Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Mark Kreidler notes that people from around the globe are staying away from the U.S. in droves - due to both the risk of being a foreigner in a country looking to detain anybody fitting that description, and the desire to avoid rewarding a rogue regime. And Drew Hinshaw and Joe Parkinson write about the increasing number of Americans choosing to leave the U.S. rather than suffering under the violence and corruption of the Trump administration. 

- Sadiq Khan highlights how UK Labour has only hurt itself by imposing right-wing bigotry as policy rather than giving effect to the progressive values of its base. And Justin Ling questions Mark Carney's cheerleading for the U.S.' wars of conquest, while Lloyd Axworthy discusses how Carney has chosen to enable (and indeed embrace) U.S. aggression in violation of international law. 

- Ajit Niranjan reports on the shocking loss of marine life as a result of the climate breakdown, with drops in marine biomass of up to 20% in a single year. Greg Harman discusses new modeling showing that over 2% of all deaths in a Texas summer - numbering up to a thousand in any given year - can be traced back to extreme heat caused by global warming. And Sadie Harley examines how carbon dioxide levels in the human body are increasing dangerously. 

- Hayley Smith discusses yet another pernicious application of artificial intelligence, as fabricated "public comments" were used by a California environmental authority as reason not to phase out fossil gas appliances. 

- Finally, Erika Edwards reports on the tens of millions of dollars in traceable losses caused by the anti-vaxxers' choice to spread measles in the U.S. - while hinting at far more severe damage which may never be observable. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Owen Jones writes that a stunning Green by-election win in the UK can be traced to their offering meaningful hope that things can get better while Labour has chosen a strategy of reactionary centrism. And G. Elliott Morris highlights how the problem U.S. Democrats face with voters is one of being perceived as weak rather than falling offside of people's values. 

- George Tsakraklides discusses the myriad ways in which our existing systems and structures are being wrecked - as well as the need to build up again from the wreckage. 

- Seth Klein points out the desperate need for public investment as part of Canada's economic reorientation, including through new or revitalized Crown corporations. But Taylor Noakes reports on yet another instance of Mark Carney instead serving the interests of dirty capital, this time by facilitating the development of fossil fuel-powered data centres following a flurry of lobbying. And Darius Snieckus reports on Investors For Paris Compliance's warning that the capital class' push to lock us into fossil gas infrastructure represents a losing bet for Canadian savings. 

-  Finally, the Norwegian Consumer Council offers a painfully apt take on the enshittification of our world:

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Moira Doneghan discusses what the leaked Signal war crime planning among several top Trump regime officials says about how decisions are being made within the administration. And Alexander Hurst reports on the efforts by universities around the world to offer homes to leading thinkers fleeing the U.S., while Jacek Debiec notes that two prominent experts on tyranny and fascism have accepted Canadian appointments. 

- Justin Ling discusses how to approach the task of decoupling from the U.S., while Jeet Heer writes that the fight against fascism requires far more than the warm-and-fuzzy nostalgia on offer from the Libs. And Jason Markusoff writes that Danielle Smith's message that the Poilievre Cons are fully in sync with Trump has been heard loud and clear in Canada. 

- Code Black offers a comparison of medical practice in the U.S. and Canada, noting in particular how universal medicare ensures care decisions aren't constantly overridden in the name of extracting profit. But Duff Sprague points out that Ontario's health care system (like many others) is falling far short of what it could accomplish due to insufficient funding.  

- Ryan Cooper writes about the existential threat to society posed by the concentration of wealth and power in a few ultra-rich hands. And Owen Jones notes that the demand that the general public accept austerity and decline as the price of catering to the wealthy isn't any more palatable coming from UK Labour than from any other party in power. 

- Finally, Claude Lavoie argues that we won't make needed headway against the housing crisis until we start treating land as a necessary element of the right to housing, rather than a store of value to be walled off for private gain. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Paul Krugman discusses how Donald Trump and Elon Musk are severing the U.S.' ties around the world. And Eamon James and Dan Mangan report that the one form of international interaction Trump is looking to bolster is the legitimization of bribery. 

