Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Couched cat.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Matthew Dowd discusses how opposition to data centre construction is a rare issue where U.S. voters are almost entirely in agreement rather than having been polarized based on partisan or demographic alignments. Neha Gour, Ed Maibach and Luis Ortiz highlight just a few of the many reasons communities have to be apprehensive. 

- Meanwhile, Julianna Kowlessar argues that students are going to be best served learning to question artificial intelligence rather than relying on it.  

- Paige Collings writes about the dangers of age-restricted internet access generally, while Michael Geist offers a Q&A about the particular problems with the Carney Libs' version. 

- Kelly Hayes writes about the U.S.' heist state which has been designed to do nothing more than loot the country's resources on behalf of Donald Trump and his cronies. Casey Michel highlights how Jared Kushner is using his nepotistic placement in international relations to siphon up foreign wealth. And Tom Bergin, Michelle Conlin, Koh Gui Qing and Tom Wilson report that the Trump family's enrichment through crypto self-dealing is entirely mirrored by losses borne by investors. 

- Finally, Jim Stanford offers a reminder of the need to focus on our long-term social and economic development in the face of both the Trump threat and the clean energy opportunity, rather than obsessing over short-term economic indicators.

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Danny Kennedy discusses the progress being made in the energy transition globally, as wind and solar exceeded fossil gas power generation for the first time in April. Jan Rosenow notes that Pakistan in particular has managed a rapid deployment of solar power without any particular planning, while Adam Tooze observes that China has plenty more capacity to produce affordable solar panels which is idling in the midst of an energy crisis. And Claudia Steiner examines how even a partial switch over to electric vehicles is saving hundreds of thousands of lives in China due to reduced air pollution. 

- Tim Murphy discusses the grab for even more obscene levels of wealth and power behind the techbro drive to install AI everywhere and in everything. Oliver Milman reports on a new study finding that a majority of the U.S.' planned AI data centres are being positioned to use massive quantities of water in areas already suffering from droughts, while Frank Landymore points out new research showing how data centres look to crowd out water use by a substantial chunk of humanity in the next few years. Sheldon Fernandez writes about new research finding even higher cognitive costs to reliance on artificial intelligence than previously understood. And Mark Ramzy reports on the Carney Libs' plans to put Canadian prisoners under the full control of AI based on the apparent view that incarcerated people haven't been dehumanized enough.  

- Fred Wilson rightly argues that any attempt to build up a strong Canada needs to empower workers to pursue collective bargaining and be treated with respect. And Leyland Cecco reports on the success of workers in achieving the first collective bargaining agreement at a Walmart warehouse. 

- Finally, Eric Szeto, Jordan Pearson and Christian Paas-Lang report on the pervasive foreign influence behind Alberta separatism. 

Musical interlude

Blu Attic - Traces

 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Monica Potts writes that Americans' dissatisfaction with their economy has never been about vibes or temporary price spikes, but reflects a lack of both breathing room and security in a system designed for maximum exploitation and minimum support. John Schroyer notes that even limiting one's focus to businesses, there's a radical difference between the profits being hoovered up by a well-connected few and the struggles of smaller actors And Wajahat Ali talks to Chris Smalls about what can be done to organize against the billionaire class and their sycophants. 

- Sarah Todd reports on the American Journal of Public Health's call for governments to make healthy food a policy priority, rather than leaving people to navigate a marketplace of unhealthy slop on their own. 

- Susanna Twidale and William James report on the UK's announcement of plans to drastically cut carbon pollution by 2040. And The Canadian Press reports on the push by Canadian Indigenous groups demanding that the Carney Libs stop trashing federal environmental and climate policy. 

- Finally, Jamelle Bouie writes about the lasting damage being done by the combination of American voters offering Donald Trump a second term, and Trump taking the opportunity to eliminate the concept of government by and for the people. And Thom Hartmann offers a reminder that the background to the U.S.' current decline can be traced back through decades of increasing corporate control. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Engrossed cat. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Julian Spector writes that renewable power sources and battery storage are becoming ensconced as the best energy supply option for any government which isn't bent on subsidizing dirty fossil fuels regardless of cost or consequences. 

- John Balbus examines the health risks posed by AI data centres - including the reality that they're being given a priority to needed power from grids with the predictable effect of making people all the more vulnerable to extreme heat. Jason Koebler and Emanuel Maiberg expose Microsoft's explicit plan to try to get people addicted to an artificial "personal assistant". And Deirdre Bosa and Jasmine Wu chime in on the corporate recognition that AI isn't worth the cost once trial period economics are taken out of the picture. 

- Meanwhile, Gabrielle Gurley discusses Virginia's example of public pushback against the attempt to impose data centres. And Kyle Tharp notes that the fight against data centres is a rare issue which not only cuts across partisan and ideological lines, but also inspires passion among people who otherwise aren't politically engaged. 

- Meagan Gilmore reports on the health programs which are being left for dead as the Carney Libs and far too many provincial governments dedicate public resources to fossil fuel subsidies and militarization instead. 

- Finally, Jim Wilson reports on Adam King and Niall Harney's observation that sectoral bargaining could simultaneously address the problems of declining union density and deteriorating working conditions. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to start your week.

- Alistair Alexander discusses how AI has been turned into a multi-trillion-dollar collapse machine, while Benjamin Lopez Steven and Kate McKenna report on the Carney Libs' plans to tie Canada's economy and public service into that collapse as it happens. And Jason Koebler reports on the latest comical failure of AI to handle even menial chatbot functions, as hackers were able to take over major Instagram accounts just by asking Meta AI to let them do so. 

- Bill McKibben points out that the Trump regime's attacks on climate scientists are entirely in keeping with decades of Republican anti-fact policy. And Steve Akehurst discusses how the oil industry's investment in climate denialism has undercut what was previously a policy consensus in the UK.   

- Stephan Bisaha reports on new research from the Brookings Institution showing that American workers are falling further behind in covering basic expenses. And Sebastien Martinez Hickey offers an FAQ about the effects of increasing the minimum wage - highlighting how improved wage floors produce immense social benefits at no real cost. 

- Finally, Courtney Martin writes about the need to treat care for aging residents as a social priority and program, rather than forcing individual families to bear unmanageable costs on their own. But of course, there's always somebody - most recently Grady Munro and Jake Fuss - ready to send seniors off on ice floes in order to leave more fiscal capacity for top-end wealth hoarding. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Paul Campos examines how workers of all education levels in the U.S. have seen their wages stagnate over the past 25 years while capital value has nearly quintupled. And Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman make the case for wealth taxes in California and elsewhere to rein in the obscene fortunes which allow the uber-wealthy to dictate terms to the general public. 

- Jody McPherson reports on the large number of Albertans fighting against the imposition of massive AI data centres. And Dave Karpf discusses the ultimate importance of that cause to avoid having a high-damage, low-employment industry treated as being too big to fail due to the amount of capital relying on it.

- Adam Morton and Petra Stock write about Australia's battery storage revolution which is leading the way toward what responsible energy policy will look like in the decades to come. And Jan Rosenow writes that we're reaching the point where far more industry can be electrified than seemed possible just a few years ago. 

- Clotilde Cerdan Amiard discusses how the climate breakdown is creating large uninsurable areas even in countries which are supposed to be avoiding its worst effects. 

- Finally, Mitchell Labiak reports on the effects of privatization on the UK's Royal Mail, which is both more expensive and significantly worse for the loss of public infrastructure.