RealClearInvestigations Articles

Topline: Dr. Frankenstein was able to bring his monster back to life using just rusty tools and a cramped workshop. Researchers in California needed taxpayer funding from the National Science Foundation for their own reanimation experiment, with results that were not quite as impressive. In 2012, San Diego State University and the University of California, Davis used part of a $325,000 grant to create “Robosquirrel,” a taxidermied squirrel with a robotic tail. The money would be worth $459,000 today.  That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published...

Topline: No matter how far smartphone addiction spreads in America, it’s still impossible to keep texting from the grave. Yet state spending records say otherwise. Phone and internet providers in three states claimed federal subsidies for nearly 117,000 dead customers from 2020 to 2025, costing the federal government $5 million, according to a new report from the Federal Communications Commission.  Key facts: The FCC’s Lifeline program pays companies to offer discounted phone and internet rates to low-income families who struggle to afford their bills. It costs almost $1...

As ICE sweeps in Minneapolis have drawn wide attention, a little-noticed immigration case playing out in a New York federal court has significant implications for America’s relationship with Britain and the ongoing debate over global censorship.   In late December, the State Department announced its intention to revoke the visas of five foreign individuals who have allegedly censored Americans. The most consequential member of this group is Imran Ahmed, a British Labour Party political operative now living in the U.S., who is the CEO of an influential nonprofit,...

Topline: The federal welfare program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, is sending less money directly to families and more to nonprofits and state agencies, leading the Wall Street Journal to label it a “slush fund” in a new analysis. Key facts: TANF exists to help low-income families with children pay for housing, groceries, child care and more. The program is part of the Office of the Administration for Children & Families, under the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and awards $16.5 billion annually to be managed by states. But the number of families...

The decline of religion remains a fundamental reality in most Western countries, particularly in Europe, where over 50% of those under age 40 do not identify with any faith. Even in more religious America, some estimate that as many as 100,000 churches will close in the near future. Meanwhile, the ranks of “Nones,” those outside religious communities, have grown so large that their numbers rival those of Catholics and evangelical Protestants. Yet, as we document in a new report for the Chapman Center for Demographics and Policy, there are signs...

Topline: Most New York public school lunches consist of room temperature chicken nuggets or reheated pizza. But at Wyandanch Memorial High School on Long Island, principal Paul Sibblies dined on steak and lobster at taxpayers’ expense. Sibblies reimbursed himself a total of $35,519 from 2021 to 2024 using cash meant for a school club, without approval or supervision from anyone besides his own secretary, according to an audit obtained by Newsday. Key facts: Sibblies paid himself 41 times using money from the high school’s Kappa League club, a leadership program affiliated with the...

RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week February 8 to February 14   Featured Investigation: Caring for Mom Is an Education in Scams and Fraud In a deeply personal reported article for RealClearInvestigations, Nancy Rommelmann draws on the six years she has spent caring for her mother who suffers from dementia to expose the epidemic of financial exploitation targeting America's elderly. It is an onslaught of criminality and greed perpetrated not only by professional scammers but trusted professionals and family members that the aged know and rely upon. Elder exploitation is surging...

Topline: Eight Massachusetts state agencies and 13 colleges spent $6.8 million to settle grievances, partly in secret, brought by their own employees from 2019 to 2024, according to a Jan. 16 report from State Auditor Diana DiZoglio.  At least 80 of the 263 settlements contain confidentiality language such as a nondisclosure agreement — to keep certain details confidential between the two parties — which the audit claims is banned by state guidelines.  Key facts: The Massachusetts Port Authority transit agency was responsible for 11 of the settlements, costing taxpayers...

Topline: The U.S. Agency for International Development’s pottery classes in Morocco seemed like an irresponsible use of money before they even began, but somehow the execution was even worse than the idea.  The classes ran throughout 2011, and an inspector general report later found that the teacher did not speak Arabic and used American clay not available in Morocco.  “Clays and dyes used by the trainer were unavailable for local purchase,” the audit found. “Therefore, the techniques demonstrated during the training could not be replicated in...

Topline: Eleven state and local governments that received a collective $45 million from the federal government to remove lead from houses were never flagged as “high risk” grantees that need additional oversight, even though a Jan. 27 audit found they have been underperforming for years. Key facts: The Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded $353 million in grants to 101 state and local governments from 2020 to 2022 through its Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes, which pays to remove lead-based paint from low-income households with young...

