Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- E. Wesley Ely discusses the developing - and worrisome - body of knowledge of how COVID-19 affects the brain, while Korin Miller reports on the link between COVID and diabetes. William Brangham and Dorothy Hastings talk to people living with long COVID about the devastation it's caused with little public attention. And Brianne Foley reports on the latest after-the-fact data dump showing that the Moe government's consistent minimization of an ongoing pandemic has pushed people to stop taking the most basic precautions including getting updated vaccines.

- Megan Ogilvie and Kate Allen survey experts as to the most immediate priorities for investments in health care. And Armine Yalnizyan and Pat Armstrong write about the dangers of the profitization of care - and the need for protections against the level of corporate ownership that's permitted as Canada's health care system is currently structured.

- Eugene Robinson writes that the East Palestine toxic release shows the dangers of prioritizing a quick buck over people's health and well-being.

- Arielle Samuelson and Emily Atkin call out some of the propaganda tactics being used by the fossil gas industry to try to lock us into decades of carbon pollution. And Markham Hislop points out how Danielle Smith is predictably treating fossil fuels as her only priority by setting up a panel with zero representatives connected to any other energy source.

- Finally, Justin Ling and Catherine Tunney each report on the findings of the Public Order Emergency Commission that a declaration of emergency was warranted to respond to the threat of the #FluTruxKlan (due particularly to the combination of fecklessness and outright sedition from right-wing forces). And Robert Libman discusses how Pierre Poilievre's rhetoric about freedom is absolutely hollow given his eagerness to support prejudice-based crackdowns on the rights which are actually under threat.

Musical interlude

Andain - Promises

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Robert Reich discusses how the concentration of power in the hands of the U.S.' capitalist class has reached levels not see since the gilded age - and how improvements in general access to consumer goods (driven in part by increased work participation and debt) doesn't justify or ameliorate the harm from that top-down control. And Josh Rubin reports on the abuse of the CEWS "blank cheque" by major corporations who used public pandemic funding to inflate profits and share prices. 

- David Macdonald highlights the track record showing that no-strings-attached money demanded by the provinces for health care is highly likely to be diverted toward tax giveaways and other ends. And Annie Waldman reports on the evidence of how the world's largest medical device company Medtronic has pushed for the overuse of its products with little regard for anybody's health. 

- Emma McIntosh offers an explainer on induced demand in pointing out the folly of building more highways rather than developing transit plans which actually help people get where they need to go. And Oliver Wainwright discusses how anybody outside of the alt-right fever swamps should see 15-minute cities as an eminently reasonable planning principle. 

- Finally, Robin Abcarian writes that the bigoted attack on pronouns (and other simple elements of basic recognition for trans people) are the result of the deliberate sacrifice of human dignity to political opportunism. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Charles Schmidt reports on new research findings showing that repeat infections with COVID-19 result in substantially elevated risks of death, hospitalization and long COVID. Stephani Sutherland discusses the emerging treatment of long COVID as a neurological disease. KACL reports on research connecting past COVID infection to increased risk of diabetes. And Blake Murdoch writes that treating children (or anybody else) as being invulnerable to COVID in the face of all available evidence represents a profound devaluation of their health and well-being. 

- Meanwhile, Ricardo Tranjan and Randy Robinson highlight how Ontario has the means to end poverty, with a sharp decrease in poverty rates in 2020 showing what could be accomplished if we cared enough to provide people with even a minimal standard of living. And Stephen Wentzell reports on the findings of the Ottawa People's Commission that authorities chose to prioritize accommodating an occupying #FluTruxKlan force over the basic necessities of life for residents. 

- Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa discuss the environmental disaster in East Palestine as reflecting the prioritization of corporate profits over human health. 

- Finally, Damian Carrington reports on the accelerating loss of Antarctic sea ice as just one example of the extreme climate trends which is showing the profound damage carbon pollution is doing to our planet. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Toying cats.

Tuesday Evening Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Henry Mance talks to Mariana Mazzucato about the big con by private consultants who have been treated as a substitute for a knowledgeable civil service without having any expertise in actually serving the public. And Cathy Taylor writes about the need to invest in non-profit rather than corporatized supports for people living in poverty. 

- Moira Welsh and Clare Pasieka each report on AdvantAge's report on exploitative practices by temp agencies who poach staff from the public sector, then charge exorbitant rates to now-desperate care homes. Joel Lexchin discusses how the pharmaceutical and insurance industries are standing in the way of universal prescription drug coverage in order to preserve their own profits off of people's need for medicine. And Sarah Rieger interviews Arshy Mann about Canada's grim status as three monopolies in a trenchcoat. 

- Meanwhile, Tim Redmond reports on draft plans indicating that San Francisco could afford to set up a public bank with as little as $20 million in startup capital - ensuring that all citizens have access to the financial services they need without being at the mercy of the corporate sector. 

