Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Jim Stanford points out that tariff threats shouldn't be an especially daunting prospect for a Canadian economy which already consists primarily of the production of goods for domestic use. But Melissa Gismondi argues that we need a far more substantive response to Donald Trump's obsession with annexation, rather than assuming everything will go back to normal if the business class is assuaged. And Mike Brock writes that Danielle Smith's constant sucking up to Trump and concurrent normalization of the prospect of a U.S. takeover can't be considered anything less than traitorous.

- Alex Himelfarb discusses how to build a Canada which is more resilient against both the Trump regime, and the concentration of wealth and power which has enabled his like to emerge. Silas Xuereb offers a reminder as to how the affordability crisis for more and more Canadians tracks the rise of extreme top-end wealth. And George Monbiot warns that UK Labour is following the same path as other neoliberal governments whose disregard for both people's well-being and the prospect of democratic change for the better has laid the groundwork for fascists to emerge.

- Jason McBride discusses the widespread use of plastics in medical supplies - and how both patients and the environment would benefit from a transition to less toxic alternatives. Inigo Alexander reports on waste management company Veolia's dumping of toxic waste in protected areas in Colombia. And Alix Breeden discusses how the Trump administration is making it easy for polluters to poison the people around them through gutted regulatory processes, while Stuart Thomson and Antoine Trepanier report on Pierre Poilievre's plans to similarly eliminate any environmental protection in Canada in favour of blanket approvals. 

- Finally, Fiona Harvey reports on a new OECD study finding that action to deal with the climate crisis will lead to better economic results than trying to operate in denial of the threat.

Musical interlude

Lonely Computer feat. Montgomery - Blindfold

Wednesday Night Cat Blogging

Leggy cat.

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Moira Doneghan discusses what the leaked Signal war crime planning among several top Trump regime officials says about how decisions are being made within the administration. And Alexander Hurst reports on the efforts by universities around the world to offer homes to leading thinkers fleeing the U.S., while Jacek Debiec notes that two prominent experts on tyranny and fascism have accepted Canadian appointments. 

- Justin Ling discusses how to approach the task of decoupling from the U.S., while Jeet Heer writes that the fight against fascism requires far more than the warm-and-fuzzy nostalgia on offer from the Libs. And Jason Markusoff writes that Danielle Smith's message that the Poilievre Cons are fully in sync with Trump has been heard loud and clear in Canada. 

- Code Black offers a comparison of medical practice in the U.S. and Canada, noting in particular how universal medicare ensures care decisions aren't constantly overridden in the name of extracting profit. But Duff Sprague points out that Ontario's health care system (like many others) is falling far short of what it could accomplish due to insufficient funding.  

- Ryan Cooper writes about the existential threat to society posed by the concentration of wealth and power in a few ultra-rich hands. And Owen Jones notes that the demand that the general public accept austerity and decline as the price of catering to the wealthy isn't any more palatable coming from UK Labour than from any other party in power. 

- Finally, Claude Lavoie argues that we won't make needed headway against the housing crisis until we start treating land as a necessary element of the right to housing, rather than a store of value to be walled off for private gain. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Steven Greenhouse discusses how Donald Trump's obsession with tariffs is ultimately harmful to everyone affected. But Jonathan Freedland writes that Trump's addiction to his own supply of fake news ensure that he doesn't see the damage he causes, while Jason Linkins notes that even the mainstream American media is minimizing and normalizing even the most authoritarian of his actions.  

- Jonathan Last discusses the importance of approaching Trump's regime with a dissident perspective. Andrew Nikiforuk writes about the need for descriptors that honesty and fully account for a revolution against democracy. And John Restakic describes the new administration as a pathocracy, while discussing how large numbers of voters contributed their support to its abuses. 

- Arwa Mahdawi makes the case for people from around the world to avoid the risks associated with visiting the U.S. And Americans for Tax Fairness points out how undocumented workers have contributed substantial tax revenue without receiving any services - only to be rewarded for their work with the threat of rendition. 

- Bruce Arthur writes about the dangers of Danielle Smith's choice to take Trump's side over Canada (and seek to influence the federal election accordingly). And Eve Gaumond notes that the Canada Elections Act offers theoretical protection against undue foreign influence - but that it's unclear how that principle will be applied when major social media and press outlets are controlled by courtiers of a hostile foreign power. 

- Finally, DT Cochrane examines how federal spending can and should be an engine for economic development - both generally, and particularly in response to the need to route our activity away from the U.S. And David Edward Tabachnick discusses how the U.S.' threats may be raising the prospect of national sovereignty which had largely been declared obsolete over a half-century ago. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Ali Bustamente rightly challenges Donald Trump's claim that people should be happy to endure a regime-induced recession as an economic purge by pointing out how many people will suffer incalculable damage as a result of it. Paul Krugman calls out the attempt to conjure up a reasonable or coherent economic theory behind Trump's damage. And Melinda Cooper notes that while telling people to accept the loss of market income, Trump is also slashing both public supports and the civil service needed to make them available. 

