Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Andrea Thompson reports on the record-breaking heat wave in the southwest U.S. as another stark example of a climate breakdown in progress. But Alex Crawford writes that while we've already done immense damage to our living environment, it isn't too late to limit how much more we inflict.  

- But Geoff Dembicki reports on how the oil industry has captured universities to ensure scientific research is aimed at perpetuating rather than ending carbon pollution, while Steve Rabey exposes Shell's funding of climate denialism through churches and propaganda mills. Jake Johnson notes that Texas has gone so far as to create a separate "business court" in order to ensure its corporate overlords are never subjected to justice. And Drew Anderson reports on the UCP's attempt to push energy regulators to lie about having been involved in Danielle Smith's decision to stop any renewable energy development. 

- Paul Willcocks points out how the business-backed B.C. Conservatives are engaged in a war against factual reporting patterned after that of U.S. Republicans. Thom Hartmann discusses how the U.S. has been overrun by bullies. And Parker Molloy laments that the U.S. media's response to being constantly trolled and gaslighted has been to "sanewash" the obviously-disqualifying utterings of Donald Trump and his acolytes. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow points out that the same right-wing mouthpieces who constantly claim that people without resources are only lacking long-term planning and self-control are the same voices insisting that the wealthiest people can't be expected to give up a shred of instant profit or gratification to preserve a liveable society or planet. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Thom Hartmann discusses how the selfish preferences of billionaires are almost invariably winning out over the public interest in the U.S. due in part to the treatment of advertising dollars as the most vigorously-protected form of speech. Jim Stanford highlights the obvious flaws in the spin being used by the uber-wealthy to oppose paying a slightly more fair share of taxes off of their capital gains.  And Arthur Nelson reports on the less-than-surprising finding that fossil fuel firms have used corporate trade agreements to impose their wishes on governments. 

- Meanwhile, Steve Ruvakina reports on the finding of the Institut de recherche et d'informations socioéconomiques that deregulation will do nothing to solve a housing crisis caused by the inherent reality that for-profit developers make more money building houses that most people can't afford.

- Jenaye Johnson discusses how extreme temperatures and other climate calamities are harming the mental health of children. And Denise Balkissoon writes that the combination of heat and smoke is making it unsafe for children to be outside for much of any given summer. 

- Stephen Maher examines how the ineffective government response to the Flu Trux Klan was the result of an utter failure to recognize the nature of the threat. And Bill Graveland reports on the testimony from a convoy murder conspiracy trial has revealed the participation of Edmonton police officers in the violent resistance to public health measures. 

- Finally, Aiden Simardone discusses how Pierre Poilievre is threatening the end of guaranteed rights and freedoms in Canada to serve the interests of those with high property values. 

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. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Thom Hartmann offers a reminder of the broad-based growth and social progress which is possible when capitalists are required to pay reasonable tax rates. And conversely, Cory Doctorow examines the utterly destructive practices of private equity - which is being catered to with a business model of taking windfall profits at the expense of workers, infrastructure and business sustainability. 

- Meanwhile, Fiona Harvey reports on new Oxfam research showing how wealthy and polluting countries are trying to profit off the damage wrought through the climate breakdown. Benjamin Shinger reports on the difficulty and complexity people are facing trying to get insurance as insurers account for increasing climate risk. And Francesca Fionda discusses what's needed to ensure the victims of climate disaster have an opportunity to heal and rebuild. 

- Andrew Nikiforuk discusses the lie of "clean" tar sands production, as environmental standards have been regularly degraded and ignored in order to keep money flowing to oil barons. And Joseph Winters points out how we need a massive reduction in our reliance on plastics as part of any effective climate plan. 

- Kyle Bakx reports on Suncor's slashing of 1,500 jobs within days after the UCP bamboozled voters into believing their hold on power could maintain oil jobs. And David Climenhaga writes that it similarly took Danielle Smith no time at all to start undermining any pretense of democracy after securing her own re-election. 

- Finally, Jonathan Montpetit reports on the fundamentalists looking to mimic the U.S.' imposition of extreme religious views through the political system. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- John Launer offers his thoughts on how public health messaging around COVID-19 could have encouraged people to address risk management at both the personal and social level. And Clark Russell, Nazir Lone and J. Kenneth Baillie study the current evidence showing the dangers of combining COVID with co-morbidities. 

- Miranda Bryant and Jon Ungoed-Thomas report on a new study showing UK food bank use is at a record high. Mathew Silver interviews Jim Stanford about the direct responsibility Galen Weston and other grocery tycoons hold for soaring food prices (which are mirrored in record profits). And Sara Mojtehedzadeh reports on the dubious employment practices of Fiera Foods as it seeks to benefit from people's work while refusing to take responsibility for their livelihood or safety.

- Thom Hartmann discusses how the U.S. Supreme Court has undermined any prospect of democratic governance by treating political corruption as free speech. Tim Adams talks to Bernie Sanders about the oligopoly which has seized control of public policy debates as a result. And Bela Devaan writes that rich people's philanthropic whims can't be seen as an acceptable substitute for a paying a fair share of their excess wealth in taxes.

- Giorgios Gouzoulis points out the connection between escalating personal debt and a decline in labour's willingness to protect workers' interests through strike action. And Gleb Tsipursky writes that management edicts to return to office work by default correlate with a decrease in productivity.

- Finally, Susan Delacourt writes that one of the most important outputs from the Public Order Emergency Commission was its recognition that "freedom" shouldn't be defined in the terms of people looking to violently impose their prejudices on society at large. And Caroline Orr points out how Russian proxy sites played a major role in boosting the most destructive messages of the #FluTruxKlan (which remain staples of Pierre Poilievre's Con rhetoric to this day).