Author: Bambi

In 17 days, Lebanon will mark the two-year anniversary of the surrealistic Beirut port explosion that killed about 220 innocent residents, injured over 6000 others (some of them are still in the coma), and caused destruction worth billions of US dollars in addition to the collective trauma.

Recently, the Lebanese authorities tried to destroy evidence at the port. Families of the victims tried to push back and criticize “their” so-called government. “Mysterious” port fire broke out in a grain silo and lasted for an entire week (https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/lebanon/2022/07/15/relatives-of-beirut-blast-victims-criticise-). government-response-to-port-fire/). Some attributed the fires to “the summer heat and fermenting wheat in the northern part of the silos“, as per the National.

As a reminder, the August 4, 2020 massive criminal negligence, and/or crime, remains unaccountable even after almost 24 months. This despite ALL the heroic efforts of Judge Tarek Bitar who is still facing SEVERAL “legal challenges and hampered by political interference” (https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/lebanon-beirut-port-explosion-victims-file-complaint-us-court) and who deserves a Peace Nobel Prize, to say the least.

Today, Bambi read in the Claims Journal the following promising piece of news: “Families of some of the victims of Beirut’s deadly port blast have filed [in Texas] a $250 million lawsuit against an American-Norwegian firm suspected of involvement in bringing the explosive material to the port, a Swiss foundation announced Wednesday” (https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/international/2022/07/14/311586.htm).

Always according to Claims Journal citing Accountability Now, this legal action “names U.S.-Norwegian geophysical services group TGS, which owns the British firm Spectrum Geo“. The latter is suspected to “had entered into a series of highly profitable but suspicious contracts with the Ministry of Energy in Lebanon… In 2012, Spectrum chartered the Moldavian flagged vessel Rhosus to come to Beirut while carrying 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate on board“.

Yes, you and Bambi read the above well: Ministry of Energy. This is the exact same apparently highly corrupt ministry (among other ones?) that has resulted in unprecedented power outages paralyzing Lebanon.

Bravo and best wishes to the families filing this lawsuit! For them and for Beirut, Bambi will end her post with Mr. Ghassan Saliba’s moving song featured on this blog in an older post, which is shown further below with her own English translation of its powerful lyrics.

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Beirutis’ courage is inspiring!

Bambi is honoured to post her friend’s beautiful pictures from a Bed & Breakfast in Innisfil in Ontario, Canada. Thank you Carol for your generosity.

Before showing you Carol’s two superb pictures, here are two questions with short answers: (1) Where is Innisfil located? It is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located on the Western shore of Lake Simcoe, South of Barrie and maybe about 80 kilometres North of Toronto; (2) Who is Carol to Bambi? Her dear and faithful friend whom she met for the first time in Toronto about 18 years ago. Bambi is blessed to have her in her life.

Last but not least, this post will end with two pictures of Innisfil, including one showing a stunning sunrise. This will be followed by three kids’ and youth songs offered by Bambi to you Carol. The first is about sunsets whereas the two others are about the beautiful province of Ontario, one in English and the other in French.

May you keep appreciating beauty around you Carol. Talking about beauty, as per Ms. Coco Chanel, “elegance is when the inside is as beautiful as the outside“. This means that you are the elegance itself, in addition to your inspiring humanity and talent. Thank you for being you ❤️. Happy weekend :).

According to CTV News, the Canadian province of “New Brunswick has protected roughly 420,000 hectares and expects to get to 700,000 hectares by April 2023, which Holland says that would be equivalent to about 19 Fundy National Parks” (https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/new-brunswick-announces-the-protection-of-another-100-000-hectares-of-land-and-water-1.5987785). Bravo! Lebanon needs a bit of New Brunswick in it today more than ever (https://www.lbcgroup.tv/news/d/lebanon-news/654809/fire-breaks-out-in-roumieh/en) to protect its beautiful green land and water.

This being said, and as per 91.9 The Bend, a second piece of good news from New Brunswick, Canada, is a five-year development strategic plan with France launched yesterday “as part of celebrations surrounding France’s national holiday — Bastille Day” (https://www.919thebend.ca/2022/07/14/n-b-launches-development-strategy-with-france).

The underlying guiding idea of this beautiful New Brunswick-France initiative is to “expand recruitment to increase the number of Francophone immigrants“, always as reported by the 91.9 The Bend. The latter will consist of activities to raise awareness in France of the many tourist attractions in NB. As noble as the above seems to be, how could touristic sites secure jobs for newcomers, Bambi cannot help not to wonder? She is asking because, usually and as per a Lebanese old saying, “you stick to living in a certain place if you earn a living in it“.

