Thursday, November 18, 2021

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Andrew Gregory reports on a new meta-study showing which options have been most effective in controlling the spread of COVID-19 - with mask-wearing ranking as the single most effective measure, though numerous other ones have also been important. And CBC News reports on the impending Canadian approval of a pediatric vaccine dose for ages 5-11, though Stuart Trew points out how Canada is acting as a barrier to the availability of vaccines in developing countries which desperately need them.  

- Kathryn Blaze Baum and Matthew McClearn discuss why British Columbia is trapped in cycles of extreme weather arising out of the climate crisis. And Geoffrey Supran and Naomi Oreskes document how the oil industry has systematically deceived the public about the dangers of climate change for decades, while Amy Westervelt writes that overcoming that deeply-embedded disinformation remains one of the key steps in working to avert a total climate breakdown. 

- Paris Marx discusses why we can't rely on self-absorbed and avaricious billionaires to save us from the climate crisis. Mitchell Thompson notes that Canada's business elite has long had a soft spot for fascism when there's money to be made (or leftists to be attacked). And Armine Yalnizyan warns against using interest rate hikes being demanded by capital owners to address inflation when that will only result in even worse outcomes for people with lower incomes.  

- Umair Haque writes that the U.S.' structural inequality - in which any economic gains are more than skimmed off the top by the already-wealthy - has sent it into a civilizational death spiral of despair and distrust. And Eric Ohrn studies (PDF) how the spoils of corporate tax breaks have been directed toward executive compensation rather than wages for the working class. 

- Finally, Shannon Proudfoot writes that any attempt to limit child care to being boutique women's issue misses the broader importance of making it available.

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