RealClearInvestigations Articles

Topline: There is one major reason why most Americans do not regularly buy caviar: the price. Publicity is not the issue. The Department of Agriculture ignored that fact in 2012, when it handed out $300,000 for an Idaho fish company to print flyers and create a website advertising its caviar. The money would be worth $565,000 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...

Topline: At each of the eight public universities in Utah, a volunteer Board of Trustees is responsible for evaluating the school’s president, among other things. But according to a state audit released Jan. 30, multiple trustees are “confused” by the evaluation process. In fact, only 26% of trustees are aware that it’s their job to evaluate the president. Key facts: The trustees must create Key Performance Indicator criteria every year to review their school’s president. Yet when surveyed by the state auditor, 37% of trustees said the Utah System of Higher...

The push to “protect” children from cell phones and social media is gaining momentum worldwide. As EU and Asian countries consider legal limits on minors’ access to social media, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was grilled in a Los Angeles courtroom last week about whether his company’s popular apps, which include Facebook and Instagram, are addictive. That question already seems to have been resolved in the public mind. Pennsylvania now seems poised to become the 32nd state to ban or limit cell phones in its public schools. A parent leader who...

Topline: The purchasing platform offered by the General Services Administration is putting government agencies at a disadvantage, according to a new audit from the GSA inspector general. Government agencies across the U.S. use it to buy goods and services, but the website is littered with markups and rip-offs. Key facts: Created in 1995, GSA Advantage is essentially Amazon for the government.  Contractors negotiate prices with the General Services Administration and list their products on the website. Federal agencies and state and local governments can buy supplies at the negotiated...

Topline: Illinois State Rep. Robin Gabel reportedly told his colleagues that “there is no pork” in the 2026 state budget bill he sponsored. Yet ongoing analysis from the Illinois Policy Institute has found 2,815 pork-barrel earmarks hidden in the budget, worth a whopping $4.5 billion.  Key facts: The $55.2 budget passed on May 31, 2025, and included a $2 million earmark for the operational expenses of the nonprofit XS Tennis in Chicago. According to Construct Connect News, “XS Tennis and Education Foundation is the largest minority-owned tennis organization in the...

RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week February 15 to February 21   Featured Investigation: Deporting Censorship: US Targets UK Government Ally Over Free Speech The Trump administration is seeking to deport Imran Ahmed, British CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), alleging he collaborated with the Biden administration to censor Americans and pressure U.S. companies to restrict speech online. Paul D. Thacker reports for RealClearInvestigations that the case has significant implications for U.S.-U.K. relations given Ahmed's deep ties to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's...

Topline: A taxpayer-funded Connecticut nonprofit closed down after a state audit found it lost $300,000 to wire fraud, gave a grant to an employee, and had no records to prove that another $1.3 million was spent properly. Key facts: The Blue Hills Civic Association supported community empowerment through youth programs, housing assistance and more. They received $15.7 million in state and federal funds from 2022 to 2025, including $5.5 million last year. Open the Books previously reported on an audit that found that State Sen. Doug McCrory directed Blue Hills to send state funds to his...

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...