Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Cole Nowicki and Casey Michel each review Jacob Silverman's Gilded Rage as a chronicle of how tech giants and their uber-wealthy principals have fallen in line behind fascism. 

- Max Wyman writes that a day's use of ChatGPT has resulted in his questioning whether a major artificial intelligence model serves any useful purpose. And Ed Zitron examines the impossible promises behind the AI hype, while Joe Wilkins notes that what already looked like a grim prospect for AI generating any return on an irrational amount of investment is all the worse given that it doesn't take into account the rapid obsolescence of computer equipment. 

- CUPE highlights Tim Caulfield's warning of a knowledge crisis in the face of the systematic attacks on science and trust underlying the alt-right. And Bruce Arthur points out how the same battle between the public interest and the MAGA movement's anti-socialism is behind the obsession with a B.C. ostrich farm's insistence on putting others at risk with diseased birds.

- Gabriela Calugay-Casuga discusses how the NDP is advancing legislation to remove the power to interfere with bargaining and strike activity which the Libs have taken to abusing as a matter of course.

- Finally, Leigh Beadon warns that Carney's supposed plan to invest in public housing construction actually involves little but repackaging existing functions of the CMHC.

Musical interlude

Tony Igy - Perfect World (Esix Chillout Mix)

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Liz Dye writes that the only insurrection occurring in the U.S. is the Trump regime's attempt to overthrow democracy. Jeremy Berg highlights the need for a united resistance to that seizure of power, as anybody attempting to stay silent is sure to end up in the administration's crosshairs. And Brian Beutler discusses what people can do to contribute to collective action. 

- Paul Krugman examines how Trump's tariffs have already led to both higher prices and a distorted economy. And Tammy Ibrahimpoor reports on new polling showing a massive supermajority of Canadians still supporting boycotts against the U.S., while Curtis Fric likewise points out overwhelming opposition to Trump's continued threats of annexation. 

- David Eliot discusses the risk that tech giants peddling AI will hijack the concept of nation-building for their own corrupt ends just like 19th-century rail barons, while David Sirota notes that anti-corruption is a winning message for anybody who dares to challenge the greedy. And Ari Rabinovitch reports on new Statistics Canada data showing record levels of income inequality. 

- Kimberly Molina reports on the vital services beyond mail delivery which are current provided by Canada Post - but which stand to be cut as the Carney Libs look to hand new profit streams to private actors. And Aaron Vansintjan discusses the prospect of publicly owned grocery stores as a means of ensuring healthy food is accessible and affordable:

- Finally, Isaac Phan Nay discusses the potential for sectoral bargaining to give a voice to vulnerable workers who are far too easily exploited on their own. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Simone Zhenting Mao discusses how inequality and concentration of wealth are at the root of Canada's economic stagnation. And Robert P. Beschel Jr. highlights how the Trump regime's slashing of government funding is only making the U.S.' public finances worse as it eliminates resources from revenue collection as well as the prevention of and response to predictable disasters. 

- Jonathan Last rightly notes that the only emergency in U.S. national security is Trump's war on his own population based on false pretenses. And Nina Jankowicz offers some advice for those who haven't yet figured out that there's nothing to be gained by capitulating to Trump's threats.

- Bruce Campbell writes that Mark Carney's constant undermining of already-weak climate policy is utterly contrary to his one-time claim to understanding the climate crisis. Zoya Teirstein notes that the Trump regime's obsession with extracting and burning more fossil fuels - which Carney appears to have adopted as his own - runs contrary to the global shift toward more affordable and cleaner renewable energy. Malcolm Moore and Jamie Smyth's report on the futility of pushing fossil gas exports includes some rare but needed acknowledgment that pouring resources into fossil fuel production tends to increase demand. And Gregor Semieniuk et al. study some of the options available to ensure purveyors of dirty energy don't do substantially more damage while leaving the public to clean up their messes. 

- The Lancet offers a warning that the alt-right's threats to public health and safety include its attacks on diversity and inclusion. 

- Finally, the University of Cambridge is studying the observable effects of severe COVID-19 - including long-term damage to the brain stem. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Kelly Hayes writes that the only emergency that's developed under the Trump regime is the atmosphere of fear being imposed by a gratuitously violent police state. And Henry Farrell notes that solidarity is the only viable response to an authoritarian regime determined to divide and conquer. 

