So if you guys will come back to another one. If you're new to the channel, I'm Goldpony. I do new car truck SUV reviews on YouTube. And today we're in the brand new 2023 Kia Forte courtesy of Fred Beans Kia in Mechanicsburg, PA for more information on their inventory. Please feel free to check out the link in the description box below. And so we're in this one today because this is a very affordable sedan starting at under $20,000. You don't hear that too much these days. So that's pretty cool. Compete, of course, with the Civic and the Corolla, but it comes with America's best warranty being five year, 60,000 mile bumper to bumper, 10 years, 100,000 miles on the powertrain. So ton of peace of mind right there. So ultimately in this video, we will be testing out and going over everything about this one from acceleration to braking, steering full, ride quality, sound system, exhaust, all that fun stuff. So having said all that, what do you guys say? Let's just go ahead and jump right into it. And as always, let's start with pricing. And so as you can imagine, there are several different trim levels for the 2023 Forte. First one being the LX, starting at $19,490. LXS, which is the one we have today, starting at $19,990. GT line for $21,690. GT for $24,190. And the GT manual transmission for $24,890. And I know what you're thinking, why is the manual transmission more? For whatever reason, Kia actually gives the manual transmission a ton of added features actually as well. And we'll get more into that in the video. But anyways, nonetheless, as you can imagine with all of this trim levels, there are actually two different power plants available for the Forte. First one being the one we have today and belonging to the first three trim levels. I just mentioned there, that is a two liter direct injected inline four cylinder, 147 horsepower at 6,200 RPM. 132 pound feet of torque coming in at 4,500 RPM. Power sent to the front wheels through an IVT that stands for an intelligent variable transmission. So it's like a CVT that you're probably used to. Zero to 60 time coming in at approximately 8.2 seconds with MPG numbers coming in at 31 of the city, 41 on the highway for the LX. And then slightly reduced to 29 in the city, 39 on the highway for the LXS and the GT line taking regular unleaded fuel. But so then there is that other engine configuration of course belonging to the GT trim levels. That one is powered by 1.6 liter turbocharged four cylinder engine, 201 horsepower at 6,000 RPM, 195 pound feet of torque coming in at 1,500 RPM. Power sent to the front wheels again through a seven speed dual clutch. That's an impressive transmission right there or a six speed manual obviously as explained at the trim level of course. Zero to 60 time for that one, approximately 6.7 seconds with MPG numbers coming in. It's still a very impressive 27 in the city, 35 on the highway for the dual clutch at least, 22 in the city, 31 on the highway for the manual transmission. But again, taking regular unleaded fuel. Gotta love that. So then before we do any kind of fun acceleration test here in our Forte, I wanted to mention to you guys the drive modes. There is a button actually labeled drive mode just to the left of the shifter. When you press that, you're going to get normal, sport and smart. Now remember reviewing this car two years ago when it was just normal and sport but now they've added a smart drive mode. So that is pretty cool. So ultimately adjusting things like the shift points of throttle response and the steering sensitivity as well. So now have you got all of that out of the way? What do you guys say? Let's go ahead and find a straightaway. Let's put the acceleration here to the test and let's see how quickly we can get our base engine configuration here up to speed. All right, well might as well do it here just pulling out onto the road. All right, it's actually not bad as far as acceleration goes. You're not going to have any issues emerging onto the highway. Having said that, you can clearly tell it's a continuously variable transmission or as Kia calls it an intelligent variable transmission. So it's kind of got that rubber band effect. So I wouldn't have minded if they adjusted that a little bit to kind of simulate more of an automatic transmission because I think that's what most people prefer these days. But having said that, again, as far as acceleration goes, it is definitely plenty fine. So not going to have any issues there even with the base engine configuration. Obviously that upgraded engine is going to be quicker but this will certainly get the job done. But anyways, to go along with that acceleration as always, braking is equally important. So upfront, you will find 11 inch ventilated front disks in the back 10.3 inch solid rear disk. And with the GT trim levels, it's actually going to be bumped up to 12 inch ventilated front disks and then 11.2 inch solid rear disk. So overall as far as braking feel goes, brilliant. I love it. I love it. Definitely on the firmer side of things, it's not a softer, squishy braking feel whatsoever. So that's definitely a good thing. So when it comes to braking feel, definitely 100% on point in the forte. Then touching on suspension and handling upfront, you're going to get a McPherson strut front suspension either way in the back force and beam rear axle for the non GT trim levels like we have today or an independent multi link rear suspension for the GT trim levels. So obviously you're going to get a little better handling with those GT trim levels because of the independent multi link rear suspension. Overall though, as far as ride quality goes, we're coming up on a little bump here. It's all right. It's pretty much as you would expect a