Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Anne Appelbaum discusses how the rise of authoritarian politics making elections around the world into existential crises - though it's worth highlighting the role Stephen Harper and his Con/IDU connections have played in fighting against solidarity and democracy. Carole Cadwalladr writes about Peter Thiel's role in fusing extreme wealth and conscience-free political power. And Rebecca Solnit points out that it's a militarized state which bears responsibility for violence arising out of a draconian response to peaceful protests. 

- Michael Sainato reports on the International Trade Union Confederation's warning that the Trump regime is attacking workers' rights around the globe. And Sidney Blumenthal notes that at least some of the corporate forces typically aligned with Republicans are also recognizing they stand to suffer from Trump's corruption. 

- Garce Blakely's Ellen Meiksins Wood lecture points out how corporatism seeks to undermine democracy in order to prevent public action against corporate plans. Simon Enoch writes that neoliberal policy has served to weaken our democratic system, laying the groundwork for an authoritarian takeover. And Dale Smith warns that Mark Carney's first steps in office have continued down that same path, particular in undermining personal privacy and security in favour of further corporate control. 

- Meanwhile, Nick Pearce rightly argues that any plan to build Canada needs to involve both a clear budget and a focus on workers. And Charlie Angus notes that we're not going to save the country by allowing fossil fuel tycoons to torch our natural living environment. 

- Finally, Rebecca Burns reports on the success of a Kansas City tenants' union in stabilizing rents and securing repairs - signaling another area in which collective action can produce tangible benefits. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Braced cat.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- David Lurie discusses how Donald Trump is making flagrant corruption and theft legal for himself and his cronies, while inventing specious excuses to treat anybody who dares to register any opposition as a criminal. Jon Queally points out the predictability of a fascist government rounding up and demonizing labour leaders as a key attack on collective action. And Michelle Goldberg writes about the emergence of autocracy under the Trump regime. 

- Meanwhile, Jeet Heer highlights many of the obvious reasons why the Democrats need to have higher standards than to agree with Elon Musk when he starts disagreeing with Trump's division of the spoils - though even if one wasn't inclined to act on principle, it's hard to see any upside in aligning a party with one of the few public figures more broadly loathed than Trump in any event. 

- Natasha Bulowski reports on the needed pushback against Mark Carney's plans to gut federal regulatory processes for the benefit of corporations pursuing pipelines and other megaprojects. And Morgan Grenfell points out how Doug Ford's cronies will profit from similar legislation designed to squelch public participation and environmental oversight. 

- Ed Zitron reminisces about a time when the tech industry spent at least some time developing products that actually served users, rather than being designed to bleed people dry. And Luke Goldstein and Freddy Brewster report that the government capture by U.S. cryptobros includes pushing to allow banks to raid people's savings and checking accounts to bail out crypto speculators. 

- Finally, Katherine Scott discusses how low-income families in Canada have less disposable income than ever. 

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. 

Musical interlude

Wallflowers - I've Been Delivered

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Amanda Marcotte writes that Joni Ernst's latest pro-death messaging is just another example of the Republican war on empathy and human decency. And Wajahat Ali discusses how dehumanization aimed first at trans people (among other marginalized groups) is being universalized into a general attack on public well-being. 

- Shannon Osaka reports on new data from the World Meteoroligical Organization warning that we're blowing past dangerous levels of global warming years sooner than previously projected. Phil de Luna examines how wildfires are among the disasters making homes uninsurable due to the ongoing climate breakdown. And Solomon Gebrechorkos et al. examine how atmospheric evaporative demand alone is resulting in a massive rise in drought severity. 

- Elizabeth Thompson reports that Trump's budget includes plans to squeeze Canadian investors (while showering free money on other capital). But Jeremy Appel writes that Mark Carney has chosen to bend the knee to Trump by imposing a severe surveillance state in response to fabricated complaints, even as Canada is being singled out for discrimination. 

- Finally, Alex Hemingway examines how a wealth tax could both strengthen Canada's position globally and alleviate inequality and deprivation within it. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Cat in action.

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. 

Monday Morning Links

Assorted content to start your week.

- Denny Carter discusses how Alexandria Ocasia-Cortez is the ultimate "kitchen table" campaigner - even as she's wrongly treated as being out-of-touch by people who want to ensure it's the boardroom table that dominates politics. And Marina Requena-i-Mora, Dan Brockington and Forrest Fleischman find that lower income correlates with stronger concern for environmental issues (likely due to the fact that marginalized people are also the victims of environmental inequaliy and neglect). 

