влада, вибори, народ
Trump, Biden Campaign in Florida Thursday
With days until voters cast the last ballots in the U.S. presidential election, the top candidates are focusing their campaign efforts Thursday in the southeastern state of Florida.In every election since 1996, the winner of Florida has won the presidency. The winner there earns 29 of the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the election.President Donald Trump begins his campaigning day with a rally in the city of Tampa before traveling for an evening rally in the state of North Carolina.Former Vice President Joe Biden is set to speak to supporters in Broward County in the afternoon and then head to his own event in Tampa in the evening.According to anAbout two-thirds of America’s early voters have mailed in their ballots, and the rest voted in person at polling places throughout the country. Biden voted Wednesday in Wilmington, Delaware, while Trump cast his ballot on Saturday at a library in West Palm Beach, Florida, near his Mar-a-Lago resort. Voting experts say voter turnout for the contest between Republican Trump and Democratic challenger Biden could be the highest percentage of the electorate since 1908, when 65% of the country’s eligible voters cast ballots.
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By Polityk | 10/29/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Нацрада призначить перевірки телеканалам, які транслювали агітацію в день тиші
Національна рада з питань телебачення і радіомовлення призначить перевірки телеканалам, які транслювали політичну агітацію в день тиші – про це регулятор повідомив 29 жовтня за підсумками засідання робочої групи, яке відбулося напередодні.
За висновками членів Нацради, в ефірі кількох інформаційних каналів у період з 17 по 25 жовтня були порушення виборчого законодавства, в тому числі і в день тиші – 24 жовтня, а також у день голосування, коли будь-яка агітація заборонена.
«Порушень у день тиші вже давно не спостерігалося у вітчизняному просторі, зауважили члени робочої групи, і це один із найбільш негативних моментів, на яких треба наголосити», – йдеться в повідомленні Нацради.
За висновками ради, сюжет, де народний депутат Ілля Кива висловлював підтримку кандидату на посаду міського голови Києва Олександру Попову, транслювався в день виборців в ефірі каналів «112-Україна», «Z ZIK», «NEWSONE». При цьому «Z ZIK», як зазначають у регуляторі, припинив включення, вказавши на порушення норм виборчого законодавства.
Читайте також: Верховна Рада не збирається надалі позбавляти журналістів акредитації – керівниця пресслужби
«Поширення агітаційних матеріалів у день волевиявлення громадян є порушенням строків агітації, передбачених статтею 52 Виборчого кодексу України. Двом ліцензіатам Національної ради – «112-Україна» і «NEWSONE» – буде призначено позапланові перевірки», – заявляє пресслужба ради.
Серед інших ознак порушень, які виокремлює Нацрада – поширення прихованої агітації, недотримання порядку розміщення політичної реклами, оприлюднення неповних результатів соціологічних досліджень.
За повідомленням, робоча група ухвалила повідомити про виявлені порушення Центральну виборчу комісію, і вказала ліцензіатам на неприпустимість такий дій надалі.
Також Нацрада вказала на порушення в трансляції каналу «НАШ», який нібито не дотримався вимог щодо маркування політичної реклами. Телеканалу також призначили перевірку через один із таких епізодів.
Читайте також: Президент Туреччини позивається до французького журналу Charlie Hebdo
«Недотримання журналістських стандартів, незаконна політична агітація – вони в цілому руйнують довіру до медіа, і ми втрачаємо не лише глядачів, ми втрачаємо й виборців. Підтвердженням цьому є така низька явка, яка була на цих виборах. Тому що, коли замість достовірних фактів люди отримують завуальовані меседжі, вони змінюють своє ставлення і відповідно стають пасивними», – цитує пресслужба одного з членів ради Максима Онопрієнка.
Згадані канали наразі не коментували цієї заяви.
26 жовтня керівниця місії спостерігачів БДІПЛ ОБСЄ в Україні Інгібйорнг Сольрун Гісладоттір заявила, що приватні медіа «не змогли неупереджено та збалансовано висвітлювати події виборчого процесу, а також всю діяльність кандидатів».
В Україні 25 жовтня відбулися місцеві вибори. Українці обирали депутатів місцевих рад, селищних, сільських і міських голів. Явка склала близько 37%.
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By Gromada | 10/29/2020 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Очільник Мінкульту назвав важливим рішення уряду про фінансування «патріотичних серіалів» із COVID-фонду
Міністр культури та інформаційної політики України Олександр Ткаченко назвав «очікуваними новинами для кіноіндустрії» і «важливим» рішення уряду від 28 жовтня про те, що окремі етапи виробництва «патріотичних телесеріалів» реалізовуватимуться за державний кошт, а саме з Фонду боротьби із поширенням COVID-19.
«Учора (28 жовтня – ред.) Кабінет міністрів підтримав ініційовану #МКІП постанову, яка погоджує порядок і дозволяє оголосити пітчинг патріотичних серіалів. Звертаю увагу, що 100 млн. грн. на проведення конкурсу заплановано ще з літа в рамках 1 млрд. грн. інституційної підтримки сфери культури. Тобто мова не йде про нові чи додаткові кошти», – заявив Олександр Ткаченко.
Він пояснив, що на його думку, це важливо, бо «спрощує телевізнийкам роботу над проєктами за рахунок державного фінансування».
«Робота потрібна усім, а дуже складний час для кіноіндустрії нікуди не минув. Особливо для людей, які працюють у сфері, і через довготривалу відсутність системних зйомок просто живуть у стані простою. Потрібно продовжувати розвивати український телевізійний продукт, залучаючи до цього талановитих митців. З українськими акторами та про українські наративи. Тримаємо це у фокусі, бо популяризація ринку вітчизняного контенту особливо важлива для безпеки в інформаційному просторі», – сказав міністр.
Він додав, що міністерство незабаром зможе розпочати конкурсний відбір з «пошуку проєктів патріотичного спрямування».
28 жовтня уряд на засіданні схвалив проєкт постанови «Про внесення змін до пункту 9 Порядку використання коштів для здійснення деяких заходів, спрямованих на запобігання виникненню та поширенню, локалізацію та ліквідацію спалахів, епідемій та пандемій гострої респіраторної хвороби COVID-19, спричиненою коронавірусом SARS-Co V-2». Документ, зокрема, дозволяє використовувати бюджетні кошти на покриття витрат на реалізацію окремих періодів виробництва «телевізійних серіалів патріотичного спрямування».
Міністерство фінансів України днями повідомило, що із Фонду боротьби з COVID-19 вже витрачено 52% коштів або 34,1 мільярда гривень із загалом 66-ти мільярдів
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By Gromada | 10/29/2020 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Верховна Рада не збирається надалі позбавляти журналістів акредитації – керівниця пресслужби
Верховна Рада не збирається надалі позбавляти журналістів акредитації, повідомила керівниця пресслужби парламенту Ірина Кармелюк у коментарі Радіо Свобода.
«Я думаю, що ми не будемо проводити таку практику. Усі матимуть право ходити. Заради Бога, не треба – не будемо перевіряти», – сказала Кармелюк.
