RZIM plans to change name, remove Ravi Zacharias’ content from website

March 9, 2021

Ravi Zacharias International Ministries intends to change the name of the organization following the release of an investigative report last month indicating that the Christian apologist was accused of “sexting, unwanted touching, spiritual abuse, and rape.”

In a statement Saturday, RZIM CEO and Zacharias’ daughter, Sarah Davis, provided what she described as the first of periodic updates highlighting the “steps we are taking as we seek to walk a path of repentance, restitution, learning, and serving.”

“We are in the process of taking down Ravi’s content from our website and social media platforms, including publications, videos, and other forms of content, and we intend to change the name of the organization,” Davis stated. “Effective immediately, we are also discontinuing the use of ‘The Zacharias Institute’ brand.”

Davis said the organization will offer anyone who resigned from RZIM for “reasons of conscience” during the monthslong investigation by the Atlanta law firm Miller & Martin the “same severance that we are currently offering to those who take voluntary redundancy.”

Davis reiterated that the organization’s “top priority” is to provide “care, justice and restitution” for all of Zacharias’ victims. The organization had previously announced that Rachael Denhollander is serving as a confidential liaison for Zacharias’ victims.

“We continue to grieve deeply for the victims who have been treated in ways that are completely antithetical to the gospel,” Davis stressed. “We also painfully and increasingly recognize organizational failures that have occurred and the repentance that needs to take place in both heart and action.”

According to Davis, RZIM will undergo a “thorough and fully independent assessment” from consulting firm Guidepost Solutions.

“We want to understand all areas of unhealth in our organization so that we can take that learning and do everything we can to prevent any kind of abuse in the future,” Davis wrote.

“Guidepost will be evaluating our structures, culture, policies, processes, finances, and practices, including the handling of any former abuse allegations. This process with Guidepost has now begun and we expect it to last for several months. In order to respect the process, we do not plan to comment on any recommendations being made until the process has been completed.”

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RZIM expects to be in a position to provide an additional update in the “near future,” Davis assured.

“For now, we anticipate that significant lessons will be learned in all areas of the ministry and are grateful for all who have helped us to begin this process,” she added. “We are praying for the courage to pursue repentance and to have learners’ hearts, and we are trusting in God’s guidance in the days ahead.”

The in-depth report conducted by Miller & Martin details shocking allegations against the late Christian apologist, who died last May at 74, after losing his battle with cancer.

The report includes interviews with over a dozen massage therapists who treated Zacharias over the years. Zacharias is said to have asked therapists to touch his genitals. He was also accused of touching them inappropriately.

One massage therapist “reported details of many encounters over a period of years that she described as rape,” the report relayed.

“Only one of the witnesses we interviewed said that Mr. Zacharias engaged in sexual intercourse,” the report states. “This witness reported details of many encounters over a period of years that she described as rape. To protect her identity, this report does not disclose many of the details she shared with us.”

The investigation also uncovered a collection of explicit photos — many of them of much younger women — found in Zacharias’ possession.

The report sent shockwaves throughout the evangelical community, drawing responses from prominent Christian leaders, including Southern Baptist ethicist Russel Moore.

COVID Triggers Mental Health Crisis Among Teens

March 9, 2021

An analysis of U.S. health insurance claims data reveals that in March and April 2020, mental health claims among teens increased as a percentage of all medical claims by 97% and 103.5% compared with the same months in 2019.

A new analysis of U.S. health insurance claims by the independent nonprofit FAIR Health reveals a sharp increase in mental health-related illnesses among teenagers since the onset of the pandemic.

The data analyzed by Fair Health show that while overall medical claims for teens decreased since March 2020, the need for mental healthcare skyrocketed — making it safe to say that America’s teens are not OK.

During the height of the pandemic in March – April 2020, mental health claims among teens increased as a percentage of all medical claims by 97% and 103.5% over the same months the previous year.

Medical claims not related to mental health decreased 53.3% and 53.4% during the same months.

This pattern of increased mental health claims continued through November 2020, though the extent of change in late 2020 compared with late 2019 was lower than in March and April, according to FAIR Health’s new white paper, “The Impact of COVID-19 on Pediatric Mental Health: A Study of Private Healthcare Claims.”