- Tim Dickinson highlights just a few of the nastiest attacks on the public in Donald Trump's murder budget. Jason Sattler calls out the Trump regime for setting the future on fire (both literally and figuratively). Jennifer Rubin discusses how the Trump administration is completely detached from reality, while Margaret Sullivan comments on its attacks on any institution which could preserve people's connection to the real world. 

- Kate Aronoff discusses how Republicans are aiming to subject people to death by heat stroke. And Ames Alexander points out the corporate interests making cities far more dangerous in order to keep profiting from "dark roof" products. 

- The Canadian Press reports on ACORN Canada's work pushing for tenant protections from extreme heat. And Elliot Goodell Ugalde and Natalie Braun make the case to facilitate tenant organization to ensure renters can engage in collective action when governments don't properly address their rights and needs. 

- Daniel Trilling's review of Richard Seymour's Disaster Nationalism highlights the conditions that facilitated the rise of fascist politics both in the 1920s and in the recent past. And Mona Charen points out how false bothsidesing has served to legitimize authoritarianism. 

- Finally, Matthew Renfrew offers a reminder that the Cons have stoked anti-vaccine and other anti-science sentiment - and argues that it's long past time for them to confront that dangerous tendency. And Donald Gutstein takes a look at the extreme evangelicals who have been at the core of right-wing Canadian politics for decades - and who are trying to sell us out to the Trump regime out of religious fervour today. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- A.R. Moxon discusses our role in observing and shaping the world around us with the help of the analogy of a submarine whose occupants choose not to surface when it's obvious we can't survive the loss of oxygen. And Jen Kostuchuk, Erik Steiner and Sean Lyons discuss the need for adults generally - and decision-makers in particular - to start paying attention to the concern children have for our planet's future. And Ariel Wittenberg reports on the dirty energy industry's lobbying to prevent any regulation which would protect workers from having to suffer through dangerously hot conditions.

- Luke O'Brien highlights how the U.S.' surveillance state has always been built for the purpose of targeting and controlling left-wing actors. Prem Sikka discusses how money wields power in the UK, turning facially neutral laws into a means to exacerbate inequalities. And Robert Reich writes that neoliberalism is far past salvaging or rehabilitating as an organizing economic principle.  

- Phoebe Weston reports on new research into the wide variety and dangerous quantity of harmful chemicals seeping into the UK's rivers.

- Finally, David Olive writes that along with the patriotic push to buy domestically, Canadians should be doing everything we can to avoid buying from the country trying to take us over.

Musical interlude

Florrie - Never Far From Paradise

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Allison Gill offers a reminder that every aspect of the U.S.' descent into fascism can be traced back to the increasing power of an insatiable oligarchy. Jason Sattler highlights how a PR blitz to dissociate himself from the consequences of his actions doesn't mean Elon Musk is absolved of contuining responsibility. And Paul Starr calls out the Trump regime's plan to impose artificially high taxes on university endowments to punish the role of universities in building knowledge. 

- Paul Krugman discusses the U.S. Court of International Trade's ruling invalidating most of Trump's arbitrary tariffs. But James Downie notes that Trump has refused to accept repeated messages from all kinds of parties as to the harm being caused by his tariff obsession. 

- Colette Delawalla et al. warn that Trump's politicization of science figures to destroy the U.S.' position as a source of research and discovery. David Cutler and Edward Glaeser examine the multi-trillion-dollar health calamity which can be traced back to Trump's cuts to health research. And Cornelia Schneider and Martha Walls point out the eugenic attitudes which result in Trump and RFK Jr. being perfectly happy to sacrifice human lives. 

- Dhruv Mehrotra reports on the U.S.' collection of DNA samples of children as young as 4 in order to allow for the operation of a future surveillance state. And Marisa Kabas reports on Marco Rubio's launch of an office dedicated to white supremacist immigration policy. 

- More and Better Housing Canada offers a report card on housing policy - finding that not a single province in the country is doing more than a middling job dealing with the failure to provide for basic needs. Hallee Mandryk reports on the skyrocketing rates of homelessness (including among children) in Saskatoon. And Victoria Gibson reports on Doug Ford's choice to favour wealthy landlords in scrapping any affordable housing requirements. 

