Posted By
Najib
Jul 21, 2019 05:55
When the budget was finally approved two days ago, I kept checking articles to see what happened to Article 94 which dealt with reducing the salaries of MPs, only to find out today that it was scrapped. Why was it removed from the 2019 budget? Get this. Because it is not within the parliament's jurisdiction to discuss such matters. Lebanese MPs are among the the highest paid in the world when compared to the national…
Posted By
Najib
Jul 21, 2019 05:21
2019 and 2018 witnessed alarming developments in the use of archaic media laws to arrest, interrogate and prosecute people over social media posts in Lebanon. According to digital rights group Social Media Exchange , the number of cases brought over online posts more than quadrupled between 2017 and 2018. We're talking about 6 cases in 2016, vs 9 in 2017, 41 in 2018 and 27 so far in 2019. What is needed is a new…
Critiques
1 day ago
The long-awaited so-called austerity budget was finally passed today in parliament following a tense voting session, and as expected it failed to tackle structural problems of the economy or target corruption. Instead, they simply cut ...
Critiques
2 days ago
Last week, a couple of friends were complaining that their electricity bills have doubled recently even though they were on vacation and didn’t stay home much. The first thing I told them was that electricity ...
Critiques
2 days ago
I’m not a fan of the current Tourism Minister, not because I have something against him but simply because of his short-sighted and inefficient tourism strategies. I don’t really blame him though, since he was ...
Critiques
2 days ago
Sporting Club has gone up a notch in imposing racist laws against foreign helpers by forcing their employers to dress them in a specific way, otherwise they will be kicked out without a refund. The ...
Critiques
1 week ago
Ever since I started blogging here, I hear about Beirut’s airport finally getting some decent (& free) internet and it still did not happen. In fact, we had at least weird looking internet machines few ...
Critiques
1 week ago
I had no idea who Patrick Moubarak was till few days ago, after a recording spread on social media in which he allegedly threatened Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Hezbollah leader. He is also heard ...
Critiques
1 week ago
I don’t recall a year where the Gemmayze (Gouraud) street hasn’t been closed fully or partially for works. Every year, they have a new excuse to shut down the street and cause a hellish traffic, ...
Critiques
1 week ago
Acclaimed singer & composer Marcel Khalife refused to perform the Lebanese National Anthem, as is the tradition, on the opening night of the Baalbeck International Festival. Khalife said (quoting AlJaras) “I won’t be performing the ...
