Today, the families of the 215 victims, in their own names and in the name of those of the 6000+ injured, expressed their support to Judge Bitar’s investigation into the surrealistic Beirut port explosion of August 4, 2020:
The above article is available at this link. Thank you L’Orient Today (English edition of L’Orient Le Jour):
Of note, and according to L’Orient Le Jour, “most likely under threat, the spokesperson of the victims earlier demanded Judge Bitar to recuse himself“:
How sad, especially that in the articles above, many families reported that this spokesperson’s way of speaking did not resemble him at all. His voice, his facial expressions, and the text that he read in the video. Plus, he did not consult with them earlier, which is contrary to his habits.
Anyhow, whether this poor man was truly under threat or not, Bambi is fascinated to see the extent to which the militia-mafia duo of Lebanon appears to be afraid of the truth that the investigation might perhaps uncover. Nevertheless, it is reassuring to hear the united voice of the families of the victims. Best wishes!
To conclude this post on a musical note, and if she may, Bambi would like to offer Mr. Ghassan Saliba’s moving song to all the families of the victims of the Beirut blast. The song is in Arabic, but if you are interested, an English translation appears in an earlier post (shared at the end of this one).
A year has passed since the most horrible killing of Mr. Samuel Paty on an unforgettable October16 (a day meant to celebrate life/love in Bambi’s family):
Thank you, “Monsieur Paty“, for your open mindedness and love of your students. Bambi watched a documentary about your life and (sadly) death a couple of days ago. May your family (parents, sister, etc.), friends, students as well as parents (who loved you dearly), colleagues (who miss you greatly), and fellow citizens of your town, nearby capital, and entire republic find peace in their hearts with every passing year.
With France, may we always remember the precious meaning of the word “freedom“.
Freedom of thought… and academic freedom.
Freedom to teach, educate, and discuss… without fear.
Freedom of expression before AND after a lecture, a talk, a chat, or a publication.
May Mr. Paty’s memory be eternal… and may we all keep singing for “liberty” with Ms. Nana Mouskouri.
Indeed, she has wished her parents’ medications were more easily accessible than all the heavy weapons deployed on that sad day.
This being said, her heart goes to all those who lost their lives and may the injured people all heal. How sad to see the population of Lebanon being taken hostage of both the corruption and violence.
Sadly, Bambi learned from this interview that Judge Bitar (the investigator of the surrealistic Beirut port explosion) has faced many obstacles in his mission, both domestically and externally.
Of note, the message of the President of the Beirut Bar Association resonated with Bambi: Yes, may Lebanon remains a democracy, which means neither the law of the jungle nor a dictatorship.
To conclude this post, Bambi feels like adding the following: today more than ever, as a deer who strongly believes in democracy, she is Judge Tarek Bitar (along with the population of his country who is behind him).
The article is not new, but Bambi just had the time to read it. It is entitled “Some N.B. businesses using staff’s COVID-19 vaccination status as marketing tool“.
Did the restaurant owner in question ask his staff if he can share their medical (and thus personal) information with the general public? Did they consent to it? If so, this should be mentioned in the article.
Bambi thought we were too much attached to our privacy in our culture. What happened to the latter?
Plus, we have lived for almost two years without vaccines. As a reminder, those of us who kept going to restaurants willingly lived with the risk of catching the coronavirus as well as other viruses (which are sometimes as or more serious). For example, think of the impact of Hepatitis A, a virus that attacks the liver, on some individuals (sometimes it can be severe, especially for the 50+). Hepatitis A is not as common in Canada as in other parts of the world although some other provinces have seen outbreaks in the past. Indeed, Bambi herself surprisingly discovered a few years ago that she has the antibodies against it (without having been sick).
Who knows? Perhaps this restaurant owner is only tailoring to clients with a visa to “high Fearland” on their double vaccine passport? What about his other clients who may not be that worried or those who may not had the vaccine because they had Covid-19 or for whatever other reason? Doesn’t he care about them too, Bambi wonders.
Bambi is asking and yet she is for education about vaccination and the value of massive vaccination (as much as realistically possible).
