorge itself on windfall profits while seeking to suppress wages the moment they had any prospect of catching up to price increases. 

- Alan Broadbent and Elizabeth McIsaac highlight how reliance on private-sector developers is a fatally flawed strategy to deal with the housing crisis. And Shaina Luck reports that one result of the NDP-Lib confidence and supply agreement is to ensure that funding intended for affordable housing actually provides it. 

- Leanna First-Arai discusses how the fossil fuel sector is trying to hold the U.S.' education system hostage. Geoff Dembicki points out that Canada's big banks are a major obstacle to an energy transition due to the money they've already sunk into dirty tar sands projects. And the Canadian Climate Institute studies how a rapid transition to renewable energy is both the most affordable and most environmentally responsible path forward in our power sector.  

- Matthew Cunningham-Cook writes about the systematic funneling of workers' pension funds into the hands of a few well-connected financial firms, turning the retirements of a large portion of the working class into a cash cow for a lucky few. 

- Finally, Alex Hemingway discusses the much-needed restoration of card check union certification in British Columbia in order to reduce the effect of employer interference and intimidation. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Michaeleen Doucleff offers an FAQ on the causes and consequences of long COVID in its various forms. Guy Quenneville reports on the need for COVID cases to keep declining just to get Saskatchewan's health care system back to its already-precarious state from the summer. And CBC News reports on the Moe government's choice to block SGI from protecting its workers and customers with a mask mandate.  

- Katherine Scott offers some lessons in income security from the pandemic, while Daphne Bramham laments that we don't seem to be learning anything about disaster prevention or response despite the constant opportunities to do so. And Gregory Beatty discusses how both low-income Saskatchewan residents and community organizations are paying the price for the Moe government's decision to deprive people of any housing security. 

- Marc Lee takes a look at what the Libs have promised on the housing front - and how their choice in which options to pursue may make all the difference between partially relieving the housing crisis and exacerbating it. And Farrah Merali points out the growing share of Ontario's homes held by investors rather than residents who are making living unaffordable for the province's citizens. 

- James Rowe, Jessica Dempsey and James Mager discuss how pension funds are being hijacked by oil lobbyists and petropoliticians to force continued production in a dying industry. 

- Finally, Ken Boessenkool and Mike Moffatt write that the proper response to inflation driven largely by supply bottlenecks is to communicate why an austerity playbook will do nothing to help. And Faiz Shakir highlights how the one source of inflation which could be controlled through public policy is corporate profiteering.  

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Nora Loreto writes about the need for governments to make COVID management plans which take into account pockets of anti-vaxxers who will create significant risks for the general population. Andre Picard discusses why parents will need to ensure their children get vaccinated, while Matt Gurney wonders how children will react if a continued failure to take reasonable precautions foreseeably results in the loss of core activities. And Zak Vescera reports on research showing significant damage to the health of Saskatchewan people who have avoided care as a result of the poorly-handled pandemic. 

- Meanwhile, Jim Stanford studies the effects of paid sick leave, and finds that employers could ensure people don't have to work while sick with no measurable cost in competitiveness or profitability. 

- Adam Tooze's alarming takeaway from COP26 is that the world is trusting the same businesses who have created the climate crisis to solve it with little government action - though Simon Dyer notes that even the minimal commitments made to date make new oil and gas development completely untenable. Jason Hickel discusses the approach we'd be taking if we were actually treating climate breakdown as an emergency, while Seth Klein offers his suggestions as to what a Lib throne speech would look like if it wanted to meet that standard. And Julia Rock points out how pension funds are being hijacked to prop up the fossil fuel sector as capital which isn't under political control looks for investments outside of a dying industry. 

- CBC News reports on the widespread damage to British Columbia as torrential rainfall has combined with weakened natural drainage to produce floods and mudslides. And Carolyn Jarvis reports on the Ontario government's reluctant release of data showing the air pollution being inflicted on the Aamjiwnaang First Nation.

- Finally, Richard Swift wonders what value there is in the Pandora Papers and other revelations of the abuse of wealth and power when they don't lead to any investigations or prosecutions. 

#Elxn44 Roundup

The latest from Canada's federal election campaign.

- David Climenhaga offers a warning against Conservatives bearing gifts, both generally and in their plan for token representation on corporate boards. And the Canadian Labour Congress highlights how the Cons' interest in gig workers is limited to saddling them with far less retirement security and unemployment insurance rights than most workers. 

- Bradley Lafortune discusses the value of actually creating a child care system, rather than merely handing out money and hoping that will result in spaces emerging out of thin air. 

