Musical interlude

TWO LANES feat. Kwesi - Another Time

 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Linda McQuaig writes about the need for international solidarity in responding to the corruption and aggression of Donald Trump. Stephen Maher notes that there are important lessons for Canada in Trump's Venezualan coup. And the Economist points out that Canada's military is necessarily planning to respond to U.S. hostility - even as the two largest parties in Parliament treat it as something to be minimized or welcomed. 

- Virginia Heffernan argues that the most important reality of the Epstein scandal is the culture of elite impunity which continues to mutate and spread. And Roger Hallam discusses how the capital class is choosing a death project over any sustainable alternative which might reduce its control over the general public. 

- Faine Greenwood discusses the increasing number of people who see reality itself as irrelevant compared to online slop and propaganda. And Peter Smith comments on the dangers of social isolation to health, well-being and community. 

- Finally, a new McGill study finds that any spin about crime being caused by supervised consumption sites is a myth - meaning that the attack against harm reduction has no effect other than to exacerbate the human toll of the drug crisis.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Cat among the pigeons.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Robert Reich discusses how Donald Trump is a threat to civilization (in the form of any social order other than one based on brute force and coercion) around the globe. And Marisa Kabas warns that much of the media is playing into Trump's hands by normalizing - if not outright siding with - his violence and dishonesty.

- Paris Marx discusses how the U.S.' tech giants serve its military ends - and how Canada and other countries are enabling their own domination by putting critical information in hostile hands. Kaylie Tiessen points out how trade deals have been used as an excuse to prevent Canada from exercising any digital sovereignty. And Heather Stewart notes that AI slop isn't worth the immense financial and environmental cost anywhere.

- Clare Fieseler comments on Trump's destruction of clean power development even as it becomes far more efficient and effective than the dirty energy sources that form his donor base. And Arnie Gundersen offers a reminder that spin about small nuclear reactors serves only as a delay tactic rather than a viable alternative to renewables.

-  Finally, Ed Cara reports on a new study showing that the ongoing toll of COVID-19 in the U.S. is in the range of a million hospitalizations and a hundred thousands deaths every year. And Maja Stojanovic et al. examine the vascular damage done by COVID-19.

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading.

- Stephen Beschloss writes that while the specifics may be unpredictable, the broad strokes of the Trump regime are entirely in keeping with a U.S. political system gone mad. And Hamilton Nolan confronts the reality that the U.S. is unmistakably the bad guy in its treatment of the rest of the world, while Will Bunch properly characterizes it as a rogue state. And Carol Calwalladr discusses the danger as seen from abroad.  

- The Guardian's editorial board makes the case for Europe to present a strong and united front against the U.S.' imperialism. And Thomas Homer-Dixon and Alex Gordon rightly argue that Canada needs to be planning to respond to American aggression - not tying ourselves even more tightly to a hostile and impetuous power. 

- A.R. Moxon examines the significance of the unapologetic racism and bigotry of white supremacists. 

- And finally, Adam King reviews the state of Canadian labour in 2025 - with unions succeeding in achieving wage gains, but having to fight against adverse conditions in the broader economy.