Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Crawford Kilian reviews Ryan Meili's A Healthy Future as an important account of the insufficient political response to the COVID-19 pandemic, while David Climenhaga calls out the absurdity of Preston Manning's prescription for disaster in pushing for even to be done to protect public health. And Andrew Nikiforuk discusses what we can learn - and what dangers we face - as COVID continues to circulate in deer and other animal populations. 

- Andrew Dessler writes about the scariest climate plot in the world - though it's all the more alarming for assuming that governments will take enough action to limit warming to a total of 3 degrees Celsius. On that front, A.L. Lee reports on research showing that a majority of the world's largest and richest companies are lobbying against effective climate policy. And Jake Johnson points out how the fossil fuel sector is planning massive expansion which would exacerbate our current course toward destruction.  

- Meanwhile, Martin Olzynski highlights how Danielle Smith and other petropoliticians are using their bully pulpit to goose the profits of the oil sector at public expense. And Oliver Haynes points out that the neoliberal attempt to treat consumer pricing as the only acceptable mechanism to change behaviour has made people vulnerable to that type of message. 

- Maria Farrell examines the tech sector's ideology of "libertarianism for me, feudalism for thee" - though for all of Silicon Valley's claim to innovation, it's hard to see that as representing any distinction from most of the corporate world. 

- Finally, Philip Bump discusses the rise of toxic masculinity and the normalization of political violence. And Amelia Hansford points out how the result of the right-wing project of using a culture of fear and hate to distract from material losses makes for a dangerous environment for trans women and other targeted out-groups. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Al Jazeera reports on the World Meteorological Organization's analysis showing that greenhouse gas emissions reached yet another new high in 2022. Fiona Harvey reports on the findings in the World Resources Institute's State of Climate Action report, including the reality that transitional steps are several times short of what's needed to avert a climate catastrophe. (On that front, Chuck Squatriglia reports on the promise of acceleration by the US and China - but it's far from sure that will be the subject of either sufficient follow-through by the parties or general acceptance by climate obstructionists.) And Mike Joy highlights how there's no prospect of offsetting continued carbon pollution from fossil fuels with tree-planting or other sequestration schemes.  

- Casey Ross and Bob Herman expose how the U.S.' largest health insurer is using algorithmic decision-making to cut off needed rehabilitation for patients. And Helen Santoro reports on another insurer's lobbying efforts to avoid covering mental health care in Michigan. 

- Katherine Rowland interviews Naomi Klein about how profit-based individual wellness culture has served as a platform for anti-social misinformation. 

- Finally, Amanda Marcotte writes about the suicide of a gender non-conforming Republican mayor after he was outed and made the subject of public abuse by the GOP's anti-LGBTQ+ media. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Francesca Paris examines the cognitive disability facing many younger American adults (among others) as a result of long COVID. 

- Trish Hennessy discusses the need for a focus on social investments and preventative action to improve public health.  

- But both Graham Thomson and Gillian Steward warn that Danielle Smith is instead trashing Alberta's existing health care system to cater to anti-vaxxers and corporate interests alike. And in case there was any doubt as to the damage which will result from ideological anti-socialism, Bryn Levy reports on research showing how important vaccine mandates were in overcoming systemic barriers to basic preventative action.  

- Meanwhile, Gaye Taylor reports on the call for a fossil fuel phaseout from 46 million health professionals - which figures to be another reason why the very concept of health is in the crosshairs of petropoliticians. 

- Finally, Clara Pasieka reports on the continued escalation of food bank reliance in Toronto, as 1 in 10 people are unable to afford food for themselves. And Ximena Gonzalez points out how a punitive "welfare" system produces worse outcomes both for the people trapped in poverty, and the society which allows it to fester.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Possessive cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Cory Doctorow discusses how the concentration of wealth and power in corporate hands represents a threat to individual freedoms and the pursuit of social justice. And Pete Evans reports on new Statistics Canada showing that the gap between the wealthy few and the rest of us continues to grow - due to both escalating incomes at the top of the spectrum, and outright losses at the bottom.  

- Michael Mann discusses how there's still an opportunity to avoid the worst-case climate scenarios - but only by actually reducing the carbon pollution we spew into the atmosphere. Will Greaves and Yvonne Su write that we can't afford to keep treating regular and predictable climate calamities as unanticipated events. And Scott McGrane and Christopher White examine the causes and consequences of the hottest autumn in recorded history. 

