Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Katie Camero discusses how the belief that the COVID-19 pandemic is over (pushed by businesses and politicians eager to avoid responsibility for anybody's health) is creating avoidable dangers for everybody. Sydney Stein et al. study the persistence and dispersal of COVID in the bodies of its victims, while Alexander Tin reports on CDC research tracing the number of long COVID deaths in the U.S. And Jill McIntosh reports on a new study showing a correlation between vaccine refusal and car accidents - with the plausible confounding factors of carelessness and a disregard for others hardly serving as a defence for people inflicting risks on the public in multiple ways. 

- Danyaal Raza weighs in on the prospect of community health hubs to ensure people have access to the primary care they need. Kenyon Wallace and Megan Ogilvie trace the causes of the crisis of pediatric care in Ontario. And Chris Gallaway highlights how the solution to capacity limitations is investment in a public system that's designed to succeed, not funneling money toward corporate profiteers based on the claim that Medicare is beyond repair. 

- Armine Yalnizyan tests (and finds reason to doubt) the theory that increasing interest rates are invariable effective to reverse inflation. And Derek Decloet reports on the reality that Canadians are facing exceptionally high levels of consumer debt payments even with rates at relatively low levels - which should raise a red flag that further increases will cause catastrophic damage to individual-level finances.  

- Geoffrey York reports on the RCMP's investigation into corruption by the mining company Ivanhoe in its exploitation of copper resources in the Congo. And Matteo Cimellaro reports on a push by Indigenous nations in the Amazon to limit the harm done by the Canadian resource extraction sector.

- Janetta MacKenzie writes about the inevitable decline in fossil fuel reliance despite the obstruction of the industry and its political spokespuppets. Justine Hunter reports on a Canadian Climate Institute study finding that Canada's haphazard climate adaptation plan is both underresourced, and poorly targeted to address the known results of a climate breakdown. And Don Pittis discusses how a focus on electric vehicles alone neglects both the carbon pollution resulting from power generation, and the effects of perpetuating a car-based transportation system.  

- Finally, Doug Cuthand highlights how the cynical assertion of "sovereignty" by Danielle Smith and Scott Moe is based on the deliberate erasure of treaty rights. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Madeleine Ngo discusses how Americans (particularly with lower incomes) have been forced to spend any nest egg they managed to build up from pandemic supports, while Jeremy Nuttall interviews Jim Stanford about the drag household debt is placing on the economy. Jeremy Appel contrasts the media's eagerness to criticize people who received benefits against its silence about larger amounts handed out to businesses. And Karl Nerenberg reports on Stanford's observations confirming that corporations are profiteering off of food and other essentials.  

- Meanwhile, Ian Welsh writes about the lasting implications of long COVID as millions of workers in the US and UK are unable to continue their previous work. 

- Seth Berkley points out that among the other areas where we've failed to take any steps to better prepare for health issues even in the midst of a pandemic, we're no further ahead in bridging the gap between academic vaccine research and distribution (due primarily to the insistence on letting the corporate sector dictate the terms of the latter). And Nathaniel Dove reports on the Moe government's determination to prevent anybody from having access to accurate COVID data without their every communication being subject to government diktat. 

- Finally, Mandy Pipher discusses how Doug Ford has used state power to ensure the workers are perpetually more undercompensated for performing essential work in an environment made worse by pandemic neglect. And Cathy Crowe writes about her determination that she's not prepared to put up with intolerable working conditions anymore, while Jennifer Lee reports on the health care worker burnout in Alberta as multiple infectious diseases hit an already-depleted heath care system. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Cozy cats.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Juliana Kim reports on the growing wave of public health advice recommending masking in order to limit the harm from a "tripledemic" of infectious diseases. Blair Crawford reports on PSAC's rightful concern that a return-to-the-office order will avoidably expose workers and their families to circulating viruses. And Jessica Wildfire discusses how the systemic underreaction to pervasive threats can be explained as an example of normalcy bias - while pointing out how ill served we are by allowing it to dictate our actions. 

- Alan Joseph recognizes that the deaths being caused by a lack of emergency care are the result of a conscious a policy choice on the part of governments who are simultaneously ignoring public health threats, and underfunding the health care system being hit with the consequences. Tara Kiran examines the limited availability of primary care for millions of Canadians, while Audrey Provezano makes the case to shift from a single-physician model of primary care to a team approach. And Megan Ogilvie tells the story of a family forced to endure a 350-kilometer flight to get their 4-year child to a functioning ICU. 

- Lourdes Juan offers a reminder that donations to food banks don't do anything to address the underlying causes of poverty and hunger. And Jerusalem Demsas points out that homelessness is an entirely unavoidable consequence of a failure to ensure people have access to housing. 

- Lloyd Alter reviews Matt Simon's A Poison Like No Other as an essential read on the dangers of plastics (and the failure of recycling to address them). And Christy Climenhaga reports on the melting of permafrost as both a result and a cause of our climate crisis. 

