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As we celebrate the culture and contributions of Black Americans this month, we’re spotlighting those who are working to bridge racial divides and honor the experience of being Black in America. Aimee Allison is a writer and speaker on democracy and racial and gender justice. In March 2018, she founded She the People, whose aim is to inspire and activate women of color across the country, turning non-voters into politically engaged voters. She launched the inaugural She the People Summit, a national gathering of women of color in U.S. politics, and also organized the first national presidential forum for women of color, attended by 2020 presidential candidates and more than 1,000 women from across the country, in 2019. Renowned for her national efforts to build inclusive, multiracial coalitions, Allison says, “Our work is to love our own and others, to make justice the law of the land, to create a country where everyone belongs, and to make this American democracy live up to its greatest potential.” —Melissa Amour, Managing Editor
Ed. Note: The Topline staff will be off this Friday, Feb. 24, so there will be no new issue. We’ll be back on Tuesday, Feb. 28. See you then.
Jury in Georgia Trump inquiry recommended multiple indictments, forewoman says — [ [link removed] ]The New York Times [ [link removed] ]
EPA to take over Ohio train response, order rail company to clean up — [ [link removed] ]The Washington Post [ [link removed] ]
Asylum seekers who cross U.S. border illegally face new Biden rule — [ [link removed] ]The Washington Post [ [link removed] ]
Mexico’s ex-top security official is convicted of cartel bribery by U.S. jury — [ [link removed] ]The New York Times [ [link removed] ]
Jimmy Carter's church asks for comfort for his family as the former president enters hospice care — [ [link removed] ]CNN [ [link removed] ]
Death toll from latest earthquakes in Turkey reaches eight — [ [link removed] ]The Guardian [ [link removed] ]
U.S. urges UN to condemn North Korea; China, Russia blame U.S. — [ [link removed] ]Associated Press [ [link removed] ]
Despite mass protests, Israel's parliament advances contested law for judicial overhaul — [ [link removed] ]Reuters [ [link removed] ]
Supreme Court showdown for Google, Twitter, and the social media world — [ [link removed] ]NPR [ [link removed] ]
Democratic Rep. Cicilline to leave Congress in June — [ [link removed] ]The Hill [ [link removed] ]
Presidents’ Day
President Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv yesterday to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart, President Volodymyr Zelensky, four days before the one-year anniversary of the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine. "I’m here to show our unwavering support for the nation’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” Biden said, announcing a half billion dollars of additional assistance to the wartorn country. The visit was kept under wraps because of the unusually high security risks involved in having an American president visit a country under ground and air assault. —U.S. News & World Report [ [link removed] ]
Rock solid NATO. Biden followed it up today with his planned visit to Poland, delivering an address to the NATO alliance. "Putin thought the world would roll over. He was wrong," he said. “NATO is more united and more unified than ever before. The democracies of the world have grown stronger, not weaker. The autocrats of the world have grown weaker, not stronger.” He added, “Kyiv stands strong, it stands proud, and it stands free.” —Politico [ [link removed] ]
“Our relations have degraded.” Back in Russia, President Vladimir Putin delivered a state of the nation speech, in which he claimed the broken relationship between the U.S. and Russia is “completely and utterly the U.S.’s fault.” He also announced that Moscow is “suspending” its participation in the New START nuclear nonproliferation agreement, the last remaining arms control treaty between the U.S. and Russia. —The Washington Post [ [link removed] ]
A “diplomatic ploy”? Unlike the U.S., China’s ties with Moscow continue to deepen, even as Beijing presents itself to the world as a responsible global leader working to broker peace. Western leaders aren’t buying it. “Who doesn’t want guns to stop firing? Except we have to be incredibly wary of the kind of traps that can be set,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Russia and China have at least one thing in common—they’re both guilty of crimes against humanity [ [link removed] ]. Birds of a feather. —Axios [ [link removed] ]
MORE: Alexander J. Motyl: Russia’s cult of death — [ [link removed] ]The Hill [ [link removed] ]
Bump: MTG’s secession tweet shows why system must change 
“[Marjorie Taylor Greene is] trying to cast Democratic politics in the most stark, most dangerous terms. This is really the crux of her point: that Democrats are so dangerous and so deluded that they must be abandoned. Greene’s politics have been apocalyptic since her explicit QAnon days, and the temperature has not decreased much since. Why would it? Look how close she’s gotten to the centers of power by adopting this approach.” —Philip Bump in The Washington Post [ [link removed] ]
Philip Bump is a national columnist at The Washington Post and the author of “The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America.”
