влада, вибори, народ
US Court Upholds Extension of North Carolina Mail-In Voting Deadline
A U.S. federal appeals court has ruled that as long as a voter in the state of North Carolina has mailed their absentee ballot no later than Election Day, election officials can count it even if it arrives after Election Day. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday denied a challenge to a North Carolina State Board of Elections rule that said it will accept mail-in ballots as late as November 12. The original regulations would have made the cutoff November 6. The 12-3 ruling involved all of the court’s active judges, instead of a more typical three-judge panel, signaling the importance of the case. The issue is playing out in courts all over the country as election officials, political parties and rights groups battle on the question of to what extent rules in each state should be changed as more people seek to avoid having to go to a polling place on November 3 due to the coronavirus pandemic. “Everyone must submit their ballot by the same date,” said the 4th Circuit ruling. “The extension merely allows more lawfully cast ballots to be counted, in the event there are any delays precipitated by an avalanche of mail-in ballots.”FILE – An election worker enters a polling station in Charlotte, North Carolina, April 24, 2019, as the station prepares for early voting.The courts have generally sided with the rules put in place by state legislatures and election officials while denying challenges from political parties and outside groups. The legal challenges have included many of the states considered key to deciding which candidate will win the presidential election, such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ruling by Pennsylvania’s top court allowing mail-in ballots to be counted if they arrive by November 6. Various courts gave voters in Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin similar extensions, but in each of those cases a higher court overturned the ruling. Voters in all three states must now make sure their ballots are received by Election Day in order to be counted. Overall, about 20 U.S. states currently allow ballots to come in after Election Day as long as they are postmarked by November 3. Many states are also allowing people to cast ballots in person ahead of Election Day. Combined with the mail-in votes, about 38 million people had already cast a ballot by Tuesday night, according to the U.S. Election Project.
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By Polityk | 10/21/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump Makes Appeals to Pennsylvania Voters Two Weeks Before Election Day
U.S. President Donald Trump is demanding Pennsylvania get back to normal business operations at a time the state is seeing a spike in coronavirus cases. “What the hell is happening in Pennsylvania?” Trump asked the crowd at his Tuesday evening campaign rally at Erie International Airport, in the western part of the crucial swing state for the November 3 general election. Expressing frustration with pandemic restrictions imposed by Governor Tom Wolf, a member of the Democratic Party, the president said “Pennsylvania has been shut down long enough. Get your governor to open up Pennsylvania.” Wolfe issued a renewed plea on Monday to Pennsylvanians to work together to stop the spread of the virus. Every part of the state is seeing community spread of COVID-19, partly due to “relatively small gatherings of families and friends,” said Dr. Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania’s top health official. The number of people hospitalized from COVID-19 in the state has doubled in the past four weeks, but it is still more than three times lower than at its peak in late April. Trump, along with Vice President Mike Pence, has been making frequent campaign appearances in the state, seen as critical for their re-election chances in two weeks. Wolf has criticized the Trump campaign for holding “unsafe rallies that will put Pennsylvania communities at risk” of COVID-19 outbreaks. A letter signed by more than 75 physicians in Pennsylvania urged people not to attend Tuesday’s rally, saying such campaign events endanger public health and give a false impression that the coronavirus is “no longer with us.” Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden, a native of Pennsylvania, has also frequently been in the state but has followed social-distancing guidelines, minimizing the number of attendees and requiring all in attendance to wear masks.President Donald Trump points at the crowd after a campaign rally at Erie International Airport, Tom Ridge Field, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020, in Erie, Pa.Former President Barack Obama is to campaign for his former vice president in Philadelphia on Wednesday at what is being called a “drive-in rally.” Polls taken in Pennsylvania this month show Biden leading Trump by just a few points and the race further narrowing. Trump acknowledged to the tightly packed crowd of thousands in Erie that he had not expected to have to campaign in their city this year. “I have to be honest. There was no way I was coming,” said the president. “And then we got hit with the plague and I had to go back to work.” During his 56-minute speech in Erie, the president said the U.S. government is “crushing the virus,” the country is doing much better than Europe, and the pandemic “is ending.” Biden did not make any campaign appearances on Tuesday, remaining in Wilmington, Delaware, where he was said to be preparing for Thursday evening’s second debate with Trump, which is to take place in Nashville, Tennessee. Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes, out of the 270 needed to capture the presidency, is a crucial prize. In 2016, Trump edged Hillary Clinton by only 45,000 popular votes in the state with the help of white, working-class voters in Erie, who had long been loyal to the Democrats. First lady Melania Trump had been scheduled to join her husband on stage in Erie on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, her office announced she was canceling her appearance due to a lingering cough following her coronavirus infection. President Trump spent three days in the hospital being treated for COVID-19. He has declared himself cured and now immune to the virus that has killed more than 220,000 people in the United States. Surveys show his administration’s handling of the pandemic has hurt him among voters. According to a New York Times/Sienna poll released Tuesday, Biden is favored over Trump to lead on the coronavirus pandemic by 12 points. Biden has repeatedly accused the president of deliberately downplaying the deadliness of the disease, calling Trump’s behavior “close to criminal.”
