[BLOG] Five Marginal Revolution links

• Marginal Revolution considers if the CFA franc system is dying out, here.
• Marginal Revolution shares a link to a paper quantifying the effects of the old boys club, here.
• Marginal Revolution contrasts and compares the old NAFTA and the new USMCA, here.
• Marginal Revolution notes how Germany has access to nuclear weapons, here.
• Marginal Revolution looks at the high rate of consainguineous marriage in Saudi Arabia, here.

[NEWS] Five Canadian politics links: Harry Leslie Smith, Simard, Jolibois, Bernier, NAFTA

• Rabble noted late last week the death, at 95, of anti-poverty activist Harry Leslie Smith.
• Amanda Simard, the only Franco-Ontarian MPP in the Ford government and representing a Francophone-majority riding, left the Ford government over the issue of its cuts to Francophone services. The Globe and Mail reported.
• MacLean’s looks at Georgina Jolibois, a MPP who represents a vast riding occupying most of northern Saskatchewan, and sees how she accomplishes this.
• The National Post considers if Maxime Bernier has any chance of making his People’s Party of Canada a viable political movement.
• The Canadian reaction to Trump’s decision to force Congress to choose between accepting the new NAFTA deal or else risk a collapse of the entire project as the old treaty expires is muted. CBC reports.

[NEWS] Five links on Canada and North American integration in the era of Trump

• This John Ivison article noting Canada and Mexico need to be united on trade issues versus Trump’s United States still makes sense, and can be read at the National Post.
• MacLean’s last month took a look at what Mexico’s new president, AMLO, meant for bilateral Canadian-Mexican relations and wider North America.
• Freezing out Canada from NAFTA negotiations is apparently a Trump tactic presented in The Art of the Deal. Business Insider reports.
• The proposed terms of the NAFTA renegotiations, which involve higher wages for workers, may have a minimal effect on Canada. Global News reports.
• Is it possible, as suggested at Quartz, that the renegotiated NAFTA might play to the benefit of Canada?

[NEWS] Seven links on borders: Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New York, Europe, NAFTA, Colombia

• Relations between Alberta and British Columbia, regarding the latter province’s disinterest in hosting a pipeline for Albertan oil, are not good at all. The National Post looks at things.
• Things aren’t good between Alberta and Saskatchewan, either. The <INational Post imagines what it would be like if there was not just a trade war, but an actual war.
• Kathleen Wynne warned that, if New York imposed “Buy American” requirements, Ontario would retaliate. The Toronto Star reported.
• Steel from New York is the first trade item to face retaliatory measures in Ontario, The Globe and Mail noted.
• A generation after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Europe still shows the marks left by Communism, Leonid Bershidsky notes at Bloomberg View.
• Will getting rid of the name “NAFTA” really make North American integration less controversial? Global News looks at the idea.
• Colombia is tightening its border controls to try to deal with the influx from Venezuela, Bloomberg notes.

[NEWS] Five Canada politics links: John Tory, Doug Ford, Caroline Mulroney, Brian Mulroney, NAFTA

• David Rider reports on John Tory’s mockery of the Doug Ford bid for the Ontario PC leadership, noting Ford’s launch of his campaign in his mother’s basement, over at the Toronto Star.
• Edward Keenan argues that the Doug Ford bid for the Ontario PC leadership is best seen as a way by him to prepare for the Toronto mayoralty race, mobilizing his supporters even in the event that Ford loses, over at the Toronto Star.
• John Ivison suggests that Caroline Mulroney could easily be the person who could take the Progressive Conservatives to an Ontario election victory, over at the National Post.
• The testimony of Brian Mulroney before a US congressional committee arguing against wrecking NAFTA may–I find myself hoping–be something that saves this pact. The Toronto Star reports.
• Thomas Walkon argues that the negotiators of Canada are giving up far too much are NAFTA negotiations for too little from the United States, over at the Toronto Star.