- Finally, Madeleine de Trenquayle interviews Naomi Klein about the inextricable connection between economic inequality and climate injustice. Naveena Savidasam discusses how the East Palestine rail calamity underscores the needless dangers arising from our reliance on petrochemicals and plastics. And Carl Meyer highlights how the tar sands sector is engaged in another exercise in greenwashing - this time at the expense of tens of billions of public dollars - in order to run decades off the clock while avoiding any plan to build out cleaner energy alternatives. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Ann Mallen offers a personal account of the effect of the continued COVID threat on people who are already immunocompromised, while Richard Woodbury talks to Nova Scotia seniors at risk who are rightly concerned that pandemic denialism amounts to a loss of recognition of their humanity. Kelly Fearnly writes that there's no excuse for removing even the most basic protections like masking in health care facilities when we know of an immediate threat to public health. And Cara Murez reports on some good news, in the form of research showing the continuing effectiveness of Paxlovid against newer variants which have proven resistant to other treatments. 

- Meanwhile, Ian Sample reports on the conclusion of chief medical officer of England Chris Whitty that indoor air in public places needs to be monitored and improved. 

- Jean Swanson discusses the need for vacancy control to ensure that everybody can afford a home, rather than establishing protections limited to individuals in particular units which allow for systemic price gouging every time a unit becomes vacant.  

- Tom Wilson and Derek Brower weigh in on the reality that big oil is laughing all the way to the bank while tearing up its climate commitments - and being rewarded for doing so. And Brendan Boyd and Marielle Papin discuss how to ensure people see the benefit of a just transition - though it's also essential to keep an eye on actual public opinion, rather than allowing fossil fuel magnates and their fully-owned political subsidiaries to be the judge of climate action. 

- Finally, Laure Brimbal discusses how adults tend to lay the groundwork for cultures of deception by judging children more harshly for telling blunt truths than for lying to get along. And Daniel Drache and Marc Froese point out how authoritarian politicians are using that prioritization of in-group belonging over general ethics to seize and wield power. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Maura Hohman discusses how COVID-19 has been found to cause increased heart problems in young people (among other harm to health) - even as it's being allowed to inflict that damage population-wide. And Lidia Morawska et al. examine how warnings about the airborne transmission of COVID were ignored by the people responsible for assessing the threat and protecting the public.

- David Sirota, Julia Rock, Rebecca Burns and Matthew Cunningham-Cook report that the East Palestine, OH train derailment (with associated fires, explosions and toxic chemical releases) was traceable directly to corporate lobbying for deregulation of safety standards. And Tom Perkins writes that the disaster should be a wake-up call as to the need for protection - though there were obvious recent precedents which would have alerted any halfway competent regulator as to the dangers of undermining rail safety.

- Paris Marx writes that a series of developments in artificial intelligence don't figure to eliminate the need for human labour - though they do figure to be used as an excuse to make work more precarious. And Marietje Schaake rightly notes that large-scale layoffs in the tech sector should be treated as an opportunity to recruit well-trained workers into the public service.

- Finally, Rumneek Johal reports on the connections between the puritanical and for-profit "recovery" sector trumpeted as an alternative to harm reduction and concern for people's health, and the right-wing politicians pouring public money into the former over the latter.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Paula Span discusses how older Americans (and their peers elsewhere) have been left to navigate the pandemic with no consideration for their health and safety. Kailin Yin et al. examine the ways in which long COVID can affect immune system function. And Linda Geddes highlights the risk that COVID-19 is making people more vulnerable to bacterial and fungal threats.

- Jim Stanford writes about the problems with treating human beings as mere commodities in building economic policy around employers' desire for access to cheap labour. And the Canadian Press reports that even RBC Economics' analysis which is being cited as an excuse to hike interest rates shows that wages have fallen short of keeping up with inflation.

- Grace Blakeley rightly argues that the consistent pattern of oil companies abandoning their climate commitments even while swimming in windfall profits shows that free market will never solve climate change. And needless to say, the petropolitical choice to funnel money to fossil fuel corporations only makes matters worse - with David Climenhaga and Dean Bennett each exploring how the UCP's RStar scandal represents a particularly egregious example of polluter-paid governance.

- Meanwhile, Roshan Abraham reports on the laughable attempt by the oil-allied alt-right to turn walkable cities into an object of conspiracy theory and hate.

- Finally, Cory Doctorow discusses the regressive "time tax" resulting from wealth translating into constant service and convenience while people of less means face far greater time impositions trying to navigate the necessities of life.

Musical interlude

Metric - I Will Never Settle

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Philip Ritchie writes about new research into natural receptors which may help limit infection by COVID-19 and other viruses, while Alice Klein reports on the development of an inhaled powder which could line the respiratory tract to provide an additional layer of protection. But Spencer Kimball's report on Pfizer's windfall profits (racked up as it inflates the cost of vaccines and treatments) serves as a warning as to why the means of protecting public health can't be put into corporate hands.  

- Meanwhile, David Moscrop weighs in on Loblaws' profiteering as it falsely blames others for inflated prices while bringing in obscene profits. 

