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Video Report - Biden honors 400,000 U.S. COVID deaths and prepares for inauguration

Joe Biden’s First Inaugural Event Highlights Failure Of Trump’s COVID-19 Response

By S.V. Date

The first nationwide memorial honoring the 400,000 U.S. coronavirus dead comes only as Trump is leaving and Biden arriving in office.

Just a half-mile from where President Donald Trump is spending his final night in the White House, twin rows of lights on the National Mall marked the first inaugural event of his successor — an implicit rebuke of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the 400,000 Americans it has already killed.

At 5:33 p.m., 400 rectangular lights — each representing a thousand Americans dead of COVID-19 — lit up on either side of the Reflecting Pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument as bells at the National Cathedral rang 400 times. The scene was set to repeat all over the country, with structures from the Empire State Building in New York City to the Space Needle in Seattle lighting up and bells ringing to honor the dead.

“To heal, we must remember,” Biden said in brief remarks. “It’s important to do that as a nation.”

Trump’s failure to ramp up testing production or to exhort Americans to take measures to slow the disease’s spread has likely already caused 200,000 more Americans to die than might have. Germany, for example, which has an equally advanced health care infrastructure but whose leader took the virus seriously, has suffered 579 deaths per million people, while the United States has suffered 1,220 deaths per million as of Tuesday.Trump, though, has instead claimed for nearly a full year that he’s done a tremendous job, and only occasionally mentioned in passing the Americans who have died. He did that again in a taped 20-minute “farewell address” he released Tuesday. “We grieve for every life lost, and we pledge in their memory to wipe out this horrible pandemic once and for all,” Trump said.

He began his COVID-19 response a year ago by denying that one was even necessary. Trump’s first public remarks on the matter came on Jan. 22, 2020, when he claimed he had stopped the virus from coming into the country at all. In the coming weeks, he claimed it was like a cold, and not as severe as the flu. At a February rally in South Carolina, he told his audience that the whole thing was ginned up by Democrats and the news media to make him look bad and hurt his reelection prospects.

“This is their new hoax,” Trump said.

Even as he continued downplaying the seriousness of the threat the virus posed, Trump began giving out death totals that would define success — and then continually shifted those figures upward as the death tally rose.

On Feb. 26, Trump boasted there had been no deaths at all, and fewer than two dozen total cases. “When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero. That’s a pretty good job we’ve done,” he said.

By April 20, he was predicting 50,000 to 60,000 deaths. A week later, he was saying 60,000 to 70,000. By May 3, he was saying the death toll could be as high as 100,000, and by June, 200,000.

Eventually, he claimed that regardless of how many Americans died, he had done a great job because that number would have been in the millions had he done nothing at all.

“We were expected to lose, if you look at the original charts from original doctors who are respected by everybody, 2,200,000 people,” Trump said at an NBC News town hall on Oct. 15. “We saved 2 million people.”

Even after he himself caught the virus during one of several large gatherings at the White House with little use of masks and no social distancing, Trump failed to exhibit empathy toward other patients or their families. He himself recovered quickly after getting top-notch medical care at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, which included an experimental — and expensive — treatment of synthetic antibodies, and cited his experience to suggest everyone else could, too.

“Here I am, right?’ he told a rally crowd in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 26.

Neither the Biden transition team nor the Trump White House would say whether there was any discussion of the outgoing president and the incoming president participating jointly in the COVID-19 memorial, as might have occurred in a normal transition.Trump, however, made clear from the wee hours of election night, when he lied that he had won reelection, that the coming handoff would be anything but normal. Through the entire 11-week period, he continued telling his supporters that he had actually won and that the election had been stolen from him. His General Services Administration chief, the political appointee running the agency that administers an orderly transfer of power, refused to carry out her duty for weeks, making the task of the incoming Biden team more difficult and, potentially, endangering American lives and livelihoods.

After dozens of Trump and his allies’ lawsuits to undo the election results failed over two months, the president ultimately demanded that Vice President Mike Pence unilaterally overturn it by refusing to recognize the electoral votes from a number of states that had voted for Biden. Pence refused, which led to Trump’s angry attack on him for lacking “courage.” That further enraged Trump’s followers, who were at that moment overrunning the Capitol to block the formal certification of the November election.

Four Trump supporters died in the rioting, as did one Capitol Police officer.

In his taped farewell address, Trump took no responsibility for inciting that mob — for which he was impeached a record second time. Nor did he mention Biden by name or acknowledge that his successor had, in fact, won the election fairly.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-biden-coronavirus-memorial_n_600766e4c5b697df1a09c375

Opinion: Lincoln Knew in 1838 What 2021 Would Bring

By Bret Stephens

Before Jefferson Davis there was John C. Calhoun. What rougher beasts do Trump, Hawley and Cruz prefigure? In January 1838, when Abraham Lincoln was a member of the Illinois state legislature and two weeks shy of his 29th birthday, he delivered what was probably the most prophetic speech of his political career. It’s a speech whose time has arrived again in 2021.

The Lyceum Address is named for the Springfield, Ill., association that, according to Lincoln’s law partner William Herndon, “contained and commanded all the culture and talent of the place.” It concerns “the perpetuation of our political institutions.” Why would that matter in the still-young, ever-expanding American republic?

An obvious answer would be the existence and expansion of slavery. Lincoln’s answer is the rise of the “mobocratic spirit” and the sorts of leaders who abet it.

In Vicksburg, Miss. (“the Sodom of the South,” as it was then known), a mob of moralists from the town’s respectable quarters had, in 1835, stormed the waterfront, seized five gamblers and summarily hanged them. In St. Louis, Mo., the next year, a free Black man named Francis McIntosh, suspected of murdering one police officer and injuring another, was seized by a mob of vigilantes, chained to a tree and slowly burned to death.

Lincoln chooses his examples well. The motive of the Vicksburg mob, in Lincoln’s telling, is public virtue. The motive of the St. Louis mob is revenge. The high-minded yearning for moral purification and the low-minded lust for blood are two sides of the same coin, and the effects are the same. McIntosh’s lynching soon led to the expulsion and killing of an abolitionist editor. The Vicksburg mob set a precedent for other violent attacks against suspected threats to public order.

Willfully killing the (presumed) guilty rapidly descends to accidentally killing the innocent. “The lawless in spirit are encouraged to become lawless in practice.” Normally law-abiding people, losing faith in government, “are not much averse to a change in which they imagine they have nothing to lose.” Men of low scruples and overweening ambitions scout their political opportunities.

“Is it unreasonable then to expect,” Lincoln asks, “that some man possessed of the loftiest genius, coupled with ambition sufficient to push it to its utmost stretch, will at some time, spring up among us?”

Donald Trump is not a man of “the loftiest genius.” He is, as I’ve written before, a political arsonist who managed, in his inveterately asinine way, to burn down his own presidency while attempting to torch everyone and everything else. Neither is Josh Hawley nor Ted Cruz a lofty genius. They are credential-holding ideological grifters who lack the wit to see how easily they are seen through. But the three are at least a hazy approximation of what the younger Lincoln most fears — men in the mold of Caesar or Napoleon who would sooner tear down than defend republican institutions in order to slake a thirst for glory. Before Jefferson Davis tore the federal government asunder, John C. Calhoun tried to nullify its power. What rougher beasts do Trump, Cruz and Hawley prefigure? For that matter, for what kind of Reichstag fire was the Capitol Hill insurrection merely a test run?

Those questions are timely in our own age of mobocracy. The president who got himself elected by summoning a digital mob through Twitter and Facebook wound up trying to reverse the results of an election by summoning an actual mob to Washington.

