Free Republic

The lights have finally gone out on this project. In an extraordinary fire sale, the state Power Authority is auctioning off a huge storehouse of unused decorative bridge lights — which were supposed to be part of a $106 million project to brighten up the city’s spans by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but which never got installed. With a minimum bid of just $25, the lights are only expected to fetch pennies on the dollar — and leave the state out a massive amount of cash for the failed lighting project, officials told The Post of the sale, which was...

It could be the end of the line for the "train to nowhere." Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has released a scathing report exposing what he said is the unfeasibility of California's long-troubled high-speed rail project — and is threatening to pull the plug on a plan that already has the federal government on the hook for $6.9 billion while Californians are underwriting an additional $9 billion. Duffy said that the federal government is moving to terminate around $4 billion it has currently obligated to the project unless the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) can prove it is tenable. He blasted...

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said the multi-billion-dollar RFK stadium deal that would bring the Washington Commanders back to D.C. would not pass if the Council vote was held today. What they're saying: In an interview with FOX 5 on Tuesday, Mendelson said council members are concerned about the cost of the plan. "If it was today, given the information we know, I would say no. I don't think the votes are there," Mendelson told FOX 5. "The research shows, over and over again, that sports stadiums are net losers for the jurisdiction. That is not to say that we...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the much-anticipated deal with the United States involving rare-earth minerals on Thursday, saying the agreement is "now truly an equal partnership." "All our representatives did a good job. The agreement has changed significantly during the preparation process. It is now truly an equal partnership - one that creates opportunities for substantial investment in Ukraine, as well as significant modernisation of Ukraine's industries and, equally importantly, its legal practices," Zelenskyy posted on X. The fundamentals of the agreement are said to give the U.S. preferential access to new minerals deals in Ukraine, which will also be...

Ukraine has signed a deal with the United States, giving the U.S. access to Ukraine's rare minerals as it continues to work with the Trump administration in an effort to end its three-year war with Russia. Ukrainian Economy Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko flew to Washington, D.C., Wednesday to help finalize the deal. "On behalf of the Government of Ukraine, I signed the Agreement on the Establishment of a United States–Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund. Together with the United States, we are creating the Fund that will attract global investment into our country," she wrote on X. Upon taking...

Elizabeth MacDonald @LizMacDonaldFOX This is disturbing – Biden and Obama Democrats created a new beast, the “popup nonprofit shell” they suddenly launch to take in your taxpayer money supposedly for things like climate change and illegal immigration. Major front for taxpayer abuse with accusations of grift growing by the hour. Never saw it like this in decades covering IRS/taxes. Check out the tax returns for one of these popup NGO shells, the Climate United Fund which got the biggest nonprofit grant in history out of Biden’s massive climate slush funds. Kamala Harris and Biden’s EPA chief Michael Regan gave $7...

The Biden administration funneled at least $20 billion dollars into environmental groups, most of which had only recently been founded, The Post has discovered. In one case, former Vice President Kamala Harris handed over a check for nearly $7 billion to Bethesda, Maryland, based group Climate United Fund, which does not appear in the IRS’s charities database, and has no federal filings. The non-profit fund had only been incorporated in Delaware on November 30, 2023, according to public records, five months before Harris handed over the cash in April 2024. The Climate United Fund then announced “the historic investment” in...

DOGE NEWS- Department of Government Efficiency @realdogeusa · 1h Nancy Pelosi's Vineyard received $14M from USAID for "experimental farming." This is an example of how a $174,000 salary turns into a $240,000,000 net worth. Is it time for DOGE to audit Pelosi? @N_a_n_c_yBrown 11m-----It would be nice to see the details and outcomes of such a generous grant

A major solar power plant project that was granted over a billion dollars in federal loans is on the road to closure, with energy experts blasting the project as a "boondoggle" that harmed the environment. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under former President Barack Obama issued $1.6 billion in loan guarantees to finance the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, a green energy project that consists of three solar concentrating thermal power plants in California. The facility was touted by then-Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz as an "example of how America is becoming a world leader in solar energy."...

President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he will be launching an investigation into the high cost of California High Speed Rail (CAHSR), fulfilling a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) promise made late last year. Originally estimated to cost $33 billion in 2008 with a San Francisco to Los Angeles line set to open by 2028, the California high speed rail system has since ballooned to costing $128 billion, to $135 billion, with an estimated partial completion being set somewhere in the 2030’s. Last year in March, the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHRSA) confirmed that the system still needed...

