Free Republic

For months, Kevin Warsh’s path to the Federal Reserve chairmanship ran straight through one Republican senator who refused to budge: Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Tillis had made clear he would block Warsh’s confirmation until the Justice Department dropped what he called an illegitimate criminal probe of current Fed Chair Jerome Powell. On Friday, the DOJ dropped it. On Sunday, Tillis dropped his block. The Senate Banking Committee is now expected to vote Wednesday on Warsh’s nomination. A floor vote could follow before Powell’s term as chair expires on May 15. Tillis had made his position clear since January, when...

Did you know that a secretive thing called private equity owns almost 10 per cent of the UK economy? Did you know that it controls the jobs of several million people and may well own your local hospital, water supply, children’s school or even your home? No? Here is a book that aims to straighten you out on all that. Private equity is one of those things that you either know about or don’t. If you are in the finance business you know, because it is the story of the past quarter century. If you are not in that world,...

ADVANCING MOST-FAVORED-NATION (MFN) PRICING: Today, President Donald J. Trump announced the 17th agreement with a major pharmaceutical manufacturer, Regeneron, to lower prescription drug prices that Americans pay for some of the world’s most innovative drugs, in line with the lowest prices paid by other developed nations (known as the most-favored-nation, or MFN, price). The agreement will provide every State Medicaid program in the country access to MFN drug prices on new Regeneron products, resulting in hundreds of millions in savings and continuing President Trump’s historic efforts to strengthen the program for the most vulnerable Americans.The agreement ensures foreign nations can...

FORT WORTH, TEXAS — A long-time cattle rancher said Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration understands his industry and what it needs to continue producing quality beef for the American people. Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) Director Steve Sikes told Breitbart News that under past administrations, ranchers were pressured by rules that made their work more difficult, but things have since changed. “We’ve got the EPA that is run pretty well, and in the past that was always a deterrent for ranchers because they were putting in rules that were almost impossible to cope with. They had a...

Suspected Somali pirates hijacked a fuel tanker off the northeastern coast of Somalia, according to a local official and the British military. The vessel was seized on Wednesday in waters between the coastal towns of Hafun and Bandarbeyla in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland along the Indian Ocean. The tanker had departed from the port of Berbera and was heading to the Somali capital of Mogadishu when it was intercepted, a colonel with the Puntland Maritime Police Force told The Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to a journalist.

Beneath rolling storm clouds and a spattering of spring rain, about two dozen people holding blue and white signs march in front of Harvard University’s Science Center. Circling around a young woman holding a megaphone, their chants ricochet off stately brick buildings dotting the campus. The woman in the middle shouts: “What’s outrageous?” “Harvard’s wages!” the crowd replies. ... The strike comes at a tenuous time for Harvard, which has endured the glare of the national spotlight as President Donald Trump assails the university with the full force of the U.S. government. Harvard has faced government lawsuits, billions of dollars...

The White House is reportedly considering a plan to take over Spirit Airlines and use part of the bankrupt carrier’s fleet for military missions. Under the proposal, President Trump would invoke the Defense Production Act to loan Spirit Airlines money for national defense purposes, CBS News reported on Friday. The Pentagon would then use the budget airline’s “excess capacity for transporting troops, military cargo or other missions,” the outlet said, citing sources. Spirit’s creditors would need to sign off on the strategy. The company, known for its bright-yellow planes and low-cost fares, has declared bankruptcy twice in the past two...

A converted Muslim’s federal lawsuit accuses a private security company of discrimination by rejecting her for employment because of her faith and her traditional religious headscarf. The lawsuit filed in St. Louis on Zahraa Imani Ali’s behalf against Securitas Security Services seeks class-action status. …

Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) broke ranks Thursday morning and voted against a budget resolution that could set the stage for ending the two-month shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Murkowski, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, opposed the budget resolution because it would lay the groundwork for passing a budget reconciliation package to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol for 3 1/2 years — effectively taking those two key agencies out of the annual congressional appropriations process. Murkowski supports funding those critical immigration enforcement agencies, but she didn’t like that...

In today’s politics, you don’t need a solution — you just need someone to blame. And more often than not, that someone is “the rich.” Say “Billionaires shouldn’t exist” and the crowd cheers. Say “They’re not paying their fair share” and the clip spreads like wildfire. It’s one of the most reliable applause lines in modern political life — and that’s the appeal. Economic inequality is real. But listen to how it’s discussed, and something else becomes clear: This isn’t really about solving anything. It’s about blame. From Sen. Bernie Sanders’ calls to “tax the billionaires” to Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s...

