Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Samantha Hancox-Li writes about the need for the U.S.' citizenry to retake power from a militarized surveillance state through nonviolent organized resistance. And Philip Bump points out how Minnesota has already provided a model for other communities to follow. 

- Oren Cass discusses the need to treat the financial sector as a grift rather than a source of investment or productivity. And Cory Doctorow calls out stock buybacks and other swindles that are being used to transfer wealth from the working class to the corrupt few. 

- Meanwhile, Isaac Phan Nay reports on Tim Li's recognition that even full-time workers are facing an inability to pay for food and other necessities as wages fall behind inflation. 

- Ajit Niranjan reports on a new study showing that increasingly dangerous and ecologically harmful pesticides are being used in far too many countries (including the U.S.). And Dylan Baddour and Peter Aldhous report on Texas' massive-scale venting of pollutants during a bout of winter weather as regulators give gas power plants free rein to dump their waste in the air. 

-  Finally, Don Newman weighs in on how Danielle Smith is plying with fire by stoking separatism, while Andrew Coyne notes that the portions of the separatist group actively seeking a Trump takeover are veering into treasonous territory. And Emmett Macfarlane warns Mark Carney against indulging Smith's attempt to take provincial control over federal judicial appointments (among other incursions into federal jurisdiction). 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Nicola Davis writes about the large number of people getting reinfected with COVID in the UK, while Andrew Gregory reports on new research showing that vaccines offer protection to people who have had COVID before. Zak Vescera reports on the rising rate of hospitalizations since Scott Moe decided we shouldn't worry our pretty little heads about public health protections and community case levels. And Ibolya Rutkai et al. study the stark neurological effects of even cases which do not result in respiratory symptoms in non-human primates.  

- Meanwhile, Bob Hepburn warns that Doug Ford's Ontario PCs are among the right-wing governments looking to use the pandemic as an opportunity to privatize health care. And John Clarke discusses the need for social resistance to austerity which seems all to likely to be imposed to suppress wages which still haven't kept up to inflation. 

- Charles Pierce writes about a new Wall Street Journal report on the highly suspicious pattern of stock price changes which results in shareholders getting less for large sales based on information about trades getting revealed in advance. 

- Finally, Michelle Gamage examines how Canadian banks continue to pour money into destructive fossil fuel projects, while Carl Meyer discusses how the finance sector is secretly lobbying against any climate disclosure. Environmental Defence takes a look at the massive subsidies already enjoyed by the fossil fuel sector in Canada (even as it demands tens of billions of dollars more). Emily Atkin and Caitlin Looby examine the drastic consequences of a half-degree of global warming which is likely within our control to avoid. And Stan Cox writes that we can't drill our way out of the violence and upheaval caused by wars rooted in reliance on dictator-controlled oil and gas. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Andre Picard warns not to expect the end of the COVID-19 pandemic (however distant that may be) to result in any particular triumph. And Reuters reports on the looming possibility that the vaccines developed to date may not protect against the coronavirus variant now spreading in South Africa.

- Jennifer Francis reports that the outbreak of COVID-19 at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary is creating both mental and physical health dangers. And Anna McMillan reports on the hunger strike in provincial correctional facilities protesting Christine Tell's neglect in allowing outbreaks to run rampant.

- Neil Irwin and Weiyi Cai discuss the particularly glaring divergence between people's well-being and the stock market in the midst of a pandemic which has pushed more money into markets.

- Simon Read writes about new research showing that a 4-day work week can substantially improve well-being with little if any effect on productivity. And Peter Goodman points out how co-operatives have helped workers in Spain weather the pandemic - though it's well worth noting that co-operative structures can become as corporatized as any privately-owned business.

- Finally, Harrison Samphir interviews Rob Larson about the corporate takeover of the Internet, and the prospects of converting to a socialized alternative.