Before going to sleep, Bambi read that the Hezbollah and its allied Amal militia were calling for a large demonstration in the streets against Judge Bitar (leading the investigation about the Beirut blast). She closed her eyes to sleep with a prayer in her heart for her birth country…
This morning, Bambi received a call from her parents reassuring her that they are safe and sound. They thought of calling before she reads the news about the war scenes in Beirut streets. She begged them to stay away from windows/their balcony.
There has been at least (for now) 6 dead people and 30 injured, including a 24-year-old young woman in her own apartment. What is her fault? What is the fault of the innocent population?
Look at those kids and their parents scared to death? Bambi just read in the L’Orient Le Jour about a child telling his mom that he does not want to die.
A picture taken from An Nahar.
A picture taken from l’Orient Le Jour
A picture taken from An Nahar (like the above). Thank you for protecting this scared boy…
Shame on anyone who uses his or her illegal weapon (whomever the powerful group of the era or country) to play war games in the streets, killing innocent people!
The irony is to see some of those playing war in the streets of Beirut appearing to be so health-conscience (with their medical masks). Yet they do not seem to mind the loss of lives of their fellow innocent citizens. Do you see the ironic contradiction? Or was the mask just meant to help in hiding one’s face behind? Whatever it is and whomever you are: just STOP!
A picture taken from An Anahar. This Lebanese newspaper had the following title:” A message from An Nahar: Do not shoot yourselves“. Yourselves (or us all) is the best antidote to the “us” versus “them” that extremists hide behind to justify their rigid positions. Hezbollah is a master in the latter, especially when they feel threatened (by the blast investigation or by demands to disarm, etc.). So is and would/could be any other extremist group, make no mistake.
Although Bambi may be wrong, in her mind, the real issue behind all this comes down to the unresolved problem since the end of civil war: The weapons of the Hezbollah (and its allied other militia?). Any country should ONLY have the legal weapons of its army.
A wise answer to violence is not more or reverse violence.
Indeed, everyone loses when violence rules, especially the innocent population.
Sadly, violence is part of the past, present, but hopefully not the future of tiny, bankrupt, heavily-armed, yet hopeful Lebanon.
To conclude on a (VERY short-term) more positive note, if Bambi understood well, there has been a ceasefire agreement now… Fingers crossed!
Bambi would like to thank Joumana who made her day by sharing the YouTube video shown below.
In turn, Bambi could not help not to share this talent with you through this post.
Who knows? Some of you are perhaps already fans of this singer. As far as Bambi is concerned, she just discovered him (thanks to her Dear Cousin who was beginning her day when Bambi was about to go to sleep :).
This singer is called Mr. Omar Kamal and this is his official website:
His voice is both beautiful and moving! He is SO talented (OK handsome/cute too :)!
While googling him, Bambi learned that he was born in 1992 not too far from Beirut… in Nablus, Palestine (wow). He is internationally known as the “Frank Sinatra of Palestine“, imagine! When you will hear him singing, you will understand why.
In addition to Arabic and English, he also sings in Italian. He grew up listening to both classical and world music. In addition to his passion for singing, he plays the piano and his music has multi-cultural influences.
Mr. Kamal’s medley captured in the video below comes from Lebanon’s Famous Beiteddine Festival. His medley is “from his own repertoire combining Fayrouz, Mozart, and his own swing version of Symphony No. 40“. Bravo to him as well as to the talented musicians for the magical moments… Thank Goodness, there is music in life!
Thank you Mr. Omar Kamal. Please keep singing for us… FOREVER!
How refreshing to see reason, critical thinking, acceptance, and respect in action.
Bravo for courageously, and just simply saying no, to the violence stemming from (any) dogmatic thinking and its resulting bullying behaviour.
Bambi feels proud of this student (bravo to Audrey or Ms. Unverferth).
Bambi is happy for Dr. Dorian Abbot! As a reminder, she has supported him last week on her blog when she heard of his absurd story (see further below).
Finally, thank you Fox News for reporting this positive piece of news online.
To conclude this post, a big thanks to our courageous neighbouring country, for giving Bambi hope that brighter days can be ahead in not just the United States but also in our entire world.
