Musical interlude

Tragically Hip - Vapour Trails

 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Catherine Rampell highlights how Donald Trump's economy is divided starkly between profiteering insiders and exploited chumps. Andrew Feinberg reports on Trump's plans to issue blanket pardons to facilitate criminal activity by his staff. And Mark Chadbourn writes about the dangers of a humiliated despot. 

- Jonathan Mingle writes that the oil shocks arising out of the Iran war stand to be far worse than those which largely defined the 1970s. But in case anybody wanted to pretend there's no alternative David Roberts talks to Lauren Flanagan about the development of "ruggedized" solar power to replace dirty energy in situations that require quick or remote deployment. 

- Ashleigh Furlong reports on new research showing that the ongoing cost of long COVID in OECD countries alone is upwards of twelve figures each year. And Devi Shastri and Laura Ungar report on tragic plight of babies who aren't yet eligible for vaccines who are at increasing risk due to the avoidable spread of measles.

- Finally, Christo Aivalis calls out Mark Carney for welcoming bigotry and anti-science quackery into the Libs' tent.  

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Graham Readfearn reports on new research showing how more and more people are facing non-survivable heat - and that matters are getting worse as the climate breaks down even further. 

- Kathryn Bakos and James Stewart highlight the desperate need for Canada to include recognition of the climate crisis in its policy plans. And Curtis Fric discusses the latest polling showing the public wants to see more climate action, even as both the Carney Libs and nearly all provincial governments go out of their way to make matters worse. 

- Meanwhile, Jessica Corbett reports that the fossil fuel sector's profit-taking from Donald Trump's Iran war has included a stock selloff in addition to profiteering at the pump. And Nicholas Cunningham, Marcello Rossi and Amy Westervelt write about the false promise of "low-methane LNG" which may in fact be worse than other fossil fuels. 

- Alexander Bor et al. study how people in unequal and undemocratic societies face increased levels of online hatred and hostility. And Crawford Kilian notes that Canada has plenty of room for improvement on the democratic front.  

- Finally, Hettie O'Brien points out what the realities of private equity show us about the predictable course of capitalism running amok. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Upturned cat.

 

#ndpldr - Notes from the Aftermath

Assorted links and materials on Avi Lewis' leadership victory and what it means for the NDP.

- Steven High discusses how Lewis is offering big ideas to meet the scope and severity of the challenges we face. Susan Delacourt highlights why nobody should underestimate Lewis and the party. And David Doel offers some strong reviews of Lewis' start as leader in comparison to the laughable response of the corporate media:

 

- Luke Savage likewise calls out the meltdown which immediately followed Lewis' election. And Erica Ifill argues that Lewis is offending and alarming exactly the establishment figures whose opprobrium we should welcome.

- Scott Martain discusses the antisemitic tropes being wielded (however implausibly) against Lewis.   

- Jeremy Appel traces how Lewis won the leadership. And Appel, Cam Welch and Rob Rousseau discuss what comes next for the NDP:

 

- Finally, Susan Riley notes that Lewis' messages which are now being criticized as "radical" were seen as nothing of the sort when they were espoused by Mark Carney and others in recent memory. Gerard Di Trolio points out the massive opening for left populism as the Libs veer even further to the corporate right. And Diary Marif highlights Lewis' plans to reverse Carney's cuts to immigration as the Libs chase nationalist and exclusionary votes.  

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Andreas Rinke reports on the European countries working toward a windfall tax on yet another wave of predatory oil profits. And Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope report on the Just Transition conference which is providing a forum for cooperation on climate progress as a reaction to COP being completely co-opted by oil interests. 

- Julien Jreissati discusses the superior energy security offered by renewable power sources, while Jake Conley points out how smart actors are reducing their reliance on oil and gas accordingly. Matt Simon discusses how electric vehicles can be part of the solution to issues of grid reliability by providing a key source of backup battery power. And Bill McKibben writes about the emerging psychology of energy where dirty fuels can only be seen as being associated with scarcity and unpredictability compared to clean alternatives. 

