Free Republic

The Pentagon’s surprise decision to withdraw $2.5 billion in funding for Intel’s semiconductor manufacturing plans has created a significant shortfall in the company’s expected incentives under the CHIPS Act. Bloomberg reports that the semiconductor industry’s path to revitalization has hit a snag as the Pentagon abruptly scrapped its plan to contribute $2.5 billion toward Intel’s chip manufacturing grant under the CHIPS Act. This move has disrupted the distribution of funds from the legislation, leaving the Commerce Department scrambling to fill the substantial funding gap. According to people familiar with the matter, the Pentagon’s withdrawal occurred in the days leading up...

She won’t be leading the Crimson, but green shouldn’t be a problem. Outgoing Harvard President Claudine Gay will still likely earn nearly $900,000 a year despite being forced to resign her position as the school’s top administrator. Political Science professor Gay — who stepped down amid a tempest of allegations she did not do enough to combat antisemitism and academic plagiarism Tuesday — will now return to a position on the Cambridge, Mass., school’s faculty. Prior to being named president just six months ago, Gay earned $879,079 as a Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean in 2021 and $824,068 in...

Lunchables will soon become part of school lunch programs across the country. Kraft Heinz said two new varieties will be in school cafeterias this fall – turkey and cheddar cracker stackers and extra cheesy pizza. These are different than those found in grocery stores. The company said...

...California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wife charged public schools across the country to screen her documentaries, making as much as $1.5 million, according to a new report. Siebel Newsom’s non-profit released four films, for which she is credited as a writer and director, advocating for "gender justice." Siebel Newsom's "gender identity" films are produced through her for-profit operation, Girls Club Entertainment, which is then licensed by the nonprofit The Representation Project, to public schools. The Representation Project claims that they fight "sexism through films education, research and activism."... ...The films, which include "Miss Representation," "The Mask You Live In," "The Great...

The House Freedom Caucus Deserves Your ApplauseWhether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, what took place on the House floor last week was the most transparent, honest, and lively debate many Americans – young and old – have ever witnessed. For that, you can thank the House Freedom Caucus.Had there been no conservative opposition to Speaker McCarthy, it is highly likely the legislative oligarchy that existed under Speakers Nancy Pelosi, Paul Ryan, and John Boehner would continue in the 118th Congress. The People’s House would remain a top-down, centralized body, relegating anyone outside of the speaker’s office as mere spectators...

U.S. industrial giant General Electric will split into three companies following years of seeing its stock underperform, the company announced on Tuesday. The company will be divided into separate units focused on aviation, health care and energy. GE plans to spin off the health-care unit by early 2023 and the energy unit by early 2024, the company said in a news release....

Man shot, killed in Chevron gas station shooting Senate approval extends transportation funding amid debate over infrastructure… Several San Francisco city departments have accepted gifts from restricted organizations — groups with which the city does business — and distributed those gifts to city employees, actions that undermine the city’s rules regarding gifts, according to a new report by the city’s Ethics Commission. The 41-page report released on Thursday details “problematic” conduct related to gifts, including the awarding of tickets to events such as concerts and shows and the receipt of benefits and funds to pay for private parties, dinners and...

When President Joe Biden recently announced a $2.3 trillion spending plan, on the heels of the nearly $2 trillion bailout bill enacted in March, some Democrats in Washington complained. Their complaints: The price tag was not big enough, and the Washington power grab was not ambitious enough.... ...Less than 6% of Biden’s $2.3 trillion plan goes toward roads and bridges. Less than 2% goes to upgrade and repair America’s waterways, lakes, dams, ports, and airports. And while the Biden administration likes to cite expanding broadband as a priority, an idea that has bipartisan support, the administration devotes less than 5%...

If Republicans were to get serious about ending special favors for corporations in general, it would be a positive development. To be clear, states and the federal government should keep taxes low and maintain reasonable and predictable regulations. But they should not provide special subsidies or tax carveouts to penalize or reward favored industries or businesses. They should not tempt rich owners of sports leagues with government funding for sports stadiums. Or lure Hollywood productions with special tax incentives. Or provide large companies with special tax breaks to get them to do business in their states. However, as tempting as...

High-level members of the state Department of Health were directed last year by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker to conduct prioritized coronavirus testing on the governor's relatives as well as influential people with ties to the administration, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter. Members of Cuomo's family including his brother, his mother and at least one of his sisters were also tested by top health department officials — some several times, the sources said. The medical officials enlisted to do the testing, which often took place at private residences, included Dr....

