Free Republic

Although it took six years for her to do it, former mayor of Wasilla/Alaska governor/GOP vice presidential nominee, and current author/Fox analyst/Tea Party favorite/social media pioneer/reality TV star and all around muckraker Sarah Palin has finally landed on her most perfect title: founder, The Sarah Palin Channel. Looking back, shouldn’t we have seen this Oprahesque turn coming all along? Palin, a communications major, always made for great TV. Even when she stumbled her way through those Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson interviews in 2008, it was cringe-worthy, but hard to turn away. Well, maybe, she hasn’t always made for great...

I do not care very much about former Alaska governor Sarah Palin’s waning influence on American political life. But I confess an ongoing fascination with Palin as a media phenomenon. As she vacillates between the Fox News stints that keep her political clout alive and the reality television gigs that seem like a more natural fit for her talents, I always wonder whether this is the moment that she will commit to a single path. The debut of the Sarah Palin Channel, a subscription-based multimedia site that Palin and her team launched yesterday, is a disappointing combination of these muddled...

(language warning) If Google was a Guy Everything you ask Google sounds a lot more stupid when you actually ask Google. If Google was a Guy (Part 2) You asked for it, you got it! Google is back to answer more of your sort-of questions. What If Google was a Guy (Part 3) Google is back again for round 3! Scouring the deepest holes of the internet to answer your searches... mostly about porn.

(language warning)Adam breaks down the awful truth about purebred dogs in the newest episode of Adam Ruins Everything. For more information, watch the BBC documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed, or check out the following sources: * Wikipedia: Purebred (Dogs) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purebred_(dog)* 100 Years of Breed “Improvement” - http://dogbehaviorscience.wordpress.com/2012/09/29/100-years-of-breed-improvement/* Wikipedia: Kennel Club - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennel_club* Wikipedia: Pedigree Dogs Exposed - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedigree_Dogs_Exposed

In response to a report that the Facebook group "Death to Israel and the Zionists" is offensive, Facebook has declared that it "doesn't violate our Community Standards." Similarly, the also declared that the group "DEATH TO ZIONISTS" was also found not to violate Facebook's standards. Here are the declarations from Facebook reporting on their decision: And: Death to Zionists' page wrote on the first day of their group’s creation, “Army of Mohammed has started to return.” ...And, of course, the group "Death to the Jews" is still up on Facebook.

(Language warning) A Taliban fighter caught by U.S troops planting an IED in Afghanistan. Shortly after planting it, he accidentally steps on it.

As the old saying goes: “The fastest way to disappointment is to depend on other people.” That saying is now becoming prevalent in the media world as well, and we largely have the New York Yankees, Arianna Huffington and Glenn Beck to thank for it. Huh? Let me explain… As reported here on Mediaite over the weekend, Fox News contributor Sarah Palin has launched her own eponymous channel for $9.95 per month or $99.95 per year on a new venture called TAPP (which stands for TV App). Her elevator pitch is simple: “Tired of media filters? Well, so am I”....

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)In her latest media-politics endeavor, the former governor seeks to escape the "filters," this time between her and her fans' credit cards.In the welcome video to the Sarah Palin Channel, the former governor of Alaska explains her motivation for starting a personal subscription network: “We’ll go beyond the soundbites and the media’s politically correct filter to get to the truth.” Over her six years in the national spotlight, Sarah Palin has not exactly lacked for media platforms, filtered or unfiltered. She’s had a reality show on TLC and one currently on Sportsman Channel. She’s been a paid contributor to Fox...

My cable bill jumped a bunch this month. When I asked why, several promotions had expired etc etc etc.Anyway, the service rep at Time Warner gave me a better price on a package deal that includes cable TV, internet and phone service. A question I have is about continuity of their phone service if the cable/power goes out. It does happen sporatically here.

A head of Yeshiva in Jaffa posted this message (and I am ROUGHLY paraphrasing into English from my husband ): The Rosh Yeshiva says, "One of my students who I haven't heard from in many years contacted me today to ask where I study Torah. I was surprised by his question, since I know for sure that he is not observing Torah and mitzvot. So, I asked him why he wanted to know, and this was his response received back (I am not allowed to give his name): "I observed the hand of Gd today with my own eyes. Now...

