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...

An executive order signed by President Joe Biden has focused on registering convicts to vote and exclusively involved left-wing non-governmental organizations (NGOs), an investigation from the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project revealed. In March 2021, Biden signed an executive order titled “Promoting Access to Voting,” which he billed as a “nonpartisan” government-wide effort to “expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process. Two months after the order was signed, the Biden administration held a “Listening Session” with several NGOs — all of which identified with the Democrat party or left-wing policy...

The Biden Administration’s regulations are coming so fast and furious that it’s hard even to keep track, but we’re trying. On Thursday the Environmental Protection Agency proposed its latest doozy—rules that will effectively force coal plants to shut down while banning new natural-gas plants. “With the announcement today, the power sector can make planning decisions with a full array of information,” EPA’s press release declares. Translation: Get moving with the green-energy transition because we’re determined to eliminate fossil-fuel power. Barack Obama’s regulation spurred a wave of coal plant closures. Now President Biden is trying to finish the job by tightening...

grand jury in Arizona has handed up an indictment against former President Donald Trump’s allies over their efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, including the fake electors from that state and several individuals connected to his campaign. Boris Epshteyn, a former White House aide who remains one of Trump’s closest advisers, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani are among those who have been indicted, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishments, but also mentions “excessive fines” and bail. The “excessive fines” clause surfaces (among other places) in cases of civil and criminal forfeiture. In New York state, Attorney General Letitia James, in coordination with New York Judge Arthur Engoron, are seeking to continue the targeting of President Donald Trump with a series of financial judgements, penalties and control mechanisms intended to isolate the leading 2024 Republican presidential candidate from his wealth. As if something akin to the John Galt character in Atlas Shrugged was coming to life, no American individual has ever faced...

President Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday that sending Israeli troops into the southern Gaza city of Rafah would be a “mistake” — just three days after Biden praised Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s incendiary speech calling for the Jewish state to hold a “new election” and oust Netanyahu following the war against Hamas. “A major ground operation would be a mistake,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that Biden, 81, stressed to Netanyahu, citing concerns about civilian safety in the city of more than 150,000 situated near the Egyptian border. Biden didn’t make “threats,” Sullivan added...

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s top aides bluntly told lawmakers in a private meeting on Wednesday that if Congress fails to authorize additional military aid for Ukraine in the coming days, Russia could win the war in a matter of weeks — months at best, according to two people familiar with the meeting.National security adviser Jake Sullivan and the Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the lawmakers that Ukraine will run out of certain air defense and artillery capabilities in the coming weeks, according to the people familiar with the meeting.The grim assessment, which one White House official described...

White House spokespeople Karine Jean-Pierre and Andrew Bates violated the Hatch Act when they had been warned against using the word 'MAGA' to describe certain Republicans, a government watchdog agency said on Friday. The independent Office of Special Counsel said the two took actions 'contrary' to official guidance on the law when they slammed 'MAGA' Republicans' budget plan this year. In their letter, first reported by NBC News, the office notes the violations came days after Jean-Pierre was warned she had violated the law intended to prevent federal employees from using their offices to influence elections....

President Joe Biden suggested Thursday that Americans who are unhappy with the economy are experiencing a “disconnect.” Biden touted a variety of economic statistics during a speech at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on Thursday, before acknowledging that the American people feel a “disconnect” between the “numbers, and how people feel about their place in the world right now.” As Biden and his administration continue to insist “Bidenomics” is a success, 61% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck and 75% of U.S. adults think the economy is in a “fair” or “poor” state. “The last quarter the American economy grew...

Today, President Biden is issuing a landmark Executive Order to ensure that America leads the way in seizing the promise and managing the risks of artificial intelligence (AI). The Executive Order establishes new standards for AI safety and security, protects Americans’ privacy, advances equity and civil rights, stands up for consumers and workers, promotes innovation and competition, advances American leadership around the world, and more. As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s comprehensive strategy for responsible innovation, the Executive Order builds on previous actions the President has taken, including work that led to voluntary commitments from 15 leading companies to drive...

Special Counsel Jack Smith is still hiding the names of his prosecutors in violation of federal Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) law. The Jack Smith Special Counsel refuses to release the names of his team members. Why is that? We know they are most certainly ALL Democrats. We know they lack integrity and honor. In June, Tom Fitton and Judicial Watch sued Joe Biden’s DOJ to obtain the names of the radical Democrats who are members of Jack Smith’s Special Counsel. Jack Smith refuses to release the names of his team of radical prosecutors trying to jail Trump.

