Free Republic

The temporary piers established at President Biden’s order have run way over budget and caused several issues since USAID commenced deliveries, leading some lawmakers to question the value of the operation. "At the end of the day, it's unnecessarily putting our people in harm's way. It's costing a lot. It's pulling assets that should be used elsewhere, and I just don't think it's going to accomplish anything near what he's promised," Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital in an interview. President Biden, during his State of the Union speech in March, pledged to establish a temporary pier in...

President Biden told graduates of the U.S. Military Academy Saturday to stay true to their values as they face threats and turmoil across the globe. “Hold fast to your values that you learned here at West Point,” Biden told the graduates. He said they will have to uphold the oath they took on their first day at West Point. An oath taken to “not a political party, not to a president, but to the Constitution of the United States of America, against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

Pixar Animation Studios is laying off about 14% of its workforce, or around 175 employees. The cuts are part of Disney CEO Bob Iger’s overarching mandate to focus on the quality of its content, not the quantity. Pixar will refocus on theatrical releases and move away from short-form series for Disney+. ... Pixar will lay off about 175 employees, or around 14% of the studio’s workforce ... Layoffs hit other Disney businesses last year, but Pixar’s cuts were delayed because of production schedules ... Iger, who returned to the mantle of CEO in late 2022, has been working to reverse...

Harrison Butker fiercely defended the controversial Benedictine College commencement speech he gave earlier this month during Friday evening’s Regina Caeli Academy Courage Under Fire Gala. “If it wasn’t clear that the timeless Catholic values are hated by many, it is now,” the Kansas City Chiefs kicker, who is on the board of the Catholic homeschool hybrid school, said while at the fundraiser. “Over the past few days, my beliefs — or what people think I believe — have been the focus of countless discussions around the globe.”

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America Reports,” Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, blasted the U.N. as an enemy of “the values of America and the free world” that is used to “whitewash” the crimes of dictators and rogues and argued that unless there are fundamental reforms to the organization, the United States should give consideration to defunding the U.N.

In mid-2022, Gazprom restricted gas flows to Europe in what was seen as a move by Putin to get both leverage against Kyiv's allies ahead of the winter season and retaliate against Western sanctions and support of Ukraine. But the EU managed to find alternative long-term sources of gas imports and free itself from most Russian piped-gas imports ... Gazprom's revenue fell by 41 percent year-over-year in the first half of 2023, while sales profits dropped 71 percent and gas production by 25 percent... The report said the company's upstream gas-production base is now isolated because infrastructure connecting its main...

Republican Gov. Chris Sununu is predicting that President Joe Biden's $167 billion student loan forgiveness plan is actually going to come back and bite him. Just this week, Biden cancelled another $7.7 billion for 160,000 Americans, in a push that critics view as an attempt to 'buy votes' ahead of the 2024 election. But Sununu tells DailyMail.com in an exclusive sit-down interview this week that no debt is actually being wiped out. 'We've just transferred it to somebody else. Somebody still carries that debt...and it's still to be paid by all of America.' 'The political benefit that Biden thinks he's...

On Friday’s edition of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-IL) argued against cuts to SNAP benefits because “people are aching” due to inflation, but argued that’s not Joe Biden’s fault and there were supply chain issues. After discussing crop insurance, Jackson said, [relevant remarks begin around 1:05:50] “I’ve come to look at SNAP as food insurance and family insurance that the government uses. So, when people cannot do for themselves, I think the government should help them. When the people can do for themselves, the government needs to step back. Right now, people are aching. There’s been auto...

We've seen this happen at other major papers. Earlier this year the LA Times had layoffs that impacted about 20 percent of the staff. The union held a walkout over the cuts which accomplished absolutely nothing. Basically they were demanding that the billionaire owner keep writing checks of up to a million dollars per month to keep the paper afloat despite there being no sign that it was ever going to make a profit at that staffing level. It was like watching spoiled adult children demand that mom and dad keep paying their rent.Things are looking at least as bad...

Where did China get the idea to dominate specific sectors of the tech industry by pushing out US competitors? The plan, known as "Made in China 2025," was at least partly inspired by a 300-page book written for them by McKinsey and Company, an American strategy and management consulting firm. The Financial Times was the first to report on McKinsey's contribution to China's 13th five-year plan back in February.A McKinsey-led think-tank advised China to deepen co-operation between business and the military and push foreign companies out of sensitive industries as part of a project for the central government in 2015.The...

The Department of Defense has awarded Fincantieri Marinette Marine a contract to build two U.S. Navy frigates, according to the daily Pentagon contract announcements.The contract, valued at more than $1 billion, is for two Constellation-class Frigates, FFG 66 and FFG 67. The Navy selected the company to build the Constellation-class frigate in 2020.“The team at Fincantieri Marine Group is committed to support the U.S. Navy, and the Constellation program will be the centerpiece of our portfolio for decades,” said Marco Galbiati, CEO of Ficantieri Marinette Marine, in a news release.The company received the contract for the lead ship of the...