The left is hardly blameless, either. The same people who offered high-toned excuses and justifications for months of destruction of public and private property in the name of social justice might think twice before demanding respect for hallowed American symbols, institutions and traditions. They provided more excuses for the Capitol Hill rioters than either side likely cares to admit. What’s the solution? Lincoln’s answer in the Lyceum Address is what he calls “political religion,” built on pillars “hewn from the solid quarry of sober reason.” Scholars have noted a tension between Lincoln’s passionate faith in reason and a political faith that must be sustained by passions that reach beyond reason — what he later called “the mystic chords of memory.”

That’s a tension that can’t be resolved but can at least be sustained, in part through an understanding that the space for reasoned debate has to be encased by respect for tradition and reverence for the symbols of government. One of the reasons the images of Jan. 6 were so grotesque is that they exposed how tissue thin and easily torn our sense of tradition and reverence have become in the Anything Goes Trumpian era.

When Joe Biden becomes president on Wednesday, he will face a larger job than ending the pandemic and saving the economy. He will have to exorcise the mobocratic spirit that is Trump’s chief contribution to American politics. Summoning the better angels of our nature in his Inaugural Address would be a fitting tribute to his greatest predecessor.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/18/opinion/trump-lincoln-mobs-democracy.html

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حکمران جماعت پی ٹی آئی کو بھارت اور اسرائیل سے فنڈنگ کے متعلق سوالات پر الیکشن کمیشن کو جواب دینا پڑے گا، چیئرمین پی پی پی بلاول بھٹوزرداری

 پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا ہے کہ حکمران جماعت پی ٹی آئی کو بھارت اور اسرائیل سے فنڈنگ کے متعلق

سوالات پر الیکشن کمیشن کو جواب دینا پڑے گا۔

عمرکوٹ میں پارٹی کے مرحوم رہنما و سابق صوبائی وزیر سید علی مردان شاہ کی پہلی برسی کے موقعے پر منعقد عظیم الشان جلسہ عام کو خطاب کرتے ہوئے پی پی پی چیئرمین نے کہا کہ پاکستان کی جمہوری قوتیں عوام کا سوال لے کر کھڑی ہیں کہ 2014ع سے آج تک الیکشن کمیشن یہ کیوں نہ بتاسکی کہ پی ٹی آئی کو کیوںکر بیرونِ مالک سے فنڈنگ ہوئی۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ شہید محترمہ بینظیر بھٹو کو سکیورٹی رسک قرار دیا جاتا تھا، لیکن اب جن کو حکومت میں لایا گیا ہے، وہ فارن فنڈنگ سے آئے ہیں۔ “یہ نااہل اور سلیکٹڈ ہونے کے ساتھ ساتھ اسپانسرڈ بھی ہے”۔

انہوں نے کہا کہ مہنگائی کی سونامی میں کسانوں اور مزدوروں کا جینا دو بھر ہوگیا ہے۔ کرپشن کا شور مچانے والا خود کرپٹ نکلا، بلکہ اس کی پوری جماعت ہی کرپٹ نکلی۔ انہوں نے نشاندھی کرتی ہوئے کہا سب سے مہنگا میٹرو بس منصوبہ پشاور کا ہے، جس کی بسوں میں اچانک آگ بھڑک اٹھتی ہے، اور مسافروں کو بسوں سے اتر کر دھکے بھی لگانے پڑتے ہیں۔

بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا کہ وہ عمرکوٹ کی غیور و بھادر عوام کو مبارکباد دیتے ہیں، جنہوں نے ضمنی انتخابات میں اسلام آباد کو واضح پیغام بھیجا اور سلیکٹڈ کو رجیکٹڈ کردیا ہے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ عمر کوٹ کی عوام نے ٹھیکے پر کام کرنے والے پیروں اور ان سیاسی یتیموں کو بھی جواب دے دیا جو کل مشرف کے ساتھ تھے، آج عمران خان کے ساتھ ہیں۔

پی پی پی چیئرمین نے مرحوم سید علی مردان شاہ کو خراج عقیدت پیش کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ مرحوم ہمیشہ پیپلز پارٹی کے ساتھ کھڑا رہا اور پارٹی قیادت اور عمرکوٹ کی عوام کا ساتھ دیا۔ انہوں نے مزید کہا کہ مجھے یقین ہے، پی ایس 52 سے نومنتخب رکنِ سندھ اسمبلی سید امیر علی شاہ بھی اپنے مرحوم والد کی طرح ہمیشہ عمرکوٹ کی عوام کا ساتھ دے گا، اور ان کے دکھ و سکھ میں شامل رہے گا۔

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Video Report - Across the nation, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. honored

Sunny Hostin Slams Trump Allies For ‘Enabling A Racist President,’ Then Quoting MLK

By Josephine Harvey

“How dare they,” the co-host of “The View” said of Melania Trump, Ted Cruz, Kayleigh McEnany and others.

The View” co-host Sunny Hostin condemned President Donald Trump’s allies for quoting Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday after enabling the president’s racist actions and rhetoric and helping to uphold white supremacist values.

“I saw today, unbelievably, in my view, [Sen.] Ted Cruz, [White House press secretary] Kayleigh McEnany, [Republican National Committee chair] Ronna McDaniel, Melania Trump quoting Dr. King, tweeting Dr. King,” Hostin said.

“Those are the same people, like Melania Trump with this birther lie, Ted Cruz challenging the Electoral College [vote]. Kayleigh McEnany just over and over again with her propaganda.”

Cruz, McEnany, McDaniel and Melania Trump all shared tweets on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, praising his legacy Monday after empowering a leader whose values are antithetical to almost everything the civil rights icon fought for. “How dare they. How dare they try to quote Dr. King on the celebration of his birthday when they enabled, enabled a racist president causing this insurrection and attack on our democracy,” Hostin added, referring to the Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol carried out by pro-Trump extremists.

King said in a 1967 speech that, although society had seen progress, “we must not allow this progress to cause us to engage in a superficial, dangerous optimism.”

“I think that is what happened to us,” Hostin said, citing Kamala Harris’s historic selection as the next vice president, and the wins for Democrats in the Georgia Senate runoff and presidential elections. “I think we saw that ― we are going to have the first female vice president who is African American and Southeast Asian, and we saw such promise with Georgia, you know, turning blue. We saw such promise, and then on Jan. 6 we see that white supremacy is very much so alive and well.”

“While we have some progress, we just have such a long way to go,” she concluded. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sunny-hostin-martin-luther-king-jr-trump-allies_n_60060ef2c5b697df1a083471

The Words of Martin Luther King Jr. Reverberate in a Tumultuous Time

By Audra D. S. Burch, John Eligon and Michael Wines

Dr. King’s speeches have particular resonance today amid a year of sickness and death, Black Lives Matter protests and the storming of the Capitol.

He lived and died in a time of tumult and a racial awakening, so perhaps it is no surprise that the 35th national celebration of the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday has particular resonance amid one of the most traumatic seasons in memory: A raging pandemic. Protest and civil unrest after the killing of Black people by the police. A momentous election. And an insurrection.

Even the title of his final book — “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” — seems ripped from today’s headlines.

“I think it’s still an unanswered question,” said Clayborne Carson, a history professor at Stanford University, referring to the title of Dr. King’s book.

“I think the most important word in that question is ‘we’ — who are we, and until you figure that out, it’s very hard to tell where we are going,” said Dr. Carson, who is also the founder and director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, which is publishing a collection of Dr. King’s papers.

