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Even Blue States Are Embracing a Tougher Approach to Crime
A nationwide shift toward more conservative policies continues in 3 more states. The outcomes of seven ballot measures in Arizona, California and Colorado reflect the stricter approach to crime that’s been seen across much of the country recently.
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Ranked Choice Voting Faces Cloudy Future After Election Setbacks
Voters in 5 states rejected the voting system, while DC voters approved it. The rejection clouds the future of an idea that had seen strong momentum in recent years.
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Misinformation Really Does Spread Like a Virus, Suggest Mathematical Models Drawn from Epidemiology
When it comes to misinformation, “going viral” appears to be more than a simple catchphrase. Scientists have found a close analogy between the spread of misinformation and the spread of viruses: how misinformation gets around can be effectively described using mathematical models designed to simulate the spread of pathogens.
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The Genesis of Christian Nationalism
Christian Nationalism may seem like a phenomenon born out of our current political moment, but it represents the culmination of various movements with roots that trace back decades. The more extreme elements – waging a battle to win America from Satanic forces and Christianize it — didn’t just materialize a few years ago. They’ve been there from the start.
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Prosecuting Female Terrorists: What Do We Know?
Research from Europe and America suggests women frequently receive lesser sentences for terrorism-related crimes than male offenders. What do we know about prosecuting female terrorists in England and Wales?
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‘Inflation Is Radioactive’: Trump’s Victory Is Part of a Global Populist Wave of Voters Throwing Out Incumbents
The person running against the unpopular incumbent party won this election, just like the person running against the unpopular incumbent won the 2020 election. The election result should not necessarily be interpreted as a shift in the levels of racism or sexism or xenophobia necessarily.
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EFF to Court: Reject X’s Effort to Revive a Speech-Chilling Lawsuit Against a Nonprofit
X’s lawsuit against the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate is intended to stifle criticism and punish the organization for its reports criticizing the platform’s content moderation practices, and a previous ruling dismissing the lawsuit should be affirmed.
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Trump’s Immigration Policies Made America Less Safe. Here’s the Data.
New data reveal that Trump was the one whose immigration policies damaged the country’s security. In fact, he released more convicted criminals into the United States than his successor. This is not to lend credence to Trump’s efforts to demonize immigrants as dangerous or violent. Data shows that immigrants — both legal and illegal — are at least half as likely as citizens to be incarcerated for crimes committed in the United States.
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Against Hyping Civil War and Mass Violence
The hype across media about the prospect of another U.S. civil war needs a response. Taking steps to prevent and prepare for violence always makes sense, but it should not be viewed as a suggestion that the United States is on the brink of civil war. Don’t believe—or spread—these false narratives.
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Recent Safeguards Should Quash Efforts to Overturn Election Results, Experts Say
Recent sweeping changes to how the nation handles election results should prevent a repeat of the near-constitutional crisis four years ago. It would take congressional majorities and most swing-state legislatures to upend the election.
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Understanding the Threats to U.S. Election Security in 2024
Despite widespread concern that foreign interference and generative AI would pose major threats to the 2024 election, the greatest risks emanate from rising domestic extremists and diminishing domestic trust.
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Election Skeptics Are Targeting Voting Officials with Ads That Suggest They Don’t Have to Certify Results
The ads, which have been placed in swing states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, come from a new group with deep ties to activists who have challenged the legitimacy of recent elections.
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False Narratives Around the 2024 Presidential Election
False and misleading narratives about the upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential election are spreading widely among extremists and purveyors of hate and conspiracy theories.
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Threatening ‘The Enemy Within’ with Force: Military Ethicists Explain the Danger to Important American Traditions
In a time of increasing political polarization, military educational institutions are focusing even more explicitly on the oath military members take to the Constitution, rather than to a person or an office. Military members have a duty to obey orders from superior officers, but the content of an order is not the only factor that determines whether it is a moral one. The political motivation for an order may be equally important, because the military’s obligation to stay out of politics is deeply intertwined with the mutual obligation of civilian officials not to use the military for partisan reasons.
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Is Donald Trump a Fascist? Here’s What an Expert Thinks
Experts are divided over the question of whether or not the term “Fascist” applies to Donld Trump. New York University professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat says she is still divided on the issue. She wrote that “in some ways, the label of Fascism is too reductive for Trump” because he “praises Communist dictators as much as he praises the Fascistic leaders,” but “it is beyond doubt that Trump has provided a new stage and a new context for fascist ideologies and practices.”
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The long view
Are We Ready for a ‘DeepSeek for Bioweapons’?
Anthropic’s Claude 4 is a warning sign: AI that can help build bioweapons is coming, and could be widely available soon. Steven Adler writes that we need to be prepared for the consequences: “like a freely downloadable ‘DeepSeek for bioweapons,’ available across the internet, loadable to the computer of any amateur scientist who wishes to cause mass harm. With Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 having finally triggered this level of safety risk, the clock is now ticking.”
The “Invasion” Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy
The Trump administration is using the claim that immigrants have “invaded” the country to justify possibly suspending habeas corpus, part of the constitutional right to due process. A faction of the far right has been building this case for years.
Luigi Mangione and the Making of a ‘Terrorist’
Discretion is crucial to the American tradition of criminal law, Jacob Ware and Ania Zolyniak write, noting that “lawmakers enact broader statutes to empower prosecutors to pursue justice while entrusting that they will stay within the confines of their authority and screen out the inevitable “absurd” cases that may arise.” Discretion is also vital to maintaining the legitimacy of the legal system. In the prosecution’s case against Luigi Mangione, they charge, “That discretion was abused.”
Autocrats Don’t Act Like Hitler or Stalin Anymore − Instead of Governing with Violence, They Use Manipulation
Modern autocrats don’t always resemble their 20th-century predecessors. Instead, they project a polished image, avoid overt violence and speak the language of democracy. They wear suits, hold elections and talk about the will of the people. Rather than terrorizing citizens, many use media control and messaging to shape public opinion and promote nationalist narratives. Many gain power not through military coups but at the ballot box.