Free Republic

We reported on former President Barack Obama's effort this week to pump up his presidential center, which is finally opening in June.(snip) I can't imagine there would be a lot of ordinary folks beating down the doors to visit. As we've noted, the main building is not exactly a beacon of attractiveness. It's just flat-out ugly. They're even selling a pin that's supposed to look like the building, and the pin is similarly ugly. Plus, you have to shell out $30 for the pin, which is just a gray blob of clay. One of the funniest was this necklace, which...

The Trump administration’s cancellation of more than $100 million in humanities grants to scholars, writers, research groups and other organizations was unconstitutional, and the Department of Government Efficiency had no authority to end the funding, a federal judge in New York ruled on Thursday. U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan sided with The Authors Guild, several other groups and several people who had their grants canceled and sued DOGE and the National Endowment for the Humanities. McMahon permanently barred the administration from terminating the grants and criticized DOGE’s use of artificial intelligence in nixing the funding. Government lawyers had...

Requiring the disclosure of fiscal sponsorships is key. On April 23, the US Treasury Department announced that the IRS plans to revise Form 990—the annual information return filed by tax-exempt organizations—to improve transparency and strengthen oversight, specifically targeting reporting on government contracts, government grants, and fiscal sponsorship arrangements. The stated goals are to detect misconduct and hold wrongdoers accountable. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent put the matter bluntly: “We are ending the days of hiding fraud, abuse, and extremist activity behind complicated nonprofit arrangements. When bad actors misuse charitable structures, directors and officers should understand that transparency can lead to scrutiny,...

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton fired back at the ActBlue Democratic donation organization after it filed a lawsuit Friday accusing him of violating the Constitution. Paxton filed a lawsuit last month accusing ActBlue of illegally accepting donations forbidden by campaign laws. The portal has faced similar allegations from Republicans for years. The ActBlue lawsuit accused Paxton of violating the organization's First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of the Constitution. "ActBlue is trying to take me down," Paxton responded on social media. "I sued the fundraising platform for deceiving Americans by lying about its donation processes that allow fraudulent and foreign donations....

AB 1608 would rename and expand the powers of the High-Speed Rail Authority’s Inspector General while creating broad exemptions to withhold records California’s high-speed rail project, originally pitched to voters as a $33.5 billion endeavor under Proposition 1A in 2008, has spiraled into a staggering taxpayer nightmare with estimates now exploding as high as $231 billion — a more than 700% increase. Against this backdrop of relentless cost overruns, Assembly Democrats are advancing legislation critics say is explicitly designed to conceal the extent of the waste and shield the failing project from public accountability. AB 1608, authored by Assemblywoman Lori...

Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of the Fugees has reported to federal prison to begin a 14-year sentence following a conviction over illegally funneling millions of dollars in foreign contributions to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. Michel reported to prison Thursday, a spokesperson said, with federal records listing him as an inmate at a low-security correctional institution in Arizona. “Today is a painful day for Pras, for his family, and for everyone who believes in a fair system of justice. Pras honors the legal process as he reports to begin his sentence,” said Erica Dumas, a spokesperson for...

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Federal taxpayers helped build a $2.2 billion solar plant — now electricity customers are on the hook to keep it running. The Ivanpah Solar Power Plant, a sprawling facility near the California-Nevada border built with billions in federal support during the Obama-era economic stimulus program, is stuck in a costly dilemma. Both the Trump and Biden administrations — along with the utility company that buys its power — have sought to shut it down, saying it underperforms, produces expensive electricity and has been overtaken by cheaper energy sources. But California regulators have refused to allow it...

RealRobert🇺🇸@Real_RobNHere it is:King Solomon Reporting:Holy God 🔥🔥🔥 AGAIN@jsolomonReports; U.S. intercepted intelligence confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt that Ukrainian officials were plotting to divert U.S. taxpayer money to Joe Biden’s campaign in the 2024 presidential election as a means to overthrow the United States government.President Trump has had it for months now, waiting for the right time to drop the bomb.2016: The General Prosecutor of Ukraine stated:“There’s enough evidence for me to open a criminal investigation into the illicit effort by Ukrainian officials to try to influence the United States election in favor of Hillary Clinton.”April 30, 2026

Biden administration officials may have sought to dodge public records laws and congressional oversight by classifying taxpayer-backed loans to Planned Parenthood as “Benghazi,” according to findings by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. Ernst, chairwoman of the Senate Small Business Committee, has been investigating Small Business Administration loans to the nation’s largest abortion provider under the Paycheck Protection Program during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a letter sent Monday to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Ernst asked for a Justice Department investigation “for potential Federal Records Act violation by concealment and/or attempted concealment” of SBA records regarding loans to Planned Parenthood and loan...

