Free Republic

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials tried to hack Indiana’s state electoral system with at least 14,800 “scans” or hits between Nov. 1, 2016, to Dec. 16, 2016, The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group has learned. The attacks are the second confirmed IT scanning assault by DHS officials against states that resisted then-President Barack Obama’s attempt to increase federal involvement in state and local election systems by designating them as “critical infrastructure” for national security. Members of the National Association of Secretaries of State voted Saturday at their winter meeting to oppose the designation. They are asking President Donald...

An investigation into accusations that students at last week's Army-Navy football game made white supremacist gestures determined that the students were playing a game and had no racist intentions, according to officials at West Point. Pre-game festivities aired by ESPN on Dec. 14 showed cadets on both sides of the rivalry - two West Point cadets and one Naval Academy midshipman - making gestures as a camera focused on a sideline report. At least one of the gestures resembled a white supremacist symbol described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as "the thumb and forefinger joined together in a circle,...

Where was Samantha Power when an unarmed Iranian young woman, Neda Soltan, was shot by Iranian troops, and bled to death in the street? As a member of Team Obama, does anyone recall Power saying anything critical of Iran? Does anyone recall Barack Hussein Obama commenting on that horrific assault on human rights? Oh wait, he did say something: “We’re still waiting to see how it plays itself out….” ... Everyone must hear about this. Every outlet in the world should publicize how the murderous Iranian regime is mowing down protesters. ... Wait until Samantha Power hears about how Samantha...

by Mark Finkelstein January 3, 2006 - 07:58 Katie Couric's just-completed interview with NY Times Reporter James Risen, who broke the NSA surveillance story and is now publishing his book on the matter, 'State of War,' offered a treasure-trove of insights into the matter. And give Katie a gentlelady's 'C' for her questioning. Couric earned the bulk of her credit by posing this seminal line of questioning: "Did [the leakers] have any sympathy or understanding about this new climate this country finds itself in and the criticism the Bush administration took prior to 9/11 for not putting the pieces together...

In what one community leader called a “breakthrough,” the city’s law department will meet with aldermanic sponsors of a community benefits agreement for the area around the proposed Obama Presidential Center in order to iron out legal issues with their proposed ordinance. The city’s housing department agreed to facilitate the process at a meeting of community stakeholders Tuesday after members of the Obama CBA Coalition held a prayer vigil outside the meeting, said Alex Goldenberg, executive director of Southside Together Organizing for Power and a coalition leader. Goldenberg said he hopes legal guidance on the ordinance from city attorneys will...

Full title: "The Ring is trying to get back to its master!"-J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, & Washington's Farewell Warning The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien describes man's insatiable lust for "the Ring of Power," as Gandalf exclaimed: "Always remember Frodo, the Ring is trying to get back to its master. It wants to be found." When Frodo offered the Ring to Gandalf, Gandalf rebuked him, saying: "Don't tempt me Frodo! I dare not take it. Not even to keep it safe. Understand, Frodo. I would use this ring from a desire to do good ... But...

Leaked funding documents reveal an effort by George Soros and his foundations to manipulate election laws and process rules ahead of the federal election far more expansively than has been previously reported. The billionaire and convicted felon moved hundreds of millions of dollars into often-secret efforts to change election laws, fuel litigation to attack election integrity measures, push public narratives about voter fraud, and to integrate the political ground game of the left with efforts to scare racial minority groups about voting rights threats. These Soros-funded efforts moved through dozens of 501(c)(3) and (c)(4) charities and involved the active compliance with civil rights groups, government...

The head of the National Transmission Corporation confirmed the possibility during a senate session. China has part-owned the Philippines' national grid since 2009 - leading one senator to question whether China's "hegemonic ambitions" posed a security threat to the Philippines. The countries have a territory dispute in the South China Sea. "We have given our grid - although 40% it appears - to a foreign corporation that has interests that collide with our country in the West Philippine Sea," said Senator Richard Gordon, using the Philippine name for the eastern parts of the South China Sea. "And that [country] obviously...

(SAN FRANCISCO) — Pacific Gas & Electric Co. was set to begin shutting off power Wednesday to some 375,000 people in 18 Northern and central California counties as the region faces extreme fire weather that’s lasted since October. A virtually rainless fall has left brush bone-dry and forecasts called for low humidity and winds gusting at times to 55 mph (88.5 kph), which might fling tree branches or other debris into power lines, causing sparks that could set catastrophic fires in the region, PG&E officials said. **SNIP** The planned blackout would be the latest in a series of massive outages...

“California’s reliance on hydropower and proliferation of remote, centralized renewable energy plants; the mandated environmental mothballing of 19 coastal natural gas power plants located close to customers; redundant transmission lines for green power; and seasonal wind blasts, results in lethal blast-furnace-like wildfires that leave trees alone but incinerate houses.” “California leaders and opinion-makers must first abandon their blame game and diagnose the problem more clearly than using clichés like ‘global warming,’ ‘Donald Trump,’ ‘greed’ or even ‘not enough clear cutting,’ if they are going to responsibly deal with the dangerous unintended consequences of de-modernizing its electric grid.”

