Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – David Adams examines the evidence that COVID-19 remains infectious far longer than assumed by politicized public health messaging. And Ted Raymond reports that Ottawa has already seen more COVID deaths in 2022 than in 2021, confirming that the end of public health protections
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Accidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Katherine Wu warns that the worst of the Omicron COVID wave may happen even after case counts have peaked as continued spread (facilitated by people relaxing their prevention efforts) batters already-struggling health care systems. And Ingrid Torjeson discusses a new study from
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Patronage and pork #nlpoli
Think of it as classic political news in Newfoundland and Labrador. VOCM headline: “Premier commits to fixing patronage issues in government”. At the same time, some people in Western Labrador are angry at the Premier for closing a small government office in Wabush. In the VOCM news story, Premier Dwight
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
This and that for your weekend reading. – Kate Aronoff interviews Mariana Mazzucato about The Value of Everything, including some important discussion about the relationship between governments and markets: Aronoff: You talk a lot about the power of the state in shaping markets. What does the idea that the government
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Rachel Bunker writes that Equifax represents the worst of an out-of-control capitalist system, as a poorly-regulated and unreliable credit reporting operation is making profits for itself by reinforcing existing discrimination among other businesses. – Naomi Klein discusses this summer’s spate of wildfires
Continue readingScripturient: Utter contempt at council
Utter contempt. That’s what The Block showed for process at council, on Monday night. And for ethics. And for you, the residents. Utter contempt. But when they want to give benefits to their friends or themselves, boy do they rise to the occasion. Which of course they did, Monday. Anything
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On selective sacrifice
Brad Wall’s definition of shared sacrifice: Public service workers are expected to do their jobs plus more to cover for a hiring freeze, while also getting hit with a 3.5% pay cut. At the same time, specially-selected Saskatchewan Party MLAs get handed new titles without any accompanying work, plus $3,000
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Deep thought
Some people are concerned about the Senate’s self-definition as a council of owls seeking to keep less-privileged citizens from governing in their own interests. But have they considered this might be a perfectly fair description?
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Appearance #nlpoli
What you know of the world outside your immediate physical sensation – what you can touch, taste, feel and so on – is a mental construction. It is a fiction. That doesn’t mean it is all false. All fiction has some element of the concrete amid its vapour. Nor does
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Good-bye John #nlpoli
In their last year in office, the provincial Conservatives went on a patronage bend on top of the patronage bender they started in 2003. They came into office promising reform and – you guessed it – did exactly the opposite. If there is no …
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Pressure #nlpoli
A curious thing happens in societies where a huge amount of the collective income derives from outside the local economy and the local tax base.They do not see a connection between the money they receive and the action of earning it. The money th…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On common values
There’s reason to be wary about the Libs’ handling of the Senate, as Thomas Walkom writes in his latest column. But it’s also worth noting that contrary to Walkom’s conflation of the two, there are important differences between selecting prospective Se…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading.- Dani Rodrik discusses the evolution of work, and notes that future development and sharing of wealth may need to follow a different model than the one that’s applied in the past:(T)he post-industrial economy o…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading.- David MacDonald offers some alternative suggestions that can do far more to reduce inequality and boost Canada’s economy than the Libs’ upper-class tax shuffle. And Karl Nerenberg reminds us that the most import…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.- David Ball talks to Joseph Stiglitz about inequality and its causes – including the spread of corporate control through trade agreements:What would you say is the dominant cause [of growing inequality]…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: How To Blow Up Stephen Harper’s Patronage Appointments
In the last desperate weeks before he was crushed and humiliated, Stephen Harper, must have thought it was a brilliant move. One that would ensure his insane policies of Total Oily Domination would continue even if he was defeated.He would stack th…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Breaking: Stephen Harper’s Monstrous Patronage Scandal.
He was the the most disgusting leader of the worst criminal regime this country has ever known.They lied, they cheated, they muzzled their opponents.And now they're trying to cripple the Trudeau government with the worst patronage scandal this c…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Chainsaw Earle keeps austerity on the table #nlpoli
NDP leader Earle McCurdy called the province’s major open line show on Thursday and by the sounds of things he hasn’t backed off the position that the size of the government’s financial problems will mean more cuts. Sure he said he was opposed to austerity, but what Earle did say
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: As Karl’s mom would say… #nlpoli
The Conservatives came to power in 2003 promising to do things a new way. People thought that meant the Tories would do away with the practice of stuffing people into fat government jobs based solely on their political connections. And so the Conservatives proved they were different by appointing failed
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