SpankyMcFarland

I don't like her, mainly because of her manner. Take a look at the some of the old Power and Politcs episodes and see if that changes your mind. The evidence on the McCallum episode is very clear for all to see, though. Rempel behaved like a petulant child, even trying to drag the Speaker into a moment of harmless fun. I'm sure her rivals are quietly pleased. She's smart, pretty and young. The whole episode is extremely minor, not even a one-day story, but I would like to see Rempel laugh at herself a little more. Most successful politicians have that capacity.

Apparently, KPMG has now obtained a gag order preventing the Commons finance committee discussing the Isle of Man caper because it is before the courts: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/kpmg-isle-of-man-commons-testimony-1.3622824 This would appear to give the company an incentive to drag the case out a little more.

Anybody at that level has talent and she has lots of it, clearly, but she needs to lose those sharp edges. Right now, for me, she comes across as arrogant. BTW that comparison is a little dubious. McCallum answered the substantive question AND responded to her lame joke with a better one. By contrast, Calandra embarrassed himself and Parliament with a reply that was completely irrelevant. No MP should be allowed to get away with that.

That Iran has an enduring relationship with India, and India, Iran and Turkey see themselves as major regional powers in West Asia. Iran remains key.

Yes, I would actually. If you listen to his additional reply to her question you'll see he clearly distinguished between his responses to her question and to her remark about photo-ops. Smirky Rempel started the smart-alecky stuff there as she often does. On Power and Politics, we have had to endure ten years of snide remarks from Rempelsmirksin. One of her fave starters is 'I'm curious' when she is not curious at all but is preparing to be sarcastic. A little more of the self-effacing humour of Mr. McCallum would do her image no harm at all. She's much cockier than Ambrose, Raitt or Leitch.

I don't think this aspect of India's foreign policy got much airing by Mr. Modi in Congress today: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Beijing-rattled-says-Indias-Chabahar-hopes-wont-live-up-to-high-sounding-rhetoric/articleshow/52634499.cms

The direction should be a little sunnier. Attending the Press Gallery dinner on a regular basis might be a good start. Rona Ambrose did well there the other night: http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/parliamentary-press-gallery-dinner-2016-1.3617005 By contrast, Michelle Rempel made a fool of herself by getting so angry with John McCallum's harmless joke about his own appearance: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wherry-mccallum-rempel-joke-1.3620841

Like our FPTP system, the US presidential set-up is best in a two party race. I suspect we will see more complex races in future and maybe the third party candidate will get a decent vote this time as well. In a situation where nobody gets more than 50% of the popular vote, a run-off between the two top candidates would be preferable.

The Vickers event appears to have produced only mild excitement in Ireland and the protester himself was pleased with the publicity. Here's a humorous piece on the front of Ireland's largest Sunday newspaper today that praises Vickers' action: http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/brendan-oconnor/shock-as-two-people-do-something-34754808.html

Canada has many connections with the Easter Rising. Here's an interesting one. This soldier was convicted of murder, was sent to an asylum and managed to emigrate shortly thereafter to BC. His eventual obituary in the Vancouver Sun was a little economical on these details:http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/irish-easter-rising-killer-took-refuge-from-ira-vengeance-in-british-columbia

On sites like this in Ireland, e.g. Politics.ie, posters are, on average, more unhappy than happy about the intervention. Whether they are in any way representative is another question.The protester was an invited guest as it turned out who clearly misbehaved himself and the Irish security forces should probably have grabbed him first. The Irish government wants no trouble given the fact that its police force is already under intense scrutiny over various scandals. I still suspect Vickers will be recalled within the year.

This is not the ambassador's role. Both countries want to minimize the incident but I suspect a recall will be on the cards once the fuss has died down.

I don't think anyone would accuse Charles Murray of being a liberal. Here is his assessment of Trump: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/435805/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-why-hillary-is-even-worse-doesnt-cut-it

PC is not confined to the left any more. Right wingers also use it as needed.

This is me on my iPad. Typos are inevitable. Back to content. Quite a few observers think that things ARE different this time. I posted two representative links earlier in the thread explaining why but this stuff is easy to find. AI may represent a watershed in human history. Let's hope the doomsters are wrong.

I think Portland has done the same. It cuts the police workload considerably. The other thing is more psychiatric beds. We have cut them back too far.

Long before PC there were such things as good manners, courtesy and respect. Make sure you keep them.

Firstly, do we agree that there is a maximum number of migrants that can reasonably be accommodated by Europe? If so, it's a matter of figuring that number out. Erdogan is a dreadful person. He is trying to extort concessions from Europe.

The Sleep Revolution by Arianna Huffungton. The tone is a little shrill but it highlights our pressing need for more sleep.

What about insect-sized drones or smaller?

The health metrics are in Norway's favour but that's not a fair comparison. They have run their nation's finances better than we have.What countries do you think are better run? This is all a tad off-topic.

Canada is well run, one of the best. That does not mean its voting system cannot be improved or is already perfect. I would say Norway has been better run for starters.

You assume there will be other jobs for these people. That has been true so far since the Industrial Revolution but looks like a much dodgier bet in the future. Freeing people to do other things sounds nice as long as the guys with the gold are willing to share it.

It's reasonable to be cautious. I will give you that. Every system does have flaws. From the FPTP defenders, I just don't see enough thought devoted to remedying those flaws.

Most good news stories in cancer come from new treatments. Recently, however, pathologists have decided that one cancer isn't as bad as they thought. The tumor in question is one type of follicular variant papillary carcinoma of thyroid (EFVPTC). In the authors' opinion, it should no longer be called carcinoma. The authors suggest another long-winded term to replace the old one - NIFTP or non-invasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features. Over the past thirty years, this tumour type has seen a massive increase in incidence because of more radiology imaging of the gland and subsequent biopsies, but overall mortality has not increased. Many people live for decades unaware they have such a tumor in their thyroid and die of other causes. http://oncology.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2513250 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/15/health/thyroid-tumor-cancer-reclassification.html?_r=0 The usual caveats apply. The findings will have to be confirmed and it will be a while before any official change happens. Some thyroid tumors are highly malignant. One message from all this is that the term 'cancer' can be quite misleading because it covers such a diverse group of disorders. I would like to see 'neoplastic disease' replacing it which is I think more accurate. One could then divide the condition into the following categories: mild, moderate or severe; and localized or generalized. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/health/cancer-by-any-other-name-would-not-be-as-terrifying.html?version=meter+at+2&contentId=&mediaId=&referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mapleleafweb.com%2Fforums%2Ftopic%2F25797-a-cancer-gets-a-downgrade%2F%3Fp%3D1161703&priority=true&action=click&contentCollection=Health&module=RelatedCoverage&region=EndOfArticle&pgtype=article I see that at the University of Pittsburgh they are going to go back through the files and inform everyone who has one of these lesions that they do not have cancer and no longer require follow-up. That will be quite the job if done across the world.