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Friday February 9, 2018

February 8, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday February 9, 2018

What is OAR and why are Russia not in PyeongChang 2018?

RUSSIA will be represented at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang but their flag will not fly and their athletes will have OAR – not RUS – after their names.

The Russian doping scandal first emerged from the McLaren Report, an independent report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren that identified more than 1,000 Russian competitors who had befitted from a state-sponsored cover-up of athletes who were using performance enhancing drugs.

The first part of the report, commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was released in July 2016 but many sports still allowed Russians to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

However, the second part of the report which was published later in 2016 triggered a massive number of International Olympic Committee (IOC) investigations into Russian athletes and the Russian Olympic Committee was immediately suspended from PyeongChang 2018, with major suspicion also raised over doping at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

The IOC ruled that Russian athletes with a consistent history of drug testing and no history of doping would still be allowed to compete, albeit without the Russian flag or under the auspices of the Russian nation.

Instead those athletes will be represented by the “Olympic Athlete from Russia” logo on their uniforms and the Olympic anthem will be used if they are to win any medals.

Initially, 500 Russian athletes were presented to the IOC for consideration, 111 of whom were immediately dismissed.

However, 169 athletes were eventually invited to compete under the OAR banner – but that number could still rise.

A specific investigation into the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games and allegations of doping during the olympiad handed lifetime bans to 43 Russian athletes.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned 28 of those and partially upheld 11 more appeals.

But 13 of those 28 athletes have now applied to compete at PyeongChang 2018 – requests that have been turned down. (Source: Express.co.uk)

February 7, 1998

February 21, 2002

February 10, 2006

February 23, 2006

February 9, 2018

February 11, 2010

February 6, 2014

February 11, 2014

February 12, 2014

February 14, 2014

February 15, 2014

February 20, 2014

Saturday May 27, 2017

May 26, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday May 27, 2017

Conservatives return to the scene of Stephen Harper’s last stand to pick a new leader

As noted by at least one scribe with a long memory, when Conservatives last gathered at the Toronto Congress Centre — a convention hall in north Etobicoke, down the road from Pearson airport — it was for a notable rally on the second-last day of the party’s ill-fated 2015 campaign.

May 13, 2011

What that evening seemed to present was a portrait of a party down to its last resorts. Stephen Harper, a man otherwise determined to be seen as a serious person, was campaigning in the company of Rob and Doug Ford and delivering a stump speech that relied on cash-register sound effects.

And two days after that rally with the Ford brothers, the Conservatives were reduced to 99 seats. Nearly all the ridings in the vicinity of the congress centre went to the Liberals, with Conservative incumbents falling across the crucial Ontario suburbs of Etobicoke, Brampton, Mississauga and Oakville.

The 2015 campaign precipitated Harper’s resignation. But the year-long campaign to replace him has not quite amounted to a repudiation of his time in office. And the return of Conservatives to Etobicoke this weekend, this time to crown Harper’s successor, offers an opportunity to measure what has changed, and what hasn’t.

What will assuredly change is the face of the party. By sometime Saturday night, the Conservative Party that was reconstituted after the schism of the 1990s will have its second leader.

Each of the 13 candidates also offers some kind of change from the Harper era. Maxime Bernier, for instance, wears nicer suits. Erin O’Toole is a military man. Andrew Scheer promises to be friendlier.

But as Michael Chong has learned in suggesting that the Conservatives might get on side with pricing carbon emissions, there are limits to how much change they are interested in entertaining right now. Or at least what kind of change. (Continued: CBC)

The Telegram, May 30, 2017 (St. John’s Nfld) *With slight alteration.

Tuesday November 1, 2016

October 31, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 1, 2016

FBI gets warrant to search new Clinton emails

The FBI has obtained a warrant to begin reviewing newly discovered emails that may be relevant to the Hillary Clinton email server investigation, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

October 15, 2016

FBI investigators want to review emails of longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin that were found on a device seized during an unrelated sexting investigation of Anthony Weiner, a former New York congressman and Abedin’s estranged husband.

The official, who has knowledge of the examination, would not say when investigators might complete the review of Abedin’s emails but said Sunday they would move expeditiously.

The Clinton email inquiry, which closed without charges in July, resurfaced on Friday when FBI Director James Comey alerted members of Congress to the existence of emails that he said could be pertinent to that investigation.

The FBI wants to review the emails to see if they contain classified information and were handled properly, the focus of the earlier Clinton inquiry.

June 4, 2016

Separately Sunday, another law enforcement official said FBI investigators in the Weiner sexting probe knew for weeks about the existence of the emails potentially related to the probe of Clinton’s server. A third law enforcement official also said the FBI was aware for a period of time about the emails before Comey was briefed, but wasn’t more specific.

