#SKNDPLDR 2022 Overview - No Certainty, or No Contest?

I've posted previously about the loss for party and province that is Ryan Meili's resignation from the leadership of Saskatchewan's NDP. And as I'll discuss in this and posts to come, that factor will cast a long shadow over the new leadership campaign and beyond.

But with Meili stepping down - and with multiple top-tier candidates having ruled out runs or even declined movements to draft them into the race - the main question now is whether the leadership will be contested seriously (or at all).

Anybody else considering entering the race will need to have a plan to compete against a strong frontrunner. Carla Beck has started the campaign by assembling substantial support both within the current caucus and among prominent members. And she easily meets a basic checklist for the leadership position as a well-liked and effective MLA who can boast strong connections throughout the party, an urban base and rural roots, and the appealing prospect of finally breaking the gender barrier for the NDP's permanent leadership.

But then, there's the reminder of the shoes the new leader will have to fill:

I'll let this speak for itself. pic.twitter.com/3dxxqiMggC

— Steve Boots (@steve_boots) March 10, 2022

For all Beck's merits, it's a high bar for her - or anybody else - to approach Meili's principled opposition, especially when it comes to the fundamental building blocks of a healthy society. And it's unlikely we'll see Beck tested much under the type of safe, low-content campaign which she's run so far - and which she'll have every incentive to continue running as long as there isn't any serious competition. 

I'd thus think even Beck's own supporters would recognize the value in ensuring there's a contest rather than an acclamation. But who can plausibly make that happen?

Most obviously, the past two leadership campaigns have been marked by the success of Saskatoon MLAs against Regina competitors. And that may be in part due to a structural advantage for somebody who starts out with greater name recognition in Saskatchewan's largest city, while also spending enough time in Regina during legislative sessions to make connections. 

With Betty Nippi-Albright having already (if unfortunately) ruled out a run, that still leaves a few intriguing possibilities. I'd view an environmentally-focused campaign from Erika Ritchie as a particularly desirable counterweight to the unfortunate view of some within the party that the next leader should be even more deferential to the oil sector than is currently the normal practice. But any of Ritchie, Jennifer Bowes, Vicki Mowat or Matt Love could run a competitive campaign while offering a voice to people who want to expand the range of possibilities for the party. 

In contrast, any candidate running a campaign based primarily in Regina figures to face an uphill battle due to both Beck's own prominence locally, and the immediate boost to her campaign provided by much of the city's NDP establishment. With the stress on parents of younger children being a major them in both how the campaign was precipitated and who's ruled out a run so far, it may be too much to hope for Meara Conway to throw her hat in the ring - and it's hard to see who outside of caucus would pose much of a challenge. 

Outside of geographic considerations, there's also the question of policy positioning. Beck herself is roughly in the middle of the road within the NDP, and it's hard to see much of a push coming from the neoliberal centre in the absence of a clear path to power. But the progressive wing which helped build behind Meili will surely be looking for somebody to challenge Beck while also building a profile for battles to come. 

There's also the prospect of some generational considerations coming into play. With the party apparatus largely in the hands of an older generation and Beck having taken on the status of the establishment candidate, there's a prospect that younger supporters and voters might work on providing an alternative while carving out their own places within the party. 

Of course, all the arguments for a competitor run into the realities of a campaign in which Beck already has a head start - and where there will be little time in which to try to sign up new members to make up the gap. 

For now, the above leaves more questions than answers as to who else might join the race. But the hope for now has to be that the election of a new leader doesn't devolve into an acclamation - and that both Beck and the party are strengthened for it regardless of how the campaign turns out.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Zak Vescera looks back at the two-year period since the first COVID-19 cases were recognized in Saskatchewan, while Zeynep Tufecki offers a look at how millions of lives could have been saved in retrospect. Nicola Davis reports on the soaring case levels resulting from the UK's elimination of public health protections, while Max Fawcett is rightly critical of Doug Ford and others who have chosen to unmask their disregard for people's well-being. And Emily Pasiuk discusses the particularly complicated between loss and grief and the COVID pandemic. 

- Meanwhile, Katharine Wu describes long COVID as the pandemic following the pandemic, while noting that we're not doing anywhere near enough to even understand it (let alone treat it). 

- Angelyn Francis reports on new University of Toronto research showing that racialized students are twice as likely to report poor health as white students. And Tingxi Long et al. study the deterioration of the diet of older American adults even over the last couple of decades. 

- Gordon Lafer examines (PDF) how the U.S.' labour law system is biased against union organization - while noting the importance of building an electric vehicle industry and other new industrial sectors which allow workers to defend their interests through collective bargaining. And Greg Jericho notes that Australia's increase in hours worked is the result of people being forced to take multiple jobs in order to stay afloat. 

- Finally, Stephen Wentzell reports on Gord Johns' work to end the criminalization of personal drug use as part of a strategy to end the epidemic of drug poisonings. 

Musical interlude

The Knocks w/ Dragonette - Slow Song

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Caroline Chen discusses the reasons why we're still waiting for COVID vaccines for children under 5 - leaving the people least able to protect themselves to bear the full weight of irresponsible declarations of surrender against the pandemic. Benjamin Ryan reports on the research showing that even mild COVID cases can lead to brain damage and reduced cognitive function. And Phil Tank writes that Saskatchewan's citizens are understandably losing hope and faith as a result of the Moe government's callous disregard for their health and well-being. 

- Meanwhile, Zak Vescera reports on the continued overload in Saskatchewan's health care system even as even the slightest public health measures are eliminated. And Linda McQuaig calls out Doug Ford and his Ontario PC government for joining Moe and Jason Kenney in using the pandemic as an excuse to privatize health care. 