Anyhow the New Brunswick-France strategy also aims to promote and market Acadian artists on the international stage. The latter is an excellent idea to help support the international career of Acadian artists. This being said, perhaps the most promising piece of information for new immigrants is the plan to” facilitate the credential recognition in priority occupations“.

Unfortunately, the 91.9 The Bend media article does not expand much about how NB plans to facilitate the recognition in priority occupations. Bambi was also curious about the priority occupations. What are they? This motivated her to quickly read the report produced by the government of NB, which announced this initiative (https://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/iga-aig/pdf/canadian-francophonie-canadienne/france%E2%80%93nb-development-strategy-2022-2027.pdf). This report describes the five-year-long nine objectives cited in the media article above with key performance indicators for each one of them. Once again, good for New Brunswick, and best wishes to the potential future French newcomers!

Although it is reassuring to know that NB seem to have a will and a strategy to recruit more francophone immigrants, it is Bambi’s hope that the increasing bureaucratic federal delays/barriers will not unintentionally discourage those French-speaking (apparently economic) immigrants from choosing our province as their home. It would also be interesting to know how many of “the over 500,000 new comers to Canada per year” will be French-speaking. This question is naturally and particularly critical for the French-speaking province of Québec (https://icpimmigration.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4094:will-canada-welcome-over-500,000-new-immigrants-per-year&catid=85&lang=en&Itemid=1003).

To conclude this post on a musical note, here is Ms. Mireille Mathieu and Mr. Yves Duteil singing his lovely song ❤️ about the beautiful French language in North America. Thanks to both NB and our federal government for any efficient effort to keep protecting our second official language.

Bambi loves France to begin with. She also likes the “Douce France” song celebrating this country and the late singer interpreting it.

Sadly, Mr. Rachid Taha left our world too early. What a HIGHLY talented Algerian-born singer who also gave us “Ya Rayeh” as a superb artistic legacy. Bambi cannot listen to the latter song without thinking of her friend Peter in Toronto who was the first to introduce her and her spouse to this beautiful Arabic song.

Bonne Fête à la France :)! Yes, Happy Bastille Day to all Bambi’s French friends!

Thanks to the Warktimes for keeping us informed about municipal affairs in the Town of Sackville in the beautiful New Brunswick (Canada):

https://warktimes.com/2022/07/13/coun-bruce-phinney-hit-with-another-round-of-sanctions-under-sackvilles-code-of-conduct/

With all due respect to the peers of Councillor Phinney, to the residents of Sackville (i.e., locals, temporary, and/or those moving out of it), to our talented MLA, Ms. Megan Mitton, whether we agree with all her politics or not, Bambi cannot help not to comment on the article with the following words:

Councillor Bruce Phinney has earned NB citizens’ respect over the years because he is genuine, principled, and trustworthy. It is not surprising then that human and animal (i.e., deer) of Sackville have the utmost respect for his public ethics.

To hear about a second round of financial sanctions against him, while he is supposed to be relaxing with his family in another province, is shocking although not surprising. Imposing a training on a smart AND decent public servant like Councillor Phinney is insulting not just to his voters or supporters, but also to all those of us who still value decency in public life.

To conclude this post, Bambi cannot help not to be sarcastic as per the title of this post: Why do decent politicians have to be punished and those who indulge in criminal negligence in Beirut (blasts, systemic corruption, etc.) remain unaccountable?

Today, more than ever, Bambi’s heart is filled with love for her family and friends.

Below is Ms. Ginette Reno’s song on love subtitled in English and Spanish. Further below is a kids’ song on friendship.

Thank you Roula et al. Thank you everyone ❤️!

New Brunswick (NB), which is one of Atlantic Canada provinces, is notoriously known for its maritime charm and serenity.

This brief post is meant to share with you a beautiful sunset, which was recently photographed by Brittany, Bambi’s dear friend, on the Aboiteau wharf in the South-East part of NB.

To conclude, Bambi will end with Mr. Yves Duteil’s sunset French song that she would like to offer to all of you who love sunsets, including you Brittany as well as her sister Roula (as per the older post re-shown below). Bravo and thank you, Brittany!

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Picture of the day: Thanks to Ms. Roula Douglas for her “Just Before Sunset” photo taken from her own balcony

The average Lebanese citizen does not earn enough money and/or have access to his/her savings in banks (since October 17, 2019) to go to the movies to watch the latest Minions movie playing right now around the world, including NB (https://www.imdb.com/showtimes/cinema/CA/ci49442774/CA/E4P) and Amherst, NS (https://www.tribute.ca/showtimes/movie/sackville/minions-the-rise-of-gru/148580/).

Despite this, and instead of putting their energy to reform or form a new government post-elections, Lebanese authorities are once again busy taking decisions to censor movies, as reported by the 961.

