Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Australia's Inquiry into Long COVID has produced a report (PDF) confirming the obvious needs both to limit the continued spread of COVID-19, and to provide support for the people suffering ongoing effects of the coronavirus.  

- Michele Friedner writes about the people being extorted to preserve their hearing as corporate health equipment providers discontinue the cochlear implants they've come to rely on. And CBC News reports on new Quebec data showing that even after cherry-picking only the easiest cases and shedding , private surgery clinics are charging more than twice the cost of performing operations publicly:

- Bob Weber reports on new research showing that the oil sector is grossly understating the amount of carbon pollution it's currently spewing (even as it plans to keep increasing its emissions). Adam Morton reports on the false promise of the world's largest carbon capture and storage system which is failing to capture anywhere near as much carbon dioxide as claimed. And Natasha Bulowski reports on the Parliamentary hearings into Alberta's toxic substance coverups - which unfortunately continued through a refusal to answer simple questions about when the Alberta Energy Regulator knew about the leaks it concealed. 

- Ann Pettifor debates - and gets the best of - Nick Macpherson in discussing whether the UK's austerity imposed in the course of a downturn produced anything but needless suffering. And Erin Weir points out how Scott Moe is using the assertion of control over natural resources to hand out windfalls to his corporate donors, rather than to benefit actual people in Saskatchewan. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow writes about the tax-loss harvesting which is being used by the wealthiest few to avoid paying any taxes on massive capital gains. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Trevor Hancock discusses the need to treat the economy as a means to human well-being, rather than an end worth sacrificing our health and our living environment.

- Henry Killworth writes about new research confirming that the lost sense of smell arising out of COVID-19 is associated with brain impairment. And Simran Purewal et al. discuss how long COVID is being dismissed or ignored by far too many physicians, resulting in patients facing stigma and receiving no effective treatment. 

- Aaron Wherry writes about the latest national inventory report on greenhouse gas emissions - though it's worth noting that even the math which shows Canada falling far short of its existing climate commitments fails to account for the further harm caused by fossil fuel exports which are also linked to continued domestic emission increases. Cory Doctorow notes that the capitalists profiting from dirty energy appear far more willing to invest in preserving and expanding their wealth through violence than in any transition to clean alternatives. And Leyland Cecco reports on the justified fears of Indigenous communities that the oil sector (and its fully-owned subsidiaries in the UCP) would rather poison vital water supplies in secret than admit to the environmental consequences of its operations. 

- Finally, Rachel Cohen points out that any push to respond to the housing crisis needs to include the availability of affordable homes for families. And Brian Doucet and Laura Pin comment on the need to act against renovictions to ensure developers don't make matters worse. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Jenna Cartusciello examines the connections between COVID-19 and gastrointestinal issues as yet another poorly-studied and potentially long-lasting effect of infection with a disease we're being told not to worry about. And Omar Mosleh reports on the backsliding in Canadian public health as diseases long understood to be eradicated are surging thanks in large part to anti-vaxxer ideology.

- Steven Lewis discusses the breaches of the Canada Health Act which are already undermining universal public health care while threatening to get worse if left unaddressed. 

- Lisa Harris, Calvin Sandborn, Matt Hulse and Leah Temper write that we can't afford to let oil-soaked disinformation obstruct the action needed to avert catastrophic climate change. And Patrick Greenfield reports on Denis Hayes' rightful condemnation of the use of Earth Day to greenwash environmental destruction by fossil fuel giants.

- Meanwhile, Michelle Lewis reports on the development of a new EV truck battery which offers the prospect of powering a heavy truck for 1.5 million kilometres while being manufactured with less impact than existing options. And Geoff Meggs writes about the combination of social and environmental benefits from the Squamish First Nation's Sen̓áḵw project - while noting the need for far more where it came from.

- Finally, Robert Reich discusses how the Republicans are hurtling ever faster toward fascism by removing elected representatives who dare to assert the humanity of the people they're looking to silence.

Musical interlude

Lastlings - Noise

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Martha Lincoln and Anne Sosin discuss the lack of sustained improvement in the social conditions which exacerbated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

- David Spratt takes note of the climate tipping points which are being reached much faster than previously anticipated. And Claire Elise Thompson points out how a four-day work week would be better for the planet as well as for workers. 

- Spencer Bridgman discusses how the job action by federal civil servants reflects much-needed pushback against the theory that workers generally need to absorb the cost of inflation. And Jen Hassum writes that any populist worth listening to should be supporting the workers, rather than demanding that they accept stagnation and precarity to grease the skids for the wealthy to accumulate even more. 

- David Moscrop calls out the Ford PCs for lacking any recognition that education needs to involve more than training for the first available job. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow examines how international trade agreements consistently reflect little more than corporate lobbyists' wish lists to exploit citizens in all of the countries involved. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Ed Yong discusses how the brutal realities of long COVID are being systematically erased from the public eye. And Josh Lynn reports on the state of crisis in a Saskatchewan hospital - even as the Moe government's top priority is to squelch any public awareness of the desperate circumstances facing patients and health care workers alike. 

