February 7, 2025

Now, on to the news…

It’s a crisis almost no one is talking about. The Chinese Communist Party is now the world’s preeminent practitioner of cyber warfare. Yet the mainstream media seems behind the curve on the story, as Congress and executive branch agencies are racing to catch up.

Corbin K. Barthold, Internet policy counsel at TechFreedom, notes two recent stories that show the growing sophistication and stealthiness of CCP hacking efforts. Last September, the Wall Street Journal revealed that a CCP hacking operation known as Salt Typhoon, in operation since at least 2023, had compromised wireless networks in and around Washington, D.C., pilfering sensitive data on more than a million targets, including senior American officials. A second, in operation since at least 2019, known as Volt Typhoon, has compromised the nation’s critical infrastructure, including railroads, airports, the electricity grid, and gas pipelines.

Barthold has several suggestions for the Trump administration: better continuity planning, streamlined cybersecurity regulations, a ROTC-style program to train computer-science students, and additional efforts to keep the U.S. ahead in AI research.

Unless the United States meets this national-security challenge, Barthold writes, “we are in for a rude awakening on the terrible morning that, all of a sudden, the power is off, taps run dry, planes are grounded, and the Internet is down.”

Corbin K. Barthold

We’re In for a Rude Awakening on Cybersecurity

America remains ill-prepared for Chinese hackers targeting critical infrastructure.

John D. Sailer, the Manhattan Institute’s director of higher education policy, uncovered revealing video footage from Ohio State University. In the 2022 recording, Susan Olesik, dean of natural and mathematical sciences, instructs a search committee to prioritize diversity—not qualifications—in hiring faculty.

The university now claims that the footage doesn’t reflect current hiring practices, stating it was merely complying with federal regulations at the time. Yet, as Sailer notes, the administrators who enforced what appears to be a widespread discriminatory regime remain in place. If Ohio lawmakers want real accountability, he argues, they should pass a newly introduced bill to eliminate diversity offices in public universities.

Read his reporting here.  

The nationwide protests over George Floyd’s death ushered in the Black Lives Matter era, but the movement’s leading figures are now facing a steep fall from grace as Americans push back against radical ideas like critical race theory.

Few exemplify this reversal more than Ibram X. Kendi. Once hailed as America’s foremost “race guru,” Kendi peddled bestselling books, advised politicians, and relentlessly pushed the notion that “antiracist discrimination” was necessary to redress historical wrongs. His influence peaked with a major investment to launch Boston University’s Center on Antiracist Research.

Then it all unraveled. Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Christopher F. Rufo has the scoop on what went wrong for Kendi here. 

Perhaps one of then-candidate Donald Trump’s best proposals on the campaign trail was the idea of  “freedom cities”—centers of innovation that would unlock advancements in industries from construction to aerospace.

But the new administration hasn’t ironed out what these cities would look like, how they would come together, or what, specifically, they would accomplish.

Mark Lutter, founder and executive director of the Charter Cities Institute, has some ideas for Trump and his team on how these hubs can improve all aspects of American life. Read his vision here.

The AI Arms Race

Judd Rosenblatt joins Jordan McGillis to discuss DeepSeek and the competition around AI development.

Late last month, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker promised to protect “law-abiding” illegal immigrants who were at risk of deportation for…not abiding by the law. Maybe Selena Gomez should invite him to join her in her next video.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images News via Getty Images

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