All the pictures below were published in Naharnet, taken from the above video:
A major part of Beirut was destroyed on August 4th, 2020. About 200 people died and over 6000+ were injured. Many citizens are now homeless. Four hospitals were fully destroyed, several schools heavily damaged, and a high number of businesses are now closed.
Whether the ammonium nitrate of the Beirut explosion was just mere carelessness or meant to be used as weapons, Bambi does not care… In either case, in her mind, it is a story of criminal negligence (in addition to political stupidity). It is a crime against one’s population and city. Once again, where is the international investigation!?
Enough of human tragedies in Beirut/Lebanon. ENOUGH of stories of dangerous weapons and risky behaviours, whether the video above is accurate or not.
On our federal governmental website, we can read the following statement:
“Canada deeply disappointed following resignation of Lebanese prime minister-designate
Statement
September 28, 2020 – Ottawa, Ontario – Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement:
“Canada was deeply disappointed and concerned to hear about the resignation of Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib.
“We call on political leaders to work together and form a Government that will fully respond to the urgent and legitimate demands of its people. The Lebanese people deserve nothing less.
“Canada remains ready to further support Lebanon’s leaders with the urgent, fundamental and serious reforms necessary to put the country on a path to recovery and reconstruction.
“Impunity must stop. Reforms must be implemented. And the people of Lebanon must be heard. ”
At the end of this post, you can see an earlier post related to this topic. As a reminder, Mr. Champagne travelled to Beirut on August 27th, 2020, and pushed the country’s President for the much needed reforms, using terms like “listen to the street” and “seize the moment“.
Sadly, the country is being taken hostage between two evils, corruption and militia… All this in the middle of a deep financial crisis (due to systemic corruption) made worse by the economic consequences of the covid-19 pandemic.
What is next for this tiny bankrupt yet charming Mediterranean country? Time will tell… Until then, Bambi is holding her breath, praying that “the people of Lebanon” will be finally “heard“, to use Mr. Champagne’s own wise words.
The Lebanese people have been demanding the end of impunity and financial reforms since October 17, 2019.
Yesterday, families of the victims of the Beirut explosion came together to demand justice. They are still waiting for answers. Where is the (international) investigation? It has been 55 days since that doomed August 4th, 2020. This is over 13 times “the 4-day-investigation maximum“, that was promised by the Lebanese authorities. Until when will we keep deceiving the population? When will impunity stop?!
Can someone explain to
Bambi what is the purpose of initiatives like “Black Journalism Fellowship”
or prior to it the “Indigenous Journalism Fellowship”?
Is the underlying message
that such fellows cannot compete in the regular competitions of excellence?
Is it a good thing to
divide us like that?
So, we will eventually
have the Arab or Jewish or Muslim Journalism Fellowships? Or the left-handed journalism
fellowship? Or the short-people fellowship award?
When will we stop and
think about the consequences of our divisive policies and funding programs?
Can’t we be a professional
journalist reporting facts and being respectful of people without being part of
this tribe or that tribe?
Should we be of Lebanese
origins to be able to report on the Beirut explosion and its human tragic
consequences?
Should we indulge in
prostitution ourselves to be able to support sex workers, to cite one of Bambi’s
former professors?
When will we stop creating
interest groups and making them holy (but only superficially without ever
addressing any of their serious issues)?
Is this our new Canadian
way of living from now on?
Will there be any Canada
left in 25, 50, or 100 years if we all become like tribes living next to each
other instead of being collectively one country?
We learned from the above article that Black Lives
Matter (BLM) is to be painted on the streets of Halifax.
Why do Canadian politicians always feel the need for virtue signalling?
Why can’t they be genuinely respectful of all citizens
without having to show the whole world how good they are, how morally noble,
and even superior to the rest of us?