- Ian Urquhart contrasts the self-congratulatory spin of the federal Libs against Canada's already-miserable track record of failing to even approach any of our climate change targets. And Steve Lorteau writes about the harm being done by state-owned polluters, while Troy Farah discusses the role of the rich in exacerbating both a climate breakdown and the harm it does to the rest of humanity. 

- Cory Doctorow discusses the cruelty behind the Republicans' constant attacks on people's access to the necessities of life. Umair Haque writes about the social collapse evidenced by the fear and violence that's led to a spate of shootings at doorsteps and in public places. And Robert Reich points out that Fox News' settlement with Dominion Voting Systems is designed to turn the consequences of deliberate lies about electoral outcomes into a readily-affordable cost of engaging in the fearmongering business.  

- Finally, Jared Wesley writes that Alberta's impending election reflects a referendum on democracy itself, as the rule of law figures to have little chance to survive another term of UCP government. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Evelyn Lazare discusses how the refusal of the powers that be to act to mitigate an ongoing pandemic is only ensuring that its effects will be worse and longer-lasting than they need to be. And Emily Moskal reports on a promising new type of long-cost, non-refrigerated vaccine which could provide a means of protecting everybody if any attempt were being made to help anybody. 

- Rebecca Leber writes about new data showing that air quality is deteriorating in the U.S. as the pollution caused by the productions of climate change (including wildfires, heat and drought) outweighs any gains in pollutant regulation. And the Canadian Press reports on a release of polluted water from a Suncor tar sands mine, while Natasha Bulowski reports on the warranted outrage of Indigenous leaders who were kept in the dark about Imperial Oil's release of toxic tailings into food and water sources.  

- Julian Jacobs writes about the contrast between the capital class which continues to rack up massive increases in wealth, and the recession of choice being imposed on workers. And David MacDonald points out how federal benefits for housing and dental care have seen low uptake rates which results in far less improvement of people's material conditions than promised. 

- Emily Leedham offers a primer on the strike among federal government bargaining units seeking to avoid losing ground, while Jeremy Appel reports on the massive strike vote among WestJet pilots. 

- Finally, Max Fawcett writes that the alt-right takeover of Twitter has allowed Pierre Poilivre to claim one victory over truth in his contrived fight against the CBC. And Martin Lukacs points out that beyond serving to separate more gullible supporters from their money, Poilievre's false outrage also works the refs to help ensure the CBC's coverage remains objectively biased in favour of conservatives. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Snuggled cats.

 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Stephanie Soucheray discusses new research linking COVID-19 to subsequent sleep disturbances and dyspnea. And Linda Geddes reports on findings showing that a growing number of cases of diabetes can also be traced to COVID. 

- John Bell and Alex MacKenzie argue that Canada should develop its own pharmaceutical research and manufacturing infrastructure to treat rare diseases. And Andre Picard highlights how any effective response to the drug poisoning crisis needs to include harm reduction and social supports, rather than being limited to a demand that people immediately sequester themselves in for-profit treatment centres. 

- Meanwhile, the Canadian Press reports on the Moe government's diktat that health care workers conceal the dire state of Saskatchewan's medical system from the opposition. 

- Kate Aronoff discusses how inflated fossil fuel profits over the past couple of years are the direct result of war profiteering. And Julia Conley points out how corporate landlords are taking over more and more U.S. housing and driving up rents. 

- Finally, Alex Birrell calls out Sandra Masters for using convenient allegations of sexism to impose regressive policy choices and misogynistic themes which hurt women. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Jia Li et al. study the causal associations between COVID-19 and numerous types of cancer - finding generally that COVID is associated with increased cancer risk. And Erin Prater reports on the spread of the Arcturus variant as the most transmissible version yet.

- Alex Press discusses how deteriorating working conditions in the trucking industry are leading to safety risks for truckers themselves, and for the general public. And Robert Ovetz and Kevin Van Meter offer some advice to marshal the collective strength of labour to stand up to exploitative employers. 

- Brett Christophers writes that contrary to what people might assume in turning the ownership of public infrastructure over to pension funds, the incentives facing the funds' managers tend toward short-term thinking at the expense of the long-term preservation of the underlying asset. And while Graeme Nuttall and James Bonham offer a theory as to how they'd like employee stock ownership to work, their proposed mandate that employees take on debt to pay owners more than market value for businesses seems to represent little more than a systematic upward transfer of wealth.  

- Finally, Ricardo Tranjan writes that the housing crisis is the result of governments catering to private developers' desire for immediate profit, not the presence of newcomers needed to perform essential services in our communities. 

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Kenyon Wallace writes that the only reason we're not observing large COVID waves is that we've been pushed to accept a perpetual high tide - with all the avoidable illness and death which comes with that. And Bill Hathaway discusses new research showing how the Omicron subvariants in particular avoid our immune system, meaning that their uncontrolled spread and mutation pose especially severe threats.

