Free Republic

New study released ahead of November election shows 'Project Beacon' saving ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars per winter. Massachusetts could pivot in the direction of affordable and reliable energy by expanding on existing natural gas capacity, according to a new study that says ratepayers could save $367 million per winter. Since many of those same ratepayers are also voters, that’s a figure that should pique their interest. The Fiscal Alliance Foundation, a nonprofit headquartered in Boston, highlights the benefits of “Project Beacon” in its study released just ahead of the state’s gubernatorial election. The projected savings for homeowners and...

As polar ice melts in the Arctic, shipping lanes are opening up, making the region a new zone of superpower competition. Writer Rana Foroohar got an up-close look aboard the USS Healy, a Coast Guard icebreaker. She says that traversing the North Pole by ship — once a "largely conceptual" route — is now becoming a "real possibility" for two or three weeks a year. "If you are taking one of these Arctic routes, you can save as much as 40% of the time it would take you to go from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and depending on the...

Donald Trump has threatened to halt weapons supplies to Ukraine unless Kyiv ends its long-range strikes on Russian energy infrastructure.The White House made it clear to European officials over the weekend that a scheme allowing Ukraine's allies to buy US arms and give them to Kyiv could be suspended.Mr Trump is said to be angry at Volodymyr Zelensky's continued strikes on Russian oil refineries, and according to officials in Europe, the US administration has also threatened to withhold intelligence from Ukraine.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday denounced Britain for making insulting demands that betrayed outdated colonial thinking, in comments likely to escalate a row over the murder of Alexander Litvinenko. Britain and Russia have each expelled four diplomats in a spat over the murder and Moscow's refusal to extradite the chief suspect in the case. "What they propose is an obvious vestige of colonial thinking," Putin was shown saying on Russian state television. "They must have clearly forgotten that Britain is no longer a colonial power, there are no colonies left and, thank God, Russia has never...

Yemen-based Ansar Allah, widely known as the Houthis, continues to have a profound impact on global security. The group’s ongoing operations in the Red Sea affected an estimated US $1 trillion worth of maritime cargo between October 2023 and May 2024, and despite periodic kinetic attacks, its operations show no signs of abating. Moreover, evidence suggests the Houthis enjoy the financial and military backing of Russia and China, in addition to their established ties with Iran. This Insight explores the Houthis’ financing mechanisms, including leveraging technology to evade sanctions and the involvement of foreign facilitators with demonstrable and plausible ties...

Venezuela’s Cardón refinery — the country’s second-largest plant — was fully halted on Tuesday after a gas-line fire and explosions at its diesel hydrotreater. The blaze was brought under control in under an hour with no reported injuries, but PDVSA has not issued a damage assessment or restart timeline. The outage hits an already fragile domestic fuel system far more than U.S. supply. Cardón (sometimes rendered Cardon; the query’s “Ardon” matches this plant, not neighboring Amuay) sits at Punto Fijo in Falcón state and is half of the Paraguaná Refining Center. A social-media video posted by OSINTtechnical showed a large...

The deliveries promised in the deal depend on supplies from two natural gas deposits located in Siberia – the Chayanda oil and gas condensate field in Yakutia and the Kovykta gas condensate field in the Irkutsk Region. The two together have natural gas reserves of 4.1 trillion cubic meters, but neither has yet been developed. ...“a propaganda spin to justify the $70 billion price tag the state has splurged on” for construction of a pipeline to China. “Usually, the costs for similar state funded projects always overstretch the initial price tag,” ... Industry insiders say Gazprom doesn’t have the technology...

For all the griping we hear about our state — healthcare, education, crime, economic opportunity — there sure has been a lot of talk lately about ownership of our assets. (Turn the page for opinions about the Sandia Mountains.) Last week, Texas lawmakers met to study the possibility of the Lone Star State annexing “one or more contiguous counties” in southeastern New Mexico because of the region’s conservative leanings and oil production. It’s been a fantastical debate for several years, as southeastern New Mexico residents on paper align more closely to the culture of West Texas than Santa Fe. While...

Russia has become a danger to Britain and the country must be prepared to take steps to defend itself and its allies, the former head of MI6 says. Sir John Sawers, who recently retired after five years as chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Russia poses a "state to state threat".

It’s looking unlikely that southeastern New Mexico will become part of the Lone Star State any time soon. Texas lawmakers announced they intended to explore absorbing New Mexico’s oil-rich southeastern counties this spring, drawing predictable ire from elected officials in the Land of Enchantment. Late Wednesday night, the Texas House of Representatives did end up discussing the subject at a meeting of its Governmental Oversight Committee in Austin. Lawmakers admitted the issue was a bit of a joke, but acknowledged the issue could be a way to broach some concerns on both sides of the state line. New Mexico state...

