RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week 
August 6 to August 12, 2023

Featured Investigation:
For Washington Post's Feared 'Pinocchio' Fact-Checker,
Forthrightness Dies in 'Updates'
to Biden-Burisma Story 

In RealClearInvestigations, Paul Sperry reports that Washington Post "fact checker" Glenn Kessler seems more willing to dish out "Pinocchios" to others than to acknowledge that he himself might require an elongated nose. 

For the second time in three years, Sperry reports, the Washington Post has quietly “updated” one of the most consequential fact checks in the history of American politics:  its October 2020 article undercutting reports that Joe Biden was lying when he said he never discussed foreign business with his son Hunter. Sperry reports: 

• The Post “fact check” was published the same day as the New York Post’s pre-election scoop revealing that Joe Biden had attended a 2015 dinner with a top executive of a Ukrainian energy firm, Burisma.

• Kessler relied on Biden aides to shoot down the story.  He highlighted Team Biden's theory that the source of the information – a laptop Hunter had abandoned – was Russian disinformation.   

• That falsehood was then seized upon by former intelligence officials, other media outlets and social media to discredit the laptop in the final days of the 2020 campaign. 

SBA COVID Contract Boondoggles, RCI
'Save the Fish,' Squander the Dams, RCI
It Ain't Easy Shedding 'Big Easy' Cops, RCI
Lavish U.S. Tab for 2d Reagan Inaugural, RCI
Funding Fishing Journalism in Senegal, RCI 

Biden, Trump and the Beltway 

Probers: Biden Family Took In $20M Over Joe's VP Years, Federalist
$3.5M Wire Tied to Joe Biden's Meal with Oligarch, Daily Mail
GOP Auditor: Vast Amounts of J6 Probe Records Unavailable, Fox News
Clarence Thomas’ 38 Blllionaire-Paid Vacations, ProPublica
Pal Financed Clarence Thomas’s $267,230 RV, New York Times
Evidence Suggests FBI's Wray Lied About Anti-Catholic Push, Just the News
Special Counsel Got Warrant to Search Trump's Twitter, Associated Press  

Other Noteworthy Articles and Series 

After their successful challenge of the use of affirmative action by universities, conservative legal activists are now targeting diversity initiatives widely deployed across American corporations:

In lawsuits, shareholder letters and petitions to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, activists are using some of the same tactics that progressive groups have used to advance diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs. They are arguing that companies are violating rules against race- and sex-discrimination, including those drawn from legislation designed to secure the rights of Black Americans. … Dozens of corporate law firms and major employers have received letters from Republican officials warning them to adhere to laws prohibiting racial quotas and preferences in employment and contracting decisions. 

Publicly, this article reports, many companies are defending their diversity and equity programs. “Privately, many are asking their lawyers if and how much they should modify their methods in light of the affirmative-action decision.” 

Louisiana AG Used
Chemical Lawyers in EPA Case 
Guardian

Internal emails, contracts and payments, show that the office of the attorney general, Jeff Landry, hired two lawyers to enter closed-door negotiations with the EPA during the 14-month civil rights investigation. But John King and Tim Hardy were also representing the Taiwanese chemicals firm Formosa in separate litigation, challenging a decision to revoke the company’s state air permits.

This article reports that the EPA – which dropped its probe in June – expressed ethical reservations about the industry representatives, but later backed down from its concerns as the lawyers remained in negotiations. 

An Ill Wind Blows for Wind Energy
Off the New Jersey Coast 
New York Times 

From the Annals of Oh, the Irony, opponents of a massive renewable energy project off the coast of New Jersey are taking a page from environmentalists who have long used the fate of creatures such as the dusky gopher frog to halt fossil fuel projects. In this case, residents of Ocean City and surrounding Cape May County opposed to Ocean Wind 1 are pointing to whale mortality as they try to stop up to 98 wind turbines the size of skyscrapers off the New Jersey coast, which could power half a million homes. Like arguments of the frog’s defenders, the science is suspect:

[I]n linking East Coast whale deaths to wind project surveys, these groups contradict what leading marine mammal scientists have concluded. “At this point, there is no scientific evidence that noise resulting from offshore wind site characterization surveys could potentially cause mortality of whales,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a statement. 

But the strategy may still succeed, with far-reaching consequences: 

The future of East Coast wind energy could hang in the balance. If opponents succeed, they hope to create a template for derailing some 31 offshore wind projects in various stages of development and construction off the East Coast, a key part of President Biden’s plan to reduce greenhouse emissions that are driving global climate change. 

Inside an Abusive
Anti-Porn Camp for Teens 
Reason 

A growing number of businesses are emerging offering help to struggling teens. STAR Guides Wilderness Therapy, for example, bills itself as "the country's premier wilderness treatment program for teens with technology, pornography and sexual addictions." But, this article reports, this is problematic for two reasons. First, "porn addiction" and "sex addiction" are controversial diagnoses that most professionals say should not be applied to adolescents because they are going through so many hormonal changes. Second, the assistance can turn into abuse:

According to reports from Utah's Department of Health and Human Services on troubled teen camps, kids have been held in miserable and abusive conditions. ... "Multiple interviews disclosed that a staff member acted outside of the provider's policy and procedure and Utah Administrative Rule. The staff initiated a pain compliance technique on a client that was not an immediate danger to themselves or others; the client was being argumentative. The restraint resulted in undue physical discomfort and pain to the client. This was a repeat rule noncompliance." 

In a separate article, the New York Times reports that in response to mental health issues among youngsters, summer camps across the country “are adding mental supports. Some have care teams that meet regularly to discuss interpersonal dynamics among bunkmates. Many set aside time and space for therapy via video during the day. And many camps have created new staff positions focused full time on mental health.” 

Trove of Emails and Documents
Reveal Fauci’s Deceptions 
Free Press 

This article summarizes the “evasion, deception, and misdirection” that best describes Dr. Anthony Fauci’s leadership of the U.S. response to COVID-19 -- especially regarding his support of high-risk virology research and its connection to the possibility that a lab leak in Wuhan caused a worldwide catastrophe:

Fauci, who was the face of the public health community during the crisis, pushed the idea that the evidence strongly indicated that the virus was just a tragic, natural occurrence. He insisted, repeatedly, that an epidemic that started in Wuhan was unlikely to have been the result of an escape from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). But Fauci had an incentive to arrive at his conclusion about the deadly pandemic that started in Wuhan. The WIV was known for doing high-risk virology research studying and manipulating coronaviruses. Fauci, as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for almost 40 years, had funded such research at the WIV. 

In a separate article, a longitudinal study published in the journal JAMA Health Forum found very low rates of COVID-19 transmission at Massachusetts public schools, raising questions about the decision to close schools across the country in response to the pandemic.