- Bill McKibben discusses how even after years of unprecedented heat waves, wildfires and other severe weather events, we're likely only approaching the true weight of a climate breakdown.

- Cara McKenna and Martin Lukacs report on the Indigenous communities fighting to avoid the uncontrolled release of toxic tar sands waste into crucial watersheds. And Bob Weber reports on the predictable reality that the UCP's assurances about having contained the initial spill (while concealing it from the people affected) have proven false.

- Blair Fix discusses the redistributive implications of interest rates - and the inequality which inevitably results from a choice to prioritize higher rates of capital return over shared wealth. 

-' Finally, Crawford Kilian reviews Paul Wells' An Emergency in Ottawa, and discusses how it points out the continued need for a reckoning with the systematic breakdown of trust in public institutions and the concurrent rise of the anti-social right. And Euan Thomson comments on the UCP's choice to value religious control over human lives in allocating resources for drug treatment.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Zak Vescera reports on the CCPA's new research showing how an increasing number of jobs in British Columbia are precarious - with already-disadvantaged workers especially likely to be affected. Don Pittis points out the Bank of Canada's continued attempts to hold wages below the rate of inflation, while offering much-needed space for Kaylie Tiessen to point out how that focus results in its being a soldier for capital in an ongoing class war. And Nick French writes that the essence of socialism is rooted in justice for workers pursuing what's rightfully theirs.

- Andrew Petter and Jim Rutkowski write about the value of progressive populism as a tool to make the case for an egalitarian society.  And Rowan Burdge, Jen Kostuchuk and Ismail Askin point out the importance of ensuring that social justice is embodied in any climate plan in order to ensure people see the benefits of a clean energy transition. 

- Meanwhile, Roberto Burgos discusses how the latest IPCC report is both alarming in its expectations, and unduly optimistic in its assumption that we'll manage a full transition away from carbon pollution.

- Finally, David Beers discusses the need to value journalism as a public good - particularly as the Cons and their provincial cousins attempt to stifle any reporting or commentary other than from their own side's propagandists.

Musical interlude

PVRIS - Anywhere But Here

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Kendra Pierre-Louis discusses the need for journalists to cover the massive health risks posed by COVID-19 even as (or even because of) the failure of governments to do so.  

- Jed Anderson calls out the increasing privatization of universities in Canada (facilitated by the systemic underfunding and corporate-oriented management of public post-secondary institutions). And David Moscrop writes that any form of enclosure and privatization of public spaces like Ontario Place would be problematic - though the Ford PC's entirely cronyist version is particularly odious. 

- Peter Waldman, Sinduja Rangarajan and Mark Chediak document how institutional farm ownership has been exacerbating the strain on California's water supply. And the Canadian Press reports on a new study forecasting a wave of retirements among Canadian farm and agricultural producers - raising the risk of takeovers by corporate forces. 

- Manuel Lopez Rostrepo notes that Generation Z is particularly pro-union - but that a shift in structural power will require work to convert that preference into organization and action. 

- Finally, Rae Deer offers a reminder that trickle-down economics has never been anything but a scam to direct more money to rich people. And Cory Doctorow writes about new research confirming the seemingly-obvious point that heavily-advertised goods on social media are likely to be overpriced junk. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Alex Fulton discusses the lessons we should be learning from the response to COVID-19 in preparing for the next pandemic. Richard Payerchin highlights how physicians recognize the need to diagnose and treat long COVID as it afflicts an increasing proportion of the population, but largely lack the means to do so.  And Milos Ajcevic et al. find a connection between cognitive impairment associated with long COVID, and dysfunction in cerebral blood flow observable through MRIs.

- Josh Gabbatiss writes about new research which projects that we're entering an age of decline for fossil fuels. Emily Chung points out what Canada can learn from Sweden's success in replacing oil heating with electric heat pumps. Joe Fassler argues that the disproportionate carbon pollution spewed by the ultra-rich can only be seen as a theft from everybody else. And Kevin Timoney writes about the multiple problems with tar sands tailings ponds - including but not limited to the toxic leaks into drinking water sources which have been concealed by the UCP government and operators alike. 

- John Michael McGrath highlights how the Ford PCs' supposed housing strategy figures to do far more to cause sprawl than to make homes available. Helena Horton writes that a road-building spree is utterly incompatible with any responsible climate strategy. And Matt Gurney notes that Ford's complete lack of credibility in funding promised transit infrastructure makes it impossible to take him seriously on transportation matters generally. 

- The Angus Reid Institute examines how Canadians are responding to additional cost pressures piled on what have long been precarious personal finances. Erin Weir points out that the list of windfall profits which should be tapped into to help the working class includes those emanating from grocery inputs. And Wayne Simpson makes the case to make the grocery rebate permanent to provide predictable support for people living on lower incomes. 

