Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Seva Gunitsky writes about the connection between cultivated toxic masculinity and the rise of Donald Trump and other authoritarian politicians. And Greg Sargent discusses how Trump's regime is cracking up as even the most debased toadies he can find are unable to meet the mad king's requirements for sycophancy. 

- Justin Mikulka discusses how fossil gas (and other dirty fuels) are absolutely doomed from an economic standpoint compared to cheaper, cleaner alternatives. And Scott Forbes weighs in on the folly of Canada in particular continually obsessing over (and publicly subsidizing) fossil fuel expansion. 

- Paula Simons is rightly worried by the particularly damaging combination of fossil fuel power being used to run AI disinformation factories. But Ed Zitron points out that we're far from there being any plausible argument that AI is too big to fail. And Joe Wilkins reports that nearly half of the data centres announced within the U.S. in 2026 have already been cancelled or delayed - offering reason for hope that economic realities and community organization can halt their spread. 

- Finally, Maia Silber discusses how the U.S.' welfare state is impossible to navigate legally and honestly - making it all too easy for governments to withhold benefits and point fingers at recipients. But Lex McMenamin reports on the movement to properly tax billionaires' wealth, as a growing number of Americans come to realize their economic system is designed for the benefit of those who already have too much

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading.

- Francine Prose offers a reminder that everything else happening in the U.S. is secondary to the imminent threat of an authoritarian takeover. Ed Burmila highlights how Donald Trump can't afford the usual PR tactic of throwing somebody else under the bus for abusive behaviour due to his reliance on total impunity to keep his goons behind him. And Noah Berlatsky observes that the Trump regime's public statements can't be evaluated based on truth or falsity when they're aimed solely at laying the groundwork for perpetually increasing violence.

- But Luke O'Neil writes that the sense of solidarity on display in Minneapolis offers ample reason for hope that fascism won't ultimately win out. And Robert Worth discusses how plenty of people are finding homes for themselves in the resistance to Trump's occupation. 

- Meanwhile, Kate Connolly reports that the international response to Trump's capriciousness includes Germany's examining the prospect of repatriating gold currently held on U.S. soil. 

- And both Jason Markusoff and David Climenhaga note that the already-limited appeal of Alberta's separatist faction is declining all the more as the consequences of being more tightly tied to Trump become inescapable.

- Finally, Caitlin Johnstone rightly notes that the few people sitting on obscene levels of wealth and power can't have reached that position through anything resembling a healthy worldview. And Oxfam documents the continued concentration of wealth at the top of the income spectrum.

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Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading. 

- Jonathan Last discusses how the Trump regime is carrying out campaigns of murder based on known lies with both the purpose and effect of destroying any social order, while Matt Gurney writes about the participants at the Halifax International Security Forum who have quite rightly concluded the U.S. can never be trusted again. Daniele Renwick talks to activists from authoritarian regimes about the lessons they've learned, while Kimberly Prost discusses the effects of the U.S.' imposition of sanctions against people who dare to enforce international criminal and humanitarian law. And Charlie Angus writes about Trump's gangster regime, while Richard Goode discusses the alt-right forces seeking to impose similar lawless violence in Canada. 

- Hannah Murphy writes about the development of privately-owned cities to further entrench the power of the wealthy. And Alan MacLeod writes about the obvious distortion of our information environment when then most obscenely wealthy tycoons on the planet are all taking over major media outlets to turn them into personal megaphones, while Alexander Smith et al. study the dangers posed by politicised threats to science. 

- Taylor Noakes points out that Mark Carney is dutifully parroting fossil fuel billionaires' talking points rather than working on any climate policy, while Tzeporah Berman discusses how utter capitulation is being framed as "realism". And Jim Stanford and Kathy Bennett examine (PDF) how a just transition remains entirely possible as long as government isn't beholden to the oil sector. 