Amid the change and upheaval, the words of Dr. King, both those celebrated and the less familiar, feel more urgent then perhaps ever before, both as a guide and a warning. From oft-quoted speeches to the words he never had a chance to deliver before his assassination, Dr. King talked about his vision of a just world, about the power of peaceful protests, and about disruption as the language of the unseen and the unheard.

We asked Dr. Carson and others from across the country to choose words from Dr. King and reflect on how they resonate today. Here’s what they had to say.

“Now, let me say as I move to my conclusion that we’ve got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point, in Memphis. We’ve got to see it through.” — from the last speech given by Dr. King, on April 3, 1968, in Memphis, the day before he was assassinated.

The Rev. Dr. William Barber II, a chairman of the Poor People’s Campaign, said Dr. King’s words spoke to the daunting challenge that civil rights leaders faced helping the poor and marginalized. He drew a parallel to today’s challenges of systemic racism, ecological devastation and a lack of access to health care.

The election of a Democratic president, he said, is no reason to slow down.

“It’s not enough to have an election and put new people into office,” Dr. Barber said. “We must push and continue to push for the kind of public policy that really establishes justice.”

“We really must now go about the business of lifting up those who are poor and those without health care,” he added. “That’s the only way we can heal the nation — we have to heal the body.”

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

— from Dr. King’s speech at the Washington National Cathedral on March 31, 1968.

Connie Field said Dr. King’s quote had guided much of her work as an award-winning documentary filmmaker.

“Dr. King presented a vision of an equal, multiracial society,” she said. “He presented a vision of economic equality. And he presented a vision of a political struggle that’s nonviolent. Those are three things that we can all try to live by and strive for today.”

She added: “What’s going on in the United States, what we witnessed on Jan. 6, all has to do with a backlash to the fact that our world is changing. It’s going on here in America; it’s going on in Europe. We’re becoming a more intertwined world, a more multicultural world. That’s the trajectory of history, and there’s no going back on that. That quote completely underscores everything I’m talking about — a just world is an equal world, equal no matter what our race is.”

“Even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”Bernard Lafayette, 80, recalled the words from the “I Have a Dream” speech as a reminder that the turmoil the country is witnessing today “is not the way things have to be, and it’s not something we have to accept,” but should be understood as another step on the long journey that Dr. King described, with each shift connected to the events that precede it.

The violence at the Capitol, he said, reflected the fear from some members of our society that they were losing political power.

“You have to ask the question, ‘What are these people afraid of?’ Well, they are afraid they would lose power, they would lose control and the election in Georgia exacerbated that,” he said. “These fears that are being perpetrated, they’re really false fears, because no one is going to take anything away from them.”

“I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.” — from Dr. King speech in Memphis on April 3, 1968, a day before he was assassinated.

Rutha Mae Harris, 80, of Albany, Ga., said she believed Dr. King’s speeches often warned of the kind of conflict that unfolded in Washington on Jan. 6. Ms. Harris, who marched with Dr. King during the civil rights era, recalled, in particular, the famous speech he gave in Memphis a day before he was killed.

“With the rhetoric of Trump, I myself knew that something would happen,” she said. “This had been building up for four years.” She said Dr. King was a man of vision, but that the vision captured the darkness as well as the light. She noted, “He said, ‘I might not get there with you,’ and, of course, you can read in between the lines.”

“Why America May Go to Hell”

— title of a sermon that Dr. King had planned to deliver at his church on Sunday, April 7, 1968.

For the Rev. Amos C. Brown, the pastor of Third Baptist Church, a historically Black church in San Francisco founded in 1852, the words of Dr. King that come to mind this year are the ones he never had a chance to speak.

When he was assassinated, Dr. King had been planning to give a sermon, he said, called “Why America May Go to Hell.” In the sermon, Dr. King planned to warn that the country needed to use its vast resources to end poverty, and to offer all of God’s children the necessities of life.

The hell that Dr. King stood against is still deeply embedded in America today, said Mr. Brown, who is attending the inauguration as a guest of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (who attends his church).

“We are about to fall over the precipice into, figuratively speaking, hell in this nation — sure, we ought to be concerned about what’s going on now,” he said, referring to the attack on the Capitol. “But people are just now beginning to experience what Black folk have gone through since the Atlantic slave trade began. Hell.”

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

— from Dr. King’s speech in St. Louis on March 22, 1964.

For Antwan T. Lang, a member of the Chatham County Board of Elections in Savannah, Ga., Dr. King’s words meant we cannot be afraid to learn from one another and understand our differences and similarities.

“My hope is that one day white America will understand that we harvest no hate, but we want to be seen not as a Black man, Black entrepreneur, Black superintendent, Black doctor, Black lawyer, Black teacher, Black insurance agent, Black funeral director, but as a human being wanting to freely be ourselves without having to walk on eggshells in fear of becoming a statistic,” he said.

“It is clear to me that our protest and our plea to America is that we want to be free, to simply be a human being with real feelings, emotions, dreams and goals,” Mr. Lang said, “to be able to live long enough to accomplish those goals, dreams and ambitions.”

“Oh no, Brother Gray. This is no ploy at all. If we are to succeed, I am now convinced that an absolutely nonviolent method must be ours amid the vast hostilities we face.” — Dr. King’s response in 1955 to a suggestion that his nonviolence tactics were for attention.

Fred D. Gray was the lawyer who represented Rosa Parks, Dr. King and the Montgomery Improvement Association during the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, the event that inaugurated the 20th century’s civil rights movement. The quote, found in Mr. Gray’s account of that battle, “Bus Ride to Justice,” was Dr. King’s response to a suggestion that his commitment to nonviolence was a ploy to gain attention in the press.

“I became a lawyer so I could use the law for the purpose of destroying every act of segregation that I could find,” Mr. Gray said. “There were other people whose roles were to make speeches, and others who demonstrated, but you had to put it all together and do it in a nonviolent fashion.”

Regarding the protests over the past year against killings of unarmed African-Americans by police officers, Mr. Gray said: “I think we’re going to have to go back to what Martin said about nonviolence and social change. All the things that Dr. King did, all the things we did in the Montgomery bus boycott were to get rid of racism and inequality. We were able to do a little bit, but not do it all.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/18/us/martin-luther-king-words-protests.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

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Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari addresses the inauguration ceremony of Labour City, Sukkur

CHRISTIAN RECEIVES DEATH SENTENCE FOR BLASPHEMY CHARGE IN PAKISTAN

 A Christian sentenced to death for a blasphemy conviction was acquitted Oct. 5 by a Pakistani high court.

Sawan Masih, 40-year-old Catholic father of three, was sentenced in 2014 after a Muslim friend accused him in 2013 of blaspheming Islam’s prophet Muhammad. Blasphemy is punishable by imprisonment or death.

The friend’s initial report against Masih included no words of blasphemy, but a supplement filed eight days later did.

In 2013 after a mosque broadcast by loudspeakers the friend’s accusation, more than 3,000 Muslims attacked Joseph Colony, a predominately Christian area in Lahore. More than 150 shops, homes and church buildings were burned; Christians fled. In Lahore High Court, Masih’s defense presented concerns about the police investigation, initial report, supplement, and Masih’s death sentence on testimony of only one witness.

In the Oct. 5 acquittal, the court stated the prosecution failed to prove Masih blasphemed.

Pakistan remains No. 5 on Open Doors’ World Watch List of places most difficult to be a Christian.

https://www.thealabamabaptist.org/christian-receives-death-sentence-for-blasphemy-charge-in-pakistan/?share=125360

'Foreign funding case against Imran must be made public'

 

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has demanded foreign funding case against Prime Minister Imran be made public, stating that his party will only use constitutional and democratic means to remove the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

"We want to establish the democratic rule in the country and will only use democratic ways to remove Imran Khan from power," Bilawal said at a press conference in Karachi on Saturday.

