RealClearInvestigations Picks of the Week

RealClearInvestigations'

Picks of the Week

September 28 to October 4

Featured Investigation:

From Lawfare to Barfare:

Another Way To Target Trump Allies

Jeffrey Clark, the former DOJ official tapped to lead Trump's regulatory review office, faces disbarment in Washington, D.C., over an unsent draft letter he composed in the waning days of the first Trump administration that challenged the 2020 presidential election results from Georgia. Ben Weingarten reports for RealClearInvestigations that the case is just one of scores brought before local bar review boards by Democrats and progressive groups seeking to punish Trump-tied attorneys in an effort critics call “barfare.”

• The D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility recommended disbarment in July 2025, despite acknowledging "no factually comparable prior disciplinary cases." The board claimed Clark attempted to make intentionally false statements about DOJ's investigation.

• Clark's defense argues the draft represented internal deliberations protected by immunity, and that disciplining attorneys for unsent advisory documents sets dangerous precedent that will chill candid counsel to government officials.
• Three former attorneys general— William P. Barr, Jeff Sessions, and Michael Mukasey —filed an amicus brief supporting Clark, warning that state bar authorities have no jurisdiction over internal executive branch deliberations and that such actions would create a "biting chill" in government.
• Public records show the board recommending disbarment was comprised mainly of registered Democrats or progressive advocates. Clark's lawyers contrast his recommended disbarment with the one-year suspension given to FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith for doctoring a FISA court document.
• Since 2020, progressive groups including The 65 Project have filed bar complaints against dozens of Trump-allied attorneys. The 65 Project, led by Democratic operatives, explicitly aims to "shame" lawyers who represented Trump and "make them toxic."
• Recent complaints have targeted current DOJ officials, Deputy AG Todd Blanche, former U.S. Attorney Ed Martin, and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, among others.
• Critics argue that state bar associations must reform to ensure political neutrality or risk destroying the legal profession's ability to provide candid advice.

Featured Investigation:

Unaccountable: The FBI’s Strange Refusal

to Fix a Key Crime Statistic

The FBI has repeatedly undercounted the number of active shooters stopped by armed civilians, despite acknowledging errors years ago, John R. Lott, Jr. reports for RealClearInvestigations. The discrepancies raise questions about the FBI’s accuracy, methodology, and unwillingness to correct its records on such a politically charged issue.

• The FBI reported only three cases of civilians halting active shooters between 2022 and 2024, while the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) identified 78. Over the past decade, the FBI credited armed civilians with stopping just 3.7% of incidents, compared to CPRC’s finding of 36%. At least 42 overlooked cases likely prevented mass shootings.
• Researchers and academics note the FBI’s flawed methodology. Instead of compiling its own list, the Bureau outsources the task to Texas State University, which relies on Google searches. Police departments also fail to track active shooter cases separately. While even FBI contractors admit the data are “imperfect,” the Bureau rarely corrects omissions brought to its attention.
• CPRC data reveal that 92% of mass shootings occur in gun-free zones. Where guns are allowed, more than half of attacks are stopped by armed citizens, rising to over 60% in 2024. Shooters themselves confirm this pattern, with manifestos citing gun-free areas as deliberate targets to maximize casualties.
• Critics warn that the FBI’s flawed reports distort public perception and policy. Media outlets routinely frame civilian intervention as “rare” based on FBI data. Meanwhile, several states, including Wyoming, Utah, and Florida, have loosened gun-free zone restrictions and allowed teachers to carry on school grounds.
• Scholars argue that reliable data is essential for policymakers, courts, and the public. As University of Georgia Professor David Mustard concluded, the federal government must improve its record-keeping on defensive gun use: “Because academics, media, and policy makers depend on their data, it is essential that the FBI collect and compile the data consistently and accurately.”