- Lisa Needham writes that Trump isn't pretending to govern as anything but a dictator unbound by law or by accountability. Jason Stanley writes about the new Republican "Southern Strategy" seeking to make a constant war against minorities and their voting rights into a foundation for electoral dominance. David Dayen notes that the technological takeover of the U.S. government seems designed to impose to impose rule by capricious and malicious autopilot. Molly Jong-Fast calls out the second Trump administration's war on science, while Amanda Marcotte notes that Musk is going out of his way to destroy research and innovation after building his own obscene fortune on past generations' work. 

- The Guardian's editorial board notes that the real purpose of Trump's obsession with tariffs is to allow him to impose the most extreme program of systematic economic inequality the world has ever seen. Jason Leopold and Evan Weinberger highlight the blatant self-dealing involved as Musk shreds the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and seizes competitors' confidential information just in time to turn X into a financial services rent-seeker, while Kylie Cheung points out that existing creditors and banks are also looking forward to free rein to scam their customers. 

- Meanwhile, James Temperton and Murad Hemmadi report on Shopify's embrace of Nazi merchandise and causes - which is of course particularly important given Pierre Poilievre's desire to turn its principals into the Canadian version of Musk. Nora Loreto discusses the ethnonationalism behind Pierre Poilievre's new choice of slogans. And Jon Henler reports on new research showing that the far right spreads fake news far more than any other grouping on the political spectrum. 

- George Monbiot laments that Keir Starmer's Labour government is further dismantling the UK's machniery of government (and undermining its own stated goals in the process). And Chris Dillow points out how the fanatical belief in commodified markets as the solution to everything prevents governments from serving the interests of their citizens. 

- Finally, Adam King interviews Bryan Evans and Carlo Fanelli about the damage Doug Ford has done to workers in Ontario. And Canada Healthwatch points out that despite how one prominent poll has been framed, it's unlikely that health care will be the top issue for voters - making a full accounting for Ford's subservience to Donald Trump a must to ensure he can't hang on to power. 

Monday Morning Links

Assorted content to start your week.

- John Vaillant discusses how California's wildfires are just the most prominent recent example of how we're getting burned by relying on fossil fuels, while Francine Prose writes that what's happening in Los Angeles now is what people everywhere can expect as our climate breaks down. Elad Nehorai writes that oil companies and their leaders bear direct responsibility for people dying or losing their homes, while Tzeporah Berman calls out fossil fuel promoters as arsonists. And David Sirota discusses what we can do to change a bleak-looking outcome to our ongoing disaster movie. But it should go without saying that minimizing the danger and telling people nothing should change isn't the way to improve the situation - making this just one more area where Keir Starmer's Labour government is making matters worse. 

- The Guardian points out how Donald Trump's denial and division have also been used to avoid halting the damage. Jonathan Katz identifies the attack on climate action as one of the most devastating elements of the alt-right's war on social trust. Anne Applebaum discusses how authoritarians and anti-science cranks have made common cause against evidence-based policy. And Emily Bell writes about the urgency of fighting back on the side of facts and truth, while Rex Huppke calls for a war on stupidity and shamelessness to frame the actions of Trump's new regime in particular.

 - Joan Donovan writes that Meta's decision to institutionalize bigotry merely reflects its general preference for unaccountable oligarchy, while David Adam weighs in on the effectiveness of fact-checking where selfish tycoons aren't determined to squelch it. And Nick Robins-Early calls out Elon Musk's interference in Canadian politics. 

- Amy Maxmen discusses how the U.S. has lost control of the avian flu which is now becoming another source of imminent risk, while Katherine Wu notes that it should be an embarrassment that it wasn't contained nearly a year ago. And Hiroko Tabuchi reports on new research showing that forever chemicals are ending up in tap water through treated sewage.

- Roge Karma writes about two new studies documenting the Walmart effect in which the construction of a store systematically results in lower wages and higher unemployment in a community. 

- Finally, Dan Gardner takes a look at the history of the U.S.' attempts to take over Canada. And Jim Stanford examines (PDF) the actual flows of wealth between the two - showing that the U.S. is already being subsidized by favourable access to resources, markets and capital. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Will Hutton discusses how the growing gap between the rich and everybody else is eating away at Britain's collective well-being, while Phillip Inman warns the new Labour government of the problems with serving the business sector at the expense of the general public. And 350.org responds to the Cons' sloganeering with a campaign to stop allowing wealthy oil companies from dictating Canadian public policy. 

