Free Republic

FIRST ON FOX: Former President Barack Obama once declared that his presidential center would be a "gift" to Chicago, but taxpayers are on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in hidden costs related to the beleaguered project. A Fox News Digital investigation shows taxpayers are now stuck footing the bill for surging public infrastructure costs required to support the project — and no government agency can provide an accounting of the total public cost, despite months of queries and FOIA requests. "Illinois Republicans saw this coming a mile away. Now, right on cue, Illinois Democrats are leaving taxpayers...

In 2019, Governor Newsom promised California that he would fix the state’s failing 911 system. He even spent $450 million to build a new one. But when it came time to turn it on, it did not work. Newsom is now scrapping the plan, the $450M is apparently gone, & he’s going to spend millions more. Meanwhile, Californians remains stuck on the antiquated 911 system due to Governor Newsom’s $450 million 911 scandal. I have written Governor Newsom to get answers, given the FCC’s interest in facilitating transitions to next-gen 911 systems.

Spanish civil engineers have renewed urgent warnings over the deteriorating condition of the country’s dams, as flooding linked to Storm Leonardo heightens public concern and exceptional rainfall is forecast to continue until the weekend. Experts say the storm has exposed long-standing structural weaknesses in Spain’s water infrastructure and highlighted decades of insufficient investment in safety and maintenance. Professional engineering bodies warn that around one third of Spain’s state-owned dams require urgent structural reinforcement, while roughly half have defective bottom outlet systems, a critical component for controlling water levels during extreme weather events. They argue that the risks are growing as...

Billions in taxpayer money have disappeared in Minnesota...but it’s not just Minnesota. There are other blue states where billions in taxpayer funds seem to be unaccountable. What happened to the missing money? Obviously, it went into someone’s account, at times with the knowledge of state officials who may have received contributions or votes to remain silent, but into whose account? The contrast between New York and Florida in this regard, as in so much else, is revealing. The marginal income tax rate in New York state is 10.9% (nearly 15% in NYC ), along with sales taxes nearly 9% in...

Sometimes the debate over U.S. energy policy feels more like a shouting match, instead of a factual discussion about how to meet the nation’s rapidly growing needs. In one corner, there’s the push for 100% renewables. In the other corner, it’s almost all about oil and gas. But outside the competing echo chambers on the left and the right, a quiet success story is unfolding in America’s rural – and yes, more politically conservative – communities. It turns out that keeping the lights on isn’t about picking a side. It’s about picking all the energy sources that can deliver affordable...

ACCOMPLISHING PERMITTING REFORM IN RECORD TIME: Today, President Donald J. Trump delivered on his promise to fix a broken permitting system, ensuring that burdensome Federal environmental reviews cannot be weaponized to stall the growth of the American economy or halt energy infrastructure construction.The White House, through the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), coordinated a historic effort to dramatically reduce the burdens of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance across the Federal government so that America can get back to building again.In consultation with CEQ, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce (including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the...

The United States and Venezuela announced Friday they are pursuing the possibility of reestablishing diplomatic relations, coming a week after a U.S. military operation that captured former leader Nicolás Maduro in Caracas and extradited him to face drug-trafficking charges in New York.A U.S. delegation, including diplomats and security personnel, visited Venezuela to evaluate the potential reopening of the American Embassy in Caracas, the State Department said in a statement sent to media outlets. The department did not immediately return a request for comment.The embassy has been shuttered since 2019, when ties were severed during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term...

Delcy Rodriguez told lawmakers that Caracas seeks commercially grounded oil and gas ties as Washington asserts oversight and U.S. firms eye investment.Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, said on Jan. 7 that the South American nation is open to establishing new energy relationships based on commercial agreements and mutual benefit, marking a potential shift in policy following the removal of former leader Nicolás Maduro. Rodriguez made the remarks during a meeting with members of Venezuela’s National Assembly of Venezuela in Caracas. “Venezuela is open to energy relations where all parties benefit, where economic cooperation is very clearly defined in commercial contracts....

Antifa militants are circulating a guide that describes how to destroy domestic infrastructure by creating incendiary devices. Journalist Andy Ngo drew attention to the guide in a post on Twitter. “Antifa accounts are sharing a guide on how to make incendiary devices that will burn cables used in infrastructure, like on train tracks,” Ngo posted. “Antifa and anarchist extremists believe that domestic terrorist attacks must be used to destabilize and destroy the state.” Ngo’s post included a photo of an Antifa account, Anarchist Federation News, that was circulating the guide. Since Trump’s return to the White House, it’s become clear...