We saw the same phenomenon with Montréal Mayor, Ms. Mayor Valérie Plante, another highly illuminated politician. She seems to have forgotten to consult her citizens on this matter. Perhaps she so much wants to be part of the latest global fashion that she often genuinely forgets that her metropolitan city remains part of the province of Québec, which the last time Bambi checked, was still in Canada (not in the USA). If you do not believe Bambi, go listen to Ms. Plante’s first official speech as a Mayor. She spoke to her citizens in English, imagine (not even French, the official language of her province!). Her excuse was that she forgot which language she was speaking ?.
To come back to Halifax now, did its regional municipality
impose its illuminated ideology on Haligonians, like Ms. Plante (https://globalnews.ca/news/7176516/black-lives-matter-street-sign/)?
Or did they think of asking their citizens how they feel prior to their
decision?
Although she may be wrong, Bambi suspects that only a
minority of hardcore activists may be all for BLM paintings. Some may be too naïve
to realize the implications of such movements with their unrealistic demands. In
contrast, most of the people likely do not endorse this radical movement. For
them, all lives matter. In other terms, you or Bambi do not matter neither more
nor less because of so-called skin colour (or whatever race-based descriptive).
We are all Canadians. We all deserve respect, regardless of our ethnolinguistic
background. We all have a responsibility toward our city and country. We are
all citizens to the same extent and under the same rule of law.
We are blessed to live in a country that, although VERY
far from being perfect, is likely one of the most beautiful places in the world!
So, please let’s not import slogans that, even if they sound empty to some,
they can be used to divide us, regardless of any noble intentions.
He said he is ashamed of Lebanese politicians. He added that “the Hezbollah should not think it is stronger than it actually is“.
He gave the Lebanese politicians 4-6 weeks to form a government.
Well, this timeline brings us to what matters the most
in the region: The results of the American elections.
It is Bambi’s hope that Mr. Trump would be re-elected.
No, it is not because she finds him friendly, articulate, respectful,
inspiring, or beneficial to our Canadian business interests.
It is simply because he is enough of a “jerk” to truly
make thugs like the Iranian regime feel threatened.
Once they do start to behave, then there is room for more
diplomatic approaches.
From what Bambi understood from today’s press conference, Mr. Macron, although well-meaning, seems more like Mr. Obama. The latter has used the term “red line” with Mr. Assad more than once (about his chemical weapons in the Syrian war). Did he act on his words? No. He lost his credibility, even if he is well-spoken (contrary to Mr. Trump).
This is the sad reality when we are dealing with delinquents. Kindness does not work. Actually, any kindness will be interpreted by them as a sign of weakness.
At home, his speech was heavily criticized across
provinces and territories. Not surprisingly, he promised us more and more public
debt… over decades, he wanted to reassure us.
As usual, he also meddles in provincial affairs and seems
to care more about special interest groups than about the average Canadian.
As Ms. Denise Bombardier said, our Governor General may have perhaps wished to go back to space while reading this speech ?
Bearing this in mind, Bambi listened to the whole UN
speech of our PM yesterday before going to sleep. Well, she was happily surprised
and even impressed. His speech was much better than the usual. He even dared to
criticize Iran, Russia, and China, without naming them. Bravo Mr. Trudeau for
standing up for justice around the world!
He did not even use buzz words like “systemic racism”.
He just said racism among other problems of our world in crisis.
He even mentioned the Lebanese people in his example of a country’s sufferings.
Of course, he talked about climate change, and that’s fine. What resonated the most in Bambi’s mind is the above message. It sounded clear, courageous, and in line with those classical liberal values that Bambi has been missing much over the past years. Those conservative values too of standing up for what Canadians believe in. These are the values that unite us and make us so well respected in the world. Can we have more of these words and acts, Mr. Trudeau? Can we have our OWN wisdom back, not just repetitions of global buzz words empty of meaning? And while there, can we have our country back please?
What is cancel culture? It refers to (group) shaming, often online. It consists of withdrawing support for public figures or companies or artistic groups for doing or saying something considered offensive. This practice may go as far as destroying someone’s reputation or provoking the end of his/her career.
