Rockets fired into Israel from Lebanon: Why are we playing with the fire of war?!

It is supposed to be an overlapping time of spirituality, not of violence: Ramadan, Passover, and (the first) Easter. When will I finally succeed in warming everyone’s hearts with love and peace?

According to L’Orient Today, Mr. Antonio Guterres, the “UN chief condemns rockets fired into Israel from Lebanon, calls for ‘restraint’ ” (https://bit.ly/3KgqQjB).

In the media article cited above, Bambi read the following: “Israel has accused Palestinian groups of firing rockets from Lebanon on the Jewish Passover holiday, which coincides with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan this year, just over a day after clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians inside Islam’s third-holiest site”.

Enough of dangerous escalation in the region… and hands off Lebanon, please. It already has TOO many crises, including an economic tragedy and a political vacuum.

Let people enjoy Ramadan, Passover, and Easter. Whatever happened in Jerusalem is sad, but increasing the spot of sadness to an entire region is not the most brilliant idea that will solve conflicts and bring justice. It will rather bring blood, tears, and more conflicts.

Lebanon has paid a huge price for this eternal, unfortunate, and unfair Israel-Palestinian conflict. It does not need to be re-dragged into war again.

May restraint succeed. May violence stop. May peace prevail. May ONLY love have the final word in the Middle East and everywhere, that is in ALL current and future armed conflicts of the entire world.

To end this post in music, it will be Ms. Christiane Najjar’s soothing voice singing Fairouz’ prayer Wa Habibi [My love, Jesus] at the eve of the Good Friday. May the latter bring love to people’s hearts and faith in humanity, whether they are Christians or not, believers or not, whatever… may it just bring love, forgiveness, unity, and diplomacy to solve and prevent the world’s problems.

Happy Holy Friday to Bambi’s readers who will highlight Good Friday ❤️.

Bambi sends her continuous positive vibes to Professor Rod Cumberland!

May the sunshine of justice finally shine on your case Professor Cumberland. Enough of cancel culture in NB and Canada!

Bambi keeps standing in full solidarity with biologist and professor Rod Cumberland who was fired for his teaching position at the Maritime College of Forest Technology in Fredericton (New Brunswick) a while ago.

Indeed, Professor Cumberland was the NB provincial deer biologist. During his tenure, his findings seemed to have shown that glyphosate spraying may be a major contributor to the declining deer numbers. Following an industry-sponsored event in which he expressed himself about the potential harmful impacts of glyphosate, he was fired from his position without due process.

Can you imagine? Presenting one’s findings and/or expert opinion makes you lose your job in our province? Sadly, this is the outrageous extent of censorship (or cancel) culture we live in in our beautiful province… and by extension country.

In an earlier post shown further below, Bambi wrote the following: “Biologist Rod Cumberland spoke about the effect herbicide spraying has on the health of deer and moose in the province. Bambi thanks him for caring for her and all her fellow deer (and indirectly of NB citizens, including those who are trying hard to silence him). In addition, he also spoke about the Pest Management Regulatory Agency’s failure to protect the public from harmful herbicides and pesticides. Bambi also thanks him for caring for his fellow NB human beings“.

“… we should be ashamed of ourselves for not being wise enough to know how to listen to and respect all opinions on any given topic and regardless of whether we agree with it or not.

Stated differently, everyone has the right to freely express his or her opinion, whether the latter is scientific, medical, political, religious, etc. Powerful pressure groups, governments, and individuals must urgently re-commit to this basic principle of common sense in communication and in human rights, if we want to still keep calling ourselves a democracy”.

You may perhaps wonder why Bambi is devoting a third post to Professor Cumberland’s case. Well, it is because she received an update about his case today, as one of his numerous supporters.

During the last days of his trial, Chief Justice Tracy DeWare expressed her hope to have her decision rendered before the end of March, 2023. It is April 5 today and there is no decision made yet. When will we hear about the latter? And will Professor Cumberland be publicly vindicated AND compensated enough for what was unfairly done to him, to his students who were deprived of him… and to us all his fellow citizens in NB, both humans and deer? 

To conclude this post of solidarity, Bambi wishes you Professor Cumberland all the best. Please keep your inspiring integrity in life. We all so badly need it. You/your family members seem to have a deep and beautiful faith in your hearts. Just like Jesus whom you believe in will rise from the death soon, may you “rise” from your adversity AND may you be compensated to the highest extent you deserve; whatever the amount will be, you surely deserve more!

Happy Passover, which will start tomorrow evening!

There is nothing like freedom after slavery!

Bambi would like to wish her readers who will celebrate Passover from tomorrow and onward a “Happy Pesach“! Whether they are observant Jews or not, it is hard not be touched by a beautiful story of freedom, especially when it involves ancestors and… food with loved ones 🙂 ❤️.

Eighty months since the Beirut port blast: isn’t it sad when hope for justice seems to fade?

