Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed for January 07, 2017

By Wadner Pierre

This article was originally published by UnlessWeCare.org

Screen Shot 2015-11-06 at 6.34.24 AM It has been over a month since Haiti’s Conseil Electoral Provisoire (Electoral Provisory Counsel), known as CEP, published its foreknown controversial fraudulent results for the first round presidential and second round legislative elections. The CEP’s preliminary results for the presidential elections placed President Michel Martelly’s hand-picked candidate Jovenel Moise of Parti Haïtien Tèt Kale, or P.H.T.K in the first place with 32.8 percent of the popular votes. Jaccéus Joseph, a member of the electoral council, qualified the results as unacceptable.

Miami Herald’s Jacqueline Charles reported, Joseph refused to sign “the presidential and legislative preliminary results” because of irregularities and frauds that plagued them. Joseph thought his refusal to endorse the results would prompt the Tabulation Center to verify “the allegations of electoral fraud, including checking the voter registration lists against the ballots cast in the Oct. 25” elections to avert an unnecessary electoral crisis.

Joseph said, “We asked the director of the Tabulation Center did he have enough time to thoroughly verify if there was fraud.” According to Joseph, the director told them, “[H]e didn’t have enough time for that.”

Despite Joseph’s insistence on verifying and correcting the irregularities and frauds threatening the credibility of the results, CEP’s President Pierre-Louis Opont decided to publish the tainted results. The electoral crisis that was avoidable is now becoming an inevitable crisis. This man-made electoral dispute could further derail the political and social stability of the country.

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BY WADNER PIERRE

Since the CEP published its tainted and most controversial results for the presidential, second round legislative and local elections early last November, thousands have been demonstrated in the streets of Haiti’s largest cities to reclaim a recount of their votes. Religious leaders and international human rights and advocacy groups have also urged the CEP to investigate irregularities and massive electoral frauds that are no longer mere allegations.

As protests widening, diplomatic talks failed and G8 candidates remaining steadfast in their position, to remedy the situation, Haiti’s PM Evans Paul in an one-page letter sent to the President Michel J. Martelly, proposed a formation of an electoral commission to ensure the credibility of the already festered electoral process.

The commission according to the Prime Minister’s letter will have three days to produce recommendations to the government and the Conseil Electoral Provisoire (Electoral Provisional Council), known as the CEP. The head of the government stated,“ …it is necessary to organize credible, transparent, participative and inclusive elections,” as well as “to do whatever it takes” to create a climate of trust for the actors involving in the process.

The CEP shows no sign that it will abide by the recommendations of the government-formed commission. One of its members Marie Carmelle Paul Austin told a radio in the Haiti’s capital that the electoral council members are ready to depart in bloc should the commission interfere in their work. “If this commission’s purpose is to redo or verify the work that the CEP has already done, the council members will resign,” implied council Austin.

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BY WADNER PIERRE

Nearly two months since Haiti’s Conseil Electoral Provisoire (Electoral Provisional Council), know as the CEP, announced the final results for the first round residential, second round legislative and local elections that plagued with massive frauds. The controversial results for the presidential elections placed Haiti’s ruling Party candidate, Jovel Moise at the first place with over 34 percent of the popular and the former 2010 presidential candidate Jude Celestin in second place. Since then protest against those tainted results have been widened through the country.

After candidates and their backers, religious leaders (Catholics and Protestants) and national and international human rights and advocacy groups urged the CEP to form an independent commission to investigate the electoral frauds that were no longer mere allegations, the CEP rejected such proposition and proceeded to schedule the presidential runoff on Dec. 27 with the two candidates obtained the majority of the vote. Celestin, a member of group of eight presidential candidates, known as G8, who have been protesting the CEP’s results, declared he would not participate at the runoff unless the CEP satisfied the demand of G8.

The United States, a staunch supporter of the current administration, and spent over $30 millions for the organization of these log-overdue elections, sent Kenneth Merten, the U.S former ambassador to Haiti and State Department’s Special Envoy to Haiti to convince candidates, most importantly Celestin, to accept the CEP’s results. Merten, a close friend of Martelly, and one the controversial figures that engineered Martelly’s election in the 2010 controversial elections, failed to his mission.

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By WADNER PIERRE

For too long, people paid by Haitian people to do their job have not been held accountable. Now, it’s the time for the Haiti’s electoral officials – the Conseil Electoral Provisoire (CEP) – to either fix the electoral mess or go to jail.

It is despicable that a CEP official threatened to shut down the whole electoral process instead of collaborating with a government-backed commission to investigate massive electoral frauds that they fail to avoid. Marie Carmelle Paul Austin, a member of the electoral council, told a radio in Haiti’s capital that the electoral council members are ready to depart in bloc “If this commission’s purpose is to redo or verify the work that the CEP has already done, the council members will resign.” What Madame Austin did not say is that when you betray your people, violate your country’s laws and contribute to social and political destabilization you should be in jail.

For too long, Haitian people have been struggling for participative democracy and social justice. They’ve been ignored by Haitian officials who primarily seek to satisfy the interest of their international backers like the United States, Canada and France by either plotting electoral coups. Although the Martelly administration finally established a commission to address the latest electoral disaster, it is uncertain that anything will come of it.

Martelly himself was a beneficiary of an electoral fiasco. How can one believe he will accept any recommendation asking the removal of his handpicked candidate? This move reminds me of an article by Haiti’s renowned author Edwidge Danticat: Sweet Micky and the Sad Déjà Vu of Haiti’s Presidential Elections.

