capitalism

Tuesday May 5, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday May 5, 2020

The President Is Unraveling

The country is witnessing the steady, uninterrupted intellectual and psychological decomposition of Donald Trump.

December 20, 2016

In case there was any doubt, the past dozen days have proved we’re at the point in his presidency where Donald Trump has become his own caricature, a figure impossible to parody, a man whose words and actions are indistinguishable from an Alec Baldwin skit on Saturday Night Live.

President Trump’s pièce de résistance came during a late April coronavirus task-force briefing, when he floated using “just very powerful light” inside the body as a potential treatment for COVID-19 and then, for good measure, contemplated injecting disinfectant as a way to combat the effects of the virus “because you see it gets in the lungs and does a tremendous number on them, so it’d be interesting to check that.”

But the burlesque show just keeps rolling on.

December 16, 2000

Take this past weekend, when former President George W. Bush delivered a three-minute video as part of The Call to Unite, a 24-hour live-stream benefiting COVID-19 relief.

Bush joined other past presidents, spiritual and community leaders, front-line workers, artists, musicians, psychologists, and Academy Award winning actors. They offered advice, stories, and meditations, poetry, prayers, and performances. The purpose of The Call to Unite (which I played a very minor role in helping organize) was to offer practical ways to support others, to provide hope, encouragement, empathy, and unity.

In his video, which went viral, Bush—in whose White House I worked—never mentioned Trump. Instead, he expressed gratitude to health-care workers, encouraged Americans to abide by social-distancing rules, and reminded his fellow Americans that we have faced trying times before.

April 7, 2001

“I have no doubt, none at all, that this spirit of service and sacrifice is alive and well in America,” Bush said. He emphasized that “empathy and simple kindness are essential, powerful tools of national recovery.” And America’s 43rd president asked us to “remember how small our differences are in the face of this shared threat.”

“In the final analysis,” he said, “we are not partisan combatants; we are human beings, equally vulnerable and equally wonderful in the sight of God.” Bush concluded, “We rise or fall together, and we are determined to rise.”

That was too much for Trump, who attacked his Republican predecessor on (where else?) Twitter: “[Bush] was nowhere to be found in speaking up against the greatest Hoax in American history!”

March 26, 2019

So think about that for a minute. George W. Bush made a moving, eloquent plea for empathy and national unity, which enraged Donald Trump enough that he felt the need to go on the attack.

But there’s more. On the same weekend that he attacked Bush for making an appeal to national unity, Trump said this about Kim Jong Un, one of the most brutal leaders in the world: “I, for one, am glad to see he is back, and well!”

Then, Sunday night, sitting at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial for a town-hall interview with Fox News, Trump complained that he is “treated worse” than President Abraham Lincoln. “I am greeted with a hostile press, the likes of which no president has ever seen,” Trump said.

By Monday morning, the president was peddling a cruel and bizarre conspiracy theoryaimed at MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, a Trump critic, with Trump suggesting in his tweet that a “cold case” be opened to look into the death of an intern in 2001. (Continued: The Atlantic)

“Graeme MacKay suggests that US leadership is more concerned with the economy than with the human toll. This seems like a harsh take, but, then again, Dear Leader has forbidden any members of his corona task force from testifying before Congress and has announced plans to disband the group at the end of the month.”



 

Wednesday September 24, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 24, 2019

‘How dare you’: Teen environmental activist Greta Thunberg scolds world leaders at UN climate talks

Scolded for doing little, leader after leader promised the United Nations on Monday to do more to prevent a warming world from reaching even more dangerous levels.

December 1, 2015

As they made their pledges at the Climate Action Summit, though, they and others conceded it was not enough. And even before they spoke, teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg shamed them over and over for their inaction: “How dare you?”

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres concluded the summit by listing 77 countries that committed to carbon neutrality by 2050, 70 nations pledging to do more to fight climate change, with 100 business leaders promising to join the green economy and one-third of the global banking sector signing up to green goals.

“Action by action, the tide is turning,” he said. “But we have a long way to go.”

June 2, 2017

Businesses and charities also got in on the act, at times even going bigger than major nations. Microsoft founder Bill Gates announced Monday that his foundation, along with The World Bank and some European governments, would provide $790 million in financial help to 300 million of the world’s small farmers adapt to climate change. The Gates foundation pledged $310 million of that.

“The world can still prevent the absolute worst effects of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing new technologies and sources of energy,” Gates said. “But the effects of rising temperatures are already underway.”

As the day went on Monday and the promises kept coming, the United States seemed out in the cold.

Before world leaders made their promises in three-minute speeches, the 16-year-old Thunberg gave an emotional appeal in which she scolded the leaders with her repeated phrase, “How dare you.”

“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here,” said Thunberg, who began a lone protest outside the Swedish parliament more than a year ago that culminated in Friday’s global climate strikes.

November 28, 2015

“I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you have come to us young people for hope. How dare you. You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.

Thunberg told the UN that even the strictest emission cuts being talked about only gives the world a 50 per cent chance of limiting future warming to another 0.4 C from now, which is a global goal. Those odds, she said, are not good enough.

