RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week
May 14 to May 20 Featured Investigation Hate crime laws have long drawn criticism because they penalize some people more harshly because of their motivation for committing a crime. The laws have endured because many Americans believe they offer necessary protections to long-targeted groups - especially racial and religious minorities and gays and lesbians. Now, as Steve Miller reports for Real Clear Investigations, the definition of who needs protection may be radically expanded as almost half the states have or are considering bills to cover police officers, firefighters and other first responders under hate crime statutes. Miller reports that the push is a largely response to the increased protests and violence against police following the shootings of unarmed black men in recent years. Critics on both the right and left say the laws are unwise. Jonathan Blanks, a research associate at the Cato Institute's Project on Criminal Justice, noted that most states already have enhanced sentencing and offense levels for attacks against law enforcement and other public servants, providing for higher fines or longer prison sentences. "We have not seen any instances in which police are lacking protection in the first place," he said. Kevin Baker, legislative director for the California ACLU, cautioned that at a time when many people feel under the siege, applying hate crime laws to police officers could open the floodgates. "If we start protecting occupations," he said wryly, "lawyers and journalists would be at the top." Read Full Article
Other Noteworthy Articles and Series
Whistle-Blower Says Insurers Bilking Medicare for Billions
New York Times
Medicare Advantage has been viewed by many as the public-private salvation of the troubled federal health care program for older Americans. But now a whistle-blower, a former well-placed official at UnitedHealth Group, says the big insurance companies have been systematically bilking Medicare Advantage for years. Any Half-Decent Hacker Could Break Into Mar-a-Lago
ProPublica/Gizmodo
Reporters, armed with a two-foot wireless antenna, tested the Internet security at four Trump properties, including the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach and the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. They found that the Wi-Fi networks were weakly encrypted and vulnerable to potential hacking attacks. A Heroic, Legendary, Treasonous Israeli Spy
The Atavist Magazine
Yehuda Gil was one of the greatest spies the Mossad had ever seen. He hunted down and executed members of the terrorist group Black September after the Munich Olympics massacre in 1972. Then he was charged with fabricating the intelligence that had brought Israel to the brink of war with Syria in 1996. An Israeli investigative journalist pieces together the story of what some call a sociopathic "evil genius." Syria: A Bloody, Violent Fight for the Soul of Soccer
ESPN
The Syrian soccer team's improbable World Cup bid has pitted player against player, coach against coach - divisions that mirror the country's civil war. As the sport's governing body looks on, the Assad regime has woven soccer into its grisly campaign of oppression. It has shot, bombed or tortured to death at least 38 players, according to a monitor. A defector says of the team he left: "They are carrying the flag of death." Northward-Bound 'Pet Railroad' Saves Shelter Cats and Dogs
Washington Post
An overground "pet railroad" is transporting shelter animals from south to north to spare them from euthanasia. Advocates point to northern cities' more concerted spay-neuter campaigns and mention "cultural" differences in attitudes about sterilizing pets. Whatever the reason, more tails are wagging in shelters up north. For Sharing a Scientific Paper, a Young Researcher Faces Jail Time
STAT News
In 2014, a Colombian wildlife management researcher found a thesis in a library and forwarded the article to his colleagues by sharing it on the website Scribd. Now the scientist is on trial for violating U.S. copyright law. | 