FAIR Health studied the effects of the pandemic on U.S. pediatric health, focusing specifically on age groups 13-18 and 19-22. Researchers analyzed data from the nonprofit’s database of more than 32 billion private healthcare claim records. They tracked month-by-month changes from January 2020 to November 2020 and compared the numbers to the same months in 2019.

Researchers explored overall mental health, intentional self-harm, overdoses and substance use disorders, top mental health diagnoses, reasons for emergency room visits and state-by-state variations.

“We see [increased] depression and anxiety in all age groups, but in adolescence it’s on steroids,” Robin Gurwitch, psychologist and professor at Duke University Medical Center told TIME: “When kids look into the future now, they’re looking at one that wasn’t what they envisioned before.”

Here are the key findings, as reported in the white paper:

Before the pandemic began, females accounted for 66% of total mental health claims in ages 13-18. From March onward, the percentage climbed to 71% in females compared to 29% in males. The results were consistent with established research that females are almost twice as likely as males to be diagnosed with mental illness.
Claim lines for intentional self-harm as a percentage of all medical claim lines in the 13-18 age group increased 90.71% in March 2020 compared to March 2019 and nearly doubled to 99.83% in April 2020 as compared to 2019.
Month-by-month gender analysis of intentional self-harm claims from January to November 2020 showed that females in the 13-18 age group were 2.5 to 5 times as likely to be treated for intentional self-harm as males and at the height of disparity in August, were 84% of the distribution compared to males at 16%.
Claim lines for overdoses in the 13-18 age group increased 94.91% as a percentage of all medical claim lines in March 2020 and 119.31% in April 2020 over the same months the year before. Claim lines for substance use disorders also increased as a percentage in March (64.64%) and April (62.69%) 2020 as compared to their corresponding months in 2019.
Anxiety disorder among ages 13-18 increased in April 2020 to 93.6% of all medical claim lines compared to April 2019, major depressive disorder increased 83.9% and adjustment disorder increased 89.7%.
The 19-22 age group had similar mental health trends, though less pronounced than the 13-18 group.
Fair Health also separated mental health claims into regions. For the 13-18 age group in the Northeast, there was a 333.93% increase in intentional self-harm claim lines as a percentage of all medical claim lines –– a rate higher than any other region.

According to the analysis, the decrease in all medical claim lines was likely due to widespread restrictions on non-emergency medical care in spring 2020 and continued avoidance of care after restrictions were lifted.

The significant increase in mental healthcare while overall medical care was falling suggests the increase in mental health issues was brought on by the pandemic in the 13-18 age group.

A growing number of studies support FAIR Health’s findings:

A study published March 1 in the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics showed a significantly higher rate of suicide ideation in March and July 2020 and higher rates of suicide attempts in February, March, April and July of 2020 as compared with the same months in 2019. These months correspond to times when COVID-19 stressors and community responses were heightened.

A Danish study in BMC Psychiatry found that children and adolescents showed a worsening of obsessive compulsive disorder symptoms, as well as anxiety and depressive symptoms during the pandemic.

An Italian study published in Frontiers of Psychiatry found a worsening of symptoms, including tics, in children and adolescents with Tourette syndrome during the pandemic.

Since the COVID pandemic began in March 2020 and schools closed their doors, reports of suicidal thoughts, attempts and cries for help among children have increased significantly across the nation, according to numerous studies and media reports, The Defender reported in February.

This is the seventh in a series of studies released by FAIR Health on the COVID-19 pandemic, but the first to focus entirely on the mental health of teens.

Trump sends GOP a cease-and-desist letter against using his name, and the party fires back a defiant response

March 9, 2021

RNC wants to continue using Trump’s name to raise campaign funds

Former President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee fired up a feud over the use of his name and likeness, and neither are backing down.POLL: What scares you the most?

The former president had his lawyers send the RNC a “cease and desist” letter demanding that it stop using his likeness in its fundraising efforts.

On Monday, RNC chief counsel Justin Riemer sent off a fiery response to Trump attorney Alex Cannon, saying that the committee had “every right to refer to public figures as it engages in core, First Amendment-protected political speech, and it will continue to do so in pursuit of these common goals.”

Trump’s lawyers had sent the letter to the RNC on Friday, with similar letters sent to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee.

That letter demanded those organizations “immediately cease and desist the unauthorized use of President Donald J. Trump’s name, image, and/or likeness in all fundraising, persuasion, and/or issue speech.”