- Finally, Jason Herring reports on a new Ernst and Young study confirming the obvious point that public auto insurance leads to more affordable rates, while the policy choice of leaving insurance to market forces results in brutal price-gouging. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Lisa O'Mary discusses the sharply increased risk of severe outcomes from a second (or later) COVID -19 infection. Lauren O'Mahoney et al. examine the large number of long COVID patients with unresolved symptoms. And Kyra Markov writes that Alberta (like so many other jurisdictions) has failed to learn any lessons from the pandemic to date, or take obvious steps to protect public health as it continues.  

- Max Fawcett offers a reminder that the CERB and other pandemic supports were mostly successful at achieving absolutely essential goals. Scott Martin calls out the corporate media for a targeted set of attacks on the CERB which helped to keep working-class people afloat, particularly as it pays relatively little attention to the larger amount paid out to employers in CEWS wage subsidies. And Ally Lemieux-Fanset discusses how a new era of austerity is likely to drive people back into poverty. 

- Meanwhile, James Tapper reports on new research showing how working-class people have far less opportunity to work in artistic careers than they did 50 years ago. And Don Wright questions why governments are choosing to drive down wages even while echoing corporate complaints about a "worker shortage"). 

- Finally, Doug Allan discusses how the Ford PCs have cut compensation for health care workers while claiming to be investing in health care by funneling money to the corporate sector. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Max Fawcett writes that the willingness to accept avoidable illness in children is an inescapable sign of an overall sick society, while Benjamin Mazer discusses how we're losing the race to fight COVID-19 with scientific discovery by limiting our own knowledge about an ongoing pandemic. Rong-Gong Lin Il and Luke Money highlight some of the steps which can help limit the spread of airborne diseases - though it's well worth noting how much more effective a focus on ventilation and prevention at a systems level would be. Matthew Cantor notes that masking in particular should be an easy call for individuals, while Bill Comeau makes the case for a mask mandate for those who have managed to retain some interest in preserving public health. And Harry Taylor reports on the sellout of strep A testing kits in the UK as another example of how leaving social health to the market results in little but windfalls for a lucky few, and shortages of essentials for the population at large.

- Thomas Walkom discusses why we can't presume that a 1980-style fix for inflation will accomplish anything but to inflict needless harm on workers. And Magdalena Sepulveda calls out the perpetuation of legislated poverty as the ruling class has chosen to impose the burdens of a pandemic - and more - on the people least able to afford it rather than taxing those with more than they know what to do with. 

- Meanwhile, Canadaland offers a reminder that we should consider every food bank as an unacceptable policy failure. 

- Finally, Steven Mufson and Timothy Puko report on the U.S. House investigation showing how the oil industry has blocked climate action while being fully aware of the damage that would do to our planet. But Harry Cockburn reports on the IEA's recognition that avoidable energy crisis caused by reliance on fossil fuels is giving rise to an accelerated transition to renewables.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Richard Smith highlights how there's no general connection between the cost of health care and patient incomes across different models of funding and delivery, but an obvious connection between profit motives and increased expenses which don't produce improved outcomes. 

- Meanwhile, K.J. Aiello discusses how increased discussion about the importance of mental health has all too often excluded the people facing the most severe illnesses.

- Jason Warick reports that the Moe government has chosen a program with a 26% graduation rate as the basis for online instruction across the province, signaling once again that it's more interested in promoting cronies' failures than anybody's successes. Jeremy Simes reports on the reality that a provincial tax agency will create increased costs for businesses and the province alike, with little apparent purpose other than to ensure that giveaways to the fossil fuel sector aren't rolled back through federal action. And Martin Been writes about the folly of eliminating both jobs and profits from public liquor stores in the name of an ideological crusade against non-corporate economic activity.

- Marc Lee discusses how the combination of higher consumer prices and higher interest rates is creating devastating effects on household finances (while capital takes advantage of both phenomena to goose its own returns).

- Finally, Emily Leedham exposes how the Globe and Mail's "top employer" awards represent little other than pay-to-play self-promotion which overlooks workplace abuse and even death to reward corporate sponsors. And it should be no surprise that the most notorious examples are found in the fossil fuel sector given its pattern of disinformation and deception in the name of preserving profits.

Musical interlude

Andain - You Once Told Me

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Philip Aldrick reports on the UK's belated recognition that long COVID likely bears responsibility for a massive and sustained spike in inactive workers. And Nora Loreto discusses how provinces have stopped reporting on COVID-19 deaths in institutional settings, meaning that we have less information now than two years ago about the risks and harm caused by the ongoing pandemic. 

- Meanwhile, the UK's chief medical officer's annual report focuses on the importance of reducing air pollution - both outdoors and indoors - if we have any interest in keeping people healthy. 

