RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week
August 25 to August 31, 2024 In Part 3 of his RealClearInvestigations series on widespread school sexual abuse, James Varney explores how teachers, administrators, coaches and bus drivers get away with it -- and have done so for decades, through a timeworn practice that critics label "passing the trash.” An advocacy nonprofit concluded last year that “the ease with which school officials can pass sex abusers to other districts" helps explain why complaints of sexual violence filed with the U.S. Department of Education more than tripled between 2010 and 2019. Experts say the hundreds of school employees arrested each year and the more than $1.2 billion in related settlements paid out by school districts in the last decade represent a mere fraction of the problem in a system that creates “a pool of mobile molesters.” A 2010 federal report found “passing the trash” in most of the school cases it reviewed. “At least 11 of these 15 cases involve offenders who previously targeted children,” the report said. “Even more disturbing, in at least 6 cases, offenders used their new positions as school employees or volunteers to abuse more children.” The predators nurture their own positive reputations to protect them when red flags are raised: “They might be grooming the adults, too.” Union contracts protect predators, critics say, allowing them to drift from one school to another, racking up new victims. With a sidebar on how one suspect – considered a “cool coach” – was run to ground by one his alleged victims. Waste of the Day
by Jeremy Portnoy, Open the Books House Repubs Outspent Dems on Travel, RCI
Texas Energy Boss’s Retirement That Wasn't, RCI
Billions for Unscrupulous NGOs, RCI
Department of Energy Left the Lights On, RCI
Zero Arrests by Canada-U.S. Border Team, RCI Election 2024 and the Beltway One of great mysteries surrounding Hunter Biden’s work with Burisma was this: What exactly was he doing to earn millions from the sketchy Ukrainian energy company? The New York Times – at long last – addressed that question earlier this month reporting that Hunter tried to get the U.S. government to help Burisma land a potentially lucrative energy project in Italy while his father, Joe, was vice president. This article reports that Hunter has a much deeper history of connecting with State Department officials about Burisma: In November 2015, as pressure against Burisma was building, Hunter Biden reached out to Amos Hochstein, then-Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs at the State Department, to set up a meeting for coffee on Nov. 4, 2015. Hochstein served during the Obama Administration and is documented as a close advisor to then-Vice President Joe Biden. He currently serves in the Biden State Department as a Special Presidential Coordinator. Shortly before Hunter Biden’s communication with him, Hochstein reportedly raised the issue of Hunter Biden’s work on Burisma’s board directly with Joe Biden, according to testimony with the Senate Committees on Homeland Security and Finance. The communications between them continued after the meeting. “Amos Hochstein called,” Hunter Biden’s secretary emailed him shortly after. “Please call back today if possible,” she wrote. Hunter’s lobbying extended even higher: A Senate investigation by GOP Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson found Biden emailed [Antony] Blinken directly, then a Deputy Secretary at the State Department [under President Obama], to arrange a similar coffee meeting, the documents show. ... “Have a few minutes next week to grab a cup of coffee?” Hunter Biden asked [the current Biden Secretary of State] in May 2015. “I know you are impossibly busy, but would love to get your advice on a couple of things.” Other Election 2024 and the Beltway Did Kamala Really Toil at McDonald's? Free Beacon
Biden/Harris Reopen One Migrant Floodgate, AP
Biden-Harris Administration ‘Trump-Proofs’ DOJ, Daily Caller
Trump Businesses Raking It In From Political Campaigns, CNN
Harris' LA Life: SoulCycle, Parties, Annoyed Neighbors, WSJ
Walz's Prevarications Stretch Back Decades, Free Beacon
Walz Stalwarts Tie Teacher Licenses to Woke Fealty, Federalist
Who Is Obama? A Counterintelligence Inquiry, Top Secret Umbra
Wisconsin: Dems Seek to Oust Jill Stein From Ballot, Federalist
A Fake Spy, Russian Oil and $1M Funneled to Democrats, WSJ Other Noteworthy Articles and Series Long known for Hollywood, sunshine and oranges, Kamala Harris’ home state is becoming famous for something else: kickbacks and bribes. This article reports that over the last 10 years, 576 public officials in California have been convicted on federal corruption charges, according to Justice Department reports. Quote: A heavy concentration of power at Los Angeles City Hall, the receding presence of local news media, a population that often tunes out local politics and a growing Democratic supermajority in state government have all helped insulate officeholders from damage, political analysts said. … Political analysts say the Democrats’ present lock on political power leaves little opportunity for Republicans to effectively raise the issue of corruption as a campaign issue. “When a political party enjoys that much uncontested power, there’s no penalty for stepping over ethical or legal lines,” said Dan Schnur, a former head of the state Fair Political Practices Commission and a former Republican who is now an independent. From a political standpoint, it is noteworthy that the Times reports corruption cases in