Free Republic

The promise of a green manufacturing boom, fueled by generous subsidies and ambitious climate policies, is unraveling across the United States and beyond. So-called “ghost factories”—abandoned or stalled clean-energy projects—are becoming a stark symbol of the challenges facing the green energy sector. From Arizona to Massachusetts, once-celebrated plans for battery plants, wind turbine factories, and solar component facilities are being scrapped or delayed, raising serious questions about the sustainability of Net Zero ambitions, the risk of deindustrialization, and the potential for fiscal collapse in green markets.

The Trump administration moved Thursday to block illegal immigrants from accessing taxpayer-funded aid to enroll in educational programs and receive health care benefits. The departments of Education, Agriculture, Labor, Justice and Health and Human Services made separate announcements Thursday, touting savings of around $40 billion. HHS called the change a “significant policy shift” that will “ensure that taxpayer-funded program benefits intended for the American people are not diverted to subsidize illegal aliens.” “Under President Trump’s leadership, hardworking American taxpayers will no longer foot the bill for illegal aliens to participate in our career, technical, or adult education programs or activities,”...

BOSTON (TNND) — U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement and law enforcement officers arrested 370 individuals dubbed "illegal aliens" in Massachusetts during a six-day targeted operation aimed at taking down transnational organized crime and violent gangs, including MS-13, Tren de Aragua, and the 18th Street Gang. ICE officials said the operation, which took place from March 18 to March 23, focused on offenders with criminal backgrounds and resulted in the seizure of illegal drugs, firearms and the arrest of fugitives facing serious charges like murder and money laundering. A large portion of those arrested - 205 individuals - had prior...

CNN is set to fire hundreds of employees on Thursday as the network prepares to restructure itself for the second term of President Donald Trump. According to CNBC, sources at the network said the layoffs with help CNN lower production costs and consolidate essential teams. Moreover, CNN plans to completely restructure its TV lineup and expand its digital subscriptions. Moreover, the network may move shows that are produced in New York City or Washington D.C. to Atlanta, Georgia, where the cost of production is cheaper.

Gold is being flown from London to New York in unusually high volumes. Gold held in the UK's central bank has been trading at a discount due to tariff fears. The metal has been trading at record highs of about $2,9000 an ounce this month. Significant amounts of gold are being taken out of the UK's central bank and flown to New York, driven by fears about the impact of tariffs threatened by President Donald Trump. The uncertainty means gold held at the Bank of England has been trading at a discount to the wider market, and traders face lengthy...

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has banned insurance companies from canceling or not renewing polices for homeowners affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires for one year, his office announced. He also wants to backdate that to Oct. 9. pretty much reminds you of Directive 10-289 ... https://theexplanationproject.fandom.com/wiki/Directive_10-289

On 12 December 2024, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorisation for the medicinal product Kostaive, a vaccine intended for the prevention of COVID-19 in adults. Kostaive is a RNA-based COVID-19 vaccine. It contains a self-amplifying mRNA that encodes the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Self-amplifying means that the mRNA also carries instructions to make a protein called replicase. Once administered into a muscle, the replicase protein makes more copies of the mRNA, which the cell can use to make more spike protein.

“So Amazon started their Black Friday deals early, and let me tell you, beware of this,” she says in the video. “I had 25 things sitting in my cart for the last two weeks, like things to prepare for the baby and I know the exact price of every single one of those items and what my cart total was two weeks ago.” Jess says she was expecting her cart total to drop significantly. “Everything was going to be on sale, and then I would put in my order,” she explains. “I logged in yesterday, all excited to see this...

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Only a single building was near the Butler rally and the shooter had an elevated direct line-of-sight view between himself and Donald Trump ... it's inconceivable the secret service left this rooftop completely unprotected simply due to incompetence ...