- Euan Thomson warns that a punitive approach to addictions and mental health is now being treated as received wisdom by right-wing parties across Canada - though there's some reason for optimism that voters are rejecting it along with other elements of the conservative culture war. Nik Barry-Shaw notes that Pierre Poilievre is parroting the talking points of big pharma in seeking to deny people access to affordable medication through pharmacare. Adam King points out how more and more health resources are being diverted to for-profit nursing agencies. And Kristina Olson, G.F. Raber and Natalie Gallagher study the results of gender-affirming medical care and find overwhelmingly positive outcomes. 

- Lora Kelley interviews Elaine Godfrey about the conditions which have facilitated the spread of election conspiracy theories. And Dave Karpf writes that Elon Musk's strategy as the outsourced voter turnout director for Donald Trump is to blatantly commit crimes such as making cash payments to voters - with what seems to be an entirely correct expectation that he'll never face any consequences. 

- Finally, David Angus Ness makes the case to build based on the principle of sufficiency which ensures that people have enough of what they need.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Charlie Warzel warns that the level of disinformation saturation in the U.S. has reached the point of organized violence and sabotage. H. Colleen Sinclair notes that much of the spread of disinformation is the result of cynical opportunism rather than any belief in its truth, while Mike Caulfield points out that willing recipients tend to accept it in order to avoid challenging their existing belief system. Mary Annaise Haglar writes about the intersection of anti-science propaganda and emergencies caused by the climate crisis. Luke LeBrun reports that the BC Cons' detachment from reality includes peddling conspiracy theories about a United Nations takeover while supporting right-wing dictators. And Justin Ling reports on David O'Brien's work to try to bring dangerously-programmed extremists back from the brink - while noting the lack of resources for that effort (particularly compared to the immense disinformation machines pushing people in the opposite direction).

- NASA unveils the first methane and carbon dioxide emission plumes detected by its new imaging spectrometer - and its ability to point out concealed carbon pollution is surely one of the reasons why Republicans are determined to kneecap NASA in particular and scientific observation generally. Cami Ferrell discusses a new report showing how the harm from fossil fuel pollution falls disproportionately on already-marginalized groups. And Evan Halper reports on the continued use of dirty coal power plants which were supposed to have been shuttered in Omaha (and elsewhere) to serve corporate data centres.

- The Guardian makes the case for the UK's Labour government to ensure the rich pay their fair share to support public well-being and growth, while Huw Evans offers a reminder that wanton deregulation has been the cause of immense harm under the previous Con regime. And Simon Fletcher laments that Labour has thus far operated as a right-wing government with no interest in addressing either inequality or the public interest - and lost public trust in a hurry as a result.

- Susan Elizabeth Turek reports on new research examining the most dangerous of ultra-processed foods.

- Finally, Rachel Aiello reports on the release of preliminary pre-approved housing designs - though the combination of a lengthy consultation process and a lack of resources to move past the design stage raises reason for doubt that much affordable housing will come from them.

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. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Hilary Beaumont and Nina Lakhani report on the fossil fuel lobby's pressure on U.S. governments to impose draconian anti-protest laws to prevent climate activists from being heard. darryll k. jones points out the dangers facing environmental activists around the globe at the hands of mining corporations and the governments who serve them. And Robert Reich writes that Elon Musk's control over crucial infrastructure - and his complete lack of compunction in using it to settle personal scores or strongarm governments - represents an unacceptable security risk for the U.S. 

- Tamara Palmer discusses the embarrassing lack of recycling of electronic waste - though it's worth noting how manufacturers put far more resources into pushing people to buy new devices than allowing them to recycle old ones. And Rosa Galvez makes the case for an international treaty on plastic pollution.

- Meanwhile, Richard Murphy argues that it's long past time for the UK to abolish "freeports" intended to allow corporations to operate outside the law - while noting that there's been little apparent interest in taking up that option in any event. And Aditya Chakrabortty reminds UK Labour that voters turfed the Cons for trashing public services in the name of catering to the corporate sector - meaning that they're not likely to be pleased with continued austerity from the government which ran on the need for change. 

- Finally, Lorraine Carpenter reports on the spread of fake X accounts in Quebec - following the pattern of similar accounts parroting Con messaging. And Don Braid and Jason Markusoff each discuss how Danielle Smith is catering to the most extreme wing of the UCP, while Jeremy Appel notes that there's little to distinguish those demands from the most dishonest and bigoted faces of the MAGA movement. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Tarique Niazi discusses some of the geopolitical implications of the intensifying climate crisis. Aaron Whetty offers a reminder that the joint effort by the Libs and Cons to treat a consumer carbon tax as the sole point of climate policy worth discussing missed the much bigger picture. And Nick Hedley notes that a rapid and successful transition to renewable energy in China stands to reduce global demand for fossil fuels far faster than previously projected.

