Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Hamilton Nolan writes about the inherent conflict between the politics of centrist inaction and the serious and urgent problems which require courageous and immediate solutions. And John Michael McGrath points out the problems with Mark Carney's climate strategy of eliminating emission reductions, pouring public funds into dirty fossil fuels, and hoping some electrification plan materializes despite his pushing policy in the opposite direction. 

- Meanwhile, Noelle Corbett reports that in contrast to the multitude of negative externalities caused by fossil fuel extraction and consumption, solar farms can create significant positive effects including benefiting wildlife and biodiversity.  

- Ellyn Lapointe discusses how the Trump regime's attacks on science in general and meteorology in particular have reduced the U.S.' capacity to forecast the extreme weather events exacerbated by the climate breakdown. Giedre Peseckyte reports on the WHO's call to treat extreme heat as a public health crisis. And Hanna Lee points out the causes of Canada's particularly wild weather so far in the summer of 2026. 

- Finally, Mike Brock examines the radical anti-democratic movement being pushed by Peter Thiel and other billionaires and elites seeking to eliminate any prospect of decision-making by and for the citizenry. And Adam Serwer highlights how the Republican attack on birthright citizenship in the U.S. reflects the underlying goal of undermining any sense of equal rights. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Paul Crider discusses how the Trump regime is setting up the U.S. for explosive internal violence - while planning to blame its victims in order to impose martial law. Ned Resnikoff observes that the devaluation of human life in the name of demanding obeisance to the exercise of arbitrary power is far from new - though some forms of privilege are no longer protecting people who once perceived themselves as immune. Jonathan Chait calls out the Republican dogma that the January 6 rioters were entitled to take over democratic institutions and defy police with as much violence and force as they wanted, while anybody not devoted to usurping power on Donald Trump's behalf is subject to summary murder for failing to defer to state actors. And Garrett Graff writes about the emotional weight imposed by Trumpism.

- Meanwhile, Jason Stanley highlights the need to recognize the threat posed by an aggressive expansionist U.S. rather than assuming we can operate based on business as usual. And John Woodside's report on the Trump cheerleading by Scotiabank's CEO should make clear that the corporate class is not on our side.  

- Lucy Dean Stockton and Helen Santoro note that the FDA's elimination of warnings against excessive alcohol consumption reflects just the latest example of the Trump regime letting destructive corporate interests dictate policy. But Cory Doctorow discusses how the connection between Trump and the U.S.' exploitative tech giants may actually offer a needed opportunity to disenshittify our economy. And Scharon Harding reports on the rare positive example of Bose making some of its systems open-source to allow consumers to continue using them after they're no longer directly supported.  

- Marc Lee points out the absurdity of treating the U.S.' coup in Venezuela as an excuse to push new oil pipelines in Canada. 

- Finally, Tom Sandborn writes that a rare example of a conviction against an employer for negligently causing a worker's death serves only to highlight how few consequences businesses face for endangering their own employees.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Bill McKibben writes that Donald Trump's level of impunity now includes blatant piracy as the U.S. steals oil to try to lay the groundwork to invade Venezuela. And Stephen Marche discusses the need for Canada to defend itself against the increasing threat the U.S. poses to itself and other countries.  

- But then, Dale Smith warns about the democratic backsliding Canada has experienced in 2025 (but largely glossed over based on a typical tendency to compare to the U.S. rather than to any other measuring stick). Nayeli Jiminez calls out the Carney Libs for pushing Trump-style surveillance and anti-immigrant legislation. Brandi Martin notes that Mark Carney's trampling of Indigenous rights and environmental preservation in the name of resource extraction is pulled directly from the colonial playbook. 

- Geoff Dembicki reports on the connection between oil barons looking to force increased energy use and the hype around artificial intelligence. And Sharon Zhang notes that one of the current use cases for AI is to allow businesses to extract higher prices from consumers, while Seán Ó hÉigeartaigh discusses the foreseeable catastrophic outcomes of giving AI control over critical systems. 

- Finally, Damien Gayle reports on new research into the multi-trillion dollar cost of allowing synthetic chemicals into human food supplies - even as corporate forces push to avoid complying with even the minimal protections that already exist. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Robert Reich talks about the glaring gap between the wealthy elite who are being catered to by the U.S.' economy and the many who are being left behind - and how even businesses are beginning to notice people can't afford to spend the money they count on to make profits:

- Cara Ence Morse and Eric Lau examine how the wealthiest few are distorting American elections, while Dean Baker discusses their cultivation of other conflict (including between generations) to avoid answering for their own class warfare. And Josh Bivens writes that requiring the ultrarich to pay their fair share is a necessary first step in getting back to some semblance of democracy. 

