SpankyMcFarland

The thing is that the German Chancellor does not appoint the President. In our Canadian system, the GG, our head of state’s representative, is less independent of the head of government. This isn’t a huge deal but it doesn’t look good when the GG is considering a request by the PM to abruptly prorogue Parliament, a bit like bringing your own referee to a game.

He’s a well-educated, talented sociopath who has spent a lifetime spotting vulnerabilities in the business system where he could weasel his way through an endless litany of fraud, tax evasion and bankruptcies without getting thrown in jail. The presidency is the ultimate prize and has myriad opportunities for a man without honour to break conventions nobody thought needed to be protected by laws and make a bundle.

Further evidence that the people running Iran are idiots who can’t see the right fights to pick: The whole country was proud of the first ever female winner of the Fields Medal in mathematics:

I've no idea what the wider significance of this is, if any. His was one of many executions carried out for demonstrating against the regime. The other victims were less newsworthy. As often happens, a ridiculous confession was televised after torture; the message to the Iranian public seems to be, we know you think this is false but we decide what is real in this country. I suspect the mullahs are safe for now. Like China, Iran has been ruled by authoritarians for thousands of years with very few interruptions. One hope is that the next Supreme Leader will confine himself largely to matters s

I’d have no objection to Trump commenting after the execution. Commenting before was a cynical exercise that did nothing to help the guy. BTW this was news before Trump stuck his nose in.

Trump did NOT bring to this case to ‘the world’s attention’. He was merely looking for more attention for himself as usual. As any half-sensible person can see, his involvement could not have been helpful and wasn’t intended to be either.

Typo there: Afkari.

I’m not absolving the Iranian regime but Trump should have known that any contribution from him would be counter-productive. The two countries are at war. Imagine if Iran killed Pence and the mullahs later demanded the reprieve of somebody on death row. He did this purely for electoral and egotistical reasons.

Iran has just executed champion wrestler Navid Askari: Now I can understand Dana White making a public plea for clemency but what on earth did Trump think he was doing getting involved here? There is no way he helped the man’s cause by supporting it.

Hey, slick new format! I like O’Toole’s story, e.g. military service, ordinary background, calm temperament, and appointing the two stars who didn’t run, Rempel and Polievre, to key portfolios makes sense too. I do not like the video above. Conservatives should not be railing about ‘elites’ (although, thankfully, Erin isn’t a great railer) and getting NAFTA signed again was a great relief to any sensible person in the country. Even without China, manufacturing jobs were going to be lost to automation and the oil sector’s problems are not confined to Canada. Yes, there are serious challeng

What should the decade be called? It seems odd to leave it with a number when all the rest have a name.

Why would anyone expect wisdom from Navarro? His comments on the Canadian mission in Afghanistan are, as usual, outlandish.

Basically, it’s watching traffic. Sports other people enjoy often look silly.

Apart from NZ, they have their own monarchs. By contrast, we have a foreigner who gave up visiting us some time ago. It's time we grew up and at least made the GG a more serious position à la the presidencies of Israel or Germany.