Music Video - Frank Sinatra - New York, New York

Video Report - #Cyberattacks #Solarwinds #SolarWindsHack Who is behind the latest cyberattack on the US?

Video Report - Top Trump ally Chris Christie: It's time to accept Biden won

Jill Biden Reveals Why Right-Wing Attack On Her ‘Dr.’ Title Was ‘Such A Surprise’

By Lee Moran

“One of the things I am most proud of is my doctorate,” the incoming first lady told Stephen Colbert.

Future first lady Jill Biden revealed her surprise at being criticized for using the title “Dr.” in a lengthy joint interview with her husband, President-elect Joe Biden, that aired on Thursday’s episode of “The Late Show.”

Wall Street Journal columnist Joseph Epstein faced backlash over his op-ed last week in which he called Biden — who has a doctorate in education — “kiddo” and suggested she drop the title because it “sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic.” “That was such a surprise,” Biden told “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert. “It was really the tone of it. He called me ‘kiddo.’” “One of the things I am most proud of is my doctorate,” added Biden, who plans to continue working as a college professor after her husband enters the White House. “I worked so hard for it.”

Biden said she was touched by how many people sprang to her defense — including former first lady Michelle Obama — in the wake of the controversy, which was amplified this week by Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

“I was just overwhelmed by how gracious people were to me,” said Biden.

Colbert suggested the flap could be a compliment because it was the only thing that people could find about her to criticize.

“OK, I’ll take it that way,” Biden replied, laughing.

Colbert then asked the president-elect if “as the husband who loves this person, did you ever wanna get out a length of pool chain and go full corn pop on these people?”

“The answer is it’s close,” he replied. Said Jill Biden: “The answer is no.”

“I have been suppressing my Irishness for a long time,” he added.

Elsewhere in the interview, the president-elect said he had “great confidence in our son,” Hunter Biden, who is under federal tax investigation and who has been used as a right-wing whipping boy by President Donald Trump and his allies.

“I am not concerned about any accusations that have been made against him. It’s used to get to me,” Biden said, describing the attacks as “foul play.”

Biden called Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who denounced Trump before the 2016 election and later became one of his staunchest backers, as “a personal disappointment because I was a personal friend of his.” But Biden nevertheless vowed to work with Republicans, predicting Trump’s impact “on the body politic” will fade once he leaves office and many Republicans will then feel “they have a lot more room” to work with Democrats.

Colbert asked Biden if there was anything about Trump “that you could thank him for sincerely.”

“What he’s done getting the vaccine moving has been positive,” replied Biden. “But by and large, he has been a president who’s decided that the way he succeeds is by dividing us.”

In other segments of the interview, the president-elect predicted the United States would be almost back to normal by Christmas 2021:

And he explained the importance of empathy toward those who have lost loved ones to the coronavirus pandemic:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jill-biden-doctor-title-surprised-stephen-colbert_n_5fdc7228c5b6aa861e5d6cf2

Opinion: The Republicans Who Embraced Nihilism

What is left to say about a political party that would throw out millions of votes?

The substance of a lawsuit filed by the State of Texas, and backed by more than 17 other states, would be laughable were it not so dangerous. Texas’ attorney general, Ken Paxton — who is under indictment for securities fraud — asked the Supreme Court to overturn the results of the presidential election in four other states. As a legal matter, this is the rough equivalent of objecting on the grounds that the other side is winning. As political rhetoric, however, it is incendiary.

The Supreme Court was right to toss out the lawsuit. But that the Republican Party tried and failed doesn’t make the attempt any less odious. There are a lot of Republican leaders who, the history books will record, wanted it to succeed.What makes this entire episode so sad is that the nation needs a vibrant, honest, patriotic opposition party. A party that argues in good faith to win more votes the next time around. Many Republicans, particularly at the state and local level, stood tall and proud against the worst instincts of the national party.The health of a democracy rests on public confidence that elections are free and fair. Questioning the integrity of an election is a matter of the utmost seriousness. By doing so without offering any evidence, Mr. Paxton and his collaborators have disgraced themselves. Attorneys general are sworn to uphold the rule of law.

At least 126 Republican members of Congress — more than half of all House Republicans — rushed to sign a court filing endorsing the Texas lawsuit. That misuse of the legal system was not restricted to the fringes of the party. The minority leader, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, said Friday that his name was inadvertently omitted from the original list.

It is particularly astonishing that 17 of the House signatories were elected by voters in the states whose election results Texas was seeking to invalidate. They signed a letter directly challenging the legitimacy of their own victories and the integrity of their own states’ elections.These lawmakers were humiliating themselves to conciliate President Trump, a man who once created a coat of arms for himself emblazoned with the words Numquam Concedere — never concede. Mr. Trump, not a man to often place the national interest above his own personal interests, is pursuing a series of increasingly desperate strategies to overturn the election results and remain in power. Having failed to convince the voters, he is now pressing state legislators, the courts and Congress to defy the will of the people as well.

That the attacks on Mr. Biden’s victory are unlikely to succeed is a very cold bowl of comfort.

Republicans are establishing a new standard for elections that anything short of a fight to the death amounts to not trying hard enough. The old norm of graceful concession was not just an act of good manners. A concession has no legal force, but it has considerable value as an affirmation that the democratic process is more important than the result.

