Free Republic

Despite being one of the most vocal “climate change” activists, Gates now owns four private jets. For several years, Gates has been one of the most prominent figures in advancing the globalist “Net Zero” agenda of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the United Nations (UN). However, the billionaire has come under mounting scrutiny for his use of private jets, one of the biggest contributors to the alleged “climate crisis.” But according to Gates, his own carbon-spewing jet-setting lifestyle is justified because he uses his vast wealth and influence to demand that the general public lowers their standard of living...

Bill Gates does not agree that using a private jet and campaigning on the issue of climate change represents a contradiction open to allegations of hypocrisy. During a wide-ranging interview with the BBC aired at the end of last week, Gates was asked for his view on the charge that a climate change campaigner using a private jet to travel around the world was a hypocrite. “Well, I buy the gold standard of, funding Climeworks, to do direct air capture that far exceeds my family’s carbon footprint,” the Microsoft co-founder, being interviewed in Kenya, replied. “And I spend billions of...

Vice President Kamala Harris made the absurd claim that Americans don’t need to compromise their religious values to be pro-abortion. While claiming to be a devout Catholic, Harris declared that getting an abortion, i.e. killing an innocent life, has nothing to do with God or religious beliefs. When asked what Harris would say “to someone who understands why abortion should be a personal decision between a pregnant person and whomever else they decide to include in the conversation but believes they can't reconcile it with their faith?” Harris responded that the decision should only involve the pregnant woman’s decision. “That's...

After spending literally years imposing heavy-handed mask and vaccine mandates and President Joe Biden declaring that a “winter of death” was upon us due to the Omicron COVID variant, the hypocritical Democratic Governors Association is holding a meeting of blue-state governors in sunny, free Florida. Leaders such as New York’s Governor Kathy Hochul and New Jersey’s Governor Phil Murphy, two of the biggest proponents of suppressive COVID mandates, are now jetting off to a state that refused to impose mask and vaccine mandates, so they are free to party and enjoy themselves free of restrictions. Following in the footsteps of...

At this point, you gotta think Democrats are just trolling America. AOC, why don’t you go down to Florida and party maskless? Then come back and lecture people about how rugged individualism should be rejected. It’ll be hilarious. Eric Garcetti, go pose with Magic Johnson bare-faced and then say you were holding your breath! Holy cow, they bought it! How far can we push this? I got it: Stacey Abrams, go sit maskless in front of a bunch of schoolchildren who are forced to wear masks every day even though the science is crystal clear that they don’t need to....

California Gov. Gavin Newsom was the latest Democrat officeholder to flout the “science!” on mask mandates when he was photographed sans mask at the Rams-49ers playoff game, accompanied by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and San Francisco Mayor London Breed. It wasn’t the first time Newsom demonstrated that Covid rules are only for pleb workers, small business owners, and children, and not for their lordships in public office and high society. In November 2020, when the rest of the state was being told to lock down and shut up, it was revealed that Newsom and a dozen other unmasked guests...

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) was seen maskless at a Washington, D.C. gala over the weekend despite pushing for a "permanent" mask mandate in her own state. Brown was a "featured guest" at the LGBTQ Victory Fund’s 30th anniversary gala in D.C. Saturday and was spotted without a mask, as seen in a photo posted to Twitter by an attendee. And while the indoor mask mandate in D.C. was lifted last month by Mayor Muriel Bowser and virtually no other attendees were wearing a mask, Brown's appearance at the gala came just days after news broke that Oregon was considering...

In early November, as health officials warned of a impending COVID-19 spike, Austin Mayor Steve Adler hosted an outdoor wedding and reception with 20 guests for his daughter at a trendy hotel near downtown. The next morning, Adler and seven other wedding attendees boarded a private jet bound for Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where they vacationed for a week at a family timeshare. One night into the trip, Adler addressed Austin residents in a Facebook video: “We need to stay home if you can. This is not the time to relax. We are going to be looking really closely. …...

There are a lot of empty tables inside restaurants in Philly due to the orders of Mayor Jim Kenney, who nevertheless enjoyed indoor dining this weekend in Maryland. The Maryland restaurant is owned by the mayor’s friend; but Pa. chefs fume that the mayor is a job-killing hypocrite. Chefs and restaurant owners in Philadelphia are sizzling hot over a photo showing Mayor Jim Kenney, who banned indoor dining in Philly due to COVID-19, enjoying an indoor restaurant meal in Maryland. 6ABC in Philadelphia reports the mayor’s office confirmed that he went to a friend’s restaurant in Maryland on Sunday. This...

[Catholic Caucus] Francis Takes From Ischia That Which He Bestows On China The diocese of Ischia is as small as the island that bears this name, celebrated since antiquity for its hot springs.But curiously, its history crossed paths a few days ago with that of China, the Asian giant with which Pope Francis is enamored. So enamored as to present to the Chinese rulers - with the secret provisory accord signed on September 22, 2018 - the right to choose for themselves every Catholic bishop in the future, although the pope will have the faculty of accepting or rejecting the...

