https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2021/02/06/pope-francis-women-synod-voting-nathalie-becquart-239941

Breaking with tradition and opening a new door in the synodal process, Pope Francis has appointed a woman, Nathalie Becquart, a member of the Xavière Sisters, Missionaries of Jesus Christ, in France, as one of two new undersecretaries of the synod of bishops. As such, she will have the right to vote in the synod. It is the first time this right has been given to a woman in the synod and raises the prospect that the right could be extended to other women participants at future synods.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/feb/6/dhs-deletes-deportation-warning-over-fears-undue-s/

Worried that illegal immigrants may feel “undue stress,” Homeland Security’s legal immigration agency has now deleted a standard warning to people that overstayed their visas that they ran the risk of being deported.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services‘ operations center issued the directive Wednesday, saying the agency is rolling back a Trump policy that anyone who applied but was rejected for legal immigration status should be referred for deportation, through what’s known in government-speak as an NTA, or Notice to Appear.

But in addition to canceling the policy, the operations center said it was also deleting the caution that being in the country illegally could mean deportation.

“This guidance will ensure the Agency is not placing undue stress on the customer who believes he/she may or may not receive an NTA based on the information provided in their denial notification,” read the directive, which was seen by The Washington Times.

Smartmatic calls for the head of Lou Dobbs, Fox folds and gives it to them. SCREW FOX and PAUL RYAN

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/537654-lou-dobbs-retweets-supporters-blasting-decision-to-cancel-show

A spokesperson said that the network regularly weighs programming changes and the move to cancel "Lou Dobbs Tonight" was part of plans to "launch new formats as appropriate post-election."

The move was announced a day after Dobbs and other Fox personalities and pro-Trump figures were named in a $2.7 billion lawsuit from voting technology company Smartmatic.

Cook the books

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/article249059985.html

A calendar coincidence means the human loss from the coronavirus will not be reflected in the 2020 census, and that could save a congressional seat for New York but cost Alabama one.

Because the start of the pandemic in the U.S. and the April 1 reference date used for the census fell so close to each other last year, the deaths that began in mid-March will not show up in the state population figures that determine political representation in Congress.

The timing will paper over the losses from the virus, which has killed around 44,000 people in New York state, including concentrations in some New York City neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. Alabama has reported around 8,000 virus-related deaths.

New York still is projected to lose at least one seat, but the quirk in the calendar should ensure that the state gets the last of the 435 congressional seats by a margin of more than 20,000 people, and that would save it from losing a second congressional seat, said Kimball Brace, a redistricting expert at Election Data Services.