- Meghan Bartels charts the course of carbon pollution and global warming since the signing of the Paris agreement. Jackie Flynn Mogensen and Henry Carnell ponder whether it's possible to achieve global progress in the climate fight when the U.S. and other petrostates are marshaling every available resource to maximize the damage, while Gabriela Calugay-Casuga points out that the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is continuing to short the future of humanity by pouring money into dirty investments. And Max Fawcett rightly calls bullshit on any spin about treating fossil gas exports to developing countries as compatible with responsible energy policy, while Jessica Clogg writes that the only product on offer in the Carney/Smith back-of-a-napkin pipeline deal is snake oil. 

- David Roberts interviews Georgia Lagoudas about the obvious room for improvement in indoor air quality practices. And Jenna Banfield reports on a push from dozens of Senators to ban sports betting advertising. 

- Finally, Markham Hislop discusses Danielle Smith's wholescale adoption of exclusionary and corrupt MAGA politics. And Sean Speer offers a warning about the dangers of accepting state-imposed conservative culture. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Charlie Angus discusses how MAGA is recognizing the effects of Canada's resistance - so long as our leaders don't sell us out. 

- But Martin Lukacs and Nikolas Barry-Shaw warn that there's little reason for confidence Mark Carney plans to treat the U.S.' threats as anything but an excuse to impose a corporate agenda. And David Macdonald predicts the scale of public-sector job cuts we can anticipate based on Carney's plans to waste any available fiscal capacity on military spending and tax cuts.

- Scott Forbes discusses how Canada has become a petrocracy, where the plans of oil barons to extract resources and leave the public with the bill are consistently put first over social well-being. And Chris Severson-Baker highlights how the UCP's obsession with dirty energy pipelines which will never be economically viable is resulting in Alberta missing out on far better opportunities. 

- Finally, Adam Barnett reports on a new study showing how Alex Jones and other denialists are drowning out needed information about climate catastrophes as they occur. And Brian Beutler highlights the dangers of allowing fascists to exploit liberal principles to demand the respect they deny to their perceived out-groups while disseminating their propaganda.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Susan Glaser writes about the dictator cosplay arising from Donald Trump's military parade, while Jeet Heer is rightly more concerned about Trump's actual claim to be able to use the military like a warlord. Liz Dye points out that Trump has reached the point of prosecuting political opposition with remarkably little pushback. Geoffrey Johnston discusses how freedom is eroding under the Trump regime. And Outspoken highlights how ICE is the new Gestapo. 

- Meanwhile, Jack Wilson offers a reminder that Canada's continuing pretense that the U.S. is a safe third country is resulting in refugees being condemned to ICE's abuses. And Erica Ifill rightly questions why Mark Carney is pushing a surveillance state no less dangerous and intrusive than the one being established under Trump's fascist administration.

- Paul Waldman writes that the Republicans' latest attempt to shovel wealth upward depends on what can only be described as fictitious economic theory. And David Sirota discusses how the right's culture war provides cover for the looting of the general public by oligarchs. 

- Erica Chenoweth, Soha Hammam, Jeremy Pressman, and Christopher Wiley Shay do point out that contrary to most media portrayals, there's significantly more protest activity than at this time in the first Trump administration - as the public hasn't followed the political and media classes in acquiescing to Trump. And Bill McKibben writes that this weekend offers a unique confluence of events with the potential to crystallize resistance. 

- Michael Ross and Erik Voeten note that the decline of democracy and social justice in the U.S. can be traced in no small part to its become a petrostate (with the encouragement of both major parties). And Linda McQuaig highlights the absurdity of pitching still more publicly-subsidized fossil fuel pipelines as a matter of "national unity" rather than climate destruction even as much of Canada burns. 

- Finally, Taylor Noakes writes that a Canadian federal government actually interested in helping people would be acting to rein in corporate control, including by breaking up grocery monopolies. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Doug Cuthand offers a reminder that the need for forward-thinking climate action hasn't been reduced just because any discussion of the possibility has been eliminated from Canada's political conversation. The Rude Pundit highlights how the Trump regime is actively making the threat of a climate breakdown even worse. And Mitch Anderson notes that even the Macdonald Laurier Institute can't pretend there's an economic case for more dirty energy pipelines - even as Pierre Poilievre, Danielle Smith and Scott Moe continue to obsess over locking in more fossil infrastructure.

