Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Ryan Cooper highlights the reasons to be careful about any COVID minimizers seeking to declare the Omicron variant as too mild to cause problems for our health care system. Ryan Patrick Jones reports on the choice of Ontario (and other provinces) to choose out-of-control transmission over any effort to limit the magnitude of the fifth wave. And David Robertson and Peter Doshi discuss what it means to end a pandemic - though it's worth noting that several attempts to declare it over by their definition have already given way to the realities of ongoing death and destruction.

- Eric Doland reports on new research showing a less-than-surprising connection between COVID denialism and infection with the disease. And Devi Sridhar discusses how weaponized misinformation has also resulted in threats to the experts working to keep us up to date with accurate data.

- Meanwhile, Tim Lister discusses how Cuba and other Latin American countries have been able to achieve an exceptionally high vaccination rate - with Cuba's home-grown vaccine development and manufacturing serving as a particularly positive success story.

- Catherine Bennett writes about the folly of demanding that satire such as Don't Look Up be toned down to be less absurd than the reality it's attempting to mimic. 

- And finally, if we needed more examples of our laughable neglect of the climate breakdown, Bloomberg reports on one U.S. operator's methane cloud visible from space which didn't need to be reported for emissions accounting purposes because it arose out of normal maintenance activities.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content to start your year.

- Alex McKeen discusses the implications of the more transmissible Omicron COVID variant - though contrary to the plans of your local murderclown, we shouldn't take an increased likelihood of exposure as an excuse to let a dangerous disease tear through more people than can be avoided. And Mark Gollom reports on the increasing recognition that the need for improved masks applies to children as well.

- Sheila Block highlights how we should be responding to inflation caused by specific factors by addressing those issues, not through general austerity which stands to punish people already stressed by a pandemic. And Isabella Weber points out that price controls also offer the prospect of reining in temporary inflation by targeting profiteering corporations.

- Michael Sinato reports on the increasingly active labour movement south of the border. But Robert Cribb, Kelly Bennett and Emma Jarratt remind us that the corporate sector will happily abuse workers and deny all knowledge as a primary business strategy. 

- Finally, Thomas Homer-Dixon discusses the need for Canada to prepare for its own future in the shadow of a collapsing U.S. next door.

Musical interlude II

One more tune to end 2021 - wishing all the best to readers in the new year.

Counting Crows - A Long December

Musical interlude

Riton X Raye - I Don't Want You

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Dan Diamond reports on the shortage of health care workers as the fifth wave of COVID crests in the U.S., while Carl O'Donnell and Ahmed Aboulenein report on the escalating number of children being hospitalized with the coronavirus. Robyn Urback warns that our governments' response to an escalating pandemic is now limited to telling us we're on our own, while Nanjala Nyabola views the main story of 2021 as one of failed political leadership in the face of collective crises. And Amnesty International highlights the deliberate choice to withhold vaccines from much of the world which has led to the most devastating wave yet. 

- On the comparatively hopeful side, Brett Wilkins reports on the development of the non-monopoly Cobervax vaccine. And the University of Hong Kong points out research showing that a nasal spray vaccine may help to prevent respiratory transmission. 

- Jeremy Appel writes that the response of Cargill workers to disregard for their health and well-being has been to fight for a collective agreement which ensures they'll be better treated. But lest anybody think employers will do the right thing without being forced, Jake Johnson reports that Delta's response to getting its way in reducing the recommended quarantine period (in the absence of any public health justification) has been to slash sick leave for its own workers. 

- Peter Kalmus discusses how the true tragedy of Don't Look Up is how closely a supposedly over-the-top movie mirrors what he sees in his work as a climate scientist. And Ryan Cooper points out how perception is winning out over reality when it comes to public awareness of the U.S.' respective economic positions under Donald Trump and Joe Biden. 

- Finally, Tenille Lafontaine rightly asks that Saskatchewan work to ensure that women are able to speak out online without facing a firehose of abuse and threats. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Patrick Wood and Mary Louise Kelly write that we still need to be managing COVID risk budgets to avoid contributing more to community transmission than necessary. Helen Branswell discusses some lessons learned through the pandemic so far. And Morgan Lowrie reports on the folly of pushing to keep COVID-positive workers on the job, while Don Braid comments on the dubious choice to restrict public health reporting when it's most obviously needed. 

