Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Rita Bhowmick writes about the importance of care services both in keeping people healthy and ensuring equitable work opportunities. And Steven Lewis examines the dishonesty and gaslighting behind the destruction of public Medicare in by the UCP, while Kaylene Duttchen and Paul Parks point out the consistent body of evidence showing that private and for-profit medicine only draws resources away from the care people actually need.  

- Runting Li et al. study (PDF) the connection between the proliferation of microplastics and nanoplastics, and the proliferation of brain tumours. 

- Donal Gill offers a warning about the dangers of making political and social decisions to serve the interests of tech giants pushing AI propaganda rather than people. Jessica Winter highlights the community efforts to keep AI from take over education systems. And Nilay Patel discusses how "software brain" is causing immense changes without people recognizing what's happening. 

- The New York Times' editorial board rightly warns that the return of measles presages far worse diseases making a comeback due to the anti-science attack on vaccinations. And the Boston Globe reports on the growing number of Americans suffering from long COVID. 

- Finally, Heather Scoffield reports on the false promise of Canada's disability tax credit which (along with associated supports) has been designed to be unavailable to most people who actually qualify.  

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Catherine Rampell highlights how Donald Trump's economy is divided starkly between profiteering insiders and exploited chumps. Andrew Feinberg reports on Trump's plans to issue blanket pardons to facilitate criminal activity by his staff. And Mark Chadbourn writes about the dangers of a humiliated despot. 

- Jonathan Mingle writes that the oil shocks arising out of the Iran war stand to be far worse than those which largely defined the 1970s. But in case anybody wanted to pretend there's no alternative David Roberts talks to Lauren Flanagan about the development of "ruggedized" solar power to replace dirty energy in situations that require quick or remote deployment. 

- Ashleigh Furlong reports on new research showing that the ongoing cost of long COVID in OECD countries alone is upwards of twelve figures each year. And Devi Shastri and Laura Ungar report on tragic plight of babies who aren't yet eligible for vaccines who are at increasing risk due to the avoidable spread of measles.

- Finally, Christo Aivalis calls out Mark Carney for welcoming bigotry and anti-science quackery into the Libs' tent.  

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Robert Reich examines how the uber-wealthy have undermined any pretense of decision-making in the public interest - and how political financing rules and more progressive taxes are both needed to reverse the trend. And Lindsay Beyerstein notes that the most important lesson to be drawn from the Epstein files is the intolerable danger of allowing people to be so rich as to avoid any potential for accountability. 

- Andrew Coyne discusses how the Trump regime's plans for Canada involve dismemberment at best as any independence or values are seen as a threat to U.S. dominance. Which makes it all the more galling to see Mark Carney using the power won with the promise of "elbows up!" to subsidize continued fossil fuel dependence, allow American-driven AI hype to override any consideration of the future of our planet, and throw money at projects designed to hand more of our natural resources to the country threatening our sovereignty.

- Meanwhile, Max Fawcett notes that the fossil fuel lobby which has such a stranglehold on our country's politics is plainly living in the past. And Michael Mann discusses how the war in Iran is only accelerating the transition to clean energy for countries who aren't bent on supplicating themselves before Trump. 

- Similarly, Matteo Wong and Charlie Warzel take a look at the numerous obvious weak spots in the AI bubble. And Ed Zitron examines the laughable economics behind the self-serving declarations of inevitability and infinite potential.  

- Finally, Joe Vipond, Dick Zoutman and Stephane Bilodeau lament the continued refusal to recognize COVID as airborne due to a general distaste for the basic mitigation steps associated with that reality. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Paul Krugman notes that Donald Trump has upended the theory that presidential influence on the economy is overstated, as every new difficulty facing the U.S. can be traced to his deliberate choices. And Richard Bookstaber discusses how the global economy may be headed toward much worse than the 2008 crisis, even as Alexis Lapp reports on Trump's plans to reverse the few public protections put in place after that occurred. 