- Joseph Winters examines how the costs of excessive plastic consumption are being dumped onto the developing world. 

- Finally, Andre Picard rightly notes that Danielle Smith's plans for Alberta's health system appear to be aimed more at exacting vengeance than at ensuring the provision of care. And Mike Crawley reports on the Ford PCs' choice to shower politically-connected for-profit clinics with far more money than public-sector providers for the performance of the same services. 

Musical interlude

Lisa Miskovsky - Still Alive

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Adam Bienkov highlights the evidence from the UK's COVID-19 inquiry which has demonstrated the utter neglect for public health from Boris Johnson and the political system around him, while Andrew Nikiforuk offers a reminder that the pandemic is still roiling around us. And Tinker Ready interviews Ziyad Al-Aly about new research showing that multiple infections exacerbate the risk of long COVID. 

- Seth Borenstein and Mary Katherine Wildeman examine how fossil fuel lobbyists (whether or not labeled as such) have derailed any effective international action to avert a climate breakdown. And Mitchell Anderson points out that Alberta's emissions policy involves preferential treatment for the conscience-free polluters who are singlehandedly preventing Canada from having any hope of being anything but a climate laggard. 

- Noah Smith writes about the asymmetric propaganda war which has allowed Russia and China to pollute the U.S.' information ecosystem (and lay the groundwork for the rise of fascist politics). And Karl Nerenberg offers some suggestions as to how the CBC can respond to the Cons' fixation on silencing any distinct and independent Canadian voices. 

- Meanwhile, Jason Garcia exposes how a billionaire-funded "think tank" is behind Florida legislation to facilitate the use of child labor. 

- Finally, Juste Rajaonson discusses the need to develop housing policy based on the social importance of the right to a home, rather than focusing solely on how to generate immediate returns for developers and landlords. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Bryan Harris, Steve Bernard and Chris Campbell discuss the danger that a drying Amazon rain forest will accelerate the climate breakdown. 

- Jordan Omstead reports on Canada's place of shame as one of the countries looking to increas carbon pollution in the face of the climate emergency. And Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood writes that the current state of politics around carbon pricing is undermining support for any climate action at all. 

- Meanwhile, Marc Fawcett-Atkinson points out that a group of corporate-friendly MPs are pushing eliminate any requirement that pesticides or GMO seeds be assessed by regulators for safety or environmental risks before they're used in Canada. 

- Drew Anderson exposes how Danielle Smith and the UCP lied about their explanation for banning renewable energy development. And David Climenhaga examines the PR apparatus being assembled to paper over the plan to sell off public health care - even as Emanuel Maiberg reports on the reality that privatized providers operate only by abusing workers and neglecting patients in the name of squeezing out profits. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow discusses how the Biden administration is making some effort to root out the most unscrupulous investment advisors - but also notes that the greater problem is an "every man for himself" system of retirement income. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Ajit Niranjan reports on the Copernicus Climate Change Service's findings that 2023 is on pace to be the hottest year on record, with October's temperatures at 1.7 degrees above the pre-industrial level. 

- Damian Carrington highlights a UN report warning of the destructive insistence of petrostates on increasing fossil fuel production even in the midst of an ongoing climate breakdown. And while the International Energy Agency's new World Energy Outlook is being spun as good news in projecting a decrease in the share of energy from fossil fuels, it too anticipates that carbon pollution from oil and gas will keep getting worse for the balance of the 2020s. 

- Ecojustice makes the case for Canada to actually live up to its climate commitments, rather than accepting a trajectory toward failure. And John Woodside reports on Quebec's call for the federal government to finally look beyond fossil fuels. 

- Hulya Gilbert and Marco te Brömmelstroet write about the norms of vehicular supremacy that make our communities needlessly dangerous for people in general, and children in particular. 

- Bob Weber reports on an academic assessment which calls out the pseudo-science of the UCP's harm exacerbation approach to drug policy. Which makes it all the more damning that the party is shifting even further away from reality-based policy (as Max Fawcett observes). And Phil Tank notes that the Moe government is going out of its way to impose destructive mandates on Saskatchewan residents. 

- Finally, Dean Bennett reports on the revelation (since confirmed as a matter of policy) that the UCP's plans include the demolition of Alberta's health care system. And Eric Stober reports on a new Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives study which reminds us that health privatization tends to both increase costs and harm service. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Dozing cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Peter Zimonjic reports on the latest audit from the federal environment commissioner showing that Canada is falling far short of meeting its greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments. And Brendan Haley discusses how a focus on a transition to heat pumps could provide a needed push in the right direction, while Max Fawcett points out the flaws in the attempts by petropoliticians to prevent the use of any clean heating options. 

