Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- John Ripton writes about the connection between the egregious concentration of wealth and the rise of fascist politics. And Virginia Heffernan points out how the uber-rich have used their wealth to fund eugenics, while Kristen Toussaint discusses their similar obsession with climate denialism. 

- Meanwhile, Lucas Amin and Peter Geoghegan examine how corporate donations - particularly from companies under the control of extremely wealthy individuals - are distorting UK politics. 

- Jonathan Cohn discusses how the FDA's refusal to even review new vaccines is a threat to health around the globe. And Max Kozlov notes that the Trump regime is scrubbing any suggestion that the U.S.' public health institutions might prepare for or mitigate future disease outbreaks. 

- Charlie Warzel laments the development of nihilist cultures online. But while it's worth pointing out the presence of dangerous actors, Brian Beutler argues that MAGA has never really succeeded in a broad-based culture war.

-  Finally, Duane Bratt makes the case for Alberta to stay in Canada. And Robert Currie points out how there's no legal path to separation through a referendum - though that's exactly why the separatists' collaboration with a Trump regime which operates under a "just try and stop us" mentality is so dangerous and treasonous. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Will Snell points out the connection between extreme wealth and unconscionable impunity as epitomized by Jeffrey Epstein and his elite co-conspirators.  And Joan Wallach Scott writes that the Republican war on gender studies and other social sciences reflects the Epstein class' priority of dehumanizing every other than its own coterie of rich white men. 

- Karl Nerenberg offers a reminder as to why he (and many other Canadians) sees travel to the U.S. as both contrary to principle and intolerably risky. And Karen Pauls reports on polling highlighting how anxious Canadians are about our relationship with the dictatorship next door. 

- Nohemie Bokuma writes about Canada's continued lack of any meaningful AI regulation - even as the Carney Libs focus primarily on cheerleading for artificial intelligence rather than assessing and managing its dangers. And Gabriel Rojas Hruska points out how we can learn from Europe in developing and protecting a Canadian online public square. 

- Danyaal Raza highlights how the problems with Canada's public health care system are already the result of underfunding - meaning that the right's push to direct money into corporate health services is a sure way to make matters worse. And Jack Hauen reports on pain crisis caused by the Ford PCs' slashing and mismanagement of long-term care and home care services. 

 [Edit: deleted Elizabeth Bruenig link.] 

Musical interlude

Live - They Stood Up For Love

 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- David Lurie is rightly appalled by the Trump regime's nihilism, combining insatiable greed for whatever it can seize with a willingness to destroy anything it can't. But Harold Meyerson discusses how Minnesota has managed to force the most violent of Trump's minions into retreat. 

- Dharna Noor reports on Trump's handout to billionaire polluters in the form by making climate denialism official U.S. policy. Andrea Thompson discusses how public health will suffer as a result, while Molly Taft examines the policy chaos which will be created. And each of Katharine Hayhoe and Jonathan Levy et al. review the utter lack of any evidentiary support for Trump's idiocy. 

- Filippo Menczer examines how AI bots can pollute a political information environment to the point of threatening democracy. And Tom Chivers reports on the warnings - and in some cases resignations - of people working on artificial intelligence who see their employers choosing to endanger the public. 

- Alan Elrod writes about the reality that gambling on all manner of political and social outcomes is best set up as the next widespread form of addiction in the U.S. 

- Finally, Leigh Kimmins reports on the details of meetings between Alberta separatists and Trump officials eager to foment unrest and division. And Don Braid discusses both how many Albertans would choose to stay in Canada rather than  surrendering to the U.S., and how federalists are fighting back. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Zoe Williams writes that Donald Trump is just the most egregious and unrestrained example of the vice-signalling which has become standard operating procedure among right-wing political parties - but that we're finally seeing a fight back on the side of decency. And Dave Karpf warns that Kalshi and other sites which encourage gambling on everything will inevitably foment addictions and manipulations which we'll come to regret. 

- Patrick Wintour discusses Europe's growing realization that it needs to treat the U.S. as a threat rather than an ally or protector - as reflected in a report from the Munich Security Conference. And Ian Welsh writes that we shouldn't underestimate Canada's ability to be independent from the U.S. - particularly in the longer term if we avoid taking steps to further entangle ourselves with a dying empire. 

