6H ago
NEW
HOT
7 sources
The DOJ could issue a memo reinterpreting Olmstead v. L.C. to emphasize that community placement is required only when medically appropriate, not opposed by the patient, and reasonably accommodated—stopping its use as a blanket mandate to close institutions. Coupled with DOJ’s investigative powers, this would give states legal cover to expand institutional capacity and civil commitment for the seriously mentally ill. It proposes a federal administrative path to undo decades of de facto deinstitutionalization without waiting for the Supreme Court or new statutes.
— This reframes homelessness and mental‑illness policy as a solvable governance problem via ADA guidance, shifting national debate from rights‑only integration to restoring institutional care where appropriate.
Sources: How the Department of Justice Can Expand Institutional Treatment, The Horror in Minneapolis, The Annunciation Shooter and a State’s Broken Mental-Health System (+4 more)
5D ago
3 sources
Flock has deployed 80,000 license‑plate readers and sells access through FlockOS to 5,000 police agencies and 1,000 corporations, plus schools and homeowner associations. Many private owners grant police access to their feeds, effectively widening law‑enforcement coverage without public procurement, hearings, or FOIA‑style oversight. A single private platform thus controls who can see, search, and retain location data on drivers across cities and suburbs.
— Privately owned sensors that feed public policing reshape civil liberties and accountability, creating a back‑door national surveillance network governed by corporate terms rather than public law.
Sources: 80,000 cameras pointed at highways and parking lots, Amazon's Ring Plans to Scan Everyone's Face at the Door, Miami Is Testing a Self-Driving Police Car That Can Launch Drones
5D ago
1 sources
Miami‑Dade is testing an autonomous police vehicle packed with 360° cameras, thermal imaging, license‑plate readers, AI analytics, and the ability to launch drones. The 12‑month pilot aims to measure deterrence, response times, and 'public trust' and could become a national template if adopted.
— It normalizes algorithmic, subscription‑based policing and raises urgent questions about surveillance scope, accountability, and the displacement of human judgment in public safety.
Sources: Miami Is Testing a Self-Driving Police Car That Can Launch Drones
5D ago
3 sources
Investigators say New York–area sites held hundreds of servers and 300,000+ SIM cards capable of blasting 30 million anonymous texts per minute. That volume can overload towers, jam 911, and disrupt city communications without sophisticated cyber exploits. It reframes cheap SIM infrastructure as an urban DDoS weapon against critical telecoms.
— If low‑cost SIM farms can deny emergency services, policy must shift toward SIM/eSIM KYC, carrier anti‑flood defenses, and redundant emergency comms.
Sources: Thwarted Plot To Cripple Cell Service In NY Was Bigger Than First Thought, DDoS Botnet Aisuru Blankets US ISPs In Record DDoS, Chinese Criminals Made More Than $1 Billion From Those Annoying Texts
5D ago
1 sources
Scam rings phish card details via mass texts, load the stolen numbers into Apple or Google Wallets overseas, then share those wallets to U.S. mules who tap to buy goods. DHS estimates these networks cleared more than $1 billion in three years, showing how platform features can be repurposed for organized crime.
— It reframes payment‑platform design and telecom policy as crime‑prevention levers, pressing for wallet controls, issuer geofencing, and enforcement that targets the cross‑border pipeline.
Sources: Chinese Criminals Made More Than $1 Billion From Those Annoying Texts
5D ago
3 sources
Agencies can dodge scrutiny by not maintaining basic lists, then deny public-records requests that would require 'compiling or summarizing' data. Alaska’s state police told an Alaska Native nonprofit they don’t keep homicide‑victim lists by race and rejected requests for names, despite public pledges to tackle Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. This tactic turns technical record‑keeping choices into a shield against oversight.
— If governments can avoid oversight by choosing not to build datasets, accountability and policy evaluation on crime and race are structurally undermined.
Sources: Alaska Vowed to Resolve Murders of Indigenous People. Now It Refuses to Provide Their Names., New Uvalde Records Reveal How the School District Changed Course on Supporting Police Chief, We Found That More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
6D ago
HOT
11 sources
European politicians are consistently more socially liberal than voters—and even their own party members—on crime and immigration, unlike on economic issues where views align more closely. Education explains only a small share of the gap, suggesting selection effects and elite social milieus insulated from high‑crime, low‑income areas.
— This helps explain populist backlash and policy misfires on crime and immigration by showing a systemic representation gap specific to culture.
Sources: When politics isn’t local, The struggles of states, the contentions of classes, The coming earthquake (+8 more)
7D ago
2 sources
Places with high crime and poverty need more policing but raise less revenue, creating a built‑in under‑policing loop. As meritocracy siphons local talent upward, these areas lose political voice, worsening the mismatch between needs and policy. The result is persistent disorder that national elites—living in high‑functioning milieus—systematically misread.
— It reframes crime policy failures as a fiscal‑governance design problem that skews representation and enforcement where it’s needed most.
Sources: When politics isn’t local, Bravado in the absence of order (2)
7D ago
1 sources
Where people don’t trust the state to protect them, men enforce status and safety through retaliatory 'honor' norms—much like medieval Europe. The author argues U.S. reluctance to police effectively in some Black neighborhoods sustains a DIY order that normalizes violent score‑settling. Dignity norms only take root when a capable, trusted state reliably enforces public order.
— This reframes crime and policing debates around state capacity and trust as cultural levers that move violence, not just around guns or poverty.
Sources: Bravado in the absence of order (2)
7D ago
4 sources
Outside cross‑border remittances, crypto’s major profits likely come from criminal finance and ponzi‑like schemes. Political entanglements—such as the Trump family’s USD1 coin tied to PancakeSwap and Binance’s history—suggest a model where lobbying normalizes revenue streams rooted in underworld demand.
— If core crypto value depends on illicit flows, regulation, campaign finance, and anti‑money‑laundering policy become central to market integrity and democratic risk.
Sources: Some Negative Takes on AI and Crypto, Is the radical Right a crypto scam?, Chinese Woman Convicted After 'World's Biggest' Bitcoin Seizure (+1 more)
7D ago
3 sources
New analysis and imagery show Myanmar’s scam compounds have more than doubled along the Thai border since the 2021 coup, expanding by about 5.5 hectares per month. The military regime relies on militias profiting from these sites, limiting its ability to crack down while tens of thousands of trafficked workers run global 'pig‑butchering' frauds targeting the West.
— It reframes cybercrime and online fraud as a conflict‑economy problem tied to state–militia bargains, not just policing, with implications for sanctions, trafficking policy, and international law.
Sources: Myanmar's 'Cyber-Slavery Compounds' May Hold 100,000 Trafficked People, Scam Cities, DOJ Seizes $15 Billion In Bitcoin From Massive 'Pig Butchering' Scam Based In Cambodia
7D ago
2 sources
UK police recovered 61,000 bitcoin (about $6.7B) linked to a China‑based fraud that targeted 128,000 victims, after a seven‑year, multi‑jurisdiction probe. The principal, Zhimin Qian (aka Yadi Zhang), pled guilty, showing coordinated investigators can trace, freeze, and forfeit even vast on‑chain assets.
— It undercuts the belief that cryptocurrency is beyond law‑enforcement reach and strengthens the case for cross‑border AML and asset‑recovery regimes.
Sources: Chinese Woman Convicted After 'World's Biggest' Bitcoin Seizure, DOJ Seizes $15 Billion In Bitcoin From Massive 'Pig Butchering' Scam Based In Cambodia
7D ago
1 sources
U.S. prosecutors unsealed charges against Cambodia tycoon Chen Zhi and seized roughly $15B in bitcoin tied to forced‑labor ‘pig‑butchering’ operations. The case elevates cyber‑fraud compounds from gang activity to alleged corporate‑state‑protected enterprise and shows DOJ can claw back massive on‑chain funds.
— It sets a legal and operational precedent for tackling transnational crypto fraud and trafficking by pairing asset forfeiture at scale with corporate accountability.
Sources: DOJ Seizes $15 Billion In Bitcoin From Massive 'Pig Butchering' Scam Based In Cambodia
7D ago
1 sources
Gunshot‑detection systems like ShotSpotter notify police faster and yield more shell casings and witness contacts, but multiple studies (e.g., Chicago, Kansas City) show no consistent gains in clearances or crime reduction. Outcomes hinge on agency capacity—response times, staffing, and evidence processing—so the same tool can underperform in thin departments and help in well‑resourced ones.
— This reframes city decisions on controversial policing tech from 'for/against' to whether local agencies can actually convert alerts into solved cases and reduced violence.
Sources: Is ShotSpotter Effective?
8D ago
HOT
9 sources
Running policing as national political theater—deploying the National Guard and picking fights over local rules—diverts attention from the institutions that actually determine crime outcomes. In Washington, the federal government already controls courts, prosecutions, parks, and parole, and does so poorly because those officials aren’t accountable to D.C. voters. Extending that unaccountable control to local policing risks worse results, not safer streets.
— It cautions that politicizing law enforcement can raise crime by replacing accountable performance management with spectacle, a lesson applicable to federal–local power struggles beyond D.C.
Sources: D.C. needs real policing, not propaganda, Getting “DOGED”: DOGE Targeted Him on Social Media. Then the Taliban Took His Family., Union Station, Meet Union Station: What the Blue Zones Know But Won't Say About Trump's D.C. Effort (+6 more)
8D ago
1 sources
Dallas voters approved Proposition S, allowing residents to sue the city by stripping its governmental immunity — reportedly the first U.S. city to do so. The measure creates a citizen‑enforcement path to block policies in court, alongside a mandated police headcount that is already forcing budget tradeoffs.
