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 Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/GettyGroucho Marx famously said that he refused to join any club that would have him for a member. It would be good for the United States delegation to this week's Democracy Summit to let the spirit of that remark guide it there.
For the summit, which will virtually host 110 countries, to be of any real value, it needs to establish real benefits for being a democracy, penalties for not being one, incentives to promote democracy, and standards high enough to preclude faux democracies, non-democracies and fading democracies from participating.
And that includes us.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
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 Anna Moneymaker/GettyAs Russian President Vladimir Putin toys with another invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden and other world leaders are hoping one piece of leverage could dissuade Putin from a military advance: the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Nord Stream 2 is a natural gas pipeline stretching from Russia to Germany that's completed but not yet pumping gas. The pipeline could provide billions in revenue for Moscow and Putin allies, and shutting down the pipeline would only be part of the economic sanctions that Biden and others are preparing for Russia if the country once again invades Ukraine.
And yet, many lawmakers on Capitol Hill think the United States should shut down the pipeline now regardless of what Putin does.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Two dozen members of Congress are calling on Google to reinstate advertisements from Live Action, a non-profit pro-life organization, which promoted Heartbeat International's Abortion Pill Reversal (APR) hotline.
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With potential for gerrymandering and control of the U.S. House at stake, state legislatures and independent commissions are drawing new U.S. House and state legislative boundaries.
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 Chinese and Russian state media are working in overdrive to denigrate the Biden administration's Summit for Democracy taking place this week, calling the project hypocritical.
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Since Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted under claims of self-defense for fatally shooting two people and wounding a third during racial justice protests last year in Kenosha, Wisconsin, another case in the city is drawing new national attention. Human rights advocates are calling for charges to be dropped in the case of Chrystul Kizer, who faces homicide and other charges for killing her white sex trafficker in 2018 after he drugged her and tried to rape her when she was just 17-years-old. Court records show police knew Randall Volar had a history of sexually abusing underage Black girls. Although the court initially ruled Kizer could not use a self-defense argument, an appellate court reversed the decision and the Wisconsin Supreme Court will now consider the ruling. "It has huge ramifications for her, but it also has a huge potential impact for other victims of trafficking," says reporter Anne Branigin. "We have a very clear case where we are not receiving the same support, the same outcry from folks who got behind Kyle Rittenhouse to defend this young Black woman," says Wisconsin state representative David Bowen. "She was trying to defend herself to get out of the sex trafficking she was being abused with."
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