Fundraising letters and campaigns using Trump’s name are reportedly the most effective ways to raise money for Republicans who are allied to his persona.

Politico reported that an NRCC spokesperson declined to comment on how it would respond to the demand from Trump’s lawyers, while the NRSC did not respond to a request for a comment.

Despite refusing the demand from Trump’s lawyers, Riemer went on to thank Trump for his support.

“The RNC is grateful for the past and continued support President Trump has given to the committee and it looks forward to working with him to elect Republicans across the country,” Riemer added.

Some saw the effort by Trump as part of a revenge plot against the Republicans who voted to impeach him in the House and Senate. He has vowed to support pro-Trump Republicans who are challenging in primary elections the Republicans who were disloyal to him.

Here’s more about the Trump feud with the GOP:

12 Republican AGs sue Biden over climate executive order

March 8, 2021

States allege administration lacks authority to assess ‘social cost of greenhouse gases’

The Washington Times reports:

Twelve states filed a lawsuit Monday against President Biden challenging his day-one climate-change executive order, saying he lacked the authority to enact what they decried as a massive regulatory expansion that would kill jobs, jack up prices and cripple the economy.

Led by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, the 12 Republican attorneys general zeroed in on the section in the Jan. 20 order in which Mr. Biden reestablishes the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases and directs it to attach a value to emissions reductions.

The group gave an initial estimate of $9.5 trillion for the cost of U.S. carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions using figures from 2019-20, according to the lawsuit, but the prosecutors argued that the administration “did not have the authority to issue binding numbers.”

“In practice, President Biden’s order directs federal agencies to use this enormous figure to justify an equally enormous expansion of federal regulatory power that will intrude into every aspect of Americans’ lives — from their cars, to their refrigerators and homes, to their grocery and electric bills,” said the 46-page document.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. The other states on the filing were Arkansas, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah.

“If the Executive Order stands, it will inflict hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars of damage to the U.S. economy for decades to come,” the lawsuit said. “It will destroy jobs, stifle energy production, strangle America’s energy independence, suppress agriculture, deter innovation, and impoverish working families.”

Mr. Biden has made combating climate change a priority of his administration, directing agencies in the executive order “to immediately commence work to confront the climate crisis” by proposing new regulations and reversing the Trump administration’s actions.

Mr. Schmitt said the order would take a toll on “nearly every aspect of the economy and Missouri households.”

“Under President Biden’s executive order, which he didn’t have the authority to enact, these hard-working Missourians who have lived and worked this land for generations could be left in the dust,” said Mr. Schmitt. “From higher energy bills to lost jobs, this massive expansion of federal regulatory power has the potential to impact nearly every household in this state.”

The lawsuit argues that the order lacked the statutory authorization to form the working group, and that only Congress may assign monetary values to emissions.

🚨 TODAY, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt led a 12 state coalition in filing suit against President Biden's administration over the massive expansion of federal regulations through executive order.

More on the suit –> https://t.co/TRXuX5hN4D #MOLeg pic.twitter.com/eFTixi6Vym
— Attorney General Eric Schmitt (@AGEricSchmitt) March 8, 2021

The creation of a working group without public notice or comment also violated the Administrative Procedure Act, the attorneys general said, adding that proper weight was not given to the benefits of “affordable and reliable domestic energy and agricultural production.”

“The potential regulatory impact of such numbers is enormous,” said the filing. “These numbers are high enough to justify massive increases in regulatory restrictions on agricultural practices, energy production, energy use, or any other economic activity that results in the emission of such gases.”

Mr. Biden also signed orders on his first day to rejoin the Paris climate accord and cancel the Keystone XL pipeline cross-border permit, drawing cheers from environmental groups.

“What an incredible breath of fresh air that President Biden is already delivering on his promise to prioritize immediate executive action to tackle the climate crisis on day one,” said Sierra Club legislative director Melinda Pierce in a Jan. 20 statement.

Wyoming Announces End To Lockdown, Lifts Mask Mandate

March 8, 2021

The Daily Wire reports:

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon announced an end to numerous lockdown measures on Monday, including a state-wide mask mandate.

Gordon, a Republican, said that the mask mandate would be lifted and businesses such as restaurants, movie theaters, bars, and gyms would be allowed to open at full capacity on March 16. Gordon’s announcement follows similar moves made by Texas and Mississippi almost a year after such measures were put in place.

