Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Andrew Dessler offers a reminder that it's still possible to alter the trajectory of the climate breakdown if we take steps to stop spewing carbon pollution. And Fatima Syed discusses Ontario's shuttering of coal power plants as an example of how a modicum of will and effort can make major changes. But Amy Westervelt highlights how the fossil fuel industry is determined to prevent a transition from happening - and has largely enlisted the power of governments to stifle the prospect. 

- Aaron Cantu discusses how oil operators are staying away from wells in California if they're made responsible for cleanup costs. And Amanda Follett Hosgood reports on Enbridge's decision not to build the Westcoast Connector pipeline based on a lack of business merit after receiving approval a decade ago. But Max Fawcett warns that there's another attempt afoot try to ram a Northern Gateway pipeline through B.C. - with Donald Trump's election serving as the latest excuse. 

- Victor Tangermann reports on Tesla's release of large amounts of dangerous wastewater around its plant in Austin. And Sharon Lerner and Al Shaw report on the FDA's scientific documentation of the dangers of formaldehyde as an air pollutant - but note that it's refusing to reduce the risk to the people affected. 

- Jason Murphy discusses how long COVID is affecting health and well-being in Australia. And Andre Picard takes note of the danger of an avian flu pandemic which governments seem entirely determined to ignore in the name of business as usual. 

- Finally, Carol Cadwalladr examines how billionaire ownership of major media outlets has resulted in the distortion of the information available to citizens. Rumneek Johal points out that coverage of CUPW's Canada Post strike has been glaringly slanted toward the interests of management and the corporate sector. And Alex Cosh observes that Canada's business lobby is determined to inflict austerity on the public in order to funnel public money to defense contractors. 

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. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content for your Friday reading.

- Gavin Yamey et al. observe that a push for vaccine equity - and the retention of public health measures until it can be achieved - are musts to avoid foreseeable sickness and death from COVID-19. And Gregg Gonsalves calls out the recklessness and hubris of the officials who are insulated from the worst effects of the pandemic - and thus causing it to spread further while laughing at their own irresponsibility. 

- Zak Vescera reports that COVID-19 has put even more strain on a Saskatchewan health care system which was already breaking under the weight of Saskatchewan Party neglect. Bashir Jalloh contrasts Scott Moe's eagerness to throw money at empty buildings and beds along with management fads against his refusal to pay the workers needed to keep our health system functional. And Steven Lewis warns that the province's care workers are burned out and demoralized by the constant failures of Moe's government - and will keep going elsewhere if we don't make Saskatchewan a place worth staying. 

- Helena Horton reports on research showing that right-wing populist parties serve as an obstacle to effective climate policy. And that reality may help to explain Canada's place as a rogue super-emitter on the world stage. 

- Jacqueline Best discusses the numerous flaws with shouting "stop printing money!" as a response to inflation - though it's worth noting that Pierre Poilievre has moved on to a "stop stopping printing money!" complaint anyway. And Dan Darrah is the latest to highlight how Poilievre's answer to the lack of affordable housing is similarly off base. 

- Meanwhile, the Canadian Press notes that most Canadians don't buy the elite-driven push for massive defence spending - particularly at a time when help for people is being slashed in the name of post-pandemic austerity. 

- Finally, Richard Feinberg writes about the need to challenge the real concentration of money and power which has left far too many people on the precipice of disaster in order to funnel profits into the hands of the greediest few. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Peter Kalmus discusses how climate scientists are increasingly turning to civil disobedience to try to alert people to the need for immediate action. Adam Radwanski discusses how the Libs' budget falls far short of the needed focus and ambition, while James Wilt notes the stark contrast between penny-pinching on crucial environmental priorities and the readily availability of tens of billions of dollars for war and weapons. 

- Meanwhile, Paul Dechene offers the most positive review he possibly can of the City of Regina's much-delayed sustainability framework.