Question: When is a tech news site actually a public relations arm for a bloodthirsty terror group? Answer: when that tech news website is called Mashable. Consider a couple of their recent stories, designed to garner sympathy for actual bloodthirsty war criminals (no links for obvious reasons; simply search for the headline and you'll find it if you decide you prefer to read Hamas marketing material): • 'Am I Going to Die, Daddy?' The Child in Gaza Asked by Jon Snow • U.N. Official Warns of Gaza War Crimes; Only U.S. Votes Against Investigating by AP • 45000 Londoners Protest...

CNC firm’s 3D printing adapter to combine additive and subtractive processes in one machine. CNC machine maker, Hurco, announced that it recently filed a U.S. patent application for a new technology that combines 3D printing and CNC machining. According to the company, it has developed an additive manufacturing adapter that will allow Hurco machines to 3D print directly. “We designed an additive manufacturing adapter that, in combination with proprietary Hurco control software, effectively turns a CNC milling machine into a 3D printer,” said Gregory Volovic, President of Hurco Companies, Inc. “With this new additive manufacturing capability, users may go from...

Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League.Jobs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics are projected to grow by 17 percent by 2018, compared to 9.8 percent for jobs in other fields, according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Commerce. That’s good and bad news for women and minorities, who are barely represented in one of the nation’s fastest growing job sectors. It’s potential good news because it represents an abundance of opportunities for the American workforce, which as of 2012 was 47 percent female, 16 percent Hispanic, 2 percent Black and 12 percent Asian, according to...

Hillary Clinton’s $35 doorstop of a memoir is a flop. It was a best-seller to hard-core Democrats, but her advance is estimated at $14 million, which means Simon & Schuster is taking a bath in the hopes of a publishing a future president. Worse yet, The Washington Post reported that according to an Amazon.com measurement of which electronic books are most-read, Clinton’s book came in dead last among recent political books. Every time people highlight something in a book on their Kindles, Amazon records that data. By that measure, most readers barely started it. “The deepest into ‘Hard Choices’ the...

"An old rat trap video of mine became a subject of a murder investigation and was presented on NBC Dateline. The only problem was they never got my permission to use my copyrighted content."

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's attorney, Eugene Fidell, has apparently been retained to launch a hyper-partisan political campaign against Fox News. The Army has not charged Bergdahl with anything. According to some news reports, the Army hasn't even begun investigating Bergdahl. Nonetheless, one of Fidell's first media appearances was with the Huffington Post where he vilified Fox News for vilifying his client: “It’s very unfortunate that Fox News has an opportunity to use this case in an effort to stir up the base, use this in an effort to vilify my client, who everybody knows has gone through a terrible five-year long...

I run Amazon ads on my blog and do pretty well. But I regularly see targeted Amazon ads on other sites like Facebook and Weather.com that show me ads based on things I recently searched for on Amazon. However I have not figured out how to do this with any of the Amazon Associate tools that are offered. Anyone know about how to do this?

This year’s edition of Netroots Nation (the supposed liberal answer to CPAC) kicked off this week, in case you hadn’t heard. (And judging by the massive lack of media coverage, you might not have.) To be honest, I have not idea what was going on at the various panels and speeches, aside from the apparently well received socialist stemwinder from Elizabeth Warren. But there was, it seems, one get together which was a real hoot, whether intentionally or not. It was a seminar called (wait for it) … Only the Jester Speaks the Truth and it was all about the...

On his Friday radio show, Glenn Beck suggested those who do not want to pass out soccer balls and teddy bears to illegal immigrant children at detention centers with him are "pusses." He also said Americans should not "focus" on the gangsters, killers, and rapists who are coming across the border with the illegal immigrant children two days after Breitbart Texas reported that an illegal immigrant whom the federal government released in June with a "notice to appear" was arrested for murder. While discussing his plans to go to McAllen, Texas on Saturday with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rep....

On the second day at Netroots, which was held in Detroit, Michigan, about 300 attendees at this liberal conference took to the streets to protest the proposed water-shut-offs. The city has begun cracking down on residents who haven’t been paying their water bills; 42,000 have seen their water turned off since July of 2013. The Atlantic reported on July 17 that residents are paying plumbers $30 to turn their water back on illegally. Although, while Netroots participants were there to be the voices for these people, the folks affected are remaining quiet: Residents targeted by the shut-off campaign have been...

