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.

- Paul Krugman writes about the Trump Republicans' decision to impose hunger on tens of millions of Americans - with lasting consequences on people's health and development - in defence of pedophilia and arbitrary rule. John Collins offers a grim narrative as to the path of American collapse under a regime with no interest in governing. And Hamilton Nolan discusses the importance of solidarity as the alternative to oligarchy. 

- Ben Brubaker points out new research finding that algorithm-based pricing can be expected to force consumers to pay more. Lousie Matsakic reports on the likelihood that large numbers of AI users are seeing mental health crises exacerbated by the tendency to provide desired responses. And Joel Morris laments the loss of social media as a social hub rather than an exploitation device. 

- Jonathan Watts and Waja Xipai reports on Antonio Guterres' warning that we've likely missed the chance to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, but still have a desperate need to limit the damage to our living environment. And Dharna Noor reports on ExxonMobil's cynical efforts to avoid having to report on its massive contribution to carbon pollution, while Sylvain Amoros and Sylvain Senecal examine how Canada's banks are likewise trying to avoid answering for funding the climate breakdown (including by terminating their involvement in Mark Carney's voluntary reporting scheme). 

- Finally, Laura Doering discusses how mandatory return-to-office policies are likely to exacerbate gender discrimination. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Noah Berlatsky writes about the dangers of treating the existence of marginalized groups - rather than the bigots seeking to dehumanize them - as the primary barrier to solidarity and unity. Ashifa Kassam reports on Olivier De Schutter's warning that a shredded social safety net has fuelled the rise of right-wing hate. And Geoffrey Johnston discusses how a deliberately-constructed manosphere has caused misogyny to spread, while Stacey Abrams and Esosa Osa call out the Trump regime's targeting of Black history for erasure.  

- Blayne Haggart discusses how Mark Carney is failing to recognize the threat posed by the Trump regime even if one (questionably) gives him the benefit of the doubt as to who he's trying to serve. And Karyn Pugliese writes about Carney's thoroughly scripted plan to inflict austerity on everybody other than capitalists, who are being singled out for preferential treatment. 

- Fiona Harvey reports on the recommendation from a group of retired military leaders that investment in renewable energy should be treated as defence funding - offering an interesting opportunity to meet otherwise arbitrary defence spending targets in a way which actually results in long-term security. Isaac Phan Nay talks to Lin Al-Akkad about the options available to help workers through a green transition.  And Silas Xuereb examines how the current practice of shovelling public money toward dirty energy is doing nothing but exporting profits from Canadian resources to U.S. owners. 

- Finally, Peter MacLeod argues that the most important nation-building project Canada can pursue is the renewal of democratic engagement as a substitute for insider politics. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Bruce Campbell highlights how corporate greed isn't limited by a public health emergency. And indeed, the Canadian Press reports on a record amount of federal lobbying in February and March as entrenched interests seek to increase their wealth and power as a result of COVID-19.

- Meanwhile, Quinn Slobodian points out that corporate interests are counting on the rest of us doing nothing to push for change as a result of a glaring breakdown of our public health and support systems:

We have seen a world where capitalism stops. But it will start again. When America “reopens,” it will be much like the old America. Big companies will be bigger, ever more beholden to the leader for having saved them. Arguments for austerity will return in the wake of the unprecedented spending.
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The next year will be a litany of the “workouts and turnarounds” that bankruptcy specialists are known for, ruthlessly wringing the value out of companies, while ignoring the human or social costs. Distressed debt funds are the loan sharks of the business world, and will feel no compunction about pursuing the bottom line. We have seen a preview of such dispassionate calculation in the last month, as stock values soared alongside record unemployment numbers and mounting deaths. The combination seemed shocking to some people, even scandalous. “The stock market doesn’t care about your feelings,” was the response of a Los Angeles Times business reporter, “nor should it.”

Covid-19 has left the economy in rubble, and we have a brief chance to build anew. But to avoid the vultures, we will have to be creative and work together. Freed from our quarantine, we can use the remains of our old society to construct new buildings, gardens, playgrounds, and, when necessary, barricades too.

- Anne Gaviola reports on the appalling exploitation of Canadians by payday lenders even as coronavirus relief is supposed to include access to affordable credit.

- The American Prospect examines the future of labour following the COVID-19 pandemic. Denise Balkissoon discusses the harm we do by undermining the rights of food sector workers, while Lauren Kaori Gurley reports on today's strikes of many major U.S. retailers. And Brett Nelson points out the need for organizing in response to the issues highlighted by the coronavirus to focus on issues which develop solidarity rather than undermining it.

- Finally, Bruce Arthur writes that we won't be able to defeat the coronavirus without fully working together - while noting that our treatment of people living with homelessness and precarious work falls far short of the mark.