RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week
August 2 to August 8, 2020 Much Beltway speculation says U.S. Attorney John Durham will punt the results of his so-called Spygate investigation past the election. But sources who have worked with Durham think otherwise. They tell RealClearInvestigations' Paul Sperry they expect the hard-nosed prosecutor to drop bombshells before Labor Day. Sperry reports: - Durham is under time pressure because Justice Department rules prohibit prosecutors from taking overt steps in politically charged cases within 60 days of an election.
- That means Durham has to make a move by the Friday before Labor Day, or Sept. 4. - or else wait until after the vote.
- Former assistant FBI director Chris Swecker, who knows Durham personally and worked with him, doubts Durham will wait: "I would find it hard to believe that he punts under any circumstances."
- A big motivator for Durham, Swecker says: If ex-VP Joe Biden is elected president, "everything Durham has done at that point will be canceled out."
- Swecker says he's confident Durham has uncovered crimes. And the lack of media leaks coming from Durham's office is a telltale sign he is building a serious corruption case.
- Democracy 21, a liberal Washington watchdog group, has already cited the "60-day rule" in recent demands to Attorney General William Barr for a suspension of Durham's investigation until after the election.
- But Durham's boss pushes back on the notion his hand-picked investigator would defer action.
- Congresswoman to Barr: "Under oath, do you commit to not releasing any report by Mr. Durham before the November election?" Barr to congresswoman: "No."
A growing response to today's chaotic information landscape sounds inviting and elegantly simple: appoint teams of nonpartisan experts to "fact check" claims with scientific rigor. But as Sharyl Attkisson reports for RealClearInvestigations, many of the most influential media fact-checking outfits - including those with broad power to censor information on Facebook and Google - often rely on partisan news sources and political activists to control narratives. Many are supported by and have close ties to George Soros' Open Society Foundations, one of the world's best-financed progressive organizations. Attkisson reports: - First Draft, started by Google at the start of the 2016 election cycle, is supported by an array of liberal companies and nonprofits, including Open Society and the Ford Foundation.
- Eighteen of the 20 members of Facebook's recently created oversight board have ties to Open Society.
- NewsGuard, an Internet browser tool that rates the trustworthiness of news, is funded in part by one of the largest PR, advertising, and data collection firms in the world: Publicis Groupe, which is active on the progressive side of major issues.
- Fact checks are frequently used to litigate matters of opinion or debate.
- Other "fact checks" use partisan news sources to claim that a prediction of about what could happen in the future is untrue - before it even happens or doesn't happen. Like voter fraud.
- Such was the case when Twitter attached a warning to President Trump's Tweets regarding the vulnerability of mail-in ballots, claiming they were "unsubstantiated according to CNN, Washington Post, and others."
Neil Young's decision this week to sue the Trump campaign for playing "Rockin' in the Free World" at rallies escalates beyond mere amplifier noise a longtime conflict between musicians and politicians, entertainment lawyers say. As Steve Miller reports for RealClearInvestigations, artists in the current polarized climate appear no longer content to just complain loudly when politicians use their anthems - as Bruce Springsteen did when Ronald Reagan invoked "Born in the U.S.A." during his1984 re-election campaign. - Legal observers say Young's federal lawsuit claiming breach of copyright appears to be first such case of its kind.
- The move by the 74-year-old rock icon follows a July 28 letter signed by dozens of artists to both political parties, asking that they obtain permission before using their songs.
- The assertive stance is a departure from the past, in which musicians neglected to take simple steps to cordon off their tunes - either through unawareness of their options or an unspoken desire for publicity or performance royalties.
- Young didn't necessarily have to go to court. The two largest performing rights organizations, BMI and ASCAP, already allow artists to exclude their songs from licenses.