- Robert Reich points out that the current corporate stranglehold on public policy is the result of the working class losing sight of the importance of class politics during the Keynesian consensus. And Canadians for Tax Fairness examines how corporations exploited that dynamic to turn massive COVID subsidies  into cash cows while public anger was selectively directed at individuals receiving money to survive. 

- Linda McQuaig discusses how private foundations serve to further the power and shelter the assets of the wealthy few while actual charities struggle to stay afloat. And Angella MacEwen offers a warning that the "employee ownership trust" system mentioned in yesterday's post is designed primarily to funnel money to departing capitalists rather than to give workers any meaningful benefit. 

- Finally, Umair Irfan reports on new research showing that even a relatively modest transition to electric vehicles can lead to substantial improvements in respiratory health. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Scott Rivkees writes that COVID-19 denialism has come to dominate public policy around an ongoing viral threat, while Kelly Skjerven reports that the relentless minimization of the ongoing pandemic has led Canadians to stop getting updated vaccinations. Eric Reinhart discusses how doctors are understandably demoralized by systemic failures which prevent them from helping to treat patients. And Joyce Sampson writes that there are plenty of benefits to face masks even beyond the reduced transmission of (and infection by) COVID. 

- Kat Echner comments on the potential for employee ownership trusts to allow employees to share in the benefit from their work. And Jon Brodkin reports on Apple's violations of employee rights in preventing workers from gathering wage data or discussing working conditions.  

- Jen Hassum writes about the need for progressives to recognize and channel people's rightful anger at a system rigger against them - rather than allowing the Cons to coast on that sentiment while planning to make matters worse. 

- Meanwhile, Martin Wolf discusses the advantages of a land value tax to ensure idle assets don't exacerbate inequality. And Guio Jacinto makes the case for industrial policy (dealing with steel and other vital inputs) to ensure that Canada rebuilds an industrial base while transitioning to a clean economy. 

- Finally, Pete Evans highlights the juxtaposition between record fossil fuel profits and attempts to walk back previous climate commitments, while Alex Lawson takes note of the particularly glaring profit-taking by BP as it breaks emission reduction promises. Julia Levin points out the continued lack of an evidentiary basis to think carbon capture will accomplish anything but greenwashing continued environmental destruction. And Drilled News surveys the oil industry's determination to bully people into believing we can't live without their exploitation. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Expressive cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Emma Beddington rightly questions the determination of the powers that be to pretend that COVID-19 never happened - though her attempt to treat an ongoing pandemic as merely a past issue is itself misplaced. Megan Ford discusses long COVID's especially damaging impact on nurses. And C. Raina McIntyre et al. offer a reminder of the role masks play in reducing spread (despite a renewed wave of spin to the contrary). 

- The Guardian calls out the latest attempt by the UK Cons to declare a policy of perpetual booms for capital owners and doom for workers. And Baher Kamal comments on the desperate need to ensure the wealthy around the world pay their fair share as inequality continues to worsen. 

- David Olive rightly questions why the oil patch would think for a second that it can bank massive windfall profits at consumers' expense, then turn around and demand that every available public dollar be handed over as a subsidy for carbon capture schemes. Anupriya Dasgupta discusses how the PR industry has transferred its tobacco playbook into manufacturing equally destructive anti-science propaganda on behalf of the fossil fuel industry. And Caroline Orr Bueno highlights the role of Russian state media as the primary foreign state sponsor of the #FluTruxKlan (which was of course a joint operation with the oil industry). 

- Meanwhile, Andrew Rawnsley notes that an obsession with extending dirty energy production is leaving the UK and other countries far behind international peers in building an economy for the future. 

- Finally, Umair Haque discusses the psychological effects of life in an age of avoidable extinction. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Catherine Albright et al. study how the wide transmission of COVID-19 - due in no small part to the "let 'er rip" mindset of far too many governments - has facilitated the development of new variants which escape existing immunity and treatments. And Fisher Phillips summarizes new, permanent California regulations for COVID-19 safety - which are far from ideal in relaxing standards and imposing costs on workers, but at least reflect the recognition that the dangers require ongoing remedial steps.

- Danielle Martin, Edward Greenspon and Geogina Black write about the need for every Canadian to have access to primary health care (even as provincial governments make nothing but excuses for letting access erode). 

- Ricardo Tranjan calls out the landlords who have chosen to inflate the cost of a home - and the governments who have chosen to enable them to do so. The Canadian Press reports on new data showing that upwards of 30% of homes are now owned by investors rather than residents in some Canadian provinces, signaling how a necessity of life is becoming increasingly commodified and put out of reach of the working class. And Rebecca Zandbergen interviews Juha Kaakinen about Finland's success in meeting the right to housing while simultaneously saving money by funding the construction of housing directly, rather than counting on developer-based bank shots as the only means of increasing supply. 

- Philippe Van Parijs writes about Pranab Bardhan's A World of Insecurity, and particularly its recognition that a secure basic income would work wonders in mitigating that insecurity which has given rise to the forces of fascism and hate. 

- Finally, David Moscrop discusses the connection between dwindling trust in public institutions and future well-being, and the understandable concern that power is increasingly being used to benefit the wealthy at the expense of everybody else. 

