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As Facebook Abandons Fact-Checking, It’s Also Offering Bonuses for Viral Content
Meta decided to stop working with U.S. fact-checkers at the same time as it’s revamping a program to pay bonuses to creators with high engagement numbers, potentially pouring accelerant on the kind of false posts the company once policed.
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U.S. States Push Back Against Possible Election Security Changes
Moves by U.S. President Donald Trump to potentially gut programs aimed at supporting election security are not sitting well with key state election officials, who are now asking the Trump administration to reconsider.
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Deporting Millions of Immigrants Would Shock the U.S. Economy, Increasing Housing, Food and Other Prices
An economy supported by immigrants living illegally in the U.S. protects Americans. The U.S. would be unable to dodge the economic shocks and high costs that mass deportations would bring about.
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From Oligarchs to Cartels: The U.S. Reshapes Global Law Enforcement
DOJ shuts down a special unit focusing on seizing Russian oligarchs’ assets reflects unit. Attorney General Bondi also ended the Foreign Influence Task Force, which was established in Trump’s first administration to police disinformation campaigns by Russia and other state, aiming to sow discord and undermining democracy.
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Is DOGE a Cybersecurity Threat? Explaining the Dangers of Violating Protocols and Regulations That Protect Government Computer Systems
Teams from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are dropping into federal agencies with a practically unlimited mandate to reform the federal government in accordance with recent executive orders. As a 30-year cybersecurity veteran, I find the activities of DOGE thus far concerning. Its broad mandate across government, seemingly nonexistent oversight, and the apparent lack of operational competence of its employees have demonstrated that DOGE could create conditions that are ideal for cybersecurity or data privacy incidents that affect the entire nation.
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U.S. Justice Department Disbands Team Investigating Foreign Election Interference
DOJ is disbanding the Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), established in 2017 to investigate efforts by state actors, such as Russia and China, to influence U.S. public opinion, particularly around elections. Trump has been highly critical of efforts by law enforcement to identify and root out foreign interference in U.S. elections, especially after a report by special counsel Robert Mueller and a bipartisan report of the Senate Intelligence Committee found extensive evidence that Russian influence operations had been mounted to benefit Trump’s candidacy during the 2016 presidential election.
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Blue States Fear Invasion by Red-State National Guard Troops for Deportations
There’s an emerging blue-state nightmare: Inspired by President Donald Trump’s call to round up immigrants who are in the country illegally, Republican governors would send their National Guard troops into Democratic-led states without those leaders’ permission.
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Memory-Holing Jan. 6: What Happens When You Try to Make History Vanish?
The Trump administration’s decision to delete a DOJ database of cases against Capitol riot defendants places those who seek to preserve the historical record in direct opposition to their own government.
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Houston Man Pardoned by Trump Arrested on Child Sex Charge
Andrew Taake received a six-year sentence for assaulting officers on Jan. 6. He was arrested Thursday on an outstanding charge of soliciting a minor. Harris County District Attorney’s office had faxed a copy of Taake’s outstanding warrant to the Federal Bureau of Prisons five days before he was pardoned, but the Bureau ignored it.
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Sweden’s Deadliest Mass Shooting Highlights Global Reality of Gun Violence, Criminologist Says
“We in the United States don’t have a monopoly on mass shootings,” James Alan Fox says, “though we certainly have more than our share.”
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FBI Agents Sue DOJ, Allege Retaliation Over Jan. 6 Cases
FBI agents involved in the Jan. 6 Capital riot investigations have filed lawsuits against the Justice Department, challenging its efforts to survey and identify personnel who participated in high-profile inquiries such as the riot and handling of classified documents at Mar-a-logo.
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Diseased Illegal Immigrants Aren’t “Invading” the United States
My research at the Cato Institute on crime and terrorism committed by illegal immigrants conclusively shows that they commit less crime than native-born Americans and have murdered zero people in domestic attacks since 1975. We also fond no statistically significant relationship between the size of the immigrant population, the illegal immigrant population, or the legal immigrant population and the spread of serious communicable diseases.
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What We Learned from Analyzing 10 Years of Shooting Data
A Trace series challenges what many people might think about gun violence in America. Here is one of the highlights: You’re more likely to be shot in the rural South than in big cities like Chicago.
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A Disaster Expert Explains Why the L.A. Fires Have Been So Catastrophic
As we’re seeing more and more disaster events, it raises questions about risk and whether insurers are going to keep insuring homes in the long run. Increasingly, it seems the answer is no.
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A Wagner Mercenary Who Crossed U.S.-Mexican Border Was Honored in Russia Weeks Before Arrest
A self-confessed veteran of Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group arrested for crossing into the United States from Mexico appears to have been honored as a combat veteran weeks earlier by an organization established by Russian President Valdimir Putin.
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The long view
Are 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.”
The “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.
Luigi 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.”
Autocrats 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.