Stunning Linguistic Hypocrisy
During a recent speech in Toronto, while kowtowing to the Canadian Sikh community, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said, “But words matter and being precise matters.” This from a senior minister in a government that insists on calling illegal immigrants “irregular” immigrants.
But then it should be remembered that it was Goodale who said earlier this year that sadistic murderer Terri-Lynne McClintic had “engaged in some bad practices.” What McClintic actually “engaged in” was the kidnapping, torture, rape and murder of an innocent eight-year-old girl.
Trudeau And China
With the turmoil these days surrounding our relationship with China, I can’t help but muse about why Prime Minister Trudeau has been tiptoeing around the situation.
Perhaps it has something to do with the following statement he made at a public event a few years ago: “You know, there’s a level of admiration I actually have for China. Their basic dictatorship is allowing them to turn their economy around on a dime.”
Government/Union Negotiations
The federal government recently went through a fruitless negotiation with the postal workers union that ended in back-to-work legislation, and this week the Ontario government had to enact legislation preventing the Ontario power workers union from following through on a threat to shut off electricity over the Christmas holidays.
I doubt that unions and governments ever negotiate in good faith. The government knows that back-to-work-legislation will ultimately get them off the hook, and the unions know that when that happens their members will come out ahead because arbitrators always award them higher wages than they could ever achieve through good-faith negotiation.
Then There’s This To Consider
What is the character of the kind of people who would turn off electricity during winter weather and, of all times, on Christmas eve? I fervently hope that it won’t be forgotten during the next Ontario election that those people include Ontario NDP leader Andrea Howarth and all her party colleagues who voted against the legislation. The Liberals supported the PCs in passing it.
A General Observation On Negotiations
Throughout my career I was involved in many tough negotiations, and one thing I learned very quickly was that the only successful outcome was either a win/win or a lose/lose. A win/lose meant that one side would be disgruntled and there would undoubtedly be a price to pay sometime in the future.
I actually preferred a lose/lose result, with both sides being a little disappointed, over a win/win result. Both sides being happy usually meant that one side missed something, and when whatever that was surfaced later on there would be dissatisfaction of some sort.
Hearts Strategy
When four players are involved, Hearts is by far my favourite card game. I recently mentioned in my “Things I Firmly Believe” section that, when playing Hearts, you should always break control at the first opportunity. Following are some other things I believe about playing the game.
Always force out the queen of spades as soon as possible.
Remember that a person who wins a spade trick with the ace or king and doesn’t lead spades back likely has the queen.
Short-suiting your hand is always a good idea.
When leading from a short suit, say A J 3, play the two high cards first, keeping the 3 as an escape card; never give up an escape card until you have to.
A short suit of only high cards, say A Q 9, should be played as soon as possible.
Never hesitate to take in hearts early if it helps you avoid taking in more later because you’ve become trapped with the lead. For example, if you have the K and 4 of hearts, always play the K first.
A Significant Turnover In NHL Scoring
There’s been a sixty percent turnover in the top ten NHL point getters since the end of last season. As of yesterday morning the top ten scorers were: Rantanen, MacKinnon, Kucherov, McDavid, Scheifele, Gaudreau, Marner, Wheeler, Eichel, and Point. Only MacKinnon, Kucherov, McDavid, and Wheeler finished in the top ten last season. Missing from last season’s top ten are: Giroux, Malkin, Hall, Kessel, Kopitar, and Crosby.