Freedom & Security

Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are on the rise. In an attempt to reinvent money as we know it, central bankers and other policymakers around the world are currently researching, developing, and launching CBDCs. The prospect has caught the attention of the president of the United States, Congress, international institutions, and government contractors, but the public has largely been left out of this development. That needs to change.

It was family separation and “kids in cages” that drove Sarah Towle to the U.S. southern border. On discovering the many-headed hydra that is the U.S. immigration system—and the heroic determination of those caught under its knee—she could never look away again. Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands charts Sarah’s journey from outrage to activism to abolition as she exposes, layer by “broken” layer, the global deterrence to detention to deportation complex that is failing everyone—save the profiteers and demagogues who benefit from it.

Smart homes are here—domestic spaces bristling with networked technologies that appear to enhance work, entertainment, logistics, health, and security. But these technologies may also extract a cost in attention, money, and privacy. In Threshold, communication and technology expert Heather Suzanne Woods applies rhetorical theory to answer the urgent question of how swiftly proliferating smart homes alter those who inhabit them.

Beginning in 2018, a powerful app for secure communications, called Anom, began to take root among drug dealers and other criminals. It had extraordinary safeguards to keep out prying eyes--the power to quickly wipe data, voice-masking technology, and more. It was better than other apps popular among organized crime syndicates, except for one thing: it was secretly run by law enforcement. Over the next few years, the FBI, along with law enforcement partners in Australia and parts of Europe, got a front row seat to the global criminal underworld.

A top negotiator in countless high-stakes missions to free Americans captured abroad and held in the world's scariest prisons takes listeners inside the dramatic and shadowy world of international hostage rescue.

The growing movement for universal basic income (UBI) has been gaining attention from politics and the media with the audacious idea of a regular, unconditional cash grant for everyone as a right of citizenship. This volume in the Essential Knowledge series presents the first short, solid UBI introduction that is neither academic nor polemic. It takes a position in favor of UBI, but its primary goal remains the provision of essential knowledge by answering the fundamental questions about it: What is UBI? How does it work? What are the arguments for and against it? What is the evidence?

On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood before thousands of Americans who had gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. in the name of civil rights. Including the immortal words, “I have a dream,” Dr. King’s keynote speech would energize a movement and change the course of history.

America’s anti-gun lobby wants you to “leave guns to the professionals.” The police and military will protect you, they say. Really? Ask the people of Israel how well that worked out for them. On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 Israelis in cold blood. Civilians waited in anguish for the army or police to rescue them. Why? Because the country’s restrictive gun laws left most people unarmed. The Israeli government made an immediate about-face after October 7. They loosened gun laws to allow as many citizens as possible to arm themselves.

We find ourselves in a pivotal era-filled with defining moments and global shifts. What's the significance of it all? While many perceive doom and gloom, Going Back to Find Our Way Forward argues that these times are not only clarifying but also immensely hopeful. To truly grasp the promise ahead, we must unravel the threads of our past, uncovering the hidden opportunities that surround us. It may seem paradoxical, but amidst the apparent chaos, there's a silver lining waiting to be seized.

Every day, intelligence officers achieve the unimaginable. They persuade people to share classified secrets with them. To become traitors, in fact. And their targets do it willingly, despite the risk of imprisonment, torture and, even, execution. Spies achieve this thanks to their structured use of nine secret skills of espionage. In Think Like a Spy, you'll learn these techniques and how to adapt them for effective and ethical use in your own life.

Since its founding in 1995, the FSB, Russia's Federal Security Service, has regained the majority of the domestic security functions of the Soviet-era KGB. Under Vladimir Putin, who served as FSB director just before becoming president, the agency has grown to be one of the most powerful and favored organizations in Russia. The FSB not only conducts internal security but also has primacy in intelligence operations in former Soviet states.

This concise but comprehensive book lays out specific answers to myriad topical questions about free speech law, and also general explanations of how and why the law distinguishes between protected and punishable speech. The book focuses on modern First Amendment law, explaining the historic factors that propelled its evolution in a more speech-protective direction—in particular, the Civil Rights Movement. It highlights the many cases, involving multiple issues, in which robust speech-protective principles aided advocates of racial justice and other human rights causes.

In this comprehensive historical narrative, MAFIA LIBRARY meticulously unravels the covert operations, ruthless maneuvers, and legendary figures that shaped the destinies of these influential crime syndicates. From their humble beginnings in the early 20th century to their zenith of power in the mid-20th century until today, each family carved out its dominion, leaving an indelible mark on American organized crime.

Western political discourse on cybersecurity is dominated by news of Chinese military development of cyberwarfare capabilities and cyber exploitation against foreign governments, corporations, and non-governmental organizations. Western accounts, however, tell only one side of the story. Chinese leaders are also concerned with cyber insecurity, and Chinese authors frequently note that China is also a victim of foreign cyber attacks—predominantly from the United States. China and Cybersecurity is a comprehensive analysis of China's cyberspace threats and policies.

Thomas York challenges evangelical doctrines on homosexuality and advocates for a more humane, Jesus centered approach to sexual and gender identity. This study includes an analysis of ethical concepts in the New Testament by frequency of use and an examination of biblical passages and theological arguments often cited in relation to homosexuality and the church.