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Videos appear to show police using Tasers and pepper spray on high school students during an on-campus protest against sexual assault

Alia Shoaib
Sat, November 20, 2021, 

High school students in Texas staged a walkout over their school's handling of a sexual assault allegation.


Videos show police arriving at the school and appearing to use pepper spray and Tasers on students.


Parents have raised concerns about the use of excessive force on students.

Police in Texas appeared to use Tasers and pepper spray on high-school students who staged a walkout to protest against the administration's handling of a sexual assault allegation.

On Friday, students at Little Elm High School carried out a planned demonstration, which authorities said caused some students to behave in a way that "caused a major disruption."

District officials said that police were called to "calm things down."

Videos posted on social media show police arriving at the school and appearing to use pepper spray and Tasers on students.

In one video, police appear to Taser a student, who can be seen falling to the ground and briefly convulsing before lying still.

As other students approach while shouting, the police officers can be seen shoving them away.

Another student later told NBC 5 that he was also Tasered.

"He pushes me away, he pulls out his Taser and pushes me with the Taser, and he's like, 'Hey, you need to back off.' I'm like, 'He's not breathing, we need to do something about this,'" junior Kaden Throckmorton told the outlet.

"And he ends up putting the Taser to my stomach, he Tases me, one of the other officers pushes me on the shoulder, he actually rips my shirt."

Later in the video, one of the police officers grabs a female student by her hair and forces her to the ground.

Four students were arrested for assaulting police officers.


Anna de Luna, a mother who was dropping lunch off for her son, told NBC 5 that the scenes inside the school were chaotic.

"There were students being arrested and manhandled on the floor. There were children crying and screaming. People were banging on the doors, police were pushing the children around," De Luna said.

Little Elm's Independent School District posted on their Facebook page that the sexual assault allegations were unfounded and based on a misleading social media post.

Police said in a Facebook statement that the students' demonstration "was a result of a social media post the day before that contained inaccurate information regarding an incident that happened a month ago."

Maria Vaca, who said her daughter was pepper-sprayed during the incident, told local outlet WFAA that she believes there's a culture of inaction and sexual harassment at the school.

"She got pepper-sprayed. Pepper sprayed for something she should stand up for anyway," said Vaca.

"What was the purpose of the walkout? Sexual harassment. They were telling administrators, they were telling counselors, nobody is doing anything about it," she said.

Parents said they would be attending a school board meeting on December 13 to get answers as to why police used non-lethal weapons on students, CBS 11 reported.

A Little Elm police department spokesperson told Insider, via email, "our department reviews all incidents post-event." Any further statements would be published on the department's Facebook page, she said.

Anarchists target cop-friendly Queens neighborhood after Rittenhouse acquittal, smashing windows and spray-painting cars

Nicholas Williams, Thomas Tracy and Larry McShane, New York Daily News
Sat, November 20, 2021,

NEW YORK — A horde of black-clad anarchists ran wild through southwestern Elmhurst, Queens after the Kyle Rittenhouse acquittal, targeting the middle-class area over its support of the New York Police Department, incoming mayor Eric Adams and local officials charged Saturday.

“These are outside agitators that have one desire, and that is to destroy our city and create conflicts and tensions between New Yorkers,” Adams said at news conference in Elmhurst Park, once the location of the Elmhurst gas tanks.

“It is imperative that we send a loud and clear message that this will not happen in our community,” Adams said.

Adams was joined local by the local congressman, Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi, and City Councilman Bob Holder, who described a scene where 40 to 50 people stormed the area late Friday while flipping garbage cans, tearing down American flags, smashing car windows and blocking traffic.

Police made five arrests, with Holder recounting how some in the crowd were armed with hatchets and hammers.

“We are targeted because we support the police here, we want more police,” said Holder, whose statement was echoed by ex-cop Adams. “I voted against defunding the police ... This again wasn’t a protest, these weren’t protesters. They were rioters.”

The Queens violence, with “f--- you” spray-painted on the back of one car, came hours after the Friday acquittal of Rittenhouse, 18, who was accused of using an AR-style semi-automatic rifle to kill two men and wound a third in Kenosha, Wis. during protests after a white Kenosha police officer shot and wounded a Black man.

Rittenhouse said he fired in self-defense.

Adams, who takes over from Mayor Bill de Blasio on Jan. 1, agreed that Holden and the neighborhood were singled out “merely because (of their) belief in their law enforcement officers who are living in this community.”

A local woman recounted how she was followed by a car with a female driver and four anarchists who randomly targeted her with shouts of “white b-----s like you need to die” as she walked toward her home. One tossed a cup of unspecified liquid at the woman as they drove past.

“That was scary,” said the woman, whose name was Caitlin. “They just wanted to get into a fight, get into an altercation.”

Adams offered an apology to the woman before adding the rioters were “attempting to create violence between our communities.”

The Rittenhouse verdict led Hawk Newsome, co-founder of the city’s Black Lives Matter chapter, to declare the jury’s not guilty decision put the lives of anti-racism protesters at immediate risk.

“What going to happen now is racist people ... feel like they can go out there, pick a fight with you while you protest, and kill you and get away with it,” Newsome said in an Instagram post.

“This sets precedent ... You can go out there and you can kill (a protester), and you can get away with it.”

Rittenhouse escaped accountability; society escapes common sense.

