(C) Common Dreams This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Growing Civil Unrest? [1] ['Steve Patterson', 'Independent Operator. Remote Working Since Modems Screamed. Strategy', 'Systems', 'Storycraft Eyes On The Next Horizon.', 'Ashlee Bartels', 'Paralegal - Dept. Of Justice', 'National Security Division'] Date: 2025-09 Earlier this week I suggested that the warning signs of growing civil unrest in the U.S. are evident in our Terrorism and Targeted Violence (T2V) in the United States data. I've looked into this a bit more and here's what I've found. Overview More than 520 T2V events took place in US communities from January 1, 2025, through June 30, 2025, causing 96 deaths and 329 injuries. More than 330 U.S. cities were impacted by the events. T2V events took place in all U.S. states except Montana and Wyoming. Comparison to the First Six Months of 2024 The 523 T2V incidents that occurred during the first six months of 2025 represent a 39.5% increase over the number of events (375) that took place during the same period in 2024. There was a corresponding 50.8% increase in the number of successful attacks in the first half of 2025 (294) in comparison to the first six months of 2024 (195). 96 people were killed in these attacks—a 28% increase over the same period in 2024. 329 people were injured, which is a 115% increase over the first six months of 2024. There was a 187.5% increase in the number of mass casualty attacks—events in which four or more victims were killed and/or wounded—in the first six months of 2025 (23 events) when compared to the same period in 2024 (8 events). Evidence of Growing Civil Unrest? More than 150 of the T2V events that occurred in the US in the first six months of 2025 are coded as terrorism in the database. By comparison, only 83 events in the data are coded as terrorism for the same period in 2024. This equates to a period-to-period increase in terrorist incidents of 85.5%. Moreover, only two event types in the data—terrorism and cases coded as “other targeted violence”—show a notable increase in 2025 when compared to the same period in 2024. Given the near-real time nature of 2025 incident identification, most of the events coded as “other” are ones for which clear motives have not yet been identified. As more information becomes available, many of these events will be reclassified, which will inevitably lead to additional events being coded as terrorism. Total fatalities resulting from terrorist incidents rose from seven in the first six months of 2024 to 31 in the first half of 2025 (a 343% increase). Similarly, total injuries from terrorist attacks rose from just nine in the first half of 2024 to 137 in the first six months of 2025. Even if the January 1st ISIS inspired attack in New Orleans, which killed 14 victims and wounded 57 others, is removed from consideration, there was still a 142% increase in deaths and a 789% increase in injuries from terrorist events when comparing the first six months of 2024 and 2025. Just under 15% of the terrorist incidents that occurred in the first six months of 2024 targeted government personnel or facilities. By comparison, 35% of the terrorist events that occurred through June of this year were directed at government targets. The terrorist plots and attacks that occurred throughout the first six months of 2025 were not driven by a single political goal, ideology, movement, but instead eminated from across the political spectrum. They included: 32 plots and attacks with a nexus to anti-Semitism 20 premeditated plots and attacks targeting local and federal entities who carry out immigration enforcement operations 13 premeditated plots and attacks targeting peaceful demonstrators who were protesting the current administration’s policies on immigration and executive power 21 plots and attacks targeting republican lawmakers and politicians 10 plots and attacks targeting democrat lawmakers and politicians 22 plots and attacks targeting the LGBTQ+ community 7 plots and attacks targeting Muslim community members 6 plots and attacks targeting individuals the perpetrators believed were immigrants 5 plots inspired by foreign terrorist organizations These trends could reverse and I certainly hope they do. But with the current climate and the loss of important funding for violence prevention programs, it is hard to be optimistic. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/growing-civil-unrest-michael-jensen-8ekuf/?trackingId=%2BmlIf5mAvALJdOHNrbIsEg%3D%3D Published and (C) by Common Dreams Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/commondreams/