- David Macdonald writes that the provinces making excuses to slash public services have plenty of money available to improve the lives of their constituents. And Clarisa Diaz discusses how part of the story of inflation includes corporations supplying less of their products while charging the same or more out of sheer opportunism. 

- Mitchell Anderson writes about the need for a detox from Russian state propaganda which has been put on Canadian airwaves for profit. Walker Bragman examines how business lobby groups have bought support from U.S. judges by painting corporatist ideology as neutral legal education. And David Suzuki discusses how the fossil fuel sector continues to sow doubt and denial in order to allow it to keep polluting our planet, while Alice McCool and Thomas Lewton point out the use of "Indigenous-washing" in particular to deflect from the real costs of locking in new pipelines. 

- Finally, D.G. discusses the conspicuous contrast in how police have treated violent white supremacists compared to peaceful land defenders. And Kelly Hayes talks to Harsha Walia about the radically different treatment being offered to refugees from Russia's attacks on Ukraine as opposed to people seeking to escape war in the Middle East - as well as the organizing necessary to make sure everybody has the opportunity to seek a better life. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Terry Gross discusses how COVID has brought some needed attention to other chronic illnesses. But Sarah Trick writes that the reckless elimination of public health protections represents a betrayal of people with disabilities who face especially stark risks from others' callous choices. And Nathaniel Dove reports on the reality that the abdication of responsibility by governments is shifting extra burdens to individuals to try to make up for a lack of social protection, while Gillian Findlay interviews Nili Kaplan-Myrth about the frustration responsible people rightly feel as a result. 

- Laura Meckler reports on the CDC's latest study showing that mask mandates have in fact been essential to reducing COVID-19 transmission in schools. And Armine Yalnizyan writes about the lack of change for the better after two years of pandemic tumult. 

- Raymond Zhong and Nadja Popovich discuss how decades of deliberately racist zoning choices continue to reverberate in the distribution of the consequences of air pollution.  

- Susanna Twidale and Nina Chestney report on the International Energy Agency's recognition that energy-related greenhouse gas emissions continue to reach record highs. Amy Westervelt highlights how dirty energy profiteers have tried to hijack free speech rights to prevent anybody from holding the oil industry accountable for deliberately and fraudulently concealing the damage it's done to our planet, while Emily Leedham discusses how industry-funded climate denialism remains particularly widespread in Alberta and Saskatchewan. And Janet French reports that the oil industry's property taxes left unpaid to Alberta's rural municipalities have ballooned to $253 million even as the sector is rolling in windfall profits. 

- Finally, Andrew Jackson rejects the right-wing argument that we have to choose between averting a climate breakdown and ensuring that people have a reasonable standard of living. Brendan Haley writes that there's no reason to treat temporary inflation as an excuse not to invest in a just transition to clean energy - particularly when the end result would be to eliminate one of the most volatile components of most people's expenses. And Hannah Westwater reports on Jack Monroe's participation in a panel pointing out the need for income supports to deal not only with immediate inflation, but also structural poverty. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Sarah Bartsch et al. study the costs and benefits of face mask use, and conclude that even without factoring in improvements to public health mask mandates produces positive outcomes from a financial perspective, while Caroline Alphonso reports on Ronald Cohn's exhortation for Ontario not to abandon its protection through masks. Evangelos Oikonomou et al. examine yet another acute and lasting symptom of COVID-19, as it impairs the ability of patients' arteries to increase blood flow. Patrick Martin writes about the growing evidence that the Omicron BA.2 variant may be the most dangerous version yet even as governments stick to a "let 'er rip" policy toward it. 

- Kelly Grotke discusses how Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine is an all-too-logical extension of the privatization of political power. And Jillian Kestler-D'Amours calls out Canada's petro-provinces for seeking to use a war rooted in resource politics to line the pockets of the fossil fuel sector. 

- Fiona Harvey discusses the meager response to the IPCC's latest and most urgent warning about a the need to immediately stop our climate breakdown. Emily Chung summarizes the state of fossil fuel subsidies in Canada. And Randy Robinson highlights how the spike in fuel prices is traceable to our avoidable reliance on dirty energy, not to carbon prices which (a) have changed minimally if at all and (b) make up only a small portion of any price as a whole. 

- Tara Carman writes that the choice to stop funding co-operative housing and other non-market options in the 1990s continues to reverberate in a lack of affordable housing today. 

- Finally, Nicole Williams reports on the Ford government's decision to let penalties arising out of the #FluTruxKlan's takeover of Ottawa expire, confirming their deference to white supremacist occupiers at the expense of the people who saw their city taken over. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Cats playing games.

 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Ed Yong rightly questions how the U.S. (like Canada) has come to see a large number of preventable COVID-19 deaths as normal. Hannah Rosenblum et al. study the effects of coronavirus vaccines and find that even reported adverse events were largely mild. And Pam Belluck reports on the growing body of research showing that COVID has can do lasting damage to the brain. 

- Meanwhile, Elizabeth Chuck reports on new research showing that about half of the U.S.' population has suffered neurological damage from lead in gasoline. And Andre Picard discusses how the COVID pandemic resulted in a surprising increase in traffic violence.

- Mark Howden, Joy Pereira and Roberto Sanchez discuss how we're falling further and further behind the steps needed both to avoid a complete climate breakdown, and to adapt to the damage we've already done to our planet. And  Keith Stewart writes that the way to put an end to wars caused by fossil fuel supplies is to stop relying on them. 

- Finally, David Moscrop notes that the #FluTruxKlan has offered us yet another indication of the need for a stronger response to right-wing extremism. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- The Associated Press reports on the continued disparity in COVID-19 vaccinations between countries which is exacerbating the risk of new and more severe variants for everybody. 

