Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday August 10, 2022
FBI raid on Trump’s residence takes US into uncharted territory
The news that sent tremors across America broke at 6.36pm on Monday when the publisher of an obscure Florida politics website tweeted that the FBI had raided Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, adding with a pinch of self-deprecation: “TBH, I’m not a strong enough reporter to hunt this down, but it’s real.”
March 26, 2019
Eighteen minutes later another Florida resident responded to the news with more bombast. “These are dark times for our nation, as my beautiful home … is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” the former president said in an enraged statement.
More than 30 FBI agents, armed with a search warrant issued by a federal magistrate from West Palm Beach, are reported to have entered Trump’s private residence and offices at his Mar-a-Lago club. According to NBC News, they stayed on site most of the day.
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 29, 2020
The future of our watershed is far from assured
Look, it’s another non-COVID-19 editorial! That’s right, we wanted to give you a break from nonstop pandemic news and commentary. We know that can get heavy.
November 26, 2019
So instead, let’s talk about the state of Cootes Paradise, Chedoke Creek and Hamilton’s watershed in general. That’s bound to lighten your mood. Not.
A new report from the City of Hamilton says no special cleanup or monitoring of the Cootes Paradise marsh is called for as a result of the now infamous 24-billion-litre sewage leak known as Sewergate.
Before you utter a collective sigh of relief, let’s be clear: That doesn’t mean the protected marsh area is fine. It’s not. And common sense suggests the extra billions of litres of sewage leaked over more than four years into Chedoke Creek, which drains into the marsh, did not help matters.
December 7, 2019
According to a report from The Spectator’s Matthew Van Dongen, the report by SLR Consulting concludes there was no lasting damage to the marsh from the sewage spill, but it also observes that it’s hard to know where any specific piece of pollution is coming from, because there are so many sources. Well, that’s a relief.
Hamilton Coun. Maureen Wilson rightfully referred to the situation as a “damning indictment” of how the city has treated Cootes through history, allowing it to become dirty nearly beyond redemption prior to efforts in the last two decades to reclaim the marsh.
Progress has certainly been made, but the reality is that Cootes remains painfully polluted, not only by sewage but also by leachate from old landfill sites and toxic-run-off from highways, parking lots and other sources.
November 27, 2019
Back to the report for a bit. The consultant’s view is not necessarily and final word. The Royal Botanical Gardens, which owns the marsh, is studying the report, and while there is no final determination, there are hints the RBG may not agree with the report’s findings. The RBG’s Nick Kondrat told Van Dongen: “ … our initial assessment is that we strongly believe that additional analysis is required to evaluate the severity of the damage” from the spill.
The provincial Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks has also yet to pass judgment, and it may differ from the consultant when it comes. It will also determine whether any aspect of the spill broke the law. If it did, charges against the city could follow.
The Hamilton Spectator
But suppose the provincial ministry report doesn’t amount to much. And suppose the RBG’s findings and recommendations aren’t conclusive. Where does that leave us?
As much as we like to use the Sewergate label — The Spec did coin the phrase and break the story, after all — the spill and its fallout are not the most important issue at hand. What matters more is where we go from here.
Are we satisfied with the status quo, with ongoing cleanup efforts that have delivered laudable but not conclusive results?
Cootes is still receiving pollution from so many sources pollutants can’t be traced to any one source. Chedoke Creek’s bed is layered with contaminated sludge. Major weather events, of which we are having more and more, still result in sewage holding tank overflow that leaks into the marsh, harbour and lake. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial)
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday December 6, 2019
Trump calls Trudeau ‘two-faced’ after video showing Trudeau, NATO leaders candidly talking about Trump goes viral
March 29, 2016
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other foreign leaders have been caught on camera apparently talking candidly about U.S. President Donald Trump, with the footage now going viral and stoking fears of a backlash.
The video was shot during a reception at Buckingham Palace held Tuesday night in London, where leaders from NATO’s 29 countries are marking the 70th anniversary of the military alliance with two days of meetings and discussions.
In it, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson can be heard asking French President Emmanuel Macron why he was late, to which Trudeau says: “He was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top.”
The leaders do not use Trump’s name, but the U.S. president took dozens of questions from journalists on Tuesday during impromptu news conferences at the start of his individual meetings with Macron, Trudeau and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
April 13, 2018
Trump responded to Trudeau’s comments at another news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday afternoon, calling Trudeau “two-faced.” He immediately followed the comment saying “he’s a nice guy,” but suggested Trudeau might not be happy that Trump called him out for not paying enough to NATO.
An impromptu news conference with Trump and Trudeau on Tuesday lasted more than half an hour, which included questions about China, the impeachment process and also saw the Canadian prime minister deflecting questions from the U.S. president about Canada’s defence spending.
July 7, 2017
The reception footage also shows Trudeau talking about “his team’s jaws drop to the floor,” though the subject isn’t clear.
The Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trudeau is scheduled to hold a news conference at the end of the NATO summit on Wednesday.
The footage, shot by the British host’s pool camera, has since spread across the internet and been broadcast by international media such as Fox News and the New York Times, with observers suggesting Trudeau and the other leaders were mocking Trump. (Hamilton Spectator)
By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 12, 2014
NDP may not be able to stop tide turning against it
There is a tide in Ontario political affairs that does not bode well for Thomas Mulcair’s New Democrats in next year’s federal election. And they may be powerless to reverse it to their advantage.
That tide was instrumental in propelling Premier Kathleen Wynne to the safe ground of a majority government last spring. By all indications, it is again at play in Toronto’s municipal campaign.
It should come as no surprise that a Forum Research poll that suggested Mayor Rob Ford (Open Rob Ford’s policard) was still in the running for re-election — with Olivia Chow running third — was followed by a Nanos poll that showed that John Tory had consolidated his lead on his main rivals.
For scores of Toronto voters, ousting Ford from office this fall comes before loyalty to a political brand.
For obvious reasons, the anybody-but-Ford movement is in a class of its own, as is the incumbent mayor who has inspired it. But last spring’s Ontario election demonstrated that it is not necessary for a politician to make it on the international tabloid circuit to induce voters into coalescing behind the strongest available alternative.
In the provincial campaign, the platform put forward by Tory leader Tim Hudak went a long way to convince many progressive voters to stick with the Liberals rather than risk facilitating a Conservative victory by giving their vote to the third-place NDP.
Transpose those dynamics to the federal level and you will find more than a few progressive voters willing to hold their nose next year if that is what it takes to end Stephen Harper’s reign in power.
To many, the first-place Liberals come across as a safer haven than the third-place NDP, regardless of the comparative skills of their leaders or even their respective policies.
This is a problem that may ultimately be beyond Mulcair’s fixing. (Continued: Toronto Star)
I’ve said in past blog entries that often the only feedback I ever get on any of my cartoons is whenever somebody has taken great offense to whatever I’ve drawn and feel the need to convey their anger to me.
My most recent cartoon focusing on the sad saga of Hamilton’s City Hall reno drew the ire of a close relative to the architect of the building, Stanley Roscoe, who phoned to ask what gives me “the nerve to be an architectural critique”.
What gives anyone the right to be an architectual critic? Are only learned experts of the field entitled to pass judgement on architecture in high brow periodicals? Can’t the unwashed masses who can’t tell a cupola from a corbel air their own feelings about the concrete monsters they have to share this planet with?
Anyway, I’ve posted the original sketch I was going to go with and tempered the farting base ass imagery with a giant toilet. My apologies for the loooong gap between blog entries. I’ll keep trying to keep this thing up to date.
By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 12, 2014