- Meanwhile, Lisa Young discusses how Trump's disregard for Canadian sovereignty has fed into the separatist sentiment being stoked by Smith and Moe. And Jim Stanford writes that while Albertans have reason to be angry, the object of their ire should be exactly the greedy capitalists already getting rich off of public resources while general standards of living erode. 

- Matthew Renfrew reports on the strong majority of Canadians boycotting American products and looking to strengthen our own self-sufficiency - even as the two largest parties in Parliament are fixated on locking us into further ties with the regime that's trying to take Canada by force.

- Finally, Jessie Stein and Sophie O'Monique point out that the housing crisis can't be fixed without the migrant construction workers who are wrongly being blamed and punished for it.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Andrew Dessler offers a reminder that it's still possible to alter the trajectory of the climate breakdown if we take steps to stop spewing carbon pollution. And Fatima Syed discusses Ontario's shuttering of coal power plants as an example of how a modicum of will and effort can make major changes. But Amy Westervelt highlights how the fossil fuel industry is determined to prevent a transition from happening - and has largely enlisted the power of governments to stifle the prospect. 

- Aaron Cantu discusses how oil operators are staying away from wells in California if they're made responsible for cleanup costs. And Amanda Follett Hosgood reports on Enbridge's decision not to build the Westcoast Connector pipeline based on a lack of business merit after receiving approval a decade ago. But Max Fawcett warns that there's another attempt afoot try to ram a Northern Gateway pipeline through B.C. - with Donald Trump's election serving as the latest excuse. 

- Victor Tangermann reports on Tesla's release of large amounts of dangerous wastewater around its plant in Austin. And Sharon Lerner and Al Shaw report on the FDA's scientific documentation of the dangers of formaldehyde as an air pollutant - but note that it's refusing to reduce the risk to the people affected. 

- Jason Murphy discusses how long COVID is affecting health and well-being in Australia. And Andre Picard takes note of the danger of an avian flu pandemic which governments seem entirely determined to ignore in the name of business as usual. 

- Finally, Carol Cadwalladr examines how billionaire ownership of major media outlets has resulted in the distortion of the information available to citizens. Rumneek Johal points out that coverage of CUPW's Canada Post strike has been glaringly slanted toward the interests of management and the corporate sector. And Alex Cosh observes that Canada's business lobby is determined to inflict austerity on the public in order to funnel public money to defense contractors. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Michael Harris offers some lessons about the U.S.' values based on this week's election results. Rebecca Solnit opines that the largest failing of American progressives was to presume that the U.S. is a better country than it actually is, while Geoffrey Deihl writes that Donald Trump's election represents a descent into madness. Harrison Mooney discusses what it means about the dangers of majority rule - though it's worth a reminder that the U.S.' political system is warped so as to allow his party to exercise unchecked power even with minority levels of support. And Michael Mann notes that the U.S. figures to become even more of a petrostate under Trump.

- Meanwhile, Martin Lukacs, Lucy Uprichard, Tannara Yelland and Amanda Siino highlight some of the threats that Trump's ascent will pose to progressive politics in Canada. 

- Gabriela Calugay-Casuga discusses how the Bank of Canada's undue obsession with inflation resulted in an increasingly glaring wealth gap. And Alex Hemingway warns that tax giveaways are just as corrosive to public services when they originate with the NDP as when they're offered by the right. 

- Carl Meyer offers some takeaways from the long-delayed proposal for a federal oil and gas emission cap - with the predictable result being that a modest policy is being met with shrieks of contrived outrage by those who believe the only purpose of government is to ensure fossil fuel giants can rake in profits with no regard for our planet. And the Canadian Press reports on the Parliamentary Budget Office's finding that the Trans Mountain pipeline (which was bought and completed by the Trudeau Libs while emission regulations were held not to be a priority) isn't worth its cost of construction, leaving the public to take a loss on it. 

- Finally, Meyer parallels the current spin from the oil sector against its precedent from tobacco companies who likewise denied and buried their own scientific knowledge in order to maximize the harm their products inflicted on the public. 

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. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Glen Hendrix wonders whether any talk about impending civilizational collapse may miss the point that we've already largely lost any ethic of care deserving of the name. And Joshua Hill examines how Greta Thunberg's climate advocacy led inexorably to her challenging the colonial and capitalist structures underlying the fossil fuel industry - and in turn to her being systematically silenced by corporate media. 

