All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Face masks and more restrictions could be introduced locally this autumn

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Lyssna: Face masks and enforced isolation could be introduced this autumn

The government and Public Health Agency presented updated policy for the autumn today, depending on how the spread of Covid-19 develops.

With local outbreaks likely, the agency says the use of local restrictions is being looked at, including local recommendations to use face masks and possible restrictions on the movements for those living together with people diagnosed with the virus.

The current recommendations of washing hands, physical distancing, staying home when sick, working from home where possible and not meeting new people would continue for the foreseeable future, they added.

Press play to hear more.

Keith Foster
english@sverigesradio.se

Young people are trying to save the US election amid dire poll worker shortages

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Young Americans are volunteering to work at polling stations as elderly and retired people have dropped out amid the pandemic

Ahead of the 2016 election, Maya Patel, then a student at the University of Texas at Austin, registered 250 students to vote. But after seeing first-hand the hours-long lines voters were forced to navigate before casting their ballots, she knew there was more work to do. Two years later, she worked to install an additional polling location on the campus just in time for the midterm elections.

Now Patel is getting ready to be a poll worker in November. Why? Well, because it’s fun, and more importantly, she said, there’s a dire poll worker shortage around the country that could threaten the presidential election.

Continue reading…

Trump wants to convince Americans they are safer under him. They aren’t | Moustafa Bayoumi

Our physical safety is threatened. Our individual and public health is in jeopardy. Our employment prospects have substantially diminished.

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As a nation and as individuals, we are at considerably more risk than we were in 2016

Forty years ago, during the only presidential debate of 1980, Republican candidate Ronald Reagan asked the American people what became perhaps the defining question of that election: are you better off than you were four years ago?” Simple and straightforward, the question seemed to move beyond the drama of politics and to resonate with the electorate on an immediate and personal level. Now, as we head into the final stretch of the 2020 election, it’s time to pose to the American people another question that ought to be equally as consequential: Are you safer today than you were four years ago?

The honest answer, for just about everyone in this country, must certainly be no. As a nation and as individuals, we are at considerably more risk than we were in 2016. Our physical safety is threatened. Our individual and public health is in jeopardy. Our employment prospects have substantially diminished.

Continue reading…

DC mayor worried about US ‘descending into a race war’ | TheHill

DC mayor worried about US 'descending into a race war'

“We will not tolerate violence of any kind in Washington, D.C.,” she added. “We don’t tolerate it if it’s on the streets between rival crews and we won’t tolerate it against our police officers, the men and women who are charged with keeping our community safe. And we certainly won’t tolerate it against our residents and visitors.”

Source: DC mayor worried about US ‘descending into a race war’ | TheHill

Belarus protests: Students held as marches mark new term – BBC News

A student flashes the victory sign as he is detained by law enforcement officers during a protest against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus September 1, 2020
Thousands of students marked the first day of term on Tuesday by going on strike and taking to the streets in support of the protests, many carrying the historic Belarusian white-red-white flag used by the opposition.
“We came to support the people, to show our political stance and demonstrate that there is no need to stay at home, to be afraid,” said one student.
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A BBC team witnessed riot police attacking and forcibly arresting one group of students marching near one of the main squares in the capital. Two Belarusian journalists were among those detained.

Source: Belarus protests: Students held as marches mark new term – BBC News

Tel Aviv Municipality opens up public institutions to house classrooms – The Jerusalem Post (this is what is called innovative and active cooperation in creating a new normal)

the municipality intends to utilize a range of public buildings, parks, green spaces, theaters as well as auditoriums, so that it may breakdown classrooms into smaller groups. Buildings and institutions such as Tel Aviv’s Cameri Theater, the Charles Bronfman Auditorium (Heichal HaTarbut), the Israel Music Conservatory and Tel Aviv University.

Source: Tel Aviv Municipality opens up public institutions to house classrooms – The Jerusalem Post