“My wife first got breast cancer in 1999. Then it came back last year, and it’s in the bones now. I was a mess last year. Any time I wasn’t busy, I’d just start crying uncontrollably. Then I handed it over to God. I actually spoke to him, and said: ‘It’s all yours.’ And I’ve felt better since then. We’re hopeful. We know somebody whose bone cancer got so bad that her bones were breaking, and last month she tested completely clear. So we’re hopeful. It’s made me a better person in a way. I want her time to be as good as possible, so whenever there’s a confrontation, I don’t push it like I used to. I’ll just back away from it. Even if she’s wrong. I’ll back away and we’ll revisit it later when everyone is calm.”
When Lebanon’s Trash Becomes International, But We Are Too Busy Kissing Saudi Arabia’s Ass
Don’t call it brain dead.
Congrats Lebanon, we have made the international news cycle once more, the first time this year and hopefully the first of many.
No, it wasn’t about that viral Facebook fake-pictures-filled post proclaiming the beauty of God’s gift to Earth. I can hear your hearts break all the way here.
What made us international is actually old news to us. It’s so old in fact that not only does nobody care anymore, but the hype surrounding the issue has disappeared with each vanishing garbage bag stashed away in one of Lebanon’s valleys or on random roads, snaking around curves like white rancid rivers. Out of sight, out of mind – Lebanon style.
There is a bright side to the ordeal, however. Even our garbage bags look nice. They’re white, snow-like, built into winding rivers or towering pyramids.
Wait for the upcoming onslaught from other outlets as well in the next few days. We are making it big. Aren’t we all proud?
Except, of course, this is *obviously* not the image of the country:
I mean it’s always someone else’s fault, never ours collectively.
Putting lipstick on a dead pig level: Lebanon.
Is anything happening regarding the garbage crisis? Not really. Our government is busy doing other things, or just one thing to be exact: kiss Saudi Arabia’s ass like no country has missed another country’s ass before.
This past week, our government convened for SEVEN straight hours to discuss one item on their agenda: how to formulate a paragraph to please Saudi Arabia in order not to face their wrath manifesting in them not giving us money anymore, beggars-style.
I don’t think our government has convened for a total of 7 hours discussing the garbage crisis, or any other Lebanese crisis for that matter, over the last several months.
Live Love Saudi Arabia.
This past week, Saad Hariri decided to launch a petition across the country in order to show Saudi Arabia that Lebanon loved it so, akin to our country giving them a big fat political blowjob.
No politician cared enough to act about the garbage crisis, or any other crisis, since it started. Have we ever had a “Loyalty to Lebanon” petition circle around the country before?
Live Love Saudi Arabia.
This past week, minister of Justice Ashraf Rifi quit to protest the Lebanese stance towards Saudi Arabia’s recent embassy attack, first and foremost, and to a lesser extent protest the handling of Michel Samaha’s case. It took their reference country being seemingly offended for some ministers to resign.
Months after the garbage piled up on our streets, months after protests of hundreds of thousands… No other minister resigned or was even fazed by the notion of needing to resign.
This past week, Lebanese politicians of all kinds of kinds had something to say about Saudi Arabia. Even those that opposed KSA politically were at loss about what to do.
This amount of political maneuvering has not occurred not only with the garbage crisis, but with out presidential vacuum issue as well.
Live Love Saudi Arabia.
There comes a point where an entire country begging for absolution from another entity for the sake of money, for the sake of empty Arabism, for the sake of useless politics when that country’s capital is drowning in trash becomes not only humiliating but also insulting.
This is where we are today: a country sinking in garbage, but whose priority is how low it can go to its knees. But please, by a all means, don’t call it brain dead.
Let’s keep loving Saudi Arabia.
Tokyoites
minus6 (tuan) posted a photo:
LGBT Safety Should be Placed Under the Constitution: Activists | Jakarta Globe
Human rights activists called on public officials to end discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, community and include it in the country’s constitution on citizen rights. Wahyudi Djafar, a researcher at the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam), said the discussions around the LGBT community has transformed into discrimination rather than a constructive discussion on protecting the country’s diversity. “The majority of comments on LGBT are based on the matters of morality and religions. This issue should be addressed under constitution matters, where the country has responsibility to protect the citizens without any exception,” Wahyudi said in Jakarta, on Wednesday (24/04). Local government and education officials have touted discriminatory anti-LGBT measures recently, including suggesting bans on LGBT student groups on university campuses and ordering police to halt an HIV outreach event for gay and bisexual men. Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu was the latest public official to comment on the LGBT community. He considered the emergence of LGBT movement in the country as a new form of a “proxy” war to weaken the sovereignty of the state without deploying a military force. “This is a kind of a modern warfare,” said Ryacudu on Tuesday, as reported by Antara news agency, adding that the state needs to be more cautious in reacting to the demands of LGBT communities for equality before the law. “There should be a separate between religious matters and constitution,” explained Wahyudi, adding that the country should protect the LGBT community for whatever it takes.
