RealClearInvestigations Articles

In May 2013, the Army National Guard spent $10 million on a recruitment campaign tie-in with the upcoming “Man of Steel” Superman film. The expense was ill-timed. Just one month later, Congress ordered the National Guard to reduce staffing levels by 8,000 soldiers due to budget cuts. The money would be worth $14.5 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...

The most recent tax filings for A Step to Freedom show the nonprofit brings in more than $5 million annually, mostly from taxpayers, a large portion of which comes from the county. It’s used to operate six housing sites for roughly 200 people. For the past three years, the nonprofit bought food from two of CEO Kenya Croom’s other businesses at a daily cost of $18 per shelter resident.  Several residents criticized the meals. One said he found mold on sandwich bread, while others described the food as dry, bland or occasionally unavailable. Other residents said the meals...

The New York State Museum receives annual grant funding from the U.S. Geological Survey’s STATEMAP program, part of the Department of the Interior, which helps states map their geological features like mineral deposits and groundwater. The museum is required to match all the federal grant funds by paying the salaries of staff working on the map project. But in 2023, the museum’s former payroll administrator, Brian Slater, alleged he had been told to falsify the timesheets of employees who were actually working on other projects. Slater said he was told he “could be...

The Air Force is spending $21 billion to upgrade the engines, communications systems, software, weapons and more on 76 of its B-52 bombers from the 1950s so they will be usable for several more decades. The new engines have been delayed almost four years because of an issue with their design, and their cost has risen by 38%. Upgraded radar systems are two years late and 30% over budget. Normally, the Air Force would build one prototype engine and test it in a B-52 to make sure it is operational. But to avoid further delays, officials plan to mass produce the engines before testing is...

RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the WeekAugust 2 to August 8 RCI Podcasts & Videos On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Editor J. Peder Zane and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney speak with Aaron Shuster about his Tablet article “Entryism Comes to America,” which argues that the U.S. should follow France’s lead and have a serious inquiry into and discussion of what the rise of Islamism means for the nation’s prevailing culture and politics. On The Miller Report: Real Clear Journalism, Maggie Miller speaks with Dr. Andrew Bostom...

Topline: Bandit, Tater and Duck are the newest horses in Sheriff Chad Anderson’s mounted patrol unit in Bates County, Missouri. Silver and the Lone Ranger they are not.  The mounted patrol unit has only been used for law enforcement purposes in Bates County one time, a recent state audit found. Five horses were euthanized or sold in just a few years.  Taxpayers spent $110,123 to buy and care for the horses. Key facts: The patrol was established in July 2021 with two horses, Clementine and Stetson.  Waste of the Day 8.7.26 Open the Books Both were purchased from...

Topline: Individual commemorative postage stamps have never sold more than 517 million copies each. But in 2009, using arithmetic befitting Ralph Wiggum, the U.S. Postal Service decided to print 1 billion stamps featuring characters from “The Simpsons.”  The majority went unsold and were destroyed in 2012 once they became obsolete, wasting $1.2 million worth of printing expenses. The money would be worth $1.9 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...

Topline: Maryland gave at least $319,000 in food stamps and other federally-funded benefits to prisoners, dead people, and a $2 million lottery winner. A July report from the state’s Office of Legislative Audits found Maryland has “no comprehensive process” to ensure only eligible recipients are approved for federal assistance. Even when computers flag questionable payments, the state takes months to investigate them. Key facts: The audit found a person who won a $2 million lottery prize in July 2023 but was still receiving benefits as recently as this February. Six others...

Topline: New York City’s bus depots and maintenance facilities are legally required to recycle their paper and cardboard, but it rarely happens. The Metropolitan Transit Authority’s inspector general visited 40 NYC Transit facilities and found that 21 of them mixed trash and recyclables together in the same dumpster. The other 19 facilities’ employees properly separated the material, but the company they hired to pick up the waste mixed it all together in the same truck. The inspector general estimates the city lost $800,000 over five years by unnecessarily paying to send...

Topline: Susan Noel, the former clerk and treasurer of the Town of Washington, Oklahoma, allegedly used public funds to buy a puppy, sofa, vacuum cleaner, electric dog clippers, and much more. Nearly a third of the small town’s spending in a four-year period was "fraudulent or unauthorized,” according to a new report by State Auditor Cindy Byrd, who called the scandal “the worst example of board oversight I have seen in my 29 years of government auditing experience.”  Key facts: The audit alleges that Noel stole $676,368 from the town from 2020 to 2024. That...

RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week July 26 to August 1   RCI Podcasts & Videos On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Senior Reporter James Varney speaks with author Jim Rasenberger about his new work of history, “A Perfect Coincidence: The Extraordinary Friendship and Astonishing Deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.”.   On The Miller Report: Real Clear Journalism, Maggie Miller speaks with Vince Bielski about his recent RCI artcile reporting on Johns Hopkins University's plan to launch a School of Government and Policy...

Topline: The federal government, by its own estimate, has recouped less than one percent of the money lost to fraud during the Covid-19 pandemic, Open the Books found in a new report compiling official data from more than 20 relief programs.  Key facts: The Government Accountability Office estimates that “around $300 billion” in pandemic relief funds were stolen by fraudsters. Only $1.4 billion has been recovered, though the latest update was in 2024. That means each American household lost an average of $2,260 in tax dollars to fraud during the pandemic, and has recovered...

Topline: The Miami-Dade County school district’s attempt to get students to purchase cheap, healthy school lunches in 2012 needed just a bit more time in the oven. The district spent $612,808 to replace its cafeteria lines with cashless vending machines, reasoning that students’ love of touchscreens would get them to buy food they might otherwise ignore. “Students are very tech-savvy and love to text, punch in numbers and get things quickly,” one local official told TechNews Daily at the time, paying triple the cost of an average vending machine. Waste of the...

Topline: The former executive director of a federally-funded housing authority in North Carolina recently pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit theft of a federal program. She will serve two years in prison and pay $232,488 in restitution.  Prosecutors claimed Debbie Norris Woodell, 64, paid her husband’s company for work that was never completed and took kitchen appliances meant for low-income tenants. Key facts: Woodell had been working for the Dunn Housing Authority since 1989 and was promoted to executive director in 2014. The authority receives about $1 million per year from...

On Nov. 17, 2023, Mustafa Ramos, a Muslim man wearing a turban and a robe, was shot in the buttocks while selling Islamic paraphernalia adjacent to the Islamic Center of Rhode Island mosque in Providence. The 52-year-old man was treated and released from the hospital in two hours. The incident, however, which happened just six weeks after Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack targeting Israeli citizen non-combatants of all ages, quickly became national and international news as the latest example of an “Islamophobic hate crime.”  Following the lead of the initial report...

Topline: A former New York City school superintendent was working for Brooklyn schools as a consultant as of this June, a year after his new employer in New Jersey sued him for alleged fraud and mismanagement, according to an investigation by independent reporter Susan B. Edelman. Key facts: Thomas McBryde Jr. left his job as superintendent of Brooklyn’s District 19 — part of the larger NYC school district — in 2021, but his private McBryde Consulting Group was hired by the district in 2022. He became superintendent of Hackensack Public Schools in New Jersey in 2024. He was...

Topline: City employees in Cary, North Carolina spent $24.2 million on their purchasing cards in 2024 and 2025, filled with arguably some of the most bizarre purchases in the recent history of local governance.  State Auditor Dave Boliek found staff members spent thousands of dollars to film themselves dancing to ABBA songs, and $151,000 to write and promote a book that sold only a handful of copies. They also lost $7,481 from cancelling nonrefundable hotel rooms. Key facts: During a 2024 staff retreat to nearby Wilmington, employees planned an elaborate lip-syncing contest to the song...

RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week July 19 to July 25   RCI Podcasts & Videos On The Miller Report: Real Clear Journalism, Maggie Miller speaks with Dr. Jonathan Lesser and Mitchell Rolling about their new National Center for Energy Analytics study, "Batteries and the Grid: The Hype, Hope, and Economic Reality." In a separate episode, Miller interviews RCI senior reporter James Varney about his article detailing how the federal government is increasingly acting like a venture capitalist by investing billions of taxpayer dollars in private companies. Featured...

Topline: The City of Oakland spent $2 million in 2024 to issue citations for illegal trash dumping, but offenders rarely bothered to respond. Just $16,000 of fines were collected, the city auditor found in a recent report. Key facts: Garbage pickup in Oakland can be expensive and cumbersome. Residents are required to subscribe to the county’s weekly pickup service for $40 or more per month. Bulky trash like appliances or mattresses require a pickup appointment made two weeks to a month in advance, and can cost nearly $700 for huge disposals. Many residents illegally ignore the...