Energy: Oil is rising sharply from two disasters in the Caribbean region — one, a fierce storm, and the other a massive blast at the world's second-largest refinery in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela. Only one was perfectly preventable. When the strongman cracked the whip on Venezuela's oil industry in 2003, firing 20,000 experienced oil managers from state-owned Petroleo de Venezuela (PDVSA) to break a strike he admitted he had provoked, he insisted that merit didn't matter anymore, only political loyalty. "There will be no more meritocracy," he told his cheering red-shirts. That philosophy has been laid out in all its glory...

The White House has told companies they must rebuild Venezuela's crude-pumping infrastructure if they want compensation for assets seized by Caracas. American oil companies have long hoped to recover the assets that Venezuela’s authoritarian regime ripped from them decades ago. Now the Trump administration is offering to help them achieve that aim — with one major condition. Administration officials have told oil executives in recent weeks that if they want compensation for their rigs, pipelines and other seized property, then they must be prepared to go back into Venezuela now and invest heavily in reviving its shattered petroleum industry, two...

The geniuses who are planning New York’s energy future think that they can make intermittent wind and solar generators work to power the electrical grid by the simple device of providing some battery storage. The idea is that when there is abundant wind and sun, they can store up the power for use during those calm and dark periods in the winter. How much battery storage will that take? It’s a simple arithmetic calculation, but none of our supposed experts have taken the trouble to crunch the numbers. Nevertheless, without any kind of feasibility study of whether this will work,...

Power was restored Sunday morning to the bulk of the 130,000 homes and businesses in San Francisco impacted by a massive outage on Saturday that caused major disruptions in the city. Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s outage map showed more than 20,000 customers still remained without electricity as of 5 a.m. PST, while crews worked to fully restore service. The outage, which occurred shortly after 1 p.m. on Saturday, left a large swath of the northern part of the city without power that began to grow in size. At its peak, the outage represented roughly one-third of the utility company’s...

bout 30% of San Francisco was blacked out Saturday, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said, as a power outage grew to about 130,000 customers. PG&E spokesman Edgar Hoida said the cause of the outage was under investigation. PG&E's online outage status reported 124,555 customers without power, or 30.1% of San Francisco, at 6:44 p.m. Outages were first reported in the Inner Sunset neighborhood at about 9:40 a.m., affecting about 14,700 customers. At 10:10 a.m., more outages were reported impacting about 25,000 customers in the Richmond District, the Presidio, Golden Gate Park, Inner Sunset District, and near the Civic Center. Scattered...

Repaired cracks cover the walls of every large New York Thruway rest stop near Rochester, according to a recent News10NBC investigation. The damage is visible at sites like Clarence, Pembroke, and Clifton Springs — all finished in 2023. The walls were built by Nexii, a Canadian company promoting eco-friendly materials. Applegreen, the Irish firm that rebuilt 27 rest stops with private funding, says the cracks aren’t a safety concern and repairs are ongoing. No toll or tax money funded the construction, officials confirmed.

It's a fine sunny and windy day in God's country we like to call it Texas. Texas is awash in God's power literally raining down from the heavens and across our vast open plains.

..... John Spencer, a leading expert on urban warfare and military history, joins the Tikvah Podcast to discuss this unprecedented military challenge. Spencer holds the chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point and is the co-director of the Urban Warfare Project. He has visited Gaza six times since October 7, studying these tunnels firsthand and speaking with the Israeli commanders who’ve had to fight in them. ... 00:00 Intro 03:27 Understanding the Tunnels of Gaza 12:22 The IDF's Response to Tunnel Warfare 15:29 Psychological and Tactical Challenges of Subterranean Warfare 18:20 Innovations in Tunnel...

Until recently, Tim Haugh was among America's top spymasters. The four-star general spent 33 years in Air Force Intelligence and rose to lead America's largest and most advanced intelligence agency. Haugh was also in charge of defending America from computer threats. In his first television interview since retirement, General Haugh is here to warn that China has hacked into U.S. computer networks to an astonishing degree. And he believes he knows why. The surprise, Tim Haugh told us, is that China is targeting not just the U.S. military and industry but also Americans in their homes. Gen. Tim Haugh: I...

Miami Beach’s iconic rainbow crosswalk on Ocean Drive was removed brick by brick Sunday morning — without any notice to the city — leaving residents and LGBTQ+ community members shocked and heartbroken.

Link Above:0:03 now in a little bit of a state of shock. 0:06 Um, I have the past nine years of my 0:08 life flashing before my eyes reading the 0:12 de the classified annex that just got 0:15 declassified. 0:16 I'm still only about five pages into it 0:18 and it's about 29 pages, but I'm already 0:21 so shocked by it. I'm actually not. How 0:23 do I how do I describe it? 0:26 I'm not surprised at all. 0:29 And yet I'm shocked. You know that 0:32 feeling like you're not surprised but 0:34 you're shocked. 0:37...