I am still feeling so-so. Recently--again, I cannot remember what day--I saw an excellent Major League Baseball game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Mets. The Blue Jays won 9-1, but it was a hard-fought match, played in the rain, which screws up the aerodynamics of pitches and hits by adding yet another variable on top of temperature and wind, all of which complicate drag calculations and assumptions. It was also nice to see the Blue Jays pull it off and shrug off the Robinson Cano and Roberto Osuna scandals. I was also happy to see Force India's Sergio "Checo" Perez and McLaren score points in last week's Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, with Lance Stroll and Brandon Hartley just outside the points. Sad that Pierre Gasly, Stoffel Vandoorne and Esteban Ocon DNF'd, though.
As for The Famous, it was nice to see them ending the season on a draw...but not nearly as nice as it was to see Neil Lennon desperately celebrating the fact that his club of schlubs could only manage a draw when The Famous came up from behind to make the outcome uncertain. Tee-hee! As for Steven Gerrard, I am as happy as anyone that he is onboard, but I keep my expectations within the realm of the possible. Everyone was celebrating when Mark Warburton and Pedro Caixinha came aboard as well, and look how that turned out.
So, back to me feeling so-so, as opposed to up the par, as I was in years past when I would crap out two or three entries per week. This very much relates to the main topic of this entry. As a result of me feeling so-so, I have been dealing with a lot of Gaspesian health care "professionals" these months. I have also been dealing with a number of Black/African health care workers these months. If offered the choice, I would almost always pick a Black/African over a Gaspesian. Almost always, but not always, that is. For one thing, the majority--but not all--of Black/African health care workers in Québec, as with the majority of Blacks/Africans in Québec, not only are more professional than their Gaspesian counterparts, but they are, plain and simple, better Frenchmen then their Gaspesian counterparts. Blacks/Africans in Québec have mastered the concept of "Oui" and "Non" ("Yes" and "No.") Ask a oui-non/yes-no question to a Gaspesian and you get ANYTHING BUT a yes or no answer. What you get instead is incoherent word salad along the lines of "Wuh-Wuh-Way!" or "Awwww boin-la!", the kind of nonsense you would NEVERhear a REALFrenchman like Emmanuel Macron, whatever his political shortcomings may be, say.
For thems who are new, comparing a Gaspesian (the group that comprises six million out of the eight million-strong population of Québec) to a REALFrenchman is like comparing what a Tribeca street vendor tries to hawk onto you with a kosher Rolex, Louis Vuitton or Prada. You KNOWyou are in Québec when the locals
- scream "Je me souviens de mes origines françaises/Ici on parle Français!"
- are frighteningly intimately familiar with Harvey Weinstein (who is an American), BUT
- give you a blank, uncomprehending stare when you mention REAL FRENCHconcepts such as
I shit you not. Recently, I had to go through a questionnaire with a Gaspesian health care "professional." In the process, said "professional" tossed out a tribal Gaspesian term. I responded with a blank stare. Said professional defined the term, and then HADto throw in "Ici, c'est Québec!" (You're in Québec, bitch!") I responded "Oui. Ici, c'est ni la France, ni la Légion Étrangère." ("Yes, this is neither France nor the French Foreign Legion.") Said "professional" simply responded with an emphatic, zealous "OUI!"...COMPLETELY oblivious to the fact that I had just responded by throwing back the worst possible insult imaginable, which is to say subtly and politely telling this "professional" that it was not a REALFrenchman but a counterfeit Frenchman.
