Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Paul Crider discusses how the Trump regime is setting up the U.S. for explosive internal violence - while planning to blame its victims in order to impose martial law. Ned Resnikoff observes that the devaluation of human life in the name of demanding obeisance to the exercise of arbitrary power is far from new - though some forms of privilege are no longer protecting people who once perceived themselves as immune. Jonathan Chait calls out the Republican dogma that the January 6 rioters were entitled to take over democratic institutions and defy police with as much violence and force as they wanted, while anybody not devoted to usurping power on Donald Trump's behalf is subject to summary murder for failing to defer to state actors. And Garrett Graff writes about the emotional weight imposed by Trumpism.

- Meanwhile, Jason Stanley highlights the need to recognize the threat posed by an aggressive expansionist U.S. rather than assuming we can operate based on business as usual. And John Woodside's report on the Trump cheerleading by Scotiabank's CEO should make clear that the corporate class is not on our side.  

- Lucy Dean Stockton and Helen Santoro note that the FDA's elimination of warnings against excessive alcohol consumption reflects just the latest example of the Trump regime letting destructive corporate interests dictate policy. But Cory Doctorow discusses how the connection between Trump and the U.S.' exploitative tech giants may actually offer a needed opportunity to disenshittify our economy. And Scharon Harding reports on the rare positive example of Bose making some of its systems open-source to allow consumers to continue using them after they're no longer directly supported.  

- Marc Lee points out the absurdity of treating the U.S.' coup in Venezuela as an excuse to push new oil pipelines in Canada. 

- Finally, Tom Sandborn writes that a rare example of a conviction against an employer for negligently causing a worker's death serves only to highlight how few consequences businesses face for endangering their own employees.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Jeff Masters sets out some of the anticipated timelines for climate change to fundamentally reshape life in the U.S. - with immense disruption expected in a matter of just a few years. Vikas Parashram Mekram discusses how climate change is threatening groundwater supplies, while Darrin Joy points out the risk that melting permafrost will unleash massive quantities of mercury into the environment. And Hope Lompe reports on a new study showing how migrant workers in British Columbia are suffering from extreme heat in housing not designed to protect against it, while Stuti Mishra writes about the dangers and stresses of life at 50 degrees Celsius in India. 

- Meanwhile, Mostafa Henaway discusses how both the Cons and Libs have chosen to turn Canada's temporary foreign worker program into constant supply of cheap, powerless labour for corporate masters. And Prem Sikka sets out some suggestions to rein in extreme executive pay and income inequality. 

- Nojoud Al Mallees reports on new research showing that corporate capital gains have nothing to do with the creation of jobs in Canada. And Judd Legum offers a reminder that the inflation make life unaffordable for consumers has been primarily the result of corporate price-gouging which Republicans have now decided is fundamental to their way of life. 

- Finally, David Moscrop discusses how Doug Ford has thrown any concern for health and well-being out the window in directing his government's attention (and massive amounts of public money) toward alcohol liberalization as a top priority. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Beth Blauer writes about the continuing need for accurate and timely data about COVID-19 as it represent an ongoing threat. And Rachel Bergmans et al. examine the impact of long COVID on Black Americans in particular, while pointing out a few ways to make treatment more effective. 

- Justin Wiltshire examines how higher minimum wages produce massive benefits in increasing pay and reducing inequality, while actually increasing employment levels as well contrary to the corporate spin which is typically taken as gospel. And Andrew Perez, Matthew Cunningham-Cook and David Sirota call out how corporate talking points have been applied in preference to all evidence in explaining inflation, with the result that the policy response has locked in windfall profits at the expense of workers. 

- David Roberts writes that none of the world's largest industries would be profitable if they properly accounted for the natural capital destroyed by their operations. Markham Hislop reports on Alberta's comical level of corporate capture as the regulator theoretically responsible for environmental issues in the resource sector has been ordered to cheerlead and cover up for the companies it's supposed to be regulating, while Robert Ascah warns that the public is being left on the hook for massive cleanup costs while operators ship their profits out of the province. And Paige Parsons reports on the federal investigation which is just starting to address the oilsands tailing leaks hidden from public view by the UCP.  

- Michelle Cyca discusses how residential school denialism is being propagated to excuse the ongoing structural disdvantages imposed on Indigenous peoples. And Dennis Ward reports on the Neskantaga First Nation's multi-decade boil-water advisory as having corroded public trust. 

