Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Playful cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Nina Lakhani reports on the latest data showing greenhouse gas emissions rising at an alarming rate. Bill McKibben discusses the math of climate change - including the vanishing budget for continued carbon pollution if we want to avoid catastrophic outcomes, and the plummeting price of actually making a transition to renewable energy. And Matthew Rosza writes about the foreseeable risks of a world with far less fresh water than we've come to count on. 

- Mitchell Beer writes that pipeline megaprojects invariably result in massive cost overruns, while also pointing out how the plan to offload TMX onto an Indigenous buyer seems designed to result in the transfer of a soon-to-be-stranded asset. 

- Meanwhile, Chris Hatch highlights the latest Conservative carbon tax tantrum. 

- Sharon Lerner reports on the EPA's inexplicable approval of a plastic-based fuel which looks to drastically exacerbate cancer rates among people exposed to it. 

- Finally, Victoria Gibson discusses how Toronto's homelessness crisis only stands to get worse as higher levels of government refuse to contribute - though the city's own focus on policing rather than providing services represents another key part of the problem. But on the bright side, Jason McBride reports on the non-profit Neighbourhood Land Trust's work in ensuring that rental housing is made available based on community need rather than a drive for profit. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading.

- The University of Denver examines how prior infection with COVID-19 produces effects comparable to a traumatic brain injury in worsening the effects of long COVID. And Laise Conde reports on the efforts of Protect Out Province BC (among others) to keep people protected even as the motivation to normalize continued spread is used as an excuse to slash any public health measures, while Meg Duff reports that access to Paxlovid is being restricted even as its function in reducing the severity of long COVID becomes better known. 

- Meanwhile, Mariana Mazzucato discusses the need for our system of drug research and manufacturing to be oriented toward keeping people healthy rather than locking in corporate profit streams. 

- Adam King writes about British Columbia's example in showing how reducing employer interference in organizing can help workers to pursue their collective bargaining rights. 

- Luke Savage discusses how Elon Musk has become a test case in demonstrating that amassing money under a capitalist system has nothing to do with merit. And Nik Popli highlights how food companies have made groceries more expensive through blatant profiteering. 

- Finally, Alex Himelfarb writes that there's nothing prudent about budgetary choices which fall far short of meeting the needs of people and the planet. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Esther Choo and Scott Duke Kominers are the latest to point out the need for a focused effort (comparable to the Operation Warp Speed project to develop the original COVID-19 vaccines) to respond to the public health emergency that is widespread long COVID. Phil Tank highlights how the Moe government's elimination of masking protection in Saskatchewan health care facilities is a purely political decision to cater to anti-science cranks (which figures to produce disastrous health consequences). And Josiah Mortimer reports on the UK's apparent coverup of workplace COVID infections and fatalities in health facilities.

- Max Fawcett writes about the clear connection between strong social safety nets and people's happiness and well-being. Claire Cain Miller and Alicia Parlapiano chart how the U.S. built a functioning welfare state at the outset of the COVID pandemic - and has since dismantled it based on the perceived imperative to stop helping people. Andre La Rosa-Rodriguez reports on the rightful concerns by food banks that governments are entrenching the need for private charity rather than doing anything to ameliorate systemic deprivation. And Moira Welsh reports on the high rates of poverty and precarious housing among older women - and some of the options available to ensure a reasonable standard of living.

- Monica Potts discusses how rural America's combination of moral puritanism and limited economic development traps women based on their family backgrounds and sexual choices.

- Finally, Ann Pettifor writes about the importance of applying the principle that "we can afford what we can do" to the task of transitioning to a clean energy society. And Michael Mann discusses how climate change deniers seem to have finally been left behind in Australia's policy discussions - though many of us know from experience how other delay and obfuscation tactics can temporarily take the place of outright denial with a substantially similar effect.

Musical interlude

Skylar Grey - Show Me Where It Hurts

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Linda McQuaig calls out the Ford PCs for making it even more difficult to hold corporate health care operators to account for sub-par service. And Emma McIntosh, Fatima Syed and Denise Balkissoon discuss Ford's latest sketchy step to turn farmland and industrial areas into new suburban sprawl, 

- Guido Lorenzi and Ivan Werning theorize (PDF) that inflation is best seen as conflict-based, representing the accumulation of price increases by parties with the perceived market power to impose them. And Duncan Kinney offers a reminder that the largest set of money stolen is that pilfered from workers by employers. 

- Colin Woodard discusses how car payments are taking up an increasingly large share of already-strained U.S. incomes. And Paul Kiel examines how the ultrarich are able to claim private jets and yachts as tax deductions while most people have to pay for transportation from after-tax incomes. 

