Free Republic

In order to prevent corruption and conflicts of interest within government, many major countries around the world require that their highest level leaders release annual reports disclosing their most recent income, tax returns, salary and personal net worth. For example, Barack Obama's, tax return last year showed that he and Michelle grossed $608,611 for the calendar year 2012 (his 2013 tax forms should be released soon). Most of that income came from Barack's book royalties and $400,000 Presidential salary. Believe it or not, Russia actually has the same requirement for its leaders. Including current President, Vladimir Putin. Last April, Putin...

... American science, long a source of national power and pride, is increasingly becoming a private enterprise. In Washington, budget cuts have left the nation’s research complex reeling. Labs are closing. Scientists are being laid off. Projects are being put on the shelf, especially in the risky, freewheeling realm of basic research. Yet from Silicon Valley to Wall Street, science philanthropy is hot, as many of the richest Americans seek to reinvent themselves as patrons of social progress through science research. ... Fundamentally at stake, the critics say, is the social contract that cultivates science for the common good. They...

Billionaire Warren Buffet’s iconic company Berkshire Hathaway will trade 1.6 million shares of Graham Holdings stock in exchange for WPLG, according to a report from Deadline It’s been known for a while that Buffett wants to exit Graham Holdings, formerly known as the Washington Post Co., who are left with only their TV stations and a business in the education sector. Buffett will allegedly get WPLG plus an unspecified amount of cash. The Washington Post company bought WPLG in 1969 and changed its call letters to WPLG in memory of Phillip L. Graham, the husband of Washington Post publisher Katherine...

DAVID GREENE, HOST: … wealthy donors like Tom Steyer are putting a pistol to someone's head, forcing their pet issues on candidates. Steyer himself sees things very differently. He quit his hedge fund with $1.5 billion and now in his view he's fighting as hard as he can with money and passion to do something very noble - save the planet. .. With plans to pour $100 million into key elections this year, Steyer joins this elite group of wealthy individuals trying to influence politicians and voters. Steyer says he doesn't agree with the growing influence of money in politics...

A vast country estate, marble-lined mansions, a private golf course and zoo: the unimaginable luxury of the private residence of departed Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych flung open for all to see. As parliament voted to oust Yanukovych Saturday and he fled to a pro-Russian bastion in east Ukraine after months of bloody protest again his rule, thousands of Ukrainians wondered awestruck around the breathtaking luxury of his abandoned property some 110 miles from Kiev after it was taken by demonstrators. "I am in shock," said retired military servicewoman Natalia Rudented, as she looked out over the manicured lawns studded with...

PARIS -- An environmentalist lies down alongside his fellow organic cucumber aficionados to block the construction of an oil pipeline and wakes up a member of a proxy army serving the billionaires who are fighting against America's economic and national security interests to line their own pockets. How did that happen? This phenomenon is on display in the battle against the Keystone XL pipeline project, the cornerstone of Canada-U.S. energy independence, set to run from Alberta, Canada, into Nebraska, then ultimately to the Gulf Coast of Texas where it can be exported. None of this pleases environmental activists, whose actions...

<p>George Soros is on board. So are a bunch of other billionaires, many of whom are also denizens of Wall Street.</p> <p>Why is it that so many of the 1% support so called “progressive” candidates? Why would they support those who seek to expand the footprint of government? Isn’t that against their interests?</p>

A Chinese billionaire is offering $1B Hong Kong dollars -- or $143,400,000 CAD [$129,574,375.80 USD] -- to any man who can turn his lesbian daughter straight. Cecil Chao Sze-tsung told a Malaysian newspaper his daughter is single, despite the fact she had a commitment ceremony with her longtime partner in 2012, and it's not too late to change her mind about men. But Gigi Chao told the South China Morning Post her father could offer up his entire fortune: "I don't think my dad's offering of any amount of money would be able to attract a man I would find...

January 06, 2014, 05:40 pm Michelle Obama crashes at Oprah's Hawaii pad By Emily Goodin SUVs, Secret Service agents and Oprah! Michelle Obama's extended Hawaii vacation plans have leaked thanks to security sightings reported by locals near Oprah Winfrey's tropical vacation home. The Maui News reports residents said saw police cars and black SUVs near Winfrey's home in Kula on the island of Maui. The talk show host owns several hundred acres on the island. Other residents told local news outlets that security personnel asked them to leave the area and that paparazzi have been spotted. President Obama left Hawaii,...

