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... Until recently, the consequences of climate change were thought to be so far into the future that many average people, including those who live in coastal zones, declared they needn’t bother; they’d be long dead by the time catastrophe struck. No more. Climate change is here, costing billions of dollars every year to recover from destructive events. Without adapting to that new reality, the world will confront rising costs of disasters that put economic growth, health, and in some places, even survival at risk. To spur action, a coalition led by billionaire Bill Gates, former United Nations Secretary General...

Allen passed away Monday afternoon in Seattle at 65 years old, Vulcan said. His sister, Jody, said he was "a remarkable individual on every level." "While most knew Paul Allen as a technologist and philanthropist, for us he was a much-loved brother and uncle, and an exceptional friend. Paul's family and friends were blessed to experience his wit, warmth, his generosity and deep concern," she said in a statement. "For all the demands on his schedule, there was always time for family and friends. At this time of loss and grief for us – and so many others – we...

Allen, longtime CEO of Microsoft, also ranked among the world's wealthiest individuals. As of Monday afternoon, he ranked 21st on Forbes' list of billionaires with an estimated net worth of $20.3 billion.

Washington ballot initiative I-1639 puts a 10-day waiting period on AR-15 purchases and raises the minimum age for AR-15 purchases to 21. The initiative also puts special background checks in place and adds other controls to such a degree that the Seattle Times reports the initiative’s passage will make “Washington’s firearms laws…among the strictest in the country.” Washington state made news by passing universal background checks via ballot initiative in 2014. The initiative was bankrolled by millionaires and billionaires such as Steve and Connie Ballmer, Nick and Lenore Hanauer, and Bill and Melinda Gates, among others. The campaign supporting the...

Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ramped up threats against special counsel Robert Mueller on Monday, calling him a "monster" and described shooting the former FBI Director. Jones' nearly 3-hour July 23 InfoWars broadcast ranged from rants about Hollywood pedophilia to social media "shadow bans" to outlandish allegations Mueller was personally involved in a child sex ring composed of left-leaning political figures. The InfoWars host went on to illustrate a "real world" threat against the former Marine Corps officer and Vietnam War veteran currently in charge of the Russian interference investigation of the 2016 presidential election. Jones took on a particularly...

Melinda Gates says she will preference women and non-whites over men and white people, specifically for these immutable characteristics that have nothing inherently to do with business success. Melinda Gates has decided to enter the venture capital world by sending her money to people based at least partly on their sex and skin color, she said in a recent Fortune interview. Disparate Outcomes Can Signal Broader Possibilities In the Fortune interview, Gates says “I think real change can occur when the VC community starts to demand that the people it invests in have diversity, the right values, and the right...

Microsoft founder Bill Gates discussed a meeting with President Trump in a recently unearthed video clip, playing up for the audience his opinions on Trump’s knowledge about medical science, among other things. In a clip aired by Chris Hayes on his MSNBC show All In, Microsoft founder Bill Gates discussed a meeting he had with President Trump while talking to staff members of his charity organization, the Gates Foundation. Gates stated that he met President Trump both before and after he was elected but began first by discussing a meeting he had with President Trump before he was elected.

It looks like this is as close to an apology or admission of failure as we're going to get, folks. Sorry about that $4 trillion and mangled years of education for American K-12 kids and teachers.

A galactic gold rush has been predicted for some time, with experts saying teams will race against each other to collect precious metals from space rocks. Earlier this year, physicist Michio Kaku described asteroids as “flying gold mine[s] in outer space” that could replenish any metal shortage on Earth. Examples of valuable asteroids include one rock measuring 3,000ft across that contains $5.4 trillion worth of platinum. And now it is predicted the first trillionaire will make their fortune in outer space. PRICELESS: One asteroid contains $5.4trillion worth of platinum __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson: “The first trillionaire there will...

EarthNow is a new company looking to provide satellite imagery and live video in virtually real-time. Its unsettling pitch describes a network of satellites that can see any corner of the globe and provide live video with a latency of about a second. And a look at the startup’s top investors gives a lot of confidence that this thing is happening. On Wednesday, EarthNow announced that it will emerge from the Intellectual Ventures ISF Incubator to become a full-scale commercial business. Its first round of investors is comprised of a small group of complimentary powerhouses: AirBus, the SoftBank Group, Bill...

