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No, Local Election Officials Can’t Block Certification of Results – There Are Plenty of Legal Safeguards
Some local election officials have refused to certify election results in the past few years, and worries abound that election officials might subvert the results of the 2024 presidential election by refusing to certify the results. But there isn’t one weird trick to steal a presidential election. And there are ample safeguards to ensure ballots are tabulated accurately and election results are certified in a timely manner.
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Aide to Cuomo, Hochul Was a Chinese Agent
In a 65-page federal indictment unsealed last week, prosecutor described how Linda Sun, 40, of Manhasset, Long Island, who worked for the NY State government for 14 years, serving as an aide to New York’s former governor Andrew Cuomo and current governor Kathy Hochul, received money and other benefits in exchange for providing help to the Peoples’s Republic of China and its Communist Party.
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Trump Could Do a Mass Deportation. We’ve Done It Before.
Historical examples suggest that enacting forced relocation, internment, and deportation is nowhere near the longshot many experts believe. In a second term, the biggest challenge for Trump’s mass-deportation agenda would likely not be legal — the courts cannot be counted on to stand in his way— but logistical and monetary.
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Free Legal Helpline Has Gained Pro Bono Support from 40+ Law Firms, 250+ Individual Practitioners Since Launching in November 2023
The Campus Antisemitism Legal Line (CALL) has received more than 650 requests for assistance from university students across the country who experienced antisemitic harassment, violence or discrimination in the first nine months of the program.
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Swing States Prepare for a Showdown Over Certifying Votes in November
There is widespread concern in Michigan and Wisconsin over interference in finalizing election results. Despite the checks and balances built into the voting system, members of state and county boards tasked with certifying elections will be driven by conspiracy theories and refuse to fulfill their roles if former President Donald Trump loses again.
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The Israel-Hezbollah Conflict: Where It Stands
Cross-border fighting has returned to a lower intensity following Israel’s preemptive strike in Lebanon, but the conflict could escalate again, and a reprisal from Iran remains likely.
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Solingen Knife Attack Prompts Tough Security Measures
The German government is taking action in response to the fatal knife attack in Solingen, banning knives in public places and putting pressure on rejected asylum seekers and criminal offenders.
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The History and Future of the Nordic Resistance Movement
In June 2024, the United States designated Scandinavia’s largest National Socialist organization, the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), as a terrorist entity. NRM has grown into a pan-Nordic organization with a rigid hierarchy and has expanded with chapters throughout Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Finland. The designation is a disruption to NRM’s ability to operate, but it is unlikely to dismantle the network that makes up its far-right membership.
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How the 14th Amendment Prevents State Legislatures from Subverting Popular Presidential Elections
In November 2020, as it became clear that Trump had lost the popular vote and would lose the Electoral College, Trump and his supporters mounted a pressure campaign to convince legislatures in several states whose citizens voted for Joe Biden to appoint electors who would support Trump’s reelection in the Electoral College votes. Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election not only failed, but some of them also rested on a misreading of the U.S. Constitution. There was a safeguard already in place – and it remains today, defending against this approach being used to subvert the 2024 presidential election.
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Officials Voted Down a Controversial Georgia Election Rule, Saying It Violated the Law. Then a Similar Version Passed.
The rule, which was pushed by nationally prominent election deniers, only changed in minor ways between being voted down in May and approved in August. Those adjustments made it even less compliant with existing law, experts say.
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How U.S. Military Planning Has Shifted Away from Fighting Terrorism to Readying for Tensions and Conflict with China and Russia
As changes emerge in the types of threats facing the U.S., the American military adjusts its strategic focus, budgets and planning. For instance, after 9/11, the U.S. military refocused away from its Cold War emphasis on preparing for combat against a powerful nation – the Soviet Union – and toward fighting small terrorist and insurgent groups instead. Over the past decade, the Pentagon’s efforts have shifted back to preparing for what officials call “great power competition” among the U.S., Russia and China.
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Turkey Attacker Inspired by Accelerationism and Mass Killers, Manifesto Shows
An 18-year-old suspect who livestreamed himself stabbing multiple people near a mosque in the Turkish city of Eskişehir on August 12, 2024, was fueled by the extremist belief in accelerationism and motivated by past mass killers including white supremacists.
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Election Experts Cautious as Abbott Touts Voter Roll Purge
Federal and state law already required voter roll maintenance. Experts warn the governor’s framing of this routine process could be used to undermine trust in elections.
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Biosecurity for Food Security
Biosecurity is a fundamental enabler for a country’s’ food security, a critical but often overlooked element of national security, and it is time for it to be treated accordingly.
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We Need a New Discussion About Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Work
U.S. intelligence is shielding the Biden-Harris administration from having to take serious action on Iran’s nuclear program. While hinting at nuclear weapon activities taking place, the U.S. intelligence community is focusing on public Iranian statements and old news on Iran’s capabilities to produce weapon-grade uranium — but it avoids any type of public discussion on what nuclear weaponization activities Iran may be undertaking, and how soon it can build a nuclear weapon. Likely, because some uncomfortable truths would come out: Iran can do it way too quickly, and initial activities to build the bomb could be difficult to detect.
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More headlines
The long view
Factories First: Winning the Drone War Before It Starts
Wars are won by factories before they are won on the battlefield,Martin C. Feldmann writes, noting that the United States lacks the manufacturing depth for the coming drone age. Rectifying this situation “will take far more than procurement tweaks,” Feldmann writes. “It demands a national-level, wartime-scale industrial mobilization.”
No Nation Is an Island: The Dangers of Modern U.S. Isolationism
The resurgence of isolationist sentiment in American politics is understandable but misguided. While the desire to refocus on domestic renewal is justified, retreating from the world will not bring the security, prosperity, or sovereignty that its proponents promise. On the contrary, it invites instability, diminishes U.S. influence, and erodes the democratic order the U.S. helped forge.
Fragmented by Design: USAID’s Dismantling and the Future of American Foreign Aid
The Trump administration launched an aggressive restructuring of U.S. foreign aid, effectively dismantling the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The humanitarian and geopolitical fallout of the demise of USAID includes shuttered clinics, destroyed food aid, and China’s growing influence in the global south. This new era of American soft power will determine how, and whether, the U.S. continues to lead in global development.
Water Wars: A Historic Agreement Between Mexico and US Is Ramping Up Border Tension
As climate change drives rising temperatures and changes in rainfall, Mexico and the US are in the middle of a conflict over water, putting an additional strain on their relationship. Partly due to constant droughts, Mexico has struggled to maintain its water deliveries for much of the last 25 years, deliveries to which it is obligated by a 1944 water-sharing agreement between the two countries.
How Disastrous Was the Trump-Putin Meeting?
In Alaska, Trump got played by Putin. Therefore, Steven Pifer writes, the European leaders and Zelensky have to “diplomatically offer suggestions to walk Trump back from a position that he does not appear to understand would be bad for Ukraine, bad for Europe, and bad for American interests. And they have to do so without setting off an explosion that could disrupt U.S.-Ukrainian and U.S.-European relations—all to the delight of Putin and the Kremlin.”
How Male Grievance Fuels Radicalization and Extremist Violence
Social extremism is evolving in reach and form. While traditional racial supremacy ideologies remain, contemporary movements are now often fueled by something more personal and emotionally resonant: male grievance.