Notably, Gordon is still leaving some pandemic measures in place, such as a mask mandate on all elementary through high schools, according to CNN. Gordon touted the state’s vaccination efforts for his decision to lift regulations.

“I thank the people of Wyoming for their commitment to keeping one another safe throughout this pandemic,” Gordon said in a press release. “It is through their efforts that we have kept our schools and businesses operating and our economy moving forward. I ask all Wyoming citizens to continue to take personal responsibility for their actions and stay diligent as we look ahead to the warmer months and to the safe resumption of our traditional spring and summer activities.”

Gordon urged “Wyomingites to wear face coverings in indoor public spaces and to follow the best practices adopted by any business they visit to slow the spread of the virus.”

“Wyoming is one of the few states in the country that kept students learning in the classroom for the entire school year. We made sacrifices, but the earlier orders saved lives. We persevered,” Gordon continued. “With this approach we can have graduations, proms and a great end to the school year by keeping schools open. Especially since our children will not have the chance to be vaccinated this spring.”

A handful of states have begun substantial rollbacks of heavy-handed lockdown regulations. A number of other states, such as Florida and South Dakota, never had statewide mask mandates in the first place.

President Joe Biden recently mocked states that are lifting lockdown measures and mask mandates as exhibiting “Neanderthal thinking.”

“I think it’s a big mistake. Look, I hope everybody has realized by now these masks make a difference,” Biden said last week when asked about states reopening. “We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because of the way … we are able to get vaccines in people’s arms. We’ve been able to move that all the way up to the end of May to have enough for every adult American to get a shot.”

“The last thing, the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that in the meantime everything is fine, take off your mask, forget it. It still matters,” he continued. “As of yesterday, we have lost 511,874 Americans. We’re going to lose thousands more.”

“We will not have everybody vaccinated until sometime in the summer. We have the vaccine to do it; getting a shot in someone’s arm and [giving] them a second shot,” he concluded. “It’s critical – critical, critical, critical – that they follow the science. Wash your hands, hot water, do it frequently. Wear a mask and stay socially distanced. And I know you all know that. I wish the heck, some of our elected officials knew it.”

State Assembly Republicans to Roll Out Cuomo Impeachment Resolution

March 8, 2021

Republicans in the New York State Assembly plan to introduce an impeachment resolution against embattled Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday.

“We’re going to introduce this resolution because we believe the time has come,” New York State Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay said during a press briefing Monday. “In order to lead this great state as governor, you need to have credibility and trust.

“And unfortunately, we feel the governor has lost that and now has an inability to lead,” Barclay added.

“There is been one bombshell after another,” he continued, citing the nursing home scandal and allegations from five women that Cuomo sexually harassed them.

“During the Watergate years, a bipartisan group of legislators went to see President {Richard] Nixon, and told him if he didn’t resign, they’d commence impeachment proceedings,” Barclay said, noting Sunday, “Gov. Cuomo, said I’m not resigning, and if you want to get rid of me, impeach me.

“We think now is the time to act, now is the time to commence impeachment.”

The New York Times, citing documents and interviews with six people with direct knowledge of the discussions who requested anonymity, reported that some of Cuomo’s senior aides were involved in rewriting the report to lower the death toll in nursing homes. The final report said 6,432 nursing home residents died of the virus, compared with nearly 10,000 in the initial unpublished report.

Cuomo is facing calls for his resignation over the nursing home scandal and sexual harassment allegations. New York Attorney General Letitia James is leading investigations into both issues.

A Quick Guide To Free Speech And Avoiding Big Tech Online

March 8, 2021

Many people have been asking for a basic, anti-big tech guide. So we’re putting this together as a starting point for information on what services you should use, and what you really shouldn’t. We will be constantly updating this page, so make sure to favorite/bookmark it and check back often.

Gab launched in 2017 as a free speech alternative to both Facebook and Twitter. Since recent Big Tech purges, the platform has seen an enormous surge. The website has similar layout to Twitter, a dedicated posting section, a timeline, and a news section. The platform introduces new additions such as GabTV—allowing the user to view all the latest content from their favorite channel/user. You can even sign up for “PRO” services, which allow you to support the network as well as take advantage of rich text, scheduling, and other features (we do).

Platforms to avoid: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch.

