Free Republic

Your next new home air conditioner could set you back $12,000 or more, with federal regulators contributing to the rising cost of staying cool. Before 2020, buying and installing a new residential central air conditioner typically cost well under $10,000. Many jobs, including both purchase and installation, fell in the $6,000 to $7,000 range—about half the current price—says Martin Hoover, a co-owner of Atlanta-based Empire Heating & Air Conditioning. While many factors, including rising material costs, have contributed to the increase in prices, regulations have played an outsize role. The Energy Department in January 2023 issued a new efficiency standard...

A young mother has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for transmitting videos on Facebook of a protest in Cuba, the latest example of the communist government’s heavy-handed policies to crack down on growing dissent amid worsening economic conditions. Mayelín Rodríguez Prado, 23, was charged with “sedition” and disseminating “enemy propaganda” for publishing videos of a protest in the city of Nuevitas, in the central province of Camaguey, in August 2022. Another 12 demonstrators received sentences between 4 and 14 years in prison under similar charges, according to court documents shared by the Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos, a...

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a purportedly unanimous decision Monday finding states cannot bar federal candidates from appearing on ballots, but a closer look at the justices' writings — and the opinion's metadata — reveals a sharp divide that court watchers say was papered over in an effort to preserve the court's institutional legitimacy. The caption on Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson's six-page concurrence claiming the court went too far in its per curiam opinion looks normal to the naked eye. But when the top line listing the participating justices is selected with a triple-click, copied...

Florida federal prosecutors want to ask potential jurors in Donald Trump's classified documents case if they believe the 2020 election was "stolen" and if they hold opinions about how the FBI executed a highly publicized search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago resort... Prosecutors also want to ask potential jurors how much media coverage they have seen or read about the case, if they have any opinions about Trump's public statements about the case or about special counsel Jack Smith, and if they believe the prosecution is "unfair" or if any of the defendants are "being treated unfairly by the court system."...

Angry mobs clashing with police in eastern cities. Networks of saboteurs smuggling arms across the border for attacks on police stations and military barracks. A resentful nuclear power boosting defence production as it accuses its neighbour of ethnic cleansing. These all sound like Russia’s playbook when it first invaded Ukraine in 2014, then launched a full-scale war in 2022. But the storylines are all from Russian military training exercises based on a hypothetical Chinese invasion of its far east. The war games, which were written by Russian officers between 2008 and 2014 and leaked to the Financial Times, offer an...

….Trump, invoking a scenario in which a country not paying more were to be attacked by Russia, said, “No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills.” The White House on Saturday night weighed in, saying President Biden had strengthened the alliance and that he would “continue to bolster American leadership and stand up for our national security interests—not against them.” The White House has been eager for opportunities to contrast Trump’s world outlook with Biden’s more traditional view that...

Michigan judges will be required to address people who appear in their courtrooms by their "designated salutation or personal pronouns...under a mandate issued Wednesday. The court rule change divided the state Supreme Court 5-2, with justices who supported the changes saying they promote respect and fairness in Michigan's courtrooms, and justices who opposed the changes saying the court was unwisely wading into the culture wars. The rule change creates a way for litigants to alert judges to the pronouns they use and their preferred method of address, allowing attorneys and parties to add personal pronouns and Ms., Mr. or Mx....

Commercial vessels have resumed using Ukraine’s main port of Odesa without asking permission from Russia for the first time since the war began—showing just how much the balance of power has changed in the Black Sea. By imposing an asymmetrical war that relies on domestically produced naval drones and missiles, and that targets Russians ships in their own home bases, Ukraine has eroded much of Russia’s vaunted naval superiority... Outnumbered 12 to one by the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Ukrainian Navy wasn’t considered a meaningful force when Russia invaded... Ukraine quickly scuttled its flagship frigate... so that the vessel...

An overwhelming majority of the public, more than 60%, doesn’t want either Joe Biden or Donald Trump to run for president. Yet the two major political parties are tumbling toward that unwanted choice.. Former Wyoming GOP Sen. Alan Simpson...used to call Republicans “the stupid party...” Democrats, he said, were “the evil party.” Which would you rather be right now, the stupid party or the evil party? My money says the evil party will find a way out of the Biden-Trump dilemma. Put it this way: The party that nominates someone other than these two will win the decisive votes of...

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen accidentally eating magic mushrooms in China was not on anyone's 2023 bingo card. Last month, while discussing diplomacy overseas, Yellen dined at a restaurant during a visit to Beijing called Yi Zuo Yi (In and Out), a chain known for a Yunnan dish containing mushrooms called jian shou qing which means "see hand blue" in a rough translation. However, Lanmaoa asiatica mushrooms (the mushrooms that are used in the dish) are not your average fungi — they're known to have hallucinogen properties and turn blue when pressure is applied to them. Yellen didn't know this...

