Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Simon Mundy examines the growing recognition that the combination of solar power and batteries - both of which are plummeting in price - makes for a more reliable and efficient power supply than relying on fossil fuels. And Dan McCarthy zeroes in on the rapid installation of grid-scale batteries in particular. 

- Karl Nerenberg writes about Mark Carney's determination to subsidize dying industries rather than working toward a transition toward the energy sources of the future. And Jimmy Thomson calls out the Orwellian nature of the attempt to label export subsidies and emission deregulation as a climate policy. 

- Which isn't to say some windfall profits aren't being made while people are trapped in fossil fuel dependency. On that front, Amy Fan and Rebecca Elliott discuss the winners and losers of the oil price shock caused by Donald Trump's war of choice in Iran - with the U.S. and Russia emerging as the main profiteers. 

- Anna Bawden reports on an expert recommendation that the climate crisis be labeled and dealt with as a global public health emergency. 

- Finally, Charlie Warzel warns that the plan of AI carnival barkers is to overwhelm us so we can't resist reliance on it - even as he highlights the absurdity of its supposed benefits. And John Ainger reports on the sharp power price increases being inflicted on the public as AI data centres use far more energy than can manageably be spared. 

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.  

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Robert Kagan is the latest to notice that the U.S. is a rogue superpower whose capricious action under the Trump regime has undermined the international system that previously served its interests. And Paul Krugman observes that the oil crisis precipitated by the Iran war is about to get physical in the form of real shortages (rather than merely being a matter of rationing and anticipated effects), while Neil Irwin recognizes that the U.S. won't avoid the ill effects of its aggression.  

- Waterloo University has released new modeling showing that the effects of climate change will result in upwards of a hundred million people facing regular air quality alerts in the coming decades. And Forrest Smith points out the trillion-dollar price to remediate the damage oil drilling has done to the U.S.' living environment even without accounting for the climate crisis. 

- Meanwhile, Anthony Cuthbertson reports on a new breakthrough which may make solar energy even more efficient than previously thought posssible. And Hannah Ritchie and Pablo Rosado update their previous findings as to how more affordable batteries are making electric vehicles into by far the superior option for consumers. 

- Finally, Rebecca Solnit looks at the realities of Cesar Chavez' personal sexual abuse in the context of the farmworker movement as a compelling reason to memorialize collective action rather than idolized heroes. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Mike Gaworecki reports on new research showing how the climate breakdown is affecting everyday life. Aliyah Marko-Omene reports on warnings that Saskatchewan may be in store for another brutal season of wildfires. And P.W.J. Glover et al. study the risks of melting permafrost, finding that a melt cycle can result in significantly more releases of methane and other gases than is generally accounted for. 

- Amelia Pollard and Eric Platt discuss the threat of mass consumer debt defaults - as well as the vulture capitalists who already have a plan to exploit people's misery. And Michael Spence writes about the large number of choke points in the global economy - which in turn are under increasing threat due to both the climate breakdown and wanton violence. 

- Nehal Johri discusses how the Iran war in particular makes an especially compelling case to switch to renewable energy. But Jake Johnson notes that the oil tycoons behind the Trump regime (among other political formations) are making a killing from the price shock afflicting consumers. 

- Finally, Lindsay Tedds and Gillian Petit unveil a new tool to examine the value of public investment and counter the right's constant calls for austerity. But Facts Matter points out how right-wing governments manipulate public awareness to get away with a consistent pattern of worse services at higher costs. 

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. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Oliver Milman reports on a new study showing that the U.S. has inflicted $10 trillion in climate damage  just since 1990, with China ranking just behind. Emily Atkin writes that the true cost of oil far exceeds what people pay as a retail price. And Laura Paddison and Ella Nilsen report that the combination of the climate breakdown and rapacious corporations are producing a critical water shortage in Corpus Christi, TX.

- Ben Cooke discusses a report showing that Britain's food supply is in danger of collapsing by 2030. And George Monbiot writes about the broader risks to the global food system which are materializing before our eyes.

- Carol Leonnig and Jacqueline Alemany report on new revelations that secret information stolen by Trump after he lost the 2020 election wound up being sold off. And Anne-Marie Mediwake interviews Jeff Rubin about the oil market manipulations caused by the Trump regime's actions and messages surrounding the Iran war.

- Meanwhile, Joe Glanton reports on the Pentagon's orders to satellite firms to conceal the realities of the war, particularly where the U.S. has taken damage.

