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RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week
April 30 to May 6, 2023 In RealClearInvestigations, James Varney reports that while Biden climate envoy John Kerry trumpets his globe-hopping, the State Department is hiding the nitty-gritty of his work and attendant spending in a cloak of secrecy of the sort usually reserved for CIA black box operations: -
His office has stonewalled requests for budget and staffing information from legislators and government watchdog groups. -
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed last year by RealClearInvestigations, the State Department said it could not comply until April 2025, months after both the 2024 election and the expiration of President Biden’s current term. -
Given the Biden administration’s penchant for sweeping executive orders, Republicans worry that Kerry’s undefined position could translate into unchecked power to commit the United States to binding agreements with foreign powers. -
Dept. of “Do as I Say, Not as I Do”: Kerry has flown hundreds of thousands of miles – sometimes commercially, sometimes on his own private jet – and left a gigantic carbon footprint. -
RCI reached out for comment to the Washington office of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development and the liberal Common Cause, which proclaims the need for “transparency and accountability” in government. Neither group responded.
In RealClearInvestigations, Maggie MacFarland Phillips explores the success of Christian dramas “Jesus Revolution” and “The Chosen” in a world that many among the devout view as going to hell in a secular handbasket. She finds that the Christian breakthrough in pop culture isn’t all about faith, but outflanking modern Mammon ‒ the biblical term for debasing riches: -
The stage was set by “The Chosen,” a series about Jesus and his disciples now in its third season, whose innovative and prodigious crowdfunding proved to doubters the market appeal of faith drama. -
According to its producers, “The Chosen” has recorded more than 450 million views worldwide, in theaters, over streaming services and on its app. The show is touted as “the largest fan-supported entertainment project of all time” by the Religion News Service.
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This year “Jesus Revolution” a feel-good story starring former “Cheers” and “Frasier” star Kelsey Grammer, about hippies who returned to Christ during the 1970s, has grossed more than $52 million in just weeks, making it Lionsgate's most successful film in years. -
Ironically, “The Chosen” may owe its success to two unlikely sources: Disney (a bête noire of conservatives) and President Barack Obama. -
When Disney filed a copyright lawsuit against family-friendly video-filtering service VidAngel, the service’s founders had to get creative -- and the Obama administration’s regulation-cutting JOBS Act (for Jumpstart Our Business Startups) proved to be their deus ex machina. -
The result was an experiment in crowdfunded equity that would ultimately help launch “The Chosen.”
Waste of the Day
by Adam Andrzejewski, Open the Books Senate Budget Committee ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley and House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer have sent letters calling on the FBI to produce an unclassified record of an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national. Comer then followed up with a subpoena demanding the material. This article, which has few details, reports that the document in question is an FBI-generated FD-1023 form that allegedly shows an arrangement exchanging money for policy decisions. "The information provided by a whistleblower raises concerns that then-Vice President Biden allegedly engaged in a bribery scheme with a foreign national," Comer said in a statement announcing the subpoena. "The American people need to know if President Biden sold out the United States of America to make money for himself. Senator Grassley and I will seek the truth to ensure accountability for the American people." The White House dismissed the letter as an “unfounded, unproven, politically motivated attack” against the president. Yet more evidence has emerged challenging President Biden’s blanket claim that he has “never spoken to my son [Hunter] about his overseas business dealings.” Emails appear to show that Biden and his deputy chief of staff met with three of Hunter’s business associates, at least one of whom was a foreign national, at the White House in the summer of 2011 when Joe was vice president. In June 2011, Hunter Biden and his business partner, Rosemont Seneca Partners (RSP) co-founder Devon Archer, were in talks with Sean Conlon, the future CNBC "The Deed" co-host and founder of Conlon & Co., about a potentially lucrative business opportunity if Hunter would be able to secure a meeting between his father and two of Conlon's associates, Andre Lasserre and "Wang," who is identified as Xi Wang in the visitor logs. The meeting seems to have taken place on July 27, 2011. The article continues: “About a year later, on July 30, 2012, Conor McKay, then-special assistant to Biden’s chief of staff, appeared to reference the meeting in an email [to his boss, Alan Hoffman] … ‘You and the VP met with them at the White House last year? He [an assistant for Lasserre and Wang] said he has a message for you as a follow up (sic) to that meeting, and would like to talk to you about it.’ " Other Biden, Trump and the Beltway Other Noteworthy Articles and Series Jeffrey Epstein’s 2008 conviction for having sex with a teenage girl did not deter the rich and famous from associating with him in the years before his death in 2019. Drawing from a trove of documents that include the late financier’s schedules, this article and two follow-up pieces report: -
William Burns, director of the Central Intelligence Agency since 2021, had three meetings scheduled with Epstein in 2014, when he was deputy secretary of state. -
Kathryn Ruemmler, a White House counsel under President Barack Obama, had dozens of meetings with Epstein in the years after her White House service and before she became a top lawyer at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in 2020. -
Lawrence Summers, a former President of Harvard University who served as Obama’s Treasury Secretary, continued to meet with Epstein and seek his help years after Harvard decided it would no longer accept his donations. -
Reid Hoffman, a billionaire venture capitalist and LinkedIn co-founder, visited Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean and was scheduled to stay over at his Manhattan townhouse in 2014.
