Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Rob Gillezeau discusses how public health measures offer better results even in sheer economic terms than allowing an excess of activity which causes community spread. Joan Greve reports on the CDC's warning of another COVID wave if the U.S. gets careless while vaccines are still rolling out, while Moira Wyton also notes that the ultimate success of a vaccine still relies on people continuing to comply with public health requirements. And Les Perreaux and Ivan Semeniuk make the case for people to take a COVID-19 vaccine when it's offered, rather than shopping around based on minimal differences in effect.  

- Meanwhile, Ilari Kaila and Joona-Hermanni Makinen discuss how Finland chose to pass on a patent-free vaccine in favour of allowing the pharmaceutical industry to profit from its vaccination program. 

- Chuck Collins argues for a wealth tax based on how the pandemic has resulted in the further polarization of income and wealth. Randy Robinson writes about the differing effects of COVID-19 based on income - with higher-income individuals seeing few employment effects past last summer while other workers continue to see a significant impact. And Amanda Follett Hosgood points out the unfairness in the pattern of injunctions being granted to prohibit protests but not religious services and other gatherings which raise the risk of COVID transmission. 

- Brian Carney reports on e-mails confirming that the exchange of newspapers between Torstar and Postmedia was carried out with full knowledge that both planned to slash jobs and papers. And David Climenhaga juxtaposes that story with Torstar's new plan to operate an online casino. 

- Brett Dolter analyzes the results of a deliberative modelling process showing how Saskatchewan can transition toward a cleaner electricity grid. Max Fawcett notes that any argument for expanding fossil fuel infrastructure depends on wrongly assuming that technological progress will only happen in the dirty energy industry. David Fickling highlights the impact that China's anticipated climate plan figures to have on the global shift toward decarbonization. And Jasper Jolly reports that Volvo is the latest major automaker to confirm a shift to an all-electric fleet. 

- Finally, Sara Birrell discusses the success progressive organizers and candidates had in Saskatchewan's municipal elections. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Karl Leffme interviews Jake Lytle about the movement to unionize marijuana-related work in Chicago. And Jay Greene and Eli Rosernberg report on an all-too-rare expression of support for unionization by Joe Biden in the wake of Amazon's attempt to bully and bribe workers out of pursuing collective bargaining.

- Alex McKeen reports on a push by Canada's provincial labour ministers for a national sick leave program. And the Star's editorial board again calls for action at the provincial level as well to ensure workers aren't forced to endanger themselves and others for lack of alternative income supports.

- Andrew Meijers highlights how changes in Atlantic ocean currents may exacerbate the extreme weather expected as part of a climate breakdown.

- Meanwhile, Helen Caldicott points out how nuclear power is neither practical from a cost standpoint, nor desirable from an environmental one. And QMI reports on Quebec Solidaire's effort to convert golf courses into public green space.

- Finally, Greg Palast discusses how Texas' disastrous power deregulation was the result of conscious political choices (with the Bush family playing a prominent role). And Tom Parkin writes about the different incentives and which are leading to the NDP backing a shift to public ownership of long-term care facilities while the Libs seek to go no further than voluntarism and symbolism.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Alex Himelfarb writes about the need to get past obsessing over deficits and taxes when they're necessary to fund the society we want.

- Olivia Stefanovich, Karina Roman and Ryan Patrick Jones report on the Auditor General's report placing responsibility for the continued lack of safe drinking water on First Nations squarely on the shoulders of the federal government.

- Justin Ling discusses Anthony Doob and Jane Sprott's report on the continued use of solitary confinement with no regard for its harm to the people locked away. And Robyn Urback points out how prisoners are the one group of people our governments consider themselves entitled to torture.

- Jag Bhalla highlights the desperate need for the world's wealthiest people to cut carbon emissions in order for there to be any prospect of averting a climate breakdown. But Robert Reich points out that people seeking to protect their concentrated wealth are instead using climate change to stoke class divisions. And Canada News Central notes that the Trudeau Libs are actually increasing federal subsidies for even more carbon pollution. 

