Free Republic

Maybe San Franciscans aren't as blindly left as they appear to the rest of the country. First, Democrat mayor London Breed had to backtrack on defunding the police when faced with the reality of what happened after the police were defunded. Crime increased...a lot. Then the public recalled members of the school board who were more interested in pushing ideology than keeping schools open. Democrat district attorney Chesa Boudin didn't see or refused to see what was happening in his city. Residents grew tired of his failure to go after criminals and enforce laws. Boudin, a political newcomer, took office...

"Nothing says I love you like a shakedown," said Vipin Narang, an associate professor at MIT, summarizing South Korean anger and uncertainty over the president's latest gambit. Donald Trump wants to hike the price of keeping U.S. troops in South Korea by 400 percent and the Koreans, not surprisingly, are angry and humiliated. If Trump is angling to remove troops from the Korean peninsula, he could accomplish that without losing a vital ally in a strategically important part of the world. And with Kim Jong-un in North Korea breathing fire and brimstone, Trump's timing is particularly bad. From CNN: In...

The very few of us who publicly challenged and deplored Russiagate allegations against candidate and then President Donald Trump from the time they first began to appear in mid-2016 should not gloat or rejoice over the US Attorney General’s summary of Robert S. Mueller’s key finding... ... But what about the legions of high-ranking intelligence officials, politicians, editorial writers, television producers, and other opinion-makers, and their eager media outlets that perpetuated, inflated, and prolonged this unprecedented political scandal in American history—those who did not stop short of accusing the president of the United States of being a Kremlin “agent,” “asset,”...

President Donald Trump's long-promised border wall between the US and Mexico could costs billions of dollars more than estimated, a new report from a government watchdog agency said on Monday. The report from the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan group that forms part of Congress' oversight arm, said that "key information" is missing from the plans. It further concluded that the US Department of Homeland Security "faces an increased risk that the Border Wall System Program will cost more than projected, take longer than planned, or not fully perform as expected." Factors like a varying terrain and land ownership had...

The special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has cost nearly $17 million dollars so far, according to a new report from the Justice Department. Robert Mueller's team of prosecutors and FBI special agents has spent by far the most money on covering salaries, followed by rent and information technology services, the statement of expenditures says. The office has been operating for just over a year — since May 17, 2017, when Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller, the former FBI director. His task is to get to the bottom of Russian manipulation surrounding the...

The National Rifle Association's annual convention last weekend cost Dallas police $575,000, the city manager said on Thursday. The NRA spent $150,000 on 400 off-duty officers who patrolled the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center and its perimeter starting last Thursday through Sunday. Dallas' $575,000 bill includes security and traffic control for rallies, protests and President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence's visit to Dallas to speak at the convention, City Manager T.C. Broadnax said.

Supervisors voted Monday for Orange County to spend $70.5 million on permanent housing for the homeless, and to create temporary homeless camps in Irvine, and possibly in Huntington Beach and Laguna Niguel. The vote comes a week after supervisors committed $20 million toward permanent housing for the homeless. The combined $90 million is likely the single largest appropriation ever committed by the county to fight homelessness, and signals a shift in the county’s strategy to solve the growing issue. The decision came as supervisors admitted that they’ve failed to spend money that’s been available for homeless housing – tens of...

Officials increased the cost estimate for the first phase of California’s high speed rail project by 35 percent on Tuesday, to $10.6 billion. That would put the entire cost of the train from San Francisco to Los Angeles at roughly $67 billion, although officials said they hope to recover the newly announced costs later. […] The $2.8 billion price jump is for a 119-mile (191-kilometer) segment in the Central Valley, which is partially under construction. The fresh costs are due to trouble acquiring rights of way for the track, the need to build more barriers along the tracks and other...

Costs of fighting all six major fires have risen to nearly $40 million, officials said. More than 9,500 firefighters from Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington state are working the flames, with 7,000 of those on the Thomas Fire alone. In addition to the 1,000-plus structures destroyed, hundreds of homes have been torched, almost 100,000 people have been evacuated, 85,000 have been left without power and damages total about $10 billion.

Local curfews were in place throughout the state, much of the Florida Keys remained closed and millions of people continued to lack electricity as cleanup work expected to reach into the billions of dollars began Monday in the wake of deadly Hurricane Irma. While businesses slowly reopen, the state is dealing with widespread flooding, from storm surges of 4 to 8 feet along both coasts to flash flooding in Northeast Florida. Gov. Rick Scott, who flew over hard-hit areas Monday, said damage along the Southwest coast, where Irma made a second landfall Sunday, included roofs off homes, boats tossed, flooding...

