USA

Tuesday June 4, 2019

June 4, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday June 4, 2019

Trump toasts to alliance with U.K., insults London mayor as visit to Britain begins

Donald Trump and the Queen toasted to their shared alliance on Monday during an elaborate state dinner at Buckingham Palace in honour of the U.S. president and his wife.

July 13, 2018

“Tonight we celebrate an alliance that has helped to ensure the safety and prosperity of both our peoples for decades, and which I believe will endure for many years to come,” the Queen said, speaking in front of about 170 guests in London.

She told Trump security and a shared heritage link the U.S. and U.K. On his first state visit to the U.K., the president acknowledged the common values he said will unite the two countries long into the future, including freedom, sovereignty and self-determination.

It was one of many moments marking the president’s largely ceremonial visit to Britain, which also included tea with Prince Charles and a royal gun salute from Green Park and the Tower of London, one of the highest honours Britain can bestow on a foreign leader.

June 27, 2016

The ceremony took place under clear blue skies on the spacious garden next to the 775-room palace that is the official residence of the Queen. Trump and Charles inspected the Guard of Honour formed by the Grenadier Guards wearing the traditional bearskin hats.

Trump and his wife paid their respects at the grave of an unknown British warrior, at Westminster Abbey. They were greeted inside the abbey by Prince Andrew and clergy.

They stood silently at the tomb of the British soldier, whose body was brought from France to be buried at the abbey in November 1920. The grave contains soil from France and is covered by a slab of black marble.

The president and his wife prayed and bent down to touch a colourful wreath, which had red and white roses, and bright blue and pink flowers. (CBC) 

 

Friday May 31, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday May 31, 2019

Pence tells Canada he’s ‘proud’ to oppose abortion

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau said the two men had a “cordial conversation” about abortion laws in the US despite their difference of views.

May 15, 2019

Mr Trudeau has said he is concerned about the “backsliding” of women’s rights south of the border.

The PM and the VP also discussed issues related to trade and China.

In the US, the contentious issue of abortion has been front-and-centre this year as nearly a dozen states have moved to pass new, stricter laws on abortion.

Critics have pointed at what they see as an orchestrated challenge to a decades-old US Supreme Court ruling that protected a woman’s right to choose an abortion.

Mr Pence is known for his staunch opposition to abortion.

Mr Trudeau, on the other hand, is outspoken in support of reproductive rights.

September 27, 2017

The two were able to diplomatically sidestep any tensions when asked about that discussion by reporters on Thursday.

Mr Pence said the Trump administration “will always stand for the right to life”.

“But those are debates within the United States and I know that Canada will deal with those issues in a manner that the people of Canada have determined most appropriate.”

Amid the political firestorm over state-level anti-abortion bills in the US, in Canada the Liberals have been pressuring their Conservative rivals over their stance on the issue in the run-up to the general election.

Conservative leader Andrew Scheer – who has supported pro-life legislation in the past – has vowed that if he were to form government he would not reopen the debate. (BBC)

Spec cartoon could put NAFTA at risk

RE: Hamilton Spectator Editorial cartoon, May 31

This cartoon is offensive, rude, and crude. It is an underhanded way of persecuting a man, the vice-president of the USA, a Christian, for his faith.

As a nation we are trying to build a relationship, a friendship with the USA and you find this mean and vindictive way of putting people down.

I hope that President Trump will not have second thoughts about having a NAFTA treaty with Canada. He is the most pro-life president ever and this kind of sarcasm does not build a nation or friendly relationships.

Did you consider Mr. Pence’s faith or feelings? Yes, we Christians tend to be pro-life, because God created us. I know God loves you too and He has given you have a talent but sometimes you misuse it.

Peter and Eline Homan, Hamilton

Friday May 17, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday May 17, 2019

Conrad Black says he won’t answer to criticism of his pardon because it’s not ‘worthy of response’

‘On anything like this you’re going to get people saying it’s a back-scratching job and he’s just rewarding me for writing nice things about him, but so what?’

Conrad Black Cartoon Gallery

Media mogul and former rival Rupert Murdoch was among the well-wishers who called Conrad Black after he received a pardon Wednesday from U.S. President Donald Trump that wiped away convictions for fraud and obstruction of justice dating back to 2007.