- Elias Visontay reports on the abandonment of a plan to ban dark roofs as showing how even the most frivolous whims of capital are being given precedence over averting climate breakdown. And Rina Torchinsky reports that one of the most tedious criticisms of solar energy has been overcome by scientific progress, as Stanford engineers have developed panels capable of continuing to provide power at night through thermoelectric generation.

- Finally, Alanna Smith exposes the UCP's sudden and arbitrary cancellation of an overdose prevention pilot project. Lisa Schick reports on the Saskatchewan Party's equally thoughtless decision to eliminate access to mental health medication for children in care. And Linda McQuaig discusses how Doug Ford has given the #FluTruxKlan everything it could possibly have asked for, while endangering many Ontarians in the process of abandoning and forbidding even the most basic public health measures.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Michael Marshall offers a reminder that even where it hasn't been able to achieve its ideal goal, a zero-COVID strategy has produced far better outcomes for people. The Ottawa Citizen's editorial board is rightly scathing in responding to Doug Ford's abandonment of his province. Emma Teitel writes that the building wave is the first where we're facing the explicit acknowledgment that we've been left to fend for ourselves, while the People's CDC is working on providing advice that isn't grossly biased toward keeping business open at the expense of public health. May Warren and Ghada Elsharif discuss why (even more than in previous outbreaks) it feels like COVID-19 is everywhere. Kayla Rosen reports on Joss Reimer's much-needed acknowledgment that the let-'er-rip strategy is setting up massive numbers of people to be afflicted with long COVID. 

- Fiona Harvey reports that scientists are warning that we need a rapid transition away from oil and gas dependency, while Seth Klein writes that the supply and confidence agreement between the NDP and the Libs falls well short of the mark. And Reuters reports on Ember's research showing that we can't blame a lack of renewable options for our continued reliance on dirty fossil fuels, as wind and solar energy are in fact growing at a fast enough pace to allow for a full transition in time to meet the 1.5 degree target. 

- John Michael McGrath writes about the Ford PCs' pitiful excuse for a housing bill in advance of an election where a lack of available homes and a propensity for catering to developers at the expense of citizens are major issues. 

- The Canadian Press reports on the push by Canadian jurisdictions to decriminalize drug possession in order to reduce the number of people dying of drug poisonings. 

- Finally, The Maple talks to Brent Patterson about the glaring lack of need (or use) for the F-35s fighter jets which the Libs are so eager to make the subject of a massive federal purchase.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Ezra Cheung reports on research showing the increasing severity of the Omicron BA.2 variant for children in Hong Kong, while David Axe discusses the similar pattern observed in Europe. And Jesse Feith points out the connection between long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis - though while the frame of reference may be somewhat helpful, the lack of action to deal with chronic fatigue prior to the pandemic doesn't offer any great hope that governments who are already washing their hands of long COVID will put any effort into addressing it now. 

- John Harris writes that instead of focusing narrowly on inflation or costs of living, we should be recognizing that our economic and politics structures are set up to exclude increasing numbers of people from being able to obtain the necessities of life. Lori Fox discusses how Canada is falling far short of providing needed mental health care for working-class people.

- Jacques Poitras reports on Rod Cumberland's termination as a college instructor for heresy against corporations and the chemicals they want to spray around without consideration of public or environmental health. And Ilana Cohen and Michael Mann weigh in on the need to stop relying on fossil fuel money for climate research. 

- Burgess Langshaw-Power discusses how the Libs' plan to call tens of billions of dollars in subsidies to the oil industry to lock in several more decades of carbon pollution is doomed to failure as a measure to help avert climate breakdown. And the American Lung Association points out that a shift to electric rather than combustion vehicles would have plenty of additional benefits to health and well-being beyond the displacement of greenhouse gas emissions. 

