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How Big Is the Risk of Voter Fraud in U.S. Elections?
Voter fraud claims are already making the rounds ahead of the November 5 elections. Are noncitizens voting illegally, and how safe are mail-in ballots and electronic voting machines?
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More Than 100 Texas Counties Lack Plans to Curb Damage from Natural Disasters
The plans, which are required by the federal government to access certain grants after a natural disaster, are laborious to assemble — especially for rural counties.
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Police Are Using Drones More and Spending More for Them
Police in Minnesota are buying and flying more drones than ever before, according to an annual report recently released by the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). Minnesotan law enforcement flew their drones without a warrant 4,326 times in 2023, racking up a state-wide expense of over $1 million.
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At Half a Mile a Week, Gov. Greg Abbott’s Border Wall Will Take Around 30 Years and $20 Billion to Build
Three years after Gov. Greg Abbott announced Texas would take the extraordinary step of building a state-funded wall along the Mexico border, he has 34 miles of steel bollards to show for it. Texas’ border with Mexico is 1,254-mile long.
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A Nuclear Sword of Damocles in Orbit
Russia is developing a nuclear-weapons-based anti-satellite (ASAT) capability, and the Western democracies must work together to prevent Moscow from deploying such a weapon. That will demand new and innovative thinking on space domain awareness and space control by the US and its allies. A continued drift forward through a strategy of hope that Russia will honor its obligations under space law even as the West is under direct threat from Moscow is a strategy for failure.
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Breaching Snake River Dams Could Drop Reservoirs, Groundwater Levels by 100 Feet
As the Biden administration attempts to gain support for breaching hydroelectric dams in Washington, state and federal agencies are preparing for a study on the potential implications.
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Denial and Distortion of the Hamas-led October 7 Attack: An Overview of False Narratives
Since October 7, extremists and conspiracy theorists have promoted mis- and disinformation narratives about the reality of Hamas’s unprecedented, multi-pronged attack on Israel, attempting to deny or minimize the tragedy and shift the blame towards victims, a majority of whom were innocent civilians.
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U.S.’s Terrorist Listing of European Far-Right Group Signals Fears of Rising Threat − Both Abroad and at Home
The rise of the radical far right in Europe poses a threat not only to the continent but also to Americans at home and abroad. But while the U.S. government tends to be quick to use sanctions against perceived bad actors across the globe, when it comes to the transnational threat that far-right violence poses, successive U.S. administrations have been more coy about using another critical and effective tool: terrorist designations.
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UN’s Global Digital Compact Is Looking Like an Authoritarian Dream
This week, global representatives to the United Nations in New York will review the latest draft of the UN Global Digital Compact (GDC). The latest draft of the GDC is concerning. It would consolidate power within the UN, expand the reach of both the UN and national governments over digital matters and ultimately threaten the openness of the global internet.
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Supreme Court Rules Platforms Have First Amendment Right to Decide What Speech to Carry, Free of State Mandates
The Supreme Court last week correctly found that social media platforms, like newspapers, bookstores, and art galleries before them, have First Amendment rights to curate and edit the speech of others they deliver to their users, and the government has a very limited role in dictating what social media platforms must and must not publish.
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New Migration Patterns Could Fuel IS Plans for U.S.: Officials
Recent changes in global migration patterns and smuggling routes have created an opening for terror groups like the Islamic State to set their sights on the U.S. southern border.
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Despite What Some Politicians Say, Crime Rates Are Decreasing
Violent crime in the United States dropped significantly in the first quarter of 2024 compared with the same period last year, but some politicians continue to assert the opposite. Criminologists caution that while the overall decline in violent crime is an indisputable fact, the story may be different in individual cities and neighborhoods.
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Illegal Immigrant Murderers in Texas, 2013–2022
Crime committed by illegal immigrants is an important and contentious public policy issue, but it is notoriously difficult to measure and compare their criminal conviction rates with those of other groups such as legal immigrants and native‐born Americans. Most research, however, finds that all immigrants in the United States are less likely to commit crime or be incarcerated than native‐born Americans.
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U.S. Supreme Court Blocks the Texas’s Rio Grande Water Deal with New Mexico
Water law experts say the Supreme Court’s recent decision will set a precedent for the federal government to intervene in water conflicts between states moving forward.
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Evidence Mounts Islamic State Is Looking to the U.S. Southern Border
U.S. intelligence and security officials are increasing their focus on the country’s southern border, worried the constant flow of migrants has attracted the attention of the Islamic State terror group. The heightened concern follows the arrests earlier this month of eight men from Tajikistan, all of whom entered the United States via its southern border with Mexico, some making the trip over a year ago.
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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.