SAUDI MONARCHY USES DEATH PENALTY AS TOOL TO CRUSH SHIA DISSIDENTS: AMNESTY

Amnesty International has warned against what appears to be imminent executions of a dozen Shia men on death row in Saudi Arabia, blasting the Riyadh regime for resorting to death sentences as a “tool” to suppress the kingdom’s Shia minorities.

The UK-based rights body said in a report on Wednesday that there are signs the jailed Shia men – who had been sentenced to death in 2016 – could be facing imminent execution as they were transferred to Saudi Arabia’s so-called Presidency of State Security.
That institution was created last year with the aim of diminishing the powers of the Interior Ministry and putting the king in direct control of “state security” matters.
“The families of the men are terrified by this development and the lack of information provided to them on the status of the cases of their loved ones,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa director.
“Given the secrecy surrounding Saudi Arabia’s judicial proceedings, we fear that this development signals the imminent execution of the twelve men,” Morayed added.
She further said the men had been found guilty of what is claimed to be spying for Iran in “a grossly unfair trial.”
“Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s most prolific executioners and regularly uses the death penalty as a political tool to crush dissent from the country’s Shia minority, demonstrating its total contempt for the value of human life,” Morayed added.
Saudi Shia Muslims have long been subjected to discriminatory and abusive policies by the regime in Riyadh. Saudi rulers have also kept the kingdom’s eastern regions – where the Shia Muslims are mainly based – under crackdown in attempt to prevent the minority community from practicing their religion.
Dozens of Shia activists have been languishing behind bars since 2011 merely for participating in protests calling for full equality and basic rights for all Saudis.
In January 2016, Riyadh executed prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, one of the most vocal critics of the royal family and an organizer of peaceful anti-regime protests.
Al Saudi’s suppression campaign is not restricted to the kingdom’s Shia minority. The authorities in Riyadh are notorious for intolerance towards all forms of criticisms and dissent.
Amnesty’s warning comes as Saudi Arabia’s human rights record has been in spotlight for weeks over the brutal murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi – a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- at Riyadh’s diplomatic mission in Istanbul, Turkey.
Preliminary investigations have confirmed Khashoggi’s murder – to which Riyadh also confessed.
Investigators are now working to determine who has ordered the assassination, which was carried out by a team of 15 Saudi operatives – and where the journalist’s body is.
Many believe bin Salman was behind the murder as members of his inner circle were part of the 15 hit men.
Amnesty’s warning comes as Saudi Arabia’s human rights record has been in spotlight for weeks over the brutal murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi – a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- at Riyadh’s diplomatic mission in Istanbul, Turkey.
Preliminary investigations have confirmed Khashoggi’s murder – to which Riyadh also confessed.
Investigators are now working to determine who has ordered the assassination, which was carried out by a team of 15 Saudi operatives – and where the journalist’s body is.
Many believe bin Salman was behind the murder as members of his inner circle were part of the 15 hit men.
A journalist and writer in Saudi Arabia has reportedly died as a result of torture while in the regime custody as the conservative oil-rich kingdom grapples with an international crisis over the murder of prominent dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The rights group Prisoners of Conscience, which is an independent non-governmental organization seeking to promote human rights in Saudi Arabia, announced in a post on its official Twitter page that Turki bin Abdulaziz al-Jasser lost his life due to severe torture he was subjected to during criminal investigations at a prison.
Saudi authorities claimed that Jasser administered the Twitter account Kashkool or @calouche_ar, which disclosed rights violations committed by high-ranking officials and members of the royal family.
Several sources have reported that Saudi authorities discovered Jasser's real identity after a team of the kingdom's cyber spies infiltrated the Twitter headquarters in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, as part of the so-called Saudi online army founded by Saud al-Qahtani, the former chief adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Qahtani is said to be the architect of a social media campaign against Muslim preachers, intellectuals and critics of the Riyadh regime.
Qahtani, who was fired after being blamed for Khashoggi's murder, posted a tweet in August 2017, saying that fake names on Twitter would not protect those behind the accounts critical of the Saudi royal family.
Khashoggi went missing after visiting the Saudi consulate in Turkey’s largest city of Istanbul on October 2.
A senior Turkish official told the Washington Post on November 2 that the slain journalist’s body was destroyed in acid on the grounds of the Saudi consulate or at the nearby residence of the Saudi consul general.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said biological evidence discovered in the diplomatic mission garden supports the theory that Khashoggi’s body was disposed of close to where he was killed and dismembered.
“Khashoggi’s body was not in need of burying,” the official was quoted as saying.
Khashoggi, a distinguished commentator on Saudi affairs who wrote for The Washington Post’s Global Opinions section, had lived in self-imposed exile in the US since September 2017, when he left Saudi Arabia over fears of the Riyadh regime’s crackdown on critical voices.
His death has subjected the Riyadh regime and Mohammed bin Salman to strict scrutiny.
Hatice Cengiz, the journalist's fiancée, has accused Saudi officials of a massive cover-up.

