RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week
Oct. 7 toOct. 13 Featured Investigation Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, critics might say, is giving a new twist to the old saying "the best government money can buy." As Jeff Patch reports for RealClearInvestigations, the former New York City mayor is funding a New York University program that is placing lawyers in the offices of Democratic state attorneys general and paying them to prosecute energy companies and challenge Trump administration policies on energy and the environment. NYU's Bloomberg-funded State Energy & Environmental Impact Center has placed 14 fellows in the AG offices of nine states and the District of Columbia. Patch reports: State AG offices hire these trained lawyers - not students but seasoned professionals with years of experience - as special assistant attorneys general. Under terms of the arrangement, the fellows work solely to advance progressive environmental policy at a time when Democratic state attorneys general have investigated and sued ExxonMobil and other energy companies over alleged damages due to climate change. … Some of the fellows from the NYU program developed their legal acumen at progressive advocacy organizations such as the Sierra Club and the National Resources Defense Council. Others served under Bloomberg during his mayoral tenure in New York - for example, Sarah Kogel-Smucker, now an NYU fellow in the District of Columbia government. The fellows have played a role in filing at least 130 regulatory, legal and other challenges to federal environmental policies since 2017, according to a review of filings. Read Full Article The Trump Investigations: Top Articles GPS Co-Founder Simpson to Plead 5th to Avoid House Testimony, The Hill
FBI Redaction in Russia Probe Wasn't for National Security, The Hill
ConnectionBetweenRussian Bank and Trump Campaign? New Yorker
GOP Operative Raised $100K in Search for Clinton Emails, Wall Street Journal
GOP Clinton Email Hunter Had TieWithFlynn Since '15, Wall Street Journal
Obama's Secret Plan if Hillary Won and Trump Balked, New York Other Noteworthy Articles and Series Bredesen's Staff Says He's Lying AboutKavanaugh Vote
Project Veritas
A blue candidate in a red state locked in a tight race, Tennessee Senate candidate PhilBredesensurprised Democrats when he suggested he would have joined Joe Manchin as the only other Democrat to support Supreme Court nominee BretKavanaugh. That was not true, according toBredesenstaffers filmed undercover by James O'Keefe's Project Veritas. "It's a political move," one staffer says. When another staffer is asked by an undercover journalist if the people of Tennessee are so "ignorant" that they supportKavanaugh, he replies, "Yeah." 3 Russians Made an Enemy of Putin; Now They're All Dead
Wall Street Journal
One man was strangled to death with a dog leash; another was found hanged in a bathroom; a third man died of a fatal dose of the radioactive isotope polonium. All threehave something common besides death: they were once-powerful Russians who, after amassing fortunes during Russian privatizations and helping build the political system that brought Vladimir Putin to the presidency, fell out of favor with the Russian leader. Chinese Firms Hold Stakes in Over a Dozen European Ports
JoannaKakissis, NPR
In the past decade, Chinese companies have acquired stakes in 13 ports in Europe, including in Greece, Spain and, most recently, Belgium. Those ports handle about 10 percent of Europe's shipping container capacity. On one level, the port acquisitions are part of China's 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, an ambitious program to better connect the country to commercial hubs in Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania. But this is about more than just moving cargo. For instance, Chinese investments in the ports of Djibouti, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have been followed by Chinese naval deployments. While there are no public plans toturn European ports into Beijing's military bases, Chinese warships have already paid a friendly visit to Greece's port at Piraeus. Trump's Patron-in-Chief: Casino Magnate Sheldon Adelson
ProPublica
As he tries to convince Japan to let him build a casinoresort, Sheldon Adelson is getting some top-notch help: President Trump. This story reports that the casino magnate and his wife, Miriam - who wrote "checks for $20 million in thecampaign" andpitched"in an additional $5 million for the inaugural festivities" - have not only won face time with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe courtesy of Trump; the president himself reportedly raised the issue during a meeting between the heads of state. California: DMV Finds 1,500 More Wrongly Registered to Vote
Los Angeles Times
While the left looks for proof the Russians have swayed our elections, the right can draw on evidence that voter fraud could happen from within. Case in point: the California Department of Motor Vehicles' revelation that some 1,500 people were wrongly registered to vote between late April and late September. The erroneous registrations, including non-citizens, come on top of roughly 23,000 registration mistakes disclosed by the DMV last month. Series: Towns 'Abandoned in America,' Pt. 1
The Center for Public Integrity
The Center for Public Integrity makes no bones about its bias: To counter President Trump's claims that we have "the best economy we've ever had in the history of our country" its "reporters this summer visited six communities where residents say the crushing effects of poverty and government neglect aren't improving." The first installment - which attacks Trump's push for a border wall through a portrait of Presidio, Texas - declares its own importance by noting it is being published "on the eve of a critical midterm election that will decide the balance of power in Washington." At a time when media outlets are increasingly taking sides, you could almost admire the center for its honesty. But at the end of the day, this is advocacy, not journalism. California: Secret Shelters for Abused Immigrant Women
California Sunday
This storyprofilesa woman who provides guidance and sanctuary in her California home to undocumented women whohavesufferedsexual harassment, violence andabuse. Theheartbreaking stories of the victims are balanced by the inspiring fact that this one woman's generosity is spreading: There are now "more than 30 Latina women throughout California who opened their homes for survivors." Mystery of Walmart Purse With Note From 'Chinese Prisoner'
Vox
The letter discovered in the Wal-Mart purse was almost certainlyfakebut accurate: supposedly written by a Chinese prisoner, it complained of the harsh conditions he had endured while making the item. This story reports that it followed "a long line of SOS-style notes found by shoppers" that are probably planted by activist. In this case, the reporter traveled to China to try to confirm the details in the letter while reporting on the use wider use of prison labor. Millennials May Be Killing American Cheese
Bloomberg
The story reports: "American cheese will never die. It has too many preservatives. But it's melting away. One by one, America's food outlets are abandoning the century-old American staple. In many cases, they're replacing it with fancier cheeses. … The product, made famous by the greatest generation, devoured by boomers on the go and touted as the basis for macaroni and cheese, the well-documented love object of Gen X, has met its match with millennials demanding nourishment from ingredients that are both recognizable and pronounceable." | 