- David Moore and Donald Shaw report on the threat of industrial chemicals at risk of being spilled or discharged due to extreme weather - and the array of corporate forces fighting to keep endangering the public rather than being responsible to address the impending disasters they've created. And Amy Westervelt discusses how a grossly insufficient set of climate policies is the result of corporate-owned governments allowing fossil fuel lobbyists to dictate our policy choices. 

- Kendall Latimer reports on the growing gap between a suppressed Saskatchewan minimum wage and the cost of an acceptable standard of living. 

- Meanwhile, Bruce Campbell points out how the Trudeau Libs' failure to do anything about the growing inequality they recognized in taking power played a major role in the development of the #FluTruxKlan. And Sheila Wang reports on a single loophole being used by some of the wealthiest Canadians to avoid millions of dollars in taxes. 

- Finally, Carole Cadwalladr writes about the irony of Vladimir Putin's failing effort to control the flow of information about Russia's unconscionable attack on Ukraine after funding the disinformation apparatus which has done so much to toxify politics in the rest of the world. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- James Tapper reports on the UK's soaring rates of long-term illness caused by COVID-19, while Tara Madden writes about the utter uselessness of people trying to substitute admonitions toward positive thinking for a plan to help people suffering from long COVID. And Denise Balkissoon writes that far too little attention is being paid to the transmission of COVID within animal species (and back into people).

- David Moscrop writes that there's no valid reason to make workers and citizens pay the price for inflation fearmongering through wage cuts or avoidable austerity. Cam Scott writes that the #FluTruxKlan reflects little but an active attempt to push social regression. And Markham Hislop notes that the rise of fascist activity is the result of economic despair being preyed on by the Cons and their allies. 

 - Max Fawcett offers advance warning of the preposterous "freedom oil" propaganda now being used to try to avoid any transition away from dirty fossil fuels. And Drew Anderson notes that even if somebody was desperate to try to push Canadian oil and gas in the European market, there's little practical way to make it happen.

- Finally, Corey Mintz discusses how the Ford government has chosen to legislate away employment protections in order to serve the interests of the apps exploiting precarious workers.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Kent Sepkowitz examines the many and severe symptoms of COVID-19 which are emerging long after initial infections have been treated as "mild". 

- Gabriel Fabreau discusses how the overflow tent in emergency at the Peter Lougheed Centre (like other Canadian health care facilities) is a testament to the fact that the pandemic is far from over. And Zak Vescera reports on the miserable circumstances facing Saskatchewan residents whose surgeries have been delayed or canceled by the Moe government's added burdens - and who now see themselves as being invited to pay out of pocket to cut a line designed to go on forever.

- Jonas Mahm, Scot Miller and Johannes Urpelainen highlight how promises to "build back better" in the wake of COVID have led to vanishingly little investment in a transition to a clean economy. And Raul Grijalva calls out fossil fuel barons for trying to use a petro-state's war of conquest as an excuse to lock in decades of avoidable harm to our planet.

- Meanwhile, Eleanor Boyle writes about the value of collective action while pushing for it as a response to the climate crisis.

- Finally, Luke LeBrun exposes the deliberate intention of #FluTruxKlan organizers to break the law by occupying Ottawa (while also ignoring the promises they made to authorities in exchange for cooperation). And Sunil Sarwal and Tan-Nee Ng discuss how Ottawa's police upheld a social order based on white male privilege rather than the law.

Musical interlude

Bob Moses & ZHU - Desire

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Reuters reports on research showing that public health measures implemented in response to COVID-19 also saved hundreds of thousands of lives by limiting the spread of dengue fever. Nadia A. Sam-Agudu, Boghuma Kabisen Titanji, Fredros Okumu, and Madhukar Pai discuss how wealthier countries are "moving on" from COVID with no regard for people or countries who can't escape its effects, while the World Health Organization highlights how the harm from the ongoing pandemic is falling disproportionately on women. And Bartley Kives reports on the recognition by public health experts that the premature elimination of even basic protections like self-isolation is foolish in Manitoba and other Canadian provinces. 

- Gina Miller discusses how Russian money has corrupted the UK's political system - and the need for concerted action to re-empower citizens over oligarchs. And the International Energy Agency offers a ten-point plan to reduce Europe's reliance on Russian fossil fuels - with alternative sources of natural gas representing only a small part of the overall picture. 

- Markham Hislop writes about that based on its contribution to carbon pollution and environmental destruction, Alberta's oil is anything but ethical by any reasonable measure. And Natasha Bulowski reports on Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux' recognition that the Trans Mountain pipeline is a money loser for the federal government rather than an investment to fund any transition to clean energy. 

- Finally, Omayra Issa discusses how Saskatchewan's social support system falls far short of providing people with a reasonable standard of living - and is falling behind all the more as the Moe government refuses to index or update income levels. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- C Raina MacIntyre offers five reasons to keep wearing a mask even after mandates are removed - and the arguments are even more compelling in areas where waves of infections are still in progress. And Elizabeth Yuko reports on the victims of long COVID who have lost their homes as well as their health, while Mark Melnychuk reports that Scott Moe has predictably declared that homeless people in Saskatchewan are on their own once they become ill. 

- Justin Marchand and Ene Underwood ask how it's at all fair for people who own homes in established neighbourhoods to have the ability to deny access to housing to others. 

- Katharina Pistor examines how Vladimir Putin and the surrounding Russian oligarchy are the direct result of an ill-advised choice to prioritize privatization and wealth accumulation over the development of a functional society. 