- Katherine Wu highlights that anybody counting on individual-level vaccines to avoid infection is looking at years of changing boosters to try to keep up with a mutating virus. And Texas Children's Hospital announces that it has developed a non-patented vaccine which is being made available for international manufacturing and distribution - providing hope of actually suppressing the virus worldwide.  

- The UN Food and Agriculture Association discusses how land and water resources are already stretched to a breaking point. And Jeff Goodell reports on the prospect that a single collapsing glacier in Antarctica could swamp hundreds of millions of people in a matter of years. 

- Meanwhile, Ketan Joshi writes about the delay and denial being pushed by fossil fuel companies to avoid a transition to a liveable future. 

- Matt Bruenig writes that there's no good reason to refuse to provide income supports to people who need them. And Branko Marcetic highlights the dangers of limiting support for the poor to what's acceptable to the rich. 

- Finally, Colin Dacre reports on the permission granted to CN to engage in private prosecutions to unleash the power of the criminal justice system against protesters even after Crown prosecutors have concluded charges aren't in the public interest. And Matt Stoller calculates that 60% of the inflation being used as an excuse to cut social investment has in fact been siphoned off into corporate coffers through expanding profit margins. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Andre Picard discusses the need for people to avoid giving up in the battle to protect against the worst effects of a pandemic run amok. And Yasmine Ghania highlights what people with a positive rapid test need to do next. But contrary to the apparent plans of many provinces, "keep going to work" shouldn't be at the top of the list. 

- Meanwhile, Richard Warnica and Andrew Bailey document how the Ford PCs' decision-making has been driven by the business lobby, while Evelyn Kwong reports on their eagerness to follow the CDC's bizarre position that a more transmissible variant serves as reason to shorten workers' quarantine periods. And Melissa Fisher writes about the loss of the tolerable standard of living offered by the first set of pandemic supports. 

- Jane McAlevey argues that far more worker militancy is needed to rein in the longstanding pattern of extreme wealth and social neglect. And David Lao reports on new polling showing that a substantial number of workers have seen the ability to work from home as a substantial benefit - even if they're unsure how long that will be allowed to continue. 

- Finally, Amy Westervelt writes that a successful argument for climate action needs to be rooted in justice rather than appeals to science alone. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Ornamental cats.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Michela Antonelli et al. study the disease profile of post-vaccination COVID, concluding that full vaccination helps to reduce both the number and duration of symptoms. But Elizabeth Yuko points out that the result is still a significant risk of debilitating long-term conditions. And Aaron Collins offers a reminder that more effective masks are needed to limit the spread of the dominant variants. 

- Megan Molteni reports on the scenarios anticipated from the more infectious Omicron strain - with the forecasts ranging from bad to worse, while Rong-Gong Lin, Luke Money, Adam Elmahrek and Marisa Gruber report on the spike in cases and hospitalizations in California. And Winnie Byanyima highlights how wealthy countries' choice to prioritize intellectual property monopolies over the distribution of COVID vaccines has led to a far worse pandemic than necessary. 

- Larry Elliott writes that the best way to create hope for an economic revival is to push for a post-pandemic New Deal - not to cater to the financial elites who have enriched themselves through COVID and before. Nicola Penslero studies the effect of computerization in the workplace - finding that it has made lower-ranking employees far more productive without their being compensated accordingly. And Paul Prescod discusses the importance of publicly-owned broadband to ensure people have affordable access to the basic information tools required to participate in the global information economy.  

- Paula Span writes that U.S. women face a disproportionate amount of economic hardship in their senior years. And Errol Louis points out the large number of people spending their senior years in prison despite the lack of any plausible public safety rationale for keeping them behind bars. 

- Finally, Les Perreaux discusses the need for disaster mitigation to be a core principle of government decision-making - observing in particular that an honest reckoning with the cost of allowing our climate to break down may be exactly the incentive we need to limit the carbon pollution we emit in the first place. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Marieke Walsh and Carrie Tait report on Canada's grim milestone of two million COVID cases recorded - even as the medical system braces for another wave to crest. And Betsy Powell reports on the push toward fourth vaccine doses in long-term care homes.