Democrat President Joe Biden has nominated his son Hunter’s former business associate to serve as special counsel. Biden nominated Hampton Dellinger who previously worked alongside Hunter while he served on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings. The White House announced the move in a Tuesday press release. Dellinger will replace Henry Kerner, whose term as the position’s current occupant expires. The Office of Special Counsel is primarily responsible for safeguarding the “merit system by protecting federal employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices, especially reprisal for whistleblowing,” its website states. Dellinger was previously nominated by Biden as an...

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced Thursday that President Joe Biden would name Penny Pritzker, a billionaire heiress and former commerce secretary, to manage Ukraine’s economic recovery from the ongoing war. Sullivan, a major proponent of the “Russia collusion” hoax against President Donald Trump, told reporters that Biden, meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky at the White House for the sixth time on Thursday, would “introduce a special representative for Ukraine’s economic recovery, Penny Pritzker, who will focus on engaging the private sector, partner countries, and Ukrainian counterparts to generate international investment in Ukraine and work with Ukraine to make...

“The United States is committed to empowering Ukraine to write its own future. In the crucible of President Putin’s brutal and ongoing war, the United States and Ukraine have forged a partnership that is stronger than ever and growing every day. We will continue to stand by Ukraine’s side,” Blinken said after a meeting with Ukraine’s foreign minister. Blinken also said the Ukraine War was a fight “we must and will win.” “Now, we have no illusions that the path forward will be easy, but this is a fight that we must and we will win for any country threatened...

The Biden administration is sending $100 million to colleges that primarily serve minority Americans A news release last week from the Department of Education announced Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions are eligible for a pot of almost $100 million in grants for infrastructure improvement and what the release calls “improved student outcomes for underserved students.” The release stated that $25 billion in funding has been poured into those colleges during the Biden administration.

Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop is filled with contracts and agreements between him and foreign business partners that could shine new light on his business dealings, and potentially implicate his father, insiders around the first son told The Post. Hundreds of documents are littered among the tens of thousands of emails contained on the laptop — but the files were not downloaded onto the device, and investigators cannot open most of them. During his father’s vice presidency and after, Hunter Biden and his family made millions of dollars from foreign sources trading on the family name, according to whistleblowers and bank...

The Drug Enforcement Administration recently sponsored an event for its Washington, D.C., headquarters employees at a bar and restaurant that largely caters to LGBTQ+ customers, to help the agency get what it described as "an understanding and perception of gay social culture" and that also was to include a drag show presentation. The agency's Equal Employment Opportunity Office led the effort. The event was held June 26 at Freddie's Beach Bar and Restaurant – a self-described "LGBTQ+, straight-friendly restaurant and bar" in northern Virginia, about a mile from agency headquarters. While the "woke" movement appears to be going strong in...

Anew report found that the $5 trillion Congress spent on pandemic relief efforts has been so difficult to track that it has even stumped some government investigators. A new report from the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee tracked $2.65 billion of pandemic relief funding to six communities. The report found that "data gaps make it difficult for taxpayers to know how much money their community received and for what purposes." The $2.65 billion is part of $5 trillion in federal relief given out during the pandemic. "Existing gaps in federal spending data make it difficult for the oversight community, decision-makers, and...

Furious Republicans said the Secret Service is closing the White House cocaine investigation without finding any suspects – and narrowing the culprit list down to 500 people. GOP Rep. Tim Burchett said agents 'just decided it's just some weekend visitor' and chalked up the entire investigation as 'another coverup' by the Biden White House. 'It's bogus' the Tennessee congressman added. 'That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in my life.' His comments came after the Secret Service briefed members of Congress, 11 days after the discovery forced evacuation and a hazmat situation at the White House. Since July...

The Pentagon said Tuesday that it overestimated the value of the weapons it has sent to Ukraine by $6.2 billion over the past two years — about double early estimates — resulting in a surplus that will be used for future security packages. Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said a detailed review of the accounting error found that the military services used replacement costs rather than the book value of equipment that was pulled from Pentagon stocks and sent to Ukraine. She said final calculations show there was an error of $3.6 billion in the current fiscal year and $2.6 billion...