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Обговорювалися питання розробки механізмів державної підтримки ветеранського бізнесу як одного із головних напрямків соціальної адаптації учасників бойових дій

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By Gromada | 04/27/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство

As Day 100 Approaches, Biden’s Ability to Keep Promises Strained

Like all U.S. presidential candidates, Joe Biden spent most of last year’s election campaign making promises. As his 100th day in office approaches — a traditional, if arbitrary, milestone for assessing presidential performance — he has delivered on many of them, but fallen short on others. The president’s campaign promises can be sorted into three broad baskets, regardless of the policy areas in which they fall.  There was the low-hanging fruit — things Biden really could accomplish “on Day One” with the stroke of a pen or the issuance of an order. As of April 15, Biden had signed 49 different executive orders and memoranda, far more than his recent predecessors:  Donald Trump (36), Barack Obama (34) and George W. Bush (12).  Slightly more difficult to achieve, though still within the sole purview of the executive branch, were other policy changes and initiatives that would take some time to implement but could be achieved with no input from members of Congress. Finally, there were the grand promises of a transformed relationship between the two major parties. Biden said he would work to bring Republicans and Democrats together to work in a bipartisan fashion on issues of importance to the country.  Across a wide array of policy areas, Biden quickly accomplished most of the issues in that first basket, and some in the second, but efforts to achieve bipartisan successes in Congress have almost all come up empty.Biden Urges World Leaders to Keep Promises on Climate Following SummitUS president addresses world leaders on final day of virtual climate change summitClimate  Biden was quick to take care of the easy wins on issues related to the climate and global warming. In his first eight days in office, he announced that the U.S. would rejoin the Paris climate accord, issued a slew of executive orders halting projects associated with high greenhouse gas emissions, like the Keystone XL pipeline, and announced that he would ask the Senate to ratify an international accord on reducing the production of hydrofluorocarbons. On Thursday, Biden kept his promise to convene an international climate summit, gathering world leaders for a virtual conference in advance of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November. He pledged to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030, using 2005 levels as a baseline. Biden’s vow to create new energy infrastructure in the U.S., ranging from electronic vehicle charging stations to a smart electrical grid, is part of a massive infrastructure package that is currently working its way through Congress. Other initiatives have been slower to take off. A promise to make 30% of the land and water in the United States subject to conservation requirements has not been fleshed out with an official proposal. The administration is also still working on ways to get the aviation and transport industries to commit to emissions reductions. Biden Moves to Curb US Gun ViolenceUS leader: Mass killings are ‘a blemish on our character as a nation’Guns   Simply put, there isn’t much low-hanging fruit to be had in the debate over gun control in the United States. Earlier this month, the White House announced a pending proposal to slow the proliferation of so-called “ghost guns” that individuals can assemble from separately purchased parts without serial numbers for identification. The administration said that within 60 days it would publish model “red flag” legislation for states, which could block individuals deemed to pose a threat from purchasing firearms. Biden had promised to send Congress a gun control bill, but instead threw his support behind two measures in the House of Representatives strengthening background checks and regulating the transfer of firearms. Both bills passed in that chamber, but are stalled in the Senate. Biden’s promise to sign a bill renewing the