- Meanwhile, Owen Jones writes that the Iran war has destroyed any pretense that the U.S.' is a global leader rather than a bully. And Jan Dehn discusses the prospect that the Iran war will serve as the death knell for fossil fuel dependency, while George Monbiot reminds us that our current reliance on dirty energy has only fuelled the rise of dictators. 

- Eric Dolan writes about new research on the effect of electronic interruptions - with constant notifications serving as a more problematic disruption than screen time alone. The Associated Press reports on Canada's descent in the Wellbeing Research Centre's global happiness rankings, with the effects of heavy social media media use among young people identified as a major cause. And James Densley and Jillian Peterson discuss how the profile of mass shooters increasingly reflects younger people radicalized by an online culture of performative violence.

-  Finally, Meghan Bartels examines new research showing that the death toll from COVID-19 in the U.S. has likely been severely underestimated due to a reluctance to test for the disease. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Matt Simon writes that Donald Trump's plans to kill off clean energy are futile in the face of its inexorable progress in price and reliability compared to reliance on fossil fuels. And Mark Gongloff likewise notes that the smart money is on investment in renewable power. 

- The CP's report on Canada's lifting of some tariffs on electric vehicles from China offers a rare indication that Mark Carney isn't entirely averse to being on the right side of the divide. But Maxwell Cameron argues that we have much further to go in opposing Trump's regime as it claims the entitlement to exercise complete and arbitrary control over the Western hemisphere.

- Meanwhile, Sammy Roth discusses how precarious manhood plays a role in fueling opposition to responsible climate policy (among other obviously desirable policy choices).  

- Davis Legree highlights Cory Doctorow's warning that Canada should be protecting itself against the impending collapse of the AI bubble rather than buying into implausible hype. 

- Finally, Eric Dolan reports on new research showing that the lasting effects of COVID-19 may include brain microstructure alterations even in people who otherwise appear to have fully recovered. And Massimo Nunes et al. examine how long COVID and other post-virus diseases may result from endothelial cell dysfunction.

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Miguel Xavier discusses the need for social democrats to stop limiting their goals to preserving the status quo, and instead make the case for transformative change of an unfair economic system. And Dale Smith comments on the need to build grassroots democracy as a necessary precondition to sustainable social and policy gains. 

- Patrick Lennox warns that the separatist movement being stoked by the UCP and the Sask Party represents a threat to Canada's national security. Matthew Mendelsohn writes about the changes Canada's public service needs to make to strengthen our defences against the U.S.' aggression, while Paris Marx highlights the need to ban X in particular as both a peddler of CSAM and a threat to democracy. And Paul Stewart points out how reliance on P3 schemes and outsourcing as a substitute for a dedicated civil service only makes the delivery of necessities more expensive and less effective. 

- IndustriALL examines how social dialogue mechanisms have led to improved wages and working conditions in Kyrgyzstan. 

- Finally, Laura Semenzato et al. study the effects of COVID-19 vaccines, and find a substantial reduction in COVID-related deaths without tradeoffs in all-cause mortality. 

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.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Kara Miller interviews Ray Madoff about the tax dodges that allow the richest Americans to hoard wealth without contributing to the society that makes it possible. And David Sirota is duly cynical about Mitt Romney and other plutocrats offering meaningless gestures toward tax fairness after they've forfeited the power to implement it. 

- Meanwhile, Thom Hartmann writes that plenty of Americans are eager to see a new New Deal to break up the concentration of wealth and power. And Rafael Behr discusses the prospect of people taking back control after the AI bubble bursts. 

- Allen Woods writes about Mark Carney's decision to become a fossil fuel cheerleader rather than a responsible climate advocate, while Rick Smith laments the uncertainty and lack of ambition created by Carney's climate policy reversals.  And the Guardian's editorial board notes that the EU too looks to be undermining readily-achievable gains by shredding its previous electric vehicle targets. 

- Among the other harms caused by the climate breakdown, Damian Carrington reports on a new analysis showing that crop production is becoming more vulnerable to pests, while Senay Boztas reports that even the food which reaches our tables includes less nutrition and more filler as a result of rising CO2 levels. 