- Charlie Angus discusses how the #FluTruxKlan and the ecosystem of disinformation behind it highlight the difficulty in trying to reach people who have disconnected fully from reality. 

- Finally, M. Chamoun et al. study the respective costs of drugs under public and private plans, finding that patients pay significantly more under the latter.  

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- The Max Planck Society explores how COVID-19 has developed to hide out and mutate within the human body. Tami Luhby discusses how even a receding Omicron wave has continued to have devastating effects on millions of Americans. And Jessie Anton reports on the concerns of Saskatchewan teachers about having to try to assess risk in the dark, while Mickey Djuric reports that what little Scott Moe is allowing anybody to see includes a spike in emergency room visits by children under 5. 

- Debra Satz and Stuart White write about the damage income inequality does to the fundamental underpinnings of democracy. And Elise von Scheel exposes Jason Kenney's selective calls to insulate Alberta-connected Russian oligarchs from sanctions, while Duncan Kinney reports on the money the AIMCo pension fund has invested in Russian assets. 

- Nick Gottlieb writes that a U.S. court reviewing the Biden administration's cancellation of oil and gas leases has recognized the folly of claiming to be addressing climate change by subsidizing and expanding fossil fuel production - and calculates how Canada's own choices are indefensible when that factor is taken into account. John Woodside discusses how Canada is both contributing to and suffering from the climate breakdown in progress based on the IPCC's most recent findings. And Rebecca Leber discusses the need for climate policy to be informed by social science research in order to be effective. 

- Finally, Mitchell Thompson highlights how Doug Ford's plan for gig workers is to strip them of benefits and protections which would otherwise be available to them. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Lounging cats.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Andre Picard discusses the reality that long COVID will result in lasting aftereffects even if we eventually manage to get the spread of new variants under control (which is of course itself a long way off). Thomson Reuters reports on new research showing the limitations of the Pfizer vaccine in limiting infections in younger children. And Juliette Unwin et al. study the lives lost to COVID so far, concluding that over five million children have lost caregivers to the disease we're now letting run rampant. 

- Jonathan Overpeck discusses how a shift to renewable energy would help to take power out of the hands of Vladimir Putin and other petro-dictators in addition to averting a climate breakdown. And Brad Plumer and Raymond Zhong report on the IPCC's new assessment report as showing a climate changing far faster than humanity is able to adapt. 

- But Rick Smith notes that the fact that we're falling far short of the mark in both limiting climate change and adapting to its effects only highlights the need for immediate action. And Mark Hertsgaard, Saleemul Huq and Michael Mann write that we can still stop rising temperatures with a rapid shift away from carbon emissions. 

- Finally, Jeremy Appel calls out how police forces have enabled far-right extremism including the #FluTruxKlan - which makes for a particularly stark contrast against Valera Voce's report on Colorado Springs' police infiltration of mutual aid groups and tenant unions to inhibit anybody seeking to improve the lives of citizens. And David Climenhaga writes about the retaliatory complaints of Edmonton's police association against City Councillor Michael Janz - and the revelations the investigation has produced about the list of "known critics" singled out for monitoring. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- The Canadian Press interviews Dr. Saqib Shahab about the need for Saskatchewan's citizens to act responsibly in getting vaccinated and taking public health precautions in the absence of any remaining government protections. And Melissa Fuller writes about her conclusion that it's untenable to work in a province whose government is so fundamentally opposed to science and health. 

- Meanwhile, Global Justice Now highlights the vaccine profiteering by Moderna even as most of the world continues to lack for the most basic protection against COVID. And Luke Allen, Simon Wigley and Hampus Holmer study how corporate money in politics results in watered-down or nonexistent public health policies in all kinds of areas. 

- Daniel Suhonen discusses Olof Palme's legacy as the last social democrat able to earn and hold power based on the explicit goal of ensuring public autonomy over economic choices. 

- Fiona Harvey reports on the IPCC's latest assessment report indicating that the window to avert catastrophic climate breakdown is rapidly closing. And Rishikesh Ram Baudry discusses how the same wealthy countries emitting the most carbon pollution are breaking their promise to help fund the costs of mitigating the damage done to poor countries. 

- Finally, Heather Campbell writes that the #FluTruxKlan was always grounded in white supremacy rather than genuine concerns about COVID policies. And Ted Raymond reports on the charges against a convoy organizer with roots in the anti-immigration group La Meute. 

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Phil Tank calls out the Moe government for concluding that Saskatchewan's citizens should be deprived of the information we need to make decisions about risk. Zak Vescera reveals that the province crossed thresholds for a medical triage protocol due to Moe's disregard for public health in 2021, but stopped just short of actually activating it. And Adam Miller talks to experts about how the failure to test and trace leaves us all the more vulnerable to more (and worse) variants, while Jennifer Lee discusses the folly of eliminating public health protections as the BA.2 Omicron variant becomes the dominant strain.

- Meanwhile, Jonathan Jarry writes that the fearmongering about kids being harmed by wearing masks to protect themselves and others has proven to lack any basis in reality.

- Jamie Henn writes about the danger that the oil and gas lobby will use Russia's invasion of Ukraine to lock in climate-destroying fossil fuel infrastructure. And Bill McKibben writes that the way to defeat Vladimir Putin and other resource-fueled dictators is to ensure nobody has to rely on their supplies of non-renewable energy, while Roger Harrabin reports on the UK government's recognition that increased use of renewables would be better for consumer prices as well.

- Fiona Harvey reports on the IEA's recognition that fugitive methane emissions could be eliminated at no net cost (and indeed as a benefit to many producers). And Markham Hislop points out the IEA's conclusion that methane emissions are 70% higher than reported - even as the Jason Kenneys aof the world insist on refusing to allow them to be fully monitored or regulated. 

