Thursday, December 19, 2024

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Iris Gorfinkel rightly asks why Doug Ford (among other politicians) doesn't want people to know if they have COVID-19 when that knowledge would allow them to both seek treatment and avoid further spreading. Publishers Weekly offers a quick review of Sarah Jones' Underclass on how COVID-19 exposed the U.S.' utter disregard for the lives of many of its residents. Emily Dupree calls out the manufacturing of an end to discussion of a pandemic still in progress, while Crawford Kilian notes that the U.S.' scientific and public health apparatus may soon be looking for a new base of operations. And Kate MacKenzie and Tim Sahay discuss the connection between COVID and climate policy, as the wealthiest and greediest few have seized on the opportunity to attack the concept of collective action no matter how obvious the benefit of pursuing it. 

- Eloise Goldsmith reports on Jonathan Kanter's recognition that plutocracy is itself a form of dictatorship - a point that's been driven home by Elon Musk's apparent unelected veto over the operation of the U.S. government. David Lurie highlights how Donald Trump is planning on renewing Republicans' longstanding attacks on core social programs. And Molly Jong-Fast reports on Trump's plans to use "zombie laws" to take powers that even a Republican-dominated Congress wouldn't dare to grant him.

- Lori Lee Oates examines how the global alt-right movement is manifesting in Canada. And Paris Marx points out how Pierre Poilievre is cozying up to the same broligarchs currently pulling the strings of the Trump regime. 

- Finally, Nesrine Malik points out that we shouldn't treat the hijacking of identity politics by wealthy cranks seeking to further entrench white male power as a reason to concede the field entirely. And Brian Beutler examines what ethical populism can look like (in contrast to the reactionary version of the term).

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