- Finally, Tianyuan Huang et al. study how inequalities are exacerbated by environmental disasters as rebuilding is carried out to suit those who have more resources to pay for it. And Lara Jauregui et al. find that price shocks similarly have a disparate impact on the people who can least afford to absorb them. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Jonathan Freedland discusses how the Trump regime is systematically corrupting law, government and morality alike, while A.R. Moxon discusses the challenges of trying to end a culture (and cult) of abuse.  Rebecca Solnit writes about Trump's intention to recreate a fictitious white America at the expense of anything that ever counted as a success. And Joe Wilkins reports on the techbros looking to legalize war crimes to line their own pockets. 

- Charlie Angus points out how the conservative multiverse - including allied elements among the Repulicans, Cons and their allies - is bent on destroying Canada. Allan Woods reports on the Trump regime's admission that it's determined to turn Canada into a vassal state, while Nathalie Tocci discusses how Europe is also coming to terms with the fact that the U.S. is an adversary. But Alex Cosh reports that Mark Carney is refusing to apply basic human rights law to military exports which may be used by the U.S. or its axis of authoritarians to commit humanitarian atrocities. 

- Seth Sandronsky writes that the real source of the U.S.' affordability is the suppression of wages. And Josh Gerstein discusses how the Trump regime plans to exacerbate that by eliminating any remaining protections for workers. 

- But in case anybody was under the misapprehension that Carney is appreciably more concerned with workers' well-being, Natasha Bulowski reports on his slashing of any federal capacity to track climate disasters, while Josh Pringle reports on yet another back-to-office mandate which will serve only to make work more costly and less efficient (while driving away some public servants). And Althia Raj reports on the Libs' plan to make every single federal regulation subject to being instantly nullified for the benefit of any pet project. 

- Finally, Ella Nilsen and Samuel Hart write about the rapid transitions to clean energy which are possible when a country focuses on investing in sustainable energy technology, rather than fixating on dirty fossil fuels. And Markham Hislop comments on the distinction between renewable tech and commodity extraction:

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Thomas Zimmer sorts through the significance of a particularly arbitrary week from the Trump regime. Lauren Gambino reports on an assessment by former U.S. national security officials documenting the country's slide into authoritarianism. Will Bunch discusses the common through line of enforced conformity in the Trump administration's systematic dehumanization and abuse of out-groups. And Edward Luce writes about the cowardice of the wealthy and powerful who have chosen to bend the knee to a mad king. 

- Meanwhile, Harold Meyerson discusses a California ballot initiative to apply a wealth tax in order to fund health care - allowing for direct public choice as to whether people actually prioritize billionaires' offshore accounts over their own lives. 

- Joe Wilkins warns that Sam Altman has joined the list of capricious billionaires who has positioned himself to be able to crash the global economy. And Dan Gearino and Charles Paulin report on the citizen-driven effort to stop shoveling public money into resource-sucking data centres in Virginia. 

- Finally, Saima Desai points out how Doug Ford's attacks on cyclists and clean transportation fit into a corporatist mindset. And Shawn Micallef writes that any Ontario municipal leader interested in being able to serve their constituents should be planning to run against Ford's interference. 

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. 

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. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Noah Berlatsky discusses the Trump regime's policy of wanton violence and murder. And Choe Sang-Hun reports on the recognition by South Korean workers caught in a recent ICE raid that the U.S. is no safe place to work, while Wired tells the stories of federal workers who were caught in DOGE's purge of the public service. 

- Greg Sargent writes that ABC's about-face over Jimmy Kimmel has exposed the lack of public support for the Trump regime's culture war. And Paul Krugman expresses some hope that others facing similarly arbitary demands from the MAGA government will push back sooner and allow the U.S. to avoid the fate of states that lost all independent media to authoritarian regimes. 

- But then, Lord Foulkes notes that the UK's media is still treating its hard-right party with kid gloves and legitimizing its message of hate in the process. And Stephen Maher writes about the need for Canada to prevent alt-right grooming from turning into political violence. 

- Thor Benson discusses how China is taking what looks to be an insurmountable lead over the U.S. in developing and deploying clean energy. And Andrew Freedman reports on Climate TRACE's work allowing people to trace responsibility for air pollution (which confirms the disproportionate role of a few corporate super polluters in spewing harmful substances). 

