• On Trump’s Anti-Antifa Executive Order

    The 22 September Executive Order designating Antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization” is seriously flawed on multiple levels. The notion that an idea can be designated an organization is one. The fact that there’s no constitutional provision or statute granting any president the power to designate a domestic civil society organization a “domestic terrorist organization” is another.

  • Argument: Deal with Antifa Without Designating Them

    In an Editorial, the editors of the conservative National Review argue that “We’ve seen before what happens when there is an over-insistence by political leaders on supposed domestic political threats —you get cock-up investigations and confusing plots where it is unclear whether FBI agents and informers are investigating actual domestic terrorists, or merely seducing and entrapping people into plans mostly hatched by the agents and informers.”

  • Politically Motivated Terrorist Killings in the US: Answering the Critics

    My recent posts about politically motivated terrorist killings in the United States revealed surprising findings. There are a few politically motivated killings. If we examine politically motivated terrorist killings perpetrated by domestic terrorists (thus excluding the 9/11 attacks, which were perpetrated by foreign terrorists), the left-right political distribution of murders skews decisively right, even in recent years, but the numbers are minuscule.

  • Health Officials from 10 Northeast States Officially Band Together

    More states are responding to – and rebuking — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s antivaccine efforts by pulling their resources so they can provide evidence-based, science-informed vaccine guidance and coordinate public health efforts which are independent of the federal government.

  • Some Republican States Resist DOJ Demand for Private Voter Data

    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.

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

    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.

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

    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?

  • As 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.

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

    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.

  • The Government Shouldn’t Play “Truth Police”

    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.

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

    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.

  • Politically Motivated Violence Is Rare in the United States

    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.

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

    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.

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

    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.

  • When Global Trade Is About More Than Money

    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