- Finally, Rachel Morgam reports on Ontario School Safety's appeal for basic air quality improvements to limit the spread of cold and flu viruses. And Laine Bergeron discusses new research showing that workplace exposures in high-risk jobs (including teaching and health-care work) correlate to a higher risk of long COVID. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- G. Elliott Morris examines what voters want out of a political party independent of the platforms being presented to them - and finds both that there's reason to apply an affordability/ideology axis, and that the general preference is for left-leaning policies to the extent the traditional ideological spectrum is taken into account. And Paul Krugman discusses how Americans are recognizing how the Trump regime is hurting their material interests. 

- Meanwhile, Clement Nocos and Nathan Prier point out how the Carney Libs' cuts to public services are both unnecessary and dangerous. And Angella MacEwen highlights why we should be embracing and benefiting from public ownership and investment, rather than engaging in the right-wing impulse to put everything in corporate hands:

- Carole Cadwalldr writes that some of the most prominent techbro billionaires are signaling their own recognition that AI is a bubble rather than a sustainable focus for economic activity, while Nicole Einbender reports on the extreme exploitation of labour being pushed at another of Sam Altman's corporations. Bryce Elder rightly draws a distinction between past tech successes which became more efficient at scale, and AI which has seen nothing of the sort. Peter Rudegeair, Nate Rattner and Sebastian Herrera report on Oracle's fall from AI darling status to failed business. 

- Anne Plourde discusses new research showing how health care privatization leads to worse mortality rates. And David Climenhaga calls out Danielle Smith for looking to sacrifice Albertans' health in the name of imposing two-tier care.  

- Mel Woods offers a fact check against the excuses the UCP is peddling for going nuclear against trans people and their Charter freedoms. And Dale Smith warns against normalizing the use of the notwithstanding clause as a matter of convenience and avoiding evidentiary justification for policies which attack rights. 

- Finally, Tanayott Thaweethai et al. study the trajectory of long COVID in Americans, including a large number of people with persistently high or continuing symptoms. And Malin Spetz et al. examine the connective between COVID-19 severity and cardiovascular risks.

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Catarina Saraiva and Jaewon Kang warn that the U.S. economy is a Jenga tower in which pieces needed to support the middle class are being systematically removed. Bloomberg's editorial board examines the national scope of the U.S.' gambling problem - with sports betting as just part of the drain on workers. And Public Citizen traces the connections between Donald Trump's ballroom bribe solicitation and hundreds of billions of dollars in federal contract awards. 

- Meanwhile, Rebecca Schneid discusses how Zohran Mamdani has offered a vitally important reminder that oligarchs can't buy elections in the face of public organization. Emma Goldberg and Benjamin Oreskes highlight how Mamdani recognized and responded to the young voters who have been facing a loneliness crisis. Ian Welsh views Mamdani's focus on affordability - coupled with positive solutions  based on collective power rather than mere finger-pointing - as the model Democrats need to seize upon. And Moustafa Bayoumi writes that Mamdani was rewarded for defending his values, while Moira Donegan implores the rest of the Democratic Party to learn from his success. 

- Climate Action Tracker's latest evaluation of Canada's climate policy finds that we're headed in the wrong direction under the Carney Libs even as the cost of inaction becomes ever more stark. Markham Hislop discusses the dangers of letting the oil industry's false assumptions and empty promises take precedence over planning for an affordable and sustainable future. And Bob Weber examines how the UCP has set out to stick the public with perpetually more cleanup costs in order to ensure oil companies  operating in Alberta can escape responsibility for the messes they're making. 

- Finally, Katie Kavanagh offers a reminder that COVID-19 is still around even as basic measures to track and control it have long since been abandoned. And Michael Le Page reports on a new study showing that exposure to COVID raises the risk of heart issues in children - in contrast to the protective effects of vaccination. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- A.R. Moxon writes about the need to restore the capacity for shame as a precondition to reversing the decline of the U.S. Noah Berlatsky notes that it's particularly damning when both major parties are willing to agree to kick down at marginalized people. And Kyla Scanlon writes about the massive number of losing bets at the heart of Trump's economy, while Justin Ling points out that the only guaranteed winners from the Trump regime are the insiders being allowed to loot the public purse. 