California's cannabis industry is in the throes of a financial crisis that has left many questioning its viability. Tales of debts skyrocketing, tax burdens weighing heavy and businesses teetering on the brink are becoming all too common. All the glitter of the so-called green rush has faded, replaced by a harsh reality check. If the current trend continues unaddressed by policymakers, the industry might be staring down the barrel of a major collapse. Given the severity of the situation, it may be time for the state government to seriously consider potential bailout programs for the embattled industry. While A.B. 195,...

Niger’s president hid behind a bulletproof door of his official residence and talked over a phone he assumed was monitored. To anxious French and American allies, he repeated assurances that the army would soon rescue him from an unfolding coup. Outside the ground floor safe room Mohamed Bazoum had recently renovated to protect himself from such an event, mutineers from his presidential guard fanned out across the presidency compound, furious about a proposal to replace their longstanding commander, according to Nigerien, U.S. and European officials. Hunkered over the phone beside his wife and son, Bazoum delicately encouraged advisers to send...

New York spent nearly $1 billion over the past decade on Elon Musk’s ambitious plan for what was supposed to be the largest solar-panel factory in the Western Hemisphere, one of the largest-ever public cash outlays of its kind. “You almost have to pinch yourself, right?” New York’s then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a construction ceremony for the factory in 2015. “That this is too good to be true.” Eight years later, that looks like a pretty good assessment. New York state paid to build a quarter-mile-long facility with 1.2 million square feet of industrial space, which it now owns...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is asking the Department of Justice (DOJ) to look into a program funded by Florida that has transported migrants from Texas to the Golden State as well as to Martha’s Vineyard. “It is unconscionable to use people as political props by persuading them to travel to another state based on false or deceptive representations. We urge USDOJ to investigate potential violations of federal law by those involved in this scheme,” reads a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland. The letter, asking the DOJ to open criminal and civil investigations into the matter, is signed by...

Judge Aileen M. Cannon's previous ruling in former President Donald Trump's documents case showed "extreme bias" that warrants the Southern District of Florida's chief judge removing her from the case if she doesn't recuse herself, a nonprofit government watchdog has said. Judge Cannon's September 2022 ruling appointing a special master to look over the records seized by the government from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate was "unprecedented and unprincipled," according to the letter sent by Free Speech for People to Southern District of Florida Chief Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga. That ruling "demonstrated that Judge Cannon could not be, nor even appear to...

…Jim Jordan demands answers about a bizarre and disturbing IRS house call…. a Marion, Ohio, taxpayer received a visit from a man who claimed his name was “Bill Haus” and worked in the IRS criminal division. Mr. Haus said he needed to talk to her about an estate... She let him in despite having received no prior IRS communication. Mr. Haus claimed she had not properly filled out estate forms and owed the IRS “a substantial amount.” Only when the taxpayer presented proof of paying all taxes on the estate did the agent reveal that his visit wasn’t about the...

A Florida federal jury on Thursday found a Miami city commissioner liable for $65.3 million in damages over using his office and government resources to systematically target a pair of business owners after they supported a political opponent during a runoff election in 2017. The jury handed down its verdict in Fort Lauderdale after deliberating since Wednesday afternoon, finding Miami City Commissioner Joe Carollo liable for using his office to target businesses associated with Little Havana developers William Fuller and Martin Pinilla II after supporting Carollo's opponent while running for the District 3 position in November 2017. Carollo, who previously...

That silence you heard last weekend was Europe not staging a freakout over an election in Greece. What a change from only eight years ago, when voting in the Aegean country triggered panic in Berlin, Paris and Brussels. The difference—although conventional wisdom is loath to admit it—is supply-side economic policies. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis slightly increased the vote share of his center-right New Democracy party compared to 2019 with nearly 41%. The far-left party Syriza, led by former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, saw its vote share fall by about 11 points, to 20%… Greece was at the epicenter of the...

How many warnings does it take before the Biden Administration wakes up to the risks from its climate policies to the U.S. electric grid? The latest came this month from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and please pray the wind keeps blowing. NERC’s summer reliability assessment forecasts that no less than two-thirds of the U.S., including most everyone living west of the Mississippi River, could experience power outages. Texas and most of the Midwest should have enough power to meet demand—assuming they don’t experience any sizzling hot and still summer days. Texas last summer narrowly averted a power...

Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins broke federal law when she made false statements under oath to agents confronting her about leaking a non-public U.S. Department of Justice letter... [A]fter federal agents acquired her text messages with the reporter...Rollins admitted to providing the letter... Special Counsel Henry J. Kerner said Rollins' actions are "among the most egregious transgressions of the act that OSC has ever investigated." "Ms. Rollins's abuse of her power within the federal justice system to achieve a political goal epitomizes the type of 'political justice' that Congress intended to prohibit," the 105-page report concludes. "There are no...