Free Republic

Republican U.S. House Natural Resources Committee leaders have escalated an ongoing investigation into Joe Biden’s Interior Secretary Deb Haaland regarding her connections to the left-wing environmental activist group Pueblo Action Alliance (PAA). A letter sent to Secretary Haaland and the top Interior Department ethics official, Heather Gottry, and spearheaded by Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., raises concerns about a potential “lack of impartiality and misuse of her position” in support of PAA and certain family members. Haaland’s daughter has been involved with PAA, while her husband has been engaged in consulting work related to Interior Department actions. The...

Federal budgeters kept up with pre-pandemic spending to deck out office spaces during Covid-19.. While almost all employees worked from home, over $3.3 billion was spent on items including solar-powered picnic tables.. The egregious spending ... Federal officials have been criticized after splashing $3.3 billion on swanky new office furniture during the pandemic, when almost all staff worked from home. The egregious spending habits of the US government included almost $250,000 on solar-powered picnic tables for the CDC, and $120,000 on plush Ethan Allen leather chairs. ... office capacity dipped as low as nine percent ... Among the most maddening...

A Rikers Island corrections officer who once claimed he was working more than 100 hours a week was hit with federal charges Wednesday for allegedly cheating the city out of more than $170,000 in bogus overtime. James Internicola, a 26-year veteran of the city Department of Corrections, was allegedly on vacation soaking up the sun in Aruba or on the Jersey Shore while claiming he was actually on duty at Rikers, according to a 13-page complaint filed in Brooklyn federal court. Between July 2021 and January 2023, the 56-year-old Rikers guard pocketed more than $390,000 in pay and overtime —...

Q:What is the difference between what Sen. Bob Menendez is charged with, what President Joe Biden is being investigated for, and the speech Michelle Obama gave in Germany on Monday?A: Only the dollar amounts.Just as Democrats were ramping up calls for Menendez to step down over bribery charges filed against him, and as House Republicans started their impeachment inquiry into whether Joe Biden used son Hunter to bribe foreign officials, Obama was reportedly getting paid an obscenely large amount of money for a one-hour talk on “diversity.”These are all variations on a theme. Call it bribery, or extortion, or abuse...

Commentary “Experts have long doubted the effectiveness of phenylephrine,” which is a common ingredient in DayQuil, NyQuil, Sudafed, Mucinex, and others. This was National Public Radio on Wednesday morning, Sept. 13. It reminds me of Orwell: Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. They are telling us this 16 years after the FDA forced the ingredient as the substitute for a product that actually works, which is pseudoephedrine. To get the product with pseudoephedrine requires that you ask for it. It is kept behind the counter. Then you have to use your drivers’ license and there are restrictions on...

The Oregon Government Ethics Commission voted unanimously Friday to investigate former Secretary of State Shemia Fagan’s travel while in office and whether she bilked the state out of thousands of dollars by bringing her family with her on state-funded trips and double-dipping with campaign funds. It’s the latest in a series of investigations into Fagan, once viewed as a rising star in the Democratic Party and widely expected to run for governor or the U.S. Senate within the next decade. Now, she’s facing scrutiny from state and federal prosecutors and the state ethics commission, which last month began a separate...

A complaint filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) alleges that the founder of the largest Democratic dark money network in the country is using its operations for his own financial benefit. Fox News reports that the complaint was filed on Tuesday by Americans for Public Trust (APT), and targets any entities that are affiliated with Arabella Advisors, a consulting firm based out of Washington D.C. which manages numerous nonprofits serving as fiscal sponsors for left-wing dark money groups. Arabella was founded by Eric Kessler, a former appointee in the Clinton Administration. It has since brought in hundreds of millions...

Proterra, the electric bus company at the center of an apparent conflict of interest involving Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, has filed for bankruptcy, Reuters reported Monday evening. Granholm drew immense scrutiny when it was revealed that she maintained her financial positions in the firm, for which she used to sit on the board of directors, after she assumed her post as the leader of the Department of Energy (DOE) and began to direct policies which could have favored her own financial interests. Granholm eventually closed her position in the firm late in May 2021, and netted capital gains amounting to...

Spotify has parted ways with Harry and Meghan, ending a deal they inked back in 2020. The media outlet reportedly paid them $20 million for a series of podcasts. They ended up making twelve episodes. That’s really nice work if you can get it. Is this what the left means when they talk about privilege? Who else gets to make that kind of money for this kind of work? NBC News reports: Prince Harry and Meghan’s deal with Spotify ends as they agree to ‘part ways’ Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, have announced another high-profile split. The...