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By Polityk | 10/21/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Pelosi Notes ‘Progress’ with Trump Admin Over New COVID-19 Stimulus Deal
The White House and the Democratic-majority U.S. House of Representatives “are serious about finding a compromise” on a second massive round of coronavirus aid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday. Pelosi said she and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke by telephone Tuesday afternoon, and that she hoped they could continue talks Wednesday after he returns from an overseas trip. “Our conversation provided more clarity and common ground as we move closer to an agreement. Today’s deadline enabled us to see that decisions could be reached and language could be exchanged,” Pelosi said in a letter to her Democratic colleagues. The two sides called on the heads of congressional committees “to resolve differences about funding levels and language,” Pelosi said. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell committed Tuesday to bring any Trump-approved legislation that results from such a deal to the Senate floor for a vote. “If such a deal were to clear the House, obviously, with the presidential signature or promise, we would put it on the floor of the Senate,” McConnell told reporters. If negotiations between the White House and the Democratic-majority House of Representatives fail, the next opportunity for negotiations on aid will come during a lame-duck session of Congress in November and December. “Nancy Pelosi isn’t serious,” McConnell said Tuesday on the timing of negotiations. “That’s because she doesn’t want anything to pass, she and [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer have made a calculated decision. It’s a political decision that nothing is going to pass until after Election Day because they believe that they have better chances of success on Election Day.”Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks to reporters after casting his vote in the 2020 general election at the Kentucky Exhibition Center in Louisville, Ky., Oct. 15, 2020.The president also raised the timing of the deal in relation to the election during a campaign stop in Arizona Monday, saying Pelosi “at this moment, does not want to do anything that’s going to affect the election.” U.S. lawmakers have repeatedly failed to reach an agreement on a second round of economic aid to millions of Americans impacted by the pandemic. In September, Senate Republicans failed to pass a slimmed-down $500 billion aid proposal. The House passed the $2.2 trillion Heroes Act in June and has so far rebuffed the administration’s offer of $1.8 trillion for a new round of aid. The Senate voted Tuesday on another $500 billion proposal. That bill would provide funding for a new round of unemployment benefits and the popular Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). McConnell said Senate Republicans did not feel there was a need for a second round of the $1,200 stimulus payments many Americans received as part of the CARES Act earlier this year. “We thought about $500 billion was appropriate at this juncture,” he told reporters. “No one would argue the economy’s in good shape but it’s noteworthy that [un]employment is at about 8.4% which is what it was in several years during the Obama first term.” He said the Republican proposal did provide funding for enhanced unemployment benefits. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the Senate votes this week a stunt. “Democrats want to get a big bold bill that will meet the American people’s needs as soon as we can,” he said. “Nancy Pelosi is fighting to get one now. And as you know we’ve been met just with intransigence by the Republican Senate. We will try to get one in the lame duck and we will try to get one should we win the presidency and win the senate after that, the sooner the better,” Schumer told reporters Tuesday. President Donald Trump announced an end to negotiations on a new round of aid earlier this month before reversing course and tweeting, “Go big or go home!” His expression of support for a larger topline number closer to House Democrats’ asks for close to $2 trillion and has caused discomfort among many Senate Republicans. The $2 trillion CARES Act, passed by bipartisan agreement in March, was one of the largest aid packages in U.S. history, providing $600 in weekly enhanced unemployment benefits for millions of out of work Americans. The weekly benefits expired on July 31. The U.S. economy is showing some signs of recovery from the lockdowns instituted earlier this year to contain the spread of the virus. More than 11.4 million jobs have been recovered, and there are signs of increased hiring in hard-hit industries such as tourism. New unemployment claims jumped last week to more than 890,000, the highest level since mid-August, although continuing unemployment claims dropped to 10 million. The U.S. leads the world with just over 220,000 COVID-19 deaths, as well as infections, with more than 8 million cases total, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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By Polityk | 10/21/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
За кордоном затримані близько 12 тисяч українців – МЗС
Станом на 1 жовтня за кордоном затримані 11 968 українців, повідомило Міністерство закордонних справ України у відповідь на запит Радіо Свобода.
6 202 українці засуджені за кордоном за вчинення різного роду злочинів.
За даними ООН, у 2017 році у світі було 5,9 мільйона мігрантів з України. Організація Об’єднаних Націй включає до числа емігрантів усіх людей, які народилися у певній країні, але не живуть у ній. Наприклад, у Росії після розпаду СРСР залишилися три мільйони українців.
Дещо вищі цифри наводила у 2016 році Міжнародна організація з міграції. Вона з посиланням на переписи зарубіжних держав нарахувала за межами України близько 8,2 мільйона осіб українського походження.
У серпні 2019 року Міністерство соціальної політики повідомило, що близько 3,2 мільйона українців працює за кордоном на постійній основі, а в окремий період – від 7 до 9 мільйонів людей.
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By Gromada | 10/21/2020 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
US Congress, White House Negotiations on COVID Aid ‘Come a Long Way’
Negotiations between the White House and the Democratic-majority U.S. House of Representatives on a second massive round of coronavirus aid have “come a long way,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday. In a Bloomberg News interview ahead of an afternoon phone call with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Pelosi said the two sides were resolving disagreements over language, setting out a national testing strategy for detecting the coronavirus as well as addressing the impact of the pandemic on communities of color. The two sides are still negotiating language for emergency funding for cash-strapped state and local governments. Pelosi had set Tuesday as the final day to reach a deal with the Trump administration before the presidential and congressional elections, which are just two weeks away on November 3. But she downplayed that self-imposed deadline, saying Tuesday morning, “It isn’t that this day was a day that we would have a deal, it was a day that we would have our terms on the table to be able to go to the next step.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell committed Tuesday to bring any Trump-approved legislation that results from such a deal to the Senate floor for a vote. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell holds a face mask while participating in a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, October 20, 2020.“If such a deal were to clear the House, obviously, with the presidential signature or promise, we would put it on the floor of the Senate,” McConnell told reporters. If negotiations between the White House and the Democratic-majority House of Representatives fail, the next opportunity for negotiations on aid will come during a lame-duck session of Congress in November and December. “Nancy Pelosi isn’t serious,” McConnell said Tuesday on the timing of negotiations. “That’s because she doesn’t want anything to pass, she and [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer have made a calculated decision. It’s a political decision that nothing is going to pass until after Election Day because they believe that they have better chances of success on Election Day.” The president also raised the timing of the deal in relation to the election during a campaign stop Monday in Arizona, saying Pelosi “at this moment, does not want to do anything that’s going to affect the election.” President Donald Trump works the crowd after speaking at a campaign rally, October 19, 2020, in Tucson, Arizona.U.S. lawmakers have repeatedly failed to reach an agreement on a second round of economic aid to millions of Americans affected by the pandemic. In September, Senate Republicans failed to pass a slimmed-down $500 billion aid proposal. The House passed the $2.2 trillion Heroes Act in June and has so far rebuffed the administration’s offer of $1.8 trillion for a new round of aid. The Senate voted Tuesday on another $500 billion proposal. That bill would provide funding for a new round of unemployment benefits and the popular Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). McConnell said Senate Republicans did not feel there was a need for a second round of the $1,200 stimulus payments many Americans received as part of the CARES Act earlier this year. “We thought about $500 billion was appropriate at this juncture,” he told reporters. “No one would argue the economy’s in good shape, but it’s noteworthy that [un]employment is at about 8.4% which is what it was in several years during the Obama first term.” He said the Republican proposal did provide funding for enhanced unemployment benefits. Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y., left, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks during a news conference, September 9, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the Senate votes this week a stunt. “Democrats want to get a big bold bill that will meet the American people’s needs as soon as we can,” he said. “Nancy Pelosi is fighting to get one now. And as you know we’ve been met just with intransigence by the Republican Senate. We will try to get one in the lame duck and we will try to get one should we win the presidency and win the senate after that, the sooner the better,” Schumer told reporters Tuesday. President Donald Trump announced an end to negotiations on a new round of aid earlier this month before reversing course and tweeting, “Go big or go home!” His expression of support for a larger topline number closer to House Democrats’ asks for close to $2 trillion has caused discomfort among many Senate Republicans. The $2 trillion CARES Act, passed by bipartisan agreement in March, was one of the largest aid packages in U.S. history, providing $600 in weekly enhanced unemployment benefits for millions of out-of-work Americans. The weekly benefits expired on July 31. The U.S. economy is showing some signs of recovery from the lockdowns instituted earlier this year to contain the spread of the virus. More than 11.4 million jobs have been recovered, and there are signs of increased hiring in hard-hit industries such as tourism. New unemployment claims jumped last week to more than 890,000, the highest level since mid-August, although continuing unemployment claims dropped to 10 million. The U.S. leads the world with just over 220,000 COVID-19 deaths, as well as infections, with more than 8 million cases total, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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By Polityk | 10/21/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Why 2020 Polling Numbers May Be More Accurate Than Those of 2016
Should Americans trust polling data showing Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden leading President Donald Trump ahead of the November 3 election? VOA’s Elizabeth Lee takes a look.
