Free Republic

INTRODUCTION On April 29, 2026, Sen. Bernie Sanders convened a 75-minute panel in the US Capitol on “the existential threat of AI.” Two of the four panelists were Chinese government affiliates: Zeng Yi, Dean of the Beijing Institute of AI Safety and Governance, and Xue Lan, a Tsinghua University professor who chairs China’s national AI governance expert committee and serves as a Counsellor of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. From a US Senate platform, Xue called the US-China AI race “an inaccurate narrative” and argued for “safe zones” of cooperation on AI safety. The event was...

President Trump arrived in China alongside a delegation of billionaire U.S. executives, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, underscoring the high stakes for American companies as Washington and Beijing negotiate over trade, artificial intelligence and the Iran war. The executives — whose combined net worth approaches $1 trillion — lead companies with major business interests in China, despite years of trade disputes between the world's two largest economies… Filmmaker Brett Ratner, who directed the documentary "Melania," was also on the flight. Additional U.S. business leaders who are traveling to Beijing include Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, with...

This silly bartender would make a great professor for Communism 101. AOC will never be anything more than an airheaded bartender with dung for brains. It doesn’t matter if other dung-for-brains morons with the power of the vote were to ever elect her as president; she is, and always will be, a preeminent example of a failed education system and the worst that America has to offer: [X post at source article] Sure, someone with a mind like AOC literally can’t earn a billion dollars, but some people can. Ignoring government cronyism and the fake free market (we have too...

.......That would be Warren Kinsella, a native Canadian with an impressive résumé and a long list of accomplishments. In this riveting interview, featured on Israpundit.org, he relates how in his experience in running political campaigns — and being the campaign manager for Prime Minister Jean Chrétien (1993–2003) — he instantly recognized that the virtual explosion of worldwide anti-Semitism after October 7, 2023 was significantly similar to...yes, political campaigns, in which those who run them are primarily concerned with (1) Volunteers, (2) Leadership, (3) Messaging, (4) Money, (5) Advertising, and (6) Social Media. The campaign against Israel, Mr. Kinsella said, was...

Don’t break up because of that Mam! New York leaders are desperately trying to stop billionaire bigwigs from hightailing it out of the Big Apple with their cash, businesses and thousands of jobs — as fears mount that Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s policies will accelerate the Empire State’s nation-leading loss of wealth. The splashy one-two punch of Citadel CEO Ken Griffin and Apollo Global Management honcho Marc Rowan pledging to expand outside New York City has been coupled with a silent wave of businesses “quiet quitting” the city over its hostile environment, insiders told The Post. The burgeoning biz bolt has...

I think it has been pretty obvious for a long time that AOC's fundamental belief about capitalism is that it's a bad system which only exists because rich people want to take advantage of poor people. Today, there's a new podcast out hosted by Ilana Glazer in which AOC goes on a rant about billionaires. Her basic argument is that no one can legitimately earn a billion dollars. It's simply impossible. AOC: “There’s a certain level of wealth and accumulation that is unearned. You can’t earn a billion dollars. You just can’t earn that. You can get market power, you...

Yes, Elon Musk is significantly richer than the combined wealth of all British billionaires. As of early May 2026: Elon Musk's net worth is approximately $800–840 billion (Forbes real-time estimates around $789B–$839B recently, with peaks above $840B). All UK billionaires combined: There are roughly 54–55 British billionaires with a total net worth of about £185 billion (~$230–245 billion USD). Musk's fortune alone is roughly 3–3.5 times the total wealth of every UK billionaire. Even the top UK individuals (e.g., Michael Platt ~$19–21B, Jim Ratcliffe ~$17–18B, James Dyson ~$15B) are each a small fraction of Musk's wealth. Key Context Net worth...

Philanthropy among the world's wealthiest is under renewed scrutiny as donors debate what meaningful generosity looks like…difficulty comes from trying to ensure donations create real impact rather than good publicity, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said. "The biggest challenge I find with my foundation is trying to give money away in a way that is truly beneficial to people," Musk said on the "WTF is" podcast, hosted by Nikhil Kamath. He added that it is easy to give money away "to get the appearance of goodness" and much harder to reach "the reality of goodness." The Musk Foundation's philanthropy — roughly...

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and first lady Rama Duwaji have been invited to the Met Gala — but won’t be attending, sources tell Page Six. New York City’s mayor is traditionally invited by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the lavish event every year, but we’re told that Mamdani, 34, won’t be joining Condé Nast’s Anna Wintour and her coterie of celeb guests on Monday, May 4. “He’s not coming,” said a source. “And it would be foolish if he did … can you imagine? It goes against everything he believes in.” Indeed, the event is being financially subsidized by Amazon...

Here come the morality police: About 1-in-3 people under the age of 30 say being extremely wealthy is “morally wrong.” Just 19% say it’s acceptable, and another near-50% don’t think it’s an issue one way or another. That data comes from the latest Pew Research Center poll on morality. Compare Gen-Z to Boomers, and data becomes even more stark. Only 10% of those over 65 say it’s morally wrong to be extremely wealthy. But that checks out. Those over 65 have enjoyed one of the greatest growth engines in human history, post World War II America. Cheap education, cheap homes...