- Al Jazeera reports on another spill from the Keystone XL pipeline, this time into a creek in Kansas. Natasha Bulowski reports on the federal government's plan to end oil and gas funding overseas - as well as the exceptions and baked into any concept of limiting fossil fuel subsidies. And Marco Chown Oved discusses how the level of industry capture has reached the point where the Libs have chosen to put the natural gas supplier Enbridge in charge of running a home efficiency grant intended to wean people off of its core product. 

- Finally, Daniel Denvir interviews Nancy Fraser about the spread of capitalism into every aspect of our lives. Moya Lothian-McLean highlights her imminent eviction by a "good" landlord as an example of the folly of relying on corporate largesse to meet people's needs rather than fighting for the interests of the population at large. And Adam King writes that the labour movement needs to work on new means of organizing to boost union density and bargaining power. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Angella MacEwen discusses how the Bank of Canada is fighting a class war on the side of the rich by pushing to reduce employment and wages while corporations continue to profiteer off the backs of the public. And Armine Yalnizyan interviews Tiff Macklem about the choice to do so. 

- Jason Warick interviews Tony Dagnone about the need for Saskatchewan Health Authority board members to stand up for medicare rather than running interference for the Moe government's destruction of health services, while Mickey Djuric reports on the severe understaffing issues facing the province. Kyra Markov reports on another deadly week of COVID-19 in Alberta - both as a direct cause of death, and as an intolerable strain on an already-overloaded health care system. And Tina Yazdani reports on the Ontario family doctors who are abandoning patients due to their own intolerable workloads. 

- John-Baptiste Oduor interviews Tommie Shelby about the case for abolishing prisons, including the connections between incarceration and other means of oppressing vulnerable groups. But Thom Hartmann writes that the U.S. Supreme Court is going out of its way to facilitate and stoke bigotry. 

- Finally, Noah Smith is right to recognize the value of public utilities to both ensure a reliable power supply and support large-scale research - though it's sad that he has to see the concept as "wacky" rather than self-evidently desirable. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Belinda Smith writes about the effect COVID-19 has on the immune system - including its making subsequent infections more severe. Karen Landman makes the point (which seemed obvious until COVID denialists started undercutting the very idea of public health) that there's no such thing as a good cold. Lidia Morawska and Guy Marks ask why we're still ignoring the potential to limit the harm from COVID-19 and all kinds of infectious diseases through improved ventilation. And Spencer Kimball reports on the CDC's belated restoration of a mask recommendation as multiple respiratory illnesses run wild in the U.S.  

- Meanwhile, Jennifer Lee reports on the dire circumstances facing Alberta's children's hospitals (like so many parts of our health care system). And Andrew MacLeod reports on the evidence showing that Telus Health has been capitalizing on the lack of medical care by engaging in extra-billing. 

- Luke Savage discusses the growing number of Canadians living in hunger - and the choice to promote and entrench food banks rather than working to make sure they're not necessary. And Nicola Seguin reports on juxtaposition of a large number of empty rental units in Nova Scotia with over 6,500 households in need of a home, while Susan McNeil reports on the Moe government's similar failure to provide available homes in Saskatchewan. 

- Finally, Nahlah Ayed interviews Anand Giridharadas about the importance of persuading people of the importance of democracy and social awareness even if there's too wide a gap to reach agreement on policy. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Benched cats.

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. 

Sunday Evening Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- The OECD issues a report on the importance of avoiding climate tipping points - and the reality that we're on pace to far overshoot them. Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood notes that lobbying on behalf of fossil gas is the latest version of climate denialism masquerading as pragmatism, while Stewart Phillip and others write that David Eby has to choose between responsible climate action and fossil fuel development. And Lylla Younes discusses the unusually high cost of extreme weather events and natural disasters which are becoming ever more common.

- The Globe and Mail's editorial board points out how some conservative governments have lost their minds - though there are plenty more cringe-inducing policies across right-wing governments which presumably had to be cut for space. Althia Raj asks why any principled conservatives who may still exist aren't calling out the combination of heavy-handed intrusion and abject dishonesty underpinning Danielle Smith's power grab. Don Braid points out that Alberta itself fought against a far more limited version of sub-legislative decision-making at the federal level just last year. And Martin Regg Cohn thinks that Doug Ford will pay the price for overplaying his own hand in trampling on Charter rights and democratic structures - though the evidence to date suggests little reason for optimism.

- Russell Lansbury discusses how Australia has moved toward sectoral bargaining which figures to ensure gains are shared widely among workers. But Luke Savage calls out the U.S. Democrats for trampling collective bargaining rights while pretending to be allies of the labour movement. 

- The Economist discusses how the deliberate elimination of public testing for COVID-19 is leaving responsible people to look to indirect measures like reviews of scented candles to determine current levels of spread.

