RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week
Dec. 16 to Dec. 22
Featured Investigation: Texas Voter Fraud After years of Democrats and major media outlets dismissing claims of significant voter fraud, illegal ballot harvesting in North Carolina and legal ballot harvesting in California suggest pervasive problems in America's electoral system. As Steve Miller reports for RealClearInvestigations, that comes as no surprise to Texas -- which this year has logged more ballot-fraud convictions than the previous five years combined, in part due to its vigorous efforts to combat the endemic problem. Miller reports that: Thirty-three people have already been convicted of voter fraud in Texas this year and eight others accused of the crime are awaiting resolution of their cases.
Almost all of the violations occurred in local, small-dollar, nonpartisan races - such as those for school boards, and primaries of both parties - suggesting how voter fraud is not so much a sophisticated scheme but a standard practice.
The violations involve the practice of ballot-harvesting - in which a second party collects and, perhaps influences, another's absentee, or mail-in, ballot - a practice under scrutiny in North Carolina and California.
Those convicted of voter fraud are not candidates for office or party leaders, but low-level individuals, far down the political food chain. Of the 33 individuals convicted so far this year, 30 have been directed to a prosecution-diversion program, avoiding incarceration.
Those found guilty routinely receive slap-on-the-wrist sentences, suggesting ambivalence within the political system over cracking down on the practice. Read Full Article
The Trump Investigations: Top Articles
AG Nominee Barr's Memo Disputes Obstruction Probe, New York Times
Trump Acting AG Whitaker to Oversee Mueller, USA Today
Ex-Senate Aide Gets 2 Months for Lying to FBI, Politico
Obama Treasury's Unsecure Gmail With Russia, BuzzFeed
Steele Testifies He Was Hired to Help Challenge Trump Win, Washington Times
5 Takeaways From New Reports on Russian Social Media Efforts, New York Times
Ballyhooed Russia Report Done for Senate by Leftist Academics, NewsBusters
Judge's Comments Mar Flynn Sentencing Hearing, Washington Examiner
Embattled Trump Foundation Agrees to Dissolve, CNN Other Noteworthy Articles and Series DeVos to End Lenient Obama-Era School Discipline
New York Times
The Trump administration is planning to roll back relaxed Obama-era school discipline policies that, critics claim, contributed to rising violence in the nation's schools -- notably the February massacre by Nikolas Cruz at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County, Florida. Paul Sperry of RealClearInvestigations highlighted the problems with the Obama approach and connected them to Cruz's rampage while much of the media instead focused on the roles played by gun laws and mental illness. In fact, Broward was a poster child for the lenient Obama policies, adopted by more than 50 major school districts around the country to end the "school-to-prison pipeline." As a result, as Sperry showed in a series of stories, lawbreaking students including Cruz were thus diverted away from the criminal justice system and into alternative programs. Cruz's lack of a criminal record allowed him to pass a background check and ultimately purchase the weapon he used in his murderous spree. Read Sperry's Broward articles here.
Secret Dem Tactic in Alabama Imitated Russian Disinfo
New York Times
Democratic tech experts copied some of the Russians' 2016 online election machinations in last year's special Alabama U.S. Senate vote, which elected a Democrat - Doug Jones - for the first time in decades. The project's operators created a Facebook page on which they posed as conservative Alabamians, using it to divide Republicans and even to endorse a write-in candidate to draw votes from the GOP's standard-bearer, Roy Moore. Drawing on their omniscience, the straight-news Times reporters inform readers that "the secret project, carried out on Facebook and Twitter, was likely too small to have a significant effect on the race," which was decided by 1.5 points. The project had a budget of just $100,000 -- more than the Russians spent on Facebook ads in 2016 -- in a race that cost approximately $51 million.
