Free Republic

California could be a much nicer place to live if some of the progressives who run the place would stop trying their best to make everything more expensive. California has had blackouts and despite this came close to shutting down its last nuclear reactor. In 2022, Gov. Newsom finally had second thoughts on that after the Biden administration offered a boatload of money to reverse course and keep the last reactor running. But despite moments of lucidity, the state and the governor seem determined to set the state's next energy crisis in motion. Last year the state passed a bill...

Exciting new AI tools are still being shaped by human beings.In February, freakouts over artificial intelligence took a fun twist. This time, it wasn't concern that humans are ushering in our robot overlords, panic about AI's potential to create realistic fakes, or any of the usual fare. It wasn't really about AI at all, but the humans who create it: woke humans. The controversy started when @EndWokeness, a popular account on X (formerly Twitter), posted pictures generated by Google's AI tool, Gemini, for the prompts "America's Founding Fathers," "Vikings," and "the Pope." The results were all over the people-of-color spectrum,...

A government scientist is the latest official whose attempts to evade the Freedom of Information Act have landed him in hot water.The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is based on an important principle: any document that the public pays for belongs to the public. Whenever a government official writes or records something as part of their taxpayer-funded duties, ordinary citizens have a right to request a copy, with some exemptions for privacy and security. Politicians, of course, hate that kind of accountability. And every so often, they get caught hiding their official correspondence from FOIA requesters. Hillary Clinton's attempts to...

Gov. Gavin Newson (D-CA) is backing off a law he passed mandating a $25 minimum wage for healthcare workers. As a Wall Street Journal editorial points out, Newsom is only doing this because the state feels the burden of this stupid law. California has already pummeled private businesses with stupid $20 minimum wage laws, which remain in place. But… Since the fascist state of California picks up much of the state’s healthcare tab, Newsom is backpedaling: The editorial board of the Wall Street Journal wrote: The state’s budget deficit has ballooned to $45 billion. Mr. Newsom projects that the new...

We are almost halfway through 2024 and some new laws and restrictions may soon be on the horizon here in New York State. Need a new freezer for those freezie pops this summer? How about a new fridge for that cold beer? There may soon be a limit on which models of freezers and refrigerators you can buy. New York is quickly becoming one of the most aggressive states when it comes to going green or being more environmentally protective. There are constant rumors and worries about whether or not gas appliances will be taken away and a fear about...

A crowd shouted down far-left anti-Trump actor Robert De Niro during his speech on Tuesday outside a Manhattan courthouse where former President Donald Trump stood trial. De Niro’s speech was part of a Biden campaign stunt to capitalize on the lawfare waged against the former president. De Niro took the podium to audible anger from the surrounding crowd. Instead of reading his remarks, De Niro appeared to respond to the crowd’s frustration over his partisan remarks. “*&*^ you,” one man audibly shouted. Additional voices continued to lambast the actor. While De Niro began to speak, he appeared distracted by the...

Over the last few weeks, a Russian blitz has claimed more than a dozen villages in northeast Ukraine, near the country’s second-largest city. This summer, Russia will likely continue its offensive push... Russia’s ability to carry out these attacks is in some ways surprising. War is expensive...Yet Moscow has managed to keep paying for its war machine.... to China, the benefits of a Russian victory in Ukraine may outweigh the costs. Among those benefits: The war has entangled the U.S. and its allies in a faraway conflict, straining the U.S. military’s ammunition stockpiles. It has made Russia, a big military...

The Biden campaign on Tuesday morning staged a press conference outside of the Manhattan courtroom where closing arguments were set to begin in the business records trial of former President Donald Trump. Speaking at the press conference were actor Robert De Niro, and two former Capitol police officers on January 6, Harry Dunn — who is running for Congress, and Michael Fanone. DeNiro unleashed full Trump Derangement Syndrome, claiming that if Trump were elected, he would “never” leave office. “He will never leave!” DeNiro said, claiming that Trump would make himself “dictator for life.” The move smacked of desperation. Trump...

A job posting that included race and citizenship requirements — and the stipulation, “Don’t share with candidates” — has resulted in settlement agreements between Virginia-based IT staffing firm Arthur Grand Technologies Inc. and the U.S. government. Under the arrangement, Arthur Grand will pay a civil penalty of $7,500, along with a total of $31,000 to... Arthur Grand “neither admits nor denies any violation,” the Department of Labor’s agreement states. But in a message to NPR, Arthur Grand CEO Sheik Rahmathullah said his company "vehemently denies any guilt or wrongdoing." The job posting was made by a rogue employee, he said....

Children have picked ingredients used by suppliers to two major beauty companies, the BBC can reveal. A BBC investigation into last summer's perfume supply chains found jasmine used by Lancôme and Aerin Beauty's suppliers was picked by minors. All the luxury perfume brands claim to have zero tolerance on child labour. L'Oréal, Lancôme's owner, said it was committed to respecting human rights. Estée Lauder, Aerin Beauty's owner, said it had contacted its suppliers. The jasmine used in Lancôme Idôle L'Intense - and Ikat Jasmine and Limone Di Sicilia for Aerin Beauty - comes from Egypt, which produces about half the...