- Finally, Jaigris Hodson et al. examine the toxic misinformation which Pierre Poilievre disseminated during his appearance with Joe Rogan. And Max Fawcett weighs in on the reality that Poilievre insists on putting faith in the Trump U.S. which is both wholly undeserved, and contrary to the position of the Canadian public. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Jan-Werner Muller discusses Pete Hegseth's development of a nihilistic death cult. Dave Levitin comments on the connection between the elite choice to keep us dependent on dirty fossil fuels and the death and destruction arising from the Iran war today. And Damien Gayle notes that the war in turn is producing catastrophic environmental effects, as attacks on oil and gas infrastructure result in fires and uncontrolled emission releases. 

- Josh Gabbatiss points out how AI data centres are likely to end up causing far more carbon pollution than advertised. And Rory White and Natasha Bulowski document how the vast majority of planned data centres in Alberta are set to cause even more severe problems in areas whose water supply is already under severe threat. 

- Meanwhile, Emma Roth discusses how the current obsession with age verification may threaten virtual private networks and any other means of preserving privacy or security online. 

- Finally, Michelle McLean writes that Canada's universal system is the type of nation-building project we should be working to emulate - even as numerous premiers have set out to destroy it with two-tiered structures and corporate ownership models, and the Carney government (in keeping with its fundamental neoliberalism) has acquiesced in the carnage. 

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. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Mona Charen writes that Donald Trump's war in Iran can't be explained by any motive other than a sheer ego trip. Steven Beschloss notes that nobody should be surprise that the countries who have been on the receiving end of his abuse and impetuousness are less than eager to rush to his aid. And Martin Gelin reports on the V-Dem Institute's conclusion that Trump is aiming squarely at the imposition of dictatorship. 

- Mel Hogan writes that the ultimate effect of sycophantic artificial intelligence is the cultivation of mass psychosis. And Zeb Larson compares the data center boom to the 1800s railroad bubble - featuring large-scale, heavily-subsidized investment which ultimately served mostly to further enrich the tycoons who could more than afford to finance any development on their own.  

- Noah Berlatsky is rightly scathing about the U.S. Democrats who are responding to a fascist regime and the destruction of the civil service with tax baubles. And Ned Resnikoff points out the impossibility of building a functional society on a deliberately-suppressed resource base. 

- Finally, Markham Hislop calls out the lack of any plan for Canada to live up to even the most distant or modest of our climate commitments. And Emily Atkin examines the latest permutations of fossil fuel propaganda, featuring the demand that we put our future solely in the hands of the same bad actors who have already lied us into dangerous global warming. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Alex Nguyen examines the petro-imperialism which is being inflicted on the world by the Trump administration.  And David Dayen writes that the Iran war is exposing how the U.S. faces serious supply issues which have been utterly ignored by the Trump regime.  

- Meanwhile, Gregg Gonsalves implores health workers to resist the Trump regime's abuses rather than acquiescing in civil rights abuses and the destruction of evidence-based policy. 

- Matteo Wong examines how the implausible promises of artificial intelligence are being pushed at the price of massive and dangerous changes to our natural living environment. Claire Cameron points out that even the minimal level of AI found in autocomplete mechanisms has a severe effect on our writing and thinking. And Alondra Nelson notes that the Trump regime's "deregulation" of AI in fact consists of direct state intervention to impose corporate secrecy and control.

- Dale Smith warns that the Libs are once again attacking privacy in the name of false promises of public protection - this time through mandatory age verification which both excludes young people from the online world, and impose dangerous ID requirements on adults whose personal information can then get hoovered up by tech giants.

- Finally, Saskboy points out that Regina's air quality data has generally been flawed, with little sign of any effort to improve it. And Marc Fawcett-Atkinson reports that the dirty energy industry wants us to have even less information about methane emissions, relying solely on polluters' self-reporting which has been proven to be inaccurate. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Thomas Unner discusses how Olof Palme's candour offers a needed lesson for Mark Carney and other leaders facing Donald Trump's threats. Patrick Lennox writes that we're already at war with the U.S., even if that hasn't yet been formally acknowledged. And David Coletto finds that a majority of Canadians are neutral or downright positive about loosening our trade ties with the U.S. - even as the Cons keep insisting on handing Trump yet another deal he'll never honour. 

- Marco Turco et al. study how the climate breakdown is producing immense effects on global extreme fire weather. And while John Gibbons offers some hope that a spike in oil prices will help to wean more people off of dirty energy, Damien Gayle reports that the bombing of oil infrastructure in Iran is only making people's continued dependence on fossil fuels even more of an environmental calamity. 

