Free Republic

Biden energy loan czar Jigar Shah was a major investor in a struggling green energy company that is in advanced talks to receive a $1.5 billion loan from his office. The Department of Energy’s loan office, where Shah serves as director, is working to fast-track the funding to Plug Power, a hydrogen fuel company on the brink of bankruptcy. But the ties between Plug Power and Shah could add to concerns from lawmakers about conflicts of interest in the federal loan program. Securities and Exchange Commission records detail a long-standing financial relationship between Plug Power and Generate Capital, an investment...

A Buckeye Reporter investigation has confirmed that Mayor Rob Rue of Springfield, Ohio, is renting out apartments in buildings that he owns to Haitian immigrants—a move that some local residents are calling a conflict of interest. -- snip -- A few blocks away from Little and Rue Funeral Home, also owned by Rue, a 37-year-old man who introduced himself as “Works” lives in an apartment on an estate worth an estimated $1.3 million. Works told Buckeye Reporter that he and other Haitian immigrants reside in properties owned by Rue. -- snip -- According to public records, Rue owns several rental...

As mentioned in my recent post from July 20, there are many data points gradually accumulating as to the lack of progress toward the so-called “green” economy. It has long been clear to people who think about it that the energy transition to “net zero” is a fantasy that will not occur. But the question remains of exactly how the mania will come to an end. Will the net zero fantasies of the climate cultists proceed at full speed until they crash into a wall of physical reality (e.g., blackouts)? Or instead will these fantasies gradually retreat as governments respond...

One of the Biden/Harris administration's signature programs is marketed as 'Build Back Better," but there is a slight problem: it has built basically nothing despite spending billions of dollars.It's the policy equivalent of burning a stack of $100 bills a mile high. Except, to a certain extent, it isn't. What they are doing is transferring those billions to leftist activist groups whose main job is making our lives miserable. There are many examples to choose from, and the Washington Free Beacon has yet another featured today. REPORT: Kamala Harris Touted a $5B Electric School Bus Program. Three Years Later, It's...

The same writers who proclaimed Joe Biden “sharp as a tack” are now busy denying that Joe appointed Kamala Harris his “border czar.” While giving that failure the attention it deserves, recall the new span of the Bay Bridge from San Francisco to Oakland. The original double-deck span had served well since the 1930s and was quickly repaired after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The structure could have been retrofitted for an estimated $250 million but Bay Area Democrats wanted a new bridge they said would cost $1 billion. California boasts some of the best bridge builders in the world...

The Biden administration made a pair of announcements Thursday that aim to bolster solar energy in Puerto Rico — which frequently deals with power outages. The Energy Department announced a conditional agreement to loan $861 million to finance the construction of two solar farms and batteries to keep the power stored even when it’s not sunny. The department will also provide up to an additional $325 million for solar and battery storage as part of a new program aimed at helping the island’s power become more resilient to extreme weather. The nearly $900 million loan will go to Clean Flexible...

The federal government is spending $1.7 billion to modernize automobile manufacturing facilities, helping the industry compete with foreign subsidies and create and protect jobs.As part of the Automotive Community Benefits Plan, the current administration will extend grants to 11 selected manufacturing plants in eight states, including in Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, that have temporarily closed or were at risk of closing.Federal funding, which will come from the Inflation Reduction Act, will be dedicated to retrofitting factories, installing equipment, and bolstering annual production.Grant capital will also allow these at-risk facilities to convert to manufacturing electric vehicles and related components and a...

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) highlighted how Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) and his family have engaged in “cynical self-dealing” and “graft.” Casey first ran for Senate in 2006 on a “wave of reform,” promising to “end a culture of scandal and self-dealing” in D.C. Casey then unveiled an ethics plan at the restaurant formerly owned by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Now, Casey is fighting to get reelected for his fourth term in office, where he will face questions about his family’s relationship with his official position as senator. NBC News reported: There’s a brother who registered to lobby for...

President Biden’s family is urging him to stay in the race and keep fighting despite last week’s disastrous debate performance, even as some members of his clan privately expressed exasperation at how he was prepared for the event by his staff, people close to the situation said on Sunday.

The Government of Maine has really big plans for floating wind, a floating net zero fantasy, in fact. Since floating wind power is the next big green thing, it is worth taking a close look at this ruinous vision. Floating wind is a fad, not an established technology. It has yet to be built at utility scale or tested in a hurricane. The world’s biggest grid-connected system is a tiny 50 MW and just came online off Scotland. The cost of floating wind is necessarily much greater than fixed wind. A fixed wind tower sits on a simple monopile, while...