- Matthew Klein writes that the pandemic social support system now being slammed by the reactionary right had the effect of averting widespread financial disaster - though the concurrent attempt to declare the pandemic over in the face of all evidence raises the risk of that materializing for many eventually. And IMFBlog charts how the wealthiest few were able to increased their savings during the pandemic.

- Ryan Kessler and Kelly Skjerven report on another year of tragic records in drug poisonings in Saskatchewan. And Bryan Eneas talks to Jason Mercredi about the public's openness to harm reduction which is still being blocked by the Moe government.

- Max Blau and Lylla Youness report on BASF's knowing emission of carcinogens from its American plants, while Kiah Collier and Maya Miller report on the release of toxic substances by the medical sterilization industry (with active government participation in lowering standards to place people in increased danger).

- Finally, Joshua Adams discusses how the points used to generate the most rage among the U.S.' fascist right are invariably distorted versions of Black discourses.

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Nick Dunne interviews Colin Furness about the impact the Omicron COVID variant figures to have in schools - and the need to hold off on reopening after a holiday which has included grossly insufficient precautions. Alyson Kruger asks whether people are learning lessons as to how to self-isolate when necessary. And Nick Cohen rightly draws an analogy between the UK Con MPs pushing to slash public health measures and their previous insistence on a hard Brexit as examples of wilful self-destruction in the name of revolution.

- Dawn Bowdish and Chandrima Chakraborty discuss how avoidable vaccine inequity paved the way for the emergence of the Omicron variant. And Jack Healey, Noah Welland and Richard Fausset discuss the increasingly-entrenched antivaxxers who are extending and worsening the pandemic for everybody. 

- Meanwhile, Joel Lexchin and Abhimanyu Sud write that Health Canada's reinforcement of brand-name drugs rather than scientific generic names serves only to make it more expensive to treat medical issues.

- Bruno Latour writes that the pandemic should serve as a warning as to the importance of collective action in the face of an impending climate breakdown. And Nick Boisvert reports on Canada's continued lack of preparation to deal with the extreme weather events and other emergencies caused by a changing climate.

- Finally, Robert Reich argues that we should be wary of the corporate media's insistence on narrowing the set of public policy issues treated as worthy of discussion or above any cost-benefit analysis. And Luke Savage challenges the core centrist philosophy of treating any worthwhile change as being politically impossible.

Musical interlude

Agnes - Here Comes the Night

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Katherine Wu, Ed Yong and Sarah Khang write that the Omicron COVID-19 wave is seeing governments make the same familiar mistakes in an accelerated time frame, while Umair Haque laments the continued combination of incompetence, ineptitude and indifference. And the Star's editorial board points out the chaotic set of responses at the provincial level, while Birgit Umaigba, Jesse McLaren and Naheed Dosani highlight the continued risks posed by the absence of adequate sick leave.

- Isabel Teotonio flags the desperate need to ensure that residents and workers in long-term care homes get booster shots to prevent another massacre. And Lisa Cordasco reports on the imminent overwhelming of British Columbia's health care system (like those across Canada). 

- Sander van der Linden discusses the importance of inoculating the general public against the type of misinformation that's served to undermine any effective response. And PressProgress highlights how Twitter has decided to treat bounties on Canadian doctors as an acceptable use of its platform.

- Laura Osman reports that instead of treating the pressures of a pandemic as a reason to question how we overpay for prescription drugs, the Libs are allowing big pharma to delay (if not avoid altogether) even minor steps to rein in the cost of needed medications.

- Finally, Mitchell Thompson points out how the Weston family's fortune is built on exploitation. And Ben Burgis writes about the importance of democratic equality in political and economic power to ensure that concentrated wealth doesn't dictate public policy decisions.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Andrew Nikiforuk distills the four myths which have resulted in Canada's political leaders plunging us into multiple avoidable waves of COVID spread. Isaac Olson and Verity Stevenson report on Quebec's latest set of public health rules to try to rein in an unprecedented number of cases, while Bartley Kives points out that Manitoba's health care system (like Saskatchewan's) is straining under the prospect of another wave without having recovered from the previous one. 

