Musical interlude

Nors Kode feat. Michelle Featherstone - I'm On Fire

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Sigal Samuel discusses the potential to better target investments toward well-being - though it seems odd to criticize measures of health as a standard alongside GDP. And Cory Doctorow writes about Deb Chachra's observation that we should view infrastructure as a form of mutual aid.

- Carl Meyer reports on Suncor CEO Rich Kruger's dissembling and evasion in response to questioning about his company's plans to increase carbon pollution for decades to come. Markham Hislop highlights how the regular release of toxic chemicals into drinking water for the tar sands should be treated as an intolerable regulatory failure rather than merely a PR issue for the oil industry. And Shari Narine reports on the Assembly of First Nations' message that Indigenous involvement is vital to the development of climate change solutions. 

- Douglas Main points out the glaring gap between the promise of recycling plastics, and the reality that plastic pollution is overwhelming our natural environment. And andrea bennett interviews Taras Grescoe about the need to work with natural ecosystems to secure our food supply, rather than presuming that industrialized monocultures controlled by greedy rentiers are our only option.

- Finally, Luke LeBrun exposes how the Cons invited violent extremists and conspiracy theorists into Parliament as "VIP" guests. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Bordered cats.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Arijit Chakravarthy and Martha Lincoln offer a reminder that COVID-19 isn't about to go away just because we're refusing to deal with it. And CBC News and Adam Toy report on renewed masking requirements in Manitoba and Alberta health care facilities respectively. 

- Meanwhile, Roberta Lexier and Joe Vipond write about the need to respond to critical threats such as COVID-19 and the climate crisis with facts rather than fantasies. But Mike De Souza exposes how Danielle Smith is systematically preventing Albertans from having access to anything of the sort. 

- Matthew Rosza asks why a climate breakdown which is making our planet uninhabitable is somehow being ignored rather than treated as the top news story of our time. And Andrew Nikiforuk points out how  the Trans Mountain pipeline is proving to be an ever-deepening money pit (even as its best-case scenario would result in its worsening the climate crisis for the sake of enriching oil barons).  

- Brian Doucet discusses the housing strategies which have helped to somewhat alleviate the shortage of affordable homes in some Canadian communities - with public housing authorities and protections for tenants serving as the most promising examples. But Rumneek Johal reports that real estate executives are shoveling massive amounts of cash at the federal Cons in an effort to ensure federal housing policy serves to goose their profits rather than meeting people's needs.  

- Finally, Alex Purdye examines how greedflation is at the root of the growth of increasing food prices (and grocery chain profits). 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Somasetty Suresh examines the symptoms associated with long COVID, while Elizabeth Cooney reports on new research hinting at the depletion of peripheral serotonin as one of its causes. And Jamie Ducharme points out that the CDC (and other public health authorities) still has much-needed recommendations as to isolation in place - even if few organizations are bothering to allow people to abide by them. 

- Meanwhile, Peter Simons discusses how apparent "patient advocacy organizations" are often funded and controlled by pharmaceutical and medical supply companies seeking to goose their own sales. 

- Seth Borenstein reports that even in the wake of multiple catastrophes caused by a climate breakdown in progress, the U.S. is producing more carbon-polluting oil than ever before. And Capital & Main highlights the inability of tree-planting to actually counter the harms from continued carbon pollution. 

- Cory Doctorow writes about the long-awaited declaration of invalidity of Landmark Technology's patent which claimed exclusive rights over virtually every aspect of online business operations - while also pointing out the absurdity of allowing such grossly unproductive rentier capitalism to be as profitable as it's been for decades.  

- Finally, Elijah Anderson discusses how any success and prosperity among Black Americans has been used to stoke white backlash. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Andrew Freedman examines how the climate breakdown is generating consequences far beyond those foreseen by previous projections. Seth Borenstein reports on the immense loss of Antarctic ice - and the danger it poses to coastal areas in particular. And Michael Mann points to the rise and fall of the Akkadian Empire as a precedent as to what can happen when heat and drought force people to migrate en masse. 