- Dave Cournoyer discusses how Danielle Smith's UCP is more a hard-right call-in show than a political party. And Robson Fletcher writes about Nate Horner's musings about converting Alberta to using heating oil as an indication that there's just as much ill-thought-out blubbering coming from the cabinet as from the membership. 

- Don Mitchell reports on the Ontario Living Wage Network's latest study showing that workers' pay is falling ever further behind a reasonable standard of living. And Charles R. Davis reports on the transformative effects of a basic income in a Baltimore pilot project (among so many other examples). 

- Freddy Brewster examines how U.S. banks are able to trap customers and prevent them from seeking out better options elsewhere. 

- Finally, Samantha Beattie reports on the Ford PCs' practice of copying and pasting from developer wishlists, while Isaac Callan and Colin D'Mello reveal how they rushed through a zoning order which would have allowed a skyscraper in the middle of Pearson International Airport's flight path. Which naturally means it's time for Ford to start complaining that others aren't letting him unilaterally dictate what housing is built and where. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to start your week.

- Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon reports on the less-than-surprising revelation from New Brunswick's departing chief medical officer of health that political preferences were a major factor in COVID-19 decision-making. And Liz highlights how the rich, powerful and well-connected are still insisting on COVID precautions to avoid the ongoing risks that have been deemed acceptable for the plebes. 

- Steve Hanley examines the competing theories as to whether global warming is linear or exponential - though it's worth noting we're far from averting catastrophic climate breakdown on either account. Jody MacPherson points out how Danielle Smith has decided that clean energy is among the types of business she doesn't want to see growing in Alberta, while Jenna Wenkoff rightly challenges the propaganda that there's anything ethical about its oil and gas sector. 

- Meanwhile, Jonathan Levy discusses how the gas industry has been working from the tobacco playbook for half a century to avoid any awareness or action based on the known health risks of gas stoves. 

- Pete Evans notes that central banks are beginning to acknowledge the role of corporate profiteering in inflated prices - though they've stopped short of allocating the costs of inflation control accordingly. And Cory Doctorow examines how Amazon and other tech giants are using their immense power to raise the cost of living for people who use their products. 

- Finally, Luke LeBrun traces the connections between "parental rights" conspiracy theorists and right-wing groups seeking to impose shadow governments. 

Musical interlude

Stoto - Nostalgia

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Alex Himelfarb reviews Quinn Slobodian's Crack-Up Capitalism as a valuable account of the myths and rationalizations underlying the propagation of inequality to serve the uber-rich. Cory Doctorow highlights how the attack on Social Security by Republicans and their donors represents a form of class war. And Justin Chandler reports on the immense benefits resulting from an Ontario basic income pilot project which was promptly shredded by Doug Ford so he could focus solely on funneling public money to his cronies. 

- Michael Mann examines where we now stand in the fight to rein in catastrophic climate change - while noting that while we likely have the technical means to prevent dangerous levels of climate breakdown, we're showing few signs of the political will to get there. And Jenni Reid reports on yet another quarter of obscene profits and climate delay for Shell. 

- Casey Feindt reports on the FDA's action to ban the use of brominated vegetable oil as a drink additive after its widespread use has been found to cause thyroid damage and memory loss. And University College London highlights new research showing that up to one in seven Americans has suffered from long COVID already - with the number only figuring to escalate as new waves are allowed to spread unchecked. 

- Finally, Amanda Marcotte explores the compelling evidence that toxic masculinity doesn't keep anybody safe - though such inconvenient reality doesn't figure to stop the right from demanding that it be applied as the answer to everything. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Jingwei Li et al. offer an update on the current state of knowledge surrounding long COVID, including the need for far more work dealing with its wide range of harmful effects. Kavita Bajeli-Datt reports on a new survey from India finding an increase in strokes, heart attacks and cancer acceleration as COVID has been allowed to run wild. Beth Mole reports on the abysmal state of both vaccination levels and public information in the U.S., while Mark Villani reports that health care workers are begging the UCP to be honest about alarming case and hospitalization numbers. And Lauren Woods discusses the EPA's findings that cheap and easily-assembled filters can make a world of difference in limiting the spread of COVID and other airborne viruses. 