- Finally, Saamia Ahmad, Simon Enoch and Inez Hillel discuss the false promise that privatization somehow saves money, rather than adding transaction costs as well as an expensive profit share to be handed over to the corporate sector.

Musical interlude

Royksopp feat. Beki Mari - This Time, This Place

Friday Morning Links

 Assorted content to end your week.

- Carly Weeks examines why so many Canadian children still haven't been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. John Loeppky asks that we not eliminate the digital solutions which have allowed people with disabilities to participate on somewhat more equal ground. Zak Vescera reports on Saskatchewan's ballooning waitlists for surgery and other medical treatment as the Moe government piles more and more COVID cases on the health care system. And Sean Amato reports on the Kenney UCP's plans for privatized surgeries in Alberta - and the fact that Saskatchewan is already serving as a cautionary tale.   

- Abacus Data examines the widespread burnout among Canadian workers. And Quentin Fottrell writes that the large number of resignations in the U.S. can be traced to an attempt to regain some agency and time. 

- Cameron Fenton makes the case for a just transition to undercut the rage machine funded in part by and for the fossil fuel sector. And Harvey Kaye and Alan Minsky call for an economic bill of rights to ensure everybody has a base level of economic security. 

- But Mark Melnychuk reports on changes to CRA requirements which are making it needlessly difficult for homeless people and people living in poverty to file their taxes - creating a gratuitous obstacle to the receipt of benefits which depend on tax returns being filed.

- Paul Krugman suggests that money laundered overseas may be a crucial weakness for Vladimir Putin and his cadre of oligarchs. But Julia Rock and David Sirota note that sanctions won't be effective as long as corporate lobbyists undermine them with carve-outs for the schemes and sectors which benefit the wealthy the most. 

- Finally, the Associated Press reports on the International Energy Agency's recognition that methane emissions from fossil fuel production are far more severe than admitted by the fossil fuel industry or the governments who are supposed to be regulating it. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Jacques Poitras talks to some of the at-risk people whose freedom will be undermined by the scrapping of public health protections. Phil Tank calls out Scott Moe for refusing to report on child COVID deaths (among other essential information even from the standpoint of making personal decisions, to say nothing of evaluating the Sask Party's policy choices). And Tasnim Ahmed reports on the latest research on the long-term harm caused by COVID infection. 

- The Maple examines what would be needed to compensate and support the people who lost weeks of their lives to the #FluTruxKlan. Armine Yalnizyan takes a look at the widespread costs in Ottawa and beyond. And Yvette Brend reports on the fragility caused by our reliance on a single, privately-owned bridge (among other limited border crossings) for so much of our international trade. 

- Umair Haque discusses the vicious circle created by the combination of wilfully ignorant people and capitalists looking to exploit them. And Joe Roberts writes about the need for global institutions to deal with problems that go far beyond the borders and interests of any single nation-state. 

- Alex Cosh examines the Libs' corporative-executive-heavy cabinet and its disconnect from the economic realities facing most Canadians. And Greg Jericho reports on Australia's plummeting real wages - and the desperate attempts of a right-wing government and its corporate cronies to paper over them.

- Jerusalem Demsas examines the causes and implications of the U.S.' increasing lack of mobility.  Matthew Yglesias discusses why people who own homes should welcome new and dense home construction. And Sara Birrell starts a must-listen series of podcasts with a discussion of the economy of land in Saskatchewan. 

- Finally, CBC News reports on the warning from Saskatchewan's treaty commissioner that the province is falling far short of meeting its obligations to First Nations and Indigenous peoples. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Andrew Romano reports on Denmark's explosion of COVID cases after it prematurely lifted public health protections. Ariana Eunjung Cha reports on the cardiac issues continuing to affect COVID patients long after their infection, while Rafael Heiss et al. study (PDF) the stark long-term effects on children's lungs. And Leah Hamilton and Pallavi Banerjee discuss the harm the pandemic has done to refugees in Canada. 

- Meanwhile, Melody Schrieber examines one of the shadowy groups seeking to slash U.S. public health protections. In a pattern that's been repeated in the COVID response, Greg Rosalsky traces the U.S.' gross underinvestment in children's well-being to an ideological refusal to recognize real benefits of social programs as compared to imaginary costs. And Devah Pager et al. study how court fees serve only to ensure that the people with the least face even more burdens. 

- David Williams writes that it's possible to avoid further global warming if we act to cut carbon emissions immediately, though Mia Hunt reports on the global recognition that governments are falling far short of the mark. Graham Redfern and Adam Morton report on new record lows in Antarctic ice, while Umair Irfan discusses the developing awareness that massive ice sheets in both polar regions may soon melt. And Phoebe Weston writes about new research anticipating a dangerous increase in the number and severity of wildfires in the years to come. 

- Jordan Leichnitz discusses the home-grown extremism which is one of the core elements of the #FluTruxKlan, while the Anti-Defamation League finds substantial overlap in donors between the trucker convoy and the U.S.' January 6 insurrection. And Aaron Wherry comments on need to respond with both compassion and conviction.

- Seth Ackerman points out the self-serving falsehood that inflation affects real wages - particularly when it's wielded by the people seeking to cut off growth just as it's about to reach workers.

- Finally, Jeremy Appel calls out the Kenney UCP's push to import U.S.-style corporate health care to Canada. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Dozing cats.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- BBC reports on the justified fears of medically vulnerable people that they're being left behind by the UK Cons' decision to eliminate all COVID protections, while Kendall Latimer takes note of the similar situation facing Saskatchewan's seniors. Rohan Smith reports on the emerging evidence that the Omicron BA.2 variant - which is being allowed to spread freely as governments abandon any interest in public health - may be the most dangerous one yet. And Apoorva Mandavilli reports on the hope that a single booster vaccination may prime a body's immune system to respond to existing and future variants for some time to come. 