- Finally, Oliver Darcy reports on the dramatic increase in hate speech on Twitter in the wake of Elon Musk's takeover.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Olha Puhach, Benjamin Meyer and Isabella Eckerle examine what we've learned about viral shedding from the COVID pandemic so far, while Bhanvi Satija reports on WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' warning that we may face plenty more dangerous mutations if we keep pretending the pandemic is in the past. And British Columbia's lessons learned report (PDF) offers at least a somewhat substantial review of what governments need to be doing in order to be able to ensure public health during an emergency.

- Kate Bueckert reports on the continued expansion of food banks which were supposed to be a temporary relief measure, not a long-term alternative to an adequate standard of living. 

- Pratyush Dayal discusses the wave of Saskatchewan residents being evicted from housing due to cost pressures far beyond their control. And Jen St. Denis writes about the supports needed to keep people from falling into homelessness.

- Doug Cuthand writes that we should be funding safe consumption sites to reduce the harm from drug use - and not lending any credence to the politically-motivated messages of the anti-social parties bent on attacking them. And Euan Thompson, Ginetta Salvalaggio and Petra Schulz add supportive housing and safe supply to the list of policies which can end the drug fatality crisis.

- Finally, Simon Enoch offers a reminder that the Moe government's plans to shutter Saskatchewan's SLGA liquor stores represents the continuation of a longstanding policy of undermining public institutions, not a result of market forces. 

Musical interlude

Elderbrook - Beautiful Morning

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Umair Haque discusses why the 2020s are turning into a particularly bleak decade as people are buried under a perpetually larger mountain of debt to try to fund a reasonable standard of living while corporate predators privatize and exploit every available source of revenue. And Julia Davis and Winsome Hill discuss the unfairness of a tax system that's set up to enrich millionaires at the expense of working people, while calling for a wealth tax to set things right. 

- Rosa Saba reports on Jim Stanford's research showing that inflation is largely the result of soaring profits in a few opportunistic sectors including oil and gas. And Katrina Miller makes the case for a windfall profits tax to ensure that profiteering by fossil fuel companies doesn't lead to a wholesale transfer of wealth from the general public to executives and shareholders. 

- Oliver Milman warns of a flood of climate misinformation on Twitter while scientists and experts flee the site. And Emma McIntosh and Fatima Syed report on the findings of Ontario's Auditor General that the Ford government was already grossly underfunding its environment ministry before moving to gut legal protections. 

- Josh Lynn reports that the Moe government's response to the lack of family doctors taking patients has been to eliminate the public source of information which would allow people to contact them if they existed. And CBC News reports that New Brunswick's PC government has offered guidance on long COVID after being shamed into it by revelations of how it was concealing basic information from the people it was instructing to evaluate their own risk. 

- Finally, Emily Blake reports on the welcome news that Nunavut has reached the target of $10-a-day child care far in advance of the rest of Canada. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Rong-Gong Lin Il and Luke Money report on CDC findings showing that U.S. infants under 6 months had hospitalization rates as high as seniors during the summer 2022 wave of COVID. And Emer O'Toole writes about her nightmare with an asthmatic child at a backlogged children's emergency room, while Padraig Maron discusses the pattern of cancelled children's surgeries as health care facilities try to manage intolerable acute care loads. 

- Meanwhile, Amudalat Ajasa reports on new findings showing how breathing polluted air can harm children's academic development (even after controlling for the other aspects of environmental inequality). And Marc Lee and Ben Parfitt highlight the massive cost of failing to deal with carbon pollution in British Columbia. 

- Sophie Aubrey writes that a focus on the number of jobs held may mask the obvious stresses people face when required to hold more than one job to make a living. And Brett Wilkins discusses the needed push to rein in corporate profiteering at the expense of workers and consumers alike. 

- Lauren Boothby reports on Edmonton's needed - if belated - approval of a project to ensure that shelter is available for people who need it through the winter. Adam Toy writes about the work being done in Calgary among non-profits who haven't been supported with a similar investment. And Stefanie Davis reports that Regina will be relying on federal funding to keep one additional shelter open as both the city and province try to avoid taking responsibility for people's welfare. 

- The list of commentators pointing out the absurdity of Danielle Smith's plan to shift law-making authority to the unaccountable whims of cabinet includes Emmett Macfarlane, Lisa Young, Dennis Buchanan, Andrew Coyne and Graham Thomson. 

- Finally, Maurice Mitchell discusses how to build resilient movements (particularly in a time of perpetual crisis). 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Greg Iacurci discusses how long COVID is set to cause trillions of dollars of damage to the U.S.' economy (to say nothing of the toll in human suffering and death). Constance Sommer writes about the difficulty in distinguishing between "brain fog" caused by long COVID and that which signals the onset of dementia. And John Daley and Paolo Zialcita offer their recommendations on how to think like an aerosol scientist in reducing the risks of an infectious disease.

