Very little mention of sports in this entry today, except to express belated congratulations to Esteban Ocon of Force India and Pierre Gasly of Toro Rosso on the points in last Sunday's Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix. And, for the gullible rubes who listen to sports "journalists" who used to work for gambling websites, do not think that the outcome of last night's National Hockey League Stanley Cup Playoffs Finals game between the Las Vegas Golden Knights and the Washington Capitals will have any bearing whatsoever on the outcome of tonight's game.
No, this second entry of the day is just because it is that damned entertaining!
Long story short, there is in Québec, this private TV 24-7 news station called LCN, part of white nationalist with a history of violence and Elliot Carver/Ted Turd-Herder wannabe Pierre-Karl Péladeau's media empire. LCN has this afternoon yakety-yak, Don Lemon-of-the-CNN-wannabe show called La Joute. It is hosted by this clown named Paul Larocque, who, like Don Lemon, thinks he is some kind of Walter Cronkite or Howard Cosell, or, at least, does his best imitation of Cronkite and Cosell, but fails miserably every time. The two regular bobblehead commentators are Bernard Drainville, author of Québec's version of the Nürnberg Laws, and Luc Lavoie, who is actually a decent guy who has the stones to call out François Legault and Jean-François Lisée for being the white nationalists that they actually are. M. Lavoie, who has worked in America, most likely knows of Richard Spencer and Mike Enoch, but he does not mention them because he knows that, even though Gaspesians are pathologically obsessed with Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein, neither of who has any impact on their daily lives, they are generally proud of their ignorance of the English language, so, even if he pointed out how Legault is Richard Spencer translated into Gaspesian, it would go right over his audience's heads. Drainville, on the other hand, is the type who is shocked by Trump's every syllable and who professes to be horrified that Palestinians got the natural consequences of bringing rocks to a gun fight the other week, but then, without a shred of a scintilla of self-awareness, defends Legault and Lisée for saying the exact same thing that Trump says (only in Gaspesian instead of English), while he, Drainville, himself legislated to ban Muslims from the public service, including medical practice. Then, there are rotating guest schlubs, of the Ana Novarro/Phil Mudd Mudd variety.
An aside on Gaspesian ignorance. You know you are in Québec when every Gaspesian around you constantly expresses shock over Trump and Weinstein--neither of who, to my knowledge, speak French--but then give you blank stares when you mention Opération BARKHANE, or Lucile Garcia and Soraya Belkacemi. So much for the lie that is "Je me souviens de mes origines françaises!" ("I remember my French origins!")
So, today the Joutemob were whinging about lack of resources and personnel at the Province's long term care facilities/nursing homes. This is a valid concern, since mistreatment and neglect of the elderly is indeed an issue. The Joutemob cited some long term care/nursing home workers saying they were overworked and overstaffed.
Then, sierra got REAL INTERESTING, REAL QUICK.
The health minister, Dr. Gaétan Barette rang up Larocque, who all of a sudden developed the "Oh, FUCK!" look on his puss before calling for commercials. Larocque, it seems, thought this would just be another day at the office, seeing as another member of the Government had announced his intention to stand down in the October elections. Wrong answer!
Commercials over, on comes Dr. Barrette, who then proceeds to rip Larocque, Lavoie, Drainville and their Ana Novarro/Phil Mudd du jour new ones, pointing out that they had just taken at face value, without verification, the words of union members whose union is currently in bitter negotiations with the government, the same union members who had told him "Nah, everything's fine here!" just a few weeks ago. The Ana Novaro/Phil Mudd-type yobbette whinged about being forced to work overtime. Dr. Barrette laid it into her, but was far more gentlemanly about it than I would have been. As I have said before in this space, unlike aviators who, BY LAW, cannot work past a fixed number of hours per day, the freaky haired little punks whinging about overtime, accepted overtime in their last Collective Bargaining Agreement because there was moolah involved. This is a point none of these whingers mentions. Pilots CANNOT agree to work beyond 14 hours a day, even in exchange for more money. Québec health care "professional" whingers, on the other hand, can work beyond what the law allows, just so long as they are paid. In all the "I work too much (but still have the time to colour my hair an unnatural colour)" whingery, ain't none of them punks complained about the pay they get for working beyond what pilots are legally allowed to work.
Dr. Barrette was too much of a gentleman to mention the last CBA. But the way he ripped into the Joutemob and the "I just shat my pants and I'm not even wearing underbritches!" look on the Joutemob's mugs when Dr. Barrette showed up, charging at them from out of nowhere was a sight to be seen! At the end, Larocque tried to save his and his mob's asses by saying "Uh...we're out of time..." you know, the standard-issue Don Lemon excuse. Dr. Barrette said "Fine! Bring me back tomorrow and we'll have another go!' Dr. Barrette looked willing as ever. The Joutemob, not so much.
Tee-hee!
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.