Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Aquatic cat.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Yanis Varoufakis rightly argues that the EU (and the international community generally) should be treating the U.S.' draconian sanctions against ICC judges as fully disqualifying it from being treated as anything but a bad actor. And James Ball writes about the challenges facing the war on disinformation as the few people who once worked on countering propaganda are likewise being treated as persona non grata, while Charles Ornstein discusses the Trump regime's intimidation tactics toward working reporters (including treating basic requests for comment as evidence of hostility). 

- Connie Loizis reports on the development of a private security state under the not-at-all-telling branding of Sauron. And Arian Campo-Flores discusses how the wealthy are buying privacy which has been made unavailable to anybody else. 

- Elizabeth Todd-Breland opines that there's no room for dispute that corporations need to pay more taxes to support a functional society. And Richard Partington writes about the need for UK Labour (and other governments) to recognize the human toll of increased automation. 

- Finally, Tina Swanson offers a handy categorization of climate policies based on their level of utility - with the corporate right's preferred delay tactics of nuclear reactors and carbon capture and storage serving as representative examples of what not to bank on. Marc Lee discusses what we've learned about Mark Carney's agenda, including his his prioritizing dirty energy over any considerations of well-being or long-term prosperity. And David Roberts interviews Saul Griffith about the success of Australia's rooftop solar program. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading.

- Seva Gunitsky discusses how the U.S. is committing hegemonic suicide. Simon Tisdall is about as optimistic as one can be about the Trump regime in arguing that it will represent little more than a blotch in on history in the long run, while Daniel Barkhuff writes that the U.S. resistance is winning by persevering. And Will Saletan et al. comment on Trump's plundering of all available sources of tribute. 

- Samuel Wynn Warde writes that Canada has been able to avoid the worst effects of Trump's capriciousness by (thus far) choosing not to supply the U.S.' war against it. And Cory Doctorow argues that countries can further remove themselves from the whims of the U.S. and its tech giants by repealing anti-circumvention laws which prioritize corporate rentiers over users and citizens. 

- Sam Sutton points out that the wealthiest few are predictably making a killing off of Trump's corruption without any benefit finding its way past the upper classes. And Curtis Fric comments on new polling showing that Canadians view the economic system as biased in favour of the rich.  

- Anna Isaac notes that tech billionaires have raked in half a trillion dollars in AI-based valuation based on little more than laughable spin. Aisha Down and Dan Milmo discuss Nvidia's attempts to avoid becoming the next Enron or Lucent, though the main difference seems to be that its need for constant expansion to support its business model is out in the open. And each of Emily Sanders and Morgan Bazalian and Brandon Owens highlight how AI's greenwashed messages and promises are utterly contrary to its reliance on dirty fossil fuels. 

- Oliver Milman reports on new polling showing that even a strong majority of U.S. voters see the climate crisis as affecting their food supply and cost of living. And Steven Morris reports on the National Trust's latest observations on the worsening of extreme weather. 

- Finally, University of California - Riverside examines the effects of microplastics in clogging arteries and fueling heart disease. Which makes Mark Carney's decision to enable single-use plastics exports look like nothing but a choice to sell out people's health in order to prop up the oil sector.