- Finally, J.W. Mason discusses why socialists should be eager to see industrial policy as a tool to ensure that productive capacity is used to meet human needs and develop desirable economic activity (including the tools for a just transition). And Kevin Anderson offers an overview of what an effective plan to limit warming to 1.5 degrees will require - while noting that what's needed far exceeds what any major actors currently have on the table. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Lisa Schnirring reports on new research showing how infection with COVID-19 tends to lead to extended sick leave, while Helen Twohig et al. survey the prevalance and effects of long COVID among children. And Alec Salloum reports that workers and experts alike are rightly appalled at the Moe government's political order to expose patients and staff to needless risk by removing masking requirements. 

- Justin Chandler interviews Marilyn Struthers about the role municipalities and non-profit organizations can play in ensuring people have homes. Ximena Gonzalez reports on the UCP's choice to make matters worse by paying to privatize existing housing and enrich landlords. And Annette Desmarais and Andre Magnan report on the takeover of prairie farmland by institutional investors, squeezing out anybody who doesn't have multi-billion-dollar pools of capital to to throw around. 

- David Ho highlights why we can't accept the theoretical possibility of future carbon dioxide removal as an answer to the urgent need to reduce emissions now. Damian Carrington reports on new research suggesting that ice sheets may be collapsing far faster than expected. 

- Meanwhile, Rob Miller calls out Danielle Smith for deliberately blocking any transition to cleaner and cheaper renewable energy in order to serve her party's fossil fuel donors. And Alex Robinson writes about the corporate lobbying aimed at undermining any international effort to reduce plastic pollution. 

- Finally, Owen Jones writes that there's ample reason to fear the decline of the West - not because of trumped-up claims about morality, but because of real losses in health, well-being and equality. And Michael Harris discusses how Pierre Poilievre has bet his leadership and his party on MAGA politics - even in the absence of much reason to think Canadians are willing to let them carry the day.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- IOS Press discusses new research showing that COVID-19 accelerates the cognitive decline in people already living with dementia. F. Perry Wilson examines how COVID has both directly exacerbated the U.S.' fatality rate, and further exposed existing deficiencies in public health. And John Klein is duly scathing in responding to the Moe government's decision to eliminate masking protections in Saskatchewan health facilities (particularly just in time for a holiday in the midst of a wave to maximize the resulting damage). 

- Meanwhile, Andrew Nikiforuk examines how Danielle Smith and the UCP are doing their utmost to systematically any expectation that elected officials will operate with even a modicum of honesty or public concern, rather than exploiting every available weakness in order to funnel goodies to supporters.  

- Dylan Scott discusses how the development of limited private-sector competition has barely made a dent in price-gouging for EpiPens in the U.S. And Nicholas Frew reports on the growing recognition that work as a firefighter should be treated as a risk factor for cancer. 

- Molly Crabapple reports on the growth of a tenants' movement in New York to counteract the abuses of greedy landlords, while Jen St. Denis exposes the brazenness of one Vancouver landlord which attempted to use its own failure to comply with building codes as an excuse to declare a building "decommissioned" in order to clear out tenants. And Jeral Poskey examines how the U.S.' focus on parking over all other planning considerations has led to immense costs in health and well-being. 

- Finally, Andrew MacLeod reports on a new study showing the connection between children facing preventable risk factors at age 10, and a lifetime of social issues. (Though it's worth noting that the case for providing support to children at risk shouldn't be taken as an argument against universal or broad-based programs which aren't designed to devote resources to exclusion.)

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Stretching cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Andre Santa Cruz et al. study the immunological dysfunction that looks to be the norm for up to six months after a COVID-19 infection. And Geraldine Nouailles et al. find that there's substantial room for improvement in the types of vaccines currently available, both in the use of live-attenuated vaccines and a shift to nasal delivery. 

- Holly Williams reports that more UK workers are facing long-term sickness than ever before. Dawn Bowdish calls out how Canada has allowed needless suffering and death by refusing to take basic steps to limit the spread of COVID, with particularly dire effects for elderly people. And Yvette Brend points out how we're falling behind other wealthier countries in avoiding infant mortality. 

- Cory Doctorow discusses how the acceptance and propagation of the laughable assumptions underlying laissez-faire economic models has produced disastrous consequences for the people faced with the resulting decisions. And Annie Nova talks to Matthew Desmond about the reality that poverty is highly profitable - meaning there are vested and well-funded interests fighting to ensure people continue to be trapped in it. 