http://www.shiitenews.org/index.php/saudi-arab/item/35950-saudi-monarchy-uses-death-penalty-as-tool-to-crush-shia-dissidents-amnesty

Khashoggi killing embarrassed France: French journalist

A French journalist said the killing of Jamal Khashoggi “embarrassed” France and there was no doubt that Turkey had shared information and recordings regarding the murder with his country.

“This incident embarrassed France,” Jean-Dominique Merchet, working for French daily L’Opinion, told Anadolu Agency, and added that Saudi Arabia was a strategic ally of his country.

“There is no doubt that Turkey gave information to France. Remarks of Canada’s Prime Minister [Justin Trudeau] stating that he listened to the recordings is proof that the information reached France as well,” said Merchet.

Merchet said that motive behind French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian’s remarks was to maintain good relations with Saudi Arabia.

Last week, Le Drian claimed that his country does not have the recordings, following Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks stating that Ankara had shared recordings related to the Khashoggi killing with some countries including France.

“The French foreign minister went too far, and he has to know how to talk to a president,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, accusing Le Drian of not telling the truth.

“It is clear that the Khashoggi murder has weakened [Saudi Crown Prince] Mohammed bin Salman and his image in the international community has been damaged,” Merchet said, adding that Saudis were not aware of how serious the issue was.

Merchet said that in order to make progress on the Khashoggi case and Yemen issues, everyone should have the same opinion in Europe.

Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist working for The Washington Post, was killed shortly after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul Oct. 2.

Saudi Arabia had offered shifting explanations for Khashoggi’s disappearance before suggesting he was killed during a botched rendition operation by rogue agents.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20181119-khashoggi-killing-embarrassed-france-french-journalist/

Pakistan's Christians live in state of fear after blasphemy row

The violent reaction to a supreme court ruling to free the mother of five has reminded many of Pakistan's Christians of how vulnerable they are.

When furious protesters gathered around Pakistan late last month in the wake of Asia Bibi’s acquittal for blasphemy, a senior police officer visited the Islamabad slum of France Colony. It might be best, the policeman advised, if the mainly Christian residents closed their shops, went home and laid low in case there was trouble.

As the nationwide protests brought the country to a halt for three days, the slum’s new church was closed and services cancelled, while the congregation warily watched the demonstrations unfold.

More than a fortnight after Mrs Bibi, a Catholic farmhand, was acquitted of defaming the prophet Mohammed, she is still hiding in legal limbo, awaiting asylum in the West. Her case also hangs uncomfortably over the country’s Christians.

The violent reaction to a supreme court ruling to free the mother of five has once again highlighted the country’s harsh blasphemy laws, but has also reminded many of Pakistan’s Christians of how vulnerable they are.

“We live under fear, the whole country is under tension,” said Younis Masih, a 61-year-old retired soldier and member of the slum’s Presbyterian Church told The Sunday Telegraph last week. “People are afraid and anything can happen in this situation.”