— Turning municipal immunity into a ballot issue foreshadows a new wave of local lawfare that can paralyze city policy, reallocate budgets, and export Texas‑style 'citizen enforcement' beyond state statutes.
Sources: A Year Before Trump’s Crime Rhetoric, Dallas Voted to Increase Police. The City Is Wrestling With the Consequences.
9D ago
5 sources
Zones that allow easy internal travel must compensate with strong external enforcement or they lose control of who is inside. Europe’s Schengen and the U.S. both illustrate that once an entrant passes the outer edge, internal policing becomes politically and logistically fraught. The practical lever is perimeter control, not interior micromanagement.
— It clarifies why policy energy should focus on external border capacity and rules rather than symbolic internal crackdowns.
Sources: The Continental Divide, Turning the Tide in America’s Border and Fentanyl Crises, U.S. Unauthorized Immigrant Population Reached a Record 14 Million in 2023 (+2 more)
10D ago
2 sources
Treat descendants of American slaves, Caribbean immigrants, and recent African immigrants as distinct ethnic groups in statistics and policy. Their different histories of stigma and incentives produce different behavior patterns and outcomes, so one 'Black' bucket mismeasures risk and misdirects remedies (including affirmative action).
— If adopted, this reframes racial-disparity debates and retargets criminal‑justice and equity policies toward the populations actually bearing the historical burden.
Sources: Bravado in the absence of order (1), How Immigration is Changing the Black-White Earnings Gap
10D ago
HOT
8 sources
Compare homicide rates within the same racial group across states rather than overall state averages. This reduces confounding from different population mixes and shows that places like Washington, D.C. can be far safer for whites (21% of national white rate) yet far deadlier for blacks (208% of national black rate), with Hispanics near average (113%). This lens can change how we judge state performance and policy impact.
— It reframes partisan crime claims by showing demographics drive much variation and that performance should be measured within groups, not only by aggregate rates.
Sources: Do Blue or Red States Have Worse Crime?, Who Was Greatest Baseball Player Ever?, Blacks are 97x As Likely to Be Murdered in D.C. (+5 more)
10D ago
HOT
11 sources
AI labs are racing to collect deep, persistent personal context—your worries, relationships, and routines—to make assistants that 'get you' better than competitors or even humans. This creates high switching costs and 'relationship lock-in' as the user's model becomes the product's main advantage.
— If competitive advantage depends on harvesting interiority, governance will need to address data rights, portability, and fiduciary duties for AI that act like long-term companions.
Sources: AI Is Capturing Interiority, Dean Ball on state-level AI laws, Age of Balls (+8 more)
10D ago
2 sources
A Missouri suspect’s iPhone contained a ChatGPT conversation in which he described vandalizing cars and asked whether he would be caught. Police cited the chat transcript alongside location data in the probable cause filing. AI assistants are becoming de facto confessional records that law enforcement can search and use in court.
— This raises urgent questions for self‑incrimination rights, digital search norms, and AI design (retention, ephemerality, on‑device encryption) as conversational AI spreads.
Sources: Cops: Accused Vandal Confessed To ChatGPT, ChatGPT, iPhone History Found for Uber Driver Charged With Starting California's Palisades Fire
10D ago
1 sources
Prosecutors are not just using chat logs as factual records—they’re using AI prompt history to suggest motive and intent (mens rea). In this case, a July image request for a burning city and a New Year’s query about cigarette‑caused fires were cited alongside phone logs to rebut an innocent narrative.
— If AI histories are read as windows into intent, courts will need clearer rules on context, admissibility, and privacy, reshaping criminal procedure and digital rights.
Sources: ChatGPT, iPhone History Found for Uber Driver Charged With Starting California's Palisades Fire
11D ago
4 sources
When perpetrators belong to protected or sympathetic identities, media and officials may emphasize uncertainty or alternative targets even amid concrete symbolic evidence (e.g., defaced religious icons, explicit writings). This asymmetric framing shapes public understanding of what counts as a hate crime and who is seen as a perpetrator versus a victim class.
— If motive framing varies by group, it erodes trust and skews policy and enforcement around bias crimes and political violence.
Sources: Why Is the Media Downplaying the Annunciation Shooter’s Motive?, Migrants will not stop molesting and assaulting children at swimming pools in the best and most democratic Germany of all time, Britain Finally Admits It Covered Up Its Pakistani Gang Rapist Problem (+1 more)
11D ago
1 sources
The article asserts the Justice Department’s Community Relations Service quietly intervenes after high‑profile interracial crimes to coach or pressure victims’ families into delivering race‑neutral, conciliatory statements. It portrays this as a standing federal practice dating to Title X of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, aimed at limiting backlash and maintaining a preferred public script.
— If a federal office actively steers victim messaging, it recasts free speech, media framing, and trust in justice as issues of state‑managed narrative rather than organic public response.
Sources: Poastocracy
11D ago
HOT
13 sources
Internet memes like 'Somebody’s got to do it' can act as moral permission slips that reframe lone‑actor attacks as necessary interventions against an unjust system. When mainstream figures discuss these frames without strong counter‑norms, they risk normalizing them in wider audiences.
— It highlights how online culture can supply justificatory narratives for real‑world violence, demanding new strategies for prevention and public messaging.
Sources: What Does a Defining Journalist of the Woke Era Think Now?, Lessons from the Tragedy in Minneapolis, The Assassination Of Charlie Kirk (+10 more)
12D ago
HOT
9 sources
The author contrasts two punishment logics: one that scales only with the wrongness of the act, and another that adjusts sanctions by the actor’s identity or role. He argues institutions increasingly use the latter via 'safety' rationales, leading to double standards and eroding impartiality.
— This reframes campus, conference, and corporate discipline as a due‑process problem—judging acts vs judging identities—rather than a culture‑war skirmish.
Sources: Integrity, Safety, & Conference Venues, Boosterism, The rise of the trauma star (+6 more)
12D ago
4 sources
If internal data show algorithms recommending minors to accounts flagged as groomers, the recommender design—not just user content—becomes a proximate cause of harm. A liability framework could target specific ranking choices and require risk‑reduction by design.
— Building duty‑of‑care rules for recommender systems would move online child‑safety policy beyond moderation slogans to accountable design standards.
Sources: Tyrants of the Algorithm: Big Tech’s Corrosive Rule and Its Consequences, Snapchat Allows Drug Dealers To Operate Openly on Platform, Finds Danish Study, Congress Asks Valve, Discord, and Twitch To Testify On 'Radicalization' (+1 more)
12D ago
1 sources
Deploying federal troops into opposition‑run cities forces a lose‑lose public narrative: resist visibly and look unstable, or acquiesce and concede militarized control. This dynamic can be exploited to validate a prewritten 'war on cities' storyline regardless of on‑the‑ground crime trends.
— It clarifies how civil‑military shows of force can be used as political bear‑baiting, shaping media frames and public consent for expanded federal control.
Sources: Trump wants a war with blue cities
12D ago
HOT
10 sources
YouGov finds Republicans’ views of inflation and election fraud as 'very serious' collapse year‑over‑year (inflation 89%→48%; fraud 59%→33%) while Democrats’ inflation concern rises (45%→71%). This suggests a partisan 'thermostat' where perceptions of national problems adjust to who holds the presidency, not just to underlying conditions.
— If issue seriousness is power‑contingent, policymakers and journalists should discount salience polls as barometers of reality and expect agenda priorities to swing with partisan control.
Sources: Republicans are much less likely to see inflation and election fraud as very serious problems than they were a year ago, Trump's agenda, crime, the National Guard, museums, slavery, and reading books: August 22 - 25, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll, Inflation's lasting importance, troop deployment, political retaliation, the Fed, and COVID shots: August 29 - September 2, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll (+7 more)
13D ago
3 sources
Experts told the New York Times that President Trump ordered the U.S. military to summarily kill people aboard a suspected drug‑smuggling boat and justified it by treating maritime counterdrug work as governed by wartime rules, not law‑enforcement rules. If asserted, that bypasses arrest and prosecution norms by reclassifying criminal enforcement as armed conflict.
— Reframing crime control as war at sea would set a precedent for expansive executive use of military force and erode due‑process boundaries.
Sources: Sentences to ponder, Tuesday assorted links, The authoritarian menace has arrived
13D ago
1 sources
Contrary to normal incumbency behavior, the administration downplays good news on crime and border crossings to sustain a sense of emergency. That manufactured crisis atmosphere is then used to justify extraordinary domestic deployments and hard‑power measures.
— If leaders suppress positive indicators to maintain emergency footing, it reframes how media and institutions should audit claims used to expand executive power.
Sources: The authoritarian menace has arrived
13D ago
3 sources
Cross-country data suggest the U.S. has a higher share of people in prison at any moment largely because sentences are much longer, not simply because more people are incarcerated. Denmark’s modal unsuspended sentence is 1–2 months, versus typical U.S. prison terms exceeding a year.
— This reframes decarceration debates toward sentence length policy and parole practices rather than only policing or charging decisions.
Sources: How many are criminals?, Prisons aren't filled with harmless pot smokers, The Complicated Case of Jorge Ruiz
13D ago
1 sources
ProPublica documents an outlier vehicular homicide case where a 19‑year‑old with a BAC of 0.016 and modest speeding was charged with murder and offered no typical plea reductions. A review of similar Alabama cases shows murder filings are usually reserved for extreme aggravators; attorneys argue perceived immigration status shaped decisions from the first moments.