- The IEA offers a roadmap to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, with an emphasis on a rapid conversion to clean energy. And David Vetter notes that the arguments used by petropoliticians looking for excuses to block renewable power sources lack any basis in reality.

- But Sarah Munoz discusses how the oil industry is bent on spinning the climate crisis as a matter of individual responsibility rather than social organization in order to keep on spewing carbon pollution for decades to come. And Chris Tomlinson reports on the increased demands on energy systems (and resulting cost to consumers) from power-hogging crypto miners, while Victor Tangerman points out that the use of AI technology may produce a similar effect. 

- Devi Sridhar discusses how the UK Cons (like so many other right-wing parties) used the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to enrich cronies who lacked any ability to deliver what they were paid for. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow writes that we have every reason to be skeptical of corporate shows of progressivity - but that the appropriate response is for workers to organize and stand up to bosses on teir own terms, not to accept the reactionary position that nothing is worth improving. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Damian Carrington reports on new research showing that the cost of damage caused by extreme weather is already upwards of $16 million per hour (and escalating). And Peter Kalmus writes about the need to wind down the fossil fuel industry rather than accepting the loss of a habitable planet. 

- But Helena Horton reports that the UK Cons are joining other right-wing parties in trying to stop the ongoing transition to clean energy. Matt Simmons reports on the BC Energy Regulator's complete failure to enforce any regulatory requirements for gas pipeline construction, while Julia Simone-Rutgers reports on the systematic defunding of environmental monitoring and enforcement in Manitoba. And Andrew Nikiforuk discusses how the UCP is once again trying to sneak dirty coal projects past courts and the public alike. 

- And while governments are going out of their way to cater to the sociopaths looking to sell off humanity's future to make a quick buck, Nina Lakhari, Damien Gayle and Matthew Taylor report that they're also using the power of the state to criminalize climate activism. 

- David Climenhaga discusses how the UCP's choice of private telehealth providers has gone bankrupt, leaving millions without the health care they were forced to accept through corporate means.

- Finally, Mack DeGeurin does report on the approval of a right-to-repair law in California.  

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Sameer Elsayed offers a primer on what people need to know about current COVID-19 risks. Mary Van Beusekom discusses the likelihood that long COVID is being underdiagnosed in children who may not have either the same symptoms as adults, or the vocabulary to describe them. And Theocharis Kromidas et al. examine the incidence of long COVID by occupation, with education and care workers facing a higher risk of long-term effects. 

- Juan Cole theorizes that lawsuits against fossil fuel conglomerates could make for a turning point in the fight against climate breakdown. But Christopher Pollon warns that Canada's resource extraction sector offers a blueprint for corporate exploiters to avoid paying for the damage they inflict on our planet. 

- Cory Doctorow discusses the information imbalance which makes it impossible for citizens to hold corporate wrongdoers to account. And Brewster Kahle writes that U.S. libraries are facing twin threats from greedy publishers and anti-knowledge extremists. 

- But on the bright side, Amanda Marcotte points out how parents are pushing back against the bigoted right's attempted takeover of public schools. 

- Finally, Jennifer Liu highlights how workers are bearing the massive cost of being pushed back to the office even after it's been proven they can work just as effectively through alternate arrangements. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Geometric cats.

Musical interlude

Bob Moses - Enough to Believe

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Splayed cats.

Musical interlude

John Summit feat. Echoes - Human

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Chris Hedges discusses how the end of empire-based colonialism has only given way to an even more exploitative corporate version. And Cory Doctorow points out how surveillance capitalism inevitably turns its resources toward defrauding the people being monitored and manipulated. 

- Matthew Rosza interviews Michael Mann about the need to pair accurate information about the threat posed by climate change with discussion of how it's possible to take positive action. 