За її словами, під час минулого скликання у Верховній Раді були акредитовані близько шести тисяч журналістів. Зараз акредитованих представників ЗМІ близько трьох тисяч. Усі вони мають право заходити в парламент.
Кармелюк пояснила, що пресслужба Верховної Ради моніторить активність акредитованих журналістів.
«Це наша робота. Як пресслужба, ми кожен рік пишемо листи журналістам. Там, де ми не бачимо публікацій активних, ми їм пишемо лист, що просимо надати публікації. Раніше такі випадки були, при попередньому скликанні. Дійсно, там багато людей, які не пишуть, не висвітлюють і не можуть надати жодних публікацій», – заявила Кармелюк Радіо Свобода.
Вона підтвердила, що ініціатива позбавити акредитації журналістів «Слідства.Інфо» надійшла від пресслужби парламенту.
«Вони не відповіли, тому що в них неправильно була надана адреса. Ось у чому питання. Це технічний момент. Ніхто проти них нічого не копає. Ніхто не хоче позбавляти їх якоїсь акредитації. Під час акредитації на всі свої видання вони дали неправильну адресу. Через те вони не отримували нашу кореспонденцію – там, де ми писали ці листи», – каже керівниця пресслужби Ради.
За словами Кармелюк, журналісти могли просто зателефонувати в парламент і поцікавитися, чому їх позбавили акредитації. Тоді інцидент був би вичерпаним. Вона переконує, що дзвінка з редакції не було.
28 жовтня з’явилася інформація, що Верховна Рада скасувала акредитацію більш як двох десятків ЗМІ. Серед них – «Слідство.Інфо», «Громадське телебачення Донбасу» та «НикВести». Увечері стало відомо, що всі видання знову акредитовані.
your ad hereBy VilneSlovo | 10/29/2020 | Повідомлення, Свобода слова
Представниця ОБСЄ: переговори в політичній підгрупі ТКГ з врегулювання на Донбасі не просуваються
Переговори в політичній підгрупі Тристоронньої контактної групи знову не просуваються, заявила спеціальна представниця голови ОБСЄ в Україні та ТКГ посолка Гайді Ґрау. Про це вона заявила увечері 28 жовтня за результатами чергової зустрічі ТКГ та її робочих підгруп, яка відбулася відеозв’язком.
За оцінками Ґрау, загальна динаміка виконання припинення вогню «триває і має позитиний ефект на життя цивільних у зоні конфлікту».
«Протягом трьох місяців, кількість порушень залишається нижче рівня, зафіксованого до запровадження заходів із посилення припинення вогню 27 липня. Це відображає важливість політичної волі до подальшого дотримання припинення вогню», – йдеться в заяві представниці ОБСЄ.
Читайте також: На Донбасі зазнав поранення український військовий – штаб ООС
За словами Ґрау, безпекова ситуація, дотримання режиму тиші, в тому числі координація механізму реакції на порушення припинення вогню, були центральними темами дискусії безпекової підгрупи.
«Дискусія в робочій підгрупі з політичних питань знову не досягла поступу. У спробі пожвавити роботу над вирішенням конфлікту, ТКГ доручила робочій підгрупі негайно розробити проєкт плану дій на основі письмових рекомендацій учасників робочої підгрупи в повній відповідності до Мінських угод», – повідомляє вона.
Ґрау також зазначила, що гуманітарна підгрупа продовжила обговорювати підготовку до одночасного відкриття нових контрольних пунктів в’їзду та виїзду на лінії розмежування в Золотому та Щасті. Очікується, що КППВ будуть готові до 10 листопада 2020 року.
«Крім того, були розглянуті питання, пов’язані з врегулюванням правового статусу окремих осіб, звільнених в ході попередніх обмінів. Я закликаю докласти всіх зусиль, щоб взаємно звільнити та обмінятися затриманими в ході конфлікту на базі принципу «всіх на всіх», як це передбачено Мінськими угодами», – заявляє представниця ОБСЄ.
Економічна підгрупа, за заявою, обговорила питання постачання води через лінію зіткнення в Донецькій і Луганській областях, а також виплати пенсії мешканцям окупованих територій.
28 жовтня відбулася дистанційна зустріч Тристоронньої контактної групи за участі представників України та Росії за модераторства ОБСЄ.
Збройний конфлікт на Донбасі триває від 2014 року після російської окупації Криму. Україна і Захід звинувачують Росію у збройній підтримці бойовиків. Кремль відкидає ці звинувачення і заявляє, що на Донбасі можуть перебувати хіба що російські «добровольці».
За даними ООН, від квітня 2014-го до 31 липня 2020 року внаслідок збройного конфлікту на Донбасі загинули від 13 100 до 13 300 людей.
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By Gromada | 10/29/2020 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
П’ять населених пунктів на Донбасі залишилися без води – ОДА
П’ять населених пунктів Донецької області залишилися без водопостачання через прорив на Другому Донецькому водопроводі, повідомляє Донецька обласна державна адміністрація 29 жовтня.
Аварійні ремонтно-відновлювальні роботи тривають біля міста Слов’янськ.
«Фахівці комунального підприємства «Компанія «Вода Донбасу» приступили до ремонту магістрального водоводу діаметром 1400 міліметрів вранці 28 жовтня. Наразі припинено водопостачання п’ятьох населених пунктів (з них три частково) – місто Костянтинівка (частково), місто Дружківка (частково), село Петрівка, селище міського типу Щербинівка (частково) та селище міського типу Новгородське Торецької міської ради (усього – 75401 особа/39720 абонентів)», – йдеться в повідомленні.
Читайте також: Представниця ОБСЄ: переговори в політичній підгрупі ТКГ з врегулювання на Донбасі не просуваються
Як зазначають у ОДА, причиною прориву стала тріщина довжиною 25 сантиметрів. Станом на 8 ранку триває відкачування води на місці прориву. Очікують, що ремонт буде завершений протягом поточної доби.
Адміністрація області нагадує, що Другий Донецький водопровід є головним джерелом водопостачання для Слов’янська, Краматорська, Дружківки, Костянтинівки, а також прилеглих сіл і селищ. За даними ОДА, 20 кілометрів водопроводу потребують заміни.
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By Gromada | 10/29/2020 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
US Lawmakers Attack Social Media CEOs for Taking Down and Labeling Some Speech
The CEOs of Facebook, Google and Twitter testified before a Senate committee hearing Wednesday, just days before the U.S. election. Tina Trinh reports.
Producer: Matt Dibble
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By Polityk | 10/29/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Veterans Lean Toward Trump this Election, But Some Are Disillusioned
U.S. military veterans tend to vote Republican in presidential elections, and a majority will likely do so again this year. But VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb talked to some veterans who are reconsidering their political leanings and voting on the issues that matter most to them.
Camera: Adam Greenbaum and Mike Burke
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By Polityk | 10/29/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden Deploys Obama to Campaign, Trump Sends His Children
Days before the November 3 election, the campaigns of President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden are making their last pitch to voters, sending high-profile surrogates including former President Barack Obama and the Trump family children. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story.