- Finally, Vivian Underhill and Lourdes Vera discuss how many Americans are drinking water contaminated with toxic chemicals due to governments' refusal to regulate fracking. Kiah Lucero discusses the UCP's choice to conceal the Kearl toxic chemical leak from communities and other governments. And Julia Kane, Lina Tran and Diana Kruzman note that the effects of climate change include dangerous changes to groundwater. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Umair Haque writes about the implications of facing a deliberate decline in both environmental and economic well-being for the sole purpose of facilitating the short-term extraction of profits. Daniel Gilbert, Todd Frankel and Joseph Menn report on Silicon Valley Bank's choice to discard any risk modeling that accurately pointed out the dangers of its lending strategy before its collapse. Bryce Covert weighs in on how the Federal Reserve's determination to squelch economic and wage growth (but not the profiteering which is the actual cause of inflation) represents little more than class war against workers. And Peter Hannam reports on a study showing how Australia's tax system has been set up to make taxpayers fund inheritances for the super-wealthy at the expense of social programs and benefits. 

- Zia Weise and Federica Di Sario report on Antonio Gutteres' call for wealthy countries to accelerate their commitments to stop emitting carbon pollution. Geoff Dembicki's Senate testimony highlights the need to investigate the fraud of the fossil fuel sector in sowing doubt about science that it knew to be accurate. Yves Smith discusses why market fundamentalism is utterly incompatible with averting climate breakdown. And Stephanie Roe offers a reminder of the ways to help at the individual level - even if they need to be paired with major systemic progress. 

- Euan Thomson and Petra Schulz comment on Pierre Poilievre's rage farming in the face of any empirical reality when it comes to harm reduction - though of course the principle applies to all kinds of policy areas. 

- Shawn Micallef points out John Tory's grim legacy as the mayor of Toronto bent on impeding any social progress in the name of austerity while still harming the city's finances in the process. And Mario Canseco discusses new polling showing that a strong majority of Canadians favour 15-minute cities and the underlying principle of accessible communities (even in the face of the petro-right's rage machine). 

- Finally, John Sewell writes that anybody actually wanting to reduce crime (rather than stoking an environment of fear) should be working on ensuring people have the necessities of life, rather than pouring money into arming police forces. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Statistics Canada offers some new (if dated) data on the spread of COVID-19 in Canada - with over 40% of those with antibodies from a past infection having no idea they'd ever had COVID. And Carla Johnson examines the inescapable answer to the question as to whether we've allowed COVID-19 to win over humanity.

- Brendan Haley discusses how the U.S.' sudden infusion of investment in a green economy exposes Canada's lack of any meaningful industrial policy. And Brett Dolter points out that we should be far more concerned with getting to balance (or better) in the global carbon budget than in government balance sheets.

- Gordon Laxer notes that any meaningful study of foreign interference in Canadian politics needs to include a strong focus on the control exerted by the fossil fuel sector. And Kristoffer Tigue examines how oil tycoons and their puppet politicians continue to water down any attempt at agreement on the necessary steps to avert climate breakdown.

- Gregory Beatty highlights the case for universal reproductive medicine (which B.C. has since introduced).

- Finally, the Star's editorial board calls out the cruelty motivating Doug Ford's elimination of health care for the people who have the least.

Musical interlude

Stoto - Many Dreams Ago

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- The John Snow Project discusses how government minimization of the ongoing risk of COVID-19 - including the removal of what few policies remained to limit its spread - is pushing people to neglect the continued danger. And Josh Lynn reports on the latest data which shows that COVID remains a threat to Saskatchewanians, with 18 deaths in the last two-week reporting period alone. 

- John Burn-Murdoch examines why life expectancies in the U.S. are falling from their already worrisome levels. And in a couple of prime examples of the risks which have been deemed acceptable to impose on the public, Jake Johnson reports on the leak of a radioactive compound from a nuclear power plant, while Holly Yan et al. report on a train derailment and ethanol spill resulting in a fire and evacuation. 

- All of which makes it particularly damning that the Libs are throwing public money at the nuclear and fossil fuel sectors. Bill McGuire points out the folly of the UK's similar attempt to brand subsidies for increased oil and gas development (and associated carbon pollution) as somehow being part of a net zero emissions plan. And Nils Markusson discusses the utter failure of carbon capture and storage to meet even its selective promises to reduce emissions.  

- Luke Mari writes about the need for middle-density development to make communities walkable and liveable. And John Lorinc reports on the Ford PC's plan to put Ontario Place - including its nominally public areas - fully under corporate control. 

- Finally, Luke LeBrun reports on the Canada Revenue Agency's own recognition that Canadians want to see far more action to confront tax dodging by wealthy people and corporations. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Hayden Klein reports on new research suggesting a connection between COVID-19 infection and increased cancer rates (particularly in younger people). And the Trade Union Council and Long COVID Support survey how workers with long COVID have been treated by employers - finding that one in seven has lost their job, and two-thirds have faced employment discrimination for having the temerity to suffer from a disability.  

- Greg Jericho offers a reminder that allowing workers' pay to keep up with price increases shouldn't be treated as an affront to the economy. Valerie Tarasuk and Tim Li point out how the Trudeau Libs' short-term "grocery rebate" falls far short of the secure access to essential goods. And Armine Yalnizyan discusses how the Libs' budget falls far short of any self-proclaimed feminism in doing nothing to respond to the immediate needs of women who have been disproportionately hit by both a wave of inflation and stingy monetary policy. 