- Kevin Drum graphs the connection between lead contamination and murder rates in Washington DC. And Mira Rojanasakul reports on the rise of saltwater levels in New Orleans, with the foreseeable results including the salination of drinking water sources and the release of lead and other matter from pipes.  

- Bob Weber reports on new polling showing a strong majority of Albertans opposed to the UCP's attacks on renewable energy. And Gary Mason calls out Danielle Smith's plan to use Albertans' retirement savings as a slush for for the oil industry as a Brexit-style calamity in the making. 

- Finally, Emily Leedham reports on the Manitoba PCs' choice to offer only meaningless guesswork in place of any plan to ensure people have access to health care. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Thais Melquiades de Lima et al. study how the tonsils are a major site for COVID-19 persistence in children. And Penny Daflos reports on British Columbia's restoration of mask mandates in health facilities as the ongoing pandemic persistently fails to go away on its own. 

- Ricky Lanusse discusses how Antarctica is warming far faster than predicted, while Al Jazeera reports on the worsening loss of sea ice in particular. And Helena Horton reports on new data showing that Switzerland has lost a tenth of its glaciers in just the last two years, while Planet Snapshots points out the tipping points being reached based on the potential melting of Greenland's ice sheets. 

- Yet Stewart Lee warns that even as our living environment becomes more and more endangered, any discussion of environmental issues is being hijacked by the forces bent on our destruction.  

- Finally, Ricardo Acuna highlights how the UCP's attempt to steal Albertans' pensions to further enrich their oil buddies is based on assumptions that fall far short of passing the laugh test. 

Wednesday Night Cat Blogging

Drowsy cats.

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Leonie Thorne reports on new data showing that COVID-19 was Australia's third-leading cause of death in 2022 even as conventional wisdom decreed that the pandemic in progress be ignored. And Christopher Waddell examines (PDF) the lessons Canada should have recognized for future health emergencies from COVID, while Andre Picard asks whether we've learned anything to prepare for another pandemic even while in the midst of a continuing one. 

- Blair Fix takes a look at the mountain of evidence showing that inequality has been worsening over the past few decades as public policy has catered more and more to corporate interests. Cory Doctorow examines how Amazon has enshittified its services to extract more and more from buyers and sellers alike. And Debbie Cenziper et al. expose how Philips Respironics covered up known dangers of tainted breathing machines, putting hundreds of thousands of vulnerable children at avoidable risk in order to avoid answering for defects in their products. 

- Gordon Laxer discusses how any serious conversation about foreign meddling in Canadian governance needs to start by recognizing the grossly outsized influence of the foreign-owned oil sector. Claire O'Manique writes that we can't afford to keep giving carbon polluters a free pass for the damage they're doing to our living environment. And Michael Mann writes that while we've already failed to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees, we can't give up on the work that can still be done to rein in catastrophic climate change. 

- Finally, John Woodside reports on the warning from numerous nuclear safety experts as to the costs and risks of the small modular reactors being pushed by the Trudeau government (along with several right-wing provincial governments).  

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Saima Iqbal discusses new research showing how much of the COVID-19 virus people emit while contagious. And Erica Edwards reports on the development of blood tests to help confirm the biological basis of long COVID. 

- Emile Torres warns that the chaotic and catastrophic summer of 2023 may seem mild compared to the climate effects we'll experience in the years to come. And Katharine Sanderson reports on temperature monitoring which shows that we've likely already exceeded the 1.5 degree barrier which the Paris accord was intended to avoid breaching. 

- Gordon Brown points out the obvious reality that fossil fuel extractors rolling in windfall profits need to be contributing to the cost of fighting the climate crisis. But Valeri Volcovici reports on Antonio Guterres' recognition that their naked greed is what's gotten us into the mess in the first place, while Natasha Bulowski reports on the rare call for Suncor's CEO to answer for his plan to push dirty tar sands developments even as the planet burns.  