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By Polityk | 10/21/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Заборона книги «Справа Василя Стуса»: кияни організували «читання при свічках» під Печерським райсудом – фоторепортаж
Напередодні один із судів ухвалив рішення за позовом Віктора Медведчука
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By Gromada | 10/21/2020 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
US First Lady Won’t Join President at Campaign Rally
U.S. first lady Melania Trump will not join President Donald Trump on the campaign trail Tuesday because of a lingering cough from COVID-19, according to her chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham. Grisham said Tuesday that Mrs. Trump’s health continues to improve daily after she and the president announced in early October that they had contracted the infectious disease. The first lady has decided not to accompany Trump to a campaign rally Tuesday night in Erie, Pennsylvania, “out of an abundance of caution,” Grisham said. Melania Trump, who announced last week that she had recovered from COVID-19, made her last public appearance during the September 29 debate between Trump and Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden.
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By Polityk | 10/21/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Pandemic or Not, They Make Elections Work
From making sure voters are eligible to cast a ballot, to tracking and reporting results, local election officers are key players in the U.S. presidential election. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports on what they’re doing to make the voting fair and safe.Camera and Produced by: Veronica Balderas Iglesias
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By Polityk | 10/20/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
If Democrats Can, Should They Pack US Supreme Court?
As Republicans rush to confirm Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump’s pick to replace the late-Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court before Election Day, some liberal Democrats are floating the idea of adding more seats to the court — beyond the current nine. The number of justices has changed over time, from six to as many as 10, but the number has remained steady at nine since 1869. In the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to pack the court to preserve his New Deal legislation, which kept getting struck down by the high court. He failed. If Democrats capture the White House and Senate, while retaining majority control of the House of Representatives, there is no constitutional impediment to following through on the idea. “There’s nothing in the Constitution that says that the Supreme Court has to have one or two or five or 10 members,” says Calvin Schermerhorn, professor of history at Arizona State University. “It’s silent on how many members there are on the Supreme Court. It only says that there shall be a chief justice, and Congress will have the power to shape the court and configure them in the best interest of justice.” Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, meets with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at the Capitol, September 29, 2020 in Washington.Democrats would have to change filibuster rules in the Senate to lower the threshold for passing legislation from 60 votes to a simple majority of the 100-member chamber to change the number of justices on the high court. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has declined to say whether he would support an expansion of the Supreme Court if he wins election and the Democrats take back control of the Senate, but has promised to reveal his position before Election Day. Expanding the court for political reasons could damage the integrity of the Supreme Court, says Nicole Huberfeld, professor of law at Boston University. “People worry already about whether the Supreme Court is a political actor, rather than apolitical. I do think that adding justices so that one president can appoint a whole bunch of justices could affect the institutional integrity, or at least the perception of institutional integrity,” she says. “The authority of the court largely comes from respecting the decisions of the justices, and the court of itself doesn’t actually have any way to ensure that its decisions are implemented,” Huberfeld adds. “If people stop thinking that’s the law of the land, then the court has an institutional integrity problem.”Associate Justice David Souter signs documents of office at the Supreme Court after being sworn in as the newest member of the high court in Washington, Oct. 9, 1990.Most Americans trust the U.S. Supreme Court to act in the best interests of the nation, according to FILE – In this May 10, 2016 photo, President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland meets with Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, on Capitol Hill in Washington.But again, Schermerhorn says, none of that would have fazed the nation’s founders. “They would have understood this is as partisan combat and not as a matter of constitutional principle,” he says. “There would have been no hesitation for the party in power in doing exactly what Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has done in his tenure as leader of the Republican-controlled Senate. That’s not to say that this is a model that ought to be followed, that just because the founders thought or did something means that it’s worthy of emulation.” Huberfeld says it is important to remember that there is more to the high court’s work than the few cases that draw the most attention and controversy, such as those dealing with health care, abortion or LGBTQ rights.. “The way that the court decides cases is much more than the handful of cases that people tend to talk about in political conversation. There are many cases the court hears that are just basic statutory interpretation. There are many cases the court hears that are criminal procedure cases,” she says. “Typically, at least in the modern era, once people are appointed, they tend to take that appointment quite seriously and to sort of put politics behind them.” She points out that justices don’t always rule as expected. For example, conservative Scalia’s interpretation of the Constitution led him to be protective of the rights of criminal defendants. While Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion that gay and transgender workers are protected by the Civil Rights Act. “So, I think the question before the court isn’t always a matter of this political ideology that people ascribe to the justices. It’s much more a matter of what the question is before the court and how the judges interpret it,” Huberfeld says.
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By Polityk | 10/20/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Senate to Work Through Weekend to Push Barrett Onto Court
Wasting no time, the Senate is on track to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court by next Monday, charging toward a rare weekend session as Republicans push past procedural steps to install President Donald Trump’s pick before Election Day.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he will begin the process as soon as the Senate Judiciary Committee wraps up its work Thursday. With a 53-47 Republican majority, and just two GOP senators opposed, Trump’s nominee is on a glide path to confirmation that will seal a conservative hold on the court for years to come.
McConnell said Monday that Barrett demonstrated over several days of public hearings the “sheer intellectual horsepower that the American people deserve to have on the Supreme Court.”
Without the votes to stop Barrett’s ascent, Democrats have few options left. They are searching for two more GOP senators to break ranks and halt confirmation, but that seems unlikely. Never before has a court nominee been voted on so close to a presidential election.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer decried what he called the “farcical” process to “jam” through Trump’s choice, even as the coronavirus outbreak sidelined GOP senators.
“The Republican majority is running the most hypocritical, most partisan and least legitimate process in the history of Supreme Court confirmations,” he said during speech as the Senate opened.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to meet Thursday to vote on recommending Barrett’s nomination to the full Senate.
By Friday, procedural votes are expected, continuing over the weekend as Republicans push through the steps for a final vote to confirm Barrett as soon as Monday.
