Shares of the week
Note: I gave up on trying to write this on a regular schedule. I will continue to try and get these out at least once every week or so.
Clinging to the Past
The risk of ‘peak oil demand’ for Canada’s Conservatives - With peak oil demand coming as early as 2030 and with the effects of climate change worsening, it is no longer prudent for a country or province to bet everything on oil. It would be thusly irresponsible for a political party to bet everything on the dying industry, but here we are.
Saudi Arabia joins Trump-led coalition claiming women have ‘no international right to abortion’ - The religious right sure hates women, disallowing them freedom over their own bodies. I guess when your numbers are dropping faster than a priest’s pants at the site of an alter boy, you have to turn women back into baby factories in an effort to pump those numbers back up.
The Fight for Workers and Democracy
Grocery store workers are taking on the Loblaws empire - Imagine being told you are heroes of the pandemic, given a $2/hour raise, and then quickly stripped of the raise in the middle of the pandemic as the company you work for sees huge rises in profits. This is why Dominion (a sister of Superstore) workers are striking in Newfoundland.
AHS workers' wildcat strike declared illegal by Alberta Labour Relations Board - Alberta’s recent decline is what decades of conservative incompetence and neglect, coupled with neoliberal austerity and greed looks like. Conservatives and neoliberals do not know how to prepare our society and economy for the future. Case in point: the UCP in Alberta thinking that the answer to declining incomes is to privatize healthcare services, layoff workers with good-paying jobs and replace them with minimum wage contractors, all during a pandemic, leading to a morally-justified wildcat strike amongst healthcare workers.
Bernie Sanders Applauds People of Bolivia for 'Year-Long Fight to Restore Democracy' in Wake of Military Coup - After a right-wing, American- (and Canadian) backed coup unseated the previous socialist government in Bolivia last year, the same party came back to win the country’s recent do-over election with even greater numbers than before. This is a huge win for humanity and for democracy.
The Military-Entertainment Complex
Citations Needed Podcast - News Brief - Hollywood and the Pentagon: A Follow Up Conversation with Oliver Stone - Nima and Adam speak candidly with director Oliver Stone about Hollywood's symbiotic relationship with the US military and the CIA.