OUR PICKSIslamist Terrorism Has Taken on a New, Insidious Form | 4chan Is Dead. Its Toxic Legacy Is Everywhere | DOGE Is Building a Master Database to Surveil and Track Immigrants, and more

Islamist Terrorism Has Taken on a New, Insidious Form  (Liam Duffy, CAPX)
CEP Strategic Advisor Liam Duffy writes: While the official counter-terror lexicon of most states labels such outbursts as ‘Islamist terrorism’, what authorities usually mean by that is the jihadist violence of the likes of Al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS). Among the steady trickle of stabbings or vehicle-ramming attacks, there are indeed those either claimed by IS – such as the 2024 Solingen mass stabbings – or those attributed to IS by the perpetrator, such as the vehicle ramming in New Orleans which ushered in the New Year. There are also those where the mental health of the attacker does indeed seem the most pertinent factor.

Trump’s Red-Hot War on Terror  (Economist)
Strikes against jihadis are surging. Is it 2001 all over again?

A ‘Neo-Nazi’ Allegedly Planned to Kill Trump. Federal Cuts Could Slow Foiling Similar Plots.  (Ja’han Jones, MSNBC)
A newly unsealed affidavit from the FBI alleges that a Wisconsin teenager charged with killing his parents earlier this year also appears to be a white supremacist who plotted to set off a race war by assassinating President Donald Trump. The affidavit alleges 17-year-old Nikita Casap of Waukesha, Wisconsin, killed his parents in February to “obtain the financial means and autonomy necessary” to carry out his plan of killing the president. He hoped the assassination would cause the United States to collapse, an outcome he claimed was necessary to topple the “Jewish occupied” government and save the white race, according to a document the FBI referred to as Casap’s “manifesto.”

4chan Is Dead. Its Toxic Legacy Is Everywhere  (Ryan Broderick, Wired)
It’s likely that there will never be a site like 4chan again. But everything now—from X and YouTube to global politics—seems to carry its toxic legacy.

DOGE Is Building a Master Database to Surveil and Track Immigrants  (Makena Kelly and Vittoria Elliott, Wired)
DOGE is knitting together data from the Department of Homeland Security, Social Security Administration, and IRS that could create a surveillance tool of unprecedented scope.

Trump Fires at the Fed. America’s Economy Is Collateral Damage  (Economist)
The president may test legal bounds as he tries to sway Jerome Powell.