compact car to ride. So I honestly personally don't have any issues with it. So definitely perfectly fine for me. Let's go ahead and put it in sport driving mode. You can instantly tell the steering feel does get a heavier weight to it when you put it in that driving mode. But having said that, even when you put it back in normal driving mode, the steering feel is actually still really good. A good bit heavier than actually my Hyundai Sonata, believe it or not, wouldn't have minded this steering feel in my Sonata. But I know it's weighted more towards on the heavier side of things, I guess you could say. So it instantly points you in the direction that you want to go. Not the very heaviest steering feel obviously because this isn't a sports car or anything like that. But honestly, it's pretty darn good. I definitely don't mind it there. And touching on cabin noise, I am going 35 miles per hour right now. And guys could probably tell there isn't a whole lot of exterior wind noise or actually even road noise coming into the cabin. So that's actually not too bad. And touching on visibility, this is a perfectly shaped sedan. So looking out my rear view mirror here, definitely no issues there. And actually those second row headrests tucked down pretty decently into the rear seats. So that's even better because sometimes that doesn't feed visibility there as well. So good to go there as well. But ultimately that about rounds out the performance segment of this review guys. Let's now go ahead and take a look at the exterior of our brand new 2023 Kia Forte. All right, so here she is you guys. The new 2023 Kia Forte finished in current red paint is the exterior color name. And by the way, that is a $295 paint option. If you do indeed like the color that we have here today, but let's go ahead and start up front. Of course you have that new Kia logo and actually that started last year for the 2022 model year. But it still looks good of course. Of course you have that gloss black front grill in the center. You're actually going to get some red accents on that front grill. If you were to go with the GT trim levels, along with some GT, some red GT badging in the upper corner as well. I do like the silver accents found just below that. Also underneath those front headlights there as well. Of course that front grill is a tiger nose design in typical Kia fashion. I should also mention that body colored front lip. I do like that. That's for the non GT trim levels.  So I did want to mention that to the sides. The lighting is going to differ amongst the trim level. So let me go ahead and mention that real quick. Projector beam halogen headlights for the non GT trim levels, but then LED headlights for the GT trim levels. And of course they come with LED daytime running lights. Also the automatic feature. And get this, this one's impressive, get ready. Automatic high beams come standard for every single trim level across the board. That's rare. That's still rare right now. Even for 2023 model year cars on other manufacturers up there, you a lot of times won't get that. So essentially what that means is if you have your high beams on at night and it senses a vehicle coming in the opposite direction, it's going to automatically dim them back to low beams. Then when that vehicle is gone, it's going to automatically then bump it back up to high beams. So very nice, very convenient feature there. If you wanted LED fog lights, go with the GT line trim level or one of the GT trim levels. So you can actually get it on the GT line. So I do like that. And just moving in a little closer, I wanted to show this to you guys as well. Look at this design on the upper portion of the headlights. I just noticed that. That is a pretty cool look. It's all about the attention to detail. And actually Kia did a pretty darn good job with that attention to detail, at least on the front end here. So definitely a fan. But anyway, it's pretty much rounds out the front end here. So now I'll go ahead and make our way to the side of the Forte. All right, so now I'm making our way to the side of the Forte. Black windows surrounds will come standard gloss black side skirts for the GT trim level, but you will get body colored side skirts if you go with any of the other trim levels, obviously, as you guys are looking at right now. Take a look at the side mirrors. They are body colored power adjustable side mirrors. That's the standard setup. But if you were to go with the GT line trim level or one of the GT trim levels, you're actually going to get gloss black side mirrors. So a little more aggressive look, I guess you could say. Heated side mirrors with LED integrated turd signals then coming with the GT line trim level and up. Or you could go with an optional package option that we have here today on our LXS and get that as well. By the way, in case you were curious, that is the LXS technology package. It goes for $500. And that does give you heated outside mirrors with LED integrated turd signals, along with a bunch of safety features as well. So then taking a look at the wheel configurations. Again, differing pretty substantially amongst the trim levels, 15 inch steel wheels with covers coming with the LX trim level, 16 inch alloys coming with the LXS. That's what you guys are looking at right now, of course. 17 inch alloys for the GT line trim level, then 18 inch alloys for the GT trims. And you're going to get some red accents on the center caps for those GT trim levels as well. But they're pretty much rounds out the side profile. Let's now go ahead and make our way to the back. All right, and so now since we are around to the back of the Forte, you will find a gloss black shark fin antenna all the way to the top.  