Free Republic

Vice President Harris hauled in nearly half a million dollars in book royalties during her first year in office, ethics disclosure forms show. Harris reported $325,000 in royalty earnings from her 2019 book “The Truths We Hold,” and another $130,000 for her children’s book “Superheroes Are Everywhere,” Bloomberg reported Friday. The cash far outstripped President Biden’s, who reported between $15,001 and $50,000 in royalties for “Promise Me, Dad,” — a heartfelt 2018 memoir about his late son Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer in 2015.

The Biden administration laid out an ambitious plan Wednesday for government-funded wind farms along the east coast, which it said would sustain millions of Americans’ energy needs. Multiple federal agencies are planning to collaborate on the project, which will be completed by 2030, Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland said during a renewable energy conference in Boston on Wednesday. Overall, at least 30 gigawatts will be produced by offshore wind farms by decade’s end. “The Interior Department is laying out an ambitious roadmap as we advance the Administration’s plans to confront climate change, create good-paying jobs, and accelerate the nation’s transition...

Democrats have tucked a lucrative $2.5 billion tax break inside President Biden’s multitrillion-dollar social welfare bill that would benefit the trial lawyers lobby, spurring Republican accusations of political backscratching. The tax break allows trial lawyers working on a contingency basis, meaning they are paid only if a case is settled in their favor, to deduct expenses immediately. Such expenses include hourly labor fees and the expenses associated with waging a lawsuit, such as filing and deposition costs. On average, according to the American Bar Association, the fixed rate for contingency cases is anywhere between 33% and 40% of the total...

President Joe Biden’s $1.85 trillion social spending bill includes a provision that, if it becomes law, would mark the first time the federal government has offered targeted support in response to the decline of local news. The help would come in the form of a payroll tax credit for companies that employ eligible local journalists. The measure would allow newspapers, digital news outlets, and radio and television stations to claim a tax credit of $25,000 the first year and $15,000 the next four years for up to 1,500 journalists. -snip- But the credit, which would cost $1.67 billion over the...

Leading journalists acknowledge that it's awkward to receive financial assistance from a government they cover independently. President Biden's $1.85 trillion social spending bill includes a provision that, if it becomes law, would mark the first time the federal government has offered targeted support in response to the decline of local news. The help would come in the form of a payroll tax credit for companies that employ eligible local journalists. The measure would allow newspapers, digital news outlets and radio and television stations to claim a tax credit of $25,000 the first year and $15,000 the next four years for...

Tucked into President Joe Biden’s proposed nearly $2 trillion social spending bill is a provision to boost local media through tax incentives meant to help an industry battered by the COVID-19 virus. The Local Journalism Sustainability Act (LJSA), first introduced in July, would provide a local media advertising credit of up to $5,000 in the first year and up to $2,500 in the next four years, covering 80% of advertising costs in the first year and 50% in the following four years. Other elements of the bill would provide a federal tax credit to local media outlets that hire local...

President Biden is proposing to give a major tax break to local media outlets as part of the $1.85 trillion reconciliation being considered by Congress. The tax break would allow eligible local media organizations, including newspapers, digital news websites and television stations to receive a tax credit of $25,000 per journalist they employ, and $15,000 for the following four years. The tax break can be claimed for up to 1,500 journalists. While the measure is aimed at helping smaller local news outlets, bigger media organizations like Gannett will benefit from the tax break and could receive as much as $127.5...

Days after it was dropped from the House version of the budget bill, a tax credit to help pay the salaries of local journalists is back in. The measure still needs to win inclusion in the Senate’s version and survive any further reduction of the $1.75 trillion target total. Still, the move represents a big improvement in prospects for the subsidy. Steven Waldman, president and co-founder of Report for America, and Dean Ridings, CEO of industry association America’s Newspapers, both credited the turnaround to publishers and owners communicating the severity of the financial crisis in local news to their representatives....

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) on Friday criticized a provision in House Democrats’ social spending bill to provide a payroll tax credit to local news outlets, as Democrats struggled to secure the votes to pass the broader package. Scalise took issue with the provision in a tweet, highlighting an estimate from the Joint Committee on Taxation that it would cost $1.67 billion over the next decade. “What a scam,” Scalise said. Dems’ radical spending bill exposed: Tax credits for journalists. Make no mistake—this is Biden and Dems in Congress helping pay the reporters’ salaries who cover for them. Experts...

The latest version of the Build Back Better Act, one of the centerpieces of President Joe Biden’s economic and social agenda, includes a tax credit for local outlets for employing journalists. Lawmakers in the House and the Senate have introduced bills to try to boost struggling local newspapers and broadcast outlets. Under the text of the bill released Wednesday, per Punchbowl News, employers would get a credit against employment taxes for local news journalists. It would provide a credit up to $25,000 to defray employment taxes in the first year, and $15,000 in the next four years, for each employee....