— If charging and plea practices vary with a suspect’s immigration status, prosecutors’ unchecked discretion becomes a civil‑rights and incarceration‑policy problem that warrants data transparency and standard guidelines.
Sources: The Complicated Case of Jorge Ruiz
13D ago
HOT
9 sources
Stories that lead with 'Experts:' often rely on a narrow slice of authority to sell a counterintuitive take, flattening uncertainty into a confident claim. Singal’s 2016 pieces used a contrarian source to declare sex addiction 'not real,' a framing he now flags as overreach.
— It gives readers and editors a practical heuristic to spot epistemically weak science coverage that shapes public beliefs.
Sources: Singal vs. Singal: Anthony Weiner And Sex Addiction, Real talk on models, moderation, and the misuse of academic authority, You Can't Just "Control" For Things (+6 more)
13D ago
4 sources
A cyber‑related disruption at Collins Aerospace’s MUSE system forced manual check‑in and boarding at several major European airports, cascading into delays and cancellations. Because many hubs share the same vendor, a single intrusion can hobble multiple airports at once. Treating passenger‑processing platforms like critical infrastructure would require redundancy, audits, and stricter cyber standards.
— It reframes aviation cybersecurity from isolated IT incidents to supply‑chain risk in public infrastructure that demands oversight and resilience requirements.
Sources: Cyberattack Delays Flights at Several of Europe's Major Airports, Japan is Running Out of Its Favorite Beer After Ransomware Attack, Thwarted Plot To Cripple Cell Service In NY Was Bigger Than First Thought (+1 more)
14D ago
2 sources
Instead of chasing 'hate speech,' federal prosecutors can use Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) and conspiracy laws to pursue the recurring organizers, funders, and coordinators behind unlawful protest actions (e.g., highway blockades, vandalism of federal property). This treats material support, direction, and concealment as prosecutable conduct without touching protected expression.
— It reframes extremist‑response policy around conduct-based enforcement that can survive First Amendment scrutiny while disrupting violent networks.
Sources: Cracking Down on Radical Groups—Legally, The Young American Woman Who Fights For Our Enemies
14D ago
2 sources
Instead of comparing prison and police levels per capita across countries, benchmark them against serious crime—e.g., prisoners or officers per homicide. On this metric, the U.S. looks typical in prisoners and unusually low in police, given its higher homicide rate.
— This reframing challenges claims that America’s incarceration is uniquely excessive and redirects policy focus toward serious crime levels and policing capacity.
Sources: The U.S. has a typical number of prisoners and an exceptionally low number of police, Crime in the USA - by Inquisitive Bird
14D ago
4 sources
Danish administrative data report that second‑generation individuals (born in Denmark to immigrant parents) are more overrepresented in crime than first‑generation non‑Western immigrants, even after adjusting for age, sex, and income. This suggests assimilation can stall or reverse for some groups and that environment and institutions may be failing the native‑born children of immigrants.
— It challenges optimistic assumptions about automatic convergence and shifts integration policy toward targeted fixes in schooling, family structure, and neighborhood effects.
Sources: Immigration and crime in the Nordics, “There is a great deal of ruin in a nation”, The Assimilation Myth (+1 more)
14D ago
2 sources
The Home Secretary told Parliament that the Casey audit found over‑representation of Asian/Pakistani‑heritage men among grooming‑gang suspects, yet agencies avoided the topic and failed to gather robust national data for years to avoid appearing racist. After 15 years of reports and inquiries, this is a rare official admission that fear of stigma distorted measurement and response.
— It spotlights how ideological self‑censorship can corrupt core public‑safety data and policy, arguing for standardized ethnicity reporting even in sensitive domains to restore institutional credibility.
Sources: Britain Finally Admits It Covered Up Its Pakistani Gang Rapist Problem, Wikipedia does it again - Steve Sailer
14D ago
4 sources
David Betz, a King’s College London professor of war, argues that retribalization, mass migration, and elite overreach make civil disturbances in the West more likely than not within five years. He claims perceived 'managed democracy'—rule‑rigging by courts, media, and security services—has convinced many that voting no longer matters, priming unrest.
— A quantified, near‑term civil conflict forecast from a mainstream defense scholar raises the stakes for immigration, policing, and constitutional norms planning.
Sources: Is the West Gestating Civil Unrest?, Civil War Comes to the West - Military Strategy Magazine, The Coming British Civil War - David Betz | Maiden Mother Matriarch Episode 124 (+1 more)
14D ago
HOT
9 sources
The Centers for Disease Control cause-of-death system yields stable homicide victimization rates across states. Federal Bureau of Investigation offender data suffer from uneven reporting and incentives, making comparisons noisier. Using CDC victimization rates reduces politicization and data gaps in cross-state crime debates.
— It urges media and policymakers to anchor crime comparisons in more reliable datasets, improving the quality of public argument.
Sources: Do Blue or Red States Have Worse Crime?, Blacks are 97x As Likely to Be Murdered in D.C., Crime And Tribalism (+6 more)
14D ago
HOT
21 sources
Adding control variables to a regression doesn’t make it causal unless you know the causal structure. Controlling colliders (variables influenced by both X and Y) can create spurious links, and controlling mediators can hide real effects. Examples like COVID voluntary datasets and college-only samples show how selection turns 'controls' into bias.
— It tells readers and editors to demand causal diagrams or stated assumptions before accepting 'controlled for everything' findings as policy-relevant truth.
Sources: You Can't Just "Control" For Things, Did the United States grow its way out of WWII debt?, Who gets into the best colleges and why? (+18 more)
14D ago
HOT
8 sources
Using linked tax, test, and admissions records, the study finds top‑1% students receive large Ivy‑Plus boosts via legacy, athletics, and non‑academic credentials that don’t predict success, while SAT/ACT scores do. Test use narrows the admissions gap for comparable low‑income applicants, whereas test‑optional policies risk entrenching wealth-based advantages.
— It reframes the testing debate by showing tests can be a pro‑equity tool against status‑coded 'holistic' criteria.
Sources: Who gets into the best colleges and why?, What ability best measures intelligence?, Most smart people don't attend elite universities (+5 more)
14D ago
1 sources
The article documents German municipal anti‑harassment posters that depict native Germans as the harassers while recent pool‑side assaults were allegedly carried out by recent migrants. This 'reverse casting' may sanitize messaging but also miscommunicates where risk is concentrated, weakening prevention and public trust.
— If public campaigns systematically invert offender demographics, institutions may be trading safety and credibility for ideology, reshaping debates over how governments should communicate about crime.
Sources: Migrants will not stop molesting and assaulting children at swimming pools in the best and most democratic Germany of all time
14D ago
HOT
6 sources
Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland publish suspect, conviction, and prison data by origin that align in showing foreign‑background overrepresentation and persistence after socioeconomic adjustments. This cross‑measure consistency illustrates how high‑quality registers can defuse methodology disputes common in U.S. debates.
— It argues for building administrative data systems that allow contested topics like immigration and crime to be adjudicated with transparent, multi‑measure evidence.
Sources: Immigration and crime in the Nordics, The Demographic and Health Surveys brought crucial data for more than 90 countries — without them, we risk darkness, July Diary (+3 more)
14D ago
1 sources
Since 2005, Sweden has been the only European country with a continuous increase in firearm homicides, concentrated in gang contexts. This bucks continental trends and coincides with surges in grenade attacks and open drug‑market violence.
— It reframes Europe’s crime debate by highlighting a distinctive Swedish trajectory that policymakers now link to immigration, enforcement, and border policy.
Sources: Immigration and crime: Sweden - by Inquisitive Bird
14D ago
5 sources
The author notes that American assassinations typically target political leaders, not opinion journalists. Cross‑checking Wikipedia lists of assassinations and journalists killed suggests very few targeted killings of national pundits in recent decades. That makes the Kirk case an outlier worthy of special concern.
— Establishing a rarity baseline signals a possible norm break that could reshape security, media behavior, and free‑speech risk in U.S. politics.
Sources: Who Was the Last Opinion Journalist Assassinated?, Charlie Kirk’s Assassination Marks a New Era, Saturday assorted links (+2 more)
14D ago
1 sources
Violence data show U.S. political terrorism and organized conflict are low, yet the administration frames an internal 'war' against immigrants and domestic opponents, even threatening Insurrection Act use against protesters. This mismatch suggests war language is being used to justify extraordinary measures rather than to describe actual conditions.
— Normalizing war framing amid low violence can expand emergency powers, erode civil liberties, and recast political dissent as an enemy to be suppressed.
Sources: The U.S. political situation
15D ago
2 sources
Recent attacks are less like 1970s cadre terrorism and more like decentralized, meme‑soaked eruptions by individuals from ordinary families. The 'ideology' appears as a brittle shell—slogans and online tropes—masking psychological crises incubated in niche digital subcultures. This reframes modern terror as copyable, personal theater rather than organized political war.
— It redirects policy and media focus from dismantling formal groups to understanding and disrupting online subculture dynamics and identity‑driven pathologies behind lone‑actor attacks.
Sources: Radical Normie Terrorism, They are engaged in cargo cult meaning-making, the pursuit of a pseudo-religion
15D ago
1 sources
The piece argues some modern attackers aren’t expressing a prior ideology but trying to manufacture one through spectacle—wrapping incoherent motives in symbols to create a pseudo‑religion. Meaninglessness in digital culture becomes the motive force; violence is the attempted cure.
— This reframes how we diagnose and deter political violence—away from ideology policing and toward addressing meaning deficits and media amplification that reward symbolic carnage.