OAKLAND, Calif. - Shoppers at some Bay Area Safeway stores will no longer have the option to use self-checkout kiosks. The grocery chain confirmed to KTVU that it's getting rid of the self-checkout machines at several stores, although they wouldn't specify which ones. Safeway officials said they're removing the kiosks because of problems with theft – too many customers steal items when they go through the self-checkout. "Operational changes have been made at select stores throughout the Bay Area given the increasing amount of theft," according to Safeway's statement. "Self-checkout kiosks have been removed at a few stores. Like other...

Government scientists have shown that they can filter the precious metal from the state's shale gas wastewater: pulling tons of lithium per day, with little left behind. They concluded that Pennsylvania alone could produce nearly half of the total US demand for lithium — starting in the first year — supplying this key compound that's needed to power everything from smartphones to electric vehicles to solar panels. A project on this scale could make Pennsylvania a rust-belt Saudi Arabia, ending US dependence on lithium from China, which now controls 90 percent of the market. People compare it to the Gold...

School systems complain about the rising costs of handling illegal immigrants. Here’s a spotlight on two cities, one in Massachusetts, the other Colorado.In Stoughton, Mass., students arrive with traumatic pasts and little English. The same is happening in Denver.The Wall Street Journal comments on The Massive Immigration Wave Hitting America’s ClassroomsMillions of migrants, most seeking asylum, have crossed the border in recent years and have been allowed to settle in the U.S. until a federal immigration judge decides their fate, a process that can take years. Among the record numbers, federal data suggest, are as many as one million children...

Proving that unpaid anonymous review is worth every cent, the 217 year old Wiley science publisher “peer reviewed” 11,300 papers that were fake, and didn’t even notice. It’s not just a scam, it’s an industry. Naked “gobbledygook sandwiches” got past peer review, and the expert reviewers didn’t so much as blink.Big Government and Big Money has captured science and strangled it. The more money they pour in, the worse it gets. John Wiley and Sons is a US $2 billion dollar machine, but they got used by criminal gangs to launder fake “science” as something real.Things are so bad, fake...

The cost of illegal immigration is bearing out in the Big Apple and tourists are the latest to foot the bill. New York City is more expensive than ever to visit, primarily due to Mayor Eric Adams (D) converting tons of hotels into shelters for newly arrived migrants, the New York Times reported Saturday. As Breitbart News has chronicled, Adams currently has about 65,000 migrants living in more than 16,500 hotel rooms across New York City. The result has been skyrocketing hotel room costs for tourists who pay the price while hotels, often owned by the largest conglomerates, are raking...

President Biden is facing an American public that trusts his top political rival far more on inflation and economic matters, issues that are likely to loom large in voters’ minds at the ballot booth in November. A poll released last week from the Cook Political Report, conducted with Democratic and Republican strategy firms, showed that likely voters across seven “swing states” overwhelmingly disapprove of the job Biden is doing on the economy.

CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen said Monday on “Newsroom” that former President Donald Trump’s New York defense team hopes one juror will not follow the “evidence and law.” Eisen said, “In terms of the arguments, battle will be joined around three issues. One: Can the jury believe the critical testimony of Michael Cohen, as it’s corroborated and supported by a mountain of evidence? In a sense, the prosecution’s entire work across 20 days of trial was to corroborate Cohen. Two: Can the jury find that Donald Trump, beyond a reasonable doubt, intentionally made that hush money payment to Stormy Daniels,...

A recent study from the University of Michigan has shed light on a critical challenge facing the global transition to electric vehicles: the inability of copper mining to keep pace with the growing demand. Engineering & Technology reports that copper, a crucial component in electricity generation, distribution, and storage, is fundamental to the successful implementation of policies aimed at promoting the adoption of EVs. However, a recent study from the University of Michigan, titled “Copper mining and vehicle electrification,” has revealed that the current rate of copper production is insufficient to meet the projected demand for the metal in the...

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda secured a second five-year term as Lithuanian president in a landslide victory over Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte. Preliminary figures by the Lithuania´s Central Electoral Commission showed that Nauseda won 74.5% of the votes and Simonyte 24.1%. The 60-year-old Nauseda is a moderate conservative and has been a strong backer of Ukraine, a position shared across most of the political spectrum. During his time in office, Lithuania has also given refuge to many who have fled an authoritarian crackdown in neighboring Belarus and increased repression in Russia.

Pilot alleges that the airlines’ ESG investment strategy violates pension fiduciary duties.. A district judge has granted a pilot’s request for a class-action lawsuit against American Airlines for allegedly investing pension funds into environmental, social, and governance (ESG) funds. The case revolves around the allegation that American Airlines—headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas—violated its fiduciary obligation to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) “by investing millions of dollars of American Airlines employees’ retirement savings with investment managers and investment funds that pursue political agendas” through ESG initiatives. “By pursuing ESG goals, Defendants gave Plan assets to fund managers, such as...