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Kidnap Kid - Moments

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Sachi Kitajima Mulkey, Claire Brown and Mira Rojanasakul report on new research showing that the climate breakdown is only accelerating as the powers that be look for excuses to avoid taking any action to slow it. And Steven Sherwood, Benoit Meyssignac and Thorsten Mauritsen examine the increased amount of heat being trapped in the Earth's atmosphere. 

- Anna Robertson reports on the actors seeking to ensure their pension fund isn't used to exacerbate the climate crisis. But Drew Anderson contrasts the pleas of rural residents against the capture of power in Alberta (among other places) by a wealthy few willing to boil our planet in order to keep windfall profits rolling in. 

- Meanwhile, Reuters reports on the entrenchment of the reality that clean energy is the most affordable option as long as public policy isn't being used to block it. And Clean Energy Canada points out that a large majority of Canadians want access to wider range of electric vehicles, rather than being trapped in a U.S.-dominated market. 

- The Plastics Pollution Coalition examines how microplastics are contaminating the oceans. And Ayurella Horn-Muller discusses how arsenic is building up in rice supplies, while Colid Todhunter offers a reminder of how industrial agriculture has been sent up to maximize corporate rent-seeking rather than either the availability of food or a secure living for farmers. 

- Finally, Margaret Sullivan discusses how to stay informed without succumbing to constant doomscrolling. And Noah Berlatsky interviews Kat Abughazaleh about the importance of ensuring people see prospects to build a better world, rather than feeling helpless in the face of corporate and political forces aligned against anything of the sort. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Simon Tisdall discusses the fallout from the Trump regime's choice to launch a war in Iran - with its culture of denial doing nothing to mitigate the harm. And Anthony Fisher writes about the invariable stupidity and malignancy of the people chosen to surround Trump (for the sole purpose of insulating him from inconvenient realities). 

- Meanwhile, Kyla Scanlon highlights how Zohran Mamdani's inspiring victory in the New York mayoral primary offers an example of how progressive values can win out in the current information environment. And both Hamilton Nolan and Lex McMenamin are optimistic that Mamdani's campaign can be the start of a movement to replace a captured Democratic establishment with a new organization structure that is both answerable and appealing to the general public. 

- Tiffany Hsu discusses how countries around the world are stepping into the gap left by the U.S.' abandonment of international cooperation. But Doug Saunders' analysis of Mark Carney's strategy serves mostly to confirm that the Libs are wasting an immense amount of capacity (and pursuing counterproductive policies) trying to placate Trump rather than looking forward. 

- Cindy Cho points out the case for treating dirty energy purveyors as responsible for unnatural heat waves. And Kendra Jewell, Rowan Burdge and Liv Yoon offer a reminder that the people who suffer most in extreme heat are those already living in poverty or otherwise vulnerable. 

- Ian Urquhart discusses how Alberta is continuing to lie about its contribution to the climate breakdown while consistently increasing its carbon pollution. And Adrienne Tanner rightly questions how the oil industry and its fully-owned government subsidiaries consider themselves entitled to have the public fund the immense cost of carbon capture schemes. 

- Finally, Paris Marx discusses the dangers of allowing the U.S. to dictate both which technology will be used, and which countries have access to it. And Matthew Hughes writes about the tech industry's assumption over complete control of basic infrastructure with no regard for people's needs. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Jonathan Watts talks to Genevieve Guenther about the need to keep talking about the many climate tipping points in front of us - along with the value of taking action to avoid crossing them. Sanjana Gajbhiye reports on the weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, and the resulting cool spot which portends increasing warming elsewhere. Andrew Szava-Kovats writes that we can't accept a prolonged wildfire and smoke season as a new normal. 

- Nora Loreto calls out Mark Carney's choice to serve as Donald Trump's lap dog on Iran rather than opposing an unjustified attack, while Alex Cosh and Nur Dogan point out the impace on Iranian Canadians. And Christopher Holcroft discusses Carney's abandonment of "elbows up" in favour of making concessions to an unreliable authoritarian regime. 

- Meanwhile, Erica Ifill points out that Carney is making a corporate power grab - at the expense of Indigenous rights and environmental protection - in the name of national unity. And Adam King discusses how the Libs are putting a thumb on the scale for management against Canada Post workers, while Andre Frappier offers a reminder that the fight is ultimately one encompassing the entire working class. 

- Ryan Kiedrowski reports on the demands of Danielle Smith and Scott Moe that the federal government essentially trash all environmental and climate policy in order to deliver windfall returns to dirty energy operators. And Dale Smith highlights how Smith is importing the Republican war to dehumanize mmigrants into Alberta. 

- But on the bright side, Sean Boynton reports on polling showing that Canadians have maintained their support for LGBTQ2+ rights even as popular support has declined elsewhere in the face of calculated attacks. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Circular cat.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Shiri Pasternak and Dayna Nadine Scott discuss how Canada's elite consensus toward the Trump regime has turned to one of deference (particularly for the benefit of the corporate interests), while Lloyd Axworthy wonders what happened to the elbows which were supposed to be up in defence of Canadian values and interests. And Michael Harris notes that the need to resist Trump's government extends to leaders around the globe.

- Trevor Herriot writes about the justified anxiety people are feeling about an ongoing climate breakdown - and the need for moral courage to ameliorate the ongoing damage we're doing to our living environment. Heather Stewart discusses the need to incorporate the reality of climate change into economic policymaking, while Ryan Cooper discusses how climate change will soon be bankrupting governments if it isn't reined in. And Deborah de Lange calls out Mark Carney for turning his back on climate action, rather than meeting even a bare minimum of consideration for an ongoing crisis.  

- Ryan Ness responds to a cynical attempt to pit planning for climate disasters against the need for housing by pointing out the futility of building homes which we know will become unliveable due to foreseeable disasters. And Tim Aubry and Jino Distasio point out the tens of thousands of homeless Canadians who need immediate support through Housing First programs (rather than being able to wait for trickle-down development).

- Finally, Karen Weise and Cade Metz report on the mammoth environmental harm being inflicted by AI data centres. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Tressie McMillan Cottom calls out how the Trump regime is using political violence to eliminate any democratic forms of opposition and accountability. David Roth discusses how fascist regimes tend to provoke chaos in order to eliminate the sense that it's possible to build anything better. And Jeet Heer writes that there is a window for a popular backlash to stop a sustained war in Iran, but only if public outcry manages to drown out the warmongers pulling the strings around Trump. 

- Luke Goldstein reports that the Republicans' plan to rob from the poor to give to the rich includes tax breaks for private equity when it loads companies up with debt and slashes workforces. Jameson Berkow reports on a new finding that CEO pay is soaring in Canada while so many people continue to struggle. And Brendon Hadden examines some of the options to apply a fairer tax system. 

- The Guardian's editorial board writes about the inescapable choice between making investments in averting climate change and its effects, and facing perpetually more (and more severe) breakdowns of the systems that support life. And Andre Picard writes about how wildfire smoke is eliminating summer holidays we we know them. 

- Kostansa Rangelova and Dave Jones point out that solar power has reached the point of being the most affordable option even when adding in the need for battery storage - even with the cost of both still having plenty of room to fall. Rose Dixon write that renewable energy has reached the point of being given away in Spain and Germany. And Umair Irfan notes that there are cheap and effective options available to eliminate the vast majority of methane emissions - even as the fossil fuel sector fights against any effort to clean up its act. 

- Finally, Don Moynihan examines how Australia's experience with flawed algorithmic debt assessment and recovery shows the dangers of making access to the necessities of life reliant on automation and AI.