Kyle Rittenhouse (L) at a Kenosha protest before he fatally shot two unarmed men. 

(Photo: Adam Rogan/The Journal Times via Associated Press)

James Abernathy
Sat, November 20, 2021, 

Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all charges on Friday. Some are celebrating the verdicts as a victory for freedom and the right to bear arms. Others find it one more example of injustice as human lives are devalued amidst the clamor for ever-expanding gun rights. From my perspective, there is nothing to celebrate here. A then 17-year-old boy brought a semi-automatic weapon to a protest event, ostensibly in support of law officers, using the weapon to kill two men and wound another. His lawyers argued self-defense. I guess I would argue that he should never have been in that position in the first place.

Across this country, it has somehow become acceptable for civilians to brandish such weapons in the public square, as we have seen not only on the streets of cities but also on the grounds of our state capitols. In my own state of Kentucky, citizens are allowed to carry weapons, either openly or concealed, into the state capitol. In an article in the Lexington Herald dated January 10, 2020, it was revealed that teachers gathering at the capitol to address educational and pension issues were not allowed to bring signs “on sticks into the building ‘because they were concerned the sticks could be used as dangerous weapons.’” Sticks in the hands of educators are deemed too dangerous. An automatic weapon in the hands of a 17-year-old boy, however, seems a reasonable accessory in an environment of protest.

This is where the argument often deteriorates into the usual talking points about Second Amendment rights vs. responsible gun control. The positions are so well documented and predictable that we seem to have lost interest in the dialogue. As with many such arguments these days, the extremes dominate these conversations, with common sense and human decency shouted down in the cause of personal rights. With the proliferation of weapons manufactured to bring carnage on a scale that seems to shock us less and less comes continuing opportunities for violence in places where such weapons and such violence were once prohibited. As long as we continue to shout at each other, however, instead of listen … as long as we continue to see truth not as the verification of facts but the malleable tool of personal and political opinion … as long as we allow ourselves to be pitted one against another by voices less interested in respect and the consideration of the greater good … as long as fear is weaponized and allowed to indiscriminately find acceptance on our streets and in places of public governance … as long as we relegate those different than us to an “other” status that devalues human life, we will find ourselves on a self-destructive path as the ideals of freedom and hope birthed in the guiding documents of our nation are cast aside.

It seems that 17-year-old boys are welcome to bring semi-automatic weapons into the arena of differing ideas, discharging those weapons without accountability. Kyle Rittenhouse should never have been in that position. I doubt he will be the last.

Dr James Abernathy is a retired minister, having served churches in Kentucky and Virginia, now living in Lexington.

'Chilling' Rittenhouse Verdict 'Emboldens' Vigilantes, Warns Wisconsin Newspaper


Mary Papenfuss
Sun, November 21, 2021

A Wisconsin newspaper on Saturday attacked the verdict to acquit shooter Kyle Rittenhouse, saying the decision is “sure to embolden militant people who seek to take the law into their own hands.”

Rittenhouse is “no hero, as some of his defenders pretend. He behaved like a vigilante and didn’t deserve to walk free, given his recklessness,” the Wisconsin State Journal declared in an editorial. “Yet the law, unfortunately, skews in favor of shooters who claim self-defense. That needs to change.”

Rittenhouse, then 17, traveled from his home in Illinois to Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year during protests there against the police shooting of local Black resident Jacob Blake.

Rittenhouse “wasn’t making anyone safer by parading through crowds of angry people with a semiautomatic rifle strapped to his chest and, according to prosecutors, pointing it at people before the conflict escalated,” the newspaper noted.

When the night was over, Rittenhouse had fatally shot two unarmed men, and injured a third man who had a firearm.

“Much of the case” against him “hinged on whether Rittenhouse had provoked the others. If carrying an AR-15 down a crowded street isn’t provocative, what is?” the newspaper asked.

What “Rittenhouse and other gun-toting, self-appointed ‘protectors’ of Kenosha needed to hear from our court system is that they are not the judge and jury when things go awry,” the editorial added.

The newspaper also raised an interesting puzzle: If “two people openly carry guns and point them at each other, whose self-defense claim takes priority?”

The state should be focused on “discouraging standoffs with guns, rather than encouraging more people to arm themselves out of fear or revenge,” the editorial concluded.

Read the entire Wisconsin State Journal editorial .
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Kyle Rittenhouse’s Lethal Pursuit of Happiness is America’s Legacy

Barrett Holmes Pitner
Sat, November 20, 2021,

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty

Kyle Rittenhouse is a free man today and the explanation for this resides in America’s troubling interpretation of “freedom” that has always relied on division.

Thomas Jefferson’s credo of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” has inspired Americans for centuries, but the philosophy that inspired Jefferson’s words actually deprives people of freedom.

Jefferson’s language derived from the work of British philosopher John Locke, who articulated the trinity of “Life, Liberty, and Property” as the bedrock of civilization and democracy—and while these words may appear innocuous, they result in calamitous outcomes.

Kyle Rittenhouse’s Future Looks Hideously Bright

By attaching life and liberty to property, Locke undermined the importance of life and liberty within public and shared spaces, making them exist within the items and territory that someone owned. In America, ownership was the precursor to freedom.