More than 40 mayors and county officials across the United States are pleading with President Joe Biden to expedite work permits to funnel millions of migrants, released into the nation’s interior, into American jobs. In a letter to Biden this week, New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D), Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D), Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (D), and 38 other mayors and county officials asked the federal government, again, to quickly get work permits to potentially millions of migrants who have been released into the U.S. interior.

The owners of 64 New York City office buildings are eyeing a drastic transformation: turning their commercial properties into housing, according to fresh data from the Department of City Planning. In an interview with Gothamist, City Planning Director Dan Garodnick revealed that these owners or their reps have reached out to the city’s Office Conversion Accelerator Program to do so. This initiative aims to simplify the labyrinth of rules and building codes, assisting owners in repurposing their spaces. It’s a key part of Mayor Eric Adams’ bold plan to create 20,000 new apartments over the next decade, easing the Big...

An eighth pro-life activist was sentenced on Wednesday under the Freedom of Access the Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and “conspiracy against rights” for an abortion clinic protest in Washington, DC, in October 2020. Heather Idoni, 59, was sentenced to 24 months in prison, with credit for the nine months she has already served since being found guilty in August 2023, the Department of Justice announced. Seven other pro-life activists were sentenced to years in federal prison last week for protesting at the Washington Surgi-Clinic in Washington, DC, an abortion clinic infamous for late-term abortions. Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) activist Lauren...

One of NATO’s primary missions is to spread instability throughout the world, using the military-industrial complex to bully and intimidate countries non-compliant with a militant anti-family anti-God agenda flowing out of Western capitals and promoted by Western media. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg asserted on Friday the alliance's commitment to defending the rights of LGBTQ individuals, aligning with numerous Western officials, institutions, and organizations in commemorating the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia. (snip) NATO is no longer seen by most nations of the world as a defensive alliance. NATO launched offensive wars against Yugoslavia in 1999 and Libya...

HOUSTON, May 23 (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump raised tens of millions of dollars during a fundraising swing through Texas this week, promising he would support the oil and gas industry by backing new pipelines and restoring fracking on federal land. [cut] A Houston fundraiser on Wednesday was hosted by oil billionaires Jeff Hildebrand, founder of Hilcorp Energy, the largest closely held U.S. oil firm; George Bishop, founder of GeoSouthern Energy; Harold Hamm, founder of Continental Resources; and Kelcy Warren, head of pipeline firm Energy Transfer Partners. Trump drew standing ovations when he promised to get more natural...

Interest payments on the nation’s ballooning debt just eclipsed spending on defense and Medicare, worrying policy experts who have warned this threatens to undermine U.S. economic stability. In the first seven months of fiscal year 2024, which began in October, spending on net interest surged to $514 billion, surpassing spending on both national defense ($498 billion) and Medicare ($465 billion). In fact, interest costs have topped spending on veterans, education and transportation combined. Rising debt will continue to put upward pressure on interest rates," the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a nonpartisan group that advocates for lowering the...

Washington’s addiction to deficit spending — a rare bipartisan habit — is unlikely to change, no matter the electoral outcome in November. A deep conviction exists on both sides of the political divide that fiscal consolidation, whether achieved through less spending or higher taxes, reduces growth. What this political consensus misses, however, are situations in which the classic trade-off is suspended — when smaller deficits can counterintuitively deliver more growth. Today’s macroeconomic environment is ripe for such an approach. Compared to the years before the pandemic, fiscal policy — government spending and taxation — has kept a foot on the...

Claim: A new campaign commercial from Joe Biden — narrated by Hollywood star Robert De Niro — revives the left’s Trump “bloodbath” hoax. The 30-second ad features a clip of former President Donald Trump saying, “If I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath.” The commercial displays the word “Bloodbath” in large font over the clip. Verdict: Misleading and false. The clip, which is from a March rally in Ohio, is taken out of context. Trump was using the word “bloodbath” to refer to the U.S. auto industry as well as the overall economy if he is not...

Colorado has long drawn on its high-altitude sunshine and wintry winds for energy. Now Gov. Jared Polis (D) is determined to tap into another renewable resource: one simmering under the Centennial State’s surface. “The low-cost workhorses of the clean energy economy will always be solar and wind energy, especially in places like Colorado that have great wind and great sun,” Polis told The Hill in a Zoom interview this week. But as states strive to cut down on fossil fuels like coal and natural gas, they are left with an incomplete solution to the energy transition puzzle and need to...