• Taking Fresh Shot, Again, at Debunking Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories

    “The Conspiracy,” which premiered in New York in November, traces the origins of one of the world’s oldest and most persistent, dangerous, anti-Semitic theories, and the impact these myths had on three prominent families caught in these theories’ web during the past 200 years.

  • Calls for More Progress on Space Governance Growing Louder

    Space may seem infinite, but the narrow band that hugs the Earth, where satellites and space stations operate, is not. A recent RAND study described it as congested, contested, and littered with debris. Tens of thousands of additional satellites are scheduled to launch in the next few years, the vanguard of a new space era. Existing space treaties won’t be enough to keep them safe, to prevent crowding and collisions, and to preserve the promise of outer space.

  • Arrests in January 6 U.S. Capitol Attack Top 950

    Almost two years after the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, the number of people arrested the sprawling federal investigation into the riot has crossed 950. That number represents less than half of an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 supporters of former President Donald Trump believed to have breached the Capitol as lawmakers met to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.

  • Far-Left Extremist Groups in the United States

    Far-left extremism in the United States was most active during the period between the 1960s and 1980s. In the 1990s, a new type of left-extremism began to emerge – what the FBI calls “special-interest extremism,” as expressed by groups such as the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and Earth Liberation Front (ELF). The far left encompasses multiple ideologies, but security experts believe that a large percentage of far-left radicals subscribe to at least one of three main classifications: anarchism, communism/socialism/Marxism, and autonomous radicals.

  • Is Ranked Choice Voting Constitutional?

    Aside from whether ranked choice voting (RCV) is a good idea as policy or not, the question is sometimes raised whether it’s consistent with the U.S. Constitution.

  • U.S. Gun Violence Soars in 2022

    Across America, gun violence surged in many communities in 2022 as overall death rates from firearms rose to the highest level in nearly three decades. The year saw a near-record number of mass casualty shooting incidents, including several motivated by hate.

  • SCOTUS Mulls the Independent State Legislature (ISL) Theory

    The United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments on 7 December in what is widely seen as one of the most significant cases in the country’s history to address fundamental questions of federalism. The case, Moore v. Harper,implicates what the Constitution means when it delegates to each state’s legislature the job of regulating congressional elections and the appointment of presidential electors.

  • U.S. Supreme Court Rules to Keep Title 42 for Now

    The court ordered the Biden administration to continue enforcing the policy while Texas and other states that want to keep the Trump-era rule in place prepare their legal arguments.

  • Protecting Democracy: Jan. 6 Panel’s Recommendations, Proposed Reforms

    On Thursday, 22 December, the House committee examining last year’s attack on the U.S. Capitol issued its long-awaited final report. The final report also proposes eleven reforms aiming to ensure that Trump’s attempt to subvert the will of the voters and prevent the peaceful transition of power from one president to the next would not be repeated.

  • Congress Passes Legislation That Will Close Off Presidential Election Mischief and Help Avoid Another Jan. 6

    Presidential elections are complicated. But in a move aimed at warding off future crises like the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, the Senate and House have passed legislation to clarify ambiguous and trouble-prone aspects of the process.

  • Cryptocurrency Crashes Recall the Wild Days of “Free Banking”

    The U.S. used to have hundreds of unregulated private currencies backed by shaky assets. Sound familiar?

  • Washington’s Semiconductor Sanctions Won’t Slow China’s Military Build-Up

    Advanced semiconductors underpin everything from autonomous vehicles to hypersonic weapon systems. Chips are imperative to the defense industry and technologies of the future. By targeting this critical input, the Biden administration aims to freeze China’s semiconductor suite at 2022 levels and impede its military development. Despite the bleak short-term outlook, it is wrong to assume that US controls will hobble China for years.

  • The Right Time for Chip Export Controls

    On Oct. 7, the U.S.-China tech competition heated up dramatically when the Biden administration imposed wide-ranging semiconductor-related export controls on China. Martijn Rasser and Kevin Wolf write that “There is no crystal ball that can divine the outcome, given how unprecedented and wide ranging these actions are.” They add: “The Biden administration made the right call by acting now, particularly if it is successful at getting allied cooperation on the essence of the rules soon.”

  • Germany's Far-Right Populist AfD and the 'Reichsbürger' Movement

    After a raid on members of a plot to violently overthrow the German state, questions are being asked about the links between the “Reichsbürger” movement the plotters belonged to, and the far-right populist AfD.

  • Congress Aims to Close Off Presidential Election Mischief and Fraud with Simple and Bipartisan Solutions

    There are known weaknesses in these rules for how we administer presidential elections and tabulate results in Congress. That’s why a bipartisan group of congressional leaders now aims to pass reforms to the 1887 law governing this process, the Electoral Count Act, before the end of 2022.