LED taillights, again, coming with the GT line trim level end up. I like the satin aluminum badging as well. I just noticed that it's not chrome, like you typically find on a lot of other manufacturers, but rather like satin aluminum. So it's a very cool, very high-end look to the badging at least. And then it's probably not a feature in itself, but I didn't want to overlook it. Down below then, if you were to go with one of those GT trim levels, you will get a gloss black rear diffuser. Obviously we don't have that today. Single exhaust outlet tucked away on the passenger side underneath there for all trim levels. But the GT trim levels, because that is going to give you dual exhaust outlets with chrome tips. So of course that's not what we have today. So what do you guys say? I think you know what we have to do next. Let's go ahead and turn this thing on and here's the exhaust clip. All right, so for now, since we are around to the back of the Ford today, when it comes to opening that rear trunk, I will say it's a smart trunk for the GT line trim level and up, meaning just walk up to the back and wait maybe three seconds. It's going to automatically open up for you as long as the key fob is on you. But other than that, there's actually no button on the trunk itself to pop the trunk. The buttons are going to be on the key fob and also kind of by the driver's side left foot kind of towards the seat. You guys know what I'm talking about, but once opened up, the cargo capacity comes in at 15.3 cubic feet. If that was not enough space, there's a 60-40 split, meaning the rear seats do fall down for a good bit of extra space then. If you needed it, there is some cargo lighting back there as well, of course. And if you were to lift up underneath of that cargo floor surprisingly, there's a decent amount of in-floor storage. I wasn't expecting to find that, but there's actually good bits. You can put an ice scraper or tire inflator kit back there, stuff like that. So that is definitely very nice to find. You typically find that on SUVs, but very rarely do you find that on sedan. So wanted to emphasize it. But anyways, then making our way to the rear legroom, then I just going to commit it 35.7 inches. So for reference, I'm in even six feet tall. This is how much space I have back there. We don't have rear ventilation today, but if you were to go with the GT trim levels, you will get rear ventilation. Rear center armrest with cup holders is going to come on the GT line trim level and up. And passenger side seat back map pocket coming with the GT line trim level and up as well. Then making our way up to the front seats, manually adjustable cloth seating for the LX and LX S trim levels, syntax, cloth combination for the GT line trim level and the GT trims, 10-way power adjustable driver seat is going to be optional for the GT line and GT trim levels. Heated front seats for the GT manual and ventilated front seats are going to be optional for the GT line and GT trims. But overall, as far as seat comfort goes, it'll definitely get the job done. Honestly, of course, not the most comfortable seats I've ever sat in, but certainly not that bad for what they are. They're manually adjustable cloth seats. You can't expect too much, but I personally wouldn't have any issues driving this on a regular basis. I'll just put it that way. But they take a look at the steering wheel. It is tilt and telescoping. It is leather wrapped for the GT line trim level and up. And if you were to go with one of the GT trim levels, you're actually going to get a flat bottom steering wheel with the GT logo found at the bottom as well. So that's pretty cool. But now let's go ahead and make our way to the startup. Let me start by showing you guys the key here. It's actually a pretty cool key. Essentially you got your key logo on the one side and then all of your buttons are located on the side of the key. And that's going to be lock, unlock, and that button to pop the rear trunk there. But it is all keyless entry with a push button start if you were to go with the GT line trim level and up. So we don't have that today. So essentially all I'm going to do here is simply put my front of the brake and turn the key. And so once started up, tachometer is all the way to your left, speedometer all the way to your right. And of course there is a small digital display front and center to control what is on that digital display. There are steering wheel mounting controls found on the right side of the steering wheel.  There is a digital speedometer available. That is pretty cool. Here's how many miles you have left until your next oil change. There's tire pressure for each individual tire. That's pretty cool as well. So outside temperature, pretty much everything you could possibly want on the digital portion of the gauges more or less. Then making our way to overall interior quality, there is a power sunroof for the GT manual transmission that comes standard on that one. That's why I was mentioning that at the beginning of the video there's more actually as well. The GT manual gives you some added features that you don't get on any of the other trim levels. But that power sunroof is optional though on the GT line trim leveling up and the GT dual clutch, but standard on the GT manual. Overhead sunglass holder is going to come standard. There is a black cloth headliner for the GT trim levels. Otherwise you can get this kind of beige headliner which is perfectly fine for me. Alloy foot pedals coming with the GT line trim leveling up. Wireless phone charger for the GT trims. Otherwise just in front of the shifter you're going to get some rubberized kind of bottom here where you can simply store your cell phone but it's not going to charge it of course, but