Sources: They are engaged in cargo cult meaning-making, the pursuit of a pseudo-religion
16D ago
2 sources
News treats a 340‑million‑person nation as if it were a single town, amplifying rare tragedies into a felt epidemic. Adjusting for scale and using standard definitions (e.g., 4+ victims killed) shows mass school shootings are extremely rare relative to ~100,000 K–12 schools.
— This reframes how media, policymakers, and the public should communicate about risk, urging base‑rate, nation‑scale thinking over anecdote‑driven fear.
Sources: America is not a town, Does the news reflect what we die from?
16D ago
1 sources
Shwe Kokko’s 'blockchain smart city' promised Silicon‑Valley‑style innovation with private utilities, Starlink internet, and an on‑chain payments app used by most merchants. In practice, it became a protected base for cyber‑scam factories run with trafficked labor, showing how 'exit' zones without accountable governance invite criminal capture.
— It challenges charter‑city and network‑state visions by showing that tech and private governance alone, absent legitimate state capacity, can produce lawless criminal sovereignties.
Sources: Scam Cities
17D ago
HOT
21 sources
The argument reframes rising political shootings as an 'assassin’s veto': if violence can silence or deter speakers, killers—not hecklers—decide what can be said. This surpasses disruption and chills democratic debate at its root. The author calls for across‑the‑board condemnation and solidarity to prevent violence from governing discourse.
— By naming a new veto point on speech, it clarifies why political violence must be repudiated regardless of ideology and shapes how institutions respond to protect open debate.
Sources: The Assassin's Veto, Charlie Kirk was a good man, What we lost with Charlie Kirk (+18 more)
17D ago
1 sources
A Biden‑appointed federal judge gave Nicholas Roske 97 months for attempting to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh—far below the 30‑years‑to‑life guideline range—after declining most of the terrorism enhancement. The judge referenced research on terrorist rehabilitation and discussed the defendant’s transgender identity during sentencing. This outcome raises questions about consistency in domestic‑terror sentencing and the signals it sends about deterring political violence.
— Perceived identity‑ or ideology‑tinged sentencing in a high‑salience political‑violence case could erode confidence in judicial neutrality and reshape debates over how courts handle terrorism enhancements.
Sources: The Day of the Jackalette
18D ago
3 sources
With hundreds of millions of durable guns already in circulation, restricting new sales has limited impact on armed crime. Instead, consistent 'point‑of‑use' enforcement—making illegal carry riskier than leaving the gun at home—can change offender behavior and drive murders down. New York City under Michael Bloomberg is cited as a multi‑year proof of concept.
— This reframes U.S. gun policy toward enforceable carry/possession rules and deterrence rather than new bans that are hard to police at the point of sale.
Sources: Another Mass Shooting, Slate: It's Racist to Take Guns off the Street, Where'd I Hear This Before?
18D ago
1 sources
Matthew Yglesias, a mainstream liberal commentator, argues Democrats should target illegal handgun carriage and gun traffickers rather than add new rifle regulations. He also urges messaging that reassures lawful owners to avoid a 'slippery slope' perception.
— A visible center‑left endorsement of enforcement‑first gun policy hints at a cross‑partisan reframing that could redirect legislative priorities and campaign messaging on guns.
Sources: Where'd I Hear This Before?
18D ago
3 sources
The Taliban shut off fiber‑optic internet in Balkh, disabling Wi‑Fi for homes, offices, and institutions while keeping mobile data on. This illustrates a shift from content/app blocking to selective infrastructure control that removes high‑capacity, harder‑to‑monitor connections yet preserves a surveillable, lower‑bandwidth channel.
— It highlights a scalable censorship tactic regimes could copy to police morality and politics while limiting economic harm, raising urgent digital‑rights and governance questions.
Sources: Taliban Leader Bans Wi-Fi In an Afghan Province To 'Prevent Immorality', Afghanistan Hit By Nationwide Internet Blackout As Taliban Cuts Fiber Optic Cables, Thwarted Plot To Cripple Cell Service In NY Was Bigger Than First Thought
18D ago
1 sources
Authorities reportedly said one of the two worshippers killed during the Manchester synagogue attack may have been accidentally shot by police while stopping the assailant. This introduces a complex operational risk: rapid neutralization can save lives yet create friendly‑fire exposure in crowded or chaotic scenes.
— If confirmed, it would influence police tactics, transparency expectations, and community trust after terror incidents at religious sites.
Sources: The barbarians are inside the gates
18D ago
2 sources
Analyses that cite the Anti‑Defamation League’s “extremist‑related killings” to prove political violence skews right often miss that the ADL includes any homicide by an extremist, even when the motive isn’t political. Using this number to characterize ideologically motivated violence overstates one side’s share.
— Clarifying what this high‑profile metric measures would improve media coverage and policymaking about political extremism and reduce misleading one‑sided blame.
Sources: Yes, You Should “Both Sides” Political Violence, How much black violence is leftist?
19D ago
2 sources
The article argues states should impose repeat‑offender sentencing enhancements keyed to prior felony counts (or severity) rather than rely on predictive reoffending tools. It claims criminal history predicts future offending across crime types and that persistent offenders don’t necessarily age out in their 30s.
— This reframes the risk‑assessment debate toward simple, auditable rules over opaque algorithms, with implications for fairness, effectiveness, and public safety.
Sources: Lock Up Repeat Offenders, Vanderbilt Gets It Right
19D ago
2 sources
With tens of thousands of local candidates on ballots and average ages around 60, a handful of late-campaign deaths—even clustered in one party—can occur without conspiracy. A rough calculation puts six AfD candidate deaths in a month at about a 1‑in‑200 anomaly, rare but not extraordinary.
— It cautions against turning statistical clusters into political‑violence narratives without denominators and age structure, improving how media and platforms handle election-season scares.
Sources: Six AfD candidates have died ahead of municipal elections in Nordrhein-Westfalen. They are very unlikely to have been the victims of a covert assassination campaign., America is not a town
19D ago
3 sources
State prison admissions data show the median inmate has nine prior arrests, and over three‑quarters have at least five. First‑time admissions are comparatively rare and generally reflect very serious offenses.
— This challenges narratives centered on first‑time, low‑level offenders and refocuses reform on how to handle chronic repeat offending.
Sources: Prisons aren't filled with harmless pot smokers, The U.S. has a typical number of prisoners and an exceptionally low number of police, Lock Up Repeat Offenders
19D ago
1 sources
Google Ngram trends show 'gentrification' usage surging in books starting around 2014 and overtaking terms like 'black crime,' while 'white flight' references also climb relative to the 1990s. The author argues this focus outstrips real‑world gentrification outside a few cities and faded after May 2020. The gap suggests elite narratives about cities shifted faster than conditions on the ground.
— If language trends steer agendas, a post‑2014 fixation on gentrification and 'white flight' could skew media coverage and policy priorities in urban debates.
Sources: Ngram and the Blooming, Buzzing Confusion of American Life
20D ago
HOT
12 sources
Across human history, plunder and conquest were the norm; ancient DNA shows repeated population replacements and a severe Neolithic male bottleneck. What distinguishes modern rich societies is not unique access to plunder but the institutional shift from predation to protected exchange—monopolized violence, property rights, and rule‑of‑law that curb raiding.
— This reframes colonialism and development debates away from zero‑sum blame and toward building anti‑predation institutions as the path to mass prosperity.
Sources: The plunder lie about Western wealth, The struggles of states, the contentions of classes, The North Sea and the Baltic form the core zone of certain tendencies (+9 more)
20D ago
1 sources
When a police witness is exposed as a serial perjurer, prosecutors often must abandon dozens of unrelated cases that hinge on that officer’s testimony. In Chicago, at least 92 traffic and criminal matters were dropped after a veteran cop admitted lying under oath to beat 56 of his own tickets. This illustrates the Giglio/Brady domino effect and the high cost of weak misconduct controls.
— It spotlights a systemic vulnerability—officer credibility management—where one bad actor can undermine courts, prosecutions, and trust, informing reforms on disclosure lists, decertification, and complaint procedures.
Sources: Chicago Cop Who Falsely Blamed an Ex-Girlfriend for Dozens of Traffic Tickets Pleads Guilty but Avoids Prison
20D ago
1 sources
Tusi ('pink cocaine') spreads because it’s visually striking and status‑coded, not because of its chemistry—often containing no cocaine or 2CB. Its bright color, premium pricing, and social‑media virality let it displace traditional white powders and jump from Colombia to Spain and the UK.
— If illicit markets now optimize for shareable aesthetics, drug policy, platform moderation, and public‑health messaging must grapple with attention economics, not just pharmacology.
Sources: Why are kids snorting pink cocaine?
20D ago
3 sources
A nationally representative experiment (≈2,500 adults) found that viewing just four race- or protest-themed headlines reduced approval of lawful police force by about 7 percentage points versus neutral controls. The effect hit liberals and conservatives alike and could compound with real‑world saturation after incidents.
— If minimal headline exposure can shift views on legitimate force, media framing becomes a direct lever on policing legitimacy, cooperation, and policy.
Sources: How the Media Influence Americans’ Support for Police, Red States Are Easing Housing Constraints, Stop Killing Cops
20D ago
1 sources
Across July–September 2025, multiple incidents in Texas, Ohio, Utah, Pennsylvania, and Dallas targeted police and ICE/Border Patrol, including rooftop sniping and domestic‑call ambushes. The National Police Association says ambush‑style shootings are rising, tying the uptick to anti‑police sentiment.
— If targeted attacks on law enforcement are accelerating, it raises urgent questions for domestic security, political rhetoric, and policing tactics.