- Finally, Gillian Steward writes that Danielle Smith has chosen to present herself as the face of anti-science quackery and violent bigotry. And Stephen Magusiak reports on the Take Back Alberta group (which appears to be in full control of the UCP) which has been based on organizing exactly those malignant forces. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Playful cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Nina Lakhani reports on the latest data showing greenhouse gas emissions rising at an alarming rate. Bill McKibben discusses the math of climate change - including the vanishing budget for continued carbon pollution if we want to avoid catastrophic outcomes, and the plummeting price of actually making a transition to renewable energy. And Matthew Rosza writes about the foreseeable risks of a world with far less fresh water than we've come to count on. 

- Mitchell Beer writes that pipeline megaprojects invariably result in massive cost overruns, while also pointing out how the plan to offload TMX onto an Indigenous buyer seems designed to result in the transfer of a soon-to-be-stranded asset. 

- Meanwhile, Chris Hatch highlights the latest Conservative carbon tax tantrum. 

- Sharon Lerner reports on the EPA's inexplicable approval of a plastic-based fuel which looks to drastically exacerbate cancer rates among people exposed to it. 

- Finally, Victoria Gibson discusses how Toronto's homelessness crisis only stands to get worse as higher levels of government refuse to contribute - though the city's own focus on policing rather than providing services represents another key part of the problem. But on the bright side, Jason McBride reports on the non-profit Neighbourhood Land Trust's work in ensuring that rental housing is made available based on community need rather than a drive for profit. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading.

- The University of Denver examines how prior infection with COVID-19 produces effects comparable to a traumatic brain injury in worsening the effects of long COVID. And Laise Conde reports on the efforts of Protect Out Province BC (among others) to keep people protected even as the motivation to normalize continued spread is used as an excuse to slash any public health measures, while Meg Duff reports that access to Paxlovid is being restricted even as its function in reducing the severity of long COVID becomes better known. 

- Meanwhile, Mariana Mazzucato discusses the need for our system of drug research and manufacturing to be oriented toward keeping people healthy rather than locking in corporate profit streams. 

- Adam King writes about British Columbia's example in showing how reducing employer interference in organizing can help workers to pursue their collective bargaining rights. 

- Luke Savage discusses how Elon Musk has become a test case in demonstrating that amassing money under a capitalist system has nothing to do with merit. And Nik Popli highlights how food companies have made groceries more expensive through blatant profiteering. 

- Finally, Alex Himelfarb writes that there's nothing prudent about budgetary choices which fall far short of meeting the needs of people and the planet. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Esther Choo and Scott Duke Kominers are the latest to point out the need for a focused effort (comparable to the Operation Warp Speed project to develop the original COVID-19 vaccines) to respond to the public health emergency that is widespread long COVID. Phil Tank highlights how the Moe government's elimination of masking protection in Saskatchewan health care facilities is a purely political decision to cater to anti-science cranks (which figures to produce disastrous health consequences). And Josiah Mortimer reports on the UK's apparent coverup of workplace COVID infections and fatalities in health facilities.

- Max Fawcett writes about the clear connection between strong social safety nets and people's happiness and well-being. Claire Cain Miller and Alicia Parlapiano chart how the U.S. built a functioning welfare state at the outset of the COVID pandemic - and has since dismantled it based on the perceived imperative to stop helping people. Andre La Rosa-Rodriguez reports on the rightful concerns by food banks that governments are entrenching the need for private charity rather than doing anything to ameliorate systemic deprivation. And Moira Welsh reports on the high rates of poverty and precarious housing among older women - and some of the options available to ensure a reasonable standard of living.

- Monica Potts discusses how rural America's combination of moral puritanism and limited economic development traps women based on their family backgrounds and sexual choices.

- Finally, Ann Pettifor writes about the importance of applying the principle that "we can afford what we can do" to the task of transitioning to a clean energy society. And Michael Mann discusses how climate change deniers seem to have finally been left behind in Australia's policy discussions - though many of us know from experience how other delay and obfuscation tactics can temporarily take the place of outright denial with a substantially similar effect.

Musical interlude

Skylar Grey - Show Me Where It Hurts

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Linda McQuaig calls out the Ford PCs for making it even more difficult to hold corporate health care operators to account for sub-par service. And Emma McIntosh, Fatima Syed and Denise Balkissoon discuss Ford's latest sketchy step to turn farmland and industrial areas into new suburban sprawl, 

- Guido Lorenzi and Ivan Werning theorize (PDF) that inflation is best seen as conflict-based, representing the accumulation of price increases by parties with the perceived market power to impose them. And Duncan Kinney offers a reminder that the largest set of money stolen is that pilfered from workers by employers. 

- Colin Woodard discusses how car payments are taking up an increasingly large share of already-strained U.S. incomes. And Paul Kiel examines how the ultrarich are able to claim private jets and yachts as tax deductions while most people have to pay for transportation from after-tax incomes. 