MORE: Cheney blasts Marjorie Taylor Greene's call for a ‘national divorce’ between liberal and conservative states — [ [link removed] ]NBC News [ [link removed] ]
Catoggio: Dominion case reveals Fox News’ quandary
“The astonishing takeaway from all this is how powerless the most powerful conservative media entity in the country felt to influence its own viewers. Fox didn’t behave unethically in order to brainwash its audience; it behaved unethically because its audience had already been brainwashed by less scrupulous propagandists. Its viewers had been conditioned by 25 years of vigorous partisan gatekeeping to expect the media outlets they trust to tell them only what they want to hear and to treat it as a betrayal if they don’t. Had Fox told the truth about the election, it wouldn’t have awakened millions of conservatives to the reality that Trump had lost. Those conservatives would have turned the channel to Newsmax to get the latest about ‘the steal’ and never looked back.” —Nick Catoggio in The Dispatch [ [link removed] ]
Nick Catoggio is a staff writer for The Dispatch and writes the newsletter Boiling Frogs.
MORE: Exclusive: Kevin McCarthy gives Tucker Carlson access to massive trove of Jan. 6 riot tape — [ [link removed] ]Axios [ [link removed] ]
The threat ain’t over yet
If you breathed a sigh of relief last November when secretary of state candidates who denied the result of the 2020 presidential race lost their own elections in three swing states—Arizona, Michigan, and Nevada—you weren’t alone. But while those key states may have dodged a bullet, voters in Alabama, Indiana, South Dakota, and Wyoming elected their deniers. Meanwhile, in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed a secretary of state who has refused, when specifically asked, to say President Biden won the election. These officials will be conducting elections in their states in 2024. Lest that’s not enough to convince you that the danger to democracy is still out there, in Michigan, Republicans have named Kristina Karamo [ [link removed] ] as the state’s next party chair, elevating an election denier to a critical leadership role in the battleground state. —Colorado Newsline [ [link removed] ]
MORE: The bipartisan odd couple banding together to fight election deniers in Arizona — [ [link removed] ]Politico [ [link removed] ]
Edwards-Levy: Americans want ‘someone else’ in 2024
“At first glance, Trump, who launched his third bid for the presidency in November, and Biden, who is yet to officially announce his reelection plans, seem to face similar challenges. Just 44% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents in a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll said they’d prefer to see Trump win the party nomination in 2024, with an even slimmer 31% on the Democratic side saying they’d like to see Biden renominated. … But while many Republicans and Democrats would prefer to see someone else nominated, the vague concept of ‘someone else’ isn’t an eligible challenger for the presidency.” —Ariel Edwards-Levy on CNN [ [link removed] ]
Ariel Edwards-Levy is editor of polling and election analytics at CNN, covering the intersection of politics and public opinion.
MORE: Generational warfare threatens to rock 2024 presidential race — [ [link removed] ]Axios [ [link removed] ]
Elliott: Turning down the temperature with more parties 
“The concentration of ownership of radio and television stations and things like this has reduced the diversity of perspectives that we’ll see articulated in public. It helps to consolidate the stories that are told about our collective life, and I think that that’s a problem. Once you get this polarized train rolling, it is genuinely quite difficult to unpick that development. For my money, I think the most straightforward way of addressing that particular problem would be introducing reforms that would enable the formation of third parties essentially, of multiple parties.” —Kevin Elliott in The UnPopulist [ [link removed] ]
Kevin Elliott is an assistant professor of political science at Murray State University and the author of “Democracy for Busy People.” The excerpt above is a clip from the “Reimagining Liberty” podcast hosted by Aaron Ross Powell for The UnPopulist.
Dr. Bejamin Chavis, the national co-chair of No Labels, wrote that his organization polled people in Florida and found that "they could accept compromise solutions to our biggest problems."
I deeply respect No Labels' efforts to foster compromise and believe it is extremely important. However, the Republican members of the Problem Solvers Caucus, who are No Labels' allies in the House, have done nothing to stop Speaker McCarthy from giving MAGA extremists control of the House's agenda.
When democracy is threatened, we need to stand up in its defense. Otherwise, we may find that we have compromised our way to dictatorship. —Ron W., New York
The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Renew America Foundation.

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