Friday, August 22, 2025

Musical interlude

Garbage - Drive You Home


Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- John Harwood discusses how Donald Trump's second term in office has been more harmful than even the most dire predictions anticipated. Donald Gutstein calls out Danielle Smith for promoting the twin U.S. interests of dirty energy and Alberta separation as her primary areas of activity. And Peter Zimonjic reports that Mark Carney is joining the corporate elites working on normalizing Trump's abuses, as he's removing a number of the targeted tariffs which had served as important pressure points against Trump's arbitrary actions.

- Meanwhile, for those looking for construction actions which Canada could and should be taking, Jon Milton and Nathaniel Denaro make the case for a vehicle production Crown corporation to ensure our existing industrial base isn't subject to the whims of the Trump administration and the U.S. automakers collaborating with it. And Brendan Haley points out the value of energy efficiency as a nation-building project. 

- Karl Nerenberg writes about Carney's immediate shift toward austerity and tax-cutting after he won power as the defender of a progressive Canada. Grant Robertson and Kathryn Blaze Baum report on the results of a federal investigation showing that existing reliance on algorithms to govern regulatory activity was a major cause of a deadly listeria outbreak - even as Carney seeks to replace even more government functions with AI vaporware. And Sophia Harris reports on the CRA's woeful lack of resources to answer public inquiries as well as ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes. 

- Finally, David Coletto and Eddie Sheppard discuss new polling showing that an increasing number of Canadians are slipping into exonomic anxiety and precarity. 

Thursday, August 21, 2025

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Hamilton Nolan discusses the multiple crises facing labor in the U.S., as a failure to organize produces particularly catastrophic results in hostile political and legal environments.  The Star's editorial board calls out Mark Carney's attempt to nullify the labour rights of Air Canada workers contrary to overwhelming public opinion - though the ultimate result offers a lesson in the value of maintaining solidarity. And Nora Loreto points out that the systematic suppression of workers' bargaining power under a system intend to reflect a peaceful compromise of interests is virtually certain to lead to far stronger tactics. 

- Vitoria Barreto discusses Brazil's Pix instant payment system - which is naturally drawing fire from bankers and billionaires for providing people of all income levels with financial services without exploitation. 

- Will Noel details the immense amount of renewable energy which has been scrapped due to the UCP's attacks on wind and solar power. And Eugene Ellman reports that U.S. investors are recognizing there's no future in dirty energy despite the Trump regime's determination to try to keep extracting profits for his oil tycoon donors. 

- Finally, Euan Thomson reports on Alberta's sudden abandonment of a private mental health data harvesting app after news has started to emerge about its dangers. 

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- The Lever examines new research showing how private equity is systematically funnelling risk and underperformance to less wealthy investors. And Charlie Warzel discusses how the AI investment fad is based on mass delusion, while Rick Morton notes that it's also predicated entirely on the retroactive validation of systematic illegality. 

- Ned Resnikoff discusses how the Trump regime is determined to turn American cities into war zones - even as they were previously safer than they'd been in decades - as a pretext for his plan to exert military control over them. Adam Tranter notes that anybody actually concerned with people's lives and well-being would be pushing for low traffic neighbourhoods and people-friendly communities. And Trevor Melanson discusses how Chinese EV imports could give Canadians far more and better options for cleaner and safer transportation. 

- William Foege discusses how public health needs to fight back against the cynical misinformation of antisocial populists and scammers. And Nick Tsergas studies the growing body of evidence that COVID-19 has long-term effects on people's bodies whether or not they've been diagnosed with long COVID - making any avoidable transmission a wilful choice to make people sicker. 

- Finally, Jeremy Appel highlights how Air Canada's flight attendants were able to fight back against the exploitation of unpaid labour. Dale Smith examines the rise of Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code which the Libs have taken to using reflexively to squelch strikes and allow employers to run roughshod in collective bargaining, while Verity Stevenson points out how workers' determination to stand up for themselves in the face of that interference should lead to questions as to whether it should be allowed in the first place. And Kim Siever offers a warning that surface friendliness from an employer is no guarantee of respect or job security. 

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Angular cat.




Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Tim Dickinson laments that so many corporations, universities and other entities with the resources to stand up to Donald Trump are instead choosing to enable his authoritarianism. And David Dayen offers a look at the U.S.' crumbling economy even as the Trump regime tries to destroy all the data sources which would allow people to recognize it, while Evan Williams notes that Canada has made substantial progress in rerouting its car purchases to avoid both tariffs and U.S. suppliers. 

- But lest anybody think all is hunky-dory in Canada, the Canadian Press reports on new Statistics Canada data showing that income inequality continues to get worse by the year. Jonathan Lambert highlights how cash support is among the most effective interventions to improve the health of infants. And Cat Hobbs discusses how public ownership could make rail and other transportation more affordable. 

