This post will raise one question, as per its title: Why should shelters for women, victims of domestic violence, be segregated by religion now in Winnipeg, Canada? Is this a good thing in our societies in general and for these women in particular?
Bambi will spare you her questions and thoughts, hoping this post and the video below will encourage you to think and make your own opinion.
To end this post on a musical note, and out of solidarity for ALL victims of domestic violence, in Canada and abroad, Bambi will end this post with two beautiful songs: The first, entitled “Khalas” [“Enough” in Arabic] by Ms. Karol Sakr (subtitled in English) and the other, entitled “Chanson pour Marie” [“A song for Mary” in English] by Mr. Nicolas Ciccone (subtitled in French).
First and foremost, bravo to Lebanon for working on the demarcation of its maritime borders with Israel (deal signed today), Syria (delays on this front), and Cyprus (likely an easier one) in order to facilitate gas extraction in the future (https://bit.ly/3U53LU6).
Bravo to both neighbouring countries for putting their respective economy first, not ideologies or, may God forbid, any future war(s).
Bravo also to the Hezbollah for endorsing this deal, even if Bambi has mixed feelings here. Indeed, deep inside, she cannot help not to wonder what guarantees did the US and France give to this group (or indirectly to Iran) in return.
This being said, a big bravo to the US Biden Administration (i.e. Mr. Hochstein) for making this deal possible. This is a big diplomatic achievement, even there was no official signature in the same place (or on the same page even!), no pictures, and no champagne or sparkling wine cocktails.
To conclude this post, best wishes to both Lebanon and Israel, and especially to the Lebanese people. They BADLY need an economic miracle to get them out of their country’s fiasco. Best wishes also to Europe, which would eventually benefit from the promising gas to survive its colder days. All in all, this is most likely the happiest news of the day… AFTER Bente’s birthday, of course 🙂 (as per the earlier post shown below).
Happy Birthday, Bente, from Bambi, her spouse, and their/”your” entire family in Beirut, Montreal, Dubai, Paris, and London!
Bambi loves you and misses you a lot ❤️ (along with your/”our” dear family)! She wishes you a wonderful new year filled with beautiful discoveries, exciting projects, and continues successes!
To make you smile, Bambi silently sends daily “Greetings from the Netherlands” at her workplace [hint: coronavirus] :).
To conclude, and for fun, here are a few songs for you, hoping you will enjoy them :).
In this post, Bambi is assisted by her friend, Mr. Google Translate, in translating a thoughtful (and funny!) article by Mr. Richard Martineau published today in the “Journal de Montréal” [https://bit.ly/3F9WChj].
Of note, if you do not have a leftover of a sense of humour, taken away by much political correctness, maybe you should think twice before either reading this article or celebrating Halloween… at least in the province of Québec :).
This being said, here is Mr. Martineau’s article:
“The Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec (OIIQ) [the governing body for Registered Nurses in this province] has launched a campaign against sexy nurse costumes.
We got there, friends.
The healthcare system is cracking everywhere, 18-month-old babies are sleeping on stretchers in the corridors of Sainte-Justine Hospital, nurses are on the verge of depression from working overtime, healthcare workers have to be brought in from abroad to compensate for the labour shortage in our hospitals… And meanwhile, the OIIQ is launching a campaign against sexy nurse costumes…
As if that was the big problem of the Québec’s healthcare system!
Girls wearing fishnet stockings to their Halloween party instead of beige compression stockings with big rubber boots!
After that, we wonder why so many Québecers are on antidepressants…
THE PRIESTS’ FESTIVAL
It’s Halloween, damn it.
We dress up, we eat candy, we scare each other and we have fun.
Can we have fun one day a year, just one day a year, without a group, an organization, an association, a federation, a union or an NPO lecturing us?
What’s next?
The Ministry of the Family will get involved? The government will set up a committee to oversee Halloween?
I never thought I would say that, let alone write it, but I miss priests. The real priests, with a cassock and a Roman collar. At least, if we didn’t want to hear them, we just didn’t have to go to mass, we had peace.
Whereas today, priests are everywhere.
Have you noticed ? We have never had so many priests since there are no more priests!
And they are interested in every aspect of our life.
What we eat. What we drink. How we move. What we are looking at. What we read. What we listen to. What makes us laugh. What excites us.
What name do we give to our children? What colours are their pajamas. How many centimetres there are between our thighs when we sit in the subway. What pronoun do we use when talking to our neighbour?
And how we should dress up on Halloween.
No sombreros! No feathers! No kimonos! No djellaba! No sugar! No crisps! No gendered clothes! No sexy costumes! No blood!
The list of prohibitions grows every day.
LONG LIVE EQUALITY
I am for equality between men and women. At 110%.
What’s good for Kitty should be good for Puppy.
We fight sexy nurse costumes on the pretext that they are… sexist? Perfect!
But let’s also fight the costumes of sexy firefighters, sexy policemen, sexy soldiers and sexy cowboys [oh no :)].
Let’s ban the group Village People!
Hey, let’s all carry potato bags on Halloween!
That’s right, potatoes! And that would be ecological…“
Happy news out of Lebanon have been rare over the past three years, except when it comes to the talent of its people across all fields (e..g., arts/music, science, sports, etc.).
Well, here is a post meant to share happy news with you about the international success of Mr. Marc Reiady Baz in Turkey – thanks to 961 for keeping us informed (https://bit.ly/3stcST3)!