“We will not let you get away with this,” Thunberg said. “Right now is where we draw the line.”

As this all played out, scientists announced that Arctic sea ice reached its annual summer low and this year the ice shrank so much it tied for the second lowest mark in 40 years of monitoring. (Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Tuesday April 5, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Tuesday April 5, 2016 Kill it, spin it Ð Putin will do anything to stifle the Panama Papers story The Panama Papers are a wake-up call for anyone who may have doubted how deeply cronyism and corruption are rooted into RussiaÕs leadership. But for those who have followed the inner workings of PutinÕs presidency for the past 16 years or so, they are as much confirmation as revelation. What will be truly fascinating is watching how this new mass of information is dealt with by the Putin regime over time, and how this might affect an already tense relationship between the Kremlin and the west. The first time a large amount of information was leaked about RussiaÕs power system was in 2010, when a trove of US diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks described a Òvirtual mafia stateÓ and a system in which the Russian president allegedly used proxies to hide Òillicit wealthÓ. These documents were damaging enough, detailing a kleptocratic authoritarian system where Russian officials, oligarchs and organised crime came together to amass large fortunes. At the time, the Kremlin dismissed this as Ònothing interesting or worthy of commentÓ. One key difference today is that the Panama Papers have emerged at a time when relations between Russia and the west are at an all-time low. When the WikiLeaks documents were published, the US and Russia were still officially in a ÒresetÓ phase, with pledges of cooperation on issues ranging from Afghanistan to nuclear disarmament. But since then, itÕs all been downhill. The Russian government spoke earlier this year of a Ònew cold warÓ. Russian strategic bomber planes have flown over parts of Europe. Nato and the US are deploying new forces in the east of the continent. RussiaÕs annexation of Crimea and the war in Ukraine have led to western sanctions. Along with low oil prices, this has put RussiaÕs economy under severe strain Ð with many analysts wondering whether that might

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday April 5, 2016

Kill it, spin it – Putin will do anything to stifle the Panama Papers story

The Panama Papers are a wake-up call for anyone who may have doubted how deeply cronyism and corruption are rooted into Russia’s leadership. But for those who have followed the inner workings of Putin’s presidency for the past 16 years or so, they are as much confirmation as revelation.

What will be truly fascinating is watching how this new mass of information is dealt with by the Putin regime over time, and how this might affect an already tense relationship between the Kremlin and the west.

The first time a large amount of information was leaked about Russia’s power system was in 2010, when a trove of US diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks described a “virtual mafia state” and a system in which the Russian president allegedly used proxies to hide “illicit wealth”. These documents were damaging enough, detailing a kleptocratic authoritarian system where Russian officials, oligarchs and organised crime came together to amass large fortunes. At the time, the Kremlin dismissed this as “nothing interesting or worthy of comment”.

One key difference today is that the Panama Papers have emerged at a time when relations between Russia and the west are at an all-time low. When the WikiLeaks documents were published, the US and Russia were still officially in a “reset” phase, with pledges of cooperation on issues ranging from Afghanistan to nuclear disarmament. But since then, it’s all been downhill. The Russian government spoke earlier this year of a “new cold war”. Russian strategic bomber planes have flown over parts of Europe. Nato and the US are deploying new forces in the east of the continent. Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the war in Ukraine have led to western sanctions.

Along with low oil prices, this has put Russia’s economy under severe strain – with many analysts wondering whether that might lead to more aggressive ultra-nationalism in Moscow. Arguably, one key turning point, in this deterioration of relations with the west, came when the Russian regime accused Washington of stoking street demonstrations against the regime in 2011-12. (Continued: The Guardian)

 

Posted to Le Vif, L’express, Brussels, Belgium

Friday, February 27, 2015

Friday, February 27, 2015By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, February 27, 2015

Net neutrality passes in landmark FCC decision

With a bang of the gavel, the internet in the U.S. now has ground rules and a “referee on the field” to enforce them.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted today in Washington to regulate internet service like a public good, the way it has been treated in Canada for years.

“The internet must remain open. We will protect the values of an open internet, both in the last mile as well as at the point of interconnection,” FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said at the long-awaited hearing on net neutrality — the concept that all online traffic must be equally accessible.

“The internet is the most powerful and pervasive platform on the planet,” Wheeler said. “It’s simply too important to be left without rules and without a referee on the field.”

The ruling delivers a blow to senior Republicans and large U.S. cable providers such as Comcast and Verizon, which poured $44.2 million US into lobbying efforts to allow some internet users to pay for zippier connectivity.

Grassroots activists had mobilized online to oppose such preferential treatment for “fast lane” access, with more than four million people filing public grievances to the FCC.

Thursday’s long-awaited vote, which passed 3-2 in favour of net neutrality, ended the debate.

However, the broadband industry has hinted that it may challenge the decision in court.

In a statement following the vote, Verizon’s senior vice president of public policy Michael Glover slammed the ruling as “badly antiquated,” characterizing it as a regulatory overreach that would restrict internet service providers from offering the best access. (Source: CBC News)