International-Affairs Columnist, The Globe and Mail. Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy. Author of Arrival City, Maximum Canada, etc.
Toronto, Canada
Joined March 2009
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New edition! New cover! New content! New low price!
Out this week. The history you never learned in school; the argument you never thought you’d make
Doug Saunders retweeted
In fact, her point about Lady Macbeth is very accurate and has been part of our understanding of the play for centuries. And that line is one of several that explicitly illustrate it
My hot take de jour: Elected school boards are really a terrible idea, both unnecessary and very bad for education. In much the same way that elected judges are bad for justice.
A voter’s task is to figure out which of the 27 on the ballot are a) normals with minor political ambitions who’d maybe like smaller class sizes etc or b) single-issue freaks who want to ban certain lessons or books or sex ed or snitch on kids to their parents. And memorize an a)
My grandparents tended to use “The Hun” and “The Boche,” but that’s not the current nomenclature, man
In fact, her point about Lady Macbeth is very accurate and has been part of our understanding of the play for centuries. And that line is one of several that explicitly illustrate it
The Poles they surveyed were unable to remember
Doug Saunders retweeted
"Top officials in the State Department made clear that only candidates who voted for President Donald Trump would be eligible for the mid-to-upper level foreign service roles. They also told candidates that their campaign donation history would be examined and any donation to Democrats would be disqualifying."
SCOOP: The State Dept has started asking career diplomats up for promotion if they voted for Trump in 16, 20, 24.
Federal law prohibits politically based hiring for career staff.
State tells @washingtonsun it's screening for "fidelity" and execution of the president's vision👇
It just never stops
President Donald Trump says Google rejected his request to rename the Atlantic Ocean on Google Maps:
• Trump said he “seriously looked at” renaming the Atlantic Ocean and called Google CEO Sundar Pichai to ask whether Google Maps would reflect the name change.
“I said, ‘Sundar, I’m thinking of the Atlantic Ocean. Can you handle it?’” Trump recalled. According to Trump, Pichai responded: “No, no, no — this time I’m not doing it… Oceans are different, sir. They cover really a lot of countries. Please don’t ask us to do that.”
• Trump said he would “probably pass” on trying to rename the Atlantic Ocean after the conversation.
wp.me/pc8uak-1lHZMF
“All servers using any version of PHP released over the last 20 years will be vulnerable”
That’s the infosec equivalent of “only people breathing air will be affected”
theglobeandmail.com/world/ar…
Doug Saunders retweeted
The vote shows the failure of the “Laurentian” hypothesis, popular on the right in the 2000s. It posited an epistemological gap between the big provinces and the ascendant west. We now know “Laurentian” were just universal Canadian values held by huge and growing majorities in AB
It’s been 40 years since my first major riots in Paris. The 1986-7 ones were also ostensibly over education funding, slashed by Chirac’s centre-right cabinet. The riots forced a reversal. Another consequence was the first electoral rise of fascist Le Pen (père). Plus ça change
Doug Saunders retweeted
“they consider dishwashers and washer dryers luxury items in the UK and not in the US” how many of these takes will we have to endure before americans acknowledge even many cheap UK flats often have a washer/dryer while american apartment buildings have communal laundry rooms
So 8% of Albertans voted to become a country, barely above the noise floor. This should be a final lesson to stop pandering to this non-constituency by humouring the premier’s demand for a national energy program, another economically unsupported federal-funded pipeline, etc
Also, if you combine the ~6% of Albertans who said they voted Yes to leverage more from Ottawa with the results of the other 9 questions, it appears a majority expressed a desire for a greater federal role/more federal (or less provincial) powers. One hopes this is taken to heart
Doug Saunders retweeted
BREAKING:
A billionaire wanted a Trump pardon.
His family gave Alina Habba a $50 million deal.
Julio Herrera Velutini's daughter hired Habba -- then a senior adviser to Pam Bondi at the Justice Department -- at $10 million a year for four years plus bonuses.
He got his pardon not long after.
Full Story: nyti.ms/47vemAQ
ALT Alina Habba, a woman with long brown hair wearing a dark pinstriped blazer and a diamond cross necklace, speaks at a microphone. Behind her are a blurred portrait and a red and gold flag.
Doug Saunders retweeted
So 8% of Albertans voted to become a country, barely above the noise floor. This should be a final lesson to stop pandering to this non-constituency by humouring the premier’s demand for a national energy program, another economically unsupported federal-funded pipeline, etc
Correct. As with Trump 2016, a non-movement becomes a media-propelled machine. These ideas didn’t pre-exist in the minds of a quarter of voters; they didn’t harbour “legitimate grievances.” They only became ideas when a few political entrepreneurs won themselves media attention
