Free Republic

While the White House has continually threatened further sanctions against Russia for non-de-escalation (even as it un-de-escalates itself), the specifics of the additional sanctions have been sparse. German CEO warnings over blowback from economic sanctions... the "nonsense" of replacing Russian gas with US gas... the Russian warnings of "interdependence" and "boomerangs"... all reduce the West's arsenal of financial sanctions. But, as The Times of London reports, perhaps the US has found a crucial pain point for Putin - a sanctions regime that would target Putin's personal wealth, which includes a reported $40 billion stashed in Swiss bank accounts. As The...

As a child growing up in rural India in the 1960s and 1970s, Naveen Jain would gaze up at the moon and imagine a life beyond his modest surroundings. Today he's still gazing at the moon, but for far different reasons. Jain, 55, is co-founder of Moon Express, a Mountain View, Calif.-based company that's aiming to send the first commercial robotic spacecraft to the moon next year. This serial entrepreneur-he founded Internet companies Infospace and Intelius-believes that the moon holds precious metals and rare minerals that can be brought back to help address Earth's energy, health and resource challenges. Among...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid uses his official position to beat up on people. In private he may be a very nice man. In public he’s a thug and a bully who takes advantage of the way the U.S. Constitution immunizes him for any damage he may do to the reputations of others to attack everyone from those he’s called “shadowy billionaires” to ordinary, run-of-the-mill Americans who now find themselves stuck with health insurance plans they don’t like and with out-of-pocket expenses they cannot afford. It may not be fair to hold Reid accountable for what he has been saying...

Billionaire Oprah Winfrey is planning a tour to help you with your life. The Oprah Winfrey experience is coming to an arena near you. Starting in September, Winfrey will set out on an eight-city Oprah's The Life You Want Weekend tour. The plan: pack 18,000-seat arenas for a two-day experience featuring a keynote by Winfrey, who will share her personal story and advice on Friday night, and group activities and speakers picked by her on Saturday. Among those signed to participate: Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert, pastor Rob Bell, OWN star Iyanla Vanzant and, in certain cities, guru Deepak...

Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate and profligate Republican bankroller, would like to spend his fortune on a winning candidate in 2016. That's because Adelson and his wife dumped almost $93 million on the 2012 elections — nearly four times more than any other individual — most of it on losing candidates. And while that sum included $30 million for eventual GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, much of it was also wasted propping up Newt Gingrich's shaky primary campaign, and on various losing candidates around the country.

Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who along with his wife plowed more than $92 million into efforts to help mostly losing candidates in the 2012 elections, is undertaking a new strategy for 2016 — to tap his fortune on behalf of a more mainstream Republican with a clear shot to win the White House, according to people familiar with his thinking. In 2012, Sheldon and Miriam Adelson spent so much of their money on long-shot candidate Newt Gingrich that they helped extend an ugly intraparty fight that left the eventual nominee, Mitt Romney, severely bruised by the time he faced President...

Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, revealed in a recent interview that his family goes to a Catholic church and that religious morality inspires a lot of his charity work. He also shared his personal thoughts on God and the biggest issues facing the world today. "The moral systems of religion, I think, are super important. We've raised our kids in a religious way; they've gone to the Catholic church that Melinda goes to and I participate in. I've been very lucky, and therefore I owe it to try and reduce the inequity in the world. And that's...

Bill Gates, the multi billionaire who does not have an earned college degree or teaching certificate, never taught a day in the classroom, never worked in an educational system or one room school house is comparing the education of children to electrical outlets.

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....