Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Adam Kleczkowski examines the effectiveness of COVID-19 interventions two years into the pandemic, while noting the importance of applying the precautionary principle in the face of uncertain but severe risks. Jillian Horton discusses how our aversion to thinking about danger has been exploited by the forces seeking to eliminate any protection against an ongoing pandemic, while Umair Haque highlights the devastating effects of COVID on the brain which we're just beginning to understand. And Lisa Steacy reports on the recognition by British Columbia Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender that the elimination of masking rules creates disproportionate and discriminatory risk for vulnerable populations.  

- Ketan Joshi reminds us of the role that oil and gas have played in building up Vladimir Putin's military threat to Ukraine. Richie Assaly reports on the reality that the best means of disempowering dictators is to stop relying on the non-renewable resources they control. And Greg Muttitt discusses the reality that all countries need to be working on phasing out fossil fuel extraction and use in order to avert catastrophic results. 

- Meanwhile, Matt Simon discusses the climate threat posed by the greenhouse gases which may soon be released by the melting of undersea permafrost. And Christy Climenhaga reports on the projections showing a future of increasingly widespread and severe droughts in Saskatchewan as another consequence of a climate breakdown.

- Finally, Robert Reich writes that raising interest rates won't help to avoid inflation caused by supply chain disruptions and corporate profiteering - but will ensure that working people are faced with wage stagnation and a recession along with all the other forces already arrayed against them. And Simon Enoch warns Newfoundland and Labrador against following the path of austerity and privatization which is making Saskatchewan and other conservative-controlled jurisdictions unliveable for so many. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- The Associated Press reports on the continued disparity in COVID-19 vaccinations between countries which is exacerbating the risk of new and more severe variants for everybody. 

- David Moore and Donald Shaw report on the threat of industrial chemicals at risk of being spilled or discharged due to extreme weather - and the array of corporate forces fighting to keep endangering the public rather than being responsible to address the impending disasters they've created. And Amy Westervelt discusses how a grossly insufficient set of climate policies is the result of corporate-owned governments allowing fossil fuel lobbyists to dictate our policy choices. 

- Kendall Latimer reports on the growing gap between a suppressed Saskatchewan minimum wage and the cost of an acceptable standard of living. 

- Meanwhile, Bruce Campbell points out how the Trudeau Libs' failure to do anything about the growing inequality they recognized in taking power played a major role in the development of the #FluTruxKlan. And Sheila Wang reports on a single loophole being used by some of the wealthiest Canadians to avoid millions of dollars in taxes. 

- Finally, Carole Cadwalladr writes about the irony of Vladimir Putin's failing effort to control the flow of information about Russia's unconscionable attack on Ukraine after funding the disinformation apparatus which has done so much to toxify politics in the rest of the world. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- C Raina MacIntyre offers five reasons to keep wearing a mask even after mandates are removed - and the arguments are even more compelling in areas where waves of infections are still in progress. And Elizabeth Yuko reports on the victims of long COVID who have lost their homes as well as their health, while Mark Melnychuk reports that Scott Moe has predictably declared that homeless people in Saskatchewan are on their own once they become ill. 

- Justin Marchand and Ene Underwood ask how it's at all fair for people who own homes in established neighbourhoods to have the ability to deny access to housing to others. 

- Katharina Pistor examines how Vladimir Putin and the surrounding Russian oligarchy are the direct result of an ill-advised choice to prioritize privatization and wealth accumulation over the development of a functional society. 

- Charlie Angus discusses how the #FluTruxKlan and the ecosystem of disinformation behind it highlight the difficulty in trying to reach people who have disconnected fully from reality. 

- Finally, M. Chamoun et al. study the respective costs of drugs under public and private plans, finding that patients pay significantly more under the latter.  

Friday Morning Links

 Assorted content to end your week.

- Carly Weeks examines why so many Canadian children still haven't been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. John Loeppky asks that we not eliminate the digital solutions which have allowed people with disabilities to participate on somewhat more equal ground. Zak Vescera reports on Saskatchewan's ballooning waitlists for surgery and other medical treatment as the Moe government piles more and more COVID cases on the health care system. And Sean Amato reports on the Kenney UCP's plans for privatized surgeries in Alberta - and the fact that Saskatchewan is already serving as a cautionary tale.   

- Abacus Data examines the widespread burnout among Canadian workers. And Quentin Fottrell writes that the large number of resignations in the U.S. can be traced to an attempt to regain some agency and time. 

- Cameron Fenton makes the case for a just transition to undercut the rage machine funded in part by and for the fossil fuel sector. And Harvey Kaye and Alan Minsky call for an economic bill of rights to ensure everybody has a base level of economic security. 

- But Mark Melnychuk reports on changes to CRA requirements which are making it needlessly difficult for homeless people and people living in poverty to file their taxes - creating a gratuitous obstacle to the receipt of benefits which depend on tax returns being filed.

- Paul Krugman suggests that money laundered overseas may be a crucial weakness for Vladimir Putin and his cadre of oligarchs. But Julia Rock and David Sirota note that sanctions won't be effective as long as corporate lobbyists undermine them with carve-outs for the schemes and sectors which benefit the wealthy the most. 

- Finally, the Associated Press reports on the International Energy Agency's recognition that methane emissions from fossil fuel production are far more severe than admitted by the fossil fuel industry or the governments who are supposed to be regulating it.