The lucrative $50,000-per-year journalist tax break that Democrats have tucked within President Biden’s multi-trillion dollar social welfare bill is estimated to cost taxpayers more than $1.6 billion over the next decade. A new analysis of the legislation by the Joint Committee on Taxation, a special congressional panel made up of 10 senior lawmakers from both chambers of Congress, found that taxpayers would be on the hook for more than $1.6 billion if the tax credit becomes law. The credit would allow “local news” outlets to receive a quarterly tax credit, “equal to 50%” of a journalist’s wages up to a...

A rough estimate of the price tag is $1 billion the first year. Days after it was dropped from the House version of the budget bill, a tax credit to help pay the salaries of local journalists is back in. The measure still needs to win inclusion in the Senate’s version and survive any further reduction of the $1.75 trillion target total. Still, the move represents a big improvement in prospects for the subsidy. Steven Waldman, president and co-founder of Report for America, and Dean Ridings, CEO of industry association America’s Newspapers, both credited the turnaround to publishers and owners...

Biden admin has take tough stance against Chinese company, labeled national security threat The Chinese telecom giant Huawei is hiring Washington lobbyist Tony Podesta – the brother of former top Obama aide John Podesta – in an effort to help improve its ties with the Biden administration, Politico reported. Podesta, who Politico reports will serve as an all-purpose lobbyist for the company in Washington, will have his work cut out for him. The president has taken a hardline stance against the controversial Chinese company. Huawei was designated a national security threat by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last year because...

National Security Advisor to the United States President Jake Sullivan confirmed that the United States has frozen $ 100 million in military aid to Ukraine. It is reported by The Washington Post. Sullivan said it was additional help if Russia continues to build up troops on the border with Ukraine. "Given that the threat has subsided, the United States has frozen this additional $ 100 million. The United States is ready to help Ukraine if Russia takes aggressive action," media quoted the adviser to the American president. Earlier the Politico, citing sources, reported that the White House temporarily froze a...

A private security firm hired a high-ranking U.S. Secret Service agent as CEO one week after he ran an intervention on Hunter Biden amid an alleged drug and prostitute binge at a Los Angeles hotel room. “Press releases by a private security firm published a week after the text exchange with Hunter announced the agent left the Secret Service after a 25-year career and joined the firm as CEO,” writes the Daily Mail. The Washington Examiner provided more details. “One week after the incident, a private security firm released a press release saying [Robert] Savage, [the supervising agent of the...

Anheuser-Busch is teaming up with the White House to offer free beer in order to encourage more American adults to get vaccinated for the coronavirus. Anheuser-Busch announced Wednesday that if President Joe Biden’s goal of getting 70 percent of Americans vaccinated is realized, they will buy up to 200,000 registered adults a beer.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (FOX19) - Kentucky will roll out an incentive program for people to get vaccinated, Gov. Andy Beshear said on Tuesday. The move comes as 2.06 million Kentuckians, or 46 percent of the state’s population, are at least partially vaccinated, according to Kentucky’s vaccination data. Beshear has previously stated he would consider incentive programs for vaccinations, even saying he would be willing to copy Ohio’s Vax-a-Million lottery as several other states have done. “Any idea will be considered. We are willing to steal any good idea that other states have had,” the governor said last week. Ohio saw a...

Former FBI director gave 100 grand to Biden grandchildren amid bid to do business with Hunter and the Big Guy.

Internet sleuths found Joe Biden’s secret Venmo account in less than 10 minutes and were able to identify it using his friends list, causing a potential national security issue. Venmo is a mobile payment service owned by PayPal that allows users to transfer money to other users in their contacts list. An aide recently revealed that Joe Biden, AKA, “The Big Guy,” uses Venmo to send his grandchildren money. Internet sleuths immediately started searching for Joe Biden’s account by using the app’s features to look for his aides, friends and family. Within 10 minutes cyber detectives at BuzzFeed News found...

The company MSNBC hired issued a 'correction' after promising attendees would receive $100 -------- MSNBC was apparently seeking out paid attendees ahead of its "Vaccinating America" town hall special featuring White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci. Politico reported in its "Playbook" newsletter on Wednesday that the liberal network hired a survey and focus group company MediaBarn to find attendees for a televised event in Alexandria, Va. emceed by "Last Word" host Lawrence O'Donnell. "Dr. Fauci will be at the event, as well as opportunities for audience members to ask questions pertaining to the vaccine," the online invitation read....