Sources: Stop Killing Cops
20D ago
2 sources
The author proposes a four‑layer model of modern political violence: prestige narratives from mainstream institutions, radicalized online memespaces, copycat templates, and disturbed individuals. Unlike cell‑based terror, this decentralized system allegedly generates violence with plausible deniability for political actors.
— This framing offers a mechanism that links media rhetoric to lone‑actor attacks, shifting how responsibility and speech norms are argued after high‑profile violence.
Sources: The Left-Wing Terror Memeplex, The Left-Wing Terror Memeplex
21D ago
3 sources
In polities with free internal movement, letting states or nations set their own immigration rules fails because entry anywhere becomes entry everywhere. Effective control must be exercised at the external border by the largest relevant unit (U.S. federal government; EU‑level forces), not by localities or individual nations. This reframes national‑vs‑local fights as a scale‑matching problem.
— It guides institutional design by showing where authority must sit to make border policy coherent in a free‑movement system.
Sources: The Continental Divide, Turning the Tide in America’s Border and Fentanyl Crises, Network State, or a Network of States?
21D ago
1 sources
The piece argues London’s old‑school crime syndicates faded not just because of drugs and foreign competition, but because the Metropolitan Police professionalized: anti‑corruption 'Ghost Squad' work, centralized informant handling, and recruiting graduates reduced cozy ties with criminals. That broke the old accommodation system and, alongside open borders and new markets, made space for harder transnational crews.
— It shows how recruitment and oversight choices inside police forces can restructure criminal ecosystems, implying that institutional design can both suppress domestic corruption and unintentionally cede terrain to globalized crime.
Sources: Who killed the East End mobster?
22D ago
5 sources
Portugal’s model decriminalized possession but compelled users into assessment and sanctioned non‑compliance, while investing heavily in treatment. Oregon and British Columbia removed criminal penalties without a robust sanction‑and‑diversion system or adequate capacity, and disorder surged.
— It shifts drug policy debate from 'criminalize vs decriminalize' to the specific enforcement and treatment mechanisms required for decriminalization to work.
Sources: Why North America’s Drug Decriminalization Experiments Failed, Yes, Compulsory Drug Treatment Works, ‘Freeze the Rent’? Not So Fast (+2 more)
22D ago
1 sources
New York City is legally bound to close Rikers by 2027 and replace it with smaller borough jails that require a daily population near 3,000. Even with faster case processing and further bail tweaks, analyses indicate the city cannot safely reduce the jail census to that level. The remaining gap makes the closure timeline a public‑safety and capacity problem, not just a procedural one.
— If the target census is unattainable, policymakers must either expand capacity or revise closure law, reframing the decarceration debate from ideals to operational constraints.
Sources: Many of the decarceration agenda’s proposals have been tried
22D ago
2 sources
As autonomous taxis scale, police and fire services need standard procedures to stop, move, and access vehicles with no driver. Companies are now running large trainings and setting rules on footage access and emergency overrides, yet gaps remain (e.g., blocked stations, misrecognized officers, EV fire risks).
— Standardizing AV–responder interfaces will shape urban safety, liability, and rollout timelines, turning robotaxis from a tech novelty into a public‑safety governance issue.
Sources: Tens of Thousands of US Emergency Workers Trained on How to Handle a Robotaxi, 'No Driver, No Hands, No Clue': Waymo Pulled Over For Illegal U-turn
23D ago
5 sources
1989 showed regimes can crumble if they refuse to use force against mass protests. The piece argues the U.K. may face a similar moment, where the decisive variable is not capacity but willingness to impose violence. Without that will, even entrenched systems can fold quickly.
— It reframes regime stability analysis around a concrete decision threshold—state willingness to deploy force—rather than vague notions of legitimacy or capacity.
Sources: On the United Kingdom, and 1989 Eastern Europe as Harbinger, If you’re not in the meetings, you can’t accurately estimate the relative levels of dishonesty and self-delusion involved, Why the bureaucrats won’t be toppled (+2 more)
23D ago
4 sources
Authorities can target protesters not for what they say but for what they might say—e.g., detaining someone with a blank placard or parsing a punny sign as intent to offend. This 'subjunctive' approach shifts enforcement from acts to anticipated meanings, inviting arbitrary and chilling controls on dissent.
— Normalizing preemptive speech enforcement risks criminalizing intent and eroding free expression under vague standards.
Sources: Trump needs a Fool, The UK's Spiralling Free Speech Crisis, The Public Health Model of Speech Suppression (+1 more)
24D ago
1 sources
Survey results cited here suggest support for assassinating public figures co-occurs with approval of vandalism and other political violence, forming a coherent attitude cluster. The report ties this cluster to left‑wing authoritarianism and feelings of powerlessness after electoral losses.
— If political‑violence attitudes travel in clusters, interventions and monitoring must target the broader belief network, not just single behaviors.
Sources: The psychological roots of “assassination culture” are a mix of ideological radicalism and feelings of powerlessness
25D ago
1 sources
A large study using lottery winners as a quasi‑random income shock finds no consistent change in criminal behavior after a cash windfall. The result implies the correlation between poverty and crime may be driven by underlying traits rather than income itself. It cautions that transfers alone are unlikely to reduce offending.
— If poverty isn’t a proximal causal lever on crime, policy should shift from income boosts toward interventions that target offender selection, impulse control, and repeat‑offending dynamics.
Sources: Invisible Tigers, a New View of Autism, and the Gender-Equality Paradox
25D ago
1 sources
The author cites a Justinian/late‑Roman statute granting citizens permission to kill nocturnal robbers or soldiers turned brigands, arguing that when sovereign justice cannot operate, authority to punish devolves to the people. He then insists today’s U.S. has not met that breakdown threshold and urges restraint after Kirk’s murder.
— Grounding modern vigilantism debates in explicit historical legal tradition clarifies when, if ever, 'natural justice' is legitimate and reinforces a standard for political restraint.
Sources: The Inactive Club
26D ago
2 sources
The piece argues that high levels of violence and visible disorder make voters resist dense housing and transit, so improving public order is a prerequisite for urbanist goals. It reframes YIMBY politics to include enforcement, mental‑health capacity, and safer transit operations.
— This pushes housing and transit coalitions to integrate safety policy, not just zoning reform, if they want durable urban growth.
Sources: Good cities can't exist without public order, Sick Transit’s Dizzying Deficits
29D ago
2 sources
City residents report higher worry about violent crime and greater perceptions of rising crime than non‑city residents, yet self‑reported violent victimization for them or a family member is similar. This suggests urban fear may be driven more by ambient disorder and media narratives than by direct victimization rates.
— If fear and perceptions, not victimization, drive urban crime politics, policy and messaging need to address disorder signals and information environments alongside enforcement.
Sources: Trump's agenda, crime, the National Guard, museums, slavery, and reading books: August 22 - 25, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll, The problems with transit have nothing to do with crime
30D ago
2 sources
The author argues the federal civil‑rights statutes can be used to investigate and charge organizations that organize blockades of roads, buildings, or houses of worship as unlawful deprivations of others’ rights. This positions prosecutions around interference with travel, assembly, and worship rather than speech content.
— It reframes crackdowns from policing 'hate speech' to enforcing neutral rights, reshaping how protests and civil disobedience are regulated.
Sources: How the White House Can Crack Down on Radical Groups—Legally, Cracking Down on Radical Groups—Legally
30D ago
1 sources
After Charlie Kirk’s assassination, incel forums and some trans‑identified users both publicly celebrated the killing, albeit for different reasons. Incels framed it as deserved punishment for a 'normie' with wife and kids, while others cast it as retribution against an 'oppressor.' The convergence shows how disparate online tribes can meet in dehumanization and approval of political violence.
— It highlights a cross‑ideological normalization of violence online, suggesting platforms and policymakers must address subcultural justifications that cut across left–right lines.
Sources: What incels say about Charlie Kirk
30D ago
4 sources
Aris Roussinos argues England is developing a Northern Ireland–style 'siege mentality' in which loyalty to the state becomes conditional on it defending majority ethnic interests (e.g., border control). This reframes rising English nationalism not as a transient mood but as a structural shift in how legitimacy is granted to the state.
— If English politics is 'Ulsterising,' party strategies, policing, and constitutional norms may realign around ethnic security claims rather than traditional left–right economics.
Sources: July Diary, Good news. The Overton Window is moving and we are helping move it., If you’re not in the meetings, you can’t accurately estimate the relative levels of dishonesty and self-delusion involved (+1 more)
1M ago
HOT
6 sources
When public spaces feel unsafe, restoring order requires not just enforcement but obvious signals of enforcement—high‑visibility guards, frequent patrols, and controlled entry. LA’s Union Station improved user experience by gating waiting areas to ticketed passengers and saturating the site with bright‑uniformed staff and police. The visibility cues users that order is back, reviving ridership and use.
— It reframes 'security theater' as a necessary trust signal in urban recovery, challenging narratives that equate visible enforcement with authoritarianism.
Sources: Union Station, Meet Union Station: What the Blue Zones Know But Won't Say About Trump's D.C. Effort, Another Mass Shooting, Charlie Kirk, 31, RIP (+3 more)
1M ago
1 sources
Concealed and open carry change offender calculus not only when a specific victim is armed but by creating ambient uncertainty that any target or nearby bystander could intervene. This second‑ and third‑order effect deters opportunistic attacks even if some incidents remain unstoppable. The right metric is aggregate crime shifts, not single outliers.
