Artists contest Russian adoption ban

They’re fighting over the kids and now artists are joining in.

This time it is a row between the governments of Russia and the U.S. It seems that Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently instituted a ban on American adoptions of Russian children, presumably a calculated response to U.S. legislation aimed at punishing Russian political corruption.

Now a group of prominent Russian cultural figures have issued a call to repeal the ban, including an exception for children to join American parents that have already come to know. As the Times reports,”

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“Chulpan Khamatova, revered here for her charity work as well as her acting, spoke in front of a screen showing blown-up photographs of families whose adoptions have been halted. Beside her sat Beth Hettinger of Westfield, N.J., who flew to Russia to bring back Aleksei, who is 18 months old. Ms. Hettinger was scheduled to leave Russia without Aleksei on Friday.

“’A child, even if he is very small, is already waiting for his mama to come and get him, and she does not come,’ Ms. Khamatova said. ‘When he grows up he is told, ‘When you were small, this thing took place.’ This will happen, anyway. I think he will hate his country, and hate his motherland.’

“She said she had visited children’s homes in Russia ‘where children lie in heaps, in huge wards,’  and added: ‘Dear, respected president, dear, respected society, let’s make an exception. Our country is so big, and we always ignore the specific fates of people. Just once, let’s not ignore them.’ Continue reading “Artists contest Russian adoption ban”

Marijuana support now exceeds 50 percent

Celebrated poll-analyst  Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight reports that national opinions on marijuana are moving over the 50% mark, up from a bit from just a month ago. As Micah Cohen reports, “As the Obama administration weighs its response to the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana in Washington and Colorado, a new YouGov poll has found that a slim majority of adults believe the federal government should not enforce federal laws — under which marijuana use is still illegal — in those states.

“The YouGov survey, conducted for The Huffington Post on Dec. 5 and 6, found that 51 percent of the 1,000 Continue reading “Marijuana support now exceeds 50 percent”