Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Fiona Harvey reports on the G20's apparent plans to back away from even the aspiration of transitioning away from fossil fuels to preserve a liveable environment, while Perry Parks writes that journalists have a duty not to pretend that preventable climate catastrophe is a value-neutral issue. 

- Adam Morton reports on the continued disappearance of Antarctic sea ice, while the University of Reading examines how our weather is set to become more extreme over the coming decades. And Ilana Cohen and Thea Sebastian discuss the behavioural consequences of extreme heat, including a foreseeable spike in violence.  

- Luke LeBrun reports on the Russian Canadian Democratic Alliance's call for Canada's parliamentary study into foreign interference to pick up on Russia's sponsorship of the alt-right, while Max Fawcett notes that Vladimir Putin's useful idiots are readily visible and identifiable in Canadian politics and media. And Paul Willcocks takes note of the BC Conservatives' authoritarian attacks on journalists who have the gall to report on public postings and statements from their candidates and core staff. 

- Meanwhile, Maya Oppenheim discusses how misogyny has been deployed as a gateway form of hatred and discrimination to recruit men to the far right.

- Finally, Veronique Sioufi points out that the temporary foreign workers facing modern-day slavery are the victims of Canada's system which deprives them of any meaningful rights. And Kim Siever discusses the need to look beyond unionizing capitalist entities, and instead plan for collective structures to guide our economic and social decisions. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Mo Amir discusses how John Rustad is attempting to cover up his longstanding climate denial in advance of this fall's B.C. election. And Gregory Mikkelson, Arlene Slocombe and Jessica Murray plead for Canada's federal government to stop greenwashing tar sands pipelines, while Gillian Steward offers a reminder that Danielle Smith is pushing to have the rest of the country foot the bill to clean up the messes being made by unscrupulous oil operators today. 

- Pep Canadell, Marielle Saunois and Rob Jackson point out that methane emissions in particular are reaching new extremes, causing an especially large immediate effect on the Earth's climate. And Zebedee Nichols and Tim Baxter note that the short-term exacerbation of a climate breakdown can have immense long-term consequences. 

- Linda Lakhdhir points out that peaceful climate activists are being locked up with far more severe sentences than violent racists. And Bruce Campbell reminds us that workers' safety concerns are at the core of the labour job action which was terminated by the Trudeau Libs in favour of arbitration at the behest of the corporate railways. 

- Simon Wren-Lewis offers a seemingly needed reminder to UK Labour that voters turfed the Cons to preserve public services - not to gut them in the name of fiscal conservatism. And Jean Swanson discusses the problems with a B.C. "social housing" program which is designed to exclude lower-income renters. 

- Finally, Audi van den Hove reports on the decision by the European Court of Justice requiring Apple to pay back taxes rather than laundering its profits in Ireland. And the Canadian Press reports on the Federal Court of Appeal's decision finding that Facebook breached user privacy in allowing apps to scrape and commercialize personal information. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Andrew Freedman examines how the summer of 2024 is shaping up to be the hottest on record. And Jessica Corbett discusses the strong public support for holding the architects of the climate breakdown criminally accountable for the resulting damage. 

- Mike De Souza reports on the Libs' choice to shovel public money to McKinsey and Company to consult on "clean tech" while it was actively being paid to lobby on behalf of fossil fuel interests. And Drew Anderson notes that Alberta's so-called market in electricity includes massive public handouts to fossil gas plants (along with government policies which have shut down renewable energy development). 

- Meanwhile, Toula Drimonis discusses how Montreal has seen its downtown rejuvenated by the choice to prioritize people over vehicles. 

- Max Fawcett writes that Danielle Smith's war on Alberta is only getting started. Jen St. Denis notes that BC Conservatives are lashing out at any media outlets who dare to point out the myriad of close connections between their leadership and Russian-funded disinformation campaigns. And Stephen Maher warns that we're headed toward the meanest election in Canadian history. 

- Finally, Sarah Anderson discusses how the U.S.' largest low-wage employers have paid out massive shareholder benefits instead of allowing employees to share in the product of their work. And Cory Doctorow points out that stock-based compensation creates a particularly ugly incentive for CEO to prioritize the former over the latter. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Michael Savage points out the billions of pounds worth of pay and benefits being stolen from workers by UK employers every year. And The Breach reports that the same app being used to fix housing prices and gouge renters on the behalf of landlords in the U.S. is also being used by familiar landlords in Canada. 

- John Lanchester discusses the absurd amount of activity and nominal wealth based purely on financial speculation rather than the production or delivery of anything real or useful. Robert Reich notes that billionaires are looking to fund the end of democracy in the U.S. and elsewhere as they recognize that their continued accumulation of wealth and power will never stand if people have any say in the matter. And David Moscrop points out how learned helplessness from current governments has opened the door for fascist politicians to claim they can solve problems which other politicians won't. 