Sex-change surgeries cost an average $132,000 each! Taxpayer-funded sex-change surgeries would cost the Pentagon $1.3 billion over 10 years. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that transgender individuals will not be eligible to serve in the military, with the White House citing cost and military readiness concerns. Internal data provided to the Washington Free Beacon from Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R., Mo.), a leading opponent of taxpayer-funded sex changes, show that even by using a conservative estimate, the costs associated with 0.7 percent of the military population is great. Hartzler's office provided a detailed calculation that shows estimates of the current number...

Some people say capitalism and alligators have much in common — both eat their young. While the rich get richer (and will get richer still if the #FakePresident has his way), ordinary schlubs who are working one, two, or sometimes three jobs to make ends meet are finding they can no longer afford to buy average new cars. That’s according to a new study by Bankrate.com. It finds that people living in 24 of the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the US cannot afford the average price of new cars, which was $33,000 in May according to Kelly Blue Book....

illegal immigration costs Illinois $3.85 billion per year. This number is a low estimate in a particularly low year because of the budget crisis happening in Illinois currently. So let’s put that number in perspective. As mentioned above, Illinois is in a budget crisis and on the verge of bankruptcy. Their state debt is upwards of $64 billion. Their credit rating is a BBB-, which is one notch above a junk/non-investment rating. They are also projected to have their credit further downgraded. Illinois also has unpaid bills upwards of $15 billion (with $800 million per year just in interest payments)...

President Donald Trump has spent more taxpayer funds on White House furnishings in the first five months of his administration than his predecessor, Barack Obama, spent in the same span of time, it was reported on Friday. American Bridge PAC, an organization which is 'committed to holding Republicans accountable for their words and actions,' obtained copies of federal procurement records through May 31, according to Mic. The records show that in his first 150 days in office, Trump spent $133,053.95 on office furniture. That's more than twice the amount that Obama spent in his first five months in office -...

Listen to the responses from participating EU corporate comptrollers discussing climate and the entire purpose of the Paris Treaty becomes self-evident. Example: “The preservation of our competitive position is the precondition for successful climate protection. This correlation is often underestimated.” ~ Matthias Wissmann, President of German Auto Industry Group VDA The preservation of Germany’s competitive auto manufacturing position is contingent upon the U.S. exporting it’s wealth and handcuffing itself to a faux-climate treaty. Do not take my word for it, read Wissmann’s own interview. The Paris Treaty is nothing about climate, and everything about economics and multinational corporate interests.

US President Donald Trump received gifts from Saudi King Shah Salman with worth of $ 1.2 billion during his first visit to kingdom. The gifts given by Saudi King included a precious diamond, armband made of pure gold with King Salman’s photo imprinted on it and 25 kilogram heavy sword made of pure gold with different diamonds and stones on it. The sword is worth of $ 200 million. Furthermore, gold and diamond made watches, worth of $ 200 million, were also gifted to Trump and his family. A small replica of Statue of Liberty but made with gold, diamond...

President Trump departed from prepared remarks Thursday to comment on the ostentatious new NATO headquarters in Brussels at a dedication ceremony with world leaders. "I never asked once what the new NATO headquarters cost," Trump said, bringing attention to the glass structure. "I refuse to do that, but it is beautiful." In fact, the building cost an astounding $1.23 billion, according to a budget released by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The alliance bragged that the structure is also a "green building for the future." "The environment and sustainability have played a major role in the design process. The new...

Obama Final Travel Tally: Nearly $100 Million JW Sues for FBI Records –and Payments – Relating to ‘Trump Dossier’ Government Yanks Report Blasting DHS for Catching Less than 1% of Visa Overstays We Probe Obama White House Influence Over FCC Attempt to Regulate Internet Obama Final Travel Tally: Nearly $100 Million There may be no better way to keep on eye on our leaders’ penchant for pretending to royalty than to tally the cost of their travel and accommodations. Our nation has granted its presidents exquisite transport because we need for our leaders to be efficient and safe. However,...

The giant bomb U.S. forces dropped Thursday on an ISIS training camp in Afghanistan did not cost $314 million to develop, or $16 million per unit as reported by multiple news outlets.Every news report about cost of the “Mother of All Bombs” relied on a misreading of a 2011 article or a dubious internet website that InfoWars once linked to with a “healthy bit of skepticism.”The actual cost of the bomb is unknown. The actual cost of the program isn’t publicly available because the Mother of All Bombs, officially known as GBU-43 or the Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), is manufactured by...

The US's Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb does not cost $314 million, or $16 million, but $170,000 a unit, the US Air Force told Business Insider on Friday. The weapon, whose acronym inspired the nickname "Mother of All Bombs," was produced by the Air Force, not by a third party like Lockheed or Boeing, "so we don't have a standard procurement cost associated with them," an Air Force official said. The $170,000 figure makes sense considering a general-purpose 1,000-pound MK-83 costs about $12,000. The MOAB simply features more high explosives and larger fins to direct the GPS-guided munition. Many outlets,...