Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Askew cat.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- David Suzuki writes about the desperate need to loosen the grip a few megalomaniacal billionaires have over political and economic decision-making. And Matt McManus' review of The Democratic Marketplace examines how policies which cater to capitalism are undermining democracy. 

- Paul Krugman discusses what affordability really means in the eyes of the public - with inclusion, security and fairness ultimately meaning more than snapshots comparing immediate income to prices. And Robert Renger points out the obvious imbalance when corporations are routinely treated as too big to fail, while people (and marginalized groups thereof) are treated as too insignificant to be worth helping. 

- Patricia Cohen writes about the implausible valuation of AI-based corporations - together with the reality that any prospect of their producing returns commensurate with their current prices depends on further undermining the position of workers. And so when the Economist notes that businesses haven't been taking up AI at the pace its evangelists demand, the result is likely better in any event. 

- Meanwhile, Chris Hannay reports on the lack of reason to think the UCP's enabling of private medicine will do anything but shift resources away from an already-overloaded public system. 

- Finally, John Woodside discusses how Mark Carney has been using a past (if questionable) reputation for climate concern as cover to govern for the oil industry. And Carl Meyer and Drew Anderson examine how Carney's pipeline deal with Danielle Smith undermines multiple climate policies to rely solely on weakened industrial emission rules, at a time when the default to keep our planet habitable should be "all of the above". 

Musical interlude

London Grammar - Hey Now

 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Robert Reich talks about the glaring gap between the wealthy elite who are being catered to by the U.S.' economy and the many who are being left behind - and how even businesses are beginning to notice people can't afford to spend the money they count on to make profits:

- Cara Ence Morse and Eric Lau examine how the wealthiest few are distorting American elections, while Dean Baker discusses their cultivation of other conflict (including between generations) to avoid answering for their own class warfare. And Josh Bivens writes that requiring the ultrarich to pay their fair share is a necessary first step in getting back to some semblance of democracy. 

- Meghan Bartels charts the course of carbon pollution and global warming since the signing of the Paris agreement. Jackie Flynn Mogensen and Henry Carnell ponder whether it's possible to achieve global progress in the climate fight when the U.S. and other petrostates are marshaling every available resource to maximize the damage, while Gabriela Calugay-Casuga points out that the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is continuing to short the future of humanity by pouring money into dirty investments. And Max Fawcett rightly calls bullshit on any spin about treating fossil gas exports to developing countries as compatible with responsible energy policy, while Jessica Clogg writes that the only product on offer in the Carney/Smith back-of-a-napkin pipeline deal is snake oil. 

- David Roberts interviews Georgia Lagoudas about the obvious room for improvement in indoor air quality practices. And Jenna Banfield reports on a push from dozens of Senators to ban sports betting advertising. 

- Finally, Markham Hislop discusses Danielle Smith's wholescale adoption of exclusionary and corrupt MAGA politics. And Sean Speer offers a warning about the dangers of accepting state-imposed conservative culture. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Bruce Campbell discusses how Canada continues to be both a laggard in its own climate action, and an obstacle to international cooperation. And Patrick Greenfield and Kristi Greenwood discuss the growing danger of zombie fires in the Arctic due to a warming and drying climate. 

- Michael Green examines the problems with treating the U.S. poverty line as a measure of sufficiency rather than deprivation - meaning that while steps to reduce measured poverty like Rashida Tlaib's Economic Dignity for All Agenda would represent progress toward economic security, they shouldn't be taken to be adequate. And Will Parker reports on the first months of operation of Atlanta's government-funded supermarket in providing accessible and affordable food where it presviously wasn't available. 

- Abdullah Khan et al. study the immense social benefits of vehicle safety technology which the Trump regime is looking to deregulate. And John Lorinc examines (note: post from July) the lack of any evidence to support the Ford government's attacks on bike lanes - in stark contrast to the clear evidence that they save lives. 