With simple yet powerful ingredients like critical thinking (along with courage), people can come together to stand up against injustice and violence in life.
Whether you endorse wokeism or not yourself, whether you like to listen to Fox News only or CNN only (or both/any channel like Bambi), just remember that no one deserves to be silenced in life. Everyone has something valuable to express that we can all learn something from (including a smart professor like Dr. Dorian Abbot). Bambi is saying this regardless of the target, perpetrator, story, historic time, ideology (secular or religious), workplace, institution of higher education, country, continent, etc.
To conclude this post, when will Canada also start seeing some light of hope in the darkness of our collectively insane times?
Once again, if you are a regular reader of her blog, you probably know that one of Bambi’s little pleasures in life is to have fun replying to Mr. Nasrallah’ speeches following the surrealistic Beirut port explosion of August 4, 2020.
Well, Bambi could not help the urge to reply to Mr. Nasrallah before going to sleep. If this topic is of any interest to you, you may wish to read the brief timeline of Mr. Nasrallah’s speech. FYI, the bold characters indicate Bambi’s reply, point by point.
“Nasrallah: The port blast judge is acting like an ultimate ruler in this file. “
Bambi: Bravo to Judge Bitar for his competence, impartiality, and courage.
“Nasrallah: The responsibility of judges is bigger than that of presidents, ministers and MPs, because they’re the ones who gave approvals for the nitrates ship.“
Bambi: ? or ☹. Do you believe your own lies, Mr. Nasrallah? Can you please tell us how come you are not blaming Israel for the first time of your life? ODD.
“Nasrallah: What’s happening in the Beirut port probe is a very big mistake and we won’t accept for the issue to continue in this manner in the coming days.“
“Nasrallah: We are not calling for ending the probe and we want a transparent and honest judge.”
Bambi: Sure, if you say so…
“Nasrallah to Bitar: Why haven’t you heard the testimonies of President Aoun [and] ex-president Suleiman? “
Bambi: No comment. No clue why you are saying this. Surely to deviate the attention or to manipulate for other reasons. Mind you, maybe you have a point that Bambi does not understand (benefit of the doubt?).
Bambi’s understanding, if accurate, is that President Aoun (the Hezbollah’s ally) and many of his peers knew about the 2500 tons of ammonium nitrate that detonated on that sad August 4, 2020 :(. Despite this, they did not inform the Beirut firefighters about the burning product they rushed to extinguish at the port. Had they known, perhaps they could have had enough time to evacuate the city. Furthermore, rescuers (many of them rushed from France and other European countries to help) were prevented from entering the site for many critical hours. This is what was reported in the media as well as in interviews with the families of the victims and on social media.
Anyhow, as far as Bambi is concerned, she trusts Judge Bitar’s judgment. Since you are working hard to prevent him from doing his job, this tells us he is most likely on the right track…
“Nasrallah: Judge Bitar’s work is selective and politicized.”
Bambi: No comment.
“Nasrallah: The investigative judge should identify those who brought the nitrates ship to Beirut port.”
Bambi: Words are cheap in life… especially when stating
the obvious.
“Nasrallah to families of victims: You will not reach the truth with this judge.“
Bambi: Please stop your campaign against Judge Tarek Bitar… as has been done with his predecessor, namely Judge Fadi Sawan.
“Nasrallah: We are keen on investigations into the port blast and we will insist on accountability even if the families of the victims abandon the case.”
Bambi: What a joke… and how insulting to the grieving families ☹ (+ Beirutis, your own country, and the entire world).
“Nasrallah on port case: The current judge is continuing with the mistakes of the former judge.”
Bambi: May God protect Judge Tarek Bitar… from you.
“Nasrallah: I reiterate my call for the government to seek a waiver of sanctions in order to import fuel from Iran.”
Bambi: Why are you putting Lebanon in danger of sanctions from the USA? Why not let the new government take the time to decide what is in the best interests of its country from out of all the ideas/options?
“Nasrallah: I call on the government to accept the Iranian proposal for the construction of two power plants and to obtain a U.S. waiver of sanctions.”
