Free Republic

Before everything got disrupted by the attempt on President Trump’s life, I had written a post last week titled “Big Tech On The Path To Net Zero.” That post looked at the most recently issued “sustainability” reports from Google, Microsoft and Meta, and noted that all three admit to going rapidly in the opposite direction from “net zero.” As their businesses grow in the direction of power-hungry data centers and AI, they inevitably require large incremental amounts of always-available electricity — the kind of electricity that wind and sun cannot provide. Lacking viable alternatives to fossil fuels, their “emissions” rise....

The outgoing head of the British Army General Sir Patrick Sanders has warned that NATO may only have five years to prepare for war. General Sir Patrick warned that the world was facing one of its most dangerous moments since 1945 when the world was last at war and that the alliance may have until the end of this decade to be ready. Sir Patrick also highlighted that despite performing well in some areas, the UK’s armed forces were also underfunded and overstretched. His warnings come at a time of rising global tensions over Russia’s war in Ukraine, China’s warnings...

A 75-year-old Journey fan in Cleveland, Ohio was reportedly scammed out of $122,000 by an online imposter posing as Steve Perry. According to WKYC, in January the woman responded to a Facebook message from someone claiming to be the band's former lead singer. According to Westlake police, "The fake Mr. Perry had a business opportunity and of course 'needed a woman in his life.'" According to the police report, over the next several months the woman sent the Perry imposter $72,000 in wire transfers to "various persons in various different states, designated by 'Perry,' through her bank" as well as...

It’s the story of every government subsidy: Offer folks handouts if they meet certain requirements, and suddenly a lot of people . . . meet the requirements. Cover the full cost of something — especially it’s something pricey, like health insurance — and the number zooms off the charts. That’s what’s happening in the case ObamaCare subsidies President Biden and fellow Democrats generously expanded, with those getting handouts actually exceeding the number entitled to them, a new report from the Paragon Health Institute found. The improper claims are costing American taxpayers an estimated $15 billion to $26 billion a year,...

Despite multiple awareness campaigns and recycling programmes, it seems that not many are taking recycling seriously, says Singapore University of Social Sciences’ Victor Seah.(Singapore) Drinking water from a bottle made from recycled plastic recently made me feel unjustifiably righteous for a moment, until I realised that despite being recycled, it was still plastic and likely less virtuous than those new paper-like packets. Thankfully, my holier-than-thou moment was restored after I deposited the plastic bottle into a recycling bin. It feels good to recycle. Research has found a positive link between recycling and self-reported well-being and life satisfaction. Knowing that the...

The Government of Maine has really big plans for floating wind, a floating net zero fantasy, in fact. Since floating wind power is the next big green thing, it is worth taking a close look at this ruinous vision. Floating wind is a fad, not an established technology. It has yet to be built at utility scale or tested in a hurricane. The world’s biggest grid-connected system is a tiny 50 MW and just came online off Scotland. The cost of floating wind is necessarily much greater than fixed wind. A fixed wind tower sits on a simple monopile, while...

CHICAGO - Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced an executive order Monday to establish a reparations task force and agenda aimed at addressing historical injustices against the African American community. The task force will develop a definition and framework for reparations, identifying areas for restorative action such as housing, education, jobs, and criminal justice. It is also responsible for conducting a comprehensive study to catalog policies that have harmed African Americans in Chicago, including controversial real estate practices like redlining and restrictive covenants. Johnson made the announcement during a Juneteenth flag-raising ceremony at Daley Plaza. "Reparations will be an investment in...

A growing number of carbon storage projects are on the way across California, the US, and the world—a trend driven by growing government subsidies, looming national climate targets, and declining revenue and growth in traditional oil and gas activities. With these hundreds of looming projects, communities will be forced to weight the climate claims and environmental risks of capturing, moving, and storing carbon dioxide.

It’s the melting pot of all scams. Russian gangsters, MS-13 members, and a cadre of corrupt surgeons, lawyers and lenders are pulling off the latest big con in the city: bogus personal-injury lawsuits where immigrants go under the knife to help their twisted ruse. Migrants and other desperate New Yorkers are pressured into getting unneeded spinal fusion surgery and other operations to boost the value of their fake-accident claims, according to court records, insurance investigators and law-enforcement sources. Doctors cash in on the sick swindle by performing back and neck fusions, allowing fraudsters to swipe billions through bogus insurance filings,...

Wealthy beach lovers are left devastated as they're forced to slash prices of their luxury seaside homes by millions due to climate change. Climate experts believe the rise in sea levels and unforgiving storms, intense rainfall and coastal flooding and erosion are the culprits putting homeowners in a precarious position - and the unpredictability of it all. The areas with some of the priciest real estate that have been hit the hardest include, Dana Point, California, to Long Island, New York, and Nantucket, Massachusetts, CNBC reported. In September, a beach front home on Nantucket that listed for $2.3 million, fell...

