Tag Archives | parliament

The Only Video You Need To Watch To Understand The Current Crisis

Back in July when the parliament was discussing the budget for the year 2019, not a lot of people probably focused much on the lawmakers’ speeches since most of them actually criticized it, but we were all amused by what MP Salim Saade had to say about falsifying our deficit in order to get the CEDRE funds “They [CEDRE donors] know that we are lying to them, and we know that they know that we are lying to them!”.

However, his joke was in fact a very small part of a thorough explanation for everything that has led to the economic and financial crisis that we are currently going through. Back in July, that economist had a very clear idea of where Lebanon was heading to, while other MPs and ministers were either not listening or making sarcastic comments instead of asking him to elaborate his claims further, they literally seemed uncocerned and it clearly shows in the below video which I highly recommend you watch. It is 24 minutes long and will explain to your the real reasons for the current state we are in now.

If you are interested in following similar experts who say things as they about our situation, then I recommend you check Nassim Taleb and Dan Azzi on twitter. (The latter regularly publishes interesting articles in Annahar and Al-Akhbar newspapers)

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Electoral Camapaigns Bi Gheir 3alam

I’ve been watching for a while now what the parliamentary candidates have to say about their electoral programs and the amount of literal bullshit you get to see and hear is sickening. The promises almost everyone is making are so ridiculous and fanciful that I can’t believe there are real people supporting them and their programs.

Take for example this video by Nicolas Sehnaoui which promises a solution for the chronic traffic congestion.

They’re proposing widening the northern highway, increasing the number of buses, fixing the roads, organizing the public transportation system within the capital, and best of all establishing train lines between the main cities. Wlik w a*rrrr! Shu 3eyshin bi London?! I’m not going to put energy into explaining why each and every idea is impossible to apply with the current system in Lebanon, but seriously how do some people accept contributing to such ads? I really doubt the girl in the video is even convinced with what she’s saying.

In parallel with the above plan, this gentleman named Nazih Najem wants to also build 13 dams covering the whole country.

We live in a country where a pothole takes forever to get fixed, yet this candidate wants to convince us that 13 dams can be built with the flip of a switch.

I really have nothing personal against Sehnaoui or Najem, the above two ads just happened to have appeared on my Facebook feed and I’m pretty sure other candidates are promising similar stuff. The thing is, why can’t they keep it real? First of all, members of the parliament are in principle supposed approve laws and governments expenditure. Initiating projects on the other hand falls under the duties of each ministry, so how on earth can these candidates promise projects?

Anyway, I personally don’t care who wins and who loses, and I’m not interested to see new faces winning because thank god neither my life nor my income depend on any of them. In fact, I won’t even bother voting for anyone because I’d rather put the energy for going to the polling station into something more useful for myself. I just pity those who actually believe such campaigns and waste their time and effort supporting these candidates.

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#Undress522 – An Exhibition by Mireille Honein and ABAAD

Activists supported by ABAAD succeeded back in December to make the parliament agree on a draft law to abolish the controversial penal code article 522 that allow rapists to escape jail time by marrying their victims, and in an attempt to push the parliament to fully approve this law the cooperated with artist Mireille Honein to exhibit 31 paper dresses swaying between the palm trees in Ain El Mraysseh yesterday as a symbol of how unjust is the article 522 to rape victims.

The exhibition was designed in Paris by Honein who brought it to Beirut to support the NGO with the pressure it is exercising to have the legislation abolished.

People who passed by the exhibition were also invited to sign a petition demanding the parliament to prioritize the abolishing of the article, which we all hope to finally seeing it happening during the next legislative session on May 15.

Photo via AFP/Patrick Baz

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Penalty Reduction on Mecanique Fees Until February 2017

mecanique

I rarely give any importance to the laws passed by the Lebanese parliament, but I know this one matters to lot of people and that’s why I’m sharing it here.

The parliament authorized yesterday a reduction on mecanique fee penalties for people who have not paid their dues over the past years. The reduction is expected to be up to 90% and you have until the end of February 2017 to benefit from it.

However note that the inspection centers are currently closed due to the transportation unions strike, so you might have to wait a bit before you can inspect your car and pay your dues.

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I would have played Candy Crush too

candy crush

This photo of MP Ahmad Karami has been making rounds on Facebook over the past couple of days with people criticizing him for playing Candy Crush during the cabinet policy debate.

But think about it for a second, what do people usually do during boring pointless gatherings? I for myself know that I would have played Candy Crush too!

At least he wasn’t watching porn like those politicians from India!

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Nadim Gemayel, Nasawiya, and the sick degree of followership

If this video is a proof of something, it would be that all politician are equal in being corrupt and believing they’re above the law.

This is actually the same Nadim Gemayel who always complains about the militia-like behavior of Hezbollah, now giving silly excuses and justifying their actions. The people at Nasawiya might have started the whole thing after chanting against all MPs when they knew Nadim Gemayel was in the area, but that definitely doesn’t give the bodyguards the right to abuse their power.

But to be honest, I wasn’t surprised by the whole incident, I mean what do you expect from Lebanese people in power? What surprised me the most were those people on social media and blogs who were actually defending Nadim Gemayel and calling to take the incident more lightly, just because they support him or his political view. What degree of followership are these people exercising?

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Videos and photos from Nejmeh Square today

Protestors gathered at Nejmeh Square today to oppose the extension of parliament’s mandate, but shorty after took things a bit further by throwing tomatoes at the MP’s cars as they were getting out of the area.

One of the protestors, Marwan Maalouf, even tried to set up a tent next to the parliament but was immediately arrested by the Lebanese army.

Below are also some photos taken by Habib Battah.

MP 4 MP 3

MP 2 MP 1

I wonder which MP was in that Mercedes which apparently took the biggest share of tomatoes!

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Myriam Klink also running for the elections

Looks like the easiest publicity stunt to pull nowadays is to announce you’re running for the upcoming Lebanese parliamentary elections. That’s what Myriam Klink did last night following Nathalie Fadlallah’s similar announcement last week.

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If these two ladies ever made it, then our MPs will definitely have problems focusing on their job since they couldn’t take their eyes off Strida Geagea when she was elected back in 2005.

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