- Armon Aghahosseini et al. study the potential paths forward for energy development, concluding that maximizing immediate investment in clean energy is the superior strategy for both economic and environmental outcomes. But Drew Anderson examines how the UCP's sabotage has set back renewable energy development in Alberta, while Jeff Brady reports on the utilities who are lobbying to prevent the deployment of solar panels in the U.S. 

- Finally, Gabrielle Piche reports on the Kinew government's legislation to implement the right to repair in Manitoba. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Brian Beutler comments on the Trump regime's absolute lack of distinction between war and politics, and what that means for any hope of a peaceful transition to reflect electoral choices. And Robert Reich discusses the absurdity of the U.S. launching increasingly destructive wars without having the slightest clue what their endgame is in any of them. 

- Dave Levitan writes about the dangers of allowing people to gamble on choices and outcomes in war. 

- Meanwhile, Alexander de Croo points out that development is no less an exercise of hard power than military action - while providing a much-needed prospect of positive outcomes. 

- Surya Sakhar-Suot writes about the myriad benefits of remote work - and the concurrent folly of imposing return-to-office mandates. 

- Finally, Ben Steverman discusses how the rise of 19th-century billionaire robber barons is being reflected in the emergence of the trillionaires of the near term. And Hugh Gusterson writes about the elite gifts and manipulations that tied together Jeffrey Epstein's network of influence and control. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Mark Kreidler notes that people from around the globe are staying away from the U.S. in droves - due to both the risk of being a foreigner in a country looking to detain anybody fitting that description, and the desire to avoid rewarding a rogue regime. And Drew Hinshaw and Joe Parkinson write about the increasing number of Americans choosing to leave the U.S. rather than suffering under the violence and corruption of the Trump administration. 

- Sadiq Khan highlights how UK Labour has only hurt itself by imposing right-wing bigotry as policy rather than giving effect to the progressive values of its base. And Justin Ling questions Mark Carney's cheerleading for the U.S.' wars of conquest, while Lloyd Axworthy discusses how Carney has chosen to enable (and indeed embrace) U.S. aggression in violation of international law. 

- Ajit Niranjan reports on the shocking loss of marine life as a result of the climate breakdown, with drops in marine biomass of up to 20% in a single year. Greg Harman discusses new modeling showing that over 2% of all deaths in a Texas summer - numbering up to a thousand in any given year - can be traced back to extreme heat caused by global warming. And Sadie Harley examines how carbon dioxide levels in the human body are increasing dangerously. 

- Hayley Smith discusses yet another pernicious application of artificial intelligence, as fabricated "public comments" were used by a California environmental authority as reason not to phase out fossil gas appliances. 

- Finally, Erika Edwards reports on the tens of millions of dollars in traceable losses caused by the anti-vaxxers' choice to spread measles in the U.S. - while hinting at far more severe damage which may never be observable. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Simon Tisdall discusses the fallout from the Trump regime's choice to launch a war in Iran - with its culture of denial doing nothing to mitigate the harm. And Anthony Fisher writes about the invariable stupidity and malignancy of the people chosen to surround Trump (for the sole purpose of insulating him from inconvenient realities). 

- Meanwhile, Kyla Scanlon highlights how Zohran Mamdani's inspiring victory in the New York mayoral primary offers an example of how progressive values can win out in the current information environment. And both Hamilton Nolan and Lex McMenamin are optimistic that Mamdani's campaign can be the start of a movement to replace a captured Democratic establishment with a new organization structure that is both answerable and appealing to the general public. 

- Tiffany Hsu discusses how countries around the world are stepping into the gap left by the U.S.' abandonment of international cooperation. But Doug Saunders' analysis of Mark Carney's strategy serves mostly to confirm that the Libs are wasting an immense amount of capacity (and pursuing counterproductive policies) trying to placate Trump rather than looking forward. 

- Cindy Cho points out the case for treating dirty energy purveyors as responsible for unnatural heat waves. And Kendra Jewell, Rowan Burdge and Liv Yoon offer a reminder that the people who suffer most in extreme heat are those already living in poverty or otherwise vulnerable. 

- Ian Urquhart discusses how Alberta is continuing to lie about its contribution to the climate breakdown while consistently increasing its carbon pollution. And Adrienne Tanner rightly questions how the oil industry and its fully-owned government subsidiaries consider themselves entitled to have the public fund the immense cost of carbon capture schemes. 