- Geoffrey Diehl discusses how we've allowed our minds to be poisoned both metaphorically by corporate propaganda, and literally by microplastics and other industrial byproducts. Karen Raubenheimer comments on an expert review of the many sources and effects of microplastics which cries out for immediate action to stop their spread. And Tom Sanzillo, Suzanne Mattei and Abhishek Sinha argue that a cap on plastic production makes sense as one way to manage and ultimately rein in plastic pollution.

- Mike de Souza and Carl Meyer report that it's only after nine years in office - and with a tenuous hold on power - that the Libs are even presenting a first draft of regulations governing carbon pollution from the oil sector. And de Souza also reports on the Libs' funneling of tens of millions of dollars to McKinsey to push through the Trans Mountain pipeline for the benefit of its fossil fuel clients. 

- The Canadian Press reports that the summer of 2024 saw Canada set yet another record for insured losses from extreme weather. And Anand Ram and Benjamin Shingler discuss new research showing that a wildfire can create heat islands for years afterward - particularly in the coniferous monocultures which are being substituted for natural forest development. 

- Finally, Jen St. Denis offers a look at the white nationalism and deep-seated bigotry within the BC Cons as the business class seeks to install them in power. And Rumneek Johal and Andrew MacLeod each point out the conspiracy theories John Rustad has spread while taking over as the face of British Columbia's right wing. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Jonathan Watts reports on the Earth Commission's work showing how any path to avert climate breakdown needs to break down the concentration of wealth and power. And the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research notes that while the poorest people bear the most immediate existential risk from the climate crisis, wealthier people face substantial economic risks from climate impacts. 

- John O'Donnell reports on the Tax Justice Network's observation that the destructive extraction and burning of fossil fuels is largely financed through tax havens in order to further extract immediate wealth at public expense. And Jeremy Appel reports on Carbon Capture Canada's continued efforts to delay any transition to a cleaner energy supply. 

- Julia Simone-Rutgers reports on the Manitoba PCs' delayed public disclosure of the safety issues which caused the shutdown of Imperial Oil's main pipeline into the province - with a lack of regulatory capacity serving as a major factor in the lack of a response in the public interest. And Matt Simmons reports on the latest environmental violations by Coastal GasLink - even as the total fine amount for repeated violations  pales in comparison to the amount of public subsidies poured into the pipeline. 

- Bronwyn Bragg and Jennifer Hyndman report on the Alberta meat industry's exploitation of temporary foreign workers. Cas Mudde and Gabriela Greilinger call out the dishonesty of hard-right parties seeking to present a facade of concern for workers over policies intended to further entrench the control of capitalists. And Sophie Binet writes that France's recent elections provide an example as to how the promise to focus on local economic development can help win voters over to the left - though it should be noted that Emmanuel Macron's subsequent decision to appoint a hard-right prime minister also offers a cautionary tale as to how the corporate centre will favour the alt-right after running against it. 

- Finally, John Michael McGrath discusses how the Ford PCs are rejecting any options to build housing with any meaningful density (with the effect of favouring developer-friendly sprawl which does nothing to alleviate the housing crisis). 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Lauren Chadwick reports on the WHO's findings that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a multi-year drop in life expectancy and undone a decade of health progress. Eric Topol and Ziyad Al-Aly examine the results of a new study showing that long COVID is linked to a large number of adverse health outcomes 3 years after an initial hospitalization. And Dan Luo et al. identify one possible mechanism by which COVID-19 may cause heart problems. 

- Amy Janzwood discusses the immense financial and environmental costs of the TMX pipeline which the Libs have chosen to prioritize over anything which could actually reduce carbon pollution. And Eric Van Rythoven notes that the spread of carbon tariffs among countries who don't share the Cons' denial of climate science would render Pierre Poilievre's anti-pricing sloganeering completely ineffective. 

- Marissa Alexander and Wade Thorhaug discuss how soaring food prices are the result of corporate control over the our food supply. And David Wainer points out that increased private equity involvement in U.S. health care has resulted in further ballooning costs in what was already a grossly unaffordable medical system.  