Waste of the Day

by Jeremy Portnoy, Open the Books

Texas Officials Get Million-Dollar Bonuses, RCI

Mississippi Fought HIV With DEI, RCI

 Six-Figure Pensions Bleed Retirement Funds Dry, RCI

Throwback Thursday - 3-D Mummies, RCI

Baltimore Schools’ Massages, Steak Dinners, RCI

Trump 2.0 and the Beltway

Not Only Tulsi: 3 Members of Congress Also Spied On 

Racket

Recently disclosed documents show that three members of Congress, not identified by name but all Republicans, were followed under the TSA’s just-discontinued Quiet Skies program, which became infamous last summer when whistleblowers revealed bomb-sniffing dogs and Air Marshals were assigned to follow former Hawaii Congresswoman and future National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard. This article reports on other signs of the weaponization of the TSA:

• Documentation showing the TSA approved “enhanced screening” and watchlisting for individuals merely “suspected of traveling to the National Capital Region” in conjunction with January 6th, and who are “believed to pose an elevated risk” but for whom “there is a current lack of specific information relating to unlawful entry into the U.S. Capitol”;
• At least 24 people were put into the [Quiet Skies] program for being associated with a group the protested mask mandates, and 12 were placed on a watch list for removing their masks in-flight. The latter act was described in one memo as being “an act of extreme recklessness in carrying out an act that represents a threat to the life of passengers and crew”;
• Confirmation that the TSA put Christine Crowder, wife of a Federal Air Marshal and upcoming witness Mark Crowder, under “Special Mission Coverage” due to “association of traveling on the same itinerary as a KST,” or Known or Suspected Terrorist. The TSA mistakenly believed Mrs. Crowder entered the Capitol on January 6th, and eventually conceded the episode was a case of “mistaken identity.”

The article reports that Quiet Skies became known to the public in 2018, when The Boston Globe reported that the TSA was following 30 people a day (later reports put the number closer to 50), despite the program never once leading to an arrest or preventing a terrorist incident.

Other Trump 2.0 and the Beltway

Pentagon Plans Widespread Polygraphs & NDAs to Stanch Leaks, Washington Post

Democrats Pull Away from Pro-Israel Lobbyist, New York Times

FDA Approval of Abortion Drug Angers Right, Washington Post

Trump Turns Biden Plan into Semiconductor Slush Fund, Politico

Trump Pushes Back on Disparate Impact, City Journal

She Was Fired for Kirk Comment on Private Facebook Page, NYT

Obama Presidential Center's Finances Under Stress, Fox News

The Conspiracy Theorists Who Insist Kamala Harris Won, Reason

Some Dems Appear to Embrace Tough-on-Crime Policies, Axios

Dining in D.C.: What Does MAGA Taste Like?, Grub Street

Other Noteworthy Articles and Series

Eyeing China, Pentagon Wants More Missiles 

Wall Street Journal

Alarmed at the low stockpiles of weapons the U.S. would need for a maybe sooner rather than later conflict with China, the Pentagon is urging its missile suppliers to double or even quadruple production rates on a breakneck schedule. This article reports that new missile orders have failed to keep up with the soaring use of expensive interceptors, including the Patriot, to defend Ukraine against intensifying Russian bombardment. U.S. officials want more of those interceptor missiles on hand to protect bases and allies around the Pacific region.

The push to speed production of the critical weapons in the highest demand has played out through a series of high-level meetings between Pentagon leaders and senior representatives from several U.S. missile makers, according to people familiar with the matter. … Some people involved in the effort both inside and outside of the government worry that the government’s targets aren’t realistic. Individual missiles can take two years to fully assemble. It can take several months and hundreds of millions of dollars to test and qualify weapons from new suppliers as safe and reliable enough for U.S. service members to use. There are also questions about the money needed to accelerate production. The Trump administration’s Big, Beautiful Bill, signed in July, provided an additional $25 billion in five-year munitions funding, but analysts say that hitting the Pentagon’s aggressive targets would cost tens of billions more.

In a separate article published in 2020, Richard Bernstein reported for RealClearInvestigations that war simulations testing potential American responses to a Chinese attack on Taiwan were not going well for the U.S. In the years since, China’s military power has only gotten larger and more sophisticated.