Despite the 6.5% stock market rally over the last three months, a handful of billionaires are quietly dumping their American stocks . . . and fast. Warren Buffett, who has been a cheerleader for U.S. stocks for quite some time, is dumping shares at an alarming rate. He recently complained of “disappointing performance” in dyed-in-the-wool American companies like Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and Kraft Foods. In the latest filing for Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett has been drastically reducing his exposure to stocks that depend on consumer purchasing habits. Berkshire sold roughly 19 million shares of Johnson...

The hagiographic New York Times article paints a picture of Bloomberg as a selfless philanthropist mayor. The reality is a good deal more complex. In the past, the city paid its mayor; Mr. Bloomberg paid to be the city’s mayor. That much is true only because Bloomberg did spend a lot of money on elections. But he wasn’t the first billionaire to run for office that way. An analysis by The New York Times shows that Mr. Bloomberg has doled out at least $650 million on a wide variety of perks and bonuses, political campaigns and advocacy work, charitable...

I've not read the official obituaries because they are predictable. "Billionaire." "Reclusive." "GOP donor." "Swift Boat Vets." "Industrialist." "Controversial." "Dallas." And there you have it: the death of a sinister figure driven by greed, the puppeteer manipulating the political process, a 21st century J.R. Ewing. (Or is it Mr. Burns?) If this is what you've read, it's written by someone who didn't know Harold Clark Simmons. I never knew a man quite like him. I met him in 1981 while panhandling for some political cause or another. Back then, he kept a ledger of his political donations on 5-by-7 cards....

October 16, 2013 A ground-breaking, new high-luxury residential tower, emblematic of contemporary and revolutionary architectural design, is showing signs of being the most anticipated project in the history of Miami Luxury Real Estate. The Porsche Design Towers, slated for erection sometime in 2016 on 2.2 acres of beachfront property along Collins Ave in Sunny Isles, will be one of the world’s first residential condominiums to have large glass elevators that transport residents-while still inside their cars- to their apartments. As residents arrive at the building and switch off their engines, an automatic platform will extend, scooping up the car and...

A restaurant manager from Tyler, Texas, briefly became the world’s first trillionaire earlier this week—until his $4 trillion bank balance was found to be an online glitch. In an interview with KLTV, Reggie Theus said he would have used $3 trillion of his windfall to pay down the national debt.

Billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has lost a defamation lawsuit against the National Jewish Democratic Council. Adelson asked for $60 million in damages, arguing the council libeled him by saying his political contributions were sullied by links to prostitution. On Monday, a federal judge in Manhattan found that the council’s speech was protected. Adelson, whom Forbes ranks as the ninth-richest American, is chief executive officer of the Las Vegas Sands Corp. and a major Republican donor. The lawsuit accused the council of “assassinating” Adelson’s character by saying he personally approved of prostitution in resorts owned by Sands China Limited, a...

Billionaire and Democratic Party financier George Soros got married Saturday and celebrated the nuptials with hundreds of his closest friends, including corporate executives, world leaders, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. …Soros, 83, married Tamiko Bolton, a healthcare consultant who is nearly half his age. She is his third wife. …

Sometimes, God simply laughs, and occasionally, he lets us into the joke. I saw THIS PICTUREof George Soros and his brand new bride on a FR thread. I noticed the text behind him, on the movie poster, and it simply SCREAMED for some attention.I created THIS:

NEW YORK – Billionaire political activist George Soros is the primary patron of New York mayoral frontrunner Bill de Blasio, WND has learned. Last month, the New York news media reported Soros had endorsed De Blasio’s mayoral bid but failed to disclose the billionaire’s major financial donation to the candidate’s nonprofit as well as De Blasio’s cozy working relationship with Soros-funded activist groups. “I am endorsing Bill de Blasio for Mayor because I believe he has the talent, vision and ability to lead New York City,” Soros said in a statement released by the de Blasio campaign in early August....

Democratic Virginia gubernatorial hopeful Terry McAuliffe recently met with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in an effort to get support from the billionaire politician, two sources familiar with the meeting told POLITICO. The pair met in New York a week-and-a-half ago, according to the sources. Aides to McAuliffe declined comment, and a Bloomberg spokesman did not respond to an email asking about the meeting.

The girlfriend at the center of the split between Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his wife will no longer be working side by side with her billionaire beau in the wake of the bombshell office romance that has rocked Silicon Valley, The Post has learned.