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.