OUR PICKSAbortion Ruling & Violence | Giving Old Dams New Life | Curbing Domestic Terrorism, and more
· U.S. Warns Abortion Ruling Could Increase Extremist Violence
· The Hunt: Connection Between Buffalo Shooting and Christchurch, New Zealand, Terror Attack
· House Passes Legislation Aimed at Curbing Domestic Terrorism in Wake of Buffalo Mass Shooting
· Islamic State in Afghanistan Building Capability to Strike on US Soil, Pentagon IG Says
· Giving Old Dams New Life Could Spark an Energy Boom
· Tech Firms Ask U.S. Supreme Court to Block Texas Social Media law
· State to Gain More Ability to Monitor DOD Cyber Ops Under White House Agreement
U.S. Warns Abortion Ruling Could Increase Extremist Violence (Associated Press)
The leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion striking down the constitutional right to abortion has unleashed a wave of threats against officials and others and increased the likelihood of extremist violence, an internal government report says.
Violence could come from either side of the abortion issue or from other types of extremists seeking to exploit tensions, according to a memo directed to local government agencies from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis.
It’s an added element to what is already a volatile environment in the U.S., where authorities have warned repeatedly over the past two years that the threat posed by domestic extremists, such as the gunman who committed the racist attack over the weekend in Buffalo, has surpassed the danger from abroad.
The Hunt: Connection Between Buffalo Shooting and Christchurch, New Zealand, Terror Attack (J. J. Green, WTOP News)
Dr. Hans Jakob-Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project, discusses the link between the Buffalo, New York, shooting and the Christchurch, New Zealand, terror attack.”
House Passes Legislation Aimed at Curbing Domestic Terrorism in Wake of Buffalo Mass Shooting (Washington Post)
The House on Wednesday passed legislation that would create domestic terrorism offices across three federal agencies, spurred by alarm over the rise in incidents of homegrown violent extremism in recent years. Rep. Bradley Schneider (D-Ill.) pushed for a vote on the bill, known as the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, in the wake of Saturday’s mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo. Eleven of the 13 people shot were Black, and authorities are investigating the incident as a hate crime and a case of racially motivated violent extremism. The measure was approved on a 222-to-203 vote. One Republican, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), joined all Democrats present in voting “yes.” The legislation’s future remains uncertain in the Senate, where Democrats have the slimmest of majorities and a unanimous vote on similar legislation was blocked by Republicans two years ago. (Cont.)