Produced by: Bakhtiyar Zamanov
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By Polityk | 10/29/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Surge in Rejected Mail Ballots Heightens Specter of Post-Election Uncertainty
During every U.S. presidential election, hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots are discarded by election officials for a variety of reasons, from arriving too late to missing a proper signature on the outer envelope.But this year, with more than half of U.S. voters casting ballots early or by mail, even more absentee ballots are being tossed out, raising questions about voting rights and heightening the specter of post-election uncertainty in key battleground states.Consider Florida and Georgia, two Southern states where President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, have been running neck and neck ahead of the November 3 election.While Florida and Georgia don’t publish data on ballot rejections before the election, two academics — Dartmouth College professor Michael Herron and University of Florida professor Daniel Smith — have analyzed the states’ official mail-in data to tally the number of votes at risk of rejection.In Florida, out of 3.8 million mail-in ballots cast so far, more than 15,000 face dismissal, a rejection rate of 0.4 percent, according to Herron and Smith. In North Carolina, the rejection rate is even higher. As of October 25, out of more than 780,000 ballots mailed in the state, more than 10,000 face possible rejection, a disqualification rate of about 1.3%, their research found.Minority votersAs in some recent elections, more minority than white voters are facing ballot rejections. In North Carolina, for example, Black voters were three times more likely than white voters to have their ballots flagged, the researchers found. This is something the Democrats could use as an issue should they decide to challenge the results of close races.To be sure, not every ballot marked as deficient will be automatically rejected. In both states, as in many others, voters are given an opportunity to “cure” or correct mistakes on their ballots.“It would be premature at this juncture to conclude that those returned ballots have been rejected by the canvassing board and not counted,” said Mark Ard, interim communications director for the Florida Department of State.In North Carolina, officials have started contacting voters with erroneous ballots, said Patrick Gannon, public information director for the North Carolina State Board of Elections.“A voter who for any reason does not have time to cure the ballot may vote in person during the early voting period through October 31 or on Election Day,” Gannon said via email.At first glance, the number of Florida and Georgia ballots flagged for rejection appears modest. However, in Florida and Georgia, as in other states with historically close elections, 10,000 votes can sometimes be the difference between victory and defeat.The outcome of the 2000 presidential election between Republican George W. Bush, the ultimate victor, and Democrat Al Gore came down to 537 votes in Florida. And during the 2018 primary election for a U.S. Senate seat from Florida, Republican Rick Scott won by just 10,033 votes, the researchers noted.As more mail ballots arrive in the coming days, the number of rejected ballots is likely to grow, in some cases potentially surpassing the margin of victory between candidates in closely fought presidential, congressional, state or local races in battleground states.“That’s a really nightmarish scenario when an election is so close that the number of rejected ballots is greater than the margin,” Herron said in an interview.As of Wednesday, 49 million Americans had voted by mail, according to a tally by the U.S. Elections Project.Herron and Smith first published their findings in The Conversation, a research publication. They shared more up-to-date data from Florida and North Carolina with VOA.Court battlesThe issues of how to handle ballots with signature problems and how long past November 3 mail-in ballots can arrive and still be counted have been the subject of months-long court battles by Republicans and Democrats throughout the country.With more Democrats than Republicans voting by mail, Republicans have sought court intervention, with varying degrees of success, to prevent late-arriving ballots from being entered into the final tally.In recent weeks, the conservative-controlled U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against efforts to change election procedures, including ballot receipt deadlines, invoking a doctrine that holds election rules should not be changed close to a vote.On October 19, before Trump’s latest Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, was confirmed, the justices split 4-4 over Pennsylvania’s plan to count the votes until three days after Election Day, even if they don’t have a legible postmark. On Wednesday, the justices refused to fast-track a new Republican challenge to Pennsylvania’s extended vote-counting deadline.But earlier this week, in a ruling viewed as a major setback for the Democrats, the high court blocked a Wisconsin plan to count mail-in ballots for up to six days after the election.Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, said rejected mail-in ballots are ripe for post-election litigation.“I suspect we may have big delays in the counting of ballots if there is a significant increase in absentee ballots, and I think there may also be litigation over the rejection of absentee ballots that did not comply with state law,” von Spakovsky, a former Republican member of the Federal Election Commission, said in a recent interview.Historically, less than 1% of absentee votes get rejected because of administrative errors. But with record numbers of people voting by mail this year, many of them first-time voters, at least 1 million ballots could be discarded, according to a recent projection by a joint investigation by USA Today, Columbia Journalism Investigations and the PBS series Frontline.During this year’s presidential primaries, more than 550,000 mail-in ballots were discarded in 30 states, far more than the total for the 2016 presidential election, according to an analysis by NPR in August. That happened in large part because states were unprepared for the surge in voting by mail during the pandemic, noted Tammy Patrick, a former Arizona election official now with the foundation Democracy Fund.In the months since the primaries, however, many states have adopted a number of voting-by-mail best practices, changes that will likely reduce the number of rejected ballots, Patrick said.“They have redone their voting instructions. They have redone the design of their ballot envelopes. They have adopted practices like ballot tracking,” Patrick said.Voters can now check their voting status online and in at least 19 states are notified when their mail ballots need to be corrected. In Colorado, voters with deficient ballots are notified by text message and allowed to correct the error on their smartphones.As a result, Patrick said, fewer ballots will ultimately be rejected during the general election.“It might be a little bit higher than a traditional presidential election because there still will be so many new voters, but I’m hopeful that we won’t see the same kind of numbers we saw in the primary,” Patrick said.One wild card, however, is the number of mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day. While some states have extended their ballot receipt deadlines, 32 states, including Florida, don’t accept ballots that arrive after Election Day, giving voters little time to cure their ballots. North Carolina accepts ballots up to six days after Election Day if they are postmarked on or before November 3. Republicans have asked the Supreme Court to block the plan.“I think the big, lurking question out there is how many ballots arrive after Election Day,” Herron said.