During the briefing, the PPP chairperson said that in terms of the country's economy and its health sector, "Imran Kahn government has failed and this is why the people are suffering. This is why we demand that they step down."He also mentioned that anti-corruption body Transparency International says the "most corrupt government" in Pakistan is the PTI government.

Seeking details about the foreign funding case against Imran Khan's PTI, he said: "There are very serious allegations that PTI is a foreign-funded party. Their own member has raised allegations. But unfortunately, whether it is the court or the election commission, the truth has not been put forth before the people.""This is why the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) will protest on January 19 outside the Election Commission of Pakistan and will demand that the case be taken to its conclusion and all the facts of the case be made public," Bilawal said.

He asserted that the public must be made aware of the countries that "gave so much money to PTI".

He said he believes "if such a senior member has provided proof of such a serious allegation", the truth of these allegations should have been put before the public by now, The News International reported.

The foreign funding case against PTI in November 2014 was registered by Akbar S Babar, one of the founding members of the party, alleging major financial irregularities in the party's accounts.

The allegations made by Babar included illegal sources of funding, concealment of bank accounts in the country and abroad, money laundering, and using private bank accounts of PTI employees as a front to receive illegal donations from the Middle East, Dawn reported.

The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an 11-party opposition alliance, has demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister by January 31.

Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari are among major leaders who have said that they will send the Imran-led government packing and have organised several PDM rallies including those in Peshawar, Gujranwala, Karachi, Quetta, Multan, and Lahore since October 16, 2020. 

https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/267557400/foreign-funding-case-against-imran-must-be-made-public

#Pakistan - The #PTI government does not have a house for the common man, Chairman #PPP

 Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the PTI government does not have a house for the common man.

Addressing a function in Sukkur to distribute 1,024 flats constructed for the workers by the Sindh Department of Labor and Manpower, the PPP Chairman said that the present PTI government’s housing project is for the rich to whiten their black money. “Whether it is an island or a residential project to be built on the Ravi River, these projects are for billionaires and trillionaires,” he said adding that these are not plans like the ones that Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had made available plots and residential colonies for the poor during his rule.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that in the name of operation against encroachments, the shadow of the roof was being snatched from the heads of poor citizens adding that PTI regime is anti-worker and unless it is ousted, workers will not get their rights.

He said that the provinces were not being given their due share under NFC, institutions like EOIB were not being handed over to the provinces. “Gas was not being provided, while preparations were being made to snatch institutions like NICVD,” he added.

PPP Chairman said that the formula under which the notification has been issued by the federal government for the occupation of hospitals in Sindh is the same formula due to which the health system in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has come to a standstill.

He said that he wanted to empower the workers to have the right to register themselves adding he would soon introduce Benazir Mazdoor Card from Sindh government. He said that despite the financial difficulties, the Sindh government has completed the Labor City plan for the workers, which has provided accommodation as well as treatment and vocational training to the children of the workers.

Meanwhile, the PPP Chairman also inaugurated the Children’s Emergency Satellite Center set up by the Sindh government in Sukkur, where treatment facilities are absolutely free.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, PPP Sindh President Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, Provincial Ministers Saeed Ghani, Nasir Hussain Shah, Jam Ikramullah, Owais Shah, Imtiaz Sheikh and Sohail Anwar Sial, MNA Shazia Marri, Farrukh Shah, Nawab Wasan and Arsalan Sheikh were also present on both occasions.

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24310/

پی ٹی آئی کے خلاف فارن فنڈنگ کیس ملکی تاریخ کا سب سے بڑا نیشنل سکیورٹی اسکینڈل ہے، چئیرمین پی پی پی بلاول بھٹو زرداری

 پاکستان پیپلزپارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا ہے کہ پی ٹی آئی کے خلاف فارن فنڈنگ کیس ملکی تاریخ کا سب سے بڑا نیشنل سکیورٹی اسکینڈل ہے۔ ہر پاکستانی پوچھ رہا ہے کہ وہ کون لوگ تھے، جنہوں نے پی ٹی آئی کو فنڈنگ کی تھی۔

پارٹی کے اسیر رکنِ قومی اسمبلی سید خورشید احمد شاہ کی رہائشگاہ پر پریس کانفرنس سے خطاب کرتے ہوئے پی پی پی چیئرمین نے کہا کہ موجودہ حکومت کے قائم ہونے کے بعد جو اسٹریٹجک فیصلے لیئے گئے، ان کے نتیجے میں پاکستان کو نقصان ہوا ہے۔ میں نے سنا ہے کہ پی ٹی آئی کو فنڈنگ کرنے والے لوگوں کی فہرست میں بھارت اور اسرائیل کے شہری بھی شامل ہیں۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ ہر پاکستانی کے ذہن میں سوال اٹھ رہے ہیں کہ بھارت اور اسرائیل کے شہریوں نے کیوں فنڈنگ کی اور جواب میں موجودہ حکومت نے ان کو کیا دیا ہے۔

انہوں نے مزید کہا کہ الیکشن کمیشن پی ٹی آئی کے خلاف فارن فنڈنگ کیس کے حقائق عوام کے سامنے لائے، جو خود تسلیم کر چکی ہے کہ فنڈنگ کے دوران اگر کچھ غلط ہوا ہے تو اس کا ذمیدار ان کا ایجنٹ ہے۔ ان کا کہنا تھا کہ حکمران جماعت کے خلاف فارن فنڈنگ کیس کے حقائق کو چھپانے کی خاطر پی ٹی آئی اور اس کے سہولتکاروں نے پیپلز پارٹی کے خلاف جھوٹے الزامات لگائے ہیں۔

بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے زور دیا کہ ہر ادارے کو غیرجانبدار اور غیر سیاسی ہونا چاہیئے۔ 2018ع کے متنازعہ انتخابات سے پورے ملک پر منفی اثرات مرتب ہوئے ہیں۔ الیکشن کمیشن کی جانب سے پیپلز پارٹی کو 18 جنوری کو طلب کرنا سیاسی اقدم تھا۔

انہوں نے کہا کہ پی ڈی ایم میں شامل سب جماعتیں ایک پیج پر ہیں کہ نیب ایک متنازعہ ادارہ بن چکا ہے۔ نیب سکھر تو مختلف جگہوں سے آنے والی ٹیلیفون کالز پر چلتا ہے، جسے حکم دیا جاتا ہے کہ پیپلز پارٹی کے امیدواران اور ارکان اسمبلی کو ہراساں کرو، اور وہ اس پر عمل بھی کرتا ہے۔ خورشید شاہ کے خلاف کوئی کیس نہیں ہے، بلاجواز جیل میں رکھا ہوا ہے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ نیب اتنا سیاسی ادارہ بن چکا ہے کہ جو فقط سیاسی مخالفین کے خلاف کاروائیاں کرتا ہے۔ وہ بی آر ٹی پشاور، بلین ٹری منصوبہ، مالم جبہ، آٹا بحران، چینی کی چوری اوراس جیسے دیگر معاملات پر کچھ نہیں کرتا، جن میں حکومتی لوگ ملوث ہوں۔

بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے تجویز دیتے ہوئے کہا کہ صوبوں خواہ وفاق میں اس طرح کا قانون بنانا چاہیئے کہ انسداد بدعنوانی پر کام کرنے والے سرکاری ملازمین پر بھی نظر رکھی جاسکے کہ کہیں وہ خود بھی کرپشن میں ملوث تو نہیں۔ ایسے ملازمین کے سرکاری ملازمت میں آنے سے قبل اور اس کے بعد کے اثاثوں کی تفصیلات عوام کے سامنے آنی چاہئیں۔