- Finally, Paris Marx discusses the dangers of allowing the U.S. to dictate both which technology will be used, and which countries have access to it. And Matthew Hughes writes about the tech industry's assumption over complete control of basic infrastructure with no regard for people's needs. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Jonathan Watts talks to Genevieve Guenther about the need to keep talking about the many climate tipping points in front of us - along with the value of taking action to avoid crossing them. Sanjana Gajbhiye reports on the weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, and the resulting cool spot which portends increasing warming elsewhere. Andrew Szava-Kovats writes that we can't accept a prolonged wildfire and smoke season as a new normal. 

- Nora Loreto calls out Mark Carney's choice to serve as Donald Trump's lap dog on Iran rather than opposing an unjustified attack, while Alex Cosh and Nur Dogan point out the impace on Iranian Canadians. And Christopher Holcroft discusses Carney's abandonment of "elbows up" in favour of making concessions to an unreliable authoritarian regime. 

- Meanwhile, Erica Ifill points out that Carney is making a corporate power grab - at the expense of Indigenous rights and environmental protection - in the name of national unity. And Adam King discusses how the Libs are putting a thumb on the scale for management against Canada Post workers, while Andre Frappier offers a reminder that the fight is ultimately one encompassing the entire working class. 

- Ryan Kiedrowski reports on the demands of Danielle Smith and Scott Moe that the federal government essentially trash all environmental and climate policy in order to deliver windfall returns to dirty energy operators. And Dale Smith highlights how Smith is importing the Republican war to dehumanize mmigrants into Alberta. 

- But on the bright side, Sean Boynton reports on polling showing that Canadians have maintained their support for LGBTQ2+ rights even as popular support has declined elsewhere in the face of calculated attacks. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Tressie McMillan Cottom calls out how the Trump regime is using political violence to eliminate any democratic forms of opposition and accountability. David Roth discusses how fascist regimes tend to provoke chaos in order to eliminate the sense that it's possible to build anything better. And Jeet Heer writes that there is a window for a popular backlash to stop a sustained war in Iran, but only if public outcry manages to drown out the warmongers pulling the strings around Trump. 

- Luke Goldstein reports that the Republicans' plan to rob from the poor to give to the rich includes tax breaks for private equity when it loads companies up with debt and slashes workforces. Jameson Berkow reports on a new finding that CEO pay is soaring in Canada while so many people continue to struggle. And Brendon Hadden examines some of the options to apply a fairer tax system. 

- The Guardian's editorial board writes about the inescapable choice between making investments in averting climate change and its effects, and facing perpetually more (and more severe) breakdowns of the systems that support life. And Andre Picard writes about how wildfire smoke is eliminating summer holidays we we know them. 

- Kostansa Rangelova and Dave Jones point out that solar power has reached the point of being the most affordable option even when adding in the need for battery storage - even with the cost of both still having plenty of room to fall. Rose Dixon write that renewable energy has reached the point of being given away in Spain and Germany. And Umair Irfan notes that there are cheap and effective options available to eliminate the vast majority of methane emissions - even as the fossil fuel sector fights against any effort to clean up its act. 

- Finally, Don Moynihan examines how Australia's experience with flawed algorithmic debt assessment and recovery shows the dangers of making access to the necessities of life reliant on automation and AI.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Owen Jones discusses how the new outbreak of war-mongering toward Iran is indistinguishable - both in its insistence and its utter lack of connection to reality - from that which led to disastrous results in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

- Stephen Maher writes about the new nationalism which reflects Canada's public mood in the wake of the threats and abuses of the Trump regime. And Justin Ling writes about the folly of trying to make deals with a wholly irrational actor who has proven he has no interest in living up to his agreements - though sadly that recognition doesn't seem to be stopping Mark Carney from wagering Canada's future on tying us even more tightly to the U.S.' economy and defence apparatus. 

- On that front, Benjamin Muller warns that Carney's Bill C-2 sets us up to be used as an extension of the U.S.' anti-immigrant policies. And Kate Robertson examines how it also creates a mechanism for Canadians' sensitive personal data to be shared with the Trump regime - despite the virtual certainty it will then be misused, both through government action and through theft by the Republicans' techbro cronies. 

- Joel Morris writes about the parasite economy turning other people's work in creating content into a source of constant rent. Helena Horton reports on the reality that England is facing foreseeable water shortfalls as data centres plan to soak up massive amounts of water without having to account for it. And Benji Edwards notes that there's now an active movement to try to preserve pre-AI content before all publicly-accessible material turns to artificial slop. 

- Finally, Jim Stanford highlights an expert letter on the value of Canada's public health care system - and the need to strengthen it, rather than accepting the argument of profiteers that we have no choice but to replace it with pay-for-play medicine. 

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Gary Younge writes about the need to respond to a bleak reality with the dedication to imagine and create something better. And Vickie Cammack and Donna Thomson highlight how the response to a climate breakdown includes mobilizing our capacity to care for others.