The civil rights activist is going after the social media giant over diversity concerns. This follows weeks of criticism aimed at the lack of minorities at tech companies.The last few weeks have been filled with criticism regarding the lack of minorities working at tech companies, mainly at Google, Facebook and Twitter. Now, Rev. Jesse Jackson has launched a petition demanding that Twitter reveal its employment diversity reports publicly. Jackson wants this information available to show the world what percentage of the company’s workforce is made up of minorities. This has been a sensitive issue recently for many, especially after it...

Metal 3D printing is the Holy Grail of additive manufacturing. Unlike with other materials that can be printed, metal enables manufacturers to create end-use objects via 3D printing, objects which oftentimes outperform matter-1those produced with traditional casting techniques. In fact General Electric and Airbus are already saving money money using metal laser sintering machines to produce parts for anything from aircraft, to fuel nozzles. Additionally, once those products are installed for end-use, they continue to save money because of their light weight, great strength, and precise fit. The reductions of just a few kilograms on board an aircraft can save...

Kgb USA Inc. has informed the Texas Workforce Commission that it plans to carry out a “mass layoff” in San Antonio. The call center company, which does business as Conduit Global, expects to eliminate 225 positions by Aug. 31. Conduit Global officials say the layoffs are a result of an unexpected cancellation of services by one of the company’s clients. Conduit Global notes in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) letter filed with the Texas Workforce Commission that it is hopeful the layoffs can be minimized by the “potential award of a large customer care contract.” If a...

When Ezra Klein and friends launched Vox as an "explanatory journalism" site this spring, conservative catcalls and ridicule began promptly. The project's critics have been vindicated time and again. Though the site sometimes produces solid content, it's run by hard-left ideologues who lack the capacity to present "just the facts, ma'am"-style reporting. Over the last 24 hours or so, Vox has beclowned itself on four separate occasions. First, see Mollie Hemingway's brutal take-down of co-founder Matt Yglesias' stupefyingly ignorant attack on conservatives and religious liberty. His asshattery was so acute that even a junior Vox colleague publicly rejected Yglesias', er,...

German officials are considering switching from computers back to manual typewriters for sensitive documents to prevent United States’ spying, according to a July 14 statement. “Are you considering typewriters?” an interviewer asked Patrick Sensburg, head of the Bundestag’s parliamentary inquiry into the U.S. National Security Agency activity in Germany. “As a matter of fact, we have, and not electronic models either,” he replied.

As one of our over 6.5 million FreedomWorks activists nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to vote YES on the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act, H.R. 3086, sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte and cosponsored by more than 200 Representatives from both parties. Back in 1998, Congress passed the original Internet Tax Freedom Act, a temporary moratorium on taxing internet access. Since then, the Act has been renewed, but is now set to expire on November 1. If Congress does nothing, states could start taxing your internet access by the end of the year....

On March 31, 2010, the day before the Inspector General's report says the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began its scheme to target tea party and conservative groups, the White House Visitors Log reveals that President Barack Obama met with IRS union boss Colleen Kelley. In a notable feat of investigative journalism, American Spectator reporter Jeffrey Lord exposed what appears to be an unholy alliance among the White House, Democrat members of Congress and the thousands of IRS employees, who are members of the far-left, anti-Tea Party National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU). The NTEU, which supported Obama in 2008 and 2012,...

When 3D printing is discussed, one of the most debated topics is that of 3D printed weaponry, specifically guns. Last year, Solid Concepts created a 3D Printed replica of a 1911 pistol. At the time, it brought up quite a bit of debate, as the 3D printing of guns could severely undermine national and world-wide security. If anyone with a 3D printer could print an operational gun, then what good are laws that prevent people from obtaining guns? TodayÂ’s consumer level 3D printers can, for the most part, only print in plastic or plastic-like materials. Many people argue that guns...

ABC's Jonathan Karl on Tuesday asked White House press secretary why the letter from the White House to Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) inviting him to a meeting with President Obama regarding the Texas border crisis was from Valerie Jarrett. While it's routine for staff to draft such letters for elected officials, matters of such magnitude and to other elected officials of stature are almost always in the name of the principle. The president's spokesman, when asked why the letter was from Jarrett rather than the President, said "Valerie spends a lot of time maintaining relationships with governors around the country"...