Another platform which advocates for free speech and is open source is Minds.

This social network not only stands firm to its core principles but also introduced the concept of cryptocurrency for its content creators and users, making it a unique and attractive place for people to monetize their social media usage.

Avoid: Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, iMessage, Google Hangouts/Duo/Meet.

Browsers.

Brave and/or Dissenter should be go-to browsers for everyone who is willing to stop supporting Big Tech companies. They are both privacy-oriented, do not feed upon user tracking, and have built-in, exclusive features.

Brave supports their own cryptocurrency (token)—allowing users to mine them while browsing the web and use those coins to support favorite content creators. Don’t let this feature discourage you if all you want to do is browse the web. It’s totally optional, and you aren’t required to go anywhere near it unless you really want to.

Dissenter introduces a universal comment section for every website—meaning every user who has Dissenter can basically comment on each page, and other users with Dissenter can follow up comments and reply them. This occurs whether or not the website offers a comments section.

The idea is to decentralize commentary and create an alternative social platform. Both are based upon the Chromium engine, are lightning fast, and have fully up-to-date capabilities.

While Firefox might once have made this list, they also recently joined Big Tech efforts against free speech. Drop Google, Yahoo, or Bing as your primary search engine. DuckDuckGo is still sort-of okay, but we prefer StartPage.Avoid: Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox.

All the recommended changes above can be implemented by any user who is already familiar with mainstream social networks. The given list is by no means complete, but is the first line of defense against Big Tech.

VPN.

While VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are great services to protect yourself from your internet service providers (ISP), there are a lot of misconceptions about their capabilities. In general, the main advantages of using VPNs are masking your IP address by the address of your VPN provider, bypassing censorship, prohibiting your ISPs from seeing which websites you visit, protecting your location, and providing encryption throughout your browsing session—especially if you are connected to open WiFi networks. It is a good practice to use VPNs while browsing the internet; however, they do not provide full anonymity or full privacy. They also don’t prohibit Big Tech from tracking you (unless you improve your chosen browser with add-ons such as PrivacyBadger and many more), nor do they protect from viruses.

Keep in mind that your media access control (MAC) address and accounts that you are logged into can still uncover your anonymity. For that reason, VPN work best when combined with secure browsers and ad blockers. Some of the great VPN services are Mullvad or NordVPN, both highly rated by privacy advocates.

Advanced.

For advanced users, the following list of recommendations can provide further decoupling from Big Tech:

Instead of Windows10 and MacOS, explore Linux (Ubuntu) or any other flavor as main operating system;
Instead of stock Android and iOS, try custom Android roms like LineageOS or GrapheneOS;
Instead of Gmail or Outlook or YahooMail, try MailFence, Tutanota, CripText, or ProtonMail;
Instead of Google Photos or iCloud, try Internxt;
Instead of Google Authenticator, try Tofu (IOS) or andOPT (Android);
Instead of iCloud KeyChain (Safari) or other mainstream password manager, try Bitwarden.

We’ll be updating this article regularly, so please bookmark it and check back often.

What’s Your Data Really Worth?

March 8, 2021

How mature data strategies dramatically improve bottom-line outcomes.

Data is the lifeblood of business. It’s what drives customer engagement, boosts employee productivity, streamlines operations, and in some cases, even transforms age-old companies into digital powerhouses.

Take, for example, John Deere. The 180-year-old manufacturer of farming equipment is now a data-savvy technology giant whose deep neural networks and computer vision systems help farmers plant crops and apply pesticides with algorithmic accuracy.

The opportunity to capitalize on the significant business value of data is growing. Artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, virtual reality — they’re all generating vast treasure troves of information packed with business value. However, some organizations struggle to find and use the data they’ve already amassed. Part of the problem is dark data — unquantified, siloed and untagged data sets that are a side effect of sprawling systems and missing metadata. More than an IT nuisance, dark data prevents organizations from maximizing the worth of their most valuable financial assets in today’s digital economy: their operationalized data. That is, data captured, organized, indexed and made accessible for real-time analysis and business use.

To explore the correlation between an organization’s use of data and its business success, Splunk, in partnership with ESG, surveyed 1,350 IT and business decision-makers engaged with how their organizations collect, manage and use data. The findings are striking: By making better use of data, ESG calculated that organizations surveyed had materially increased revenue and reduced operational costs, boosting their profitability by an average of $38.2 million, or about 12.5% of their total gross profit.

