Monday, November 1, 2021
Joe Biden Apologizes For Donald Trump In UN Climate Change Speech
By Ryan Grenoble
Sometimes the path back to relevance starts with acknowledging your mistakes ― even if those mistakes were intentional and committed entirely by your predecessor. President Joe Biden is in Glasgow, Scotland, for the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference this week, where he’s looking to reposition the United States as a dependable leader in the fight against climate change. His first order of business? Apologize for the last guy, who went out of his way to ignore science and make climate change worse. “I shouldn’t apologize, but I do apologize for the fact the United States, the last administration, pulled out of the Paris accords and put us sort of behind the eight ball a little bit,” Biden told world leaders on Monday. “Behind the eight ball” is a severe understatement. As president, Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, a landmark deal the U.S. took a lead in brokering. The deal seeks to cut planet-heating emissions and includes virtually every nation as a signatory. Even the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, a massive global oil company, thought leaving the deal was a dumb move.Back home, Trump repeatedly targeted the Clean Air Act, sought to roll back decades of Clean Water Act protections, and actively tried to bury climate science reports that didn’t fit his narrative. He also lied constantly about all of that, often claiming to be doing the opposite.Science was never Trump’s strong suit. He had virtually no science advisers on staff, dismissed “Global Waming [sic]” as a “Chinese hoax” because it was cold in the Midwest once, infamously doctored a hurricane forecast with a Sharpie in an attempt to save face, and, in the face of a deadly global pandemic, repeatedly doled out harmful and counterproductive advice even as he privately knew better, leading to hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths.The president told world leaders, “I shouldn’t apologize, but I do apologize" for one of Donald Trump's more memorable anti-science acts.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-trump-paris-climate-agreement_n_61801497e4b010d93320f4ff
#Pakistan - #Lahore ranks second among top five most polluted cities in world: report
Lahore, the city of gardens, is ranked second in a list of top five cities in the world with dirty air, reports said.
The city recorded a Particulate Matter rating of 188, placing it under the “unhealthy” category of air quality.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency regards air quality as satisfactory if the Air Quality Index is under 50.
The environmental experts have blamed the transportation sector and industries, besides the burning of crops, for the pollution.
A resident tweeted: “Air quality in Lahore is the worst. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to be healthy in this pollution. All those planning to settle in Lahore should rethink their decision and settle elsewhere.”
“We should also consider to change Lahore as a capital city. It’s too populated.”
More than half of Pakistan cities are still plagued by dirty air, new data shows, despite a reduction in traffic emissions and other pollutants during last year’s lockdowns.
The three cleanest cities were Umeå in Sweden, Tampere in Finland and Funchal in Portugal.
Cities in eastern Europe, where coal is still a major source of energy, fared worst of all, with Nowy Sącz in Poland having the most polluted air, followed by Cremona in Italy where industry and geography tend to concentrate air pollution and Slavonski Brod in Croatia.
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/11/01/lahore-second-most-polluted-city-in-world-report/
Checkmate - Pakistan's Niazi Regime surrenders to Terrorists of TLP
@umairjav
By the time this column goes to print, the TLP will either still be wreaking havoc on N-5 or some settlement would’ve been struck. Either way, considerable damage to life, property, and the mental peace of residents of at least three districts in Punjab is already done.
TLP activists coming out on the streets is, by now, a familiar phenomenon. There have been at least three previous instances of the same, with each exacting a heavy toll. And yet authorities appear no closer to finding a way to prevent it.
There are several reasons as to why the state remains handicapped; most of these reasons, however, are grounded in the specific nature of the TLP movement and the politics that surrounds it. It is this configuration that makes it a particularly difficult political question to resolve.
Let’s start with the first act. The state recognises the right to peaceful protest. This right is selectively extended, but it exists and that allows TLP cadres to come out on the streets in the first instance. Because ‘more acceptable’ political parties, such as the one currently in government, have also used and taken advantage of this right, banning all such activity is not an option. Even if it were selectively allowed, the exceptions provide both a legal and a moral case for the first act of mobilization.
What makes the TLP different is both its geography and its ideology.
Once on the street, the mobilization takes on a life of its own. It makes outrageous demands, charts its own route, blockades main roads to generate attention and displays its strength through the congregation and movement of numbers. It becomes a power show. Authorities face two options — allow it to continue in the hope that it will peter out; or try to regulate its mobility through force.
The first may have been a workable strategy a decade ago, when Barelvi activists and acolytes were getting a feel for street power, but it no longer has any dampening effect. People once out, rarely go back, and strength in numbers attracts even more.
