Free Republic

Former President Donald Trump stands to get a windfall of $3.5 billion now that shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp. have approved a merger with his Truth Social on Friday. The potential multibillion dollar infusion comes as New York Attorney General Letitia James is moving to seize Trump’s assets to pay a $464 million bond in his New York civil fraud case. The long-delayed merger came after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved it last month, and means that Trump’s company Trump Media & Technology Group will trade on the stock market under the stock ticker “DJT” as early...

President Biden recently went on TV to denounce the “outrageous profits” of the major oil companies and declare that he would push Congress to enact a tax on their excess profits. But “excess profits” are in the eye of the beholder, and oil companies have always been the target of political scrutiny any time they report large profits or the price of gasoline rises. It is still surprising that Biden would embrace a so-called “windfall profits tax” on oil companies when it proved to be an utter failure the last time it was tried under President Jimmy Carter. It would...

On Thursday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Closing Bell,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm responded to a question on historical evidence from Europe and the U.S. that a windfall profits tax like the one floated by President Joe Biden would hurt production by stating that the “preference” is that companies lower prices or increase production without a windfall profits tax being imposed and that if a tax is implemented it would be designed to encourage more production. Host Sara Eisen asked, “I guess what I’m wondering, though, is the windfall tax the way to do that? Haven’t we seen evidence in Europe and...

The Biden administration is considering a proposal to tax oil and gas windfall profits to provide a gas subsidy for American consumers struggling with high energy prices, said Bharat Ramamurti, deputy director of the National Economic Council at a panel sponsored by the Roosevelt Institute think tank on June 2. The news follows a similar move in the U.K. by Chancellor Rishi Sunak on May 26, to impose a 25 percent windfall tax on North Sea energy producers to provide a 15 billion pound ($18.9 billion) energy fund subsidy for Britons paying for soaring fuel costs. The White House has...

A Florida woman reportedly wanted to withdraw $20 from an ATM and was stunned to discover her account boasted what she believed was a jaw-dropping balance of nearly $1 billion. When Julia Yonkowski, of Largo, checked her Chase Bank balance before making the small withdrawal Saturday, her receipt showed $999,985,855.94 in her account, WFLA reported. The stunned customer told the outlet that she wanted to return the massive amount because she could not get a real person to talk to at her bank.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti described himself as “ecstatic” over the $1.35 billion that the city will receive from the $1.9 trillion “COVID relief” bill passed by Congress on Wednesday and set to be signed into law by President Joe Biden. Coronavirus relief bills have been enacted repeatedly for a year, mostly by President Donald Trump, and often after delays by Democrats, who were reluctant to see Trump take any political credit. The new bill, however, includes payments to cities and states, as well as pension bailouts for unions, and money devoted to long-term “progressive” Democratic Party policies.

Full title of Article: "Michael Avenatti Files: Court Documents Show Porn Star Lawyer Reported $8 Million Windfall in Feb. When he Took on Stormy" Excerpt: The Michael Avenatti Files — How did a bankrupt attorney come across $8 million after picking up porn star client Stormy Daniels? Porn star lawyer Michael Avenatti is a huge hit with the Democrat-media complex. The attorney for porn star Stormy Daniels has held 108 interviews on cable news outlets MSNBC and CNN since March 7th.

Hours after landing a massive tax windfall, AT&T, Comcast, Wells Fargo and Boeing — among other major companies — announced plans Wednesday to share a fraction of their bounty with workers. The moves pleased President Donald Trump, who has claimed his $1.5 trillion in tax cuts that largely favor the wealthy and businesses would ultimately help the middle class. But Democratic lawmakers and corporate watchdogs say the move is a public relations stunt that pales in comparison to the profits the companies’ shareholders and executives will reap because of the lower tax rates. The stock market, as well, has risen...

Full Title: Tank collector shocked to find £2million gold bullion hidden in the fuel compartment of his £30,000 vehicle A TANK fanatic got a new model in a £30,000 trade-in — and found more than £2million of gold bullion hidden in the fuel tank. Nick Mead, 55, discovered the five gold bars in the Russian T54/69 while restoring it to add to his collection of 150 military vehicles. He and mechanic Todd Chamberlain were filming themselves prising open the diesel tank in case they found munitions and needed to show it to bomb disposal crews. Instead, they pulled out the...

WASHINGTON -- Foreign leaders showered President Barack Obama and his family with hundreds of thousands of dollars in art, jewelry, rare books and other presents during their first year in the White House. Saudi Arabia's king was the most generous gift-giver. Government documents released on Tuesday show that Saudi King Abdullah gave the Obama family nearly $190,000 in luxury baubles in 2009. That includes the single-most valuable gift reported: a ruby and diamond jewelry set worth $132,000 for the first lady. The king also presented Michelle Obama with a $14,200 pearl necklace, the president with a marble-based clock adorned with...