It should surprise no one that Locke’s words were embraced by colonizers who implemented genocide to take indigenous land, and ethnocide to erect American chattel slavery. Locke’s dystopian interpretation of freedom also resulted in property and ownership becoming an extension of white identity. White people came to the New World for the freedom that property and ownership would allegedly provide, and with the understanding that destruction of property or the denial of ownership would threaten white freedom.

In Locke’s Second Treatise of Government, his chapter “Of Property” that explains the role of property in society is directly preceded by the chapter “Of Slavery” that attempts to justify the institution

Locke’s convoluted and nonsensical attempt at doing that basically consists of saying that it is impossible for a human being to knowingly agree to be a slave. Therefore, if an oppressive relationship appears to be slavery, according to Locke, it is instead an agreement between one person or a group of people to submit and obey another person or group. To Locke, slavery is not slavery but a “compact” between a “lawful conqueror and a captive.”

Jefferson was one of America’s most influential slaveowners and politicians, and his personal freedom and wealth derived from both the land and the hundreds of people he owned. Locke’s words justified his immoral way of life, and unsurprisingly, he instilled Lockean ideals into the fabric of the United States.

Jefferson’s and Locke’s concept of freedom was dependent upon depriving other people of freedom, yet despite Jefferson’s embrace of Locke’s ideals, he understood that the trinity of life, liberty, and property would not inspire the American people. An emphasis on property could alienate the many Americans who did not own property, so replacing it with “the pursuit of happiness” sounded more inclusive and democratic. With this amended language, the Americans without property—those of them who were not considered property—could feel comforted by the promise of being able to pursue property.

Due to America’s Founding Fathers embracing Locke’s absurd ideas, the United States has professed an understanding of freedom that normalizes division and makes all of us less safe. America articulates that property is a requirement for freedom, and that it is acceptable to deprive other people of freedom in order to acquire property.

America’s First Newspapers Were Financed by the Slave Trade

Now it is easy to disregard the present-day impact of ideals forged in the 1600s and 1700s, but the prevalence of Americans justifying the taking of human life to protect property demonstrates that these ideals still impact our society today.

Kyle Rittenhouse’s acquittal is just one of many examples; the killing of Ahmaud Arbery is another example since three white men attacked and killed an unarmed Black man because they suspected that he had broken into white-owned property.

Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, travelled across state lines with an illegally obtained AR-15-style rifle that he did not have a license to carry because he said he wanted to protect property and businesses during the riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin that erupted following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by Kenosha police officers.

These facts are not even up for debate, and the only controversy related to the facts that preceded Rittenhouse’s unwarranted and deadly presence in Kenosha pertain to his friend Dominick Black. Since Rittenhouse was only 17, he was not old enough to buy his gun therefore he gave Black money and had him buy the gun instead. Black now faces felony charges for distributing a gun to a minor.

Since Wisconsin is an “open carry” state that allows minors to carry guns, so long as it is not a short-barreled shotgun or rifle, Rittenhouse was perfectly within his rights to walk around in public with an illegally obtained Smith & Wesson AR-style semi-automatic rifle strapped to his chest.

Also, the increased prevalence of guns and “open carry” states in America derives from the court case Nunn v. State of Georgia in 1846 that effectively turned the slaveholding state of Georgia into an “open carry” state.

Basically, in 1837 Georgia banned certain guns and weapons, but since nearly half of Georgia’s population was made up of enslaved people, white Georgians still needed guns to deny freedom to the humans they considered to be their property.

The illegality of guns in Georgia and the constant need to terrorize enslaved Black Americans created a dangerous black market of guns and a new culture of concealing guns when you carry them. Conceal carry resulted in white Georgians killing a lot of other white Georgians, but since removing guns was not an option for a slaveholding state, the Georgia Supreme Court effectively banned concealed carry and embraced open carry in order to protect white freedom and life.

In the 2008 Supreme Court decision in Heller v. District of Columbia that overturned Washington, D.C.’s weapons ban, former Justice Antonin Scalia referenced Nunn and stated that it protected the “natural right of self-defense.” Following this decision, “open carry” laws have spread across America.

Unsurprisingly, Scalia’s analysis overlooked the enslaved person’s right to self-defense and freedom.

By most accounts, it appears that Rittenhouse did not arrive in Kenosha with the intent to kill anyone, but he was definitely prepared to use lethal force if necessary, in order to protect property. Rittenhouse probably does not even own any property, but his happiness and his dangerous concept of freedom consists of using deadly force in pursuit and protection of property. America’s legal system considers Rittenhouse’s murders in defense of property an act of self-defense.

Since the founding of the United States, this nation has encouraged white Americans—in the name of freedom—to behave the same as Rittenhouse. When Rittenhouse, and the countless other Rittenhouses from the colonial days to the present, kill and terrorize people in defense of property and “freedom” our society has always said their actions are okay.

For centuries, America has called these senseless killings “the pursuit of happiness.”

David Cook: Opinion: Who gets to carry guns in America? And who doesn't?


David Cook, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Tenn.
Sat, November 20, 2021, 

Nov. 20—He was 17. A child, essentially.

Kyle Rittenhouse couldn't vote.

Couldn't legally buy cigarettes.

Was barely old enough to buy a ticket for an R-rated movie.

Yet last year, as a 17-year-old, he and others around him thought it appropriate for him to carry an AR-15-style rifle into public protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin. That day, young Kyle Rittenhouse killed two people.

