The Trump administration has targeted George Soros and the Open Society Foundations (OSF) in its post-Kirk “crackdown” on what it calls radical left networks. Trump has floated the use of RICO charges, ordered agencies to scrutinize progressive donors and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and tied OSF to so-called organized political violence. OSF and other left-leaning groups have dismissed these moves as a politically motivated effort to silence dissent and restrict civil society.
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California’s Landmark AI Regulations Don’t Go Far Enough (Technology Policy Brief #158)
California styles itself as a leader in AI regulation. Two landmark bills were signed by Governor Newsom this year over the usual industry objections. But the bills don’t go as far as safety advocates wanted, and don’t offer sufficient protections to young, vulnerable users.
The Uncertain Future of the Department of Education and Title IX (Education Policy Brief #209)
Leading up to the 2024 election, Donald Trump promised to dismantle the Department of Education, a sentiment that was supported in an executive order from the White House following Trump’s inauguration and also outlined in Project 2025. In a press release for the DOE published in March, U.S. Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, reiterated this plan, stating that her “vision is aligned with the President’s: to send education back to the states and empower all parents to choose an excellent education for their children.” In recent weeks, McMahon reaffirmed that the Trump administration is committed to fulfilling this promise by 2029.
How To Ensure A Fair And Safe 2026 Midterm Election (Election and Politics #197)
With only nine months of his presidency in the books, President Donald Trump has undertaken a radical reshaping of American democracy. From its courts to its liberties, Trump is actively pushing for an American society that serves him and his movement.
Trump’s Efforts in Making Peace Between Russia and Ukraine (Foreign Policy Brief #217)
On August 15, after his meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump said it had been “a great and very successful day in Alaska.” In phone calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European leaders, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Trump added that his talks with Putin had gone “very well.” He later wrote: “It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere ceasefire agreement, which oftentimes does not hold up.”
AI Dirties the Air and Drives Demands for Environmental Justice (Technology Policy Brief #155)
Artificial Intelligence is more ubiquitous in our daily lives than you may realize. It drives the constant stream of personalized ads, instant navigation directions when driving, voice assistants such as Siri and Alexa, shows up first in our Google searches, and much more. The massive data centers powering all that instant intelligence are less visible to those of us who use it the most. But they have become ubiquitous in lower-income communities of color, communities with the least access to high-speed home internet and some of the worst air pollution in the country.
The Texas and California Re – Districting Fight Explained
At the end of July 2025 President Trump suggested that Texas should re – district (or, redraw) their state congressional map prior to the 2026 general election. Trump’s purpose in suggesting a redraw of the map was to add five more reliably Republican districts in Texas. This would likely give the Texas congressional delegation five additional members of the House of Representatives in Washington. Texas Governor Greg Abbott then called a special session of the Texas State Legislature to consider the issue and issue a new map ahead of the 2026 elections.
Zohran Mamdani’s Campaign Has Been A Wake-Up Call. Who Is Following His Lead? (Elections & Politics Brief #188)
The Democratic primary for the New York mayoral race was seen as a “perfect storm”, “clearly a rebuke”, and a surprise to many onlookers. In it, self-proclaimed democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani managed to pull off a stunning and decisive victory over establishment Democrat and former governor Andrew Cuomo. As Mamdani began gaining steam in the latter weeks of the campaign, the mayoral race began to be seen as a litmus test for the future of the Democratic Party.
AI Regulation: Who’s Up to the Challenge? (Technology Policy Brief #150)
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the discipline of designing computer systems that can perform tasks normally requiring human cognition—pattern recognition, language generation, planning—by learning statistical relationships from large data sets. Modern AI works by training vast machine-learning models on petabytes of text, images, audio, and code and then applying those models to new inputs to produce predictions or content; it now powers everything from chatbots and fraud detection to medical imaging and autonomous drones.
No Capital Gains Tax in Texas: What It Means for Businesses and Residents (Economic Policy Brief #88)
In 2025, the Texas Legislature passed House Joint Resolution 6 (HJR 6), placing a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot for the November 4, 2025, election. If approved by voters, the amendment would permanently prohibit Texas from ever imposing a tax on individuals’ net capital gains.