— It reframes gun policy arguments away from anecdotal counterexamples toward population‑level deterrence effects, potentially reshaping legislation and media framing.
Sources: stochastic carry
1M ago
1 sources
A new class of synthetic opioids, nitazenes, has displaced fentanyl in Estonia and is now linked to hundreds of deaths in the UK. The Baltics account for 96% of Europe’s nitazene seizures, and in 2023 nearly half of Estonia’s overdose deaths involved nitazenes. Their extreme potency and rapid spread signal a new phase of Europe’s opioid crisis.
— This shifts European drug policy and public‑health planning toward a higher‑potency synthetic threat with cross‑border implications for surveillance, treatment, and law enforcement.
Sources: Estonian opioids are heading for Britain
1M ago
1 sources
If prosecutors reveal exculpatory (Brady) evidence only after a jury is sworn, a dismissal can permanently bar retrial under the Double Jeopardy Clause. That transforms an internal management error into a irreversible non‑prosecution in serious cases like murder. The risk scales with weak disclosure controls and training inside DA offices.
— It reframes public safety around prosecutorial competence and process design, suggesting audits, training, and real‑time disclosure systems are as crucial as policy stances.
Sources: Austin’s Progressive Prosecutor Who Won’t Prosecute
1M ago
HOT
7 sources
City leaders in liberal jurisdictions are beefing up transit policing and access controls while publicly denouncing similar measures as 'fascist' when tied to national opponents. The gap between rhetoric and operations obscures what works for restoring order.
— It spotlights a messaging‑policy split that distorts public debate and accountability on urban safety.
Sources: Union Station, Meet Union Station: What the Blue Zones Know But Won't Say About Trump's D.C. Effort, I Have a New Hole In My Priors, San Francisco Is Safer—Thank Republicans (+4 more)
1M ago
1 sources
After prolonged fires and water‑system failures left hydrants dry, Malibu contracted $260,000 per month for private guards and co‑hosted a 'protect your property' workshop with the sheriff. An 'Uber‑for‑guards' app (Protector) launched armed escorts and later off‑duty police patrols in wealthy L.A. neighborhoods, while residents on Nextdoor organize community‑funded patrols. Public safety is shifting from a tax‑funded monopoly to pay‑to‑protect stopgaps.
— Marketized safety risks a two‑tier system and weakens democratic accountability for core public goods as state capacity falters.
Sources: As Los Angeles Gives Up on Public Safety, Residents Foot the Bill
1M ago
2 sources
Across U.S. racial groups, an almost perfect inverse relation between average IQ and homicide holds—until you include Black Americans, whose homicide rate far exceeds the IQ‑based prediction. Using CDC victimization rates and Lynn’s group IQs, the article estimates IQ accounts for only about 30% of the Black–White homicide gap. That leaves most of the disparity unexplained by poverty, family structure, or IQ alone.
— It forces crime and inequality debates beyond familiar explanations, pressing researchers and policymakers to identify the remaining drivers of the gap.
Sources: What explains the black–white homicide gap?, Aporia: "What explains the black–white homicide gap?"
1M ago
2 sources
Courts require releasing patients with serious mental illness to less‑restrictive settings as soon as acute symptoms abate, even when relapse risk is high. This legal standard, paired with limited coerced‑treatment tools and uneven antipsychotic efficacy, cycles people through ERs, brief holds, jails, and back to the street.
— Reframing 'least‑restrictive' as a driver of repeat crises forces legislators and courts to weigh liberty against sustained stabilization and public safety.
Sources: The Charlotte Light-Rail Murder Exposed the Cracks in Our Mental-Health System, An Effective Program for Treating the Mentally Ill Could Be at Risk
1M ago
3 sources
Repeated claims that a 'trans genocide' is underway, paired with exaggerated suicide statistics and 'life‑saving care' slogans, can give unstable individuals a moral script to 'strike first.' The Minneapolis Catholic school shooting by a trans‑identifying former student is framed as a case where apocalyptic messaging intersected with severe mental illness. References to 'Trans Day of Vengeance' and armed 'self‑defense' narratives show how this talk has migrated into mainstream outlets and activism.
— If crisis rhetoric functions as a permission slip for violence, institutions and media must recalibrate medical messaging and movement frames to avoid radicalization while preserving debate.
Sources: Lessons from the Tragedy in Minneapolis, Why Is the Media Downplaying the Annunciation Shooter’s Motive?, Trans Terrorism Killed Charlie Kirk
1M ago
1 sources
Utah prosecutors charged a 'victim targeting enhancement' because the shooter selected Charlie Kirk for his 'political expression.' The indictment also cites a note ('I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk') and texts to a partner, fixing motive and premeditation in the record.
— Treating political expression as a protected category for sentence enhancement sets a notable legal marker for charging and deterring political violence.
Sources: Trans Terrorism Killed Charlie Kirk
1M ago
1 sources
According to the Washington Free Beacon, the FBI is investigating at least seven social‑media accounts that hinted at or stated the date of the Kirk assassination in advance and then celebrated it. Even if no conspiracy is proven, this pattern suggests a micro‑network that knew of violent intent and did not report it. That shifts part of the focus from lone‑actor pathology to bystander norms inside online subcultures.
— It raises policy and platform questions about duty‑to‑report, threat‑detection, and community responsibility in preventing political violence.
Sources: Yeah, The Murder Was Likely Trans Terrorism
1M ago
2 sources
The H‑2A farmworker program promises legal jobs, housing, and better pay, but tying workers’ status to a single employer and relying on overseas brokers creates leverage for illegal fees, retaliation, and even sexual exploitation. In Georgia, brokers transported workers long distances, controlled housing, and allegedly preyed on vulnerable recruits. Oversight remains thin despite rapid program growth, enabling trafficking‑like conditions under a legal façade.
— This challenges the assumption that expanding 'legal pathways' alone protects migrants, showing that visa design and enforcement capacity determine whether legality prevents or enables abuse.
Sources: The H-2A Visa Trap, Employers Have Exploited and Abused H-2A Farmworkers for Years. It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way.
1M ago
2 sources
Using quasi-random assignment of child-welfare investigators, Jason Baron and Max Gross compare children who were placed in foster care to similar children who stayed with parents. They find placement reduces subsequent criminal involvement, contradicting the common 'foster care-to-prison pipeline' claim. The result suggests the observed correlation is not causal and that removal can be protective in some cases.
— It reframes child-welfare and crime policy by replacing a powerful slogan with causal evidence that points toward when removal may improve public safety and life outcomes.
Sources: Round-up: How accurate is self-assessed IQ?, Protecting Kids in Foster Care Requires a Bigger, Better-Trained Workforce
1M ago
3 sources
The article argues that year‑long waitlists and scarce residential treatment for adolescents with severe, escalating symptoms create dangerous gaps where obvious warning signs go untreated. It urges shifting focus from culture‑war frames to building capacity for intensive, residential care and faster triage for high‑risk youth.
— Treating youth psychiatric bed capacity as core public‑safety infrastructure reframes policy on mass violence and directs investment toward measurable prevention.
Sources: The Annunciation Shooter and a State’s Broken Mental-Health System, Charlie Kirk’s Assassination, America’s Mental-Health System Betrayed Iryna Zarutska
1M ago
1 sources
Because of health‑privacy rules, the public often learns about the role of untreated serious mental illness in violent incidents only through relatives’ statements, not official disclosures. This information bottleneck can distort debates about causation and solutions by limiting timely, authoritative confirmation.
— If privacy law routinely obscures key facts after high‑salience crimes, policymakers and media need better transparency mechanisms that balance privacy with public‑safety accountability.
Sources: America’s Mental-Health System Betrayed Iryna Zarutska
1M ago
1 sources
Britain’s data regulator says 57% of 215 school‑origin breaches since 2022 were carried out by students, including a 7‑year‑old referred to the National Crime Agency and teens compromising databases with thousands of records. Easy‑to‑download tools, weak passwords, and dares are turning school networks into practice ranges that normalize illicit access. This suggests early diversion and stronger K–12 identity security (e.g., MFA, least‑privilege) are national‑security issues, not just school IT chores.
— It reframes youth justice, education policy, and cybersecurity by treating K–12 breaches as the front end of a cyber‑offender pipeline that can feed major attacks.
Sources: UK's Data Watchdog Warns Students Are Breaching Their Schools' IT Systems
1M ago
1 sources
The National Safety Council estimates U.S. traffic fatalities fell 13–13.5% in the first half of 2025, even as miles driven rose slightly. The fatality rate dropped to 1.15 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, with big state‑level variance (e.g., DC −67%, California −43%) and a few increases (Hawaii +46%). In parallel, the National Insurance Crime Bureau reports vehicle thefts fell 17% in 2024, the largest annual drop in 40 years.
— A sizable, nationwide safety improvement reshapes debates on road‑safety policy and may ease insurance inflation pressures.
Sources: Some Good News: Traffic Fatalities Down 13.5% This Year
1M ago
1 sources
Stolen phones are funneled to countries that don’t share IMEI blacklists (e.g., Morocco) and reconnected, while mass SMS phishing campaigns harvest device PINs to reset Apple accounts and biometrics. Where PINs fail, phones are dismantled and IMEIs altered in China for resale. This shows how regional defenses are defeated by international routing and credential attacks.
— It argues for international IMEI cooperation and platform changes that treat the PIN as a master key, reshaping anti‑theft policy and consumer security norms.