- Finally, Christo Aivalis and Tom Parkin both call out Justin Trudeau and his party for voting against even a basic framework for pharmacare in the midst of a pandemic which is only highlighting the importance of access to medical care.

[Edit: fixed wording.]

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Lauren Krugel reports on a push by Alberta doctors to avoid the further lifting of public health restrictions which will increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Sarah Zhang notes that we're just now seeing a return to widespread recognition of the importance of ventilation in protecting against community spread - though of course more forward-thinking people have been pointing it out since last summer, particularly in trying to keep schools safe. And Jennifer Yang reports on research showing that vaccinations targeted by postal code as well as age can be far more effective in improving health outcomes.  But Robert Hiltz writes that conservatives have effectively given up on doing anything to stop the pandemic, choosing instead to focus on finger-pointing and false hopes that vaccines alone will restore us to normal.

- Robinson Meyer writes about the obvious planning failures which left Texas unprepared to cope with foreseeable changes in weather. And Molly McCracken responds to Brad Wall's attempt to push Manitoba toward the type of privatized and fragmented power system which led to that tragedy.

- Colin Gordon rightly questions the subsidies the U.S. hands out to agribusiness giants.

- Nicholas Kusnetz highlights how the UCP's anti-environmental inquiry mirrors the worst of the U.S.' climate denialists.

- Gary Mason writes that Alberta's claim to have some inherent fiscal advantage has been exposed as a lie. And Scott Schmidt points out that we shouldn't trust right-wing excuses to use deficits as a basis to slash needed services and supports.

- Finally, Amira Elbaghawy discusses how the reported data on hate crimes - worrisome as it is is - severely understates the real damage hate groups inflict on communities. And Osita Nwanevu warns that it's wrong to presume white supremacism and conspiracy theories are spreading only among lesser-educated populations.

Musical interlude

 Lord Huron - Not Dead Yet

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Jason Hickel writes that on a global scale, poverty is the result of inequality and the misallocation of resources rather than underdevelopment. And Brittany Andrew-Amofah makes the case for a wealth tax to both reduce the existing concentration of wealth and power, and fund collective benefits, while the Canadian Press reports on the inequality exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic as job losses accumulated solely on the low end of the income scale. 

- Meanwhile, Aidan Simardone discusses the limitations of trying to litigate for social justice through Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms which doesn't actually address positive rights necessary for survival, nor private intrusions on them.

- Brendan Haley points out how less-wealthy households have missed out on the gains from energy efficiency funding which requires recipients to pay for substantial renovations out of pocket. And Alex MacPherson reports on Saskatoon's steps to fill in the gap left by the Saskatchewan Party's elimination of any meaningful efficiency program at all.

- Mike Hager reports on the understandable concerns that a real estate developer's donations to a police charity will influence how downtown Vancouver will be policed.

- Danyaal Raza and Bob Bell write that the deliberate effect of Doug Ford's outsourcing of cataract surgery is to ensure the public pays more to private clinics. And David Climenhaga discusses the likelihood that the UCP's consolidation of dispatch operations (over the strong objections of the communities affected) is the first step toward mass privatization of ambulance services.

- Finally, Annie Burns-Pieper notes that it's impossible to fully appreciate the harm caused by the federal government's neglect of First Nations water systems due to a choice not to track water-related illnesses. And Zak Vescera reports that the Sask Party has followed the principle of not tracking what it doesn't want to know about in refusing to fund wastewater analysis which would give Saskatchewan more information about the spread of COVID.

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Melissa Healy reports on yet another dangerous variant of COVID-19 which is spreading in California. Nicky Phillips writes about the likelihood that the coronavirus will become endemic even once full vaccinations have been carried out. Jessica Elgot, Noel Sample and Nicola Davis report on new modelling showing how relaxed rules in the UK could cause tens of thousands of deaths. And the Canadian Press reports on a new survey showing the popularity of public health measures in Quebec even as far too many provinces stall or even backslide in protecting against community transmission.