Jolie and Gates topped the female and male lists for the third year in a row The survey, conducted by YouGov, features 20 men and 20 women, after polling 37,000 people in 35 countries Following Gates are former US President Barack Obama, actor Jackie Chan, President of China Xi Jingping and Chinese business magnate Jack Ma After Jolie are former US first lady Michelle Obama, TV host Oprah Winfrey, Queen Elizabeth II and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton In the US, Barack and Michelle Obama topped the poll for most admired people President Trump came second in the...

This is a shout out to all the Anons who have worked so hard for months on the Q boards to bake Q's drops for us. THANQ, Anons!. The Q team doesn't like it when they receive praise, but hey, they don't have time to read websites (FR) and besides, they can't stop me! THANQ, Q!!!! It just needed to be said. This thread is a friendly collaborative place for FReepers to analyze information and share opinons. FReepers have a wide variety of reasons for investigating Q Anon content; this is not the appropriate place to criticize or badger...

When one of the two richest people on the planet says that he is undertaxed, it makes for intriguing, self-righteous headlines. Bill Gates of Microsoft fame is worth an estimated $90 billion (plus or minus a few billion) and has long been an advocate for higher tax rates for ultra-rich people like himself. He and his wife operate the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has some $41.3 billion in assets, per KPMG’s Dec. 31, 2016 audit. Much of the money is the result of Gates’ and Warren Buffett’s pledges to leave half their fortunes or more to the foundation...

It’s been awhile since billionaire Bill Gates had to grocery shop among us plebs, so you’ll forgive him if he’s a little disconnected from the price of common items. The Microsoft co-founder appeared on “Ellen” yesterday, where the daytime host had him guessing costs of supermarket sundries like Rice-a-Roni, pizza rolls and forbidden snack-du-jour Tide Pods. SNIP Gates pegged Rice-a-Roni at $5 (it’s $1). He thought a container of Tide Pods cost $4. Please, it’s $19.97. After guessing an exorbitantly high cost for Totino’s Pizza Rolls, the audience took pity on him and pointed him to a more on-the-nose answer...

Microsoft founder and billionaire Bill Gates says he should pay more in taxes and that the government should require other superwealthy people like him to contribute "significantly higher" amounts. "I need to pay higher taxes," Gates, who is worth over $90 billion, said in an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria on Sunday. "I've paid more taxes, over $10 billion, than anyone else, but the government should require the people in my position to pay significantly higher taxes," he said. Gates, the second richest man in the world after Amazon's Jeff Bezos, didn't mince his words when it came to the...

Donald Trump should treat people – especially women – with more respect, and continue investments in poorer countries for the sake of global security, the world’s leading philanthropic couple Bill and Melinda Gates said on Tuesday. In remarks accompanying the annual letter to the public about global development issued by their philanthropic foundation, Melinda Gates said: “I wish our president would treat people, and especially women, with more respect when he speaks and tweets.” And Bill Gates warned that the proposed Trump administration budget could directly lead to millions of preventable deaths around the globe, due to proposed vast cuts...

Bill Gates and Gates Foundation were one of the main backers of the Common core education program. The US education system had been bad before Bill Gates, George HW Bush and Obama and No child left behind and Common Core. However, the last 17 years have been continued failure in improving education in the USA. The Gates Foundation has spent $3.4 billion on public education in the United States. They spent a lot on the development and implementation of the highly controversial Common Core State Standards – Gates now says that 60 percent of his new investment will go to...

PHOENIX - One of Bill Gates' investment firms has spent $80 million to kickstart the development of a brand-new community in the far West Valley. The large plot of land is about 45 minutes west of downtown Phoenix off I-10 near Tonopah. The proposed community, made up of close to 25,000 acres of land, is called Belmont. According to Belmont Partners, a real estate investment group based in Arizona, the goal is to turn the land into its own "smart city."

A real estate investment firm owned by Bill Gates recently bought a giant plot of land in Arizona for $80 million to be developed into a “smart city.” Arizona-based Belmont Partners, one of Gates’ investment firms, purchased close to 25,000 acres of land in Tonopah, around 50 miles west of Phoenix, to create a “smart city” called Belmont, KPNX reported.

Major American foundations have given millions of dollars in funding to Islamic organizations accused of having ties to radical Islamist movements or designated terrorist organizations and a group of activists are trying to convince them to stop. Groups like Islamic Relief Worldwide, which some countries have banned for allegedly funding Hamas and other terrorist organizations, have received millions of dollars from corporate charities like the GE Foundation, community foundations like the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and independent foundations like George Soros’ Open Society Foundation.Researchers with the Middle East Forum, an activist group devoted to promoting American interests abroad, identified the financial...