- Finally, Tim Requarth writes about the growing scientific recognition that alcohol creates a clear detriment to health - and the difficulty spreading that message when a large industry is dedicated to maximizing its sales regardless of the social cost. And Sally Wadyka discusses the connection between ultraprocessed foods and risks to mental health. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Beth Gardiner discusses how the oil industry has long understood how much fossil fuels would damage the Earth's climate (even while fighting tooth and nail to avoid mitigating the damage). And Norm Farrell points out that the U.S.' worsening water shortages pose significant risks to Canada's food supply. 

- Dr. Chinta Sidharthan discusses how new COVID variants are becoming more and more resistant to existing vaccines. 

- The ILO studies wage trends around the globe over the course of the COVID pandemic to date, with real wage growth falling into negative territory while inequality worsens. But Sara Jabakhani reports on the Ford PCs' rejection of every single recommendation to prevent reoccurrences of a construction worker's death in a trench collapse as a prime example of how right-wing governments couldn't be less interested in the safety or well-being of workers. 

- The Star's editorial board makes the case for warning labels on alcohol in light of its outsized contribution to social harms. 

- Finally, Aaron Wherry discusses how Danielle Smith's obsessions with "sovereignty" over substance represents at best a game of political chicken. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Anthony Fernandez-Castaneda et al. examine the long-term neurological and cognitive damage caused even by "mild" cases of COVID. Sally Cutler discusses the implications of the Omicron COVID variant remaining transmissible longer than previously assumed even as governments and employers are adamant about forcing people back to work while infected. And Laura Unger reports on the warning from scientists that Omicron is unlikely to be the last major variant of a disease that's been allowed - and even encouraged - to keep spreading and mutating. 

- CBC's Cross Country Checkup offers some needed attention to workers who are already burned out even as more onerous demands get pushed on them. And Nadine Yousif reports on the growth of alcohol-related illnesses as the industry exploits people's fatigue and desire to escape. 

- Larry Elliott reports on Oxfam's latest research into the preposterous concentration of money through the pandemic that has seen the ten richest men in the world get twice as wealthy - as well as its call for a tax on windfall gains to rein in inequality while funding a healthy recovery. Hailie Tattrie interviews Alyssa Gerhardt about the need for systemic fixes to corporate food price gouging. And Sam Bowman theorizes that a dedicated push to make housing available and affordable could help ameliorate many other problems as well. 

- Sam Adler-Bell discusses how the Republican attack against critical race theory reflects their refusal to accept the very existence of systemic inequality and oppression. 

- Finally, Yannic Rack reports that big oil is paying far less than its share of Canada's carbon price. And M.V. Ramana discusses how the spin around small modular nuclear reactors represents nothing but a climate delay tactic which bears no plausible prospect of resulting in any practical energy solutions. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Trevor Howlett warns not to treat a short-term drop in case numbers from an alarming peak as an excuse  to stop taking COVID-19 seriously. And Alexander Quon and Bonnie Allen offer a look at the painful and lonely plight of ICU patients sent to Ontario due to Scott Moe's choice to overload Saskatchewan's health care system. 

- Emma Jones reports on the increased number of liver conditions likely arising out of pandemic drinking. And Stephen David Cook reports on the deadliest year yet for drug poisonings in Alberta. 

- Brett Dolter discusses some of the lessons we should take from our COVID response in dealing with the generational challenge of climate change - though there's reason for concern that the main takeaway is that self-serving profiteers will find excuses to stake fraudulent claims to the entire world before the public can get its shoes on in response. Bob Ward reviews Katharine Hayhoe's Saving Us as a resource in trying to reach people who are hesitant to contribute to climate solutions. And Fiona Harvey reports on Antonio Guterres' message that we can't rely on optimism without action, even as the obvious plan of the leaders who need to step up is based on wishing rather than effort. 

- Roy Culpeper points out the need for Canada in particular to start contributing our fair share to global emission reductions. And Jay Wilson discusses how cleaner infrastructure is a vital part of the picture. 

