Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Danny Altmann discusses how infection with COVID-19 tends to produce weakness and long-term illness rather than immunity, while Tom Livingstone likewise notes that reinfection is worse than previously assumed. Hanna Geissler reports on the warning from experts that we're looking at another new wave in the near future, while Patrick Rail talks to Kashif Pirzada about how the worldwide petri dish resulting from a refusal to stop community transmission is producing newer and more dangerous variants on a regular basis. And Carly Weeks reports on Theresa Tam's recognition that misinformation about the severity of COVID-19 and the ongoing need to try to limit its spread is proving to be deadly.

- Hasan Sheikh and Brandon Doucet make the case to follow through on Tommy Douglas' vision for medicare by adding universal dental care. But Jeff Labine reports that the Trudeau Libs aren't even bothering to respond to provinces who are looking to move forward.

- Phoebe Stephens writes about the need for smaller-scale food providers to limit the ability of corporate conglomerates to gouge the public. And Wayne Mantyka reports on the call from Saskatchewan mayors for the provincial government to fill thousands of public housing units which have been left vacant even in the midst of a housing crisis.

- Finally, Karen Geier discusses how the Cons' leadership race is pushing the party even further off any reasonable map of political philosophies into MAGA-land. And Luke LeBrun reports on Pierre Poilievre's choice to lead a march of COVID deniers, violent insurrectionists and secessionists in order to court their support.

Musical interlude

The Knocks feat. Donna Missal - Bang Bang

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Katherine Wu writes about the much-needed update to COVID-19 vaccines coming this fall - and the challenge getting people to receive them after months of false messaging about the pandemic being over. 

- Steven Lewis discusses how the privatization of health care (including surgical services) stands to undermine our universal Medicare system. And Andrew Gregory reports on a new study showing how the UK Cons' privatization was the direct case of avoidable deaths alongside other demonstrable harm to services. 

- Charles Pierce points out how the hard right has been getting what it's paid for in securing a stranglehold over the U.S. Supreme Court. And Brigette Bureau reports on the intimidation of judges in Canada by Flu Trux Klan terrorists, while Brett Forester reports that the RCMP remains far more interested in infiltrating peaceful land defenders than dealing with the actual violence in our midst. 

- Emily Leedham reports on WestJet's attempts to use scab labour to operate while refusing to provide acceptable wages and working conditions for check-in clerks.

- Finally, Alex Himelfarb makes the case for proportional representation as a means of guarding against anti-majoritarian control over public policy. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Adeel Hassan reports on the dominance of the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron strains in the U.S. Phil Tank reminds us of the folly of the Moe government's admonition that people should assess their own risk even while actively suppressing the data which could make that possible, while Wency Leung reports on the push among experts for Canada to reinstate mandatory masking policies to limit the damage from a new wave. And Virginie Ann reports on research showing that the public health measures which Canadian governments seem determined never to use again helped to save tens of thousands of lives. 

- David Shield reports on research linking Saskatchewan's alarming HIV rates to inadequate social assistance. And Noushin Ziafati reports on the recommendation of a coroner's inquest jury that Ontario declare an epidemic of intimate partner violence and focus on eradicating it. 

- Edward Ongweso Jr. writes that we should recognize any current bout of inflation as being caused by corporate greed rather than pandemic stimulus payments to individuals. And David Sirota discusses how John Roberts has been central to the constitutionalization of corruption in then U.S.  

- John Clarke discusses the RCMP's "pipeline police" who have been mandated to violently suppress land defenders. And Natasha Bulowski reports that the Libs' case for TransMountain depends on its use to export dirty fossil fuels for a century.  

- Finally, Ariana Kelland reports on one case showing the continued fallout from the Phoenix pay fiasco, as an employee lost her home and her job after going without pay for months. Shelley Murphy reports on a much-needed award of damages to an employee who was handed on a platter to U.S immigration services in retaliation for reporting a workplace injury. And Chris Brooks discusses the possibility of substantially building strength in organized labour - as long as unions' organizational models are updated for the new reality in the workplace. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Elevated cats.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Ed Yong writes about the need for people to keep caring for and protecting each other to make up for being abandoned by business-driven politicians in the middle of a deadly and debilitating pandemic. Olivia Bowden discusses the considerations surrounding booster vaccine doses which do require government involvement. And Victor Castro-Gutierrez et al. study the connection between school infections and community spread (showing a clear pattern of the former driving the latter), while Sandra Lopez-Leon et al. examine (PDF) the long COVID symptoms suffered by children. 

- Stephanie Kelton writes that interest rate hikes and austerity are the hydroxychloroquine cure for inflation (i.e. quackery being pushed by the right as a substitute for viable measures which don't suit their political purposes), while the effective medicine of taxing windfall profits is being conspicuously left off the table. And TVO interviews Mike Moffatt about the glaring need for action to make housing remotely affordable for the people who need it most. 

- Jeremy Appel exposes how Amazon is trying to intimidate its workers in Quebec - but notes that it's also finding more resistance there than in some places. 

- Malcolm James, Jane Kenway and Rebecca Boden highlight how private schools in the UK use public money to create educational and social inequality. 

- Finally, David Fraser reports on the launch of the Ottawa People's Commission to report on the city's occupation. Jonathan Montpetit reports on the threats being made against libraries by convoy-affiliated bigots attempting to silence any voices which don't share their hostility to LGBTQ+ people. And Robert Reich writes about the roots of the U.S. Trumpism which is bleeding into Canada. 

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Geoff Thompson reports on new research showing that the cognitive decline caused by COVID-19 is worse than previously known, while the European Academy of Neurology finds a greater risk of neurodegenerative disorders. And the Economist reports on findings that the vaccine development and distribution process (which is no longer being treated as a priority as we race toward pandemic denial) has saved 20 million lives worldwide, while Wenkai Han et al. find that the coronavirus projects to escape immunity.

- Meanwhile, Tania Arrietta discusses how past and ongoing austerity made the pandemic worse in the UK. 

- George Monbiot suggests that debt relief for developing countries may serve as an important part of a climate strategy. 

- Finally, Kenan Malik writes about the well-recognized reality (contrary to the UK Cons' spin) that union influence and solidarity is necessary for the public good. And Andy Burnman makes the case for Labour to back proportional representation as a means of better distributing power.