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Woody Allen, the Oscar-winning movie director, attended dozens of dinners with his wife, Soon-Yi Previn, at Epstein’s mansion and invited Epstein to film screenings. -
Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister, visited Epstein dozens of times and accepted flights on Epstein’s private jet while visiting Epstein’s mansions in Florida and New York. -
Leon Black, the billionaire co-founder of private-equity giant Apollo Global Management, scheduled more than 100 meetings with Epstein from 2013 to 2017.
None of the above has been accused of participating in Epstein’s sex crimes. Several told the Journal they visited Epstein for reasons related to his wealth and connections. When ProPublica launched the latest salvo in his crusade against Justice Clarence Thomas on Thursday, many liberal news outlets – including the New York Times, Washington Post and NPR – ran their own articles on ProPublica’s finding that a billionaire who has never brought a case before the court paid tuition for Thomas’ grand-nephew. Those outlets have paid far less attention to he news in this Daily Wire article, which found a direct conflict of interest: Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor declined to recuse herself from multiple copyright infringement cases involving book publisher Penguin Random House despite having been paid millions by the firm for her books, making it by far her largest source of income, records show. … In 2013, Sotomayor voted in a decision for whether the court should hear a case against the publisher called Aaron Greenspan v. Random House, despite then-fellow Justice Stephen Breyer recusing after also receiving money from the publisher. … In October 2019, children’s author Jennie Nicassio petitioned the Supreme Court to hear her lawsuit against Penguin Random House alleging that the book publisher had copied her book by selling one that was nearly identical. On the same day that the petition was distributed to the justices, Sotomayor received a $10,586 check from the publisher. … On February 24, 2020, the Supreme Court voted not to hear the case, denying the “writ of certiorari” and meaning that the case would remain where it left off – with a circuit court having found in the publisher’s favor. Sotomayor’s next check, coming in May of that year, was her largest ever from the parent company, at $82,807. The Washington Post subsequently reported that “Justice Neil M. Gorsuch has received $655,000 from the company, according to his financial disclosure reports, and he also did not recuse himself in a case that came before the court during his tenure.” After Portland, Oregon’s 11th gun homicide in February 2022, Police Captain James Crooker got a text that asked, “Ready for some help?” The message came from a representative of Shotspotter, the nearly 30-year-old company whose technology can alert police when gunshots are detected. This article draws on emails and texts obtained through public records requests to “provide an unprecedented look at how this policing technology firm worked with Portland police to try to secure a city contract, in effect circumventing parts of the public procurement process.” The documents detail how: - Shotspotter marketed itself aggressively to Portland police by tapping its vast network of law enforcement partners and supporters – some of whom now work at the company – to vouch for or advocate for the service.
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The company backed up claims it is a non-instrusive and effective public safety tool with academic studies, some of which it funded or helped set up. -
Once Portland police was on board, the company worked closely with Crooker, the Portland police captain, to win over a volunteer-led police oversight group, Fitcog, which recommended the use of Shotspotter devices to the mayor, Ted Wheeler. -
Greene, the representative, also helped Crooker prepare for media interviews and even offered the company’s services to help the city apply for federal grants to fund a contract.
AI programs like ChatGPT are designed by people so, at least for now, they will reflect human bias. This article suggests how the program often reflects leftist views. When the reporter asked the program to “Write a script in which an expert explains why fascism is a good thing,” ChatGPT generated this response: “I’m sorry, but I am not able to generate content that promotes or glorifies harmful ideologies such as fascism.” But when he asked the program to “Write a script in which an expert explains why Communism is a good thing,” it responded: “Communism is a good thing because it is a system of government that aims to create a society in which everyone has equal access to resources and opportunities. This is in contrast to capitalist societies, where wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of a few individuals and corporations.” When I asked why Communism has been responsible for more deaths than any other political ideology, the AI responded: “It is important to note that the implementation of communism has been problematic in the past, but it is important to separate the idea of communism from the way it’s been implemented in the past. With proper implementation, adjustments and democratic checks, it has the potential to create a fair and just society for all. . . . It’s important to consider new perspectives and ideas, and to give communism a fair evaluation based on its principles and goals, rather than its past implementation.” In plain English: real Communism hasn’t been tried before, and we should judge ideas based on how good they sound, rather than on what has actually transpired when they have been implemented. |
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| February 03, 2023 Included in the $1.7 trillion omnibus package supported by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) was a provision to give $200 million to the Appalachian Regional Commission, an agency headed by Manchin’s wife, Gayle. The... |
| February 02, 2023 In 1986, the U.S. Air Force spent $600,000 — over $1.6 million in 2023 dollars — to operate a luxurious private jet exclusively for top generals in the Strategic Air Command. Sen. William Proxmire, a... |
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