- Ricardo Tranjan warns against accepting definitions of "affordable" private rental housing which require upwards of half of a tenant's income to be handed over as rent, while pointing out the importance of public and non-profit housing to actually ensure people can afford homes. And PressProgress calls out Justin Trudeau's disingenuous attempt to cast blame solely on the Cons for severe cuts and devolution which were carried out primarily by Lib governments. 

- Seth Klein makes the case for voters to decide based on their assessment as to which candidate will be a champion for climate justice. 

- Finally, Chantal Hebert discusses how Justin Trudeau has become the candidate of petulance and gloom. And Angus Reid's polling shows that attitude is being reciprocated by voters.

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Statistics Canada's COVID-19 Immunity Task Force examines new data as to the spread of the coronavirus prior to the third wave - with the results including higher rates of infection among young people and visible minorities. Wency Leung and Chen Wang report on the slowing pace of first vaccinations in Canada, leaving a substantial part of the population with no protection against increasingly dangerous variants. Andre Picard writes about the lack of consistent guidance on the value of continuing to mask to protect the people who haven't yet been (or aren't able to be) vaccinated.  And Tess McClure reports on Jacinda Ardern's continued leadership in fighting against COVID-19 - this time by forcefully rejecting any theory of "living with COVID" which would in fact result in avoidable illness and death.  

- Peter Gleick warns that a climate breakdown will result in a division between people who can afford to flee the worst effects, and those doomed to risk losing everything they have to preventable disasters. And Derrick O'Keefe points out the class divide in the fallout from the heat dome in British Columbia. 

- Daniel Litvin writes that the oil industry's choices at this point are limited to how to accept inevitable decline - and at this point there's little reason for optimism that it will choose to plan ahead and depart the economic scene without maximizing the resulting damage. And Canada News Central highlights a Parkland Institute study showing that the main effect of government funding for oil well cleanup has been to get the public to foot the bill for pollution by profitable oil companies.

- Dan Kaufman discusses how the deliberate erosion of organized labour laid the groundwork for the politics of fascism and racism in the U.S. And David Sirota points out how pension funds are being hijacked to enrich Wall Street and attack the workers who fund them. 

- Finally, Kenny Stancil writes about the resounding success of Iceland's experiment with a four-day work week and reduction in work hours. 

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Anna McMillan reports on the disproportionate effect COVID-19 has (predictably) had on First Nations reserves in Saskatchewan. And Maan Ahmidi reports on the appearances and realities arising out of the Libs' continued appeals against orders to stop withholding equal access to services from Indigenous children.

- Diane Collier and Anne Burke write about the need to start listening to teachers about COVID in the classroom. 

- Of course, it may also be a nice touch to not raid teachers' pension funds to be placed under the the politicized control of an incompetent administrator (as the Kenney UCP is doing). And Elise von Scheel reports that Jason Kenney has also gone out of his way to replicate the federal Phoenix experience by implementing a new payroll system which is resulting in public servants being shorted on their pay.

- The CP reports on Erin O'Toole's belated statement that the far right is unwelcome within the Con party rather than representing its core. But Sean Holman rightly argues that the only way for the Cons to avoid a Trump-style takeover is to push back hard against denialism and bigotry in all their forms - even as there's little reason for optimism that O'Toole or any of his provincial counterparts has any interest in that effort.

- Finally, David Climenhaga writes about Jim Stanford's work showing how a just transition to a clean economy is both possible and necessary. And Jessica Green studies the extremely limited effect carbon pricing has had in actually reducing greenhouse gas emissions - confirming the need for both direct regulation of emissions, and a strategy to scale up the use of cleaner replacements for the dirty systems we still rely on (without counting on nuclear unicorns from the future when there's technology already available).

On meritless demands

Mitchell Anderson is right to question why Jason Kenney is so obsessed with betting the pensions of every Albertan on dirty fossil fuels. And that goes doubly when his government's previous exercise in gambling with provincial wealth has produced massive losses due to a grossly flawed risk evaluation strategy.

But while there's every reason to see Kenney's actual plans as worrisome by any standard other than what best serves his corporate masters and donors, there's at least a theoretical argument to be made about exercising local and democratic control over a community's retirement savings.

It's less clear what argument there is to support putting another province's politically-directed and incompetent administrators in charge of the retirement savings of one's own constituents.

