Stefan Jonasson

Let the criminal indictments and civil suits begin!Let the criminal indictments and civil suits begin!

The results of the Global Democracy Index for 2020 from The Economist. While it's reasonable to quarrel with some aspects of the methodology and assumptions of the sponsor, and while it's important to avoid reifying the numbers and taking them as certain measures, the index does offer a fair assessment of the relative state of democracy by country, admittedly from a liberal democratic perspective. "The Democracy Index is an index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (E...IU), the research division of the Economist Group, a UK-based private company which publishes the weekly newspaper The Economist," according to Wikipedia. "The index is based on 60 indicators grouped in five different categories, measuring pluralism, civil liberties and political culture. In addition to a numeric score and a ranking, the index categorises each country into one of four regime types: full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes and authoritarian regimes. "As described in the report,[5] the democracy index is a weighted average based on the answers of 60 questions, each one with either two or three permitted answers. Most answers are experts' assessments. Some answers are provided by public-opinion surveys from the respective countries." Here are the Top 25 countries, with the first 23 considered "Full Democracies" and the last two considered "Flawed Democracies" (albeit "top tier" ones) as defined by the GDI. 1. Norway (9.81) 2. Iceland (9.37) 3. Sweden (9.26) 4. New Zealand (9.25) 5. Canada (9.24) 6. Finland (9.20) 7. Denmark (9.15) 8. Ireland (9.05) 9. Australia (8.96) 10. Netherlands (8.96) 11. Taiwan (8.94) 12. Switzerland (8.83) 13. Luxembourg (8.68) 14. Germany (8.67) 15. Uruguay (8.61) 16. United Kingdom (8.54) 17. Chile (8.28) 18. Austria (8.16) 19. Costa Rica (8.16) 20. Mauritius (8.14) 21. Japan (8.13) 22. Spain (8.12) 23. South Korea (8.01) 24. France (7.99) 25. United States (7.92)

I wonder if Trump’s lawyer plans to argue points of law? Or will he just continue stringing together irrelevant anecdotes?

Rand Paul's narcissism is unmasked for all to see.

We're about to discover how many U.S. Senators don't understand their own country's Constitution.We're about to discover how many U.S. Senators don't understand their own country's Constitution.

"Handing out ambassadorships to favored campaign donors is a sordid bipartisan tradition in Washington. Presidents from both parties have typically reserved about a third of the top diplomatic postings for political appointees," writes Matt Ford in The New Republic." While this can include qualified nominees, it all too often trends toward the wealthy and well connected. ... If there’s another democratic country that sends its leaders’ campaign donors to foreign capitals, I’m not aware of it."

The silence of Republicans in the face of the authoritarian threat of Trumpism is inexcusable. The party has forfeited the right to use the words "liberty," "freedom," "democracy," or "conservatism." It no longer represents any of these values. The party has gone full fascist and its leaders are watching in silence as the president tries to remain in office by way of a carefully orchestrated attempt to stage a coup d'etat by manipulating the courts and stirring up the country's extremists.

Sleepy Joe has a lot more energy and focus than Golfing Don.Sleepy Joe has a lot more energy and focus than Golfing Don.

Join us for Taste of Iceland events from November 18-22. You can enjoy all the best of Iceland’s culture during this online festival featuring the nation’s cuis...ine, music, literature, and film through several live streamed events. This year there is a special program dedicated to the community of people of Icelandic decent in North America. These four speakers will give a half hour presentation each on some pretty interesting topics: Jóel Friðfinnsson | Member of the Icelandic National League of North America, former president of its Arborg chapter, Esjan; Co-founder of Icelandic River Heritage Sites Inc. Pétur Ásgeirsson | Ambassador of Iceland to Canada. Guðmundur Andri Thorsson | Icelandic writer and a member of the Parliament of Iceland. Stefan Jonasson | Editor of Lögberg-Heimskringla, an English-language newspaper. How to watch - click here: https://www.facebook.com/events/934947003696535/

America could really us a "Stop the Stupidity" rally, but the very people most likely to attend one are responsibly self-isolating at home.

It looks like Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister may need to be forced to punch a timeclock.