The second strategy — use of force — has its own constraints. Policing personnel are under-resourced and untrained in modern riot control techniques. The use of batons and tear gas appear to be the only tools in their arsenal, but ones that often lead to an escalating cycle of violence. The use of indiscriminate force (lethal or non-lethal) even in retaliation is obviously not an option both from a legal perspective — on paper the state has to abide by its own norms and laws — and from a political one: victimisation gives further fuel to a movement that sees itself as victims of global and local conspiracies anyway.
Protests can’t be banned, and even if they are, the bans will be flouted. Activists clearly don’t tire of coming on the streets and staying there. The backing of a vast network of mosques and local Barelvi organisations can’t be switched off like a tap. The capacity for tactical riot control doesn’t exist, and the use of indiscriminate force has both moral and legal implications and should be shunned. All that leaves authorities with is partial use of force and negotiations from a position of weakness.
On the face of it, these are hard constraints and ones that limit the extent of what authorities can do. However, even if there were some magical alternative solution, the persistence of these constraints is tied to deeper political and social realities that make them even more permanent.
Consider this — the state has no problem enforcing curfews in borderland and peripheral geographies. Ask the people of the newly merged districts and Balochistan. It also has no issues using lethal coercion in the name of policing in the same territories. It calls protesting doctors, nurses, teachers, and citizens asking for respite from terrorism, blackmailers and brings out water cannons and tear gas on a whim.
What makes the TLP different is both its geography and its ideology. It is a movement that is more rooted in urban and peri-urban Punjab than any previous religio-political one. It has managed to weld together support from large swathes of the Punjabi lumpenclass with sections of the trader/merchant petty bourgeoisie through an embedded religious leadership that commands a large mosque network. In other words, it is tied to the same supposed heartland that provides the greatest numbers and legitimacy to the state. Turning on it is not an option like it is in areas far removed from the state’s largesse and imagination.
Ideologically, the movement’s rhetoric places a significant straitjacket on the state itself. It speaks for love of the Prophet (PBUH). Its followers call themselves ashiq-i-rasool. It seeks to defend the honour of the Prophet and the finality of prophethood from international conspirators and their local compradors. How can a state ostensibly created in the name of religion oppose any of this? How can a federal government that has spent the better part of the last few years trying to establish its own religious credentials disallow others from expressing theirs? How can a provincial administration that is creating more space for religious authorities in everything from nikah documents to curriculum oversight and management stop any section of the religious elite from staking their claim?
The fact of the matter is that the state and its mainstream political class has no coherent ideological response to the TLP that does not operate on the latter’s turf. Years of using the same rhetoric, paying fealty to the same goals, and exploiting the same anti-minority fault lines will produce an outcome where a movement can stand up and assert itself as the true representative of this cause.
Checkmate
The Pakistani government must make the agreement with a terrorist group, TLP, public.
The government must immediately make the agreement signed with the banned TLP public, demanded Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar.
“The government should inform the parliament and the nation about the agreement signed in the dark of the night. The citizens of this country have a right to know what has been agreed with a banned organisation that had paralysed the country, disrupted everyday life and business for 12 days. The protesters martyred innocent policemen.”
Senator Khokhar asked if the sacrifices of Punjab Police personnel were in vain or if the culprits would be caught and punished.
Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar added, “When the Hazara community was not burying their dead, Imran Khan said he would not be blackmailed, but here the entire state has surrendered.
This is not even how grocery stores are run, let alone a state!
“History is witness that Pakistan has suffered a great deal whenever the state has surrendered before such elements,” added Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar.
پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے مرکزی راہنما و سینیٹر مصطفی نواز کھوکھر نے حکومت و کالعدم تنظیم کے درمیان ہونے والے معاہدے پر کہا کہ حکومت معاہدے کو فوری منظر عام پر لاۓ اور پارلیمان اور قوم کو رات کی تاریکی میں کیے گئے معاہدے کے بارے میں آگاہ کرۓ ،انہوں نے کہا کہ اس ملک کے شہری یہ جاننے کا حق رکھتے ہیں کہ ہفتوں نظام زندگی معطل رکھنے ،جان و مال کا نقصان کرنے والی کالعدم تنظیم کے ساتھ کیا طے پایا ہے سینیٹر مصطفی نواز کھوکھر نے کہا کہ بتایا جاۓ کہ کیا پنجاب پولیس کے اہلکاروں کی شہادتیں بغیر کسی وجہ کی تھیں اور کیا ان ملزموں کو کیفر کردار تک پہنچایا جاۓ گا بھی یا نہیں ؟ان کا مزید کہنا تھا کہ جب ہزارہ برادری لاشوں کے ساتھ دھرنادیے ہوئی تھی تو عمران خان نے کہا کہ میں بلیک میل نہیں ہوں گا پر یہاں تو پوری ریاست فوری ڈھیر ہوگئی ہے انہوں نے کہا کہ اس طرح تو کریانے کی دکان نہیں چلتی جس طرح اب ریاست پاکستان کو چلایا جا رہا ہے پی پی پی راہنما نے کہا کہ ماضی گواہ ہے کہ جب ریاست نے اس طرح کے عوامل کے سامنے گھٹنے ٹیکے اس کاہمیشہ نقصان ہوا ہے
Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari vows to continue mass movement against PTI regime and its unprecedented price-hike, inflation
The PPP is going to take the masses on board soon for a final knockout blow to the oppressive and tyrant government of PTI that has done nothing for the people but given them blows of skyrocketing prices of basic commodities. He expressed these views while addressing separate meetings of dignitaries and Jialas (PPP activists) of Union Council-9, Mohalla Riyali and Union Council-10, Lehar Colony, Larkana.
