Free Republic

I just returned from a trip to Florida, where I had a great visit with my good friend General Flynn. There’s no one who’s been through more than Flynn and his family; they’ve truly been through hell and back. I am honored to call him a friend and stand proudly behind him; he has my complete support. If you talk with the General, you can immediately tell that he would have been incredible as a military leader. While in the Army, he had almost endless resources, and now that he’s a private citizen fighting for our freedoms, he’s doing the...

The federal government, through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and state and local governments have started to receive analyses about the presence and movement of people in certain areas of geographic interest drawn from cellphone data, people familiar with the matter said. The data comes from the mobile advertising industry rather than cellphone carriers. The aim is to create a portal for federal, state and local officials that contains geolocation data in what could be as many as 500 cities across the U.S., one of the people said, to help plan the epidemic response. The data—which is stripped...

From grasslands to seashores to forests and backyards, birds are disappearing at an alarming rate in the United States and Canada, with a 29% population drop since 1970 and a net loss of about 2.9 billion birds, scientists said on Thursday.

The wireless industry is in a race to roll out 5G service. The network is supposed to be up to 100 times faster than current data speeds, but it requires cellphone tower equipment to be closer to users than before. Wireless companies in the U.S. say they’ll have to install about 300,000 new antennas – roughly equal to the total number of cell towers built over the past three decades. That’s causing outrage and alarm in some neighborhoods, as antennas go up around homes.

“Slugging” is an organic ride-share around the D.C. suburbs to commute back and forth to the Pentagon and the neighboring office buildings via high-occupancy vehicle lanes without a toll. As we arrive, she pulls up to the barrier, instead of pulling up to the normal “slug” drop off area, an indicator that she is going to D.C. not inside the Pentagon. As I hurry to get out, the chord gets wrapped around the seatbelt and my podcast stops. I move over to the barrier and put my stuff down to get organized, I grab the chord and the iPhone is...

Seventeen fake cellphone towers were discovered across the U.S. last week, according to a report in Popular Science. Rather than offering you cellphone service, the [fake] towers appear to be connecting to nearby phones, bypassing their encryption, and either tapping calls or reading texts. [snip] Although it is unclear who owns the towers, ESD found that several of them were located near U.S. military bases.

Connecticut Audubon Society said it's opposed to a legislative proposal that would allow cell towers in state parks and forests and is urging the public to help them fight the idea. A provision in a bill before the General Assembly, An Act Modernizing the State's Telecommunications Laws (SB 447), would allow communications companies to build towers in state parks and forests. The act needs the approval of the commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The Audubon Society believes cell towers would seriously damage wildlife habitat by causing forest fragmentation. The group said that cell towers are also...

Vandals have damaged more than a dozen transmission towers in Harris and Montgomery counties during the past two months, causing thousands of dollars in damage and temporarily disrupting cell phone and radio service, authorities said. Nine cell phone towers have been hit in northern Harris and southern Montgomery counties, causing more than $100,000 in damage, investigators said. Many of the towers in Harris County have been struck twice, said Sgt. Jeff Stauber of the Harris County Sheriff's Department. At least five others have been hit in Houston, said John Cannon, a Houston Police Department spokesman. There were two incidents in...