SpankyMcFarland

That is very encouraging. They still have 170 million people to take care of in a disappearing river delta one-tenth the size of Quebec. Elsewhere, e.g. sub-Saharan Africa, the reproductive news is not so good.

I was not clear enough. These jobs are a start for Bangladesh. They are a big improvement on what people had. The biggest problem in the developing world - too many people. Female emancipation is key to getting families smaller.

There are more Iranians in the US, and far more Iranian students are likely to be affected by the new measures than those from Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen put together. Last year, there were 12,269 Iranian students studying in the US, according to data by the Institute of International Education, compared to 5,085 from the six other countries. Iranians are struggling to understand why they are being targeted in this way.... ...Iranians expatriates in the US have indeed been immensely successful. In fact, Iran’s brain drain problem is due to the many talented students who emigrate to the US. Omid Kordestani, the executive chairman of Twitter, the very platform Trump uses to broadcast his views on a daily basis, is Iranian. The founder of eBay, Pierre Omidyar, is Iranian. Maryam Mirzakhani, who won the Fields Medal, the highest accolade in mathematics, in 2014, is another example. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/03/trumps-belligerence-towards-iran-plays-into-the-hands-of-tehrans-hardliners

Both Harper and Chrétien would be surprised to hear they had control of Terry Milewski. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/terry-milewski-an-equal-opportunity-offender/article585398/ http://oldfraser.lexi.net/publications/forum/1999/01/milewski.html https://bcblue.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/video-cbcs-milewski-turns-screw-on-iggy-about-interview-with-sikh-extremist/

They are the best thing. I like taking them even in cities I am familiar with because I always learn something. Other neat things about Istanbul: the plane trees of Sultanahmet - very impressive to an outbacker facing withered black spruce most of the time; boat trips; Turkish Delight; driving back and forth between Europe and Asia; how they shave your neck when they give you a haircut. I looked half-human afterwards and have been doing it when I shave ever since.

Iran has the potential to change. It could recover from the current bout of religious hysteria (although what is happening to democracy in the West right now would have to lengthen the odds) and free the mullahs to contemplate matters spiritual on a full time basis. In the meantime, a chap next door in Iraq, Ayatollah Sistani, offers a less oppressive model of spiritual guidance.

Britain has a big state broadcaster more on the Canadian model. The BBC is still streets ahead of the CBC, certainly in reporting its own news from around the world.

Not AS attractive but you might get some good deals. Still way safer for tourists than some places I have visited recently e.g. South Africa.

If you'd stopped half way through that sentence, I could have agreed with you.

There was contact. He should have been more careful. You really want to talk about assaulting women?

Military purchases are political poison in Canada. The pols should try and put all this stuff at arms length from themselves.

If he is alienating everyone, we need to worry less. BTW Trump is the one who needs to learn some basic manners, not JT.

Nice piece by our own David Frum, not exactly a liberal:

As for the numbers affected by this EO, thousands were delayed and I would like to see more on the small number allegedly detained and where that fact comes from exactly.

FPTP does not reflect the popular vote very well. That is a big flaw.

As in he could not care less?

What about Malcolm Turnbull? Should he apologize to Trump for annoying him? Perhaps Pena Nieto should have grovelled more today?

That's not how it works in the real world.

I'm a little surprised by the indignation here. I didn't know there were so many critics of FPTP in our ranks. So it looks we are stuck with FPTP and its wonders: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_federal_election,_1993

Nobody is afraid of Mulcair, so no.

It's not the policy - it's the idea we have to avoid voicing any dissent ABOUT the policy that's the bullying aspect here, that we have to so terrified of displeasing our American masters our leaders can't say what they think any more.

Less obviously in Canada although Harper did go a bit over the edge in his last few picks. The Garland situation was ridiculous down there.

You are taking the bully's side here. Stating one's view is not 'arguing'.The government of our country should feel free to express its own policy without fear of offending some unstable foreign potentate.

Judicial appointments should not be influenced by party political considerations. That is not a wise way to run a judiciary. Here are some old comments on SC appointments by the new chap: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/01/31/trump_supreme_court_pick_gorsuch_lamented_treatment_of_merrick_garland.html

I'm not exactly a spokeperson for the Clinton Foundation but I think we ain't seen nothin' yet on the Trump conflict of interest/corruption front; it's gonna be YUGE.