Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Gil Duran examines the false claim of an "emergency" underlying Donald Trump's tariff manipulations - along with the dangers of allowing a dictator to manufacture false excuses for drastic measures. And Bill McKibben notes that plenty more of Trump's destructive executive orders are similarly based on contrived or false claims of emergency circumstances. 

- Miles Klee, Andrew Perez, Asawin Suebsaeng and Meagan Jordan discuss Elon Musk's gleeful destruction of every part of the U.S. government that falls under the notice of the DOGE team. And Josh Marshall discusses the effects of substantially shuttering the Department of Justice's tax division as being a massive handout to wealthy tax cheats, while Tom Scocca and Joe MacLeod note that people who have complied with their tax obligations are being punished by having their information used against them for other purposes. 

- Paul Darren Bieniasz warns about the Trump regime's destruction of science in the U.S., while Daniel Altmann and Angela Rasmussen discuss how to respond to threats against public health. Mary Van Beusekom highlights how a substantial proportion of the U.S.' population is suffering from long COVID even as Trump guts public health capacity. And Paul Krugman points out the parallel rise of the quack-industrial complex providing self-serving and wrong answers to exceedingly important questions. 

- Mitchell Beer discusses how the world at large can move on from being tethered to an unreliable U.S. Mitch Anderson talks to Seth Klein about Canada's path to a war footing to respond to the U.S. threat and the climate crisis together. And Christo Aivalis points out that neither the Libs nor the Cons are defending Canadian workers in their plans to limit how Trump's threat affects the corporate class. 

- Finally, Maddi Dellplain examines the structure of Canadian health care, and the policies on offer from the federal parties to address it. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Osita Nwanevu writes that Donald Trump has fundamentally changed the story of the U.S. from one of (however unfulfilled) promise to one of chaotic evil. Adam Clark writes about the "sell America" movement coursing through every market and economic structure that has relied on some measure of stability, while Paul Krugman points out the direct costs that will impose on the U.S. And Julia Carrie Wong weighs in on the war against empathy being waged by the worst people in the world. 

- Jonathan Cohn examines the wide range of products which stand to become unaffordable for Americans due to Trump's tariffs on China in particular. 

- Fonie Mitsopoulou reports that Trump's demands abroad include ensuring that major carbon polluters (in the shipping industry and elsewhere) are never required to pay for their damage to our planet. Deborah Brum discusses the U.S.' ugly history of tainted food which Trump is looking to restart by eliminating any effective regulation. And Kat Lay warns that the evisceration of public health programs in the developing world projects to result in a surge of diseases which had largely been contained. 

- Finally, John Woodside discusses new polling showing that Canadians are looking for a vision to disentangle us from the U.S. and chart a path for the future. Ayaka Naganuma examines some of the options available to ensure a just transition to a clean energy economy. And David Moscrop theorizes that the combination of competitiveness, policy implications and general interest could lead to a higher turnout than we've seen in decades. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

 Cuddled cat. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Paul Krugman discusses how the U.S.' oligarchy was entirely willing to back Donald Trump as long as he was merely devastating other people's rights and well-being, while Nicholas Grossman comments on the profound denial of an executive class which ignored 40 years of Trump's ravings about tariffs. Nick Cohen notes that Trump is providing a rare but frightening example as to how a dictator's whims can be given priority over capital owners' desire to accumulate more. And Judd Legum, Rebecca Crosby and Noel Sims report that U.S. corporations are cowering rather than acknowledging the obvious reality that they're worse off under Trump. 

- Meanwhile, Michael Barnard reports on China's response to the latest set of tariffs which includes restricting supplies of critical minerals. 

- Jennifer Robson discusses what Canada needs to do to insure ourselves against the vagaries of Trump's regime. And Charlie Angus highlights how Trump's Canadian subsidiaries are looking to undermine one of the key goals by declaring their disloyalty to Canada to try to bully the rest of the country into handing power to Pierre Poilievre.

- Justin Ling reports on Poilievre's plans to mimic Trump's indiscriminate slashing of foreign aid - even as the WHO warns that the effects of aid cuts could kill thousands of women annually based on complications in pregnancy and childbirth alone. 

- Finally, Adam King reports on the Canadian labour movement's priorities in the ongoing federal election. And Joan Baxter talks to Julia Levin and others about the glaring lack of climate policy being discussed even as a rethinking of trade relationships offers an obvious opportunity to focus on a clean and just transition. 

On distinction

I've noted before that we shouldn't be too quick to assume that general electoral trends will overcome the strength of NDP incumbents in particular. But it certainly doesn't bode well that the party's plan seemed to have been based on the hope that the main issue on voters' minds could be entirely ignored:

When Singh’s campaign arrived in Hamilton — a city which prides itself on being known as Canada’s Steeltown — the NDP leader faced questions about whether he “missed the moment” by not making tariff-specific policy proposals or visiting a factory floor.

Party staff told journalists they expected media coverage to focus on Singh’s economic policies and did not think tariffs would dominate so much of the discussion.