- Meanwhile, Alessia Passafiume points out the dangers of Twitter's decision to enable the spread of COVID misinformation. And Robert Mackey and Micah Lee highlight the effects of its decision to put content moderation and account regulation in the hands of the fascist right, while Graham Gallagher writes about the utterly bizarre worldviews that are being normalized in the Republican party. 

- Max Fawcett discusses how the anti-democratic #FluTruxKlan is continuing to organize even as an inquiry highlights why the federal government had to use emergency powers to end its occupation of Ottawa. And Eric Adams and Jason Markusoff both write about Danielle Smith's plan to end accountable government in Alberta in order to speed up the process of picking fights with the feds. 

- Linda Qiu reports on the rise of farmland values as an investment in the U.S. which is pricing actual residents out of the market. And Yasmine Ghania and Sam Samson discuss how the same hollowing out of rural areas is playing out in Saskatchewan. 

- Finally, the Economist discusses new research showing how air pollution can lead to harms including increased suicide rates, while Damian Carrington writes about a study showing pollution to be the cause of almost a million stillbirths around the globe every year. And Crawford Kilian points out why it's foolish to gamble the future of humanity on the remote hope of being able to make another planet habitable, rather than working on keeping the Earth liveable. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Aligned cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Emily Crane reports on a new report commissioned by the U.S.' Department of Health and Human Services finding that masking policies are needed just to deal with the known dangers of long COVID. And Abdullah Shihipar, William Goedel and Abigail Cartus point out that masking is particularly valuable (and necessary) when there are multiple respiratory viruses all causing intolerable stress on health care systems.  

- Meanwhile, Stephanie Murray discusses how the COVID pandemic has exposed glaring inequalities in the resources available to parents (among so many other facets of life). Katherine Scott notes that women are looking to new career paths to attempt to avoid systemic wage discrimination. And Tom Sandborn writes that Canada can't claim to be standing up for workers while allowing (or outright encouraging) exploitative practices in its foreign policy. 

- Oliver Moore and Jill Mahoney expose the connections between the Ford PCs and the wealthy developers who stand to profit by paving over Ontario's Greenbelt. And Matt Gurney writes that Ford's actions both at the time of the #FluTruxKlan and in the recent inquiry demonstrate utter disregard for the interest of his province's citizens. 

- Finally, Lisa Young points out how Danielle Smith's tenure in office has been marked by refusing to take legislative steps which could be subject to debate and review, and instead using direct intimidation to push an anti-vax position on anybody daring to try to keep people healthy in their workplaces and venues. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Cate Swannell discusses how research showing the multitude of harms which can result from COVID-19 infection. Calixto Machado-Curbelo, Joel Gutiérrez-Gil and Alina González-Quevedo study how new variants are entering the brain in different ways than prior versions - easing the respiratory damage associated with the coronavirus initially while also causing different symptoms. And Bryce Covert points out how long COVID is affecting the workforce - resulting in labour shortages for exactly the employers who are demanding that employees be forced back to in-person work.  

- Emily Blake reports on the billions of dollars in remediation costs being dumped on the public as large mine operators have left contaminated sites to be cleaned up on the public dime. And Drew Anderson exposes new information as to how Imperial Oil concealed its knowledge about contamination while claiming innocence when people have observed direct damage from their sites. 

- Annie Lowrey discusses how misogyny in the field of economics results in a distorted set of interests and assumptions behind economic research and decision-making. 

- Finally, John Bell calls out Danielle Smith's smash-and-grab UCP government. And Katha Pollitt writes that democratic socialism offers reason for hope in some alternative to a capitalist system where greed is the primary consideration in all kinds of decision-making. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Benjamin Veness writes that the best way to address the dangers of long COVID is to prevent spread of the underlying viruses. And Daniel Bierstone and Monika Dutt write that it's never been important to make sure workers have sick leave available than at a point where health care systems are crumbling under the weight of multiple infectious diseases. 

- Mitchell Thompson points out how the Ford PCs are measuring the results of privatized social programs solely by how many people they force back to work, not by anybody's welfare or escape from poverty. And Simon Woodside observes that the developer-led sprawl being put forward as Ford's excuse for a housing policy will ultimately impose both weaker communities and higher property taxes on the public.

- Emily Baron Cadloff discusses the potential for a retailer code of conduct in response to rising food prices - though the prospect of an unenforceable, industry-led deal among businesses known to have colluded to fix prices for their own benefit hardly inspires confidence.

- Jake Johnson writes about the growing amounts of dark money flooding the American political system.

- Finally, Max Fawcett offers a warning about Pierre Poilievre's simplistic and demonstrably counterproductive "solutions" to problems which deserve to be taken seriously - with his insistence on a drug policy of harm exacerbation once again ranking as a prime example.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Dr. Christopher Applewhaite, Kerri Coombs, Dr. Susan Kuo and Protect Our Province BC respond to the reckless attempt to declare "back to normal" in the midst of an ongoing pandemic (with other severe illnesses also circulating at dangerous levels). And Lori Culbert reports on the difficulty health providers are having in trying to treat patients' long COVID symptoms, while Qiangru Huang et al. find that long COVID symptoms tend to become an ongoing issue after the first month rather than getting better with time.