- Finally, Alex Himelfarb discusses why we have no choice but to keep working for better no matter how grim matters appear today. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- David Moscrop writes that "inequality" is a far too mild word for the extreme concentration of wealth and power in the U.S. (coupled with increasing deprivation and disempowerment of large numbers of people). David Sirota argues that the resistance to the Trump administration needs to directly oppose corporate control rather than hoping that some general claim of abundance will be seen as sufficient, while Hans Nicols reports on polling showing that the general public agrees. And YouGov finds that in the UK, there's far more public appetite for improved services than for austerity and tax slashing. 

- Meanwhile, Anna Merlan discusses what the U.S. stands to lose from the Trump regime's deliberate destruction of knowledge. 

- The Associated Press reports on Louisiana's draconian crackdown against sharing information about the pollution that's threatening public health. And Emily Schwing reports on the limitations of adapting to environmental catastrophes after the fact as evidenced by the crumbling new community of Mertarvik, Alaska. 

- Elyse Hauser discusses her own blood test for microplastics in the context of their spread throughout our living environment. And EcoWatch points out a new study documenting a particularly severe concentration of microplastics in agricultural soil. 

- Finally, Ophélie Dénommée-Marchand rightly argues that Canada needs to be providing a safe haven for trans people and others facing grave risks under the Trump regime. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Jon Milton et al. discuss how the first speech from the throne under Mark Carney was based on Donald Trump's wish list rather than the priorities of Canadians. David Moscrop notes that while Carney is breaking his promise of patriotically standing up to U.S. threats and pressure, businesses are actively exploiting nationalism into a profit centre. Sonali Karnick interviews Nora Loreto about the corporate roots of the housing shortage and affordability crisis. And Simon Enoch warns that the privatization of Canada Post (which is a looming possibility only due to the federal government's refusal to allow it to expand its delivery of public services) would have immense costs for Canada as a whole. 

- Pat Rich offers a reminder (with reference to a speech from Dr. Andrew Boozary) that the most important building blocks of health are its social determinants including income, housing, and food security. And Mary Hudetz reports on the Trump regime's slashing of a program which provided Indigenous communities with access to healthy, locally-sourced food as another stark example of its destructive approach.

- Meanwhile, Andrew Nikiforuk laments how Danielle Smith and the UCP have chosen to give measles the advantage over Albertans.

- Finally, Michelle Gamage reports on the call for workplace temperature limits to protect British Columbia workers from extreme heat. And Ashley Cowburn reports on an Autonomy Institute report calling for the same in the UK. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Curled-up cat.

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Doug Cuthand offers a reminder that the need for forward-thinking climate action hasn't been reduced just because any discussion of the possibility has been eliminated from Canada's political conversation. The Rude Pundit highlights how the Trump regime is actively making the threat of a climate breakdown even worse. And Mitch Anderson notes that even the Macdonald Laurier Institute can't pretend there's an economic case for more dirty energy pipelines - even as Pierre Poilievre, Danielle Smith and Scott Moe continue to obsess over locking in more fossil infrastructure.

- Meanwhile, Lisa Young discusses how Trump's disregard for Canadian sovereignty has fed into the separatist sentiment being stoked by Smith and Moe. And Jim Stanford writes that while Albertans have reason to be angry, the object of their ire should be exactly the greedy capitalists already getting rich off of public resources while general standards of living erode. 

- Matthew Renfrew reports on the strong majority of Canadians boycotting American products and looking to strengthen our own self-sufficiency - even as the two largest parties in Parliament are fixated on locking us into further ties with the regime that's trying to take Canada by force.

- Finally, Jessie Stein and Sophie O'Monique point out that the housing crisis can't be fixed without the migrant construction workers who are wrongly being blamed and punished for it.

Musical interlude

Lastlings - Holding Me Like Water (Juno Mamba Remix)

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Andy Craig writes that the Trump regime and its enabers have shattered the U.S.' past constitutional order.  Jill Lawrence discusses the denihilism behind the Republican embrace of ignorance and destruction, while Adrienne Mitei highlights the absurdity of the elite effort to normalize the collapse of society. And Jessica Wildfire writes about the limitations of in-system prepping in a world that projects to far exceed the most severe temperatures and weather humanity has ever experienced. 