you can charge it. Just plugging into the USB charging port I guess. Dual zoom climate control coming with the GT line trim leveling up. 12 volt power outlet as well. Just in front of the shifter there's actually two of them. Some more rubberized storage. You got dual cup holders just behind the shifter and within the center armrest. Plenty of storage there as well. So overall as far as interior quality goes there is some cheap silver plastic found on the doors and some black plastic found around the shifter. But I honestly don't mind it. I think it's perfectly fine. Maybe it's because everything is so crisp and clean right now on this thing but I actually don't mind it. I would be perfectly fine driving this thing but now let's go ahead and make our way to see the infotainment screen because I remember when I reviewed this car a couple of years ago it didn't have all that this car now has. I'll put it that way. So eight inch color touchscreen display coming with the LX and LX S trim levels. That's what you're looking at right now but GT line trim leveling up comes with a 10 and a quarter inch color touchscreen display that used to be an eight inch screen just like we're looking at right now just two years ago. So you can now get a 10 and a quarter inch screen. So that's pretty cool. Bluetooth and audio streaming of course coming with either screen Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, same thing. Factory navigation system though coming with the 10 and a quarter inch screen. Although you don't really need it if you have a Android Auto, Apple CarPlay and some data on your phone anyways but there's also a voice memo system where you can record your voice and then play it back at a later date if you didn't want to forget something. There's also quiet mode. So let me go ahead and press that real quick. Essentially it's going to limit the front volume to 25 and then completely cancel out the rear volume. So if you have kids that are asleep in the back that'll help keep them asleep. Honestly, I'm not a hundred percent sure if you would even need that feature on the Ford tape because it's not like it's a big vehicle like the Telluride but still it's there if you wanted it but you can also of course check out your radio information. So when it comes to the sound systems they will differ substantially amongst the trim levels. Again, four speakers for the LX and LXS. That's what we have of course, six speakers for the GT line and GT trims and then there's an eight speaker Harman Kardon sound system for the GT manual with 320 watts. I remember testing that out two years ago when I drove that one. It was pretty darn impressive but we do have the four speaker sound system so the polar opposite here with us here today. So what do you guys say? Let's go ahead and turn on the radio see what we got playing today and let's test out the clarity of this one. Yeah, it's four speakers. I mean that last sound system I remember testing it in 2020. It was amazing. It sounds like a four speaker sound system. So I'll just put it that way. It'll get the job done though. But last thing I wanna mention to you guys on the infotainment screen of course is when you do put this thing in reverse you will find a rear view camera coming standard across the board for every trim level which is always going to lead us into safety. And so to start front side, side curtain ear bags do come standard in the back you're gonna have latch AKA lower anchors to tether to children for the rear car seats. Rear child door locks, tire pressure monitoring system but also coming standard. A forward collision avoidance assist system with pedestrian detection, driver attention warning lane keep assist, lane following assist. The GT line trim level then is going to add a blind spot monitoring system with rear cross traffic alert or you can go with the LXS technology package for 500 bucks which is also gonna give you that as well. GT trim level then is going to add adaptive cruise control with stop and go and highway driving assist as well which is kind of like a level two autonomous driving systems. That is pretty cool as well. So overall when it comes to my final thoughts excellent pricing on this thing the car we are driving today is listed for under $20,000. That is definitely remarkable. I love that. You get America's Best Warranty as well being five or 60,000 miles but about for 10 years 100,000 miles on the powertrain. If you drive less than 10,000 miles a year you're gonna keep this car for 10 years it's gonna be under warranty. So that is incredible. Wireless phone charger is nice when you get it we don't have it today but I love that it's available on this thing. Great styling. This thing is definitely not short on style. It looks pretty darn good from the exterior. I will say that as far as room for improvement goes. One thing I always kind of look for on a less expensive cars is at least the availability to have homeland control. So for up to three different garage doors typically is how it's found on a bottom portion of that rear view mirror. I knew some of the other compact cars like Corolla at least offer it but wouldn't have minded if Kia at least offered that. I know we could just buy the garage door and open it from Lowe's but still definitely wouldn't have minded seeing that. But anyways that is about it for this one you guys. Let me know what you think of the 2023 Forte in the comments section below. I always read your comments because I love talking about cars but anyways feel free to hit the subscribe button if you're in a new car reviews that is what we do here on this channel. After all do appreciate you guys watching more than you know and I will see you guys all in the next video. Stay Gold.