- Katherine Scott discusses the crisis in a care economy where workers are facing increasing demands, constant illness and government-imposed wage cuts from what was already a starting point of austerity.  And Peter Friedrichsen writes about the ongoing collapse of Saskatchewan's health care system under a government operating in deliberate ignorance of people's suffering.

- Gregory Beatty discusses how Scott Moe and Danielle Smith are insisting on driving their respective provinces off a cliff. And Don Braid notes that Smith in particular has made it alarmingly clear how she intends to abuse power based on the positions she's promoted when given the platform of a radio show. 

- Finally, Clare Watson writes about the difficulty of calling out greenwashing in a country where giveaways and excuses for fossil fuel barons are taken as normal by those in power.

Musical interlude

Emma Hewitt - Collide

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Jessica Wildfire sets out the realities of COVID which are apparent to people on top of the flow of scientific news - even if they're not being reflected in public policy or government messaging. Larissa Kruz reports on the strain being placed on Saskatchewan family doctors who lack the capacity to make up for overflowing emergency rooms. And Sonia Aslam reports on British Columbia's alarming rate of student and staff illness in schools, while Janet French reports on Danielle Smith's appalling decision to prohibit Alberta school divisions from taking even the most basic precautionary steps to limit the spread of COVID and other diseases. 

- Marc Lamont Hill talks to David Suzuki about the parties who bear responsibility for the climate crisis. Nicholas Gottlieb calls out the Libs' prioritization of keeping fossil fuels in production to the last possible moment no matter how much harm it does to our living environment. And Terrence McCoy reports that even the Amazon rainforest is seeing droughts and water shortages based on the damage we've done to the climate so far. 

- Meanwhile, Martin Wolf points out that we can't expect corporate decision-making to lead us toward the clean energy transition we need. And Richard Denniss writes that ill-advised power privatization schemes in Australia provided a massive windfall to well-connected businesses while taking control out of the hands of democratically-elected governments.  

- Kim Perrotta and John Atkinson highlight how sprawl and car dependence are harmful for everybody's health. And Fatima Syed reports that the Ford PCs are walking back a few of the elements of their plan to flatten any environmental protection including allowing for green building standards - though the fact they hadn't bothered to consider what rules were necessary should signal how ill-thought-out their legislation is. 

- Finally, Rumneek Johal discusses the dangerous ignorance and deception behind Pierre Poilievre's attacks on harm reduction and safe substance supply. And the Globe and Mail's editorial board cites that same position among other Poilievre talking points as prime examples of a lack of reality-based leadership. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Anjana Ahuja highlights the risks which result from quackery treating theories about an "immunity debt" as a reason to expose children to avoidable disease. And John Paul Tasker reports on Jean-Yves Duclos' attempt to ensure children get vaccinated, even as far too many provincial governments seem eager to avoid discussing the multiple public health threats facing their populations. 

- Amina Zafar discusses why it's so important for people to stay home when sick at a time when our health care system is being pushed far past its capacity. But Vanmala Subramaniam and Chris Hannay point out that despite the lessons of the COVID pandemic, most provinces haven't done anything to ensure people have sick leave available in order to be able to do so. 

- Meanwhile, Max Fawcett notes that Danielle Smith's plans to actively undermine public health care could be her electoral undoing. 

- The University of Oxford studies how microplastics have made their way to Antarctica's air, water and territory, confirming that a poorly-regulated form of pollution can affect the natural environment far from where it originates. 

- Finally, Zak Vescera and Amanda Follett Hosgood report on the B.C. Federation of Labour's push for alternatives to policing by force, particularly when it comes to recognizing Indigenous rights. And Jeremy Simes reports on the entirely justified concern that the Moe government is headed in exactly the opposite direction by laying the groundwork for a politically-controlled provincial police force. 

Wednesday Night Cat Blogging

Puzzled cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Tracey Harrington McCoy reports on still more research showing significant brain changes caused by long COVID. Joseph Oliver writes that sick kids need people to mask up to alleviate the intolerable pressure on our health care system. And Anne Sosin, Lakshmi Ganapathi and Martha Lincoln note that the case for masking also includes averting the continued spread of RSV and influenza. 

- David Moscrop discusses how an economic system increasingly designed to extract every possible nickel and moment from the general public - and a political system all too willing to contribute to its development - are at the root of the crisis in public trust. And Ameil Joseph notes that it's impossible for governments or public institutions to bargain in good faith with their employees while engaging in propaganda campaigns against workers' ability to earn a reasonable living. 

- Elizabeth Kolbert tries to frame the story of climate change in a way that will push toward the action we need to avert an avoidable calamity, while Bill McGuire concludes that the COP climate conferences are proving useless to the task. 