- Finally, J.W. Mason discusses why socialists should be eager to see industrial policy as a tool to ensure that productive capacity is used to meet human needs and develop desirable economic activity (including the tools for a just transition). And Kevin Anderson offers an overview of what an effective plan to limit warming to 1.5 degrees will require - while noting that what's needed far exceeds what any major actors currently have on the table. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Lisa Schnirring reports on new research showing how infection with COVID-19 tends to lead to extended sick leave, while Helen Twohig et al. survey the prevalance and effects of long COVID among children. And Alec Salloum reports that workers and experts alike are rightly appalled at the Moe government's political order to expose patients and staff to needless risk by removing masking requirements. 

- Justin Chandler interviews Marilyn Struthers about the role municipalities and non-profit organizations can play in ensuring people have homes. Ximena Gonzalez reports on the UCP's choice to make matters worse by paying to privatize existing housing and enrich landlords. And Annette Desmarais and Andre Magnan report on the takeover of prairie farmland by institutional investors, squeezing out anybody who doesn't have multi-billion-dollar pools of capital to to throw around. 

- David Ho highlights why we can't accept the theoretical possibility of future carbon dioxide removal as an answer to the urgent need to reduce emissions now. Damian Carrington reports on new research suggesting that ice sheets may be collapsing far faster than expected. 

- Meanwhile, Rob Miller calls out Danielle Smith for deliberately blocking any transition to cleaner and cheaper renewable energy in order to serve her party's fossil fuel donors. And Alex Robinson writes about the corporate lobbying aimed at undermining any international effort to reduce plastic pollution. 

- Finally, Owen Jones writes that there's ample reason to fear the decline of the West - not because of trumped-up claims about morality, but because of real losses in health, well-being and equality. And Michael Harris discusses how Pierre Poilievre has bet his leadership and his party on MAGA politics - even in the absence of much reason to think Canadians are willing to let them carry the day.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- IOS Press discusses new research showing that COVID-19 accelerates the cognitive decline in people already living with dementia. F. Perry Wilson examines how COVID has both directly exacerbated the U.S.' fatality rate, and further exposed existing deficiencies in public health. And John Klein is duly scathing in responding to the Moe government's decision to eliminate masking protections in Saskatchewan health facilities (particularly just in time for a holiday in the midst of a wave to maximize the resulting damage). 

- Meanwhile, Andrew Nikiforuk examines how Danielle Smith and the UCP are doing their utmost to systematically any expectation that elected officials will operate with even a modicum of honesty or public concern, rather than exploiting every available weakness in order to funnel goodies to supporters.  

- Dylan Scott discusses how the development of limited private-sector competition has barely made a dent in price-gouging for EpiPens in the U.S. And Nicholas Frew reports on the growing recognition that work as a firefighter should be treated as a risk factor for cancer. 

- Molly Crabapple reports on the growth of a tenants' movement in New York to counteract the abuses of greedy landlords, while Jen St. Denis exposes the brazenness of one Vancouver landlord which attempted to use its own failure to comply with building codes as an excuse to declare a building "decommissioned" in order to clear out tenants. And Jeral Poskey examines how the U.S.' focus on parking over all other planning considerations has led to immense costs in health and well-being. 

- Finally, Andrew MacLeod reports on a new study showing the connection between children facing preventable risk factors at age 10, and a lifetime of social issues. (Though it's worth noting that the case for providing support to children at risk shouldn't be taken as an argument against universal or broad-based programs which aren't designed to devote resources to exclusion.)

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Stretching cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Andre Santa Cruz et al. study the immunological dysfunction that looks to be the norm for up to six months after a COVID-19 infection. And Geraldine Nouailles et al. find that there's substantial room for improvement in the types of vaccines currently available, both in the use of live-attenuated vaccines and a shift to nasal delivery. 

- Holly Williams reports that more UK workers are facing long-term sickness than ever before. Dawn Bowdish calls out how Canada has allowed needless suffering and death by refusing to take basic steps to limit the spread of COVID, with particularly dire effects for elderly people. And Yvette Brend points out how we're falling behind other wealthier countries in avoiding infant mortality. 

- Cory Doctorow discusses how the acceptance and propagation of the laughable assumptions underlying laissez-faire economic models has produced disastrous consequences for the people faced with the resulting decisions. And Annie Nova talks to Matthew Desmond about the reality that poverty is highly profitable - meaning there are vested and well-funded interests fighting to ensure people continue to be trapped in it. 

- Finally, Vivian Underhill and Lourdes Vera discuss how many Americans are drinking water contaminated with toxic chemicals due to governments' refusal to regulate fracking. Kiah Lucero discusses the UCP's choice to conceal the Kearl toxic chemical leak from communities and other governments. And Julia Kane, Lina Tran and Diana Kruzman note that the effects of climate change include dangerous changes to groundwater. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Umair Haque writes about the implications of facing a deliberate decline in both environmental and economic well-being for the sole purpose of facilitating the short-term extraction of profits. Daniel Gilbert, Todd Frankel and Joseph Menn report on Silicon Valley Bank's choice to discard any risk modeling that accurately pointed out the dangers of its lending strategy before its collapse. Bryce Covert weighs in on how the Federal Reserve's determination to squelch economic and wage growth (but not the profiteering which is the actual cause of inflation) represents little more than class war against workers. And Peter Hannam reports on a study showing how Australia's tax system has been set up to make taxpayers fund inheritances for the super-wealthy at the expense of social programs and benefits. 

