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The Retribution Has Begun  (Peter Beinart, New York Times)
When historians look back on this moment in American history, the date that may stand out to them is not Sept. 10, when a gunman took the conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s life. They may focus instead on Sept. 15, when the vice president of the United States promised that the federal government would use the assassination to begin cracking down on leftist organizations.
On that day, while guest hosting “The Charlie Kirk Show,” a podcast, JD Vance pledged that the Trump administration would “go after the NGO network that foments, facilitates and engages in violence,” though he provided no evidence that progressive nongovernmental organizations do any such thing. One of his guests on the show, Stephen Miller, President Trump’s top policy advisor, vowed to “uproot and dismantle these terrorist networks.” It is this use of antiterror rhetoric to outlaw political opponents that makes the current moment distinct. Not the domestic terrorism itself.
When Mr. Miller declared on Aug. 25 that the Democratic Party was “a domestic extremist organization,” he was presaging a crackdown not merely against anti-government activists but against the nation’s opposition political party itself. It’s that state-led repression that historians will remember when they look back upon this time.

The Kids Hit Hardest by RFK Jr.’s Anti-Vax Crusade  (By Nicholas Florko, The Atlantic)
America is on the cusp of a two-tiered vaccine system.

Is Antifa a Terrorist Group?  (G. LaFree, Society)
Starting in 2016, a number of protests and physical confrontations aimed at individuals and groups associated with right wing politics in the United States have been attributed to an ill-defined entity called “antifa”: short for anti-fascist. A high profile example took place in Charlottseville, Virginia on August 11-12, 2017. During two days of conflict and violence, anti right wing protesters clashed with right wing supporters. During the second day of the confrontation, a right-wing supporter drove a car into a crowd of protesters, killing one person and injuring 35 others. While many antifa supporters see it as a defense against right wing extremism, some on the right view supporters instead as terrorists. (Cont.)