- On that front, Hayley Juhl writes that decades after Canada's Parliament agreed unanimously to end child poverty, its persistence and growth is leading to understandable skepticism among younger generations that the federal government is interested in their needs.

- Finally, Chris Lehmann discusses how Russian funding and direction is behind prominent MAGA influencers in the U.S. And Luke LeBrun highlights the Canadian connections (and in some cases roots) of Vladimir Putin's right-wing mouthpieces in North America.

Musical interlude

Elderbrook - Shallow Water

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Andrew Freedman reports on the extreme heat wave scorching the southwest U.S., while Costas Kantouris reports on Greece's unprecedented drought and water depletion. And Kang Jin-Yiu reports on South Korea's exceptionally hot summer, while Ian Livingston notes that Australia has seen summer temperatures exceeding 40 Celsius through what's supposed to be its winter season. 

- Josephine Lee interviews Greg Casar about the Biden administration's belated efforts to ensure workers have protection from extreme heat - while noting that it's an open question whether any rules will be allowed to take effect even next summer. And Shannon Waters offers a reminder of the health damage caused by wildfire smoke.  

- Hannah Daly suggests that we should treat carbon pollution like cigarette smoke in order to treat its reduction as a public health goal. But it's unfortunately far form clear that the corporate forces that be will allow the protection of public health to influence policy - as seen in Tess Finch-Less' plea to stop bullying people out of even the most basic of COVID-19 protection measures, and Julie Doubleday's comparison of the status quo to what an adequate response would look like. 

- Solomon Hughes discusses the cozy relationships between conscience-free corporate abusers and multiple brands of political party. Richard Murphy calls out neoliberalism as the key factor in the Grenfell disaster among other human catastrophes. And Adrienne Tanner highlights how nobody should trust the fakery of John Rustad and other avowed science denialists - even as British Columbia's business class has coalesced to try to install him in power. 

- Finally, Luke LeBrun reports on how the FBI's charges dealing with Tenet Media revealed Russian influence and funding behind dozens of alt-right propaganda videos in Canada. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Andrea Thompson reports on the record-breaking heat wave in the southwest U.S. as another stark example of a climate breakdown in progress. But Alex Crawford writes that while we've already done immense damage to our living environment, it isn't too late to limit how much more we inflict.  

- But Geoff Dembicki reports on how the oil industry has captured universities to ensure scientific research is aimed at perpetuating rather than ending carbon pollution, while Steve Rabey exposes Shell's funding of climate denialism through churches and propaganda mills. Jake Johnson notes that Texas has gone so far as to create a separate "business court" in order to ensure its corporate overlords are never subjected to justice. And Drew Anderson reports on the UCP's attempt to push energy regulators to lie about having been involved in Danielle Smith's decision to stop any renewable energy development. 

- Paul Willcocks points out how the business-backed B.C. Conservatives are engaged in a war against factual reporting patterned after that of U.S. Republicans. Thom Hartmann discusses how the U.S. has been overrun by bullies. And Parker Molloy laments that the U.S. media's response to being constantly trolled and gaslighted has been to "sanewash" the obviously-disqualifying utterings of Donald Trump and his acolytes. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow points out that the same right-wing mouthpieces who constantly claim that people without resources are only lacking long-term planning and self-control are the same voices insisting that the wealthiest people can't be expected to give up a shred of instant profit or gratification to preserve a liveable society or planet. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Andrew Nikiforuk discusses the immense economic and human cost of COVID-19 denial as another wave surges. And Matthew Frank et al. study how COVID produces lasting damage to the brain. 

- Robert Booth and Emine Sinmaz report on the findings of the UK's Grenfell inquiry, which find that the tragic fire was the result of systemic corporate dishonesty and government neglect. And Mo Amir discusses how B.C.'s government is failing to implement vacancy controls even while understanding they would benefit renters.

- Meanwhile, Myriam Durocher, Annika Walsh, Irena Knezevic and Madison Hynes discuss how charity isn't enough to eradicate food insecurity. 

- Ariel Silber reports on the less-than-surprising revelation that apps are listening in on users' smartphones without notice or consent in order to profit from the contents of their conversations. And Webb Wright reports on the FTC's study into "surveillance pricing" where unspecified personal information is used to present different prices to different consumers. 

- Kea Wilson discusses how the deaths of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau are just an example of the traffic violence resulting from a transportation system designed to prioritize single-vehicle convenience over pedestrian and cyclist safety. And Coral Davenport highlights how the U.S. will need to update its infrastructure one way or another due to the use of materials which can't withstand a changed climate. 

- Finally, Susan Wright contrasts the importance of unions in social cohesion and development against the solidarity denialism of the UCP. And David Moscrop writes that the Cons and their allies remain hostile to workers - even as they try to pretend otherwise.