For more videos on people's struggles, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Hello and welcome to People's Dispatch. Today, we'll be talking about the situation in Lebanon, where it's been over one month since popular protests broke out across the country. The protests initially broke out against attacks on VoIP calls over various apps and soon transformed into a larger movement demanding systemic change. To talk more about this, we are joined by Jana Nakal, a Central Committee member of the Lebanese Communist Party. Thank you, Jana, for joining us. Thank you for having me. Yes, so could you first start by talking a bit about the current situation on the ground? There have been mass protests and so one month after these protests began, and I understand that there have also been a number of arrests in recent times, including members of your party. So what exactly is the situation in Beirut and the other major cities as far as the protests are concerned? So the protests are continuing. There have been less and less road blockades, but people in all regions, including Beirut, including the big cities as well as smaller towns, have been witnessing daily protests, and so the protests have been now concentrated in specific public spaces, public piazzas in each of the towns where people have set tents, where people are having discussions about the situation, and every couple of days they have been joining certain actions targeted specifically towards certain ministries and state institutions which are immediately linked to the current crisis, including the Ministry of the Central Banks around Lebanon, including the Ministry of Justice, including the Palace of Justice, as well as other state institutions which are known to be corrupt or having a direct connection, as I said, to the crisis. There have also been organizations that have also been actions concerning environmental issues, specifically what is known as the Bistri Dam, one of the biggest and most destructive dams that is planned and pushed by the IMF and the World Bank for the past two years, and which most of the people, the majority of people of Lebanon have been refusing, and so now the protests have been directed towards the Bistri Dam which has closed off a huge part of a plain in the south of Lebanon, and so the protests have organized marches there and have occupied the plain and forced the contractors to leave the place, the location there. So the protests have been growing and informed and have become more and more diverse. Right, and what about the extent of police repression? Does it continue in the same way or are there other ways of suppression that you're seeing? Let's say they have also been diversifying their ways. We're talking about both political parties, because political parties in Lebanon are armed, so we're talking about political parties attacking and beating up demonstrators and protesters around Lebanon and threatening the people who are joining, specifically that Lebanon as a small country, each person knows who's demonstrating and who's not, and so they have been sending messages and threatening them and their families, and also they have been huge attacks and threats towards the journalists who are covering the protests. One of the journalists' mothers have suffered, unfortunately, from a brain stroke, and she is now in hospital because of the attacks and threats that she received because of her daughter's work, so this is, let's say, in a non-official way, but the official attacks from the state itself through the army and the armed force in general, we have been witnessing attacks, arrests, including, of course, comrades all over Lebanon, but also we have been witnessing what is called as disappearances. Yesterday night, a young comrade from Tripoli, from the north, he has disappeared. We know that the armed forces have taken him to unknown places, an unknown place, so this is part of what we are facing right now in the different regions and not only in Lebanon, not only in Beirut, sorry. So, moving on to the state response, you mentioned the repression, of course, but we also see a crisis of the state because Saad Hariri resigned shortly after the protests began, and since then, the Lebanese political establishment seems to have completely failed to arrive at any kind of consensus regarding what should be the way ahead, so there was a billionaire businessman who tried to propose his name, then he had to withdraw it because the protests, so how do you see the political establishment actually trying to come to terms with this crisis? Do they have any path ahead or is it just chaos? Right. So, first of all, the resignation of Hariri and the resignation of Safodi after, before he even got to become a prime minister or actual achievements of the of the Antifodo, the way the state is dealing with it can be read in two ways, so first of all, the president has been talking to us every couple of days, giving us speeches, we haven't heard of him since he got into power, and the speeches are all having this kind of paternal attitude, I understand you, I hear you, I know you're suffering, etc., but at the same time, he is in the most patriarchal way telling us what not to do, how to act, how not to threaten our own existence as if the protests are the ones that are threatening us and not the economic situation and the military or let's say security situation which is threatening us, and he is proposing solutions which are in no way solutions because first of all, he is giving us promises which in no sense are possible, he is promising that Lebanon is going to become an oil producing country in two months which is in no sense possible because we will need eight to ten years to become productive of oil, and second of all, he is suggesting to turn Lebanon into a technology producing economy which is in no sense not only possible but it was not even in the demands of the Intifada, we want a country that is productive from the perspective or at the level of agriculture, of industry, of arts, of crafts, in sectors that are meaningful for its people themselves and not for the West which is what technology is about, so they are trying to propose pseudo solutions, let's say solutions that would appear like, things that would appear like solutions but they are in no sense solutions, and at the same time they're facing us with violence, arrests, attacks, threats, and McCarthyism, non-stop McCarthyism calling us agents of the West, calling us agents of embassies, calling us agents of chaos meaning if people go into the streets and ask and demand for their rights to live and for their rights to eat and have basic basic rights and demands, we are immediately called related and connected to the West. So but there's been no attempt to reach out directly to the organizations involved in the protests, nothing of that sort. Not at all, we don't want them to reach out to us, we have clear demand, if these demands are met this is good, if they're not there's nothing else to discuss because this is the state's way to co-opt the system, to co-opt sorry, the intifada to say we want to reach out to you, we want to negotiate, we don't want any negotiations, our demands are clear. So from a global geopolitical perspective, our question actually because we have a situation where today there is a US-Iran conflict, there's a particular kind of crisis and Lebanon has a particular role to play, especially the Hezbollah and other forces. So some of the analysis has also been in that direction