Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Ana Marie Cox discusses how Jeffrey Epstein was able to amass influence and commit atrocities by sharing the discriminatory and dehumanizing values with his targets. Solani Kolakhtar notes that the Epstein class consists entirely of wealthy and privileged people using anti-elite messaging to distract from their own contempt for and exploitation of the general public. And Jamelle Bouie talks to Andrea Pitzer about the nature of concentration camps as means of treating disfavoured people into things to be warehoused. 

- Sam Freedman highlights the challenges for governments in trying to reach any meaningful proportion of the public in a media environment which is both fragmented into numerous technical channels, yet still largely controlled by the wealthy few. And John Herrman weighs in on Elon Musk's deliberate choice to use X to breed hatred and bigotry, while Justin Hendrix talks to Jose Marichal about the importance of challenging the implicit algorithmic contract underlying our interaction with major social media sites.

- Joseph Stiglitz, Monica Geingos and Michael Marmot warn that inequality will make the next pandemic worse (even as the right's attacks on science and public health mean it will likely happen sooner). And McKenzie Beard offers a summary of how various communicable diseases spread, as well as how best to mitigate risk at the individual level. 

- Finally, Phillip Inman reports on a new study showing how the arbitrary elimination of remote work options has a disproportionate effect on people with disabilities as well as people relied upon to perform care work. 

 

#ndpldr Roundup

A few links and updates from the NDP's federal leadership campaign...

- The (primarily) English leadership debate can be found via CBC:

 

- Perspectives Journal's January issue focuses on the leadership race and its relationship to the NDP and Canada's progressive movement generally. And Peggy Nash has also been interviewing the leadership candidates for Perspectives Journal: see so far her interviews with Tony McQuail, Heather McPherson, Tanille Johnston and Rob Ashton.

- Laurie Adkin examines the bad-faith complaints about Avi Lewis - including familiar demands of fealty to exploitative oil and gas interests with no regard for the harm they do to public health and well-being - from inside and outside the leadership campaign.  

- Finally, Dale Smith offers his take on the campaign, recognizing that the likely decision will come down to Lewis versus McPherson. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Victor Pickard writes about the multiple layers of media capture which have collectively undermined access to accurate information across U.S. sources. 

- Ajit Niranian highlights how the EU is stifling any attention to the climate crisis (and indeed pushing a deregulatory agenda) even as the climate breakdown causes increasingly frequent disasters. 

- Gita Jackson offers an important distinction between being opposed to technological progress, and criticizing its use as a means of exploitation. And Jurgen Geuter comments on the challenge of trying to live ethically when the world is largely set up to preclude action other than through problematic means.  

- Meanwhile, Georgia Wells reports on OpenAI's awareness that the Tumbler Ridge shooter was plotting out violence dating back to last year - and its decision not to alert law enforcement or take any other steps to protect the public. And Victor Tangermann examines the alarm bells sounding among investors who are recognizing the implausibility that massive AI-related expenses will produce any returns.

- Finally, Frank Landymore reports on Stanford's development of a "universal vaccine formula" which could protect against multiple respiratory diseases - if it's not blocked by RFJ Jr. and his anti-vaxxers. 

Musical interlude

Lastlings, RUFUS DU SOL - No Time

 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Sarah Sloat discusses how the collapse of democracy in the U.S. is producing severe mental health problems for the people living through it. And Natalie Brender writes about the need to treat violent extremism as a threat to public health as well as safety.  

- Graham Readfearn experiences the effects of the type of extreme heat that the climate breakdown is imposing on increasingly large numbers of people, while the Associated Press reports on a new study again finding that the climate crisis is increasing the dangers caused by wildfires. And Disha Shetty highlights new research demonstrating how air pollution contributes to poor mental health. 

- Linda McQuaig weighs in on Mark Carney's plans to further entrench the corporate domination of Canada by placing any favoured businesses above the law. And Ariel Rabinovitch reports on the pitiful fine applied to Superstore for false "Product of Canada" displays. 

- Meanwhile, Justin Ling writes about the moral cost of relying (selectively) on military spending as the primarily mechanism for domestic industrial development. 

- Finally, Markham Hislop argues that Danielle Smith is an even more severe threat to Canada than Donald Trump - though the bigoted "authoritarian libertarianism" which rightly concerns him seems largely of a piece with what's happened in the U.S. And Emmett MacFarlane writes that Smith's plans to render Canada dysfunctional may be even worse than mere secession. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Flaky cat.

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading.

- Patriotic Millionaires highlight the connection between the extreme concentration of wealth and the Epstein class' culture of depravity and impunity. Amanda Mull is the latest to call out the absence of any meaningful pushback again the Trump regime from the corporate class. And Greg Sargent notes that the public response to Republican abuses is offering badly-needed evidence that there's still plenty of room for people to work together - even as he recognizes the risk that Democrats will be too stuck in their habits to foster that movement, which is all the more clear based on their reliance on the median-voter theory critiqued by Henry Farrell. 

- Meanwhile, in case the risks of AI weren't glaring enough without a fascist government insisting that it facilitate atrocities, Dave Lawler, Maria Curi, and Mike Allen report on Pete Hegseth's demand that Anthropic (and presumably other AI platforms) offer itself up as a tool to target civilians or face discrimination in government treatment. And Will Bunch warns that spin about ICE "retreating" from Minnesota is no more credible than most self-serving statements from the administration. 

- Thor Benson interviews David Roberts about the Trump regime's decree that climate science be declared null and void - and the risk that a partisan SCOTUS will declare that presidential whims take precedence over facts. And the Guardian's editorial board notes that China's work on renewables is positioning it to be the global leader in the energy sources of the future while the U.S. clings to outdated technology. 

- Finally, Justin Nobel reports on the toxic wastewater that's been left behind from past extraction activity (with communities left to bear the risk of a lack of cleanup), while Joe Wilkins reports on the spraying of radioactive fracking waste on a future elementary school site as a painfully stark example of the oil industry's disregard for public health and safety. And Daniel Price discusses the environmental justice impact of the destruction of water resources in the western U.S.

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.]