- Finally, Susan Jane Wright writes about the importance of taking to the streets in response to Danielle Smith's anti-democratic governance. But David Climenhaga notes that the UCP's contempt for voters includes a plan to dictate who's actually allowed to cast a ballot in order to have a say in how they're governed. And Charles Rusnell warns that the Alberta Legislature appears to be going out of its way to hire disgraced violent former police officers to control one of the most important public spaces in the province. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Markham Hislop offers up his apologies for cheerleading for the TransMountain pipeline - both due to its immensely increased price tag, and for its imminent obsolescence if we even remotely approach a workable response to the climate crisis. John Woodside calls out Chrystia Freeland for refusing to take even the baby step of acknowledging that dirty energy development shouldn't be eligible to be treated as clean investments, while Environment Defence responds to the failure of yet another much-ballyhooed carbon capture project which was supposed to counter the emissions from fossil fuel production and use. And Geoffrey Deihl wonders whether the oil industry's insistence on allowing climate change to worsen unchecked will force us to subject the Earth to a reckless experiment in atmosphere manipulation. 

- Meanwhile, Leana Hosea and Rachel Salvidge report on the rapidly-rising levels of "forever chemicals" in human bodies. And Sharon Lerner reports on the EPA's sudden reversal in dealing with acephate - as ProPublica's revelation that it planned to use sketchy data on non-living subjects to allow for increased use seems to have pushed it to instead implement a ban. 

- Pat Van Horne surveys some of the health experts who are pushing for a Canadian pharmacare program that ensures the availability of all essential medicines. 

- Talia Barnes explores how consumer products are increasingly designed to subject people to the control of corporations.  

- Marc Lee and DT Cochrane examine how Canada's tax system has remained regressive over the past two decades - including with decreased contributions by the wealthiest 5%. 

- Finally, Linda McQuaig points out how much of Canada's media has been working overtime to either conceal or normalize Pierre Poilievre's cultivation of ties to the far right. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Susan Riley points out the glaring gap between the urgency of the climate crisis, and the Canadian political response which (Charlie Angus aside) ranges from mealy-mouthed corporatism to outright sabotage. And Gillian Steward calls out the UCP's continued climate denial which is preventing Alberta from responding to fires, droughts and other disasters caused by the climate breakdown. 

- Meanwhile, Andrew Nikiforuk discusses the UCP's insistence on barging ahead with a coal mine repeatedly rejected by the courts as a painful example of how petropoliticians will never accept any environmental regulation on fossil fuel extraction, while Amanda Stephenson reports on the continued escalation of the up-front cost of the Trans Mountain pipeline which the Libs insist on funding at public expense.

- Max Fawcett discusses why a federal wealth tax would represent both good politics and good policy. 

- Linda McQuaig highlights how the Cons' claims to care about responsible public spending and affordability are utterly irreconcilable with their determination to shovel public money into the military-industrial complex as a sop to Donald Trump. And Rhianna Schmunk, Angelina King and Lori Ward report on the exploitation of Doug Ford's corporatist health care plans by systematically billing for unnecessary medication reviews (at rates far higher than doctors receive for prescribing). 

- Finally, Luke LeBrun exposes how Ottawa's police once again allowed right-wing extremists the run of the city - and are only now reviewing their lies about that course of action after they've been exposed in the media. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to end your week.

- Amy Peng et al. examine the profound positive impact of mask mandates in reducing the spread of COVID-19 in Ontario. And Sheena Cruickshank warns about the avoidable harm we can expect as so many respond to the political and social signals to abandon all precautions in the midst of an ongoing pandemic. 

- Luis Guanter et al. document an immense methane leak from a single well blowout in Kazakhstan. Michael Barnard offers a reminder that the definition of a carbon capture and storage "success story" is the release of 25 times more carbon pollution than is captured.

- Zoe Yunker reports on the federal government's choice to scrap pipe supply and testing requirements for a particularly treacherous stretch of the Trans Mountain pipeline. Fatima Syed discusses how the Ford government has suppressed a study which shows how the climate crisis endangers numerous facets of life in Ontario. And Raidin Blue and Betsy Again study (PDF) how bottlenecks in labour and material supplies are among the obstacles to making buildings more energy-efficient - making clear that the price of subsidizing dirty energy expansion is to divert the resources needed to transition to a cleaner economy. 

- Matthew Kurtz examines the problems with making educational institutions beholden to capital investments.

- Finally, Erika Shaker writes that trans children deserve far better than to be used as pawns in the right's culture wars. Rob Reiner discusses how hostility toward diversity is behind the willingness of U.S. religious nationalists to support Donald Trump. And Laura Woodward reports on the appalling demand by a Saskatoon church to shut down support services for homeless people - and how it's being echoed in Sask Party policy. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Cordell Jacks writes about the need for an economic model which evolves beyond the short-term exploitation of people and the planet. And Jessica McKenzie interviews Charlotte Kukowski about the importance of reprioritizing in the context of readily-apparent feedback loops between inequality and the climate crisis. 