- Gaby Hinsliff notes that Trump and his ilk have made a point of denying merit and humanity to anybody but white males, while warning against the UK allowing a similar attitude to take hold. Gil Duran highlights Ruha Benjamin's analysis of the eugenics which have been embraced by techbros - and the resulting need to avoid relying on them to do anything to support the population which they see as disposable. And Sandeep Vaheesan's review of Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's Abundance rightly notes that the path to meeting people's basic needs doesn't involve further empowering the corporate oligarchy which has priced them out of reach. 

- Alex Cyr discusses why Canadians have every reason to fear crossing the border into the U.S. - even as Mark Carney is trying to tie us even more tightly to the Trump regime. And Sam Biddle reports on the U.S. intelligence community's hoovering up of sensitive personal information from data brokers to set up an unprecedented surveillance state. 

- Nicholas Kristof writes about some of the key strategies available to counter an autocracy. And Desmond Cole points out that the suppression of dissent isn't limited to the U.S. - with "bubble zone" laws aimed solely at limiting specific kinds of speech serving as a dangerous example. 

- Finally, Taylor Noakes discusses how Canada Post has long been set up to fail - but how a government with any interest in its effectiveness at providing a vital public service could ensure its success simply by allowing it space to grow. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Edward Zitron writes about the idiotic results of purging all considerations from business decision-making other than goosing short-term share prices. And EuropeanPowell examines the connection between deregulated "free zones" (of the type the Cons are actively seeking to impose in Canada) and the broader hijacking of public resources and services by greedy corporations.  

- Simon Kuper reports on the push for a global wealth tax in order to ensure the richest few can't hide their obscene wealth offshore. Dean Baker makes the case for a financial transactions tax to disincentivize shell games as a substitute for productivity. And Rick Szostak discusses the need for everybody to be willing to contribute to the common good. 

- Noah Berlatsky writes about the dangers of the Trump administration's attacks on vaccines, while Reuters reports on Moderna's decision not to seek approval of a more effective hybrid COVID/flu vaccine under an anti-science regime. Susan Mashiyam highlights a new study into vaccine disinformation as expressed at public meetings. And Bingyu Zhang et al. find that the consequences of COVID-19 include severe cardiovascular outcomes in children.

- Finally, Sam Freedman points out the inherent fragility of hard-right political alignments which rely on uniting the corporate sector and conspiracy theorists against professionals. Matthew Hays notes that Pierre Poilievre's attempts to send different messages to different sides of the conspiracist divide resulted in nobody having any basis to trust him. Crawford Kilian writes that the Trumpists and separatists being boosted by Danielle Smith's UCP are likely to make the Cons even less electable. And Don Braid notes that the immediate purpose of Smith's promotion of separatism is to undermine national values and standards, while Taylor Noakes offers a reminder that the separatist push is being bankrolled and directed by and for the dirty energy sector. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Mike Palecek discusses how the Trump regime's tariff chaos isn't aimed merely at conducting trade wars against other countries, but also serves to destabilize economic activity for other ends (including the desire to seize control of Canada). And Anne Kauranen reports that several European countries are setting up alternate payment systems in case Trump decides to commandeer the infrastructure of Visa and Mastercard for his own ends. 

- But in case we were under the impression that Mark Carney was following trhough on his campaign theme of holding tough against Trump, Bloomberg News reports that he's dropped nearly all of Canada's defensive tariffs, while Mike Le Couteur reports that he has Canada in talks to tie us even more tightly into the U.S.' military by participating in an expensive and unworkable Golden Dome scheme. Which is to say that Carney seems to be following Danielle Smith's agenda of legitimizing a surrender to Trump for the benefit of fascists and oil tycoons. 

- Meanwhile, Julie Fine et al. find that even in the U.S. there's a strong majority desire to see more effort to protect people from the harms of a climate breakdown. And Cristen Hemingway Jaynes reports on a new study showing that it's entirely possible to pair a transition to a clean economy with the availability of a decent standard of living for everybody. 

- Manuela Vega reports on new research confirming that financialized landlords tend to impose higher housing costs, while Andrew Willis reports on the capital sharks circling around a major apartment holder. And both John Michael McGrath and David Moscrop highlight the seemingly obvious point that the Libs' insistence on treating housing primarily as capital stock is absolutely contrary to any attempt to make it more affordable and available for people who need it. 

- Finally, the Canadian Press reports on the continued rise of food and grocery prices far in excess of inflation as corporate grocers put the screws to Canadians. And Aaron Vansintjan notes that a solution to our food crisis will require promoting local production.