RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week

RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week
April 11 to April 17, 2021

Featured Investigation:
In the States, COVID Spending’s
Off to the (Robo-Dog) Races

Much has been made of businesses defrauding the feds of coronavirus relief funds, but a year after the $2-trillion CARES Act’s passage, it’s now becoming clear that state and local governments misused the money too, Steve Miller reports for RealClearInvestigations. After sifting preliminary audits from a range of states, Miller reports:

• States took a relaxed view of the law’s mandate that spending had to relate directly to COVID-19.
• In Hawaii, the Honolulu Police Department spent part of its $16.5 million in CARES Act money on 100 new vehicles and a $150,000 robot dog.
• In their haste to push money out the door, many states also failed to impose financial controls to assess where it went and to what end.
• Michigan rushed wire transfers of $96.9 million to vendors for personal protective equipment before receiving the gear. Millions went to a seller despite its bank’s red flag that its account was subject to financial sanction -- and the state got scammed.
• An unnamed Oregon city requested reimbursement for virus-related payroll costs as much as cities “five to six times its size, even though the USA Facts data indicates its county’s COVID-19 incidence rate is relatively low.”
• California’s state auditor warned that since agencies botched federal funds in the past, it was a no-brainer that $15.3 billion from the CARES Act was at “high risk” for fraud and misuse.
• Many states have yet to scrutinize their spending at all.

Featured Investigation:
The New York Times Does
A 180 on Absentee Voting

The New York Times has reversed its presentation of the issue of absentee balloting, Eric Felten reports for RealClearInvestigations. It has moved from decades of skeptical portrayals of its risks of fraud to a decidedly sunny view of the controversial practice embraced by Democrats to help seal President Trump's defeat in the pandemic year of 2020. Felten reports:

• Then: So grave are “the flaws of absentee voting,” the Times reported in 2012, that they “raise questions about the most elementary promises of democracy.”
• Now: The paper's designated arbiter of verified "facts" in September certified that absentee voting is the “gold standard of election security.” And its opinion page denounces any concern about the practice as not just wrong, but a myth used to suppress minority voting.
• The Times's earlier skepticism of absentee balloting was not a one-off. Felten finds it in both news articles and opinion pieces over two decades, including warnings of "granny farming," stolen ballots, and votes for sale.
• Felten says one might ask whether the Times, in its eagerness to discredit arguments with which it now disagrees, has thrown decades of its own reporting under the bus.
• Contacted for an explanation of its recent shift, the Times had no comment.

Biden, Trump and the Beltway

Biden Admin Deemphasizes Religious Freedom Abroad RealClearPolitics
Biden Climate-Justice Picks Tie Energy to Bigotry Daily Signal
Biden-Tied Nonprofit Got Lucrative Migrant Deal Axios
Biden Still Seizing Land for Border Wall Politico
Biden Admin Doubts Russian Bounties on U.S. Troops Daily Beast
Biden's Dubious Claim 'Average' Rapist Rapes 6X Washington Post
The Biden White House's Hide-the-Boss Strategy Politico
CEOs Team Up to Fight Vote Restrictions Wall Street Journal
Video: CNN Director Admits ‘Propaganda’ to Oust Trump, Project Veritas
Confirmed Smear Led to Gaetz Probe, Washington Post

Other Noteworthy Articles and Series

New York: Albany’s Toxic Culture for Women
New York Times
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s alleged harassment of women reflects broader problems faced by women who work in New York’s state capitol, this article reports. In more than 30 interviews, women and men who have worked in Albany – including aides, lobbyists, government officials and elected leaders – described a predatory and misogynistic culture that is of a piece with the governor’s alleged behavior. Some say Cuomo and his top aides normalized intimidation in Albany over the last decade through bullying, which was common in the governor’s office, and aggressive political tactics aimed at members of both parties. In interviews for this article, several women described unwanted advances, touching and attempts at kisses by lawmakers or state officials, sometimes during meetings or at bars after hours. Sexualized comments are especially prevalent, and instances of mistreatment remain unreported or unpunished. Several women expressed fear they would face career-ending ostracism or retaliation in the close-knit state capital if they spoke out. Those interviewed said there were also subtler daily indignities: sexual innuendo and the expectation, still, that women wear skirts and heels.

16 Incidents of 'Weapon Confusion' Since 2001
USA Today
When Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, police officer Kim Potter allegedly mistook her service weapon for a stun gun and fatally shot an unarmed black motorist, this article reports, it was at least the 16th such “weapons confusion” incident in the United States since 2001. The Minnesota victim, Duane Wright, was at least the fourth person to have died as a result. Most Taser confusion incidents are attributed to officers holstering a stun gun on the same side as their service weapon, which is why law enforcement agencies started changing their weapon policies requiring a weak-arm draw for Taser use, after the deadly 2009 shooting of Oscar Grant by a Bay Area Rapid Transit officer in Oakland, California. It’s unclear from body cam footage released by Brooklyn Center where Potter wore her Taser.

'Skilled Predator' FBI Boss Harassed 8 Women: Watchdog
Associated Press
Following up on an investigation last year finding that FBI supervisors often avoided discipline over credible claims of  sexual misconduct, this AP article focuses on James Hendricks, former head of the bureau’s Albany field office, whom colleagues described as a “skilled predator.” They said he leered at women in the workplace, touched them inappropriately and asked one to have sex in a conference room. A report from the Office of Inspector General, the Justice Department's internal watchdog, traced Hendricks’ misconduct back to his service at FBI headquarters, where he served as a section chief in the Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate. Nevertheless, he was tapped in 2018 to lead the Albany office, where he supervised more than 200 agents and other FBI employees. It concluded that he had harassed eight female subordinates in one of the FBI’s most egregious known cases of sexual misconduct; six of his accusers were in Albany, two were in Washington. Hendricks, who denies any misconduct, was allowed to quietly retire last year.

Marxist BLM Co-Founder's Home-Buying Binge
New York Post
This article reports that Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors has been on a real estate buying binge, snagging four high-end homes for $3.2 million in the United States alone. Last month the self-described Marxist purchased a $1.4 million home on a secluded road a short drive from Malibu in Los Angeles. The 2,370-square-foot property features “soaring ceilings, skylights and plenty of windows” with canyon views. The Topanga Canyon homestead, which includes two houses on a quarter-acre, is just one of three homes Khan-Cullors owns in the Los Angeles area. Last year, she and her spouse ventured to Georgia to acquire a fourth home — a “custom ranch” on 3.2 rural acres in Conyers featuring a private airplane hangar with a studio apartment above it. Khan-Cullors, author of the bestselling memoir “When They Call You a Terrorist,” signed “a multi-platform” deal with Warner Bros. Television Group last October to help produce content for “black voices who have been historically marginalized,” she said in a statement.

Coronavirus Investigations

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