- Finally, David Moscrop writes that the Libs' belated and inflated purchase of F-35s represents the worst of all possible worlds, wasting even more money than planned without any consideration of whether burning billions on fighter jets actually serves a meaningful need. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- David Moscrop writes about the need for public policy which remedies inequality rather than exacerbating it - while recognizing that we're falling painfully short in response to COVID. Max Kozlov highlights how immune evasion, not a higher viral load, seems to be key to the Omicron variant's spread. And Christopher Murray discusses how global case rates are at their highest point yet - while any end to a pandemic as such looks to mean accepting a recurrent disease. 

- Zak Vescera reports that the Omicron wave continues to highlight longstanding shortages and weaknesses in Saskatchewan's hospitals. And Patrick Rail reports on the Canadian Medical Association's warnings about the consequences of delaying "elective" surgeries due to a virus that's been allowed to run rampant. 

- David Suzuki calls out the failure of our leaders to take meaningful climate action even in the absence of any rational argument against it. And Robert Tuttle reports on a push from scientists to avoid pouring public resources into carbon capture schemes designed to prop up a fossil fuel sector which can't be supported under any reasonable analysis.

- Rebecca Diamond and Enrico Moretti examine (PDF) U.S. standards of living by location, and find that the income available for people with less formal education is far short of what's necessary to maintain a reasonable standard of living in major cities.

- Finally, Yves Engler discusses how fighter jets and other big-ticket military expenditures are useless against any real-world threats to Canada.

#Elxn44 Roundup

The latest from Canada's federal election campaign.

- Jim Stanford writes that the direction of our rebuilding from and after the COVID pandemic is one of the core issues at stake. Anna Desmarais highlights how people are suffering from the arbitrary rules the Trudeau Libs attached to CERB with unmanageable income reductions even as the COVID pandemic continues. And Kiavash Najafi discusses why ensuring the rich pay their fair share of taxes is a policy with appeal across all parties and ideological backgrounds, while Sheila Block rightly defends the practicality and desirability of a wealth tax against Philip Cross' attempts to paint the richest few as the truly hard-done-by.

- Anya Zoledziowski offers a summary of the climate change plans on offer from the major national parties. And Anjali Helferty and George Tjensvoll Kitching write that cutting off fossil fuel subsidies is a bare minimum to ensure that we're not funding the destruction of our own health.

- Meanwhile, the CCPA Monitor examines the Libs' platform - including its maddeningly ponderous incrementalism as compared to the NDP's commitments in areas like climate change and housing. 

- Justin Ling reviews the back-and-forth over racism in the first French debate, with Jagmeet Singh's contribution offering desperately-needed recognition of the realities of system racism:

“I’ve talked to people who lost their family member, because of police violence,” Singh told Blanchet.

“When I introduced a motion to deal with this racist discrimination, I didn’t see any MP say no—even the Conservatives didn’t say no—except a single MP,” Singh began, referring to Therrien. “When I looked at him, he did this-” Singh proceeded to make a sweeping motion with his hand, as though Therrien was brushing him off. “This is exactly the kind of thing which happens for Indigenous communities, like Joyce Echaquan,” Singh continued, before being drowned out by an interrupting Blanchet. 

It was a stunning moment, and a rare mention of Echaquan—or, indeed, any issues of systemic racism—on the campaign.

- Joyce Nelson discusses why military spending should be a significant election issue - and why neither the Libs nor Cons offer an acceptable plan to direct our resources toward peace and well-being rather than the military-industrial complex.

- Finally, David Molko reports on the continued embarrassments of Lib candidate Taleeb Noormohamed, who wants to be treated as an advocate for affordable housing while having made massive amounts of money carrying out the property flipping he pretends to decry.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- David Climenhaga discusses how Jason Kenney's detachment from the reality of COVID is leading to disaster for Alberta. Marilou Gagnon and Damien Contandriopoulos point out how even the beginning of the fourth wave is overwhelming health care workers in British Columbia. Andre Picard highlights the need for vaccine mandates to have meaningful consequences, while Rob Vanstone implores the Saskatchewan Roughriders to follow most of their fellow CFL franchises in mandating vaccines for their crowds. 