ایک سوال کے جواب میں کہا کہ پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی چاہتی ہے کہ میڈیا سمیت تمام انڈسٹریز میں کام کرنے والے محنت کشوں کے حقوق کو تحفظ ملے۔

دریں اثناء، پی پی پی چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے سندھ کے محکمہ محنت و افرادی قوت کی جانب سے محنت کشوں کے لیئے تعمیر شدہ 1024 فلیٹس کو الاٹیز میں تقسیم کیئے اور اس سلسلے میں منعقد تقریب سے خطاب کیا۔ مزید برآں، پی پی پی چیئرمین نے حکومتِ سندھ کی جانب سے سکھر میں بنائے گئے چلڈرن ایمرجنسی سیٹلائیٹ سینٹر کا بھی افتتاح کیا، جہاں علاج و معالجے کی سہولیات بالکل مفت ہیں۔

اس موقعے پر وزیر اعلی سندھ مراد علی شاہ، پی پی پی سندھ کے صدر نثار احمد کھوڑو، صوبائی وزراء سعید غنی، ناصر حسین شاہ، جام اکرام اللہ، اویس شاہ، امتیاز شیخ اور سہیل انور سیال، ایم این اے شازیہ مری، فرخ شاہ، نواب وسان اور ارسلان شیخ امیت پارٹی کے دیگر رہنما بھی موجود تھے۔

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24312/ 

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Women at a loss: In 2021, woman still have many hurdles to cross to succeed in Pakistan

 World Bank’s Human Capital Index (HCI) notes that a female child born in 2020 will be 44 per cent less productive than those born in the pre-pandemic years. HCI measures the contribution of health and education to the world’s citizens’ productivity and economic potential.

As per recent World Bank reports, a female child born in Pakistan today has 59 per cent fewer chances of reaching her full potential. The number is the lowest amongst all countries in the region, and most others in lower-income groups. If the HCI measures are believed, Pakistan is wasting nearly 60 per cent of its human potential.

Moreover, Pakistan ranks 154 out of 184 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI), another UNDP measurement based on life expectancy, education and per capita income. The rankings are a definite cause of worry for a country grappling with several socio-economic concerns. The most troubling part is that when the HCI and HDI rankings for Pakistan are discounted for gender inequality, we find ourselves among the worst performers in the nations’ league.

The startling number of out-of-school children is a prime issue for Pakistan, especially when it comes to girls’ education. Only 27.6 per cent of women have earned secondary level education. This compares poorly with 45.7 per cent achievement for their male counterparts.

With millions of young women unable to continue their education online, young mothers deprived of routine antenatal checkups, coupled with reduced family income in the year 2020, the future appears even bleaker.

The year of the pandemic’s spread has significantly impacted the lives of women everywhere, with the United Nations calling gender-based violence in 2020 a shadow pandemic.

There have been news reports of a surge in domestic violence, honour killings and gender-based violence during the lockdown that has led to an increase in depression, aggression and violent behaviour within households.

With a notable increase in rape cases during the first quarter of 2020, the reported number stands at 1,868. The lockdown, otherwise an effective strategy for containing Covid-19, could not prevent female kidnappings — the number of kidnapped women in the last half of 2020 was a staggering 6,720.

The shift to remote learning and working systems during the pandemic further proved that women are not safe in cyber-spaces, as cases of online harassment increased manifold in the last year.

In the pandemic year, 4,737 women suffered sexual violence, and 1,843 faced severe domestic violence. Unfortunately, most social welfare helplines at the provincial level were shut down during the Covid- -19 lockdown in Pakistan. The police helpline and the Ministry of Human Rights Helpline, which remained available, received approximately 40,000 calls a month seeking a referral, legal advice and actual physical recovery.

National Disaster Management Authority of Pakistan also has a dedicated Gender and Child Cell to support the most vulnerable population during emergencies. After the Sheikhupura gang-rape incident in December, one can only hope that a better emergency helpline system for women and children is established.

As the world moves into 2021, a woman still has many hurdles to cross to succeed in Pakistan.

Female participation in the labour market continues to remain low (21.9 percent compared to 81.7 per cent for men).

One of the primary reasons for women lagging in entrepreneurial ventures is a lack of access to finances. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has noted that only 3 per cent of small and medium business loans go to women. Only 19 per cent of the microfinance loans go to women.

The Ehsaas programme aimed at supporting women from the low-income background is a step in the right direction.

Notifications such as the Policy for Counteracting Harassment Issues in Educational Institutions, bills like the Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Amendment Bill 2019 show the government’s intent to sensitise institutions to the predicament of Pakistani women.

In a significant move at the start of the 2021, Lahore High Court has directed the Government of the Punjab to abolish the virginity tests.

In 2021, actionable research will play a pivotal role in informing policymakers to make better decisions regarding increasing gender equality. Decisive policy changes are pivotal for Pakistan’s improved performance in the HDI and the HCI.

Policymakers and researchers must work together this year to find effective ways to protect and promote the country’s female population. Programmes focused on promoting equality overall should be a focus of research now. Social protection schemes will also help foster a culture of safety and openness and reduce the ever-widening gender gap.

A focus on women empowerment in 2021 is critical to the country’s socio-economic growth. The hope remains that Pakistan, through dedicated effort, will see a change for the better in women’s safety and gender equality measures.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/775198-women-at-a-loss

Pakistan - Sexually victimized - The problem needs serious attention

By  Sheikh Abdul Rasheed

Pakistan has become a country where sexual abuse is the most ubiquitous form of violence against children and women. Sexual exploitation of children and women is a long-standing and unbridled iniquity that haunts our society. The evil reminds us that we have failed to safeguard our most vulnerable citizens for a long time.

A very few of the painful and hair-raising incidents of sexual abuse against females that occurred in 2020’s last two months must be mentioned here. In December, just three days after her marriage, a woman was gang-raped in the presence of her in-laws in the Farooqabad area of Punjab’s Sheikhupura district. A young girl was gang-raped in Larkana district of Sindh. In November, six girls of 5 to 15 years of age were raped in Kasur district’s Sarai Mughal village. A woman and her four-year-old daughter were allegedly subjected to rape for three days in the Kashmore district of Sindh.

The barbarous and degrading actions of sexual abuse occur very frequently in Pakistan’s society with not even slight hesitation or fear of punishment. These activities, which can never be regarded as normal and socially acceptable, are the worst case of human rights violation. Such unkind deeds are the evidence of the existence of moral degradation, barbarity and viciousness.

Globally, the age at which a person may give effective and full consent to marriage is generally set between 12 to 18 years. Pakistan under the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 has set the age 16 for girls and 18 for boys to give consent to marriage. While Sindh, under the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2013, sets 18 years of age for both genders.

Forcible sexual relations or sexual intercourse with a person under the age of consent is regarded as a statutory rape. The definition shows that child marriage is a statutory rape. Regrettably, in Pakistan, statutory rape, not unlike most countries across the world, is enormously pervasive. UNICEF reported that 21 percent of girls are married under the age of 18 and 3 percent before 15. Victims of statutory rape experience adverse long term psychological effects and physical mutilation which include sexually transmitted diseases.

However, the perpetrators of this heinous crime deserve to be awarded stringent and harsh punishment commensurate with their inhuman and monstrous activities. It will help reduce the sexual abuse incidence in the country. To ensure the administration of justice to victims of the heinous crime, there is a desperate need to take concrete measures for the effective implementation of punishments awarded to sexual abusers under Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The law has introduced imprisonment for 10 to 25 years for rape and hanging or life imprisonment for gang-rape.