- Adam Radwanski and Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood each point out the problems with Libs' reliance on the corporate sector to dictate the terms of any climate progress. Merran Smith and Trevor Melanson point out the reality that fossil fuel jobs are disappearing based on forces far beyond the control of any Canadian government, making it thoroughly counterproductive to put off a transition to clean energy which will actually provide good long-term employment opportunities. And Alastair Marsh reports on new analysis showing that thanks to plummeting prices, there's effectively no cost to a shift to clean energy alternatives. 

- Finally, John Michael McGrath weighs in on the Ford PCs' callous decision to strip health care away from people without current proof of insurance. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Ritika Goel, Vanessa Redditt and Michaela Beder discuss how the Ford PCs are cruelly taking health care away from the marginalized people who need it most. And CBC News reports on the preferred right-wing model of privatized profit centres threatening patients into paying for upsold services. 

- But on the bright side, Harold Meyerson writes that California is taking steps toward the public production of insulin and other medication to ensure that corporate profit motives don't restrict access to needed medicine. 

- Francis Sedgmore points out how our already-worrisome expectations for an overheating Arctic region may underestimate actual temperature changes. And Moritz Langer et al. examine the threat posed by the thawing of permafrost at sites with industrial contamination. 

- Damian Carrington reports on a new study which concludes that the UK is completely unprepared for the readily foreseeable effects of a climate breakdown. And Kristoffer Tigue reports on the corporate interests (and their puppet governments) who insisted on watering down science-based recommendations in the latest IPCC report. 

- Finally, Adam Minter writes about the growing push to ensure a right to repair consumer electronics. And Michael Woods reports on the preliminary steps toward its implementation in the recent federal budget. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Couched cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Carrie Arnold examines our current state of knowledge about the prevalence and effects of long COVID. Tanya Lewis discusses the particularly acute risks COVID-19 creates in the course of a pregnancy. And Violet Blue writes about the dissonance involved in an ongoing pandemic having been erased from our culture. 

- Shandel Menezes reports on the wholesale corporate buyout of what was previously affordable housing, with the result that a basic human need and right is being priced out of reach. Cory Doctorow discusses how dollar stores and other corporate giants are systematically squeezing out every possible dime (and undermining every possible competitor) from rural and underserved communities. And Marc Fawcett-Atkinson points out how the federal government's current subsidy for groceries in northern communities services primarily to goose profits rather than to make food available. 

- Robert Kuttner discusses what comes next as neoliberalism is exposed as having nothing to offer the vast majority of people other than exploitation and precarity. And Martin Regg Cohn argues that the future of democracy depends on our winning battles for information, truth and equality over well-funded forces pushing the opposite of each.  

- Finally, Scharon Harding reports on the EU's proposed effort to entrench some right of repair for consumer electronics - though its plans are based on keeping control in the hands of manufacturers rather than consumers and independent providers. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Nicole Grether writes about the hundreds of thousands of young people orphaned by COVID-19 in the U.S. alone, while Kyodo News reports on research in Japan documenting how acute brain syndrome following infection can be fatal for children. Lisa Riley Roche tells the story of a teacher facing the lasting effects of long COVID, while Heather Stewart discusses the fight for fairness in the workplace for people already suffering from the condition. And Lizz Schumer highlights how the lack of action to help people dealing with long COVID fits into the wider pattern of failing to acknowledge and accommodate invisible disabilities. 

- Selena Simmons-Duffin discusses the U.S.' collapsing life expectancy due to multiple avoidable causes of death. Tom Krisher reports on new research showing that ever-larger SUVs and trucks are causing escalating numbers of pedestrian fatalities. And Bonnie Allen offers a memorial for the 1,200 Saskatchewanians who have died of drug poisonings in just the last three years (as the Moe government has gone out of its way to eliminate any harm reduction options). 

- Kim Willsher writes about the role of women on the front lines of France's pension protests in refusing to be told they'll have to work until they die. And Jason Resnikoff discusses how solidarity - not automation - is the key variable in determining whether workers will have the leverage to protect their interests. 

- Andrew Longhurst, Amit Arya and Lesley Barron point out that Western Canada's experience with for-profit surgery has provided nothing but a cautionary tale - even as Doug Ford is determined to barge ahead with corporatized medicine in Ontario. And Patrick Rucker, Maya Miller and David Armstrong expose how one major U.S. health insurer is simply denying claims as a matter of course, ensuring that patients facing medical difficulties are systematically forced to fight their insurer at the same time. 

