Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Doug Cuthand writes about the desperate need to rein in the climate breakdown due to its impact in causing wildfires among other environmental catastrophes. And Zoe Schlanger warns that the U.S. is now living in an entirely different world from the rest of the planet as the Trump regime censors any mention of climate change or the science behind it.

- Dave Holmes notes that the Trump regime is generally ushering the age of "big stupid", as selective attacks on particular types of intellectualism give way to a general war against knowledge. Dorothy Woodend discusses how Trump is using culture to entrench social and political control, while noting that Canada can play a crucial role in ensuring people can access alternatives to his propaganda. And Gabriel Rojas Hruska points out the importance of maintaining our cultural sovereignty as a matter of policy, rather than signing onto trade agreements which make it subject to the whims of the same corporations who are bending the knee to Trump.

- Garrett Graff writes about the people fleeing the U.S. to get ahead of the tide of rapidly encroaching fascism. Cassandra Burke Robertson points out the elimination of any safeguards in an immigration system where both enforcement agents and state attorneys are operating in secret. And Rachel Gilmore reports on the role a Canadian company is playing in staffing the Trump regime's concentration camps (while also being on contract to perform work for Canada's federal government). 

- Finally, Victor Tangerman notes the manipulative use of artificial intelligence by realtors to present homes as being different than they actually are. And the Center for Countering Digital Hate warns that AI is providing dangerous advice to teens who are particularly vulnerable to suggestion by fake friends.

Musical interlude

Boy Harsher - Burn It Down

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Alexis Okeowo reports on the plight of women who bravely spoke out in the course of the #metoo movement, only to be shunned as misogyny has been embraced as deliberate policy by the Trump regime and its media sycophants. And Cara Daggett studies the connection between petropolitics, climate denialism and the fostering of toxic masculinity. 

- Jennifer Gray reports on the reality that Phoenix is seeing unprecedented heat and drought. Sarah Shemkus notes that contrary to the spin of the fossil fuel sector, all-electric neighbourhoods are proving to be a boon to housing construction. And Rob Davis reports on the denialist backlash which pushed Oregon to stop mapping out the areas facing the most risk from wildfires, while Kate Yoder discusses the Trump regime's purge of climate data generally.  

- Justin Ling rightly argues that the worst thing Mark Carney could do would be to further tie Canada to the U.S. through a Trump-driven trade agreement. But Luke Savage notes that Carney is already betraying the Canadian public which elected him to stand up to Trump prioritizing corporate ties to the U.S. over human rights and well-being. And David Pugliese reports on Carney's apparent decision to put us even more at the U.S.' mercy by capitulating to its demand to participate in a "golden dome" scheme. 

- Kevin Thomas examines at the problem with a capitalist system based on free capital and trade combined with severe restrictions on people. 

- Finally, Julia Metraux reports on needed steps to ensure that wheelchair users (and other people who necessarily depend on external supports) have a right of repair, rather than seeing their ability to function treated as secondary to the profit motive of corporate monopolies.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Sonya Angell examines the connection between extreme weather events caused by the climate breakdown and adverse health effects, while noting that there's a need for far more attention to the health effects of the climate crisis. And Anelyse Weiler and Susanna Klassen make the case for improved heat protection for farm workers. 

- You Xiaoying discusses how China has been able to set up a clean energy system in Antarctica - even as petropoliticans continue to pretend they're not feasible even in ideal environments. Claire Brown discusses how tech giants are falling far short of their climate commitments even without accounting for the fact that they're dedicating immense amounts of processing power to the extraction and burning of dirty fuels. And Barry Saxifrage warns that Canada is falling behind in the transition to electric vehicles due to a series of policy retreats, while Natasha Bulowski discusses the health costs of those choices. 

- Elizabeth Warren highlights why the rich and powerful are trying to stop Zohran Mamdani's to win election by prioritizing the many rather than the few. And Austin Jefferson discusses new polling showing that Mamdani's policy plans are wildly popular. 

- Meanwhile, Adrienne Tanner calls out the Canadian right's irrational hatred of bike lanes and other elements of a liveable community. And Euan Thomson report on the Calgary Police Service's continued insistence on scraping personal images from social media using facial recognition software as part of its public surveillance. 

- Finally, Rebecca Solnit writes that systemic misogyny and violence against women go far beyond the the Epstein files, making it dangerous to treat the most prominent examples as an aberration. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- The University of Oxford has released new research showing that politicians underestimate the public's demand for climate action. Adam Morton discusses how Australia's Labor party has both an opportunity and a political incentive to break free from petropolitics, while Michael Barnard weighs in on how the ICJ's ruling on climate liability should spur Canada to stop subsidizing dirty energy. And Dharna Noor and Oliver Milman report on scientists' duly scathing response to denialist propaganda from the Trump regime. 