- John Lavis and Mathieu Ouimet highlight how decision-makers would be expected to apply scientific knowledge to deal with a global polycrisis if they had any interest in acknowledging and responding to it. And the University of Plymouth takes note of the scientific consensus on the need to tackle the dispersion of microplastics.

- Kiran Stacey reports on a new study showing that a corporate tax giveaway in the UK is costing three times as much in revenue as it stands to produce in investment. And Sharon Graham asks what a Labour party is for if the UK's version is bent on starving the public while serving the interests of the corporate class.

- Wing Li rightly argues that the UCP shouldn't be using Alberta's public money to build private schools - particularly when it's responsible for failing to maintain public educational infrastructure. 

- Finally, Richard Murphy discusses the need to re-re-brand private equity with its previous title of "asset stripping" - and match that more accurate description with public policy aimed at limiting the harm it can do to functional economic vehicles.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Mo Amir discusses how John Rustad is attempting to cover up his longstanding climate denial in advance of this fall's B.C. election. And Gregory Mikkelson, Arlene Slocombe and Jessica Murray plead for Canada's federal government to stop greenwashing tar sands pipelines, while Gillian Steward offers a reminder that Danielle Smith is pushing to have the rest of the country foot the bill to clean up the messes being made by unscrupulous oil operators today. 

- Pep Canadell, Marielle Saunois and Rob Jackson point out that methane emissions in particular are reaching new extremes, causing an especially large immediate effect on the Earth's climate. And Zebedee Nichols and Tim Baxter note that the short-term exacerbation of a climate breakdown can have immense long-term consequences. 

- Linda Lakhdhir points out that peaceful climate activists are being locked up with far more severe sentences than violent racists. And Bruce Campbell reminds us that workers' safety concerns are at the core of the labour job action which was terminated by the Trudeau Libs in favour of arbitration at the behest of the corporate railways. 

- Simon Wren-Lewis offers a seemingly needed reminder to UK Labour that voters turfed the Cons to preserve public services - not to gut them in the name of fiscal conservatism. And Jean Swanson discusses the problems with a B.C. "social housing" program which is designed to exclude lower-income renters. 

- Finally, Audi van den Hove reports on the decision by the European Court of Justice requiring Apple to pay back taxes rather than laundering its profits in Ireland. And the Canadian Press reports on the Federal Court of Appeal's decision finding that Facebook breached user privacy in allowing apps to scrape and commercialize personal information. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Ayesha Tandon discusses a new study showing that the limiting factor in averting a climate breakdown is public policy rather than technological limitations. Aaron Wherry rightly points out that there's no either-or choice between mitigation and adaptation - and that indeed investment in the former can make the latter more manageable. And Natasha Bulowski reports on Danielle Smith's predictable decision to put an oil industry insider in charge of climate policy (and obstruction), while Kyle Bakx notes that the UCP is also actively pushing the construction of fossil fuel-powered data centres.

- Meanwhile, David Climenhaga highlights how the UCP is looking to turn limited addictions treatment into a donor profit centre. And Joel Dryden reports on the its choice to use public money to turn urgent care and other core health services over to private control. 

- Marc Bou Mansour examines how even a "featherlight" wealth tax could produce $2.1 trillion in annual revenue for public purposes. Ann Pettifor writes that the UK (like other countries) can afford to do what it has the will to do - making any focus on austerity in the name of growth an utterly counterproductive impulse. And Richard Murphy warns that the Starmer government seems inclined to pursue "balance" over a single term at the expense of underdevelopment and corporate control in the longer term. 

- Finally, Tory Shepherd discusses how the pathological fixation on growth in the name of perpetual profit generation includes a demand to increase birth rates and population levels on a planet whose resources are already overextended. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Bryn Nelson offers a call to action against the anti-science, anti-reality industry seeking to blast out propaganda to keep corporate coffers spilling over at the expense of public health and safety. And John Woodside sets out the greenwashing plan being used to try to force through even more dirty energy development in the tar sands, while Nina Lakhani reports that the journalists seeking to offer full and accurate information about climate issues are under constant threats of violence.