The battle over the venture -- dozens of public hearings and nine years long -- has split members of American Indian tribes and pitted some of the nation's wealthiest people against each other. Liberals have squared off against fellow liberals. The most notable opponent was the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, whose family compound would have a view of the wind farm. The late Walter Cronkite also raised objec

Of the more than $2 billion the federal government has given out to boost the economy and create green-energy jobs, more than three-quarters has gone to foreign-owned companies that dominate the global wind-power industry. This latest finding by the Investigative Reporting Workshop, a nonprofit at American University in Washington, D.C., is illustrated clearly in San Diego County, where about a dozen commercial wind developers have offices. La Jolla is the headquarters for Eurus Energy America, the subsidiary of a Japanese firm that received $91 million in federal stimulus money for a wind farm in western Texas. It plans to apply...

Reporting from Washington and Sacramento -- The economic stimulus package congressional leaders are drafting would wipe out nearly a quarter of California's budget shortfall, a potential windfall that could help end the impasse over how to close the nearly $42-billion gap. The House bill, which is likely to be voted on next week, would bring the state more than $11 billion in healthcare and education money that could go directly to reducing the deficit through mid-2010, state officials learned Thursday night. "This takes a big bite out of the state's budget gap," said Jean Ross, executive director of the California...

There's something about the oil business that turns even intelligent people into frothmouthed loons: they're raping the planet, shafting Joe Sixpack or, from the other side, insisting that the drill in every back yard is the very definition of America. I realise that in the middle of an election that the small still voice of reason isn't going to get much airplay but let's give it the old school try anyway.

Considering how much untapped oil is known to exist, not just in the United States, but worldwide, one would think that its current price was some kind of anomaly and it is. It is more the result of speculation than anything else. The most fundamental fact about oil worldwide is that there is lots of it. Though frequently overlooked, the ability to refine crude oil plays an essential role in the supply and demand equation. More refining capacity is needed worldwide. Finally, there’s the fact that, in general, oil is very expensive to get at and often found in the...

Is Obama taking a page out of Hugo's book or vice versa. The stories are astoundingly similar. May 1 -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal for a windfall profits tax on oil companies could cost $15 billion a year at last year's profit levels, a campaign adviser said. The plan would target profit from the biggest oil companies by taxing each barrel of oil costing more than $80, according to a fact sheet on the proposal. The tax would help pay for a $1,000 tax cut for working families, an expansion of the earned- income tax credit and assistance...

Ethical questions have arisen about former U.S. President Bill Clinton's $700,000 sale of stock given him by a failing Internet company founded by a felon. Clinton got the non-publicly traded Accoona Corp. stock in 2004, the year the company was created, as a gift for speaking at a company event, The Washington Times reported. Valued at 66 cents a share when issued, he sold the 200,000 shares at $3.50 per share to an undisclosed buyer in May 2006, while the company, backed by the Chinese government, was reporting losses in the tens of millions of dollars. His wife, Sen. Hillary...

The subprime-mortgage crisis has been a financial catastrophe for much of Wall Street. At Goldman Sachs Group Inc., thanks to a tiny group of traders, it has generated one of the biggest windfalls the securities industry has seen in years. The group's big bet that securities backed by risky home loans would fall in value generated nearly $4 billion of profits during the year ended Nov. 30, according to people familiar with the firm's finances. Those gains erased $1.5 billion to $2 billion of mortgage-related losses elsewhere in the firm. On Tuesday, despite a terrible November and some of the...

Homeless Men Win $45,000 Lawsuit Against City Of Las Vegas March 29, 2007 4:26 p.m. EST   Mary K. Brunskill - All Headline News Staff Writer Las Vegas, NV (AHN) - Three homeless men arrested for sleeping next to feces won a settlement of $45,000 Thursday after taking the city of Las Vegas to court. Eastman Webber, David Hicks and Jerry Halfpap had been arrested last November under a provision against sleeping within 500 feet of feces or urine. However, the provision had been repealed in September, so the law no longer existed. Webber, Hicks and Hafpap were handcuffed...

(CBS/AP) About 100 cheese-factory workers in the Wisconsin town of Saint Cloud have been celebrating — because they say they're $208 million richer. Wisconsin state lottery officials say no one has officially stepped forward to claim Saturday's Powerball jackpot. But a large contingent of employees from Sargento Cheese say they have the winning ticket locked in a safe. Eric Heimermann is one member of the celebrating group. He told the Fond du Lac Reporter that the mostly second shift workers had chipped in $1 apiece to a pool to purchase lottery tickets. Heimermann, 24, of St. Cloud, spoke with the...