- Finally, Saber Chowdhury and Ed Markey comment on the need to phase out fossil fuels now, rather than looking for excuses to keep dumping carbon pollution into our atmosphere. And David Schlissel discusses how nuclear reactors are a thoroughly inadequate alternative, costing more and taking far more time to build than renewable energy sources and storage options. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Meara Conway examines the absolute frivolousness of the Saskatchewan Party's Ottawa-bashing, while Stephen Magusiak offers a reminder of the oil-backed astroturf project behind Alberta sovereignty messaging (and its Saskatchewan copycats). And Simon Enoch discusses Scott Moe's choice to keep underfunding public services even when the province has more money than it knows what to do with. 

- Meanwhile, Sheila Block, Randy Robinson and Ricardo Tranjan point out that Doug Ford has chosen to "balance" Ontario's budget by starving public services which are already on the brink of collapse. And Helena Pamic discusses how food banks are having to serve a growing share of Ontario's working class as the necessities of life become increasingly unaffordable.

- Adam McKay rightly points out that we're continuing to fail to treat the climate crisis as an emergency even as its direct effects become all the more frequent and stark. And Andrew Nikiforuk writes that by any reasonable measure, the skyrocketing price tag on the climate-busting Trans Mountain pipeline expansion would be treated as a massive scandal.

- Finally, Timothy Noah discusses how the Republicans (who of course set the agenda for Canada's Cons and their right-wing allies) have become unabashed cheerleaders for the exploitation of child labour.

Musical interlude

Reflekt feat. Delline Bass - Need To Feel Loved

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Linda McQuaig discusses how the Biden administration is providing the Trudeau Libs with an example to follow in ensuring that the ultra-wealthy contribute something closer to their fair share of the cost of a functional society. And Alexandria Nassopoulos highlights the realities facing Canadians trying to survive on grossly insufficient social supports, while Steve Paikin writes about the absurdity of the Ford PCs pouring more money into subsidizing electricity use than major public priorities including long-term care. 

- Kelly Crowe exposes how Statistics Canada took funding from big pharma to produce a propaganda piece under the control of industry representatives.  

- Rebecca Solnit discusses the urgent need to start reducing fossil fuel use immediately, rather than kicking the can down the road based on implausible and self-serving claims about geoengineering and carbon capture as an excuse to keep burning oil and gas. Ayesha Tandon reports on new research showing a surge in methane emissions from wetlands as yet another feedback loop which is leading to an even faster breakdown than anticipated. And Paul Abela warns about the disastrous consequences of approaching the climate crisis with an optimism bias.    

- Finally, Andrew Nikiforuk reports on the Alberta's belated recognition - following a previous denial - of the reality that the province's largest earthquake ever was likely caused by tar sands wastewater disposal. And Charles Rusnell reports that Laurie Pushor is giving his previous high-water mark for villainy of "ripping off nuns" a run for its money by covering up a toxic leak into drinking water at the behest of the UCP's fossil fuel paymasters. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Dave Hansen et al. discuss the attempt in progress by publishers to attack the Internet Archive in order to restrict access to materials. And Walled Culture examines the problem of trying to preserve any "public domain" at all when the profit motive militates toward turning everything into a limited-access profit centre. 

- In a similar vein, Taylor Noakes implores Doug Ford to learn from the success of Montreal's Parc Jean-Drapeau as a model for land use, rather than turning public park land into a developer's plaything. But Elizabeth Payne reports that Ford's determination to monetize his stay in power extends to limiting hospitals' ability to operate in order to divert staff to for-profit surgical businesses.  

- Nicholas Hune-Brown writes that the housing crisis (and the lack of an effective response) can be traced largely to the fact that artificial scarcity represents a windfall for a lucky few. 

- Arielle Samuelsson discusses the IPCC's latest climate report, including its recognition that oil and gas use has to be reduced for us to have any hope of limiting the damage to our planet. Oxford University Press points out new research confirming that tax policy alone can't be expected to get carbon pollution down to a liveable level. And Brian Kahn reports on an emerging academic view that fossil fuel companies can and should be held criminally responsible for knowingly causing deaths. 

- Finally, Scientific Frontline takes note of research into new water treatment to remove "forever chemicals" from the water we drink. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- The John Snow Project calls out the dangers of labeling COVID-19 infection as an immune-boosting mechanism, rather than an unequivocal harm to individual health. Jake Miller discusses new research on the groups at particular risk of long COVID. And Remember Rebuild SK has developed an online memorial to ensure we recognize the lives lost to the preventable spread of disease, rather than focusing only on numbers. 

- UNITE examines how profiteering has been soaring in Britain (as it has elsewhere) as corporations use the excuse of inflation to extract more profits from the public. And David Dayen writes that the bailouts handed out to Silicon Valley Bank and other failed financial institutions are the direct result of deregulation premised on the claim that public oversight wouldn't be needed to prevent exactly that consequence.  

