Free Republic

<p>Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, says he will sell $6 billion worth of Tesla stock and donate the proceeds to the United Nations’ food agency if it could show how the money would solve world hunger.</p><p>His statement came after U.N. World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley challenged Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and other billionaires in a CNN interview last week, calling on them to step up on “a one-time basis” to help end starvation.</p>

CNN tried to sell a false headline alleging that a fraction of the world’s richest man’s wealth could solve world hunger. CNN’s story was headlined, “2% of [Tesla co-founder and CEO] Elon Musk's wealth could solve world hunger, says director of UN food scarcity organization.” The lede paragraph asserted that “A small group of ultra-wealthy individuals could help solve world hunger with just a fraction of their net worth, says the director of the United Nations' World Food Programme [David Beasley.]” But the story’s lede offers a completely different context than what the headline suggested. Saying the rich could “help”...

Last week, the director of the United Nation's World Food Programme said if the world's top billionaires just donated a fraction of their worth, millions of people who are at risk of starving to death can be saved. Elon Musk, the second wealthiest person in the world, said he'd give up some of his wealth – only if he knows exactly where the money is going. Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX who has an estimated net worth of $151 billion, according to Forbes, replied to a tweet questioning the group's figures. "If WFP can describe on this Twitter...

WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. - Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jim DeMint said Tuesday changes in the tax code - not a moratorium on trade agreements - are the way to keep jobs and companies in the United States. DeMint said better trade agreements are needed, but the best way to continue to increase business is to knock down trade barriers so U.S. companies can sell freely to other countries. "Those who want to close our borders ... you need to know that that's going to kill your job," DeMint told a crowd of about 40 workers at Harsco Track Technologies, a...

Former Gov. David Beasley formally launched his campaign for the U.S. Senate Monday, vowing to make job creation his chief focus. South Carolina has lost more than 73,000 jobs in the past three years. “This is a crisis, the most pressing issue of our time,” Beasley told a packed news conference attended by friends, legislators and former staffers. Beasley joins a crowded field of Republicans — now five in all — vying for a shot at the party’s nomination in the June 8 primary. U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., will retire next year after 38 years in office. Every year...

Call it that old Beasley luck. A good six months after four other Republican candidates declared their candidacies for retiring U.S. Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings' seat, former Gov. David Beasley announced two weeks ago he's running. He's instantly the front-runner. How does he do it? He was first elected to the S.C. House at age 21, then became one of the state's youngest governors in 1994 at age 35. Dark-haired and telegenic, Beasley has always projected a youthful air. And still does, even though he now acknowledges a few gray hairs, which he says is a result of the maturation...

U.S. Senate candidate Thomas Ravenel billed himself as "a Reagan Republican" as he stumped for votes in Rock Hill on Thursday, saying federal spending has to be clamped down. Lower taxes and less government are vital for a strong America, Ravenel told the Kiwanis Club during a speech at the City Club of Rock Hill. A strong national defense to fight terrorism is the No. 1 issue facing the country, Ravenel said, but "to pay for it you need a strong economy." Charleston's Ravenel, 41, a real estate developer, is the second Senate candidate to speak to the Kiwanis Club....

Former Republican Gov. David Beasley has scheduled a news conference next week to discuss his potential candidacy for U.S. Senate. “I’m going to make an announcement as to where I am in the decision-making process,” he said. Beasley declined to elaborate. He has been considering the race for several months. Robert Adams, who served as Beasley’s campaign manager when he ran for governor in 1994, said he would be “shocked” if Beasley did not offer for the Senate. “My expectations are he will run.” The news conference is tentatively set for Wednesday in Columbia. Richard Quinn, a Columbia-based consultant retained...

COLUMBIA--For the past five years, former Gov. David Beasley has been raising his four kids with his wife on their Pee Dee farm, coaching Little League and sometimes traveling to Asia and Africa to do humanitarian work. His public life has become a distant memory. It is no accident, he said, that he lives far from the "political morass" of the Capital City. But now he's finding that fate can be something of a wise guy: Just when you think you're out, they pull you back in. Encouraged and flattered by private polls that say he would trounce every candidate...