The 48-year-old appellate court judge from Indiana delivered few specific answers during several days of public testimony as senators probed her previously outspoken views against abortion, the Affordable Care Act and other issues before the court. She declined to say whether she would recuse herself from cases involving the election between Trump and Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump has said he wants the judge seated in time to hear any potential disputes from the Nov. 3 election. He also has said he’s looking for a judge who would rule against the Obama-era health care law, which is headed to the court in a case justices are expected to hear Nov. 10.
If confirmed, Barrett would be Trump’s third justice on the court. She would fill the vacancy from the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the liberal icon, locking in a 6-3 conservative majority on the high court.
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By Polityk | 10/20/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
В Одесі бібліотекарки читали Забужко з «П’єдесталу»
Працівниці Одеської обласної бібліотеки для юнацтва імені Володимира Маяковського разом зі скульптором Андрієм Любовим провели флешмоб про важливість читання. Публічне читання української літератури пройшло перед будівлею Київської районної адміністрації, де встановлений арт-об’єкт Любова «П’єдестал».
«Наша акція присвячена тому, як корисно і цікаво читати. Як читання робить наше життя більш цікавим, насиченим і яскравішим. Будемо читати», – заявила в коментарі Радіо Свобода бібліотекарка Лариса Олійник. Вона сиділа в кріслі-гойдалці на п’єдесталі із книгою віршів Оксани Забужко.
Ініціатор акції Любов розповів Радіо Свобода, що ідея провести флешмоб спала йому на думку, коли він пояснював власному 10-річному сину, чому читати – це цікаво. «П’єдестал» був установлений перед адміністрацією в грудні 2019 року і задумувався саме як арт-об’єкт для перформансів – на ньому та біля нього можна часто побачити молодь, каже Любов.
«Книга розвиває образне мислення, на відміну від телебачення, яке дає нам готову картинку. Книга – це купа вражень і можливостей. В нашому Київському районі багато бібліотек. Діти сьогодні переключилися на серіали, на комп’ютерні ігри, і це спроба донести, що книга може бути цікавішою», – заявив Любов.
П’єдестал прикрасили українською та світовою літературою в українських перекладах – Забужко, Гемінґвей, Екзюпері, Бондар та інші. Як розповіла директорка бібліотеки Олена Чоловська, такі флешмоби можуть привернути увагу до їхньої та інших бібліотек.
«Є такий вислів – людина це те, що вона їсть. Їжа потрібна і для нашого розвитку, для наших емоцій. Тому напис на цьому об’єкті «Це Я» – символічна. Це я, наповнений книжками», – заявила Чоловська.
Олійник прочитала вголос кілька віршів Забужко, разом із іншими колегами пояснила кільком перехожим смисл акції та запросила дітей, які цікавилися книжками на «П’єдесталі», до бібліотеки.
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By Gromada | 10/20/2020 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
US Presidential Debate Set For Thursday With New Rules
The second and final debate before the U.S. presidential election appears set to go forward with new rules in place meant to prevent the candidates from talking over each other. President Donald Trump expressed his displeasure with the overall setup, telling reporters Monday that while he thinks “it is very unfair,” he will be a part of Thursday’s event in Nashville, Tennessee. “I will participate but it’s very unfair that they changed the topics and it’s very unfair that again we have an anchor who is totally biased,” Trump said. Kristen Welker, a respected NBC White House reporter, is moderating the debate and has chosen to ask Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden about fighting COVID-19, American families, race in America, climate change, national security and leadership. Trump’s campaign said earlier Monday the debate should focus more on international issues. Biden’s campaign said Trump was seeking to avoid discussing how his administration has handled the coronavirus pandemic, and that both sides had agreed to let moderators choose the topics for the debates.Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden arrives to speak during a campaign event at Riverside High School in Durham, N.C., Oct. 18, 2020.”As usual, the president is more concerned with the rules of a debate than he is getting a nation in crisis the help it needs,” Biden spokesman TJ Ducklo said. The format of Thursday’s debate will be 15-minute segments for different topics, during which each candidate will have two minutes to speak, followed by open discussion. In the first presidential debate in late September, Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden, who at one point responded: “Will you shut up, man?” The commission pledged to institute reforms to better facilitate a meaningful debate, and on Monday announced that during the two-minute exclusive period, only one candidate will have his microphone turned on. “Both campaigns this week reaffirmed their agreement to the two-minute, uninterrupted rule,” it said in a statement. “The Commission is announcing today that in order to enforce this agreed upon rule, the only candidate whose microphone will be open during these two-minute periods is the candidate who has the floor under the rules.” The commission said neither campaign may be totally satisfied with the rules, but that it believes the actions “strike the right balance and that they are in the interest of the American people.” The presidential candidates first debated in late September and were due to have another earlier this month. But Trump tested positive for COVID-19 and when the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates decided to have the candidates participate remotely, the president withdrew.
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By Polityk | 10/20/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
У Києві зареєстровано 280 безхатченків у 2020 році – КМДА
Центр обліку безпритульних осіб у Києві взяв на облік 280 безхатченків із початку 2020 року. Йдеться лише про реєстрацію тих безпритульних, хто особисто звертається по допомогу, повідомив Департамент соціальної політики виконавчого органу КМДА на запит Радіо Свобода.
Протягом 2019 року взято на облік 488 бездомних осіб, знято з обліку 93 особи. На кінець минулого року на обліку перебували 3412 осіб, додають у відомстві.
У департаменті КМДА додали, що в Києві працює низка інших закладів соціального захисту, що надають послуги безпритульним. Зокрема, будинок соціального піклування з відділенням нічного перебування та соціального готелю, що організовує тимчасове проживання осіб, які опинились в екстремальній ситуації та потребують психологічної, соціальної, медичної та побутової допомоги. Також це Київський міський центр комплексного обслуговування бездомних осіб, що сприяє поверненню безхатченків до самостійного життя. Крім того, це вищезгаданий Центр обліку безпритульних осіб. Він реєструє, надає реєстрацію місця проживання, допомагає відновлювати документи.
У зимовий період з 1 грудня до 1 квітня у Києві відбувається соціальне патрулювання виїзної бригади, до складу якої входить соціальний працівник, водій та кухар. Також створюється міський оперативний штаб допомоги безпритульним.
Інформація про пункти обігріву, які працюватимуть у зимовий період 2020-2021, з’явиться згодом, повідомили у Департаменті соціальної політики виконавчого органу КМДА.
Загальної статистики по кількості безхатченків у Києві немає.