- Daria Shapovalova reports on a landmark court decision determining that oil companies won't be able to avoid answering for downstream emissions in environmental assessments in Norway. But sadly, both Canada and the UK are continuing to rush through as much extraction and export as possible before anybody applies that standard to their fossil fuel sectors. 

- Marcus Baram reports on new legislation under consideration in New York which would ensure that large-scale wage thieves lose the privilege of doing business. 

- Adam King writes about the fight of Saskatchewan's teachers for tolerable working and learning conditions - and the Moe government's determination to avoid providing anything of the sort. 

- Aaron Wherry asks whether Justin Trudeau is reaching the point of regretting not keeping his promise of a fair and proportional electoral system. 

- Finally, Luke LeBrun points out that Stephen Harper's International Democrat Union has quietly scrubbed its links to Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party - though the main news appears to be that  there exists a level of authoritarianism that even the IDU will disclaim. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Damian Carrington reports on new research showing that the cost of damage caused by extreme weather is already upwards of $16 million per hour (and escalating). And Peter Kalmus writes about the need to wind down the fossil fuel industry rather than accepting the loss of a habitable planet. 

- But Helena Horton reports that the UK Cons are joining other right-wing parties in trying to stop the ongoing transition to clean energy. Matt Simmons reports on the BC Energy Regulator's complete failure to enforce any regulatory requirements for gas pipeline construction, while Julia Simone-Rutgers reports on the systematic defunding of environmental monitoring and enforcement in Manitoba. And Andrew Nikiforuk discusses how the UCP is once again trying to sneak dirty coal projects past courts and the public alike. 

- And while governments are going out of their way to cater to the sociopaths looking to sell off humanity's future to make a quick buck, Nina Lakhari, Damien Gayle and Matthew Taylor report that they're also using the power of the state to criminalize climate activism. 

- David Climenhaga discusses how the UCP's choice of private telehealth providers has gone bankrupt, leaving millions without the health care they were forced to accept through corporate means.

- Finally, Mack DeGeurin does report on the approval of a right-to-repair law in California.  

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- The Associated Press reports on how the climate breakdown is producing every form of extreme weather everywhere all at once, while E.M. Fischer et al. study how even more intense heat waves are an imminent possibility. And Brishti Basu points out how younger people are trying to cope with a future steeped in climate anxiety, while Kiffer George Card and Kalysha Closson warn of the problems with letting a climate calamity drive people apart. 

- Meanwhile, Michelle Woodhouse highlights how we don't need Line 5 and other dangerous fossil fuel infrastructure to meet our energy needs. 

- Erika Morris reports that every single developer in Montreal has chosen to pay a fee rather than meeting standards for affordable housing - signaling how futile it is to pretend that profit-motivated corporations are any part of the solution to the provision of human needs. Ximena Gonzalez writes about Calgary's failure to implement recommendations to encourage the supply of affordable homes. And Zane Woodford reports on the particularly callous comments from one Lower Sackville councillor that ending homelessness just isn't going to happen - though it's hard to see much distinction between that position and the policy choices of Regina and other municipalities. 

- Finally, Marcus Baram reports on the tens of millions of dollars in unpaid wage assessments in New York which are still outstanding due to a lack of enforcement capacity. And Zak Vescera reports on the B.C. government's choice to shut down its fair wage commission even in the face of strong recommendations that its work is far from done. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- David Wallace-Wells writes that the U.S.' neoliberal political consensus may finally have dissolved - though that possibility is of little comfort when the party continuing to push it is able to block change. 

- Ian Hudson examines how income inequality is worsening in Manitoba. And Richard Burgon discusses how inflation has mostly been driven by corporate profiteering in the UK just like in Canada. 

- David Moscrop points out how Doug Ford's plan to pave over prime agricultural land to funnel money to his developer cronies threatens Ontario's food supply. 

- Carl Meyer reports on the federal government's choice to suppress the fact that a TD-led consortium was pouring money into the Trans Mountain pipeline to deal with escalating construction costs. And Matt Simmons documents how the Coastal GasLink pipeline is dumping sediment into vital waterways before even being completed. 

- Finally, Erin Reed discusses how the willingness of major corporations to give in to hate campaigns demonstrates the emptiness of corporate LGBTQ+ branding as a substitute for movement-building.