Seattle could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue as Starbucks expands operations in Tennessee, a local outlet estimates. Fox 13 Seattle reported Tuesday that the Emerald City "could lose up to $750 million in tax revenue in the coming years as Starbucks expands in Tennessee instead of Washington." In a press release Tuesday, Starbucks announced it will invest $100 million and bring 2,000 new jobs to Nashville. "Starbucks has major plans for its newest business location, where it will employ up to 2,000 people over the next several years to serve in a variety of corporate-related operations,"...

BEIJING: China's Commerce Ministry said on Friday (Apr 24) it was banning exports of dual-use items to seven European entities over arms sales to Taiwan, placing them immediately on its export control list, in a rare case of Europe-targeted, Taiwan-related sanctions. The entities, including German defence electronics firm Hensoldt and Belgian-based defence and sporting arms manufacturer FN Browning, have participated in arms sales to Taiwan or "colluded with Taiwan", a commerce ministry spokesperson said in a statement.

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A useful rule of thumb is that when a problem persists for decades despite serious effort, the failure is usually not one of effort or intelligence, but of framing. Climate change sits squarely in this category. We have poured talent, capital, policy, and good intentions into solving it, and yet the core dynamics continue to worsen. This suggests that something foundational is off in how we are thinking about the problem. One of the clearest illustrations of that deeper issue sits far from financial centers and climate summits, in the Arctic. About 50 years ago, Denmark made a decision that...

Retail giant Nike has announced a fresh wave of job cuts, slashing around 1,400 roles on Thursday in a move set to send shockwaves through its workforce. The latest layoffs - which are understood to fall heavily on its technology division - come as the sportswear behemoth pushes ahead with a major overhaul aimed at sharpening its competitive edge. Bosses insist the cuts form part of its aggressive 'Win Now' strategy, designed to streamline operations and position the company for future growth in an increasingly challenging retail landscape.

A job listing, first unearthed by Yellowhammer News on Thursday, reveals the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) was hit with an 11-count indictment amid an ongoing search for a new CEO. According to the listing, the nonprofit is willing to pay up to $525,000 per year for a new top executive to lead the SPLC into its “Next Chapter.” Though only posted to the third-party job listing website, Daybook, on Wednesday, the listing has been available on a job board maintained by the headhunting firm, Korn Ferry, since December 19, 2025. According to the listing, the next CEO of the...

AI chip design startup Verkor.io claims, in a research paper published in March, that its agentic AI system, Design Conductor, autonomously produced a complete RISC-V CPU core — taking a 219-word requirements document and generating a verified, layout-ready design in 12 hours, which is orders of magnitude faster than the standard 18- to 36-month timelines seen in commercial chip design. This is the first time an autonomous agent has built a working CPU from spec to GDSII layout file, according to Verkor. The resulting processor — VerCore — is a five-stage pipelined, in-order, single-issue core that met timing at 1.48...

Tim Cook is ending his illustrious stint as chief executive of Apple. The soft-spoken operator accomplished the near impossible, filling the shoes of the visionary co-founder Steve Jobs, turning the iPhone from a cultural phenomenon into a financial juggernaut and transforming his company into a $4 trillion goliath — growing its market value by $682 million per day, on average, for 15 years. By the metrics investors care about, Mr. Cook is nothing short of a rock star. But when one considers his role in the sweep of American history, his legacy grows more complicated, for much of Apple’s success...

California's goal of having 100% of new cars sold be electric vehicles by 2035 may be hitting a roadblock. A new report shows a steady decline in sales over the past six months, but experts say that while electric vehicle sales have dropped, they will likely bounce back sooner than we think. The latest report from the California New Car Dealers Association shows zero-emission vehicles made up just 13.7% of the market in the first quarter, down sharply from 21% for all of 2025 and marking the lowest share since late 2021. Total EV registrations dropped more than 40% year-over-year.

Four hundred inquiries from American farmers poured in after a single interview. Not for a John Deere. Not for a Case IH. For a tractor built in Alberta with a remanufactured 1990s diesel engine and zero electronics. Ursa Ag, a small Canadian manufacturer, is assembling tractors powered by 12-valve Cummins engines — the same mechanically injected workhorses that powered combines and pickup trucks decades ago — and selling them for roughly half the price of comparable machines from established brands. The 150-horsepower model starts at $129,900 CAD, about $95,000 USD. The range-topping 260-hp version runs $199,900 CAD, around $146,000. Try...