Joe Biden tried to bankroll the use of electric school buses at government schools across the country. But as the electric buses continue to have massive reliability issues, some schools regret taking the federal handouts and now want help from the Environmental Protection Agency to get themselves out of the program. ... There are at least six districts reporting massive problems with Lion Electric school buses they bought through the federal program. ... The two electric buses received by Yarmouth Schools have been with the district for a year and a half, but they have only been used a few...

What was once the world's largest solar power plant of its type appears headed for closure just 11 years after opening, under pressure from cheaper green energy sources. Meanwhile, environmentalists continue to blame the Mojave Desert plant for killing thousands of birds and tortoises. The Ivanpah solar power plant formally opened in 2014 on roughly 5 square miles of federal land near the California-Nevada border. Though it was hailed at the time as a breakthrough moment for clean energy, its power has been struggling to compete with cheaper solar technologies. Pacific Gas & Electric said in a statement it had...

Ukraine may cease to exist if there are no serious negotiations before the summer — Head GUR Budanov in Parliament Budanov told the deputies about the threat to Ukraine's existence if peace talks do not begin before the summer, Ukrainskaya Pravda writes. Recently, a closed meeting was held in the Rada, where the leaders of the parliament and the factions were informed by the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine about the real state of military affairs. "At first, it was a lot confusing, but the representatives of the General Staff told us very interestingly. Then there were various...

Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president earlier today, but the Biden administration rammed through a number of last minute decisions before that took place. One of them was the finalization of a loan to Rivian worth up to $6.6 billion. The Department of Energy said the money will be used to finance the development and construction of a new manufacturing plant near Social Circle, Georgia. The facility will span approximately nine million square feet and have the capability to build up to 400,000 crossovers and SUVs annually. The plant will build models based on Rivian’s new midsize...

California Democrats have written to outgoing Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to ask for more than half a billion dollars in funding for an ailing high-speed rail project that President-elect Donald Trump defunded in 2019. As Breitbart News reported, Trump withheld $1 billion in funding from the project after Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) canceled the original project. Newsom had explained to the state legislature that the original plan for a Los Angeles-to-San Francisco “bullet” train “would cost too much and, respectfully, would take too long.” Trump then demanded the state refund the money federal taxpayers had given it — applying...

This summer, Bill Gates huddled in London with representatives of some of the world’s wealthiest people, including the Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, the SoftBank founder, Masayoshi Son, and Prince al-Waleed bin Talal Prince of Saudi Arabia.They were evaluating their joint investments in companies that could help the world combat climate change. Among the businesses in their portfolio, four stood out as having a particularly audacious goal: They were working to strip carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, for a profit.As countries around the world continue to pump planet-warming pollution into the skies, driving global temperatures to record levels, the financial world...

Sacramento-area congressman Kevin Kiley took to the floor of the House of Representatives recently to declare the following: “Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to report that the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency has honed in on perhaps the single-greatest example of government waste in United States history,” the Republican from Rocklin intoned. “And that is California’s high-speed-rail boondoggle.”

In the wake of the election of President Donald Trump to serve a second term in office, along with presumptive Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, many are now asking about what the future will hold for the oddly named Inflation Reduction Act. Trump made it repeatedly clear on the campaign trail that he is not a fan of that law, which was passed on straight party-line votes in both houses of Congress, or of the hundreds of billions of dollars in green energy subsidies contained in it. But a full repeal of the IRA seems unlikely to succeed,...

Among the California police departments that have tried using Teslas was the Ukiah Police Department, the largest municipal police force in Mendocino County. There, Police Chief Cedrick Crook requested the City Council approve the purchase of two Tesla Model 3s, which is the company's sedan, on August 7, 2024. That purchase totaled nearly $150,000 between the cost of the cars and $35,000 in modifications to make the Teslas patrol-ready, Crook told the San Francisco Gate. He said the vehicles needed the standard emergency lights, sirens, radio, antenna, push bar, partition and gun rack, but the Teslas also needed to be...

Former President Donald Trump says he would create a government efficiency commission to audit the entire federal government Trump says he’d create a government efficiency commission led by Elon Musk PHOENIX (AP) — Former President Donald Trump said Thursday he would create a government efficiency commission to audit the entire federal government, an idea suggested by billionaire Elon Musk, who would lead it. The commission is the latest attention-grabbing alliance between Trump and Musk, who leads companies including Tesla and SpaceX and has become an increasingly vocal supporter of Trump’s bid to return to the White House. The Republican presidential...