There's no political backing here, no Christian leaders here. They feel isolated and weak and prefer not to talk about such issues

 

Around three million Christians live in Pakistan, a country which is more than 96 per cent Muslim.

When Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Pakistan’s founder, set out his vision he declared citizens “may belong to any religion, caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the state”.

Yet, seven decades on, the country has become more Islamicised and Christians and other religious minorities face discrimination by society and attacks by extremist militants. Prejudice often locks them in poverty.

In January, the US State Department placed Pakistan on a special watch list for “severe violations of religious freedom”.
Attacks on churches by militant groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) have killed scores of people.

At the same time, in a country where insulting Islam is an incendiary accusation that can quickly provoke mob violence, the country’s blasphemy laws are being used to suppress religious minorities, human rights groups claim. So far, the anger of the hardline religious protesters over Asia Bibi’s acquittal has been directed at the authorities, rather than the Christian community.

But protests are unpredictable and a feeling of fear and helplessness hangs over the colony, said a 69-year-old church elder, also called Younis Masih.

“There’s no political backing here, no Christian leaders here. They feel isolated and weak and prefer not to talk about such issues.

People are afraid and anything can happen in this situation

 

“The government protects us, but blasphemy is such a sensitive issue we feel weak and in fear.

“People are helpless, they don’t have any other option, but thank God this time the loss is not bigger. There have been protests, but they have been against judges and the government, not against Christians.”

Asia Bibi’s case has hung over Pakistan’s Christians for nearly a decade.

In the summer of 2009 she was working in a Punjab field when she quarrelled with two Muslim colleagues after they refused to drink from a cup she had touched.

The women told a local mullah she had committed blasphemy and Mrs Bibi was rounded up by villagers.

She denied the charge, but after a year in jail she was convicted and sentenced to hang.

Her supporters said the case was a typical example of spurious blasphemy accusations being used to settle scores. But as her appeal has languished in the courts, it has galvanised hardliners and divided Pakistan.

Shortly after her conviction, Salman Taseer, the Punjab governor, was murdered for speaking out in her support and calling for reform of the blasphemy laws. Mumtaz Qadri, his killer, was executed, but has become a hero to some, with a large shrine dedicated to him on the outskirts of Islamabad.

https://nationalpost.com/news/pakistans-christians-live-in-state-of-fear-after-blasphemy-row

#Hindu Lawmaker From Pakistan Makes #BBC's 100 Inspiring And Influential Women

Krishna Kumari Kohli, 40, Pakistan's first female senator from the Dalit community, has been placed at No 48 on the annual BBC 100 Women list and recognised as a Pakistani politician.

A Hindu woman lawmaker and human rights activist in Pakistan has made it to the list of BBC's 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world.

Krishna Kumari Kohli, 40, Pakistan's first female senator from the Dalit community, has been placed at No 48 on the annual BBC 100 Women list and recognised as a Pakistani politician.

Krishna was elected as senator in March after spending many years working for the rights of bonded labourers in Pakistan. She is the first Thari Hindu woman to be elected to the Pakistan senate.

"Krishna was elected to the Pakistan Senate after campaigning for women's rights, having previously been forced into bonded labour for three years," BBC wrote about her.

The list includes women like Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former US President Bill Clinton, for her work with the Clinton Foundation to Syrian student Nujeen Mustafa who fled the Syrian war in her wheelchair and campaigns for refugees with disabilities.

Krishna belongs to the Kohli community from the remote village of Dhana Gam in Nagarparkar area of Sindh province where a sizeable number of Hindus live.

She was elected as Senator or member of Upper House of Parliament in March this year from the platform of Pakistan Peoples Party of former premier and slain leader Benazir Bhutto.

Krishna's endeavours to end bonded labour in Pakistan were fuelled by her own childhood experience of being forced to work with her family by a landlord for three years before being rescued in a police raid.