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By Polityk | 10/29/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
2020 Election Puts Focus on Twitter, Facebook Content Moderation
The nation’s top technology leaders urged U.S. lawmakers Wednesday to keep content moderation protections in place, despite growing calls from Republicans to address perceived bias in the way social media companies handle free speech online. Online companies are shielded from liability for content on their sites under Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. Those protections apply to companies of all sizes operating online that use third-party content. But some Republicans contend Section 230 is a “carve-out” for larger companies such as Facebook and Twitter, allowing them to censor content based on political viewpoints and use their considerable reach to influence public discourse. U.S. President Donald Trump called for an end to Section 230 in a Tweet Wednesday, saying “The USA doesn’t have Freedom of the Press, we have Suppression of the Story, or just plain Fake News. So much has been learned in the last two weeks about how corrupt our Media is, and now Big Tech, maybe even worse. Repeal Section 230!” President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at MotorSports Management Company, in West Salem, Wis., Oct. 27, 2020.At issue is whether or not a company that moderates content is a publisher instead of a platform and if the reach of companies such Facebook, Google and Twitter constitutes a monopoly. “Companies are actively blocking and throttling the distribution of content on their own platforms and are using protections under Section 230 to do it. Is it any surprise that voices on the right are complaining about hypocrisy, or even worse?” Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker said Wednesday. Section 230 has received renewed attention during the 2020 presidential election cycle due to online companies’ new approaches to content moderation in response to foreign interference on online platforms during the 2016 elections cycle. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey pushed back against that in prepared testimony Wednesday, saying, “We should remember that Section 230 has enabled new companies—small ones seeded with an idea—to build and compete with established companies globally. Eroding the foundation of Section 230 could collapse how we communicate on the Internet, leaving only a small number of giant and well-funded technology companies.” Dorsey told lawmakers one possible approach that is “within reach” would allow users to choose between Twitter’s own algorithm that determines what content is viewable, and algorithms developed by third parties.Wicker said his staff had collected “dozens and dozens” of examples of conservative content that he says has been censored and suppressed over the past four years by Twitter. He alleged the social media company had allowed Chinese Communist propaganda about COVID-19 to remain up for two months while President Donald Trump’s claims about mail-in ballots were immediately taken down. Earlier this month, Twitter blocked users from sharing a link to a news story on Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. Twitter also locked the accounts of President Trump and White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany for sharing the story, citing its policies for how hacked materials are shared on its website. Based on these actions, Republican Senator Ted Cruz accused Twitter of attempting to influence U.S. elections. “Your position is that that you can sit in Silicon Valley and demand of the media that you can tell them what stories they can publish; you can tell the American people what reporting they can hear,” Cruz said to Dorsey Wednesday. The Twitter CEO has apologized for the decision, tweeting, “Straight blocking of URLs was wrong, and we updated our policy and enforcement to fix. Our goal is to attempt to add context, and now we have capabilities to do that.” Facebook also restricted sharing of the Hunter Biden story, saying it would first need a third-party fact check. The social media company had allowed Russian disinformation to flood the site during the 2016 election, but Facebook instituted new policies this election cycle. According to its website, Facebook’s response includes the removal of 6.5 billion fake accounts in 2019, adding third-party factcheckers to go over content posted on the site as well as removing 30 networks engaged in coordinated, inauthentic behavior. “Without Section 230, platforms could potentially be held liable for everything people say. Platforms would likely censor more content to avoid legal risk and would be less likely to invest in technologies that enable people to express themselves in new ways,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told lawmakers Wednesday. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears on a screen as he speaks remotely during a hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee on Capitol Hill, Oct. 28, 2020, in Washington.Congressional Democrats expressed concern about the growth of extremist groups online as well as continuing attempts at foreign election interference on social media platforms, questioning the timing of the hearing.“I am appalled that my Republican colleagues are holding this hearing literally days before an election, when they seem to want to bully and browbeat the platforms here to try to tilt toward President Trump’s favor. The timing seems inexplicable except to game the referee,” said Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. “President Trump has broken all the norms. And he has put on your platforms, potentially dangerous and lethal misinformation and disinformation.” In an earlier line of questioning, Dorsey told lawmakers Twitter does not maintain lists of accounts to watch, but bases content moderation based on algorithms and service user requests. Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer at Google, also stated the company’s commitment toward independence, telling lawmakers, “We approach our work without political bias, full stop. To do otherwise would be contrary to both our business interests and our mission, which compels us to make information accessible to every type of person, no matter where they live or what they believe.”
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By Polityk | 10/29/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
71 Million Americans Have Already Voted
Americans are voting early for next Tuesday’s presidential election in unprecedented numbers, a product of strong feelings for or against the two main candidates and a desire to avoid large crowds at Election Day polling stations amid the coronavirus pandemic. More than 71 million people have already voted six days ahead of the official election day, totaling more than half of the overall 2016 vote count, which was 138.8 million. FILE – Returned ballots are shown at elections management center at the Salt Lake County Government Center Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020, in Salt Lake City.About two-thirds of the early voters have mailed in their ballots, and the rest voted in person at polling places throughout the country. Voting experts say voter turnout for the contest between Republican President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden could be the highest since 1908, when 65% of the country’s eligible voters cast ballots. President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign rally at Eppley Airfield, Oct. 27, 2020, in Omaha, Neb.Trump, Biden and their respective running mates — Vice President Mike Pence and California Senator Kamala Harris — are continuing to make their closing arguments to voters on Wednesday. Focus on Arizona Both Trump and Harris are campaigning in Arizona, the southwestern state along the Mexican border that Trump won in 2016 against Democrat Hillary Clinton en route to a four-year term in the White House. But polls in the state, where no Democratic presidential candidate has won since 1996, now show Biden narrowly ahead. The state has 11 of the 270 electoral votes that either Trump or Biden will need to claim the presidency and be inaugurated on January 20. U.S. presidential elections are decided in an indirect form of democracy in the 538-member Electoral College, not the national popular vote. Typically, all of a state’s Electoral College votes go to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in each of the 50 states, with the most populous states holding the most sway. Trump is holding two afternoon rallies in Arizona, in Bullhead City and Goodyear. Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks at a campaign event, Oct. 27, 2020, in Las Vegas.Harris is meeting with Latina business owners in the morning in Tucson and later in the day with a group of Black leaders in the state’s biggest city, Phoenix. She is finishing her day with a speech at a rally where pop singer Alicia Keys is performing. Biden briefed on virus Biden, who has cast blame on Trump for the country’s world-leading coronavirus death toll of more than 226,000, is being briefed by public health experts on the pandemic and then delivering remarks on his plans to curb the spread of the virus. Later, he is attending a virtual campaign fund-raising event. Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks about the coronavirus and health care at The Queen theater, Oct. 28, 2020, in Wilmington, Del.Trump this week has continued to assert the country has “rounded the corner” in dealing with the virus, even as the number of U.S. infections is surging. Pence is holding rallies in two key Midwest states, Wisconsin and then Michigan, that Trump captured in 2016 but where he now trails Biden. Vice President Miek Pence speaks to hundreds of supporters during a rally at an airplane hangar on Oct. 27, 2020, in Greenville, S.C.National polls typically show Biden with a 7- or 8-percentage point lead over Trump, but with about half that margin in key battleground states that are likely to determine the outcome in the Electoral College. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 3 MB480p | 5 MB540p | 6 MB720p | 12 MB1080p | 23 MBOriginal | 29 MB Embed” />Copy Download Audio
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By Polityk | 10/29/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Голова Конституційного суду не задекларував землю в Криму, власником якої став після анексії за законами Росії – «Схеми»
Олександр Тупицький у 2018 році став власником землі у селищі Кореїз, оформивши договір за законодавством Росії
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By Gromada | 10/28/2020 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
US to Open Embassy in Maldives Amid Geopolitics Competition with China
The United States is opening an embassy in the Maldives to strengthen economic and security cooperation five decades after the two nations established diplomatic ties. The move reflects “the continued growth of the U.S.-Maldives relationship and underscoring the United States’ unshakeable commitment to Maldives and the Indo-Pacific region,” said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement Wednesday after his meetings in the Maldives with President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo walks to board an aircraft to leave for Maldives, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Oct. 28, 2020.The latest move is seen as part of Washington’s push for a free and open Indo-Pacific to curb Beijing’s influence in the region.