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By Gromada | 10/20/2020 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Trump Objects to ‘Mute’ Button in Next Biden Matchup, But Debate Will Go On
Thursday’s debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger former Vice President Joe Biden will feature a mute button to allow each candidate to speak uninterrupted, organizers said Monday, in a bid to avoid the disruptions that marred the first matchup. The Presidential Commission on Debates said each candidate’s microphone would be silenced to allow the other to make two minutes of opening remarks at the beginning of each 15-minute segment of the debate. Both microphones will be turned on to allow a back-and-forth after that time. Trump’s campaign objected to the change but said the president would still take part. “President Trump is committed to debating Joe Biden regardless of last-minute rule changes from the biased commission in their latest attempt to provide advantage to their favored candidate,” campaign manager Bill Stepien said. The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest developments. The news came the day the number of Americans voting early ahead of Election Day on Nov. 3 crossed the 30 million mark and as Trump tries to reframe a contest in which national and state opinion polls show him trailing. Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden during a chaotic and ill-tempered debate on Sept. 29, and Biden responded with insults. Trump backed out of a second scheduled debate set for last Thursday over a disagreement about the virtual format following his COVID-19 infection. At that time, he raised concerns about having his microphone muted. “You sit behind a computer and do a debate – it’s ridiculous, and then they cut you off whenever they want,” Trump said in an Oct. 8 interview on Fox Business. On Monday, Trump’s campaign said it was unhappy with the announced set of topics for Thursday’s debate, arguing that it should focus more on foreign policy and complaining that the nonpartisan group was tilted toward Biden. Biden’s campaign said both sides previously agreed to let moderators choose the subjects. It said Trump wanted to avoid discussing his stewardship of the coronavirus pandemic, which surveys show is the top issue for voters. “As usual, the president is more concerned with the rules of a debate than he is getting a nation in crisis the help it needs,” Biden spokesman TJ Ducklo said.
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By Polityk | 10/20/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump Campaign Tries to Hold on to Reliably Republican Arizona
“If we win this state, we win it all,” U.S. President Donald Trump declared Monday at a political rally in the state of Arizona, which has 11 electoral votes out of the 270 needed to win the presidency. Trump won the state by 4 percentage points in 2016. “We’re in first place in Arizona,” Trump said at the political rally in Prescott, his first of two during the day in the southwestern state, two weeks before the general election. An average of major polls that have been released this month shows Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden leading in Arizona by about 3 percentage points — within the margin of error for most surveys, meaning that political observers regard the race as virtually tied. Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden waves as he arrives at The Queen theatre in Wilmington, Del., Oct. 19, 2020.“It’s not a typical red (Republican) state,” explained Frank Gonzalez, an assistant professor in the School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Arizona. “It has sort of its own culture. Arizonans pride themselves on not just following what the other red states are doing.” Trump’s image as a political outsider and his maverick approach appealed to Arizonans in 2016. Since then, his image is more akin “to the sort of spirit Arizonans reject, which is like this cult mindset of just follow the leader,” Gonzalez told VOA on Monday. Meanwhile, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected the state’s Latino and Indigenous populations. “The Trump campaign has not figured out how to get Trump to be winning on that issue, or on education or health care, which are big priorities for Arizonans,” Gonzalez said. “And it’s two weeks out, and tons of people have already voted.” A former attorney general of Arizona, Grant Woods, is critical of Trump holding Monday’s outdoor rallies without social distancing at a time when the number of coronavirus cases in the state is going up.“What is the point of packing 1,000 people into a confined space without masks? The point is to make him feel better about things. But it’s not lost on people that is reckless behavior only to stroke his ego,” Woods, a Republican-turned-Democrat, told VOA. Supporters attend a campaign rally held by U.S. President Donald Trump at Tucson International Airport in Tucson, Arizona, Oct. 19, 2020.Trump, at the Prescott rally, criticized the media for continuously focusing on the coronavirus, contending that Americans have tired of cable news coverage of the pandemic and that it is an attempt to suppress voting. “People aren’t buying it, CNN, you dumb bastards,” the president said. His second rally of the day, in Tucson, was attended by about 10,000 people, according to campaign and security officials. Arizona, the last of the contiguous states to enter the union in the 1912, has not selected a Democrat for president in 24 years. Republicans still dominate among registered voters. There is little likelihood of Trump winning reelection without Arizona, according to Ruth Jones, a professor emeritus at Arizona State University’s School of Politics and Global Studies. “If the tide is going against him in Arizona, it probably is going to trend against him in one or two of the other swing or must-have states,” Jones told VOA. “What state could he pick up to balance out Arizona?” Arizona was the home of the late Sen. Barry Goldwater, who lost the 1964 presidential election to Democratic Party nominee Lyndon Johnson and who was the ideological forebearer to the Republican Party’s Ronald Reagan revolution of the 1980s. Over the years, the border state’s demographics have changed. It has become increasingly urban, and the electorate is trending toward the college-educated and Latinos — two groups that tend to favor the Democratic Party. Biden stayed in his home state of Delaware on Monday where he taped a (CBS News “60 Minutes”) television interview set to air on Sunday. He is also preparing for his second debate with Trump scheduled for Thursday in Nashville, Tennessee. Biden’s campaign released a statement criticizing Trump’s visit to Arizona. “President Trump is spending the final days of his campaign trying to sow division and distract the American people from his failure to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. He wants to sell Arizona families more of the same reckless leadership that has devastated the state’s economy, shuttered thousands of small businesses, and threatens protections for the 2.8 million Arizonans living with a preexisting condition,” Biden said in the statement. “He’s insulted our heroes like my friend Senator John McCain by calling them ‘losers’ and ‘suckers.’” FILE – Cindy McCain, wife of former Arizona Sen. John McCain, waves at the Capitol in Phoenix, Jan. 13, 2020.McCain’s widow, Cindy McCain, has endorsed Biden. “It (Cindy McCain’s endorsement) kind of gives permission to an awful lot of Arizonans, and in particular Arizona women — who traditionally might have voted for the Republican candidate — that it’s OK to vote for the Democratic candidate, because that candidate is Joe Biden,” Woods said. Regardless of party affiliation, voters in the state have long identified themselves as moderates. Democrats are hoping to use the state’s middle-of-the-road approach and independent streak to help them take control of the U.S. Senate. Republican Sen. Martha McSally is running behind her general election challenger, Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut and husband of former Democratic Party Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt near Tucson in 2011. “Kelly is running essentially as a moderate. He would very easily be a Republican in some other states,” Gonzalez said. Trump’s appearances in Arizona likely will not give McSally much of a boost, as the president’s focus on his base is not the voting bloc the incumbent senator needs to motivate to overcome Kelly. “It might help nudge a few more Trump supporters to turn out and provide some down-ticket support, but it will be minimal,” according to Jones. “More likely to have some impact is the avalanche of new money that has been pouring in for more targeted ads and social media messages.” Trump said the fate of his campaign in Arizona is not tied to that of McSally’s. “I know I’m doing very well,” the president told reporters in Phoenix before flying to Tucson. “I don’t know what her numbers are – haven’t looked. But I hope she does well. She’s a very good person. I know my numbers, as you know, are very good in Arizona.”
