Free Republic

Richard Blum, the husband of Democratic California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, died Sunday at age 86 after a years-long battle with cancer, the senator announced. “My heart is broken today. My husband was my partner and best friend for more than 40 years. He was by my side for the good times and for the challenges. I am going to miss him terribly,” she said in a statement. Blum, a private equity executive and member of the University of California Board of Regents, married Feinstein in 1980, shortly after she became mayor of San Francisco in the aftermath of the assassination...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Richard Blum, husband of California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, died Sunday after a long battle with cancer. He was 86. Feinstein announced her husband’s death in a statement Monday morning that said her “heart is broken today.” She said her husband, a wealthy San Francisco investor, “left things better than he found them” and was devoted to his family. She described his work for the people of the Himalayas and noted he was a longtime friend of the Dalai Lama. “My husband was my partner and best friend for more than 40 years,” Feinstein said in the statement....

Peter Schweizer’s new book Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win tells the story of how Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) husband Richard Blum was part owner of a Chinese firm that allegedly sold computers with spyware chips to the U.S. military. The military has never been able to calculate how much sensitive data these computers allowed China to steal. A hefty chapter of Red-Handed is devoted to tracking Feinstein’s long and expensive relationship with Communist China. In a total coincidence that could not possibly have been related in any way to Feinstein’s friendship with the tyrants of Beijing,...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s husband, University of California Regent Richard Blum, has been named by the state auditor’s office as one of the regents involved in an admissions scandal where UC wrongly admitted dozens of students as favors to well-connected people. California auditor: UC schools wrongly admitted 64 wealthy students as ‘favors’ over past 6 years In one case, a regent unidentified in the report sent an inappropriate letter on behalf of a student with only a 26% chance of getting in. The applicant was admitted. Auditor’s spokeswoman Margarita Fernandez confirmed to The Associated Press that Blum was the regent. Blum...

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s husband bought up to a quarter million dollars of stock in a now financially troubled green energy company just weeks before it announced a major 2014 acquisition that sent stock prices soaring, public records show. SunEdison told regulators last week that it is eyeing bankruptcy under the weight of $11.7 million in debt. But in late 2014, investors were bullish on the company, which manufactures and operates solar and wind power facilities. Its 2014 purchase of wind energy company First Wind “further bolstered the reputation of the company,” wrote one market-watcher at the time. “Perhaps...

Hey, we started off the day with a happy story, so in the interest of keeping the tone positive here on the Hot Gas ranch, let’s finish my shift up with another one. I know all of you are fans of capitalism in general, and just love seeing hard work and inspiration pay off for the little guy who makes it big. With that in mind, who wouldn’t feel their heart melt over the story of a spunky gal from the left coast who rises from humble roots and winds up helping her husband tuck away a few dollars...

Ever wonder how lowly paid lawmakers leave office filthy rich? Sen. Dianne Feinstein is showing how it’s done. The US Postal Service plans to sell 56 buildings — so it can lease space more expensively — and the real estate company of the California senator’s husband, Richard Blum, is set to pocket about $1 billion in commissions.