Musical interlude

Everything But The Girl - Five Fathoms

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- David Wallace-Wells writes about the continued excess mortality in the U.S. beyond the million-plus deaths already attributed to COVID-19. Blair Williams calls out the "COVID hegemony" which has seen the wealthy and powerful downplay an ongoing pandemic in order to foist intolerable costs and risks on workers. Ian Welsh writes that we should be nothing but embarrassed at humanity for its collective failure in addressing a widespread and obvious threat to everybody's health. And Umair Haque notes that rather than being back to some pre-pandemic "normal", we've stumbled into the era of the polycrisis, while Zoe Cohen discusses the self-destructiveness of pursuing economic growth at all costs.  

- Julia Doubleday points out how a lack of accurate and updated information about the known effects of COVID has opened the door for misinformation to fill the vacuum. And Jaigris Hodson and Andrea Gazilia offer suggestions as to how to avoid falling prey to misinformation - though as is so often the case, we shouldn't treat individual measures as a full response to a systemic problem. 

- Geordie Dent writes that an influx of foreign money and a failure to build social housing units are primary culprits in the escalation of Canadian housing prices far past what residents can afford. 

- Mitchell Beer discusses the conclusion of the Net Zero Advisory Board that a cap on greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas is a must for Canada to meet its 2030 targets. 

- Finally, Sindhu Sundar and Katherine Long discuss the findings of the U.S. Department of Labor that Amazon's "gamification" of its warehouses serves to make work even more dangerous than it would otherwise be.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Nicoletta Lanese reports on a new analysis showing that COVID-19 has become a leading cause of death among U.S. children. Ewen Callaway discusses what will be needed from the next generation of vaccines to respond to an evolved threat - but as Gregg Gonsalves notes, the Biden administration is fixated on setting an end date for an ongoing emergency with grave implications for any public health response. And the Star's editorial board highlights the immense cost of misinformation, both in relation to COVID and in general. 

- Heidi Cuda discusses the need to model and encourage action based on empathy. But Caitlin Johnstone rightly argues that we can't expect a purge of a specific set of corrupt actors to accomplish much when we've set up our power structures to reward assholery. 

- David Armstrong, Patrick Rucker and Maya Miller report on a particularly galling example of a private health insurer refusing coverage - through a combination of strategic bureaucracy and false information - for the medication needed to deal with an individual's ulcerative colitis.

- Meanwhile, Zak Vescera and Moira Wyton report on the increase in violence toward health care workers in British Columbia, as frontline care providers bear the brunt of frustration with systemic failings. 

- Radley Balko writes about the dangers of "elite" police units which are removed from normal oversight based on the false promise of crime prevention. And Katie Hyslop reports on the false assurances and explanations given to try to keep funding flowing to police in Vancouver schools. 

- Finally, Gabriel Levine studies the effectiveness of regulations aimed at structural risks which need to be designed to survive the vagaries of politics. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Crawford Kilian writes about the urgent need to prioritize and invest in public health and the social determinants of health - both to deal with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and to generally prevent health issues from reaching the point of requiring acute care from an overwhelmed health care system. But the Canadian Press reports that instead of demonstrating any foresight, the Moe government delayed any cooperation with the federal government - including asking for available assistance - until long after a crisis was locked in. 

- Seth Borenstein and Saul Elbein each report on new studies showing that we're set to blow past climate tipping points within a decade (and haven't made a meaningful dent in reducing emissions to change course). And James Hansen et al. study (PDF) the dangerous amount of warming that's already "in the pipeline". 

- Meanwhile, Tamara Iungman et al. examine how urban green infrastructure can reduce experienced temperatures and produce health benefits for residents. 

- Luke LeBrun reports on the findings of the Ottawa People's Commission (as opposed to the IDU Whitewashing Commission) as to the effects of the #FluTruxKlan on the people of Ottawa. And Jeremy Appel reports on the connection between a key Edmonton developer lobbyist and the antivax convoy. 

- Finally, Max Fawcett warns that Jacinda Ardern's resignation signals a risk that the increased threat of violence from the anti-democratic right will drive women in particular out of involvement in politics. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Jumpy cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Richard Denniss calls out Australia's government for its "nothing to see here" approach to an ongoing public health emergency. And Falko Tesch et al. study the connection between COVID-19 infection and subsequent autoimmune diseases, while Tim Requarth discusses the multiple effects COVID can have on a body's ability to fight all kinds of threats.  

- Judy Rebick contrasts the Ford PCs' austerity for publicly-provided health care against their willingness to throw money into corporate coffers. And Don McLean highlights how Doug Ford has left no doubt that he's serving only big-money donors rather than the general public. 

- Meanwhile, Brian Doucet points out that any government actually interested in ensuring people are able to find a home would be using publicly owned land to build its own affordable housing, not turning it into a windfall for private developers. And Mariana Mazzucato discusses the need to treat the common good as the core focus of policy development, not a special interest to be addressed only to the extent necessary to enable the continued enrichment of the wealthy. 

