• How We Uncovered the Shared Personality Profile of Violent Extremists

    Why do some people resort to violence for their cause? If we take a closer look at the rhetoric of known terrorists, they appear to have one thing in common. They all feel that their group, or a group they support, is unjustly disadvantaged. But not everyone who thinks that their group is unjustly disadvantaged resorts to violence. This begs the question of whether basic personality traits are at play.

  • 2023: Record Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters

    2023 still has three-and-a-half months to go, but it has already broken the record for $1-billion climate-driven disasters, that is, disasters which have caused damage of at least $1 billion. So far this year, the United States has experienced 23 such disasters. The previous record – 22 $1-billion climate disasters – was in 2020. The 1980–2022 annual average is 8.1 $1-billion events; the annual average for the most recent 5 years (2018–2022) is 18.0 $1-billion events.

  • Do Gulf States Investments in the West Pose a Threat?

    From football clubs to phone companies, Gulf Arab states are on an investment binge in the West, thanks to high oil prices. Several analysts have warned that the pervasiveness of Chinese snooping technology in the Middle East will likely pose additional security concerns for the West.

  • Railroads May Use Their Monopoly Power to Buffer Coal Plants from a Carbon Emissions Tax

    Railroads are likely to cut transportation prices to prop up coal-fired plants if U.S. climate policies further disadvantage coal in favor of less carbon-intensive energy sources. A new study argues that “If policymakers ignore real distortions in the market, like monopoly power in rail shipping, their climate policy efforts may not achieve the intended results.”

  • The Inside Story of How the Navy Spent Billions on the “Little Crappy Ship”

    Littoral combat ships were supposed to launch the Navy into the future. Instead they broke down across the globe and many of their weapons never worked. Now the Navy is getting rid of them. One is less than five years old.

  • Federal Judge Orders Texas to Remove Floating Border Barrier. Abbott Immediately Appeals the Ruling.

    Nearly three months after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the deployment of the 1,000-foot line of buoys and mesh in the Rio Grande, an Austin federal judge ordered the state to remove the barrier and stop building further obstructions in the river.

  • Proud Boys Leader Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison for Seditious Conspiracy and Other Charges Related to U.S. Capitol Breach

    The former national chairman of the Proud Boys was sentenced Tuesday to 22 years in jail for seditious conspiracy and other charges related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

  • U.S. Chip Sales to China to Continue, but Not Most Powerful Ones

    The United States will continue to sell semi-conductor computer chips to China but not its most powerful ones “that China wants for its military,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said. While the United States and China maintain more than $700 billion in annual trade, escalating tensions in recent years have made it more challenging for U.S. firms to operate in China.

  • What's Behind North Korea's “Nuclear Attack” Drills?

    Pyongyang has carried out a series of unprecedented military drills and threatened to use nuclear weapons in an invasion of South Korea. It’s partly encouraged by closer alliances with Russia and China, experts say.

  • There’s a Cop in My Pocket: Policymakers Need to Stop Advocating Surveillance by Default

    All this year, U.S. leaders have attempted to pass a wave of misguided online security bills, designed to break that encryption and place Americans in a panopticon of surveillance by default. Encryption, cybersecurity, and technology policies, like the RESTRICT and EARN-IT Acts, with nonexistent tradeoffs address symptoms, not problems, and they do it badly.  

  • Paper Ballots Are Good, but Accurately Hand-Counting Them All Is Next to Impossible

    It is easy to see why a hand-count system seems appealing to many people today. Having ballots scrutinized in person by representatives from the parties provides obvious transparency and accountability. But as a scholar of elections, I know that despite the intuitive appeal of people physically counting pieces of paper, there are two good reasons to avoid hand-counting ballots: speed and accuracy.

  • TPS Extended for Six Countries, Advocates Urge Status for More

    The Biden administration recently announced an extension and redesignation of the program that gives temporary protection from deportation for nationals of Sudan and Ukraine. Nationals of El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua also have had their protection extended.

  • Expedited Work Permits for Migrants a Key Part of “Ttransition to Life” in NYS

    As New York grapples with an influx of migrants, two Cornell University law professors call on the administration to expedite the work authorization process for these migrants under the Administrative Procedures Act, so that they can begin to work, thus helping address the state’s labor shortages and take care of themselves.

  • A Common BRICS Currency to Challenge the U.S. Dollar? “A Very Far-Fetched Notion”: Expert

    The BRICS bloc, a group of developing countries seen as seeking to counter the United States and the West, agreed at a summit last week to admit six new countries — Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The new members will make BRICS a commodities powerhouse, and the group now accounts for 40 percent of the world’s population. It will be tough for group members  to get away from the dollar as a reserve currency, however, due to the far greater ease of buying and selling it.

  • Prosecuting Extremists in the U.K.: Charging, Prosecution, and Sentencing Outcomes

    There is a lack of data regarding prosecution and sentencing for terrorism and terrorism-related offences across the three legal jurisdictions of the UK (England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland). Does the prosecution landscape (charging, prosecution, and sentencing) vary in the UK for extremist actors depending upon the legal jurisdiction?