The number one issue that people have with 3D printers today, is the speed at which they print at. People now-a-days want things quickly, at the touch of a button. Over the years, many of our everyday jobs, chores, and desires have reached a point of almost becoming instant. For example, when you want to print a document from your computer or tablet, its done in approximately 5-10 seconds. When you want to bring up a website on your smartphone, itÂ’s up in a matter of 1-2 seconds. Just about every aspect of our lives, when compared to that of...

A few days ago, we asked a simple rhetorical question: "Are you targeted by the NSA?" The answer, sadly for those reading this, is very likely yes, as it was revealed that as part of the NSA's XKeyscore program "a computer network exploitation system, as described in an NSA presentation, devoted to gathering nearly everything a user does on the internet" all it takes for a user to be flagged by America's superspooks is to go to a website the NSA finds less than "patriotic" and that user becomes a fixture for the NSA's tracking algos. So assuming one is...

Google's right to be forgotten system is woefully inadequate and censoring things it shouldn't. We decided to make a number of right to be forgotten claims to see what would happen. One request was to remove search listings for an automated online profile page that contained someone's name and Twitter handle. There are loads of websites that collate information about people and spew out automated profiles – 192.com and Peekyou.com being two examples. These websites might be annoying, but should they ever be censored from search results if all they are doing is collating publicly available information? None of the information...

Can you imagine telling the IRS you don’t need to complete all their forms or provide records to back up your claim for a tax refund? Or saying your company’s assurances that its medical products are safe and effective should satisfy the FDA? Especially if some of your data don’t actually support your claims—or you “can’t find” key data, research and other records, because your hard drive conveniently crashed? But, you tell them, people you paid to review your information said it’s accurate, so there’s no problem. Do you suppose the government would accept your assurance that there’s “not a...

“Bigger is better,” as the old adage goes. When it comes to a juicy steak, or a diamond ring, these words always hold true. When it comes to 3D printing, however, there still remains some debate. The 2nd World 3D Printing Technology Expo was held in Qingdao, Shandong, China this past week (June 19-22). It featured thousands of individuals from China, United States, Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and almost a dozen other countries. They were there to discuss the latest breakthroughs in 3D Printing, including possible applications, material use, business models and more. Qingdao Unique Products Develop Co., Ltd,...

<p>I don't seek out media appearances but last week was a busy one for me. I was interviewed by CBS News, BBC World Service, Jonathan Green of Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Sunday Extra, and by Piya Chattopadhyay of the CBC's The Current. I also had invitations from NPR and CTV that I, unfortunately, had to turn down due to time constraints. It was a busy week but thankfully all of the journalists, hosts and producers who reached out to me had a sincere interest in complex stories. They are my kind of people so talking to them was actually quite fun.</p>

I'm trying to determine if it's worth messing with to find a different (and free) operating system for my very old Dell Latitude laptop. It currently has Windows XP SP3, which of course Microsoft no longer supports.

For many people, the 2013 feature Terms And Conditions May Apply was their introduction into just how extensive and invasive data collection has become. It is all “voluntary,” of course, based on their agreement to software/app, website, and search engine terms and conditions. Even worse, is what the consumers of Big Data do with this information. Powerful computers and specialized programs allow virtually endless data dredging, whereby large volumes of information are analyzed seeking any possible relationships between data, occasionally for unethical purposes. Such practices can result in relatively benign consequences, such as seeing ads for various drugs and media...

Baghdad: Supporters of a powerful jihadist group are waging an online propaganda war in concert with its battles on the ground in Iraq, where Sunni militants have overrun swathes of the country. For militant groups, the fight over public perception can be even more important than actual combat, turning military losses into propaganda victories and battlefield successes into powerful tools to build support for the cause. The offensive, led by jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) but involving other Sunni groups as well, swept down from northern Iraq, overrunning major areas of five provinces and...

Those were the days. It was June, 2011. 24,000 pages of former Gov. Sarah Palin’s emails were released by the state of Alaska. She had resigned as governor nearly two years before, and was by then a happy private citizen. The media were so interested in getting into every nook and cranny of those emails that they facilitated their release, and then crowdsourced processing them. The Guardian even published a guide. “We think it’s important to get the documents out into the world as soon as possible and see what you think about them – just like we did with...