- Lucas Powers reports that Doug Ford's promise that deregulation and the elimination of rent controls would somehow make affordable housing more available has predictably proven false. 

- Finally, David Prisciak reports on the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission's finding that actual vulnerable children are being utterly neglected by the Moe government when it comes to providing resources to address reading disabilities. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Bruce Arthur discusses how last week's rallies for bigotry are reflective of a broader social illness which is being encouraged by right-wing parties and politicians. And Charlie Angus writes about his experience on the receiving end of violent authoritarian rhetoric and personal threats.  

- John Lorinc points out that the corruption behind Doug Ford's plans to turn Ontario Place into a spa (and ultimately a casino) includes massive public costs for water and wastewater infrastructure to pump money into the pockets of Ford's buddies. And Lulu Ramadan reports on Boeing's attempts to escape any responsibility to clean up the Duwamish River in Seattle after consistently claiming it as a free dumping ground for chemicals. 

- Taylor Noakes discusses CAPP's utterly misleading spin which claims the oil sector will cut emissions while ignoring its plans to release the tar sands carbon bomb. And the Mercator Research Institute studies how solar energy and storage are both plummeting in price, making a clean energy supply more affordable than dirty fossil fuels even if we weren't going to account for the environmental costs of carbon dumping. 

- Cory Doctorow examines how Apple has blocked users from repairing their devices in order to ensure a continued market based on mandated obsolescence. 

- Finally, Kevin Drum highlights the drastic difference in pay and benefits between unionized and non-unionized workforces in the U.S.' private sector. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Stephanie Soucheray discusses new research showing how people with existing health problems are at substantially higher risk of long COVID. And Helen Floersh points out a new study on how different COVID-19 variants are adapting to evade immunity. 

- George Monbiot writes about the oil industry's constant lobbying and propaganda aimed at keeping us addicted to fossil fuels even as they poison us and destroy our living environment. And Gary Fuller points out how the trend toward larger vehicles results in more pollution and more dangerous roads. 

- Bryan Walsh notes that on a global scale, any gains against extreme poverty have slowed to a crawl (even as the top-end wealth accumulation which is spun as helping the cause of raising lower-level incomes continues to accelerate). 

- Oshan Jarow highlights how the US was able to put a massive dent in child poverty in the midst of a pandemic by lifting restrictions on access to social benefits - only to push children back into deprivation at the first available opportunity. And Connie Mason and Leah Hamilton examine the roots of the "parents' rights" language being used as a pretext for attacking and outing vulnerable children. 

- Finally, Thomas Zimmer discusses how a "polarization" frame gives cover to the cultivation of violent extremism on the right. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Adele Waters writes about the large numbers of UK doctors who are suffering from long COVID as a result of their efforts to care for patients - but who have been abandoned to financial ruin as a result. Elizabeth Cooney examines the likelihood of long COVID as the result of a repeat infection. Thanarath Imsuwansri et al. study the safety and effectiveness of nasal spray in neutralizing the spread of COVID.  And Alexander Tin reports on the Biden administration's decision to resume providing free COVID tests, rather than treating a continuing public health crisis primarily as a profit centre. 

- Meanwhile, Andrew Nikiforuk discusses how the e. coli breakout in Calgary daycare centres can be traced to both the specific unsanitary conditions at a single outsourced kitchen, and factory food production in general.  

- Andrea Houston asks whether the U.S. and Canada are headed toward a genocide against LGBTQ+ people, as anti-trans bigots consider themselves empowered to use the language of eradication due in no small part to their legitimization by conservative parties. Gil McGowan discusses how the wording comes directly from the fascist playbook. And Jackie Wong makes clear that nothing about the attack on trans people has anything to do with making children safer.  

- Finally, Max Fawcett examines the role of Stephen Harper and the increasingly anti-democratic IDU in discussing why the Cons have such an affinity for Narendra Modi and other fascist governments.