- Timothy Noah writes about Mark Robert Rank and Matthew Desmond's recognition that poverty is the result of policy choices and imbalances of power - including the ability of landlords to wring higher profits out of poorer neighbourhoods. And Brittany Freeman reports on the plight of residents who are blocked from making payments demanded by homeowners' associations, then forced to fund obstructionist litigation against themselves in order to resist foreclosure. 

- Finally, Fiona Harvey reports on the IPCC's latest report - including its "final warning" that we need to act now in order to limit the damage to 1.5 degrees. Laura Thomas-Walters argues that climate activism needs to focus on challenging the power structures which have entrenched the fossil fuel economy, rather than appeals to the general public. Emma Shemko writes about the deep connections between the climate crisis and environmental racism. And June Sekera highlights how carbon capture and storage represents a delay and distraction tactic rather than an antidote to a climate breakdown. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Cats at rest.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading.

- Alejandro de la Garza writes about the devastation continuing to be wrought by COVID-19 in Lamb County, Texas even as the powers that be pretend the pandemic is in the past. And John Michael McGrath discusses why Ontario shouldn't count on the Ford government allowing any progress on indoor air quality - no matter how obvious that step would seen as a means to prevent readily-avoidable health problems.

- Steven Johnson writes about the tragically flawed inventions of Thomas Midgley - including the adoption of his leaded gasoline solely because it allowed for patent protection in contrast to a safer substitute. And Ben Webster, Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Lucas Amin report on the aviation industry's predictable refusal both to acknowledge the question of how vapour trails contribute to climate change, and to do anything but obstruct the research which would be needed to provide a fuller answer.

- Fiona Harvey reports on new research showing that fresh water demand will exceed supply by 40% as soon as 2030. And Kevin Philipuppilai reports on the soaring price tag for the Trans Mountain pipeline as escalating costs have to financed at far higher interest rates.

- Steve Burgess offers his take on the reasons for the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, while Henry Mance focuses on the right's attempts to blame diversity for a phenomenon plenty familiar to corporations dominated by privileged white men.

- Finally, the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association examines how the Communications Security Establishment has been systematically prioritizing the sharing of information with foreign security services over Canadians' privacy - frequently to the point of breaking the law.

Musical interlude

Bob Moses - Hanging On

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Al Shaw, Irena Hwang and Caroline Chen discuss how forest loss and changing interactions between people and wildlife could be the trigger for a future pandemic. Christian Elliott points out that thawing permafrost is likely to release neurotoxic methylmercury in addition to a carbon bomb. And Dyani Lewis reports on research showing that wildfires in Australia caused a breakdown in the ozone layer - indicating that even our greatest environmental successes are in danger of being lost due to other forms of damage. 

- Howard Lee offers a helpful list of the many ways in which any attempt to treat climate change as a natural phenomenon is indefensible. Andrew MacLeod fact-checks the fossil fuel sector's attempt to brand fossil gas as "green". And Nicola Jones notes that the environmental fallout from microplastics may include direct contribution to a climate breakdown, while Tom Perkins reports on the EPA's steps to set limits on PFAs in drinking water. 

- Sharon Lerner reports on the rightful outrage that the only testing for aftereffects of the East Palestine toxic explosion and burnoff has been done in the service of Norfolk Southern. 

- Finally, Whizy Kim discusses how in the U.S. as in Canada, food conglomerates have used inflation as an opportunity to goose their own profits while falsely pointing the finger at outside forces. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Rosemary Boyton and Daniel Altman discuss how any immunity from prior COVID-19 infection is waning as time passes and ever-changing variants circulate for want of any attempt to limit their spread. Bobbi-Jean Mackinnon reports on the rising number of COVID-related workers' compensation claims in New Brunswick even as any protections have been wound down. And Steve Wilcox laments that so many Canadian universities have joined the post-truth COVID denialists rather than acknowledging and reducing the ongoing risk to students and staff. 

- Cory Doctorow points out some of the most glaring examples of corporations using inflation as an excuse for blatant profiteering. And Robert Faturechi and Ellis Simani comb through IRS records and find distinct patterns of CEOs cleaning up on conveniently-timed trades in the shares of competitors and industry partners.

- Meanwhile, Tom Malleson writes about the need for a wealth tax to ensure that increasingly-concentrated wealth can be directed to the public good.  

- Finally, Ryan Cooper makes the case for a banking public option in order to ensure the need to access financial services isn't yet another tax and burden on the less wealthy. Guy Dauncey offers some promising ideas to make healthy food more available and affordable for the people who need it most. And Christopher Patterson and Lance Barrie highlight the advantages of 15-minute cities in response to the laughable fear campaign from the petropolitical right. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Kevin Jiang reports on the reality that COVID-19 has resulted in a crash in life expectancy (which has already been stagnant due to the failure to reduce the harm of the drug poisoning crisis). And Victoria Wells points out that even ruthlessly selfish employer shills should be concerned about a disease whose effects are devastating the labour market. 