Keeping this definition in mind, before sharing the story behind this post, Bambi admits that sometimes she seems like a lost deer, likely living on her own planet. Well, perhaps this explains why she has not heard about this talented Lebanese humourist before, even if the latter became one of the revolt’s famous public figures.
This 32-year-old humourist is called “Ammounz” (her real name is Ms. Amani Danhach). She is SO funny. Her specialty is to make fun of ALL the Lebanese politicians. She has videos on each one of them separately or jointly. She records herself in her car or in her living room and posts her videos online. Her language is natural and direct. She even composes and sings songs, without any financial reward. It seems like a pure pleasure for her whilst earning a living in another field of work in Dubai where she has been living for a few years.
As mentioned earlier, she jokes about all the Lebanese political leaders. Yes, all of them, men and women, older and younger, including Mr. Nasrallah (Chief of the Hezbollah) and his ally Mr. Aoun, President of Lebanon.
Well, what a shame that the funny Ammounz was recently the victim of a nasty cancel culture attempt, not in Lebanon… but rather in Dubai, her host country. Can you imagine? Someone had the guts (and heart) to email her employer to complain about her disrespect of Lebanon’s President. The person who did this nasty complaint also contacted the Government of the Arab Emirates. Can you imagine?!
Here is the text of the email sent out of Lebanon all the way to Dubai:
Well, the silly person who wrote the above text emailed the former employer of Ammounz by mistake, if Bambi understood the story well. Luckily, this did not affect her employment status.
Instead of accepting humour, like any other politician, a supporter of Lebanon’s President (or was it a fan of his ally?) had the nerve to try to harm a fellow Lebanese citizen IN ANOTHER COUNTRY to silence a dissenting voice. The idea was so kind that it simply aimed to prevent her from earning a living and perhaps supporting a family. Do you see how absurd and nasty cancel culture can be.
Mind you, this post is just one example of cancel culture. In reality, neither the topic nor the country is what matters here. The person(s) who resort to cancel culture or the victim(s) of such practices are not the mere issue here. Today, it is about this President and this humourist. Tomorrow, it will be about other individuals. When cancel culture happens in Canada (like we have been observing recently), it is about other forms of political correctness or ideologies. What remains the same, across all stories like this one, is that cancel culture (or silencing) is an act of aggression (or intimidation) because someone is being intolerant of other opinions.
Well, this being said, Bambi got more curious about Ammounz, especially after she heard on a Lebanese-American radio all the phone calls of support. Indeed, calls and words of support came from ALL around the world, including Lebanon, Paris, the USA, Dubai, and Canada (this station has listeners in 140 counties). People of all age groups called (even a kid called from Beirut). Very clearly, this humourist/singer is well-liked.
Googling Ammounz made Bambi spend a few minutes laughing to her funny jokes. In one of her recent online videos, she criticized how the President (and many other politicians) knew about the ammonium nitrate at the port. She did her funny video despite all the grief.
It is sad and unfair to the whole Lebanese population to silence one of their artists. By doing so, we prevent an entire traumatized country from venting in times of hyperinflation, of sorrow, and of fear from the unknown (health, political, and security crises). People need humour in order to keep their sanity when everything else seems to have been stolen from them (dreams, savings, lives, houses… country!).
Talking about lost lives, yesterday an injured citizendied after 50 days. She joined the other 200 victims of the Beirut blast, including two young kids, one Canadian and the other Australian. May all those injured (6000+) survive and heal…
Obituary taken from the Twitter account of Ms. Roula Douglas.
May Ms. Marine Elias rest in peace.
To conclude this post on a lighter
note now, here is a picture of this talented Ammnouz:
Taken from l’Orient Le Jour
Well, she seems to be so talented that she is not only a businesswoman and a (non-professional) singer/humourist. She is also a biker who wins competitions in the desert of the United Arab Emirates. Look at the picture Bambi discovered (she is on the left side with the tattoos on her arm and blue eyeglasses).