Conceding leaves the nation’s political and social systems functional for the winner.

This new policy of election denialism, by contrast, is the latest manifestation of the Republican Party’s increasingly anti-democratic tendencies. Rather than campaigning on issues that appeal to a majority of the electorate, the party has made a strategy out of voter suppression. Seeking to toss votes after the fact is a logical if perverse extension of that strategy. So is the growing willingness of Republican Party officials to deny the legitimacy of their opponents.

This isn’t really about Mr. Trump anymore. He lost, and his ruinous tenure will soon be over. This is now about the corruption of a political party whose leaders are guided by the fear of Mr. Trump rather than the love of this country — and who are falling into dangerous habits.

The events of recent weeks have demonstrated the strength and resilience of the election system. A larger share of American adults voted in the 2020 presidential election than in any previous cycle. The votes were counted, sometimes more than once. The results were certified. In the states that have attracted the particular ire of Mr. Trump and his allies, most officials, including most Republican officials, defended the integrity of the results.

But the incendiaries are playing a dangerous game. They are battering public trust and raising doubts about the legitimacy of future elections. Most of it is political theater: Mr. Biden’s decisive victory is difficult to overturn. But a great many voters trust their political leaders, they don’t expect to be lied to, they aren’t in on the grift.

It is also a short walk from rhetorical attacks on the legitimacy of the election to denying the legitimacy of Mr. Biden’s administration. Republicans are certainly within their rights to disagree with Mr. Biden and to challenge the decisions made by his administration, but those who refuse to accept his victory are undermining the rule of law. Those who stand silent are complicit. The implications of this assault on truth and trust extend well beyond elections. We are in the midst of a public health emergency. Lives depend on the government’s ability to shape public behavior, including by persuading people to get vaccinated. By denying the authority of those who govern, Republicans are placing lives in danger.

They can now demonstrate a modicum of their professed patriotism by mustering the courage to say these simple words: “Congratulations, President-elect Biden.”

If they can’t bring themselves to do that, where does a party that rejects democracy go from here?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/opinion/republican-election-trump-supreme-court.html

Punjabi Music Video - MUNDAYA DUPATTA CHAD MERA - NOOR JEHAN - MUKHRA - BABRA SHARIF

Video Report - Fall of Dhaka: 'Freedom is the goal of our struggle'

Video Report - #NayaDaur #Judiciary #Pakistan Pakistani Judiciary Needs Independent-Minded Judges

#Pakistan #PPP - Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari slams Imran Khan over Pashtun leader Mohammad Ali Wazir's arrest

 

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari condemned the arrest of Member of National Assembly (MNA) and Pashtun leader Mohammad Ali Wazir by stating that "it has been the modus operandi of the fascist governments to implicate the elected representatives in false cases to crush the public voice".

He said the arrest of Wazir was "against the democratic traditions". "It has been the modus operandi of the fascist governments to implicate the elected representatives in false cases to crush the public voice," Geo News quoted Bilawal as saying in a statement on Thursday.

Police arrested Ali Wazir in Islamabad on Wednesday in connection with a case registered against him and several leaders of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) in Karachi after a recent public meeting by the country`s opposition parties.

Bilawal said that holding public meetings is "no crime" and did not warrant arresting an elected representative, Geo News said. He warned the Imran Khan-led government that if it "continues to muzzle freedom of expression", it will "not bring good results", Geo News reported.

He also said in the statement that the cases being registered against the elected representatives and political leaders are "baseless".The PTM leaders were accused of committing several offences, including hatching a criminal conspiracy and passing derogatory remarks against state institutions, reported Dawn.

Peshawar Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Mohammad Ali Gandapur said that Wazir was arrested at the request of the Sindh police. According to Dawn, witnesses said Wazir was arrested after he attended a ceremony held at Shuhada APS Public Library in connection with the sixth anniversary of the Army Public School attack, where 147 people were killed.

Several leaders of the PTM, who have also been charged in the case, were also present but were not arrested. Apart from Wazir, others named in the FIR include PTM chief Manzoor Pashteen and MNA Mohsin Dawar among others.

The complainant in the case claimed that when he reached the venue of the public meeting he saw the suspects addressing around 2,000 participants and trying to create hatred towards different groups and to create law and order problems, Dawn reported.

This comes as the rattled Imran Khan`s government registered a case against a central leader of the opposition`s 11-party alliance -- Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) -- for causing irreparable damage to a national asset at the rally in Lahore.

https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/bilawal-bhutto-zardari-slams-imran-khan-over-pashtun-leader-mohammad-ali-wazirs-arrest-350768

#Pakistan - Government wants to rob the national assets

Secretary Information Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians, Dr. Nafisa Shah MNA has said that the friends of Imran Khan want to gulp the national assets and the PTI selected government is about to start the loot and plunder of national assets.

Dr. Shah said that the selected government wants to start looting the national assets in the garb of privatisation like Pakistan Steel Mills and Pakistan International Airlines. In both these concerns the government has begun to sack employees.

 No one should have any doubt that the PPP will never let this to happen. The PPP is standing with the employees of both these assets, Dr. Shah concluded.

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24189/