PONDERABLES
It was announced last week that Trudeau will be apologizing next month for the country’s internment of Italian-Canadians during World War II. Given that he loves apologizing on behalf of others so much, when is he going to apologize on his own behalf for all the problems his expressed admiration of the Chinese dictatorship has caused, especially when it was the beginning of all the federal government’s early vaccine procurement problems.
And while on the subject of apologies for past wrong-headed policies, and remembering Pierre Trudeau bragging to “just watch me,” why doesn’t Justin apologize for his father stubbornly and egregiously trampling on the rights of all Canadians in 1970 by invoking the War Measures Act to deal with a small cell of treasonous Quebec separatists? (Only nine of 405 people arrested were convicted.)
Was that he knew Justin Trudeau and Defense Minister, Harjit Sajjan, had his back the real reason former Chief of Defense Staff, Jonathan Vance, assured his mistress that he was “untouchable” so far as allegations of sexual misconduct were concerned.
THINGS I FIRMLY BELIEVE
When asked during a recent press conference about their Zoom call, Joe Biden forgot Justin Trudeau’s name.
The two-game suspension handed out to Vancouver’s Alexander Edler for kneeing Zach Hyman wasn’t anywhere near long enough. Kneeing and slew-footing are the two most cowardly acts in hockey and both should carry a minimum five-game suspension.
That New York Ranger Pavel Buchnevich’s hat trick last Saturday was the 14th in NHL history scored by a player on his birthday is the most useless hockey statistic I’ve ever encountered.
The jerseys worn by the Boston Red Sox last Sunday were so ugly they made the Canadian Olympic jeans jacket look good.
FREELAND IGNORES TRUDEAU’S MANDATE LETTER
Chrystia Freeland blithely ignored her boss’ mandate letter when drawing up the federal budget. The mandate letter Justin Trudeau presented to her upon adding the finance portfolio to her deputy prime minister role clearly stated she was to “be guided by values of sustainability and prudence…present a fiscal anchor….and support the economy without creating permanent new spending.” Her unprecedented 724-page election-platform spending spree reflected none of Trudeau’s quoted orders. Trudeau had to condone this flagrant disobedience, so he and Freeland either don’t know the meaning of the word “mandate,” or the prime minister’s so-named letters to his cabinet ministers are utterly meaningless.
Three more “budget” musings: 1) The Liberals have moved so far left that there’s is no longer any role for the NDP party to play. 2) Liberals are so fond of labelling others as “climate deniers” that it’s now fair to label them as “debt deniers.” 3) Trudeau and Freeland clearly believe that anything they say, no matter how ridiculous, should be accepted as a universal truth; for example that child care is “infrastructure.”
STEVEN DEL DUCA’S LAUGHABLE CLAIM
Ontario Liberal leader Steven Del Duca’s charge that Doug Ford is the worst premier in Ontario history is actually beyond laughable. That title clearly belongs to one of three others: former NDP premier Bob Rae, or the Liberal party’s own Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynn.
MUSINGS ABOUT MLB’s POSSIBLE RULE CHANGES
Major League Baseball is considering a number of rule changes designed to speed up the game, some of which are being tested in the independent Atlantic League. If they prove to be feasible they’ll be tried in the sponsored minor leagues. Following are musings on the five main proposals.
1) Move the mound back a foot: Don’t do it! The distance between the mound and home plate has been 60’ 6” throughout the entire history of baseball and is as fundamental to it as using a round bat and ball.
2) Enlarge the bases from 15” square to 18” square: Another assault on the game’s tradition (90 feet between bases), and the Hubble telescope would be needed to see any effect on speeding up the game.
3) Allow a designated hitter only as long as the starting pitcher remains in the game: Ridiculous and counter-productive. Having relief pitchers uselessly flailing away at the plate will slow down the game, not speed it up. In fact, the DH should be mandatory in both leagues.
4) To counteract the shift, infielders have to be standing on the dirt when a pitch is delivered: It would be far more effective and entertaining to teach hitters to bunt.
5) Allow only three throws to first base for any one runner: The only useful proposal. Forget the experiment, institute it right away.