- Garrett Graff is the latest to point out that it's impossible for the Democrats to make a meaningful budget deal with an administration which claims the authority to negate any law or agreement. And Michael Harris notes the similar problem facing Mark Carney - though he's not helping matters by accepting the frame that he needs to reach an agreement anyway. 

- Murad Hemmadi reports on OpenAI's attempts to make itself too big to fail in Canada just like in the U.S. And Savannah Ridley examines the dangers of betting the economy on massive data centres which support few jobs, serve no real purpose and impose environmental destruction. 

- Meanwhile, Carl Meyer discusses how Carney has been rolling back what little progress Canada had made on climate policy in a futile effort to appease petropoliticians - even as Manitoba is showing (PDF) how net zero is well within reach. 

- Arshy Mann interviews Nora Loreto about the deliberate destruction of state capacity in Canada. But in case anybody was under the impression that privatization and outsourcing were based on any reasonable expectation as to efficiency and productivity, Joe Wilkins reports on new research showing that NASA's use of private spacecraft has resulted in no overall savings (and glaring inefficiency on more complex projects). 

- Finally, Lauren Aratani reviews Chuck Collins' Burned By Billionaires, with particular emphasis on the structural forces which have been put in place to exacerbate inequalities of wealth and power. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Pillowy cat.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Tom Engelhardt notes that Donald Trump's approach to the world at large has turned into one of seeking to exercise arbitrary power abroad as well as at home, while Anna Merlan writes about the danger of the U.S.' descent into authoritarianism proving contagious. And Thomas Geoghegan discusses how states can use their collective resources to set up a functional country even as the Trump regime looks to foment civil war. 

- Meanwhile, Francis Wilkinson wonders whether Canada in particular can survive the Trump regime. And Charles Rusnell highlights how Danielle Smith and the UCP have copy-and-pasted Trump's anti-immigrant bigotry into Alberta. 

- Janetta McKenzie discusses how Mark Carney's insistence on pushing fossil gas (and spending billions of public dollars to move it) is absolutely contrary to any meaningful climate policy. And Isaac Callan and Colin D'Mello report on new documents showing that the dirty power preferred by Doug Ford is torpedoing Ontario's prospects of living up to its climate commitments - even as Jillian Ambrose reports on the rise of renewable energy ahead of coal power as a global energy souce, while Julian Spector reports on Australia's clear path toward 100% renewables. 

- Finally, Inayat Singh points out that this year's fall heat wave can readily be traced to an overheated Pacific Ocean. And Luca Ittimani reports on new research showing that the cost of extreme weather in Australia has tripled in the past few decades. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Thomas Zimmer writes about the importance of drawing principled lines as to what's compatible with democracy rather than presuming that whatever's currently happening must be within bounds. A.R. Moxon discusses the glaring contrast between minority groups being told they need to be respectful toward their oppressors, and the legitimacy being conferred on those oppressors to engage in violent eradication. Dharna Noor reports that U.S. climate activists are engaging in the fight against authoritarianism based on their recognition that it's not going to be possible to agitate for change in a system that eliminates any responsiveness to public demands. And David Dayen highlights the futility of any U.S. budget deal that doesn't rein in Trump's arbitrary exercise of power, while theorizing there may be some opportunity to win meaningful restraints as part of a deal to fund farm bailouts.

- Chuck Collins and Omar Ocampo discuss how the concentration of wealth and power over the past few decades has been even worse than we generally assume. Rachel Funk Fordham highlights the impact of Citizens United on American politics, while Dean Baker explains why CEOs have been entirely willing to play along with the Trump regime. And William Murphy writes about the combination of debt and financialization that prevents people from fighting back against a rigged system. 

- Meanwhile, Melissa Naschek interviews Vivek Chibber about the continued importance of class politics. And Helen Quinn reports on new research showing both that a growing number of UK children are growing up in poverty, and that the cost of that deprivation manifests itself in all kinds of health and social outcomes. 

- Finally, Michael Barnard discusses why small modular reactors do nothing to avoid the problems of cost and waste that make nuclear power a poor option compared to readily-available renewable alternatives. And Drew Anderson examines a new report showing that the UCP's hostility to clean energy has driven away investment which would otherwise have resulted in substantial developent.