- Oliver Milman reports on a new analysis that continuing to operate coal plants in the U.S. is far more expensive than transitioning to clean energy. But Umair Irfan reports on the petropoliticians in Texas (and elsewhere) who are using state power to keep dirty energy in operation even where renewables are both more reliable and more affordable. 

- Finally, Justin Ling looks at the background to the decriminalization of drugs in Vancouver - including the hope that it will at least reduce the carnage from a drug poisoning crisis which has been exacerbated by prohibitionist policies. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Abinaya Vijayaraghavan and Jennifer Rigby report on the World Health Organization's recognition that COVID-19 remains a global public health emergency even as far too many jurisdictions pretend otherwise. Andrew Nikiforuk examines the dangers of an evolving set of variants, while David Axe points out the risk of a major new threat from widespread new infections in China. The Economist offers its recognition that the fallout from COVID is preventing people from working. And Jessica Wildfire discusses why we have reason to be angry about the avoidable harm that's still being inflicted on everybody. 

- Maia Szalavitz offers a reminder that any evidence-based approach to homelessness will focus on providing housing first. And Nojoud Al Mallees reports that the "Rapid Housing Initiative" intended to spur construction of needed homes is falling far short of its billing (due in large part to conservative provincial governments who couldn't care less about the availability of affordable housing). 

- Meanwhile, Kathryn Blaze Baum and Tu Tranh Ha discuss how Canada's building codes are outdated in accounting for an increase in extreme weather. 

- Trevor Hancock argues that the fossil fuel cheerleading so frequently given a privileged place in corporate media should come with a health warning due to the obvious effects of continued carbon pollution. 

- Finally, Moira Wyton discusses what to expect as British Columbia decriminalizes possession of small amounts of a number of drugs, including the unanswered questions as to whether the permitted quantities themselves will be used as pretexts for arbitrary police action. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Melody Schrieber reports on new data showing that more Americans missed work due to illness in 2022 than in any other year on record even as the pandemic causing widespread sickness was declared to be over. And Madison Stoddard et al. study the difficulty individuals have trying to shield from an infectious disease when public policy is stacking the deck against them.

- Jon Schwarz examines the assumptions underlying the use of monetary policy to prevent workers from ever sharing in increased nominal values arising out of their work. And Jim Stanford discusses the need for workers to act collectively - including funding their own unions - in order to push back against having the value of their work extracted by employers.

 - Meanwhile, Umair Haque comments on the connection between advantanges being handed to can't-fail nepo babies and the lack of any meaningful opportunity for nearly anybody else.

- Nesrine Malik laments that it's now standard operating procedure in the UK (and elsewhere) for people to be expected to pay for their own basic services due to wanton cuts to the public sector. And John Clarke discusses how the Libs are using the specter of foreign ownership as an excuse for their own glaring failure to invest in accessible and affordable housing which will never be provided by a capitalist market.

- Finally, Konrad Yakabuski writes that the approval of Rogers' takeover of Shaw Communication represents both a prime example of the oligopoly in telecommunications across most of Canada, and a step toward further entrenching that reality.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Kat Eschner interviews John Peters about the growing inequality in wealth, income and influence. And Scott Martin offers a reminder not to conflate the gross disparity in pay between CEOs and workers with anything that's actually been earned.

- Mitchell Thompson discusses how privatized surgeries are a threat to the fundamentals of Canadian health care. And John Bell writes about the human consequences of putting profits before caring for people.

- Peter Reina's review of a book on project failure includes a handy chart showing the level of cost overruns for different types of infrastructure - with renewable energy ranking as having by far the lowest level of overruns, while nuclear operations are joined only by the Olympic Games as the absolute worst.  And Nojoud Al Mallees reports on the refusal by oilsands giants to spend a nickel of their windfall projects on their much-hyped claim to decarbonization. 

- Jonathan Chait writes about the John Durham investigation as a prime example of the right looking to its own paranoid fantasies about perceived enemies as a model for its own plans. And Asawin Suebsaeng and Patrick Reis offer a look inside Donald Trump's end-of-term killing spree as a particularly cruel and violent example. 

- Finally, Meghan Krausch discusses what's been lost from the ongoing collapse of Twitter, while noting that the ultimate purpose of allowing for connections with other people can be met in new and less-corporatized ways.

Musical interlude

Jamie Woon - Shoulda (Samy Chelly Remix)

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- George Monbiot discusses how everybody is being forced to play COVID roulette due to the choice not to work toward clean and safe air. Sophie Peterson offers a personal perspective on the damage being done by the failure of governments to take long COVID seriously. And Sharon Kirkey reports on the finding by a panel led by Alex Himelfarb that even using conservative assumptions, thousands of deaths in Canada have been caused by COVID disinformation. 

- Linda McQuaig writes that Doug Ford owes Ontarians an explanation for his refusal to fund public services (concurrent with his willingness to throw money at private profiteers). Bea Bruske warns that Canadian workers can't be expected to accept an economic system which is rigged against them by allowing for price increases but not corresponding wage boosts. And Christopher Olk, Colleen Schneider and Jason Hickel discuss how universal public services help to protect people against inflation and deprivation alike - while also helping to rein in windfall corporate profits and concentration of wealth.  