The idea of PA legislative cronyism sadly goes on. They take care of their own. In this case Republican Sen Mike Regan's wife Frances. Then Democrat Frank Dermody got his turn after losing reelection in 2020 after 30 years in office Both were appointed by legislative leaders to Pennsylvania’s Gaming Control Board, whose responsibilities include meeting once or twice a month — three times in busier months — have among the highest-paid positions in state government, with annual salaries topping $145,000. It’s one of the best jobs in town — if you can get it. That is because ex-state legislators...

Democratic lawmakers in Albany are never satisfied: Their party already has a firm lock on the key levers of power, yet last week they moved to solidify that power even more — via an amendment to the state Constitution. And because they control both houses of the Legislature, the measure sailed through easily, with barely any public input. The amendment deals with the redistricting process — how new maps, based on the Census, must be drawn and approved. And the changes essentially favor Dems and tie Republican hands, so Democrats will be free to draw lines to their advantage. Under...

The House speaker not only wants to use the coronavirus pandemic to entrench Obamacare, she wants to make taxpayers fund abortion in the process In the words of her former House colleague Rahm Emanuel, Nancy Pelosi never wants to let a crisis go to waste. The House speaker not only wants to use the coronavirus pandemic to entrench Obamacare, she wants to make taxpayers fund abortion in the process.A recent summary of the legislation Pelosi plans to introduce as an alternative to Senate Republicans’ “stimulus” bill laid out the strategy. House Democrats want to force insurers to reopen enrollment in...

Congressional leaders are likely to put a very ugly deal in front of the American people, and if it passes, America may be unrecognizable after this pandemic. But there is a way to stop it, if people on the populist left and people on the populist right work together. Here’s the situation. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and the Trump administration are negotiating a bailout package to address the coronavirus crisis. There’s been a lot of chatter about the need to support workers as the economy goes into a freeze.... But in the United States,...

A former senior Peace Corps official agreed to cooperate with any law enforcement investigations surrounding a scheme that funneled millions of Department of State dollars to a nonprofit founded and run by former Secretary of State John Kerry’s daughter, recently published court documents show. Warren “Buck” Buckingham agreed to cooperate as a condition of an agreement with the Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney’s Office that would keep him from facing prosecution for a related illegal lobbying charge, court documents filed Thursday and made public Tuesday show. (RELATED: Former Peace Corps Official Who Steered Contracts To John Kerry’s Daughter May Avoid Prosecution)...

Spend enough time around Capitol Hill and you’ll inevitably hear phrases like “Worse than Watergate,” or worse yet, “The Ukraine.” But, while the American people are being forced to watch the underwhelming, direct-to-DVD sequel of Watergate, some companies are taking advantage of the distraction to craft legislation that would be a boon to their bottom lines – and a disaster for everybody else, especially taxpayers. In particular, struggling mega-corporation Boeing is stealthily trying to use the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as its own personal piggy-bank while leaving taxpayers in the lurch by getting lawmakers to craft legislation giving Boeing...

President Donald Trump was elected on the pledge that he would “drain the swamp.” The swamp, as has been painfully obvious since day 1, has been fighting back. But not all of the swamp that thrives in Washington, DC, is in the intelligence community or actively working against the president. Much of it is institutional, bureaucratic, and more interested in scamming taxpayers out of as much money as possible. This part of the swamp, likely the largest part, operates under the radar, in offices with titles you’ve never heard of, overseen by the staffs of deputy assistant under secretaries of...

Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama have purchased a nearly 7,000-square-foot home on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts for $11.75 million, according to a report. The purchase price was recorded Wednesday with the local Registry of Deeds, the Vineyard Gazette reported. The Obamas paid about half the original asking price for the property

If you said it has something to do with his last name, the one shared by his older brother Vice President Joe Biden, you wouldn’t be far off. At

In June of 2017, then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decried leaks and said “Americans should exercise caution before accepting as true any stories attributed to anonymous ‘officials’ …” “Americans should be skeptical about anonymous allegations,”Rosenstein warned in a June 2017 statement. “The Department of Justice has a long-established policy to neither confirm nor deny such allegations.” BuzzFeed obtained through FOIA a tranche of emails from the Justice Department showing Rosenstein offering to be one of the ‘anonymous officials.’ About two weeks before Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel, he emailed a reporter [named redacted by BuzzFeed] and told them...