saying how do the protests affect the future of Lebanon and the whole region from an imperialist perspective. So how do you on the left in Lebanon actually see this issue? Right, the funniest thing is that they don't have trust in people and we know and we have been working and organizing on the ground and we see how aware people are of their own rights and their own position and positionality in the region. So we're saying that the intifada itself is cleaning itself up, so definitely there are groups in the intifada which are liberal, which are supporters of let's say the West etc., but people are aware of who these are and these groups are not representative of the majority of what's going on on the ground and for the past let's say week we have been witnessing more and more refusal of members of individuals and groups which are liberal, which are linked or which have a less radical position vis-à-vis the West. So we think that we need to do two things, have trust in people's awareness vis-à-vis their own rights and to who their enemy really is and second of all organize in the streets in the direction which is supportive of real resistance vis-à-vis imperialism in the region and in general in the world. And finally right now especially from the side of the left what would be the concrete say goals as well as a path that the organization see as a way ahead? So we're thinking about two parallel let's say chores. First of all a decentralized organizing because all the time just linking people to Beirut is really in I mean it's unfair to actually work and we're doing this we're organizing in all the regions trying to connect trying to see what each of the regions needs from a local perspective from a more you know in the field perspective with individuals and groups trying to see what the demands are that the the let's say sub-demands of the regions are this is one two creating communal alternatives. What we have discovered in this in Tifado is that people are really aware of what community is and what solidarity is and what communal support and activity is. I'm talking about organizing at the level of because we're expecting a food crisis we're expecting an economic crisis in general so we're talking about organizing at the level of something that looks like a cooperative like cooperatives unions groups of professionals and people have similar interests from around the regions connecting and working together in order for us to whenever the economic crisis is going to take place whenever the leader is going to be hit in order for us to have a communal an actual communal network in the on the ground in the regions to support the most disenfranchised who are going to be facing this this blow more more directly. And the main demand I understand still remains the complete new constitution in the complete re-envisioning of the system. So what kind of a system is being envisioned by the left? We're talking about a system that approaches the situation from a social justice perspective. We're talking about a system which is which does not support privatization. We're talking about a system which is not neoliberal in its essence. So this is the kind of state and the kind of economic social system that we're trying to push forward to. And you would like these aspects to be specifically written into the constitution. Definitely definitely we're talking in terms of in terms of institutions but we know that this is a long-term thing. So the first step we're talking about is a an interim government which is which which will change first and foremost the current election law electoral law because this is electoral law that is continuously reproducing the same elite in power. So we need a new electoral law that would would allow the the reproduction of the antifada into the parliament that the antifada is represented in the parliament so it can actually then impose changes in the institution as well as in the existing law at all levels. And this is what we think that would be the first let's say the first two steps into the changes of of the system in Lebanon. Thank you so much Janna. Thank you. That's all we have time for today. Keep watching People's Dispatch.


The apprentices are a pivotal part of the technical services team. I can't imagine life without them at WMJ. They're involved in everything that we do. And there's always an apprentice shadowing a member of my team. I think becoming an apprentice is a great route. I'm Emma and I'm a third year apprentice at WMJ. We have a 3D simulator where we work on developing autonomous vehicles or intelligent vehicles. It's a Faraday cage which has 360 degrees projector screen and we can put vehicle in. We're doing a lot of testing, trying to make vehicles autonomous. Physics forms a big part of my role. We work a lot with electromagnetic waves and look at the effect it has on autonomous vehicles. For us in the School of Physics and Astronomy we gain great benefit from apprentices. We ourselves get exposure to new levels of thinking and also more importantly we get financial support to send our apprentices a way to study whether that be up to degree level. I decided to become an apprentice after my mother highlighted the opportunity to me and it's the best thing I've ever done. Liquid helium is the lifeblood of low temperature physics and medical research and without me they wouldn't have the reliability of obtaining liquid helium whenever they needed it. Our plans for the future would be to eventually become senior cryogenics technician for this facility. I definitely recommend other businesses to take on apprentices. I think we've had an incredibly positive experience within the School of all of our apprentices. When people ask me how their apprenticeship is or would I recommend it is Leonardo specifically allows you to every three months move around different functions within the company. I obviously joined the company not really knowing what sort of area of engineering I wanted to specialise in so this was so beneficial for me. An area that really inspired me was optics and being able to work with optics doing optical bonding so that's what really drove me to want to do that from a final placement and that'll be the job that I'll then finish my apprenticeship with. Simtechnical was testing as a medium-sized business. We brought our apprentice in and it's added amazing value to us. It's certainly not just for big businesses. They're capturing elements of the business that we've not actually looked at before and trying to progress and look at new ideas and where we can take things so it's helped us a lot. Technical skills are a vital part of what Simtech does. Having an apprentice with those skills helps me to assign the right person to the right job. I wanted to become an apprentice because I saw it as a good opportunity to gain hands-on work experience alongside fully qualified technicians. I'll go out on site, I'll take samples of construction materials, I'll come back into the laboratory and test those samples of things such as air voids. So I've always loved science growing up, especially physics and physics is heavily involved in my workplace. We have to separate the samples that we've taken out on site into different elements. At the end of my apprenticeship I hope to save in Simtech, continue learning and gaining more experience and work my way up within the company. I would definitely recommend employing an apprentice. It's brought enthusiasm to the business and for us it's really helped our business grow.