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I had this idea that coronavirus would be heaven for me because I’ve been working from home with my kids circling all day long for ten years. This should be my time to shine. I was looking forward to when schools closed down. I wanted all the parents to ask each other: How are you […]

The post I thought coronavirus would be more fun appeared first on Penelope Trunk Careers.

Sometime in February, it was clear that the US was headed toward crisis, and every day we don’t take major action would make the crisis geometrically worse. Suburban schools closed first. The last school districts to close are bigger cities, because they had to figure out how to get breakfast and lunch to the kids […]

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I knew something was wrong the day my son lay in bed in an emergency room waiting for his MRI to come back. A nurse entered his room and said, “Has your son been outside the country recently?” I did a double-take. “It’s pretty late to be asking that, isn’t it?” “Ma’am, yes or no?” […]

The post What it’s like to be a single parent who has coronavirus. appeared first on Penelope Trunk Careers.

Last week I received a very long email with instructions for Zeder. This year millions of Jews around the world will log into Zoom, and try to continue a 2000-year tradition of not changing the tradition. We will recall plagues of past like infestation of locusts and raining frogs and we’ll silently scoff that Egypt […]

The post It’s time for Seder, which is Zeder, in our modern-day-plague ravaged Passover appeared first on Penelope Trunk Careers.

Each night before I go to sleep, I lay in bed torturing myself with the day’s news. I know we are not supposed to do that, but there are very few vices I can fully engage in when we have five people living in a 1000-square-foot apartment. Screen-time news right before bed is a vice […]

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I learned about bouncing back from the diet industry. This is not surprising. All the best research about personal development comes from the diet industry because there’s so much money to be made if you can figure out how to help people lose weight. One study that I have never forgotten is that if you […]

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Recently a flurry of articles about academic overachievers appeared in scientific journals. Specifically, the research found that people with a diagnosis of Autism were more frequently high achievers in school. And people diagnosed with ADHD were more frequently low achievers in school. A paper published last week in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders […]

The post Aspergers or ADHD? The answer will surprise you. appeared first on Penelope Trunk Careers.

I stopped talking with my mom a few years ago. She might not have noticed at first. My brothers have all cut her off at times as well. But my mom is pragmatic. She knows she and my dad were terrible parents. She apologizes and by all accounts, she is a much more enjoyable person […]

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Tramp juice, a slang term for high-strength canned drinks, including the granddaddy of them all, Carlsberg’s Special Brew, loved by homeless alcoholics, have not got the same bad rap in Japan, but are actually the fastest-growing sector of the market, so this ranking from goo Ranking looks at the tastiest strong (7% or more) canned […]

This survey from goo Ranking looked at what Japanese considered was the tastiest menu item at McDonald’s. My first visit to a McDonald’s was in Germany to get a salad, then a cafe latte in a McCafe in Macau (McAu?) in lieu of going to a casino as part of a package tour. My first […]

The pictured meme has perhaps not yet penetrated far the Japanese psyche, given the results of this survey into what famous Japanese cars the Japanese think the world praises. I think the Prius is a good car, although in Japan it seems every second car is one, but I do enjoy driving one, and it’s […]

There’s a very definite Tokyo-area bias in this survey from goo Ranking into which factory tours people would want to go on; the pictured food sample factory is not one of them, though. The only factory tours I’ve been on in Japan were three times to the Yamazaki distillery tour and tasting and once to […]

Today we have goo Ranking looking at where Japanese rate as the tastiest family restaurant. “Family restaurant” is another example of Japanese English; it isn’t “family-owned”, but “family-friendly”. Saizeria as number one (incidentally, it’s also the foreign traveller’s favourite) is a little surprising; their pasta is all dried pasta, and their pizza bases are just […]

No words, just a map: OK, a few words; goo Ranking looked at what theme restaurants or bars Japanese might want to visit. Some of these restaurants are also popular with tourists and foreign residents, so perhaps you can find a new favourite in the list? Also note that some of the places have other […]

No real surprises with the most popular, but the second, third and fourth are in this list of what the Japanese rate as the tastiest carbonated drinks. Pictured is a special limited-time flavour of the number two drink. Oronamin C Drink and others with medicinal-sounding names are indeed that; vitamin-laden foul-tasting drinks that might or […]

I’m back, and with some free time let’s try a translation I started last year; brands that the Japanese were surprised to learn were actually Japan-born. Samantha Thavasa television advertisements have an extremely American feel with supermodels frolicing around New York in fancy frocks, so I too was surprised to find they were actually Japanese. […]

This survey is ancient in terms of the progression of COVID-19, but there’s still interesting figures in this survey from @nifty conducted at the end of March into COVID-19. This survey was conducted before the Olympics were postponed and the state of emergency declared. So far I’d put myself in the not really worried category; […]

Gestern gab es auf der „Bild“-Titelseite mal wieder Wut, Verzeihung, „WUT“: Keine Frage, die Wirtinnen und Wirte, die sich in der „Bild“-Zeitung und bei Bild.de vor allem über die Bundesregierung, die Bundeskanzlerin und die Corona-Maßnahmen beschweren, haben aktuell ganz bestimmt ernstzunehmende wirtschaftliche Sorgen. Sie stecken in einer misslichen Lage. Der Mann ganz rechts, dessen Wut […]

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