Senator Tuberville is blocking all reassignments of generals in the US military, as a blackmail campaign demanding that the military stop helping servicewomen travel to get an abortion.

This is the Republican Way: take hostages, whatever you can grab, and threaten them in order to impose (1) your prejudices and (2) your power on the whole US.

The new speaker of the House is following the same approach, but he has a bigger hostage — the operation of most of the US government — and is making a bigger demand — to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Both are following the general principles of the Republican Party. That party has tried to rig elections for decades; the insurrectionist has led it to try to steal elections after the fact as well.

*It’s easy to be dazzled by the super-rich, but don’t believe that they’ll do the right thing.*

I would suggest that on certain issues — for instance, climate defense, and reducing the inequality of wealth — they are almost certain to do evil, when it comes to their businesses.

*Greens threaten Brisbane landlords with huge [tax] rises if they increase rents .*

*EU poised to water down new car pollution rules after industry lobbying.*

Trudeau is talking about chickening out on the proposed tax on heating oil, which is meant to lead Canada away from using fossil fuel for heating.

People need help in paying for heating their homes, but canceling tax incentives to avoid destroying civilization is the wrong way to do it. A better way is to give people a subsidy to help them pay the cot of heating.

The crucial point is that people should be allowed to use the subsidy for anything. So if they make heating cheaper, they can use some of that money for other things.

That subsidy system will help poor people afford heating, but still give them (and everyone else) an incentive to invest in doing the job more efficiently.