OUR PICKSICE Collected Nearly 1 Million People’s DNA Last Year | Fix Legal Immigration and Enforcement Takes Care of Itself | The Book That Predicted Pete Hegseth’s Failures, and more

ICE Collected Nearly 1 Million People’s DNA Last Year—Including Young Children  (Dhruv Mehrotra, Wired)
Internal documents show ICE’s DNA collection has skyrocketed in the second Trump administration. Now hundreds of thousands of people never convicted of a crime are in an FBI criminal database forever.

The Book That Predicted Pete Hegseth’s Failures  (Keith Johnson, Foreign Policy)
On the Psychology of Military Incompetence examines the narrow minds of petty men.

Trump’s Biggest Challenge to American Democracy  (Howard W. French, Foreign Policy)
The corruption crisis may be the most important source of rot in the U.S. system.

Trump Administration Revives Conspiracy Theories About Cuba’s Alleged Manipulation of Activism in the U.S.  (Aaron Coy Moulton, The Conversation)
For nearly 70 years, Cuba has “waged a sustained campaign of subversion against the United States,” according to a newly released State Department report.
“Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism” sounds an alarm without offering any new insights into Cuban intelligence operations or explaining how the Caribbean island could be undermining its northern neighbor when its own economy is on the verge of collapse.
Instead, the State Department re-ups an old conspiracy theory that partly blames Cuba’s communist leaders for contemporary U.S. social conflicts, such as the widespread protests held after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and what it calls “the rise of Antifa.”
It seems absurd that the Cuban government, which can’t afford to import the oil it needs for its economy to function, would be able to afford to do this meddling now, if it ever could. But the report doesn’t delve into how Cuba can possibly be masterminding activism in the U.S. while struggling to get the lights back on at home.

Why MAGA Really Hates Fauci  (Peter Wehner, The Atlantic)
In the aftermath of pandemics, people either try to forget them or find others to blame for them.

Trump’s Déjà-Vu Moment on Birthright Citizenship  (David A. Graham, The Atlantic)
The president’s latest attempt to limit who is an American by birth is plagued by weak legal arguments and nonsensical claims.

A Civilian Plane Crashed in New Mexico. Was the Military’s Tech to Blame?  (Jeff Wise, Wired)
Drone warfare is making the skies more dangerous, even for airplanes far from the battlefield.

Fix Legal Immigration and Enforcement Takes Care of Itself  (David J. Bier, CATO / Washington Examiner)
Congress should junk the artificial Soviet-style immigration quotas in favor of a flexible market-based system that responds to the economic needs of the country.