Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Nathan Tankus examines the risk that the Trump regime can arbitrarily steal money from American bank accounts. Roy Edroso discusses how Republicans are pushing new limits of anti-empathy as a denial of a hallmark of humanity. But if there was any doubt how the nonsensical is being normalized, Kayla Gogarty examines how MAGA voices are increasingly dominating a range of media in the U.S. - including nominally non-political spaces. 

- Makena Kelly et al. look in detail at DOGE's infiltration of the U.S. public service - as well as the expected push to put experimental AI in charge once the first wave of vandals has done its work. Chris Stokel-Walker points out how the the actual use of AI UK's minister responsible signals a complete lack of thought as to whether it's necessary or viable. And David Dayen discusses how the combination of return-to-the-office orders and cuts to custodial and support staff was designed to make workplaces intolerable. 

- Frank Koller discusses the serious questions about Trump's apparent plans to take Canada by force. Nora Loreto writes about the dangers of counting on a Captain Canada to save us, while Emmett Macfarlane highlights how Doug Ford is particularly ill-suited to handle our response to the treat posed by his American political cousins. 

- Angella MacEwen offers her take on some of the options available to deal with Trump's trade war, and particularly the need to build economic infrastructure for the future rather than hoping that temporary supports and regulatory tinkering will be sufficient. And Destiny Meilleur reports on the developing efforts to grow warm-weather crops in Canada to substitute for reliance on imports. 

- Finally, Taya Graham and Stephen Janis talk to Bill McKibben about the longstanding billionaire conspiracy to kill green energy. Brett McKay reports on one tar sands operator's plan to dump dirty effluent in underground reservoirs rather than doing anything to clean up its messes. Jens Terhaar et al. examine the record sea surface temperature jump in 2024. And Nancy Lapald reports on new research showing that the harms of microplastics may include contributing to drug-resistant bacteria.