- Trevor McFadyen writes that the Carney Libs' heavy-handed intervention against Air Canada workers shows their disdain for collective bargaining. And Peggy Nash's view that the flight attendant strike could be a turning point in defending the right to strike in Canada will hopefully prove prescient - as the workers' refusal to back down has led to bargaining wins which were supposed to have been ruled out by an employer-biased government. 

- Finally, Peter Brannen warns of the potential that the climate breakdown will lead to the Earth's sixth major mass extinction. Geoffrey Johnston writes that this has been a summer of the climate emergency (though surely only one among many to come). Sonal Gupta reports on the large number of First Nations affected by wildfires. And Ajit Niranjan reports on new research showing that the harms caused by wildfire smoke are far worse than previously known. 

Monday, August 18, 2025

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Amanda Marcotte examines the abusive father complex that somehow forms the basis for a large part of Donald Trump's support. Erica Green calls out Trump's highly selective view of criminal justice which includes absolute impunity for his cronies and arbitrary cruelty for everybody else. And Oliver Willis highlights how the right-wing information ecosystem has been trained to view cities as hellscapes (among other false and harmful assumptions). 

- Meanwhile, Don Slater warns that Alberta is the canary in the coal mine when it comes to the spread of the same disinformation and associated bigotry in Canada. And Prem Sikka discusses the need for the UK to fight back against the self-serving undermining of democracy by the corporate elite.

- Samantha Gross notes that Massachusetts' wealth tax proved even more lucrative than expected, showing that policies aimed at equality work. And Max Fawcett writes that an appeal to intergenerational fairness could make for a huge step in setting Canada up for the future.

- Jim Stanford offers a factbook on how Canada can build a soverign and sustainable economy if it focuses on the public interest rather than immediate corporate profits. And Arno Kopecky writes that the Trump regime's regressive energy policy offers a particularly promising opening to lead the way toward a clean economy. 

- But while it would be ideal to see Carney value the general public and the future over his own corporate buddies, his government's handling of Air Canada's labour dispute bodes poorly on that front - as Eric Wilkinson points out how it represents yet another attack on the concept of collective bargaining, while David Coletto notes that public opinion is very much on the side of the workers being ordered back to work. 

Sunday, August 17, 2025

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Naomi Klein discusses how Canada is failing the basic test of resistance to a fascist regime. 

 

- Meanwhile, Linda McQuaig recognizes that Canadians have every reason to be disappointed in Mark Carney's choice to veer to the right and into the U.S.' corporate orbit, rather than governing based on the "elbows up" message at the core of his campaign. And Dale Smith writes that it's long past time to stop pretending that there's any point in negotiating with Donald Trump.

- Mike Allen reports on the corporate loyalty ratings which have been developed to ensure that political favouritism is the defining principle in the Trump White House's decision-making. And Maximillian Alvarez warns that Trump and his corporate backers are turning the entire U.S. into a giant environmental sacrifice zone.

- Tammy Robert discusses how the Sask Party's standard operating procedure in dealing with agricultural approvals (among other choices) is similarly to hand favours out to cronies with no regard for the public interest.

- Finally, Steven Lewis notes that the choice to build the medical system around private physician practices has long limited the effectiveness of social-level health planning - and is at the heart of a failing primary care system today. And Kevin Jiang discusses how people facing long COVID rightly feel like they've been forgotten by the health care system (and by governments generally).

Friday, August 15, 2025

Musical interlude

Bob Moses - I Ain't Gonna Be The First To Cry


Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Andrew Phillips discusses how the Trump administration is looking to rewrite history in dealing with North American trade. And Thor Benson interviews David Roberts about the absolute nonsense being relied upon as the U.S.' excuse for scrapping any climate policy, while Paris Marx points out the haze of misinformation obstructing Canada's ability to respond to wildfires. 

- Alexander Kaufman highlights how Trump's edict that nobody transition away from dirty power will cost the U.S. immense amounts of money in addition to leaving it as a technological laggard, while Rachel Melta notes that an investment in energy storage alongside a push toward renewables would save consumers billions in the central U.S. alone. And Katye Altieri and Dave Jones discuss why it's important that far too many governments are refusing to commit to developing clean energy, while Jo Lauder notes that China is one of the few major countries on track to become an electrostate in the near future. 

- Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood discusses how drought is becoming an increasingly regular and severe problem in Canada, with both the climate crisis and an obsession with data centres looming as obvious causes. And Ben Martynoga reports on new research showing that microbes being released by melting ice can exacerbate the effects of climate change in polar regions. 

- Finally, the Canadian Press reports on a new survey showing that over a third of Canadian renters are having to spend over half of their income on housing. And Simon Enoch calls out Scott Moe for his ideological refusal to consider rent controls as the Sask Party looks to serve landlords rather than workers.