RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week
February 6 to February 12, 2022 John Hardy, the British geneticist knighted at the dawn of the new year for his research on Alzheimer’s disease, has a dark past that has been all but buried, Eric Felten reports for RealClearInvestigations: The scientist played a leading role in a conspiracy that held dementia research hostage to fraudulently acquired gene patents for years – deceptions he admitted to in little-publicized court testimony. Felten writes that: Hardy led an effort to defraud universities in Britain and the United States of millions of dollars, by empowering a “patent troll” to shake down Alzheimer’s researchers by demanding royalties on bogus gene patents. Hardy was provoked into his misdeeds by what he saw as a bad deal to commercialize his team’s work made by his employer, Imperial College London –a bargain the bitter professor likened to the kind seen on “Antiques Roadshow” when a hapless seller lets a Rembrandt go for $20. Goading the Hardy researchers on was an American businessman who wined and dined them – and set up the patent troll to fraudulently intimidate others into coughing up compensation. After more than a decade of involved litigation, the case was resolved with a judge’s condemnation of the schemers and the damage they caused. The sordid episode also ensnared one of the world's top woman scientists, Alison Goate. The story emerges at time when the credibility of august scientific authorities is being sorely challenged on other fronts, not least during the coronavirus pandemic. Illegal immigrants have been flooding across America’s southern border in record numbers under the Biden administration. And as James Varney reports for RealClearInvestigations, we know next to nothing about them—particularly the most vulnerable, the tens of thousands of unaccompanied children being resettled via secret "ghost flights" across the U.S.: In 2021, federal border shelters took in 122,000 unaccompanied children, shattering the previous record of 69,000 in 2019. DHS claims some 40,000 were transported to locales as far from the Mexican border as Atlanta, Chicago, and New York. Basic questions to authorities posed by RealClearInvestigations have gone unanswered, on child safety and pandemic precautions, among other issues. The administration’s lack of transparency is frustrating state and local officials. “The Biden administration is running a clandestine, covert, middle-of-the-night, special-ops mission using the same tradecraft the military does in operations against foreign enemies,” says a top adviser to Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis has responded with legislation to counter the federal relocation efforts. Pennsylvania Republican State Sen. Doug Mastriano has pressed for information on flights into the Lehigh Valley. “On two flights from El Paso to Scranton there were 120 passengers, many of which were minors,” Mastriano said. “I don’t know who pays for their schooling or the impact on our community, and there is something fishy going on with all of it.” Biden, Trump and the Beltway Biden Admin Funding Crack Pipes for 'Racial Equity'
Washington Free Beacon The Biden administration may or may not have been set to fund the distribution of crack pipes to drug addicts as part of its plan to advance "racial equity." Early in the week, this article reported that starting in May the $30 million grant program would provide funds to nonprofits and local governments to help make drug use safer for addicts – including "smoking kits/supplies" for crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine and other illicit substances. Applicants for the grants would be prioritized if they treated a majority of "underserved communities," including African Americans and "LGBTQ+ persons.” Democratic-run cities such as San Francisco and Seattle have distributed smoking kits to residents. Some local governments, however, have in recent years backed away from their smoking kit programs over concerns they enable drug abuse. Louisville, Ky., for example, allowed convenience stores to sell smoking kits but later banned them. Legislators in Maryland ditched their distribution plan after facing backlash from local law enforcement and African-American leaders. After the article ran and the plan received massive criticism, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a statement stating that “no federal funding will be used directly or through subsequent reimbursement of grantees to put pipes in safe smoking kits." The Free Beacon suggests this was a change in policy prompted by its reporting. The Daily Beast reported that its competitor the Beacon was spreading misinformation because DHHS never intended to distribute pipes. In any event, it does not appear that this controversy will impact the government’s distribution of syringes to intravenous drug users. How the Raskins Cashed Out, Flouting Disclosure
Washington Examiner Sarah Bloom Raskin, President Joe Biden’s latest Federal Reserve nominee, earned at least $1.4 million lobbying for the financial company Reserve Trust, helping it become the first and only non-bank to receive direct access to the Federal Reserve “Master Account.” The article reports that this special advantage – being a nonbank with the ability to move money directly between customers – is the entirety of Reserve Trust’s business. Her husband, Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin, failed to report her holding or sale of the stock as required by law. In a separate editorial, the Wall Street Journal reports that Reserve Trust’s initial application for a Master Account was denied by the Kansas City Fed. Two months later, according to records obtained by the Senate, Ms. Raskin made a phone call to the regional Fed on behalf of her company. Yet Ms. Raskin told Senate Banking staff on Jan. 28 that she didn’t know why Reserve Trust wanted a master account and couldn’t remember calling the Kansas City Fed. During her confirmation hearing last week she also repeatedly declined to answer whether she contacted the regional Fed, though she asserted that she didn’t do anything improper. Other Biden, Trump and the Beltway NYT Reporter Claims Trump Flushed Papers Down the Toilet Axios
Monitor to Probe Alleged Capitol Cop Spying on Congress Federalist
GOP’s Shadow Jan. 6 Committee Targets Capitol Police Axios
Feds Steer $200M in Virus Relief to Illegal Entrants Just the News
Pa.: Videos Suggest Widespread Election Violations Federalist Other Noteworthy Articles and Series Does Pre-K Actually Hurt Kids?