Chairman PPP arrived at the residence of Haji Ali Nawaz Lehar in UC-10 in Lehar Colony and party general secretary Anwar Lehar, where he presided over the meeting hosted by UC President Haleem Rahojo and General Secretary Yasir Lahar.
Chairman PPP discussed the problems and issues of that area and their solutions.
He told the audience that people across the country are being sandwiched between inflation and poverty which the incumbent PTI-led federal government has imposed. This incapable government destroyed the economy of the country and its policies wreaked havoc on both the country and the people. The foolishness of this incumbent government has jeopardised the future of the nation.
Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that there is unrest today from house to house due to inflation, and the common man is very worried about the economy. The people want a government that builds houses, while the inefficient government of PTI is taking measures to finish the already ruined economy.
Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that there is no comparison of PPP’s economic policies as PPP always comes forward with unique and people-friendly programmes.
The U-Turn specialist Prime Minister Imran Khan has deceived the youth of the country with false promises of 10 million jobs while the fact is that the youth had been rendered jobless. PPP is the only party in the country that always creates jobs and boosts employment when it has its government in the country. And PPP will keep this glowing tradition alive, Chairman PPP stated.
Earlier, Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visited the residence of Union Record Event Secretary Abdul Bari Abbasi at Union Council-09 at Mohalla Riyli Bagh, hosted by UC-09 President Abdul Waris Bhutto and General Secretary Ali Hassan Lashari.
He chaired a meeting of party Jialas and inquired them about the situation in their constituencies. Party Jialas informed him about the problems and issues.
Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also appreciated party officials and workers holding historic and gigantic countrywide protests on Friday, Oct 29 in condemnation of the unprecedented price hike.
Chairman PPP with a heavy heart said that the overall situation has compelled parents to take their children out of schools because they can’t afford the schooling expenses.
Pakistan is in hot waters due to the inefficient puppet government of PTI.
“It is the PPP alone that has the guts and capacity to pull the country out of this devastating situation”, he asserted.
Meanwhile, Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari offered condolences to Ikhtiar Lashari on the sad demise of his uncle Muhammad Nawaz Lashari and Fida Hussain Lark to his father Muhammad Bux Lark.
Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also expressed his condolences to Hameer Imdad and Naeem Imdad on the death of his father Ashiq Memon and Hezbullah Khan Pathan on the sad demise of his father Sharbat Khan.
PPP Sindh President Nisar Khorro, Party Central Executive Committee members Jamil Soomro, Khurshid Ahmed Junejo, Nasir Hussain Shah, Sardar Shah, Zia Abbas Shah, Liaquat Askani, Sohail Anwar Sial, Farhat Seemi Soomro, Khair Mohammad and other had flanked the Chaiman.
Shaikh Ejaz Leghari, Shafqat Soomro, Anwar Lehar, Imran Jatoi, Waqar Bhutto, Sarfraz Khokhar, Aftab Bhutto, Kamran Ahmed Odhano, Sher Muhammad Leghari, Majid Brohi, Muslim Bughio, Sardar Muhammad Nawaz Shaikh, Asghar Ali Kachhi, Abdul Bari Abbasi, Ali Gohar Sangi, Mitthal Soomro, Sarfraz Khokhar, Amin Shaikh, Abdul Fateh Bhutto, Azhar Bhutto, Imam Ali Dahri, Banish Navid Abbasi, Mehran Khaskheli, Abdul Ghaffar Malano, Asif Dahani, Amna Jamali, Shabbira Jokhio, Dr Sakina Gad, Shella Bhatti, Saifullah Lehar, Amanullah Lehar, Munawwar Dahani, Mumtaz Leghari, Zahid Lehar, Hussain Bux Jatoi, Inam Dahani, Shafiq Chandio, Ali Gohar Bhatti, Mushtaq Abbasi, Abdul Basit Abbasi, Khadim Hussain Tunio, Arif Hussain Chandio, Ikhtiar Ali Lashari, Khalid Nohani, Danish Samuel Masih, Sohail Masih, Anthony Sohotra and others were also present.