Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Alec Luhn warns that the potential consequences of the breakdown of the AMOC current include the release of far more of the carbon pollution that's already causing it to collapse. And Claudia Vorbeck points out that our current reliance on fossil fuels to produce fertilizer is unnecessary, with localized alternatives offering both a more secure supply and a reduced environmental impact. 

- Sabrina Tavernise notes that opposition to data centres has become one of the most universal areas of bipartisan agreement in the U.S. And Brian Merchant examines what the organizing against data centres may presage in the wider political system. 

- Alissa Quart discusses how fear and uncertainty have been propagated and weaponized by the corporations who are able to profit from them. And Johnnie Kallas et al. examine the reduction in strike activity which has seen American workers do less to assert their power over exploitative employers. 

- Finally, Althia Raj discusses how Mark Carney has forgotten - or at least chosen to ignore - the progressive voters who lent their support to elect him. The Star's editorial board highlights how Carney's plans for privatization serve nobody's purposes but those of corporate wealth extractors. And Lucy Hamilton offers similar observations from Australia, where a nominally progressive governing party is mostly using its power to cater to the wealthy few. 

Musical interlude

Editors - Call It In

 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- John Rapley highlights Canada's choice between tying ourselves to a dying and decaying American empire and its petropolitics, or instead investing in our future as part of a global clean energy economy. But Murray Brewster reports on Mark Carney's choice to secretly lock us into a billion-dollar military deal as a reminder that the Libs' inclination is to appease and support the Trump regime in substance even while occasionally posturing against it for the cameras. 

- Meanwhile, Natasha Tusikov and Blayne Haggart discuss how Canadians stand to lose out from Carney's plans to deploy artificial intelligence to replace a functional public service.  

- Erin Anderssen and Yang Sun discuss how the lack of available and affordable homes is the main factor driving unhappiness among young Canadians. 

- Cameron Micallef reports on the effort by Australian unions to make gains for workers on a scale not seen in decades, including though a shift to a four-day work week. And Jacob Fuller highlights Arindrajit Dube's research showing that there's plenty of room to increase minimum wages with effectively no impact other than to improve labour's share of income (and perhaps improve social indicators tied to income). 

- Finally, Leni Spooner writes about the dangers of surveillance pricing - and the choice of Libs and Cons alike to let greedy corporations use personal information to extract every possible nickel from consumers. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Jonathan Watts and Fiona Harvey report on Gustavo Petro's warning about the dangers of accepting suicidal petropolitics. And Laura Paddison discusses how the fossil fuel sector is swimming in profits thanks to the global chaos and violence being stoked by its political puppets. 

- Ajit Niranjan writes about this spring's record heat wave in northern Europe and its connection to wildfires and unprecedented ocean warming. And Anita Hofschneider points out that while Indigenous peoples are often on the front lines in facing the effects of the climate crisis, they're severely underresourced in being able to respond. 

- Fran Rimrod and Evelyn Manfield discuss how renewable energy and batteries are managing to more than cover the additional power required by extreme heat in Australia. AFP reports on France's plan to phase out fossil fuels entirely in under 25 years, while Jan Rosenow points out how Europe as a whole has a clear path (and obvious motivation) to end its fossil fuel dependency in all sectors - even as our government plans to burn still more public money to subsidize export expansion. And Joshua Pearce notes that several states are ahead of any Canadian jurisdiction in enabling small-scale, plus-and-play solar to reduce both power costs and grid strain. 

- Damien Gayle reports on new research showing that exposure to air pollution in the course of pregnancy tends to result in slower child speech development.  

- Finally, Evan Greer highlights the need for youth to be able to get informed and organized online. And Michael Geist points out the multiple reasons why the age-based social media bans being pushed across the political spectrum by Canadian provinces are ill-advised. 

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Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Entertainment-seeking cat.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Brian Platt and Christine Dobby discuss the corporate ethos shared by Mark Carney and the business elites benefiting from his actions in power. The CCPA examines how the Carney Libs are at best repackaging old ideas as new initiatives, and at worst planning to spend massive amounts of public money to further exacerbate inequality. Akash Ramaswamy points out that the Libs' plan to give preferred corporations a get-out-of-regulation-free card only serves to create unfairness and uncertainty. And Gabriela Calugay-Casuga reports on the Libs' attempt to overturn a human rights ruling aimed at remedying racial discrimination in the federal public service. 

- Meanwhile, David Macdonald laments how Carney's cuts to foreign aid are ending any pretense that Canada is a "helpful fixer" on the international scene rather than a cynical opportunist. 

- David Climenhaga points out how Danielle Smith is planning to use public funds to propagandize against reality. And Joel Dryden's look at the predictors of support for Alberta separatism reveals the fact that the few people wanting to separate are disproportionately those who have high incomes they can't manage responsibly. 

- Finally, Ed Zitron confirms that the economics of AI remain laughable at best, as some of its most central actors start to acknowledge they have no realistic path to make money (or serve any useful purpose). And angryea notes that the ultimate motivation behind AI is contempt for users and the general public. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Rita Bhowmick writes about the importance of care services both in keeping people healthy and ensuring equitable work opportunities. And Steven Lewis examines the dishonesty and gaslighting behind the destruction of public Medicare in by the UCP, while Kaylene Duttchen and Paul Parks point out the consistent body of evidence showing that private and for-profit medicine only draws resources away from the care people actually need.  

- Runting Li et al. study (PDF) the connection between the proliferation of microplastics and nanoplastics, and the proliferation of brain tumours. 

- Donal Gill offers a warning about the dangers of making political and social decisions to serve the interests of tech giants pushing AI propaganda rather than people. Jessica Winter highlights the community efforts to keep AI from take over education systems. And Nilay Patel discusses how "software brain" is causing immense changes without people recognizing what's happening. 

- The New York Times' editorial board rightly warns that the return of measles presages far worse diseases making a comeback due to the anti-science attack on vaccinations. And the Boston Globe reports on the growing number of Americans suffering from long COVID. 

- Finally, Heather Scoffield reports on the false promise of Canada's disability tax credit which (along with associated supports) has been designed to be unavailable to most people who actually qualify.  

Musical interlude

Metric - Tremolo

 

Thursday Night Cat Blogging

Curled-up cat.

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Samantha Hancox-Li writes about the need to build a new woke political movement that actively fights against the forces of reaction rather than assuming that merely exposing them will be enough to drive change. 

- Wajahat Ali and Ellie Leonard discuss how the Trump regime's plans to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell reflect its determination to let the Epstein class exploit its victims with impunity and without consequences. And Victoria Elliott reports on new whistleblower revelations indicating that Elon Musk's attack on USAID did even more humanitarian damage than previously known. 

- Melissa Bruntlett and Chris Bruntlett discuss the connection between the election of female mayors and the reclamation of public space for people's health and well-being. And Carl Meyer writes about the price we pay in worse health for our fossil fuel addiction. 

- Darius Snieckus reports on a new Ember analysis showing that Canada is falling behind by subsidizing dirty fossil fuels as most of the world transitions to clean energy, while Mitchell Beer discusses the seemingly laughable prospect that we might end up paying to build yet another oil pipeline based on the hope of locking in decades of exports to countries who have no interest in remaining reliant on fossil fuels that long. Jake Johnson calls out the Trump regime's use of war powers to line the pockets of oil tycoons. And Dharna Noor reports on the Republican corporate puppets trying to prohibit anybody from holding big oil and gas to account for the harm it's inflicted on the public. 

- Finally, George Monbiot writes about the imminent breakdown of the AMOC circulation system - and the money and power that have been brought to bear to suppress any discussion around it.