RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week
Dec. 10 to Dec. 16
Featured Investigation Communication was a problem as the fires raged and the towers began to crumble during the 9/11 terror attacks. New York firefighters and police officers weren't always getting the same information, and transmitting data was especially difficult when speed was of the essence. As the smoke and confusion began to clear, a consensus emerged around the vision of a system that would enable first responders from disparate agencies to communicate on a single, robust network. Since then, the project, called FirstNet, has worked along two tracks. In March of this year, the federal government finally awarded to AT&T the roughly $47 billion contract to build the network. Meanwhile, states and U.S. territories are deciding whether opt in to FirstNet or use another compatible network. As James Varney reports for RealClearInvestigations, this high-minded effort to ensure public safety appears to have been influenced by money and politics. He writes: Former FBI official Harlin McEwen won praise all around for his four years as an unpaid volunteer spearheading the planning for a new, nationwide emergency first-responders network. Not only that, he got himself a new gig: paid consultant to AT&T, the company awarded the federal contract for the new system, worth up to $47 billion. Hired this past summer, McEwen isn't the only public servant to wind up on AT&T's payroll since it landed the contract in March. As the company tries to outflank competitors in states that might opt out of the federal system by a Dec. 28 deadline, it's snapping up state government insiders too. Those hires are raising concerns that governors might not be getting disinterested analysis for a vital decision about public safety. … In New Jersey, the "state point of contact" in charge of advising Gov. Chris Christie on the opt-in/opt-out decision is now on board with AT&T. In Alabama, the official with the same position there is also now with AT&T. Less than two weeks after Maine became the 10th state to opt in last August, its director of emergency management resigned, only to resurface with AT&T. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's office announced that its chief of staff, Daniel Hodge, was leaving for the private sector on Sept. 18, one day before announcing the state's decision to partner with AT&T. Hodge now counts AT&T among his lobbying clients, according to disclosure forms filed with the Texas Ethics Commission. Read Full Article Other Noteworthy Articles and Series Rashomon to Judgment on Mueller
Representatives from America's parallel political universes descended on a charged Capitol hearing room this week to grill the Deputy Attorney General in an engrossing display of alternative perceptions of reality. Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee looked at recently disclosed, fervently anti-Trump, pro-Hillary Clinton FBI text messages, along with new evidence of high-level Department of Justice involvement with the Trump-Russia dossier, as proof of blatant partisanship in investigating Donald Trump. They also saw this as evidence that if anyone was colluding with the Russians and needed investigating, the guilty parties were the "deep state" and the 2016 Clinton campaign. But their Democrat colleagues saw the revelations as benign or properly handled matters being spun by Republicans trying to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller's probe. Yet with firm Russian collusion evidence still scarce more than a year since the election, the week also saw the Democrats shift emphasis in opposing the Trump presidency. After defeating Roy Moore, an accused child molester, to claim a Senate seat in Alabama, they sought, amid catcalls of hypocrisy, to claim the high ground on sexual abuse, resurrecting misconduct charges against Trump that flopped during the campaign. Many found it puzzling the way Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas dwelled on the matter during the House hearing. But if she succeeded in using the high-profile setting to elevate the issue for the Democratic base, she may have been crazy like a fox. RCI Creates Archive of Sexual-Abuse Articles
Allegations of sexual harassment and assault continued to pour forth this week, including againstDustin Hoffman,Larry King,Russell Simmons,Mario Batali, New York restaurateurKen Friedman, and at least five former NFL players. Two high-profile media figures,Ryan Lizzaof the New Yorker and PBS hostTavis Smiley, have vigorously denied accusations for which they have already been punished. So many charges have been leveled against so many people that RealClearInvestigations has createda chronological archive of the hundreds of articleswe have posted on the subject since theOct. 5headline, "Harvey Weinstein Girds to Fight Exposés." Sketchy Past of Kentucky Preacher-PoliticianWho Committed Suicide
Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting
Kentucky State Rep. Dan Johnson, who was under investigation for alleged sexual molestation,died of a "probable suicide" on Wednesday. Elected in 2016, the preacher turned politician, nicknamed "The Pope,"claimed to heal the sick and raise the dead. He also saidhe helped quell riots in Los Angeles and served as White House chaplain. Dubious claims all, but his record of arrests and racist Facebookposts was beyond dispute, according to a seven-month investigative series, "The Pope's Long Con." Telemarketer Got $9 of Every $10 Veterans Charity Raised
Politico
With the help of fundraisers-for-hire, the charity Circle of Friends for American Veterans' increased its income tenfold during a three-year period. But there was a catch — the fundraisers were keeping most of the donations. And the salary paid to the head of the Virginia outfit quadrupled, reaching $340,126 in 2015. Veterans themselves, Politico reports, "received scraps." Now the operation is expanding into the largely unregulated world of political fundraising, sponsoring a veterans-focused political action committee. Does Boston Deserve Its Reputation for Racism?
Boston Globe
Among eight major cities, the Boston Globe found that black people ranked Boston as the least welcoming to people of color. They found that African-Americans in the city have a median net worth of $8."Here in Boston," the paper reports, "a city known as a liberal bastion, we have deluded ourselves into believing we've made more progress than we have. Racism certainly is not as loud and violent as it once was, and the city overall is a more tolerant place. But inequities of wealth and power persist, and racist attitudes remain powerful, even if in more subtle forms." Daimler Spies Tore Apart Rented Tesla, Then Returned It
Jalopnik
The parent company of Mercedes-Benz allegedly took the "Hey, it ain't mine" attitude to a whole level when it rented a Tesla Model X to test and dismantle for research purposes. Not purchased—rented. The German edition of Der Spiegel reports that Daimler rented the car, anonymously, for seven weeks from a Bavarian couple. In addition to being disassembled and screwed together again, the car was allegedly tested under extreme conditions - including heat, on a vibrating track and a traction track. A Daimler spokesperson said such rentals are a common industry practice. |