While driving on the New Brunswick Trans-Canada highway yesterday, Bambi listened to music and sang to songs of different languages and themes. One of these melodies was Fairuz’ famous Li Beirut song, which brought tears to her eyes. Indeed, she could not help not to think of all the tragedies in her birthplace throughout history.

One of Beirut’s surrealistic yet still unaccountable recent tragedies of criminal neglect was its port blast, which caused 218 deaths (including toddlers), 7500 injuries, 300, 000 homeless people, 150+ permanently disabled individuals, including children who lost their eyes, over 3/4 of destruction in the Lebanese capital, 4 hospitals totally destroyed, US$15, 000, 000, 000 worth of damage, trauma of that doomed August 4, 2020, and massive migration around the world, including Canada.

May the memory of Beirut’s innocent victims be eternal. As a musical tribute to all of them, this post will feature Li Beirut with Mr. Omar Kamal’s soothing voice. The Youtube video shown below includes beautiful pictures of the Lebanese capital.

Two songs to honour a beautiful culture on the eve of the “Armenian Appreciation Day”!

There is a reason why Bambi’s childhood nickname is “BambiNeh” or “I am Bambi” in Armenian. That long story is simple: it is related to beautiful childhood memories in Beirut. The story could be made even simpler by calling it “a love story” with the Armenian language because of her loved ones, whether still on earth or in heaven.

Thus, Bambi cannot end this day knowing that tomorrow has been officially declared [no clue by whom :)] as being “Armenian Appreciation Day” (among other celebrations of the day)!

Indeed, to highlight this meaningful day before its start in Atlantic Canada, Bambi would like to share with you two songs that she adores:

The first melody is a joyful interpretation of a Armenian love “MiGna” song. It is interpreted below by the talented Ms. Ranine Chaar from Lebanon (Sidon international Festival, 2017). If Bambi is not mistaken, the pianist we see on stage is the highly productive Lebanese musician, Mr. Guy Manoukian.

As for the second French song, it is the moving “Pour toi Arménie” [For you Armenia] as interpreted by very skilled kids from the “Chorale Cap Coeur” with Mr. Artyom Minasyan. In this YouTube video, we can see how much these young artists have touched Mr. Patrick Fiori’s heart.

May the beautiful Armenian culture keep flourishing! May Armenia see more peaceful and prosperous days ❤️!

Laila, Carla, Selim, and Fred: Happy Birthday!

Four loved ones on Bambi’s mind today!

Family and old friends.

Family like friends.

Friends like family.

None of you live in the same city, or even time zone, of the other. Yet all of you, each in a unique way, together live in Bambi’s heart. This is true today more than ever.

With love, your cousin/friend, like sister, Bambi wishes you a Wonderful Birthday!

Yes, Happy Birthday to each one of you! Have fun ❤️❤️❤️❤️!

Have you played the fool today?

Keep your sense of humour, not just on April 1st!

Bambi loves April Fool or All Fool’s Day since her childhood!

Of course, there are vivid memories of a little fish on her back and/or on the back of he loved ones. Silly jokes that became more sophisticated with time. Yes, a serious training to become a better “liar” (not Bambi’s specialty in life) from year to year.

After 50 years of yearly training, does it work now? Well, the answer is again with her loved ones :). Some are already awake. Others are still sleeping. More jokes in store for them!

What about you? Do you like to have fun in life? Do you make fun of yourself when you make a mistake? Or do you take yourself too seriously? Do you tease others? Do you take serious matters like your problems with a grain of salt… and humour?

Anyhow, Bambi feels like playing today more than ever. She has a 24-hour-excuse to come up with either clever or completely silly jokes. Watch out! One of them that crossed her mind was to write that she will be taking a 6-month-sabbatical leave from her blog. However, she knows how clever you are. You would have never believed her. Bravo to you :)!

Last but not least, before diving more into this fun day, Bambi wants to pause to send a friendly wink to heaven to her childhood friend Soha ❤️! “Sousou”, it would have been your birthday today; each year Bambi jokes for the two of us. She will always cherish our colourful stories from this day, even during a bloody civil war. May your memory be eternal. May people keep laughing on your birthday. Thank you for being Bambi’s source of inspiration and motivation to keep having fun.

To conclude this light post, Bambi thanks you for being the “dear” readers of this “deer’s blog”. Happy April Fool to each one of you! Bon amusement et… vive le poisson d’avril!

Bill C-11 on online streaming: “sold” to Québec as a promoter of its culture while a tool for eventual censorship for Canadians?

Bambi is much interested by Bill C-11 because it can be used for online censorship by a government that is becoming increasingly authoritarian in a society where cancel culture stories, whether self-imposed or external, are spreading like mushrooms. The recent history of this blog is just one of them.

First, what is Bill C-11? According to the Parliament of Canada website, it is “an Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts” (https://bit.ly/3ZBCDP0).