- Michael Harris writes that we shouldn't understate or euphemize the threat posed by the #FluTruxKlan - particularly by treating its hostile occupation of a civilian population as being comparable to legitimate protest. And Andrew Nikiforuk points out the foreign propaganda machine which was activated to exacerbate the insurrection. 

- Pete Evans examines some of the structural causes behind higher food prices. But Ellen Ioanes reminds us that corporations are positively bragging about their extraction of higher profits under the cover of "inflation". 

- Finally, CBC News reports on the recommendations of Newfoundland and Labrador's Health Accord panel - which include familiar themes about ensuring a basic income and better addressing the social determinants of health. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Alexandra Hutzler reports that even a majority of Americans seeing mask mandates lifted aren't prepared to buy the line that it's safe to stop taking basic precautions - particularly given the likelihood that the amount of one's initial exposure has a substantial impact on both immediate symptoms and the risk of developing long COVID. 

- Devi Sridhar writes that self-isolation is still a must for people who test positive for COVID - though the lack of social supports has been calculated to take that socially responsible choice away from people who don't have the means to self-fund the protection of others. And Steven Lewis offers a reminder that the failure to provide the basic building blocks of a functional society isn't for lack of resources. 

- Meanwhile, Colleen Fuller laments that we're going backwards in providing supplies of basic medications such as insulin which were once deliberately made affordable, rather than exploited to maximize profit at the expense of human health.

- Wenonah Hauter discusses how the fossil fuel sector is a job killer (as well as a planet poisoner and magnet for the obscene concentration of wealth). And Nick Pearce writes that the Moe government is entirely secretive about the amount of public money being used to keep the industry rolling in subsidies. 

- Jesse Drucker and Ben Hubbard report on the Credit Suisse data leak which has provided a new peek into the world of offshored and concealed wealth which benefits strongmen and spies at the expense of everybody else.

- Finally, Christine Mitchell writes about the role of white Christian nationalism in the #FluTruxKlan. Mitchell Thompson reports on the connection between Randy Hillier and the heavily-armed "Diagolon" group. And Jennifer Wolowic discusses the need to invest in rebuilding our democracy - particularly in light of the reality that massive sums of money can be marshaled both from within Canada and abroad to try to overthrow it.

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Umair Haque writes about the reasons why the COVID pandemic is far from over - and indeed the worst may be yet to come if we abandon the public health measures needed to reduce foreseeable harms. Smriti Mappalaty discusses the increasing proponderance of reinfections and breakthrough infections due to the Omicron variant. And Phil Tank calls out the conspiracy theorists looking to undermine what are already likely significant undercounts of the harm caused by COVID.

- Josh Keller offers a visual take on how long COVID wears out the human body. And David Mercer talks to Kelly Fearnley about her personal battle with the coronavirus as her government moves to "let 'er rip" among the general public.

- Meanwhile, CBC Radio discusses how single mothers have faced a particularly large and exhausting set of new burdens in the course of the pandemic.

- Ryan Broderick writes about Facebook's role in spreading propaganda on the part of the #FluTruxKlan, while Daniel Dale fact-checks the glaringly false claims that the occupation has more than fringe popular support. Todd Gordon notes that far-right uprisings are far from new or unusual in Canada's history. And Amnesty International weighs in on both the damage done by the convoy itself, and the authorities' conspicuously gentle response to an insurrection led by white supremacists.

- Finally, Eliza Strickland and Mark Harris report on the obsolescence of eye implants as an egregious example of the dangers of relying on private corporations to provide and support medically necessary aids.

On unhealthy outcomes

Not surprisingly, Ryan Meili's announcement that he'll be stepping down as leader of Saskatchewan's NDP comes as a major disappointment.

To be clear, the decision is understandable both from a personal standpoint given the demands placed on a party leader (particularly with a young family living in Saskatoon), and a political standpoint in light of the backbiting Meili has all too often faced from within the NDP.

But as many of us involved in the party's election review process pointed out, much of the NDP's difficulty in finding its footing over the past decade-plus has been traceable to a complete lack of continuity in leadership. And the election review itself was based on the hope that for once, it would be possible to work on organizational growth and renewal without putting party-building on hold to fight as to who would be charting the party's course.

Sadly, that hope is now gone. Instead, we'll find ourselves at the midway point between provincial elections before choosing another leader, and then once again have to scramble to get a political machine in working order as the election approaches. And this time, that's the result of a self-inflicted wound. 

Meanwhile, from the standpoint of the province as a whole, Meili's message in resigning seems to be misplaced. 

Scott Moe's most recent shift in themes - treating the pandemic as over and any talk of further public health protection as divisive - has never represented anything short of sociopathic dishonesty. There's little meaningful evidence that anything more than a small fraction of the public actually wants to sacrifice public health on the altar of "freedumb!"; there's even less evidence that the results of doing so will be anything but avoidable deaths and severe disabilities, particularly for vulnerable populations including young children and immunocompromised people.

Now, I'd expect Meili will keep up the fight to keep people protected in his continued role as interim leader. But the choice to reinforce the "pandemic is ending!" theme - combined with the fact that Meili will be ceding his pary's leadership - only ensures Moe will perceive no possible political cost to giving full expression to his utter contempt for the lives of his constituents. And political risk of course been the only factor that's ever driven him to deviate from the hardest of hard-right governance.

