Wednesday Morning Links

This and that for your Canada Day reading.

- George Monbiot points out that the determination by petropoliticians to deny climate change and the heat stress it causes is a threat to everybody, while George Tsakraklides notes that far too much of the general public has taken to accepting and even embracing the boiling of our shared planet. And Jason Hickel discusses how the problems with fossil fuel politics are inherent to capitalism - making climate socialism the only effective response to both economic and environmental ills. 

- Meanwhile, Victor Tangermann notes that the capital class is primarily opposed to solar energy because it's too affordable for the masses, rather than offering the windfall profits and monopolies of dirty fossil fuels and similar extractive energy sources. And Maddie Stone, Amy Westervelt and Katie Worth expose how the main authority cited for the viability of carbon capture and storage was developed and marketed at the direction of British Petroleum. 

- Ed Zitron examines how the AI industry's combined hype machine and lobbying effort is falling short of reality by a sufficient margin to make its failure seem highly likely. And Joseph Cox points out the fairly hilarious direction that AI bots talk like cavemen to avoid having to pay for more common language. 

- Wyatte Grantham-Phillips reports on the revelation that U.S. egg producers colluded to drive up the exact prices that helped Donald Trump campaign on affordability - and have been handed a sweetheart deal by the Trump regime rather than facing meaningful consequences. 

- Finally, Saul Austerlitz writes about the necessity of rebuilding community as a response and counterweight to the isolation that's allowed for our exploitation. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Slumbering cat. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Gregg Gonsalves discusses the Trump regime's plan to politicize every single dollar of federal revenue and expenditure in the U.S., setting up a ruthlessly efficient mechanism for executive grift and extortion at the expense of democratically-determined decision-making. Which means that Americans already struggling to keep afloat can only expect matters to get worse as long as Trump and his courtiers hold power. And Will Saletan highlights how the U.S.' foreign policy is similarly aimed at enriching Trump rather than any national or humanitarian interest. 

- Meanwhile, Kim Kelly points out the dark historical parallels to the unconscionable sentences for guilt by association applied to the Prairieland political prisoners. Matthew Gault reports on the criminalization of dissent in the form of merely speaking out against data centres at a public meeting. And Sean O'Kane reports on yet another techbro - this time Peter Diamandis - stating the public intention to inflict unaccountable surveillance on the general public in order to keep people in line. 

- Julia Jacobo discusses the increasing number of people facing heat stress around the globe, while Ajit Niranjan comments on the lack of preparation for global warming which has long been predicted. And Michael Le Page warns that there's far worse to come due both to the damage we've already done to our living environment, and our absolute failure to rein in the carbon pollution that's causing it to break down. 

- Meanwhile, if anybody needed a reminder that responsible policy can eradicate avoidable risks, Aitor Hernandez-Morales reports on Helsinki's year without a single traffic-related death. And Alexandra Frost reports on the HPV vaccine's success in preventing UK deaths from cervical cancer. 

- Finally, Graeme Bayliss rightly questions why Mark Carney is consistently choosing to copy the Trump regime rather than resisting it as promised. 

Musical interlude

Arkells - Leather Jacket

 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Michael Sainato reports on the California referendum which will see struggling voters get the chance to have their say on taxing billionaires. And Jennifer Rubin points out that progressive policy remains immensely popular in the U.S. generally, even as it's generally ruled out as an option by two generally corporate-dominated parties. 

- The Solar Energy Industries Association notes that solar power is making up the vast majority of new U.S. generation despite the Trump regime's hostility to renewable energy. And CarbonBrief concludes that the UK has seen electric vehicle sales exceed those of ICE vehicles over the course of a full year. 

- James Murray writes about the World Weather Attribution Agency's conclusion that the deadly heat hitting Europe can only be explained by climate change. Zoya Teirstein highlights how the climate crisis affects the human body and threatens public health. And Harriette Boucher reports on the scientific warnings that the climate breakdown will lead to food insecurity in the UK and elsewhere. 

- Christopher Holcroft examines the connection between Mark Carney and the Trump-supporting broligarchy which wants to exacerbate inequality and make human needs subordinate to the desire to turn power over to privately-controlled AI. 

- Finally, Tom Goldsmith writes about the need to push back against the expectation that workers will accept burnout as the price of having a job at all. And C.J. Polychroniou interviews Costas Lapavitsas about the importance of the labour movement as a catalyst for action and change, rather than a mere voting bloc.

Thursday Night Cat Blogging

Spiraling cat.

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Sonal Gupta reports on the detection of massive methane releases from the Kitimat LNG facility which aren't included in normal monitoring or reporting. But Marin Scotten writes that the fossil gas industry is trying to issue propaganda to schools to push students to see continued pollution as inevitable. 

- Guillaume Calline discusses new opinion research showing that European electric vehicle owners are avoiding the anxiety from oil price shocks which has afflicted most ICE vehicle drivers. Nick Carey and Divya Rajagopal point out that Canada is ideally positioned to develop a manufacturing industry for Chinese EVs which can be exported to the U.S. once it's governed by a regime which is less hostile to clean transportation.  

- That said, Ajit Niranjan highlights a new analysis showing how vehicles of multiple types are expanding and creating avoidable hazards for everybody else on the road. And Jack Fitzgerald discusses the similar effect of increasing vehicle heights in the U.S. 

- Finally, Rebecca Solnit rightly points out the through line between the systematic abuse of women by Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein and the Tate brothers. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- A.R. Moxon writes about the desperate need for a radical reshaping of both stories and substantive policy when even the most modest challenge to the impunity of villainous elites is treated as impossible. And Prem Sikka notes that the UK's real economy is being hollowed out in service to the dogma that financial interests matter more than people. 

- Victor Tangermann reports on the corrosive effect of AI at an organizational level as actual knowledge is replaced with a pale imitation. And Mariana Lenharo points out similar findings among individual professionals whose skills are degrading when artificial supports are unavailable. Which means it's readily understandable that university students are despairing - as noted by Frank Landymore - at being pressured to use it. 

- Mitchell Beer discusses how dependency on fossil fuel extraction is now a lose-lose proposition, as the windfall profits that follow temporarily from supply crises only drive people toward cheaper and readily available clean alternatives. Fiona Harvey points out the message emerging in advance of the Bonn climate conference that electrification results in far more efficient energy production and use than the outdated technology it replaces. Jan Rosenow highlights how Europe has benefited from its investments in energy efficiency by limiting the rise in energy prices. And Abby Hughes reports on the surge in electric vehicle adoption in Canada.  

- Finally, Leyland Cecco reports on the humanitarian costs of Mark Carney's refusal to acknowledge the realities of Donald Trump's regime, as asylum claimants continue to be told they have to pretend the U.S. is a safe third country even under a government which refuses to acknowledge their humanity. 

Musical interlude

CAKE - Love You Madly