- Ajit Niranjan exposes how big banks are funneling billions upon billions of dollars into carbon bombs. Robson Fletcher points out the glaring contrast between Danielle Smith's enthusiasm for implausible and distant claims about future energy sources, and her hostility toward affordable existing technology which can reduce our reliance on dirty fossil fuels (which is of course identical to the delay tactics of Scott Moe and other petropoliticians). And Cory Doctorow discusses how oil tycoons are working from the tobacco industry's playbook in pushing for non-solutions which allow them to keep raking in windfall profits. 

- John Woodside reports on the immense future costs of failing to take climate action now. But Trevor Tombe worries that the Trudeau Libs have undermined the only meaningful mechanism for emission reductions in Canada by prioritizing political concerns over maintaining a carbon price. 

- The Associated Press reports on the $328 million settlement being paid by Uber and Lyft for failing to pay wages in New York alone.

- Finally, Matt Kennard discusses how corporations are using "free trade" agreements to overthrow democracy. 

Wednesday Night Cat Blogging

Watchful cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Larry Patriquin reviews Nancy Fraser's Cannibal Capitalism, with a focus on explaining how we've been pushed into a system based on squeezing people and the planet alike in the name of greed. And Cory Doctorow discusses the six categories of corporate bullshit used to justify or distract from corporate exploitation (as identified by Nick Hanauer, Joan Walsh and Donald Cohen). 

- Tom Neuberger takes a look at a few of the alarming indicators of a climate breakdown that's spiraling out of control, while Chris Smith and Robin Lamboll point out that even the estimate that we're set to blow our global carbon budget in the next six years leaves us only a coin-flip chance of avoiding catastrophic warming. And FishOutOf Water discusses Dr. James Hansen's latest warning that the IPCC's estimates far understate the harm we've done to our living environment. 

- Meanwhile, David Zipper reports on Norway's recognition that a transition to sustainable transportation requires far more than an electrified fleet of commuter vehicles. 

- Kevin Yarr reports on the recognition by Health P.E.I. CEO Dr. Michael Gardam that the privatization and outsourcing of nursing care are severely compromising health care in Canada. 

- Michael Venutolo-Mantovani examines the evidence from multiple U.S. pilot projects showing that a basic income produces immense benefits both for recipients and for the jurisdictions which fund them. 

- Finally, Lisa Young calls out Scott Moe for his latest show of disrespect for the rule of law, this time consisting of ordering SaskEnergy employees to put themselves in legal jeopardy as part of his tiresome posturing against carbon pricing. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Derek Lynch writes about the need to recognize that humanity isn't separate from the living environment it needs to survive. Eric Ralls points out how the climate breakdown and dwindling biodiversity are part of the same crisis. And Katie Surma highlights how climate change is driving conflict and human rights abuses around the globe. 

- Kathering Cheng reports on the effects of extreme wildfires on Canadian forests - including the destruction of the seeds and soil needed to allow for regrowth. And Zhi Li, Matthew England and Sjoerd Groeskamp study the distribution of heat absorption in the oceans, finding a trend of accelerating warming.  

- Steve Hanley reports on a new study suggesting that a shift to solar power has already reached an irreversible tipping point. But that isn't stopping Danielle Smith from declaring that Alberta will remain in denial about the existence of clean energy as long as she has any say in the matter, nor the fossil fuel sector from trying to silence anybody who dares to promote responsible resource management.  

- Joan Westerberg offers up a thorough look at what's wrong with the tech world in 2023. And Cory Doctorow discusses how the capital class has sought to divide creative workers from the rest of the working class in order to facilitate their continued exploitation. 

- Finally, Luke LeBrun exposes how the Con-supported conspiracy theorist convoy lied its way into a permanent base of operations. 

Musical interlude

Flight Facilities feat. Jess - Foreign Language

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Sultan al Jaber and Vanessa Kerry offer a reminder that a climate breakdown in progress represents a foundational danger to human health and well-being. Geoffrey Diehl observes that the root causes of the crisis are greed and strictly-enforced ignorance. Miki Perkins points out that the response of governments has been to shovel more and more free money at the fossil fuel sector to keep spewing the carbon pollution, while Mitchell Beer reports on demands by carbon capture and storage operators for leniency as their promises fall by the wayside. And John Woodside reports on the Parliamentary Budget Office's findings that we could instead bring in billions by taxing windfall profits so the oil sector funds at least part of the cost of repairing its harm to our planet.  