- Zia Weise and Federica Di Sario report on Antonio Gutteres' call for wealthy countries to accelerate their commitments to stop emitting carbon pollution. Geoff Dembicki's Senate testimony highlights the need to investigate the fraud of the fossil fuel sector in sowing doubt about science that it knew to be accurate. Yves Smith discusses why market fundamentalism is utterly incompatible with averting climate breakdown. And Stephanie Roe offers a reminder of the ways to help at the individual level - even if they need to be paired with major systemic progress. 

- Euan Thomson and Petra Schulz comment on Pierre Poilievre's rage farming in the face of any empirical reality when it comes to harm reduction - though of course the principle applies to all kinds of policy areas. 

- Shawn Micallef points out John Tory's grim legacy as the mayor of Toronto bent on impeding any social progress in the name of austerity while still harming the city's finances in the process. And Mario Canseco discusses new polling showing that a strong majority of Canadians favour 15-minute cities and the underlying principle of accessible communities (even in the face of the petro-right's rage machine). 

- Finally, John Sewell writes that anybody actually wanting to reduce crime (rather than stoking an environment of fear) should be working on ensuring people have the necessities of life, rather than pouring money into arming police forces. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Statistics Canada offers some new (if dated) data on the spread of COVID-19 in Canada - with over 40% of those with antibodies from a past infection having no idea they'd ever had COVID. And Carla Johnson examines the inescapable answer to the question as to whether we've allowed COVID-19 to win over humanity.

- Brendan Haley discusses how the U.S.' sudden infusion of investment in a green economy exposes Canada's lack of any meaningful industrial policy. And Brett Dolter points out that we should be far more concerned with getting to balance (or better) in the global carbon budget than in government balance sheets.

- Gordon Laxer notes that any meaningful study of foreign interference in Canadian politics needs to include a strong focus on the control exerted by the fossil fuel sector. And Kristoffer Tigue examines how oil tycoons and their puppet politicians continue to water down any attempt at agreement on the necessary steps to avert climate breakdown.

- Gregory Beatty highlights the case for universal reproductive medicine (which B.C. has since introduced).

- Finally, the Star's editorial board calls out the cruelty motivating Doug Ford's elimination of health care for the people who have the least.

Musical interlude

Stoto - Many Dreams Ago

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- The John Snow Project discusses how government minimization of the ongoing risk of COVID-19 - including the removal of what few policies remained to limit its spread - is pushing people to neglect the continued danger. And Josh Lynn reports on the latest data which shows that COVID remains a threat to Saskatchewanians, with 18 deaths in the last two-week reporting period alone. 

- John Burn-Murdoch examines why life expectancies in the U.S. are falling from their already worrisome levels. And in a couple of prime examples of the risks which have been deemed acceptable to impose on the public, Jake Johnson reports on the leak of a radioactive compound from a nuclear power plant, while Holly Yan et al. report on a train derailment and ethanol spill resulting in a fire and evacuation. 

- All of which makes it particularly damning that the Libs are throwing public money at the nuclear and fossil fuel sectors. Bill McGuire points out the folly of the UK's similar attempt to brand subsidies for increased oil and gas development (and associated carbon pollution) as somehow being part of a net zero emissions plan. And Nils Markusson discusses the utter failure of carbon capture and storage to meet even its selective promises to reduce emissions.  

- Luke Mari writes about the need for middle-density development to make communities walkable and liveable. And John Lorinc reports on the Ford PC's plan to put Ontario Place - including its nominally public areas - fully under corporate control. 

- Finally, Luke LeBrun reports on the Canada Revenue Agency's own recognition that Canadians want to see far more action to confront tax dodging by wealthy people and corporations. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Hayden Klein reports on new research suggesting a connection between COVID-19 infection and increased cancer rates (particularly in younger people). And the Trade Union Council and Long COVID Support survey how workers with long COVID have been treated by employers - finding that one in seven has lost their job, and two-thirds have faced employment discrimination for having the temerity to suffer from a disability.  

- Greg Jericho offers a reminder that allowing workers' pay to keep up with price increases shouldn't be treated as an affront to the economy. Valerie Tarasuk and Tim Li point out how the Trudeau Libs' short-term "grocery rebate" falls far short of the secure access to essential goods. And Armine Yalnizyan discusses how the Libs' budget falls far short of any self-proclaimed feminism in doing nothing to respond to the immediate needs of women who have been disproportionately hit by both a wave of inflation and stingy monetary policy. 

- Adam Radwanski and Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood each point out the problems with Libs' reliance on the corporate sector to dictate the terms of any climate progress. Merran Smith and Trevor Melanson point out the reality that fossil fuel jobs are disappearing based on forces far beyond the control of any Canadian government, making it thoroughly counterproductive to put off a transition to clean energy which will actually provide good long-term employment opportunities. And Alastair Marsh reports on new analysis showing that thanks to plummeting prices, there's effectively no cost to a shift to clean energy alternatives. 

