Free Republic

[Note: What follows is a blog-post formatted version of the 34 page letter I submitted to the FTC on May 21, 2025 in response to the agency’s RFI entitled: “Request for Public Comment Regarding Technology Platform Censorship.” I have also added a section at the end on what you can do to save the open web from Google’s AI takeover.] In this letter I will explain how Google censored my travel website – and thousands of small and independent web publishers like me – all so that it can use AI to control the flow of information online. In late...

The Trump administration’s plan to override a late Biden-era waiver approving California’s 2035 ban on gas-powered cars — embraced by 12 states and Washington, D.C. — hit a major roadblock as the Senate’s parliamentarian ruled the act is not subject to standard congressional review. ... the EPA, which falls under the president’s authority, must approve waivers for each new California policy. That’s why California Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the capital in the waning days of the Biden administration to secure approval of several waivers — including its ban on emissions-producing cars in 2035 — before the Trump administration took power....

Patricia Fahy, a Democrat state senator in New York is introducing legislation that would effectively ban Tesla dealerships in the state. This is the same party that has tried to force Americans to buy electric cars. Now this Democrat is trying to make it impossible for people to buy one. Have all Democrats gone completely insane? This woman is trying to use the power of the government to single out and punish an American company because she is mad at the creator of the company simply because he is working with Trump. Sounds a little fascistic, doesn’t it?

TRENTON, N.J. — A new bill introduced in the New Jersey Legislature aims to phase out gas-powered lawn equipment statewide, prohibiting its sale within three years and its use within five. The bill, sponsored by Democratic Assemblymembers Herbert Conaway and Mila Jasey, seeks to curb emissions from gas-powered devices such as lawnmowers, leaf blowers, and chainsaws, which contribute to air pollution and health risks. This bill doesn’t just seek to make it illegal to buy gas powered lawn equipment. It is intended to criminalize the actual use of any gas powered lawn tools within 5 years.

Spiteful federal government workers have vowed to boycott struggling mom-and-pop businesses near their offices after Donald Trump banned remote working. In a now-deleted Reddit post titled 'Boycott using local businesses around work site if forced back to office, several federal discussed how to fight back against Trump's order. 'For those that end up being forced back to their respective offices I would avoid patronizing the local businesses in those areas,' the original poster said. 'Bring your own lunch to avoid using the eateries and grocery stores, avoid parking in pay parking (use mass transit if available), and don't buy anything...

Under the policy, new non-condensing, natural gas-fired water heaters will be prohibited for sale starting in 2029 due to concerns about carbon-dioxide emissions. The policy comes during President Biden's twilight days in the White House and was quietly announced without a press release. If the policy takes effect, as it is slated to on March 11, a little less than 40% of the tankless water heaters currently on the market would be banned, according to an estimate from the Appliance Standards Awareness Project.

The new year will ring in new “green” requirements from the Environmental Protection Agency for heating and air conditioning units that threaten to raise prices and, for the first time, require flammable refrigerants in residential and commercial HVAC units. The new rule has triggered special training requirements for technicians and fire departments as they grapple with dealing with the possibility of HVAC systems catching fire, although testing shows the risk under most circumstances is low.“It’s certainly a unique challenge. We’re trying to balance environmental considerations with fire safety in this particular instance,” said Robin Zevotek, an engineer at the National...

...as we move to options that have a lower impact” on the environment, said Josh Simpson, co-founder of Little Kamper, a one-pound refillable propane canister exchange company in Manteca....

A coalition of 24 states, led by Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers, have signed a brief against a federal electric truck mandate. On March 29, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rolled out a new electric truck mandate to increase sales of electric semitrucks from 2027 through 2032. EPA will require electric models to account for 60% of new urban delivery trucks and 25% of long-haul tractor sales by 2032. The cost of electric trucks are typically two to three times more expensive than diesel trucks, according to the Institute for Energy Research. Truckers will also have to invest $620 billion...

Your next new home air conditioner could set you back $12,000 or more, with federal regulators contributing to the rising cost of staying cool. Before 2020, buying and installing a new residential central air conditioner typically cost well under $10,000. Many jobs, including both purchase and installation, fell in the $6,000 to $7,000 range—about half the current price—says Martin Hoover, a co-owner of Atlanta-based Empire Heating & Air Conditioning. While many factors, including rising material costs, have contributed to the increase in prices, regulations have played an outsize role. The Energy Department in January 2023 issued a new efficiency standard...