Violence Against Women Act is contingent on the bill passing Congress and, while the House approved it in a bipartisan vote last month, the Senate has taken no action. Biden Accelerates Deadline for Opening Up COVID-19 Vaccinations President’s announcement comes amid increase in coronavirus cases among young adults COVID-19  On his first day in office January 20, Biden announced a mask mandate in federal buildings and sent a letter informing the World Health Organization that the U.S. would like to rejoin that organization after the Trump administration withdrew. Biden has also been able to keep, and often exceed, other pandemic-related promises. An initial vow to deliver 100 million vaccinations in 100 days has been greatly exceeded, with twice that number already completed, and the administration made good on promises to set up 100 mass vaccination sites and to create mobile vaccination clinics. A pledge to reopen most schools for in-person instruction has been less successful, in large part because decisions about local school policies are not within the purview of the White House. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did issue guidelines on how to safely reopen schools and other public facilities, but only a little more than half of public schools are open full time for in-person learning.Biden to Lift Refugee Cap Next Month, White House SaysPresident initially retained historically low 15,000-person limit set by Trump administrationImmigration/refugees  Biden did away with former President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban and expanded deportation criteria on his first day in office, and at the same time he halted construction on the wall that the Trump administration was attempting to build on the U.S-Mexico border. He attempted to implement a 100-day “freeze” on deportations, but that effort was blocked by a court ruling. Within the first month of his term, Biden also sent Congress an immigration bill that would create a pathway to citizenship for many undocumented immigrants and announced a program aimed at reuniting children who were separated from their families by the previous administration. As promised, Biden eliminated the “public charge rule” implemented by Trump to prevent recent immigrants from accessing public services. The administration appears to have stumbled badly in its efforts to restore the acceptance of refugees into the U.S. to pre-Trump levels. After promising to accept 62,500 in fiscal year 2022, the administration last week reduced that number to 15,000. The White House then said Biden would raise that number in May, but likely not to the promised level.Biden Lifts Ban on Transgender People in Military Trump had banned further recruitment of transgender people but allowed those already in the military to continue their serviceRacism/Inequity  On his first day in office, Biden signed an executive order calling for a comprehensive assessment of racial equity in the federal government and in the services it provides.  Within his first few months in office, Biden had signed multiple executive actions meant to protect people from discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, including the lifting of a ban on transsexuals serving in the armed forces. However, his promise to sign the Equality Act, which would codify many of those protections, has stalled in the Senate after the legislation passed the House in February.  The White House placed a hold on the creation of a police oversight commission, instead electing to work toward passage of a police accountability law in Congress.  Biden Promises Sharply Increased US Engagement Around the WorldNew US president warns Russia and China, while announcing an increase in accepting refugees and an end to support for Saudi offensive against Yemen National security  Biden pledged to restore America’s standing across the globe by reengaging with allies, and in the opening months of his term, he has begun the work of repairing U.S. relations with NATO countries and U.S. security partners in the Pacific region. Biden also promised to bring the U.S. back into the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran nuclear deal. Talks to do that have begun, but success is far from assured.