[NEWS] Four links on poverty and precarity: Brazil, Appalachia, United States, Mexico

• In this searing examination of a newly-impoverished family’s life, Stephanie Nolen looks at how Brazil’s deep income inequality really hasn’t materially changed, over at The Globe and Mail.
• At Quartz, Gwynn Guildford explains the political and economic forces that have kept Appalachia poor and coal-dependent for well over a century.
• Noah Smith suggests at Bloomberg View that greater investment in infrastructure and dense construction, along with assisting people who need to move, could really save much of the United States from decline.
• Bloomberg notes a new Mexican law that would weaken unions might be used by Trump to justify retaliation against NAFTA.

[NEWS] Seven notes about changing climes: winter, men, zoos, childcare minimum wage, Sears, NAFTA

• Global News reports on how Canadian zoos protect their animals from the unexpected cold of our country’s winters.
• Emma Teitel wonders over at the Toronto Star why men underdress in winter. Is it some effort to prove a suitability for mating? (Me, I just tend to be warm, honestly.)
• Laurie Monsebraaten notes over at the Star that affordable childcare has become still more impossible in Toronto with the minimum wage increase. (The previous sentence reflects two structural issues with the Ontario economy.)
• CBC notes lessons Ontario can take, on minimum-wage increases, from Alberta and Seattle.
• Ian Hussey of the National Observer takes issue with five major claims against minimum wage increases.
• This account, of shoppers saying goodbye to a closing Toronto Sears store, is sad. The Toronto Star has it.
• Chantal Hébert notes at the Star tha Andrew Scheer and the Conservative Party are best served by a, well, conservative policy, of waiting to see what happens with NAFTA.

[NEWS] Four Canadian politics links: Kathleen Wynne, Ontario minimum wage, NAFTA, Canada at the WTO

• Bob Hepburn at the Toronto Star wonders if the unpopularity of Kathleen Wynne, Ontario premier, has anything to do with her being a woman. It does follow a Canadian pattern, sadly.
• Bob Pittis notes at CBC that the Ontario minimum wage increase constitutes a fantastic economic experiment, potentially transformative for the entire country.
• Would the withdrawal threatened by Trump from NAFTA constitute a bargaining tactic? Global News suggests this is a real possibility.
• Canada is bringing a wide-ranging challenge to US trade policies before the WTO, taking issue with more than two hundred examples of violations. This could be big. Jesse Snyder reports for the Financial Post.

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• Architetuul considers the architectural potential offered by temporary constructions.
• Centauri Dreams examines how the latest artificial intelligence routines were used to pick up the faint signal of Kepler-90i.
• JSTOR Daily examines the sign language used by the deaf servants popular at the Ottoman imperial court.
• Gizmodo notes that preliminary studies of ‘Oumuamua suggest that body is not a technological artifact.
• Hornet Stories notes the bizarre friendship of Floyd Mayweather with Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the negative effects of NAFTA and globalization on the food eaten by Mexicans.
• Geoffrey Pullum at Lingua Franca notes the fine line between dialectal differences and language errors.
• The LRB Blog takes a quick look at corruption in the Russian bid for the World Cup in 2018.
• The NYR Daily looks at Russian influence behind the Brexit referendum, noting the long-term need of the American and British democracies to adapt.
• Jake Shears talks with Towleroad about the role that the city of New Orleans has been playing in his life and his creative work.

[NEWS] Three links on Canada, Trump, trade, and politics

• Canada is redoubling its lobbying efforts in the United States, to try to gain some security versus Trump. Global News reports.
• Kevin Carmichael looks at how the Trump Administration is triggering Canada’s own internal divisions, on things as various as milk and lumber and Bombardier, perhaps to the United States’ own benefit. MacLean’s has it.
• John Geddes looks at the subtle differences in the videos of Conservative Andrew Scheer and Liberal Justin Trudeau, Scheer’s video being in the suburbs and Trudeau’s being among the crowds. MacLean’s carries the article.