Bambi: No comment about the first part (perhaps helpful? No clue). As for the second part of your comment: Well, same as the above.
“Nasrallah: The issue of electricity should be the government’s priority in the coming session and the country must be put on the track of solution, seeing as the issue needs a drastic solution.”
Bambi: True, electricity is a top priorityfor a country!
“Nasrallah: We call for lowering the voting age to 18.”
Bambi: No clue what the voting age in Lebanon is. Of course, as a smart man, you will ask to lower it if it is to your advantage.
“Nasrallah: We will not oppose expat voting although it is not fair for us in Hizbullah, seeing as we cannot campaign or vote freely in some countries. “
Bambi: No comment… Maybe you are right on this one.
“Nasrallah: We call for holding the parliamentary elections on time and within the constitutional time frame.”
Bambi: Good idea indeed.
A screenshot taken from the Naharnet article cited above (October 11, 2021)
On this Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, Bambi would like to warmly thank you for your incredible support, whether in the form of a word or a gesture of kindness, courage, fairness, openness, generosity, and… especially humanity. This is called love in Bambi’s dictionary. For her, love is simply the essence of life. THANK YOU from the bottom of her heart!
Dans la langue de Molière
En ce congé de l’Action de Grâce au Canada, Bambi aimerait vous remercier chaleureusement pour votre incroyable soutien que ce soit en forme d’un mot ou d’un geste de gentillesse, courage, justice, ouverture d’esprit, generosité et… surtout d’humanité. Ceci s’appelle de l’amour dans le dictionnaire de Bambi. Pour elle, l’amour est tout simplement l’essence de la vie. MERCIdu fond du coeur!
To continue on a musical note, first Bambi will offer you a fun kids’ song to highlight the season in French. This will be followed by another kids’ song in English. Finally, Bambi will share a more serious and surely beautiful song in Arabic by Lebanon’s unifying pride, Fairouz. This song is taken from one of the musicals of the Rahbani Brothers (1973), entitled “Al Mahata” [“The Station”/”La gare“]. Bambi was surprised to hear herself singing it while cleaning the house, even if she hasn’t heard it for ages :). Seriously, Fairouz’ song, Imani Satwe, is meaningful because it talks about someone’s faith in life. “Faith in whatever life will bring… faith in the spring that will come after the storms“, perhaps also faith, if you wish, in the whatever you strongly believe in or not (atheism, your own spirituality, God, Allah, G-d, Goddesses, love, respect for all, science, politics, ideologies, nothing or all/some of the latter).
To conclude this post, and as far as she is concerned, Bambi’s faith in life has always been in humanity. For the latter, she will keep singing (despite her ugly voice!). In other terms, until her last breath in life… even when too frail to clean the house :).
Lebanon has been experiencing multiple crises, all at once, including in its energy sector. As a consequence, the misery of the people of this tiny Mediterranean county just reached new, yet sadly expected, dark levels. Related to this, Bambi would like to start this short post by thanking her friends in Ontario and Québec for reaching out concerned about her family in Lebanon. Thank you/Merci!
First, you can watch if you wish, a France24 news documentary on the blackout.
Below this video, you can see (and it is heart-breaking for Bambi) another Wion short news documentary on the financial crisis related to the crash of the banking sector.
Hyperinflation in Lebanon has reached exponential levels. Just to give you a concrete example, in Beirut today, a whole chicken (of a rather small-to-medium size) now costs the equivalent of Canadian $125. Can you imagine?! As the currency lost over 90% of its value, MOST of the population cannot afford neither meat nor chicken for a long time now… including the country’s own army!
As the journalist explained, no electricity means no water or access to water… and likely no internet/access to the internet as well.
The blackout is expected to last for a few days (2-3, they seem to say, if the fuel from Iraq arrives on time and its inspection shows its good quality , etc). Bambi’s heart is with Lebanon and its people whomever they are, wherever they are… of course, starting with her own family and her loved ones (relatives and childhood friends). Bon courage! Be SAFE!
To conclude, also as the journalist explained, Lebanon is now in intense negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). BEST wishes!!