- Emily Mullin writes about the effect of COVID-19 on the brain, while Alison Escalante discusses the effects of long COVID in children. And Kristen Brown and Rebecca Torrence highlight the need not to assume we know more than we do about an ongoing pandemic - particularly when the downside risks of presuming we're safer than we are loom so large. 

- Rachel Gilmore points out the gap between anti-deficit hysteria and the realities of public finances.  Adam Tooze discusses the need to criticize wasteful war spending not as a matter of limited resources, but as a matter of grossly misplaced priorities and the creation of harmful power structures. And Isaac Stanley-Becker notes that U.S.' COVID response has been turned into a cash cow for corporate consultancies rather than focusing on public health. 

- Rebecca Solnit challenges the attempts of the fossil fuel sector to make the fight on climate change a matter of individual carbon footprints rather than corporate and governmental structures. 

- Finally, Umair Haque writes about the increasing influence of gleeful ignorance masquerading as enlightenment. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Lauren Pelley reports on the certainty that Canada is facing a fourth major wave of COVID-19 even as right-wing governments try to proclaim the pandemic over. Natalie Grover reports on the Oxford Vaccine Group's conclusion that any hope of herd immunity is "mythical" based on the spread of the Delta variant. Matthew Chapman reports on the catastrophic harm being done to children with COVID in Arkansas, while North Carolina State University models the likelihood that three-quarters of students in a given school could be infected in the absence of appropriate masking and testing. And Julia Wong reports on the expert response to Jason Kenney's decision not to bother tracking the spread of COVID-19 in Alberta even as that wave crests. 

- Meanwhile, David Suzuki reminds us that the break from a destructive business-as-usual scenario should open the door to reductions in the days and hours we treat as the default for work.   

-  Robin Shaban and Ana Qarri examine how competition law could be used to avoid corporate monopolies generally, and collusive anti-worker arrangements in particular. 

- The Broadbent Institute discusses new polling by Abacus Data showing the priorities of Canadian voters - including strong preferences for more progressive taxes, and increased investments in public goods. 

- Finally, Steven Chase reports on a new study by Project Ploughshares and Amnesty International into how the Libs' continued supply of military equipment to Saudi Arabia is flouting human rights and international law.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Apoorva Mandavilli reports on the CDC's return to recommending that people wear masks indoors to try to avoid another COVID wave. Matt Elliott asks why nobody is taking the lead on proof of vaccinations when it represents another necessary step to control spread. Jean-Paul Soucy pieces together a full picture of Saskatchewan's COVID timeline which the Moe government had conspicuously avoided making available. 

- Richard Paddock and Muktita Suhartono report on the growing number of children dying of COVID-19 in Indonesia. Adam Hampshire et al. study (PDF) the effects of long COVID. And Wency Leung reports on how the pandemic has aged people prematurely. 

- Mitchell Thompson discusses how the Trudeau Libs are barging ahead with a plan to put workers back on the path to increasing precarity by slashing or withdrawing supports even as the pandemic continues. And Aaron Wherry notes that the push toward austerity comes even as all major parties seem to have accepted the public's willingness to run deficits to tend to people's well-being. 

- Barry Saxifrage reports that the spread of wildfires in British Columbia is resulting in more carbon pollution than the province's burning of fossil fuels. And Fraser Thomson rightly argues that Canada can't claim to be anything but a climate villain as long as we refuse responsibility for emissions from our oil and gas exports. 

- Finally, Steven Chase reports on the Libs' decision to approve a $74 million sale of explosives to Saudi Arabia, once again prioritizing the military-industrial complex over the lives at risk at the hands of an warmongering regime. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Sarah Rieger reports on the experts pointing out that Jason Kenney (among other right-wing demagogues) is wrong in bleating incessantly that the pandemic is over. And Yasmine Ghania reports that many Saskatchewan residents are far more responsible than their government (or the media which keeps declaring them unwilling to accept public health measures in the absence of any evidence). 