Soros’ Open Society Gave $80M to Pro-Terror Groups

Capital Research Center

Since 2016, George Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF), now run with his son Alexander, has poured over $80 million into groups tied to terrorism or extremist violence. Researcher Ryan Mauro reports:

Open Society has sent millions of dollars into U.S.-based organizations that engage in “direct actions” that the FBI defines as domestic terrorism. These groups include the Center for Third World Organizing and its militant partner Ruckus Society, which trained activists in property destruction and sabotage during the 2020 riots, and the Sunrise Movement, which endorsed the Antifa-linked Stop Cop City campaign, in which activists currently face over 40 domestic terrorism charges and 60 racketeering indictments. At the same time, Open Society awarded $18 million to the Movement for Black Lives, a group that co-authored a radical guide that glorifies Hamas’s October 7 massacre and instructs activists in the use of false IDs, blockades, and economic disruption.

The report found that the danger is not confined to America’s streets.

Open Society has funneled more than $2.3 million into Al-Haq, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) based in the West Bank and long accused of ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which the European Union and the United States designate as a foreign terrorist organization. Grants to Al-Haq between 2016 and 2023 ranged from $400,000 in general support to an $800,000 institutional award. In September 2025, the U.S. State Department sanctioned Al-Haq, citing its role in advancing campaigns that “directly engaged in the [International Criminal Court’s] illegitimate targeting of Israel.” That means Soros’s foundation has not only financed extremist groups within the United States but also funneled millions abroad to entities now formally sanctioned by Washington.

British Jews Say Terror Attack Was Inevitable 

Wall Street Journal

This article reports that for many British Jews, Thursday’s terrorist attack in Manchester that killed two people at a synagogue and seriously wounded a number of others was a question of when, not if. Since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel and the start of the war in Gaza, growing numbers of British Jews say they feel increasingly isolated and unsafe in a country that had been a relative haven for Jews in Europe in recent decades.

Much like the rest of the world, there has been a sharp increase in antisemitic incidents in Britain since the Oct. 7 attacks and Israel’s military response in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. The Community Security Trust, a charity that helps protect Jews in the U.K., said it recorded 1,500 anti-Jewish hate incidents in the first half of this year, second only to the six months at the start of 2024. … A recent YouGov survey commissioned by the Campaign Against Antisemitism, a U.K.-based charity, found that nearly half of Brits say Israel is treating the Palestinians the way Nazis treated the Jews. The Campaign said it had concluded from the survey that more than one in five Brits now hold entrenched antisemitic views – double the figure compared with 2021.

This article reports that Britain’s Jewish community is relatively small – some 300,000 people, or about 0.4% of the population, according to census figures. Many say they are afraid to wear any outward symbol of their Jewish faith, especially in areas where there is a large Muslim community. The size of Britain’s Muslim community has more than doubled since 2000 to four million, or some 6% of the total.

Exploitation of Women on Rise in War-Torn Gaza 

Associated Press

As Gaza’s humanitarian crisis grows, women say they have been exploited by local men – some associated with aid groups – promising food, money, water, supplies or work in exchange for sexual interactions. This article reports that one UN-connected group:

said that last year, it received 18 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation linked to receiving humanitarian aid in Gaza, all involving either aid workers or those associated with it, such as community representatives or private contractors. Allegations against aid workers are investigated by the employer organization. … Aid groups say the context in Gaza – nearly two years of war, the displacement of at least 90% of the population, and turmoil over aid access – has made humanitarian work for vulnerable people particularly challenging. As hunger and desperation grow across the enclave, women in particular say they’ve been pushed to make impossible decisions.

The article reports that one psychologist working with women in Gaza said her organization – focused on protecting women and children – has treated dozens of cases involving men sexually exploiting vulnerable women, including some in which they became pregnant. She spoke on condition of anonymity because of privacy concerns for the women involved and the sensitive nature of the cases, in a conservative culture where sex outside of marriage in any context is seen as a grave offense.