RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week
May 20 toMay 26
Featured Investigation There is one line you don't cross in government. It involves something far more sacred than race, gender or ethics - the discretionary spending legislators use to reward their supporters and friends. EricGreitensdidn't get the message. The political novice who became the Governor of Missouri in 2016 is facing backlash, and possible impeachment, by his Republican colleagues for misconduct with a woman with whom he had an affair and other alleged offenses. But, as Brian M. Carney reports forRealClearInvestigations, his real crime, in the eyes of Missouri political bosses, may have been his successful effort to shut down the state'sLow-Income Housing Tax Credit system for at least a year. Carney writes: This and other tax credits have long been a red line for Missouri legislators, one that has allowed them to subvert the will of another group of outsiders - the voters. Back in 1980, at the start of the Reagan revolution, voters approved a constitutional amendment limiting state government spending to 5.6395 percent of the personal income of Missourians. But there was a loophole: Tax credits outside the appropriations process are excluded from the definition of total state revenue.So lawmakers discovered that the way to exceed the cap was to structure additional spending as tax credits to compensate developers, contractors and investors, not as checks doled out directly.Missouri had 63 such tax credit programs as of 2017. Read Full Article The Trump Investigations: Top Articles When Did Russia Probe Begin? The Mystery MonthsWashington Examiner A 'CollusionAgainstTrump' TimelineSharylattkisson.com Who is Stefan Halper, FBI Source in Russia Probe? Washington Post The Real Origination Story of the Russia InvestigationNational Review Did the Obama Administration Spy on Michael Flynn?American Greatness Michael Cohen's Business Partner to Cop Plea and CooperateNew York Times Ukraine Said to Have Paid Cohen for White House Talks BBC
Other Noteworthy Articles and Series Pentagon Push to Hack Nukes Before Launch
Daily Beast
The Pentagon has embraced a controversial policy of destroying enemy nuclear missiles before theylaunch,an internal policy document from May 2017 shows. It's an effort that appears to include executing cyberattacks against missile control systems or components. Former State Department nonproliferation official Alexandra Bell called the Pentagon plan an "exercise to legally justify a potential attack on a North Korean missile on thelaunchpad." Kansas: Black Drivers Get More Tickets
Kansas City Star
This story begins with race and ends with class. It starts with the fact that 60 sixtypercentof the traffic tickets given to Kansas City residentswent to African-Americans, who make up 30 percent of the population.Then it notes thatspeeding is overwhelmingly the top traffic offense for all races — except African-Americans. The top traffic ticket charge for African-Americans is "state license plate required," followed by "no insurance" and then speeding.A lawyer whose practice has tried more than 8,000 traffic-related cases said, "Race is the superficialcandy coating of the M&M … These areeconomic-based crimes, they're not poor driver crimes." Rep. Luis Gutierrez Paid Wife $60K From Campaign Funds
Washington Free Beacon
Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois isn'trunning for reelection this year, but that hasn't stopped his from paying his wife $60,000 from his campaign funds so far this election cycle. Gutierrez has paid his wife,Soraida, more than $430,000 over the course of the last eight years to act as his campaign treasurer and oversee his committee's "management and fundraising." McCabe Spent $70,000 on a Table; FBI Hid It From Congress
Federalist
It may be eye-popping that the former FBI Deputy Director spent $70,000 of taxpayer money on a conference table, but the real issue is the bureau's decision to redact that information in documents it handed over to Congress. In a letter to the FBI, Sen. Chuck Grassley said: "I am unaware of any legitimate basis on which the cost of a conference table should be redacted. Embarrassment is not a good enough reason. The manner in which some redactions have been used casts doubt on whether the remaining redactions are necessary and defensible." Elite Colleges Bending Test Rules for Many 'Stressed' Students
Wall Street Journal
As many as one in four students at some elite U.S. colleges are now classified as disabled, largely because of mental-health issues such as depression or anxiety, entitling them to a widening array of special accommodations including longer time to take exams. Britain: Exploitation in 'Pop-Up Brothels'
Press Association
Vulnerable women are being sexually exploited on an industrial scale in "pop-up brothels" run by trafficking gangs across Britain. The brothels, often set up in residential properties using short-term leases, allow gangs to keep a step ahead of police and retain control over the women, who are, essentially, slaves. How the C-Section Went From Last Resort to Vastly Overused
Slate
C-sections were relatively rare until 1965,thenthey exploded, rising 455 percent by 1987. Today, 1 in 3 U.S. babies are still delivered by C-section. That's twice the recommendation set by the WorldHealth Organization, which has found that rates above 10 to 15 percent have no effecton mortality rates, even astheypush up medical costs and increases other risks for both mother and baby.This story provides a detailed history of C-sections but, puzzlingly, never mentions something else that happened in 1965 - the creation of Medicaid. Why Won't Americans Move to Greener Pastures?
ProPublica/Businessweek
Despite the collapse of jobs in many small towns and rural communities, fewer Americans moved in 2017 than in any year in at least a half-century. This is especially remarkable in a nation built on the idea of picking yourself up and striking out for more promising territory. Economist Tyler Cowen wrote last year that "poverty and low incomes have flipped from being reasons to move to reasons not to move, a fundamental change from earlier American attitudes." This story examines some of the issues involved by focusing on Adams County, Ohio, where the closure of coal-fired power plants put one more hole in a sinking ship that many refuse to abandon. How AI Became as Racist and Sexist as Humans
The Walrus
Artificial intelligence is transforming our world - influencing what we watch, what we buy, whether we get a job, our interactions with law enforcement and more. Yet these systems are only as clever as the data they're trained on, which means that our limitations—our biases, our blind spots, our inattention—become theirs as well. In a related article,Motherboard reportsthat civil liberties groups are concerned about Amazon's sale of "cheap facial-recognition software to law enforcement agencies in at least two states." People Sucked Into Pro- and Anti-Trump Dating Sites
Gizmodo
Following Newton's third law of equal and opposite reactions, the rise of a pro-Trump dating site - promising to "make dating greatagain" - led to the creation of its apparent antithesis, aNeverTrumpdating service.But a search of these sites often turns up the same people. That's because they are part of the growing world of nichedating sites thatpromise to connect like-minded people but often purchase and display profiles of people who have signed up for other sites so that they will appear more popular. | 