“I had a very nice phone call from Rupert Murdoch. I hadn’t spoken with him for many years. Most thoughtful of him to call,” Black said in an interview Thursday in the living room of his home in Toronto.

“He congratulated me and he said he’d congratulated the President for doing it.”

Calls have been coming in “from all over the place, from people I knew when I was a guest of the American people (in prison) and from people I went to Grade 2 with, and all stages since then,” said Black.

“And all but one or two were really very gracious, quite affecting many of them.”

Asked how he would respond to people who say he received the pardon because of Trump’s tendency to view only facts that suit him, or due to the past business dealings the two men had, or the flattering articles and book Black has written about Trump, Black said he wouldn’t respond directly to such critics because he doesn’t find their position “worthy of response.”

“Look, on anything like this you’re going to get people saying it’s a back-scratching job and he’s just rewarding me for writing nice things about him, but so what? Some people criticize Santa Claus, some people find fault with everything,” he said.

“The President and the very gracious message the White House issued last night was very clear in saying what the motives were, and that they were an analysis by his legal counsel and their legal team of the facts of the case, analyzing the particular materials submitted on my behalf by (lawyer) Alan Dershowitz and others.”

Black views the pardon as a total exoneration. “It’s a complete final decision of not guilty. That is finally a fully just verdict,” Black told The Canadian Press on Thursday. (Source: National Post) 

 

Thursday May 16, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday May 16, 2019

Freeland renews push to remove steel, aluminum tariffs during Washington trip

July 27, 2018

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is bound for Washington to meet with Trump trade czar Robert Lighthizer in a renewed push to get punitive steel and aluminum tariffs lifted.

The meeting at the United States trade representative’s Washington office is to take place on Wednesday but Freeland will also venture to Capitol Hill for a meeting with the influential Republican chair of the Senate finance committee, Chuck Grassley.

“We continue to lobby very assertively for the lifting of the tariffs. We’re at a point where we need to do everything we can and talk to everyone we can about why we see these as unjust,” a senior government source said Tuesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the ongoing dispute.

June 1, 2018

The meetings come after a pair of telephone calls on consecutive days late last week between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in which the controversial 25-per-cent duty on Canadian steel and 10-per-cent levy on aluminum was a major subject of conversation.

On Tuesday, Grassley suggested to reporters in a conference call that an end to the tariffs might be close. Last month, Grassley tweeted that Trump must remove the tariffs before the new North American trade deal can be ratified.

Trump imposed them in the first place using a section of U.S. trade law that gives the president powers to put duties on imports on national-security grounds.

Freeland, Trudeau and others in Canadian government have derided the tariffs as absurd, illegal and insulting.

But Freeland has said she’s heartened by the recent comments of both Republican and Democratic American lawmakers who say the new North American trade agreement that includes Mexico can’t be ratified with the “Section 232” tariffs in place. (Global)

 

Saturday May 11, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday May 11, 2019

‘We won’t back down.’ Donald Trump talks tough on China trade ahead of high-stakes meeting

On the eve of high-stakes trade talks with China, President Donald Trump used a rally in Florida to ramp up his rhetoric about the prospects of a new agreement to de-escalate a widening tariff battle with Beijing.

“We won’t back down until China stops stealing our jobs,” Trump told the audience of a rally in Panama City Beach on Wednesday. “We don’t have to do business with them.”

While claiming earlier in the day that a Chinese trade delegation is “coming to the U.S. to make a deal,” Trump also said the trade rivals may be pulling back from an agreement in the hopes that a Democratic president will be elected in 2020.

November 30, 2018

“They broke the deal,” Trump told supporters. “They can’t do that.”

U.S. and Chinese negotiators are scheduled to meet Thursday, four days after Trump threatened new tariffs if China refused to sign onto a new trade agreement.

While Trump said China wants a deal, he has said he is also happy with tariffs that he claims put “over $100 Billion a year” in U.S. coffers – a claim most economists say is the wrong analysis because China retaliates with tariffs of its own, and both countries pass on the costs of tariffs to consumers.

Tariff revenue “is a transfer of wealth from Americans to the government, with new tariffs hitting more consumer goods and lower-income households,” said Riley Walters, a policy analyst for Asia’s economy and technology with The Heritage Foundation. “Chinese don’t pay American taxes.” (USA Today)