Wednesday Evening Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Nicole Lyn Pesce examines the growing evidence that people with even minor cases of COVID-19 may face neurological symptoms lasting for months. And Lauren Pelley writes about the need to start thinking about how to deal with a full winter of the coronavirus - though I'd argue we need to go further and start planning for the anticipated multi-year period of distancing and protective measures.

- Joseph Magnet discusses the inevitability of COVID-19 outbreaks in schools. John Michael McGrath writes that parents aren't expecting miracles, but have every right to demand effort, competence and compassion from the governments who have children's health and safety in their hands. Alex Soloducha reports on the rightful calls of Saskatchewan parents to have the province ensure an effective plan for any return to school rather than foisting blame (but no resources) on school boards. Amina Zafar surveys some doctors as to how best to check viral spread in schools, while the Alberta Federation of Labour recommends a workplace health and safety approach to minimize the prospects of a Cargill-style calamity.

- Jessica Yun examines why share prices are staying at all-time-high levels in the course of a pandemic which has severely reduced economic activity - with attacks on workers and wages looming large in the equation. And Don Pittis discusses the reality that assets available for fire-sale prices only further enrich the people who have spare wealth to acquire them.

- David Roberts writes about new research showing that the effects of air pollution are so severe as to make a transition to clean energy a clear economic benefit even if we ignore the climate crisis.

- But that makes it particularly depressing that Canada is handing out massive fossil fuel subsidies even compared to our international counterparts, rather than planning for any meaningful move toward renewables. And that goes doubly for Alberta's plan which is based on trying to extract temporary wealth from a greenhouse gas emissions path which will lead to an inevitable climate disaster.

- Finally, David Climenhaga warns us not to be taken in by promises of small nuclear reactors which serve only as a delay tactic rather than a viable part of the transition.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Larry Elliott discusses how the stock market is reacting with disgust against rare good economic news for workers and the general public. Asher Schechter interviews Angus Deaton about the connection between monopolies, rent-seeking and burgeoning inequality. And Bill Kerry writes that we have ample reason to ask what use the rich are to society at large when their wealth is hoarded and sheltered.

- The Broadbent Institute lists the Filthy Five worst tax loopholes which cost Canada eleven figures worth of revenue every year for no discernible social benefit. And PressProgress zeroes in on the business entertainment loophole in particular.

- CBC reports on a new study finding that nearly a million Canadians skimped on food or other necessities of life in order to pay for prescription drugs, while 1.6 million took less than the medicine they were prescribed due to an inability to afford it.

- The Local reports on Germany's proposal to make public transport free in order to cut down on pollution from vehicle use.

- Finally, Gordon Laxer writes that it's long past time for Canada to extricate itself from NAFTA rules requiring it to continue producing and exporting dirty energy.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Bruce Campbell comments on the link between rising inequality and declining democracy, while Rachel Mendleson notes that the erosion of workplace democracy and the labour movement is a key factor in both.

- Meanwhile, Erin points out that while decades of corporatist policy haven't done anything to improve productivity, the greater consumer demand from a better distribution of wealth might well help matters.

- pogge rightly questions why the CBC continues to trumpet Fraser Institute propaganda as newsworthy. But I wonder whether the answer is simply to turn the apparent incentives on their head: if the media indeed finds pre-packaged news irresistible and doesn't bother to present competing views, maybe we should start putting our critiques of astroturf organizations into a similarly media-friendly form to be similarly reported without question.

- Finally, is there any surprise that in the midst of constant admonitions that we need to harmonize (read: torch) laws between provinces and countries to the greatest extent possible, the one time our regulators want to strike out on their own is to increase the volatility of casino capitalism when the U.S. is looking to install some meaningful "circuit breakers"?

Insider trading

David Olive discusses suspicious trading of stock in Canada and abroad, noting that while Canada stands out with "aberrant trading patterns" preceding nearly 2/3 of large mergers, a substantial number of major transactions in the U.S. and U.K. have similarly followed dubious increases in trading. And somewhere, a free marketeer claims there's no reason to think the market will operate anything but fairly on its own.