- Finally, Melissa Heikkilä, Chris Cook and Clara Murray report on the glaring lack of substance behind most corporate spin about AI. But Anja Karadeglija reports that the Libs remain determined to bank on AI as a panacea.

Friday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to end your week.

- Greg Sargent highlights how Donald Trump's pretense of concern for working-class people has given way to the largest transfer of wealth to plutocrats in U.S. history. Harold Meyerson discusses how Trump's repressive police state is keeping communities from celebrating the Fourth of July or otherwise participating in public life. Jeremy Brecher writes about the importance of ensuring that people with the means and privilege to engage in protest make sure Trump knows there's widespread opposition. And Yanis Varoufakis writes about the lessons from Karl Marx which are as vital to today's populist movements as those of the 1800s. 

- Meanwhile, Rick Salutin points out that Mark Carney's caving to Trump on a digital services tax represents an absolute failure to understand what Canadians expect from him. 

- Greg Silsbe et al. study the decline in ocean nutrients and photosynthesis caused by a warming climate. Isabella Kaminski reports on the ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that states have a legal duty to protect people from the effects of a climate breakdown. And Ayesha Tandon discusses a new analysis showing that the research we have into the effects of the climate crisis fails to take into account the particular impacts on fast-growing cities in developing countries. 

- Franziska Mager writes that there's no lack of resources available to fund a just transition if governments recognize and exercise their ability to tax extreme wealth. Reuters reports on new research showing that Germany could make substantial progress toward its carbon pollution targets just by cutting fossil fuel subsidies. And Juan Moreno-Cruz notes that methane mitigation can both create jobs and significantly cut harmful emissions - but that it won't work without effective emission regulation. 

- Simon Enoch discusses the importance of rural media outlets to build community connections on a foundation of facts and basic principles. And Gillian Steward calls out Danielle Smith for spending her summer on a separatist road show rather than anything that could actually help Albertans, while Leanna Sanders reports on the UCP's joint attempt with the Ford PCs to officially torpedo any commitment to clean drinking water for First Nations. 

- Finally, Bruce Campbell offers a reminder as to how corporate greed and deregulatory zeal led to the Lac-Megantic rail disaster - and how people are still suffering from its aftereffects. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Robert Reich warns that the Trump regime's use of extreme military force to suppress peaceful protest is just the first step toward a police state. And Zoe Williams writes about the importance of people nonetheless standing up against the dehumanization of immigrants, rather than acquiescing in both nativist policy and the authoritarian state being used to impose it. 

- Yessenia Funes reports on the fossil fuel industry's bankrolling of anti-trans and other discriminatory causes with the expectation that recruits eager to hurt people based on gender discrimination will be equally callous when it comes to climate harms. And Chris Mooney reports that Canada is looking at wildfire greenhouse gas emissions which far surpass those from any other year on record other than 2023, while Ian Livingston reports that before summer even starts we've already surpassed a normal yearly amount of burned land.  

- Lana Payne writes about the dangers of treating expansion of internal and international trade as an excuse to attack protections for workers. Bushra Asghar, Erin Blondeau, Juan Vargas Alba and Lea Mary Movelle make the case for a Youth Climate Corps as a means of building a sustainable and prosperous future. And John Harris notes that the Starmer government is undermining itself by prioritizing austerity after being elected on promises to ensure people have access to affordable housing. 

- Finally, Curtis Fric reports on Canada's strong public appetite to develop closer ties to the EU. But Katie Simpson, Louis Blouin and Fannie Olivier report that Mark Carney is instead swapping terms for a trade deal with the U.S., with no apparent recognition that any agreement on paper is absolutely worthless as long as Donald Trump is in power. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- David Moscrop writes about the difficulty in trying to respond to a news stream constantly filled with horrors without breaking down. George Monbiot discusses how Britain is seeing increasing swaths of land turned into desert dead zones. And Paula Simons writes about the grim reality of regular wildfire smoke - including far more severe health effects than are generally known. 

- Meanwhile, Chris Hatch points out the absurdity of trumpeting "decarbonized" fossil fuels when the primary intention of oil and gas production remains to have it burned and turned into carbon pollution. And Gaby Clark examines research showing that methane leaks from dormant oil and gas wells are significantly worse than previously assumed. 

