• ELECTION INTEGRIITYSome Republican States Resist DOJ Demand for Private Voter Data

    By Jonathan Shorman

    The U.S. Department of Justice asked states for copies of their full voter lists, including sensitive personal data. Critics fear Trump would use the data to target political opponents or hype the v vanishingly rare cases of noncitizen voting. These critics include several Republican secretaries of state in Red states.

  • RADICALIZATIONCharlie Kirk Shooting Suspect Had Ties to Gaming Culture and the “Dark Internet.” Here’s How They Radicalize

    By Matthew Sharpe

    If Tyler Robinson does turn out to be a shooter radicalized through online gaming spaces, he would not be the first. Many of those attracted to video games are young adults aged 18-34. These are vulnerable young men, and extremist activists have long recognized this group as a demographic ripe for radicalization. The evidence suggests most radicalization takes place not through playing video games themselves, but through gaming platform communication channels.

  • RADICALIZATIONCan Violent Extremists Be Deradicalized? I Spoke with 24 Former Terrorists in Indonesia to Find Out

    By Bernard Loesi

    Their ideologies may differ, but one thing all terrorists have in common is that they were radicalized. And this raises an important question: Can a person who once embraced terrorism and violence truly change?

  • PUBLIC HEALTHAs Tensions Over RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Policy Mount, States Act to Secure Access to Vaccines

    In an effort to secure the health of their citizens, several states have acted quickly to preserve vaccine access through legislation, bills, executive orders, and regional collaborations that can issue independent recommendations and expand pharmacy-based administration of vaccines regardless of federal guidance. The action reflects a loss of confidence in the CDC and its vaccination committee which HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stacked with vaccine skeptics.

  • CHINA WATCHPentagon Bans Tech Vendors from Using China-Based Personnel After ProPublica Investigation

    By Renee Dudley

    The Defense Department has tightened cybersecurity requirements for its cloud services providers. The changes come after ProPublica revealed how Microsoft’s use of China-based engineers left sensitive government data vulnerable to hacking.

  • DEMOCRACY WATCHThe Government Shouldn’t Play “Truth Police”

    By Thomas A. Berry

    There is little doubt that ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show was the result of the not-so-veiled threats by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr that the network would face FCC action unless it removed Kimmel who, Carr argued (wrongly), had implicated MAGA in the killing of Charlie Kirk. But the government should not serve as the arbiter of truth in public debate. Government coercion to censor speech is wrong no matter which party is in power. We should all be concerned when the government takes upon itself the role of policing “truth” and uses that mantle as a tool to threaten and punish disfavored speakers.

  • ASSAULT ON SCIENCEVaccine Death and Side Effects Database Relies on Unverified Reports – and Trump Officials and Right-Wing Media Are Applying It Out of Context

    By Matt Motta and Dominik Stecuła

    In its meeting over the last two days, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has discussed reports linking 25 child deaths to COVID-19 vaccines. These death reports are derived from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, a database the anti-vaccine movement and conspiracy theorists have used to spread misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine.

  • POLITICAL VIOLENCEPolitically Motivated Violence Is Rare in the United States

    By Alex Nowrasteh

    A total of 3,599 people have been murdered in politically motivated terrorist attacks in the United States from 1 January 1975 through 10 September 2025 (this figure includes the 2,979 killed on 9/11 by foreign terrorists). If we include the 9/11 victims, then murders committed in attacks by foreign and domestic terrorist account for about 0.35 percent of all murders since 1975.

  • POLITICAL VIOLENCE Right-Wing Extremist Violence Is More Frequent and More Deadly Than Left-Wing Violence − What the Data Shows

    By Art Jipson and Paul J. Becker

    After the assassination of Charlie Kirk, President Trump and members of his administration claimed that radical leftist groups foment political violence in the U.S. But all research on the subject conclusively shows that most domestic terrorists in the U.S. are politically on the right, and that right-wing attacks account for the vast majority of fatalities from domestic terrorism.

  • PUBLIC HEALTHMore States Protect Access to the COVID Shot as Feds Restrict Eligibility

    By Shalina Chatlani

    At least 17 states have taken steps to ensure broader access to the COVID-19 vaccine since last month, when the federal government significantly restricted eligibility for the shot. The moves represent an extraordinary state rebellion against the public health authority of the federal government.

  • CHINA WATCHWhen Global Trade Is About More Than Money

    By Christy DeSmith

    International trade can yield far more than imports and exports. Economist’s new tool looks at how China is more effective than U.S. in exerting political power through import, export controls

  • PERSISTENT SURVEILLANCEThe Toxic Legacy of 9/11…and How to End It

    By Patrick G. Eddington

    Restoring the Bill of Rights to its proper shape and place in our civic life would be one way to honor those killed on 9/11 and in the wars that followed.

  • ELECTIONSDOJ Is Sharing State Voter Roll Lists with Homeland Security

    By Jonathan Shorman

    All studies of the subject have conclusively shown that the number of illegal liens voting in U.S. election is vanishingly small (these studies also hasten to add that the term “vanishingly small” exaggerates the number of illegal liens trying to vote). Still, DOJ demanded states turn over the lists. Homeland Security says it will comb through for “illegal aliens.”

  • ELECTIONSStates Rush to Pass New Political Maps in Gerrymandering Blitz

    By Brett Rowland, The Center Square

    States are gearing up to deliver more votes for their favored political parties in a rare, mid-decade overhaul of voting maps that threatens to frustrate voters ahead of the 2026 midterms.

  • FLOODSElon Musk Pushed Back on Our Reporting on His Houston Tunnels Plan. Experts Say His Comments Are Misleading.

    By Yilun Cheng, Houston Chronicle

    Elon Musk is taking issue with a recent investition by the Houston Chronicle and The Texas Newsroom that raised questions about a flood tunnel project he’s pitching to address Houston’s chronic flooding woes. But experts said his response, which he did not explain to the newsrooms, isn’t supported by facts or data.