The United States does not have a consulate or embassy in Maldives currently but operates an American Center in Malé. The U.S. ambassador and embassy staff in Sri Lanka are accredited to Maldives and make regular visits to the island archipelago. FILE – A construction worker looks on as the China-funded Sinamale bridge is seen in Male, Maldives, Sept. 18, 2018.Pompeo’s travel to the South Asian nation comes after the U.S. and Maldives signed a defense agreement on September 10 to “deepen engagement and cooperation” in the peace and security of the Indian Ocean, according to the State Department. India, historically skeptical of foreign military presence close to its borders, has blessed the deal, U.S. officials say. In recent years, U.S. naval vessels have regularly conducted port calls at Maldives. The nation of islands has provided support to U.S. efforts to combat terrorism and terrorist financing. The U.S. has provided $2 million in assistance to Maldives for COVID-19 recovery during the pandemic. Washington has also pledged millions in economic support aimed at strengthening Maldives’ fiscal transparency, maritime security, and counterterrorism. The U.S. established diplomatic relations with Maldives in 1966 following its independence from Britain. After Maldives, Pompeo heads to Jakarta, Indonesia, where he will underscore religious freedom and human rights in the world’s most populous Muslim majority nation, according to U.S. officials. The secretary of state has told reporters that it is in the best interest of Southeast Asian nations to protect “their maritime rights” and the ability to conduct business, ensuring “that their sovereignty is protected against” threats from the Chinese Communist Party. Beijing has built strong economic and diplomatic ties with Jakarta. China was the second largest source of foreign direct investment in Indonesia in the first half of this year. Southeast Asia is the region most impacted by While Indonesia is not seen as a party to the South China Sea disputes, it has on multiple occasions detected Chinese fishing or coast guard ships in Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone off the Natuna Islands in the South China Sea.
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By Polityk | 10/28/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
More Than 3M in Pennsylvania Apply for Mail-in Ballots
A week ahead of the Nov. 3 election, applications in the presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania for mail-in or absentee ballots exceeded 3 million, with Tuesday the last day to request one and legal wrangling creating uncertainty over the deadline to receive them.
State data shows that, of those applications, about 1.9 million, or more than 62%, have been returned to counties.
More than 9 million Pennsylvanians have registered to vote, a record high. If turnout is 70%, which was the rate in 2016’s presidential election in Pennsylvania, that means 6.3 million people will vote.
The majority of people, 1.9 million, applying for mail-in or absentee ballots are Democrats, according to state data. About 760,000 are Republicans and 350,000 are registered independents or third-party voters.
Abby Leafe, a registered Democrat who lives in suburban Philadelphia’s Bucks County, checked her mailbox Tuesday in vain for her mail-in ballot.
“I am desperately, desperately waiting for my ballot to arrive,” said Leafe, a 46-year-old market researcher from Newtown, one of the millions of suburban moms that both parties hope to reach this year.
Leafe hopes to vote by mail, but will go to the polls if need be.
“Making sure we have free and fair elections is worth getting COVID for,” she said.
The crush of mail-in votes is a record, more than 10 times the amount received by counties in 2016’s presidential election when President Donald Trump edged out Democrat Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, helping him win the White House.
This year, Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democrat, are locked in a battle to win Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes, with Trump warning that the only way he can lose Pennsylvania is if Democrats cheat. Democrats counter that Trump is mounting a massive voter intimidation and suppression campaign in Pennsylvania.
Counties have staffed up and bought new high-speed sorting equipment to process the ballots as they prepare to hold an election with fast-rising coronavirus numbers, new voting machines and the U.S. Supreme Court potentially deciding the return deadline for mail-in ballots.
In that lawsuit, Luzerne County on Tuesday asked Justice Amy Coney Barrett to recuse herself from consideration of the state Republican Party’s request that the U.S. Supreme Court block counties from counting mailed-in ballots received up to three days after the Nov. 3 election.
The filing by Luzerne County came shortly after Barrett was formally sworn in as the Supreme Court’s ninth justice.
The justices last week divided 4-4 on the GOP’s request to put a hold on the deadline extension, which left it in place while justices decide whether to consider the underlying case. There is no timeline for them to vote on whether to take the case, which seeks to return the deadline to the one in state law, which is when polls close on Election Day.
The state Supreme Court ruled in September that county election officials must count mailed-in ballots that arrive up until Nov. 6, even if they don’t have a clear postmark, as long as there is no proof it was mailed after the polls closed.
Meanwhile, Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration pushed back on Trump’s claims in his three rallies on Monday in Pennsylvania.
Trump claimed that Wolf’s administration tried to prevent him from holding rallies, but the administration said it had had no contact with the campaign about its rallies Monday. Trump’s campaign presumably deals with property owners and local governments, Wolf’s office said.
Trump also complained, falsely, during a rally in Allentown the day before and on Twitter overnight that Philadelphia is blocking his campaign from having observers at polls.
“We can’t have poll watchers, the judge said,” Trump told rally goers. “They fought us on that, they didn’t want people watching them count.”
Trump’s campaign has not been blocked from having poll watchers.
Rather, Trump’s campaign sued Philadelphia’s elections board to force it to allow campaign representatives to monitor satellite election offices, where people can register to vote, apply for a mail-in ballot, fill it out and return it.
A Philadelphia judge and a statewide appellate court judge both reached the same conclusion, that Pennsylvania law does not allow such monitoring of those activities.
Wolf’s top election official, Kathy Boockvar, suggested Trump is spreading disinformation and said every county will appoint poll watchers before Election Day.
“Philadelphia and every other county in the state can have poll watchers,” Boockvar said at a news conference Tuesday. “That hasn’t changed. His tweets, again, voters need to ignore the disinformation. There’s so much disinformation out there, people should not retweet, should not repost, this information is inaccurate. Pennsylvania has very clear laws.”
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By Polityk | 10/28/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
З 29 жовтня відновлюється навчання після канікул у Києві, 8 шкіл залишаться на карантині – Кличко
Із четверга, 29 жовтня, у школах Києва поновлюється навчання після осінніх канікул, повідомив столичний мер Віталій Кличко.
«Із 29 жовтня відновлюється навчання після канікул у столичних школах. Залишаться на карантині вісім шкіл і 587 класів у 186 школах Києва – через захворювання педагогів і учнів», – сказав Кличко.
Він додав, що після виборів у всіх школах міста, де були розташовані дільниці, здійснили дезінфекцію.
«Тримаємо ситуацію на контролі і оперативно ухвалюємо рішення щодо карантину в окремих школах, чи про переведення окремих класів на дистанційне навчання», – сказав Кличко.