- Unfortunately, Anna Clark points out how the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is instead treating its mandate as being the protection of corporate profits rather than the public - including in failing to regulate vital screening tests. And Cory Doctorow is rightly outraged that Moderna is planning to gorge itself on obscene markups being applied to vaccines researched and developed through public resources. 

- Finally, David Wallace-Wells writes about the continued fallout from the Brexit debacle which has seen standards of living plummet - even as the alt-right everywhere continues to push blinkered nationalism with no regard for its obvious self-sabotage which results. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Rachel Brazil discusses the effect of the "imprinting" from a first COVID-19 infection on subsequent immune responses which makes the spread of highly-mutated variants all the more dangerous. And Andrew Stokes et al. highlight how the U.S. (like other countries) is likely continuing to undercount the number of deaths caused by COVID. 

- David Moscrop discusses how Doug Ford's plan to starve the public health care system and throw money at corporate profiteers is exactly the opposite of what people need to stay healthy. And Mitchell Thompson reports on Ford's meeting with lobbyists seeking to turn medical care into gig work.  

- Zak Vescera reports on a workplace death caused by a predictable elevator malfunction which prevented medical assistance from reaching an employee atop a port crane. And Kim de Laat, Carmina Ravanera and Sarah Kaplan write that remote work should help to promote employment equity for women - rather than instead being used to dump even larger burdens on them in the absence of clear boundaries between work and home life. 

- Kingsmill Bond et al. examine how we've reached peak demand for fossil fuel-based power production. 

- Finally, Armine Yalnizyan writes that there's no reason to be applying a 1990s playbook - including its attacks on workers and wages - to inflation which is caused by entirely different factors. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Cuddled cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Anne Sosin and Martha Lincoln discuss the war on empathy embodied by the flurry of media attacks against anybody with the temerity to point out we're still in the middle of a pandemic where a lack of care for others is directly responsible for widespread illness and disability. And Pam Belluck reports on the large numbers of people whose affliction with long COVID has kept them from working for extended periods of time. 

- Damian Carrington reports on Mark Jacobson's work showing how a world fully powered by renewable energy is well within reach if we make it a priority, while Angele Alook, Emily Eaton, David Gray-Donald, Joël Laforest, Crystal Lameman and Bronwen Tucker note that Canada isn't lacking for viable options to fund a just transition. Marc Lee calls out the Trudeau Libs for instead throwing billions of federal dollars into pipeline expansion with the effect of gratuitously subsidizing pollution from the oil sector at the expense of Canadian society at large. And Carla Delgado discusses how corporations are greenwashing their plastic pollution. 

- Katelyn Burns reports on the influx of legislative attacks against trans people in the U.S., as the first approaches based on participation in sports have given way to full denial of health care and dehumanization. 

- Finally, Charles Rusnell reports on the Calgary Police Service's willingness to pay a con man for easy but wrong answers in dealing with PTSD even in the face of direct warnings. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Jessica Corsetti reports on Greta Thunberg's message that the wealthiest few value their own short-term profit-taking over the future of humanity. Paul Kahnert discusses how the privatization of health care is just the latest example of conservative heists from the public. And Sophia Harris reports on the lack of progress in the Competition Bureau's investigation into bread price fixing even in the face of Loblaws' confession.  

- Jordan Uhl reports on a fossil fuel tycoon's attempt to silence Beto O'Rourke from even talking about the connection between massive donations and preferential treatment from a Republican governor. And Lisa Song examines the current state of knowledge as to the dangers of gas stoves (even as the oil and gas sector tries to shout down any inquiry into their effects). 

- The Red Deer Advocate reports on a new study showing the cost of starting up new, politically-controlled police services is far higher than assumed by the UCP (as well as the Sask Party). And Ryan Little, Adam Willis and Ben Conarck report on the impact of group violence reduction strategies in reducing the homicide rate in West Baltimore. 

- Gregory Beatty writes about the attempt by private religious schools to undermine the public education system in Saskatchewan.

- Finally, Carolyn Harper talks to Eric Topol about the lack of resources being put into preventing and treating long COVID at a point when a large proportion of the population is being set up to suffer from it. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Matthew Agius reports on the growing body of evidence indicating that long COVID may produce lifelong aftereffects. Henna Saeed reports on  the large number of Canadians now suffering from long COVID symptoms. And Lee Han-Soo discusses new research showing that a reinfection may be twice as deadly as an original one.

- Meanwhile, Emily Leedham reports on the Manitoba PCs' choice to lie about the motives behind an event to support health workers in order to have it shut down - even as they were happy to let antivaxxers influence their own government's policy. And Jessica Wildfire weighs in on the contrast between careful testing and environmental controls at Davos and the elite consensus throwing everybody else to the wolves. 

