Free Republic

SoftBank will invest at least $100 billion into US tech projects over the next four years, CEO Masayoshi Son and President-elect Donald Trump jointly revealed during a press conference at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday. Trump, who gained major support from the tech industry ahead of the 2024 election, said the massive commitment from SoftBank would create 100,000 jobs for the US economy. The investments are expected to be focused on artificial intelligence projects and the related infrastructure required to power them. “This historic investment is a monumental demonstration confidence in America’s future, and it will help ensure...

Thanks to The United States’ combination of lackluster train infrastructure and miserable flying experience, there often simply aren’t great choices to get places. Is the Greyhound bus our savior? No, absolutely not. Yet, despite the Greyhound’s reputation as as a last resort option, I’ve taken it several times (not as a last resort!) over the last few years.

Texas has spent years tweaking its electric grid, but it’s still not fixed. How do we know this? ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, projects an 80% likelihood of rolling blackouts if a storm the magnitude of Winter Storm Uri hits the state this winter. Prior to Uri in February 2021, the probability of rolling blackouts was only 5%. A weaker storm—equivalent to 2022’s Winter Storm Elliott—has a 50% probability of triggering rolling blackouts. And there is no assurance that rolling blackouts can be executed, risking a widescale grid failure. So, by ERCOT’s own projections, the grid is more...

The rapid growth of data centers to support AI is significantly increasing global electricity demand.This surge in demand threatens to outpace the development of renewable energy sources.International regulations are needed to ensure tech companies use clean energy and minimize their impact on climate goals.The global electricity demand is expected to grow exponentially in the coming decades, largely due to an increased demand from tech companies for new data centers to support the rollout of high-energy-consuming advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI). As governments worldwide introduce new climate policies and pump billions into alternative energy sources and clean tech, these...

The power needs of artificial intelligence and cloud computing are growing so large that individual data center campuses could soon use more electricity than some cities, and even entire U.S. states, according to companies developing the facilities. The electricity consumption of data centers has exploded along with their increasingly critical role in the economy in the past 10 years, housing servers that power the applications businesses and consumers rely on for daily tasks. Now, with the advent of artificial intelligence, data centers are growing so large that finding enough power to drive them and enough suitable land to house them...

Austin, Texas, planned to transition all its city buses to electric, but the ambitious climate-friendly goal has come to a screeching halt. The Austin Monitor reports that 46 new electric buses – costing around $1 million each – will be in storage for at least a year due to lack of charging infrastructure to keep them running all day. The buses were manufactured by now-bankrupt Proterra, which has left city transit districts across the country with fleets of inoperable buses. Proterra was acquired by Phoenix Motor Inc., which the Monitor reports is struggling to service warranties and repair technical issues....

“He will prioritize Excellence, Competence, Competitiveness and Beauty when rebuilding America's highways, tunnels, bridges and airports. He will ensure our ports and dams serve our Economy without compromising our National Security, and he will make our skies safe again by eliminating DEl for pilots and air traffic controllers.”

That’s a lot of bridges over troubled waters. The Empire State ranks 11th in the nation for dilapidated bridges, as nearly every single span in the state — 99.46% — is in need of some kind of repair, a report said. And nearly 10 percent of New York State’s 17,642 bridges were so bad they classified as “structurally deficient,” according to a 2024 report from the American Road and Transportation Builders Association. The 10 worst are all in New York City. The bridge hall of shame included parts of I-95 and the Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx — and most...

https://abc11.com/live-updates/helene-nc-western-north-carolina-continue-deal-damages-deadly-storm/15403678/

The massive flooding across NC and East Tennessee happened on Sept. 27. One of the busiest Interstate highways, I-40 is closed at the border of those two states after the roadway was washed away. Bridges have washed away, trapping people who can't get out. Where is the U.S. Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg? He has not uttered one statement, for the three days after this disaster. He is proof your sexual preferences do not qualify you to manage the infrastructure in this country.

The gangs are allegedly attacking oil workers and attempting to steal oil, fuel, and copper from oil fields in Texas.

A nationwide 911 outage has been reported, according to Downdetector, which noted a sharp increase in outage reports around 5:18 PM Pacific Time. The cause of the outage remains unknown at this time, and the extent of the issue is still unclear. Emergency services across the country may be impacted. When did the 911 outage occur? According to Downdetector, a significant spike in reports of 911 outages occurred around 5:18 PM Pacific Time. This surge indicates a potential widespread issue affecting emergency call services across the United States.

The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was hit by an apparent cyberattack over the weekend, which has caused major internet outages affecting the airport's phones, email, and other systems. Port of Seattle officials are continuing to work on Monday to restore the airport's systems, which is the third day that the airport has been impacted by the attack. The airport has encouraged travelers to use their mobile phones to get their boarding passes, and to allow extra time at the airport to get to their gates. “We’re working around the clock to get necessary systems back online and to mitigate impacts to...

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...

Nearly 400 public water systems in California have failed to meet recommended safety standards for drinking water, according to a report last month from the State Water Resources Control Board, but a new climate bond measure recently joined the state’s November ballot may help.Some 913,000 Californians, approximately 2 percent of the state’s population, are potentially affected by 385 failing public water systems according to the report.Fifty-six of those systems “serve disadvantaged communities and 67 percent serve majority communities of color.”The annual report identifies California drinking water challenges, part of an effort to improve access to safe drinking water started by...

CenterPoint’s project would have used the money “to fund high wind and flood mitigation projects.” President Joe Biden’s Department of Energy rejected Houston’s request to strengthen its energy grid in 2023. Houston entered day five of power outages after Hurricane Beryl. Maybe, just maybe, stop concentrating on your fantasy green energy: CenterPoint Energy sought the money from a new $10.5 billion Department of Energy program that is helping utilities, states and local agencies protect the electric grid from the growing threats of extreme weather and climate change. “I don’t understand how the grant application could be rejected,” University of Houston...

Urban metal theft has risen to new levels following the pandemic, with thousands of feet of wiring from streetlights, hundreds of fire hydrants, and even mausoleum nameplates being stolen to flip for small amounts of money all over the country. *** In St. Paul, Minnesota, a man was “recently hit by a car and killed while crossing a street near his home where streetlights had gone out,” the report stated. Laurellee Wirtz was widowed on Christmas Eve 2023 when her husband and dog were struck by a truck on the “pitch black” road that she and her neighbors had reported...

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has come under fire on social media over his response to Hurricane Beryl, which crashed into the southeastern United States on Monday as a Category 1 hurricane leaving six dead in Texas, and one in Louisiana, according to The Associated Press. The storm caused widespread damage across Texas with the Houston area, where millions of people lost power, particularly badly affected. As of Tuesday just under 1.7 million CenterPoint customers remained without power according to The Houston Chronicle. Abbott is currently on an economic development tour of Asia and was in South Korea on Monday when...

The word charade has several meanings, and including an act or event that is clearly false (Cambridge Dictionary), something done just for show (Vocabulary.com), or a situation in which people pretend that something is true when it clearly is not (Oxford Leaner’s Dictionary).The charade I refers to is President Biden’s $7.5 billion dollar investment to install 500,000 electric charging stations along America’s highways by 2030. A reliable and convenient public EV charging infrastructure is critical to achieve the President’s goal of meeting the recent EPA CO2 emission regulation that require nearly 72% of U.S. new light vehicle sales to be...