• DOJ Steps Up Hate Crime Prosecutions

    DOJ says that with hate crimes on the rise, U.S. federal prosecutors have charged more than 40 people with bias-motivated crimes since January 2021, obtaining over 35 convictions.

  • The Buffalo Shooting Suspect Once Threatened a Mass Shooting. Why Wasn’t He Disarmed?

    The Buffalo mass shooter was taken into custody by police last June after he threatened to carry out a shooting at his Western New York high school. He was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, and released a couple of days later. None of that prevented him from buying a gun, or keeping the ones he already owned. New York has a red flag law, but it wasn’t invoked.

  • DHS’s ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ Assailed by Lawmakers

    A proposed new DHS working group focusing on countering disinformation has run into a buzzsaw of opposition from members of Congress. Some have characterized the would-be Disinformation Governance Board as an Orwellian body threating free speech. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, in a congressional hearing, scrambled to defend the new board.

  • Reviving the National Defense Stockpile Funding

    Established during World War II, the National Defense Stockpile (NDS) ensures that the Department of Defense can access key materials necessary to maintain readiness in the event of a major supply chain disruption. Current critical minerals stockpile is inadequate to meet the requirements of great power competition.

  • Member of Georgia Chapter of Oath Keepers Pleads Guilty to Seditious Conspiracy

    The defendant participated in plot to use force to oppose execution of U.S. laws, including the attack on the Capitol during the certification proceeding. DOJ says that the defendant aimed to obstruct Congress in an effort to stop transfer of power following 2020 presidential election.

  • Some 2022 Left-Wing Candidates Espouse Troubling Rhetoric on Israel

    In recent years, American public life has been increasingly marked by the rise of extremism and the erosion of democratic norms. More than any time in recent memory, people view political disagreements not as good faith disputes but as zero-sum clashes with dangerous, malicious, or illegitimate adversaries. Amidst these distressing developments, a steady stream of anti-Semitism among the left persists, often related to Israel.

  • Politics and Expertise: How to Use Science in a Democratic Society

    The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the importance of scientific advice to modern policymaking. But how can the use of expertise in politics be aligned with the needs and values of the public? The solution: a new model for the relationship between science and democracy.

  • Draft Trump Executive Order Shows How False Foreign Interference Claims May Be Used to Undermine U.S. Elections

    In December 2020, as President Donald Trump grasped for ways to overturn his electoral defeat, a draft executive order circulated in his White House which would have empowered the U.S. military and intelligence community to intervene in the vote certification process. Emerson T. Brooking writes that the draft executive order made far-reaching assertions, each one of them false. “The draft order elevated and legitimized these falsehoods, seeking to use the power of the White House to write them into the federal record… [the order]. prescribed a military takeover of U.S. voting infrastructure, to be overseen by appointees who owed their positions and authority to a president who had just lost re-election.”

  • Cornell University: Chinese Students Walk Out after Uyghur Student Asks About Genocide

    The campus of Cornell University offered a demonstration of the divide between Chinese authorities and the nation’s Uyghur minority, when Chinese students staged a walkout after an Uyghur student asked a speaker – Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan – about the treatmewnt of the Uyghurs by the Chinese government.

  • What Are the Chances of a Kremlin Coup?

    Russia experts are divided over the question of whether Vladimir Putin is facing a genuine risk to his power. A minority view is emerging among some Kremlin watchers that Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s days are numbered. Other seasoned Kremlin watchers are not yet persuaded Putin is at any immediate risk.

  • Can Russia Be Held Accountable for War Crimes in Ukraine?

    U.S. President Joe Biden has called Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal for the actions of Russian forces in Ukraine. Could Russian leaders be brought to justice under international law?

  • U.S. Stand Your Ground Laws Associated with 700 Additional Homicides Every Year: Study

    Stand Your Ground laws in the United States have expanded legal protections for individuals who use deadly violence in self-defense. A new study estimates they result in an additional 700 homicides each year - an increase in monthly homicide rates of 11 percent nationally, but up to 28 percent in some states.

  • U.K. Unveils Game Plan for “Living with COVID”

    In an address to the House of Commons Monday, Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a plan for “living with COVID,” phasing out free testing for most people and removing requirements to self-isolate after testing positive.

  • Not a Suicide Pact: Urgent Strategic Recommendations for Reducing Domestic Terrorism in the United States

    America’s Bill of Rights protects U.S. citizens’ rights to free speech, to bear arms, and to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, among other things. As the Supreme Court has consistently held, however, no right is absolute: All rights must be balanced against other societal needs, including and especially public safety. Barbara L. McQuade writes that as the threat of domestic terrorism metastasizes in the United States, Americans need to use the practical wisdom urged by Justice Robert L. Jackson – who, in 1949, advised that the Constitution is not “a suicide pact” — to ensure the survival of the republic.

  • The Three Leading Cyber Risks: Misinformation, Disinformation, and Fake News

    The risks associated with misleading information can have a profoundly negative impact. A study aims to provide recommendations on responding to the new digital age challenges.