- Meanwhile, Yongxiao Liang, Nathan P. Gillett and Adam H. Monahan find that we're already on a path toward more than 2 degrees of global warming once we account for variability in ocean temperatures. Gabriel Rau et al. warn that warming groundwater poses threats to life both above and below the surface. And Dylan Baddour and Alejandra Martinez report on the escalating costs of droughts in Texas (and elsewhere) which are borne by publicly-subsidized insurance programs. 

- Mike Savage offers a reminder that wealth inequality remains a crucial issue for the general public in the UK - even as Keir Starmer has purged anybody who might advocate on the issue from his caucus in the name of bland corporatism.

- Finally, Jared Wesley and Alex Ballos point out how Danielle Smith is following the Republicans' playbook to prevent people from exercising their right to vote. And Jason Foster and Rebecca Graff-McRae write that the seemingly random acts of arbitrary governance from by UCP can generally be traced back to an attempt to dissolve any civic institution or source of information which could possibly check the exercise of partisan power.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Andrew Nikiforuk examines what we know about - and what we should be doing in response to - the Kraken COVID-19 variant which is running amok in parts of the US and beginning to spread in Canada. 

- Whizy Kim writes about the worsening race to the bottom among U.S. states in allowing the wealthiest few to avoid paying taxes (forcing people with less resources to foot the bill for whatever public services remain available). And Romain Schue and Thomas Gerbet report on the escalating amount of money being paid to McKinsey & Company as a substitute for a functional civil service at all levels of government in Canada. 

- hopebuilding discusses how Housing First policy is ultimately about valuing the people otherwise lacking one of the essentials of life. And Patrick Condon points out the glaring lack of evidence that funneling large amounts of money into private housing produces measurable improvements in making units available and reducing homelessness. 

- Izzie Ramirez writes about the trend toward perpetually inferior consumer products as businesses optimize a system based on constant replacement rather than the provision of what people actually want. And Leslie Kaufman highlights the damage we're doing to our climate through an addiction to cheap plastics (which petropoliticians are only looking to worsen). 

- Neal Lawson discusses how UK Labour can't credibly claim to be offering change from the Cons without committing to a fair electoral system - a point which applies equally to other parties claiming to be a progressive alternative to top-down, corporate cronyist governments. 

- Finally, Owen Jones writes that the younger generations which have been made the object of conservative scorn and spite are unlikely to reward that enmity with future support. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Bedir Alihsan et al. examine the effectiveness of face masks in preventing COVID-19 infections in both health care and community settings. And Taiyler Simone Mitchell and Catherine Schuster-Bruce note that the loss of smell may be returning as a signature symptom in the Omicron BA.5 wave.

- Andrew Jackson reviews Stephen McBride's Escaping Dystopia, and writes that while it's not too late to escape the dystopian results of neoliberalism run amok, we need a strong reassertion of the role of the state to serve the public interest in order to get there. And Tom Blackburn calls out Keir Starmer's choice to attack labour rather than ensuring that working people see their voices and interests represented by his party.  

- Penny Daflos reports on the increasing intrusion of private agencies even in staffing British Columbia's public health care system. And Tzeporah Berman makes the case for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty to avoid the familiar refrain of oil and gas interests complaining that no jurisdiction can be any more responsible than the most destructive regimes around the globe, while Antonio Guterres calls out the grotesque greed which is putting humanity at risk in the name of carbon pollution and windfall profits. 

- Yasmine Ghania reports on Saskatchewan's continued ranking as the Canadian province with the highest rate of homicides. And Myrna Dawson writes about the need to recognize and address femicide as a distinct form of violence. 

- Finally, David Moscrop highlights how a safe supply policy would rein in the drug poisoning crisis which continues to run out of control.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Geoff Thompson reports on new research showing that the cognitive decline caused by COVID-19 is worse than previously known, while the European Academy of Neurology finds a greater risk of neurodegenerative disorders. And the Economist reports on findings that the vaccine development and distribution process (which is no longer being treated as a priority as we race toward pandemic denial) has saved 20 million lives worldwide, while Wenkai Han et al. find that the coronavirus projects to escape immunity.

- Meanwhile, Tania Arrietta discusses how past and ongoing austerity made the pandemic worse in the UK. 

