The announcement is the sort of thing that never could have happened under Trudeau's Conservative predecessor, Stephen Harper. It's a sign that now that the two countries' heads of state are politically aligned, the US and Canada are reinvigorating their relationship.
It does not hurt that Justin Trudeau is super, super charming — a trait that has raised his international visibility, but apparently ticked off some traditionalists in Canada (whom we can only assume are fuddle duddles).
But Obama is risking the whole relationship, in my (Dara's) view, by serving poutine — which is a regional Canadian food but is also super gross — at the formal state dinner being held for Trudeau tonight.
Negative interest rates basically mean the government is charging banks to hold money overnight. This is an explanation even non-wonks can understand (as long as you read slowly).
They're supposed to stimulate the economy, in the same way any interest rate cut does. But it hasn't worked — the reason the rate cuts were announced today is that the eurozone is failing to meet its targets for inflation.
Some critics argue that keeping interest rates at or near zero (let alone below zero) isn't a long-term strategy or could even strangle a country's growth. (This is arguably what's happened in Japan.)
The long-term solution, according to Vox's Tim Lee, is to try to speed up inflation in the future to compensate for the inflation targets the bank is missing now — which could restore investor confidence.
Maybe Donald Trump supporters should stop beating people up
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Michelle Fields, a reporter for Breitbart, was allegedly grabbed and thrown to the ground by Donald Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, after a campaign event on Tuesday.
If true, this is super not okay. And a newly released transcript (from an audio recording that captured the incident) seems to indicate it very much is true.
Donald Trump and his campaign are known to dislike the press. But Breitbart is the exception — the site's coverage of the Trump campaign has been so favorable that some staffers speculate Trump has given money to the site.
That might explain why Breitbart's reaction to the allegations (in a statement issued before the transcript was made public) is, shall we say, less aggressive in championing the rights of its reporter than one might like.
This isn't just a big deal because it's a journalist. It's a big deal because Trump has a rally violence problem. On Wednesday, a man at a Fayetteville, Arkansas, rally punched a protester in the face — as the protester was being led out by security.
McGraw is not affiliated with the Trump campaign. But Trump did tell supporters last week during a scuffle at a rally: "Try not to hurt him. If you do I'll defend you in court." That is an unacceptably mixed message.
Tens of thousands of people waiting for kidney transplants have immune systems that could reject kidneys from just about anybody. But there's a new technique to change their immune systems so they can take kidneys from basically anyone.
A Marine instructor at the Naval Academy, convicted of five counts relating to an alleged threesome with two academy students, went to Washington Post reporter John Woodrow Cox to clear his name. Big mistake.
"A spelling mistake in an online bank transfer instruction helped prevent a nearly $1 billion heist last month involving the Bangladesh central bank and the New York Fed, banking officials said."
"It was like someone who beats you every day and hangs you from a chain and then comes in and gives you a piece of bread. Luke would say, 'You look nice today' and send [Kesha] into hysterics of happiness because she was programmed to expect nothing but abuse."
"In it, I see Dylan’s bloody bones scattered across a forest floor. I collect them, one by one in my arms, afraid to put them down lest they be stolen or lost, but there is no safe place for them, so I am left helplessly clutching the sticky, blood-soaked bones to my chest."