- Yves Engler lends his voice to the growing chorus calling for Canada to invest in a sustainable future rather than a wasteful fighter jet purchase. And Cloe Logan reports on a push by environmental groups and other organizations to stop throwing public money at costly and ineffective carbon capture and storage which serves mostly to prop up the fossil fuel sector, rather than actual investments in averting climate breakdown. 

- Montana Getty reports on the financial precarity facing Saskatchewan residents. And Grace Blakeley highlights how conservative messaging about freedom is entirely empty when it isn't paired with either concern for civil liberties, or recognition as to how material deprivation undermines any positive freedom to make choices. 

- Gwyn Tophan reports on Philip Alston's findings that the privatization of the UK's bus service went so far as to breach human rights by depriving people of access to basic services.  

- Finally, Joe Roberts offers a needed reminder that what the Liberals promise to try to take a false majority looks very different from what they offer if they happen to secure one. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Kelly Grant writes that the toll from COVID-19 includes driving many workers out of the nursing profession. And Kim Siever notes that while the UCP is driving nurses and doctors out of Alberta by shrieking that they're overpaid and working to starve them of resources in the midst of a pandemic, it's also privatizing care including eye surgery.

- David Byrne discusses how avoiding incarcerating people for minor offences leads to an overall reduction in crime. 

- Zak Vescera reports on both the initial response to the Saskatchewan Party's arbitrary decision to cut off access to methadone as therapy for people addicted to opioids, and the personal experience of an individual whose life was saved by the harm reduction measure which is now being taken away.

- Finally, Bianca Mugyenyi weighs in on the choice between dumping billions upon billions of dollars into fighter jets for show, or instead investing in protecting against climate catastrophe (or at least mitigating its effects). And Sask Dispatch highlights how reconciliation and reparations figure as an important part of our long-term climate strategy.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Umair Haque discusses how the UK is headed for yet another avoidable wave of COVID-19 disaster. Sarah Rieger reports on the rising spread of COVID-19 in Alberta, while James Keller reports that Jason Kenney's declaration of surrender has predictably convinced people not to bother getting vaccinated. Martin Finucane reports on the dozens of COVID deaths and hundreds of hospitalizations even among fully vaccinated people in Massachusetts. 

- David Tynar and Matthew Johnson study how actual methane emissions from fossil fuel facilities are far higher than assumed in British Columbia's regulations and climate plans. 

- Dharna Noor discusses how extreme temperatures have a disproportionate effect on poorer communities and populations. But lest anybody take that as a basis to think Western Canada won't be affected, Olivia Condon reports on warnings from climatologists that extreme heat and desertification are coming Alberta's way, while Kevin Ma writes about the crops already scorched by the recent heat dome (to say nothing of the high temperatures yet to come). And Tez Dhalizal reports on the dangers posed by exceptionally high temperatures and numerous wildfires in Saskatchewan, while Kathryn Blaze Baum and Ivan Semeniuk point out the damage caused by wildfires goes far beyond what actually gets burned. 

- All of which is to say that there's plenty of force behind a new call for Canada to invest in protecting people from pandemics, the climate crisis and other real problems, rather than burning tens of billions of dollars on fighter jets which serve little practical purpose. 

- John Michael McGrath calls out the misguided push against rooming houses in Toronto which only figures to make housing availability even worse. Marc Lee discusses both the positive ideas and the limited scope of options presented by the Canada-British Columbia Expert Panel on the Future of Housing Supply and Affordability. And Charlotte Dalwood makes the case for a more ambitious plan to provide universal public housing. 