- Susan Delacourt highlights how the Libs' narrowed set of benefits - developed on the assumption that the worst of COVID was far behind us - proved to be obsolete by the time it was introduced. Christine Dobby reports on the especially severe effect on workers who may miss the threshold for even reduced federal relief, while having no say in whether they have access to employment income. And Nora Loreto reports on the 107 workers (to date) who have died of COVID contracted in Ontario workplaces. 

- Meanwhile, Walker Bragman and Alex Kotch expose how the Koch right-wing message machine has been running at full capacity to undermine any public health response to COVID.

- Angela Dewan reports on the similar lobbying and PR effort by fossil fuel interests to lock in long-term reliance on natural gas (and associated carbon pollution). And Erik Reinert writes about Frederick Soddy's prescient recognition of the problems with an economy which fails to properly value and protect our natural environment. 

- Finally, Robert Reich writes that corporate exploitation is the actual cause of the inflation we're experiencing - and that working-class and lower-income people will only be worse off if our policy response is to let even more wealth and power flow to those who already have the most. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Ben Cohen points out some of the ways the Omicron variant deviates from what we've come to assume about COVID-19. And Colin Horgan writes that we should draw lessons from the pandemic in exposing some of the ways our social system is built to collapse. 

- Max Fawcett discusses how Jason Kenney and Doug Ford are proving themselves cowards with their grossly insufficient responses to the impending Omicron wave. But contrary to Fawcett's conclusion that Kenney ranks as the worst premier in the country, Scott Moe's refusal to implement a single public health measure - even in the face of modelling showing how a reasonable government could snuff out the wave entirely - stands out as uniquely callous even among this lot. 

- Kate Aronoff writes that the U.S.' failure to move ahead with even basic climate change legislation endangers the world as a whole. Trevor Melanson notes that the public needs to be better informed about the success stories that have arisen to date. And Julia Rock reports on Enbridge's attempt to squeeze even more windfall profits out of its pipelines now based on the argument that they'll be obsolete in just a decade or two. 

- PressProgress surveys some of the most important fights taken up by Canada's labour movement this year. And the Canadian Labour Congress responds to the Ford PCs' attempt to entrench second-class status for gig workers - including by highlighting the importance of universal social programs in not tying the necessities of life to employment (however it's disguised). 

- Finally, Stephen Maher looks to the history of tobacco companies' public denial of scientific facts in raising the likelihood that social media giants are similarly hiding the deliberately harmful effects of their own products. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Leveled-up cats.

On lockdowns

Richard Raycraft reports on the absurdity that the Libs' latest excuse for a pandemic support (the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit) is available to precisely zero Canadians even as the Omicron wave crests. But let's note that the problem with it involves a common set of assumptions between the federal government and its provincial counterparts.

After all, the concept of a "Lockdown Benefit" naturally arises out of foundational assumptions about what government should do in the course of a pandemic. It involves a choice whether to focus on ensuring income supports are available for everybody who needs them, or to set narrow conditions to deny relief to the extent possible. And the Libs have obviously shifted their priorities from something closer to the first principle, to a fairly strict application of the second. 

But what makes the lockdown benefit all the more problematic is that it operates only where a province or region actually imposes one. 

By now, it should be absolutely clear that most of our provincial governments are themselves opposed to anything of the sort, relying instead on claims of "personal responsibility" and bending over backward to keep businesses open with little regard for the effect on public health. Indeed, the governments most aligned with anti-vaxxers and anti-science cranks are busy claiming that even the barest restriction on business operations should be treated as a "lockdown" to be avoided at all costs.

So that's where we're left: being admonished to make socially responsible decisions for ourselves, while also being told that the ostensible individual freedom to choose whether to limit the spread of the Omicron variant justifies depriving people of access to social supports. 