That imbalance in political will in the face of a COVID wave cresting (and a more dangerous one developing) is particularly jarring in contrast to the start of the pandemic, which sadly looks in retrospect like the highlight of Meili's leadership. While Moe slammed the door on any consultation and his party laughed about COVID-19, Meili's response was simply to call publicly for basic steps to protect people's health - and out of self-preservation if nothing else, Moe fell into a pattern of implementing most of Meili's proposals in a matter of days. 

Now, Moe has emerged emboldened in his determination to treat COVID with absolute denial and disdain. And however understandable the motivations for Meili's choice, it's hard to see the result as anything but yet another blow to Saskatchewan's political and social health.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Jonathan Koltai et al. study the mental health effects of COVID vaccination - finding a justified decrease in stress among people who have been vaccinated, if flagging at the same time the continued mental health burden being imposed by governments who are determined to tear down vaccine passports and other public health protections. And Elizabeth Payne reports on the spread of the more severe and contagious BA.2 Omicron variant in Canada even as the most basic of public health measures are being stripped away.

- Phil Tank reports on the secretive anti-vaxxers who are now setting Saskatchewan's public health policy thanks to Scott Moe. And PressProgress highlights the role of far-right evangelical churches in promoting and stoking the #FluTruxKlan.

- Gabrielle Peters discusses how the convoy and its demands to surrender to the coronavirus represent a unique threat to disabled people. Rachel Snow writes that the racism laid bare and amplified by the kid-glove treatment of violent white occupiers is all too familiar for Indigenous people. And Vinay Menon laments that Canadian governance has been turned into just another symbol in the U.S.' perpetual culture wars.

- Drew Anderson reports that Alberta is well aware that the province's list of contaminated sites is far more severe than publicly admitted - but that the Kenney UCP is fighting tooth and nail to prevent the public from finding out. Justine Calma discusses how the false promise of carbon capture and storage is being used almost exclusively to paper over the continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels. And Melissa Aronczyk notes that oil industry PR holds far too much sway in determining both our terms of reference and policy choices in trying to avert climate breakdown.

- Finally, Grace Blakeley discusses why it's essential for workers to demand wage increases in the face of both increased demands on employees and corporate-imposed price inflation.

Musical interlude

Hooverphonic - Dirty Lenses

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Arundhati Roy writes that pandemics may herald new political directions - though that reality makes the exploitation of compassion fatigue by corporate extractive forces all the more alarming. Gregg Gonsalves discusses the risks of declaring a premature end to a pandemic, while Dan Lett highlights how Manitoba's declaration of a "new normal" is only courting disaster. Adam Taylor reports that Africa may have already seen widespread infection which wasn't documented due to a lack of testing. Ed Stannard reports on new research showing the long-term symptoms of COVID include limited absorption of oxygen from blood. Laura Spinney notes that long-term disabilities are an entirely foreseeable outcome of a pandemic which is allowed to run out of control. And Brenda Goodman reports on the growing evidence of the increased severity of the BA.2 Omicron variant. 

- Meanwhile, Zak Vescera reports on the tuberculosis outbreak in northern Saskatchewan which the Moe government is treating with the same strategy of denial as the COVID pandemic. 

- Joyce Green and Gina Starblanket discuss how police deference to the #FluTruxKlan highlights a grossly unequal view as to whose interests matter, while Anya Zoledziowski writes that the effect of the convoy has been to make BIPOC people all the less safe in their own cities. And Justin Ling reports that authorities allowed the occupation to take hold despite having received ample warning that it was serving as a cover for violent extremists.  

- Finally, Abdul Al-Sayed discusses how corporate greed is the main driver of the inflation currently being used as an excuse to suppress wages and social supports. And Alex Hemingway reminds us about the importance of public planning and investment to ensure outcomes that benefit everybody - not only the few with the wealth and power to dictate decision-making behind closed doors. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Sabrina Eliason, Tehseen Ladha and Sam Wong highlight how the elimination of public health protections puts children at particular risk. And CBC News examines what we know so far - and still have yet to learn - about the ultimate impact of long COVID. 

- Umair Haque writes that the #FluTruxKlan may represent the first obvious example of the collapse of democracy in the U.S. sending ripple effects around the globe. Justin Ling reports on the connections between the convoy and the extreme right, while Brian Palmer also looks into the origins of the occupation. And Talia Lavin traces what the participants and their backers have been discussing while rendering Ottawa unliveable (and seeking to do the same across the country) in the name of overturning democracy. 

- Andrew Nikiforuk discusses how the apparent choice between fascism and fecklessness may signal the erosion of democracy in Canada as well. And Innovative Research notes that Canadians are understandably frustrated with both the convoy and the ineffective government response. 

- Jon Stone reports on Michael Gove's admission that trickle-down economics have been an utter failure for any purpose other than further enriching the already-wealthy.

- Finally, Joe Hernandez reports on new research confirming how the fossil fuel sector is greenwashing its continued carbon pollution. Brett Tryon discusses why gas stoves are untenable based on their contribution to air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. And Jennifer Balch et al. study yet another harmful climate feedback loop, as hotter and drier night contribute to the easier spread of wildfires. 

Wednesday Evening Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Gavin Yamey, Abraar Karan and Ranu Dhillon write that the COVID pandemic is far from over even in the U.S. where the Omicron wave is receding. Frederik Lyngse et al. study (PDF) the transmission of Omicron and find that vaccination is indeed effective in reducing spread, while Daichi Yamasoba et al. conclude that the B.A2 variant which is becoming the dominant strain pairs the original Omicron's spread with significantly more severity. Lauren Pelley reports on new research showing how vulnerable people are bearing the brunt of the pandemic in Canada, while Ed Yong comments on the plight of immunocompromised people left in limbo. And Sayako Akita discusses the toll of long COVID from a personal perspective. 

