Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- William J. Barber and Tope Folarin write that the U.S.' grim milestone of one million COVID-19 deaths already serves as a searing indictment of its policy choices and disregard for people living in poverty - and this before a combination of Republican cruelty and Democratic fecklessness results in there being no resources at all to meet a new wave of the coronavirus. And Alicia Wittmeyer looks at some of the human toll through the last messages between victims and their loved ones.

- John Smith discusses how rising costs and declining standards of living are pushing people living in poverty into perpetual fear and desperation. And Listen Chen examines how supportive housing may do as much harm as good in attempting to address homelessness - particularly by creating excuses for commercial landlords to evict the people in need of a home. 

- Bill McKibben points out how major corporations are feeding into the climate breakdown through their financial holdings while pretending to be green in their direct operations. And Emily Chung highlights how Canada's oil sector is trying to claim credit for carbon emission reductions when all it's done is to disclaim responsibility for the dirty energy it exports - or as Paul Dechene puts it:

Oil companies going "net zero" is like a gun manufacturer installing metal detectors in their factories and calling the resulting 90% decrease in workplace shootings "progress on reducing gun violence." https://t.co/eHB0M6hWNa

— Paul Dechene (@PaulDechene) May 20, 2022

- Meanwhile, Kevin Philipupillai reports on the Libs' latest move to avoid answering for continuing to pour public money into the Trans Mountain pipeline (among other fossil fuel subsidies), this time by reclassifying Trans Mountain Corporation to evade a need for Parliamentary approval for financing.

- Finally, Adam Serwer discusses how the "great replacement" bigotry underlying the Buffalo mass shooting (among other massacres) has become mainstream Republican messaging.

Musical interlude

PVRIS - Old Wounds

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Ed Yong discusses how we may have created a "pandemicine" era by fundamentally changing how viruses are able to mutate and spread. The Globe and Mail's editorial board is rightly aghast that Canadian governments are doing nothing to respond to another approaching wave of COVID-19, while the NZ Herald reports on an International Science Council study warning that we could still be facing regular waves in 2027 if it doesn't start taking the continued pandemic seriously now. And Nicole Lyn Pesce discusses how long COVID has spoiled the career and retirement plans of millions of Americans already. 

- Armine Yalnizyan writes that while a car might have reason to keep Ford in power, any human being should be looking to replace him with somebody more interested in people's well-being. Jessica McDiarmid highlights how the Ford PCs' destruction of climate policies is costing Ontarians billions of dollars (in addition to causing large amounts of needless carbon pollution). DT Cochrane and Toby Sanger examine (PDF) how Ontario's private long-term care operators were able to rake in massive profits with Ford's support while leaving vulnerable residents to die without necessary care. And Mitchell Thompson reports on the PCs' funneling of public money toward anti-union forces, while the Ontario Federation of Labour reminds us that the NDP is working to empower workers instead. 

- Josh Eidelson reports on the U.S. National Labour Relations Board's move toward prosecuting Amazon for intimidating workers. Robert Reich writes about the foreign wealth exerting increasing influence over U.S. politics. Brett Wilkins discusses the activist push for a windfall tax on oil and gas profiteering in addition to the call for an investigation which has already passed in the House of Representatives. 

- Finally, George Monbiot warns that our food system is on the verge of the same type of collapse as the global financial system faced in 2008 - and that it can't be so easily fixed with temporary liquidity. And Tom Perkins reports on Abbott's gigantic payout to shareholders while it failed to ensure that it was capable of production needed baby formula. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Pam Belluck reports on a new study showing that people who weren't initially hospitalized for COVID make up over three-quarters of the U.S.' long COVID cases, while Andrew Romano discusses the likelihood that people will face constant infection absent better vaccine protection than we have now. And Jennifer Rigby reports on the lamentable conclusion of a World Health Organization panel that we're no better equipped to respond to a pandemic than we were before the ongoing one struck.  

- Meanwhile, Emily Leedham exposes the Ford PCs' place among the right-wing governments who went out of their way to hand pandemic supply contracts to people linked into the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church. Mitchell Thompson calls out Doug Ford's responsibility for anti-LGBTQ candidates including Will Bouma. And Environmental Defence examines how the Ford government has destroyed climate policy in Ontario.

- Ricardo Tranjan examines what Ontario's parties have on offer for people who rent homes, while Bailey Martens reports on the story of a family which has spent eight years trying to find a wheelchair-accessible house suitable for their son. And David Shield reports on a projection that Saskatchewan needs to build 100,000 new housing units in only 8 years - when leaving building to the provide sector has resulted in fewer than that over the past 22 years including multiple boom periods. 

- Damian Carrington reports on new research showing that pollution, including toxic air and contaminated soil and water, is responsible for one in six deaths globally. And Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood reminds us that Canadian mining firms are using trade deals to bully governments into allowing them to keep poisoning people and destroying natural environments without consequence.