- Meanwhile, Heather Scoffield asks whether the federal government's COVID relief will address some of the inequality arising out of the pandemic - though she's too generous in presuming there had been progress made before coronavirus hit. 

- Madlen Davies, Ivan Ruiz, Jill Langois and Rosa Furneaux expose how Pfizer and other drug manufacturers have used COVID vaccines to hold Latin American countries for ransom.

- Andre Picard rightly wonders when we'll start acting to remediate the well-known problems with our long-term care system, rather than falling into perpetual cycles of study and inaction.

- Finally, Murray Mandryk writes that Texas' disastrous confirm both the value of Crown corporations, and the need to ensure they have adequate resources to plan for disaster scenarios in ways that private operators won't bother with. And Roque Planas takes a look at some of the frivolous nonsense pushed by Texas Republicans as they've neglected their state's basic infrastructure.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Active cats.

 

Tuesday Morning Links

 This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Andrea Reimer examines the power dynamics at play in government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the limits of formal political power where it isn't paired with knowledge and networks. And the Globe and Mail's editorial board rightly questions the dubious math behind the choice of Doug Ford (like many other conservative premiers) to accept widespread disease and death rather than taking meaningful steps to rein in the coronavirus.

- Shaun Lintern reports on new research showing that long COVID results in substantial numbers of hospitalizations and deaths beyond the ones recognized at the time a person is first infected.

- Eric Reguly discusses how compulsory licensing is an entirely viable option to ensure that pharmaceutical manufacturers aren't able to withhold COVID vaccines from less wealthy countries.

- Naomi Klein writes that Texas Republicans (and other right-wing parties) fear a Green New Deal in no small part because it provides an alternative to the dangerous combination of small government and large-scale corporate control. And Joel Laforest writes about Jason Kenney's losing bet on Keystone XL in particular (and an indefinite oil boom more generally). 

- Bob Weber reports on the nine-figure property tax bill which the oil sector has left unpaid to rural municipalities. And Jillian Ambrose reports on the massive waste emissions from UK offshore oil platforms.

- Finally, Marc Spooner writes about the dangers of performance-based funding in setting up warped and short-sighted incentives for universities.

On unknown consequences

There's been a spate of recent stories about the change in butter quality arising out of the use of palm oil as feed for cattle - with attention being paid both to the effect on product quality, and the environmental damage caused by palm oil as an input.

But there's another line of spin which particularly highlights the problem with major changes to food inputs in the absence of any apparent awareness of the consequences:

Dairy Farmers of Canada released a new statement on Feb. 16 following the Journal’s report about the “open secret” within the industry, saying that it was “aware of the recent reports regarding fat supplementation in the dairy sector.”

...

“Dairy farmers in other countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia also use this supplement. They can help provide energy to cows and no undesirable effects have been identified arising from its use in cows’ feed rations.”

Or put even more starkly by another industry spokesperson:

(W)ithout significant study into the source of the milk used to make that butter, there’s no way to know if it’s the addition of palm oil in a cow’s ration or simply other forage and supplement options that bump the level. 

...

I have directly spoken with several farmers in at least four provinces and all of them say the same thing — if customers voice a concern with milk or butter, it needs to be researched fully (some of which is already happening), and if there’s a change needed at the farm level, they’re willing to take that on, too.

Needless to say, these statements raise serious questions as to why research isn't being done until what we eat changes to the point where it provokes consumer backlash. 

It's surely fair to figure that if a change in feed goes so far as to produce noticeable differences in the observable properties of the resulting product, there's a reasonable prospect that it's also causing other changes which aren't so easily discovered. 

A responsible plan to deploy that type of change would then figure to include some meaningful study as to what it actually does. But the response from the industry which has gone about changing what we eat without our knowledge...is to place the responsibility on us to push for research needed to determine how it will affect consumers.  