11 жовтня Міністерство освіти і науки України запропонувало встановити осінні канікули в школах з 15 до 30 жовтня.
12 жовтня відомство рекомендувало закладам вищої, фахової передвищої та професійно-технічної освіти перейти на дистанційне навчання з 15 жовтня до 15 листопада.
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By Gromada | 10/28/2020 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
В Україні за минулу добу виявили 7474 випадки COVID-19 – РНБО
Від ускладнень коронавірусної хвороби за минулу добу померли 165 людей
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By Gromada | 10/28/2020 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
How do Media Organizations Report Election Results in Real Time?
As Americans prepare to go to polling stations on Election Day this Nov. 3, U.S. news organizations are preparing to report the count which will determine the winners of more than 7,000 races, including the White House, House and Senate seats, state offices, and local legislative positions.In the United States, news organizations observe the vote count in real time and use a variety of information to determine when they can declare a winner in each race, including overall vote totals, exit polling of voters, and the estimated number of votes still uncounted in each precinct. Here’s how it works and what news organizations do to help ensure they do not make a mistake.Who announces winners in U.S. elections?State election officials are the ones who certify the vote count, but long before every ballot has been counted, the American news media use a variety of data sources and tools to project the winners. Using a collection of raw vote totals, statistical techniques, and projections, the news organizations, which have been covering American presidential elections continuously since 1848, have had an excellent – but not perfect – record of calling race winners.How do news organizations count the vote returns on election night?Votes are tabulated county by county by the Associated Press, a non-profit news agency which uses its national network of more than 4,000 reporters on election night to record the vote tallies from county clerks and other local officials. The AP also gathers information from state websites that post election returns. Reporters feed that information back to AP’s vote counting operation, where analysts make decisions about which races are ready to be called.Workers with the Philadelphia City Commissioners office sort election materials for the 2020 General Election in the United States at the city’s mail-in ballot sorting and counting center, in Philadelphia, Oct. 26, 2020.Who does the counting?Local election workers collect the ballot tallies in each precinct. How and when the ballots are counted is determined by local and state laws. For example, some states such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin require that no ballots be counted until Election Day, even if they arrived at election offices weeks earlier. Once the votes from a precinct are counted, election workers pass the information to county and state officials, who then make the tallies available to reporters and the public.What do reporters do with the local tallies?AP reporters across the country phone the results to data entry people in specially set up election centers where they are entered into an electronic system. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the election centers are virtual in 2020. All vote counts are subject to a series of checks and verifications, including computer programs that set off alerts if there are inconsistencies with the vote count because of previous voting history or other data.Who decides the winners?At the AP, a team of race callers on the Decision Desk determines when they have enough information to declare a winner. The team is looking at more than just the overall vote total, taking into account the incoming vote as well as how many ballots are left to count and where those uncounted votes were cast.This election, the AP is not using exit polling data conducted by the National Election Pool as it has done in years past. This data is collected by pollsters who ask voters questions as they are leaving their polling places. AP says that it does not believe such data is effective when large numbers of people vote early.Other news media, including the major TV networks — ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC — continue to be a part of the National Election Pool and will have access to the exit polling data to help make election projections. The networks also use specially set up election desks to make calls on election night.This means that different media organizations may declare winners in elections at different times, using their own models and data. A voter drops off her absentee ballot during early voting at the Park Slope Armory YMCA, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Oct. 27, 2020.How do they count ballots since so many people are voting early?Because of the coronavirus pandemic, many more Americans are voting early this year and many of those votes are being cast by mail. Mail ballots usually take longer to count than those cast in person. Election officials must open the ballots, make sure a voter is registered, and oftentimes verify their signature.Because of this, the AP is predicting, “extended vote counts” in more states than previous years, which could drag on for days or weeks. The AP developed its own survey in 2018 designed specifically to account for the rise in votes cast before Election Day. The survey, called AP VoteCast, captures the opinion of those who voted early as well as those who voted on Election Day and will help the AP to factor in the early vote when calling races.How accurate is the media at announcing results?The media have largely been accurate in calling election winners. However, their credibility was hugely damaged during the 2000 presidential race when most news outlets prematurely called the race for Al Gore around 8 p.m. on Election Day, then called it again for George W. Bush after 2 a.m. the following morning, then rescinded all calls as an automatic recount of the votes began in Florida.The AP has been counting votes for over 120 years and says that in 2016 it was 99.8% accurate in calling all U.S. races and 100% accurate in calling the presidential and congressional races for each state. AP declared Donald Trump the winner in 2016 at 2:29 a.m. on Wednesday, November 9.
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By Polityk | 10/28/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
У Дніпрі презентували соціальний фотопроєкт про жінок з інвалідністю
27 жовтня у Дніпрі презентували соціальний фотопроєкт «Не така як інші вона» – про жінок з інвалідністю. Про це повідомляє кореспондент «Радіо Свобода»,
За словами авторки Діани Андруник, її мета – привернути увагу спільноти до жінок, чиї тіла відрізняються від умовних «стандартів».
У проєкті фотографки брали участь жінки, які попри все почуваються впевненими та привабливими.
«Вони роздягнулись для того, щоб кожен з нас зрозумів, що можна пройти болючий шлях і прийти до любові і до себе», – сказала авторка.
Серед учасниць зйомок – паралімпійська чемпіонка в інвалідному візку Уляна Пчолкіна, Юліана Юсуф, яка розробила додаток для людей з проблемами шкіри, Варвара Акулова, яка народилася з пухлиною на обличчі й перенесла 15 операцій.
«Варвара Акулова – топовий гример у Європі. Моя подруга. Вона неймовірно крута. І вона навчила мене: люди бояться того, чого не знають. Коли ти знайомиш людей, і показуєш крізь свою призму, що є краса і що краса різна…», – розповіла Андруник.
На виставці також збирають кошти для однієї з героїнь проєкту Надії Возної.
Діана Андруник займається фотозйомкою вісім років. Більшість фото для свого проєкту вона зробила на плівку. Фотографка відзняла дві частини проєкту. Перша з них створювалася протягом 2018 та 2019 років, а друга – наприкінці 2019 – на початку 2020. Наразі тривають зйомки третьої частини проєкту.