After they were released from bonded labour, her parents encouraged her to study, supporting her from primary classes to a postgraduate degree in sociology from the University of Sindh, Jamshoro.

After her election to the Senate she promised to continue working for the rights of downtrodden people of her community.

Pakistan's Hindus, who make up around two per cent of the country's 200 million people, have long faced economic and social discrimination.

IGNORANCE RULES PAKISTANI SOCIETY - A daughter killed by her family – a story of love and 'honor'

A 26-year-old woman was recently murdered by her mother and brothers in a small Pakistani town because she married against their wishes. DW examines her story and looks at brutal "honor killings" in the Islamic country.

As soon as he discovered Madiha's dead body on a farm, a local peasant called the local police station to report it. The 26-year-old girl had been brutally murdered, with her throat cut repeatedly and her body covered in knife wounds. 

Madiha belonged to a community in Naushehra Warkan, a small town in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province. She was brutally killed because she wanted to marry a man of her choosing.

"Her parents were against the marriage. Initial investigations indicate that her mother and two brothers murdered her in the name of 'honor'," Ali Akbar, a local police officer, told DW.

Locals say Madiha had eloped with her lover four years ago. A few days prior to her killing, her parents had reached out to Madiha through her elder sister and assured her that if she returned home, the family would welcome her with open arms.

"We met her and told her to come back. We told her that we forgave her [for getting married]. On the way back, my two sons stopped the motorbike and told me to stay there. Then they took Madiha to the farm and killed her," Iqbal Bibi, Madiha's mother, told DW from the police station over the phone.

Madiha's mother and brothers admitted to the crime and say that Madiha had "dishonored" the family by eloping with her lover.

Widespread killings

These so-called "honor killings" are rampant across Pakistan – both in rural and urban areas.

Earlier this month, two sisters were strangled to death by their family members in the eastern Rahim Yar Khan town. Police arrested their cousins, who are the main suspects in this "honor killing" case.

In another incident this month, a husband killed his wife in the northwestern city of Swat in order to "punish" her for seeking divorce and marrying another man.

"Some 700 women were killed in the name of 'honor' in 2017. These are only the reported cases," Zohra Yusuf, the former chairperson of the non-governmental Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), told DW.

Rights activists say it is difficult to determine the exact number of "honor killing" victims. Most of these cases go unreported, and in some cases, police do not allow an autopsy, thus making it easier for the family to pass it off as a "natural death."

"Feudal orthodoxy and conservative norms have deep roots in Pakistan. Men want to control women and they treat them as their 'property.' They don't allow any freedom to women," Yusuf explained, adding that other countries in the region, like Afghanistan and India, face a similar problem.

"In Pakistan, it is not only individuals that commit 'honor killings;' even tribal courts sentence women to death for 'dishonoring' a family or a tribe," Yusuf added.

Implementation of laws

In 2016, Pakistani authorities passed a stricter law to curb "honor" crimes. It came right after protests over the "honor killing" of a prominent Pakistani model, Qandeel Baloch.

According to the new legislation, passed during former PM Nawaz Sharif's tenure, a family member was no longer entitled to pardon a murderer in "honor killing" cases. The new law guarantees death penalty or life imprisonment for the culprit.

But global human rights watchdog Amnesty International said in its 2017 report that despite the passing of a new law, the number of "honor" crimes in Pakistan remained high. Amnesty also pointed to a number of flaws in the law; for instance, a judge having the authority to rule out the aspect of "honor killing" from the murder case. This leaves the door open for families to bribe local judges to dismiss the case.

Experts also say that Pakistan's patriarchal society tends to condone "honor killings." In 2014, US-based Pew Research Center conducted a survey and concluded that four out of 10 people in Pakistan justified "honor killings" in some way.

"The government needs to strengthen laws to protect women and also make sure these laws are implemented. On the other hand, civil society needs to create awareness about the issue," activist Yusuf said.