- Finally, Lucas Sousa argues that it's long past time to replace first-past-the-post with a more representative electoral system. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to start your week.

- Bryan Bushard reports on research showing how football games served as COVID-19 superspreaders even when less transmissible versions were circulating in 2020. And Akshay Kulkarni reports on the dangers of removing what few protections remain (including B.C.'s just-dropped self-isolation requirement for people infected with COVID), while Amina Zafar reminds us of the importance of staying home when sick.  

- Jeff Sparrow writes that extreme wealth is incompatible with effective democratic governance. And Frida Berrigan discusses how the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of hoarders is an intractable obstacle to needed climate action. 

- Meanwhile, Akshat Rathi, Natasha White and Demetrios Bogkas report on the sketchy math behind claims to carbon neutrality that aren't actually based on the reduction of a corporation's own emissions. And Darrin Qualman makes the case for Canada to set up a Canadian Farm Resilience Agency to ensure that agriculture isn't seen as incompatible with a needed transition to a clean economy.  

- Finally, Mitchell Anderson rightly calls out Danielle Smith for governing based on little more than childish fantasies - though the same criticism applies with equal force to Scott Moe and his government of UCP cheerleaders. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Melody Schrieber examines the new face of the COVID-19 mortality burden, with older people (particular in nursing homes and long-term care) even more likely to bear the consequences of ongoing spread. And Felicity Nelson discusses how people are trying to manage long COVID even as policymakers seek to pretend it doesn't exist. 

- Anand Giridharidas argues that the obscenely wealthy few are going out of their way to demonstrate that their riches are neither deserved nor tolerable. But Jim Stanford notes that central banks are obsessed with suppressing wages which have fallen far short of keeping pace with inflation, rather than doing anything to address massive windfall profits. 

- Meanwhile, Josh Freed writes about the constant pressure on him (and people in general) to take on labour which corporations no longer want to pay for.  

- Finally, Ketan Joshi discusses how carbon capture and storage depends entirely on the continued existence of the problem of fossil fuel emissions that it's supposed to solve. And George Monbiot writes that the world's leaders have once again failed utterly in the task of averting a climate breakdown. 

Musical interlude

Kx5 feat. Hayla - Escape

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Heather Scoffield examines the lessons we should be learning from the COVID-19 pandemic if it hadn't been disappeared down the memory hole. And Delphine Planas et al. study the wave of newly-developed variants which looks set to render existing monoclonal antibodies obsolete. 

- Don Drummond and Sarah Miller write that economic forecasts which don't account for the climate breakdown - and the costs of inaction in mitigating it - are obviously unfit for purpose. Cloe Logan discusses the importance of fighting against the climate misinformation which is used as an excuse for continued carbon pollution. And Laura Cameron asks when the oil industry will start investing in actual emission reductions if it's not bothering while rolling in windfall profits - though it's all too clear that it views "never" as the only acceptable answer. 

- Paul Wells points out the appalling implications of Pierre Poilievre's plan to apply Alberta's moralistic harm maximization to the drug poisoning crisis on a national scale. And Yann Marten offers his take on the realities facing homeless people in a province which can't be bothered to make empty housing available to them. 

- Finally, Jen St. Denis discusses the problem with planning for police to respond to mental health calls. And Rumneek Johal and Stephen Magusiak expose how police forces across Canada are commissioning misleading "think tank" pieces in order to steal funding from any other type of crisis response or social support. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Maggie O'Neill discusses how new research is confirming the importance of avoiding COVID reinfections. And Edward Keenan asks what it will take for us to take even such basic precautions as masking if overflowing pediatric intensive care units are being seen as an acceptable trade-off for living in denial of an ongoing pandemic and other infectious diseases, while Public Health Ontario confirms (PDF) that masking requirements and other public health measures are the best defence against the spread of new variants.  

- Jon Meddings and Paul Armstrong call out the pandemic of misinformation which is serving to make matters worse in Alberta (and elsewhere). And Kevin Esvelt points out what the feeble-to-destructive reaction to an unintended pandemic might mean if a deliberate one were put in motion. 

- Linda McQuaig discusses how billionaires' disproportionate contribution to the climate crisis and resource exhaustion makes them among the most dangerous people on the planet. And Gloria Novovic calls out the Libs for offering personal moralizing as a distraction from systemic exploitation and inequality.  

-  Matt Bruenig points out how means-testing of benefit programs serves only to increase costs while also making public support far more fragile. 

- Finally, Elizabeth Thompson reports on the evidence of foreign donations to the #FluTruxKlan which has been confirmed through the Emergencies Act commission. And Monia Mazigh discusses how the inquiry has also highlighted the difference in treatment between white, privileged occupiers and minority groups who have quickly been labeled threats to national security. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Dave Yasvinski reports on the growing recognition that repeated COVID infections increase the likelihood of severe illness and death. And John Lorinc discusses how the ongoing pandemic should be pushing us toward a long-overdue focus on improving indoor air quality. 

