RealClearInvestigations Articles

Topline: In 2012, NASA set out to conquer a new frontier: the iPad App Store. App development proved to be more difficult than actual space exploration. NASA spent $1.5 million to make a video game called “Starlite,” but the full version was never released. The money would be worth $2.1 million today. That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these reports shined a white-hot spotlight on federal frauds and taxpayer abuses.  Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, earned the nickname...

Topline: Regina Speaker and Sandra Edling, directors of the county office managing schools in Montgomery, Penn., recently took the trip of a lifetime: a 14-day African safari with zebras, elephants and more. Taxpayers footed the entire $18,000 bill in the name of “professional development,” according to records obtained by the Philadelphia Inquirer. When asked how the safari was related to her job, Speaker told the Inquirer, “Everything was through the lens of leadership. It was about that process of survival of the fittest, and how are you a leader, and what do you...

Topline: Lawmakers added 1,090 congressional increases in back-door earmarks worth $34 billion into the Department of War’s budget for 2026, according to analysis from Taxpayers for Common Sense.  Like earmarks, congressional increases fund projects that were not requested by the president and often benefit congress members’ home districts. Unlike earmarks, they can be requested anonymously, and lawmakers do not have to certify that there are no conflicts of interest. Key facts: The congressional increases include rockets, tanks, high-altitude surveillance balloons and much...

Topline: New York is the city where dreams come true — like making $325,000 to fix thermostats for the Department of Correction. That’s how much the city’s top-paid thermostat repairer made in 2025, mostly due to $200,000 in overtime.  Payroll records obtained by Open the Books show the city spent $2.9 billion on overtime in 2025 for its full workforce, with 2,140 employees earning at least $100,000.  Key facts: The New York Police Department spent $1.1 billion on overtime, and the Fire Department spent $568 million. But many of the city’s highest earners...

Topline: The National Science Foundation is spending $67 million on software that will protect American research from cybercriminals in enemy nations like China. But it’s being built by two universities that accept gifts from China and have faculty members who collaborate with the Chinese military. Key facts: Texas A&M University and the University of Washington are leading the Safeguarding the Entire Community in the U.S. Research Ecosystem (SECURE) program and will receive $50 million and $17 million, respectively.  Rep. John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on...

In “The Information State: Politics in the Age of Total Control,” Jacob Siegel traces how we reached the point where anything that contradicts the dominant narrative can be labeled dangerous disinformation. As he charts how the technological infrastructure built to make society safer and more rational has steadily replaced democratic freedoms with systems of digital control, Siegel reports that commercial Internet applications now double as military-grade surveillance and influence tools. In this excerpt, adapted from the book, Siegel describes how the rise of Donald Trump...

Topline: If the federal government wants to address homelessness, Rodeo Drive might not be the best place to start. That hasn’t stopped Beverly Hills — with no qualified low-income areas — and nearby Santa Fe Springs from receiving Community and Development Block Grants for years to fund homelessness services and job creation. City officials knew their neighborhoods were too wealthy for the grants back in 2012. They left the money untouched for years before eventually selling $206,426 in grant funds to other cities. The money would be worth $298,000 today. That’s...

Topline: More than 18,000 Arizona families used school vouchers to make an "unallowable” purchase in 2025, costing the state at least $10.3 million for banned items like condoms, Broadway tickets and wedding gifts, according to records obtained by the KPNX news station in Phoenix. Key facts: KPNX found that parents used school vouchers to buy $350,000 worth of tickets to live performances like Disney On Ice, The Lion King, Wicked and pop concerts. Some individual tickets cost $1,000. Families also spent $77,551 on rideshare services like Uber and Lyft. One family used $6,000 to send...

NEW ORLEANS, La.—Although they received millions of taxpayer dollars, it can be hard to find the offices of health service providers in the Big Easy.  Consider Faith and Hope of New Orleans, a home health agency that took in $11.6 million from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) between 2018 and 2024. The company’s website, as well as federal and state databases, lists its address at 3720 Gentilly Street.    But RealClearInvestigations only found an empty building at that location last week. Repeated phone calls during...

Topline: It takes less time to put a man on the moon than to build an outdoor bathroom in New York City, according to former NYC Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe. The nonprofit newsroom The City spoke with Benepe as part of an investigation into a $3.5 million restroom in Fort Washington Park proposed in 2022. The project is still in the planning phase four years later because of red tape and bureaucratic mess.  Key facts: The bathroom will be built over a large septic tank instead of connecting to city sewer lines, which planning documents said would allow it to be built “more...