Source: LGBT Safety Should be Placed Under the Constitution: Activists | Jakarta Globe
Mother of Murder Victim: “The Death Penalty Would Inflict Additional Pain on Us”
Duval County, Florida prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the 2013 murder of Shelby Farah (pictured), over the objections of Ms. Farah’s family. After unsuccessful attempts to persuade prosecutors to non-capitally resolve the case, Darlene Farah, Ms. Farah’s mother, publicly expressed her views in a recent column in TIME. Farah said, “I do not want my family to go through the years of trials and appeals that come with death-penalty cases.” Instead, she wants her family to be able to, “celebrate [Shelby’s] life, honor her memory and begin the lengthy healing process.” Darlene Farah says her daughter would not have wanted the death penalty to be sought on her behalf, and “more killing in no way honors my daughter’s memory or provides solace to my family.” Duval County is among the 2% of U.S. counties that are responsible for a majority of U.S. death sentences and is represented by a prosecutor’s office that has sent more people to death row since 2009 than any other prosecutor’s office in the state. Farah has asked prosecutors to accept the defense offer to plead guilty to all charges, but she says “[prosecutors’] desire for the death penalty in my daughter’s case seems so strong that they are ignoring the wishes of my family in their pursuit of it.” Farah said the use of the death penalty is impeding the healing process: “Death-penalty cases are incredibly complex and drawn-out. It’s been two and a half years since my daughter’s murder, and the trial hasn’t even started…[W]e can’t start to heal and move beyond the legal process, which never seems to end.” “I have seen my family torn apart since my daughter’s murder, and the idea of having to face the lengthy legal process associated with a death-penalty case is unbearable. We have endured enough pain and tragedy already.”
(D. Farah, “My Daughter’s Killer Should Not Get the Death Penalty,” TIME, February 19, 2016; L. Robbins, “Victim’s mother urges State Attorney Angela Corey to take death penalty off the table,” WTLV First Coast News, February 24, 2016; Image by Darlene Farah, via WOKV News.) See Victims and New Voices.
- 431 reads
Saharan Dust Sweeps over the Iberian Peninsula
60-year-old woman killed after run-over by Israeli settler
PNN/ Jericho/
An 60-year-old Palestinian woman was killed, and her daughter moderately injured after they were run-over by an Israeli settler in Al-Fasayil village, southern Jordan valleys.
According to medical sources, Zeinab Rashayda (60) has died after the run-over, while her daughter, Fatima Yassin (30) sustained moderate injuries and a shock.
They were both moved to the Jericho governmental hospital, however, the mother passed away before arriving to the hospital.
According to Al-Mashreq news, Israeli police claimed that the settler has called and handed himself in after the run-over.
Funeral of Zeinab Rashayda (60) on Wednesday noon
Palestinians in the Jordan valley have reported several harrassments by IOF and settlers, and are now subjected to displacement for settlement expansion.
Two weeks ago, IOF demolished five residential tents and barracks, in addition to animal barns in the Killat Khader area, northern Jordan Valleys, following Israeli confiscation of 1,540 Dunams (380 acres), of land near Jericho in the Valleys, announcing it as state lands.
This seizure is the largest appropriation in the West Bank since August 2014.
Cameron calls Israeli settlement construction in East Jerusalem ‘genuinely shocking’ aka: man who speaks with forked-tongue
London/PNN/ Speaking in response to a question in British parliament, Cameron says he is known as a friend of Israel but he condemns Israel’s ‘effective encirclement of East Jerusalem.’ A few days after the British government barred public institutions from boycotting Israel, British Prime Minister David Cameron severely criticized the Netanyahu government’s policy and said that construction in East Jerusalem settlements is “genuinely shocking.” The British prime minister was speaking during a parliamentary question period in response to a query from opposition Labor MP Imran Hussain, who asked: “Does the prime minister agree with me that illegal settlements and constructions are a major roadblock that hinder peaceful negotiations?” After Hussain described a visit he made to a Palestinian family in the Old City of Jerusalem, whom he said was fighting eviction by Jewish settlers, Hussain also asked what the British government was doing “to help prevent the infringement into Palestinian lives and land.” Cameron replied: “I am well-known as being a strong friend of Israel, but I have to say the first time I visited Jerusalem and had a proper tour around that wonderful city and saw what has happened with the effective encirclement of East Jerusalem – occupied East Jerusalem – it is genuinely shocking.” He added: “What this government has consistently done and gone on doing is saying yes, we are supporters of Israel, but we do not support illegal settlements, we do not support what is happening in East Jerusalem and it’s very important that this capital city is maintained in the way that it was in the past.” Cameron’s remarks were met with surprise in Jerusalem. Senior Israeli officials noted that his criticism may have been meant to balance his government’s recent decision against boycotts of Israel. According to the guidelines, any boycott decision by a public body in the U.K. must be in line with the foreign policy of the British government.
Source: Cameron calls Israeli settlement construction in East Jerusalem ‘genuinely shocking’
Kuwait joins other Gulf states in urging citizens to leave Lebanon
Kuwait has followed Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain in calling for its citizens to leave Lebanon. Tensions in the region have been rising since the attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran.
Monster wet wipes blockage pulled out of sewer pipe
A massive blockage made up of wet wipes and sewage has been pulled from an underground pipe near Newcastle.
You must be logged in to post a comment.