- Kaitlin A. Naughten, Paul R. Holland and Jan De Rydt examine the locked-in loss of ice from West Antarctica through the 21st century. And Catrin Einhorn highlights the scientists who are seeing their life's work disappear as the great extinction takes hold. 

- Cory Doctorow discusses how intellectual property rights and software controls have resulted in our having meaningful ownership over very little of what we buy. And Ethan Sawyer reports that we can add Hallowe'en candy to the list of goods getting more expensive due to corporate greedflation. 

- Finally, Robert Reich writes about the importance of fighting bullying in all of its forms as a precondition to any prospect of social justice. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- William Ripple et al. offer a new and alarming state of the climate report. And Damian Carrington delves into their findings as to the precarious state of the Earth's living environment, while Becky Ferreira highlights their warning of societal collapse within the next century if we don't reverse the current course toward climate catastrophe. 

- But if there's any doubt whether our corporate overlords care in the slightest about that imminent risk, Jessica Wildfire draws the connection between Thomas Malthus' explicit desire to eradicate the lower classes and the policy choices being pushed by today's political and economic elites. 

- Michelle Gamage discusses how a shortage of health care workers is undermining the well-being of patients and remaining staff alike. And Cory Doctorow weighs in on the need for a well-resourced and effective civil service to protect the public interest. 

- Jon Steinman muses about the prospect that people may become sufficiently fed up with exploitation by corporate grocery chains to revitalize the cooperative model for food supplies. 

- Finally, Rohan Anand and M Eugenia Socias write about the strategies needed to respond to the toxic drug crisis - with a public health lens serving as the first and most important. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Ed Broadbent discusses how economic equality is a precondition to freedom for the majority of the population. Chris McGreal reviews Angus Deaton's book on the role of the corporatist assumptions of economists in fomenting a war on the poor. And John McDonnell warns that Keir Starmer appears to be hoping for his opponents to hand him the UK's next election while neglecting the need for policy that would actually improve the material conditions of the working class. 

- Benjamin Shinger reports on the IEA's latest study concluding that fossil fuel consumption will peak in 2030 even without any policy steps to advance the transition to cleaner energy. And Fiona Harvey reports on a UN report calling for an end to new fossil fuel exploration by that time. 

- Simon Enoch and Charles Smith discuss the cynical political calculation behind the Moe government's use of the notwithstanding clause to attack trans children, while Trudy Keil points out the distractions included in the legislation to obfuscate the reality that its only real effect is to further endanger vulnerable youth. And the Economist offers its own take on Scott Moe's choice to import the U.S.' culture wars to Canada. 

- Finally, Adam Nichols reports on the contents of a leaked white nationalists' manual confirming the violent intent of the racist right. And Ryan Meili offers his take on how to respond to reactionaries. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Leveled cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Jessica Wildfire examines the continued threat of COVID-19 even as governments have largely decided to stop recognizing its devastating effects on public health. And Tom Kitchin points out how the same phenomenon has played out even in New Zealand (which was once one of the few success stories in limiting the spread of COVID). 

- Arthur Neslen reports on the suppression of the findings of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization on the climate impacts of methane originating with livestock. And Isaac Shan Nay reports on the Ford PCs' choice to scuttle First Nations' conservation plans. 

- Meanwhile, Matt Elliott discusses how Toronto's introduction of "traffic agents" serves mostly to highlight how pointless it is to shackle transportation policy with the requirement that cars take precedence over people. 

- David Moscrop is justifiably frustrated with the Ford two-step of reluctantly backtracking from utterly indefensible policies only in the face of immense and sustained public pressure. Noah Smith argues that the U.S. needs a larger and better-resourced civil service to ensure policy decisions aren't based solely on politicians' whims or corporate profit motives. And Crawford Kilian reviews Chris Rufo's plans to destroy what's left of existing public institutions so you don't have to.  

- Finally, Peter Zimonjic reports on the House of Commons Agriculture Committee's plans to again question corporate grocers about their price-gouging - though it's telling that the only apparent plan is to ask them to stabilize prices rather than delving into what can be done through government action. And Cory Doctorow examines how corporate meat suppliers have been colluding to drive up prices for decades without consequences. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Sonia Sodha discusses how children will bear the brunt of COVID's effects for years due to decision-makers have prioritized short-term profits and frivolities over their futures. And Clare Wilson reports on new research showing how investing in air filtration can limit the ongoing effects of the pandemic. 