Topline: The federal government spent $8.4 million on purchases that included golf carts in fiscal year 2025, according to spending records obtained by Open the Books. Key facts: Of that, the Department of Defense spent $4.5 million, more than half of the government-wide total. Veterans Affairs spent $3 million, Homeland Security spent $435,615, the Department of Agriculture spent $269,152 and the Department of the Interior spent $171,203. Federal records typically don’t say what items were used for, and it’s possible some of the golf carts were used for transportation and not on...

RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week March 15 to March 21 RCI Podcast On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Editor J. Peder Zane and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney speak with Nancy Rommelmann about her new article detailing how one man became a scapegoat for the MeToo era.   Featured Investigation: FBI Misled Court To Spy on Second Trump Campaign Adviser Paul Sperry reports for RealClearInvestigations that wiretapping of advisers from Donald Trump’s first campaign was more extensive than previously known. Newly declassified FBI documents...

Topline: Faith Family Academy, a taxpayer-funded charter school district in North Texas, was nearly shut down by the state following three consecutive years of poor student performance. Yet each year, its superintendent was paid between $500,000 and $900,000, according to records obtained by Open the Books. Key facts: Mollie Purcell took over in 2012 as superintendent of Faith Family Academy, which has 3,000 students across two campuses in Oak Cliff and Waxahachie.  Purcell made $720,991 in 2023, including a bonus of $414,496, according to payroll records. The same year, the state-run...

Topline: In 2012, artificial intelligence researchers funded by the federal government were not concerned whether their technology could interpret data or streamline workflows. They wanted to know if AI could navigate the high school dating scene. The University of California, Santa Cruz, used part of a $516,000 National Science Foundation grant to create “Prom Week,” a video game that simulated teenagers trying to get a date to the school dance. The grant would be worth $740,000 today. That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S....

Carter Page wasn’t the only adviser from Trump’s first campaign wiretapped by the FBI. Walid Phares was electronically monitored for a 12-month period between 2017 and 2018, according to the Washington-based FBI agent who was assigned to investigate him as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia collusion probe. As in Page’s case, the bureau withheld evidence exonerating Phares from the court to secure surveillance authorization, according to newly declassified FBI documents. “I had no idea any of this was happening,” Phares told...

Topline: The General Services Administration spent $133 million hiring consultants to study its own buildings, but nobody is keeping track of what the studies found or checking if they are reliable, according to a March 6 report from the GSA inspector general. Key facts: The money was paid from 2019 to 2024 by the GSA’s Public Buildings Service, which constructs and maintains federal buildings around the country. Consultants help determine which buildings need repairs and set construction plans and budgets. Using the study results, the GSA decides how to spend its Federal Buildings...

Topline: Almost 80% of the City of Rocky Mount’s cash and investments are gone following the disastrous tenure of City Manager Keith Rogers, according to a North Carolina state audit released on March 9. Rogers’ annual salary of $225,000 made him the highest-paid employee in Rocky Mount history at the time of his resignation, according to records obtained from the North Carolina Department of State Treasurer.  Key facts: Rogers took office in March 2023 and resigned in September 2024 with no official explanation.  His resignation settlement included a payment of...

Life on Jan. 9, 2020, was interesting for Joshua Helmer. At 31, he was midway through his second year as CEO of the Erie Art Museum in Pennsylvania. He had recently secured the loan of a Chuck Close painting from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and an upcoming sale, including a painting by another famous artist, David Hockney, would help Erie generate funds to buy new works. And then it was Jan. 10. "I knew I'd never work again," Helmer said, recalling his reading of a New York Times article that ran that day.  "He Left a Museum After Women Complained; His Next Job Was Bigger," was...

Topline: Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) has billed taxpayers $111,000 for limousine services since 2019, according to a review of disbursement reports by The Center Square. The other 434 members of the House spent just $49,000 combined on the luxury service. Key facts: Waters’ spending includes $26,000 from July 2024 to June 2025. Her cars have been provided from Limousine House LLC since 2021, but The Center Square noted that there is little information available about the company. Its listed address is a residential apartment in Alexandria, Va., but the company does not appear in corporate...