RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week

RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week 
Feb. 4 to Feb. 10 

Featured Investigation

As Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump-Russia collusion grinds away, the oxygen in the room is being consumed by the flip-side scandal – inquiries into how Democrats and their deep state allies may have tried to influence the Russia probe.

Consider the Steele dossier. At first it was portrayed as an intelligence document assembled by a veteran British spy concerned about Donald Trump’s dealings with the Russians. Then we learned it was opposition research compiled by that spy but paid for by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign. Last week Republicans shed light on these ties through a memo from Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. This week it emerged that Democrat operatives, including Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal and at least one Obama administration official, may have funneled information to the dossier. Natasha Bertrand of the Atlantic reported:

Devin Nunes has a new target: Jonathan Winer, the Obama State Department’s special envoy to Libya, and longtime Senate aide to John Kerry. Winer received a memorandum written by political activist Cody Shearer and passed it along to Christopher Steele, the former British intelligence official who had compiled his own dossier on Donald Trump.

Bertrand reports that this exchange figures prominently in a letter by Republican Senators Charles Grassley and Lindsay Graham asking the Justice Department to consider opening a criminal investigation into Steele’s communications with the FBI. The, senators allege that "Clinton associates" were feeding Mr. Steele accusations against the Trump campaign, thereby calling into question Steele’s credibility as a neutral source.

Elsewhere, the latest batch of messages sent between FBI paramours Lisa Page and Peter Strzok raised questions about President Obama’s involvement. On Sept. 2, 2016, Page wrote Strzok about prepping FBI Director James Comey because "potus wants to know everything we're doing."  Doing about what is unclear, though Democrats said everything was on the up-and-up.

On another front, an audio recording was released this week in which the Democrats' prime spokesperson on the Russia collusion story, Rep. Adam Schiff, pulled a reverse Don Jr. – agreeing to meet with Russians to get dirt on Trump. No naked pictures of the Donald were forthcoming; the phone call was a prank staged by Russian comedians. Some writers wonder why this story has received so little attention from the mainstream press.

Other Noteworthy Articles and Series

FEMA Meal Contract for 30 Million Sends Only 50,000
New York Times
FEMA awarded a $156 million contract to provide meals for Puerto Rican hurricane victims to a woman who is the sole owner and employee of her company, Tribute Contracting LLC. By the time 18.5 million meals were due, Tribute had delivered only 50,000. And FEMA inspectors discovered a problem: The food had been packaged separately from the pouches used to heat them. FEMA’s solicitation required “self-heating meals.”

Pentagon Agency Lost Track of Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Politico
A Pentagon agency failed to properly document more than $800 million in construction projects, just one of numerous cases where it lacks a paper trail for millions of dollars in spending. The Pentagon's  financial management is so weak that its leaders and oversight bodies have no reliable way to track the huge sums it's responsible for.

Sex-Abuse Letter Belies Pope's Claim of Ignorance
Associated Press
Pope Francis in 2015 received a victim's letter that graphically detailed how a priest sexually abused him and how other Chilean clergy ignored it, contradicting the pope's recent insistence that no victims had come forward to denounce the cover-up, said members of Francis' own sex-abuse commission.

NPR's Daniel Zwerdling Gone After Harassment Inquiry
Current
Daniel Zwerdling, a veteran investigative journalist at NPR, has left the network amid allegations of sexual harassment. Six current and former NPR interns and staffers told Current that they had been subject to harassment or inappropriate behavior by Zwerdling.  He said the allegations are untrue and that he retired in January.

What Teenagers Are Learning From Online Porn
New York Times Magazine
One survey found that 93 percent of male college students and 62 percent of female students said they saw online porn before they were 18.  This may be creating unrealistic views about sex and sexuality. This article focuses on research exploring that question and efforts to educate youngsters through courses, such as one titled “Porn Literacy.”

How YouTube Drives People to the Web's Darkest Corners
Jack Nicas, Wall Street Journal
YouTube reports that about 70 percent of user viewing time is spent watching videos recommended by the company’s if-you-like-that-you-might-like-this algorithms. A Wall Street Journal investigation found YouTube’s recommendations often lead users to channels that feature conspiracy theories, partisan viewpoints and misleading videos, even when those users haven’t shown interest in such content. When users show a political bias in what they choose to view, YouTube typically recommends videos that echo those biases with more extreme viewpoints. 

Minn.: Inside Public School Social Justice Factory
Weekly Standard
The public schools of Edina, Minnesota have transformed their mission from education to indoctrination. The shift began in 2013, when Edina school leaders adopted the “All for All” strategic plan – a sweeping initiative that reordered the district’s mission from academic excellence for all students to “racial equity.” In kindergarten, children are taught about “white privilege.” By 10th grade every student is required to take a year-long English course that centers not on reading literature and enhancing writing skills, but on the politicized themes of “Colonization,” “Immigration” and “Social Constructions of Race, Class and Gender.”

U.S. Body Brokers Export Limbs, Heads Widely
Reuters
America’s trade balance would be worse if not for a secret commodity: human body parts. As Reuters reports in a continuing series, no other nation provides as steady a supply of torsos, knees and heads used by foreign plastic surgeons, medical device companies and others. Demand is especially high in countries where religious traditions or laws prohibit the dissection of the dead. Unlike many developed nations, the United States leaves  the sale of donated body parts largely unregulated, allowing entrepreneurs to expand exports rapidly during the last decade.