- George Monbiot suggests that debt relief for developing countries may serve as an important part of a climate strategy. 

- Finally, Kenan Malik writes about the well-recognized reality (contrary to the UK Cons' spin) that union influence and solidarity is necessary for the public good. And Andy Burnman makes the case for Labour to back proportional representation as a means of better distributing power. 

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Ricky Leong discusses the complete lack of any reasonable explanation for the UCP's failure to protect the health of Albertans in the face of the fourth wave of COVID-19. And Murray Mandryk comments that the Sask Party likewise insists on doing too little, too late even as people suffer as a result of their negligence.

- Adam King writes that the Pandora Papers offer just the latest reminder that any refusal to fund the society we want is a matter of choice rather than lack of resources.

- Matt Bruenig points out the U.S.' dangerous combination of gratuitously-slashed unemployment benefits and a lack of new employment. And Lysa Lloyd offers her perspective on the precarity and drudgery that come with surviving on social assistance. 

- Sandy Carrier discusses how a general disability benefit in particular would provide a desperately-needed basic standard of living. And Andre Picard writes that all parties should be able to agree on the need to ensure people with disabilities aren't trapped in poverty.

- Angela Smith interviews Jessica Whyte about the neoliberal movement's use of human rights language to impose cruel capitalist structures. 

- And finally, Alan Finlayson discusses the need to present progressive politics based on concrete proposals and demands, rather than nebulous values which are easily distorted by opponents while offering little of substance for potential supporters to draw upon.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Tonda MacCharles reports on David Naylor's justified call for an inquiry into Canada's pandemic response. And Peter Walker's report on the rapid spread of the B.1.617.2 variant in the (heavily-vaccinated) UK offers a reminder that the work of protecting public health is far from done.

- Seth Klein argues that after decades of polluting both our atmosphere and our polity in the name of instant profits, the fossil fuel sector can't expect a transition to a cleaner economy to cater to its demands. Geoff Dembicki exposes how Suncor in particular is dumping chemicals onto poor, heavily-Latino populations around Denver while trying to claim an interest in racial justice. Emma Graney reports on the IEA's new study showing that we can't afford any new fossil fuel development if we want to meet a 1.5 degree climate target. Agence France-Presse reports on new research showing that the Brazilian Amazon has turned into a net carbon emitter, rather than the needed carbon sink that it was historically. Paris Marx highlights why we should be skeptical of Apple's greenwashing campaign. And Michael Holder reports on the contribution of just 20 petrochemical firms to half of the world's single-use plastic waste. 

- That said, the Economist does discuss how parts of the global steel industry are shifting toward more sustainable operational models, rather than insisting on strip-mining whatever they can.

- Amira Elghawaby examines what defunding the police and redirecting resources toward non-violent incident response may look like.

- Finally, Luke Savage writes that a disastrous interview of Keir Starmer following disastrous election results only serves to highlight the hollowness of content-free centrism. And Jon Schwarz discusses how an obsession with deficits in the name of their impact on children only serves to ensure that they inherit an inequity and environmental destruction.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Derek Thompson discusses how the U.S.' capitalist system has been designed to squeeze younger workers - leading to many of them being open to systemic change. And in the context of UK Labour's leadership campaign, Grace Blakeley writes about the need for socialists to talk in aspirational rather than merely incremental terms to ensure voters recognize that democratic change is possible:

The idea of ‘aspirational socialism’ is Long-Bailey’s answer to this problem. It was always going to be difficult to convince an electorate beaten down by a decade of austerity that their lives could suddenly be transformed for the better simply by ticking the right box on polling day. But reframing socialist transformation around the idea of ‘aspiration’ aims to cut through this pessimism and make Labour’s ideas seem more achievable. In the context of declining social mobility, stagnant wages and an impending climate catastrophe, it should not be difficult to argue that there exists a need for collective social transformation alongside individual self-advancement. 

Investing in our public services will allow people up and down the country to achieve their full potential, because you can’t build a better life for yourself if you can’t access a good education, decent healthcare and a safety net for when times get hard. Strengthening workers’ rights will allow people to work together to fight for better conditions, higher pay and dignity at work. And a Green New Deal will create jobs in places starved of investment for decades so that we can build a sustainable economy fit for the future.
...