In effect, the NDP's plan for a long-anticipated election seems to have mirrored the strategy from the much-lamented 1988 campaign in looking to wave away the primary issue on the public's mind - with the added problem that this time, the party couldn't plausibly have thought it had an advantage in leadership favourability to justify that choice of focus. 

Now, it might be fair to say that there's room to push the focus beyond tariffs alone. And I'd argue that the NDP's best chance to differentiate itself from the Libs remains the ability to call attention to the fact that the Trump regime poses additional threats beyond its impact on bankers' profits. 

Since Mark Carney was elected the Libs' leader, U.S. states have been taking steps to declare existence as a trans person to be illegal.

The Trump regime has gone out of its way to disappear people for exercising free speech. And we've learned that Canada has been involved in at least one instance of immigration detention, as the application of Canadian immigration policy as usual led to Rebecca Burke's being seized.

And the Trump regime's attacks on education and science have continued apace, with weather and climate science ranking among the areas where the U.S.' denialism will have international implications.

The Libs have done little to address those and other developments that bear more on human rights and public interests as opposed to corporate profits. And there's still some time to highlight the fact that we're far outside the realm of what's normal in those areas too - and need strong NDP representation to protect interests going beyond trade. 

Unfortunately, it sounds like the NDP has wasted far too much time sticking to a predetermined domestic platform, rather than what's right in principle or likely to resonate in a Trump-dominated news environment. And the result may be significant losses both in terms of seats, and in terms of Canada's overall response to Trump.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Greg Sargent writes about Barack Obama's message that Donald Trump's contempt for democracy and damage to people's livelihoods are fundamentally intertwined. Deborah Frances-White discusses how the Trump regime is allowing religious fanatics to put the U.S. on the path toward becoming Gilead - and creating a serious risk that other countries will follow. And Nora Loreto writes about the need for mass labour organization to stop the likes of Trump.

- Tara Zahra writes about the need for the U.S. to start preparing for the collapse of globalization - though it's worth noting that plenty of other countries are working on developing new forms of cooperation rather than retreating into isolationism. David Dayen notes that Trump's tariffs are better treated as sanctions connected to a protection racket. And Justin Wolfers points out how increases in arbitrary tariff levels cause exponential deadweight economic losses. 

- Meanwhile, Errol Schweitzer and Batul Hassan discuss new polling showing supermajority support for municipal grocery stores in New York to ensure people have access to affordable and healthy food.

-Finally, Linda McQuaig examines the frightening - and fully Trumpian - plans of Pierre Poilievre if he manages to take power. And Christopher Holcroft discusses how Poilievre has welcomed extremist and conspiracist views while making little apparent effort to present anybody with meaningful qualifications.

Musical interlude

Stoto - You're Not There

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- The Guardian weighs in the folly of the U.S.' self-removal from the global trade system, while Paul Krugman writes that there's no method to Donald Trump's madness. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian warn that the effects of arbitrary action and perpetual uncertainty will be even worse in the long run than the short term, while Brian Barrett sees the tariff debacle as indicative of the Trump regime's general decision-making. And Jonathan Last writes the obituary for the American age of hegemony. 

- Iglika Ivanova discusses the need for Canadian leaders to offer vision in response to the U.S.' trade war, while Danyaal Raza implores us not to leave anyone behind in terms of health and income. Bruce Arthur discusses the opportunity to respond to the Trump regime's stupidity with smart planning. Armine Yalnizyan writes that we likely won't be able to avoid a short-term recession as our largest trading partner implodes, while noting that we should pay close attention to how our political parties plan to deal with it. And David Macdonald laments that all of the major federal parties are still focusing far too much on tax cuts and cash transfers which reduce the fiscal capacity available to build for the future. 

- Alex Hemingway offers a reminder that the concentration of wealth and power among a lucky few is driving the inequality which makes life more precarious for everybody else. And Sondos Kataite notes that an oligarchic U.S. regime is ripe for targeted sanctions. 

- Luke LeBrun reports on Con candidate Andrew Lawton's involvement in planning the Flu Trux Klan insurgency, while Stephen Maher notes that Pierre Poilievre's insistence on catering to the occupying convoy is making him radioactive to most voters. And Greg Locke reports on the extreme insularity and message control behind Poilievre's "public" campaign appearances, while noting that it sends an alarming signal as to the Cons' refusal to hear from the public if they take power. 

- Jared Wesley discusses how the Western Canadian petrostate isn't interested in anything but pitiful grievance politics, while Carl Meyer notes that Poilievre's plans include giving fossil fuel tycoons whatever they want with no regard for anybody else. And Lisa Young highlights the dangers involved in Danielle Smith's refusal to accept an election loss. 

- Finally, Nora Loreto offers a needed warning about the corrosive effects of constant "strategic voting" appeals as a tool of constraining our imagination as to what democracy can accomplish. And Jaigris Hodson provides some tips in talking to people who have succumbed to disinformation.