Well, it's the middle of the week, boys and girls. Halfway there. Wherever there is, regardless, it's Wednesday, September 27th. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed.

Today, we're opening with a shocking event from north of the border. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who's had a rocky time of it lately, is now caught in a storm of controversy, as he apologizes for a deeply unsettling incident in Parliament. Nazi SS veteran Yara Slavhanka, yes, an actual Nazi, received a standing ovation, sending shockwaves nationwide. Now, demands are mounting for accountability and resignations.

A little later in the show, a follow-up on a story we touched on yesterday, as Russia's Black Sea Fleet Commander, Victor Sokolov, has been shown alive, contradicting Ukraine's previous claim of his death in a bold missile strike.

With the emergence of a video from Russia's Defense Ministry, questions swirl and Ukraine now scrambles to clarify their earlier assertions. Clarification would be that either they were wrong, or Sokolov has risen from the dead, which, by most measures, would make it the story of the millennium.

Then switching gears will look at the European Union's stern warning to Elon Musk and his social platform X, formerly known, of course, as Twitter. After the EU claims that X has the highest disinformation ratio among large social media platforms.

Finally, in today's back of the brief segment, the Federal Trade Commission and 17 states are taking on e-commerce giant Amazon in a groundbreaking lawsuit that could reshape how you shop online, changing everything from scoring that budget toilet paper deal to snagging the latest gadgets.

Honestly, I had no idea folks were buying toilet paper on Amazon. Is there nothing that Jeff Bezos can't sell?

But first, today's PDB Spotlight. In Ottawa, the Canadian government is currently reeling from one of its most embarrassing episodes in recent memory.

Just days after the nation's parliament and Ukrainian President Zelensky gave a standing ovation to a Nazi veteran.

Yup, you heard that right. Honestly, it's been at least, I don't know, 78 years, perhaps, since any Nazi has received a standing ovation. I mean, even Nazis don't stand up in applaud Nazis since considered extremely problematic in a sure sign.

It all kicked off last week during Ukrainian President Zelensky's visit to the Canadian parliament. How Speaker Anthony Rodov, probably with the best intentions, perhaps, although clearly without any concept of due diligence,

introduced 98-year-old Yaroslav Hongka as a Canadian Ukrainian war hero. Everybody stood up and clapped, and even Zelensky waived. It was a touching moment, but only for a moment.

Because here's where it all goes sideways. It turns out that Hongka served in the first Ukrainian division, a division that was under Nazi command during World War II.

Now, for some historical context, these weren't your run-of-the-mill soldiers. The division in which Hongka served was also known as the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division, the SS, which any student of history knows was responsible for countless horrendous crimes and atrocities during the war.

This bombshell was dropped by Canada's Friends of Simon Viesenthal Center, and now, well-Canadian lawmakers are doing the political equivalent of running around like headless chickens.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, already facing sagging poll numbers and currently embroiled in a major diplomatic battle with India, is more than a little red-faced.

He's called the whole affair, quote, extremely upsetting. Yeah, yeah, it would be. And quote, deeply embarrassing. Again, he's correct for Canada's parliament.

And in true political fashion, he's thrown a good chunk of the blame on House Speaker Rhoda. Rhoda's saying sorry and admitting he messed up.

By recognizing the Nazi veteran, yeah, he messed up. Sorry for applauding the Nazi. But for many, I'm sorry just as in cutting it.

Debuzz and Ottawa and beyond? Well, people are calling for Rhoda to pack up and resign from his position. Even Trudeau's government and two opposition parties are jumping on that bandwagon, all saying it's time for the House Speaker to step down.

So, as you can imagine, Ottawa isn't quite the frenzy, as everyone tries to navigate this storm of controversy and calls for accountability.

Look, we live in a time when politicians keep testing the limits of what they can get away with. But in the age of corruption, extreme partisanship, and general borish behavior, none of the politicians, well until the Canadian parliament broke ranks, thought to ask themselves, I wonder what the public would think if we give a nice round of applause to an aging Nazi, or we're about to find out.

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