It shows that in Pakistan the situation for children and women has become startling and precarious as the horrific crimes against them have become increasingly commonplace. They have been molested, raped and murdered by beasts roaming around freely in the garb of human beings. Sahil, a local NGO, revealed that around 2,846 cases of rape and sexual abuse in 2018 and 3,832 in 2019 were reported across Pakistan. In the first six months of 2020, around 1489 children were sexually abused. In reality, for the state, protection of children and women has become a superhuman task. All this has created a sense of fear and a feeling of constant horror among children, women and their families. They could not sleep with ease and solace.

The fact is that survivors of rape can experience strenuous and agonizing sentiments and feelings. With a slight variation, every survivor reacts to disturbing incidents. The survivors face unpleasant effects which include flashbacks, ephialtes, intense disquietude, long-lasting dejection and despondence. They face the lack of interest in activities they enjoyed previously and focus on their work and schooling. They develop a sense of deep distrust of others and think that the world is not a safe place to live.

The science of psychology terms rape a form of torture. Rape survivors develop feelings of shame, indignity, fear and bewilderment. They feel overwhelmingly vulnerable to sexual attackers. Besides, in most cases, victims of rape always face the threats of ostracism or killing by family members to safeguard so called honour.

Shockingly, police have been found reluctant to register most rape and gang-rape cases and arrest the accused. After stories of these painful incidents go viral on the social, print and electronic media, and people take to the streets to protest against the incidents, police per force lodge the cases and bring about some arrests. This behaviour of the force is the result of the existence of inefficiency and corruption, and involvement of influential people in the cases.

The cases of rapes and gang rapes should be dealt in special courts established under the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Ordinance, 2020, for speedy trials of accused rapists. Punishment of chemical castration that the Ordinance, 2020 introduces for rapists is inadequate. However, the perpetrators of this heinous crime deserve to be awarded stringent and harsh punishment commensurate with their inhuman and monstrous activities. It will help reduce the sexual abuse incidence in the country.

To ensure the administration of justice to victims of the heinous crime, there is a desperate need to take concrete measures for the effective implementation of punishments awarded to sexual abusers under Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The law has introduced imprisonment for 10 to 25 years for rape and hanging or life imprisonment for gang-rape.

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/01/17/sexually-victimized/

#Pakistan - People are worried for the country, and it is because of the illegitimate Prime Minister that the country stands at this position, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

 Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the people are worried where the country stands today because of the illegitimate Prime Minister as this has never happened in our history.

Addressing a press conference at Media Cell Bilawal House, the PPP Chairman said that the issue of PIA plane in Malaysia shows where the country stands at the moment. There is a blackout in the country, but the government has no answer.

He said that Pakistan was lagging far behind the neighbouring countries in terms of vaccines against COVID-19. The government has not yet imported any vaccines, and the government will take the matter to the private sector, after which whoever has the money will be able to get the vaccine. He said the Sindh government had been told by the Federal government that the vaccine would be available by January, after which the provincial government had made all preparations. He pointed out that the instant lockdown initiated by Sindh government caused less damage to the country after the coronavirus epidemic, but now the only solution is a vaccine.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the people are worried due to severe shortage of gas, but the incompetent and incapable government is not aware of the problems of the common man. He said that Sindh should be given priority in the supply and supply of gas, which is its fundamental right. “Our islands and hospitals are being snatched from us,” he added saying the matter of hospitals is in the court, and we have already filed a review petition in this regard.

Responding to a question, the PPP Chairman said that the PDM would protest in front of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on January 19 and demanded that ECP should first take the case against the PTI to its logical conclusion.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, while referring to the presidential reference regarding the Senate elections, said that the Federal government has once again tried to make an institution controversial, and the court has no role in this matter.
Senator Sherry Rehman, PPPP Information Secretary MNA Shazia Marri and Sindh Information Minister Nasir Shah were also present on the occasion.

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Joe Biden: GOP Lawmakers Who Didn’t Wear Masks During Capitol Riot Need To ‘Grow Up’

By Jeremy Blum

“I know it’s become a partisan issue, but what a stupid, stupid thing for it to happen,” the president-elect said.

President-elect Joe Biden scolded Republican lawmakers who didn’t wear face masks during the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, stressing that mask-wearing should not be a divisive political debate.

“I know it’s become a partisan issue, but what a stupid, stupid thing for it to happen,” Biden said in a speech about COVID-19 vaccine distribution on Friday, after reiterating his plan to ask all Americans to wear masks for at least 100 days following his inauguration on Jan. 20.

Biden stressed that wearing masks is a “patriotic act” and the U.S. is “in a war” against the coronavirus.

“Quite frankly, it was shocking to see members of the Congress while the Capitol was under siege by a deadly mob of thugs refuse to wear masks while they were in secure locations,” Biden said. “I’m so proud of my congresswoman right here in the state of Delaware, Lisa Blunt Rochester, trying to hand out masks while people were lying on the floor, huddled up. And Republican colleagues refusing to put them on. What the hell’s the matter with them? It’s time to grow up.”

The president-elect added that at least four members of Congress — including lung cancer survivor Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) — have since tested positive for COVID-19.

“For God’s sake,” Biden said. ”Wear a mask — if not for yourself, for your loved ones. For your country.”

Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), one of the four who has tested positive for COVID-19, said that multiple Republican lawmakers “put their own contempt and disregard of decency ahead of the health and safety of their colleagues and our staff” and refused to wear masks even when asked politely during the Capitol siege.

Some of these lawmakers were caught on camera in a video that Biden referenced. In the clip, Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) is passing out masks to her colleagues. Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) is one of several recorded refusing a mask, telling Rochester, “I’m not trying to get political here.”

On Tuesday, House Democrats proposed a fine for those who refuse to wear a mask on the chamber floor, with offenders facing $500 the first time they break the rule, and $2,500 the second time.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-biden-gop-lawmakers-masks-grow-up_n_600321dec5b697df1a060bf1

The Pariah Post-Presidency Isolated and angry, a diminished President Trump is leaving Washington for an uncertain future.

By Lisa Lerer

For four years, President Trump bullied his rivals and intimidated his enemies. He commanded the world stage and commandeered social media, spreading torrents of misinformation and falsehoods. From Israel to Iowa, Mr. Trump was inescapable — and seemingly unstoppable.

Since the attack on the U.S. Capitol, his power has been rapidly disappearing, evaporating in a cloud of recriminations and condemnation.

In the final days of his presidency, Mr. Trump has been snubbed by foreign allies and banned from social media. Some members of his cabinet fled, and some in his own party helped deal the final blow of a second impeachment. High-profile friends, like the New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, are declining national honors to avoid being in his presence. His hometown wants little to do with him.

Mr. Trump arrived in Washington as an insurgent, an unlikely politician who defied the odds to win the White House. He departs isolated and diminished, leaving behind a Capitol transformed into a war zone, a frayed body politic and a fractured Republican Party that has been ousted from power.

Typically, the post-presidential period has offered redemption for even our most polarizing leaders. Out of the political fray, former presidents find new hobbies and missions, often growing in national esteem in the process. Bill Clinton built a global philanthropic empire. George W. Bush discovered his “inner Rembrandt.” And Barack Obama wakeboarded and wrote.

But America has never seen a true pariah post-presidency.

Marooned in the White House, Mr. Trump is facing the lowest job approval of his time in office, polling shows, and increasingly negative reviews for his post-election behavior. He plans to leave Washington hours before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in, making him the first president since Andrew Johnson in 1869 to skip the inauguration of his successor. (Mr. Johnson was also impeached.)

