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ELECTION INTEGRITYTrumps DOJ Wants States to Turn Over Voter Lists, Election Info
The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking the voter registration lists of several states —representing data on millions of Americans —and other election information ahead of the 2026 midterm. The sweeping requests raise fears about how the Trump administration plans to use the information.
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DEPORTATIONS & BUSINESSTrump’s Deportations Could Cost 6M Jobs: Report
President Donald Trump’s deportation plans could cost nearly 6 million jobs, according to a new analysis. The analysis warns that jobs held by both immigrants and US-born workers are at risk.
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EXTREMISMExtremist Groups Uphold Long Tradition of Exploiting National Tragedies for Publicity
While Texas authorities respond to the devastation from the July 4 Hill Country flooding, which has killed at least 119 people and left over 170 still missing, Patriot Front, a Texas-based white supremacist group, is using the disaster to generate positive publicity under the guise of disaster relief.
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IMMIGRTIONDHS Revokes Temporary Protected Status for Two More Latin American Countries
After decades of extensions, DHS will not renew Temporary Protected Status for Honduran and Nicaraguan citizens residing in the U.S., per new agency announcements.
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TARRIFS & NATIONAL SECURITYThe National Security Costs of Trump’s Tariffs
Looking at the national security ledger, the costs of President Donald Trump’s tariffs are starting to become clearer than the benefits, especially for the U.S. defense industry, critical infrastructure, and relations with partners and allies.
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EMERGENCY POWERSEmergency Powers Are for Emergencies
The country thrived for many decades before the creation of most emergency powers. It can do so as well, going forward.
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SURVEILLANCEFlock Safety’s Feature Updates Cannot Make Automated License Plate Readers Safe
Two recent statements from the surveillance company reveal a troubling pattern: when confronted by evidence of widespread abuse, Flock Safety has blamed users, downplayed harms, and doubled down on the very systems that enabled the violations in the first place.
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EXTREMISMWhat is CREC? The Christian Nationalist Group Has a Vision for America − and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Support
CREC theology includes the belief that the establishment clause of the Constitution does not require a separation of church and state. The CREC broadly asserts that the government and anyone serving in it should be Christian. For Wilson and members of CREC churches, this means Christians and only Christians are qualified to hold political office in the United States.
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TRUTH DECAYMost Americans Believe Misinformation Is a Problem — Federal Research Cuts Will Only Make the Problem Worse
Research on misinformation and disinformation has become the latest casualty of the Trump administration’s restructuring of federal research priorities. Following Trump’s executive orde, the National Science Foundation canceled hundreds of grants that supported research on misinformation and disinformation. But Trump’s executive order, instead of providing protections, will likely weaken Americans’ defenses against misinformation and disinformation, whether generated at home or by foreign actors.
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TRUTH DECAYGrok’s ‘White Genocide’ Responses Show How Generative AI Can Be Weaponized
The AI chatbot Grok spent one day in May 2025 spreading debunked conspiracy theories about “white genocide” in South Africa, echoing views publicly voiced by Elon Musk. There has been substantial research on methods for keeping AI from causing harm by avoiding such damaging statements – called AI alignment – but this incident is particularly alarming because it shows how those same techniques can be deliberately abused to produce misleading or ideologically motivated content.
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TRUTH DECAYTrump Has Punished South Africa for Something Its Government Has Not Done
The US president has claimed the South African government is seizing land from white farmers. The reality is much more mundane.
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GUNSGuns Kill More U.S. Children Than Other Causes, but State Policies Can Help, Study Finds
More American children and teens die from firearms than any other cause. Black children, especially, suffer when laws allow more guns to circulate, researchers found. There are more deaths — and wider racial disparities — in states with more permissive gun policies, according to a new study.
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RISKY POLICINGTrump’s Military Response to Protests: A Conversation on Law and Precedent
“The federalized response to riots in Los Angeles will inspire demonstrations in other cities, not just against ICE and its tactics, but against the use of military forces in civilian law enforcement. If those demonstrations turn violent, they could lure the president to use military forces elsewhere within the United States—creating a dangerous feedback loop with a very uncertain ending,” says Peter Mansour.
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ARGUMENT: THE MILITARY & IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENTThe Mounting Crisis of Militarizing Immigration Enforcement
President Donald Trump has federalized 2,000 California National Guard troops to quell immigration protests pursuant to an obscure provision in federal law–10 USC §12406–which has not been used since 1970, when President Richard Nixon federalized the Guard to deliver mail during a postal strike. William Banks and Mark Nevitt write that “the last time the National Guard was federalized over a governor’s objection was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson deployed the Guard to Selma, Alabama to protect civil rights demonstrators.”
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IMMIGRATIONTrump’s Lawless, Baseless Immigration Ban
President Trump signed a proclamation that, with few exceptions, bans nineteen nationalities from entering the United States, supposedly based on “security” concerns, and went into effect on June 9. The president claims that there is no way to vet these immigrants. Yet that is precisely what his consular officers and border officials were successfully doing for decades—up until June 9.
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The long view
ARGUMENT: AI-DESIGNED BIOWEAPONS LOOMAre We Ready for a ‘DeepSeek for Bioweapons’?
Anthropic’s Claude 4 is a warning sign: AI that can help build bioweapons is coming, and could be widely available soon. Steven Adler writes that we need to be prepared for the consequences: “like a freely downloadable ‘DeepSeek for bioweapons,’ available across the internet, loadable to the computer of any amateur scientist who wishes to cause mass harm. With Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 having finally triggered this level of safety risk, the clock is now ticking.”
IMMIGRATIONThe “Invasion” Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy
The Trump administration is using the claim that immigrants have “invaded” the country to justify possibly suspending habeas corpus, part of the constitutional right to due process. A faction of the far right has been building this case for years.
ARGUMENT: A KILLER, NOT A TERRORISTLuigi Mangione and the Making of a ‘Terrorist’
Discretion is crucial to the American tradition of criminal law, Jacob Ware and Ania Zolyniak write, noting that “lawmakers enact broader statutes to empower prosecutors to pursue justice while entrusting that they will stay within the confines of their authority and screen out the inevitable “absurd” cases that may arise.” Discretion is also vital to maintaining the legitimacy of the legal system. In the prosecution’s case against Luigi Mangione, they charge, “That discretion was abused.”
DEMOCRACY WATCHAutocrats Don’t Act Like Hitler or Stalin Anymore − Instead of Governing with Violence, They Use Manipulation
Modern autocrats don’t always resemble their 20th-century predecessors. Instead, they project a polished image, avoid overt violence and speak the language of democracy. They wear suits, hold elections and talk about the will of the people. Rather than terrorizing citizens, many use media control and messaging to shape public opinion and promote nationalist narratives. Many gain power not through military coups but at the ballot box.