I have only begun to process his not-guilty verdict, announced Friday afternoon.

There is so much suffering, so many reasons to mourn.

Rittenhouse may be legally innocent, but blood will remain on his hands, his heart, possibly for the rest of his life. The people I know who have killed others say such actions — firing a gun at another human being, watching the body drop, the blood spill from wrecked flesh, the breath stop — will distort and haunt for time immeasurable.

Self-defense, his lawyers claimed.

Would such a claim apply for every American?

Consider local history. Ed Johnson facing a white lynch mob, the Cherokees facing forced removal, five Black women shotgunned by the Klan in 1980 — if they had armed themselves and shot their white attackers in self-defense, would the courts have set them free?

It is hard for me to imagine a present-day Black teenager carrying an AR-15 to our city's next protest, shooting three white people, claiming self-defense and receiving the same treatment and verdict as Rittenhouse.

The criminal justice system seems more schizophrenic than blind; it has ruthlessly eaten up the lives of so many, while bending over backwards to allow and sustain others' freedom.

I think of Tony Oliver.

Oliver is a Black Chattanooga businessman; during COVID-19, he helped deliver some 20,000 meals to our city's homeless and poor.

He owns TNT Cleaning. Mentors both youth and adults. A husband, father, believer.

"I want to keep growing my business so I can help others in my community," he says.

Growing up, he made bad decisions. He robbed, fell into addiction, eventually serving some 17 years in prison.

In 2007, he became sober. Started working full-time. Fell in love.

Released from prison on probation, Oliver transformed his entire life.

In 2017, he was working the late-shift at a local manufacturing plant. His wife, home alone at night. Their home had been twice burglarized, so she bought a handgun.

Kept it in her bedside table.

For self-defense.

With weeks remaining on his probation, authorities visited their home. Found the gun — properly secured, on his wife's side of the bed.

For self-defense.

But Oliver was a felon on probation; he is prevented from possessing a firearm.

With his daughter watching, Oliver was cuffed and sent back to prison.

Why?

His wife owned a gun.

For self-defense.

(A judge later dismissed the charges, yet Oliver says his parole officer still forced him back to prison to finish his probation; he lost his job in the process.)

This fall, I read Carol Anderson's "The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America."

"This book should be required reading for every elected state representative and senator as well as those in Congress," emailed the reader who recommended this to me. "Ms. Anderson's book delves into the real reasons framers of the Constitution included the Amendment — mainly the threat from armed slaves and free Blacks."

"The eighteenth-century origins of the 'right to bear arms' explicitly excluded Black people," writes Anderson, a decorated, best-selling professor at Emory University. Elsewhere, she writes: "The Second Amendment ... was designed and has consistently been constructed to keep African Americans powerless and vulnerable."

Can you think of any time in American history when Black people collectively armed themselves against white violence ... and received full support of the Constitution, police officers, judges and politicians for doing so?

Philando Castille. Alton Sterling. Tamir Rice. John Crawford. All Black. Each carrying or possessing a gun. (Rice, 12, was playing with a toy gun. Crawford was carrying a BB gun he'd picked up off the Walmart shelf.)

They were all shot and killed by police.

Who gets to carry guns in this country?

And who doesn't?

I don't write this out of reckless emotion, wanting to make a painful situation worse. I, too, own multiple guns. But if my Black brothers and sisters can't carry their guns in the same way I can — or Rittenhouse — then what role does the Second Amendment play in this country?

David Cook writes a Sunday column and can be reached at dcook@timesfreepress.com.

IOC: President Thomas Bach held video call with Peng Shuai amid concern about Chinese tennis star's safety

Jason Owens

Sun, November 21, 2021,

The International Olympic Committee announced that president Thomas Bach spoke with Peng Shuai on a video call on Sunday amid concerns about the Chinese tennis star's safety. 

The announcement included an image of Bach speaking with Peng on a video screen alongside a statement from the IOC athletes' commission chair Emma Terho, who was also on the call with Chinese IOC member Li Lingwei.

“I was relieved to see that Peng Shuai was doing fine, which was our main concern," Terho said, per the statement. "She appeared to be relaxed. I offered her our support and to stay in touch at any time of her convenience, which she obviously appreciated.”

The announcement didn't include a statement from Peng or video of the call. Per the IOC, Peng told Bach that she is "safe and well" and was living at her home in Beijing. She prefers to "have her privacy respected at this time" and plans to "continue to be involved in tennis," according to the statement. 

Peng Shuai. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinese media videos claim to show Peng in public

Sunday's IOC statement arrives amid a flurry of videos from Chinese state-run media purporting to show Peng having dinner with her friends Saturday night and appearing at a youth tennis match on Sunday. 

The videos haven't been independently verified and didn't provide evidence that they were taken recently. Women's Tennis Association CEO Steve Simon cast doubt on their veracity.

“I am glad to see the videos released by China state-run media that appear to show Peng Shuai at a restaurant in Beijing," Simon's statement reads. "While it is positive to see her, it remains unclear if she is free and able to make decisions and take actions on her own, without coercion or external interference. This video alone is insufficient. As I have stated from the beginning, I remain concerned about Peng Shuai’s health and safety and that the allegation of sexual assault is being censored and swept under the rug. I have been clear about what needs to happen and our relationship with China is at a crossroads.”