California exceed “the number of cases in states better known for public corruption, including New York, New Jersey and Illinois.” Like California, those are three of the deepest blue states in America. Climate subsidies have long gone to the rich – how many poor people drive Teslas or have solar panels mounted on their roofs? So from the Annals of More of the Same, this article reports that upper-income homeowners are scooping up billions of dollars in tax credits for making their residences more energy efficient, while the poor are getting almost nothing under the same Biden administration effort: The analysis found that the highest-earning 25 percent of households – those with taxable incomes of $100,000 or more – got 66 percent of the tax credits, worth a total of $5.5 billion. Meanwhile, the lowest-earning 25 percent, with taxable incomes below $25,000, received just $32 million. More than $2 billion went to households earning over $200,000 a year. This article reports that the wealth disparity also intensifies questions about the Biden administration’s unprecedented use of tax incentives as a cornerstone of his climate change policy. When the Pentagon sought to downsize the military starting in the early 1990s, it offered a lump-sum bonus to those who would agree to retire. Many people accepted the offer, including those who were disabled. A problem emerged after the checks were cut and cashed: Veterans are not allowed to receive separation bonuses and disability payments. This article reports: The Department of Veterans Affairs has clawed back billions of dollars that countless veterans were given as incentive to leave the military … Since fiscal year 2013, the earliest year for which the VA shared data, about 122,000 veterans have returned more than $2.5 billion so far, with about $364 million still left to be recouped, according to the VA. … Army veteran Salahudin Majeed, now 73, still remembers the anguish he felt when the VA told him he needed to repay the special separation benefit he received in 1992. The roughly $30,000 pre-tax payout was one of his greatest sources of pride at the time, he said. … Majeed said he put most of the money toward a down payment on a house for his growing family. Two years later, the VA said he had to repay the full incentive to receive disability compensation. “I was depressed,” he said, adding that he was prescribed an antidepressant for the first time. “I felt like I had been used and abused.” Several major companies – including Ford, Lowe’s and Brown-Forman (which owns Harley-Davidson and Jack Daniel’s) – are no longer participating in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, which measures their fidelity to the woke agenda. Axios reports that these moves come as John Deere, Tractor Supply and other companies have said they are dropping their DEI programs: Once something companies openly bragged about, a perfect 100 score on the HRC index is the gold standard for companies that want to prove they're committed to LGBTQ+ causes. But the scoring system is increasingly being swept up in a conservative campaign to punish companies that remain invested in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. … One of the major forces behind the anti-DEI push is right-wing activist Robby Starbuck, who claimed credit for Lowe's and Ford ditching HRC and other Pride initiatives after threatening to "expose their woke policies." But conservatives might hold back on their culture war victory dance. In a separate article for City Journal, John Tierney reports that in the ongoing battle between DEI and science on campus, woke dogma appears to be gaining the upper hand: The preference for dogma over science has become the official policy of one of the largest professional organizations, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP). Since 2022, it has evaluated papers submitted for presentation at its annual convention by asking each researcher to explain how the work “advances the diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism goals of SPSP.” Some prominent social psychologists, including Jonathan Haidt, have resigned from the group in protest. As the Biden-Harris administration has allowed millions of migrants to live in America, the status of non-citizens has become a hot-button issue. Most of the debate centers on which rights, if any, they should share with citizens – especially regarding housing, health care, food assistance and voting. But this article reports that Oregon is seeking to provide them with special privileges: First-time homebuyers in Oregon are being encouraged to apply for a taxpayer-funded $30,000 grant for down payment assistance – but only non-U.S. citizens need apply. Latino-led housing support group Hacienda Community Development Corporation in Portland is advertising the perk through its Camino a Casa program, which stipulates that it is “only for people who are not American citizens.” … The funds come from the state’s tax-funded Economic Equity Investment Program, a program that aims to build economic equity for disadvantaged people, which allocated a $692,775 grant to Hacienda. In a separate article, RealClearInvestigations has reported on how noncitizen voting is becoming a battle line in partisan politics. Already more than a dozen jurisdictions run by Democrats – including Washington D.C., and several adjacent Maryland municipalities – allow noncitizens to vote in some local elections. San Francisco not only permits noncitizens to vote but appointed one to serve on its Elections Commission. | 