Musical interlude

Tame Impala - One More Year

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Joseph Choi reports on new research showing that updated COVID-19 vaccines help build immunity against the Eris strain. And Keenan Sorokan reports on both Eris' spread into Saskatchewan, and the strong recommendation from the experts still interested in public health that people get boosted and take steps to avoid spread of the virus.

- Anne Shibata Casselman offers a grim look at what Canada will look like in a few decades if we can't reverse course from the current path toward climate breakdown. Dharna Noor reports on the juxtaposition of dirty energy conglomerates demanding to be let off the hook for the climate crisis in the wake of Maui's lethal wildfires. And Zack Budryk reports on new research showing that U.S. carbon pollution is increasingly caused by the richest households. 

- Phillip Inman reports that the UK is among the many countries seeing corporations rake in record profits while falsely pretending that price increases are the result of unavoidable inflation. 

- David Climenhaga rightly recognizes that the choice to use violence to remove the crises of homelessness and drug poisonings from public view does nothing to ameliorate the underlying problem. And Cory Johnston is duly critical of the City of Regina's refusal to recognize that reality in smashing communal encampments while doing nothing to ensure people have alternative housing. 

- Finally, Jessica Wildfire compares our current sociopolitical reality to a "behavioral sink", where conditions of relative abundance give way to needless waste and competition, and eventually the disintegration of any social cooperation. (And it's particularly worth highlighting her observation that in our case, that's the result of a deliberate choice by people with immense amounts of money and power to use their resources undercutting the very idea that wealth can be shared or community interests considered.) 

[Edit: fixed wording.]

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Margaret Walton-Roberts and Ivy Lynn Bourgeault highlight how plans to poach workers from abroad are bound to fall short of meeting our need for care providers (while also raising ethical concerns). And Benjamin Shingler discusses how extreme heat is putting an increasing number of workers at risk. 

- Tom Burton eulogizes Mary-Louise McLaws by noting that she was among the few voices calling for people to avert avoidable deaths and illness by recognizing how aerosolized ventilation is needed to limit the spread of COVID-19. And Luke LeBrun exposes the connection between the federal Cons and anti-public-health forces.

- Thom Hartmann discusses why the uber-wealthy few fund bigotry and hate - with the instigation of culture wars serving to distract from class-based extraction. 

- Cory Doctorow points out how selective complaints about privacy have served to create the U.S.' exploitative private surveillance apparatus, while lauding some much-needed steps toward public protection from corporate data brokers. 

- Finally, Robin Urevich and Pablo Sandoval expose how Los Angeles landlords have ignoring a requirement to preserve housing for low-income residents and instead marketing protected units to tourists. And Christopher Cheung reports on Burnaby's much-needed effort to build its own affordable homes, rather than relying on giveaways to private developers as the only option to increase the housing stock. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Crawford Kilian reviews two new books on the effects of an overheating planet. Damian Carrington reports on the science tracing unprecedented heat waves to climate change. And Jag Bhalla warns about the dangers of undue optimism about the state of our living environment - with the people with the least predictably standing to suffer the most.  

- Meanwhile, Elizabeth Rush describes the experience of arriving at a large glacier just in time to see it collapse. 

- Ari Pottens and Scott Seymour discuss the harm unmonitored methane releases are doing in exacerbating the climate breakdown. And David Thurton reports on the double-counting and general trickery behind the Libs' self-congratulation over tree-planting.  

- Pete Evans reports on yet another hike in profits for Loblaws, while the Canadian Press reports on the same as Metro even as it withholds reasonable wages from employees. 

- Finally, Jeff Ernsthausen exposes how the ultra-wealthy use "charitable" foundations to claim massive tax credits and avoid paying their fair share for a functional society. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Rubbernecking cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Ekaterina Pesheva writes about the continued uncertainty as to the driving mechanism behind long COVID even as large numbers of people suffer from it. Eric Berger notes that experts are cautioning Americans to keep a close eye on COVID exposure as new variants develop, while Andre Picard discusses how a summer spike in cases serve to remind us we're still in the middle of a pandemic. And Janice Brown laments that government policy rooted in a "let-'er-rip" philosophy seems to be designed to fail from the standpoint of public health protection. 

- Euan Nisbet warns that sharp increases in atmospheric methane represent both a cause and effect of the climate crisis - and that the elevated levels now reflect those from previous climate shocks. 

- Kevin Krizek discusses how larger vehicles offer the illusion of protection for drivers at the expense of grave and avoidable risks for pedestrians and others. 

- Finally, Phoebe Fuller reports on the work unions are doing to protect Canadians from weaponized hate - even as the Cons and their allies stoke it at every opportunity. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Arianna Johnson reports on new research showing how COVID-19 can continue to affect organ function long after the lungs have healed. Philip Finkelstein calls out the lack of any effective response to the widespread and continuing risk of long COVID. Erin Prater examines what we can expect as new variants create another wave this fall. And Tania Bubela, Kimberlyn McGrail and Sharmistha Mishra argue that Canada needs a national inquiry into our COVID response. 

- Fiona Harvey reports on warnings from the UN's desertification conference that global food supplies are at risk even before we reach 1.5 degrees of warming. And Cabin Radio reports on the Northwest Territories' evacuations due to wildfires, while Maanvi Singh, Andrew Witherspoon and Bryony Moore document the devastation of Maui. 

- Robson Fletcher discusses how Alberta (like Saskatchewan) is an extreme outlier in insisting on continuing to use fossil fuel-generated power out of fealty to the oil and gas sector when there are cleaner and more affordable options available. And David Climenhaga points out that the result is nothing but embarrassment on the world stage. 

- David Moscrop writes that the Ontario Auditor General's report on the Greenbelt giveaway proves that the Ford PCs are corrupt - and it's worth noting that Doug Ford's response refusing to review or reverse the handout to donors and cronies only shows that his primary goal is to ensure the spoils of that corruption outlast any investigation or protest. 

- Finally, Shannon Proudfoot points out Pierre Poilievre's laughable attempt at class tourism.