Democrats on track to take House — but Senate might be out of reach | CBC News

President Donald Trump's Republicans are trailing by a significant margin in the polls and it could cost them control of the House of Representatives. (Andrew Harnik/Associated Press)

It seems that the Democrats and Republicans may be willing to split the control of the two houses of Congress. Likewise, the Democrats are ready to make significant gains in the House of Representatives and win the majority of the 435 seats available, while the Republicans are in a good position to retain control of the Senate.

However, for its part, the Senate may be out of reach for Democrats now, as its performance will still have a significant impact on its chances of winning full control of Congress by 2020.

On the other hand, to gain control of the House of Representatives, Democrats must obtain a net gain of 23 seats. The electoral map for the House is hard for the Democrats. This is partly due to the demographic “classification”: the Democrats are concentrated in the cities, the Republicans in rural and suburban areas, but they are also due to gerrymandering.

Likewise, the last redistricting took place after the United States census in 2010, which turned out to be a very good election year for Republicans. The result was a map stacked against the Democrats.

What do the surveys suggest?

James Alexander Michie | CNN: Donald Trump is pretty sure he's nailing this whole 'President' thing

(CNN) - On Wednesday night, speaking to a packed house in North Dakota, President Donald Trump seemed to suggest that this whole being President thing wasn't so tough.

"The Heritage Foundation came out with a report, and this was as of two months ago, we've already implemented 64% of our top agenda items," Trump told the cheering crowd. "And that's at a much faster pace than even Ronald Reagan. That's pretty good, right?"

That bravado was apparent, too, in Trump's barrage of early morning tweets on Thursday. Breaking with his past refusal to impugn special counsel Robert Mueller personally, Trump tweeted, "When is Bob Mueller going to list his Conflicts of Interest? Why has it taken so long? Will they be listed at the top of his $22,000,000 Report...And what about the 13 Angry Democrats, will they list their conflicts with Crooked H? How many people will be sent to jail and persecuted on old and/or totally unrelated charges (there was no collusion and there was no obstruction of the no collusion)...And what is going on in the FBI & DOJ with Crooked Hillary, the DNC and all of the lies? A disgraceful situation!"

The reason for all that confidence? Donald Trump is, to borrow a favorite Trump word, winning -- at least as he sees it.

Read the full story here:
http://jamesalexandermichie.com/james-alexander-michie-cnn-donald-trump-pretty-sure-hes-nailing-whole-president-thing/

James Alexander Michie | THE STAR: Trudeau to Facebook: Fix your fake news problem or face stricter regulations

OTTAWA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has warned social networking giant Facebook it needs to fix its “fake news” problems or face stronger regulation from Ottawa.

Trudeau told Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg in November he was concerned the company wasn’t doing enough to stop the spread of misleading information on their platform, a source with direct knowledge of the conversation told the Star.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau chats with Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook chief operating officer during a bilateral meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 20, 2016. The pair met again in November 2017 and Trudeau warned the Facebook COO that the company could face stronger regulation in Canada. (ANDREW VAUGHAN / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Facebook has been under intense international scrutiny for allowing so-called “fake news” — false and often outlandish information presented as legitimate journalism — to propagate on its network.

Sometimes the “articles” are simply hoaxes, designed to profit from Facebook users’ clicks.

But as seen during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the tactic can also mislead or manipulate citizens to further political ends – whether by partisan actors domestically, or hostile nations internationally. Facebook has also faced criticism about a lack of transparency around who is buying ads on its platform.

Read the full story here:
http://jamesalexandermichie.com/james-alexander-michie-star-trudeau-facebook-fix-fake-news-problem-face-stricter-regulations/

James Alexander Michie | Vancouver Sun: Rob Shaw: NDP dig in for long and painful fight on speculation tax

VICTORIA — B.C.’s New Democrat government ended the spring session of the legislature thinking the worst was over when it came to the painful launch and scrambled retooling of its speculation tax.

But a new flare-up of anger has opened up battles on several fronts that will test the political mettle of Premier John Horgan’s government, and could even threaten its very survival.

West Kelowna continues its persistent fight to be exempted from the speculation tax, Green leader Andrew Weaver is contemplating ways to defeat the tax’s enabling legislation this fall and the future of the NDP’s minority government could hang in the balance of a byelection in Nanaimo — where MLAs have been getting an earful from unhappy constituents in a city that also wants out of the tax.

Continue reading...

Stephen Harper: Trump Presidency Could Stabilize U.S. Foreign Policy

Add Stephen Harper to the list of former heads of state that have weighed in on Donald Trump's presidency.

Speaking at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, India, Harper was optimistic about Trump's impact on America's foreign policy.