Peng's disappearance after allegation sparked international outcry

Peng hadn't been seen in public since accusing retired Chinese vice premier Zhang Gaoli of pressuring her into sex while she was a guest at his and his wife's home for dinner around three years ago. She leveled the accusation on a Nov. 2 post on Chinese social media outlet Weibo. According to the post that was quickly deleted, she eventually agreed to an ongoing affair that Zhang insisted on keeping secret. Mentions of the allegation were scrubbed from Chinese-run social media. 

The WTA called for an investigation into her allegations and her whereabouts on Nov. 14. Since then, members of the international tennis community including Naomi Osaka, Novak Djokovic, Serena Willams and Chris Evert joined the call for answers about Peng. The White House and the United Nations both called for proof on Friday of Peng's safety and for an investigation into her sexual-assault allegation.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian has repeatedly denied that the government knows anything about the situation. 

The IOC is under pressure to address the situation with the Winter Olympics scheduled to take place in Beijing in February. President Joe Biden said on Thursday that the United States was considering a diplomatic boycott of the Olympics amid a history of human-rights concerns in China.  

Sunday's IOC statement was the first to address Peng's safety independent of Chinese media. It didn't include statements directly from Peng nor address her sexual assault allegation or why she hasn't spoken publicly since making her accusation. 

2 Fox News employees resigned over Tucker Carlson's January 6 documentary, citing concerns it may incite violence
Morgan Keith

Tucker Carlson speaks during the Mathias Corvinus Collegium 

Feszt on August 7, 2021 in Esztergom, Hungary. Photo by Janos Kummer/Getty Images

Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes joined Fox News as contributors in 2009.

Both Goldberg and Hayes resigned over tensions between Fox News coverage and their own publication.

In a statement, the pair said the misinformation pushed by "Patriot Purge" is dangerous.

Fox News contributors Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes have resigned following the release of Tucker Carlson's documentary on the January 6 Capitol insurrection, "Patriot Purge," citing concerns about the documentary's potential to incite violence and the cable news outlet's direction of coverage in the post-Trump era, The New York Times reported.

Goldberg and Hayes joined Fox News as contributors in early 2009 while also working for conservative political magazines. In 2019, they worked together to found The Dispatch, a conservative online publication with nearly 30,000 paying subscribers, according to The New York Times.

Ultimately, the release of "Patriot Purge" brought the pair to an impasse, which they said forced them to choose between running their own publication and remaining loyal to Fox News, according to a statement about their resignation.

The "Patriot Purge" documentary baselessly suggested that the January 6 insurrection was a "false flag" plot by President Joe Biden to conduct an ideological purge and persecute conservatives.

"This is not happening. And we think it's dangerous to pretend it is. If a person with such a platform shares such misinformation loud enough and long enough, there are Americans who will believe — and act upon — it," Goldberg and Hayes said in a statement. "This isn't theoretical. This is what actually happened on January 6, 2021."

The duo were not the only Fox News employees to publicly condemn the documentary. One of Carlson's colleagues, Geraldo Rivera, called the false flag theory pushed in the documentary "bullshit."

Insider has reached out to Goldberg, Hayes, Carlson, and Fox News for comment.

Scholar elaborates on marked contrast of changing living standards between China, US

Xinhua, November 22, 2021

The Chinese people have seen great improvement in their standards of living over the past 40 years, while the average income of the bottom half of Americans has remained almost stagnant for decades, a renowned Singaporean scholar has said.

China is humanity's oldest continuous and one of its greatest civilizations, Kishore Mahbubani, a distinguished fellow at the Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore, said in a recent interview with Xinhua, highlighting factors for China's successful development today.

China's willingness to learn from the rest of the world is a huge asset, said Mahbubani, adding that four decades of peace has also been a key element.

Mahbubani has served as the dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore, and Singapore's ambassador to the United Nations. He was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019.

Chinese civilization has proven itself to be one of the strongest and most resilient civilizations in history, he said in his book Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy, released last year.

If there is an index to measure the relative strength and resilience of different civilizations based on their real performance over more than 2,000 years, the Chinese civilization could rank number one, he added.

"The United States is the only society, only developed society where the average income of the bottom 50 percent has basically remained stagnant for three decades," he told Xinhua.

"Today in America, the middle class has been shrinking in significant ways," he said, adding that "the equality of opportunity that used to exist in the United States has been eroded in recent decades."

In the area of social and economic rights, Mahbubani said "it's clear that the bottom 50 percent, bottom 30 percent, bottom 10 percent have seen a deterioration in their standard of living and that's an area where the United States is not doing well."

The biggest challenge facing the United States today is that it has become a plutocracy, he said.

The U.S. political system is moving from being a democracy to becoming a plutocracy, betraying the ideals of its founding fathers, Mahbubani said in the book, adding that the U.S. system has effectively created a new moneyed aristocracy.

He noted that the priority of the U.S. government should be taking care of its bottom 50 percent. However, many American governments have deployed resources to fighting illegal wars overseas instead.

The United States is facing severe political, economic and cultural challenges, he said in his book, adding that it appears that the United States today lacks "spiritual vitality," an idea raised by one of the wisest U.S. strategic thinkers George Kennan.