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By Polityk | 10/20/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump Goes After Fauci, Tries to Buck Up His Campaign Team
President Donald Trump heaped criticism Monday against Dr. Anthony Fauci, the press and the polls that show him trailing Democrat Joe Biden in key battleground states two weeks before Election Day. On the third day of a Western campaign swing, Trump is hoping for the type of last-minute surge that gave him a come-from-behind victory four years ago. His aggressive travel comes as Trump plays defense in states he won four years ago, though the president insisted he was confident as he executed a packed schedule despite the pandemic. “We’re going to win,” he told campaign staff on a morning conference call from Las Vegas. He went on to acknowledge: “I wouldn’t have told you that maybe two or three weeks ago,” referring to the days when he was hospitalized with COVID-19. Seeking to shore up the morale of his staff, Trump blasted his government’s own scientific experts as too negative, even as his handling of the pandemic that has killed more than 220,000 Americans remains a central issue to voters. “People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots,” Trump said of the government’s top infectious disease expert. “Every time he goes on television, there’s always a bomb. But there’s a bigger bomb if you fire him. But Fauci’s a disaster.” At a rally in Prescott, Arizona, Trump assailed Biden for pledging to heed the advice of scientific experts, saying dismissively that his rival “wants to listen to Dr. Fauci.” The doctor is both respected and popular, and Trump’s rejection of scientific advice on the pandemic has drawn bipartisan condemnation. At his rally, Trump also ramped up his attacks on the news media, singling out NBC’s Kristen Welker, the moderator of the next presidential debate, as well as CNN for aggressively covering a pandemic that is now infecting tens of thousands of Americans every day. Fauci, in an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes that aired Sunday, said he was not surprised that Trump contracted the virus after he held a series of large events with few face coverings. Fauci also objected to the president’s campaign using his words in a campaign ad. “I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask,” Fauci said of the president. Trump’s comments drew a defense of Fauci from Tennessee GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander, who praised the doctor as one of the nation’s “most distinguished public servants.” As Trump turned his flouting of scientific advice into a campaign applause line, Alexander added that if more Americans had heeded Fauci’s advice, “we’d have fewer cases of COVID-19, and it would be safer to go back to school and back to work and out to eat.” Biden was off the campaign trail Monday, preparing for Thursday’s second and final debate. His campaign praised Fauci while saying that “Trump’s reckless and negligent leadership threatens to put more lives at risk.” “Trump’s closing message in the final days of the 2020 race is to publicly mock Joe Biden for trusting science and to call Dr. Fauci, the leading public health official on COVID-19, a ‘disaster’ and other public health officials ‘idiots,'” the campaign said. “Trump is mocking Biden for listening to science. Science.”
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By Polityk | 10/20/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
The Search for Credible Election News
The spread of misinformation makes the search for trustworthy news that much harder. But as Tina Trinh reporters, tech companies are identifying media bias and helping readers discern the real news from the fake.
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By Polityk | 10/19/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
У день виборів Україна перейде на «зимовий час»
Україна в ніч на неділю, 25 жовтня, повертається на свій стандартний поясний час, неформально відомий також як «зимовий час».
Це означає переведення годинників на годину назад. Перехід відбудеться о четвертій ранку за київським часом, коли знову настане третя година.
Зміна часу в Україні відбувається разом з усім Європейським союзом і більшістю країн Європи двічі на рік: в останню неділю березня країна переходить на літній час, а кожної останньої неділі жовтня повертається на «зимовий», тобто свій стандартний поясний час.
Переведення годинників в Україні регламентується постановою Кабміну від 1996 року.
На порушення цієї постанови, російські чи підконтрольні Росії адміністрації на окупованих територіях України дотримуються «московського часу» російського зразка, без сезонних змін. У період дії в Україні літнього часу він збігається з київським, після повернення України на поясний час він випереджає київський на годину.
У 2018 році Європейська комісія представила план відмови Європейського союзу від сезонної зміни часу, який передбачав право країн-членів на свободу вибору – за яким часом вони хочуть жити – «зимовим» чи «літнім».
Очікувалося, що останній обов’язковий перехід на «літній» чи «зимовий» час відбудеться в ЄС у 2021 році. Згодом цю ідею підтримав і Європейський парламент. Але остаточного рішення про це досі не ухвалили.
25 жовтня в Україні відбудуться місцеві вибори.
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By Gromada | 10/19/2020 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Trump, Biden Campaign in Swing States They are Trying to Flip
President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden campaigned Sunday in swing states they are trying to flip during the Nov. 3 election that is just more than two weeks away. Trump began his day in Nevada, making a visit to church before a fundraiser and an evening rally in Carson City. Once considered a battleground, Nevada has not swung for a Republican presidential contender since 2004. The rally drew thousands of supporters who sat elbow to elbow, cheering Trump and booing Biden and the press. The vast majority wore no masks to guard against the coronavirus, though cases in the state are on the rise, with more than 1,000 new infections reported Saturday. The president warned that a Biden win would lead to further lockdowns and at one point appeared to mock Biden for saying he would listen to scientists. “He’ll listen to the scientists. If I listened totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression,” Trump said. Biden, a practicing Catholic, attended Mass in Delaware before campaigning in North Carolina, where a Democrat has not won in a presidential race since Barack Obama in 2008. Both candidates are trying to make inroads in states that could help secure a path to victory, but the dynamics of the race are remarkably stable. Biden enjoys a significant advantage in national polls, while carrying a smaller edge in battleground surveys. Earlier in the day, Trump sat in the front row at the nondenominational International Church of Las Vegas as the senior associate pastor, Denise Goulet, said God told her early that morning that the president would secure a second term. “At 4:30, the Lord said to me, ‘I am going to give your president a second win,'” she said, telling Trump, “you will be the president again.” Trump spoke briefly, saying “I love going to churches” and that it was “a great honor” to attend the service. He dropped a handful of $20 bills in the collection plate before leaving. The message was far different later in the day, when Biden attended a virtual discussion with African American faith leaders from around the country. Biden held up a rosary, which he said he carries in his pocket every day. “I happen to be a Roman Catholic,” Biden said. “I don’t pray for God to protect me. I pray to God to give me strength to see what other people are dealing with.” Earlier, at a drive-in rally in Durham, North Carolina, Biden focused heavily on promoting criminal justice changes to combat institutional racism and promised to help build wealth in the Black community. He noted that Trump had said at one of his rallies that the country had turned the corner on the pandemic. “As my grandfather would say, this guy’s gone around the bend if he thinks we’ve turned the corner. Turning the corner? Things are getting worse,” Biden said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. recorded more than 53,000 new cases of the coronavirus Sunday. In addition to public polling that indicates Biden has an edge, the former vice president enjoys another considerable advantage over Trump: money. Trump raked in $12 million during a fundraiser Sunday afternoon at the Newport Beach home of top GOP donor and tech mogul Palmer Luckey, which also featured a performance by the Beach Boys. But over the past four months, Biden has raised over $1 billion, a massive amount of money that has eclipsed Trump’s once-overwhelming cash advantage. Trump’s visit to Nevada is part of an aggressive schedule of campaign events, where he has leaned heavily into fear tactics. Trump’s Carson City rally was held at an airport where he relived fond moments from his 2016 campaign against Hillary Clinton, revisited his long-running feud with NFL players and went on an extended rant about water management policy, which he blamed for people having to “flush their toilet 15 times.” He also added to his litany of attacks against Biden, claiming that, if Biden were elected, he would mandate new lockdown measures that would make Carson City “a ghost town” and “the Christmas season will be canceled.” Biden started his day with Mass in Delaware at St. Joseph’s on the Brandywine, as he does nearly every week. He and his wife, Jill, entered wearing dark-colored face masks. She carried a bunch of flowers that including pink roses. The church is a few minutes’ drive from Biden’s home. Biden’s son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015, is buried in the cemetery on its grounds. Joe and Jill Biden visited the grave after the service. Trump attends church far less often but has drawn strong support from white Evangelical leaders and frequently hosts groups of pastors at the White House. Trump often goes to the Church of Bethesda-By-The Sea near Mar-a-Lago in Florida for major holidays, including Easter, and he attended a Christmas Eve service last year at Family Church in West Palm Beach before the onset of the pandemic.
