Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- John Woodside weighs in on the UN's recognition of the need to stop our dependence on dirty energy. And Jillian Ambrose reports on the International Energy Agency's projections which foresee the beginning of the end of fossil fuel use. 

- Leo Collis points out how steps to disincentivize combustion commuter vehicles produce safer communities on multiple levels. And Kevin Krizek writes that ever-larger vehicles are creating readily-avoidable safety hazards for pedestrians and road users. 

-  Lauren Kirschman interviews Allison Russell about the connection between the climate crisis and the information crisis - and Markham Hislop discusses how the UCP is directing tens of millions more public dollars toward polluting minds in order to enable further carbon pollution. Amanda Follett Hosgood exposes how the RCMP is burning millions of dollars protecting pipelines at the expense of people. And Natalie Alcoba reports on the massive amounts of money being poured into expanding greenhouse gas emissions compared to the pittance going to mitigation and transition measures. 

- Meanwhile, Nick Gottlieb discusses how the mining industry generally is exploiting legal loopholes in order to avoid cleaning up its toxic messes. 

- Finally, Andre Picard highlights how the poisoning of hundreds of Calgary children due to corporatized food supplies reflects the breakdown of public health as a priority in Canada. And Martin Lukacs notes that the takeover of the Cons' internal party apparatus by corporate lobbyists signals the intention to exploit the public and disregard people's well-being even more. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Jamey Keaten and Seth Borenstein report on the World Meteorological Association's finding that we've just had the hottest summer in recorded history. And Chelsey Harvey highlights how the combination of extreme heat and other climate calamities looks to be a harbinger of worse to come rather than an outlier. 

- Which naturally means that the UCP is echoing Steve Bannon's talking points in order to promote carbon pollution, while also pouring tens of millions more public dollars into the unaccountable war room for advertising campaigns to peddle dirty energy. 

- Matthew Black reports on Alberta's continued pattern of losing hundreds of residents to drug poisoning deaths every month. 

- Nicholas Keung reports on the Moe government's decision to prioritize primarily-white source countries for immigration as part of the Saskatchewan Party's idea of sovereignty. 

- Finally, Kathleen Hilchey writes about the need for trans students to find care and support rather than  systematic bigotry in schools. And John Ibbitson calls out Scott Moe, Blaine Higgs and other right-wing governments for fomenting hate rather than ensuring children have a safe educational experience. 

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- John Metta discusses how low-income workers have been barely treading water for decades even before the coronavirus collapse. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives points out how we can take the failure of EI during the pandemic as a signal that we need to build far stronger income replacements for the future. And Roberta Bell reports on how the pandemic - and the resulting strain on already-threadbare support systems - has exacerbated Regina's existing addictions crisis.

- Avery Zingel talks to Michael Miltenberger about the dangers of the choice of both the Kenney UCP and the Trudeau Libs to suspend water quality monitoring. And Ben Parfitt points out how governments will need to step in to remediate the environmental damage the natural gas industry has inflicted on Fort Nelson, BC.

- Linda McQuaig discusses how decades of giveaways to big oil have left Alberta poorer. Andrew Leach weighs in on the folly of the UCP's War Room. Bryan Carney digs into the public money spent by Alberta - and the dubious tactics used - in its propaganda blitz seeking federal approval for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. And Wallis Snowdon reports on the municipalities facing massive property tax hikes to paper over the handouts the UCP has gifted to the fossil fuel sector. 

- Finally, even the Globe and Mail's editorial board is recognizing the need to start talking about increasing public revenues as part of Canada's path toward recovery - while the Libs continue to insist nothing of the sort is under consideration. And Bill Campbell notes that both the potential to raise income from the uber-wealthy and the ability to carry debt represent important reasons not to obsess over temporary deficits at the expense of rebuilding.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- John Miller takes note of the corporate media's bias against Wet'suwet'en land defenders and others engaged in demonstrations in solidarity. Stuart Trew comments that we shouldn't let demands for convenience override the ongoing need for reconciliation. Paige Raibmon writes about the obvious error in writing Indigenous law out of the "rule of law" for the purpose of delegitimizing land defenders. And Jennifer Ditchburn points out the absurdity of relying on the concept of the rule of law at all as a means of undermining well-recognized Indigenous rights, while Stephen Maher points out how the CPR's history is intertwined with the subjugation of Indigenous peoples.  