- Finally, John Michael McGrath weighs in on the Ford PCs' callous decision to strip health care away from people without current proof of insurance. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Ritika Goel, Vanessa Redditt and Michaela Beder discuss how the Ford PCs are cruelly taking health care away from the marginalized people who need it most. And CBC News reports on the preferred right-wing model of privatized profit centres threatening patients into paying for upsold services. 

- But on the bright side, Harold Meyerson writes that California is taking steps toward the public production of insulin and other medication to ensure that corporate profit motives don't restrict access to needed medicine. 

- Francis Sedgmore points out how our already-worrisome expectations for an overheating Arctic region may underestimate actual temperature changes. And Moritz Langer et al. examine the threat posed by the thawing of permafrost at sites with industrial contamination. 

- Damian Carrington reports on a new study which concludes that the UK is completely unprepared for the readily foreseeable effects of a climate breakdown. And Kristoffer Tigue reports on the corporate interests (and their puppet governments) who insisted on watering down science-based recommendations in the latest IPCC report. 

- Finally, Adam Minter writes about the growing push to ensure a right to repair consumer electronics. And Michael Woods reports on the preliminary steps toward its implementation in the recent federal budget. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Couched cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Carrie Arnold examines our current state of knowledge about the prevalence and effects of long COVID. Tanya Lewis discusses the particularly acute risks COVID-19 creates in the course of a pregnancy. And Violet Blue writes about the dissonance involved in an ongoing pandemic having been erased from our culture. 

- Shandel Menezes reports on the wholesale corporate buyout of what was previously affordable housing, with the result that a basic human need and right is being priced out of reach. Cory Doctorow discusses how dollar stores and other corporate giants are systematically squeezing out every possible dime (and undermining every possible competitor) from rural and underserved communities. And Marc Fawcett-Atkinson points out how the federal government's current subsidy for groceries in northern communities services primarily to goose profits rather than to make food available. 

- Robert Kuttner discusses what comes next as neoliberalism is exposed as having nothing to offer the vast majority of people other than exploitation and precarity. And Martin Regg Cohn argues that the future of democracy depends on our winning battles for information, truth and equality over well-funded forces pushing the opposite of each.  

- Finally, Scharon Harding reports on the EU's proposed effort to entrench some right of repair for consumer electronics - though its plans are based on keeping control in the hands of manufacturers rather than consumers and independent providers. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Nicole Grether writes about the hundreds of thousands of young people orphaned by COVID-19 in the U.S. alone, while Kyodo News reports on research in Japan documenting how acute brain syndrome following infection can be fatal for children. Lisa Riley Roche tells the story of a teacher facing the lasting effects of long COVID, while Heather Stewart discusses the fight for fairness in the workplace for people already suffering from the condition. And Lizz Schumer highlights how the lack of action to help people dealing with long COVID fits into the wider pattern of failing to acknowledge and accommodate invisible disabilities. 

- Selena Simmons-Duffin discusses the U.S.' collapsing life expectancy due to multiple avoidable causes of death. Tom Krisher reports on new research showing that ever-larger SUVs and trucks are causing escalating numbers of pedestrian fatalities. And Bonnie Allen offers a memorial for the 1,200 Saskatchewanians who have died of drug poisonings in just the last three years (as the Moe government has gone out of its way to eliminate any harm reduction options). 

- Kim Willsher writes about the role of women on the front lines of France's pension protests in refusing to be told they'll have to work until they die. And Jason Resnikoff discusses how solidarity - not automation - is the key variable in determining whether workers will have the leverage to protect their interests. 

- Andrew Longhurst, Amit Arya and Lesley Barron point out that Western Canada's experience with for-profit surgery has provided nothing but a cautionary tale - even as Doug Ford is determined to barge ahead with corporatized medicine in Ontario. And Patrick Rucker, Maya Miller and David Armstrong expose how one major U.S. health insurer is simply denying claims as a matter of course, ensuring that patients facing medical difficulties are systematically forced to fight their insurer at the same time. 

- Finally, Saber Chowdhury and Ed Markey comment on the need to phase out fossil fuels now, rather than looking for excuses to keep dumping carbon pollution into our atmosphere. And David Schlissel discusses how nuclear reactors are a thoroughly inadequate alternative, costing more and taking far more time to build than renewable energy sources and storage options. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Meara Conway examines the absolute frivolousness of the Saskatchewan Party's Ottawa-bashing, while Stephen Magusiak offers a reminder of the oil-backed astroturf project behind Alberta sovereignty messaging (and its Saskatchewan copycats). And Simon Enoch discusses Scott Moe's choice to keep underfunding public services even when the province has more money than it knows what to do with. 