Sabookh Syed, an Islamabad-based journalist, said that religious groups are equally responsible for promoting violence against women in the South Asian country.

"Religious organizations take to the streets on petty issues but never speak out against 'honor killings.' They think it is not even an issue," Syed told DW.

10روپے روٹی،15روپے نان، یہ ہے نیا پاکستان ،عوام کو انکے دکھائے گئے سبز باغ یاد ہیں،بلاول بھٹو

 پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا ہے کہ10؍ روپے

کی روٹی، 15؍ روپے کا نان یہ ہے نیا پاکستان واہ رے عمران خان،چوری کے ووٹ سے بننے والی حکومت سینہ زوری پر اترآئی ابھی تو 100 دن بھی پورے نہیں ہوئے یہ تو 100 سے زیادہ یو ٹرن لے چکے ہیں، قرض مانگنے پر خودکشی کو ترجیح دینے والے قرض ملنے پر مٹھائیاں بانٹ رہے ہیں، نئے پاکستان والوں نے ملک کی بنیادیں ہلا کر رکھ دیں، معیشت کی کشتی ڈوب رہی ہے اور یہ تالیاں بجا رہے ہیں، نیا پاکستان کے نام پر پرانا پاکستان تباہ کرنے والوں کو روکا جائیگا، ان کو توں توں میں میں کے علاوہ تیسرا کوئی لفظ نہیں آتا، معاشی بحران کیاحل کرینگے؟ بیروزگاری عروج پر ہے، عوام مہنگائی کے سونامی میں ڈوب رہے ہیں، عوام کو انکے دکھائے گئے سبز باغ یاد ہیں،پچاس لاکھ گھر بنانے کا دعویٰ کرنے والے غریبوں کے کچے مکان توڑ کر گرا رہے ہیں۔ اتوار کو گلگت کے شاہی پولو گراونڈ میں خطاب کرتے ہوئے بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا کہ