- Sheila Block points out that the Ford PCs are underestimating revenue in order to avoid putting public money toward anything that would help Ontarians. John Michael McGrath writes that even the few sops to social benefits are being set up to both invest and accomplish as little as possible. And Isaac Callan and Colin D'Mello expose how Health Minister Sheila Jones has specifically rejected plans which would have provided assurances that health care won't be privatized. 

- Alex Boutillier reports on the 's conclusion that Canada's military is ill-equipped to identify and address white nationalism within its ranks. And Dan Zakreski reports on the escalation from online threats to real-world arson against Caitlin Erickson for her efforts to expose abuse at the Saskatchewan Party's pet religious schools. 

- Finally, David Sirota writes that Josh Shapiro's successful run for governor of Pennsylvania offers an example of how progressive leaders are more successful running against villains rather than running away from conflict. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Snuggly cats.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Winnie Byanyima discusses the importance of cooperation and coordination in responding to a pandemic. But Michael Lee contrasts the consistent message from doctors against the recalcitrance of governments in refusing to implement any public health measures as COVID and other respiratory illnesses plunge health care systems into crisis. And Martin Regg Cohn calls out Doug Ford for prioritizing cheap gas over vital health care. 

- Peter Zimonjic and Catherine Cullen report on Lana Payne's call for monetary policy that doesn't reflect a thinly veiled class war against workers. And Sara Jabakhanji reports on a new study showing that more and more people with jobs are being forced to rely on food banks. 

- Ruth Michaelson reports on yet another cynical attempt by the fossil fuel lobby to lock in decades of carbon pollution from gas as a "transition". And Maya Menezes rightly questions why so much of Canada's delegation to COP27 consists of oil and gas promoters, rather than people with any interest in averting climate breakdown. 

- Meanwhile, John Clarke contrasts how Canada's security state chose to treat a violent occupation by white nationalists compared to Indigenous defense of unceded land. 

- Finally, David Climenhaga highlights how the UCP sought to tie Alberta into the FTX Ponzi scheme as a low-wage, easy-money alternative to building a care economy. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Rob Stein discusses the CDC's recognition that new, more evasive COVID strains are becoming dominant in the U.S. Megan Ogilvie and Kenyon Wallace report on the growing calls for a return to preventative masking in Ontario, while Aline Schnake-Mahl et al. examine the connection between sick leave and other stronger public health policies, and higher vaccination rates. And Arianna Spatola et al. study the causes of long COVID, with an immune response to multiple viruses representing a key risk factor. 

- Bob Weber reports on new assessments showing that Canada is emitting far more methane pollution than it's bothering to document and regulate, while Peter Milne writes about the continuing waste of time and resources that is carbon capture and storage. Greg Jericho discusses how Australian gas companies are raking in windfall profits while contributing nothing more back to public coffers. And Ruth Michaelson reports on the influx of fossil fuel lobbyists at #COP27 attempting to stall meaningful climate action. 

- Meanwhile, Jacques Poitras and Frederic Zalac report on the revelations from the Paradise Papers showing that Irving Oil raked in a quarter of a billion dollars in profit while securing provincial and municipal tax handouts. 

- Alan Drummond writes about the crisis in Canada's emergency rooms. And Jeremy Corbyn makes the case for a national care service, even as the UK Cons instead plan to hand over the existing public health care system (including the private medical records of unconsenting patients) to the sketchiest corporate operators they can enrich. 

- Finally, Max Fawcett discusses how Canadians have already suffered from the right's obsession with cryptocurrency over any activity which would actually benefit people. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Manina Etter et al. study the causes of neurological damages arising out of COVID-19. And Roni Caryn Rabin reports on the recent research showing how mandatory masks have helped to prevent transmission in schools.

- Jeremy Appel rightly notes that Canada can't be taken seriously as contributing to climate solutions until it stops subsidizing (and generally serving as a mouthpiece for) the oil and gas sector. And Douglas Almond, Xinming Du and Anna Papp trace the connection between fossil fuel funding for energy centres, and biased messaging pushing natural gas in particular.

- Meanwhile, Xander Huggins asks what lies ahead when the water sources relied on by major populations get lost to overuse and climate degradation.

- Tonda McCharles and Alex Ballingall report on the revelations from the Emergencies Act inquiry that tow truck owners were paid to refuse to clear the Alberta border when the #FluTruxKlan had its armed blockade in place. And Jason Markusoff discusses how Alberta's voters are getting sick of a provincial government that's more focused on picking fights with Ottawa than doing anything to help its own constituents.

- Finally, Rob Shaw calls out the Vancouver Police Department for commissioning a grossly-misleading propaganda piece in an effort to extract more funding at the expense of social programs. And Michael King reports on Alberta's disability workers who are among many key actors in the care economy whose wages have been falling far behind the cost of living.