Portland Press Herald Portland startup that became global leader in capturing carbon shuts down, lays off all staff Running Tide, which raised more than $50 million from private investors since it was founded in 2017, fell victim to a collapse in voluntary carbon market prices, its CEO says. June 15, 2024 Kelley Bouchard, Staff Writer A Portland-based startup that pioneered ocean carbon-removal technology, and sold credits to offset the emissions of major clients such as Microsoft, shut down and laid off its last employees on Friday because it could no longer sell enough carbon credits to survive, its CEO said....

A House Judiciary Committee released a report Tuesday that alleges a ‘climate cartel’ comprised of left-wing environmental activists and major financial institutions colluded to force American companies to adopt anti-fossil fuel policies, which have in turn, harmed U.S. consumers. The interim report was the product of a two-year investigation by House Judiciary Republicans into whether “woke” companies were engaging in behaviors that violate antitrust laws. “Today’s report demonstrates a clear violation of antitrust laws among the companies cited. It indicates both an agreement and a reduction of output – the two standards necessary to establish antitrust,” Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo.,...

A “climate cartel” made up of left-wing advocacy groups and Wall Street firms have colluded to force American companies to reduce carbon emissions, a congressional committee charged in a scathing report Tuesday. The interim report is the first of its kind produced by the Republican-led Judiciary Committee in the House since it launched an investigation in late 2022 into whether corporate efforts to tackle climate change violate antitrust laws. It accused business groups and advocacy organizations of “muzzling corporate free speech” and “handcuffing company leadership” through “ever-escalating pressure tactics,” which included “taking out” directors at firms that are deemed “recalcitrant.”...

Joe Biden’s new executive order for asylum seekers is a total scam. Joe Biden last Tuesday held a fake border security press conference on his new asylum ‘restrictions’ from the East Room. More than 15 million illegal aliens – mainly military-age males – have invaded the US on Biden’s watch. Joe Biden took 94 executive actions in his first 100 days in office to destroy the border. Now he’s acting like the savior with his new ‘asylum restrictions’ – only asylum is STILL AVAILABLE to thousands of illegal aliens every single day released into the US. According to The New...

resident Joe Biden’s top climate adviser said he understands young activists’ impatience with the slow progress on combating climate change — but warned that the president’s political rivals are preparing a “U-turn agenda” that would reverse all the administration’s progress. White House national climate adviser Ali Zaidi’s comments Wednesday at the POLITICO Energy Summit come as the youth-led environmental group Sunrise Movement signaled it is withholding its endorsement of Biden, who has struggled to draw support from the young voters who were crucial to his election four years ago. Zaidi said the administration needs to communicate the stakes of the...

25 refrigerators. That’s how much the additional electricity consumption per household would be if the average US home adopted electric vehicles (EVs). Congressman Thomas Massie—an electrical engineer—revealed this information while discussing with Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation, President Biden’s plan to have 50% of cars sold in the US be electric by 2030. The current and future grid in most places will not be able to support each home running 25 refrigerators—not even close. Just look at California, where the grid is already buckling under the existing load. Massie claims, correctly, in my view, that the notion of widespread...

For all the money the Biden administration has been frantically shoveling into the wind sector - I'm praying this is a last-minute, panicked gambit on their part because November looks dicey - it's all coming to late to help out some of the biggest names in wind turbine development. Siemens Gamesa, the Spanish renewable spin-off of German parent Siemens Energy (and one of my favorite villains in the wind farm wars, although no one tops Ørsted) says it's going to lay off up to 4100 people in their turbine divisions across three countries in part of a "restructuring" move.Siemens Gamesa...

Over a dozen law enforcement departments in Colorado are planning to dispatch drones instead of officers to respond to specific 911 calls. The Denver Police Department and several other law enforcement agencies in Colorado plan to dispatch drones instead of officers in situations where drones can provide information about the incident before officers are called to the scene. The Denver Post reported that in some cases, the drone would be the only response to some incidents if an operator can determine from the air that officers don’t need to respond. Sgt. Jeremiah Gates, who is in charge of the Arapahoe...

A University of Florida research employee and students have been implicated in an illegal, multi-million dollar scheme that saw samples of dangerous drugs and toxins illicitly shipped to China over a period of seven years. The scheme, investigated by the Justice Department, saw thousands of biochemical samples bought illegally which were then delivered to a campus laboratory before being shipped overseas, according to federal court records. Among the students tied to the scheme was the president of UF's Chinese Students and Scholars Association, Nongnong 'Leticia' Zheng. The group openly protested a Florida law signed by Gov. Ron De Santis last...

Alabama is spearheading a coalition of 12 Republican-led states in a federal lawsuit against five Democrat-run states, alleging the latter are trying to coerce the former into complying with strict climate-conscious policies that could imperil their residents' access to affordable energy. The filing was made at the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday as the plaintiffs argued that Democrat-led states California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey and Rhode Island are essentially forcing residents of politically opposed states to feel repercussions of their restrictions and, therefore, are dictating national energy policy. "California and New Jersey and the defendant states are trying to make...