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Thursday November 9, 2017

November 8, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday November 9, 2017

High anxiety in Hollywood amid sexual harassment allegations in the industry

February 25, 2017

The curtain has been pulled back, and, oh, is it messy.

Hollywood has always revelled in scandal. The rumour. The whisper. The unfortunate photograph. The apology and return to grace. But the recent sex abuse stories have turned into a parade of tawdry violations and twisted passions, the stuff of movies acted out in real lives against the unglamorous air of disgrace, endless transgressions that even Ray Donovan, Showtime’s half-shaven mercurial fixer, couldn’t clean up with all his hush money and muscle.

March 1, 2016

The rape and sexual abuse allegations surrounding Harvey Weinstein, Brett Ratner, James Toback and others have shattered the awards-season aplomb in a town that imagines itself bold and freewheeling but prefers the tempered and scripted. The entertainment industry has slipped into a multi-polar catharsis of emboldened women, nervous men, threatening lawyers, broken deals, spoiled careers and the uncertainty that comes when cracks run like lightning through facades.

March 5, 2014

“I think the industry is forever changed,” said Marcel Pariseau, a publicist whose clients include Scarlett Johansson and Olivia Munn, one of six women who accused Ratner of sexual misconduct in the Los Angeles Times last week. “Every morning we wake up and we don’t know what’s going to be next. You’re almost afraid to get on your gadget to see what the new story is.”

“No one is going to be going to a producer or director’s hotel suite anymore,” he added. “All meetings will be done with somebody else in the room for protection for both sides. It’s a defining moment. It’s vigilance.” (Source: Toronto Star)

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Wednesday November 19, 2014

November 18, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday November 19, 2014

The Reptiles of Mass Transit

The HSR plans to fight back against a spike in assaults on drivers by outfitting buses with pricey security cameras — and possibly even protective shields.

Statistics obtained through a Spectator freedom of information request show the number of assaults and threats shot up this year, with 37 recorded in the first 10 months. That’s already a five-year high and nearly double last year’s total.

The city refused to hand over incident reports outlining locations and details, citing employee privacy, but union officials describe routine incidents such as punching, spitting and coffee-throwing over the last several years.

Some of the most egregious cases include a female driver beaten with a coil of steel wire and a male driver dragged off a bus and pummelled by a group of teens.

Newly hired transit director David Dixon said he is concerned and will make a budget request for on-board security cameras for 2015. “Operator and customer safety is a critical issue for me,” he said, adding drivers will also receive more training in “de-escalating” disputes and dealing with mental illness.(Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Meanwhile, every day in cities around the world, on buses and subways and trams, women face sexualized abuse, from taunts, to flashing, threats, groping and worse. In London, England, 15% of female riders have experienced unwanted sexual behaviour on public transit, according to a study by the British Transit Police. (Of those, 90% never brought their complaints to the authorities.) In Vancouver, transit police launched a public crackdown on sexual offences in April after seeing a 23% spike in complaints year over year.

In Toronto, neither the TTC nor the police could provide up-to-date stats on sexual assaults on public transit. Brad Ross, a spokesman for the TTC, said “in general” the numbers aren’t going up. But anecdotally, women say this city’s transit system is rife with sexual predators.

On Monday, police announced they were hunting for a man wanted for three sexual assaults committed on the same bus route since Oct. 21. Last week, a Brampton man was arrested and charged with four counts of sexual assault for attacks that took place on TTC buses between November, 2013 and November, 2014. (Source: National Post)