Instead, he’ll flee to Mar-a-Lago, going full Florida man in a state known to attract those seeking a restart — or an escape.

But Mr. Trump will be hard-pressed to evade the considerable financial challenges facing his resorts and hotels, difficulties exacerbated by a pandemic that devastated the hospitality industry and unlikely to be helped by his fallen personal brand. Adding to his economic stress is the more than $300 million in debt coming due in the next few years that he has personally guaranteed.

His favorite sport has also stepped away, with the P.G.A. Tournament relocating from Mr. Trump’s New Jersey golf club to protect its “brand and reputation,” as P.G.A. of America’s chief executive, Seth Waugh, put it. Mr. Trump was “gutted” by the decision, according to a person close to the White House, as he had worked personally for years to push the tournament executives to hold events at his courses.

Even if Mr. Trump wants to adopt a lower-profile — a decision that’s hard to imagine the media-loving president making — it will be difficult for him to avoid politics.

In the coming weeks, Mr. Trump faces a Senate impeachment trial and the likelihood of continued Democratic-led investigations into his business dealings, presidential decisions and the inner workings of his government. A vocal wing of the party is pushing for prosecutions and a raft of legal challenges against Mr. Trump, his family and his allies.Though he won more voters than any other Republican presidential candidate in history and maintains the support of a vast majority of G.O.P. voters, a small but growing segment of his party believes the president has become too toxic even for those who elected him.

“I do not think a party centered on President Trump is viable,” said David Asp, a former member of the Republican National Committee from Minnesota. “The party should move away from Trump as quickly as possible, drop the conspiracy theorists and advance a vision for the party focused on the national interest.”

Perhaps the closest historical analogy to the kind of post-presidency that lies ahead for Mr. Trump is that of President Richard Nixon, who left Washington in disgrace to avoid being impeached for his role in the Watergate break-in. (Mr. Trump, for his part, does not care for the comparison, exploding at aides who bring up the ex-president’s name, according to CNN.)

But Mr. Nixon, say those who’ve studied his post-presidential period, felt remorse for his actions, expressing regret that paved the way for the former president to rebuild his reputation as a best-selling author, foreign policy expert and elder statesman. “Nixon actually felt a sense of responsibility for what had happened,” said Kasey Pipes, the author of a book about Mr. Nixon’s post-presidency. “He felt bad about it and publicly and privately would tell people: ‘I let you down. I let the country down.’” When Mr. Nixon died in 1994, then-President Bill Clinton praised his “wise counsel,” accomplishments and “devotion to duty,” delivering an eulogy that urged Americans to judge the former president on the “totality” of his life.

“Nixon had come full circle and people had accepted him again,” Mr. Pipes said. “It’s going to be much more difficult for Trump to achieve that level of public acceptance and the main reason is that we haven’t seen any public accountability from him whatsoever.”

He added, “And if we know anything about Trump, I don’t think we will.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/16/us/politics/trump-post-presidency-nixon.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

US Capitol riot: police have long history of aiding neo-Nazis and extremists

Sam Levin

@SamTLevin 

Experts were not surprised that officers were part of the mob, given the ties between some police and white supremacist groups in recent years.

Police officers in riot gear line up near the Capitol building in Washington DC. Photograph: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images For years, domestic terrorism researchers have warned that there are police departments in every region of America counting white supremacist extremists and neo-Nazi sympathizers among their ranks.

To these experts, and the activists who have been targeted by law enforcement officers in past years, it came as no surprise that police officers were part of the mob that stormed the US Capitol on 6 January. In fact, the acceptance of far-right beliefs among law enforcement, they say, helped lay the groundwork for the extraordinary attacks in the American capital.

“I’ve been trying to ring the alarm since before Donald Trump was elected,” said Cedric O’Bannon, a journalist and activist who was stabbed at a 2016 neo-Nazi rally in Sacramento and was later targeted by the investigating officer. “It’s nothing new. We’ve seen it getting worse and worse. The law enforcement collusion with white nationalists is clear,” he said.

Last Wednesday, Trump encouraged his supporters and far-right groups to march to the Capitol where Congress was sitting. Soon, rioters and militants wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and white supremacist symbols toppled the flimsy barricades on the grounds, pushed past police and stormed the building.

In the days since the attack, which left five people dead and caused lawmakers to hide in fear for their lives, investigations have revealed that a wide range of US law enforcement personnel were represented in the crowd. News reports and other inquiries have identified roughly 30 sworn members of police agencies from more than 12 different states who were present at the Capitol, according to criminal justice news site, the Appeal.

So far, several on-duty Capitol police officers have been suspended for allegedly supporting rioters, and two off-duty Virginia officers were arrested after boasting on social media about breaching the Capitol. A Houston officer caught inside the building has since resigned, and the police departments of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Philadelphia and other cities are investigating whether their employees attended.

“These are people who we give guns to, who get specialized training, who have access to sensitive information,” said Vida B Johnson, Georgetown University law professor and expert on policing, “and they took part in a plan to undo the votes for the democratically elected president.”

When police protect neo-Nazis

Extremism experts and survivors of far-right violence have for years cried foul about the close ties between some police and white supremacist groups. These links have escalated under the Trump era, they’ve warned, with numerous examples of police openly protecting far-right organizers, including armed and violent ones.

In June 2016 in Sacramento at least ten people were stabbed and injured at a rally of the Traditionalist Workers Party (TWP), a group that extremism experts have classified as neo-Nazis.

The subsequent investigation, led by the California Highway Patrol (CHP), focused on the anti-fascist counter-protesters injured in the stabbings, with records showing that police worked with white supremacists to identify leftist activists and pursue criminal charges against the stabbing victims.

The lead CHP investigator, Donovan Ayres, repeatedly stated in police records that he viewed the neo-Nazis as victims and the anti-fascists as suspects. In court, he repeatedly called TWP the “permitted party”, since it had a permit for a rally, and in a phone call with a TWP leader, he said, “We’re looking at you as a victim.”Records show that Ayres formally recommended Cedric O’Bannon, a Black journalist who was filming the events and was stabbed during the demonstration, face criminal charges for conspiracy, rioting, assault and unlawful assembly noting he was “among the protesters”. The officer did not recommend anyone face charges for the stabbing. O’Bannon ultimately was not charged. Reflecting on the case now, O’Bannon said there should be accountability for the way the officer treated him. “I always think about, has he treated other people in the same way? Is he still doing it now?” Without consequences, officers who sympathize with neo-Nazis are emboldened, he said.

“People of color know this and we’ve been knowing this,” said Mike Williams, a 60-year-old indigenous activist in Sacramento. He was one of three counter-protesters who faced a criminal trial after Ayres pursued cases against them, alleging they violated the “free speech” rights of neo-Nazis.

The reports that Capitol officers may have enabled or supported the insurrectionists make clear that there are police across the country who are aligned with far-right views, he argued: “They feel like they are going to lose control. This is about keeping systemic racism in place.”

CHP declined to comment on the case, and said Ayres no longer works in the Sacramento region. Ayres did not respond to a request for comment.

In Berkeley, California, in 2017, police worked with a violent and armed pro-Trump demonstrator to prosecute leftist activists over an altercation during a protest. Activists saw the criminal trial as just one of many examples of US law enforcement aggressively targeting leftwing demonstrators and favoring members of the far-right after violent clashes.

Police often tolerate pro-Trump violence, said Jeff Armstrong, one of the activists who faced charges but was ultimately acquitted: “We knew we didn’t do anything wrong ... but they were trying to put us in prison,” he said.

