disaster

Wednesday August 30, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday August 30, 2017

“We made a large and serious mistake:” Bob Young apologizes to TiCat fans

Hamilton Tiger-Cats owner Bob Young is apologizing after a controversial near hire that sent fans and corporate partners into a frenzy.

“We made a large and serious mistake. We want to apologize to our fans, corporate partners and the Canadian Football League. It has been a difficult season and we are searching for answers. This is clearly not one of them,” Young said in a statement on Tuesday.

Art Briles – whose invitation to be a coach here was pulled late last night, was fired as the head coach of Baylor University last May after an investigation discovered the school mishandled numerous sexual assault allegations, including some against football players and that “football personnel chose not to report sexual violence and dating violence.”

CEO Scott Mitchell says the franchise was caught off guard by the level of anger that would follow the hiring of Briles, who’d been at the centre of one of the largest sexual assault scandals in U.S. college history.

“We underestimated the tsunami of negativity that was going to happen,” Mitchell told The Fan590 radio station in Toronto.

Mitchell said he believed Briles deserved a second chance after being fired from Baylor but society and the media decided it wasn’t the time. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Wednesday September 9, 2015

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Wednesday September 9, 2015 Canada Election Shifts Gears After Trying Summer for Harper After a month of campaigning, the three-way race for CanadaÕs Oct. 19 election has narrowed as warning signs emerge for Prime Minister Stephen Harper in his bid for a fourth consecutive term. The incumbent Conservative has endured an explosive court case, talk of a recession and a refugee crisis that have eroded his traditional core platform planks: accountability and economic stewardship. Tom Mulcair of the leftist New Democratic Party and Justin Trudeau of the centrist Liberals, meanwhile, are each working to position themselves as the best alternative to Harper. Polls have shown the three parties essentially tied -- though one, published Monday night by Nanos Research, suggests Harper has sunk to third place. The deadlock may break as Canada emerges from an end-of-summer long weekend, with students returning to classrooms and workers settling back into routine. ÒThe campaign to date has been largely a phone campaign producing little attention,Ó said Frank Graves of Ekos Research. ÒAll of this will change post-Labour Day as the real war for votes begins in earnest.Ó An Ekos poll published Friday showed MulcairÕs New Democrats in the lead with 30.2 percent support, HarperÕs Conservatives at 29.5 percent and TrudeauÕs Liberals close behind at 27.7 percent. MondayÕs Nanos survey, conducted for CTV and The Globe and Mail, found the NDP ahead with 32.7 percent, followed by the Liberals at 30.8 percent and Harper at 26.2 percent. The electionÕs first month included two weeks of testimony in the criminal trial of former Conservative senator Mike Duffy that exposed the inner workings of HarperÕs office and a plan to cover up disputed expenses. While explosive, that testimony has largely been forgotten now, Graves said. (Source: Bloomberg) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-08/canada-s-election-shifts-ge

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 9, 2015

Canada Election Shifts Gears After Trying Summer for Harper

After a month of campaigning, the three-way race for Canada’s Oct. 19 election has narrowed as warning signs emerge for Prime Minister Stephen Harper in his bid for a fourth consecutive term.

The incumbent Conservative has endured an explosive court case, talk of a recession and a refugee crisis that have eroded his traditional core platform planks: accountability and economic stewardship. Tom Mulcair of the leftist New Democratic Party and Justin Trudeau of the centrist Liberals, meanwhile, are each working to position themselves as the best alternative to Harper.

Polls have shown the three parties essentially tied — though one, published Monday night by Nanos Research, suggests Harper has sunk to third place. The deadlock may break as Canada emerges from an end-of-summer long weekend, with students returning to classrooms and workers settling back into routine.

“The campaign to date has been largely a phone campaign producing little attention,” said Frank Graves of Ekos Research. “All of this will change post-Labour Day as the real war for votes begins in earnest.”

An Ekos poll published Friday showed Mulcair’s New Democrats in the lead with 30.2 percent support, Harper’s Conservatives at 29.5 percent and Trudeau’s Liberals close behind at 27.7 percent. Monday’s Nanos survey, conducted for CTV and The Globe and Mail, found the NDP ahead with 32.7 percent, followed by the Liberals at 30.8 percent and Harper at 26.2 percent.

The election’s first month included two weeks of testimony in the criminal trial of former Conservative senator Mike Duffy that exposed the inner workings of Harper’s office and a plan to cover up disputed expenses. While explosive, that testimony has largely been forgotten now, Graves said. (Source: Bloomberg)

Wednesday April 22, 2015

Wednesday April 22, 2015Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 22, 2015

Pull comes to push as the EU wrestles with the migrant crisis

Last week, 400 or more, many of them women and children sheltering below deck, perished in a capsize off Libya. On Sunday, as many as 900 more lost in a single shipwreck. And on Monday, as the contingent agonized over what to do now, came heartbreaking shoreline-view footage of a sinking off the coast of Greek island of Rhodes. Mercifully, most made it ashore. Some did not, reportedly including a four-year-old boy.

Europe’s bad bet now is expected to be reversed quickly by the EU, which will meet Thursday in crisis mode, when it is expected to redouble formal search-and-rescue operations. Its efforts will be joined by a raft of aid groups attempting to bring global resources to bear.

“The world needs to react with the conviction with which it eliminated piracy off the coast of Somalia a few years ago,” said William Lacy Swing, director-general of the International Organization for Migrants (IOM).

“All of us, especially the EU and the world’s powers can no longer sit on the sidelines watching while this tragedy unfolds in slow motion and well over 1,500 have drowned since the beginning of January.”

But as the crisis deepened, agencies involved in the broader effort reminded us Europe is far from alone in this. Canada, let us not forget, was more than a little involved in Libya and now, more than a little involved in the madness that is Syria. (Source: Toronto Star)

Letter to the Editor

A picture is indeed worth a thousand words.
Spectator cartoonist Graeme MacKay has a powerful message. Canadian foreign aid should be used to help refugees, not bomb them! I hope someone sends a copy of Wednesday’s Spectator to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office.
Hughena Matheson, Burlington

 

Thursday February 19, 2015

Thursday February 19, 2015Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 19, 2015

Via terror suspect pondered triggering Yellowstone volcano, court told

A man accused of plotting to derail a Canadian passenger train also thought about triggering a catastrophic volcanic blast in the United States, his trial heard Tuesday.

Testifying for a third week, an undercover FBI agent said Chiheb Esseghaier pondered the possibility of getting the volcano in Yellowstone National Park to erupt.

Thursday, April 25, 2013Esseghaier, who is charged with various terror-related offences along with co-accused Raed Jaser, spoke of the “death and destruction” a blast could cause, court heard.

“Wouldn’t it be great if my enemies’ worst national disaster could happen?” the agent cited Esseghaier, 30, as saying.

The Montreal PhD student from Tunisia was “very passionate” about the volcano in the park, the agent said. The volcano, which last erupted 640,000 years ago, straddles the borders of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

Ultimately, however, he decided the idea was not feasible.

Wednesday, April 24 2013“No. We cannot do anything to make the volcano erupt. It’s very deep. I don’t have any access,” Esseghaier apparently told the agent.

“It was his conclusion that we need to focus on the project or projects,” the agent told Superior Court.

“The train plot was a better bet than the volcano,” defence lawyer John Norris, who represents Jaser, said by way of clarification.

The idea of a train attack, apparently, had come from “The Responsible One,” a man Esseghaier had met in Iran who supposedly had close ties to top Al Qaeda leaders. (Continued: Toronto Star)