- CBC News talks to John Pomeroy about the effects of a changing climate on Saskatchewan agriculture - and particularly the dangers to the province's water supply.

- But Nick Cohen weighs in on the reality denial of the right-wing government and media in Australia (which of course matches that of their counterparts in Canada).

- In the wake of last week's sabre-rattling over Iran, Toula Drimonis reminds us that we have far more in common with the civilians trapped by the poor judgment of their governing class than with the elites pushing for war on both sites. And Shree Paradkar calls out the CBC for demonizing minorities by amplifying the Cons' spin about "anchor babies".

- Finally, Royson James highlights the opportunities Toronto - like so many communities - has lost by obsessing over property tax levels rather than investing in social development.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Rick Smith offers some reasons for hope in 2020 even in the face of a grim start to a new year. And Cory Doctorow writes about the need to start dreaming up, and giving effect to, alternatives to a corporate-driven economy and society which are endangering the future of humanity.

- Chris Maisano interviews Jonathan Rodden about the structural disadvantages facing progressive parties under distorted, winner-take-all electoral systems. And Ryan Grim examines how Bernie Sanders' campaign is empowering and supporting volunteers to reach a greater range of voters than traditional political methods.

- Scott Schmidt rightly argues that there's no value in the media reproducing false political talking points as facts in the name of balance - particularly when the UCP's communications strategy depends on it doing exactly that. And Jeremy Klaszus highlights how the UCP's constant attacks are designed to prevent people from seeing how they're being harmed by Jason Kenney and company. And Bob Barnetson writes about Kenney's ongoing war on workers.

- Meanwhile, with the Trump administration desperate to lie its way into a war with Iran, Nathan Robinson offers a handy guide to avoid being duped by pro-war propaganda.

- Finally, Kelsey Piper writes that Bill Gates has joined the ranks of the uber-wealthy who recognize the need to pay a more fair share toward the price of civilization.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Jeffrey Simpson marks Peter Lougheed's passing by discussing what he brought to Alberta's political scene that's been sorely lacking ever since:

Mr. Lougheed, defending Alberta’s jurisdictional turf in conflicts with Liberal and Conservative governments in Ottawa, navigated his province through these shoals. The shame of his successors is that they took two of his cardinal convictions and discarded them in the rush for quick spoils and easy money – that natural resource revenues belong to the people and should be developed in a measured, balanced fashion, and that considerable money from those resources should be husbanded in a Heritage Fund for future generations.
...
Mr. Lougheed governed not as an ideological opponent of the state – the red meat of modern-day conservative thinking – but as its ally. The state, he believed, was the people’s friend, which is what Tories tend to believe. And he used the state aggressively, perhaps in a few cases too aggressively, to buy an airline and make public investments, help the early oil-sands industry get its legs, create the Heritage Fund, build new social programs – all the while believing in the free-enterprise system as the best wealth-creation generator. He used the state aggressively, when necessary, against what he saw could be invidious practices of the oil and gas industry, for which he was banned from the Petroleum Club.

Put simply, Mr. Lougheed always understood the importance of the industry for Alberta, but he never directly equated its interests with the wider interests of Alberta.

 - Tim Harper makes the case as to why the Cons should have plenty to answer for in cutting off all diplomatic ties with Iran:

Those who argue that leaving Tehran is a matter of principle, miss the point that we have eyes and ears on the ground, not on principle, but to promote our point of view and our sovereign interests.

Those who would argue that Tehran wasn’t listening to us anyway, miss the point that we should still have Canadian eyes on the ground to bear witness. Waving the white flag, taking our ball and going home, is hardly the high road.
...
Largely unheralded, they do not remain in dangerous environments because they are welcomed but because they subscribe to the well-worn dictum that you hold your friends close, but you hold your enemies closer.

We have kept embassies open during wars. We did not shut down during the darkest days of the Cold War.
...
Harper is correct that our diplomats are not soldiers, but often they are the next closest thing.

He owes it to the foreign service, allies and Canadian voters to give us a fuller accounting of why we decided to leave Iran behind.

-  But then, Aaron Wherry reminds us why the Cons' talking points are more safely presumed to be farce than fact.

- Rick Salutin discusses why any positive change in our schools needs to be based on treating teachers and unions as essential stakeholders in any functional education system - rather than adopting the Lib/Con position that they're enemies to be beaten down.

- Finally, Travis Waldron posts about the latest evidence that tax cuts aimed at the already-wealthy don't do anything at all to help the wider economy.