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By Polityk | 04/26/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика

Biden Set to Address Congress as He Marks His First 100 Days

With U.S. President Joe Biden set to give his first address to a joint session of Congress this week, a slight majority of Americans approves of his performance, according to a recent poll. There are many issues Democrats and Republican leaders expect him to address. Michelle Quinn reports.
Video editor: Mary Cieslak

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By Polityk | 04/26/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика

Polls: Americans Give Biden a Mostly Favorable Review at Three-Month Mark    

A majority of Americans approve of U.S. President Joe Biden’s overall performance as he nears the end of his first 100 days in office, two major national polls show, with positive marks for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and negative reviews for controlling the surge of migrants at the border with Mexico. A Washington Post-ABC News survey shows 52% of adults give Biden a favorable review compared to 42% who disapprove. An NBC News poll gives Biden a 53%-39% favorable rating. Both polls show the country’s deep political divide has not changed from the contentious 2020 election in which Biden defeated then-President Donald Trump by narrowly winning several key political battleground states en route to a four-year term in the White House.  The Post-ABC poll showed 90% of Democrats approved of Biden’s performance compared with 13% of Republicans, while the NBC survey said 90% of Democrats, 61% of independents and only 9% of Republicans approve of his performance. According to the polls, Biden wins some of his highest approval marks for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 226 million vaccinations having been administered and more than 93 million people fully vaccinated. The Post-ABC poll said 64% of adults — including a third of Republicans — approved of Biden’s handling of the coronavirus crisis. NBC said 69% approved. But Biden’s performance standing on other issues is weaker, according to the surveys. The Post-ABC poll said the country’s 46th president is winning a 52% approval rating for his handling of the economy, while 53% disapprove of the way he had dealt with the thousands of migrants from Central America and Mexico who have tried to cross into the United States. Biden, reversing a Trump policy, has allowed unaccompanied minors to stay in the U.S. rather than expelling them. The NBC poll showed Biden with his highest marks, aside from the pandemic, at 52% on both the economy and uniting the country and 49% on improving race relations. His lowest scores came on dealing with China (35%), restricting guns (34%) and dealing with border security and immigration (33%). Biden’s first major legislative initiative was a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, approved solely with the votes of Democratic lawmakers against unified Republican opposition. But the Post-ABC poll showed strong public support, with 65% of those surveyed saying they back the plan compared with 31% opposed. In the politically divided U.S., however, some Republican lawmakers are beginning to publicly take on Biden.  One Trump supporter, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, told the “Fox News Sunday” show, “I’m in the 43% [who disapprove of him] — he’s been a disaster on foreign policy. The border is in chaos, the Iranians are off the mat, he’s opening up negotiations with the Iranian regime and they haven’t done a damn thing to change. Afghanistan is going to fall apart. Russia and China are already pushing him around.”  “So, I’m very worried,” Graham said. “I think he’s been a very destabilizing president. And economically, he’s throwing a wet blanket over the recovery, wanting to raise taxes in a large amount and regulate America basically out of business. So I’m not very impressed with the first 100 days. This is not what I thought I would get.” Biden’s overall favorability rating was essentially the reverse of Trump’s at the same point in their presidencies, with Trump having a 53%-42% disapproval rating three months into his presidency in 2017. But Biden’s approval standing was lower than that for President Barack Obama at the outset of his eight-year presidency in 2009. Biden is reviewing his first three months in office in a Wednesday night address to a joint session of Congress, although with the necessity of social distancing because of the pandemic, many lawmakers are not expected to attend, and few other officials will be there. In all, about 200 people are expected, compared to the normal 1,600 who have witnessed past presidential speeches in the House of Representatives’ chamber.   In his next effort on a major legislative effort, Biden is attempting to win approval for a more than $2 trillion infrastructure deal. But many Republican lawmakers are balking at the inclusion of such items as funding for home health care that go beyond the normal infrastructure spending for road and bridge repairs and opposing paying for the program with higher taxes on businesses and wealthy individuals. Biden, a Democrat, has expressed a willingness for compromise with Republican lawmakers but the two sides remain far apart. 

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By Polityk | 04/26/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика

За два роки до ПЦУ приєдналося близько 700 парафій – Епіфаній

Епіфаній: є зараз декілька переходів у ПЦУ, які не афішуються спеціально для того, щоб до кінця юридично оформити документи, а вже потім озвучити про те, що ці переходи відбулися

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By Gromada | 04/25/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство

Pentagon Internet Mystery Now Partially Solved

A very strange thing happened on the internet the day President Joe Biden was sworn in. A shadowy company residing at a shared workspace above a Florida bank announced to the world’s computer networks that it was now managing a colossal, previously idle chunk of the internet owned by the U.S. Department of Defense.That real estate has since more than quadrupled to 175 million addresses — about 1/25th the size of the current internet.”It is massive. That is the biggest thing in the history of the internet,” said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik, a network operating company. It’s also more than twice the size of the internet space actually used by the Pentagon.After weeks of wonder by the networking community, the Pentagon has now provided a very terse explanation for what it’s doing. But it has not answered many basic questions, beginning with why it chose to entrust management of the address space to a company that seems not to have existed until September.The military hopes to “assess, evaluate and prevent unauthorized use of DoD IP address space,” said a statement issued Friday by Brett Goldstein, chief of the Pentagon’s Defense Digital Service, which is running the project. It also hopes to “identify potential vulnerabilities” as part of efforts to defend against cyber-intrusions by global adversaries, who are consistently infiltrating U.S. networks, sometimes operating from unused internet address blocks. The statement did not specify whether the “pilot project” would involve outside contractors.
The Pentagon periodically contends with unauthorized squatting on its space, in part because there has been a shortage of first-generation internet addresses since 2011; they now sell at auction for upwards of $25 each. Madory said advertising the address space will make it easier to chase off squatters and allow the U.S. military to “collect a massive amount of background internet traffic for threat intelligence.” Some cybersecurity experts have speculated that the Pentagon may be using the newly advertised space to create “honeypots,” machines set up with vulnerabilities to draw hackers. Or it could be looking to set up dedicated infrastructure — software and servers — to scour traffic for suspect activity.”This greatly increases the space they could monitor,” said Madory, who published a blog post on the matter Saturday.What a Pentagon spokesman could not explain Saturday is why the Defense Department chose Global Resource Systems LLC, a company with no record of government contracts, to manage the address space. “As to why the DoD would have done that I’m a little mystified, same as you,” said Paul Vixie, an internet pioneer credited with designing its naming system and the CEO of Farsight Security. The company did not return phone calls or emails from The Associated Press. It has no web presence, though it has the domain grscorp.com. Its name doesn’t appear on the directory of its Plantation, Florida, domicile, and a receptionist drew a blank when an AP reporter asked for a company representative at the office earlier this month. She found its name on a tenant list and suggested trying email. Records show the company has not obtained a business license in Plantation.Incorporated in Delaware and registered by a Beverly Hills lawyer, Global Resource Systems LLC now manages more internet space than China Telecom, AT&T or Comcast. The only name associated with it on the Florida business registry coincides with that of a man listed as recently as 2018 in Nevada corporate records as a managing member of a cybersecurity/internet surveillance equipment company called Packet Forensics. The company had nearly $40 million in publicly disclosed federal contracts over the past decade, with the FBI and the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency among its customers. That man, Raymond Saulino, is also listed as a principal in a company called Tidewater Laskin Associates, which was incorporated in 2018 and obtained an FCC license in April 2020. It shares the same Virginia Beach, Virginia, address — a UPS store — in corporate records as Packet Forensics. The two have different mailbox numbers. Calls to the number listed on the Tidewater Laskin FCC filing are answered by an automated service that offers four different options but doesn’t connect callers with a single one, recycling all calls to the initial voice recording.Saulino did not return phone calls seeking comment, and a longtime colleague at Packet Forensics, Rodney Joffe, said he believed Saulino was retired. Joffe, a cybersecurity luminary, declined further comment. Joffe is chief technical officer at Neustar Inc., which provides internet intelligence and services for major industries, including telecommunications and defense.In 2011, Packet Forensics and Saulino, its spokesman, were featured in a Wired  story because the company was selling an appliance to government agencies and law enforcement that let them spy on people’s web browsing using forged security certificates.The company continues to sell “lawful intercept” equipment, according to its website. One of its current contracts with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is for “harnessing autonomy for countering cyber-adversary systems.” A contract description says it is investigating “technologies for conducting safe, nondisruptive, and effective active defense operations in cyberspace.” Contract language from 2019 says the program would “investigate the feasibility of creating safe and reliable autonomous software agencies that can effectively counter malicious botnet implants and similar large-scale malware.”Deepening the mystery is Global Resource Systems’ name. It is identical to that of a firm that independent internet fraud researcher Ron Guilmette says was sending out email spam using the very same internet routing identifier. It shut down more than a decade ago. All that differs is the type of company. This one’s a limited liability corporation. The other was a corporation. Both used the same street address in Plantation, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. “It’s deeply suspicious,” said Guilmette, who unsuccessfully sued the previous incarnation of Global Resources Systems in 2006 for unfair business practices. Guilmette considers such masquerading, known as slip-streaming, a ham-handed tactic in this situation. “If they wanted to be more serious about hiding this they could have not used Ray Saulino and this suspicious name.”Guilmette and Madory were alerted to the mystery when network operators began inquiring about it on an email list in mid-March. But almost everyone involved didn’t want to talk about it. Mike Leber, who owns Hurricane Electric, the internet backbone company handing the address blocks’ traffic, didn’t return emails or phone messages. Despite an internet address crunch, the Pentagon — which created the internet — has shown no interest in selling any of its address space, and a Defense Department spokesman, Russell Goemaere, told the AP on Saturday that none of the newly announced space has been sold.

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By Polityk | 04/25/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
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