- Jennifer Lee reports on the strain being put on Alberta's health care system by yet another uncontrolled wave of COVID-19. Avis Favaro reports both on new data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information showing that over a million patients left Canadian emergency rooms without care in the 2022-2023 year, and CIHI findings that soaring rates of errors and patient harms can be traced to increased overtime and use of private agency staff as a substitute for supporting health care workers. And Colette Derworiz reports on the first medical clinic to opt out of Saskatchewan's public health care system as the Moe government continues to offer nothing but neglect. 

- Johan Rockstrom and Mary Robinson write about the desperate need to stop gambling with our living environment. And John Woodside discusses how carbon capture and storage is a lose-lose bet: serving at best as a fig leaf for increased fossil fuel production, and at worst as a constant threat to release exactly the carbon pollution it's theoretically supposed to contain. 

- Finally, Peter Armstrong writes that while inflation is cooling down in theory, the combination of hiked prices and increased interest rates is still causing severe affordability problems for all but the wealthiest few. And Sophia Harris reports on the continued use of shrinkflation by the food industry to hide how people are getting less for what they pay. 

Musical interlude

Nors Kode feat. Michelle Featherstone - I'm On Fire

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Sigal Samuel discusses the potential to better target investments toward well-being - though it seems odd to criticize measures of health as a standard alongside GDP. And Cory Doctorow writes about Deb Chachra's observation that we should view infrastructure as a form of mutual aid.

- Carl Meyer reports on Suncor CEO Rich Kruger's dissembling and evasion in response to questioning about his company's plans to increase carbon pollution for decades to come. Markham Hislop highlights how the regular release of toxic chemicals into drinking water for the tar sands should be treated as an intolerable regulatory failure rather than merely a PR issue for the oil industry. And Shari Narine reports on the Assembly of First Nations' message that Indigenous involvement is vital to the development of climate change solutions. 

- Douglas Main points out the glaring gap between the promise of recycling plastics, and the reality that plastic pollution is overwhelming our natural environment. And andrea bennett interviews Taras Grescoe about the need to work with natural ecosystems to secure our food supply, rather than presuming that industrialized monocultures controlled by greedy rentiers are our only option.

- Finally, Luke LeBrun exposes how the Cons invited violent extremists and conspiracy theorists into Parliament as "VIP" guests. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Bordered cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Arijit Chakravarthy and Martha Lincoln offer a reminder that COVID-19 isn't about to go away just because we're refusing to deal with it. And CBC News and Adam Toy report on renewed masking requirements in Manitoba and Alberta health care facilities respectively. 

- Meanwhile, Roberta Lexier and Joe Vipond write about the need to respond to critical threats such as COVID-19 and the climate crisis with facts rather than fantasies. But Mike De Souza exposes how Danielle Smith is systematically preventing Albertans from having access to anything of the sort. 

- Matthew Rosza asks why a climate breakdown which is making our planet uninhabitable is somehow being ignored rather than treated as the top news story of our time. And Andrew Nikiforuk points out how  the Trans Mountain pipeline is proving to be an ever-deepening money pit (even as its best-case scenario would result in its worsening the climate crisis for the sake of enriching oil barons).  

- Brian Doucet discusses the housing strategies which have helped to somewhat alleviate the shortage of affordable homes in some Canadian communities - with public housing authorities and protections for tenants serving as the most promising examples. But Rumneek Johal reports that real estate executives are shoveling massive amounts of cash at the federal Cons in an effort to ensure federal housing policy serves to goose their profits rather than meeting people's needs.  

- Finally, Alex Purdye examines how greedflation is at the root of the growth of increasing food prices (and grocery chain profits). 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Somasetty Suresh examines the symptoms associated with long COVID, while Elizabeth Cooney reports on new research hinting at the depletion of peripheral serotonin as one of its causes. And Jamie Ducharme points out that the CDC (and other public health authorities) still has much-needed recommendations as to isolation in place - even if few organizations are bothering to allow people to abide by them. 

- Meanwhile, Peter Simons discusses how apparent "patient advocacy organizations" are often funded and controlled by pharmaceutical and medical supply companies seeking to goose their own sales. 