When Kennan was advising the United States on how to manage its competition with the former Soviet Union, he noted a country has four limbs: an awareness of its own situation, coping successfully with its internal problems, a sense of global responsibility, and having a spiritual vitality.
Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.

Living Ghosts: 

THE DEVASTATING IMPACT OF ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES IN PAKISTAN

Pakistan: New briefing documents far-reaching impact of enforced disappearance on families of the vanished

NEWS

November 22, 2021 12:01 am

The Pakistani authorities must end their abhorrent use of enforced disappearance, said Amnesty International, in a new briefing today detailing the practice’s devastating impact on the families of those vanished.

The briefing, Living Ghosts, documents how enforced disappearance–a crime under international law in which state agents deny holding an individual or refuse to provide information on their fate or whereabouts–not only violates the human rights of the individuals who are disappeared, but also impacts affected families’ mental and physical health, financial status, and security, as well as leading to stigma and social isolation.

Although cases have been documented as far back as the mid-1980s, the practice has been routinely used by Pakistan’s intelligence services since the inception of the so-called “War on Terror” in 2001, to target human rights defenders, political activists, students, and journalists, with the fate of hundreds of victims still unknown. A proposed amendment to outlaw enforced disappearance has been mired in the legislative process for more than two and a half years and the current iteration does not conform with international human rights law and best practices.

Enforced disappearance is a cruel practice that has caused indelible pain to hundreds of families in Pakistan over the past two decadesRehab Mahamoor, Amnesty International’s Acting South Asia Researcher

“Enforced disappearance is a cruel practice that has caused indelible pain to hundreds of families in Pakistan over the past two decades. On top of the untold anguish of losing a loved one and having no idea of their whereabouts or safety, families endure other long-term effects including ill-health and financial problems,” said Rehab Mahamoor, Amnesty International’s Acting South Asia Researcher.

“It’s a punishment without end that Pakistan’s authorities must consign to history. As well as expediting the criminalization of enforced disappearance through legislation in line with international human rights law, the authorities must immediately disclose the fate and whereabouts of all victims to their families and release those still being held.”

Amnesty International is also calling for all those suspected of criminal responsibility for committing an enforced disappearance to be brought to justice in fair trials before ordinary civilian courts and without recourse to the death penalty.

Amnesty International spoke to the family members of 10 people whose fate remains unknown after they were abducted by Pakistan’s security services. Each of them described resultant stress-related health issues including high blood pressure, cardiac conditions, and gastro-intestinal illnesses.

Affected families also suffer financial consequences, as the disappeared are invariably the main breadwinner. In three cases documented by Amnesty International, the children of those disappeared had been forced to drop out of school due to the loss of family income or stigma.

Sultan Mahmood, whose two brothers were abducted in 2014 and 2021 respectively, told Amnesty International that losing two sources of family income, combined with the legal costs of trying to secure the return of his brothers, had left him in debt of 2.5 million PKR (approx USD 15K), forcing him to sell all of his assets, including his home.

In another case, the younger sister of Sammi Baloch, a prominent activist against enforced disappearance whose father was disappeared by the authorities in 2009, was prevented from sitting exams at a college in Balochistan managed by the army, after officials became aware who she was related to.

The families of those forcibly disappeared often face an impossible choice between staying silent in the aftermath of an abduction or risking the loss of their loved one forever. Intimidation and harassment from the authorities can follow them for years after a disappearance has taken place and sometimes continues after the person is returned. This can be in the form of heavy-handed surveillance, threatening calls from blocked numbers and even phishing attacks on personal devices.

Amnesty International also interviewed victims of enforced disappearance, including Inaam Abbasi, who was held for 10 months following his abduction in August 2017. The physical torture he was subjected to has left him with a host of health issues, including chronic joint pain, high blood pressure and suspected post-traumatic stress disorder, which can be triggered by events such as a doorbell ringing. “I believe that someone has come to take me away again,” he told Amnesty.

Last month, Amnesty International criticized a range of proposed reforms to the amendment to the Penal Code of Pakistan to end the practice of enforced disappearance, which does not currently conform with international human rights law and best practices.

On 8 November, the Minister of Human Rights, Dr Shireen Mazari, tweeted that the National Assembly had passed the proposed legislation. According to her tweet, one of the controversial sections in the proposed amendment, which sought to protect state officials, department heads or heads of institutions from being held accountable for disappearances, had been removed. The legislation remains in contravention of international human rights law and standards.

November 22, 2021Index Number: ASA 33/4992/2021

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC DISAPPEARANCES

Living Ghosts, documents how enforced disappearance – in which state agents deny holding an individual or refuse to provide information on their fate or whereabouts – impacts affected families’ mental and physical health, financial status, and security, as well as leading to stigma and social isolation. Amnesty International spoke to the family members of 10 people whose fate remains unknown after they were abducted by Pakistan’s security services.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ASA3349922021ENGLISH.pdf

Venezuela: Chavismo Wins Governorships in 20 of 23 States


A man casts his vote, Caracas, Venezuela, Nov. 21, 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @ALBATCP

Published 21 November 2021

"It is a victory for the humble people, the noble people of Venezuela, who have endured a brutal war," President Nicolas Maduro stressed.

Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) President Pedro Calzadilla reported a 41.80 percent turnout in Sunday's Subnational elections.

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Having counted 90.21 percent of the ballots cast in the elections, Calzadilla reaffirmed that the elections took place in a peaceful environment.