Organizations with a more sophisticated approach to finding data and putting it to use outperform peers struggling with dark data. The question is, how can we measure an organization’s effectiveness in making the most of its data? And how can organizations do a better job?

Key Findings

Organizations that place a strong strategic emphasis on data and its business value, and make operationalizing dark data a top IT priority, achieve a number of key business and economic benefits.

These include:

Adding an average of 5.32% to their annual revenue, due directly to better data use.
Removing an average of 4.85% from their annual operational costs via better use of data.
97% meet or exceed their customer retention targets, with the majority (60%) having outstripped their goals.
93% feel they tend to make better, faster decisions than competitors.
On average, surveyed organizations generated approximate economic value of US $38.2 million — or about 12.5% of their total gross profit — by making smarter use of their data.

Ultimately, 91% of these organizations believe that, given the right data, their organization is in a strong position to compete and succeed in its markets over the next few years.

Data Drives the Bottom Line

Overall the research found that the top tier of organizations — data innovators — are more likely to beat competitors to market, have more confidence in their decision-making, and increase earnings through better use of data.

Data innovators get results

They’re more than twice as likely to see data having strong, direct business impact.

Data innovators are disruptive

They’re almost 10 times more likely to say new offerings deliver 20% or more of revenue.

Data innovators generate value

They’re driving nearly twice the revenue from data as their lower-tier competitors.

Why Data Maturity Matters

Compared to deliberators, data innovators are:

2.1x more likely to exceed customer retention targets.
2.6x more likely to beat competitors to market.
3.1x more likely to earn 15% or more of their revenue from newly developed products.
4.4x as likely to be using AI for analytics today.
8x as likely to validate most business decisions with quantitative data.

Want to see how you stack up? Take our five-minute assessment, based on the research, to see where your org falls on the maturity curve — and the value of your untapped data.

See just how valuable your data can be in this on-demand webinar or for more in-depth analysis and more results by industry, region and more, get the free What’s Your Data Really Worth report.

CDC: Fully-Vaccinated People Can Gather Without Masks

March 8, 2021

Fully-vaccinated Americans can gather with other vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask or social distancing, according to long-awaited guidance from federal health officials.

The recommendations also say that vaccinated people can come together in the same way with people considered at low-risk for severe disease, such as in the case of vaccinated grandparents visiting healthy children and grandchildren.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the guidance Monday.

The guidance is designed to address a growing demand, as more adults have been getting vaccinated and wondering if it gives them greater freedom to visit family members, travel, or do other things like they did before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world last year.

“We know that people want to get vaccinated so they can get back to doing the things they enjoy with the people they love,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, in a statement.

The CDC is continuing to recommend that fully vaccinated people continue to wear well-fitted masks, avoid large gatherings, and physically distance themselves from others when out in public. The CDC also advised vaccinated people to get tested if they develop symptoms that could be related to COVID-19.

Officials say a person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the last required dose of vaccine. About 30 million Americans — or only about 9% of the U.S. population — have been fully vaccinated with a federally authorized COVID-19 vaccine so far, according to the CDC.

Authorized vaccine doses first became available in December, and they were products that required two doses spaced weeks apart. But since January, a small but growing number of Americans have been fully vaccinated, and have been asking questions like: Do I still have to wear a mask? Can I go to a bar now? Can I finally see my grandchildren?

Democrat Bill Would Stop Future Presidents Lowering Refugee Intake Quota

March 8, 2021

House Democrats introduced a bill that would prevent any future president from lowering the cap for refugee admissions below 125,000.

The bill, dubbed the “‘Lady Liberty Act of 2021,” counts support from over 50 House Democrats and has been referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

The 2-page bill seeks to “amend the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to provide for a minimum number of refugees who may be admitted in any fiscal year after fiscal year 2022.”

To do so, the act would amend Section 207(a) of the INA by inserting after ‘‘in any fiscal year after fiscal year 1982 shall be such number as the President determines,’’ the following: ‘‘except that in any fiscal year after fiscal year 2022, such number may not be less than 125,000, without regard to whether or not the President makes any determination’.’

In other words, from fiscal year 2022 on, the U.S. president would be unable to lower the refugee admission minimum below 125,000 people.

Social Media.

Browsers.

VPN.

Advanced.

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