And in 2019, Rob Mathis, a Black resident of Muskegon, Michigan, exposed a white police officer who had a framed KKK application and Confederate flags in his home. Mathis, 54, discovered the items while touring the home with a real estate agent. The officer was eventually fired, but ultimately won his pension and retiree health insurance.

Mathis said when police initially brought him in to ask about his viral Facebook post showing the KKK form, it felt as if the department was “interrogating” him or treating him like a suspect. Officials told him he should’ve filed an internal complaint and not gone public, he recalled. “They got rid of him because of optics, because of social media.” The officer claimed he was not a KKK member and said he collected memorabilia.

It was happenstance that Mathis uncovered this officer, and he said he worries that police across the country don’t get caught and continue abusing people of color in their communities: “This system is made for white people and by white people. It is about protecting those people and their jobs.”

Muskegon and Berkeley officials did not respond to an inquiry.

‘White nationalists hide in plain sight’

The number of white supremacist extremists within US police forces is unknown, but even relying solely on cases that have been publicized shows the problem is widespread.

Johnson, the Georgetown expert, testified in Congress last year about white supremacist infiltration of police. She found that since 2009, more than 100 police departments in 49 states have faced scandals involving officers making overtly racist statements. In Florida, Alabama, Oklahoma, Louisiana and elsewhere, active police officers have been outed as members of organized hate groups, including the KKK, she found.

And this is likely the “tip of the iceberg”, she said, adding that polls showing that 10% of Americans believe it’s acceptable to hold neo-Nazi views, and that 12% supported the Capitol attack. Those rates are likely higher for police officers, she said, given that officers are disproportionately white and male.

Among the reasons behind the prevalence of white supremacy in police forces is that, according to the repeated warnings of the FBI since 2006, there are members of organized white supremacist groups who have worked to “infiltrate” police agencies. The FBI has said white supremacists are the greatest domestic terror threat, and that the groups often have “active links” to police.Because of the way policing works in America, it also attracts people with explicitly racist views – giving them a professional license to patrol Black neighborhoods and allowing them to join a system that stops, searches, arrests and prosecutes people of color at disproportionately high rates, experts say. “It’s very easy for people with white nationalist commitments to hide in policing, to find a place in policing,” said Nikki Jones, professor of African American studies at the University of California, Berkeley. American police departments, Jones said, have in many ways stayed true to their roots of protecting white people: “The way policing is structured, presented and performed allows white nationalists to hide in plain sight.”

Despite the clear evidence of explicit racism within policing, the US has not prioritized investigating white supremacists in law enforcement. This is particularly true under Trump, whose administration has focused its efforts to combat domestic terrorism on targeting Black activists and other leftist groups.

In addition to the federal government’s failures to proactively investigate and weed out white supremacist officers, local laws often make it very difficult to terminate officers, who are backed by powerful unions. Terminated officers are frequently rehired in other departments.

Michelle Monterrosa, a 25-year-old California resident whose brother was killed by police last year, said she was worried about the officers who traveled to the Capitol and who will likely face no consequences.

“These officers participated in this insurrection and participated in this hate,” said Monterrosa, who was recently arrested when she engaged in a peaceful protest. “It’s very scary to know they returned home and put their badge on.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/16/us-capitol-riot-police-neo-nazis-far-right

Chinese's Media - U.S. shows absurd logic in discriminating between violent demonstrations in other countries and its own territory

By Liu Huawen

A violent demonstration was staged in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6 local time, when some protesters broke into the U.S. Capitol and forcibly stopped a joint session of the U.S. Congress.

During the incident, four protesters died. On the other day, a U.S. Capitol Police officer lost his life due to injuries caused amid the violence at the Capitol.

While taking powerful measures to suppress such protests at home, the U.S. has no problem with violent demonstrations happening in other countries and regions.

In total disregarded of the chaos and social unrest, disturbance in and destruction of normal social order, threats and harm to personal and property safety, as well as attacks on and damage to public transportation, government buildings and facilities and the safety of officials caused by violent protests, the U.S. described rioters’ savage acts of violence and vandalism in China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as “a beautiful sight to behold”.

Some human rights officials and experts with international organizations and certain Western media outlets have simply adhered to a “politically correct” approach to demonstrations, especially when they happen in developing countries including China.

It looks like they believe civil groups are always right and their attacks on the government are always justified.

It seems to them that human rights could be used as a tool and weapon to attack and criticize the government of other countries at any time, an extreme view in violation of legal logic and the rule of law.

Human rights are not supposed to be a slogan or a simple political label, as they have legal connotations and boundaries of rights, obligations and responsibilities.

Human rights, the rule of law, and development are important criteria for assessing the process of social development.

Respecting and protecting human rights are the essential pursuit of the rule of law, as well as the intrinsic goal of development.

The evolution of human rights couldn't be separated from the actual conditions of a country or the support and guarantee of the rule of law.

The long-lasting and large-scale social turmoil brought about by the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement in Hong Kong was targeted at the political system and government of Hong Kong, directly spoiled the political, social and economic order in the region, and threatened the national unity and security of China.

The violent protesters assaulted Hong Kong residents and tourists from the Chinese mainland, obstructed the police in enforcing the law and in saving individuals under attack and shops that were either smashed, burned or robbed, directly attacked the police and snatched their equipment, including guns, besieged government departments, blocked traffic, examined and attacked passing vehicles, occupied universities for a long time and even stormed the Legislative Council Complex in Hong Kong.

No law-based society can tolerate such act of directly, grossly and severely violating the law.

The Hong Kong government and police department bore a great deal of pressure, and maintained great patience and exercised considerable restraint when faced with groundless accusations from the U.S. and some other Western countries as well as certain human rights officials and experts with international organizations amid the violent protests.

The U.S., which advocates unilateralism and long-arm jurisdiction, even passed a bill to impose sanctions against Chinese officials over Hong Kong, seriously interfering in the internal affairs of China, undermining the sovereignty of China, and harming the legal rights and interests of Chinese institutions, enterprises and citizens.

Although the recent violent demonstration in Washington, D.C. didn't last long, it provoked intense response from different circles in the U.S.

Many American politicians have made remarks to criticize the illegality and intolerability of the incident.

Kayleigh McEnany, White House press secretary in the Trump administration, condemned the violence in strong terms in a statement and stressed that those that broke the law should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, called the incident “an unspeakable assault on our nation and our people”. Ironically, she was the same person that described the violent demonstrations in Hong Kong “a beautiful sight to behold”.

The American government has arrested a large number of protesters and intends to press charges against them. In response to such a violent demonstration at home, it has taken a firm stand, acted promptly and decisively and inflicted harsh punishment, nothing like what they felt about similar incidents in other countries.

Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire, as a Chinese saying goes. The wisdom and values behind the saying are echoed by the Golden Rule in philosophy, a principle found in most cultures that one should treat others as he or she wants to be treated.

The U.S. has obviously adopted double standard on discriminating between violent demonstrations in America and other countries, and shown entirely different attitudes towards similar incidents in different countries and regions.

In the information age, countries are faced with new governance opportunities and challenges.

They should continue improving and ensuring human rights under the spirits and framework of the rule of law.

Countries should treat all members of the international community out of a sense of responsibility and respect the right of people from different countries to independently choose their own development path.

International law has specified the doctrine of estoppel, which precludes a country from asserting something contrary to what is implied by a previous action or statement of that country or by a previous pertinent judicial determination and requires it to adopt the same legal logic for the same legal issue.

A person will never build himself in the society without credibility; it is the same with a country.

Legal logic matters, especially to issues concerning democracy and human rights. Officials from the U.S. and some other Western countries, as well as people who are used to looking at developing countries with prejudice need to pay attention to legal logic, respect the rule of law, and keep consistent in applying rules.