The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) candidates hold leads in 20 out of 23 states for the governor's race.

Meanwhile, the opposition coalition United Democratic Table (MUD) candidates secured a lead in the Cojedes and Zulia states. Neighbors Force (FV) party secured the other governor post for opposition sectors in the Nueva Esparta State.

"Nothing disturbed the electoral process ... International observers move freely throughout the country to verify the electoral process... It is a victory for the humble people, the noble people of Venezuela, who have endured a brutal war," President Nicolas Maduro stressed.

Over 21,000,000 Venezuelans were called to cast the ballots to elect 23 governors, 335 mayors, 253 lawmakers, and 2,471 councilors.

The CNE delivered credentials to over 300 international observers from 55 countries and institutions such as the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN), and the Carter Center.

Nearly 70,000 candidates from all political forces in the South American nation contested the elections. They represented 37 national political parties and 43 regional organizations.

Venezuela Election: FANB To Continue Safeguarding the Elections

Military officers close a polling center as voting hours end, Caracas, Venezuela, Nov. 21, 2021. 

| Photo: EFF

"The Venezuelan people were summoned and came out to say YES to democracy and peace, and to say NO to violence, to bullets and interventionism," Padrino said.

On Sunday, 21.1 million Venezuelans are entitled to elect 23 governors, 335 mayors, 253 state legislators, and 2,471 councilors. For the first time since 2007, opposition parties participate in the democratic process and call on the population to go to the polling stations. The main events of this electoral event are presented below according to their occurrence at local time.

20.00. Ratifying Sunday's peaceful atmosphere, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino noted that the Subnational Elections mark a new path for peace, reinstitutionalization, and democracy in the Bolivarian nation.

"The Venezuelan people were summoned and came out to say YES to democracy and peace, and to say NO to violence, to bullets and interventionism, and to those people who have tried to disrupt and destabilize our institutions and our democracy," Padrino
said.

The Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) and the Strategic Operational Command will continue to support the electoral process as elections will be held in Indigenous peoples' entities in the upcoming days.

19.20. Colombian Electoral Observer Piedad Cordoba expressed that Sunday's elections ratified "the civic, transparent and peaceful vocation" of Venezuelans in a legitimate electoral process.

"In 22 years, there have been 29 elections, and I am happy because I tell you that Venezuelans have the solution to their problems in democratic ways," Cordoba said.

18.30. The National Electoral Council confirmed the closing of polling stations nationwide in line with electoral law. It is only keeping open those centers with people lined up to cast their votes.

The Citizen Verification will begin in 54 percent of polling stations, after a drawing in each voting center.


The meme reads, "The Educational Unit in the Caricuao parish of Caracas was another of the electoral centers visited by international observers accredited by the National Electoral Council, among them, the ALBA-TCP Executive Secretary Sacha Llorenti."

17.30. Elections Observation Missions representatives offered their impressions on the Subnational Elections held on Sunday.

Uruguay's former Foreign Minister and International Observer Ricardo Patiño thanked the Venezuelan authorities for their invitation while highlighting the "significant level of participation and democracy" shown in the elections.

Patiño highlighted the representation of all political forces competing in the electoral race at the polling stations and the high level of preparation.

International Observer Cristian Rodriguez from Rebellious France noted the participation of representatives of the opposition sectors and the environment of peace.

Juan Carlos Monedero from Spain pointed out that the Elections evidenced the "enormous prestige and capacity" of the National Electoral Council (CNE), which has a political balance that guarantees its impartiality.

He noted also the peaceful atmosphere of the voting process, which contrasts with the reality of other Latin American countries where candidates face political violence.

Highlighting the occurrence of the electoral race amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Monedero expressed that the elections mark the beginning of new normality in Venezuela.

16.30. United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) Vice President Diosdado Cabello celebrated the participation of the people and government authorities in Sunday's subnational elections while noting that the polling stations are still open for citizens to vote.

PSUV Socialist Youth's General Secretary Rodbexa Poleo remarked that the Bolivarian movement is a permanent campaign for social transformation, culture, and sports.

"We call on the youth to participate. We have demonstrated that our electoral system is perfect... Young people will propose the projects we have, and together we will crystallize them," Poleo said.

The meme reads, "We are exercising our right to vote as a family with emotion and deep national love. Today is a holiday for the Bolivian Revolution. We will win."

15.20. Following a visit to the polling station "Antonio Ortega Ordoñez" in the Palo Verde sector in Caracas, the Head of the European Union's Election Observation Mission, Isabel Santos, noted that tranquility marks the Election Day.

The Bloc's Observation Mission has about 130 representatives deployed in the voting centers nationwide. They will conclude their activities with a preliminary report to be presented on Nov. 23.

14.50. Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro cast his vote at a polling station in the Fuerte Tiuna neighborhood in Caracas.

"The Venezuelan electoral system is the only one in the world that has over 18 audits, which are certified with the presence and signature of representatives from all political parties," President Maduro stated.

He reiterated the calls on Venezuelans to assist voting centers and express their will for the future of the Bolivarian nation.

14:00. The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples' Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) takes part in the international oversight of the Venezuelan elections.

13:30. The opposition politician Henrique Capriles cast his vote. "Venezuela expresses itself by exercising our right to vote," he said.