- Jessica Wildfire discusses how Donald Trump has been looking for (and working to fabricate) an excuse to impose martial law, while Jonathan Last writes that this week is the most dangerous one in the U.S.' history in terms of the imposition of authoritarianism. 

- Paul Krugman notes that Trump's plans to politicize tax rates on foreign capital is just one more step in ensuring that no rational actors risk a cent of their holdings in the U.S. And Greg Sargent writes that the  difference giving rise to a feud between Trump and Elon Musk is limited to their disagreement as to how best to harm the working class (which should serve as reason for any opposition or resistance voices to refuse to try to make common cause with either of them). 

- Finally, Isaac Phan Nay writes about CUPW's fight to preserve a viable, publicly-operated Canada Post in contrast to management's determination to impose the precarious model used by private delivery services. And in case we needed a reminder as to how businesses are allowed to abuse workers, Nicole Brockbank reports on a single operator's accumulation of almost a million dollars in unpaid wages and fines through multiple employers. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Jessica Wildfire discusses the importance of not letting the Trump regime and its corporate backers take away people's righteous anger, while Ava Kofman highlights how Trump's administration is deliberately using over-the-top evil as a means of domination. And Jonathan Last comments on the proliferation of secret police violently carrying out illegal orders, while Gregory Magarian examines some of the less direct (but still dangerous) tactics being used to stifle free speech. 

- Anna Merlan points out the absurdity of the claim that Elon Musk is anything but fully entangled in the Trump regime even as far too much of the American media buys into a laughable PR tour. And Scott Waldman reports that Musk has torqued his AI chatbot to spout climate denialist talking point in addition to doing massive amounts of environmental damage itself.

- Madeleine Cuff discusses the looming prospect that we may see warming of 2 degrees Celsius before the end of the decade. David Chandler et al. examine the likelihood that the Antarctic ice sheet could unleash a gigantic sea level rise. Tess McClure reports on the recognition that insect populations are dwindling in large areas as part of a climate-related ecological collapse. And EHN reports on a study connecting rising temperatures to increased cancer and death rates among women in the Middle East and North Africa. 

- Ratwat Deonandan discusses the foolishness of RFK Jr.'s cancellation of funding for Moderna's flu vaccine in particular. And Katie Herchenroeder reports on the Trump regime's cuts to research which was on the verge of breakthroughs in developing an HIV vaccine. 

- Finally, Katherine Scott examines how racialized workers are continuing to face disproportionate barriers as employment structures have change in the midst of an ongoing pandemic. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Steven Levitsky, Lucan Way and Daniel Ziblatt discuss how the Trump regime has used the power of an authoritarian state to impose costs on any opposition - and how it's nonetheless essential for people to resist rather than going along to get along. Robert Reich writes about the need to build a populist progressive movement to ensure people know there's a viable alternative to Trump's corruption and corporatism. And John Baglow's review of new books by Alex Himelfarb and Denise Hearn/Vass Bednar examines how neoliberalism has come to dominate our economic and social foundation - and the difficulty countering the power of capital in trying to make change.

- Attracta Mooney reports on new data showing that global warming has exceeded the 1.5 Celsius threshold for nearly all of the past two years. And Andreas Sieber and Stela Herschmann discuss the futility of holding climate talks while skirting any discussion of the fossil fuels which are the cause of three quarters of greenhouse gas emissions.  

- Isaac Sevier and Winston Yau write about the impending summer of shutoffs as outdated infrastructure and worsening extreme weather events make it inevitable that dirty energy sources will shut down. Euronews Green examines new polling showing that Europeans recognize the need to transition to clean and secure energy sources rather than relying on fossil fuel imports. And Eleni Courea reports on England's requirement for solar panels on new homes as a key example of the transition in progress. 

- Mariah Blake discusses how untested synthetic materials came to be so ubiquitous as a long-term consequence of a corporate PR campaign. 