In other words, the industry response is a typical application of an anti-precautionary principle: that businesses are entitled to change what they want to without notice, that consumers who can't sniff out the altered products can be conscripted as guinea pigs to find out what happens when their food is altered, and that the only way industry will accept any regulation is if a specific change (which it's concealed) is subsequently proven to create harm.

To be clear, that philosophy has been entirely normalized among far too many types of business - not to mention among right-wing governments devoted to reframing health and safety regulations as "red tape" to be summarily slashed in the name of corporate profits. But we should demand more both from our elected officials, and from the producers of the basic food products we rely on.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Marieke Walsh reports on the new modeling from the Public Health Agency of Canada which shows how COVID's variants will foreseeably result in massive numbers of cases if we don't act to clamp down on viral spread. Andrew Nikiforuk highlights how the emergence of those variants makes it all the more urgent that we pursue a COVID-zero strategy. And Scott Schmidt uses a Jaws analogy to point out how much needless danger is created when governments not only fail to take obvious steps to avoid further spread, but encourage people to put themselves in positions likely to contribute to further transmission.

- Meanwhile, German Lopez discusses how trying to return to a pre-COVID (or pre-Trump) "normal" falls far short of addressing desperate social crises. And Doug Cuthand notes that one of the most devastating of those - the opioid crisis - can best be met with harm reduction and decriminalization.

- Galen Herz writes that the construction of social housing is becoming an increasingly viable policy option in the U.S. But that only makes it all the more pathetic that we've seen only pittances put toward the same goal in Canada - as Nick Falvo notes in his primer on supportive housing. And Mira Miller reports that Toronto is using its resources to take away shelters from people with nowhere else to go, rather than to ensure people actually have the homes they need.

- James Galbraith discusses the role deregulation and laissez-faire economics have played in Texas' collapsing power infrastructure. And Eric Wolff, Debra Kahn and Zack Colman point out that for all the differences between California and Texas, they (like every other jurisdiction on the planet) share an acute vulnerability to the effects of a climate breakdown.

- Finally, Luke Savage notes that even in Texas there's far more appetite for a shift to clean energy than the fossil fuel-funded political establishment is willing to acknowledge. And Rick Smith writes that U.S.'. long-overdue climate policy ambition under the Biden administration offers an opportunity for Canada to stop being a laggard.

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Damian Carrington reports on Antonio Gutierres' needed message that we can't afford to keep waging war on our natural environment. And Bruce Campbell examines how Norway is far exceeding Canada's track record when it comes to climate change policy. 

- Molly Taft reports on the fossil fuel funding behind the Republicans trying to turn the damage wrought by their own deregulation and neglect into an excuse to bash clean energy. And Joshua Taft and Blake Shaffer discuss the lessons Canadian provinces can and should learn from Texas' tragedy.

- Meanwhile, Eric Holthaus writes about the growing harm Bitcoin is doing to our planet by consuming massive amounts of dirty energy for no social benefit. 

- Sarath Peiris points out Saskatchewan's glaring lack of protection for provincial wetlands - reflecting yet another example of policy catering to a single, self-serving industry rather than the public good.

- Rita Trichur discusses the need for Canada to get serious about financial crime, including by ending our policy of granting secrecy to corporations looking to avoid having their beneficial ownership known.

- Finally, Robert Bronk discusses new research by the Institute for Work and Health showing that unionized construction sites are safer for workers.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Andre Noel reports on the growing push among medical professionals for a COVID-zero strategy, while Zach Goudie points out how people can reduce their own contribution to potential spread with improved masking. And Avis Favaro and Elizabeth St. Philip report on research showing that a substantial number of infected health care workers never show immediate symptoms, while David Nauen, Jody Hooper, C. Matthew Stewart et al. examine the impact COVID-19 has on the brain. 

- Aaron Saltzman reports on the high-priced and poorly-regulated private COVID testing industry. And in case we need a reminder what's possible when governments take public investment and provision of services seriously, Ed Augustin and Natalie Kitroeff report on Cuba's success in developing its own vaccine - and the prospect that it may be shared with tourists before travelers are able to get vaccinate at home.