Oil and gas will play a role in the global energy needs for a "long, long, long time to come," said Shell chief executive Wael Sawan today. Sawan is working to move beyond a dialogue that "seems to fixate" on the notion one must choose between fossil fuels like oil and gas or renewables like solar and wind. "It's all. And we need them in abundance," Sawan told participants at CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston today. Stable oil production is deemed necessary by Shell as it transitions its customers to lower carbon solutions over the course of decades....

Latest results from just now 93% OF VOTES IN Republican Caucus race called Republican Caucus Candidate Votes PercentPct. Chart showing percent DelegatesDelegates Donald J. Trump 52,263 +50.9%50.9% 16 Ron DeSantis 21,857 +21.3%21.3 4 Nikki Haley 19,558 +19.1%19.1 4 Total reported 102,655

The Republican National Committee on Friday afternoon said it would pause participation in further Republican presidential primary debates, effectively leaving decisions around future debates up to media organizations and the 2024 Republican presidential candidates themselves.

Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, pleaded guilty to money laundering violations, the government said on Tuesday, a stunning blow to the most powerful and influential figure in the global crypto industry. Binance itself also pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $4.3 billion in fines and restitution [and much, much more]

New report from industry researchers finds that 95 percent of the once-hyped crypto assets have hit rock-bottom valuation NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, once vaunted as a revolution in crypto and digital art, are largely worthless. Upon analysis of 73,257 NFT collections, the authors found that 69,795 have a market cap of zero Ether (ETH) The study estimates that some 23 million investors own these tokens of no practical use or value. What’s more, supply vastly outstripped demand for NFTs. Just 21 percent of the collections included in the study can claim full ownership, meaning around four out of every five...

RNC this week released eligibility criteria for presidential candidates to make the second GOP debate. Candidates ... will need to have a minimum of 50,000 unique donors, including 200 donors in 20 states or more each ... Candidates will also need to register at a minimum of 3 percent in two national polls or poll at 3 percent in one national poll and 3 percent in two polls conducted in two early states, which include Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada ...

Federal Reserve System, FDIC, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) [joint statement] ... [The Money Quote]: Based on the agencies’ current understanding and experience to date, the agencies believe that issuing or holding as principal crypto-assets that are issued, stored, or transferred on an open, public, and/or decentralized network, or similar system is highly likely to be inconsistent with safe and sound banking practices. ... Banking organizations should be aware of, including: • Risk of fraud and scams among crypto-asset sector participants. • Legal uncertainties related to custody practices, redemptions, and ownership rights, some of which...

The bankruptcy of crypto’s marquee lender, Genesis Global Capital, may be one more blow than the industry can withstand, at least in its current form. The list of bull-market stars laid low now includes nearly every major player to have captured the public’s attention by offering market-beating returns for the simple act of depositing tokens. Genesis joins BlockFi, Celsius Network and Voyager Digital among firms whose collapse have left countless clients angry and unlikely to risk more money on their daredevil exploits. Acting as de facto banks, these firms took in assets which they then lent out freely across the...

Genesis owes over $3.5 billion to its top 50 creditors, among which include Crypto exchange Gemini, trading giant Cumberland, Mirana, MoonAlpha Finance and VanEck’s New Finance Income Fund, according to the bankruptcy filing published late Thursday. Shortly after FTX collapsed into its own bankruptcy case in November, Genesis Global Capital was forced to suspend customer withdrawals, which hurt customers of a yield product offered by the Winklevoss twins' crypto exchange, Gemini. Genesis had been scrambling to raise fresh capital or reach a deal with creditors. It – along with parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG), which also owns CoinDesk –...

Illicit use of cryptocurrencies hit a record $20.1 billion last year as transactions involving companies targeted by U.S. sanctions skyrocketed, data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis showed on Thursday. Even as overall crypto transaction volumes fell, the value of crypto transactions related to illicit activity rose for the second year running, Chainalysis said. Transactions associated with sanctioned entities increased more than 100,000-fold in 2022 and made up 44% of last year's illicit activity, Chainalysis said.