...“The Federal Reserve has revealed that US NGOs have more in assets than the combined 2025 GDP estimates for Japan, Germany and India combined — The combined assets held by US NGOs equals $14.2 trillion of your tax money” ...The combined assets held by US NGOs equals $14.2 trillion of your tax money and that of your children and grandchildren and great-great-great-great-great grandchildren. ...As of 2025, United States nonprofits held about $13.4–14.1 trillion in total assets. Including cash, investments, real estate, etc It has grown from $7 trillion a decade ago This is based on Federal Reserve data

The Energy Department is announcing a $325 million investment in new battery types that can help turn solar and wind energy into 24-hour power it said Friday morning. The funds will be distributed among 15 projects in 17 states and the Red Lake Nation, a Native American tribe based in Minnesota. Here is some of what is being funded, through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021: A project led by Xcel Energy in partnership with long-term battery manufacturer Form Energy will deploy two 100-megawatt battery systems at the site of coal plants that are closing in Becker, Minnesota and Pueblo,...

A bad week for Iran, the SPLC, and the Left in general. hat description comes from Chamath Palihapitiya, a venture capitalist, and relates to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which was just indicted by a federal grand jury in Alabama. The SPLC was formed years ago to seek damages for KKK victims. Over the years, it amassed a fortune and used it and its connections with the media and the Democrats unfairly to tar and ruin the livelihoods and reputations of individuals and organizations with which it disagreed -- including groups like Moms for Liberty and Parents Defending Education....

A grand jury indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for wire fraud, making false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering Tuesday. The SPLC’s “stated mission included the dismantling of white supremacy and confronting hate across the country. However, unbeknownst to donors, some of their donated money was being used to fund the leaders and organizers of racist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation, and the National Alliance,” reads the indictment. The indictment alleges that the SPLC paid informants (field sources) who “engaged in the active promotion of racist groups...

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that his office has filed a lawsuit against ActBlue in Tarrant County, Texas, following a multi-year investigation into the fundraising platform’s compliance with election laws. The lawsuit, filed in Fort Worth, alleges that ActBlue misled both Congress and the public while failing to follow federal and state requirements designed to prevent improper or illegal political donations. During an exchange with commentator Benny Johnson, Paxton confirmed the legal action and outlined the basis for the case. “ I assume you've heard of ActBlue. We just filed a lawsuit this morning in Tarrant County, which is...

The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that a grand jury indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center for making fraudulent payments of millions of dollars to members of the Ku Klux Klan and other neo-Nazi organizations. One leader of the 2017 Unite the Right protest in Charlottesville, Va., received roughly $270,000 over an eight-year period. Others had affiliations with the Ku Klux Klan, United Klans of America, Aryan Nations, the Nationalist Socialist Party of American Nazis and the Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club. Several of the informants were also being paid while simultaneously being featured in SPLC publications — including on its...

Between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC secretly funneled more than $3 million in donated funds to individuals who were associated with various violent extremist groups including the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, and National Socialist Party of America A Grand Jury in Montgomery, Alabama, today returned an indictment charging the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) with 11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama Northern Division filed two forfeiture actions to recover alleged proceeds of the organization’s...

"Middle Aged Man in a Hurry to Put Donor Money in His Pockets" Every presidential candidate is expected to pay a ghostwriter to write a memoir about the sheer wonderfulness of being him and the lessons he learned along the way. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s was titled, “Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery.” Maybe it should have been titled “Middle Aged Man in a Hurry to Put Donor Money in His Pockets” instead. Who was really going to plonk down thirty bucks (currently ten and change at Walmart) to read how Newsom at once insisted he was a...

RealRobert@Real_RobNHere it is:The United States government, under the single greatest criminal organization in American history:Over $100 billion in taxpayer money was extorted and funneled to left-wing corporations to build bridges to nowhere during the last 76 days of the Biden–Harris terrorist administration, while the same program allocated only $40 million over the previous 15 years.Every single member of Biden’s Cabinet, including his White House staff, should be placed on the FBI Most Wanted list and taken into custody to face charges of bribery, fraud, abuse of power, extortion, racketeering, money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the United States government and...

Nick Sortor@nicksortor·3h🚨 HOLY CRAP! ICE Director Todd Lyons just revealed ICE recently busted the largest gift card fraud scheme EVER — and that stolen money was being sent DIRECTLY BACK to military units in CHINAIt was being carried out by illegal Chinese men who were let in under BIDENAll military aged, of course.The scam is fairly simple: these Chinese fraudsters steal barcodes off gift cards from retail stores, place them back on the shelf, and when a shopper buys it, that money is IMMEDIATELY skimmed by CCP operatives who have the numbers in a databaseAnd the American consumer is left...

The O’Keefe Media Group on Tuesday released undercover video of a Finance Development Officer for Los Angeles Housing Department admitting to witnessing multiple instances of fraud. Donald Byers told the undercover OMG journalist that $10 to $20 million are going into people’s pockets and that homeless developers are embezzling money. Byers also said that the superiors look the other way to help corrupt Democrat Mayor Karen Bass maintain “re-election funds.” Per the O’Keefe Media Group: Donald Byers, a Finance Development Officer from the Los Angeles housing programs, admits on hidden camera that millions of taxpayer money disappear inside the city’s...