In the lead up to the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) operation to destroy Hamas and secure the release of over 100 hostages – including 8 Americas – believed to be in and around Rafah, leaders around the world from Joe Biden to the collective leftist leaders of the European Union to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi panicked and ordered Israel to forestall its necessary means to end the war.Why did world leaders clamor for Israel to do nothing?What are they hiding?It turns out they are hiding a lot.Over one million Gazans were said to be sheltering in humanitarian safe areas...

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration quietly ended a $200 million program aimed at helping disadvantaged entrepreneurs open cannabis dispensaries, amid allegations of predatory lending practices. The Social Equity Cannabis Investment Fund, which was overseen by DASNY, came under fire last month after a report by local nonprofit news outlet The City alleged that DASNY entered into an agreement that allowed a private equity firm to provide $50 million to the fund at a 15% interest rate.

Planned Parenthood performed over 390,000 abortions while receiving nearly $700 million in government grants and reimbursements, according to its latest annual report for 2022-2023. Pro-life activists say the findings appear consistent with the long-term trend of the nation's largest abortion provider performing more abortions and providing fewer health services. According to Planned Parenthood's 2022-2023 annual report, the corporation performed 392,715 abortions and provided less than 2,000 adoption referrals. The organization also offered over 30,000 fewer Pap tests than recorded for 2021-2022. Additionally, preventative care visits also declined by over 30%. Despite the decline in health services, Planned Parenthood reported receiving...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) administration lost track of the $24 billion in taxpayer funds it spent over the past five years in an attempt to curb the state’s homelessness crisis, an audit has found. The California State Auditor’s report, released on April 9, detailed multiple “gaps” in accountability in regards to how the money was allocated during the 2018-2023 fiscal years. Lead auditor Grant Parks said the state “has not collected sufficient data” to prove that the billions of dollars improved the situation.

For a long time, Israel forbade ships entering the Gaza Strip because it was so easy to ship arms to Hamas. So why is this pier to Gaza happening now? Since Oct. 7, 2023, external humanitarian aid has primarily had to enter the Gaza Strip via the land crossing at Rafah, which is run by Egypt. Gen. Abdel Fatteh El-Sisi, the ruler of Egypt for the past decade, is as committed as Israel to the goal of keeping arms out of the hands of terrorists, so Israel trusts his government in Egypt to vet these shipments and ensure that armaments...

To keep Earth from overheating too much, the nations of the world need to put fewer loopholes in climate agreements and far more money — trillions of dollars a year — into financial help for poor nations, the United Nations climate chief said Friday. In an unusual and blunt lecture at a university in Baku, Azerbaijan, the host city of upcoming international climate negotiations later this year, United Nations Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell called gains made in the past not nearly enough. Without the proper amount of cash, he said those could “quickly fizzle away into more empty...

There’s no such thing as a wind or solar ‘farm’, just an ugly industrial siteIn a story filled with all the standard climate alarmist narratives, USA Today recently reported on the rising movement by local governments in the United States to refuse to permit unwanted wind and solar industrial sites in their jurisdictions. After setting the stage by parroting the Biden administration goals of “100 per cent clean energy by 2035, a goal that depends on the building of large-scale solar and wind,” USA Today points to the reality that such big, intrusive, ugly, and destructive industrial sites have been...

Congressional leaders in the House and Senate have reached a deal on a spate of appropriations bills, clearing the way for a short-term spending patch that would extend funding deadlines further into March. Appropriators finalized the agreement on Wednesday, two sources told the Washington Examiner, just three days before the government is set to enter a partial shutdown. The proposal would maintain the two-pronged deadlines Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has advocated but would extend the dates slightly to give lawmakers time to finalize the legislative text and bring them to the floor for votes. “We are in agreement that Congress...

Joe Biden and the United Nations are pulling off one of the worst security threats to the United States in its 248-year history. ... According to the former director of Panama’s National Border Service, the U.N.'s migration agenda is behind the insanity along the southern border, and the world body's NGO (non-governmental organizations) partners are intentionally making the crisis worse. Oriel Ortega, now a security and defense consultant to Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo, told the Epoch Times during an interview on Thursday that he saw a dramatic jump in immigration in 2016, at the same time that NGOs moved into...

About $60 billion in the bill would go to supporting Ukraine as it defends itself from the Russian invasion that began nearly two years ago. There's nearly $14 billion to allow Ukraine to rearm itself through the purchase of weapons and munitions and another nearly $15 billion for support services such as military training and intelligence sharing. The support also includes nonmilitary assistance. About $8 billion would go to help Ukraine's government continue basic operations with a prohibition on money going toward pensions. And there's about $1.6 billion to help Ukraine's private sector. About a third of the money allocated...