News bits: Immigration into Canada; Marketing on the people; CN's authoritarian culture war

A NYT article reports on an effort by Canada (2021 pop. 38.3 million) to increase the size of its workforce by increasing immigration:

For the first time in its history, Canada grew by over one million people last year and most of them were newcomers, signaling that the federal government’s ambitious goal of boosting immigration to fill labor shortages is within reach.

Canada’s population growth rate of 2.7 percent in 2022 put it among the world’s 20 fastest-growing nations, ....

The growth comes as the federal government makes a push to address its labor shortage and manage a wave of retiring baby boomers by raising its 2025 immigration targets almost 25 percent.

a United States official familiar with the issue said that the two countries had reached an agreement that would allow Canada to turn back asylum-seekers walking into the country from the south. In exchange, Canada has agreed to provide a new, legal refugee program for 15,000 migrants fleeing violence, persecution and economic devastation in South and Central America, the official said.

Canada enjoys widespread support for immigration and public “attitudes are extremely positive,” said Victoria Esses, the director of the Centre for Research on Migration and Ethnic Relations at Western University in London, Ontario.  

But as Canadians contend with house prices and monthly rents that strain even affluent budgets, some are questioning how much the government’s rosy outlook on immigration is taking into account the other supports those newcomers will need, particularly for housing.

One can hope that this does not lead to the rise of a Canadian radical right movement like immigration has in other countries. 

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Marketers, like some politicians, are chronic liars. The car industry is pushing paid subscriptions for whatever can be turned into a subscription. Most consumers are not buying it. The car industry is telling us consumer demand is driving the whole thing. ArsTechnica writes:

The last decade or so has seen the creeping techification of the auto industry. Executives will tell you the trend is being driven by consumers, starry-eyed at their smartphones and tablets, although the 2018 backup camera law is the main reason there's a display in every new car.

But automakers have been trying to adopt more than just shiny gadgets and iterating software releases. They also want some of that lucrative "recurring revenue" that so pleases tech investors but makes the rest of us feel nickeled and dimed. Now we have some concrete data on just how much car buyers are asking for this stuff, courtesy of a new survey from AutoPacific. The answer is "very little."

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Christian nationalism (CN) is a powerful, aggressive political movement that aims to gather power and wealth for elites, while imposing cruel theocratic Christian Sharia law on everyone except chosen elites. At present, brass knuckles capitalism (BNC) and CN dogmas dominate the radicalized GOP. After the takeover of the Supreme Court by radical Republican CN judges under Trump and the radical CN Republican Party, the Christian theocracy floodgates opened fast and wide. We all know what happened to abortion. It still is happening. 

There is an expanding scope of increasingly virulent CN attacks on transgendered people. For whatever reason, transgendered people enrage and terrify the CN ranks and file. CN elites feed that fear and hate by passing laws to make transgendered sex identity go away, or at least get out of sight and mind. Vice reports:

Trans Children Were the Beginning. The GOP Is Coming for Adults Now

The politicians who’ve repeatedly introduced anti-trans bills under the guise of “protecting children” are routinely going after adults now

A newly-proposed healthcare ban in Florida could effectively ban gender-affirming care for people of all ages, in yet another indication that GOP lawmakers are not only targeting trans youth, but trans adults too.

Florida HB1421 would prohibit insurance providers, including private insurers, from covering gender-affirming care, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket. “A health insurance policy may not provide coverage for gender clinical interventions,” the bill states. Florida previously introduced a bill that will force businesses that pay for gender-affirming care to also pay for detransitions, in a bid to further restrict access to life-saving healthcare for transgender people by disincentivizing employers from covering care in the first place.

So here is a case where radical right BNC hate of government interference dogma appears to be at odds with CN dogma which imposes government interference with the powerful insurance industry. The tension probably will not flare up into anything because a lot or probably most BNC elites are also CN elites. There is a lot of cooperation and overlap between those two anti-democratic, authoritarian powers. That, along with a couple of things like vast wealth and vicious, shameless demagoguery, is a significant part of what make the unholy authoritarian BNC-CN alliance so powerful and terrifying.

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Another trait of the CN-BNC power and wealth movement is its hate of transparency. That too is starting to be reflected in states controlled by the radical right Republican Party. The NYT writes: 

Florida Bill Would Shield DeSantis’s Travel Records

The bill, which was advanced by state senators in both parties, includes a sweeping retroactive clause that would block the release of many records of trips already taken by Mr. DeSantis and other officials, as well as their families and staff members.

Florida has long had expansive public information laws, known as sunshine laws, codified in the State Constitution. They allow the public to gain access to a variety of government records, including criminal files, tax documents and travel logs. These laws have exposed abuses of state resources by Florida officials: In 2003, for example, Jim King, the president of the State Senate, was found to have used a state plane to fly home on the weekends.[1]

So, not only is the authoritarian CN-BNC wealth and power movement anti-democracy and anti-inconvenient truth, it is also pro-corruption. Corruption shielded by unwarranted secrecy is a key marker of authoritarianism. It is always or nearly always a significant part of the tyrant-theocrat package. The rule of thumb is: Where corruption is high, tyranny is high and democracy is low.

Footnote: 

1. In a sign of Democratic Party stupidity, Democrats voted for the secrecy bill in committee. One Democratic legislator was asked why they voted the bill out of committee, they said they thought the bill was only about security for government officials. On reflection one changed their mind and claimed they now oppose the bill.

Honestly, one has got to wonder what is wrong with a lot of Democratic politicians. They still don’t get it. Are they really that stupid or are they complicit and in silent support of getting rid of democracy, the rule of law, civil liberties, secularism, pluralism, the Democratic Party, inconvenient truth, transgendered people, etc.?