International travel may return this summer

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President Biden will deliver his first address to a joint session of Congress, essentially a State of the Union speech, on Wednesday evening and reach his 100th day in office on Thursday. Polls ([link removed]) show that, so far, Biden has received high marks from the American public on pandemic management, middling marks on the economy and infrastructure, and low marks on border management. His overall approval hovers around 52%—not exactly overwhelming, but then again, not surprising either, given the hyperpartisan nature of U.S. politics. What's your opinion of the job Biden is doing? Share your thoughts ([link removed]) with us for possible inclusion in an issue of THE TOPLINE this week.

Also this week, share THE TOPLINE with a friend ([link removed]) . If they subscribe by May 1, we'll send you a TOPLINE sports bottle. —Melissa Amour, Managing Editor

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** Come fly with me
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Pack your bags. Your dream vacation abroad might be just a couple months away. American tourists who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be able to visit the European Union over the summer, the head of the bloc's executive body said yesterday, more than a year after shutting down nonessential travel to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, did not offer a timeline or details, but she noted that the U.S. was "on track" and making "huge progress" with its campaign to vaccinate 70% of American adults by mid-June. —The New York Times ([link removed])
* — Winding down. As of Saturday, 138.6 million people in the U.S. have received at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, with about 1.3 million more getting a first dose every day. Six weeks from now, more than half of the population of the U.S. and its territories will have had a dose. That may be sufficient to see a significant impact on U.S. caseloads. The U.S. is currently about where Israel's vaccine campaign was in mid-February, three weeks before cases there began to plunge. —Bloomberg ([link removed])
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* — Skipping the second dose? As the country wrestles with the problem of vaccine hesitancy, local health authorities are confronting an emerging challenge—ensuring that those who do get inoculated are doing so fully. More than five million Americans have missed their second doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some who've skipped their second dose say they fear the side effects, while others say they feel sufficiently protected with a single shot. —The New York Times ([link removed])
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* — Help to India. The Biden Administration said that it will immediately send raw materials required to manufacture vaccines, as well as therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators, and protective equipment, to India as it works to counter a tsunami of COVID-19 cases. In recent weeks, India has endured a staggering rise in infections and deaths, setting global records for daily cases. —CNBC ([link removed])

MORE: Johnson & Johnson vaccine back after 10-day pause —NBC News ([link removed])


** Manchin plays key role in infrastructure showdown
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Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said he would support a more targeted version of President Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure package before focusing on other items as part of a separate plan. "When you start putting so much into one bill, which we call an omnibus bill, [it] makes it very, very difficult for the public to understand," Manchin said yesterday. He also praised the Republicans' counteroffer proposal, calling it "a good start." The GOP proposal, at a fraction of the cost of the Biden plan, excludes Democratic goals like care for elderly and disabled Americans. Manchin said a bipartisan proposal should tackle traditional infrastructure issues, such as repairing roads and bridges. —CNBC ([link removed])

MORE: With Manchin in the limelight, West Virginia's other senator seizes her moment —Politico ([link removed])


** Ghitis: So many questions remain about Jan. 6
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"What exactly was the endgame in this assault? What did the fervently pro-Trump mob plan? How much did Trump—who promoted the day's event on Twitter, where he wrote, 'Big protest in DC on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!'—know about those plans? Who else was involved? These are not idle questions. ... The events of Jan. 6 demand an exhaustive, impartial investigation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has proposed one in the mold of the 9/11 Commission. The Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, however, says any commission should also look into 'violent disturbances around the country last year'—a mandate that would dilute the commission's work." —Frida Ghitis on ([link removed]) CNN ([link removed])

Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist and analyst. She is the author of "The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live Television."

MORE: Capitol riot probes home in on Oath Keepers —The Hill ([link removed])


** Not every case is the same
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Democratic Rep. Val Demings, a former Orlando, Fla., police chief, said yesterday that the police officer who fatally shot teenager Ma'Khia Bryant in Ohio last Tuesday "responded as he was trained to do." Body cam video shows Bryant swinging a knife at another individual before being shot by Ofc. Nicholas Reardon. Demings said Reardon's conduct would still be protected under the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would restrain police officers from using excessive force unless a third party were in danger. "The overwhelming majority of law enforcement officers in this nation are good people who go to work every day to protect and serve our communities," Demings added. —The Guardian ([link removed])

MORE: Justice Department opens policing probe over Breonna Taylor death —Associated Press ([link removed])
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** Ibrahim & Jaiman: To defend democracy, we must protect truth online
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"At least five states have adopted laws to ban deepfakes in some contexts. At the federal level, the U.S. Congress passed several laws in quick succession on deepfakes, including the Deepfake Report Act, sponsored by Sen. Rob Portman. These are important steps, but we should not focus solely on reactive countermeasures—penalizing propagators of false media or trying to detect forgeries after the fact. We need technologies that can help us prove what is true rather than detect what is fake. One way to do this may be through media provenance, which can help build a trusted information ecosystem." —Mounir Ibrahim & Ashish Jaiman in The Hill ([link removed])

Mounir Ibrahim is the vice president of strategic initiatives for Truepic, a leader in provenance media capture. Ashish Jaiman is the director of technology and operations in the Defending Democracy Program at Microsoft, focusing on disinformation and deepfakes defense.


** Focus on the anti-democracy movement
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With so many congressional Republicans now firmly in the anti-democracy camp, a pro-democracy conservative group is launching an effort to track and evaluate which Republicans have acted to either undermine or uphold democracy and democratic values. Today, the Republican Accountability Project is releasing its first "GOP Democracy Report Card," assigning grades to Republican members of Congress based on their commitment to democracy. ([link removed])
* — The Republican Accountability Project, led by conservatives who were outspoken in their opposition to Donald Trump's re-election, operates as part of Defending Democracy Together, an advocacy organization founded by conservative Trump critics Bill Kristol and Sarah Longwell. ([link removed])
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* — The grades, from A to F, are based on four criteria: 1) whether a GOP lawmaker objected to the Electoral College certification, 2) whether they voted to acquit Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection, 3) whether they have publicly cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 election, and 4) whether they signed on to a Texas lawsuit that sought to overturn the election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. ([link removed])
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* — Only 14 Republicans in Congress received an "A," including Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney and House GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney. More than 100 Republicans received an "F," including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, House GOP Whip Steve Scalise, and Rep. Mo Brooks, who has announced that he is running for Senate. —CNN ([link removed])

MORE: The fading GOP establishment moves to support Cheney as Trump attacks and McCarthy keeps his distance —The Washington Post ([link removed])


** Hasen: Suppression isn't the only voting threat
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"A new, more dangerous front has opened in the voting wars, and it's going to be much harder to counteract than the now-familiar fight over voting rules. At stake is something I never expected to worry about in the United States: the integrity of the vote count. The danger of manipulated election results looms." —Richard Hasen in The New York Times ([link removed])

Richard Hasen is a professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of "Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy."

MORE: New judge assigned to oversee challenge to GOP vote audit in Arizona —The Hill ([link removed])

Not only should Washington, D.C., be granted statehood (with all federal offices and buildings still designated as federal property), so should Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The United States should not have permanently inhabited territories. Their residents all deserve the full rights and privileges of citizenship, including full representation in the Senate and the House. —Alex V. via Facebook

Re: Comment from Kimberly D. from Georgia. I respectfully disagree. D.C. can be a state as easily and recognizably as any. If we use such a rule as a guideline, then Singapore is a city only, and not a country. Malaysia or Indonesia should run things? —Steven B., Florida
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** 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 Stand Up Republic Foundation.
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