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By Gromada | 10/28/2020 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
US Senate Races Tighten Ahead of Election
With days left until the U.S. election, Democrats are in a position to win a handful of Senate races that could give them control of the chamber in 2021. No matter who wins the White House, party control of the Senate will be a key factor determining how much work gets done in Washington for the next two years.Republicans currently have a 53-47 Senate majority. If Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden wins the presidency, Democrats would need a net pickup of just three Senate seats to assume the majority. If U.S. President Donald Trump is elected to a second term, Democrats would need to gain four Senate seats to have a working majority.According to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, seven of the 35 U.S. Senate seats up for reelection November 3 are races that are too close to call. All seven of those seats are currently Republican-held. Additionally, in this cycle Republicans are defending nearly twice as many seats as Democrats, making it more challenging for Republicans to maintain their numbers.Of the 12 Democrat-held U.S. Senate seats up for reelection, only one is rated by Cook Political Report as leaning Republican – the Alabama race between Senator Doug Jones and his Trump-endorsed Republican challenger Tommy Tuberville. The former football coach has been leading Jones in the polls by double digits since the summer.Casey Burgat, director of the Legislative Affairs program at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, said polling data showing a shift in Democrats’ favor reflect how many races have been nationalized by Trump’s presence at the top of the ticket.“If we think of elections as referendums on those incumbents, Republicans are in a really tight spot right now, led by President Trump,” he said. “Candidates are having to work in their seats to distance themselves, to show a streak of independence to say that ‘I’m just not a vote for an unpopular president.’ States where just four years ago he was incredibly popular – being that he brought in some senators to the Senate based on his election tally. So quite a shift in a few short years.”Here’s where a handful of key races stand:Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) walks on Capitol Hill, February 3, 2020, in Washington.IowaEarlier this year, the central state of Iowa looked to be one of the states holding strong for Republicans. But while Trump carried the state by 9 percentage points in 2016, his trade wars have had an impact on its heavily agricultural economy.Incumbent Republican Senator Joni Ernst supported Trump’s policies and government payments to farmers to supplement the lost income. She has either trailed or tied her Democratic challenger, real estate developer Theresa Greenfield, in almost all polls throughout the year.Iowa farmer Doug Thompson, a Greenfield supporter, said Ernst’s political fortunes are tied to the president.“Her success or failure is going to be based on Trump’s success or failure in Iowa,” Thompson told VOA. “Agriculture has been devastated even though we’ve been paid off [received federal aid]. There’s still a lot of stress out here – a lot of stress on balance sheets.”Ernst stumbled in a recent debate answering a question about commodities prices, but farmer and Iowa State Senator Dan Zumbach said she understands agriculture in Iowa.“President Trump will get our trade settled down so that we can get better prices long term. Joni Ernst is genuine, honest and knowledgeable, and she works hard for our agriculture because she understands it – it’s where her roots are.”North CarolinaEarly October was a tumultuous time for both candidates in one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races: North Carolina. Considered a bellwether for American politics because its demographic makeup reflects a diverse range of areas, ages and ethnicities, North Carolina is fiercely fought over in the presidential election and features a marquee contest between incumbent Republican Senator Thom Tillis and his Democratic challenger, former state senator Cal Cunningham.FILE – Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) talks to reporters prior to the resumption of the Senate impeachment trial of U.S. President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, January 30, 2020.Earlier this month, Tillis was diagnosed with COVID-19 as a part of the outbreak of cases that impacted the White House and the U.S. Congress. While Tillis has since quarantined and recovered, the virus kept him from the campaign trail. At the same time, his opponent was facing questions about revelations he had been texting a woman who was not his wife. Cunningham ended up admitting to an intimate encounter earlier in the summer and apologized publicly to his family. According to a Real Clear Politics average of polls, Cunningham appears not to have been significantly damaged by those events. He leads Tillis by an average of 1.8 percentage points in political surveys.FILE – Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham speaks to supporters during a primary election night party in Raleigh, N.C., March 3, 2020.MaineFacing a tough reelection race, Senator Susan Collins crossed the aisle Monday to vote against the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. Collins made it clear she was not voting against Barrett based on her qualifications but on timing.“I do not think it is fair nor consistent to have a Senate confirmation vote prior to the election,” Collins said in a statement Monday.FILE – Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) talks to reporters before attending the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, January 28, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.Making decisions in the national spotlight is a familiar role for Collins, who cast a key vote earlier this year in the Senate impeachment trial of Trump. Her opponent, Democratic challenger Sara Gideon, raised funds on the basis of Collins’ vote confirming Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, another decision that led some Maine voters to question whether Collins had maintained her reputation as an independent voice in the U.S. Senate.“Her vote for Brett Kavanaugh was kind of that breaking point, or at least one of the flashpoints in saying we like when you’re independent, but only so far as when you are agreeing with what we do as a state,” said Burgat. “She’s been kind of fighting back against that narrative ever since.”Gideon, a Maine state representative, leads Collins by an average of 4.2 percentage points in a Real Clear Politics average of polls conducted in September and October prior to the Supreme Court vote.South CarolinaThe home state of one of Trump’s strongest Senate defenders is a relatively late entry into the list of close races. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is leading his Democratic challenger, former South Carolina Democratic party chairman Jaime Harrison by 6 percentage points in the latest New York Times/Siena poll conducted the week of October 9. But a Quinnipiac University poll has shown the two candidates in a tie in multiple polls since July.FILE – Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jaime Harrison speaks at a campaign rally on Oct. 17, 2020, in North Charleston, S.C.Money is keeping this race competitive. Graham notably complained about Harrison’s fundraising abilities in the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Barrett last week. Harrison, the former South Carolina Democratic party chairman, has broken the record for the largest three-month fundraising effort ever in a Senate race – a record $57 million.“His fundraising numbers have been astronomical, but a lot of that money has been coming from outside the state where voters are looking to him as an opportunity for a Democratic pickup,” said Burgat. “So they are funneling money into that race, for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that Lindsey Graham has become kind of the face of Trump-enabling, Trump-supporting and going along with the Trump agenda.”Harrison has been careful not to focus his campaign on criticism of Trump – part of a balancing act intended to appeal to voters in a state that went for the president over Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton by 14 percentage points in 2016.Toss-upsOther toss-up races include both Georgia Senate races. Polls show Republican incumbent U.S. Senator David Perdue leading Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff by 1.5 percentage points. In an open race for Georgia’s other Senate seat, a Democratic political newcomer, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, leads a crowded field by an average of 8.5 percentage points. The Montana Senate race shows encouraging signs for Republican incumbent Senator Steve Daines, who leads his Democratic challenger, Steve Bullock, by 3.3 percentage points.Kane Farabaugh contributed to this report.
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By Polityk | 10/28/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
With US Election a Week Away, Trump and Biden Campaign in Contested States
With one week until Election Day, Republican U.S. President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, headed Tuesday to political battleground states in a frantic push to shore up critical support to win a four-year term in the White House.Their travel plans reflect the state of the race, with polls showing Biden ahead of Trump by seven to nine percentage points nationally and about half that in contested states that are likely to determine the overall outcome.On Tuesday, Trump is on defense, headed to three midwestern states he won in his upset victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 — Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska – and likely needs to capture again to win a second term. But polls show him trailing in Michigan and Wisconsin and, while he is ahead statewide in reliably Republican Nebraska, he trails in the race to win a single elector in an Omaha-based congressional district that could play a role in deciding next week’s national winner. Meanwhile, the seemingly confident Biden is on offense, headed to two stops in the southern state of Georgia, which has not backed a Democrat for president since 1992. Pollsters show Biden and Trump locked in a tossup to win the state’s 16 Electoral College votes.Typically, all of a state’s Electoral College votes go to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in that state. Both Trump and Biden are looking to piece together state-by-state victories to get to a majority of 270 in the 538-member Electoral College, where the most populous states hold the most sway.Trump lost the national popular vote four years ago and is likely to again this time, but he retains a chance to win the presidency a second time in the Electoral College if he can claim wins in key battleground states he is visiting in the final days of the contentious campaign.