- Finally, Brint Milward examines how the hollowing-out of the U.S.' federal government will have disastrous effects on state- and local-level services linked to what DOGE is destroying. David Armstrong reports on how a cancer drug which can be produced for 25 cents per pill is being sold for 4,000 times that cost, resulting in people being unable to afford the treatment they need.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Jared Yates Sexton writes about the unambiguous wrong embodied in the Trump regime's claim to be able to disappear anybody it chooses to. Timothy Snyder rightly categorizes that position as the deliberate use of state terror. Coral Davenport reports on Trump's plan to treat the law as inoperative to the extent it doesn't suit the interests of him or his cronies, including by ignoring regulations which are seen as inconvenient. And Jason Sattler discusses how Elon Musk is attempting to enshittify Social Security out of existence (as an alternative to the Republicans' repeated attempts to eliminate it as a matter of law).

- Amanda Marcotte points out the theocracy embedded in Marco Rubio's attempt to treat any differing views as "anti-Christian bias". Saketh Sundar discusses how hospitals stand to be hard hit by Trump's attempt at a hostile takeover of universities. And Taylor Noakes writes that the rest of the world (including Canada) will suffer from the fallout of RFK Jr.'s gutting of public health. 

- Sushan Singh writes about the connections between right-wing authoritarian regimes around the world, including through the Modi government's interference to promote Pierre Poilievre and the Cons. Taylor Owen talks to Aengus Bridgman and Nina Jankocwicz about the broader reality of foreign information manipulation. 

- Patrick McCurdy and Kaitlin Clarke offer a reminder as to who stands to suffer from Poilievre's war on "woke" (i.e. any attempt to identify and correct injustice). Mel Woods points out the anti-trans messages being injected into the election campaign by the Cons. And Jen St. Denis reports that Canada's alt-right techbros are desperately trying to distance themselves from Elon Musk's DOGE (with all the credibility of Donald Trump's bald-faced lies about his connections to Project 2025). 

- Finally, Nino Antadze writes that Canada can draw important lessons from Georgia as to how to defend its sovereignty against a hostile superpower. And Charles Smith discusses how the new strain of Canadian nationalism emerging in response to Trump's threat may chart a path for our future development. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Steven Greenhouse discusses how Donald Trump's obsession with tariffs is ultimately harmful to everyone affected. But Jonathan Freedland writes that Trump's addiction to his own supply of fake news ensure that he doesn't see the damage he causes, while Jason Linkins notes that even the mainstream American media is minimizing and normalizing even the most authoritarian of his actions.  

- Jonathan Last discusses the importance of approaching Trump's regime with a dissident perspective. Andrew Nikiforuk writes about the need for descriptors that honesty and fully account for a revolution against democracy. And John Restakic describes the new administration as a pathocracy, while discussing how large numbers of voters contributed their support to its abuses. 

- Arwa Mahdawi makes the case for people from around the world to avoid the risks associated with visiting the U.S. And Americans for Tax Fairness points out how undocumented workers have contributed substantial tax revenue without receiving any services - only to be rewarded for their work with the threat of rendition. 

- Bruce Arthur writes about the dangers of Danielle Smith's choice to take Trump's side over Canada (and seek to influence the federal election accordingly). And Eve Gaumond notes that the Canada Elections Act offers theoretical protection against undue foreign influence - but that it's unclear how that principle will be applied when major social media and press outlets are controlled by courtiers of a hostile foreign power. 

- Finally, DT Cochrane examines how federal spending can and should be an engine for economic development - both generally, and particularly in response to the need to route our activity away from the U.S. And David Edward Tabachnick discusses how the U.S.' threats may be raising the prospect of national sovereignty which had largely been declared obsolete over a half-century ago. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Alex Cosh discusses how our response to the new Trump administration needs to move beyond avoiding tariffs toward routing our international relations around a clear and present danger. And Ashleigh Stewart reports that Steve Bannon's plans to for "hemispheric control" go far beyond trade as well. 

