OUR PICKS LAST WEEKThe Crisis of Democracy Is Here | America Is Botching Measles | The American Path to Competitive Advantage |Geothermal: An Energy Source We Can Agree On?, and more
EXTREMISM
· Elon Musk’s X Refused to Give Users’ Details to Police After Southport Riots
· German AfD Party Grows Parliamentary Clout, Sparking Concern
· Hard-Right Parties Are Now Europe’s Most Popular
· Neo-Nazi Group Plots Rebuild as Trump’s FBI Chief Takes Helm, Audio Reveals
· Mexico’s President Warns U.S. Against Invading to Fight Cartels After Washington Designates Them as Terrorist Groups
· Inadequate Information Released After Southport Attack by Authorities, Says Terror Law Reviewer
· Why Hate Speech Is Punishable by Law in Germany
· “Unappetizing”: AfD Election Advertising on Amazon Leads Directly to Reich Citizens Articles
· Following US Lead, Canada Designates 7 Latin American Criminal Groups as Terrorist Entities
· Confronting Global Terrorism: A Data-Driven Analysis of Tactics, Weapons, and Trends Using GTTAC
· Mexico Eyes Constitutional Reform After U.S. Terrorism Designations
· US Declares Tren De Aragua, Other Cartels Are Global Terrorist Organizations
· Australia’s Growing Youth Radicalization
DEMOCRACY WATCH
· In Trump’s Washington, a Moscow-Like Chill Takes Hold
· One Word Describes Trump
· Judge Questions Constitutionality of DOGE, Musk’s Role
· 3 Ways Trump Is Acting Like a King and Bypassing the Constitution’s Checks and Balances on Presidential Authority
· Trump, Putin and the Authoritarian Take on Constitutionalism
· Only 6% of Gen Z Actually Favor Dictatorship –Not Half, as Some Reports Would Have You Believe
· Trump Administration Sets Out to Create an America Its People Have Never Experienced − One without a Meaningful Government
· Donald Trump Should Not Replace Us with His Stooges, Warns a Fired Inspector-General
· Musk and Republican Lawmakers Pressure Judges with Impeachment Threats
· Can Elon Musk Find Any Fraud Before Trump’s Base Notices the Con?
· What the Choice of Dan Bongino Could Mean for Kash Patel’s FBI Vision
· DOGE’s Grab of Personal Data Stokes Privacy and Security Fears
· January 6 Still Happened
· Washington Post Cancels Ad from Groups Calling for Trump to Fire Musk
· A Guide to the Trump Administration Lexicon
· Bannon Salute at Right-Wing Event Sparks Outcry, Even on French Right
· Trump Officials Attack a German Consensus on Nazis and Speech
· The Dangers of Presidential Impoundment
· Trump Official Destroying USAID Secretly Met with Christian Nationalists Abroad in Defiance of U.S. Policy
· Trump Vowed to Clean Up Washington, Then His Team Hired a Man Who Pushed a Scam the IRS Called the “Worst of the Worst”
· Elon Musk Is Leading a “Hostile Takeover of the Federal Government”
· Bolsonaro’s Indictment Over Alleged Coup Plot Signals Shift in Brazil’s Approach to Political Accountability
· Donald Trump: The Would-be King
· Trump Administration Brings Fear of Censorship to Arts Scene
· Donald Trump Is Taking Presidential Power to Alarming Places
· Donald Trump Is a Reckless President, but Not Yet a Lawless One
· MAGA Has Found a New Model
· FBI Agents Association Sounds Alarm Over Potential Mass Firing of New Agents
· AP Sues White House Officials Over Denial of Access
NEW RISKS
· Musk’s “5 Things” Email Mandate a “Nightmare” Risk, Cyber Officials Say
· Donald Trump’s Economic Delusions Are Already Hurting America
· It Is Not the Economic Impact of Tariffs That Is Most Worrying
· Pentagon Cuts Threaten Programs That Secure Loose Nukes and Weapons of Mass Destruction
· Inside U.S. Spy Agencies, Workers Fear a Cataclysmic Trump Cull
· What Erratic Government Does to a Country
· How Dan Bongino Went from Infowars to FBI Deputy Director
· Here Are the Digital Clues to What Musk Is Really Up To
· How Elon Musk Executed His Takeover of the Federal Bureaucracy
· Trump’s Cuts Come with Risks. Including From Volcanoes.