- Meanwhile, Sheila Block, Randy Robinson and Ricardo Tranjan point out that Doug Ford has chosen to "balance" Ontario's budget by starving public services which are already on the brink of collapse. And Helena Pamic discusses how food banks are having to serve a growing share of Ontario's working class as the necessities of life become increasingly unaffordable.

- Adam McKay rightly points out that we're continuing to fail to treat the climate crisis as an emergency even as its direct effects become all the more frequent and stark. And Andrew Nikiforuk writes that by any reasonable measure, the skyrocketing price tag on the climate-busting Trans Mountain pipeline expansion would be treated as a massive scandal.

- Finally, Timothy Noah discusses how the Republicans (who of course set the agenda for Canada's Cons and their right-wing allies) have become unabashed cheerleaders for the exploitation of child labour.

Musical interlude

Reflekt feat. Delline Bass - Need To Feel Loved

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Linda McQuaig discusses how the Biden administration is providing the Trudeau Libs with an example to follow in ensuring that the ultra-wealthy contribute something closer to their fair share of the cost of a functional society. And Alexandria Nassopoulos highlights the realities facing Canadians trying to survive on grossly insufficient social supports, while Steve Paikin writes about the absurdity of the Ford PCs pouring more money into subsidizing electricity use than major public priorities including long-term care. 

- Kelly Crowe exposes how Statistics Canada took funding from big pharma to produce a propaganda piece under the control of industry representatives.  

- Rebecca Solnit discusses the urgent need to start reducing fossil fuel use immediately, rather than kicking the can down the road based on implausible and self-serving claims about geoengineering and carbon capture as an excuse to keep burning oil and gas. Ayesha Tandon reports on new research showing a surge in methane emissions from wetlands as yet another feedback loop which is leading to an even faster breakdown than anticipated. And Paul Abela warns about the disastrous consequences of approaching the climate crisis with an optimism bias.    

- Finally, Andrew Nikiforuk reports on the Alberta's belated recognition - following a previous denial - of the reality that the province's largest earthquake ever was likely caused by tar sands wastewater disposal. And Charles Rusnell reports that Laurie Pushor is giving his previous high-water mark for villainy of "ripping off nuns" a run for its money by covering up a toxic leak into drinking water at the behest of the UCP's fossil fuel paymasters. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Dave Hansen et al. discuss the attempt in progress by publishers to attack the Internet Archive in order to restrict access to materials. And Walled Culture examines the problem of trying to preserve any "public domain" at all when the profit motive militates toward turning everything into a limited-access profit centre. 

- In a similar vein, Taylor Noakes implores Doug Ford to learn from the success of Montreal's Parc Jean-Drapeau as a model for land use, rather than turning public park land into a developer's plaything. But Elizabeth Payne reports that Ford's determination to monetize his stay in power extends to limiting hospitals' ability to operate in order to divert staff to for-profit surgical businesses.  

- Nicholas Hune-Brown writes that the housing crisis (and the lack of an effective response) can be traced largely to the fact that artificial scarcity represents a windfall for a lucky few. 

- Arielle Samuelsson discusses the IPCC's latest climate report, including its recognition that oil and gas use has to be reduced for us to have any hope of limiting the damage to our planet. Oxford University Press points out new research confirming that tax policy alone can't be expected to get carbon pollution down to a liveable level. And Brian Kahn reports on an emerging academic view that fossil fuel companies can and should be held criminally responsible for knowingly causing deaths. 

- Finally, Scientific Frontline takes note of research into new water treatment to remove "forever chemicals" from the water we drink. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- The John Snow Project calls out the dangers of labeling COVID-19 infection as an immune-boosting mechanism, rather than an unequivocal harm to individual health. Jake Miller discusses new research on the groups at particular risk of long COVID. And Remember Rebuild SK has developed an online memorial to ensure we recognize the lives lost to the preventable spread of disease, rather than focusing only on numbers. 

- UNITE examines how profiteering has been soaring in Britain (as it has elsewhere) as corporations use the excuse of inflation to extract more profits from the public. And David Dayen writes that the bailouts handed out to Silicon Valley Bank and other failed financial institutions are the direct result of deregulation premised on the claim that public oversight wouldn't be needed to prevent exactly that consequence.  

- Timothy Noah writes about Mark Robert Rank and Matthew Desmond's recognition that poverty is the result of policy choices and imbalances of power - including the ability of landlords to wring higher profits out of poorer neighbourhoods. And Brittany Freeman reports on the plight of residents who are blocked from making payments demanded by homeowners' associations, then forced to fund obstructionist litigation against themselves in order to resist foreclosure. 

- Finally, Fiona Harvey reports on the IPCC's latest report - including its "final warning" that we need to act now in order to limit the damage to 1.5 degrees. Laura Thomas-Walters argues that climate activism needs to focus on challenging the power structures which have entrenched the fossil fuel economy, rather than appeals to the general public. Emma Shemko writes about the deep connections between the climate crisis and environmental racism. And June Sekera highlights how carbon capture and storage represents a delay and distraction tactic rather than an antidote to a climate breakdown. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Cats at rest.