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In case you wonder what that is, it's an official accounting term. "An adverse opinion is a professional opinion made by an auditor indicating that a company's financial statements are misrepresented, misstated and do not accurately reflect its financial performance and health." What it essentially means is that the auditor finds the company or organization is cooking the books, and that the financial results presented are not to be relied upon. No AG in Canadian history has ever issued an adverse opinion on a municipality, province or federal government's financial statements. Which demonstrates just what depths of dishonesty and deceit the Liberal government has plumbed. The problem is the Liberals have been screwing around hiding financial obligations, particularly with electricity. They had loans renegotiated so that they could temporarily cut hydro rates in an election year, then threw the tens of billions in added debt onto the books of a government agency (run by political appointees), which is playing financial games to hide it, lying to the AG and refusing to provide information. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-auditor-general-blasts-bogus-hydro-accounting-strategies-in-ontario/

In general, about 30% of people who file a federal income tax form pay no federal income tax at all. I fear that if we reduce the voting age to 16, even more potential voters will pay no tax. IMHO, it is dangerous (in a democracy, majority decides) when many voters pay no tax: 1) such voters have no skin in the game 2) such voters only want increased government services 3) such voters ignore any discussion of reducing taxes

I just read this on one of my favorite websites RightEdition about this possible lawsuit against Stormy and her lawyer. Her lawyer may have screwed things up big time now just for some fame. This constant anti-Trump attacks has gotten way out of hand. These endless attacks and mockings of Trump has to stop. The liberal/democrats/MSM and their constant lies against Trump has gone to far. The more these losers keep playing this silly childish stupid game the more they really do start to look like a bunch of mental idiots. Every month they always come out with something new and stupid to try and make Trump look like they now have something on him or just try to make him look bad again. They always screw up because they are nothing more than a bunch of losers. One can only hope that the democrats go nowhere in the midterm elections. If Trump thinks he has it bad now I wonder how bad it will get for him if the Republicans do not do so great in the election.

The current Israeli-Arab conflict started with the creation of modern Israel. Without an Israel, there is no Israel-Arab conflict. That might be better described as a Jewish-Arab conflict. How it was started was Jews said 'This is Israel'. Some did not like that notion, and started the war. You are welcome.

When you start spewing about "globalist Zionist bankers", that's a pretty good sign of where your heart's at

Hardly anyone understands the nuances of governing, regardless of age. Hardly anyone thinks about unintended consequences, regardless of age. People are idiots and vote idiotically. I can't think of any evidence that would suggest to me that teens would vote any more or less idiotically than anyone else.

Your question states that the two halves of the empire found themselves in similar positions, and yet one fell while the other persevered, and tries to find a reason why. The point I was trying to make was that there isn't always a good clear-cut reason, "time and chance happeneth to them all" as the quote says (I remembered it randomly when I was reading your post and then you mentioned Christianity). Why was the British revolution peaceful while the French was bloody? Why did America rebel while Canada remained content? Why did the tech industry develop in Silicon Valley rather than anywhere else? The course of history can be changed by a single decision, by the courage or cowardliness of a single front line soldier, by the sour mood on a certain day of a certain politician, by someone getting sick and missing an important meeting, etc. It's not a very satisfying answer, but it is a fallacy to assume that every historical event can be understood as the direct and reasonable result of measurable factors like population, economic performance, quality/quantity of military armaments, etc. Dozens (or perhaps hundreds) of books have been written on the fall of the Western Roman Empire analyzing the various factors and causes. It is, after all, one of the most pivotal events in the history of human civilization, probably along with the Bronze Age collapse, the Mongol Invasions, the discovery of the New World, and WWII. The more of them you read, the more you will understand that there is no agreement on a single factor or group of factors.

Canada to Russia: "We will trade you 10 Russian diplomats for 5 ISIS terrorists."

Totally against the idea. One could say that if you pay taxes and are old enough to die for your country then you should be able to vote. That argument applied to 18 years of age. Doesn`t apply to 16 year olds.

Voting requires a level of life experience and maturity that teenagers have not had the opportunity to acquire. I'm not certain people under 25 have either. Once you grant the vote, it is very difficult to go back if it is a mistake.