- Janice Dickson reports on Ismahae Elouafi's admonition that Canada needs to invest in food security, not just military equipment. Andre Picard writes that it's only becoming more difficult to provide food for those who need it most. And Alissa Overend calls out the grocery giants for trying to substitute security theatre for action to make food available and affordable. 

- Finally, Frank Landymore notes that Meta's plans for glasses which automatically record an individual's food consumption (among other privacy violations by design) figure to cause far more problems than they solve. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Zohra Ahmed warns that the Trump regime is now looking to impose guilt by solidarity on anybody with the slightest connection to social justice causes, while Ken Klippenstein characterizes the scheme as bringing to life the prospect of severe punishment for pre-crime. And Sarah Mautner-Mazlen observes that misogyny is the entire point of the MAGA obsession with domination, while Silvaria Lysandra Zemaitis points out how that fascist tendency has been building in Republican circles since long before Trump took power.

- Brian Merchant discusses how more and more U.S. communities are successfully fighting off environmentally dangerous data centres and other manifestations of artificial intelligence. But Natasha Bulowski reports on the Libs' highly selective AI engagement, as environmental groups are being frozen out of consultations while extractivists get the red carpet treatment.  

- Ximena Gonzalez highlights how Danielle Smith's cynical immigrant-bashing is based on a complete inversion of reality. 

- Finally, Matt Pearce writes about the Grossman-Stiglitz paradox under which nobody is incentivized to create and spread information which serves the public good. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Seva Gunitsky writes about the connection between cultivated toxic masculinity and the rise of Donald Trump and other authoritarian politicians. And Greg Sargent discusses how Trump's regime is cracking up as even the most debased toadies he can find are unable to meet the mad king's requirements for sycophancy. 

- Justin Mikulka discusses how fossil gas (and other dirty fuels) are absolutely doomed from an economic standpoint compared to cheaper, cleaner alternatives. And Scott Forbes weighs in on the folly of Canada in particular continually obsessing over (and publicly subsidizing) fossil fuel expansion. 

- Paula Simons is rightly worried by the particularly damaging combination of fossil fuel power being used to run AI disinformation factories. But Ed Zitron points out that we're far from there being any plausible argument that AI is too big to fail. And Joe Wilkins reports that nearly half of the data centres announced within the U.S. in 2026 have already been cancelled or delayed - offering reason for hope that economic realities and community organization can halt their spread. 

- Finally, Maia Silber discusses how the U.S.' welfare state is impossible to navigate legally and honestly - making it all too easy for governments to withhold benefits and point fingers at recipients. But Lex McMenamin reports on the movement to properly tax billionaires' wealth, as a growing number of Americans come to realize their economic system is designed for the benefit of those who already have too much

Musical interlude

Kaskade - Imprint

 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Embedded cat.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Robert Kagan is the latest to notice that the U.S. is a rogue superpower whose capricious action under the Trump regime has undermined the international system that previously served its interests. And Paul Krugman observes that the oil crisis precipitated by the Iran war is about to get physical in the form of real shortages (rather than merely being a matter of rationing and anticipated effects), while Neil Irwin recognizes that the U.S. won't avoid the ill effects of its aggression.  

- Waterloo University has released new modeling showing that the effects of climate change will result in upwards of a hundred million people facing regular air quality alerts in the coming decades. And Forrest Smith points out the trillion-dollar price to remediate the damage oil drilling has done to the U.S.' living environment even without accounting for the climate crisis. 

- Meanwhile, Anthony Cuthbertson reports on a new breakthrough which may make solar energy even more efficient than previously thought posssible. And Hannah Ritchie and Pablo Rosado update their previous findings as to how more affordable batteries are making electric vehicles into by far the superior option for consumers. 

- Finally, Rebecca Solnit looks at the realities of Cesar Chavez' personal sexual abuse in the context of the farmworker movement as a compelling reason to memorialize collective action rather than idolized heroes.