- Seth Borenstein reports that even in the wake of multiple catastrophes caused by a climate breakdown in progress, the U.S. is producing more carbon-polluting oil than ever before. And Capital & Main highlights the inability of tree-planting to actually counter the harms from continued carbon pollution. 

- Cory Doctorow writes about the long-awaited declaration of invalidity of Landmark Technology's patent which claimed exclusive rights over virtually every aspect of online business operations - while also pointing out the absurdity of allowing such grossly unproductive rentier capitalism to be as profitable as it's been for decades.  

- Finally, Elijah Anderson discusses how any success and prosperity among Black Americans has been used to stoke white backlash. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Andrew Freedman examines how the climate breakdown is generating consequences far beyond those foreseen by previous projections. Seth Borenstein reports on the immense loss of Antarctic ice - and the danger it poses to coastal areas in particular. And Michael Mann points to the rise and fall of the Akkadian Empire as a precedent as to what can happen when heat and drought force people to migrate en masse. 

- The IEA offers a roadmap to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, with an emphasis on a rapid conversion to clean energy. And David Vetter notes that the arguments used by petropoliticians looking for excuses to block renewable power sources lack any basis in reality.

- But Sarah Munoz discusses how the oil industry is bent on spinning the climate crisis as a matter of individual responsibility rather than social organization in order to keep on spewing carbon pollution for decades to come. And Chris Tomlinson reports on the increased demands on energy systems (and resulting cost to consumers) from power-hogging crypto miners, while Victor Tangerman points out that the use of AI technology may produce a similar effect. 

- Devi Sridhar discusses how the UK Cons (like so many other right-wing parties) used the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to enrich cronies who lacked any ability to deliver what they were paid for. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow writes that we have every reason to be skeptical of corporate shows of progressivity - but that the appropriate response is for workers to organize and stand up to bosses on teir own terms, not to accept the reactionary position that nothing is worth improving. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Damian Carrington reports on new research showing that the cost of damage caused by extreme weather is already upwards of $16 million per hour (and escalating). And Peter Kalmus writes about the need to wind down the fossil fuel industry rather than accepting the loss of a habitable planet. 

- But Helena Horton reports that the UK Cons are joining other right-wing parties in trying to stop the ongoing transition to clean energy. Matt Simmons reports on the BC Energy Regulator's complete failure to enforce any regulatory requirements for gas pipeline construction, while Julia Simone-Rutgers reports on the systematic defunding of environmental monitoring and enforcement in Manitoba. And Andrew Nikiforuk discusses how the UCP is once again trying to sneak dirty coal projects past courts and the public alike. 

- And while governments are going out of their way to cater to the sociopaths looking to sell off humanity's future to make a quick buck, Nina Lakhari, Damien Gayle and Matthew Taylor report that they're also using the power of the state to criminalize climate activism. 

- David Climenhaga discusses how the UCP's choice of private telehealth providers has gone bankrupt, leaving millions without the health care they were forced to accept through corporate means.

- Finally, Mack DeGeurin does report on the approval of a right-to-repair law in California.  

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Sameer Elsayed offers a primer on what people need to know about current COVID-19 risks. Mary Van Beusekom discusses the likelihood that long COVID is being underdiagnosed in children who may not have either the same symptoms as adults, or the vocabulary to describe them. And Theocharis Kromidas et al. examine the incidence of long COVID by occupation, with education and care workers facing a higher risk of long-term effects. 

- Juan Cole theorizes that lawsuits against fossil fuel conglomerates could make for a turning point in the fight against climate breakdown. But Christopher Pollon warns that Canada's resource extraction sector offers a blueprint for corporate exploiters to avoid paying for the damage they inflict on our planet. 

- Cory Doctorow discusses the information imbalance which makes it impossible for citizens to hold corporate wrongdoers to account. And Brewster Kahle writes that U.S. libraries are facing twin threats from greedy publishers and anti-knowledge extremists. 

- But on the bright side, Amanda Marcotte points out how parents are pushing back against the bigoted right's attempted takeover of public schools. 

- Finally, Jennifer Liu highlights how workers are bearing the massive cost of being pushed back to the office even after it's been proven they can work just as effectively through alternate arrangements. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Geometric cats.

Musical interlude

Bob Moses - Enough to Believe

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Splayed cats.

Musical interlude

John Summit feat. Echoes - Human

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Chris Hedges discusses how the end of empire-based colonialism has only given way to an even more exploitative corporate version. And Cory Doctorow points out how surveillance capitalism inevitably turns its resources toward defrauding the people being monitored and manipulated. 