- Ben Shread-Hewitt notes that any plans to reach net zero in the distant future can be undermined by the effects of a climate breakdown today, including in wiping out the trees which are being counted on to offset carbon pollution. And Kiley Bense reports on research showing that children are far healthier after the closure of a nearby coal plant - even as the Trump regime and its Canadian cousins look to keep coal plants spewing out of spite. 

- Meanwhile, Matthew Scace reports on a new study showing that Alberta's coal mine reclamation standards fall far short of protecting affected water and fish - and it's again worth noting that the Moe government's response has uniformly been to criticize anybody seeking to preserve clean water rather than to object to poison being dumped into Saskatchewan's water sources. And Damien Gayle weighs in on Deep Science Ventures' research into the dangers of chemical pollution. 

- Julia Musto discusses a new report on the harms caused by plastic pollution. And the Guardian's editorial board implores world leaders to dedicate themselves to a treaty to stop the damage.

- Polly Toynbee rightly questions why Keir Starmer is obsessed with expanding the use of polluting air travel, rather than investing in rail and other clean transportation. And David Climenhaga calls out the UCP for declaring war on bike lanes to ensure nobody can get anywhere other than in a massive polluting SUV or truck. 

- Finally, Craig Lord reports on the resilience of Canada's economy in the face of the Trump regime's tariffs and threats - which makes for a particularly noteworthy contrast against Paul Wells' choice to declare the fight for sovereignty lost since a few corporate bigwigs might make more money in the short term through appeasement.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Fronting cat.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Noah Berlatsky discusses how Donald Trump is imposing a recession on America at large while dispensing obscene riches for his cronies, while Mona Charen highlights how Trump's wasteful, garish and damaging treatment of the White House parallels his administration in general. And Mary Whitfill Roeloffs reports on the recognition by the vast majority of consumers that they're facing soaring grocery bills, while Mike Crawley reports on the effect of Trump's tariffs on consumer costs. 

- Anne-Céline Guyon and Alice-Anne Simard urge Mark Carney to focus Canada's attention and resources on affordable, clean energy rather than continued carbon pollution. Matt Simon discusses how local climate work can lead to important achievements. And as important examples of that phenomenon, Alison Takemura reports on New York's move to all-electric new buildings, while Sarah Forster reports on the installation of a batter capable of powering over a million homes in New South Wales. 

- Meanwhile, Liza Featherstone reports on the effects of air pollution as one of the most immediate - if underreported - consequences of the climate breakdown. And Rebecca Hersher reports on the Trump regime's plans to destroy working NASA satellites in a futile attempt to eliminate the evidence of climate change. 

- Esme Stallard reports on the UN conference attempting to reach an agreement on plastic pollution, while Olivia Le Poidevin and Valerie Volcovici note that Trump and the oil industry are predictably trying to sabotage the effort. And Rebecca John reports that the plastics industry has known for half a century that its promise to use recycling as an alternative to the generation of plastic waste was utter bunk. 

- Finally, Andrew Nikiforuk calls out Danielle Smith's latest set of barriers to COVID-19 vaccine access. And Olafur Palsson et al. examine how gut-brain disorders have been on the rise since the start of the pandemic. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Max Fawcett discusses how renewable energy will power the future despite the attempts of oil tycoons and their pet politicians to keep us addicted to dirty fossil fuels.

- Ned Resnikoff writes about the reality that contests within centre-left parties and structures are limited to fights to "rule the void", with the lack of any connection to mass membership limiting the prospect of achieving any real change. And Matt Huber, Leigh Phillips and Fred Stafford's review of Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's Abundance highlights the need for democratic control both to achieve actual abundance, and ensure that its benefits aren't captured by the wealthy.

- Meanwhile, Damian Carrington writes about Luke Kemp's new book on societal collapse as regularly reflecting the imposition of hierarchy. And Jason Sattler notes that the second Trump regime can be summarized as engaging in the controlled demolition of every advantage the U.S. once held in order to enable a speed-run of looting.

- Finally, Shameka Parrish-Wright points out the cruelty and futility of using incarceration as the only tool to deal with homelessness. And Kelsey Rolfe discusses the Canadian federal government's focus on prefabricated housing as a means to ensure that needed homes are built and made available at affordable cost levels.