In his letter that roiled the White House race, Comey said he’d been briefed on Thursday about the Abedin emails and had agreed that investigators should take steps to review them.

It was not immediately clear Sunday what steps investigators took once the emails were first found to fully advise FBI leaders that additional and potentially relevant messages had been discovered.

The officials were not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.(Source: Toronto Star)

Friday December 11, 2015

December 11, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday December 11, 2015

CHCH TV cancels tonight’s newscast; station future uncertain

CHCH news staff is waiting to find out the fate of their station after being told there will be no 6 o’clock newscast tonight.

An announcement to staff is expected at 4 p.m., by email, sources inside the CH newsroom say. The fear is the station is shutting down or being dramatically reduced.

Employees began asking questions this morning after money was unexpectedly deposited in some employees’ bank accounts. One staffer — who does not want to be identified — says the amount was equal to about two paycheques.

The station is owned by Channel Zero in Toronto.

One staffer, who didn’t want her name used because she was clinging to the hope she might still have a job on Monday, said the mood is “awful.”

As of 2:45 p.m. people were still optimistically working to file stories, she said. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Thursday December 18, 2014

December 17, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday December 18, 2014

Canada helps end half-century U.S. embargo against Cuba

The “Government of Canada” and a timely nudge from Pope Francis were crucial ingredients in ending America’s half century of isolation on Cuba, President Barack Obama said Wednesday.

In a 15-minute address from the White House, Obama singled out Canada’s role as a third-party broker, hosting secret talks that led to the historic rapprochement.

Obama said U.S. policy that “aimed to isolate the island” was rooted in events that transpired before most Americans were born. But the 1961 policy “had little effect.

“We will end this outdated approach … and begin a new chapter among the nations of the Americas.”

The new chapter started with the release Wednesday morning of American contractor Alan Gross, 65, from a Cuban prison where he had been held for five years. The U.S. in exchange sent back three Cuban spies in U.S. prison since 2001.

Speaking simultaneously in Havana, Cuban President Raul Castro echoed Obama’s remarks, praising Canada and Pope Francis for their roles as key mediators in the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the U.S.

“We have profound differences on sovereignty, nationhood and democracy,” Castro cautioned in a nationally televised broadcast, the Star’s Oakland Ross reports.

“But we reaffirm our will to dialogue about all of these matters.”

In May 2014, Graeme and other Canadian editorial cartoonists travelled to Cuba

Reading from a sheaf of notes and wearing his army uniform, Raul called on Washington to remove a range of obstacles to better relations, including restrictions on family visits and on direct mail between the two countries.

The Cuban leader acknowledged that his U.S. counterpart cannot unilaterally remove the economic embargo Washington has long imposed on its Cuban neighbour — this would require an act of the U.S. Congress — but he said Obama could adopt measures that would “modify” the embargo’s impact.

While exercising tight political control over Cuba’s 11 million people, Raul Castro has also instituted a wide range of liberal economic reforms since taking over as head of the Cuban government eight years ago.

These include a rapid expansion in private enterprise. By one estimate, the number of privately owned Cuban businesses — including restaurants, beauty parlours, and small taxi services — has soared from 150,000 in 2006, when Raul stepped in, to more than 460,000 today. (Source: Toronto Star)
SOCIAL MEDIA

Today’s great editorial cartoon by @mackaycartoons @TheSpec #Cuba pic.twitter.com/KkJoQkp4Tt

— As It Happens (@cbcasithappens) December 18, 2014

Letter to the editor

The truth behind the new Cuba relationship – letter, December 22, 2014

Normally I’m not much of a fan of political cartoonist Graeme MacKay and his musings, but his recent offering about the new relationship between the U.S. and Cuba is bang on.

However, he should have added a tiny and insignificant billboard in the background expressing human and political rights, because that would most likely be representative of its importance during these talks.

The political talking heads and their media hacks are dutifully parroting the narrative of the importance that Raul Castro moves forward on alleged human rights abuses in Cuba. But in reality, this current round of détente is all about investment and how much each side will receive.

Fidel Castro’s “crimes” have never been about repression, it has always been his committing the cardinal sin of nationalizing foreign assets during his revolution. In Washington’s view that is considered a Crime against Capitalism (the most heinous of them all and worthy of spilling blood and treasure) and they have spent the past 50 years punishing Cuba for it.

So over the coming days and weeks, we will be subjected to a massive propaganda campaign through media editorials regarding Castro’s lack of commitment to reform. This is how the story must be framed so we can sanctimoniously reaffirm our credentials as stalwart defenders of freedom and democracy, not opportunists who value making money over making people’s lives better.

Garry Shaw, Burlington