Sources: Thieves Busted After Stealing a Cellphone from a Security Expert's Wife
1M ago
2 sources
Reports say Trump’s DOJ is weighing a firearms ban for trans Americans after a high‑profile shooting. Such a class-based restriction would pit Second Amendment protections against equal-protection claims and could push some Democrats toward gun-rights defenses while tempting some Republicans toward identity-targeted prohibitions. It also sets a precedent for health- or status-linked disarmament beyond traditional prohibitor categories.
— This would realign gun and civil-rights politics and test whether courts will tolerate identity-coded limits on a fundamental right.
Sources: Monday: Three Morning Takes, Is There a Transgender Shootings Trend?
1M ago
HOT
6 sources
A high‑profile speaker was reportedly shot and killed while taking questions at a Utah university event. Expect a rapid shift toward metal detectors, controlled access, and armed protection at campus talks, with knock‑on effects for who is willing to host or attend controversial speakers.
— It reframes campus free‑speech practice around physical risk management, forcing universities to balance openness with visible security and potential chilling effects.
Sources: Charlie Kirk, 31, RIP, The Assassin's Veto, Charlie Kirk was a good man (+3 more)
1M ago
1 sources
New York amended its 2020 discovery rules (effective Aug 7, 2025) to require disclosure only for material related to the charged conduct. By shrinking paperwork burdens, this change makes it more feasible for district attorneys to prosecute high‑volume misdemeanors like fare evasion. That, in turn, could revive a broken‑windows‑style strategy on transit aimed at deterring violent offenders flagged by prior fare‑beating arrests.
— A procedural tweak in evidence rules can unlock or choke off entire enforcement strategies, reshaping urban safety outcomes without new criminal statutes.
Sources: Time for a No Tolerance Policy on Transit Crime
1M ago
1 sources
Danish researchers posing as 13-year-olds found many Snapchat accounts openly selling drugs under obvious usernames (e.g., 'coke', 'molly'). When they reported 40 such profiles, Snapchat removed only 10 and rejected the rest, despite claiming proactive filtering.
— This quantifies a child‑safety enforcement gap on a major platform, informing debates over platform liability, reporting responsiveness, and design‑level safeguards.
Sources: Snapchat Allows Drug Dealers To Operate Openly on Platform, Finds Danish Study
1M ago
2 sources
After the Supreme Court ended non‑unanimous juries in 2020, Louisiana left past split‑jury convictions intact and then passed a law prohibiting prosecutors from using plea deals to revisit them. This closes the last practical route to relief for more than 1,000 mostly Black prisoners convicted under a rule now deemed unconstitutional. The policy elevates finality and court workload concerns over correcting tainted verdicts.
— It shows how legislatures can lock in the legacy of unconstitutional practices by curbing prosecutorial discretion, reframing retroactivity as a political choice rather than a purely judicial one.
Sources: An Unconstitutional “Jim Crow Jury” Sent Him to Prison for Life. A New Law Aims to Keep Him There., After 17 Years, DNA Tied a Man to Her Rape. Under Massachusetts Law, It Was Too Late.
1M ago
1 sources
Massachusetts time‑bars adult rape prosecutions after 15 years, even if a later DNA match, confession, or eyewitness emerges. WBUR/ProPublica report that most states either have no limit or extend deadlines when DNA exists, but every effort to lengthen Massachusetts’ window has failed since 2011. A separate state privacy law keeps rape police reports secret, masking how often cases expire.
— It spotlights how a procedural cutoff can nullify modern forensic advances and deny victims their day in court, inviting scrutiny of statutes of limitations and transparency rules.
Sources: After 17 Years, DNA Tied a Man to Her Rape. Under Massachusetts Law, It Was Too Late.
1M ago
2 sources
A report says the Wren Collective, a private consultancy, embedded in progressive prosecutors’ offices and shaped their messaging, policy choices, and even courtroom decisions. The authors cite more than 50,000 pages of texts and emails showing coordinated influence over elected legal officials.
— If private consultants and donors are effectively steering prosecutorial policy, it raises serious questions about accountability, democratic control, and the neutrality of the justice system.
Sources: The Right Bids Farewell to Its “Dissident” Phase, Outsourcing Justice: How Donors and Consultants Steer America’s Prosecutors
1M ago
1 sources
A story can be ignored until a partisan heavyweight comments, at which point major outlets cover it as 'the controversy' rather than the underlying event. This cue‑driven gatekeeping incentivizes politicians to manufacture heat to get basic facts on air and deepens audience segmentation across media ecosystems.
— If political cues, not intrinsic news value, decide coverage, the press becomes a reactive actor in polarization, warping what the public learns and when.
Sources: A Tale Of Two Medias
1M ago
3 sources
The administration transferred narrow federal strips along the southern border into National Defense Areas under Department of Defense jurisdiction, allowing troops to detain illegal crossers and hand them to CBP for prosecution. Armored Strykers and helicopter units provide a visible deterrent, with reports of migrants turning back after sighting them. This is a concrete legal-operational shift that expands military roles on U.S. soil.
— Using land-designation changes to extend military authority over domestic immigration enforcement sets a precedent for civil-military boundaries and federal power that could migrate to other policy areas.
Sources: Turning the Tide in America’s Border and Fentanyl Crises, Sentences to ponder, “Material Support” and an Ohio Chaplain: How 9/11-Era Terror Rules Could Empower Trump’s Immigration Crackdown
1M ago
1 sources
A cited study reports that higher scores on the Dark Tetrad (psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism, sadism) are associated with having more children and reproducing earlier. If robust, this implies antisocial tendencies may confer reproductive advantages under modern conditions.
— Selection favoring darker personality traits would complicate crime prevention and social‑policy strategies that assume culture alone can reverse such tendencies.
Sources: Tweet by @degenrolf
1M ago
1 sources
The article contrasts Charlotte’s empathy‑for‑offender framing after a murder with San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan’s tough response to a violent robbery and his pro‑order, pro‑business critique of state leadership. It suggests some Democrats now see electoral and governance upside in prioritizing visible consequences and public safety over therapeutic rhetoric.
— If blue‑city leaders normalize law‑and‑order messaging, it could reshape local policy, split Democratic coalitions, and alter 2026–2028 campaign dynamics.
Sources: Look How Easy This Is
1M ago
1 sources
A new study finds Black defendants with stereotypically Black names are no more likely to be prosecuted by grand juries than those with stereotypically White names. The authors estimate racial bias accounts for at most 0.3% of the Black–White felony conviction gap, suggesting jury-stage discrimination is minimal.
— This challenges a common explanation for disparity and shifts reform focus toward other stages and drivers in the criminal justice system.
Sources: Six More Myths About Gender, Race, and Inequality
1M ago
1 sources
Agencies can appear to comply with open‑records laws by releasing partial files, then dribbling out the rest while citing 'errors'—even after legal settlements. This delays accountability, stalls safety fixes (like door‑lock issues), and exhausts requesters through repeated rounds of litigation.
— It argues FOIA regimes need stronger penalties and hard deadlines to prevent procedural evasion after public disasters.
Sources: New Uvalde Records Reveal How the School District Changed Course on Supporting Police Chief
1M ago
1 sources
Zootopia’s deleted 'taming' storyline—predators wearing shock collars—implies that a peaceful multi‑species city would need constant, unequal restraint. Disney removed this governance machinery to preserve a feel‑good moral, leaving viewers with a world that works without visible enforcement. Popular narratives may be teaching the public to expect social harmony without the costs and tradeoffs that make it possible.
— If mass culture sanitizes the enforcement architecture behind pluralistic peace, voters and policymakers will systematically underestimate the governance required to manage real diversity.
Sources: Zootopia's Machines of Loving Grace
1M ago
3 sources
In Chicago, expanding conviction-review units and routine 'Certificates of Innocence' have turned overturned convictions—often on procedural grounds—into successful civil-rights suits against the city. Since 2000, Chicago has paid over $700 million, with outside counsel and plaintiff firms specializing in these cases and reaping large contingency fees.
— It recasts wrongful-conviction policy as an incentive design issue that can drain public budgets and distort prosecutorial behavior even when actual innocence is unclear.
Sources: For Chicago Lawyers, Exonerations Are a Cash Cow, Municipal Litigation Lottery, Chicago’s “Wrongful Conviction” Racket
1M ago
1 sources
Chicago prosecutors reportedly urged courts to grant Certificates of Innocence based solely on policing irregularities, not on proof of factual innocence. Those certificates unlock multimillion‑dollar settlements, turning procedural error into a liability pipeline. This reframes 'innocence' and creates powerful financial incentives around case reversals.
— It challenges how the justice system defines innocence and allocates risk, with large budget and governance implications for cities.
Sources: Chicago’s “Wrongful Conviction” Racket
1M ago
1 sources
The article argues that the prospect of federal intervention under Trump is prompting Democratic city leaders to move fast on clearing entrenched homeless encampments and restoring public order. Los Angeles abruptly cleared the long‑standing Sepulveda Basin camps after another major fire, and Washington, D.C.’s mayor reportedly shifted tone on disorder.
— If true, urban policy may be more responsive to national political threat than to local grievances, reshaping federal–local dynamics and how parties signal on crime and homelessness.
Sources: The Blue Model, the Bowser Pivot, and the Trump Inflection
1M ago
3 sources
When mainstream parties jointly vow not to criticize a salient issue, they hand its ownership to the outsider who refuses the pact. In Cologne, CDU, SPD, Greens, FDP, Die Linke, and Volt signed a pledge—policed by church 'arbitrators'—to avoid negative migration talk, leaving AfD as the only voice airing downsides. Such moralized self‑muzzling creates a vacuum that populists can fill to mobilize voters.
