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My Review of the Village Square Event Featuring Kris Kobach

I finally made it to the event located at a large church. There was camera crew, a moderator and there were fact checkers. The fact checkers were there to challenge any stats that were provided during the event and make sure they were valid. They were armed with laptops and a strong internet connection. I started to sweat. I know I said I was 35. Honestly, I’m 35. They looked at me and I looked at them. Suddenly they started typing. Ok, I’m not 35, maybe I’m 39. Did I say 39? Ok, maybe I’m 40. Certainly they have more important things to fact check than my age. Jesus Christ it was hot in there. Did I say Jesus Christ out loud? Damn it, it’s a church. I’m definitely going to hell.

Moving on…..Kris Kobach was the first to speak. He gave a speech about illegal immigration and how it’s a drain on our economy. He went on and on about how illegal immigrants come to this country and milk our social services. He spoke out about illegal immigrants sending their children to our free public schools. He spoke about the meat-packing industry wages falling due to illegal immigrants.

It was amazing that I kept my composure during Kobach’s speech. I do have a confession to make. I was guilty of having multiple sargasms during this time. My eyes were in full roll mode and I caught myself sighing a number of times. I mean I’m only human. If I didn’t have those outlets I probably would have exploded right there in the church.

News from The Associated Press -Syriza

The Greek government is facing a Monday deadline to come up with credible reform proposals to extend the existing bailout deal and the drafting of a new one.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will be meeting his inner cabinet of 10 ministers later Saturday to discuss the reform proposals.

The agreement to extend the country’s rescue loans, although conditional, was greeted with relief by many people as a first step forward and away from the crushing austerity of recent years.

Others were more skeptical, wondering whether the left-wing Syriza government will be able to keep even a fraction of its promises and how it will find the money to finance them.

via News from The Associated Press.

Well that escalated quickly…

So Bad Ass

So the past few days have gone WILD! My post about using disabled/accessible toilets when you have a hidden disability went viral and I can’t believe it, but So Bad Ass has had over 1.3 million views!!!

On Tuesday evening, I wrote the post, an open letter to people who judge others using public loos. It was about human courtesy, kindness and not judging a book by it’s cover. By the time I went to bed, it had a couple thousand views and I was over the moon! When I woke in the morning, the post was at 20,000+ and I was gob smacked.

By the end of the day, it was 100,000, and the next two days were hundreds of thousands each!!!

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Today my little website has hit well over a million hits.

1,000,000 +

WTAF?! I feel like I’m dreaming!! I have had thousands of messages, emails and comments…

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Lebanon To Have Its Very Own High-Tech “Silicon Valley” Soon?

A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares

Batroun hollywood sign

Back in 2012, I wrote about an economical boom coming my home district Batroun’s way (link). It promised great things for the caza and North Lebanon. Now, more than 2 years later, that project is going through the bureaucratic motions of Lebanese governance on its (hopeful) way for fulfillment.

A parliamentary committee consisting of MPs Ibrahim Kanaan (Metn), Nadim el Jesr (Tripoli), Hekmat Dib (Baabda), Jean Ogassapian (Beirut), Neamtalah Abi Nasr (Keserwan), along with a representative of the Minister of Economy Alain Hakim, is studying the law required in order to make the zone a reality.

The zone will be spread over an area of 200,000 m², donated by the Maronite Church in Batroun. The project was championed mainly two years ago by the Maronite League (الرابطة المارونية).

The purpose of the Maronite League behind the project is to improve the economy of that region in order to prevent…

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Measles in America: Why vaccination matters

And matters, and matters, and MATTERS!

Mens et Manus

This article was originally written for HealthMap and can be found here.

The 2015 Disneyland measles outbreak in the United States, which started in late December and spread to more than 100 people in just 6 weeks, has recently become the subject of substantial media scrutiny. Measles is extremely infectious, exhibiting a basic reproductive number between 12 and 18 – one of the highest recorded in history. This means that for every 1 case who gets sick in a totally susceptible population, 12 to 18 other folks get sick, too. Thankfully, when uptake of the measles vaccine is high enough in a given community, it’s almost impossible for the disease to spread – thus halting a potential outbreak in its tracks.

But what happens when vaccine rates aren’t high enough? Given the growing anti-vaccination movement in the United States, our team at HealthMap took on the task of…

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