President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the U.S. would take up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees and donate $1 million to European countries to help with the humanitarian crisis currently happening as a result of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. European countries are currently working hard to house all of the refugees fleeing Ukraine. “This is not something that Poland or Romania or Germany should carry on their own,” Biden said. So far, around 3 million Ukrainians have fled from the country as a result of Russia’s attacks. The White House said that the refugees allowed in the U.S. will primarily be those who have family already living in the U.S., and the refugee admissions program will help them gain permanent residence status. The program will also be giving refugees temporary visas.
The White House has put together a team of high–level security officials to work out a contingency plan in the event that Russia uses chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. This team, known as the Tiger Team, is looking into options in case Russian President Vladimir Putin decides to further his attacks into a NATO country or to other countries surrounding Russia. Officials currently believe that the chance that Putin uses a weapon of mass destruction is very small, but the chance that Russia will start to use chemical weapons in their invasion of Ukraine is much higher.
Disney employees held a walkout protesting the company’s inaction over Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. This piece of legislation restricts conversations about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms. The company initially avoided signing a Human Rights Campaign letter opposing the bill, despite Disney’s history of supporting the LGBTQ community. In response to the employee walkout, Disney announced that the kiss between two characters of the same sex in the upcoming movie “Lightyear” has been added back into the film after being previously cut.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson spent two days last week answering senators’ questions during her confirmation hearing for her Supreme Court nomination. If accepted into the Supreme Court, Jackson would be the first Black woman to hold a position in the most powerful court of law in the country. The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to make its vote on Jackson’s nomination on April 4. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he would not support Jackson’s nomination. But with support from Senate Democrats and left-leaning independents, as well as the vice president, it looks like Jackson’s nomination will end up being confirmed.