- Finally, the University of Cambridge studies the amount of work necessary to achieve the positive mental health outcomes associated with it - and finds that a day per week is the point of diminishing returns for work for its own sake. And Sara Zaske reports on new research confirming that parents living in poverty who are offered a basic income will put the new resources toward their children. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Robert Hiltz warns against letting the leaders responsible for preventable COVID deaths off the hook as part of an attempt to turn loosened restrictions into a good news story. And Mickey Djuric talks to Nazeem Muhajarine about the dangers of prematurely lifting mask mandates.

- John Woodside offers a reminder that Canada's record on greenhouse gas emissions is the worst in the G7. And Ian Gill points out that we don't need to destroy our planet as the price of achieving any valid measure of well-being.

- Peter Goodman and Niraj Chokshi discuss how reliance on "just in time" supply chains in the interest of short-term profit-making has made us vulnerable to shortages of necessities. And Eric Atkins discusses the centralization of rail as yet another example of concentrated corporate power being used to squeeze profits out of everybody else.

- Matthew Yglesias examines the compelling case for higher taxes on alcohol in light of its damaging social effects. 

- Susan Prentice and Pat Armstrong highlight the problems with corporate models of child care and elder care. And Martin Regg Cohn comments on the need to focus on the delivery of services rather than profit motives.

- Finally, Tanya Talaga discusses the work still to be done in finding the Indigenous children buried at residential school sites across Canada. And Alex Boyd, Omar Mosleh and Alex McKeen point out a few of the most likely sites and the stories behind them.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Andrew Nikiforuk writes about the even greater urgency to get to COVID zero as more dangerous strains of the virus spread in Canada. And Adam Miller reports on growing recommendations that we wear more effective masks, including while outdoors. 

-Truc Nguyen reports on some of the ways to deal with the anxiety arising out of the pandemic, while Natalie Grover reports on research showing that the coronavirus itself leads to mental illness and brain disorders. And James Wilt points out the public health implications of people drinking more in the course of the pandemic.

- Sarah Jaffe discusses the problem of burnout generally - including by recognizing that it's an inevitable outcome of economic and social systems designed to impose as many costs as possible on individuals for the benefit of businesses. Meghan Bell calls out the attempt by Bell (and so many politicians) to turn mental health into a single-day distraction while standing in the way of the support people need at all times. And Ray Fisman and Michael Luca point out how the effort to squeeze concessions out of workers - rather than providing a stable and secure livelihood - is ultimately a damaging one for employers.

- But in case anybody thought there was hope for consensus on a change in course, Tom Scocca writes that the Trump years have offered an appalling test of how much suffering the U.S. is prepared to inflict on people. And Mindy Isser discusses the need to ensure that organizing efforts include people who have been willing to support the likes of Donald Trump.

- Finally, Nana Ama Sarfo makes the case to end Canada's current status as a haven to hide the beneficial ownership of corporations. And Canadians for Tax Fairness argues that we shouldn't let Pfizer use COVID-19 as an excuse to claim yet another round of tax concessions and corporate giveaways.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Ed Miliband writes that there's no contradiction between a climate change plan and an effective economic strategy - and to the contrary, they can and should be entirely aligned. And the Guardian's editorial board recognizes the need to get to net zero emissions sooner rather than later - even if the UK Cons are still working on the latter timeline.

- Meanwhile, Matthew Todd argues that the Extinction Rebellion has helped to turn the tide of public opinion toward greater acknowledgment of the need for urgent climate action. And John Geddes notes that severe weather events have also played a part in forcing people to consider the climate crisis - including in deciding who to support politically. 

- Camille Bains reports on new data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information showing that alcohol remains the substance most responsible for hospitalizations and deaths in Canada. And the Stoney Creek News points out the absurdity of actively promoting the increased sale and distribution of alcohol under those circumstances - though it's well worth noting that Doug Ford has company in recklessly encouraging the increased use of alcohol and its resulting harms. 

- Finally, Mel Watkins discusses how the Waffle movement offers a blueprint - if a dated one - for what progressive nationalism might look like in Canada.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Phil Dzikiy discusses how GE is already losing massive amounts of money due to its incorrect assumption that fossil fuels would be profitable. And Brad Plumer points out that far more corporations are recognizing the need to plan for the fallout from a climate breakdown in the very near future.

- Vik Adhopia reports on the work of researchers to ensure that eye drop dosages reflect what will actually make the best possible use of medications, after pharmaceutical corporations have chosen to instead encourage spillage and waste. And Cherise Seucharan reports on the NDP's plan to treat access to contraceptives as a basic need rather than a profit centre. 