- Luke James reports on the steps insurers are taking to avoid being stuck with liability for AI catastrophes. And Tina Nguyen examines big tech's lobbying to have the Trump regime prevent any regulation or liability by fiat.

- Finally, Markham Hislop discusses how Danielle Smith and the UCP are attacking the very idea of democracy in Canada by seeking to import Trump's corruption and authoritarianism.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Wide-eyed cat.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Robert Reich weighs in on the absolute moral rot within the Trump regime and its corporate cronies. Bill McKibben points out that the corruption of the U.S.' political system parallels the barely-opposed takeover of the concept of Christianity by self-promoters looking to exploit it for their own ends. And Heidi Stevens writes that Donald Trump's boorish cruelty toward female reporters offers a reminder as to how survivors of sexual violence are being scared into concealing their truth.  

- Michael Mann discusses the painful failure of the COP30 climate conference to chart a part away from climate catastrophe, while Genevieve Gunther notes that the best hope for progress is developing among countries who aren't limiting themselves to what the world's climate villians will agree to. And Emily Sanders calls out "native advertising" as yet another way in which dirty energy tycoons are polluting the public discourse. 

- Fiona Harvey and Jonathan Watts report on a new analysis showing that keeping three promises alone  - on renewable energy, efficiency and methane emission cuts - could eliminate close to a degree Celsius of projected global warming. And Prinz Magtulis and Soumya Karwa discuss the reality of the U.S.' insurance of last resort which is becoming increasingly expensive while still often failing to cover the cost of recovering from climate disasters. 

- Nicholas Weaver writes about the laughable implausibility that money burned on massive AI data centres will produce any meaningful return. Varsha Bansal reports on the AI workers warning people not to rely on it. And Justin Brake exposes the spate of consultant-generated policy reports for the Newfoundland and Labrador government which have been found to contain false, seemingly AI-generated citations and information. 

- Shannon Rieger et al. study the connection between social isolation and privilege in the U.S., finding that advantaged groups actually have somewhat higher levels of social isolation. 

- Finally, Danny Parys writes that any effective plan for Canadian sovereignty needs to keep our economic engines under our own control. And Amy Judd and Aaron McArthur report on Nutrien's choice to route potash exports through a U.S. port and put them at Donald Trump's mercy - with Scott Moe's full support as his idea of "Team Canada" involves being a puppet for foreign resource capital. 

Monday Morning Links

Assorted content to start your week.

- Trenz Pruca examines how tax policy biased toward the wealthy has exacerbated the U.S.' already-toxic economic inequality. And Dean Baker interviews Joseph Stiglitz about the other policy levers, including bankruptcy and intellectual property, which have also been torqued to benefit the rich in the name of the freedom of the few to exploit the many:

- The Economist offers a warning about the U.S.' acceptance (and the Trump regime's encouragement) of corruption. Paul Krugman examines how institutional forces are making money off cryptocurrency while consumers see their assets drained by a deflating bubble. And Anand Giridharadas discusses the revelations in the Epstein e-mails as an example of general elite impunity. 

- Peter Brannen warns that existing climate policies have humanity on track for a calamitous 3 degrees of global warming, with a real risk that deliberate climate obstruction and subsidies for dirty fossil fuels will send us careening past even that level. Royce Kurmelovs and Fiona Harvey et al. each highlight the failures of the COP30 climate conference as oil lobbyists blocked any agreement on a transition to clean energy. And both David Roberts' interview with Kingsmill Bond and David Suzuki's commentary discuss how a few more decades of avoidable carbon dumping won't stop the ultimate trend toward clean electrification. 

- Jonathan Vanian reports on new court filings showing how Meta cancelled and cloesd its eyes to internal research demonstrating the harmful effects of social media. But Craig Lord reports that Mark Carney's attitude toward megalomaniacal techbros is to let them dictate policy, rather than allowing for any question as to whether their interests are the same as the public's. 

- Finally, Raywat Deonandan discusses how the resurgence of measles in Canada reflects a deeper social illness.