- Meanwhile, Tatiana Homonoff, Min Lee and Katherine Mechel study the effects of Trump's theft of SNAP benefits, finding that process-related loss of benefits leads to even more precarious financial situations among other harms. 

- Peter Foster, Attracta Mooney and Kaye Wiggins report on the Trump regime's hostage-taking tactics to prevent even a first step toward establishing emission rules on global shipping. And while each of Rick Smith and Rachel Doran, Vittoria Bellissimo and Peter McArthur make compelling cases for viable clean economy transition strategies, it's worth noting that a willingness to push back against Trump and his Canadian puppets is a necessary precondition to the development of any alternative.  

- On that front, Christopher Holcroft is rightly concerned by Mark Carney's willingness to give the techbros behind the Trump regime everything they want rather than standing up for Canadians' privacy and security. And Linda McQuaig highlights how the U.S.' "golden dome" provides nothing but an illusion of safety - both in terms of its dubious prospects of ever functioning as promised, and in the dangers of being more closely tied to an impetuous regime even if it does. 

- Finally, Andrew Nikiforuk writes about Yaneer Bar-Yam's warning that we're falling far short of taking the continuing risks of COVID-19 seriously. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Erica Frantz, Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Joseph Wright comment on the global tilt toward strongman government as the U.S. abandons any pretense of being a democracy rather than a fiefdom. And Jonathan Last discusses the Trump regime's prioritization of performative violence over substantive action. 

- Justin Ling weighs in on the reality that we're best off not locking ourselves into new deals with the U.S. which result only in our making concessions for no enforceable gains, while Doug Nesbitt writes that our past EV strategy has been based mostly on corporate giveaways rather than real industrial development. And Lois Ross notes that Claudia Sheinbaum's Plan Mexico offers a needed blueprint to develop a sustainable economy and society which doesn't depend either on a capricious U.S. regime or on constant submission to capital. 

- Phoebe Weston writes about the parallels between the inner and outer layers of biodiversity which are both being undremined by corporate forces. James Dyke writes about the imminent derailment risk as cascading climate feedback loops eliminate our ability to adapt. And Andrew Wilkin highlights how COVID-19 minimization and other attacks on public health have maximized the social harm arising from preventable diseases. 

- Finally, Alex Caputo-Pearl and Jackson Potter discuss the need for the labour movement to unify to oppose the Trump regime, while Adam King notes that Alberta workers (along with students) are doing just that in response to Danielle Smith's negation of teachers' Charter rights. And Leah Gazan makes the case to rein in the federal Libs' reflexive anti-strike decrees. 

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. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood writes about Mark Carney's disappointing list of priority "major projects" which reflect little apparent plan other than to serve capital at the expense of our climate. And in case there was any doubt whose influence pushing the Libs in that direction, Carly Penrose reports on the corporate money behind Canada 2020.

- Meanwhile, Willliam Bredderman and Aneela Mirchandani report on the Informing America Foundation as yet another shadowy source of reactionary propaganda. And Rachel Savage reports on new research from Outright International showing how anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has been taken up on dozens of countries. 

- Paul Brown reports on new research showing how even the best-case scenarios for carbon capture and storage show it having little impact on the climate breakdown, while Mingyu Li et al. point out the dangers of relying on hypothetical future carbon removal as an excuse to keep spewing carbon pollution today. 

- Javier Carbajal reports on new research showing that extreme heat accelerates the aging of the human body. Jane Burston discusses the urgent need to rein in air pollution as a priority to save lives and improve people's health, while RNZ points out the immense costs of poor indoor air quality which could be easily improved through investments in ventilation and filtration.   

- David Wallace-Wells highlights the intractable conflict between the two types of people who have identified themselves with RFK Jr.'s idea of "healthy". And David Nield reports on new research showing that a new COVID-19 nasal spray can significantly cut viral spread - as long as people don't operate in denial of a continuing public health threat. 

