media

Wednesday February 5, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 5, 2020

Peter MacKay is becoming his own biggest obstacle to winning the Conservative leadership

Peter MacKay Cartoon Gallery

It seems increasingly that the greatest threat to Peter MacKay’s leadership bid is Peter MacKay.

The presumed front-runner in the campaign to replace Andrew Scheer as Conservative leader has stumbled more than once in recent days.

Peter MacKay’s team tried to portray their man in a sympathetic light, inviting CTV into a child advocacy centre that helps victims of abuse – an organization the candidate co-chairs.

MacKay talked about the new level of understanding, compassion and civility he has divined since leaving politics. “I’d like to do politics a little differently,” he said.

The reporter asked him if he felt that a tweet sent out by his account at the weekend, which criticized Justin Trudeau for using $875 in Liberal party donations for yoga sessions, was evidence of a new civility. He agreed it was not and said he had not had the opportunity to vet the tweet before it was sent out, at which point his media handlers shut down the interview while the cameras were still rolling.

It turned a good news story into a bad one and pointed to a lack of leadership. MacKay has more experience than anyone on his team and should have insisted on finishing the interview, even if the heat was rising.

The missteps add propellant to the smouldering anyone-but-MacKay campaign that is building inside the party. I have spoken to a number of influential and vocal Conservatives who offer a variation of the following – MacKay is a good guy but he cannot be leader; he is not that competent, not that bright and he doesn’t do the work. (National Post)

The Inking Process

 

Friday August 30, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday August 30, 2019

Trump floated the idea of using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes headed for US

President Donald Trump has floated multiple times the idea of thwarting hurricanes headed for the US by bombing them, including by dropping nuclear bombs on hurricanes to disrupt their course, Axios reported Sunday, citing conversations with sources who heard Trump’s comments and were briefed on a National Security Council memo that recorded the comments.

September 23, 2005

In an early Monday tweet, Trump denied the Axios’ report, claiming that he “never said” what was in it. CNN has not been able to independently verify the report.

According to Axios, the President has suggested the idea several times to senior Homeland Security and national security officials that they look into the idea of using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes from hitting the US. A source who was at a hurricane briefing at the White House told the outlet that the President once said of hurricanes, “I got it. I got it. Why don’t we nuke them?”

The source, who paraphrased Trump’s remarks to Axios, said that the President said, “They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they’re moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can’t we do that?” Asked by Axios how the briefer responded to the President’s suggestion, the source said he “said something to the effect of, ‘Sir, we’ll look into that.’”

April 6, 2017

The President then asked how many hurricanes the US may be able to stop and reiterated his suggestions, according to the source, which caused the briefer to be “knocked back on his heels.”

“You could hear a gnat fart in that meeting. People were astonished. After the meeting ended, we thought, ‘What the f—? What do we do with this?'” the source told Axios.

According to the outlet, Trump also raised the idea of using bombs to stop hurricanes during a 2017 conversation with a senior administration official. A source briefed on a NSC memo describing that conversation told Axios that the document does not contain the word “nuclear.” According to sources the outlet spoke to about that conversation, despite Trump’s interest in the idea, it “went nowhere and never entered a formal policy process.”

April 11, 2017

The idea of using nuclear bombs “to counteract convection currents” was floated during the Eisenhower administration, Axios reported, and has continued to resurface even though government scientists have said it will not work.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in an online fact sheet titled “Tropical Cyclone Myths Page, detonating a nuclear weapon over a hurricane “might not even alter the storm,” and the idea “neglects the problem that the released radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the tradewinds to affect land areas and cause devastating environmental problems.” (CNN)  

 

Wednesday March 6, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday March 6, 2019

Doug Ford’s role in OPP turmoil raises questions of political interference

February 28, 2019

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are political opposites who right now share something: both face allegations of political interference in the justice system.

Partisans will no doubt disagree on whose alleged political interference is worse: the federal Liberals’ handling of the SNC-Lavalin corruption case or the provincial Progressive Conservatives’ alleged meddling with the upper echelons of the Ontario Provincial Police.

February 15, 2019

You can read plenty of analysis throughout cbc.ca of why the SNC-Lavalin affair matters, why the testimony of former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould is resonating, and why the Trudeau Liberals are engulfed in a deepening crisis about just how much political pressure they exerted over a criminal case.

Why are Ford’s PCs being accused of interfering with the OPP? The government appointed a close friend of Ford to head the provincial police force, and fired a veteran officer who had produced evidence that Ford tried to influence police operations.

January 12, 2019

Why does it matter?

“The OPP can be called in to investigate provincial politicians, and the citizens of Ontario need to have faith that the OPP is truly independent, above political interference, and free from abuses of power,” said Brad Blair, the deputy commissioner who was fired on Monday  after a spotless 32-year career with the OPP.

Animated!

In a written statement Tuesday, Blair said he went public with his concerns about “real and/or perceived political interference” in the force because “the cost of a compromised OPP is too great a price to pay.”  (Continued: CBC)  

 

Thursday October 25, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday October 25, 2018

On Jamal Khashoggi Killing, Trump Administration Sends Mixed Signals

The Trump administration, confronted with further evidence of a cover-up in the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, veered on Monday between defending the value of its alliance with Saudi Arabia and pressing the Saudi government for answers.

October 12, 2018

The White House sent the director of the C.I.A., Gina Haspel, to Istanbul to help the Turkish government with its investigation into the killing, according to an official. But in Riyadh, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin held a wide-ranging meeting with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who is suspected of playing a role in the killing of Mr. Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident.

Mr. Mnuchin, who canceled his attendance at this week’s Saudi investment conference in the wake of Mr. Khashoggi’s killing at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, traded views with Prince Mohammed on economic ties and counterterrorism initiatives, as well as on the investigation into Mr. Khashoggi’s death, according to a Treasury Department spokesman.

August 8, 2018

There are also fresh doubts about the Saudi government’s claim that Mr. Khashoggi was strangled accidentally after he got into a fist fight with 15 Saudi operatives, with video of a body double surfacing on Monday. A Saudi operative donned Mr. Khashoggi’s clothes after he was killed and left the building to create a misleading trail of evidence, surveillance images leaked by Turkey show. (Continued: New York Times) 

SaveSave