Happy Christmas Eve Eve. We are filling a holiday routine. Ryan is doing some product placement. That's a wrap! Yay! It's been like three hours. Four freaking hours later and I'm all done. I did chocolate, strawberries, Oreo balls, and Rice Krispies. Good morning guys and happy Christmas Eve Eve. Happy Christmas Eve Eve. We are filling a holiday routine. I'm going to get my stabilizer out and we can start filming. Hopefully this goes smoothly. I actually wrote out like a whole list of like clips I wanted Ryan to film. So hopefully it's very efficient day. And you need to stop. What? There's a hot pot of coffee in my kitchen this morning. My toilet. Nice. We just filmed the bed part. Ryan told me my eyebrows look funny, so I'm sorry. Look funny. Ryan's filming Sophie more than he's filming me. She's better looking than me. You're so mean! Sophie do you think you're cute? So you agree. You think you're really cute? We filmed Sophie eating breakfast. Ah! I'm late! What's next? I think knowing in the bathroom, braiding my hair and washing my face, washing my teeth. You didn't already do that because I felt gross, so. Siri what's next? Ryan is doing some product placement laying out my gym clothes. I laid them out and he was like do you even look at Instagram? Do you even look at stores? Damn, look how perf that looks. Perfect. Thank you. Yay! Looks so good. Guys we're out here just trying to make Sophie poop.  She literally acted like she had to poop so bad. She was like shaking and looking very... Poop-ish. She looked very guilty. I thought she was going to poop, but no. It's cool. You can see her- uh-oh TV. Wait can you start it over? This is why Ryan's a keeper.  Ooh, I want to like put on my high keys. Oh I bet you do. Done with her video finally. That's a wrap! Yay! It's been like three hours. Four hours actually. It's almost noon now. And it's only three, I'm off the clock. I can go inside and do nothing now. Didn't even get a paycheck. I gotta hold me to bacon and some bite of toast to fud it. I do not want to do anything today. No, did you poop? I have to edit so, so, so much vlogs and videos. Because I want to get like two actual videos up before Christmas. So wish me good luck and I also have to like bake and do all this other stuff and shop for gifts still. So today is probably gonna be a long day or not. What are you looking for? A makeup bag. Well I don't know what it looks like. I also need to do laundry. I took a whole bag of laundry home with me. Can you show it off? I haven't even done it yet. Couldn't you like start it off like this? Maybe. Okay I'm gonna go edit. Sophie do you want to come edit with me? Yeah, come on. So for the past two hours I was working on Ryan's present. She just paint all over her look. No way. Slag. You mean because I thought I got it all over. This is the present. It's under her arm though. What color is it? It's the little imprint of my painting. I see what it is now. And she made this for the last two hours too. I know I just made this. This is my present. This isn't the painting. Those are you know, it's a Georgia painting. Which color is it? It's not even in your paintings. I don't even know Georgia painting. Oh yeah it is. No it's not. So I'm back home now and I need to start like making stuff. I have to make gel. I have to make Oreo balls. I have to make well um finish up my Rice Krispies. And I just have a lot to do. I have to pack some gifts. Like um sorry wrap gifts. So there's a lot to do and not a lot of time. It's almost like 10 o'clock at night. So we went to like TJ Maxx. We went to Walmart.  I don't know how much I'm gonna vlog right now. Just because I need to like just do everything.  I did chocolate strawberries, Oreo balls, and Rice Krispies. Here are Oreo balls. I did two batches this time. And here are the Rice Krispies. And chocolate strawberries are under it. I just didn't really have much space. I don't know if you guys have like those days where you just feel like you eat so much sweets and you need like some real food. That's how I feel right now. And honestly all I can like make right now is soup because like I could make chicken. But I feel like that would take like so long. So I just want to go to bed. So the only thing that is like real food that I've eaten today is this roasted red pepper soup that I got from the fresh market. It's like already made. All you have to do is like heat it up and I added mozzarella cheese. So it tastes pretty similar to the one at Katie. I was just craving it. Chef Ryan makes like the best roasted pepper soup. Like every time it says soup day on like the meal plan I get so excited for this soup. So tomorrow I have to wake up really early to start getting ready. That's what I'm calling. Like I was saying tomorrow I have to get up at like I don't know I set my alarm at seven because Ryan said I should be at his house by 10. So I just wanted to like give me enough wiggle room to shower. Probably blow dry my hair, do my makeup, get everything ready and just drive over there. It is almost 1 a.m. And I need to go the frick to sleep. I really wanted to edit a video but honestly like probably just not going to.  So I wanted to get it up before like Christmas Eve. I think I just need like rest in bed but I think I can still edit because I'm not like super tired. I think just my body is tired. So I'm going to end the vlog here and I hope you guys enjoyed today. Not much went on but I'm so excited for tomorrow and especially on Christmas. It's going to be super fun. Those vlogs will be very entertaining I promise. So I'll see you guys in my next video. Bye guys. Shall we wall pan? Heart from here. You don't look over. You don't look over and you seem to be cute. It won't happen. I don't know. I'm going to do that.  What?  I should have to be so mad. Product placement. Advertise. Like would you like better the soft smile on it? I think. Not see the camera at all right now. Yeah. You have to proof it. I know it. Good. Okay. That wasn't recording. Okay. I was going through it. Well I was going to tell me again. Is it too bright? You're fine. You sure? Yeah. Let me see it. I don't believe you chew. Can you get my highlight? Is it popping?


