Our picksFighting white supremacists; sci-fi and Star Wars; two faces of Al Qaeda, and more

The federal government hasn’t abandoned fighting white supremacist terror (Will Carless, RevealNews)
In the early months of President Donald Trump’s administration, there was a lot of controversy surrounding a Department of Homeland Security program called Countering Violent Extremism.
Now, almost two years later, we decided to check on the program to see how things have panned out.
First, some background: Last year, we showed how anti-hate groups had been stiffed out of millions of dollars by the program, which issues about $10 million in grants for grassroots organizations that work to deter people from joining extremist organizations, under the Trump administration.
Trump planned to rename the effort “Countering Islamic Extremism,” a move that mirrored the president and his closest advisers’ fiery rhetoric on Islam.
In response, in February 2017, a dozen Democratic senators expressed dismay at the changing direction of the program. They worried that taking the focus away from white supremacists and other homegrown extremists “would severely damage our credibility with foreign allies and partners as an honest broker in the fight against violent extremism, and prove divisive in communities across our country,” the senators wrote.
So what does the program look like now?

Do gun laws affect the rate of shooting deaths? (Miles Kohrman, The Trace)
The answer’s complicated.

How sci-fi Like “WarGames” led to real policy during the Reagan administration (Kevin Bankston, Slate)
From hacking legislation to missile defense.

Is China interfering in American politics? (Rush Doshi, Robert D. Williams, Lawfare)
Speaking before the General Assembly of the United Nations on Sept. 26, President Trump issued an incendiary charge against China. “We have found,” the president declared, “that China has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 election…against my administration.”
Trump’s allegations of election interference call to mind Russia’s brazen meddling in the 2016 presidential election. But while his claims should not be dismissed out of hand, the reality is more complex than his comments suggest. China is indeed pursuing influence efforts in the United States and elsewhere, but these differ from Russia’s in important respects. (Cont.)