- Finally, Mark Bou Mansour and Jake Johnson each discuss a new edition of the Tax Justice Network's Financial Secrecy Index that shows the U.S. emerging as the worst offender in allowing wealth to be concealed. And Jemima Kelly points out the moral case against cryptocurrency which is only strengthened by its role in evading taxes and social responsibility. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Ross Barkan takes stock of the reality that the U.S. has allowed a million people to die of a disease whose transmission could largely have been prevented, while Alexander Quon reports on the latest data showing that official death totals in Saskatchewan significantly undercount the lives lost to COVID-19. Holly Else notes that a more thorough accounting of the COVID damage would include recognition of the time and function lost due to disability as well, while Danielle Wenner and Gabriella Arguidas Ramirez point out that a lack of messaging about the reality of long COVID is likely distorting both public policy and individual actions. And Malia Jones writes that while the decision by governments to deny us current and accurate information makes it impossible to fully assess our risks, we're still best off doing all we can to avoid catching and spreading COVID. 

- Max Fawcett writes that the meltdown in cryptocurrency just as Pierre Poilievre put it at the centre of his Con leadership campaign highlights the need for exactly the public-interest regulators who will be the first to go under fanatic libertarians. And Jessica McKenzie discusses how the harm done by bitcoin includes an assertion of entitlement to burn gas and spew carbon pollution without regulation or regard for the planet. 

- Chris Turner offers a valiant defence of climate optimism even as the likelihood of success in averting climate breakdown appears grim. And Damian Carrington reports on new research showing that in order to avoid catastrophe we need to not only stop the 195 carbon bombs in the planning stages, but also shut down existing fossil fuel production sites. 

- David Wallace-Wells writes that temperatures which are now being reported as unprecedently extreme will likely be the norm (or even the lower end of expectations) in the decades to come. Olivia Rosane highlights the UN's research showing that 75% of the world could face drought by 2050 due to climate change and land degradation. And Karin Brulliard reports on New Mexico's largest-ever fire which is still burning after a month. 

- Christopher Mathias reports on the concerted effort by violent extremists to hijack Idaho's entire political system through both intimidation and abuse of electoral systems.  

- Finally, Jared Abbott interviews Jonathan Smucker and Alison Troy about the opportunities available for left-wing populism to offer a positive alternative to the hatred and nihilism of the right. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Slumbering cats.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Xue Cao et al. find that infection with COVID-19 produces accelerated physical aging among its other alarming effects, while Jan Hennigs et al. discuss the development of respiratory muscle dysfunction as a product of long COVID. Which means - as noted by Moira Wyton - that the decision to get an additional booster vaccine is an easy one for the people in a position to receive it.  

- Eve Darian-Smith highlights how the same anti-social industries (including resource extraction and finance sectors) are lobbying both to perpetuate carbon pollution and install authoritarian governments to ensure that efforts to build a healthy population and planet don't serve as barriers to short-term profits. Vanessa Nakate warns against outside efforts to impose gas dependence on Africa when its development can be powered with cleaner technology. 

- Diana Kruzman writes about the developing phenomenon of "flash droughts" which are threatening the availability of food and water in the U.S.' midwest. And Christy Climenhaga discusses how glaciers have melted past the point of no return in the western Canadian Rockies, making our water supplies far more precarious. 

- Cory Doctorow points out the problems with accepting "vote with your wallet" as a means of expressing values in the context of choices severely constrained by corporate decision-making. And Judd Legum writes about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to constitutionalize the right to corruption on the part of the people whose extreme wealth can swamp democratic politics. 

- Jake Johnson discusses the record executive pay being handed out even as workers are told (at both the firm and social levels) that they need to accept cuts in real income to avoid inflation. Richard Burgon writes that the UK should be capping prices and profits rather than wages. And Heather Scoffield approves of the NDP's plan to ensure that inflation doesn't create more poverty and inequality by having the wealthy pay more to double the low-income GST credit. 

- Finally, Umair Haque pleads for Americans to pay attention to the violent takeover of their society by white supremacists. 

On historical echoes

Ontario's ongoing provincial election is presenting some interesting echoes from previous campaigns - particularly the 2015 federal election which similarly involved a seemingly vulnerable Conservative majority, an NDP official opposition and a Lib attempt to jump back into default-government status. 

At the outset, I'll reiterate my longtime view that contrary to conventional wisdom, the 2015 NDP strategy - which involved focusing largely on making the case to defeat the Harper Cons, and positioning Thomas Mulcair as a broadly acceptable option in the event voters reached the judgment Justin Trudeau wasn't ready for the job of prime minister - was neither entirely unreasonable nor unsuccessful. 

The first necessary step to achieve anything was to make the case for a change in government, and Mulcair's work prosecuting Harper and his record played a huge role in achieving that. And while Trudeau's performance was beyond the NDP's control, there was a plausible path to government if he'd failed to live up to expectations. (Of course, it ultimately helped Trudeau that dismissive messaging about him lowered the bar considerably.) 

To the extent that calculation failed to achieve all of the desired outcome, it's one that Andrea Horwath's Ontario NDP seems determined not to repeat: it's rightly keeping a focus on the continuity between PC and Lib policies as representing a series of failures that need fixing. But there are also a couple of other distinguishing factors which offer the prospect of a better outcome in Ontario. 