آپ نے نئے پاکستان کا خاکہ تو دیکھ لیا ہوگا، یہ کیسا نیا پاکستان ہے جہاں غریب کی کوئی آواز نہیں سنی جا رہی اور نہ ہی کسی کی جان ومال محفوظ ہے، تحریک انصاف کی وجہ سے عوام مہنگائی کی سونامی میں ڈوب رہے ہیں۔کسان بے حال اور مزدور کو مزدوری نہیں مل رہی۔ نئے پاکستان میں ایک کروڑ نوکریاں دینے کا وعدہ کیا گیا تھا لیکن نوکریاں دینے والے لوگوں سے روزگار چھین رہے ہیں۔پچاس لاکھ گھر بنانے کا دعویٰ کرنے والے غریبوں کے کچے مکان توڑ کر گرا رہے ہیں۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ تبدیلی کا آغاز گلگت بلتستان کے بجٹ کوکاٹ کر کیاگیا۔ انہوں نے عوام سے سوال کیا کہ کیا گلگت میں صحت، تعلیم اور ترقی کا وعدہ پورا ہوا؟ سی پیک میں گلگت بلتستان کو نظر انداز کیا گیا، گلگت بلتستان کے حقوق پر کسی کو ڈاکہ نہیں مارنے دینگے، سی پیک منصوبے میں گلگت بلتستان کے حقوق کا تحفظ کیا جا ئیگا۔انکا کہناتھا کہ گلگت بلتستان کیساتھ جو رشتہ بھٹو نے جوڑا وہ رشتہ بے نظیر اور آصف زرداری نے نبھایا، میں بھی وہی رشتہ نبھانے کا وعدہ کرتا ہوں، پیپلز پارٹی کے پرچم کے سائے تلے استحصالی نظام کیخلاف جدوجہد جاری رکھوں گا۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ ہم اقتدار میں آ کر گلگت بلتستان کے آئینی حقوق کو یقینی بنائیں گے، اقتدار میں آ کر دیامر بھاشا اور منجھی ڈیم سے منصفانہ رائلٹی کو یقینی بنائینگے۔ بلاول بھٹو نے کہا کہ ملک نازک ترین صورتحال سے دوچار ہے، بحران حل کرنے کیلئے ویژن، قیادت کی ضرورت ہوتی ہے، حکومت کو لوگوں کی پگڑیاں اچھالنے سے وقت ملے تو معیشت پر توجہ دیں، ہم پاکستان کو سیاسی تجربہ گاہ بنانے کی اجازت نہیں دینگے۔ تحریک انصاف کی جانب سے الیکشن میں عوام کو سبز باغ دکھائے گئے، ایمانداری کے سرٹیفکیٹ بانٹنے والے کا اپنا دامن داغدار ہو چکا ہے، سو دن والوں نے سو سے زائد یوٹرن لئے گئے ہیں، ہم نئے پاکستان کا نام لے کر پاکستان کو تباہ کرنے والوں کا راستہ روکیں گے۔ قبل ازیں وفود سے ملاقات میں انہوں نےکہا کہان کی پارٹی ہی گلگت بلتستان کو جمہوری اور معاشی حقوق دلانے کے حوالے سے موثر اور سنجیدہ اقدامات اٹھائے گی۔ان کا کہنا تھا کہ پیپلز پارٹی اور گلگت بلتستان کا مضبوط رشتہ ہے جب بھی پیپلز پارٹی وفاق میں برسرِ اقتدار آئی ہے، گلگت بلتستان کیلئے آئینی اور انتظا می اصلاحات کیں ہیں خاص کر سابق صدر آصف علی زر دا ر ی نے گلگت بلتستان کو انتظامی صوبہ بنایا۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ پیپلز پارٹی کو اب موقع ملا تو یہاں کے نوجوانوں کے جذبات کو مدنظر رکھتے ہوئے مزید بہتر اقدامات اٹھائے جائینگے۔ انہوں نے مزید کہا کہ مجھے معلوم ہے کہ گلگت بلتستان کے اکثر لوگ سندھ میں رہائش پذیر ہیں انکے مسائل کو حل کرنے سمیت تعلیمی اداروں میں گلگت بلتستان کے زیر تعلیم طلبہ کے کوٹے میں اضافے کے حوالے سے وزیر اعلیٰ سندھ کو ہدایات دوں گا اور وہ جلد اس پر عملدرآمد کرائینگے۔بلاول بھٹو زرداری کا کہنا تھا کہ ایک جماعت نے اپنی حکومت کی مدت پوری کی اور دوسری جماعت حکومت کر رہی ہے دونوں عوام کو ریلیف دینے یا اس طرح کے مواقع پیدا کرنے کے بجائے گالم گلوچ کی سیاست کر رہے ہیں۔ اس موقع پر پیپلز پارٹی کے مرکزی سیکرٹری جنرل سید نیر بخاری، پارٹی رہنما قمر زمان کائرہ اور مصطفیٰ نواز کھوکر سمیت دیگر رہنما بھی موجود تھے۔

https://jang.com.pk/news/577481-bilawal-bhutto-says-people-remember-rosy-picture-shown-by-pti

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Ohio, Colorado may no longer be swing states

Dante Chinni and Sally Bronston

The 2018 midterms remade Congress for the next two years, but they also hinted at a changing electoral map for the next presidential race. Broad gaps in exit poll numbers combined with the results for November 6th, suggest that the battleground states of 2020 may look a bit different than they did in the 2016 campaign.

Three numbers jump out of the national House exit poll data: The Republican edge with white voters, the growing Democratic advantage with voters who hold a bachelor's degree and the consistent Democratic lean among Hispanics.

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Even in a year where Democrats picked up more than 35 seats in the House, Republicans still won white voters by a solid 10 percentage points.

But Democrats won college-educated voters by an even more substantial 20 points (continuing a trend that's been underway for some years). And Hispanic/Latino voters went to Democrats by a massive 40 points, an even bigger edge than the party usually has with that group of voters.