- Patty Winsa reports that Ontario's PCs have arranged for public health lines to direct patients toward pay-for-play corporate primary care, while Norman de Bono reports on the growing backlash against the privatization of surgeries. And Thomas Walkom writes that the Ford government's idea of health care reform completely misses the point as to how medicare needs to work to keep everybody healthy.

- Justin Chandler discusses how temporary, weather alert-based shelter systems leave unhoused people in readily-avoidable risk.

- Rupert Neate reports that there are still billionaires begging for wealth taxes to limit their own destructive class hegemony. And Umair Haque discusses how perilous our future as a civilization looks if we don't achieve major progress in the present.

- Finally, Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood discusses what a just transition means - and why it's in everybody's interest to work on putting it in place (no matter how a few well-funded extractivists scream about what amounts to a desire for short-term profits). And Guy Walton points out a few of the most immediate consequences of failing to avert a climate breakdown.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- William Anderson sets out a few of the most important realities about the Kraken COVID-19 variant and its place within the ongoing pandemic. Glen Pyle and Jennifer Huang confirm that infection results in a far greater risk of myocarditis than vaccination. And Julia Doubleday weighs in on the fact that the wealthy and powerful gathered in Davos demanded exactly the preventative measures for themselves that they've denied the rest of us.

- Meanwhile, Steven Lewis discusses how a focus on ensuring everybody has access to primary health care would alleviate both health inequalities and burdens throughout our health care system. But Taylor Noakes writes that the federal government may need to take the lead in building a public system where conservative premiers are solely interested in slashing and privatizing.

- David Macdonald offers a thorough look at which industries and recipients are reaping the spoils from inflation in Canada - with corporate profits predictably the main beneficiary. And Jim Stanford corroborates that conclusion with a look at how unit profit costs have soared while wages have barely budged.

- Finally, Michael Barnard discusses the decades of experience with nuclear power which make it clear it can't compete in a fair comparison to renewable energy.

Musical interlude

Marshmello, Halsey - Be Kind

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Sara Berg discusses what U.S. doctors wish the public understood about COVID-19 - including the dangers of reinfection and the continued need for protective measures. Daniel Sarah Karatsik writes about the consequences of a decimated working class as movement organizing has to push deeper into "hidden publics" to address the most pressing problems. And Walker Bragman explores the massive pools of dark money funding anti-public health conspiracies, while Meghan Grant and Elise von Scheel report on the attempt by Danielle Smith's office to use the power of government to interfere in prosecutions for violent insurrection. 

- Lisa Young points out where the UCP's concurrent decision to slant a politicized inquiry against COVID action fits into its wider plans. And Phil Tank discusses how the Moe government has relied on spin and misdirection to avoid answering for its pitiful management of Saskatchewan even by conservative standards. 

- Jack Hauen reports on the belated recognition that Maple and other private health care operators are blatantly exploiting loopholes in the Canada Health Act. Robert Hiltz recognizes that Doug Ford and other right-wing premiers are deliberately undermining any public health care system so its spoils can be turned into corporate profit centers, while Liam Casey reports on the loud and urgent warnings from hospitals that a plan to rely on private surgery clinics will only result in even more needed workers being lost from the public system. And Sheila Block points out how much more capacity Ontario in particular could build merely by funding health care at average levels. 

- Carolyn Greene, Katharina Maier and Marta-Marika Urbanik offer a reminder of the harm being done by the closure of harm reduction sites. 

- Zak Vescera discusses how efforts to better include women in the construction trades are limited by a failure to make basic safety equipment available to them.

- Finally, David Klepper reports on the escalating climate misinformation since Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. And Geoff Dembicki reports on Shell Canada's choice to reward a history of participation in climate denial. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Kelsey Piper writes about the U.S.' memory-holing of the successes of a vaccine program which resulted in exceptionally quick development and distribution of effective COVID vaccines (and should have set a precedent for future pandemic planning). 

- Dustin Cook and Mike Hager note that while Doug Ford tries to claim there's no alternative to turning surgeries into a profit center, B.C. is instead achieving actual improvements by investing its public health care system. And Ryan McGreal discusses how the structure of Canadian health care - including the concessions to profit-seeking baked in from the start - is facilitating the push to privatize. 

- Meanwhile, Richard Murphy points out that one-time lump sums being offered by the UK's Cons as a substitute for fair wages are intended only to lock workers into longer-term reductions in real pay. And Jeremy Appel writes about new CCPA research showing that the largest beneficiary of inflation in Canada has been the resource extraction section - which has seen massive windfall profits while passing virtually nothing along to workers. 

- Max Fawcett discusses how Danielle Smith is lying to Albertans about a just transition in order to keep public policy skewed toward the continued enrichment of oil and gas tycoons. And Hannah Ritchie points out the absurdity of spin attempting to justify continued reliance on dirty energy (and environmental destruction associated with its extraction) by complaining about the far lesser amount of mining required to supply clean alternatives. 

- Simon Enoch points out a couple of prime examples of Saskatchewan's corporate-owned politicians substituting meaningless words for policy which does anything to benefit people - including the Moe government's publicity blitz around the word "sustainable" in lieu of any plan to build an economy which is consistent with anything short of climate disaster. 