The Appalachian Wireless, 30th anniversary holiday sale is going on now from now until the end of the year. Visit us in store or reserve online for an unbelievable sale and give away. We know what you want for the holidays because we are you. We are Appalachian Wireless. The Appalachian Wireless Arena in downtown Biteville has announced two new shows for their upcoming 2022 season adding to the list of things to do in our region. Earlier we caught up with Senior Sales and Marketing Director for the Appalachian Wireless Arena, Josh Kessler for more information on both of these events. So we put out the East Kentucky Stampede Championship Rodeo, of course something fun for all ages. We're kind of throwing out the stuff that we've thrown out, perfect stock and stuff for gifts, perfect Christmas gifts. If you've got somebody hard on your list, shop for perfect time, gifts are great. Put them in the stocking, easy enough, don't even have to wrap them. East Kentucky Stampede Championship Rodeo is going to be great, mutton busts in the sheep, the bulls, the kids are involved, the parents are involved, great. March 25th and 26th, 7.30, so come out, get those tickets, they go on sale Friday, Community Trust Bank Box Office or Ticketmaster.com. We've got Casting Crowns, the Healing Tour, with special guests, we are messengers, and we've also got Jonathan Trailer on that. Of course tickets are available Friday for that one as well, and that is March the 17th. Kessler mentions that as of now, there are no mask or vaccine restrictions for audience members attending either event. He also mentions that pre-sale offers for both shows are available for fans who sign up through their website. Pre-sales will be coming out, we actually put our pre-sale out for both shows today. That'll be for Thursday pre-sales, so definitely check those out. If you're not a fan, go to AppalachianMars Arena.com, subscribe to our E-blast, and you can get a pre-sale as well. For Mountain Top News, I'm Joshua Slum.


Appalachian Wireless proudly brings you unlimited data. Unlimited data is only $80 a month for a single line. Four lines as low as $200. Better service? Bigger savings? That's today's Appalachian Wireless. An East Kentucky network company. Get a speed slow to 25 gigabytes per line to 512 kilobits for phones and tablets. And 15 gigabytes for motors. See store for more details. Everything was quiet Saturday afternoon in Johnson County until gunshots rang out in the flat gap community just before 4 p.m. And 911 dispatchers received a disturbing call.  Sheriff Price, his deputies and Kentucky State Troopers responded to the Mackenzie Branch home of Wayne and Arlene Nicholl and found them both deceased in their kitchen. And thanks to the help of the 19 year old who called 911, officers identified the man responsible. There was one suspect identified at the flat gap scene and he was not at the scene so we started looking for him at that time. That man was Joseph Nicholl who drove to an apartment on Mill Street in downtown Paintsville where he then shot and killed his girlfriend, Lindsey Vanhuse, and her mother, Patricia Vanhuse, before killing himself. Paintsville PD, Johnson County Sheriff's Office made entry, found the victims and also the perpetrator was deceased at the scene. John Daniels lives in a neighboring apartment and called 911 after he heard three gunshots saying he knew instantly something was wrong. It was two and then maybe a minute, a minute and a half in between then I heard the other one. Then the police arrived on scene. It was pretty loud, pretty loud. And to be in city limits, you don't hear that. I knew it was something, something bad. I felt it. Sheriff Price says during a search of the Mackenzie Branch home they found a message left behind by Joe Nicholl. There was a note found. In my opinion he was trying to, I won't get into what the note said. I don't think that would be fair to the family, but he basically was just to find what he was about to do. In Paintsville, I'm Shannon Deskins, EKB News.