Those are big numbers, but they can seem abstract until you combine them with geography. Consider the results this past election out of Ohio, a state President Donald Trump won by 8 points in 2016.

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Ohio had two Republican-held competitive House seats in 2018 - one "tossup" and one "lean Republican" according to the Cook Political Report - and both wound up going for the Republican candidate fairly comfortably. And in the state's gubernatorial race, an open seat to replace Republican John Kasich, the GOP's Mike DeWine won in a race that, again, was forecasted as a tossup.

Considering the Democratic pickups this year, those results stand out. But they make more sense when you look at the state's demographic picture.

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With a population that is 79 percent white, non-Hispanic, Ohio stands far above the national average of about 61 percent. The percentage of people with a bachelor's degree, about 27 percent, is three points below the national average. And the Hispanic population, about 4 percent, is 14 points below the national figure.

In short, on the factors that mattered in the exit polls, Ohio looks Republican. So much so, that the perpetual battleground seems less and less likely to be in play in 2020.

But Democrats also have some good 2020 news out of the midterm results. Look at Colorado, a state that Democrat Hillary Clinton won by 5 points in 2016.

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This year there was one competitive Republican House seat in the state - the seemingly always-endangered Mike Coffman - and the Democrat beat the GOP incumbent by 11 points. In the governor's race, Democrat Jared Polis walked to a victory, carrying the state by 10 points in an open race to replace outgoing Democrat John Hickenlooper.

And when you look at the demographic picture you can see why.

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Colorado's population is a little more white than the nation as a whole, 68 percent compared to 61 percent nationally. But the state also has a much higher percentage of college graduates, 39 percent compared to the national figure of 30 percent. And the Hispanic population, 22 percent, is four points above the national average.

When you add those numbers to this year's midterm results, Colorado looks less and less like a swing state. It appears to have swung pretty firmly toward the Democrats - at least with the direction the parties are currently moving.

If Ohio and Colorado are coming off the board of battleground states, are there any states that look like they may be sliding in to take their place?

The numbers suggest Georgia and Arizona might be coming onto the board. Both are below the national average for white, non-Hispanic population, less than 55 percent. Both are just under the national average for the population with a bachelor's degree. And both had very close statewide races this year - Senate in Arizona and gubernatorial in Georgia.

Those points suggest a few campaign dollars will be spent in those states in the next presidential race.

Taken together all the shuffling around the question of what is and what isn't a battleground state is just more evidence that this past election wasn't a wave as much as it was the continuation of a political realignment. The 2020 election may still be 720 days away, but our understanding of politics and the political landscape is changing.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ohio-colorado-may-no-longer-be-swing-states/ar-BBPPGgQ?li=BBnb7Kz

Video - CNN's Jim Acosta calls Sarah Sanders ‘a congenital liar’ with 'a shrivelled husk left in her soul'

Video Report - #CNN Fareed Zakaria #GPS 11/18/18 - President Trump Breaking News Today

Video - #GilgitBhuttoKa - Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto's Speech at Shahi Polo Ground in Gilgit Baltistan

#GilgitBhuttoKa - Mai Baghi Hoon (Jeyay Bhutto)

Video - #PPP - #GilgitBhuttoKa - Dila Teer Bija -

#PPP - #GilgitBhuttoKa - Ab Waqt Ki Zaban Hai BILAWAL

#PPP - #GilgitBhuttoKa - Kal Bhi Bhutto Zinda Tha,Ajj Bhi Bhutto Zinda Hai

#Pakistan - Govt has taken over 100 U-turns before its first 100 days, says Bilawal

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari slammed the government on Sunday saying that it had taken more than a hundred U-turns before the completion of its first hundred days.

Speaking at a rally here, the PPP chairman said members of the ruling party didn't know anything other than engaging in altercation with opponents.