- Bob Bell points out how the right-wing push toward more alcohol sales and consumption produces ill effects for public health and government budgets alike.

- Finally, Andrew Rawnsley writes about the disconnect between the UK's archaic first-past-the-post electoral system and the will of the public. And the NDP has unveiled its plan for electoral reform - featuring a commitment to implement a system of proportional representation, while building in a referendum once the public is in a position to judge its options from experience rather than reactionary fearmongering.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Justin Fisher laments the fact that we're still talking about first steps toward combating a climate crisis after decades of understanding the problem. Jake Woodier points out that Brexit has been the UK's recent distraction from the most important issue facing humanity. And Joseph Stiglitz is the latest to compare a Green New Deal to avert climate breakdown with the scale and urgency of a wartime mobilization:

When the US was attacked during the second world war no one asked, “Can we afford to fight the war?” It was an existential matter. We could not afford not to fight it. The same goes for the climate crisis. Here, we are already experiencing the direct costs of ignoring the issue – in recent years the country has lost almost 2% of GDP in weather-related disasters, which include floods, hurricanes, and forest fires. The cost to our health from climate-related diseases is just being tabulated, but it, too, will run into the tens of billions of dollars – not to mention the as-yet-uncounted number of lives lost. We will pay for climate breakdown one way or another, so it makes sense to spend money now to reduce emissions rather than wait until later to pay a lot more for the consequences – not just from weather but also from rising sea levels. It’s a cliche, but it’s true: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

The war on the climate emergency, if correctly waged, would actually be good for the economy – just as the second world war set the stage for America’s golden economic era , with the fastest rate of growth in its history amidst shared prosperity. The Green New Deal would stimulate demand, ensuring that all available resources were used; and the transition to the green economy would likely usher in a new boom. Trump’s focus on the industries of the past, like coal, is strangling the much more sensible move to wind and solar power. More jobs by far will be created in renewable energy than will be lost in coal.
...
The mobilization efforts of the second world war transformed our society. We went from an agricultural economy and a largely rural society to a manufacturing economy and a largely urban society. The temporary liberation of women as they entered the labor force so the country could meet its war needs had long-term effects. This is the advocates’ ambition, a not unrealistic one, for the Green New Deal.

There is absolutely no reason the innovative and green economy of the 21st century has to follow the economic and social models of the 20th-century manufacturing economy based on fossil fuels, just as there was no reason that that economy had to follow the economic and social models of the agrarian and rural economies of earlier centuries.

- But if we needed a reminder of the ease with which serious dangers to the public get ignored or forgotten, Benjamin Kentish notes that tens of thousands of Britons still live in buildings covered in the same material which caused the spread of the devastating Grenfell Tower fire.

- Rafferty Baker reports on research showing how harm reduction steps are reducing the still-alarming number of deaths caused by opioids. And Barbara Krantz points out that as serious as the opioid crisis is, far more people die due to alcohol - even as Canada's right makes it a core policy to try to push people to drink more.

- Trade Justice Network Canada discusses how the new NAFTA is anything but progressive - no matter what talking points the Trudeau Libs use in trying to push it through.

- And finally, Paul Romer suggests that a tax on targeted advertising could both raise revenue, and reduce the amount of user tracking that contributes to hidden dangers online.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading.

- Susan Bradley reports on Dave Phillips' observations as to how Atlantic Canada is already facing the effects of a climate breakdown. Cameron Brick discusses the importance of seeing ourselves as more than consumers in developing a response to our climate crisis. And David Roberts highlights how Jay Inslee has provided the details of a plan to meet the goals of a Green New Deal for the U.S. (which should in turn be adaptable for use elsewhere).

- Kate Bratskeir points out the large amount of plastic being burned in the U.S. (and the resulting harms to health and the environment). But Lisa Friedman reports that the Trump administration's response to deaths caused by air pollution is to make up numbers to cover up the problem. And Jeff Lewis reports that the Libs are teaming up with Jason Kenney to facilitate the dumping of toxic water from tar sands tailings ponds into sources of drinking water.

- Christine Berry and Joe Guinan offer a look at what a Corbyn Labour government could mean for UK politics and society.