- Finally, Cat Zakrzewski, Cristiano Lima and Drew Harwell report on what the U.S. House of Representatives' January 6 committee learned about the actions of social media giants in allowing violent rhetoric to appease the alt-right. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- The World Health Organization has updated its guidelines for COVID-19 prevention and response - including recommendations for masking and isolation periods even when these have been largely abandoned by governments. 

- Mitchell Thompson reports on the Ford PCs' plans for health care privatization which include facilitating corporate providers in upselling costly and unnecessary services to patients. And the Star's editorial board and Robert Bell each highlight the lack of any justification for privatized surgical operations even without that additional source of greed-based health care. 

- Sean Tucker writes about the need for far more to be done to keep workers safe in Saskatchewan. And Zak Vescera discusses the insufficient policy response to one of British Columbia's most prominent workplace fatalities. 

- Patrick Greenfield reports on an investigation finding that one of the largest carbon offset funds in the world is based on phantom emission reductions (and may in fact be worsening the climate breakdown). Robert Reich calls out the media's failure to connect California's severe storms to climate change. 

- Meanwhile, Oliver Milman offers a reminder that the healing of the Earth's ozone layer represents an important success story in cooperative environmental policy - with the near-elimination of the use of the substances responsible as a vital element of the achievement. 

- Finally, Kelvin Chan reports on Oxfam's push for a windfall tax on food companies. And D.T. Cochrane points out how price increases on existing products can be expected to correlate with economic stagnation due to corporate herd effects. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Angled cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Courtney Shea interviews Colin Furness about the combination of immunity theft and negligent public health messaging that's resulting in widespread avoidable illness, while Ashleigh McMillan reports on new research suggesting one in ten people infected with COVID-19 will end up with chronic health issues as a result. And Alexander Quon talks to Cory Neudorf and others about the causes of Saskatchewan's record COVID death toll in the year our government proclaimed the pandemic to be over. 

- Anam Khan reports on Nova Scotia's move to push newborn babies toward mobile clinics due to a lack of family doctors. And Mitchell Thompson reports on Doug Ford's plans to turn surgery into a corporate profit center - based specifically on his hostility toward publicly-administered health care. 

- Meanwhile, Bill Curry reports on the escalating amount of money being handed to McKinsey by the federal government (now over $100 million since the Libs took office) as a substitute for building the civil service. 

- David Farenthold and Talmon Smith report on how American food service workers have been conscripted to fund corporate lobbying against their own wages and working conditions. 

- Finally, Nicole Goodkind reports on the record levels of debt which have been accumulated globally - and the dangers of systemic collapse as interest rate hikes increase the cost associated with a larger amount borrowed. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Raywat Deondanan discusses some of the lessons which we should have taken from the COVID-19 pandemic (if it wasn't being forcibly disappeared down a memory hole for all practical purposes). And Nicole Sarden and Bryan Yipp have found that the lasting effects of COVID include compromising the ability of people's immune systems to fight common invasive fungal infections. 

- Meanwhile, Larissa Kurz reports that Saskatchewan's death toll in 2022 includes a record number of lost lives due to drug poisonings. 

- Steven Staples discusses how the military-industry complex has pushed the Trudeau Libs to break their promise not to pour billions of federal dollars into F-35 fighters of questionable utility. And John Woodside investigates how the financial sector is pushing to water down regulations to avoid any consideration of whether fossil fuel extraction is compatible with meeting Canada's international climate commitments. 

- Finally, Umair Haque writes about the decline of disruptive science and innovation, as the power exerted by people profiting from the status quo is both resulting in new ideas being squelched and the essentials of life being priced out of the reach of a large number of people. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Ed Browne examines the differences between the Kraken variant and the forms of COVID-19 which have come before. Char Leung, Li Su and Munehito Machida study how transmission different types of venues in Japan was reflected in further spread. And Benjamin Mateus discusses the readily-available options to clear air of COVID and other pathogens which are being ignored in favour of a strategy of denial.

- Michael Howard discusses how a basic income would effectively eradicate the U.S.' persistent poverty problem (among other social ills). 

- Meanwhile, Edward Keenan asks why Toronto (like so many other municipalities) is using force to destroy temporary encampments, rather than putting any resources into ensuring people have a safe home.  And Jason Vermes talks to Kayla DeMong about the need for support programs which don't insist on a miraculous, single-handed recovery from substance addiction as a precondition to any help.

- Katie Pedersen, Virginia Smart and David Common report on soaring cell phone bills across most of Canada as a narrowing corporate oligopoly squeezes consumers for every possible nickel. And Clement Nocos makes the case for a national public telecom provider to ensure people aren't systematically ripped off.

- Finally, Andrew Leach highlights how work toward a just transition is intended to make sure people who have previously depended on a declining fossil fuel sector have viable options for the future - in stark contrast to the desire of the UCP, Saskatchewan Party and their backers to focus solely on wringing short-term profits, then stick the workers and citizens who are left with all of the cost and risk of cleaning up the mess left behind.