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By Polityk | 10/19/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
У «Слузі народу» розповіли, кого хочуть бачити в ТКГ замість Фокіна
Після виключення Вітольда Фокіна з Тристоронньої контактної групи до її складу можна було б призначити когось із параламентарів. Таку думку в інтерв’ю Радіо Свобода висловив народний депутат від «Слуги народу» та заступник голови парламентського комітету з питань організації державної влади Олександр Качура.
«Я думаю, що все-таки нам потрібно, щоб там було більше парламентарів. Тому що в ТКГ делегати часто про щось домовляються, але вони забувають, що згідно з Мінськими домовленостями парламент України ухвалює закони про особливості місцевого самоврядування та про ведення виборів… Тому я впевнений, щоб саме депутати від різних політичних фракцій входили до делегації ТКГ… І потім, коли вони повернуться в Україну після всіх цих перемовин, вони повинні будуть переконати параламент, що потрібно внести необхідні зміни в законодавство і чому», – вважає народний депутат.
При цьому Качура додає, що особисто йому, як члену профільного парламентського комітету, з яком зустрічався Фокін, не сподобалася його фраза про те, що «на Донбасі немає присутності Російької Федерації».
«Я не погоджуюсь точно з тезою, яку озвучив пан Фокін, вона точно мені різала вухо, це теза про те, що якщо навіть суто юридично подумати: ну як це немає, якщо в Мінських домовленостях сторона – Російська Федерація. Як можна було про це сказати? Я думаю, що ця теза і стала ключовою в ухваленні рішення президентом України щодо звільнення Фокіна», – говорить Качура.
Президент Володимир Зеленський призначив Вітольда Фокіна першим заступником голови української делегації в ТКГ у серпні цього року, а 30 вересня звільнив через висловлювання останнього щодо Донбасу.
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By Gromada | 10/18/2020 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Міграційна служба розповіла, скількох громадян Росії визнали біженцями в Україні
У перші дев’ять місяців 2020 року Державна міграційна служба України визнала біженцями 17 громадян Росії, повідомила ДМС у відповідь на запит Радіо Свобода.
Ще 20 росіян визнали такими, які потребують додаткового захисту.
При цьому впродовж усього 2019 року Міграційна служба визнала біженцями дев’ятьох росіян, ще 19 – особами, які потребують додаткового захисту.
Станом на 1 жовтня в Україні офіційно зареєстровані 1276 біженців та 878 осіб, які потребують додаткового захисту. Основними країнами походження шукачів захисту в Україні є Афганістан, Нігерія, Росія, Сирія, Камерун, Таджикистан, Сомалі, Демократична Республіка Конго, Гана, Бангладеш, Узбекистан, Ємен, Гвінея, Єгипет та Кот-д’Івуар.
Згідно з українським законодавством, біженець – це особа, яка не є громадянином України і внаслідок обґрунтованих побоювань стати жертвою переслідувань за ознаками раси, віросповідання, національності, громадянства (підданства), належності до певної соціальної групи або політичних переконань перебуває за межами країни своєї громадянської належності та не може користуватися захистом цієї країни або не бажає користуватися цим захистом внаслідок таких побоювань
Особа, яка потребує додаткового захисту, не є біженцем відповідно до Конвенції про статус біженців 1951 року і Протоколу щодо статусу біженців 1967 року, але потребує захисту, оскільки змушена була прибути в Україну внаслідок загрози її життю, безпеці чи свободі в країні походження.
By Gromada | 10/18/2020 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Muslim Americans Could Determine Whether Trump or Biden Wins Michigan
When Michigan voter Dr. Mahmoud Al-Hadidi casts his ballot in the November election, there is one issue that rises above all others as he makes his choice — respect.
“In this election, honestly, respect and recognition,” the emergency room physician told VOA during a recent interview at his lakefront home in the southeastern part of the state. “The Muslim community would like to be acknowledged as part of this great American nation, and not as an alien culture to this nation. The Muslim community would like to be treated with respect.”
Al-Hadidi supported Democratic former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. He also backed Michigan’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, in her successful run in 2018.
But this time around, he isn’t sure if he’ll support Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden over President Donald Trump, a Republican.
“I would like some of my concerns addressed before I make up my mind,” he said.
One concern is the U.S. government’s “Terrorist Screening Database” — commonly known as “the watchlist” — which many Muslim Americans feel targets innocent members of their community. A subset of the database is the “no fly” list of individuals barred from boarding commercial flights.
“Definitely that list should be updated,” Al-Hadidi said. “Those who are wrongfully on that list should have their dignity back and should be removed. And that would be fair and just.”
Al-Hadidi added that he would like to see a Muslim American appointed to a high-ranking position in the next administration.
“You’ve got to tell people something to excite them to go out and vote,” said Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News, a website and newspaper popular with Michigan’s large Arab and Muslim American community. “Just because Biden is not Trump is not a good reason for me to go out and vote.”