13:00. The National Electoral Council President Pedro Calzadilla highlighted the efficient operation of voting. Besides indicating that electoral authorities are ready to attend to any eventual complaint of irregularities, he pointed out that these elections demonstrate the Venezuelans' will to resolve their differences in peace.

12:32. International observer Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero wants the dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the opposition to resume so that the South American nation can overcome its difficulties and resume its path towards development.

12:30. "I just voted in El Recreo Parish in Libertador Municipality. All the polling stations are working and have accredited witnesses. A fast and fluid process. The Republic Plan is very efficient," said Democratic Action (AD) Secretary Henry Ramos, who is also the vice president of the International Socialist (IS).

11:30. Luis Florido, the opposition candidate seeking to be governor of the state of Lara, came to vote.

10:30. Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodriguez stressed that "this election is very important and transcendental for the Republic" and urged opponents to respect the results of this contest.

10:00. Diosdado Cabello, the vice president of the Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela (SUV), affirmed that the "punishment vote" will be for those political groups that disappointed the voters.

09:30. Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Minister Felix Plasencia goes to the polls to cast his vote and made the following call: "That no one is left today without participating, voting, and fulfilling their national duty."

09:00. The president of the National Electoral Council (CNE) Pedro Calzadilla reported that 95 percent of the country's polling stations were receiving votes.


09:00. Domingo Hernandez, the Strategic Commander of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (CEOFANB), confirmed that the soldiers are providing security through the Integral Defense Zones (ZODI), the Integral Defense Regions (REDI) and the Integral Defense Areas (ADI).

08:30. Karina Carpio, the candidate of the Great Patriotic Pole (GPP) for the governorship of Aragua state, invited citizens to come out and vote to "consolidate democracy and legitimize our Constitution once again."

08:00. Through his account on his Twitter, the opposition politician Alfredo Diaz invited voters to vote

07:30. National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez invited all Venezuelans to vote this Sunday.

07:00. The National Electoral Council (CNE) President Pedro Calzadilla announced that 76 percent of the polling stations were already serving citizens.

06:30. Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro called on the population to vote for peace. "The victory target sounds, the heart beats strong. Venezuelans, let's go to vote in peace and harmony and unite for the love of our homeland. Let's vote to win! Let's win to advance!," he tweeted.

06:00. Subnational elections officially begin in Venezuela.

Chile: Gabriel Boric To Face Jose Antonio Kast on Dec 19 Runoff

Former student leader Gabriel Boric will face far-right lawyer Jose Antonio Kast in Chile's runoff presidential election on December 19. | Photo: Twitter/@financelygroup

Published 21 November 2021 (3 hours 10 minutes ago)

With over 92,75% of the votes counted, the top two candidates, Boric and Kast, will face off in a runoff election set for December 19.

In Chile's first-round presidential elections, former student leader for the leftist Apruebo Dignidad coalition Gabriel Boric has obtained over 25% of the vote, whereas far-right lawyer for the Partido Republicano Jose Antonio Kast has won 28% of the vote, meaning the two will face off in a tense runoff in just over three weeks.

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In third place, populist outsider candidate Franco Parisi earned just over 13% of the vote, and in fourth and a close fifth, Christian democrat Yasna Provoste snagged just over 12% and center-right candidate Sebastian Sichel earned just under 12% of the vote, respectively.

Over 6 million votes have been counted thus far, as over 15 million Chileans were called upon to elect their new president, along with 155 lawmakers, 27 senators, and 302 regional councilors for the 2022-2026 term.

Speaking to his supporter upon learning of his first-place finish in the first round of elections, Kast blamed delinquents and rioters for Chile's social problems, alluding to those who fought for the country's constutitional convention as the main causes of the country's violence.

Vaguely referring to concepts of democracy, peace and freedom, Kast scapegoated the Left by saying he refused to let Chile become Venezuela, rallying his supporters to choose between freedom and communism.

"With almost 30%, the trend continues. Second round in Chile. @joseantoniokast and @gabrielboric. Here, the %: #ChileDecide"

On the other hand, the former student leader, Boric, spoke to his supporters after placing second in the elections, highlighting the need to improve public services, end the political privileges for an elite minority and find unity among diverse sectors of the center and the left to beat the ultra-right candidate, Kast.

Boric furthermore said his presidency would defend the constituent process that began in 2019, asserting to that win the second round, his coalition will have to be "humble and receptive," never "haughty and arrogant."

Boric said, "When the road gets rough, it tests the mettle of the leadership that sustains it. We are not going against something, I do not come to occupy this tribune to speak against the other candidate, it is not my style. This is the crusade in which hope wins over fear. I am grateful for the trust of thousands of people who have told us that we have this mandate and that we are here tonight disputing a second round that will be historic."

Still to be counted in Sunday's general elections are the votes cast for representatives, senators and regional council-members, although initial results show the left-wing Apruebo Dignidad list winning around 20% of the seats, the right-wing Chile Podemos Más coalition securing over 28% of the seats, the liberal New Social Pact list gaining nearly 18% of the seats, and other independent, extremist and fringe groupings earning the rest of the seats.

This election marks the first time that the presidential candidates facing off in the second round of elections are not from either the Independent Democratic Union or the Socialist Party, which have formed the coalitions that have taken turns in the exercise of power since the fall of the Pinochet dictatorship in 1990.