It was summer 2021, and my mother’s desk was a mess, including a torn envelope from the IRS shoved in the back of a drawer. “Mom?” I asked. “Did you pay your taxes?” My mother, increasingly forgetful at 84, said she wasn’t sure. She told me to call her accountant of 30 years, who said the taxes hadn’t been paid but that he would take care of it. That’s not all he took care of.  Within the year, a family member had my mother sign a blank check, which the accountant (or someone in his office) filled out for $25,000 to supposedly take over...

Topline: The Washington State Department of Commerce ignored “the fundamental tenets of government accountability” by awarding grants that lacked a clear purpose, according to a Jan. 27 report from State Auditor Pat McCarthy. Key facts: The spending came from the state’s Digital Navigator Program, which spent $92.5 million from 2022 to 2025 to advance “equitable digital inclusion.” That included internet subscriptions and education classes for groups like seniors and low-income families who might struggle to access online services like telehealth and job...

Topline: The Environmental Protection Agency “did not follow standard operating procedures” for reviewing its spending and underestimated its improper payments in 2022 and 2023, according to Jan. 29 audit from the EPA inspector general. Key facts: Improper payments are those sent by the government for the wrong reason, the wrong amount or to the wrong person. Every year, federal programs review a sample of their payments to estimate how much was spent improperly. In 2022 and 2023, the EPA reviewed 751 payments from its two state revolving funds, which help states pay for clean...

RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week February 1 to February 7   Featured Investigation: Model City: Portland’s Journey From Symbol of Chic to Shabby Mark Hemingway reports for RealClearInvestigations that Portland, Oregon has experienced a dramatic decline in recent years. Once a cultural phenomenon, it is now a symbol of urban crisis, as failed progressive policies on crime, drugs, and homelessness have diminished the city's economy and quality of life. Portland now has America's second-highest crime rate after Memphis, with one in 16 residents victimized annually. The...

Topline: The U.S. Postal Service spent a record $42.8 billion on payroll in 2025 while posting a $9 billion loss, according to payroll records obtained by Open the Books. Key facts: Postmaster General David Steiner earned $350,260, the new records show, the highest salary in Post Office history. Eight others earned more than $300,000. In total, 328 employees made more than $200,000. There were 394 people earning that amount in 2024. Nearly 20,000 people made $100,000 or more.  The Post Office brought in $80.5 billion in operating revenue, $916 million more than 2024. The boost was...

Topline: In 2012, there was little reason not to close the Lake Murray State Park Airport in Oklahoma. There were no planes stored at the airport, and it averaged only one flight per month. But by keeping the airport open, local officials were able to collect an annual $150,000 check from the Federal Aviation Administration. The airport collected $750,000 from 2008 to 2012, but less than $6,000 was used at the airport itself. Most of the cash was dispersed to other projects around the state. That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr....

In December, bestselling author and humorist David Sedaris wrote a New Yorker magazine essay about a recent trip to Portland, Oregon. While on a walk to a donut shop, he “lost count of the strung-out addicts I passed on my way” before eventually encountering four homeless people huddled around an empty baby carriage and smoking drugs right on the sidewalk. Moments later, a dog belonging to one of the addicts rushed out and bit him.  Following the incident, Sedaris, a former methamphetamine addict himself, was struck by the fact that most people in Portland didn’t...

Topline: A Los Angeles advocacy group that sued the city twice was simultaneously being funded by the city itself. Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE) has received at least $1.2 million in city contracts since 2020, including $375,000 in 2024. The funding stayed intact even while the group sued Los Angeles over Covid-19 emergency rental assistance and hotel construction. The nonprofit has also advocated for abolishing the Los Angeles Police Department and cancelling the 2028 Summer Olympics, among other social justice issues. The funding was first reported by the New York Post and...

The Republican leader of Pennsylvania's state Senate saluted his allies in labor earlier this month after their successful, years-long effort to defeat what they saw as a job-killing climate initiative. "Thanks to this repeal, the members of this union won't have to pack suitcases to go to a job," Sen. Joe Pittman declared while introducing business agent Shawn Steffee of Boilermakers Local 154 in Pittsburgh. "They'll pack lunchboxes." In the years since state leaders had committed Pennsylvania to joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), membership in the union had dropped by...