My precise view

https://ift.tt/3we2bo3 With the U.S. “on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years,” as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement March 16, immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border has emerged as one of the toughest challenges facing the Biden Administration. Last week, President Biden put Vice President Kamala Harris in charge of “ stemming ” the flow of migrants, Biden was questioned about the immigration situation at his first official press conference , immigrant detention centers began to fill up once again , and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle made trips to the border to publicize the issue and propose solutions. Biden’s attempts to address immigration may be new, but the issue is one that has dogged his predecessors for decades. Since the 1970s, Republicans and Democrats alike have tried to address undocumented immigration by constructing ever more draconian policies of border control,

https://ift.tt/3rDUvIb The hymns of the Catholic Church have been the soundtrack to Joe Biden’s life. He attends Mass on Sundays and holy days, and before major events. In Oval Office meetings, Biden sometimes pulls from his pocket a string of rosary beads that belonged to his late son Beau; in quieter moments, Biden will walk his fingers down the beads while saying the holy rosary, a series of meditative prayers. The day the 2020 election was called for Biden, just before he and his family greeted a cheering crowd in Wilmington, Del., a Catholic priest was asked to call in over Zoom to pray with the President-elect and his family. They bowed their heads to the prayer of St. Francis: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love.” While Biden’s faith is deeply felt, his election has exposed divisions at the highest levels of the Catholic Church. Within days of his victory, 10 of the nation’s most powerful bishops took the extraordinary

https://ift.tt/31zoV3B Documentary lovers have plenty to peruse in titles coming to Netflix in April 2021, from Worn Stories , a series featuring the stories of people’s most meaningful items of clothing, to a new David Attenborough series, Life in Color With David Attenborough , that looks at the relationships different animals have to color. Fictional stories are also coming to the streaming service in April, including Thunder Force , which sees Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer playing reunited childhood best friends in an action movie, the series Why Are You Like This , which follows three twenty-somethings in Melbourne, and the horror movie Things Seen & Heard , which delves into the dark secrets that emerge after a couple moves to a small town from Manhattan. Here’s what’s new on Netflix this month—and everything set to leave the streaming platform. Here are the Netflix originals coming in April 2021 Available April 1 Magical Andes : season 2 Pran

https://ift.tt/3cARW5s COVID-19 was the third-most-common cause of death in the U.S. in 2020, contributing to more than 375,000 deaths, and a 16% increase in the national death rate, according to provisional data published today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). All told, more than 3.3 million people in the U.S. died in 2020, for a rate of about 829 deaths per 100,000 people. That’s up from about 715 deaths per 100,000 people in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic is a clear culprit. The weeks ending April 11 and December 26 were the deadliest for the U.S. last year, coinciding with two major COVID-19 surges . The virus was listed as an underlying or contributing cause of death for more than 377,000 people in the U.S. in 2020—which is likely an underestimate, if anything, since testing was hard to come by in the spring of 2020. Only heart disease and cancer killed more Americans in 2020. Meanwhile, suicide was pushed out of the top 10 causes of d

https://ift.tt/3doS471 It’s the last news anyone wants to hear: one year after the United States was slammed with its first wave of COVID-19—which was followed by even worse second and third waves—public health experts are worried that the country is headed for a fourth major spike. During a White House coronavirus briefing on Monday, Rochelle Walensky, the new director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, begged Americans to keep following public health guidelines amid small but alarming upticks in cases, hospitalizations and deaths. “Right now, I’m scared,” she said. Other scientists tracking the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. agree that there’s plenty to be worried about. Cases are rising in the Northeast, Midwest and elsewhere. At the same time, many governors are relaxing measures intended to limit the spread of the virus, such as mask mandates and caps on restaurant capacity. Furthermore, as vaccinations continue across the country, some people are

https://ift.tt/3m7qyPu This year, lawmakers have thrust trans youth into the center of the culture wars. In the midst of a pandemic, when economic and health concerns are urgent, legislators in at least 28 states have introduced a record number of bills that would restrict the rights of trans people. In March, Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi passed bills banning trans girls from women’s sports. Idaho passed a similar law last year, but it was blocked by a federal judge . In South Dakota, Governor Kristi Noem issued two executive orders on March 29 effectively banning trans girls from women’s sports. The same day, Arkansas became the first state to pass a bill prohibiting doctors from providing gender-affirming medical care to trans children . Similar bills are being considered in 19 other states , even as trans advocates say such laws could impact the mental health of an already vulnerable population. This new wave of legislation and executive actions arrives in t