- Laurie Macfarlane writes about the need to discuss how wealth is accumulated - including the growing roles of inheritances and luck - in order to build a movement to ensure that it's put to positive social purposes. Daniela Gabor worries that the EU's plans for a green economic transition are being designed mostly to further enrich the wealthy, rather than focusing on either environmental improvements or distributive justice. And Stefan Stern points out how much better off we'd be if the rich paid more in wages and taxes rather than claiming to be philanthropists.

- But on the bright side, PressProgress highlights British Columbia's plan to raise an extra $200 million per year by ensuring that its highest-income residents pay something closer to their fair share of the price of a civilized society.

- Finally, both the Globe and Mail's editorial board and Rob Breakenridge join the chorus calling for the UCP to shut down its backfiring war room. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Nathan Robinson writes that there's every reason for younger people - in the U.S. and elsewhere - to support the principle of socialism based on a desire to achieve gains for everybody rather than only a privileged few:

A better definition, at least as far as the economic dimension of socialism, is the concept of “worker control.” What socialists have disliked is the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a small number of people. What they have demanded is that ordinary working people get their fair share of the wealth. Some socialists have believed strongly in the power of government, others have believed that worker cooperatives or syndicates could give workers their share. Matt Bruenig of the socialist People’s Policy Project has proposed a large “social wealth fund” that would distribute returns on public assets to the people as a whole, while Bernie Sanders (now running for president again) has put forth a plan to give employees seats on company boards and give ordinary workers guaranteed shares of stock.

The specifics vary, but what all socialists have in common is a dislike for the class system, where some people work incredibly hard all their lives and end up with nothing, while other people get to make money in their sleep just by owning things. Socialists think that if you work for a company, you ought to reap rewards when it succeeds, and you ought to have a say in how it’s run.

But there’s more to it than that. In my book, ”Why You Should Be A Socialist,” I argue that what socialists have in common is a sense of “solidarity” with people at the bottom, no matter who they are. As the famous socialist presidential candidate Eugene Debs said 100 years ago, “while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”

That commitment may seem radical: who wants to be of the criminal element? But socialists think in terms of universals: we think everyone deserves healthcare and housing, not just the people who prove themselves morally worthy. Sanders was criticized when he said that inmates should be able to vote. But that was an admirably socialist thing to say: some rights should not have exceptions.

A lot of socialists’ day-to-day focus, then, is not on restructuring who owns the “means of production,” but on looking at the lives of people at the bottom and figuring out how to make them better. And we have this commitment because of solidarity: you want the same things for everyone else that you have for yourself.

- Meanwhile, the CCPA examines how Canada's wealthiest CEOs continue to increase the gap between their own pay and that of the workers who contribute to their riches. And Paul Willcocks writes that the gig economy serves primarily to transfer risks and responsibilities from corporations to workers.

- Paul Krugman discusses the immense damage done to the people who could least afford it by the U.S.' gratuitous austerity. And PressProgress points out the harm Jason Kenney has done by slashing taxes and services in less than a year governing Alberta, while Chris Turner comments on the $30 million bonfire that is the UCP's fossil fuel war room.

- Finally, Robert Reich writes about the sham of corporate social responsibility. And Ganesh Shitaraman declares neoliberalism to be dead, while surveying the wreckage it's left behind. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Stephen Buranyi laments the reality that the public's increased awareness and concern about our ongoing climate breakdown isn't being reflected in political decisions. And Noah Smith writes that while the rapid drop in prices for renewable energy may help us avoid the worst possible climate outcomes, we shouldn't doom ourselves to the massive damage expected from a business-as-usual scenario.

- Erin Baerwald calls out the gross inaccuracy of Doug Ford's anti-wind crusade. Jeremy Klazsuz reviews Jason Kenney's year of attacks, while Scott Schmidt discusses the threat the UCP's war room poses to the public's freedom of expression. And Morgan Modjeski reports on the laughably overwrought shrieks of protest in response to a fairly standard Oxbow Christmas pageant which dared to include environmental themes.

- Eion Higgins reports on the spread of the #wouldyoushootmetoo hashtag in response to the news that the RCMP was prepared to shoot to kill peaceful land defenders.

- Chelsea Whyte discusses the tragic - and entirely avoidable - return of measles to the U.S. as a result of antivaxxers.

- Finally, Heather Mallick points out the economic and environmental damage we do by relying on Amazon. And Brendan Kennedy reports undercover on the working conditions facing Amazon's delivery drivers.