Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- William Davies writes about the systematic stupidity being imposed by the Trump regime, while Noah Berlatsky notes that it's a feature rather than a bug for a fascist government seeking to keep the populace uninformed. And Aditya Chakrabortty discusses how Javier Milei is yet another right-wing darling whose government has proven an utter disaster. 

- Toby Buckle writes about the role of reactionary centrists in clearing the way for fascism. Waleed Shahid offers a reminder that bending over backward to appear "moderate" has done nothing to help U.S. Democrats win elections (and everything to cede political territory to increasingly radical Republicans). And A.R. Moxon warns against allowing the Trump regime to define political choices as a series of trolley problems where other people's agency is limited to making deliberately cruel decisions. 

- N+1's Editors discuss the best-case scenario for commercial-scale artificial intelligence as involving the generation of junk to further enrich the wealthy few. Edward Zitron points out the laughable improbability of AI living up to its hype based on obvious and inescapable resource limitations. And MacKenzie Sigalos reports on the disproportionate effect of crypto money on the 2024 U.S. elections. 

- Bill McGuire laments that politicians are responding to a worsening climate crisis by pouring perpetually more resources into dirtier activities. Niklas Boers et al. discuss the connection between key climate components which are all destabilizing. And Damian Carrington reports on a new study showing a dramatic increase in extremely hot days in the world's major cities. 

- Finally, Ratina Omidvar and Sabina Vohra-Miller discuss the need for a tax system that ensure the wealthy contribute to the well-being of Canadians. And Dru Oja Jay discusses the stark choice of directions for Canada Post - which can either be shrunk into uselessness to allow corporate raiders to take over profitable operations, or treated as nation-building infrastructure to support communities and services.