New York Magazine Universal pre-K, a centerpiece of President Biden’s agenda, is one of those shining ideas that seems impervious to the facts. This article by Eric Levitz opens with damning news that the approach doesn’t work as advertised: The most recent – and arguably highest quality – study of early childhood education in America suggests attending a public pre-K program might make students more likely to struggle academically, skip classes, and misbehave in later grades.. And other large-scale, gold-standard studies have produced similar results. The rest of this long article discusses other research showing the limits of the approach before embracing a version of school choice. “If progressives must prioritize some social-welfare policies over others, then they might be wise to favor a child allowance over pre-K.” Because there is not enough support for that approach, Levitz concludes that we should still provide massive funding for pre-K because, well, we can. Pre-K may not be the panacea that some of its boosters make it out to be. But it is nevertheless the only de facto public child-care program that has some bipartisan support within the U.S. That makes the young institution worth nurturing in the hope that it eventually outgrows its present flaws. 14 Cabinet Departments Own Phone-Hack Tech
The Intercept No doubt the NSA and CIA ought to be able to break into encrypted phones and siphon off mounds of data, but what about the departments of Agriculture, Education, and Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention? Drawing on federal purchasing records and other documents, this article reports that all but one of the 15 U.S. Cabinet departments, along with several other federal agencies, have acquired advanced phone hacking technology from the Israeli-based company Cellebrite. Cellebrite itself boasted about its penetration of the executive branch ahead of becoming a publicly traded company in August. In a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said that it had over 2,800 government customers in North America. To secure that reach, The Intercept has found, the company has partnered with U.S. law enforcement associations and hired police officers, prosecutors, and Secret Service agents to train people in its technology. Cellebrite has also marketed its technology to law firms and multinational corporations for investigating employees. In the SEC filing, it claimed that its clients included six out of the world’s 10 largest pharmaceutical companies and six of the 10 largest oil refiners. In a separate article, Calcalist reports that Israeli police have used an even more robust hacking/surveillance technology called Pegasus to spy on government ministers, political leaders and journalists. I'm a Late-Term Abortionist Under Constant Death Threats
Vice Late-term abortions are relatively rare; fewer than 1% of abortions are performed after 21 weeks. They are Dr. Warren Hern’s specialty. His Boulder Abortion Clinic in Colorado has welcomed more than 40,000 patients since 1975. In this first person piece, he says: Most of the patients we see come in the second trimester of pregnancy, between about 24 and 32 weeks. A few come in after that and we make special arrangements for them depending on their medical situation. We’ve seen patients up to 33 or 34 weeks. It's important for me to perform abortions for women who come to me with their desperate need. On many occasions, they have a catastrophic fetal abnormality, for example, that does not permit survival of the fetus. … Pregnancy is not a benign condition. Every pregnancy is a threat to that woman's life during the entire pregnancy until six weeks after the pregnancy is over. Hern says he has paid a heavy price for this work. This work had a terrible effect on my first marriage. The parents of my first wife wanted me to stop performing abortions and their minister gave me a very unwelcome lecture at that time when I met him about it. I also have a large number of extended family in Kansas. They all disapprove of what I do, and some of them will not speak to me. There’s been many other people in my life who wanted me to stop performing abortions. There have been several attempts on my life. I’ve had medical colleagues that have been assassinated by peaceful, “pro-life” Christians who kill doctors as a matter of policy. That is their policy: to kill the doctors who perform abortions. Coronavirus Investigations China: Olympians Mistreated in Covid Isolation
Daily Mail/Reuters In its attempt to hold a covid-free Olympics, China is reportedly cutting off competitors and their teams in a bubble where tests must be taken every day, dragging off all who test positive to isolation. Dozens of athletes thrown into virus isolation have laid bare their misery – describing "crying like crazy" after being hauled out of bed at 3 A.M. before being fed miserable food in rooms too small for exercise. German team [head] Dirk Schimmelpfennig also blasted 'unacceptable' conditions for his athletes, saying isolation rooms are too small, not hygienic enough, the food is poor and PCR tests that athletes must take to free themselves are not being given. Natalia Maliszewska, a Polish speed skater, described being repeatedly moved into and out of quarantine over successive days due to conflicting Covid test results, an experience she described as a 'trauma' that left her 'crying and crying'. This article reports that as of Feb. 8, there were 387 people in Olympic covid isolation in China, though this also included team staff and press. The exact number of competitors in solitary is not clear, but is thought to be in the dozens. Biden DHS: Covid Misinfo Fans Flames of Terrorism
Daily Wire As it stumbles in the polls the Biden administration is increasingly arguing that opposition to its policies constitutes a clear and present danger. This article reports on the last example: the Department of Homeland Security’s claim that a “proliferation of false or misleading narratives” on COVID-19 is contributing to an increased threat of terrorism and violence. The DHS sent out a terrorism advisory bulletin on Monday warning of a “heightened threat environment” fueled in part by “false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories” spreading online and undermining “public trust in government institutions.” … The memo comes as the Biden administration attempts to crack down on the spread of “misinformation and disinformation” online. Last week, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki pushed the music and podcasting platform Spotify to further penalize podcast host Joe Rogan, one the of the most popular podcasters in the world, after adding advisory warnings to some of his episodes. Spotify later removed over 100 past episodes of Rogan’s show. Other Coronavirus Investigations Risk Assessment: Understanding the Covid Odds City Journal
The Revolt of the Angry Covid Moms Common Sense | 