- Finally, Anne Levesque highlights how Indigenous children still facing systemic discrimination need action rather than another round of empty thoughts and prayers. And PressProgress takes note of the failure of the prairie provinces to address systemic racism in the criminal justice system. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Murray Mandryk discusses how COVID-19 has highlighted and exacerbated existing inequality in Saskatchewan. And Aaron Wherry points out that Canada shouldn't treat its privileged position in securing early access to vaccines as cause to ignore the pandemic which will continue to rage around the globe even if we're lucky enough to achieve herd immunity. 

- Meanwhile, Zak Vescera reports on the exemption which sent COVID-infected staff back to work early at Extendicare Parkside - where hundreds were infected and dozens of residents died of the coronavirus. And

- Julie Lalonde writes that the shutdown of Greyhound's bus service is taking away lifelines from residents of isolated communities who counted on them. But David Moscrop notes that with private bus operators proving beyond doubt that profit won't provide a sufficient incentive to develop adequate transportation infrastructure, the time is now to start working on public services to focus on people's needs. 

- Christopher Curtis writes about Quebec's grossly inadequate shelter system - which is seeing homeless people forced to ration their own access to shelters as hundreds die of diseases and overdoses.

- Nav Persaud et al. study the effect of freely available prescription drugs on compliance, finding to nobody's surprise that cost is a barrier to people receiving needed medication - and that making medication freely available reduces overall health care costs.

- Finally, Jeremy Appel offers a reminder as to how Canada is profiting from death and destruction by supplying military equipment to regimes using them to target civilians.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Yaryna Serkez highlights how COVID-19 has both exploited and exacerbated the U.S.' existing inequalities. And Alexander Panetta writes about the perpetuation of racial inequality in the U.S. for upwards of five decades after civil rights legislation was supposed to establish a nominally equal footing.

- Cornel West discusses the militarized boot crushing the neck of U.S. democracy. And Poppy Noor examines how the U.S. has treated the media as a target in order to try to suppress reporting on both police violence and the strong public response.

- Meanwhile, Tom Nolan points out how militarized police forces result in the labeling of peaceful activists as an enemy to be combated. And Sandy Hudson discusses how the defunding and demilitarization of police would save the lives of Black and Indigenous people in Canada.

- Steven Chase and Robert Fife report on the Trudeau Libs' choice to fund the Saudi purchase of armoured vehicles - signalling the emptiness of their two main excuses for proceeding with arming the Saudis, including both the supposed sanctity of contract and the desire to have other countries pay for our exported products.

- Eleonore Fournier-Tombs writes about the need to rethink our expectations for care work as we reshape our economy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

- Finally, PressProgress exposes James Pattinson's laughable claim that he's powerless to change the slashing of hazard pay for workers at Save-on-Foods.

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- PressProgress discusses now polling showing that a strong majority of Canadians favour a broad transformation of our society in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, with a focus on health and well-being. Tamara Lorincz suggests that we take the opportunity to withdraw from the purchase of fighter jets in order to put tens of billions of dollars toward more important ends. George Monbiot writes about the opportunity to make education more focused on the ecology which sustains us. And Naheed Dosani notes that the immediate response to COVID-19 demonstrates that there's no excuse for allowing homelessness to exist in Canada.

- Meanwhile, Andrew Jackson makes the case for any funding to large corporations being tied to equity stakes and consideration of larger social goals. Aaron Wherry discusses the minimal requirement that recipients of federal bailout money give at least a modicum of thought to climate change. And Tom Sanzillo notes that loans to the fossil fuel sector are virtually certain to turn out to be an utter waste of money.

- But in case anybody was under the impression that there would be anything less than a furious push to use COVID-19 to exacerbate the problems which led to its devastating impact, Jesse Snyder reports on corporate lobbying to eliminate any consideration of social and financial requirements in evaluating infrastructure projects. And Stephen Harper never passes up an opportunity to demand austerity and corporate obeisance, rather than making any effort to build a stronger society - while Grace Blakeley recognizes that the effort is based on little more than attempting to convince people not to believe their own eyes in seeing how public investment can make them better off. 