"Consultation, tolerance and parliamentary ethics will not work in 'Naya Pakistan', rather whatever Khan sahib would say only that would happen," he lambasted.

Bilawal said his relationship with this valley spanned over three generations and he inherited the love for Gilgit-Baltistan from his mother and grandfather.

He vowed to keep struggling for strengthening Pakistan and putting an end to exploitation of masses.

"My struggle is your struggle. This is a struggle for the rule of the people," the PPP chairman said, urging the masses to support him the way they supported former prime ministers Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto.

He noted that ZA Bhutto supported oppressed people of Gilgit-Baltistan.

"Peoples Party gifted them Karakoram Highway and subsidy on wheat," Bilwal said. "Shaheed Benazir Bhutto established Civil Secretariat here, brought judicial reforms."

Criticising the former and incumbent governments in the centre, he said the former government continued attacking Gilgit-Baltistan's autonomy, whereas "a change is being promised nowadays.

"Your fund was reduced in the beginning of this change. Rs4 billion were cut from Gilgit-Baltistan fund and 18 projects were ended," the PPP chairman told participants.

"The subsidy on wheat was ended and the quantity of flour that previously cost Rs1200 now costs Rs3000."

He said the current rulers promised 10 million jobs, but they were depriving the masses of employment. "They promised five million houses, but instead they are razing mud houses and shops."

Bilawal said the economy is headed towards a collapse, while inflation is at its peak. "What kind of 'Naya Pakistan' is this which is taking us to economic downfall," he asked.

ملک میں40سال ڈکٹیٹر رہےاور مجرم آج بھی سیاستدان ہے،خورشید شاہ - #Pakistan -

پیپلز پارٹی کے مرکزی رہنما سید خورشید شاہ نے کہا ہے کہ یہ تبدیلی آئی ہے

کہ ایک ڈیموکریٹ ہٹلر کے روپ میں سامنے آگیا، یہ سیاست میں بڑی تبدیلی ہے۔ وہ سکھر ڈسٹرکٹ بار میں منعقدہ تقریب سے خطاب کررہے تھے۔ خورشید شاہ نے کہا کہ ہم حکومت کے معاملات میں مداخلت نہیں کرینگے، حکومت اپنی کارکردگی سے ملک کو آگے لائے، بدقسمتی ہے کہ یہاں پر آج تک حقیقی جمہوریت نہیں آئی ہے، ملک میں 40 سال ڈکٹیٹر رہے اور آج بھی مجرم سیاستدان ہے، جس نے آئین دیا، جنہوں نے ادارے بنائے اس کے احتساب کی باتیں ہورہی ہیں،جان بوجھ کر ملک کے سسٹم کو خراب کیا جارہا ہے

https://jang.com.pk/news/577134-national

They don't do a damn thing for us, says Trump in new tirade against Pakistan

US President Donald Trump on Sunday lambasted Islamabad by saying that the country ‘doesn’t do a damn thing for us’ as well as claiming that Pakistan helped shelter the then al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

Trump also defended his administration’s decision to pull hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Islamabad in an interview to Fox News.

“You know, living – think of this – living in Pakistan, beautifully in Pakistan in what I guess they considered a nice mansion, I don’t know, I’ve seen nicer,” Trump said, referring to bin Laden and his former compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

The compound was destroyed shortly after the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group forces, in a helicopter raid, killed bin Laden in 2011.

“But living in Pakistan right next to the military academy, everybody in Pakistan knew he was there,” he added. “And we give Pakistan $1.3 billion a year . … [bin Laden] lived in Pakistan, we’re supporting Pakistan, we’re giving them $1.3 billion a year –which we don’t give them anymore, by the way, I ended it because they don’t do anything for us, they don’t do a damn thing for us.”

The United States has already canceled $300 million in aid to Pakistan for its lack of decisive action against militant groups.

The cancelation of aid is part of President Trump’s New Year tweet in which he launched a scathing criticism against Pakistan for betraying the US.

“The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!,” Trump tweeted on January 1.