· Trump’s FDA Cuts Are Putting Drug Development at Risk
· Trump’s Chilling Effect on Medical Research
· How Dan Bongino Would Run the F.B.I., According to Dan Bongino
· DOGE Is Working on Software That Automates the Firing of Government Workers
· CDC Layoffs Strike Deeply at Its Ability to Respond to the Current Flu, Norovirus and Measles Outbreaks and Other Public Health Emergencies
· Hegseth Has All the Wrong Enemies
· How Dan Bongino Went from Infowars to FBI Deputy Director
· Here Are the Digital Clues to What Musk Is Really Up To
· How Elon Musk Executed His Takeover of the Federal Bureaucracy
· U.S. Digital Disarmament Gives Russia Free Rein in Cyberspace. Bad Idea.
· The New Meaning of “Munich”
· A Friday-Night Massacre at the Pentagon
· Trump Cuts Target Next Generation of Scientists and Public Health Leaders
· How the Trump Administration Could End a Century of American Scientific Dominance
· Should We Worry About DOGE Controlling the U.S. Payment System?
· Trump Begins Firings of FAA Air Traffic Control Staff Just Weeks After Fatal DC Plane Crash
· Social Security Head Steps Down Over DOGE Access of Recipient Information: AP Sources
THE LONG VIEW
· Yes, America Is Europe’s Enemy Now
· The Crisis of Democracy Is Here
· Censored Science Can’t Save Lives
· America Is Botching Measles
· Recent Virus Research Should Raise Alarm
· Artificial Intelligence Can Be America’s Strategic Advantage
· In Texas Measles Outbreak, Signs of a Riskier Future for Children
· Geothermal: An Energy Source We Can Agree On?
MORE PICKS
· Army Corps Knew Trump Order Would Waste California Water, Memo Shows
· A Sensitive Complex Housing a CIA Facility Was on GSA’s List of US Properties for Sale
· Trump’s Spy Chief Urged to Declassify Details of Secret Surveillance Program
· CDC Plans Study on Vaccines and Autism Despite Research Showing No Link
· A Thousand Snipers in the Sky: The New War in Ukraine
· Trump’s Armed Forces Won’t Look Like Biden’s
· What the U.K. Wants from Apple Will Make Our Phones Less Safe
· Farmers Sue USDA After Agency Deletes Climate Change Data
· “Unknown Disease” That Can Kill Within Days Leaves 53 Dead in Congo
· The American Path to Competitive Advantage
· Trump Plans to Use Military Sites Across the Country to Detain Undocumented Immigrants
· Los Angeles Mayor Ousts Fire Chief for Response to Deadly Fires
· Nearly 100 Cases of Measles Reported in Texas, New Mexico
· In Texas, Vaccine-Choice Activists Are Ascendant
· Only Asia Can Help America Counter China’s Shipbuilding Prowess
EXTREMISM
Elon Musk’s X Refused to Give Users’ Details to Police After Southport Riots ((James Titcomb, The Telegraph)
Social media company complied with less than half authorities’ requests for information.
German AfD Party Grows Parliamentary Clout, Sparking Concern (Hans Pfeifer, DW)
After coming second in Germany’s recent election, the far-right AfD party now holds even more parliaments seats than before. Constitutional experts are worried.
Hard-Right Parties Are Now Europe’s Most Popular (Economist)
But our number crunching shows that they have mostly been kept out of power.
Neo-Nazi Group Plots Rebuild as Trump’s FBI Chief Takes Helm, Audio Reveals (Ben Makuch, Guardian)
An international neo-Nazi terrorist group with origins in the US appears to be quickly rebuilding its global and stateside ranks, according to information obtained by the Guardian from its digital accounts. Founded in 2018, the Base has been the intense focus of a years-long FBI counter-terrorism investigation that has resulted in more than a dozen of its members arrested. It has plotted an assassination, mass shootings and other actions in Europe, which made it a proscribed terrorist organization in several countries. By 2022, it seemed to disappear. Yet its founder and leader, Rinaldo Nazzaro, a former US special forces contractor residing in Russia, used the safety of Russian apps before the November election to recruit and reorganize during a tense political moment.
Mexico’s President Warns U.S. Against Invading to Fight Cartels After Washington Designates Them as Terrorist Groups (CBS News)
Mexico will never tolerate an invasion of its national sovereignty by the United States, President Claudia Sheinbaum warned Thursday after Washington designated Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations.
“This cannot be an opportunity for the U.S. to invade our sovereignty,” she said. “With Mexico it is collaboration and coordination, never subordination or interventionism, and even less invasion.”