Four years ago, Trump narrowly won three northern states – Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin – that traditionally have voted for Democrats. He likely needs to capture at least Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes, along with holding other key states he won in 2016, in order to remain the U.S. leader.Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden arrives to speak with supporters outside a voter service center, in Chester, Pennsylvania, Oct. 26, 2020.Forecasts show Biden has numerous paths to 270 votes in the Electoral College, including recapturing Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin while holding on to all the states Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton won in 2016. Currently, polls show Biden ahead of Trump in all the states she captured, making Trump’s climb to winning even steeper.Later in the week, Biden is headed to another state Trump won last time — the Midwest farm state of Iowa. Biden’s vice-presidential running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris, is visiting two more 2016 Trump states — Arizona, where polling shows Biden narrowly pulling ahead, and populous Texas with 38 electors, where Trump is maintaining a slight advantage.But the former vice president is also mindful of Clinton’s downfall at the end of the 2016 campaign when she shunned a last-minute stop in Wisconsin. Biden is visiting there later in the week, as well as Michigan and the pivotal southeastern state of Florida, Trump’s adopted home state where he maintains a mansion along the Atlantic coastline.On Tuesday, Trump, fresh from presiding over Monday night’s White House swearing-in ceremony for newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, is heading to a rally in the Michigan capital of Lansing and a stop in the small city of West Salem, Wisconsin, before leaving for the visit to Omaha, Nebraska’s biggest city.At large outdoor rallies, Trump has contended that he successfully helped build the American economy before it was decimated this year by the onslaught of the coronavirus, and that he can restore the economy again.Trump has several times this week said the national news media continue to report extensively on the devastation the pandemic has wrought on the U.S., which has recorded a world-leading 225,000 deaths and 8.7 million infections, according to the Johns Hopkins University.In all caps, Trump tweeted, “ALL THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA WANTS TO TALK ABOUT IS COVID, COVID, COVID. ON NOVEMBER 4th, YOU WON’T BE HEARING SO MUCH ABOUT IT ANYMORE. WE ARE ROUNDING THE TURN!!!”ALL THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA WANTS TO TALK ABOUT IS COVID, COVID, COVID. ON NOVEMBER 4th, YOU WON’T BE HEARING SO MUCH ABOUT IT ANYMORE. WE ARE ROUNDING THE TURN!!!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2020But Biden has regularly assailed Trump’s handling of the virus, saying in a statement that the moment “required presidential leadership – and when we needed it, President Trump panicked. He froze. And today, eight months into this crisis, he still has no plan to get the virus under control, no interest in listening to the scientists, and no ability to lead our country through this moment.”More than 66 million Americans have already cast early ballots, two-thirds of them by mail and one-third in person at polling stations. Many voters say they are looking to avoid coming face-to-face with others in the expected long lines of people waiting to cast ballots next Tuesday.
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By Polityk | 10/28/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
«Бабине літо» у Києві закінчилося у день місцевих виборів – метеорологи
Період теплої та сухої осінньої погоди, пов’язаний зі стійким антициклоном, більш відомий як «бабине літо», тривав у Києві чотири дні і завершився 25 жовтня, припавши якраз на день місцевих виборів.
«У цьому році рівно через тиждень після початку метеорологічної осені до Києва завітало «бабине літо», яке розпочалось минулого четверга, 22 жовтня, і тривало до 25 жовтня», – повідомила на своєму сайті Центральна геофізична обсерваторія імені Бориса Срезневського.
Кліматологи уточнили, що «бабине літо» охоплює період з середньодобовою температурою повітря не нижчою за +11,5°С.
Раніше метеорологи повідомляли, що вперше за 140 років цьогорічне свято Покрови (14 жовтня) завершило метеорологічне літо у Києві. Загалом воно тривало 132 дні.
your ad hereBy Gromada | 10/27/2020 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
У Дніпрі попрощались з однією із найстаріших волонтерок України. «Бабуся Лю» пережила Голодомор і Другу світову війну
Людмила Твердохліб померла у віці 91-го року. Вона допомагала військовим, які захищають Україну у війні на Донбасі
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By Gromada | 10/27/2020 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Judge: US Can’t Replace Trump in Columnist’s Slander Suit
A federal judge on Tuesday denied President Donald Trump’s request that the United States replace him as the defendant in a defamation lawsuit alleging he raped a woman in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan came after the Justice Department argued that the United States — and by extension the American people — should replace Trump as the defendant in a lawsuit filed by the columnist E. Jean Carroll.
The government’s lawyers contended that the United States could step in as the defendant because Trump was forced to respond to her lawsuit to prove he was physically and mentally fit for the job.
The judge ruled that a law protecting federal employees from being sued individually for things they do within the scope of their employment didn’t apply to a president.
“The President of the United States is not an employee of the Government within the meaning of the relevant statutes,” Kaplan wrote. “Even if he were such an employee, President Trump’s allegedly defamatory statements concerning Ms. Carroll would not have been within the scope of his employment. Accordingly, the motion to substitute the United States in place of President Trump is denied.”
Lawyers for Carroll had written that “only in a world gone mad could it somehow be presidential, not personal, for Trump to slander a woman who he sexually assaulted.”
The Justice Department relied solely on written arguments in the dispute after its lawyer was banned from a Manhattan federal courthouse last week because he had not quarantined for two weeks after traveling to New York from a state on a list of those whose coronavirus test rates were high.
Carroll, a former longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, said in her lawsuit that in the fall of 1995 or spring of 1996 she and Trump met in a chance encounter when they recognized each other at the Bergdorf Goodman store.
She said they engaged in a lighthearted chat about trying on a see-through lilac gray bodysuit when they made their way to a dressing room, where she said Trump pushed her against a wall and raped her.
Trump said Carroll was “totally lying” to sell a memoir and that he’d never met her, though a 1987 photo showed them and their then-spouses at a social event. He said the photo captured a moment when he was standing in a line.
Carroll, who wants unspecified damages and a retraction of Trump’s statements, also seeks a DNA sample from Trump to see whether it matches as-yet-unidentified male genetic material found on a dress that she says she was wearing during the alleged attack.
The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll has done.
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By Polityk | 10/27/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Senate Approves Trump’s Third Supreme Court Nominee
The U.S. Senate approved President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, on Monday. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports on the crucial vote that is happening a little over a week before Election Day.Produced by: Katherine Gypson Camera: Adam Greenbaum
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By Polityk | 10/27/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump Campaign Focuses on Hunter Biden Emails as October Surprise
Trailing in the polls, President Donald Trump has seized upon recently disclosed emails allegedly from the son of Democratic candidate Joe Biden as an “October Surprise” that could alter the race. VOA’s Brian Padden reports on how this development compares to past October Surprises.Producer: Brian Padden
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By Polityk | 10/27/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