Of note, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has been warning us about the potential slippery slope of Bill C-11 since May 24, 2022 (https://bit.ly/40LLOxk). According to the latter, “the Online Streaming Act (OSA) is a significant and dangerous first step towards government control of the internet. The stated purpose of the OSA is not particularly controversial“: Indeed who is against bringing the “influential streaming services like Netflix, Disney, and Spotify under the authority of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)”?

According to the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (https://bit.ly/40LLOxk), “the OSA would give the CRTC new powers to regulate virtually any online streaming service, also known as a “platform.” It would also regulate audio or audiovisual content accessible in Canada on such a platform“.

Perhaps the most worrisome part of this bill is that “sections of the OSA create loopholes that would leave space for CRTC to regulate podcasts and videos“. Indeed, Law professor Michael Geist (University of Ottawa) has argued that the CRTC can “regulate everything“, that is “from podcasts to TikTok videos as a “program” (https://bit.ly/40LLOxk).

Bearing the above in mind, Bambi has been keeping an eye on the tweets of Mr. Yves-François Blanchet for a while now to check his reactions to this bill. In her mind, he is a decent politician, whether we see the relevance of his party in Ottawa or not. Indeed, his is a great defender of Québec’s interests at the federal level. Ironically, many provinces/territories can at times benefit from his positions (sometimes not, of course).

As shown at the bottom of this post, and as you can see in Bambi’s quick translation of his public words, Mr. Blanchet does not seem to be impressed by the Conservative Party of Canada‘s criticisms of Bill C-11. Indeed, he is too driven by the cultural interests of Québec (good for the latter!) to the point of accusing the official opposition party of what looks like unfair intentions toward Québec.

Once again, Mr. Trudeau’s minority government has the NDP party to back it, to keep it in power, and to pass potentially controversial acts like Bill C-11. With the latter, the feds seem to have the moral sympathy and support of Mr. Blanchet and his great team, including Mr. Jean-Denis Gagnon (Mirabel, QC) who recently challenged a colleague from the Conservative Party of Canada to name three of the most famous francophone artists of Québec :). Seriously, his idea was to know if they truly know the culture of Québec that they pretend to defend and love.

However, with all due respect to Québec’s most beautiful culture [Bambi has been teased as being “an Ambassador” of her original province. Hello Fred :)], Bambi is convinced that online freedom of expression deserves to be vigorously defended, in our two official languages, ACROSS Canada. This being said, to really know if there would be practical excesses or abuses of Bill C-11, one must live long enough. To be continued…

There is something extraordinary (especially hypocritical) in the demonization that the Conservatives are doing (along with their hordes stunned by demagogy who prowl on social networks) with the bill on broadcasting (C-11): They do not care about Québec and about the truth.

“Je suis malade”: An eternal song about a heartbreak, across generations and beyond death

Thank you Mr. Serge Lama
for your masterpiece…

A heartbreak is a universal theme to which most, if not everyone (including deer), can relate to in one way or in another. Indeed, Bambi had an earlier post on this topic, shown at the end of this one.

Thankfully, our world includes inspiring artists to compose music, write poetry, song lyrics, and plays on themes like breakups. Thank Goodness too, our world is made more beautiful with singers who have fabulous-sounding voices. Through them, music can magically transport us to different times and/or places. It can transform us and even heal us, in addition to entertaining us. Is there anything more powerful than music in life?

Well, according to Bambi, one of of the most powerful French songs about heartbreaks is “Je suis malade” [I am sick]. The latter was written by Mr. Serge Lama (French singer and songwriter), with Ms. Alice Dona, for Dalida. This song was made even more famous later, thanks to Ms. Lara Fabian… and today it is being honoured again by Mr. Alexis Carlier, as you can see below.

First, if you wish, you may listen to Ms. Lara Fabian’s amazing performance with English sub-titles, for your convenience.

Second, Bambi will invite you to take a few moment to listen to the most recent “short” video by Mr. Alexis Carlier who was feautured in an older post shared further below. Isn’t he fantastic?

Last but not least, the cherry on the cake of this musical post will be a performance between the GREAT Mr. Lama himself with the late YET eternal Dalida. Bambi hopes you will enjoy this performance as well.

Ms. Céline Dion: Happy Birthday!

Ms. Céline Dion, you have been on Bambi’s mind since December 9, 2022 (post shown further below).

In about three hours from now, it will be March 30 in Atlantic Canada.

March 30 is your birthday!

Bambi would like to wish you a happy one, hoping you are doing well; as good as possible under the circumstances.

May you have a Beautiful Birthday. May you have a wonderful time with your children and loved ones!

Thank you for having been a source of inspiration with your voice, talent, authenticity, sense of family and people, discipline, drive, perspective in life, and your humble attitude despite your monumental international success.

“Notre chère Céline, c’est à ton tour de te laisser parler d’amour” ❤️!