- Finally, Jason Warick reports on the push from Saskatchewan's Information and Privacy Commissioner - among many others - to ensure that the public has accurate information about the spread of COVID-19 in the face of the Moe government's inclination toward secrecy. And Adam Hunter reports on Moe's concurrent refusal to allow for any legislative accountability, while Murray Mandryk points out the absolute lack of justification for that stance.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Larry Elliott writes that a corporate-centred model of globalization is unlikely to survive the Trump regime. And Jeff Spross proposes an alternative which allows for people to be free and capital to be controlled, rather than the other way around.

- But Jo Becker notes that large amounts of money and disinformation are pushing for nationalism and xenophobia around the globe, rather than any recognition of our shared interests in a fair and connected system of international relations.

- Benjamin Fearnow reports on the FBI's insistence on treating peaceful activists for minority rights as a larger threat than violent white supremacists. And Robin Ttess discusses how Canada's security state has been used at the behest of the oil industry to spy on and stifle Indigenous peoples and environmental activists.

- Andy Blatchford reports on the Trudeau Libs' delays and obfuscations about supplying armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia.

- Finally, Alan Freeman debunks the Fraser Institute's regularly-scheduled attempt to gaslight Canadians about taxes by refusing to acknowledge what individuals actually pay as well as what public revenue funds.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Larry Elliott reports on another of UK Labour's proposals to democratize the economy, this time by giving consumers some say in executive pay.

- Alex Paterson comments on the relationship between the housing market and the investments of many pension plans - though it's worth noting that pensions would seem to be exactly the type of investors with a strong interest in achieving steady long-term returns from rental housing.

- The CP reports on the Lancet's latest study of the health costs of climate breakdown - including the response from Canadian health providers.

- Meanwhile, Andrew Nikiforuk points out that the manipulation of pipeline availability through the booking of "air barrels" both serves to favour some oil producers over others, and results in a misleading picture of the amount of pipeline capacity available. Robyn Allan highlights how the oft-repeated rhetoric about oil price differentials fails to acknowledge that the difference only applies to a small quantity of oil. And Gary Mason writes about the oil industry's plan to stick the Canadian public with massive cleanup costs.

- Finally, Martin Lukacs investigates how Canada's arms industry has contributed to the devastation in Yemen. And Sam Cooper, Stewart Bell and Andrew Russell report on the laundering of the proceeds of crime through B.C. casinos.

Monday Evening Links

Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading.

- Chris Hughes discusses how progressive politics, including expanded social programs and more progressive taxes, are proving to be a winner for U.S. Democrats in both primaries and general elections. Jacob Bacharach writes about the myth of the U.S. as a particularly wealthy country in the face of the deprivation it's imposed on so many of its citizens. And Nesrine Malik notes that it's pointless to shoot the messenger in light of reports such as the one by the UN's special rapporteur on poverty and human rights documenting the blight of poverty in the UK.

- Alex Hemingway approves of the Horgan government's replacement of a regressive health premium with a payroll tax aimed at large employers, but points out it would have been far better not to cut overall revenue in the process.

- Luke Savage points out how Doug Ford has exposed the contempt of Canada's right for basic norms such as not gratuitously overriding Charter rights. Edward Keenan comments on his politics of spite. And the Globe and Mail's editorial board criticizes Ford for using his majority power to permit cash-for-access now that he has power to sell.

- The Canadian Press reports on the Canadian Medical Association's pushback against Ford's plan to tie up the health care system with doctor's notes for employers. And Carolyn Ferns compares British Columbia's progress on child care to Ford's regression.

- Finally, David Pugliese exposes the "capability gap" used as an explanation for the purchase of fighter jets as a political talking point with no basis in operational records - and that in fact the Libs were informed there was no need for any purchase before 2032 before giving the thumbs-up to immediate orders.

[Edit: fixed wording.]