- Finally, Justin Holz, Ricardo Perez-Truglia and Alejandro Zentner examine the effects of tax evasion by the wealthiest - finding that it thankfully doesn't lead to systematic non-compliance by others even as they recognize the unfairness in the system. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Don Moynihan concludes that the U.S. has lost any pretense to being a functioning democracy. And Zachary Beau discusses how Donald Trump is being allowed to undermine any institutions which would provide a check on an out-of-control executive. 

- David Dayen writes about the need to judge Trump based on his actual policies and their consequences rather than some convoluted effort to validate them, while Paul Krugman warns that the apparent willingness of markets to tolerate Trump's arbitrary actions in the short term doesn't mean the eventual consequences won't be dire. Jason Koebler examines the U.S. impact of Trump's attack on small international trade, while Campbell McDiarmid reports on the Canadian retailers looking to route their business elsewhere. And Jon Henley reports on the numerous postal services which have simply decided to stop making parcel shipments to the U.S. 

- Meghan Bartels discusses the limited availability of COVID-19 vaccines this fall even as a new wave is set to surge. And Charlie McGill points out that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s priority seems to be to turn all citizens into data collection devices for corporate use, rather than paying any attention to the policies which would keep people healthy. 

- Nitasha Tiku, Will Oremus, Elizabeth Dwoskin report on the nine-figure propaganda campaign being assembled to avoid any meaningful regulation of AI in the U.S. And Joey Grostern discusses how AI is contributing to the generation of climate denialist slop.  

- World Weather Attribution examines how the climate breakdown is exacerbating wildfires in Turkiye, Cyprus and Greece even in the face of mitigation measures, while Nicole Mortillaro reports on new research showing that wildfires are resulting in worsening air pollution in Canada. And Dale Smith notes that increased droughts represent another key reason to pursue immediate climate action, while Rosa Galvez points out that any government with an iota of respect for the rule of law may soon have little choice. 

- But needless to say, the Trump regime is no such government - and Lisa Friedman reports on its attempts to bully the rest of the world into extending the use of dirty fossil fuels. And while Linda McQuaig points out that reliance on market forces has been a major problem in our climate policy to date, Tom Parkin highlights the absurdity of talking about additional oil export pipelines when the previous emission-increasing boondoggle is still far from full capacity. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- The Lever examines new research showing how private equity is systematically funnelling risk and underperformance to less wealthy investors. And Charlie Warzel discusses how the AI investment fad is based on mass delusion, while Rick Morton notes that it's also predicated entirely on the retroactive validation of systematic illegality. 

- Ned Resnikoff discusses how the Trump regime is determined to turn American cities into war zones - even as they were previously safer than they'd been in decades - as a pretext for his plan to exert military control over them. Adam Tranter notes that anybody actually concerned with people's lives and well-being would be pushing for low traffic neighbourhoods and people-friendly communities. And Trevor Melanson discusses how Chinese EV imports could give Canadians far more and better options for cleaner and safer transportation. 

- William Foege discusses how public health needs to fight back against the cynical misinformation of antisocial populists and scammers. And Nick Tsergas studies the growing body of evidence that COVID-19 has long-term effects on people's bodies whether or not they've been diagnosed with long COVID - making any avoidable transmission a wilful choice to make people sicker. 

- Finally, Jeremy Appel highlights how Air Canada's flight attendants were able to fight back against the exploitation of unpaid labour. Dale Smith examines the rise of Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code which the Libs have taken to using reflexively to squelch strikes and allow employers to run roughshod in collective bargaining, while Verity Stevenson points out how workers' determination to stand up for themselves in the face of that interference should lead to questions as to whether it should be allowed in the first place. And Kim Siever offers a warning that surface friendliness from an employer is no guarantee of respect or job security. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Naomi Klein discusses how Canada is failing the basic test of resistance to a fascist regime. 

 

- Meanwhile, Linda McQuaig recognizes that Canadians have every reason to be disappointed in Mark Carney's choice to veer to the right and into the U.S.' corporate orbit, rather than governing based on the "elbows up" message at the core of his campaign. And Dale Smith writes that it's long past time to stop pretending that there's any point in negotiating with Donald Trump.