— It shows how elite coordination around taboos can unintentionally strengthen populist rivals by monopolizing voter concerns.
Sources: Parties in Cologne elections agree to speak of migrants only in positive terms, as German political dumbassery plumbs new depths, Lunch With The Unknown Soldier, A talk on regime change
1M ago
HOT
6 sources
Over seven years, 1,241 black D.C. residents were homicide victims compared to 11 whites, implying a 97-to-1 per-capita risk gap. This shows crime is hyper-concentrated by group, so citywide ‘crime up/down’ talk can hide who bears the danger and who benefits from crackdowns.
— It shifts crime policy discussions toward distribution of victimization and the equity implications of enforcement choices.
Sources: Blacks are 97x As Likely to Be Murdered in D.C., D.C. needs real policing, not propaganda, When politics isn’t local (+3 more)
1M ago
1 sources
Sailer claims the exact phrase 'black homicide rate' has appeared only three times in the New York Times’ 174-year archive. That suggests an editorial avoidance of explicit terminology that would foreground racial disparities in homicide. The result is readers missing a key baseline for judging crime stories and policy.
— If leading outlets systematically avoid precise terms, public debate about crime and justice is filtered away from core magnitudes that matter for policy.
Sources: How well informed are NYT readers?
1M ago
2 sources
Evidence cited here says court‑ or doctor‑mandated addiction care reduces program abandonment and is associated with longer abstinence. Compulsion helps patients endure withdrawal and stay in care long enough to benefit.
— If mandates improve retention and remission, drug policy should weigh civil‑liberties costs against measurable public‑health and safety gains.
Sources: Yes, Compulsory Drug Treatment Works, How the Department of Justice Can Expand Institutional Treatment
1M ago
2 sources
The article argues that Britain’s public order rests on a fragile belief among senior elites about police/state coercive credibility. When authorities display asymmetric tolerance, groups infer impunity, risking rapid cascades from protest to mob action. Stability is maintained as much by elite expectations as by actual forces on the ground.
— It shifts policing and governance debates from raw capacity to credibility management, explaining why uneven enforcement can trigger sudden legitimacy collapse.
Sources: If you’re not in the meetings, you can’t accurately estimate the relative levels of dishonesty and self-delusion involved, People, ideas, machines XII: Theories of regime change and civil war
1M ago
1 sources
The article argues San Francisco’s crime drop isn’t just from local policy shifts; it’s also from Trump-era fast‑track deportations that remove a 'significant percentage' of Honduran drug dealers. When state judges release repeat offenders, federal expedited removal steps in, complementing police blitzes and prosecutions.
— This suggests progressive cities’ public safety gains may rely on conservative federal immigration enforcement, complicating sanctuary narratives and realigning coalition incentives on crime and border policy.
Sources: San Francisco Is Safer—Thank Republicans
1M ago
1 sources
Headlines sourced from police or agency press releases had little measurable effect on public approval of force in the same experiment. Once a critical narrative takes hold, institutional messaging appears weak as a corrective.
— This suggests agencies need new communication strategies beyond press releases to maintain legitimacy during high‑salience incidents.
Sources: How the Media Influence Americans’ Support for Police
1M ago
1 sources
After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans converted every public school into a charter, fired the entire teaching workforce, and gave parents near‑total choice while closing or reassigning persistently weak schools. A Tulane University synthesis of a decade of studies finds the 'largest, broadest and most sustained improvement' seen in any U.S. district—across test scores, college access, parental satisfaction, and reduced youth crime involvement.
— It suggests governance overhaul—choice, autonomy, and hard accountability—can dramatically outperform traditional district models, informing national debates over union power, charter caps, and crisis‑driven reform.
Sources: How Katrina saved New Orleans schools
1M ago
1 sources
The Tulane evaluation cited here links New Orleans' district‑wide charter overhaul not only to academic gains but also to reduced involvement in crime among youth. This suggests school governance and accountability reforms can function as crime‑prevention policy, not just education policy.
— If education governance choices measurably reduce youth crime, crime policy debates must weigh school structure alongside policing and social programs.
Sources: How Katrina saved New Orleans schools
1M ago
2 sources
Researchers can now estimate Big Five traits using only a facial image, already outperforming humans. As accuracy improves and adds voice/text signals, employers, insurers, and platforms could infer temperament without consent.
— Photo-based personality profiling would supercharge private scoring and discrimination risks, demanding new disclosure, auditing, and use‑restriction rules.
Sources: A Few Links, 8/24/2025, PedoAI
1M ago
2 sources
A reported drone strike brought down a Colombian Black Hawk, showing cheap, off‑the‑shelf tech can now threaten high‑value aircraft. This shifts drones from surveillance and small IED roles to effective anti‑air tools for cartels and insurgents. It raises urgent questions about counter‑drone defenses, air policing tactics, and civilian airspace risk.
— If non‑state groups can deny the air cheaply, states must rethink law‑enforcement and military doctrine, procurement, and urban security rules.
Sources: Saturday assorted links, We are preparing to storm positions that we should already be occupying
2M ago
1 sources
Converting fully open civic areas into partially controlled‑access zones can prevent encampment and disorder, making them usable for a wider public. Requiring proof of travel to enter Union Station’s central seating reduced misuse and improved safety without total exclusion.
— This frames 'less public' design as a trade that preserves common goods under urban disorder, informing zoning and transit policy.
Sources: Union Station, Meet Union Station: What the Blue Zones Know But Won't Say About Trump's D.C. Effort
2M ago
1 sources
Cuba maintained low homicide rates for years while running one of the world’s highest incarceration rates, paralleling El Salvador’s security gains under a dominant ruling party. The model curbs organized crime and drugs but depends on extensive detention and surveillance.
— It challenges applause for 'miracle' crackdowns by showing regime type matters less than the incarceration machinery underpinning low crime.
Sources: The Cuban Conundrum: Fear, Loathing, and Stagnation in Havana and Miami
2M ago
1 sources
Instead of ideologically aligned sides, a brittle U.S. could drift into low‑intensity conflicts driven by cartels, oligarchs, and private security—more Congo than Fort Sumter. Violence would center on resource and value extraction under collapsing state capacity while propaganda and elite enclaves persist. The result is daily degradation without formal secession or organized fronts.
— This reframes 'national divorce' and civil‑war talk toward state‑capacity, cartelization, and private coercion as the real risks to social order.
Sources: King of Dogs (Andrew Edwards)
2M ago
1 sources
Nordic and U.S. data indicate that a nontrivial share of men acquire convictions or prison stints over a lifetime: Sweden ~7% convicted of violent crime; Denmark 6–7% receive unsuspended prison sentences; U.S. lifetime prison risk ranges from ~1/15 for white men to ~1/3 for Black men. Crime isn’t only the domain of a tiny set of offenders.
— This challenges narratives that crime is confined to a minuscule cohort and has implications for background checks, reintegration policy, and sentencing reform.
Sources: How many are criminals?
4M ago
1 sources
Treat statecraft like control engineering: forecast only stable dynamics and build fast‑feedback levers to damp or steer unstable ones (preference cascades, street unrest, legitimacy shocks). Instead of grand long‑range 'predictions,' invest in visible, credible enforcement signals and short‑cycle decision loops that stabilize expectations.
— This reframes governance from pundit forecasting to control‑system design, shifting debates on policing, protest management, and institutional reform toward rapid, credibility‑restoring interventions.
Sources: People, ideas, machines XII: Theories of regime change and civil war
5M ago
1 sources
A forthcoming book claims racial bias in police killings, but its database reportedly knows whether suspects were armed in only about 30% of cases. By contrast, the Washington Post’s Fatal Force reports 88% of those shot had real or replica weapons from 2018–2023, 4.9% were unarmed, and 6.9% unknown. Divergent data completeness and definitions can drive opposing conclusions about bias.
— If policing claims rest on incomparable datasets, policymakers and media need standardized, transparent measures before asserting racial bias or crafting reforms.
Sources: Bullet Proof
7M ago
1 sources
Advocacy groups increasingly publish composite 'strength' or 'freedom' scores that journalists and lawmakers cite as evidence. If the data, scoring rubrics, and state‑level components aren’t public and reproducible, these indexes function as black‑box propaganda rather than evidence. Policymakers and media should require open data and methods or treat such scores as non‑credible.
— Setting transparency standards for NGO indices would improve the quality of policy arguments across guns, education, health, and democracy where such rankings steer public opinion and legislation.
Sources: The Everytown scam
7M ago
1 sources
An independent researcher trained a convolutional neural network on 160,000 mugshots (from a 1.2 million–record scrape) and claims 69% accuracy at identifying convicted pedophiles by face alone, noting offenders skew older, white, and overweight. Citing Kosinski et al., the post positions this as a natural extension of face‑to‑trait prediction that journals have shunned. Whether valid or flawed, the work shows how easy it is to build and publicize forbidden classifiers outside institutional review.
— If physiognomic classifiers are trivial to build and circulate, policymakers, platforms, and law enforcement must plan for discriminatory screening, vigilantism, and governance beyond academic ethics boards.
Sources: PedoAI
3Y ago
1 sources
Analyzing CDC county data, the authors find that homicide rose for almost everyone in 2020 but increased more in Democratic‑leaning counties than in GOP‑leaning ones when comparing within counties over time. They also detect no significant relationship between homicide growth and either COVID‑19 deaths or per‑capita gun sales.
— This challenges pandemic‑or‑guns explanations and suggests local political culture or governance differences may have influenced the scale of the 2020 violence spike.
Sources: Breaking Down the 2020 Homicide Spike