Oregon: Female Victims Are Ghosts of Highway 20 (Parts 1-5)
Oregonian
John Arthur Ackroyd was a longtime state highway mechanic whose route along U.S. 20 wound through some of Oregon's most spectacular scenery from the Cascade foothills to the coast. He is said to have turned that ground into a killing field, preying on women who disappeared along or around the highway from the late 1970s through the early 1990s. Investigators could prove only a single case - a 1978 murder, which landed him in prison, where he died two years ago. This multi-media series uses words, pictures and videos to document the range of his alleged crimes, which included rape and murder.
Murderville, Georgia (Parts 1-5)
The Intercept
Devonia Inman was convicted almost 20 years ago for a murder at a Taco Bell in the town of Adel, Georgia. As he proclaimed his innocence, three other people were murdered between 1998 and 2000 within a four-mile radius of that normally peaceful community. This five-part series raises questions about his case while also investigating the other murders.
Farrakhan Group Gets Federal Cash to Teach Prisoners
Washington Examiner
The Nation of Islam and its leaders have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the U.S. government since 2008 to teach religious study programs for federal prison inmates. A black nationalist group led by Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam preaches that white people are "blue-eyed devils" and Jews are "the synagogue of Satan." Its leaders have received at least $364,500 in contracts and awards from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Justice between fiscal 2008 and fiscal 2019. The funding was designed to provide "Nation of Islam religious services," "Nation of Islam spiritual guide services," "Nation of Islam study services," and other related programming led by the organization's leaders, according to Bureau of Prison records.
California: LA Pensions So Lavish Taxpayers Are Billed for Excessiveness
Los Angeles Times
Dozens of retired Los Angeles employees are collecting such generous retirement pay that they exceed pension fund limits set by the Internal Revenue Service, saddling taxpayers with additional costs. Their lavish pensions forced the city to establish an "Excess Benefit Plan" to pay what the pension system cannot legally cover, using money that could otherwise be tapped to fix sidewalks, fight homelessness or hire more cops. In all, the little-known fund has paid $14.6 million to 110 retired employees since 2010, The Times' analysis showed. The list of recipients is dominated by former cops and firefighters whose million-dollar payouts from a separate retirement program drove their incomes well over the $220,000 annual limit the IRS allows pension funds to pay.
Elite Colleges Hide Funding From Accused Rights Violator Qatar
Daily Caller
The nation of Qatar, a Sharia-law monarchy that has been accused of trying to influence other countries' governments, gave $1 billion to elite American universities since 2011, according to Department of Education data. The biggest recipient of Qatar's educational funding is Georgetown University, which has received nearly $333 million since 2011.
Parental Child Abuse Rises After Friday Report Cards: Study
Associated Press
Child abuse increases the day after school report cards are released — but only when kids get their grades on a Friday, a study in Florida suggests. That punishment may become abusive when kids don't have school the next day and parents think injuries might be more likely to go unnoticed, the researchers said, noting that teachers are required to report suspected child abuse. Or, it could be that severe punishment is less likely on weekdays when parents are too busy to focus on report cards.
Study: Women Abused Every 30 Seconds on Twitter
Engadget
Female journalists and politicians were abused every 30 seconds on Twitter in 2017, and black women were 84 percent more likely to be mentioned in abusive tweets than white women, according to a study from Amnesty International and global AI software company Element AI. Using volunteers, the researchers sifted through nearly 300,000 tweets mentioning one of 778 women on their list, and noted abusive content relating to race and sexuality.
No Royalties for Bluesman Robert Johnson's Kin, Again
Longreads
Robert Johnson didn't just leave a collection of some of the most important blues recordings in history when he died in 1938 - he also left behind a family. Since the box set "Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings" was released in 1990, more than 600,000 copies have been sold worldwide. Revenue from that and other interests should have generated close to $1 million in artist royalties. But, in a story almost as old as the blues, "Robert Johnson's family has received no money from 'The Complete Recordings,' no money from cover versions of his songs, no money from the publishing of the singer's photograph," this article reports.
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