While Muslim Americans make up about one percent of the overall U.S. population, they have an outsized influence in Michigan, a battleground state that President Trump narrowly won in 2016 by just over ten thousand votes out of more than 4.5 million cast.
While the state’s 270,000 registered voters of the Muslim faith could impact the outcome of this year’s presidential race, their preferences are just as diverse as their community.
“Some members of our community can believe that Trump is good on the economy, on business,” Siblani said in an interview at his office in Dearborn. “They may vote on this principle. But a majority of the Arab American community, they want from Biden to hear some commitment to them to excite them to go out and vote because, frankly, under Obama-Biden, Muslims were discriminated against [as well].
“The terrorist watch list started under the Bush administration, but it has been beefed up and became more hurtful to the community than ever,” he added.
Siblani also says many in the community are outraged over the Trump administration’s ban on travelers from some countries with majority-Muslim populations — a ban Biden has pledged to end. At the same time, he said there is recognition and support for Trump’s efforts to promote peace and reduce U.S. troop levels in the Middle East.
“We would like to have a conversation with the Trump administration,” he said. “I believe that there are some issues that we are very interested in. Him not being very hawkish on war in the region, that’s very important to us.”
Siblani believes the choice for president in this election is not an easy one for many Muslim Americans.
“There is like 50% to 60% of our community that is not excited by the Biden campaign,” he said. “They’re disgusted with the Trump campaign.”
Others see the contest differently.
“It’s not that people are deciding between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Often times it’s between Joe Biden and not voting,” said epidemiologist Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a former executive director of Detroit’s Health Department who ran against Whitmer for the Democratic nomination for Michigan governor in 2018.
Today he is chair of the political action committee Southpaw Michigan, which advocates for progressive causes.
“The point that I’ll always make to the community is you are voting for your own political power,” El-Sayed told VOA during a recent Skype interview. “As the proportion of Arab Americans voting and Muslim Americans voting in elections grows, it forces politicians to pay attention because if they want those votes … that can mean the difference between victory and defeat.”
A recent poll of American Muslims by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding conducted from March through April shows about 78 percent of those eligible to vote are registered, an 18 percent increase since 2016. While no poll of Muslim Americans has been issued in the final weeks of the presidential campaign, previous surveys have shown the community backing Democrats more often than Republicans.
Al-Hadidi senses great anticipation among Muslim Americans for the Nov. 3 election.
“The Muslim community is really motivated and a lot more educated that this election is going to make a big difference in their life in general,” he said. “There is a significant amount in the Muslim community, especially in this election, who are independent and open minded in how to vote in the presidential and federal elections.
“There is no Muslim monolith,” El-Sayed said. “No one community thinks with one mind. We are a diverse community just like any community in this country.”
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By Polityk | 10/18/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Український фільм «Із зав’язаними очима» переміг на Варшавському кінофестивалі
Повнометражний фільм «Із зав’язаними очима» (назва для міжнародного прокату Blindfold) українського режисера Тараса Дроня переміг на Варшавському кінофестивалі.
Цей ігровий дебют був визнаний найкращим фільмом конкурсу перших і других фільмів (Конкурсу 1–2) Варшавського кінофестивалю, де й відбулася світова прем’єра стрічки.
Картина була визнана найкращою серед 15 інших, представлених у цій категорії.
«Ми дякуємо всім, хто вірив і не вірив у наш проєкт. Це великий крок як для нас самих, так і всього українського кіно. У Варшаві відбулося чотири покази нашої картини. Q&A після показу тривав понад 30 хвилин, і навіть після його закінчення глядачі не хотіли відпускати авторів. Тому завершували бесіду вже поза межами глядацького залу. Ми дякуємо як глядачам, так і членам журі, які відзначили нашу картину», – заявили режисер Тарас Дронь і продюсерка Валерія Сочивець.
Режисер отримав приз журі і грошову премію в розмірі 10 000 злотих (нині це понад 73 тисячі гривень).
Варшавський кінофестиваль цього року відбувається в офлайн-форматі з 9 до 18 жовтня.
Події фільму «Із зав’язаними очима» розгортаються в сучасній Україні після закінчення війни, повідомляють його автори. Головна героїня Юля – молода спортсменка «боїв без правил» (мішаних одноборств, ММА), яка втратила свого нареченого на війні. Дівчина залишає спорт і починає нові стосунки, щоб звільнити себе від ролі вдови героя війни, яку нав’язує їй суспільство.
Стрічка вироблена компанією «Сучасне українське кіно» за підтримки Міністерства культури України, Львівської обласної адміністрації, Давидівської сільської об’єднаної територіальної громади, Львівської міської ради та копродюсера Олександра Берби, власника інвестиційної компанії Asgard. Проєкт фільму «Із зав’язаними очима» раніше переміг на конкурсі кінопроєктів Boat Meeting Київського міжнародного кінофестивалю «Молодість» у 2019 році і отримав головний приз пітчингу Work in Progress CoCo Cottbus на міжнародному кінофестивалі в Коттбусі (Німеччина).
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By Gromada | 10/17/2020 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Biden Raises More Funds Than Trump in September
President Donald Trump was outraised by Democrat Joe Biden in September and is being outgunned financially by his rival with just weeks to go until Election Day.
Trump’s campaign, along with the Republican National Committee and associated groups, raised $247.8 million in September, short of the $383 million raised by Biden and the Democratic National Committee in the same period. Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh tweeted that the Trump effort had $251.4 million on hand at the end of September, compared with $432 million for Biden.
Trump’s financial disadvantage was once unthinkable — incumbent presidents traditionally vastly outraise their rivals — and poses a challenge to his reelection prospects. The president’s campaign was betting on a well-stocked bank account to blanket airwaves and online with Trump ads. But last week he was outspent on advertising by Biden by more than $10 million, according to the ad tracking firm Kantar/CMAG.
“President Trump hits final stretch with strength, resources, record & huge ground game needed to spread message and secure re-election,” Murtaugh tweeted.
Biden’s fundraising benefited from a boost in donor enthusiasm following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Trump’s widely panned performance in the first presidential debate.
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By Polityk | 10/17/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Plot to Kidnap Michigan Governor Raises Alarm Over US Election Violence
In the U.S. state of Michigan, authorities have apprehended 13 men accused of conspiring to abduct and possibly kill the state’s governor. The plot, which involved a self-styled militia group armed with semi-automatic weapons and explosives, was timed to disrupt the U.S. election and incite an insurrection. Matt Dibble spoke to experts who are warning that provocative messaging from leaders and under-regulated social media could be driving the American political climate towards violence.
Camera: Sam Paakkonen Producer: Matt Dibble
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By Polityk | 10/17/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