Mayors of Oakland, San Jose and Sacramento are among officials from two dozen Northern California cities and counties considering a plan to buy out PG&E for up to $50 billion. Under the proposal, led by San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, PG&E (NYSE:PCG) would become a giant customer-owned cooperative. Bonds would be issued to acquire the company and paid off through customers' monthly electric bills. The story was first reported in the Wall Street Journal. The coalition of officials sent a letter today to the California Public Utilities Commission and Gov. Gavin Newsom. It outlines the plan and asks that their...

According to the official, widely reported story, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) shut down substantial portions of its electric transmission system in northern California as a precautionary measure. Citing high wind speeds they described as “historic,” the utility claims that if they didn’t turn off the grid, wind-caused damage to their infrastructure could start more wildfires in the area. Perhaps that’s true. Perhaps. This tale presumes that the folks who designed and maintain PG&E’s transmission system are unaware of or ignored the need to design it to withstand severe weather events, and that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and...

if you have been paying attention, this was an obvious action by the socialists in California. First put onerous regulations on the Utility Companies, then when the wildfires happen and burn down hundreds of homes, the legal damages cause the Utility Companies to go bankrupt resulting in Government run Utility Companies....which putting the Government in the business of owning utility companies will solve all the problems.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. — For four nights, Eliana Rubin cared for her newborn son, James, by candlelight. The baby, 11 weeks old, is her first. He’s colicky and wakes often, she said. As the latest Pacific Gas & Electric safety shut-off dragged on this week, she lit a flame by her bedside each time the child woke, but was careful to blow it out before falling asleep again. Even more than the dark, she worried about the near-freezing temperatures inside her home in this remote part of Northern California. “The thing is the cold,” she said Tuesday. “I am, like, folding...

Californians know that having tens of thousands of homeless in their major cities is untenable. In some places, municipal sidewalks have become open sewers of garbage, used needles, rodents and infectious diseases. Yet no one dares question progressive orthodoxy by enforcing drug and vagrancy laws, moving the homeless out of cities to suburban or rural facilities, or increasing the number of mental hospitals. Gas prices of $4 to $5 a gallon — the result of high taxes, hyper-regulation and green mandates — add insult to the injury of stalled commuters. Gas tax increases ostensibly intended to fund freeway expansion and...

My part of the California Bay Area (San Rafael) just completed a 2.5 day involuntary blackout. The local utility is taking precautions to reduce their power in areas of ongoing fire, or windy weather. They have already declared bankruptcy due to past mistakes and misfortunes. There is nothing I can do about it, but to be ready, more ready the next time. I can be thankful it wasn't longer. Tonight is the first time we have had street lights and traffic lights for a while. I recall gazing from my back terrace at the nearest avenue. All was pitch black....

California’s Governor Gavin Newsom is starting to sound disturbingly more and more like New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. (More on that in a moment.) As we recently discussed, Pacific Gas & Electric has continued to impose rounds of blackouts across “red flag� areas of the state under warnings of high winds and possible wildfires. This has many residents feeling rather angry and demanding that something is done. To the rescue rides Governor Newsom. He doesn’t want the aging power lines to cause any more fires but he also doesn’t want his voters upset over having their power cut off.What...

California regulators say they will open a formal probe into whether utilities companies violated any rules by cutting power to millions of residents as a precaution during recent periods of high winds and heightened wildfire risks. The announcement on Monday did not single out any utilities by name, but the bulk of 'public safety power shut-offs' under scrutiny were implemented by Pacific Gas and Electric Co, a unit of PG&E Corp, California's largest investor-owned utility. PG&E filed for bankruptcy in January, citing $30 billion in civil liability from major wildfires sparked by its equipment in 2017 and 2018, including last...

All Thursday, they hadn’t gotten a reverse-911 alert, or an emergency email, or a phone call. All had seemed quiet since 11 a.m., when Southern California Edison shut off their power. It wasn’t until 2:30 a.m. Friday that something — maybe the whir of helicopters or perhaps the providence of God — woke Mary up. She saw the unusual light creeping through the bedroom curtains. “That’s not right,” she thought, grabbing a flashlight. Outside, a sheriff’s deputy cruising by noticed the flashlight in the window and flicked on his siren, then shouted into the home: “It’s a mandatory evacuation!” The...

Millions of Californians are preparing to live in the dark again after the state’s largest utility warned it may cut power for the third time in as many weeks because of looming strong winds and high fire danger. Pacific Gas & Electric will decide Saturday whether to blackout 850,000 homes and businesses in 36 counties for 48 hours or longer throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, wine country and Sierra foothills.