It’s good to be in the top 10 of an Illinois state pension plan: median contribution, $165,852; median lifetime payout, $5.5 million. The top 10 pensioners in each of its five statewide systems has already received a median state pension worth $3.88 million since retiring. They are predicted to each collect about $1.62 million more during their lifetimes. Workers who spend their careers working for Illinois collect the third-most generous retirement benefits in the nation. But the top 10 pensioners in each system earn more than double the median lifetime payout of these career pensioners. Former Elgin School District 46...

Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is taking on a new role in education, less than a month after she left office. Beginning this fall, Lightfoot will teach a course at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health tentatively titled "Health Policy and Leadership," according to an announcement from the school. Lightfoot, who left office on May 15 after losing re-election, will serve as the Richard L. and Ronay A. Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow at the school beginning at the end of August. The Menschel program, according to the school, "offers a rare opportunity for those who have recently served...

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives intentionally overstated the duties of dozens of employees, labeling them as law enforcement agents so it could pay them more money and costing the government tens of millions of dollars.Investigators said ATF has been making overpayments since at least 2003. They identified more than 100 jobs in human resources and other administrative areas that were misclassified as criminal investigators.They said the government wasted roughly $20 million on overpayments in just one five-year period.ATF officials disputed the exact numbers but admitted to the overall nature of the scam. Officials said they are still...

On the latest episode of the Drill Down podcast, the president of OpenTheBooks.com told co-hosts Peter Schweizer and Eric Eggers that the Newsoms may have reached a new low in feeding at the public trough. Governor Gavin Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, was paid $1.5 million over the decade to run a non-profit film and school curriculum organization, Adam Andrzejewski told the Drill Down. The group licenses its films to 5,000 schools across the country, which pay licensing fees to the non-profit. The non-profit doesn’t create the films. That’s done by a for-profit film production company she also owns, which...

Former Arkansas governor and 2024 presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson (R) says former President Trump has “taken us back to bitterness,” urging the GOP to move on as Trump campaigns for another White House term. “Why does the party need to move on from Donald Trump?” NBC News correspondent Vaughn Hillyard asked Hutchinson in an interview aired Tuesday. “Because Donald Trump has taken us back to bitterness. He’s taken us back to what’s a personal vendetta. Whenever you look at what he wants to do as president, it’s more about getting even with his political enemies than leading our country, and...

… Host Elizabeth Vargas (of NewsNation Prime) said, “I’m curious. You had said also that after the events of January 6, that anybody associated with that Capitol Hill Riot should never be in a position of power again. What was your reaction when you heard President Trump at a recent rally play a song that he had recorded with inmates who had been convicted? Some of them pled guilty to their conduct on January 6.” Hutchinson said, “To me, he’s undermining our system of justice. He’s undermining actually what happened on January 6 and minimizing it, and so I’m troubled...

Who is running for president in 2024? Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson announced his campaign and said Donald Trump should drop out of the race. https://abc7chicago.com/asa-hutchinson-arkansas-governor-presidential-election-2024/13070784/

Beginning on page 411 of the 35th Anniversary Edition of Atlas Shrugged. (from Atlas Shrugged II, Minute 40) Dr. Ferris smiled. . . . . ."We've waited a long time to get something on you. You honest men are such a problem and such a headache. But we knew you'd slip sooner or later - and this is just what we wanted." "You seem to be pleased about it." "Don't I have good reason to be?" "But, after all, I did break one of your laws." "Well, what do you think they're for?" Dr. Ferris did not notice the sudden...

An explosive report has blown the lid off a NATO nation's 'sham' support for Ukraine. Estonia, a NATO member, is allegedly using European Peace Facility (EPF) funds to renew its own weapons while sending old stocks to Kyiv, according to a Politico report. The European Peace Facility (EPF) fund is intended to partially reimburse countries that have sent military aid to Ukraine but is now reportedly being exploited. According to seven EU diplomats quoted in the report, Estonia is sending its scraps to Ukraine and buying brand new material for itself, financed with EU money. The report, however, is set...

New York Post columnist and author Miranda Devine questioned the "bizarre response" from Hunter Biden's lawyers and the White House to new findings of China-linked payments to several members of the Biden family. On "Fox & Friends" Friday, Devine argued that the claim of Hunter Biden doing "legitimate" business in China "doesn't pass the sniff test." MIRANDA DEVINE: It's quite a bizarre response. Good faith seed money, I guess, is what they're going to hang their hat on, as if this Chinese company is just doling out millions of dollars to them as a pre-payment, as a down payment on...

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer believes that more than half a dozen members of the Biden clan may have been involved in various worldwide business schemes that profited off their family name. Comer, whose committee is investigating the Biden family’s business dealings, shared the insight in a Wednesday night interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “At the end of this I think we’re gonna see there are probably six or seven Biden family members that were involved in various business schemes around the world,” Comer (R-Ky.) told Ingraham, referring to his panel’s far-reaching probe. Comer didn’t mention any...