Governments habitually lie. They lie so often that it is peculiar for governments to claim “authority” on anything other than falsehood. Before the Gutenberg press and general literacy, “authorities” announced self-serving lies in the public square. With the arrival of newsprint, “authorities” disseminated State propaganda as daily news. Radio and television revolutionized the mass manipulation of minds. The adoption of the personal computer, the rise of the Internet, the commercialization of pocket computers posing as handheld phones, and the sticky web of an ever-growing social media complex have made it possible for government “authorities” to reach inside every human brain...

We’ve spent many an article bringing you the foibles of California. Gov. Gavin Newsom and his Democrat supermajority (there are currently 90 Democrats running Sacramento's legislature, with only 30 Republicans) have brought high taxes, crime, homelessness, rampant illegal immigration, and (in)affordability. These are just a few of the issues they have faceplanted on, turning the state that was not so long ago a place where people once dreamed of living into a laughingstock. heir latest boneheaded proposition is to further tax billionaires, who already pay a massive share of the state's revenue. Whether or not you like really, really rich...

The socialist left was on parade in the final innings of 2025. The long cold shadow cast by “The 2026 Billionaire Tax Act,” a ballot initiative in California to be voted on in November, has led tech billionaires to take flight out of the state and land in the zero-income-tax paradises of Texas and Florida. The initiative seeks a one-time 5 percent tax on the worldwide net worth of anyone stupid enough to be a Californian with assets worth more than $1 billion as of January 1, 2026. That meant anyone in the three comma club had to hightail it...

I just wrote about some of the billionaires fleeing California to avoid the proposed "one time" wealth tax which would take 5% of everything they own. But the LA Times points out it's not just the very wealthy who are fleeing the state. Once again, California topped a list put together by U-Haul showing the most out-migration.U-Haul’s survey of the more than 2.5 million one-way trips using its vehicles in the U.S. last year showed that the gap between the number of people leaving and the number arriving was higher in California than in any other state.While the Golden State...

Multiple high-dollar donors to the Clinton Foundation are associated with the New York Times, including the Times’ top shareholder, Carlos Slim. Slim, a Mexican telecom tycoon whose net worth of nearly $80 billion makes him the second richest man in the world, became the top shareholder of the New York Times earlier this year after he doubled his shares to take control of 16.8 percent of the company. Not only has Slim contributed between $1,000,001 and $5,000,000 to the Clinton Foundation, but his company Telmex has contributed an additional grant between $1,000,001 and $5,000,000 through its foundation. Slim has also...

California’s richest residents could be slapped with a one-time 5% tax on their net worth if a new law makes it onto the ballot next year. The measure – called the “2026 Billionaire Tax Act” – seeks to counter $30 billion in potential federal funding cuts to California’s Medicaid program. Cash from the new tax could also pay for the Golden State’s struggling public education system, according to supporters of the act, which include the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). If passed and signed off by Gov. Gavin Newsom, California’s tech bosses like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia CEO...

Inside a closed Los Angeles courtroom, something wasn’t right. *** A Chinese billionaire was seeking parental rights to at least four unborn children, and the court’s additional research showed that he had already fathered or was in the process of fathering at least eight more—all through surrogates. When Pellman called Xu Bo in for a confidential hearing in the summer of 2023, he never entered the courtroom, according to people who attended the hearing. The maker of fantasy videogames lived in China and appeared via video, speaking through an interpreter. He said he hoped to have 20 or so U.S.-born...

At a private home in the West Village on Tuesday evening, a cryptocurrency billionaire, a Qualcomm heir and a son of George Soros hosted a sold-out fund-raiser for Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s incoming mayor. The next morning, Mr. Mamdani was off to TriBeCa, where a Hunt oil fortune heiress and a major cryptocurrency advocate held another fund-raiser for the mayor-elect. Next week, he is slated to appear at a star-studded reception on the Lower East Side featuring Hollywood royalty, including Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef, Tituss Burgess and the director Mira Nair, who is Mr. Mamdani’s mother. The...

The world of wealth is constantly evolving, with fortunes rising and falling as markets shift and industries innovate. As of November 2025, the wealthiest individuals are predominantly technology pioneers and influential business magnates who have built vast fortunes through innovation, strategic investments, and entrepreneurial vision. Leading the pack is Elon Musk, whose ventures in electric vehicles, space exploration, artificial intelligence, and social media have propelled him to the top of the global wealth rankings. Musk is now on track to become the world’s first trillionaire, following a landmark Tesla pay package. These billionaires exemplify how ambition, technological innovation, and calculated...

Chiefest among these converts is billionaire hedge fund mogul Bill Ackman, who famously contributed nearly $2 million of his own money to efforts to kill Mamdani’s candidacy…I read the Pershing Square Capital boss’s tweet on Tuesday night at-ing Mamdani: “Congrats on the win. Now you have a big responsibility. If I can help NYC, just let me know what I can do.” Elsewhere in the world of high finance, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who previously called Mamdani “more a Marxist than a socialist” and slammed him as pushing “ideological mush that means nothing in the real world,” is also...