Board of Sonasoft, IRS email contractor, working to get ‘Silicon Valley’s Wannabe Obama’ electedBy J.E. Dyer on June 22, 2014 at 7:07 pm The blogosphere has been alive in the last 48 hours with the sound (smell?) of smoking gun, after the revelation late last week that at the time of Lois Lerner’s remarkably convenient computer crash, the IRS had a contract with a company named Sonasoft for email back-up and archiving services.The IRS contracted with Sonasoft from 2005 to 2011. Sonasoft’s niche in the IT services world is explicitly organizing and backing up email files on Exchange and SQL...

Was just this morning checking the story on the South Korean soldier who went bezerk and shot five of his fellow troops yesterday, and upon arriving at the specific Reuters article page, was promptly diverted to the screen above.  The URL they sent me to was 'http://sea.sy/indexs/', and is obviously aimed at Nmr 10 Downing as well as the UK press in-general. No small task, hacking reuters, tho- rather impressive, and quite coincidentally comes the day after I was reading a piece about the original news report hacker, Chicago's version of Max Headroom. But the thing is, the crime...

It's been a couple of years since the last thread on this, so what are FReepers' favorite or recommended iPhone/iPod apps?

#YesWeCode looks to close the coding inequality gap Shortly after Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in February 2012, liberal activist Van Jones was talking with his friend Prince—yes, that Prince—about the circumstances of the shooting. More “I think he made the observation,” Jones told TIME, “that when African-American young people wear hoodies people think they’re thugs, but when white kids wear hoodies you assume that they’re going to be dot-com billionaires,” a reference to the outerwear favored by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his ilk. “We just started thinking: ‘Well, how do we turn that around?’” Out of that...

Think the National Security Agency is doing enough snooping in “The Homeland?” A federal spying coalition aims to drill deeper under the Orwellian title, Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee. “Call it massive surveillance of the U.S. population,” said John Whitehead, president of the civil libertarian Rutherford Institute. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder soft-pedaled DTEC earlier this month. He said the committee — whose members are not yet known — would “coordinate closely with U.S. attorneys and other key public safety officials across the country to promote information-sharing and ensure an effective, responsive and organized joint effort.” Whitehead and other skeptics are...

According to experts in the information technology field, it should be a fairly mundane thing to round up the all of Lois Lerner’s electronic correspondence from her employment at the Internal Revenue Service during 2009-2011. That is, her remaining, hidden emails which have yet to be turned over to congress. However, it looks as though it may instead take an act of God to get the Obama administration to come clean on anything, especially now, concerning their apparent abuse of power and the official cover-up about having deployed a corrupt and highly politicized IRS to target non-profit Tea Party civic...

Tea Parties happened organically BECAUSE we have each other. Hence, terrorists, tyrants and those who intend harm to our freedom and constitution know they MUST isolate us by CONTROLLING the INTERNET and phone communication when it hits the fan. (Articles on that subject are featured in at cbPatriot.) The CB Patriot Project is the place to join patriots from around America who have already joined the project to assure we can still communicate and congregate - just as we did in 2008 when the tea parties began to rise up. Social media was not nearly as relevant when we started...

WOODBURY, Conn. – A high school student claims that a firewall is blocking conservative websites at his school. Andrew Lampart, a senior at Nonnewaug High School, discovered that he couldn’t get on the National Rifle Association’s website while on campus as he was doing research for a classroom debate on gun control in May. “So, I went over to the other side,” Lampart told WTIC. “And I went over on sites such as Moms Demand Action or Newtown Action Alliance and I could get on these websites but not the others.” The 18-year-old decided to investigate further by broadening his...

When it comes to 3D printers, they can be used to make all sorts of objects, via additive manufacturing. However, many ‘makers’ (people who utilize their creative abilities to ‘make’ things) use more than just 3D printers when trying to visualize their ideas in creating tangible objects. CNC machining, as well as laser engravers are used by many individuals in creating complete products, made from a multitude of materials and processes. One problem with this, is that all of these processes currently require individual machinery. For example, many ‘makers’ end up needing to purchase, store, and operate a 3D printer,...