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Sunday, October 25, 2020
Halloween offers the perfect holiday to sum up 2020: We wear masks, freak each other out and try to avoid being tricked by misinformation. To properly commemorate our annual celebration of ghouls, goblins and gore, this week’s Sunday Magazine takes you through the year’s house of horrors. A nightmarish American election — in which the mortality of both candidates is often debated — is screeching to a close, the world is battling a deadly disease, and horrors like war crimes and brutal police tactics are on the rise. So how is one to celebrate a socially distanced Halloween with all that’s going on? We’ve got you covered there too. Read on …
if you dare.
political nightmares
1. What Keeps Democrats Up at Night?
A re-run of 2016. And it could well be happening with a lack of Black voter outreach in places like Ohio — leading to worries about depressed turnout and Trump cutting into Democrats’ margins among their core voter base. Emilia Sykes, the Ohio state house minority leader, is sharply critical of the Democratic Party and Joe Biden campaign’s efforts with Black voters: “We didn't have the capacity or resources because they’re giving them all to the white women groups to have wine parties.”
READ MORE ON OZY
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2. What Gives Republicans Nightmares?
A Democratic landslide. The latest data from OZY’s exclusive election forecast show Biden easily securing an electoral college win and a
Senate sweep. And if a few tossup states and races turn blue, it means a total wipeout for Republicans up and down the ballot. You’re already seeing senators like
Texas’ John Cornyn and
Nebraska’s Ben Sasse creep away from Trump ahead of Election Day.
DIVE INTO OZY'S FORECAST
3. A Scary Close Finish
If this race is close, Pennsylvania is the keystone to victory for either party. And vote-counting there is already shaping up to be a mess. From potentially 100,000 mail-in voters disenfranchised for
not using the proper envelope, to delays in tallying mail ballots that mean the
count could take weeks, it’s a frightening picture.
READ MORE ABOUT PENNSYLVANIA ON OZY
4. Foreign Meddling
Last week brought the news that Iran is, at least
according to U.S. intelligence officials, trying to throw a monkey wrench into America’s election — joining the Russians and possibly the Chinese in the fray. With the spoofed Proud Boys emails, were the Iranians (allegedly) trying to damage Trump, cause turmoil or both? With Democrats saying the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop
must be
part of a Russian disinformation campaign, perhaps Vladimir Putin is just in everyone’s head. There’s no evidence that actual votes have been hacked yet, but fear abounds —
and that’s the goal.
5. Post-Election Violence
If the election is contested, it’s not hard to imagine street clashes, given the sporadic violence we’ve seen this year already — and the growing number of Americans who are heavily armed. Gun sales surged,
especially among first-time buyers, this year during the
coronavirus outbreak and then spasms of racial unrest. Who should you watch out for?
HERE’S OZY’S LOOK AT THE AMERICAN FRINGES
6. Missing Migrant Parents
The parents of hundreds of migrant children separated from them by U.S. border officials in 2017 and 2018
can’t be traced, it was revealed last week. The Trump administration’s controversial family separation policy also came up in Thursday’s presidential debate, with Trump deflecting blame to the
Obama administration and saying the kids were
“well taken care of.” If there’s one reporter whose work is responsible for making sure America doesn’t forget the pain and suffering of those families, it’s award-winning journalist Ginger Thompson.
READ MORE ON OZY
the perfect sweater weather find
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The leaves are changing and pumpkin spice lattes are back — so fall is definitely here. Luckily, we found the perfect men’s sweater for the 2020 sweater weather season. Don’t look any further:
Outerknown’s Nostalgic Sweater puts a modern twist on the iconic ‘70s style and perfectly combines comfort, style and warmth. The
Nostalgic Sweater sold out fast last year, so don’t miss it while it lasts — and
use code OKOZY for 20 percent off!
SHOP NOW
world of horrors
1. Celebrating War Criminals
So you helped win a war or survived enemy torture? Big deal. If you killed innocent civilians and posed next to corpses,
that’s what deserves recognition — or so nationalist leaders around the world seem to believe. To demonstrate unconditional support for the military, they’re pardoning and rewarding soldiers accused or convicted of war crimes. In April, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa pardoned an army sergeant convicted of the murder of Tamil civilians. In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has issued a commendation to a soldier who tied a Kashmiri man to his jeep and paraded him through a village. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have outsourced their fighting in Yemen and Libya to brutal mercenaries of the Darfur civil war. President Donald Trump has pardoned soldiers implicated in cold-blooded killings.
READ MORE ON OZY
2. Unfriendly Fire
Demonstrators in Nigeria have been protesting the brutality of Nigeria’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad, aka SARS. This week, Nigerian police and soldiers fired at peaceful protesters in Lagos,
killing at least 12, according to Amnesty International. A curfew has since been imposed in Lagos and other parts of the country. It’s unlikely the shooters will be held to account.
3. Telegenic Authoritarianism
Judit Varga,Hungary’s justice minister, has been called Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s “Charm Cannon,” and the 40-year-old mother of three relishes her role as the chief global defender of his authoritarian approach, which has Europe worried. She’s currently quarantining at home after
testing positive for the coronavirus last week. You might be unconvinced by her argument that a recent law giving Orbán the power to effectively rule by decree isn’t a power grab, but she’ll keep at it. A former soccer player, Varga can juggle the ball 37 times with her feet, so don’t expect her to drop it anytime soon.
READ MORE ON OZY
4. Hong Kong Halloween
Halloween can have its political upsides too. Last year,
pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong used the occasion to don Halloween-themed masks at a time the city’s government had banned face coverings to make it easier to identify troublemakers. But today there are scarier specters hanging over the city, like this spring’s security law that makes nearly any action Beijing objects to a crime. Who will be doing the haunting in 2020?
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