But Scott Moe is once again so locked into his role as Kenney's servant that he's outright saying there's somehow some merit in letting Alberta steal Saskatchewan's pensions for its own purposes. And the summer before an impending provincial election would be an ideal time for Saskatchewan's voters - along with responsible citizens across the country - to recognize their mutual interest in ensuring Moe doesn't have the opportunity to sell out Saskatchewan.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Eric Holthaus calls out any attempt by the uber-wealthy to paper over their profits from climate destruction with "philanthropic" donations. And David Wallace-Wells notes that while a response to our climate crisis is possible using the resources of society as a whole, it's beyond the scope of any individual fortune.

- Bronwyn Oatley, Meghan Bell and Danial Hoyer highlight the need for an inheritance tax and wealth taxes to meet obvious social needs and to ensure that wealth and power don't continue to accumulate in the hands of a privileged few.

- Sophia Reuss discusses the parallels between the U.S.' debate over health care generally and Canada's continued need for pharmacare. And the Economist also takes note of the glaring gap in our health care system.

- Finally, Bob Weber reports on the justified fear by Alberta workers that Jason Kenney will gamble their pensions on doomed fossil fuel developments. And Alex Ballingall reports on the prospect that the federal government might underwrite the Coastal GasLink pipeline to ram it through Wet’suwet’en territory - even as word comes out that the project has been rejected by provincial regulators.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Joseph Stiglitz, Todd Tucker and Gabriel Zucman write about the need for governments to bring in sufficient revenue to act in the public interest. And Sophie Alexander points out some of the millionaires who want their class to contribute their fair share.

- Robinson Meyer offers some historical perspective on both the climate breakdown we're already facing, and the continued carbon pollution which only figures to make matters worse. Mitchell Anderson comments on the futility of the Australian government's helicoptering of temporary food supplies to wallabies while it remains determined to destroy their habitat. And Emma McIntosh writes that both global economic forces and public opinion are on the side of a transition away from fossil fuels.

- Meanwhile, John Vidal writes that the solution to our excess of plastic waste involves planning to avoid creating it in the first place, not relying on recycling after the fact.

- Josh Rubin reports on the wage stagnation facing men living in Toronto over the past two decades. And the Economist weighs in on the connection between minimum wage levels and suicide rates.

- Finally, David Climenhaga takes note of the general strikes in France to save pensions under attack by Emmanuel Macron - as well as the media blackout against that type of collective action in Canada.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- James Bradley writes about the range of responses to an increasingly threatening climate. And Emma Morris offers some suggestions as to how to become part of the solution to the climate crisis.

- Adrienne Buller discusses why the popular and necessary prospect of a Green New Deal didn't get anything approaching a fair hearing in the UK's general election. And Malcolm Turnbull writes that Australia's catastrophic bushfires should have provided the impetus for a transition - though part of the lesson to be taken from Scott Morrison's response is that we can't afford to have fossil fuel lackeys in power to obstruct vital progress.

- PressProgress rounds up a few of the Jason Kenney UCP's holiday disasters, while Scott Schmidt rightly criticizes the UCP's pattern of trying to point fingers at newly-declared enemies rather than answering even simple questions about its actions in government.

- Sara Birrell highlights just a few of the examples of how Saskatchewan has suffered as a result of P3 schemes.

- Finally, Birrell also discusses the clash of values underlying the Co-op refinery lockout. And Jim Keohane and David Colletto note that Canadians generally would prefer a far more secure pension system than is currently available to most.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Sarah Schulman discusses the importance of sleep as a determinant of health, arguing that a safe bed is the first step toward addressing all kinds of social ills.

- Laura Lynch interviews Adria Vasil about the massive amount of avoidable waste generated by a combination of online shopping and corporate brand valuation.

- Thomson Reuters reports on the justified anger of the world's smaller countries in response to the climate obstruction of the wealthiest countries on the planet. And Eleanor Boyle points out that if we recognize the importance of the fight against a climate breakdown, we should be willing to accept rationing as part of our battle plan.

- Gil McGowan, Guy Smith, Heather Smith, Mike Parker, Rory Gill and Jason Schilling argue that Jason Kenney has no right to turn the retirement savings of Alberta workers into a bailout fund for a dying oil industry. And Murray Mandryk points out the immaturity behind Scott Moe's trial balloons about claiming power over immigration and policing - though the more important factor in Moe's announcements looks to be a complete absence of independent thought as he instead parrots whatever Kenney says. 

- Finally, Nora Loreto highlights how Quebec's Bill 21 singles out minority women as being forced to choose between their faith and culture or the ability to support a family.