The first is the one which was entirely outside of the federal NDP's control: following Jack Layton's death, the leader whose popularity helped boost the party into Official Opposition status was no longer around to help it take the next step into government.

It's bizarre in that context to see commentary (mostly from Lib spinners, but somewhat from others as well) suggesting that Ontario's NDP should have jettisoned its leader voluntarily after achieving its best result in a generation. But for now, the party enjoys the advantage of Andrea Horwath's relatively strong approval ratings and consistent ability to boost the NDP's standing, while the Libs have a comparatively unknown leader who remains ripe for a campaign collapse.  

Of course, that leaves the major avoidable failing of Mulcair's federal campaign, being the lack of a strong pushback against the Libs' messages about the relative progressive positioning of the two parties. That allowed Trudeau to win over far too many voters with a claim to progressivity which was entirely unwarranted based on the parties' actual platforms. 

But while the Ontario Libs are trying to similarly claim to be challenging the NDP from the left, Horwath's team has done plenty to ensure that type of attack is neither plausible nor successful.

Indeed, if there's anything that's gone glaringly unmentioned in most coverage of the Ontario election, it's the deep policy work already done (and yes, promoted) by the NDP in areas where the Libs have spent the campaign hastily cribbing a platform for themselves. 

Want to see Canada's most populous province actually be a leader in implementing a Green New Democratic Deal? The NDP has worked out how to get there (PDF). 

Think a party's commitment to increasing housing supply should be backed by a meaningful analysis of how to get there, as well as specific plans to ensure homes are available for vulnerable groups? The NDP has it covered (PDF). 

A detailed plan to bring long-term care under public control and protect residents from the neglect set up by decades of Lib and PC privatization? That's been developed (PDF) as well.

Want to see a promise to provide universal mental health care which is actually supported by a road map to get there? That's been done too (PDF). 

In each case, the NDP's detailed plans - supported by significant research and analysis - have been copied in part by the Libs in two- to four-page platform entries. But there's little room for dispute both as to which party has the more progressive policies, and which has put meaningful thought and analysis into how to implement them. 

Unfortunately, those plans won't amount to much if the broader electorate isn't convinced to vote the PCs out and the NDP in. But that's where it's essential to let people know that there is a viable alternative - and that it's ready to fix the most important issues facing Ontario if given the chance.  

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Mark Kline warns against accepting continuing denialism about the impact of COVID-19 on children. Andre Picard discusses Canada's grim milestone of 40,000 (reported) COVID deaths. And Dennis Thompson notes the reality that long COVID may be a chronic condition requiring constant treatment, while Sky News reports on the warning from Asthma and Lung UK that people are being abandoned to try to hunt down oxygen and other necessities through private channels rather than receiving the care they need through the NHS. 

- David Milstead reports that long-term care executives managed to rake in extra-large bonuses even as their residents were dying at unconscionable rates in the first year of the pandemic. And Mitchell Thompson exposes how PC assistant labour minister Deepak Anand sought to profit from privatized long-term care while his government was neglecting residents and grinding workers. 

- Jiaying Zhao and Lorne Whitehead rightly ask why a basic income to fully eliminate poverty remains in the realm of pilot projects and preliminary consultations rather than full implementation. 

- David Knowles reports on new research showing that we've reached a new record for carbon concentration in our atmosphere. And Serhii Plokhy writes that we only need to look at the historical dangers of nuclear power to see why it's not a viable answer to the need for a clean energy transition. 

- Finally, Juliette Kayyem discusses the dishonesty of treating the Buffalo mass shooter as a "lone wolf" when his plans and motivations are readily traceable to a large and organized group of white supremacist terrorists. And Talia Lavin recognizes that the underlying values are in fact shared and amplified by the entire Republican party. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Judy Melinek offers a coroner's perspective on the large number of ways in which COVID infection can result in death or severe illness, while Lixue Huang et al. find that long COVID remains an issue even for many of the people who were first infected two years ago. And Zak Vescera talks to some of the immunocompromised people who can only see the admonition to "live with the virus" as a declaration that their lives aren't valued. 

- Don Braid discusses how Alberta patients are dying due to the UCP's choice to impose ever-larger burdens while refusing to pair them with adequate resources. And Stephen Parnis expresses the frustration of an emergency-room worker who's burning out due to the decision to treat his existence as an excuse to let preventable diseases and risks run rampant. 

- James Devitt-Nyu discusses new research showing that neoliberal policies tend to produce anti-social and inegalitarian attitudes. And Spencer van Vloten offers a reminder of the large number of Canadian families struggling with poverty and deprivation of the necessities of life. 

- Fiona Harvey, Matthew Taylor and Damian Carrington report on IEA Executive Director Faith Birol's warning that massive new fossil fuel projects are certain to doom us to climate catastrophe if they're allowed to proceed. 

- Finally, Josh Eidelson writes about the growing successes of labour organizers putting unions in place for Starbucks workers and others whose employers had previously managed to use their power to avoid collective bargaining.