WHEN SHEILA JACKSON LEE first came to Washington in January 1995, the Texas Democrat railed against the Capitol's silk-stockinged elite. "The American people want reform, not phony but real reform," she said in her debut House speech. "They want to know that the days of free meals and free trips and special privileges are over. . . . As Members of Congress, we should not be using public office for private gain." How times change. It's about 200 paces from the awning of Jackson Lee's Capitol Hill apartment to the marbled steps of the Cannon House Office Building, where her...

Citibank, in particular, played a major role in one of the Trump’s organization’s more notorious bankruptcies, when the Trump Plaza Hotel in Atlantic City was underwater and Trump owed over $550 million on it to various creditors, with Citibank at the head. In order to restructure his debt, Trump gave Citibank and other creditors a 49% ownership interest in the hotel.As for Goldman Sachs, Trump is himself a shareholder in Goldman Sachs, which means he has a direct financial interest in its success. One would think that would make Trump even less enthusiastic about protecting me from Goldman Sachs (whatever...

Harry Reid is set to “go nuclear.” He wants to end the filibuster as it applies to appellate court nominations — not by a two-thirds vote of the Senate, as Senate rules require, but by a simple majority. And given the short memories now in evidence, he may just succeed. On Monday, for the third time in less than a month, Senate Republicans filibustered an Obama nominee to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. That’s the court that’s checked the president more than once, as when it said he couldn’t make “recess appointments” when the Senate wasn’t in...

It’s time for Ted Cruz to become a Senator. The mini-McCarthy has made much use of his title in the few months he’s had it, linking Chuck Hagel to Iran, misleading on gun control, punching out of his league with Diane Feinstein, and generally acting like a petulant teenager rather than a crafter of legislation. That’s because he’s largely avoided crafting legislation at all—unless you count amendments to repeal Obamacare or spitting in the general direction the United Nations

President Obama and his wife, Michelle, reported adjusted gross income of $789,674 in 2011 and paid just over 20 percent of it to the federal government in taxes. Their income declined nearly $1 million from the previous year, when the president was reaping larger amounts from sales of his bestselling books. The numbers were disclosed in the Obamas’ federal income tax return and gift-tax return, released Friday by the White House, along with those of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Obama paid $162,074 in income taxes, an effective tax rate of 20.5 percent. In a statement,...

The malady is far more serious than a mere affinity for mandates. When I read that Donald Berwick had resigned from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), I nearly shouted for joy. The cheer died on my lips, however, when my eye caught the following headline among those retrieved when I sent my search engine after more information: "Gingrich-Endorsed Health Care Expert Don Berwick Forced to Resign." Surely, I thought, the gods cannot be this cruel. But they are, of course, as another search confirmed. Newt has indeed lauded Berwick as a pioneer in the quest to improve...

In my Weekend Interview with Rand Paul last Saturday, the new Senator-elect from Kentucky appeared to soften his fervent opposition during the campaign to earmarks and pork-barrel spending. I reported the shift, while noting his continued distaste for earmarks as a symbol of runaway spending and his eagerness to change the way such spending gets appropriated. His comments have since attracted attention and criticism, and his aides now say that I misunderstood his comments. I stand by the story as written, but in the interest of full disclosure we are posting the full transcript of the relevant section of the...

The Mojave Desert—last seen on our virtual pages when the SpaceShipTwo was unveiled—has leapt into the news again today, thanks to Senator Dianne Feinstein's legislation which will stop 13 solar plants and wind turbines from moving in. It'll certainly be a hindrance to California's plans of generating a third of their electricity from the renewable energy made from the million acres that had been slated for the eco-friendly wind-traps. Feinstein's reason for blocking the move is due to the national monuments which were promised to the area a decade ago, the land having been donated by an environmental group. Sure,...

It was a campaign pledge that Barack Obama didn't dare break - a promise to take his wife out for dinner and a show once the election was over. So on the weekend he booked a babysitter, asked Michelle to put on a little black dress and swept her off for a date. The President picked up the tab for a meal at a low-key restaurant, Blue Hill, that specialises in locally grown dishes. He had also paid £60 apiece for two tickets to Joe Turner's Come And Gone, a play about a man coming to terms with the history...

Even during Earth Hour. President of the Tennessee Center For Policy Research Drew Johnson takes a Saturday drive by Al Gore’s during the time most environmentalists went dark: I pulled up to Al’s house, located in the posh Belle Meade section of Nashville, at 8:48pm – right in the middle of Earth Hour. I found that the main spotlights that usually illuminate his 9,000 square foot mansion were dark, but several of the lights inside the house were on. In fact, most of the windows were lit by the familiar blue-ish hue indicating that floor lamps and ceiling fixtures were...