- Meanwhile, Rowena Mason and Jessica Elgot expose how at the start of the pandemic - when most themes were ones of "we're all in this together!" - the UK Cons were actively pressuring the BBC to both echo government talking points about public health measures, and engage in partisan attacks and coverups on their behalf. 

- Caroline Hillier reports on the particularly dangerous stressed on parents facing perpetual burnout and illness as the default expectation of their corporate overlords. And Stefanie Davis reports on the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses' call for a meaningful response to understaffing and exceeded capacity in hospitals. 

- Finally, Rebecca Solnit writes that we should be treating a just transition to a clean economy as an opportunity for abundance and well-being, not a threat of deprivation (which better describes the oligarchical system in which we're currently trapped). Janetta McKenzie and Scott MacDougall examine (PDF) how Canada already provides more fossil fuel subsidies than the U.S. - even as the oil and gas sector continues to demand more. And The Breach offers an honest ad about Canada's treatment of toxic tar sands leavings:

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Hibernating cats.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Aria Bendix examines the state of current knowledge as to how likely people are to suffer from long COVID after being infected - with a seemingly declining risk for any given infection being more than counterbalanced by the threat from repeated reinfection. And the Lancet discusses how much more there is to learn about long COVID, while Caora McKenna shares the stories of some of the people currently afflicted with it.

- Meanwhile, Brennan Doherty reports on the fight of federal employees to be able to continue minimizing unnecessary spread by working from home where possible. And Zak Vescera discusses the prospect of a four-day work week. 

- Matthew Yglesias writes that contrary to the assumptions of people looking to find complicated solutions to poverty in the U.S., the real problem is that current programs are effective but underfunded. 

- Inori Roy reports on the private deals which are making long-term care in Ontario even more oriented toward enriching connected corporations rather than ensuring people have the homes and care they need.

- Bob Wells points out how the covered-up Kearl tar sands leak exposes dangerous gaps in environmental regulation, while Adrienne Tanner calls for accountability for the people responsible. Danny Halpin reports on new research finding that the effects of a climate breakdown include a quadrupling of extreme rainfall events. And Matthew McClearn writes about the consequences of disappearing ice cover over the Great Lakes.

- Finally, Umair Haque examines the UK Cons' takeover of the BBC as a prime example of the fascist tendency to break the institutions of civil society. And Chelsea Nash reports on Faiz Shakir's message that progressives need to recognize public anger and its causes - while turning it toward positive ends rather than the hate and destruction peddled by the right.

Musical interlude

CHVRCHES - Final Girl

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Camille Bains reports on Dr. Mona Nemer's warning that long COVID represents a mass disabling event with potentially devastating social and economic consequences. And Zeynep Tufecki examines the evidence showing the importance of masking in reducing the spread and severity of COVID-19. 

- Natasha Bulowski reports on DT Cochrane's rightful concerns that the spin from grocery magnates summoned to testify before Parliament didn't accurately reflect the reality of how prices have been inflated to generate windfall profits. And Linda McQuaig calls out the Libs for meekly letting big pharma dictate that needed medicines will continue to be subject to inflated prices as well. 

- Carl Meyer reports on the anticipated effects if banks actually comply with the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions ' plan to include the cost of a climate breakdown in disclosures about their lending portfolios. Alex Panetta interviews Drew Anderson about the fallout from Alberta and Imperial Oil's joint cover-up of massive tailings ponds leaks. And Helena Horton reports on the BBC's decision to squelch David Attenborough's show on the destruction of nature based on the fear of retaliation from a fossil-backed government. 

- Finally, Andy Kroll, Andrea Bernstein and Nick Surgey examine the billions of dollars being funneled into smashing solidarity and entrenched corporate control over the U.S. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Luke Savage points out that even biased right-wing polling is finding broad support for stronger social programs and limitations on corporate domination in Canada and the U.S. But Jake Johnson writes that the Biden administration is instead increasing military funding while putting an end to pandemic supports. And Elizabeth Payne discusses how continued underfunding of public health care in Canada is endangering workers and patients alike - even as Doug Allen notes that Doug Ford and his conservative cronies have no problem finding massive amounts of money for profit-driven care. 

- Tracy Alloway and Joe Wiesenthal write about the "excuseflation" in which businesses goose their own profit margins while feigning helplessness. Nojoud Al Mallees reports on the experts calling for ongoing transparency as to how the corporations dominating the supply of necessities are setting their prices. And Erin Weir argues that the Bank of Canada should be focusing on its broadened mandate to support the maximum sustainable level of employment, rather than making a narrow push to respond to inflation driven by corporate greed. 

