Saturday, February 08, 2020

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Robert Reich comments that Democrats who failed to recognize and respond to a rigged economic system share in the blame for the rise of Donald Trump's toxic populism. And George Monbiot notes that Trump is just one of many strongmen-in-the-making daring anybody to stop them from running roughshod over the world:
These are experiments in absolutism. They don’t amount to fascism in their own right. But in conjunction with the elevation of preposterous and desperate men, the denigration of minorities and immigrants, political violence, mass surveillance and widespread mockery of liberalism and social justice, they suggest that some countries, separately and together, are beginning to head towards the darkest of all political places.

The normalisation of impunity is possibly the most important step towards authoritarian rule. Never let it be normal.
- Katharina Pistor makes the case that corporate limited liability only warps incentive structures to shift risks and costs from corporations to the public.

- Adam Hunter reports on the doubling of Saskatchewan's MRI waitlist as the Sask Party has pushed privatized service rather than expanding public capacity. And Patrick White highlights the unfairness of unconscionable fees for telephone access in prisons.

- Van Badham writes that climate denialism has evolved from pretending nothing is happening to our planet at all, to somehow claiming we'll be better off with extreme weather and an endangered natural environment.

- Finally, Shawn Jeffords reports on Doug Ford's plans to allow Ontario's natural forests to be decimated. And Dorothy Woodend reminds us that individual choices make far less difference in contributing to plastic pollution than systemic corporate waste.

No comments:

Post a Comment