RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week
July 2 to July 8 Featured Investigation Welcome to the era of "might-could" in jurisprudence. The Southern expression, used to describe a remote possibility, offers one explanation for why the federal government has proclaimed 1,500 acres of Louisiana land as a critical habitat for the dusky gopher frog. Everyone agrees the endangered critter hasn't been seen there since the 1960s but, the feds argue, it might-could live there someday - if millions were spent to completely transform the landscape and someone transported the frogs, which live 80 miles away. All of which sounds like lunacy to the family that owns the now all-but-useless land, as James Varney reports for Real Clear Investigation. Even judges concede the action seems beyond the pale but say it is entirely legal because federal bureaucrats - in this case at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - can pretty much do what they want so long as they dot their regulatory i's and cross their administrative t's. As U.S. District Judge Martin L.C. Feldman wrote in his 2014 decision siding with the wildlife service and environmental advocacy groups: The Court has little doubt that what the government has done is remarkably intrusive and has all the hallmarks of government insensitivity to private property. The troubling question is whether the law authorizes such action and whether the government has acted within the law. Reluctantly, the Court answers "yes" to both questions. Varney reports that some legal experts hope the Supreme Court will use this case to revisit the ruling giving federal agencies broad power to interpret laws - the 1984 Chevron decision. But Columbia Law professor Philip Hamburger, a trenchant critic of America's administrative law system, doubts the dusky frog will join Brown, Roe and Citizens United in the annals of court history. "I would love for them to take it up and overturn Chevron -- and this is an opportunity for them to do so if they were so inclined," he said, "but they've shown remarkable dexterity in avoiding it." Then again, they might-could. Read Full Article Other Investigations The Media's Investigative Sins of Omission
RealClearInvestigations
Recent high-profile media embarrassments -- sins of commission -- have overshadowed equally important investigative sins of omission, writes Tom Kuntz, the editor of RealClearInvestigations. If major news outlets with the most investigative muscle weren't so obsessed with nailing Donald Trump, we might know more about Fusion GPS and its notorious dossier; the struggle over intelligence "unmasking" records; and longstanding personal tension between Michael Flynn and FBI brass. Summertime, and the College Reading Is Liberal
RealClearInvestigations
Remember Rigoberta Menchu? If not, you're hardly alone. But the campus trend represented by the Nobel Peace laureate's book a quarter century ago -- assigned reading emphasizing social justice and diversity -- is if anything more dominant now in the books new college freshmen are asked to read over the summer. Richard Bernstein explores the issue. NRA Silence on Philando Castile: All About Race?
RealClearInvestigations
National Rifle Association officials have not gotten off a round since the acquittal last month of a former Minnesota police officer in the shooting death of Philando Castile. But where many see nothing but racial insensitivity or worse in its non-reaction, others see political calculation and caution. Tim Cavanaugh reports. The Russia Ties of Hillary's Campaign Chief
New York Post
John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's ex-campaign manager, has made misleading disclosures about his involvement with Russia, investigative journalist Peter Schweizer reports. In 2011, Joule Unlimited, a green-energy company, named Podesta to its board. Months later, an investment fund founded by Vladimir Putin pumped $35 million into Joule. Then some interesting Russian characters joined Podesta on the board.
Death by Opioids, Bought With Bitcoin
Willamette Week
Focusing on the overdose death of 18-year-old Aisha Zughbieh-Collins, an Oregon reporter investigates perhaps the most alarming recent development in the opioid crisis: a new smuggling economy featuring synthetic Chinese drugs purchased in the deepest recesses of the internet, with Bitcoin. In this case, the trail takes police cross-country to a condo in South Carolina, and to one of the Dark Web's most prolific synthetic opioid sellers.
Dentists Try to Quash Mainly Female 'Dental Therapists'
Washington Post
What do dentists and the NRA have in common? Heavy political clout. The dental lobby's current policy goal is quashing "dental therapists," typically women, who provide routine service more cheaply than full-fledged dentists. Proponents of dental therapy say it could help poor and rural Americans get affordable dental care early and thereby avoid the E.R. But the American Dental Association is biting back.
The Accelerating Demise of the New York Diner
New York Magazine
Like most mass extinctions, New York City's massive diner, coffee shop and greasy spoon die-off has been unfolding slowly for decades, in plain sight. Blame rising rents, land values and food prices. Also, the aging of neighborhood "regulars," the challenges of passing on a family business and the tastes of a new generation. When arugula replaces iceberg, you get -- yay! -- a "more curated dining experience." And a lot less money in your pocket. Meet Nevada's Cow Cops
High Country News
This is Nevada country. And they're cops. Cow cops. They ride the range fighting a never-ending battle for livestock clues, justice and the bovine way. Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to read is true. | 