Admittedly, if this was the only issue I had with Gaspesian health care "professionals," it would not be worth writing about. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Gaspesian health care "professionals," as with Gaspesians in general, are counterfeit Frenchmen who claim the title of Frenchmen without living up to the standards of Frenchmen. This is evident in the fact that Gaspesian health care "professionals" CONSTANTLYwhinge about "how hard" they have it, when they NEVERhave to face what theirREAL French counterparts have to deal with. To put it politely, not a damned one of these Gaspesian health care "professionals" is OPSC-qualified, as is evident in the way they take their sweet-ass time. The thing is that Gaspesian health care "professionals" are NOTunaware of what OPSC-qualified means. An article in a magazine READILY AVAILABLE ACROSS QUÉBEC NEWSTANDS recently detailed what OPSC-qualified means. Gaspesian health care workers are VERY WELL AWARE of the meaning of OPSC. It is just that they prefer to go on being counterfeit Frenchmen instead of getting off their enormous asses. On a related note, that is why you do not see Sandra Julien, Marie-Pierre Castel, Brigitte Lahaie, Clara Morgane, Laure Sainclaire, Sandra Richefort, Ingrid Rouif, Diosaor Melissa Lauren types in Québec, where American (and, to the best of my knowledge, non-French-speaking) Melissa McCarthy and Rosie O'Donnell are surprisingly popular role models.
Then, there was last week's bleating by Gaspesian ex-politicians about Israel shooting rioters and infiltrators on its border with Gaza. RDI (CBC's French 24-7 news channel) has this separatist commentator Yves-François Blanchet and LCN (the 24-7 news channel of violentwhite nationalist and Elliot Carver wannabe Pierre-Karl Péladeau's Québecor media empire) has this separatist commentator Bernard Drainville. Last week, Blanceht and Drainville were all I am SHOCKED! SHOCKED, I tell you, to find that there is gambling going in in this establishment--here are your winnings, sir--Oh-Thank you very much! over the fact that the Israelis killed Palestinians on Monday. This is either hypocrisy or an astounding lack of self-awareness on the part of Blanchet and Drainville. A few years back, when he was the separatist Minister of Vice and Virtue, Drainville crapped out the Québec Nürnberg Laws, which banned observant Muslims and Jews from working in the Québec public sector.
The difference between the Israeli security forces last week on the one hand and Bernard Drainville and Yves-François Blanchet on the other is that the Israeli security forces are intellectually honest about their views on Muslims. This is also evident in the fact that neither Drainville or Blanchet either condemned Coalition avenir Québec leader (and Richard Spencer wannabe) François Legault's policies to expel immigrants, or made the link between Legault's policies and yesterday's Storm Alliance demonstration at the border. Last month, the white nationalist CAQproposed a whitewashing motion saying that there are no far right parties in Québec. Current Québec Premier Philippe Couillard, a Liberal, is not a man without faults. His ruling party is incompetent, brutal and thoroughly corrupt. But at least Couillard's Liberals blocked the CAQ-PQ motion to perpetuate the lie that the extreme right does not have an overabundant currency among six million out of the eight million residents of Québec. Some of these six million, you see, are decent people after all.
And, now, I want to end with a couple of plugs.
I first heard of this group on TSN 690. They are called Hockey Helps The Homeless, and they raise money for homeless people by hosting hockey tournaments featuring National Hockey League players and ordinary civilians.
McLaren alumni Sergio "Checo" Perez is collecting money for the victims of the recent earthquakes in Mexico through his foundation.
Puerto Rico has been devastated by Hurricane Maria. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has set up The Empire State Relief And Recovery Effort For Puerto Rico.
On the subject of Puerto Rico, Los Angeles Chef José Andrés has set up an organisation, called World Central Kitchen, to help feed the hungry, not only in Puerto Rico, but in other bad-off places in the world. Please donate or help if you can.
I also want to plug the Patreons of a couple of superb folks. First, there is Jordan Owen, superb musician and content creator. Then, there is Sunny Megatron, Sex Educator and Podcaster. And there is also director extraordinaire and podcaster Holly Randall. They are, all three, highly entertaining to watch. They have the charm and magnetic charisma of The Kylie Ireland Show podcast of a decade ago, starring the legendary, one and only Kylie Ireland and Eli Cross.