- Bobby Hristova reports on levels of drunkenness as one of the areas in which Canada stands out dubiously among our peers - and this before the plans of right-wing governments to substitute increased alcohol consumption for responsible governance are fully implemented.

- Finally, Eliza Mackintosh reports on Finland's success in educating children to recognize and respond to propaganda.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Derrick O'Keefe, Robert Hackett and Shane Gunster highlight how the TransMountain pipeline bailout and SNC-Lavalin scandal have cemented Justin Trudeau's status as a Potemkin progressive just in time for voters to hold him to account. And PressProgress offers a reminder that the amount of wealth being stashed offshore by corporate Canada continues to grow as the Libs dither on even basic steps to track and reverse the flow.

- Bill McKibben argues that we're at the point of lacking any choice but to taken urgent action to stop climate change, while Owen Jones muses that nationalizing the oil industry may be a necessary step along the road to decarbonizing our economy. David Rider reports that Toronto is among the jurisdictions looking at litigation to recover the costs of climate change from the people who have used it as a source of profit. Rachel Aiello reports that a shift from subsidizing fossil fuels to funding a transition to green energy is one of the NDP's top policy priorities. Rebecca Long-Bailey writes about UK Labour's push to declare a national climate emergency while leading an international movement toward a sustainable climate. And Kate Aronoff notes that a Green New Deal is part of Podemos' re-election campaign in Spain.

- Mattha Busby reports that UK employers are taking advance of Conservative loopholes by paying a record number of workers less than the minimum wage. And Hassan Yussuff offers a reminder of the need to ensure workers are safe on the job in the face of right-wing pushes to let employers endanger their employees.

- Finally, Adam Burns reports on the foreseeable social harms Ontario can anticipate from Doug Ford's determination to facilitate increased alcohol consumption.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- James Whittingham argues that the time for climate action measured in small household tweaks has long since passed. And Yanis Varoufakis and David Adler discuss the need for an International Green New Deal, while Stephen Buhler writes that oil industry workers recognize the importance of a Canadian version while worrying about being left behind in a transition process.

- Meanwhile, Kori Sidaway highlights how refineries are capitalizing on the right-wing carbon tax hysteria by taking far more in windfall profits than any increase attributable to new taxes (including in provinces where the federal carbon tax doesn't apply).

- Global Witness points out how trillions of dollars are being dumped into developing new fossil fuel projects which are entirely incompatible with averting climate breakdown. And Phil Willon reports that California may be joining Norway and other forward-thinking jurisdictions by defying Justin Trudeau's blinkered spin and taking action to limit any additional dirty energy development.

- The Canadian Press reports on Canada's painfully slow progress in catching up to the developed world on combating corporate corruption. And Ed Finn offers a reminder that our financial system has been set up to ensure that public projects are funded so as to produce private bank profits.

- Finally, Robert Benzie reports on the billion-dollar public price tag attached to Doug Ford's belief that beer is the only thing that matters. And Randy Robinson notes that Ford is slashing funding for flood protection just as rising waters threaten numerous Ontario communities.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Shawn Gude comments on the choice Democratic primary voters will have between candidates seeking to regulate the economic system as it stands, and those pushing to fundamentally changing it. Ian Welsh points out the importance of supporting candidates such as Bernie Sanders with a genuine commitment to the more progressive policies on offer from many corners.

- John Horgan discusses the backlash against the extreme concentration of wealth amidst increased precarity in the U.S., while Ben Casselman and Jim Tankersley report on new polling again showing strong support for higher tax rates on the extremely wealthy. And Jordan Weissmann highlights how Elizabeth Warren's child care plan would boost both the economy generally, and the cause of shared and equitable development in particular.

- Larry Elliott reports on a new study showing how austerity has devastated families in the UK. And James Sillars notes that the result is a country set to reach record levels of child poverty even before it shoots itself in the foot through an attempt to distance itself from the world.

- Mat Hope exposes the disinformation campaigns used jointly by big tobacco and the oil lobby to attack any action to promote public health where it might affect short-term profits. And the Canadian Press reports on the CRTC's findings of misleading and aggressive sales tactics by the telecoms who are already overcharging Canadian customers.

- Finally, the CP also reports on new research showing that Canadian governments need to do far more to try to reduce the harm resulting from alcohol abuse - rather than promoting that harm through deregulation and downward pressure on prices as so many right-wing governments have chosen to do in the name of populist appeal.