- Mike Allen reports on the corporate loyalty ratings which have been developed to ensure that political favouritism is the defining principle in the Trump White House's decision-making. And Maximillian Alvarez warns that Trump and his corporate backers are turning the entire U.S. into a giant environmental sacrifice zone.

- Tammy Robert discusses how the Sask Party's standard operating procedure in dealing with agricultural approvals (among other choices) is similarly to hand favours out to cronies with no regard for the public interest.

- Finally, Steven Lewis notes that the choice to build the medical system around private physician practices has long limited the effectiveness of social-level health planning - and is at the heart of a failing primary care system today. And Kevin Jiang discusses how people facing long COVID rightly feel like they've been forgotten by the health care system (and by governments generally).

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. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Nesrine Malik writes about the need for the rest of the world to imagine - and then build - an international order which routes around the U.S. as an entirely unreliable partner. And the Economist discusses how the U.S. itself will lose out immensely by ending the use of the dollar as an international default currency. 

- Anne Applebaum writes about the systematic kleptocracy being installed at breakneck speed. Paul Krugman and Dan Moynihan each note that Trump has turned the IRS into a tool to allow the wealthy to avoid taxes, while punishing the working class in any way possible. And Jenna McLaughlin reports that the confidential information raided by DOGE for Elon Musk's personal enrichment includes sensitive labor data held by the National Labor Relations Board.  

- Chris Hatch rightly notes that the climate breakdown is in progress - and will continue absent a drastic change in course - whether Trump and his ilk govern in denial of it or not. Hannah Ritchie and Pablo Rosado discuss the scourge of air pollution which kills millions of people every year. And Helena Horton reports on a study finding hundreds of dangerous pesticides in European homes, while Bartosz Brzezinski discusses Bas Bloem's research into the connection between glyphosate and Parkinson's disease. 

- Sumathi Reddy reports on the growing awareness among doctors that COVID-19 can produce cognitive difficulties which last for years. And Baran Erdik studies the effect of COVID on driving in particular, finding a significant association between infections and subsequent car crashes. 

- Finally, Schmutzie offers a survey of the Cons' most recent policy declaration - and notes in particular the similarities to Project 2025 which Donald Trump falsely disclaimed before making it the basis for his regime. Dougald Lamont writes that no government in Canada should be pushing austerity in the face of a teade war which makes it all the more laughable to preach a doctrine of self-sufficiency. And Seth Klein offers his take as to what a genuinely strategic vote would look like. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Gil Duran examines the false claim of an "emergency" underlying Donald Trump's tariff manipulations - along with the dangers of allowing a dictator to manufacture false excuses for drastic measures. And Bill McKibben notes that plenty more of Trump's destructive executive orders are similarly based on contrived or false claims of emergency circumstances. 

- Miles Klee, Andrew Perez, Asawin Suebsaeng and Meagan Jordan discuss Elon Musk's gleeful destruction of every part of the U.S. government that falls under the notice of the DOGE team. And Josh Marshall discusses the effects of substantially shuttering the Department of Justice's tax division as being a massive handout to wealthy tax cheats, while Tom Scocca and Joe MacLeod note that people who have complied with their tax obligations are being punished by having their information used against them for other purposes. 

- Paul Darren Bieniasz warns about the Trump regime's destruction of science in the U.S., while Daniel Altmann and Angela Rasmussen discuss how to respond to threats against public health. Mary Van Beusekom highlights how a substantial proportion of the U.S.' population is suffering from long COVID even as Trump guts public health capacity. And Paul Krugman points out the parallel rise of the quack-industrial complex providing self-serving and wrong answers to exceedingly important questions. 

- Mitchell Beer discusses how the world at large can move on from being tethered to an unreliable U.S. Mitch Anderson talks to Seth Klein about Canada's path to a war footing to respond to the U.S. threat and the climate crisis together. And Christo Aivalis points out that neither the Libs nor the Cons are defending Canadian workers in their plans to limit how Trump's threat affects the corporate class. 

- Finally, Maddi Dellplain examines the structure of Canadian health care, and the policies on offer from the federal parties to address it.