- Hassan Yussuff, Doug Roth and Linda Siles discuss how far too many Canadians are struggling to pay for needed medications, signalling the continued need for a national Pharmacare plan.

- Evan Radford is the latest to report on Saskatchewan's devastating opioid crisis, including in smaller cities whose social issues don't often receive much attention.

- Finally, Erika Hayasaki discusses the growing organization among Amazon employees as an example of the COVID pandemic pushing people toward needed collective action.

Musical interlude

 Hum - Waves

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Matt Karp writes about the connection between heavily polarized politics, and the concentration of wealth in the hands of people whose interests are served by voters rooting for laundry rather than holding meaningful input into policy choices.

- May Warren reports on the reality that the faster-spreading B.1.1.7 variant of the coronavirus is likely to become dominant in Canada over the next few weeks. Lauren Pelley reports that even if the COVID-19 pandemic is reined in, we can likely expect to see forms of the virus become a regular part of our lives for years to come. Sophia Harris notes that any new measures to identify and contain COVID-19 and its variants have been conspicuously designed to ignore the truckers who represents the largest source of cross-border contact between Canada and the U.S. And the Star's editorial board warns that Doug Ford is once again refusing to learn from history in refusing to apply appropriate public health measures in the face of a newer and more severe threat.

- Emma McIntosh exposes how Ford is trying to dole out fast-tracked project approvals without environmental assessments to deep-pocketed donors while the public is trapped inside by a pandemic. And the Globe and Mail's editorial board rightly slams Ford's plans for another superhighway as a "sprawl accelerator" rather than a solution to problems of housing affordability and transportation infrastructure.

- Finally, Kim Siever points out how the Kenney UCP is barrelling ahead with new coal mining while claiming to have responded to public outcry by temporarily reinstating the policy which barred it. Graham Thomson highlights how the secrecy, deception and cronyism behind the coal mining plans offer a perfect microcosm of the UCP's governing philosophy. And Bob Weber reports on Dennis Lemly's warning about the foreseeable harm that mining will do to the major water sources affected by it

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Jonah Brunet points out the wide variety of definitions of the term "lockdown" in response to COVID-19 - with imprecision in the meaning of basic terms being used to drive anti-social complaints about even the most minimal public health measures. And Nisreen Alwan writes about the need for greater recognition of the widespread and devastating effects of long COVID.

- Sara Mojtehedzadeh and Maria Sarrouh report on the Ontario workplaces which have served as COVID hot spots - with a lack of paid sick leave unsurprisingly looming as a common contributor, even as Doug Ford blusters about being more committed to avoiding people having two sources of benefits than their being able to stay healthy. And Joel Dryden and Sarah Rieger report on another belated closure of an Alberta slaughterhouse only after hundreds of cases (including one death).

- Norma Cohen proposes that an excess profit tax could ensure that distortions in supplies and prices resulting from the pandemic don't turn into a windfall for a lucky few at the expense of people in general. And Lucinda Chitapain discusses how corporate-driven intellectual property rules are making vaccines and treatments into drivers of concentrated wealth and increasing inequality.

- Leslie Kaufman reports on new research showing that the Trump administration's attacks on environmental regulations are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths. And Jacob Knutsen reports that in contrast, Joe Biden is looking at finally reining in the use of "forever chemicals".

- Finally, Luke Savage interviews Kate Aronoff about the need for U.S. climate policy to go beyond an end to active self-sabotage. Michael Harris notes that the Libs' efforts to simultaneously promote fossil fuel exports and climate change action make it impossible to succeed in the latter. And Jodi-Ann Juexuan Wang highlights the need for government action to make any progress in the fight to avert climate breakdown.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

 Embedded cats.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Kamran Abbasi makes the case to treat the avoidable deaths resulting from the mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic as a form of social murder. And Jonathan Goodman writes that inequality has spread in tandem with COVID-19 and its variants.