Long-Bailey can argue that live in a rigged economy in which the rules are made and enforced by a tiny elite that profits from keeping wages down, rents high and ordinary people out of politics. The only way to challenge this model is to deliver a democratic revolution that will redistribute wealth and power away from the Westminster-based establishment and towards working people up and down the UK. 
 
Aspirational socialism and the democratic revolution can both be realised through the creation of genuinely democratic collective institutions, which can also provide a substantive socialist response to the call of ‘take back control.’ Abolishing the House of Lords, making the Bank of England publicly accountable and devolving power to local councils will all help to democratise and politicise the British state. Strengthening the labour movement, transforming corporate governance and introducing new models of corporate ownership will deliver a more democratic economy geared towards collective advance.

- David Segal reports on a $60 billion tax evasion scheme which is just now seeing European countries try to recover what's been stolen from the public purse. And Nicholas Shaxson makes the case for a unitary tax system to ensure corporations pay a fair share worldwide, rather than the patchwork under consideration by the OECD.

- Jordan Weissmann examines how private equity has destroyed major retail outlets. And Simon Wren-Lewis discusses how an increased political focus on the individual interests of the extremely wealthy has resulted in an unhealthy environment for many businesses.

- Finally, CBC examines how Finland has used a Housing First model to ensure that everybody has a home.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Andray Domise highlights the importance of fighting back against the excesses and harms of capitalism, rather than accepting it as being necessary or inescapable:

There’s no way around a simple reality for people who consider themselves to be on the left side of the political spectrum, the people who strive for widespread and radical, if not revolutionary, change—we’re getting our tails kicked. There’s no putting an end to that if people who hold left-leaning ideals cannot quit kidding themselves by believing that capitalism exists as a benevolent or even neutral social arrangement. If the left intends to win these fights, it must also stand in principled opposition to capitalism. 2020 is the year to do it.

“It is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism,” goes an observation by, depending on your sources, either Fredric Jameson or Slavoj Žižek. And the frightening thing is, not only does the world’s end become easier to imagine with each passing day, there is also a politically active bloc that intends to keep squeezing profits until the music stops.
...

Environmental policy is not the only one where norms have become warped to the point of immorality. In Toronto, where nearly half of renters are paying costs categorized by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation as “unaffordable,” it can take between two and 14 years to be placed into social housing. The situation is equally dire in Vancouver, where rising rents force tenants into recreational vehicles, and then the eventual possibility of being kicked out of RV camps en masse.

How does the federal government address any of this? By offering financial assistance and incentives to bolster people with tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of dollars stashed away to buy a home. Which of course helps the real estate industry, helps mortgage lenders, and does nothing for people pressed ever further into the reaches of poverty. Condo towers sprout up all along Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway and tent cities underneath it are bulldozed, while the earth continues to pirouette carelessly on its axis.
...

Our political, business and media class would like nothing more than to pretend that these are natural outcomes, that none of it is avoidable, and that the world is and always has been shaped according to the capricious whims of that unknowable free market.

But the truth of the matter is this: 58 per cent of Canadians have a favourable view of socialism, and 77 per cent of us believe the world is facing a climate emergency. Most Canadians find income inequality to be fundamentally un-Canadian, and there are, numerically, more of us than there are bankers, landlords, brokers and executives put together. The only way for the left to win this fight is for its political vision to expand beyond capitalism, and to capture the widespread desire to move on from its exploitative limits.

We’ve lived in that world for long enough. Time for it to end.

- Meanwhile, David Dayen discusses how the U.S.' media is allowing the financial sector to avoid any discussion of the policies desperately needed to restrain its wealth and influence. And Ian Welsh writes about the reasons for UK Labour's election defeat - with the role of a hostile media in an anti-social propaganda campaign ranking as a crucial factor.
 
- Cathy Crowe discusses a brutal decade for homeless people in Canada. 

- Mike Addelman comments on the lack of mental health care to meet the needs of people facing terminal illnesses.

- Tony Doucette interviews Susan Caxaj about the coercive environment facing migrant agricultural workers in Ontario. And Grace-Edward Galabuzi and Sheila Block examine the costs of racism in Canada's labour market. 

- Finally, Gundi Rhoades writes about the devastating impact of climate change on animals in Australia. And Ebony Bennett points out that Scott Morrison's government is continuing to subsidize fossil fuels and neglect any emission reduction or mitigation plans even while his country is ablaze.