A picture taken from 961. Bravo and “Mabrouk” to Mr. Marc Reiady Baz for winning the Foreign Music Artist Award at the “Altın Çilek Ödülleri” [“Golden Strawberry Awards”] in Turkey!
If you are interested, you may listen to Mr. Reiady Baz singing “Rise Like a Phoenix“!
To conclude this brief musical post, and if she may, Bambi would like to offer Mr. Marc Reiady Baz the famous “Mabrouk” song of Mr. Rami Ayach. Please keep singing while being an Ambassador of talent and hope to your country!
Yes, Mr. Pierre Larousse was born on October 23 in 1817 (https://bit.ly/3z6rFqt). For those of you who do not know him (you do not know what you are missing!), he is the founder of “Éditions Larousse” (yes, with its “Petit Larousse“!), a historic and prestigious French publishing company specialized in reference work, including dictionaries.
May Mr. Larousse’s memory be eternal. To thank Mr. Larousse for his incredible legacy, Bambi will allow herself to offer him, and through him all the Francophones and Francophiles of our planet, a unique song, which is made of 5 words only! As you can see in the video, these terms were randomly chosen, from the Larousse dictionary, by the talented Mr. de MIRO BELZIL. Mind you, the first word is quite interesting [Louis, are you reading :)]?
Bambi just discovered a deep and very beautiful Arabic song on her Lebanese-American internet radio station from LA. Bravo to Mr. Azeem for his talent!
From his YouTube page, Bambi learned that Azeem is a songwriter, singer, lyricist, music composer and producer. He also plays the drums, the piano, and the guitar. He was born in Beirut, Lebanon.
Mr. Azeem, Bambi fell in love with your song entitled “Zrouf” [“Circumstances“]. This is why she took the time to translate its lyrics to the readers of her blog who do not understand your mother tongue (and hers).
First, before singing, Mr. Azeem starts with those words of wisdom: “Who among us did not go through circumstances? Some circumstances are beautiful and others ugly. Some circumstances make us laugh a lot and others cry. In the end, we cannot escape circumstances”.
“Circumstances pass by us
Making us fall in love with someone who does not belong to us
Circumstances pass by us
Forcing us to live in stories that do not look like us
Sometimes, out of much sadness, we get attached to any hope
And when our heart is being questioned, it replies: I have circumstances
Sometimes our tears betray us and make us talk
Making the story complex and governed by circumstances
Circumstances take us out of warmth
To a place full of ice
At other times, circumstances promise us a more beautiful tomorrow
Bambi first read Mr. Andrew Lawton’s True North article that informed her about the federal court’s decision on air travel vaccine mandate lawsuits (https://bit.ly/3F6e726). From this article, she learned the following: “On Thursday, Associate Chief Justice Jocelyne Gagné granted the federal government’s application to dismiss the case, 10 days before it was scheduled to be argued before the Federal Court. The court was going to hear challenges filed by several applicants, including former Newfoundland premier Brian Peckford, People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier, and private citizens who were unable to travel by rail or air when the federal vaccine mandate was in effect”… “The Trudeau government imposed the mandate by order-in-council in October 2021. It suspended the mandate June 20, but made clear it could be reinstated if the Covid situation in Canada changed“. Canada’s attorney general filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that it was moot given the vaccine mandate was no longer in effect”.
Following the article above, Bambi came across a CBC article in which Mr. Trudeau seems to scare, or maybe even threaten, us with health measures if we do not “get Covid, flu shots” (https://bit.ly/3Dm2Qt6); at least, the latter is what seems to be implied by this article’s title, even if Mr. Trudeau did not mean it that way.
Anyhow, after reading the articles reported above, Bambi decided that she had enough of news for the day. Music is much more fun, she told herself. Thus, if she may, flu or Covid-19 vaccines, with or without health measures, Bambi would like to offer Mr. Trudeau a song. Today’s melody won’t be “Paroles, Paroles” by Dalida with Mr. Alain Delon :). It will rather be Ms. Chantal Bitar’s love song in confinement. For your convenience, an English translation of the Arabic lyrics follows Ms. Bitar’s charming song (taken from Bambi’s older post shown at the end of this one).
“How are you in your confinement? You are crossing my mind in confinement?
I think
of writing to you and then I delete.
How are you to begin with? How are you spending your time? How is the prevention and how is the cleaning? (twice)
How many novels have you read? How many phone calls have you made?
Are you taking good care of yourself?Are you eating healthy?
You are
crossing my mind in confinement.
Despite the physical distance, my mind is confined with you.
In these times of science fiction and in this wasted era.Even if the world will fall apart, you will remain here in my heart.
I know
you are bored by yourself. For me,
please make a sacrifice.
You are
crossing my mind in confinement. I think
of writing to you and then I delete.
Let me
hear your words. Turn off the news. I promise, all this will end. One day will
come (twice)
A day where
we will dance, hand in hand, and you will carry me far… and your hand on my
face will charm me and will awaken my eyes
You are crossing my mind in confinement.I think of writing to you and then I delete.
How are you to begin with.How are you spending your time?
How is
the prevention and how is the cleaning? (twice)
How many
novels have you read? How many phone calls have you made?
Bambi just discovered these two young artists, thanks to L‘Orient Le Jour (https://bit.ly/3CTlkzQ). The Turkish lyrics and music are by Mr. Ragıb Narin. The Arabic lyrics by Ms. Rima Yussef. Their love song is called Yok Yok, which seems to mean “No, No” in Turkish, if Bambi is not mistaken. Enjoy :)!