- Zak Vescera writes that plenty of businesses recognize the recklessness of the Moe government's declaration of open season, and are maintaining their own vaccination checks even as the provincial app is taken out of service. And Vescera also reports on yet another leaked record number of COVID hospitalizations which are resulting in surgeries being cancelled, while Chris Gallaway notes that Alberta's health care system is similarly being trashed by a callous government. 

- Molly Jong-Fast discusses the U.S. money and organization behind the #FluTruxKlan, while Ryan Cooper notes that it represents an alt-right fantasy made real. Frank Graves and Michael Valpy examine where the convoy's limited support lies - while noting that the number of people seeing potential for true class conflict far exceeds the number actually supporting the occupation. And James Hutt discusses how the citizen action at Billing Bridge can serve as a model to confront and overcome right-wing agitators. 

- Finally, George Monbiot writes that the #FluTruxKlan and its copycat/sibling campaigns of destruction around the globe represent incoherent rage rather than any solidarity or meaningful purpose. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Helpful cats.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Abdullah Shihipar discusses why one-way masking is far from an adequate solution to the public health problems posed by even the current variants of COVID-19, while Monica Torres points out how far we are from the point where prudent people can reasonably take the invitation to stop masking in the workplace. And Sarah Trick writes that telling immunocompromised people they can isolate themselves completely while a "new normal" develops without them is far from an acceptable position. 

- Nora Loreto rightly raises the question of why the Trudeau government has applied the Emergencies Act only to protect commercial transit, but not to keep tens of thousands of people from dying as a result of a pandemic. An anonymous Ottawa resident describes how citizen activism was able to do what police failed or refused to do in blocking the #FluTruxKlan, while Vanessa Balintec notes that the occupation of Ottawa has only exacerbated some of the health concerns arising out of the COVID pandemic. And the Angus Reid Institute finds overwhelming public opinion in opposition to the convoy of disease and hate.  

- Henry Giroux writes that the purpose of the convoy is to destroy the ability of democratic governments to act for the common good, while Paul Krugman notes that the only "right" being effectively asserted is the right to destroy. And Tom Cardoso reports on the financial backers - both Canadian and foreign - offering up millions of dollars toward those ends, including fossil fuel interests looking to undermine acceptance of science generally. 

- Finally, Charlotte Grieve reports on the less-than-surprising revelation that the gas industry is just as deceptive in seeking approval for continued carbon pollution as the coal and oil industries have been to put us on the precipice of climate breakdown. And the Associated Press reports on the U.S.' "megadrought", along with its roots traceable directly to climate change. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Doug Cuthand writes that falsely pretending we're "back to normal" in the midst of a pandemic does nothing but put people at needless risk. CBC Radio talks to experts about what we should be doing with vaccine passports, and finds that if any change is in order it's to ensure that the definition of being vaccinated includes the receipt of booster doses. And Ian Welsh writes that there's no way to describe people fighting against public health protections other than unambiguously pro-death.  

- Mohy-Dean Tabbara, Jennefer Laidley and Garima Talwar Kapoor point out how single people living in deep poverty have been neglected in the design of pandemic supports (even before governments started slashing those in the name of forcing people back to unsafe work).  

- Robert Danisch warns that a foreign-funded extremist movement should push Canada to start reckoning with the collapse of democracy in the U.S. CBC Radio discusses the perversion of the concept of "freedom" fuelling the #FluTruxKlan's rhetoric. And Mitchell Thompson writes about Ted Byfield's legacy as one of the people most responsible for laying the groundwork for reactionary extremism in Canada.  

- Finally, George Monbiot calls out the UK Cons for using crocodile tears about affordability for the poor as an excuse to shovel profits toward the fossil fuel sector. And The Energy Mix highlights how a methane feedback loop may be causing a climate breakdown on an even more rapid pace than we'd previously anticipated. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Robin McKie and Michael Savage write about the warnings of UK scientists that the reckless elimination of public health protections will lead to far more preventable deaths. Alanna Smith reports on a letter from public health experts recognizing the dangers of the Kenney UCP's similar recklessness in the face of the Omicron wave. And Nathaniel Dove reports on the Saskatchewan Party's systematic hiding of COVID data (even from the province's health authority).

- Scott Schmidt is understandably frustrated that coddling the #FluTruxKlan has been added to the Alberta/Saskatchewan cycle of belated public health measures and premature celebration of the end of a pandemic which isn't going away. And Yasmine Ghania reports on the much-needed backlash against Scott Moe for indulging anti-science bigots.

- Meanwhile, recognition that the #FluTruxKlan itself is largely the product of foreign interference has begun to surface around the globe - with Ben Collins, Steve Reilly et al., and Zack Beauchamp each highlighting how it reflects cynical manipulation rather than public opinion. And Emma Graham-Harrison and Tracey Lindeman discuss the reality that the convoy isn't about COVID measures.

- The Star's editorial board calls out the Cons for their eagerness to join and promote the most hateful and evil of what the convoy has to offer. And Chauncey Devega talks to Joe Walsh about the reality that the Trump movement would happily destroy its own country in an expression of anger.

- Finally, Molly Shah reviews Donald Cohen and Allen Mikaeilian's the Privatization of Everything as a warning of how much more difficult it is to work toward the common good when our key social and economic infrastructure is built around the concentration of profits and wealth. But Rosa Saba points out one promising sign, as Canadian unionization rates are beginning to rise as workers recognize neither their employers nor their governments will work to keep them healthy and safe.