Business groups are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration to delay regulations that would significantly restrict widely used coolant chemicals — a priority under the state’s sweeping climate law — that they say could wreak financial havoc on stakeholders ranging from grocery stores to hospitals. The mandates have stoked concerns from trade groups ranging from the Business Council to the New York Farm Bureau. A broad coalition of business interests sent a letter to Hochul and the state Department of Environmental Conservation on Wednesday arguing that the state’s timeline is not feasible. DEC’s proposed phaseout of chemical compounds known as “hydrofluorocarbons,”...

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - On Thursday, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced a lawsuit against Sheetz, alleging the convenience store and gas chain of denying employment to a class of job application due to their race. The U.S. EEOC alleges that Sheetz has a practice of screening all applicants for records of criminal conviction and then denying them employment based on said record. The EEOC's charge claims that Sheetz disproportionally screened out applicants who are black, Native American, and multiracial.

Want more food deserts in San Francisco?Here's how you get more food deserts in San Francisco.According to Reason magazine:The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is considering a remarkable policy that would allow people to sue grocery stores that close too quickly.Earlier this week, Supervisors Dean Preston and Aaron Peskin introduced an ordinance that, if passed, would require grocery stores to provide six months' written notice to the city before closing down.Supermarket operators would also have to make "good faith" efforts to ensure the continued availability of groceries at their shuttered location, either through finding a successor store, helping residents form...

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “America Reports” that people who do not want electric cars were like those who wanted “landline phones forever.” Buttigieg said, “Let’s be clear consumers have wanted and purchased more EVs every single year than the year before. Tesla is facing more competition as GM and Ford and Stellantis and other competitive players make sure they get a piece of the EV market. Let’s be clear, the automotive sector is moving toward EVs and we can’t pretend otherwise. Sometimes, when these debates happen, I feel like it’s the early 2000s...

At least eight states are planning to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars in the next decade - and others are considering joining them. Only zero-emission vehicles can be sold in participating states beginning from the 2035 model year, according to the Advanced Clean Cars II legislation. The rule, which was first adopted by California, means that automakers and dealerships would be banned from selling new gas cars in these states from that point onwards.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said the SEC is exceeding the authority Congress granted it to be a financial regulator. More than half the states in the U.S. filed lawsuits this month against the Securities and Exchange Commission over the climate disclosure rules it finalized last week. On top of state lawsuits, the SEC is facing legal challenges from companies, nonprofits and business advocacy groups. A U.S. appeals court on Friday temporarily paused the new rules. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request from Liberty Energy Inc. and Nomad Proppant Services LLC to put...

The Biden administration is expected this week to finalize highly anticipated regulations targeting gas-powered vehicle tailpipe emissions, considered the tip of the spear in its efforts to electrify the transportation sector. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is slated to issue the final rulemaking — which officials have boasted will incentivize greater adoption of electric vehicles (EV), but which opponents have criticized as a de facto mandate — as soon as Wednesday, industry sources told Fox News Digital. The regulations, a key part of President Biden's climate agenda, would ultimately force automakers to more rapidly expand electric options in their fleets...

The Biden administration finalized regulations for residential clothes washers and dryers on Thursday. The Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it is locking in the “energy efficiency” regulations for residential clothes washers and dryers, marking the latest development in the Biden administration’s wide effort to shape markets to decidedly favor more energy efficient appliances in the coming years. The agency stated that the rules will reduce carbon dioxide emissions and save consumers money on their water and electricity bills over the course of many years. “For decades, DOE’s appliance standards actions for clothes washers and dryers have provided loads of...

FIRST ON FOX: A bicameral coalition of more than 130 Republican lawmakers penned a letter to the White House on Thursday, urging it to withdraw proposed tailpipe emissions regulations, forcing a transition to electric vehicles (EV). The Republicans — led by Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho — argued that the regulations issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are a "de facto EV mandate" phaseout of traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. They addressed the letter to President Biden and Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, which is expected to soon finalize...

The Biden administration is poised to soon finalize gas-powered car tailpipe emissions standards that consumer advocates and energy industry groups have dubbed a "de facto electric vehicle mandate." The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed tailpipe emissions – which were in recent weeks submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget for final review – are designed to ensure a staggering 67% of new car sales are electric by 2032. Over the weekend, the New York Times and Washington Post reported the White House is set to double down on that lofty goal while loosening earlier targets. "The President...