- Elaine MacDonald writes about the environmental racism which has seen Canadian communities of colour disproportionately exposed to toxic chemicals. Tom Perkins reports on the horrific consequences of incinerating the soil contaminated by Norfolk Southern's East Palestine train derailment. And Helena Horton and Damian Carrington report on research into the immense amount of plastic waste in the oceans - and the futility of cleanup efforts if we don't sharply limit the damage first. 

- Meanwhile, David Wallace-Wells points out that clean energy is immensely popular even in states dominated by Republican, fossil-fueled governments. Jonathan Gitlin discusses some of the lessons being learned in the early days of EV battery recycling. And Amy Janzwood, Sam Rowan and Josh Medicoff write that our federal government should be working on a well-planned transition, rather than coddling an industry which refuses to accept the growth of technology which will displace it.  

- Finally, Umair Haque calls out the rise of annihilationism, as the right seeks to eliminate anybody outside its own in-group in the U.S. (and elsewhere). 

Wednesday Night Cat Blogging

Keen cats.

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Dyani Lewis writes that we know enough to ensure clean indoor air if we care enough to work on limiting the spread of COVID-19 and other viruses. 

- Jane Philpott and Danyaal Raza observe that the Libs are endangering both the short-term affordability of needed medication and the long-term development of a national pharmacare plan by giving in to lobbying from big pharma. And Euan Thomson writes about the need to fight against a right-wing model which treats puritanical and profit-driven "recovery" schemes as the only response to the crisis of drug poisonings. 

- Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington warn against relying on corporate consultancies as a substitute for a functional and well-resourced public service. 

- Steven Greenhouse points out that major businesses are engaged in old-school union-busting to prevent workers from having a voice in their pay and working conditions. And CBC News reports on a massive human trafficking ring which shows there's no limit to the depravity of employers seeking to trap and exploit workers. 

- Finally, Max Fawcett writes about the dangers of Pierre Poilievre's aggressive know-nothingism. And Marc Fawcett-Atkinson rightly calls out the spread of anti-science hokum among white males in particular. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Joshua Cohen writes that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the first sustained streak of declining  global life expectancy in over 60 years - even as governments everywhere attempt to pretend the threat has passed. And the Washington Post's editorial board offers a reminder of the need to keep masking in order to reduce both the spread and severity of COVID. 

- Joel Lexchin writes about the lack of regulation of pharmaceutical advertising in Canada. And Andre Picard salutes British Columbia's progress in making contraception universally and freely available, while imploring other provinces to follow suit. 

- Owen Schalk discusses how the Libs' fossil fuel subsidies are merely providing fuel for an ongoing climate emergency. Damian Carrington reports on the "super-emitting" methane leaks could singlehandedly push the Earth past its carbon budget to stay under 1.5 degrees of warming. And Jeff Masters and Bob Henson explain why even relatively small temperature increases result in significantly more severe weather. 

- Gordon Laxer writes that while Canada should be investigation foreign interference in our elections, we should be paying more attention to the corporate actors who do so with a veneer of local presence while directing our policies for the benefit of foreign owners. 

- Amy Hanauer notes that the best way to address concerns about public debt is to make sure the rich pay their fair share. 

- Finally, Alexander Hinton writes that spin about "lone wolf" extremist attacks serve as a dangerous distraction from the networks of eliminationist rhetoric which invariably underlie the danger. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Tarun Sai Lomte discusses new research on the connection between structural brain changes and fatigue associated with long COVID. And Eric Topol examines the growing body of evidence on the increased risk of heart attacks and strokes after COVID infection. 

- Robert Reich writes about the problems with corporate capitalism which tries to cut all values other than immediate exploitation out of decision-making processes. David Sirota writes that the prospect of increased rail regulation in the wake of reporting about the East Palestine toxic release offers at least some example of how responsive governance is supposed to work. And Joe Mayall points out the importance of talking about wage theft - and combating it at every possible level of government. 

- Jim Stanford writes that Bank of Canada's choice to strangle growth is only ensuring that we don't produce more goods to help counteract inflation and push prices down. And David Moscrop points out that the most important source of affordable homes needs to be the public sector - which is currently falling far short of replacing housing which is becoming unaffordable in private hands. 

- Jim Bronskill reports on CSIS' assessment of the multiple security threats posed by a climate breakdown, while Owen Jones offers a reminder that anti-refugee rhetoric is being used to try to deny a massive wage of climate migrants any place to go. And Graham Readfearn reports on new findings showing Antarctica's sea ice at the lowest level ever. 

- Finally, David Climenhaga discusses how Danielle Smith is determined to break Alberta beyond repair, both in ensuring the collapse of systems of public services and in setting up the worst fossil fuel bust cycle the province has ever seen. And Jonathan Thompson writes about the public subsidy to oil barons as U.S. states pick up the tab for neglected and abandoned well sites.