Minions: The Rise Of Gru Is Banned In Lebanon

Indeed, and always according to 961, ” aside from China, Lebanon will be the only other country that has decided to ban the Minions“. What is the reason behind this decision and does it really matter? Today, as some have speculated, this ban may be due either to a kiss between two minions or to an armed nun-looking creature. The latter remain non-confirmed hypotheses as no official reason has been stated (https://www.beirut.com/l/63833). Tomorrow, the ban would be due to what? Indeed, a few weeks ago, another ban was because of a kiss between two women, as shown in an earlier post at the end of this post.

Regardless of the “reason”, and with all due respect to everyone in life, Bambi does not endorse censorship by any entity (e.g., governments, religions, pressure groups, etc.), especially when it comes to arts. How can creativity thrive when artists start walking on eggshells, or literally self-censor the expression of their creativity or thoughts?

How can we still call a society an aspiring democracy when it resorts to authoritarian bans like that? Who has not been offended by anything in life? Who has not offended anyone by expressing one’s creativity or opinion at a particular point in time? So why this urge of overcontrol without any respect for the consumers’ intelligence or critical sense? Plus, why can’t owners of movie theatres in Lebanon, China, or anywhere else, benefit from the success of this or that production like their peers around the world?

To conclude this post, perhaps you do not care at all about the Minions or feel indifferent to censorship. Maybe you even endorse it or perhaps benefit from it? Regardless, please just remember that today it is about those yellow creatures with eyeglasses. Tomorrow the target or the decision-makers in power would be different. Yet the principle of suppression of freedom of expression would operate in the same manner. Slowly but surely, from ban to ban, the right to freedom of expression will be increasingly eroded… for all. Is this the country you want for yourself or you want your children to grow up in?

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Why does islamism (or wokism or any excessive “ism”) always win over love, whether gay or not?

Bambi is fond of Mr. Mike Massy, as shown in the older posts further below.

Today, Bambi would like to share with you a superb song interpreted by Mr. Massy, along with English sub-titles. This great Arabic poem was composed by the late and great Mr. Zaki Naseef (may his memory be eternal).

To conclude this brief musical post, and if she may, Bambi would like to offer Mr. Massy’s song(s) to all her loved ones celebrating “Eid el Adha” :)!

Duo Mike Massy/Hany Adel: What an inspiring Arabic song, subtitled in English!

Mr. Mike Massy moves Bambi’s heart with his angelic voice singing “Lamma Bada Yatathanna”

Mr. Mike Massy: “Tomorrow the feast’s sun will rise” [“Boukra btechrok shamsel id”]

Mr. Mike Massy: Is there anything more pure and beautiful than his voice singing his own prayer of “a ball” [“prière d’une boule”]?

Mr. Mike Massy: Ô mother/Ya oumy

Mr. Mike Massy: Thank you for your talent and wisdom

This post is about Lebanon’s economic crisis.

First, here is the L’Orient Le Jour’s article (French content):

https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1304651/le-chiffre-de-la-semaine-1-489-.html

Second, here is a quick translation into English, thanks to Google Translate:

https://www-lorientlejour-com.translate.goog/article/1304651/le-chiffre-de-la-semaine-1-489-.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

As a reminder, Lebanon is facing a historically tragic economic crisis triggered by decades of systemic corruption and likely mismanagement of public funds. Indeed, there is hyperinflation in the Land of Cedars following a HUGE depreciation of its currency, the Lira. The latter has been in free fall since October 17, 2019. Although, for decades, the Lira was pegged to the US dollar at 1500, it recently hit a new low against the dollar on the black market, namely below 30,000.

Stated differently, the Lira has lost almost 95 percent of its value in 24 months. Can you imagine the daily life of Lebanese people struggling to cope with the economic crisis? How do they afford to survive, from day to day, both financially and psychologically speaking?

Yes, how do the people of Lebanon keep hope alive when their basic needs, namely a continuous access to electricity or water, are NOT met. Add to this the the more limited access to medical care or the lacking medication?! To illustrate the latter, just check this cry for help (in Arabic) by Ms. Jessy Habchy who needs financial support for her cancer treatment!

https://www.facebook.com/100002352030810/posts/pfbid02kCh7MFS82kvSHwkGJq7ZE1EDcjGeR3pXX6ZDTG6sR22HczCE9vkyPnayn3c3VfJJl/?d=n&mibextid=kqbWj9

To come back to gasoline and to conclude this post, in addition to the unaffordable fuel critical to run hospitals, factories, and private generators, there is an absence of a reliable and safe public transportation. Thus, the gasoline problem of Lebanon is surely getting out of proportion. What is next for the Land of Cedars? Is there any envisioned solution and, if so, what is its timeline and possible outcome?