- Gary Mason and Douglas Todd each argue that the findings of British Columbia's expert panel weighs against relying on a basic income as an immediate response to poverty and inequality. But Andrew Coyne notes the conclusion is more nuanced, including the recognition that there are other social goods which need to be addressed first before a basic income will fulfill its intended purposes.

- Bonnie Allan reports on the continued benefits of housing first programs where they're available for people in need of homes. And Marc Lee writes that vacancy control needs to be paired with rent control to keep housing affordable.

- Dylan Scott discusses how even relatively small co-pay requirements lead to the underuse of needed medications. And Graham Isidor makes the case to include dental care among the health care available by right to Canadians. 

- Corey Mintz writes that while the pandemic has alerted more people to the burdens delivery apps impose on restaurants, we should take the opportunity to highlight how they've always been based on imposing unacceptable risks and working conditions on workers. And Erica Johnson reports on the class action lawsuit arising out of TD Bank's pressure on employees to meet sales targets at the expense of honest dealings with customers. 

- Finally, Doug Cuthand points out that the lack of action against people who encouraged further violence following the death of Colten Boushie represents just the latest example of anti-Indigenous racism at work in Saskatchewan.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- As we lay the groundwork for a COVID recovery and energy transition, Heather Scoffield comments on the importance of making sure resources go where they're needed (rather than serving only to further distance the richest from the rest of us). And Yves Engler notes that the Libs have thankfully failed in some of their efforts to favour corporate interests over people. 

- Benjamin Moll, Lukasz Rachel and Pascual Restrepo examine how automation has been one of the drivers of growing inequality. David Lao reports on a new Statistics Canada report showing that social mobility is becoming ever more illusory. And Alex Cooke reports on the recognition that venture capital funding does far less for either equality or prosperity than investment in child care and other support for families.

- Elin Kelsey offers some reasons for hope - and for continued action - in the fight to avert climate breakdown. Alex Nguyen reports on the workers wondering whether any transition plan includes any future for them. And David Akin reports on new polling showing strong public support for government measures to fund the transition to electric vehicles.

- Meanwhile, in case there was any doubt that the fossil fuel sector is nothing more than a shapeshifting magnet for handouts, Duncan Kinney reports on the UCP's handout of a COVID testing contract to a rebranded (and crony-connected) oil service company. And Andrew Nikiforuk warns that it's too soon to claim victory based on the UCP's partial walkback of its plans to let foreign operators tear apart mountain ranges and pollute waterways for coal. 

- Finally, Jason Markusoff discusses how Kenney's tenure in government has generally proven to be a failure.

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Nazeem Muhajarine discusses the importance of a response to the coronavirus which recognizes how a virus can change course and pose new threats. But Scott Schmidt notes that Alberta - like Saskatchewan and Ontario - is insistent on staying the course even when it obviously leads to disaster. And Brooks Fallis warns that the public is sleepwalking into a dangerous third wave.

- Don Martin writes about the abject failure of most Canadian provinces to use rapid tests to help in the fight against COVID-19. And Jerry Dias weighs in on the need for paid sick days as part of the plan to reduce community spread.

- Moira Welsh reports that for all the outcry about the mistreatment of residents in long-term care homes, nothing has changed for the better since last year in Ontario. Erick Espinosa and Michael Talbot expose how one for-profit operator has gone so far as to turn its retirement home into a prison, removing interior door handles to trap residents in their rooms. And PressProgress rightly asks why workers and unions were left out of British Columbia's review of COVID-19 and long-term care, while also revealing that Ontario workers are being pushed back to work under the province's workers' compensation system while still experiencing symptoms.

- Aaron Wherry writes that Canada's political system is better off for at least having enough party discipline to prevent the most extreme and anti-democratic forces from systematically gaining power. And Paul Krugman notes that the U.S.' Democrats are finally responding in kind to the Republicans' determination to use every lever at their disposal to shape policy outcomes. 

- Finally, Taylor Lambert muses as to whether the Notley NDP did enough with the opportunity created by a majority government.