Clearly, in Bambi’s mind, this Ammounz seems to be much stronger than her bully (usually a coward), even if he could have thrown her out of her job and host country. Had she been living in Lebanon, she would have been maybe jobless in the financial crisis. What would have they accused her of then? Likely of being a spy for Israel (a classical one!). If you do not believe Bambi, see the older post below. This is what happened to Ms. Kinda El Khatib, another courageous Lebanese activist. Bambi keeps thinking about her, wondering what happened to her (likely still in jail ☹):
To try to describe the situation, imagine that Sackville Town Council decides to provide such grants to Goya’s pizza and Aida’s Café BUT NOT TO Patterson’ Family Restaurant or Mel’s. Can you imagine the absurdity?
Would that make any sense to you? Would that be fair? Wouldn’t
that be racist because it is ONLY based on race, instead of merit (or financial
needs, if it was a charity donation)?
Mind you, Bambi is asking the above whilst being a regular
customer of all our fantastic restaurants in Sackville. She is saying so and
she may be sharing genes and a mother tongue with the owners of one of the
restaurants mentioned above. More significantly, she shares with them their
cherished friendship.
Even if she would be happy for her friends to get a grant simply because they happen to be so-called BIPOC (the funny acronym justifying the grant), she would surely tell them what she thinks about this dangerous clientelism. They would compare it to Lebanon most likely and she would tease them about their both funny and insulting grant. They would be laughing together because so-called BIPOC have a sense of humour (she bets it is more pronounced than “woke” city councillors from Burlington ?).
OK, seriously now, this is a dangerous policy, that is sadly similar
to what Mr. Trudeau did to us here in Canada with his loan program for “Black
Entrepreneurs” (see earlier posts further below).
Of course, Mr. Trudeau and the municipal politicians, are most
likely well-meaning… deep inside. They just do not take the time to think
before addressing a problem as serious as racism. Their programs and policies defeat
their noble purposes. They are dangerous to a society (and not the wisest for
the economy).
It is Bambi’s hope that Mr. Trudeau et al. as well municipal
decision-makers (abroad and at home) will realize that programs like that are a
slippery slope… unless they secretly aspire to eventually become the Lebanon of
North America. Highly NOT recommended!
Yesterday, we read in the Canadian and Lebanese media that Lebanon’s President told reporters that his country is “going to hell” without a government (answer to a reporter).
The question that begs itself is the following: Where is Lebanon right now? Isn’t it in hell already?!
As one Lebanese citizen framed it (thanks Fadia for sharing the video) while talking from his partly destroyed living room: “We are already there, Mr. President. Hell is made of fire. We have been there. It is made of suffering. We have been there since Beirut blast and prior to it with the financial crisis“. He added that he is seeing people sleeping on their balconies because they cannot afford to repair a broken air conditioner. He said if the tire of someone’s car is damaged, he or she cannot afford to fix it.
Well, today, it seems that an explosion just took place in a village 50 km south of Beirut.
Can you imagine the fear triggered by the above?!
How many injured? How many victims? They say none. Hopefully!! If the information is accurate…
Assuming no one died, when will the next blast occur? And this time, how many casualties would it cause? Bambi is usually an optimistic person in life… but with Lebanon these days, it is hard to see the light of hope, she admits it. She is sure, it is there and a change is a MUST.
Yes, love will prevail again. Peace of mind too… and eventually prosperity.
Until then, can someone tell Bambi why is Hezbollah storing its weapons in a building in the middle of a village?!
When will movements like this one stop terrorizing civilians?
When will militias (in Lebanon, in the region, and around the world) stop playing with weapons and… with people’s lives?
To come back to the Lebanese politicians, how can they keep fighting among themselves for the pieces of the melting cake of power when their own country is diving into hell like that?! When will they wake up?! When the fire will reach them too? Or when Lebanon will vanish from the map?