- David Smith highlights how Trump is following in the footsteps of Viktor Orban (who is of course a model for Canadian Cons as well in his attacks on democracy). Paul Krugman writes that the key factor to watch for at this stage is the concentration of power via autogolpe. Moira Donegan writes about Elon Musk's effective control through shadow government mechanisms, while Robert Reich examines his minions' burrowing into government computer systems (which Charlie Warzel and Ian Bogost observe to be a terrifying reality according to the people who know those systems best),

- Meanwhile, Mark Frauenfelder highlights how Google's monetized reCAPTCHA system is simultaneously a means of tracking people in alarming detail, a profit centre and a massive waste of time for users. And Charlotte Cowles discusses the current reality of surveillance pricing. 

- Brittany Welsh and Julian Aherne report on a new study showing that Ontario's cottage country lakes aren't immune from the proliferation of microplastics, while Tik Root and Joseph Winters report on Exxon's plans to spend billions of dollars making the problem worse. Lorne Fitch notes that Alberta coal spokesflacks are pushing nonsense research to claim that selenium contamination is just fine for you, while Phillip Meintzer points out how four oil sands companies have signed on to endorse increased cancer rates for Indigenous communities. And Zoya Teirstein discusses how the smoke from California's recent wildfires is particularly toxic due to the large amount of plastic and chemical content. 

- Finally, the Climate Institute examines the importance of building new housing in areas which mitigate the likelihood of climate-related emergencies - rather than in ones which are particularly vulnerable to them (or already the sites of recent disasters). And Katya Schwenk reports on the greed and folly of real estate developoers pushing to be build developments in areas which are already running out of water. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Tim Snyder calls out the coup in progress as unelected lackeys take over major elements of the U.S.' government, while Jamelle Bouie rightly makes the case that the damage being done to the U.S.' constitutional order by the combination of a power-mad executive and fully compliant legislative branch is irreversible. Elizabeth Popp Berman discusses how unilateral control over government payments by an unelected political crony represents the end of any pretense of democracy, while David Dayen points out the flagrant illegality of Elon Musk's usurpation of that power. Jill Filipovic writes about the Trump administration's scheme to asset-strip the U.S. government. 

- Robert Reich writes that the point of Trump's trade posturing is to demonstrate a willingness to punish anybody who doesn't bow before him. Kaylin Hamilton discusses the futility of limiting opposition to demands for civility which ultimately serve only to further empower those already in control. And Greg Sargent interviews Andy Craig about the options that are available to meaningfully respond - including loud protest backed by every available action. 

- Paresh Dave and Caroline Haskins report that Google's place within the new authoritarian regime includes reversing a policy which previously prohibited its AI from being used for weapons and surveillance. Oliver Milman reports on the state of fear among scientists as all accurate information about climate change is purged from official sources. And Jeff Tollefson points out the impending clash between a regime insistent on pushing dirty fossil fuels to enrich a major donor group, and a transition to more affordable clean energy already in progress. 

- Pete McMartin discusses why Canada and other countries aren't about to ignore or forget the U.S.' bullying even if some immediate threats are being delayed, while Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean comments on the warnings we've received against future reliance on the U.S. Crawford Kilian's proposed resistance against Trump's extortion includes building closer international ties while treating collaborators' brands as toxic. Paul Wells makes the case for applying our own tariffs rather than letting Trump continue to make threats with apparent impunity. And Heather McPherson discusses what a principled and courageous foreign policy would properly include. 

- Finally, Gaby Hinsliff writes that no country can afford to appease or encourage a regime which is willing to wreck the world. And Andy Bounds reports on the EU's ability to target tech giants and intellectual property monopolies as part of an anti-coercion response. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Brian Beutler discusses how U.S. Democrats need to respond to Donald Trump's attempt to end democracy and human rights with something more than complaints about higher prices - a point which applies equally to other countries. Tom Scocca and Joe MacLeod note that Trump's power grab now includes trying to take sole control over the disbursement of public funds - even where the result is to deliberately leave people destitute or destroy vital institutions. And Adam Barnett maps out Trump's anti-environmental network seeking to keep carbon spewing and the planet burning. 

- Gil Duran writes about the "strict father" framework which represents the attempt to attach some (abusive) model of morality to Trump's actions. And David Moscrop offers some perspective and advice on carrying on dealing with the death of a seemingly vanished order.  

