Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Geoffrey Johnston examines how the latest wave of COVID-19 is swamping Ontario’s health care system while its cumulative effect is reducing life expectancies.…
neoliberalism
What Is The Populist Right?
Neoliberals, “progressives”, and the neo-Maoist faux-Left, of which, neoliberals and so-called progressives form the core part, rabidly slander, dehumanize and demonize the populist right. But what, in reality, in truth,…
The Big Picture: Markers Of The Global Tectonic Shift, Now Underway
Or, The Big Picture: Economic Strength vs Economic Insolvency: US, Canada and Uruguay compared Uruguayan national debt in 2023:$40 billion USD(52% of GDP) Canadian national debt in 2023:$1.4 trillion USDOr$1,400…
It’s Still Not a Cold
Stats Canada just posted a report on Long Covid. They highlight that the risk of long term symptoms is cumulative, increasing with the number of Covid infections. By three or…
Further Reflections On Nationalism
I would emphasize there are better and worse forms of nationalism, but stress that nationalist political-economic policies can be highly beneficial for the people, as opposed to neoliberalism, globalism or…
Too Poor to Live, But Not Too Well to Die
In March 2024, Canadians with mental health problems who haven’t found significant relief from their condition will be able to get Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD). As I wrote recently…
Compassion as the Antidote for Capitalism
A Taylor Swift fan took the brave position of calling out the beloved superstar, and everyone else involved, for the death of Ana Clara and many in need of medical…
Culture of Uncare or Pandemic of Inhumanity
Psychoanalyst Sally Weintrobe coined the term “culture of uncare” to explain intentional efforts to sever links from one another and from the environment. She calls it “severing links,” but the…
Newsflash: Covid Should Be Avoided
Studies make if very clear that Covid is really bad for us, yet we’re going to do nothing to prevent the spread. In case you didn’t know, if you have…
The Central Error of the Pandemic
Dr. Satoshi Akima, who does internal medicine in Australia, has a great post up about the economic reasons for ignoring the pandemic. First, a bit of context to consider from…
Crack-Up Capitalism, Quinn Slobodian: A Review
In this engrossing historical account, Quinn Slobodian lays out how a few very rich men—yes pretty much men—and the neoliberal intellectuals upon whose ideas they fed, imagined and sometimes built…
On Housing and Value(s)
Here’s a little story about the house at the end of my street. About 30 years ago, it was a bit of a grow-op, with vicious guard dogs, one that…
Media Subterfuge
Want to be a respected news outlet? Stop writing horribly misleading headlines. An article in The Guardian is causing a stir, not because of what the article says, but because…
Covid or Climate: Can’t it be both?
In a local school board meeting from last June, in which they discussed their plan to remove HEPAs in rooms that had mechanical ventilation added (as if it’s and either/or…
On Student Absences
I’ve been thinking about the concern with kids not going to school for reasons beyond the rampant illnesses caused by letting a highly-infectious virus run wild. The Fortune article suggests…
Canada is facing a grave crisis, and it needs courageous leaders, but brutal street-clearing operations won’t help
There’s no question Canada is facing a grave social crisis on multiple fronts. Howard Anglin (Photo: Twitter/Howard Anglin). The homeless crisis, the housing crisis, the deadly drug poisoning crisis, and…
Mixing Church and State
The religious far right is growing and getting more powerful and unnerving, and we know the fights happening in schools board meetings. This 25 min. BBC video from earlier this…
The Role of Public Health under Neoliberalism
The air quality is bad again today, but public health hasn’t issued any warnings, and it’s not on the Weather Network website. A few people were commenting on their eyes…
Problems with Psychiatry
Paul Minot, MD, wrote a thread inviting other threads on the practice of psychiatry. Caveat, I have no idea of the credibility of any of these claims, but some make…