- Jack Flemming reports on a Rent Brigade analysis of the corporate price-gouging which added insult to injury in the aftermath of California's wildfires last year. 

- Meanwhile, Toula Drimonis discusses how funding to prevent evictions more than pays for itself in health and social service savings. And the Canadian Climate Institute highlights the need to prepare our infrastructure in advance of climate-related disasters. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Multidirectional cat. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Brian Beutler writes that the events of Super Bowl weekend show how Donald Trump - even with the support of most of the country's plutocrats and their media outlets - has absolutely failed to take over U.S. culture. But A.R. Moxon writes about the need to avoid normalizing or legitimizing MAGA's culture of hate. 

- Garrett Graff discusses how the Trump security state's masks and secrecy are all about impunity rather than legitimate safety concerns, as immigrant enforcement officers are at less risk of a violent death than a U.S. elementary school student. And Hanna Zlady reports on Transparency International's new corruption perception index - showing the U.S. predictably falling to unprecedented lows even as the Trump regime looks to drive it down further. 

- Alex Clark points out how a continuing obsession with GDP (detached from human well-being) remains one of the most significant obstacles to averting a climate breakdown.

- Meanwhile, Cory Doctorow highlights how the Epstein class is determined to turn ruin for everybody else into an opportunity to extract even more undeserved wealth for itself. And Alexander Hertel-Fernandez and Alix Gould-Werth discuss the perverse incentives around employers blocking worker access to employment benefits. 

- Finally, Nora Loreto rightly argues that Mark Carney's rhetoric about building an international system based on mutual support will be entirely empty if Canada fails to step up and assist Cuba as the U.S. seeks to starve its population. 

#ndpldr Links

I haven't yet put together the candidate profiles and other posts I'm planning for the ongoing NDP leadership campaign. But for now, I'll take time to survey a few noteworthy developments.

- Theresa Lubovitz takes a look at the fund-raising numbers to the end of Q4 2025, and notes that Avi Lewis has a lead over the other two primary candidates combined in both funds raised and donations received. (And on the latter front, Heather McPherson's lead in Alberta makes for the only single province where any other candidate has managed to lead the pack - signalling that Lewis' support base is widespread as well as responsive.)

- Meanwhile, McPherson has been identified as having leads in name recognition within the general public, as well as support by description among potential NDP voters (though Ashton's description interestingly holds a lead among actual NDP supporters).   

- Adam King reviews Lewis' labour platform as identifying and addressing issues far beyond the traditional sphere of labour policy which affect worker solidarity and the balance of class power. 

- Ali Terrenoire writes about the problems with Canada's left being limited to trying to boost the NDP as a parliamentary party. And Martin Lukacs makes the case for leftists to join the party and throw their support behind Lewis. 

- Finally, David Thurton reports on Naheed Nenshi's message seeking to have the federal leader defer to provincial interests. But it's worth noting how the difference he points out may actually signal one of the concerns with McPherson as an alternative: the federal NDP isn't able to limit its ambition to trying to flip swing voters through government fatigue in a two-party system, and any leader who relies on that model where it doesn't apply figures to make little progress in the effort to rebuild. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Samantha Hancox-Li writes about the need for the U.S.' citizenry to retake power from a militarized surveillance state through nonviolent organized resistance. And Philip Bump points out how Minnesota has already provided a model for other communities to follow. 

- Oren Cass discusses the need to treat the financial sector as a grift rather than a source of investment or productivity. And Cory Doctorow calls out stock buybacks and other swindles that are being used to transfer wealth from the working class to the corrupt few. 

- Meanwhile, Isaac Phan Nay reports on Tim Li's recognition that even full-time workers are facing an inability to pay for food and other necessities as wages fall behind inflation. 

- Ajit Niranjan reports on a new study showing that increasingly dangerous and ecologically harmful pesticides are being used in far too many countries (including the U.S.). And Dylan Baddour and Peter Aldhous report on Texas' massive-scale venting of pollutants during a bout of winter weather as regulators give gas power plants free rein to dump their waste in the air. 

-  Finally, Don Newman weighs in on how Danielle Smith is plying with fire by stoking separatism, while Andrew Coyne notes that the portions of the separatist group actively seeking a Trump takeover are veering into treasonous territory. And Emmett Macfarlane warns Mark Carney against indulging Smith's attempt to take provincial control over federal judicial appointments (among other incursions into federal jurisdiction).