- Tom Parkin examines how Doug Ford is seeking to be rewarded for making life worse for Ontarians, while John Michael McGrath focuses in on the massive sums of public money Ford has wasted trying to get voters drunk. And Inori Roy points out how anti-immigrant policy is preventing Canada from making up ground in dealing with a housing deficit. 

- Finally, Claire Turner discusses new research showing the sustained cognitive and physical effects of long COVID. Heidi Ledford writes about some of the lessons COVID-19 has taught scientists about the immune system. And CBC News reports on the award of a $24 million grant to the University of Saskatchewan to research vaccines which could address multiple coronaviruses. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Kat Kerlin writes about new research showing that the true social cost of carbon pollution is over $280 per ton - far higher than the prices currently attached to it, even as our policy debates center on whether to subsidize the climate crisis even further. And Nina Lakhan reports on the growing list of countries pushing for a just transition away from fossil fuels to avert a climate breakdown. 

- Martha Bebinger reports on the prescriptions for rooftop solar power which are helping to ensure people with specific medical needs aren't vulnerable to being cut off by private utilities. And Julian Fell, Tim Leslie, Alex Lim and Ashley Kyd discuss the global spread of solar power - and its ability to meet humanity's energy needs with far less disruption than fossil fuel alternatives. But Kate Aronoff warns that the fas of AI data centers risks keeping dirty energy onstream far longer than can reasonably be accepted. 

- Michelle Goldberg calls out the tech industry elites who have chosen fealty to Donald Trump over any other interest. And Andrew Egger warns that the silent surrenders of media organizations offer a dangerous precedent for the prospect of Trump's future wrongdoing being the subject of investigation and reporting. 

- Finally, Ron Filipkowski discusses the need for U.S. Democrats to build means of communicating with people in the face of a loud and closed conservative media ecosystem. And Ettingermentum examines the U.S. Democrats' retreat from substantive policy positions - which is now being used as an excuse to demand further drift toward the right. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Linda McQuaig writes about Catherine McKenna's rare (if belated) honesty about the extent to which Canadian policy is dictated by fossil fuel tycoons. And Susanne Rust and Ian James report on the corporate sector's plans to gut health and safety regulations in the U.S. 

- Grant Robertson and Kathryn Blaze Baum report on the combination of reliance on algorithms and self-regulation that led to a large and preventable outbreak of deadly listeria. William Gavin reports on a U.S. Senate committee report documenting Amazon's alarming propensity for work injuries (and deliberate executive choices to prevent workers from protecting themselves), while Hannah Critchfield and Juan Carlos Chavez investigate Florida's wave of heat deaths which employers have concealed from authorities. Jeremy Fuster reports on Disneyland's $233 million wage theft settlement. And Yuye Ding et al. study the effects of mandatory return-to-office policies, which produce a predictable brain drain which employers seem happy to accept in order to temporary slash costs. 

- Jon Queally reports on Donald Trump's plans to privatize the U.S. Postal Service - and the growing movement to save it. And Dru Oja Jay discusses how the same fight is playing out in Canada, with the Libs choosing to strip away the bargaining power of workers using collective action to argue for enhanced public service rather than dysfunction and precarity. 

- Emily Bell highlights why there's no reason to trust the self-serving propaganda of corporate media owners. Steven Beschloss calls out the wealthy and privileged Americans who are bowing before a Donald Trump dictatorship rather than using their resources to fight for a functional society, while Scott Dworkin examines a few of the forms of press complianc. And Greg Sargent interviews Anne Applebaum about the potential domino effect of ABC's failure to fight a strong defamation case on principle, while Jonathan Last notes that the extraction of protection money looks like one of the central pursuits of het second Trump administration. 

- Finally, Dale Smith discusses how 2024 can only be seen as a year of creeping (following by sprinting) authoritarianism. And Laura Barron-Lopez and Cynthia MIller-Idriss discuss the surge of public misogyny following the U.S.' election, while Taj Ali writes about the recruitment of young men into the toxic "manosphere".