- Matthew Rosza interviews Michael Mann about the need to pair accurate information about the threat posed by climate change with discussion of how it's possible to take positive action. 

- Kevin Drum graphs the connection between lead contamination and murder rates in Washington DC. And Mira Rojanasakul reports on the rise of saltwater levels in New Orleans, with the foreseeable results including the salination of drinking water sources and the release of lead and other matter from pipes.  

- Bob Weber reports on new polling showing a strong majority of Albertans opposed to the UCP's attacks on renewable energy. And Gary Mason calls out Danielle Smith's plan to use Albertans' retirement savings as a slush for for the oil industry as a Brexit-style calamity in the making. 

- Finally, Emily Leedham reports on the Manitoba PCs' choice to offer only meaningless guesswork in place of any plan to ensure people have access to health care. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Thais Melquiades de Lima et al. study how the tonsils are a major site for COVID-19 persistence in children. And Penny Daflos reports on British Columbia's restoration of mask mandates in health facilities as the ongoing pandemic persistently fails to go away on its own. 

- Ricky Lanusse discusses how Antarctica is warming far faster than predicted, while Al Jazeera reports on the worsening loss of sea ice in particular. And Helena Horton reports on new data showing that Switzerland has lost a tenth of its glaciers in just the last two years, while Planet Snapshots points out the tipping points being reached based on the potential melting of Greenland's ice sheets. 

- Yet Stewart Lee warns that even as our living environment becomes more and more endangered, any discussion of environmental issues is being hijacked by the forces bent on our destruction.  

- Finally, Ricardo Acuna highlights how the UCP's attempt to steal Albertans' pensions to further enrich their oil buddies is based on assumptions that fall far short of passing the laugh test. 

Wednesday Night Cat Blogging

Drowsy cats.

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Leonie Thorne reports on new data showing that COVID-19 was Australia's third-leading cause of death in 2022 even as conventional wisdom decreed that the pandemic in progress be ignored. And Christopher Waddell examines (PDF) the lessons Canada should have recognized for future health emergencies from COVID, while Andre Picard asks whether we've learned anything to prepare for another pandemic even while in the midst of a continuing one. 

- Blair Fix takes a look at the mountain of evidence showing that inequality has been worsening over the past few decades as public policy has catered more and more to corporate interests. Cory Doctorow examines how Amazon has enshittified its services to extract more and more from buyers and sellers alike. And Debbie Cenziper et al. expose how Philips Respironics covered up known dangers of tainted breathing machines, putting hundreds of thousands of vulnerable children at avoidable risk in order to avoid answering for defects in their products. 

- Gordon Laxer discusses how any serious conversation about foreign meddling in Canadian governance needs to start by recognizing the grossly outsized influence of the foreign-owned oil sector. Claire O'Manique writes that we can't afford to keep giving carbon polluters a free pass for the damage they're doing to our living environment. And Michael Mann writes that while we've already failed to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees, we can't give up on the work that can still be done to rein in catastrophic climate change. 

- Finally, John Woodside reports on the warning from numerous nuclear safety experts as to the costs and risks of the small modular reactors being pushed by the Trudeau government (along with several right-wing provincial governments).  

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Saima Iqbal discusses new research showing how much of the COVID-19 virus people emit while contagious. And Erica Edwards reports on the development of blood tests to help confirm the biological basis of long COVID. 

- Emile Torres warns that the chaotic and catastrophic summer of 2023 may seem mild compared to the climate effects we'll experience in the years to come. And Katharine Sanderson reports on temperature monitoring which shows that we've likely already exceeded the 1.5 degree barrier which the Paris accord was intended to avoid breaching. 

- Gordon Brown points out the obvious reality that fossil fuel extractors rolling in windfall profits need to be contributing to the cost of fighting the climate crisis. But Valeri Volcovici reports on Antonio Guterres' recognition that their naked greed is what's gotten us into the mess in the first place, while Natasha Bulowski reports on the rare call for Suncor's CEO to answer for his plan to push dirty tar sands developments even as the planet burns.  

- Lucas Powers reports that Doug Ford's promise that deregulation and the elimination of rent controls would somehow make affordable housing more available has predictably proven false. 

- Finally, David Prisciak reports on the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission's finding that actual vulnerable children are being utterly neglected by the Moe government when it comes to providing resources to address reading disabilities.