Miller reports on the long history of rewriting songs for campaigns, often with the artist's participation. In 1959 the lyrics to the Frank Sinatra hit "High Hopes" were retooled to support honorary Rat Pack member John F. Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign. Trump-Russia/2020 Election News Yates: Comey Went 'Rogue' With Flynn Interview Fox News
Facebook Bans Ads from Pro-Trump PAC Washington Examiner
Feds Lent $700 Million to Company With White House Ties New York Times
Karen Bass's Journey From Outsider to Insider New York Times
Biden VP Favorite Karen Bass's Ties to Nation of Islam Daily Caller
We Are a Cancer, MSNBC Producer Says in Resignation Letter Ariana Pekary Other Noteworthy Articles and Series Foreign Workers Living Overseas Received Stimulus Checks
NPR
Thousands of foreign workers who entered the U.S. on temporary work visas received $1,200 checks in error during the first round of stimulus payments, and many of them are spending the money in their home nations. One tax preparation firm told NPR that it has clients from 129 countries who mistakenly received stimulus checks, including Brazil, Canada, China, India, Nigeria and South Korea. Government officials and tax experts say the mistake happened because many foreign workers, whether unintentionally or on purpose, file incorrect tax returns that make them appear to be U.S. residents. VOA Botched Vetting of Foreign Workers
RealClearPolitics
Roughly 40% of the employees at the taxpayer-funded agency that runs the Voice of America, including many foreign nations, were not vetted properly before being hired. Mark Hemingway and Susan Crabtree report that rom 2010 to 2020, the U.S. Agency for Global Media failed to comply with repeated warnings from the Office of Personnel Management about lapses in basic personnel vetting protocols, an OPM report found. Scandals have ensued: In the fall of 2018, the VOA fired 15 of its employees in Africa after discovering that they were accepting bribes from a Nigerian official. Last year, a former chief strategy officer for the Agency for Global Media went to prison for stealing nearly $40,000 in government property during his tenure. New York: Bungled Primary Suggests November Nightmare
New York Times
After dismissing concerns about the November election, major news outlets have begun raising alarms that things may not go so smoothly. This article reports that problems with mail-in ballots distributed for New York City's June 23 primary are the reason that, nearly six weeks later, two closely watched congressional races remain undecided. It reports that "major delays in counting a deluge of 400,000 mail-in ballots and other problems are being cited as examples of the challenges facing the nation as it looks toward conducting the November general election during the pandemic." Paid Japanese Saboteurs Seduce Partners to End Relationships
BBC
In Japan, people who want leverage when they end relationships can hire a wakaresaseya - a private agent who will seduce their spouse or partner. The industry took a hit in 2010 when one of the saboteurs fell in love with his mark and strangled her when she tried to call things off with him. But this article reports business appears to be flourishing again. One survey showed around 270 wakaresaseya agencies advertising online. Many are attached to private detective firms. One seducer for hire said he might charge 400,000 yen ($3,778) for a relatively straightforward case in which there's plenty of information about the target's activities, and as much as 20 million yen ($188,920) if a client is a politician or a celebrity. Coronavirus Investigations Iran Covering Up COVID Deaths and Infections
BBC
The Iranian government's own records indicate that its number of deaths from coronavirus is nearly triple the official total - about 42,000 Iranians have died from the virus, rather than the 14,405 reported by its health ministry. This article - based on data received from an anonymous source - also reports that the number of people known to be infected is also almost double official figures: 451,024 as opposed to 278,827. Doctors with direct knowledge of the matter have told the BBC that the Iranian health ministry has been under pressure from security and intelligence bodies inside Iran to reduce the numbers. Epidemic Breaches of Law on Sick Pay
Center for Public Integrity/NBC News
Hundreds of U.S. businesses have been cited for illegally denying paid leave to workers during the pandemic. Violators include six McDonalds franchises and the owners of Comfort Suites, Courtyard by Marriott and Red Roof Inn franchises. In all, the businesses owe $690,000 in unpaid wages to 527 employees, who are not identified in the documents. Most of the workers are low-wage earners in the construction, hotel and food industries. Also Coronavirus-Related |