- Robert Reich rightly warns that Trump's position that he can declare anybody a foreign enemy and disappear them without any due process means that nobody is safe. Melissa Ryan calls out the political class for merely standing aside and watching as democracy and human rights go up in flames. And Steven Beschloss writes that the American people can make the choice to hold onto what makes them human rather than going along with the regime's abuses, while Troy Nahumko discusses the importance of empathy as the basis of civilization. 

- David Moscrop writes about the need for Canada's next Prime Minister to work on breaking free from the U.S., while Thomas Homer-Dixon argues that we're at the stage of needing to prepare for war in order to preserve any prospect of peace. Megan Gordon writes about the need to protect workers as the key goal of our immediate response to a trade war, while Angella MacEwen points out the need to invest in an economy that serves both workers' interests and the national interest in the long term. And Tom Parkin notes that the unfocused tax slashing and capital gains giveaways on offer from the Libs as well as the Cons serve mostly as an upward transfer of wealth and an attack on our ability to invest in actual priorities.  

- Finally, Jessica Glenza reports on the expert warnings against vaccine denialism, while Natasha May reports that people around the globe are at risk from the measles outbreaks caused by anti-vaxxers. And Beth Mole discusses how Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s crusade against vaccinations is threatening to derail breakthroughs to fight other diseases which are otherwise within reach. 

Sunday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Rebecca Solnit highlights how the reality of Cybertrucks coming unglued upon the slightest exposure to reality represents an apt metaphor for Elon Musk and the regime he's controlling. Ian Welsh writes that the main impact of the second Trump regime is to speed-run an American collapse already in progress. And David Smith traces the U.S.' descent into authoritarianism as the whims of a madman are given precedence over all rights and laws, while Dan Gardner discusses how there's no escaping the conclusion that the Trump regime's actions fall squarely into the definition of fascism.

- Evan Dyer comments on the Trump regime's use of disinformation against Canada generally. And Allan Woods discusses the need to be on guard against it in the course of Canada's election campaign in particular. But thwap rightly argues that we also shouldn't treat the threat from abroad as reason to lionize (and further enrich) Canada's ruling class in the name of patriotism, while David Moscrop and Jeet Heer examine some of the constructive opportunities arising from a heightened sense of pride.

- Xiaoying You discusses how China is building renewable infrastructure around the globe based on the recognition that it's far cheaper and more efficient than reliance on fossil fuels. And Bill McKibben notes that rapid advancements in charging technology look to make both combustion engines and Tesla-generation electric vehicles obsolete, while Jim Stanford examines how consumers will benefit from an energy transition which ends our vulnerability to oil price shocks.

- Finally, Bob McDonald talks to David Putrino about the long-term effects of COVID - which may include cumulative organ damage along with the respiratory and neurological issues which have long since been recognized.

Musical interlude

Against The Current - Strangers Again

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Jason Sattler examines how a corporatist SCOTUS laid the groundwork for the fascist takeover of the U.S. by prioritizing money over people. Brian Tyler Cohen discusses the absurdity of Elon Musk demanding to be treated as a victim while declaring everybody but himself to be subhuman (with gross contempt for people's lives and well-being serving as the common theme of all of his business and government actions). And Amanda Marcotte discusses Musk's disdain for retirees and benefit recipients as he looks to strip them of their Social Security income. 

- Tom Phillips and Clavel Rangel report on how the U.S. rendition of hundreds of people to be used for prison slave labour in El Salvador is based solely on tattoos which demonstrably establish nothing about any wrongdoing. And Shirin Ali and Mark Joseph Stern focus on soccer player and Venezuelan refugee Jerce Reyes Barrios in particular as someone who was rendered in the absence of any explanation.  

- Charlie Angus offers some hopeful dispatches from his Elbows Up Resistance tour. Iglika Ivanova points out how the policy response to the U.S.' hostility can also improve the quality of life for Canadians in general, while Shauna MacKinnon, Catherine Lussier and Mark Hancock focus on the value of social housing in particular in improving people's well-being. And in case there was any doubt how much need there is for improvement on that front, Natalie Stechyson reports on our decline in glboal happiness rankings even before the second Trump regime took power. 

- David Macdonald and Sonja Macdonald study the spread of news deprivation in Canada. Linda McQuaig calls for an end to control of media by foreign capital interests who are motivated both to slash reporting and impose corporatist editorial lines. Crawford Kilian writes about the need for Canada to fight back against the U.S.' information warfare. And Cole Bennett calls out Pierre Poilievre's war against the truth, while Luke LeBrun exposes Canada Proud's big-money attempt to spam Canadians with QAnon-esque disinformation. 

- Finally, Erin Blondeau examines how Poilievre's "anti-woke" messaging is copied directly from the U.S.' dangerous white nationalist scene. But Sarah Sahagian notes that Mark Carney isn't helping matters any by eliminating ministries with responsibilities for diversity, equity and inclusion.