The result of governments with a reflexive aversion to government action or support at both the federal and provincial levels is thus to place the burden on individuals to absorb the cost of trying to stop the most dangerous variant yet. And whether people end up lacking the necessities of life through a pandemic winter or continuing to circulate for want of available income sources, we'll have a far less healthy society as a result. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Ben Cohen writes that we shouldn't take a negative rapid test as license to stop taking every possible precaution to limit community spread. The Star's editorial board asks whether people are ready to make vaccinations mandatory. Supreya Dwivedi laments the innumeracy and delay which are making Ontario's Omicron wave far worse than it needs to be, while Richard Murphy highlights how stupidity in government has led to catastrophe in the UK. And Andrew Longhurst discusses the need for far stronger action in British Columbia as well. 

- Arnaud Boehmann makes the case to engage in a wartime-style mobilization against a climate breakdown. And Charlie Smith notes that the crank court challenges by petro-provinces against the federal carbon pricing system have opened the door for the federal government to play a substantial role in guiding a transition away from fossil fuel production. 

- Jim Stanford calls out the Ford government's choice to treat gig workers as second-class citizens rather than providing them the same protections as other employees. And Josh Kaye points out the New Brunswick NDP's push for a four-day workweek as an example of a meaningful gain for workers which may be well within reach. 

- Astra Taylor interviews David Wengrow about his research showing that inequality is far from inevitable in a developed society and economy. 

- Finally, Robert Hiltz writes that SaskTel should serve as a model for a country which is desperately lacking for affordable and reliable access to basic communication services due to a corporate oligopoly. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Umair Haque is rightly frustrated that we haven't learned and applied obvious lessons about how to fight COVID after two years, while also warning against any assumptions that the Omicron variant will go easy on us. Ian Bogost writes about the realization that due in large part to reckless government choices, we may never make it to a post-COVID future. But Nesrine Malik pushes us to keep fighting to limit the damage we do to the people around us. And CBC News interviews David Fisman about the role of improved masking in stopping the spread of a more contagious variant. 

- Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon talks to Colin Furness about the need to finally acknowledge - and act on - the reality that ventilation systems need to be upgraded to respond to an airborne pathogen. And Kathryn May reports that the federal government has delayed plans to push public employees back into common office spaces. 

- Matt Stoller discusses how the factors causing the U.S.' supply chain disruptions include warped corporate incentives which make it profitable for some companies to cause a cargo traffic jam.

- Paul Mason writes that the fall of Boris Johnson is the result of a toxic party ideology which is incapable of acting in the public interest.

- Brandon Doucet argues that it's long past time for Canadians to have truly universal health care, including public coverage for prescription drugs and dental care. And Alex Hemingway writes that fiscal responsibility means making positive investments in people's health and well-being - not imposing punitive austerity. 

- Finally, Patricia Callahan, James Bandler, Justin Elliott, Doris Burke and Jeff Ernsthausen trace how wealth concentrated in the Scripps, Mellon and Mars families in the early 20th century has turned into a twelve-figure pile of assets steered away from any tax responsibilities.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Dr. Katharine Smart highlights the crucial choices which need to be made to avoid a calamitous fifth COVID-19 wave, while Chelsea Nash writes that the most important failings from previous waves have been those of the people with power to make decisions at a social level. And Phil Tank reports on Tara Moriarty's expectation that Saskatchewan has suffered far more COVID deaths than have been reported.

- Meanwhile, Zak Vescera's Trapped series offers a desperately-needed look at the lives being lost to drug poisonings and related dangers to individual health and well-being. And Lilian Shyman et al. study the connection between social determinants of health and depression.

- Drew Costley reports on new research showing how many lives have been saved by reductions in carbon pollution from more efficient vehicles. But Barry Saxifrage notes that even as alternatives to natural gas in home energy supplies are readily available, the continued use of dirty fossil fuels in Canadian homes remains the norm. And Olivia Rosane discusses our constant - if usually unknown - consumption of toxic microplastics.

- Hamilton Nolan discusses how unions can save lives when they provide a counterbalance to employers who are willing to risk workers' safety in the name of profit margins. 

- Finally, Beatrice Brooke writes about the desperate need for the wealthiest and most privileged few to contribute their fair share to the societies they exploit.