(Straight from Amazon) One of the big lessons that the United States took from World War II was the need for national transportation infrastructure back at home. A system of interconnected highways, bridges, and roads was critical for national defense and would also provide much needed economic prosperity following the war. In 1956, the government began to build the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, an infrastructure project larger than anything the country had seen since the railroads a century earlier—and paid for entirely with taxpayer money. The buildout of America’s modern transportation system transformed the U.S. economy and...

If it seems that the lights are going out more frequently in the Xcel Energy service area, it isn’t your imagination: Outages in 2026 are running above historic averages, according to a Colorado Public Utilities Commission analysis. “In every single month of 2024, 2025 and the first half of 2026, customers have experienced an above-average number of outages,” Nick Bongiardina, a PUC staffer, told the commission during a Sept. 23 review of outages. “This really reflects what customers are expressing they are experiencing.” After a wave of customer complaints in 2024 with 90,000 customers experiencing a 10-year record of six...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge sentenced an Arizona woman on Thursday to six years in prison for using a cutting torch to damage the Dakota Access pipeline in Iowa and setting fire to pipeline equipment in three counties in 2016 and 2017. The judge also ordered Ruby Katherine Montoya, 32, to pay nearly $3.2 million in restitution together with Jessica Reznicek, a woman who helped her. Montoya pleaded guilty to conspiracy to damage an energy facility. She admitted to helping Reznicek and others damage the pipeline in several locations in Iowa. “The sentence imposed today demonstrates that...

WASHINGTON — Iran’s beleaguered economy will soon have “nothing to trade” in about two weeks after it makes its final oil deliveries, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed. Bessent assessed that the Islamic Republic is becoming desperate to make a deal because of its collapsing economy, hastened by Operation Economic Outcast, and warned that its problems will get dramatically worse in two weeks. “I am confident, given that there’s only 15 million more barrels of Iranian oil on the water, that Iran will have nothing left to trade for anything,” Bessent told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “Probably within the next...

10th Circuit Court lifts an injunction barring the filling of the expensive, controversial dam expansion in western Boulder County ... Denver Water can finish its Gross Dam expansion and fill the controversial reservoir in western Boulder County, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday, lifting an injunction by a lower court judge and confirming the dam’s permits as sound. The appeals court said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had acted responsibly in issuing construction permits for the $600 million expansion, which is largely complete and will be filled using water rights Denver holds in the Colorado River...

Did you know that recently released Census Bureau statistics show the poverty rate in the United States fell to a record low in 2025? That's an extraordinary development, but it has so far not attracted a lot of media coverage and discussion. What about a big White House event featuring President Donald Trump touting a welcome decline in poverty and increase in income? There hasn't been one. "I dunno, but if I were president and the poverty rate dropped to the LOWEST RATE ON RECORD, I might make a big deal out of it — a lot bigger deal than...

    Chronology of Attacks on Westerners in Saudi ArabiaMon May 31, 2004 08:50 AM ET LONDON (Reuters) - Suspected al Qaeda militants killed 22 civilians in Saudi Arabia at the weekend. Here is a short chronology of major attacks on Westerners in Saudi Arabia since 1995. Nov 13, 1995 - Five Americans and two Indians killed and 60 people wounded in an explosion in a car park near a U.S.-run military training center in Riyadh. June 25, 1996 - Bomb in fuel truck kills 19 American soldiers and wounds nearly 400 people at U.S. military housing complex in...

This is a short operational update posted by U.S. Central Command. Hi, I’m Admiral Brad Cooper, Commander of U.S. Central Command, here with a message to all Americans and an operational update on missions in the Middle East. CENTCOM forces have supported more than one billion barrels of crude oil leaving the Gulf. That’s one billion barrels of crude oil out through the Strait of Hormuz in the last couple of months. We’ve reached this significant milestone while assisting over 2,000 commercial ship transits through the Strait by providing coordinated protection. Clearly, momentum is building. Primary transit lanes in the...

U.S. Coast Guard and FBI are probing cyber incidents impacting foreign-flagged ships en route to the U.S., raising concerns about maritime cybersecurity amidst geopolitical tensions. On September 17, U.S. authorities confirmed that the Coast Guard and FBI conducted investigations aboard two foreign-flagged vessels headed for the United States, indicating compromised computer networks. This unusual operation took place on August 21 and August 24, amidst growing concerns over cyber vulnerabilities in the maritime sector. The Incident The joint Coast Guard and FBI operation was prompted by signs of cyber breaches on the vessels, with the Coast Guard confirming involvement of “foreign...

The U.S. national average price of diesel on Thursday surpassed $6 a gallon for the first time , according to price tracker GasBuddy, as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s refineries have squeezed supply. Diesel fuels trucks, trains, ships and heavy equipment that keep global supply chains moving. It is also crucial to running farm equipment. The latest surge in fuel costs is adding to inflationary pressures that have already strained consumers and businesses this year, creating a political headache for President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers as they seek to defend thin congressional majorities in...